To be honest, I haven't been playing much competitive Magic. With the announcements of Universes Beyond and my affinity for drafting over the current Standard Vivi format, I've taken a step back from the RCQ system as of late. Even with Control decks doing well in the current format, I hadn't considered playing an RCQ this past weekend - that is, until my friend Nick Johnson sent me a message a few days beforehand:

As I've gotten older I've had to balance Magic out with work and other life responsibilities. I can't run back two RCQ-level events every weekend, as I did back in college (Flores can tell you about that). I had played two RCQ events earlier in the season, piloting two other Control decks - Dimir Mill and Azorius, and while I 0-2'd the first one, I lost in top 8 of the second, my only losses being to the same Izzet Vivi player in both the swiss and top 8. With Nick offering me both cards to borrow, a ride, and advice on how to play the deck, I was all but locked to play the RCQ - and luckily I ended up winning it!

Four-Color Control | SPM Standard | Roman Fusco, RCQ/1st

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Marang River Regent

• Instants (27)
• 1 Fire Magic
• 2 Get Lost
• 2 Mystical Teachings
• 3 Jeskai Revelation
• 3 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Consult the Star Charts
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 No More Lies
• 4 Inevitable Defeat

• Sorceries (4)
• 2 Stock Up
• 2 Ultima

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Pyromancer's Goggles

• Lands (27)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Meticulous Archive
• 1 Restless Anchorage
• 1 Undercity Sewers
• 1 Watery Grave
• 2 Gloomlake Verge
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 2 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Thundering Falls

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 1 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 2 Flashfreeze
• 1 Outrageous Robbery
• 1 Overlord of the Mistmoors
• 1 Nowhere to Run
• 1 Fire Magic
• 1 Rest in Peace
• 1 Negate
• 1 Herald of Eternal Dawn
• 1 Ral, Crackling Wit
• 1 Authority of the Consuls
• 1 Devout Decree

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Four-Color Control is an absolute blast to play. When this deck first hit the Standard format I was definitely critical and highly cautious of it. I felt like the deck felt too fragile, as you only have a few key ways to win in Jeskai Revelation and Marang River Regent, if your list even plays any. I was also skeptical of Pyromancer's Goggles, an innovation from fellow Cool Stuff contributor Ali Aintrazi, a card I hadn't seen since Brad Nelson's Gruul Ramp deck from 2016. However, playing through this event opened my eyes to the power level of this deck, and why it'll be my go-to Control strategy going forward for months to come.

With the event being a single slot at 16 players, it was crucial to win the first four rounds. I played against Esper Pixie in round one, and was impressed with how I was able to keep pace with otter tokens and Sunpearl Kirins with Lightning Helixes and Inevitable Defeats. I quickly noticed how even though the deck plays so many shocklands and you can face some early pressure, the compounding lifegain adds up. This kept me at pace with creature-centric Aggro and Midrange decks and is something that I probably wouldn't have experienced in just traditional Azorius Control, except by drawing Beza, the Bounding Spring. While Beza is certainly a nice point of lifegain in Azorius, it definitely isn't a permanent answer to the threats your opponent might have.

Jeskai Revelation and a hard cast Marang River Regent bought me my ticket to round two, where I faced another similar deck in Orzhov Ketramose Control. In Game 1 my opponent took a few mulligans and with so many dead cards like Nowhere to Run and Seam Rips, he pretty much instantly conceded. Game 2 went a bit longer, but I got to a point where I cast Outrageous Robbery for seven cards, and that was enough for my opponent to scoop it up.

Round three I played against Izzet Vivi, another matchup that felt way better with access to Lightning Helix and Inevitable Defeat, as I could remove practically any card my opponent put in play. With my opponent being more tech'd to beat aggro decks, I had free will to cast my Jeskai Revelations. This match ultimately came down to my opponent not hitting their Quantum Riddlers to draw back into the game, so I was able to keep pace with their card advantage easily.

Round four I defeated Dimir, in a close match though. I got overwhelmed by creature-lands in Game 1 (Inevitable Defeat does not solve that problem), but Devout Decree was an all-star at getting rid of Preacher of the Schism. This is a match where I'd actually be interested in another Overlord of the Mistmoors somewhere else in the 75, or maybe another exile spell to permanently remove Enduring Curiosity, but Inevitable Defeat again shined in this matchup.

I did make a pretty bad punt in this match. At one point I was able to Mystical Teachings for a Jeskai Revelation, and had the option of casting it on my turn with No More Lies backup. I ultimately waited too long on casting it, and got got by a Three Steps Ahead, with my opponent having enough mana to pay for my No More Lies. While I ultimately won this game just by full-casting an Overlord of the Mistmoors and copying it with my own Three Steps Ahead, I probably could've closed the game out faster by resolving Jeskai Revelation when I had the chance to.

Round five I scooped Nick into top four, and I was paired against Orzhov Pixie. Funny, that in a room that had a pretty diverse metagame, I played against three Orzhov-based Midrange decks. I assumed these players came prepared for the Vivi decks, but with only one Vivi player in the room it made for Four-Color Control to have some pretty easy targets.

The semifinals match went about as best as it could. While I faced early pressure from a Nurturting Pixie and Sunpearl Kirin that picked up a Tinybones Joins Up multiple times, I was able to land a Pyromancer's Goggles. I hadn't even touched this card since owning copies after Brad Nelson did well at Pro Tour Origins(?), so it was a nice throwback to chain this card into two Lightning Helixes to immediately take out my opponent's board, followed by copying Jeskai Revelation. In Game 2 I was able to keep pace and again resolved Outrageous Robbery for seven cards, eventually leading to my opponent's concession after I played his Cosmogrand Zenith into a Duress.

From the sidelines I watched Nick dispatch the Dimir opponent I played in the Swiss with chained Jeskai Revelations, and since he already had a qualification, I got the handshake in the finals - what a gentleman!

Overall Four-Color Control was a joy, and I learned a lot about not only the deck but how to pinpoint the correct Control deck to play in a given Standard format. I was worried this deck might have too many shocklands and not enough ways to win the game, but this deck actually felt smoother to play and ended games much faster than the traditional Azorius Control deck I've played over the last year. Again, props to Nick and Ali Aintrazi for the list!

While I've been a bit checked out of competitive MTG as of late, it was refreshing to once again play a local RCQ with a unique Control build, and take the event down in one fell swoop. I don't think I'll ever truly be out of MTG, and as long as there's a competitive Control deck (even somewhat viable at the local level) I can see myself trying to take down the occasional RCQ. Now that I'm qualified for the next two Regional Championships it's time to keep the ball rolling!

-Roman Fusco