This deck is what Mardu Control might look like in standard.
Deck Building
Initially I thought about doing a Rakdos Control type of deck, only using the value of cards like Liliana, the Last Hope, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, etc. but I realised that in a standard where we would see the return of enchantements and artifacts because of the lack of removal, I was almost unarmed against it. Adding white to the decklist permits to include a lot of really good cards to handle a lot of different threats and win conditions. The ones included main deck are Anguished Unmaking, which is phenomenal to remove all types of permanents at instant speed, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar who is amazing at winning games by himself and Shambling Vent, a creature-land always good in control decks. For the rest of the "White-Bundle" I'll come back to it later with the Sideboard.
The rest of the deck is a lot of good removal (Grasp of Darkness, Transgress the Mind, Harnessed Lightning and Unlicensed Disintegration, backed up by Cataclysmic Gearhulk which is an amazing wrath effect card againste all aggro creatures decks and even planeswalker-heavy control decks that leave you with a 4/5 vigilance on the battlefield.
Then I added a bit of good Card draw with Live Fast (replacing Read the Bones in the format) which also gives us more energy counters for Harnessed Lightning.
Filigree Familiar was initially here to cast Distended Mindbender which I removed from the list because it was good but a bit slow, especially if in starting hand. However I kept this artifact for two reasons: 1. It triggers Unlicensed Disintegration 2. It is really good against aggro decks because it is a blocker, a life-gainer and even a card-drawer.
How to Win
It's really simple, we use our more valuable cards to control the board and set up a kill for Goblin Dark-Dwellers, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar ( Shambling Vent also helps). Chandra's and Liliana's emblems are also pretty good if you manage to pull them off.
Mana Base
Here is the main problem with this deck: the mana base is terrible. With all the good lands rotating out of standard (and the new fastlands beeing terrible for this deck), I am obliged to use a lot of basics. Why is this so important you might ask? Because if you watch closely, we absolutely need double black and double red mana really soon in the game. Evolving Wilds is here to help with that point. Aether Hub also provides a bit of versatility with the colors but also powers up harnessed lighting if needed. If you have any advice for a better mana base I will read it carefully because I am not an expert about this aspect of deck building yet.
Sideboard
Sideboard-wise I noticed that the number of good white cards in the format for various specific situations is absolutely amazing. Fragmentize is here to crush all the annoying new artifacts, such as Smuggler's Copter of Sky Skiff that will surely be present in WR aggro decks. It also deals with Fevered Visions which is really good. Declaration in Stone is here to deal with token and graveyard decks easily. Then we have 2 more Filigree Familiar to replace Pilgrim's Eye against burn. Kambal, Consul of Allocation is really good against UR Burn, Grixis Spells or even control for both helping you survive but also punishing them. Lost Legacy is the card replacing Infinite Obliteration to crush all the emerge or Emrakul decks. As usual in red tri-color decks Radiant Flames is the best wrath-effect against aggro. Two Ruinous Path against control are always good to complete de planes-walker-removal bundle. One Cataclysmic Gearhulk to replace the Noxious Gearhulk against board-flooding decks like GW Tokens. Finally Sorin, Grim Nemesis is really good against control decks because he provides card advantage and can help killing planeswalkers.
You can follow all the changes to tis description in the updates below.
Here it is, if you liked it give it an upvote and do not hesitate to comment and give me advices, it really helps! :D
