The Gorilla Shamans were always a definite no-go, since last tournament I almost never used them, and F/I sounds like it would work in this place.
Essentially, I'm feeling more confident about the 4 Angel plan after the last few hours of playtesting, because I have begun to gain a feel for when to change roles. The epiphany came when I equated magic to longsword fencing in the German tradition, which I am currently studying.

When the swords meet, they "bind", and it is the swordsman's job to feel how strongly or weakly that they fight the bind. If they oppose strongly, then you must not oppose them with strength. You should deflect and change attack angles. If they oppose weakly, you should move to a killing thrust, stifling any counterattack as you drive inside their guard.

In magic terms, the game itself is the bind, and you must feel how strongly they are pressing you. If they press weakly, go for the kill, ensuring that you stifle any counterattacks. If they press strongly, deflect their assaults until you can change the attack angle and drive them off center (destroying their creatures, depleting their hand, etc), regaining the initiative.

I don't know if I would use Misdirection, simply because I'm not sure if I can support so many pitch counters without emptying my hand in the early game. Chill was an option I had considered, but it seemed overly specific. So far, this is my decklist, in case you were wondering and wished to comment:

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Mind Twist
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Skeletal Scrying
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Cunning Wish
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fire/Ice
1 Balance
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
4 Exalted Angel
1 Decree of Justice

5 SoMox (no Lotus yet)
4 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
2 City of Brass
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

SB
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Disenchant
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Skeletal Scrying
2 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Flametongue Kavu
1 Plagiarize (this just seems really pricey)

I think that this setup provides the most flexible setup I've used thus far, allowing a smooth transfer from control to beatdown when the opportunity presents itself. My sideboard plan is in flux, though. Should Decree come out game 2 vs aggro, and are FTKs better to side in than BEBs? I would prefer not to side more than 5 cards, because I don't want to dilute the deck's basic strategy.

Kowal:

I have found as much so far, but this is only the case when I have the mana to cast and protect them. I'm specifically worried about burn. These guys may play some wild piles, but they have playskill developed in T2 and Extended. They prepare, obviously, to toast any creature that even appears important.

In my playtesting, I have so far had trouble getting to 2 blue early due to heavy land destruction and my inherent lack of topdecking skills (I happen to get a Wastelands in nearly every opening hand, and often get 2), so barring numerous opening Forces of Will, the fast Angel strategy seems iffy due to lack of protection, and my FTKs only put one hole at a time in the crimson wall.

AngryPheldagrif:

Ain't Old School the bomb?  

A Moat would be great, if I had access to one. Humility I have in spades, however, though its casting cost is a real bother. CoP: Red helps a great deal, and I have two in the side, though again, the crazy mana destruction (we're talking 4 Miners, 4 Shamans in every board and all five strips, possibly Crucible for the recursion) of my would-be killers helps them overrun it about half the time.

For starters, I have a tournament this Saturday, and the organizer is allowing Fifth Dawn to be included. My metagame can be summed up in one word. Sligh. Lots of Sligh. When I say Sligh, I mean tons and tons of red, sideboarding to hate anything blue and powered. This is unfortunate, because I play fully powered 4-color Control. As hilarious as it may sound, I achieved a 3rd place position at the last tournament that I attended by using an IsoKeeper build, and every game I won (9 out of 16, 3/4 of my opponents playing Sligh), was won by Sceptering an Orim’s Chant or Fire/Ice fetched with Cunning Wish.

I don’t think that this trick will work again, so I am seeking cunning stunts to thwart my opponent’s plans for red deck domination. However, I know I will still end up facing a couple of control and rogue aggro decks, so a strategy that is a little too narrow could cost me.

This leads me to the topic of the conversation. I have access to a number of possibly useful Fifth Dawn cards, and I am wondering what the community’s opinion is on their usefulness in 4cc. The reason I ask on behalf of 4cc is that I have played 4/5cc decks since I began playing Magic, and I think that I should stick to my strengths.

What are useful additions to the 4cc archetype with the arrival of 5th Dawn? My opinion is that there are 2 primary candidates for use. These are Crucible of Worlds, and Engineered Explosives.  I could be wrong, so here is my reasoning…

Crucible of World’s Properties:
1) Provides protection from land destruction
2) Provides color-fixing with fetchlands
3) Augments land-destruction capabilities
4) Costs 3 mana
5) Can be cast with Drain mana

The problem with Crucibe, as I see it, is that it may not be fast enough for my meta. Gorilla Shaman and Dwarven Miner dropped in the first three turns destroyed me in the semi-finals, and gave me no end of trouble throughout the tourney. These cards are in every sideboard that has red. My Wastelands and Shamans were largely useless, seeing as every deck I faced was either mono-colored or two-tone, and mostly unpowered. Unfortunately (?!), I am fully powered, and the hate flowed freely unto my old fogy self. Finally, I would probably rather cast an Angel, Scrying, or a Decree with my Drain mana.

Engineered Explosives’ Properties:
1) Wipes the slate by killing what needs to die
2) Comes online faster than Powder Keg, its nearest kin
3) Requires many colors to ensure utility
4) For my purposes, requires one and two colorless to cast
5) Cannot be functionally cast with Drain mana

The problems with Explosives include the minimum 3 casting cost, and colored mana requirement. Additionally, they do nothing for the most expensive stuff. They seem more viable that Crucible overall, however.

I’m playing Germbus, and seeking meta-specific tweeks to the net-build in order to shock and awe. Additionally, apart from the 5th dawn options, pretty much any idea would be welcome, both sideboard and maindeck. My opponents tend to be:

Goblin Sligh
FCG
Random Red Creature Sligh
Too-much Burn Sligh
Anything red with haste Sligh
Random Green Aggro
White Weenie/ Shadow creatures (Yeah, I thought WTF myself)
Cognivore/Oath decks
Stompy (How archaic…)
Unpowered Keeper
Suicide Black
Ravager Affinity
And other random T2/Extended decks with duals and older cards

As is Memory Jar.

(I don't wish to sound rude. I was confused about that section of this otherwise excellent article, and figure you probably made a typographical error, or mean something contrary to my interpretation.)