Four Color Control Sideboard Guide

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5446553#online




General Breakdown
Four color went on the decline with the banning of Yorrion back in the fall. Along with that the rise of Breach Combo, a bad matchup for us, lead to the perfect storm of this deck getting pushed to the fringes of the metagame. While players like respect the cat kept grinding away with the deck most moved off it. So why the sudden return?

Four color control is a deck that is trying to pick apart what your opponent is doing and then finish the game with a left over piece. This means your deck needs to have the exact right tools for the metagame. After the banning of Yorrion the meta was very in flux despite Hammer and Combo Breach being the only clear top dogs.

Since that time the metagame has had a decent amount of churn and we are in a spot where Combo Breach is no longer the talk of the town. While still a great deck it’s one players are adapting to. This shift has lead to an opening for four color control as a great deck again.

Most of the old match ups that were good before are good again. Hammer, Murktide, and Scam are all matchups you excel against and they are all large portions of the meta. The deck also got a new toy that really changes the game versus some of our more troublesome match ups.


Elesh Norn -
This card is the newest edition to the deck since the Yorrion banning. So what does Elesh Norn add besides amazing synergy with all our enter the battlefield triggers?

Well she completely solos a bunch of matchups while being close to impossible to kill. Decks like Amulet titan actually do not not function while she is in play. As even their Valakut game plan doesn't work against her. She is the trump in the mirror and pseudo mirror with elementals. While versus combo breach they cant actually use both Grinding Station or Thassa’s Oracle to win the game. All while hosing a wide variety of decks accidentally. She is just the ace card that Emurakul the Promised end always wanted to be but does not ask nearly as much of you in deck building. Her impact in all these matchups is also why you see her in the sideboard as a one of. I am choosing to play an actual copy of eldamri call because I expect players to actually kill the card and I want to be able to represent a Elesh Norn in those spots, instead of having flexibility. That is a choice of mine it will probably fluctuate with the meta and the way you build your sideboard.


Murktide
Out 1 Ephemerate 1 Elesh Norn 3 Counter Spell
In 2 Supreme Verdict  3 Endurance

This match up almost always comes down to the play pattern of Murktide plus counter spells. Often early with 4 mana, but they are able play into the latter game and often do this on six to seven mana. It's your job to be pressuring them so that they can not set up for murktide for forever. You also want to be saving your murktide answers for murktide, as it often takes two answers to actually win the game given the play pattern we mentioned above. The cards that are best at this are Icefang Coatl, Teferi 3, Leyline binding, Solitude and Supreme Verdict. So try and save these answers for the Murktide Regent. Sometimes other cards will line up well versus Murktide, but for the most part these are the cards you should prioritize protecting. When it comes to beating up murktide we have the three verdicts which completely trumps the dynamic presented of murk and counterspell.


Hammer
Out 3 Counter Spell 1 Elesh Norn 1 teferi time raveler
In 2 Dress Down 2 Force of vigor 1 boseiju

Historically this is one of our best match ups.  While still in your favor I think it's less so than it was before and does require you to really respect their plays. Moving away from lots of ephimerates and Fury really changes the dynamic of the matchup but still ultimately one you are favored in.

Our five sideboard cards all are just swing cards to help stabilize. Do your best to keep things under control and pressure on them and work towards ending the game sooner than later.

Creativity
Out 3 icefang coatl 1 lightning bolt 1 eternal witness 1 counterspell
In 1 Boseiju 2 dress down 2 supreme verdict 1 Elesh Norn

They have a fairly strong long game with the ability to quickly close the game out with and early archon. Typically in this matchup you want to slowly establish board dominance in some way. We are often wanting to establish something like Wrenn and Six or Teferi and protect it. These cards will help force them to do something sooner than later. As an archon ETB’ing is bad but often not the end of the world. Especially if we got decent value out of these cards. The matchup is favored if we make it to the super late game. Cards like Elesh Norn can invaladate half an archon giving you a chance to answer it before it gets value. If they quickly get an archon down it can be hard to come back from. Small note on binding in this matchup. Use it early on tokens if you have a teferi 3 as a way to reduce the number of targets they can have for creativity.

This deck has started exploding in popularity because it has such a good matchup versus us but its not unwinable by any means.

Rakdos scam
Out 1 ephimerate 2 teferi time raveler 1 counterspell
In 1 Boseiju 1 supreme verdict 2 dress down

This matchup is fairly easy if they dont scam you. Your deck is built to fight fair value games. However if they double grief on the play you might get scammed that game. Same is true for the main deck blood moons. Ultimately your game plan beats their plan on a conceptual level. This is why we have seen the Rakdos scam deck succeeding recently. The Four Color decks have been at an all time low.

Tourach is the only card they have that presents a huge problem and we sideboard accordingly for that. They also only have two on average so not enough to consistently have it on turn four when its often its most powerful against us. You just want to make sure your using your white removal before Tourach so you are not caught with them in hand and it in play.

Rhino
Out 1 Elesh Norn 3  Ice fang coatl 1 dressdown 1 ephimerate 1 eternal witness
In 1 Boseiju 2 Supreme Verdict 1 Fluster Storm  3 Chalice

This is a fairly good match up. Your opponent really needs to have a draw that puts pressure on you early and back it up with permission. Generally speaking your main game plan is good enough in this match up. Protect Omnath and play around the Blood Moon post board. They sometimes can steal games but for the most part you are a heavy favorite.

Mirror
Out 1 Leyline Binding 1 Lightning Bolt 2 Ice-Fang Coatl
In 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 2 Supreme Verdict

It's all about two things in this mirror. Card advantage and mana advantage. As such Wrenn and SIx and Omnath are two key cards in the match up. Keeping these in check is priority one when playing.The rest of the mirror comes down to making good trades and attacks and setting up Elesh Norn. It's a card that invalidates so many cards on the opponent and can only really be answered by verdict and Prismatic Ending. After that the matchup comes down to making solid trades like a traditional game of magic. Don't be afraid to take the role of the beatdown if you start falling really far behind on cards. You do have a better late game thanks to Witness, but that doesnt mean you should just make the game go long if you can capitalize on them being behind on board.

You bring in the Supreme Verdict so that if you are behind on board you're able to catch up and answer cards like Elesh Norn. We are also playing our second Elesh Norn to make sure to tax our opponents removal. Elesh Norn is very impactful in the mirror so I want to play around resolving her. Leyline Binding is a big part of the mirror and works well with your own Elesh Norns but is weak against them. I am choosing to sideboard out my singular copy and bring in my second Boseiju as a way to answer opposing Leyline Bindings.  

Elementals
Out 1 Leyline Binding 1 Lightning Bolt 2 Ice-Fang Coatl
In 1 Boseiju 1 Elesh Norn 2 Supreme Verdict

A lot of the same stuff from the mirror applies here with one caveat. They are the bigger version of your deck, but they need cards like Risen Reef to actually out card you. So make sure you're keeping that card in check as best you can. Elesh Norn does a lot to help swing this matchup.   

Amulet
Out 1 lightning bolt 3 ice fang coatl 1 supreme verdict 2 teferi time raveler  
In 1 Boseiju 3 chalice of the void 1 Elesh Norn 2 dress down

This is a bad match up. Not unwinnable but they are favored especially game one. They are fast and consistent and have ways to dodge some of our most impactful hate cards.

They win by chaining threats against you thanks to pact plus Tolaria West. So Chalice stops them from doing that which means winning is typically much easier as they have less threats. Boseju and force of vigor is a good way to stop any sort of quick kill shenanigans.Things to keep in mind with it are you will be able to blow up a bounce land with untap on the stack from the amulet, you also can blow up and amulet or dryad. I try to save dress downs for cultivator colossus if I can afford to but don't be too committed to that line if it means you will fall really far behind.

Another spot where Elesh Norn shines. If Elesh is on the board all their cards do not trigger including Valakut. Meaning their deck sort of falls apart.  

Yawgmoth

Out 1 dress Down 2 icefang coatl 1 teferi time raveler 1 Elesh Norn
In 2 Supreme Verdict 3 Endruance

This is one of our better matchups. They are trying to protect and get yawgmoth down with other pieces to start the combo. We have plenty of exiling effects for the undying creatures.

There are two real ways you can pick this deck apart. First is aggressively prevent Yawgmoth from coming down and then use Omanth to stabilize your life total. The other is to aggressively go after the undying creatures early so they have to expose an early yawgmoth that doesn’t have any material to get the ball going.

Don’t be super greedy with your verdicts. It’s important to just keep them on low resources so you don’t have to respect the combo with out them slow rolling a lot of it. Which you can often break up if they sandbag it for to long. Your Endurance is a good way to stop combo but also if you have extras don’t be afraid to make plays like minus on a young wolf with Wrenn and then endurance with undying on the stack. Keeping them off undying creatures is very important.

Burn
Out 1 Elesh Norn 1 Supreme Verdict 1 dress down 1 wrenn  and six 1 expressive iteration
In 1 Boseiju 3 Chalice of the void. 1 flusterstorm

This is a tough matchup for us. All the Burn players think it’s really bad for them and it’s honestly not so bad. The biggest buff from losing Yorrion is you can now mulligan for Omanth more aggressively versus Burn. Games often come down to Omanth and Chalcie post board. Trade off early and try and stabilize for a Omanth and fetchland turn.

They often sideboard a ton of cards. Rolling vortex being the most scary, so keep that card in mind. It’s why we have Boseiju, but that can also cover and eidolon.

Combo Breach
Out 1 lightening Bolt 4 teferi time raveler 1 prismatic ending 1 ice fang coatl
In 1 Elesh Norn 3 Endurance 3 Chalice

This is a fairly tough match up. When they have a fair draw your often able to overcome them. However when they have the combo half of the deck it is much harder but not impossible to stop there combo. Elesh Norn is a big problem for them in executing the combo.

The problem comes when they have a mixture of both draws. This duel competing axis of attack is how we fall behind and lose this matchup. When they are making constructs and we cant full tap out to answer them due to the combo we start falling further and further behind.

To win this match up work on establishing something early like Omnath or Elesh Norn to pressure them and mitigate there fair or combo draw respectively.  

All our sideboard cards can be beaten by them, no plan is foolproof versus them if they have enough time. This is why establishing some sort of clock is so important so you do not give them infinite time to work through your hate pieces.

You should chalice on zero if your on the play. Once you draw your 2nd chalice, its often good to put it to two if you dont have counterspell in hand. Endurance often won’t fully stop the combo but it can buy you a turn in some spots or turn off a unholy heat.

Fair Breach
Out 3 counterspell 1 Dress down 1 ephemerate 1 Elesh Norn 1 eternal witness
In 3 Endruance 3 Chalice 1 supreme verdict

Unlike the combo deck this matchup is actually one of the better ones. While they are able to play more real games and don’t fold to cards like Elesh Norn nearly as hard. They struggle a lot more versus both Chalice, on one, and Endurance. They are trying to be a more efficient more proactive Murktide deck. However they lack the card we struggle most with in actual Murktide.