Edge of Eternities has had a major impact on Standard, notwithstanding the preexisting archetypes that have stuck around, notably Dimir Midrange and Vivi Cauldron. Standard has seen a lot of changes recently, but the representation of Vivi Ornitier decks is giving players flashbacks to just a few months ago when Izzet Cori-Steel Cutter ran the format.

However, there still seems to be an interesting pull and push of yesterday's hotness versus new emerging archetypes. Edge of Eternities is a very powerful Standard set, and there's still much to be discovered.

As a Control mage, I've been keeping tabs and testing out various builds of the archetype. Recently, in a Standard Challenge where Vivi Cauldron was 6 out of the top 16 decks, Azorius Control emerged victorious (see below). This gives me hope that not only is Azorius Control still alive and kicking, but other reactive strategies have a place in Standard, too.

With Standard still so volatile, here are four different Control decks you can play right now!

Azorius Control | EOE Standard | Boydjw2, Standard Challenge 8/9/2025/1st

• Creatures (7)
• 1 Horned Loch-Whale
• 3 Marang River Regent
• 3 Overlord of the Mistmoors

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Elspeth, Storm Slayer

• Instants (13)
• 2 Consult the Star Charts
• 3 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Get Lost
• 4 No More Lies

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 4 Stock Up

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Seam Rip

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Pinnacle Starcage

• Lands (27)
• 6 Plains
• 6 Island
• 3 Restless Anchorage
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Fountainport
• 4 Meticulous Archive

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 1 Clarion Conqueror
• 1 Exorcise
• 1 Flashfreeze
• 2 Kutzil's Flanker
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Seam Rip
• 2 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 2 Voice of Victory

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Azorius Control is our baseline Standard. While Edge of Eternities had a plethora of different new cards viable in Control strategies, Azorius arguably got the best of the lot. This list kind of feels like the stock strategy. Without Jace, the Perfected Mind, you lean now more into the token strategy with Elspeth, Storm Slayer and Overlord of the Mistmoors.

You're able to deal with the threats from Vivi decks pretty well, with Seam Rip, wraths, and Pinnacle Starcage. I also like Voice of Victory post-board for the mirror match consideration, and I don't think it's actually terrible against Dimir Midrange. Speaking of, this deck's worst matchup probably has to be Dimir, based on the fact how hard to deal with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is. I would consider a copy or two of Emergency Eject for this reason.

Moving on, this is the deck I would play if you're actively looking to beat Azorius Control:

Dimir Mill Control | EOE Standard | Roman Fusco

• Creatures (6)
• 1 Horned Loch-Whale
• 2 Scavenger Regent
• 3 Marang River Regent

• Instants (17)
• 1 Negate
• 1 Bitter Triumph
• 2 Caustic Exhale
• 2 Long Goodbye
• 2 Shoot the Sheriff
• 2 Three Steps Ahead
• 3 Dispelling Exhale
• 4 Consult the Star Charts

• Sorceries (9)
• 2 Singularity Rupture
• 3 Deadly Cover-Up
• 4 Stock Up

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Riverchurn Monument

• Lands (26)
• 4 Island
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Fountainport
• 1 Jidoor, Aristocratic Capital
• 2 Mistrise Village
• 2 Demolition Field
• 2 Restless Reef
• 2 Undercity Sewers
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Annul
• 2 Nowhere to Run
• 1 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 1 Malicious Eclipse
• 2 Oildeep Gearhulk
• 3 Duress
• 1 Intimidation Tactics
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 1 Negate
• 1 Qarsi Revenant

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Next up is Dimir Mill. I took this list from a Japanese event that I can no longer find, but I made some adjustments to the list, most notably the dragon package. The goal of this deck is to manage your opponent's board carefully before hitting them with the combo of Singularity Rupture into a lethal Riverchurn Monument.

This list runs a few too many tap lands for my liking, but I do like how great your Control mirror matches are just based on Mistrise Village making your Singularity Ruptures un-counterable. I'm also tempted to try a copy or two of Bandit's Haul to ramp faster into your wraths, as it also can be a source of card advantage.

I chose to include the dragon package here for a few key reasons. I was looking for the best two-mana counterspell in Standard, and while Phantom Interference and Don't Make a Sound seemed okay, ultimately I wanted a two-mana Convolute in the form of Dispelling Exhale.

Post-board I like the Oildeep Gearhulk package. I feel like most opponents will cut their removal, so landing this guy into play against Aggro will help you hold down the fort and buy back some life while you use Stock Up and Consult the Star Charts to get back into the game.

Overall, I like this list and its potential to kill with a two-card combo, perhaps a spiritual successor to my Jace, the Perfected Mind decks of yesterday. However, I do think the removal suite is at times a bit narrow, and the wraths are a turn too slow.

Sultai Dragon Control | EOE Standard | Roman Fusco

• Creatures (8)
• 2 Bloomvine Regent
• 2 Disruptive Stormbrood
• 2 Scavenger Regent
• 2 Marang River Regent

• Instants (10)
• 2 Caustic Exhale
• 2 Shoot the Sheriff
• 2 Urgent Necropsy
• 4 Rakshasa's Bargain

• Sorceries (9)
• 2 Singularity Rupture
• 3 Deadly Cover-Up
• 4 Esper Origins // Summon: Esper Maduin

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Virtue of Persistence
• 4 Awaken the Honored Dead

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Ancient Cornucopia

• Lands (24)
• 5 Forest
• 1 Island
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Underground Mortuary
• 3 Wastewood Verge
• 3 Willowrush Verge
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Duress
• 1 Intimidation Tactics
• 2 Negate
• 2 Riverchurn Monument
• 2 Nowhere to Run
• 2 Heritage Reclamation
• 1 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 1 Malicious Eclipse
• 1 Hostile Investigator

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This is a list I've been iterating on, and one I've had in my back pocket for quite awhile. This list is pretty similar to the Dimir one in spirit, as both just aim to close out the game with Singularity Rupture. However, this deck is a bit more flexible in its removal suite in addition to alternate ways of winning the game. It can also cast wraths a turn earlier with its various ramp spells.

There's a few key reasons why I like this list over Dimir. The big reason is that this deck can gain an insane amount of life with the power of Ancient Cornucopia. With just one in play you can gain 3 life off every Awaken the Honored Dead and Rakshasa's Bargain, and it can quickly snowball if you have a second Cornucopia in play. You can also chain lifegain from Esper Origins and Bloomvine Regent.

Speaking of Esper Origins, this is one of my favorite decks I've played it in. Esper Origins finds its way into your graveyard pretty naturally, by milling it off Bargain or Awaken, or discarding it to Marang River Regent. The lifegain as well as the card draw and extra mana can help you double spell in turns like casting a wrath into an additional value spell.

I do think this deck is a bit slow to set up, but you can fight back pretty hard against Duress and other early interaction. I mostly like this list because of the lifegain, dragon package, and having a lot of versatile answers, especially to Artifacts and Enchantments. Standard is full of so many random decks right now, so having access to a card like Awaken the Honored Dead is something I'm all about. I will say this deck is dying for Overgrown Tomb, but I'll settle for Watery Grave and Breeding Pool right now.

Boros Tokens Control | EOE Standard | Mike Flores

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Twinmaw Stormbrood
• 2 Overlord of the Mistmoors
• 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 4 Enduring Innocence

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Elspeth, Storm Slayer

• Instants (9)
• 2 Ride's End
• 3 Lightning Helix
• 4 Get Lost

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Ultima

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Seam Rip
• 4 Caretaker's Talent

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Carrot Cake

• Lands (25)
• 4 Plains
• 1 Cori Mountain Monastery
• 4 Demolition Field
• 4 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Fountainport
• 4 Sunbillow Verge
• 4 Sunken Citadel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Feldon's Cane
• 1 Seam Rip
• 4 Soul-Guide Lantern
• 2 High Noon
• 2 Abrade
• 3 Mazemind Tome
• 1 Ultima

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Technically speaking, I don't know if I would categorize this one as a Control deck, but Flores-Sensei called me the other day raving about it (and it has Ultima), so I guess I'll include it. While this is more of a Midrange deck, similar to the Mono-White Tokens deck of last Standard, this one is built a bit differently.

The major difference between this deck and the one from last Standard is the land package this deck offers. This is a full-on Sunken Citadel deck. It can gain card advantage and produce threats in the form of Cori Mountain Monastery and Fountainport. I actually really like Cori Mountain Monastery in a non-Blue deck like this, as you tap out for all of your threats - I can't tell you how many times I flipped over a Three Steps Ahead or a Dispelling Exhale playing Jeskai Control with this card.

You also get to Demolition Field for "one" mana with Sunken Citadel, letting you attack your opponent's mana base more aggressively than you could in other decks with no Citadel.

While Vivi Ornitier continues to be a menace on the format, Standard is more diverse than people give it credit for. Truth be told, I was able to top 36 a 1350 person regional championship with a Control deck during the reign of a different Izzet deck, so why is now so different?

While I would expect a whole lot of Vivi at an RC, the fact of the matter is you're just not going to see that much of it at a local RCQ. I think at the local level you can game the system much more easily, and totally trounce people with one of the decks listed above if your local meta isn't expecting it. The last Standard I qualified in an event where Golgari Phyrexian Obliterator wiped the floor with a room of Mono-Red, up until it came face to face with its worst matchup in my Azorius Control deck in the finals.

Control decks, if built and played well, are always a standout choice for your local RCQ meta in my opinion. Things get a little trickier at the regional level, but if you're a Control mage like myself or if you're interested in trying the archetype, there are a multitude of decks in Standard to try your hand at.

Until next time,

Roman Fusco