Cromat Control

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the format, just recently learned about it, but I've been a Vintage player for many years and played some Legacy too in recent times.

I happened to like the Commander format quite a lot, and decided to build up a 4/5 colours control deck, my favourite archetype since the old The Deck / Keeper.

The deck is aimed at 1v1 mainly, not much interested in multiplayer.

I've choosen my general based on the idea of playing 4/5 colors (red being the one almost completely avoided for lack of good cards), and I took Cromat as it is a much better finisher and control element compared to the other options, even compared to Child of Alara, who is just a sweeper and not a decent finisher. Cromat in particular:

- Flies, blocking flyers and avoiding blocking ground armies
- Destroy creatures he combats against even before damage are assigned
- Regenerates, avoiding many spot and mass removals
- Can pump itself to a 3 turn clock
- Can unsummon itself to the library to avoid a more expensive recast or tricky removals like Faiths Fetters, Condemn or Control Magic

..but anyway, it's not vital, as he's just a possible way to win the game, not the main one.

After a lot of refinements, I've tinkered this list:
//GENERAL: 1
//MANA: 35+11=46
//COUNTER: 12
//MASS REMOVAL: 7
//SPOT REMOVAL: 6
//DRAW: 7
//MANIPULATION: 2
//TUTOR: 4
//RECYCLE: 4
//CREATURES: 4
//CONTROL: 7

//TOTAL: 100

// GENERAL
1 Cromat

//LANDS: 35

// BASIC LANDS: 6
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains

// FOREST/ISLAND
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest

// FOREST 8
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Taiga

1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills

// ISLAND 8
1 Tundra
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Volcanic Island

1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn

// RAINBOW 4
1 City of Brass
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rupture Spire
1 Grand Coliseum

// UTILITY 6
1 Kor Haven
1 Academy Ruins
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Kher Keep

// MANA RAMP: 8 + 3 = 11
1 Sol Ring
1 [DDE] Coalition Relic
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Reflection
1 [PTR] Mirari's Wake

1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Skyshroud Claim

// COUNTERS: 12

//CC < 3
1 Force of Will
1 Mana Drain
1 Counterspell

//CC 3
1 Forbid
1 Voidslime
1 Hinder
1 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Dissipate

//CC 4
1 Cryptic Command
1 Mystic Snake
1 Mindbreak Trap

//CC > 4
1 Draining Whelk

// MASS REMOVAL: 7
1 Damnation
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment

1 Hallowed Burial

1 Austere Command
1 Akroma's Vengeance

1 Oblivion Stone

// SPOT REMOVALS: 6
1 Condemn

1 Mortify
1 Putrefy
1 Bant Charm
1 [ARB] Maelstrom Pulse
1 [JGC] Vindicate

// DRAW: 7
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Opportunity
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Mind's Eye
1 Future Sight

// MANIPULATION: 2
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sylvan Library

// TUTOR: 4
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor

// RECYCLE: 4
1 Eternal Witness
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Yawgmoth's Will

// CREATURES: 4
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Ethersworn Adjudicator
1 Memnarch
1 Steel Hellkite

// CONTROL: 8
1 Spitting Image
1 The Abyss
1 Maze of Ith
1 [ARB] Identity Crisis
1 Spirit of Resistance
1 Declaration of Naught
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Wurmcoil Engine
SB: 1 Moat
SB: 1 Debtors' Knell
SB: 1 Sacred Ground
SB: 1 Story Circle
SB: 1 Karmic Justice
SB: 1 Harmonic Convergence
SB: 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria

The main idea is having a deck with very few creatures, to gain virtual card advantage from the useless removals my opponents almost certainly run. The few creatures I run must follow these rules:

1 - being a general utility trick (the body is just a plus): Mystic Snake, Draining Whelk, Eternal Witness

2 - having a good body to be able to play the role of finisher, but at the same time having some powerful abilities that (as long as they are protected by counterspells), can let them control the board and win on their own. This role is perfectly accomplished by creatures such as Tyrant, Memnarch, Ethersworn Adjudicator and (partially) Steel Hellkite (which is less of a winner but it's still a very strong control element)

3 - possibily being immunte to the Abyss, which I like to tutor for quite often (most are artifacts, Tyrant can bounce Abyss on its own)

4 - (VERY IMPORTANT): not just being a huge beatstick. They MUST fullfill a control role. The deck doesn't want a single card that it's just a win condition and nothing else, even worst if it's not a devastating win condition at that.

I'll then make a brieft description of the various sections:

MANA
The mana base has been tested a lot and proves to be incredibly strong for a 4/5 color deck. The land were choosen with blue as the main color, green the secondary one (as it has ramp cards to fetch other colors as well), and white and black as tertiary colours. Red is just a splash for the general and 1-2 cards. An handful of rainbow cards strengthen the colour availability and some basics can even protect against blood moon / dust bowl effects.

The mana ramp is provided by a fair big amount of acceleration in the form of green land-fetchers and mana artifact, plus two doubler enchantments which really power boost the deck when they hit the battlefield. Only green mana ramp that provides card advantage was included.

There is also and handful of useful toolbox lands, mostly things to slow down aggro and recur strong cards from the graveyard.

COUNTERS
They used to be more, but I had to cut some of them, especially the higher cc ones, like Spelljack, Desertion and Overwhelming Intellect. It was almost impossible otherwise to be able to do something useful in the main phase and still be open for counterspells

MASS REMOVAL
As for counterspells, the average cc was lowered a LOT compared to the first deck lists, as it's important to be able to survive the early game and make it to the late game where the deck can achieve control.

SPOT REMOVAL
versatility was preferred, so most spot removals can achieve multiple roles. Sword to Ploughshares is constantly going in/out in place of Mortify, still not sure which is best (I just happen to fear indestructible creatures a bit too much).

DRAW
Since we want to be able to stay open for counterspell, any sorcery-speed draw spell was immediately scrapped. Just Future Sight and Mind's Eye are kept cause of their incredible power.

MANIPULATION
This section was quite bigger in the first version, but I was convinced that little manipulation effects are not so fundamental in EDH compared to Vintage, so cards like Brainstorm and Impulse were taken out in favour of continuous effects like Sensei and Sylvan Library. Scroll Rack would be the next addiction, but I find no space available at the moment.

TUTOR
We need cheap and powerful tutors to get what we need, as this deck is a deck aiming for answer to the opponent's cards, first of all. Imperial Seal and Personal Tutor are next in line if more space was available.

RECYCLE
Volrath and Ruins are among the land count, but they truly belong here, together with the rest. Witness was chosen against Regrowth for being a chumpblocker, a target for ruins and a reusable regrowth with Tyrant in play. Holistic is a total powerhouse and an instant regrowth effect which seals the match in late game if we have enough mana and cards in hand.

CREATURES
I think I've said enough about this in the deck aims above: no beatsticks, only game-swinging control-oriented bombs, which may also happen to play the role of blockers if may be helpful.

CONTROL
These are additional cards aimed to improve the way we can control our opponent. Identity Crisis in particular fullfills the role of hand disruption and needed graveyard hate. Its casting cost has been quite troublesome sometimes, but its utter power and its nature which takes 2 slots earlier reserved to Mind Twist and Nihil Spellbomb (freeing 1 slot for something else) still makes me appreciate this card.

SIDEBOARD
Aimed mainly against armageddon effects and aggro, but most archetypes should be covered one way or the other.

CARDS THAT WERE REALLY CONSIDERED BUT SCRATCHED FOR ONE WAY OR THE OTHER
(Could add reasons if needed)

Mouth of Ronom
Prahv, Spires of Order
Mystifying Maze
Tolaria West
Spectral Searchlight
Fellwar Stone
Shard Convergence
Overwhelming Intellect
Pact of Negation
All Is Dust
Decree of Pain
Path to Exile
Phyrexian Arena
Meditate
Jace's Ingenuity
Maelstrom Nexus
Merchant Scroll
Recoup
All Suns' Dawn
Duplicant
Novablast Wurm
Lorthos, the Tidemaker
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Bringer of the Black Dawn
Bribery
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Forcefield
Icy Manipulator
Vedalken Shackles
Legacy Weapon
Liliana Vess
Treachery
Capsize

PLAY STYLE
Anyone of you who is familiar with how the old "The Deck" archetype used to run should get the idea: we aim to mana ramp the early game and control our opponent to avoid being overrun, either through counters and/or removals.

Cards like Maze of Ith and the like really help to force the opponent to play multiple creatures at once to be more of a threat against us, and at the same time making mass removals much more effective and card-advantageous.

We fight for card advantage, and try to establish control. Once that is achieved, we can win through several paths.

We also run a couple of combo wins, which help steal some wins when things may look grim, or to just speed up the inevitable and avoid some unexpected comeback.

COMBO WINS
There are a couple of combo wins and a good amount of combo interactions which really tips the scales:

- Tyrant + certain artifact mana (ring + grim monolith for example) let us bounce back our own artifact mana after tapping it, enabling a loop that provides us infinite mana. Together with a color-producing mana artifact, this infinite mana can also be infinite coloured mana. Mana Reflect makes more artifact able to trigger this combo.

- Grim Monolith + Mana Reflect: infinite colorless mana

Infinite mana can be used to win in multiple ways, like a huge draw spell into the opponent's face, a deadly Steell Hellkite attack, a deadly Cromat attack (if infinite mana is coloured), or just by powering us into a long flow of draws and spells. Eternal Witness with Tyrant can make wonderful use of infinite mana by chain casting it to draw your whole graveyard, cast all of the cards, and draw them again over and over.

- Tyrant + Spitting Image + some artifact mana: double Tyrant easily let us do some artifact bounce loop. Even if this loop does not provide infinite mana, or even if it costs some mana, it triggers the second Tyrant, letting use bounce the whole opponent's board

Regarding powerful interactions:

- Future Sight + Top: you may need some mana, but the interaction is sick

- Tyrant/Jace + Witness/Whelk/Snake: a way to easily reuse your CIP creatures

- Ruins + Oblivion Stone: just reset the field over and over as needed until you gain total control

- Crucible + Strip: dump, and a bit slow, but worth tutoring for in very early game if you get the chance

IN THE END...
I'm being quite satisfied with the deck results so far, but being so new to the format and not being totally sure of my opponent's ability, I'm certain many things can be improved. I hope my deck overview was detailed enough to let you understand the reasons behind certain choices, and entertaining enough to trigger some sparks of interest in you Wink