Four Color Control (Frontier)

Building a draw-go control deck, which attempts to answer the Frontier format. The format is still wide open, so constructing control decks at this point can be very challenging as you must keep your answers flexible. Below is the step by step process I underwent while constructing the deck:

(1) What type of control deck do I want to build? I personally like to play draw-go. I prefer to play as many cards as possible at instant speed. I'm not a counterspell nut or anything, but I like the feel of control when my opponent never knows what I am doing, and I am never tapped out during key turns. The breakdown of the main board of this deck will be close to as follows: card draw-10, counterspell-8, spot removal-10, mass removal-4, win con-6, land-27. Now if you add this all up you get a total of 69 cards, therefore I need to play some cards that serve more than one purpose.

• A note is at this point I am not going to choose the colors I'm playing, just the cards I feel I need to play.

(2) Control decks should begin with a card draw package.

a) Dig Through Time. 3 copies. Dig is just as much a win condition as it is card draw. It is not often that you play a Dig and do not immediately have the advantage.

b) Opt. 2 copies. Great card at any time. One mana lets you play this turn 1/2 to smooth out draws, or play it late and still have mana left to cast a spell or two.

c) Supreme Will. 2 copies. Lets you look four cards deep to get a card. This is the decks first multi-purpose card as it doubles as a counterspell for the first half of games.

d) Search for Azcanta. 2 copies. Play it midgame so that it flips the following turn. The deck plays 25 instants to choose from thereafter.

(3) Next, a control deck should assess what counterspells it has it its disposal.

a) Disallow. 3 copies. A catch all that can even serve a purpose after the threat is already on board.

b) Disdainful Stroke. 2 copies. It catches all the big threats in the format for two mana.

c) Essence Scatter. 2 copies. We face down creatures more often then we do N/C.
*Negate. 2 copies sideboard. For when N/C's matter more.

(4) Now I'd like to look at the spot removal package. To this point we are only playing blue. That leads me to believe that blue is our base color. For the purposes of spot removal, I am not going to look at color. I'm just going to look at the best and most versatile removal at each spot on the low end of the curve.

a) Fatal Push. 3 copies. Best removal in the format. Does several things to the decks build: puts us into black, and guarantee's we play fetch lands.

b) Crackling Doom. 2 copies. It just takes care of business against all the big baddies. This decision puts us into four colors. it is still undetermined which colors will be the splash.

c) Abrade. 2 copies. I want to be able to destroy artifacts in the main deck. Abrade does that while still having purpose against decks not playing them.

d) Vraska's Contempt. 1 copy. I originally thought this should be Cast Out, but I made the change after deciding the primary win-con would be Torrential Gearhulk.

(5) It's time to look at some win conditions:

a) Torrential Gearhulk. 4 copies. Big enough body. The flash ability allows the deck to be draw-go all the way. The deck is currently playing 27 targets for TG.

b) The Scarab God. 1 copy. We are not all-in on this strategy. Great with TG. Can win a game on his own against decks playing a lot of creatures.
*The Locust God. 1 copy sideboard. In a grindy mirror match TLG is just a force.

(6) Mass removal slots are the only non-land cards remaining.

a) Hour of Devastation. 2 copies. Roasts pretty much everything that needs roasting. Getting Hazoret and planeswalkers can be big against aggro and midrange.

b) Settle the Wreckage. 2 copies. Instant speed removal that exiles is sweet, especially since it is one-sided. Being able to double it up with a Torrential Gearhulk is total blowout. it does not feed The Scarab God, but it's a small price to pay.
*Dispel. Two copies sideboard. Here for the mirror match against control.

(7) Doing a sideboard is different with a control deck, in my experience, than with other deck archetypes. many of the slots are dedicated to finding cheaper and more specific ways to deal with threats. Cards like Dispel is a perfect example of this.
Another purpose of a control sideboard is to answer very difficult threats that you could not dedicate enough slots main board to answering those problems.
Here are the results of my search for solid specific and more effective answers:

a) Sorcerous Spyglass. 2 copies. I love this card. It answers Saheeli, Aetherworks Marvel, The Scarab God, vehicles, planeswalkers, and many other activated abilities that are running around.

b) Tormod's Crypt. 2 copies. We play The Scarab God, however he tends to come out versus many of the decks that we would sideboard TC in for. It allows us to shut off the opponents access to delve, flipping baby Jace or Azcanta, getting their own reanimator going, or other graveyard based Shenanigans.

c) Lost Legacy. 1 copy. Dismantles any deck that is too focused on one particular path to victory.

d) Authority of the Counsuls. 2 copies. A nightmare for aggro decks to race, especially go wide token type decks. Also, has the bonus of shutting down Saheeli combo. It will be hard to cast on turn one, but turn 2 is within reason.

e) Disdainful Stroke. 1 copy. Just answers some many important threats for 2cc.

f) Tasigur, the Golden Fang. 1 copy. Cheap to cast and evades most of the removal we will face in this format. He will be sideboarded in often as an extra threat.

g) Declaration in Stone. 1 copy. Not instant speed, however it can two for one. Also serves as a blowout card versus tokens.

(8) Just the mana base left. This one could get tricky as it is four colored. The most important part is that the core color (blue) is in the middle of the four colors on the color wheel. This means that blue can be fetched by every fetch land I play. I will start with the fetches and move on from there:

a) Fetches. (9)
Polluted Delta. 4 copies. Gains us access to all four colors.
Flooded Strand. 3 copies. Access to three colors, basic Island.
Bloodstained Mire. 2 copies. Access to three colors.

b) Battle Lands. (7)
Sunken Hollow. 3 copies. Sits in the middle of the fetches.
Prairie Stream. 2 copies.
Smoldering Marsh. 2 copies.

c) Basics. (6)
Island. 2 copies. Will need blue early and likely untapped.
Swamp. 2 copies. Do not need double black until turn 4, however can be fetched by all 9 fetches.
Mountain. 1 copy. Do not need double red until turn 5, likely will fetch battle land.
Plains. 1 copy. Do not need double white until turn 4, likely will fetch battle land.

*22 land slots filled, 5 remaining. Color breakdown thus far is: blue-16, black-16, white-10, red-9. Now looking for 3 more red, 2 more white, 1 more blue. I would also like to play some man-lands, since they serve as alternate win conditions.

d) Man lands.
Wandering Fumarole. 1 copy.
Needle Spires. 2 copies.

e) Utility Lands.
Field of Ruin. 2 copies. Messes with our opponents ability to splash and curve out correctly.

Final Thoughts
1) The deck is stacked with good answers and solid win conditions.
2) I myself, would not play control right now in a Frontier tournament as the field is too wide open. Control is best when the field is "solved", meaning there is a deck or two played above all the others. This lets control decks narrow in their answers to the specific needs of the meta.
3) If I had to play control in a tournament right now I might consider guiding my deckbuilding towards answering Saheeli combo, Aetherworks Marvel, Collected Company, and aggro. I believe people will gravitate towards the "broken" decks first and the three pre-mentioned cards are broken within this format. I also believe that in an "unsolved" format you always need to be able to consistently beat aggro as players tend to go to aggro first.