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Four Color Control and Delirium Sideboard guide and matchup breakdown
🕑 Added 2023-03-21 19:57:08 +0000 UTCModern is an interesting point. A good portion of the field is weak to the control version of this deck. While there are also just some matchups that are incredibly hard to overcome. Decks like creativity and breach are just nightmare matchups. They both improved some with Elesh Norn. However they both have adapted some. Now that the Elesh Norn four color hype is dying down to a more reasonable level I have updated the control list and the sideboard guide with the new changes. That will be found below. I am branching out to builds that do not lean on counter spell in the main deck. I will go over more on the control deck later but first a little bit of the old coming back in vogue.
Up next I have a more experimental build of four color. This build looks to use the old traverse bauble plans to be a more proactive midrange deck. You don’t lock people out like you do in the four color control deck. However you do have more consistent access to the creatures you want thanks to traverse and mishra bauble. This was a common thing during the height of the four color control summer. Players haven't gone back in part because people haven't tried rebuilding the deck with this card in mind. However your pay offs are still as strong as ever. I have done a quick sideboard guide for the deck found below. Scroll past it to find the Write up and Sidboard guide and breakdown for the controlling build.
Delirium four color
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5495583#online
A quick note on this deck. I do not love Orvar the All Form but if you expect a lot of creativity you can play it over the third endurance
Murktide
Out 3 Unholy Heat 1 Elesh Norn 1 Fury
In 3 Endurance 2 Chalice of the Void
Hammer
Out 2 Fable 2 Teferi time raveler
In 1 Boseiju 1 Force of Vigor 2 Dress Down
Rhino
Out 3 Unholy Heat 2 Traverse 1 Elesh Norn
In 2 Chalice of the void 2 Chalice of the Void 2 Flusterstorm
Breach
Out 2 Fable of the Mirror Breaker 2 Fury 3 Teferi time Raveler 1 Prismatic Ending
In 2 Chalice 3 Endurance 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 1 Magus of the moon
Creativity
Out 2 Fury 1 Prismatic Ending 1 Unholy Heat
In 2 Flusterstorm 1 Elesh Norn 1 Magus of the moon
Rakdos Scam
Out 3 Teferi Time Raveler 3 Counterspell
In 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 3 Endurance 1 Veil of Summer
Mirror
Out 1 Leyline Binding 3 Teferi Time Raveler
In 1 Elesh Norn 2 Dress Down 1 Magus
Amiulet
Out 2 Fury 3 Teferi Time Raveler 1 Fable of the mirror breaker 1 Omanth
In 2 Dress Down 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 1 Magus of the moon 2 Chalice of the Void
Yawgmoth
Out 3 Teferi Time Raveler
In 3 Endurance
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5490476#online
Eternal Witness and Ephimerate
This card has been a staple of my builds for a very long time. If you have followed me I have always leaned on that card in multiple matchups and in sideboard planning to have access to multiple copies of sideboard cards. Witness is a card I think you could still play but I have a few reasons from moving away from it. First we have to talk about how we also moved away from ephemerate. Ephemeral is a card that is great for abusing the pitch elementals and being an endgame with Wtiness. Elesh Norn sort of fills this role now in the deck. Having both Ephemerate and Elesh Norn is just too much of that sort of thing in a 60 card control deck.
This lead to the first reason to cut Eterneal Witenss. No Ephimerate means no late game loop to lock out games. At that point Witness is just a two for one card. Something this deck has in spades. The other factor is that while Modern is more interactive then it has ever been out side of the Yorrion days it has speed up. Breach, Creativity, Hammer all these decks make it a liability to have too many cards dedicated to long games. When we had 80 cards it was easier to get away with this due to us actually needing to have both density of effects but also filling out your deck.
Leyline Binding
If your in the discord you have probably seen me talk about Leyline Binding in low numbers of the 62 card build, also if your not in the discord your missing out on four color list being posted and talked about all the time along with other formats and decks! When talking about it I mentioned how Elesh Norn was everywhere and I didnt want to be dead in the mirrors if they slammed an Elesh Norn. However about a month has passed and players are still playing the deck but it isnt the new hotness so I am willing to go back up on bindings. Just wanted to outline why the move back to four.
Murktide
Out 1 Elesh Norn 3 Counter Spell 1 Fury
In 2 Supreme Verdict 3 Endurance
This match up almost always comes down to the play pattern of Murktide plus counter spells. Often early with 4 mana, but they are able play into the latter game and often do this on six to seven mana. It's your job to be pressuring them so that they can not set up for murktide for forever. You also want to be saving your murktide answers for murktide, as it often takes two answers to actually win the game given the play pattern we mentioned above. The cards that are best at this are Icefang Coatl, Teferi 3, Leyline binding, Solitude and Supreme Verdict. So try and save these answers for the Murktide Regent. Sometimes other cards will line up well versus Murktide, but for the most part these are the cards you should prioritize protecting. When it comes to beating up murktide we have that in spades
Hammer
Out 4 Counterspell 1 Elesh Norn
In 2 Dress Down 1 Force of vigor 1 boseiju 1 supreme verdict
Historically this is one of our best match ups. While still in your favor I think it's less so than it was before and does require you to really respect their plays. Moving away from lots of ephemeral has hurt this a little bit but re adding fury and all four binding has also done a bunch to help this deck.
Our five sideboard cards are all just swing cards to help stabilize. Do your best to keep things under control and pressure on them and work towards ending the game sooner than later.
Creativity
Out 3 icefang coatl 1Fury 1 Omanth 2 counterspell
In 1 Boseiju 2 dress down 2 supreme verdict 1 Elesh Norn 1 Veil of Summer
They have a fairly strong long game with the ability to quickly close the game out with and early archon. Typically in this matchup you want to slowly establish board dominance in some way. We are often wanting to establish something like Wrenn and Six or Teferi and protect it. These cards will help force them to do something sooner than later. As an archon ETB’ing is bad but often not the end of the world. Especially if we got decent value out of these cards. The matchup is favored if we make it to the super late game. Cards like Elesh Norn can invalidate half an archon giving you a chance to answer it before it gets value. If they quickly get an archon down it can be hard to come back from. Small note on binding in this matchup. Use it early on tokens if you have a teferi 3 as a way to reduce the number of targets they can have for creativity.
This deck has started exploding in popularity because it has such a good matchup versus us but its not unwinnable by any means.
Rakdos scam
Out 3 teferi time raveler 2 counterspell
In 1 Boseiju 2 supreme verdict 2 dress down
This matchup is fairly easy if they don't scam you. Your deck is built to fight fair value games. However if they double grief on the play you might get scammed that game. Same is true for the main deck blood moons. Ultimately your game plan beats their plan on a conceptual level. This is why we have seen the Rakdos scam deck succeeding recently. The Four Color decks have been at an all time low.
Tourach is the only card they have that presents a huge problem and we sideboard accordingly for that. They also only have two on average so not enough to consistently have it on turn four when its often its most powerful against us. You just want to make sure you're using your white removal before Tourach so you are not caught with them in hand and it in play.
Rhino
Out 1 Elesh Norn 3 Ice fang coatl 1 Wrenn and Six 1 Express Iteration 1 prismatic ending
In 1 Boseiju 2 Supreme Verdict 2 FlusterStorm 2 Chalice
This is a fairly good match up. Your opponent really needs to have a draw that puts pressure on you early and back it up with permission. Generally speaking your main game plan is good enough in this match up. Protect Omnath and play around the Blood Moon post board. They sometimes can steal games but for the most part you are a favorite.
Mirror
Out 3 Ice-Fang Coatl 2 Counterspell 1 Leyline Binding
In 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 2 Supreme Verdict 2 dress down
It's all about two things in this mirror. Card advantage and mana advantage. As such Wrenn and SIx and Omnath are two key cards in the match up. Keeping these in check is priority one when playing.The rest of the mirror comes down to making good trades and attacks and setting up Elesh Norn. It's a card that invalidates so many cards on the opponent and can only really be answered by verdict and Prismatic Ending. After that the matchup comes down to making solid trades like a traditional game of magic. Don't be afraid to take the role of the beatdown if you start falling really far behind on cards. You do have a better late game thanks to Witness, but that doesnt mean you should just make the game go long if you can capitalize on them being behind on board.
You bring in the Supreme Verdict so that if you are behind on board you're able to catch up and answer cards like Elesh Norn. We are also playing our second Elesh Norn to make sure to tax our opponents' removal. Elesh Norn is very impactful in the mirror so I want to play around resolving her. Leyline Binding is a big part of the mirror and works well with your own Elesh Norns but is weak against them. I am choosing to sideboard out a singular copy and bring in my second Boseiju as a way to answer opposing Leyline Bindings. Do not forget that you can use Dress Down in combination with a Leyline Binding to answer an Elesh Norn
Elementals
Out 3 Counterspell 3 Ice-Fang Coatl
In 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 2 Supreme Verdict 2 dress down
A lot of the same stuff from the mirror applies here with one caveat. They are the bigger version of your deck, but they need cards like Risen Reef to actually out card you. So make sure you're keeping that card in check as best you can. Elesh Norn does a lot to help swing this matchup.
Amulet
Out 2 ice fang coatl 2 teferi time raveler
In 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 2 dress down
This is a bad match up. Not unwinnable but they are favored especially game one. They are fast and consistent and have ways to dodge some of our most impactful hate cards.
They win by chaining threats against you thanks to pact plus Tolaria West. This is a spot where Chalice of the void can cause some problems. We can Chalice on zero and stop summoner's pact. They can Boseiju it but it is often a great way to buy four to five turns in the mid game and in the early game save you a turn or two. Boseju and force of vigor is a good way to stop any sort of quick kill shenanigans.Things to keep in mind with it are you will be able to blow up a bounce land with untap on the stack from the amulet, you also can blow up and amulet or dryad. I try to save dress downs for cultivator colossus if I can afford to but don't be too committed to that line if it means you will fall really far behind.
Another spot where Elesh Norn shines. If Elesh is on the board all their cards do not trigger including Valakut. Meaning their deck sort of falls apart.
Yawgmoth
Out 3 icefang coatl 1 teferi time raveler 1 Elesh Norn
In 2 Supreme Verdict 3 Endurance
This is one of our better matchups. They are trying to protect and get Yawgmoth down with other pieces to start the combo. We have plenty of exiling effects for the undying creatures.
There are two real ways you can pick this deck apart. First is to aggressively prevent Yawgmoth from coming down and then use Omanth to stabilize your life total. The other is to aggressively go after the undying creatures early so they have to expose an early Yawgmoth that doesn’t have any material to get the ball going.
Don’t be super greedy with your verdicts. It’s important to just keep them on low resources so you don’t have to respect the combo without them slowly rolling a lot of it. Which you can often break up if they sandbag it for too long. Your Endurance is a good way to stop combo but also if you have extras don’t be afraid to make plays like minus on a young wolf with Wrenn and then endurance with undying on the stack. Keeping them off undying creatures is very important.
Burn
Out 1 Elesh Norn 2 Wrenn and Six 2 expressive iteration
In 1 Boseiju 2 flusterstorm 2 chalice of the void
This is a tough matchup for us. All the Burn players think it’s really bad for them and it’s honestly not so bad. The biggest buff from losing Yorrion is you can now mulligan for Omanth more aggressively versus Burn. Games often come down to Omanth post board. Trade off early and try and stabilize for a Omanth and fetchland turn. The game often comes down to you mulliganing to Omnath or Chalice
They often sideboard a ton of cards. Rolling vortex are the most scary, so keep that card in mind. It’s why we have Boseiju, but that can also cover and eidolon.
Combo Breach
Out 4 teferi time raveler 3 prismatic ending
In 1 Elesh Norn 3 Endurance 2 Chalice of the void 1 Boseiju
This is a fairly tough match up. When they have a fair draw you're often able to overcome them. However when they have the combo half of the deck it is much harder but not impossible to stop their combo. Elesh Norn is a big problem for them in executing the combo.
The problem comes when they have a mixture of both draws. This duel competing axis of attack is how we fall behind and lose this matchup. When they are making constructs and we can't full tap out to answer them due to the combo we start falling further and further behind.
To win this match up work on establishing something early like Omnath or Elesh Norn to pressure them and mitigate their fair or combo draw respectively.
All our sideboard cards can be beaten by them, no plan is foolproof versus them if they have enough time. This is why establishing some sort of clock is so important so you do not give them infinite time to work through your hate pieces.
Endurance often won’t fully stop the combo if they have a second zero mana artifact but it can buy you a turn in some spots or turn off unholy heat.It is also a good way to stop an Emry.
Fair Breach
Out 4 counterspell 1 Elesh Norn 1 Fury
In 3 Endruance 2 Chalice 1 Boseiju
Unlike the combo deck this matchup is actually one of the better ones. While they are able to play more real games and don’t fold to cards like Elesh Norn nearly as hard. They struggle a lot more versus both Chalice, on one, and Endurance. They are trying to be a more efficient, more proactive Murktide deck. However they lack the card we struggle most with in actual Murktide. They are more efficient on mana but we are the stronger deck when it comes to card quality
