I have always been a fan of control decks, and more specifically, the 4C Control archetype. Sadly, 4C Control no longer has the power that it once had. It cannot clear Welders off the board fast enough, it cannot hold off Mindslavers, and it cannot win the counter-war with Oath. This led me to wonder - What changes can I make so that I can play it again? The result was Chalice EBA. In the hands of a good player, this deck has a huge amount of potential.
Chalice EBA
2 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Damping Matrix
4 Duress
4 Brainstorm
3 Skeletal Scying
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Exalted Angel
1 Decree of Justice
1 Darksteel Colossus
--Total=60
Traditional EBA runs Ophidian for card draw, and Meddling Mage to stop threats such as Welders, TfK, or Tendrils. However, in real life, Meddling Mages can be worked around by a good player, and Ophidian stops being effective as soon as your opponent plays a creature or two. In the past, the format was slow enough for these to work, but now, new solutions are needed. I found these in Chalice of the Void and Skeletal Scrying. And they work. Well.
I considered two main points when I started designing the land base. First of all, I realized that everyone is running basics, and everyone is running Wastelands. The result? We will run basics and NO strip effects. This deck is too aggro to worry about wasting land drops on Wastes. Sometimes you might miss them, but overall, it shouldn't be a big problem. The only land that will be a problem is Workshop, but you have Mana Drain for that. I believe that 5 fetches is key. They are the reason we can run only 4 duals.
As with any control deck, the next most important component is the selection of counters. This deck runs 12 - Forces, Drains, and Duress. In my opinion, Duress is like a 1cc counterspell - You will either bait a counter, take a counter, or negate vital cards, which is why it acts as a counter. If you play agressively, you can out-counter Control Slaver and stall Oath long enough to lock them down. Select what you counter carefully, but don't hesitate too much. Even if the spell you are countering may not be an immediate threat, it provides such a tempo increase for you that it is worth it. It is a lot easier to pay for an Angel when you are using your opponents' mana!
So far, so good, but we still need to draw cards! Brainstorm is vital, although it is not played the same in Chalice EBA as in other decks. In other decks, you will often play it at the end of your opponenents' turn. In this deck, you will find yourself playing it during your turn a lot more often. It is like your counter-tutor. It can get you a Force to survive your opponent's turn. On the other hand, Skeletal Scrying will help you in the mid to late game. Sink Mana Drain mana into this when necessary - It's like drawing cards in exchange for burning. Don't think that Scrying for 2 is a waste. It's what you should be doing most of the time (and definitely NOT during your turn).
The 1-of's in this deck are fairly typical. Your win conditions include Exalted Angels and a single Decree, which you will usually cycle. The only point I want to make is that Tinker for Colossus IS your friend. As long as there is no danger of Welding action, you will win this way. Some people seem to dislike this combo for said reason, but if you are playing right, there will be no active Welders. This brings me to my final and most important point.
The real reason this deck can win is because of two cards: Chalice and Damping Matrix. Matrix stops many cards dead cold, including Welder and Mindslaver, possibly the two biggest threats in the metagame today. If you can resolve one against a Workshop deck, you should be able to rock it. Chalices are equally as good. You obviously don't want to screw yourself with a badly-timed Chalice for 1 (you will lose StP, Brainstorm, Duress, and others), but if you can resolve a win condition without using these 1cc cards, then shut down 1cc spells. It is BRUTAL for your opponent. Combo is your best matchup. Just Chalice for 0, 1, and 2, and beat at your leisure. When playing other decks, rely on experience to know what to Chalice for. It's your biggest, baddest weapon. Use it.
In this deck, you could run a standard old sideboard, but you should not. You should run an Oath transformational SB. This is what you will do:
-3 Exalted Angel
-1 Darksteel Colossus
-2 Plains
-2 Damping Matrix
-3 Skeletal Scrying
-1 Mind Twist
-1 DoJ
-1 Chalice
-1 Tinker
+4 Oath of Druids
+4 Forbidden Orchard
+2 Tropical Island
+1 Akroma
+1 Spirit of the Night
+1 Gaea's Blessing
+2 Intuition
The result will be a very solid Oath deck. In addition, when you are in Oath mode, you can safely Chalice for 0 and 1 if necessary. If you get anywhere near a decent draw, you should Oath turn 3 or 4.
Overall, I believe that this deck has a lot of untapped potential.. So to speak. I think an experienced player should be able to run over a lot of the competition with it. So I encourage you all to give feedback, and test it out. You just might be surprised at what EBA can do.
