Planeswalkers, Gods, and Gearhulks

Standard Competitive Control UBR (Grixis)

KingkillerKvothe

Land (25)

• 4x Aether Hub
• 2x Canyon Slough
• 2x Dragonskull Summit
• 4x Drowned Catacomb
• 3x Fetid Pools
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 3x Island
• 1x Mountain
• 4x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Swamp

Instant (27)

• 2x Abrade
• 3x Censor
• 4x Disallow
• 2x Essence Scatter
• 3x Fatal Push
• 4x Glimmer of Genius
• 4x Harnessed Lightning
• 2x Magma Spray
• 3x Vraska's Contempt

Creature (5)

• 2x The Scarab God
• 3x Torrential Gearhulk

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Angrath, the Flame-Chained

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip

---

Sideboard

Creature (6)

• 2x Gifted Aetherborn
• 3x Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh

Instant (6)

• 3x Moment of Craving
• 3x Negate

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
• 1x Hour of Devastation

---

Welcome to my 4 Colour Control Deck! I wanted to throw together the best bomb cards in standard I own into one deck and this is the result. It operates essentially like Grixis control with good counters and excellent removal keeping you alive until you can start dropping your bombs. Let's dive into my deck choices.

Removal

Starting with removal we run a pair of Fatal Push's as it provides the perfect answer to Longtusk Cub as well as many other low cost threats. Don't discount the revolt trigger either as it can be combined with Evolving Wilds or one of your permanents leaving the battlefield. Next up is the number one reason I switched from UB Control to Grixis Control, Harnessed Lightning. It is probably the best removal spell in standard right now as the extra energy granted by Aether Hub and Glimmer of Genius allows it to kill threats of any size. I also run a single copy of Abrade as it can kill off any annoying artifacts and can also remove cheap creatures if necessary. Vraska's Contempt is the best answer to must kill threats such as Hazoret the Fervent, The Scarab God, and any Planeswalkers. The lifegain can also be crucial against aggro decks. A single copy of Bontu's Last Reckoning is included as a hail mary in case you ever fall too far behind and is a great answer to a board of Whirler Virtuoso's and Bristling Hydra's.

Counterspells

Next up are the counterspells to make your opponent feel true despair. Censor is excellent game 1, especially on the play. It's existence in your deck will often result in your opponent having to play around it even when you sideboard it out game 2 or 3. Even if you can't get counter value out of it it can be cycled for a mere 1U mana. Essence Scatter is excellent in this current meta with energy running rampart. I only include 2 copies though as it can often be a dead card in other matchups. Disallow is probably my favourite card in the game as it counters everything. Be prepared to be called the Fun Police whenever you play it though.

Card Draw

Search for Azcanta   is the engine that makes our deck roar. The ability to "scry" each upkeep is ridiculously powerful in fixing your draws and once it flips it turn into a card drawing machine that takes over the game for you. I already mentioned Censor's ability to cycle but I also run a pair of Opt's to help fix our draws and hit land drops. Glimmer of Genius is run instead of Hieroglyphic Illumination due to the energy synergy, plus the ability to scry 2 is fantastic.

Creatures

Now, you've survived the early game and have started to cycle through deck. It's time to start dropping some bombs. Let's start off with The Scarab God, the best finisher in Standard. He takes over the game if you untap with him so it's highly recommended that you play him only when you have mana to protect him. The most important thing I've learned is to show patience, don't just tap out and play a threat unless you absolutely have to contest the board. Torrential Gearhulk is the only other creature we run as its ability to flash back an instant is insane. What's better than Disallowing a spell? Summoning a 5/6 and doing it again!

Planeswalkers

Next up are Planewalkers galore! Chandra, Torch of Defiance is probably the weakest Planeswalker in this specific deck but her ability to deal 4 damage to a creature is great removal. Oftentimes you actually want to use the +1 for mana instead of exiling a card from your deck. I truly feel that splashing green for Vraska, Relic Seeker is worth it as she provides the ability to destroy pesky enchantments such as Cast Out, Drake Haven, or Anointed Procession that have gotten under your shields. Plus she can also create Pirate tokens to block and threaten to win the game with her ultimate. Finally, we have Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. The big baddy. Exiling cards from your opponents hand, playing cards from your opponents deck for free, killing big threats or finishing your opponent off with 7 burst damage, he does it all.

Land Base

Land base is tilted heavily in Blue's favour due to the quantity of blue cards and importance of having UU up early for Disallow. A mix of Cycle lands, Fast lands, and Check lands have worked fantastic for me. One thing to note is that I have no green mana aside from Aether Hub. I previously included a Forest but it felt awful. You should almost always have the energy available to play Vraska with an Aether Hub but one change to consider is swapping an Island for a Botanical Sanctum.

Sideboard

Onto the Sideboard. Duress and Negate are control matchup staples while Jace's Defeat often provides value and can also be brought in against Temur Energy to counter Whirler Virtuoso or Rogue Refiner. Lost Legacy is great against combo decks or Approach of the Second Sun. Gonti, Lord of Luxury can be great against Midrange energy decks as the deathtouch tag can stop Bristling Hydra's or other beefy threats from beating you down. This also applies to Gifted Aetherborn as many players will sideboard out cheap removal so you can punish that. The lifegain is also crucial in aggro matchups hence I include a copy of Essence Extraction and another copy of Vraska's Contempt which can exile crucial targets. Magma Spray is brought in specifically to exile annoying aggro cards such Scrapheap Scounger and Earthshaker Kenra . Bontu's Last Reckoning provides another sweeper to clear the board.

Cards to sideboard out against aggro heavy matchups include Censor (especially if you are on the draw), a couple Disallow as well as Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. Against control matchups you want to sideboard out your early removal of Fatal Push and a couple Harnessed Lightning although I would leave 1 or 2 copies in as they can remove larger threats and your opponent might sideboard in cheap minions. Abrade is based on the specific matchup and I would also take out at least a couple Censor even if you are on the play as it is very unlikely that your opponent will tap out if they know you run it.

Results

I'll continue to update results through the weeks. I'm also planning on trying it out on MTGO so I'll post any league results here as well.

Week 1: 3-1 at FNM (only loss was to a Dino Deck in which he dropped Carnage Tyrant and I had no answer other than Bontu's Last Reckoning)

Week 2: 4-0 at FNM (deck ran perfectly, I only lost a single game)

Week 3: 4-0 at FNM (low turnout though so I was paired down twice)

Week 3: 4-1 in a Friendly League (every single deck I faced was a form of energy, only loss was to a UG Pummeler Deck that I misplayed pretty badly against)

Week 5: 5-1-1 at the Store Championship as I finished 3rd out of 12. It was a great learning experience for the deck as it revealed some weaknesses of the deck against energy leading to changes I'll discuss below.

Changes

At the Store Championship it was energy deck after energy deck with Sultai being the main offender. I quickly realized that I didn't have quite enough removal to deal with their numerous 2 drops. So I decided to add another copy of Fatal Push and Harnessed Lightning as well as a copy of Essence Extraction. I also wanted another sweeper in the main deck so in comes Hour of Devastation as while I do like Bontu's Last Reckoning it can bite you in the butt. The 5 damage from Hour of Devastation is usually enough to clear the board with the added benefit of killing Hazoret the Fervent and Planeswalkers. Chandra, Torch of Defiance has been swapped with Vraska's Contempt from the sideboard to provide another removal tool. While Magma Spray is great against mono black and has some use against GPG decks, I think the life gain from Essence Extraction is more useful against Ramunap Red which is the more prevalent deck. Glint-Sleeve Siphoner is an all-star as I quickly learned at the store championship so I wanted to find a way to include her. I considered putting her in the main but I actually think she's better suited in the sideboard in this deck to swap in game 2 as many opponents will side out their early removal allowing her to stick around. Finally, I also added another copy of Abrade to the sideboard for artifact decks such as GPG.

So that's my 4 Colour Control Deck! Thank you for taking the time to check it out and let me know if you have any recommendations!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 1 Mythic Rares 24 - 6 Rares 21 - 2 Uncommons 4 - 6 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.97
Tokens	Copy Clone, Energy Reserve