As of the writing of this article the next Standard banned announcement is only days away, and with it will bring the ban (most likely) of Vivi Ornitier. Vivi decks have been the scourge of Standard, ever since the major bannings a few months ago, with eleven of the top 16 decks being Vivi Cauldron. This has put a serious constraint on Standard, as events are firing with way less people than usual. I have also checked out a bit on the Standard front, but with November 10th around the corner, I can't help but feel just a little excited.

Four-Color Control | 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 Inevitable Defeat
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 No More Lies

• 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 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 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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A few weeks ago I participated in my third competitive Standard event of the entire season, piloting Four-Color Control to a win! Honestly a lot of things just went right for me in that tournament. Not to discount my own skill, I do think I played well and had a good decklist, but the event was only 16 people, only one person played Vivi Cauldron, and I did get a scoop in the finals. I did end up beating Vivi to make top 4 of that event, but the games felt decided in part by my opponent not drawing Quantum Riddlers, arguably the best card in the matchup.

Funnily enough, I ended up playing an RCQ the weekend after, mainly to try and block for a friend that wasn't qualified, and promptly went 0-2 with the exact same list I won with the weekend prior. I did end up losing to Vivi, and yes, they did draw multiple Quantum Riddlers. Ultima was not enough, even in a game where I wiped away an Agatha's Soul Cauldron. I also lost promptly to Sultai Reanimator, which is a pretty terrible matchup. With Cavern of Souls, Superior Spider-Man can wreak havoc, and I lost promptly to not drawing a Rest in Peace.

With Standard about to change with Vivi's banning, and the release of the Avatar Universes Beyond set, I have some thoughts about Four-Color and Standard as a whole, moving forward. Here are a couple changes I'd make to my deck in preparation for the turning of the tides.

More Efficient Spot Removal

From playing both RCQs, one aspect about Four-Color Control I noticed is the lack of good, cheap spot removal. While you do have really powerful late-game cards like Jeskai Revelation and Inevitable Defeat to clean up permanents, Lightning Helix and Get Lost don't always get the job done. This is mostly in consideration for Dimir Midrange, which I think could see a huge resurgence come the next ban announcement.

The card I want the most is Shoot the Sheriff, although I'd settle for Long Goodbye. Too often has Get Lost given my opponents too much value, and I feel like I use the card the majority of the time to destroy a creature. I also feel like I have a lot of turns where I have four-mana and no Inevitable Defeat, and want to hold up No More Lies while also having a solid removal spell to play. On turn six I also noticed I cast a kicked Consult the Star Charts a lot, and really wish I could also kill something on the same turn.

While Lightning Helix is a must-have against Red decks, as it offsets the amount of damage you take from your own lands while also giving you access to more burn spells to kill your opponent, it doesn't always get the job done. Shoot the Sheriff is definitely efficient, but it doesn't kill cards like Slickshot Show-Off, and more importantly, Soulstone Sanctuary. This is why I actually really like Long Goodbye in this slot, as it kills both of those creatures as well as other creature lands. Long Goodbye killing a Soulstone Sanctuary while your opponent has a Kaito, Bane of Nightmares emblem in play does the job where Lightning Helix can't, so I think I would potentially cut down on some counter magic or Get Losts for this space.

Switching Out Ultima for Day of Judgment

I like Ultima and Day of Judgment for different reasons. Once Vivi is banned I think Izzet decks will move away from Agatha's Soul Cauldron, meaning Ultima's ability to destroy artifacts gets a little less valuable. Ultima does have some important uses still, especially if Dimir becomes more popular. Ultima can fully destroy Enduring Curiosity, but with access to Inevitable Defeat already I guess this isn't as meaningful.

If you move back to Day of Judgment you get a faster way to interact with aggressive strategies. You don't necessarily need a lot of wrath-effects in this deck to begin with since you have so much removal, but they do help you keep pace with your opponent by getting two-for one advantages here and there.

While you have a lot of 4-drops already I think your artifacts also get better, as they won't be in the way of Ultima. I've considered swapping from Pyromancer's Goggles to Cursed Recording. I actually made a costly error in my last RCQ, as I thought Pyromancer's Goggles copied any Instant or Sorcery, not Red ones. I felt pretty embarrassed when I tried to set up a double Get Lost, only to realize I could not in fact, do that. While Goggles is easier to cast and sets up Jeskai Revelation faster, I do like Cursed Recording copying just anything you want. You also never really have to worry about taking 20 damage from recording, as you gain so much life naturally and can bounce it back to your hand with a copied Jeskai Revelation.

Ultimately (pun intended) I think we'll have to see how the meta shakes up with the bans and the Avatar set. Ultima does fit in better with the mana curve of the deck, but I do like Day of Judgment if the format is a little faster, or you want to cast it on turns where you want to also have countermagic backup.

Having More Answers to Combo Decks

With Vivi's banning I think it will be interesting to see where Standard lands. I've been keeping an eye on decks that are still doing well, despite Vivi's dominance, and I'm curious how these decks will fare with the Izzet menace being gone for good. Like I mentioned earlier, I got thrashed by Sultai Reanimator in my last RCQ.

Sultai Reanimator | Standard | Meninooney, Standard Challenge 32 10/30/2025/1st

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
• 1 Radioactive Spider
• 1 Terror of the Peaks
• 2 Marang River Regent
• 2 Steamcore Scholar
• 3 Ardyn, the Usurper
• 4 Bringer of the Last Gift
• 4 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 4 Superior Spider-Man
• 4 Town Greeter

• Instants (3)
• 3 Bitter Triumph

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Esper Origins

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Awaken the Honored Dead

• Lands (23)
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Undercity Sewers
• 1 Underground Mortuary
• 2 Blooming Marsh
• 2 Wastewood Verge
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Annul
• 3 Duress
• 2 Harvester of Misery
• 2 Heritage Reclamation
• 2 Malicious Eclipse
• 1 Myojin of Night's Reach
• 1 Soul-Guide Lantern
• 2 Strategic Betrayal
• 1 Mister Negative

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I felt like I had just no answers for what my opponent was doing during the match, and that I was too slow to really take advantage of any situations. I think ultimately I'd have to consider more copies of Rest in Peace, two to three, for this matchup alone. However, this deck also can attack you with hand disruption post-board, so I might also consider more copies of Negate in the sideboard, potentially one in the main.

Funny enough, I think Authority of the Consuls is actually not the worst in this matchup. Authority doesn't always solve all your problems against Red either, but against reanimator you can stop your opponent from OTK'ing you with Craterhoof Behemoth, and shut them down by casting a Day of Judgment on the following turn. In the decklist above, however, this might not be as impressive against the Terror of the Peaks versions.

I also think you could move up to a few copies of The End, which not only deals with Superior Spider-Man but has applications in other matchups. While Vivi will most certainly get banned, I think the shell of the Izzet Cauldron deck is still incredibly strong, with Winternight Stories and Proft's Eidetic Memory. The card that punishes me the most in the matchup is always Quantum Riddler, as it seems to always snowball too fast for me to catch up with. The End would be a great answer here, taking out a key threat which is how these decks can claw back into a game.

While I don't know how Standard will adapt to the departure of its most prominent deck, we can still get an idea of what strategies will be popular in the next RCQ season. Control strategies are my favorite decks to play at these types of events due to how flexible you can be in the deck's numbers. You can always adapt your answers to the given environment - which was the big jump I made from playing Azorius Control earlier in the season to Four-Color.

I'm excited for a new Standard environment without sighing every time I pair in to Vivi. I can't wait to see what the future brings...

-Roman Fusco