Top 8 Control Finishers in Magic's History

Since around Zendikar, we’ve had a wide variety of control finishers as Wizards has worked to find the sweet spot. Here are my favorites!

Dead Last: Pearl Lake Ancient

Let me be clear: Pearl Lake Ancient does not make the Top 8. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that Pearl Lake Ancient was my least favorite control finisher of those that I’ve played with. Flash and “can’t be countered” are nice, but the cost of protecting it is just so incredibly high. Additionally, it has no form of evasion, and was in the same format as Dragonlord Ojutai. Not sure why this card was ever even cast.

8. Sphinx of the Final Word

Sphinx of the Final Word is eighth on the list because, while it’s absurdly powerful, it’s really only at its best in control mirrors. Out of the board, landing a Sphinx almost guarantees victory. Hexproof, can’t be countered, and evasion are all par for the course, but the ability to shut off your opponent’s counterspells is unparalleled among its peers. There are few feelings better slamming a Sphinx on Turn 7 in the mirror.

7. Chandra, Flamecaller

Chandra, Flamecaller didn’t get to be in the spotlight for long, but there was a hot second when Grixis Control with Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, and Chandra, Flamecaller was a force to be reckoned with. Chandra does a lot of things very well; it’s a sweeper, a planeswalker, and it closes the game fast. But it’s also a style of card-advantage engine we don’t often see in control, as those are typically blue. Whereas most blue walkers draw a single card, sometimes two, Chandra has the ability to dig you much, much further into your library, even though it only nets you one card. This ability ensures that you’ll find what you need every time. Chandra’s abilities map well to your standing in the game; if you’re ahead, her +1 will quickly kill the opponent. If you’re at parity, you’ll consider the 0 or the +1, and if you’re behind, you’ll be thinking about the 0 or the -X. This was one of the most unique and flexible Chandra designs, and was a fun and powerful card to play with.

 6. The Five Mana Untap and Win Creatures

The Scarab God and Dragonlord Ojutai were both played in a style of control deck quite different from the “draw-go” model most people think of when they hear “control.” If you untapped with Dragonlord Ojutai (always with actual Counterspell protection), it was nearly impossible to lose. Ojutai closed out the game in just a couple of turns, finding you just what you needed in the meantime. The Scarab God was no different; like Esper Dragons, you could play a long game if you needed to, but you could also just slam Scarab on 5, untap, and win if it stuck. Both Ojutai and Scarab saw play in midrange decks alongside control decks because of their aggressive cost, high-impact, and high power level. While some finishers are far too slow and miserable to play against, these two risk swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction; they allow the control deck an angle of attack that it doesn’t usually have. Sure, these games close games quickly, but the control deck does not need to establish control first in order to do so, which can make such games feel uninteractive and hopeless.

 5. Aetherling

What a card. Aetherling does it all. It’s a great blocker, a great attacker, and impossible to kill with spot removal. It can be countered, but if it ever sticks, it’s unlikely to leave the battlefield until the game ends. Aetherling has a bit more play to it than The Scarab God or Dragonlord Ojutai, and requires a bit more control of the game as well. Because of the mana requirement, the faster the control player tries to close, the more susceptible they leave themselves to getting blown out and losing. Aetherling was definitely a frustrating card to play against at times, but, of the control finishers, it might have hit the sweet spot for interaction. Or, equally possible, it’s just been so long that I forgot how good this card really is.

4. The Spell-Creatures: Snapcaster Mage, Torrential Gearhulk, Goblin Dark-Dwellers

A good control finisher should rarely be a dead card; importantly, it should be useful when you’re behind. While most of the finishers above do that via blocking, the spell-creatures do it by being additional copies of your best spell. While Snapcaster Mage is the most flexible and the cheapest of these, Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Torrential Gearhulk generate sizeable bodies as well, and can do cheaty things with cards that have unintuitive converted mana costs. Each of these cards has been a staple in the format it was printed in, and Snapcaster continues to be one of the most powerful cards in Modern. Having access to your best spell whenever you want it, and getting a body as well, allows you to close out the game incidentally, as a side-effect of cementing your control over the game. These cards get closer to the idea of the best finishers being incidental/never being dead, so that you don’t need to dedicate slots in your deck to actually winning.

 3. Celestial Colonnade

Celestial Colonnade is another great example of a win condition that wins without taking up slots solely dedicated to winning the game. Creaturelands generally are fantastic at this, but Colonnade in particular has a lot going for it. It is evasive, it doesn’t die to Bolt, and it closes out games relatively quickly. As a land, it’s difficult to interact with, so you can activate it at your leisure, once you’re certain that you’ve locked the game up. But it does even more! In addition to not taking up slots in your deck, it even blocks decently well and can race if you need it to, satisfying another condition of being good (or at least serviceable) when you’re behind.

 2. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Teferi is one of the most powerful win conditions that we’ve seen since the next card on this list. As a planeswalker, it’s somewhat difficult to interact with. It generates card (and mana and tempo) advantage, can remove any troublesome permanents, and can win the game on it’s own. Except if you’re really behind, there’s never a time when Teferi isn’t great. Untapping with Teferi is often close to untapping with Dragonlord Ojutai and The Scarab God; you’re usually guaranteed victory. Teferi is in large-part responsible for the resurgence of control after the rotation of Torrential Gearhulk, and once Hallowed Fountain is reprinted, we should expect to see a bit of an uptick in Teferi decks.

 1. Elixir of Immortality & Sphinx’s Revelation

The best control deck in modern Standard was seen the last time we visited the Azorius guild on Ravnica. Sphinx’s Revelation and Elixir of Immortality were both incredibly hard to interact with, due to their instant-speed nature. The lifegain element made it easy for the control player to just keep hanging on, accumulating cards the entire time. Each time Elixir was activated, the percentage of the deck that was lands went further and further down. These two cards, in conjunction with the many powerful answers available to UW at the time, made UW Control one of the most powerful control decks and, simultaneously, one of the most miserable control decks. When I rate the finishers in this list, I do so based on power level, not on gameplay; otherwise, our top contenders drop way down (these two drop to the bottom, followed by Teferi, and the spell-creatures jump to the top, followed by Colonnade).

As we return to Azorius and Hallowed Fountain soon, it will be interesting to see how Wizards chooses to design control. Will we lean toward a draw-go nightmare with cards like Elixir and Teferi? Uninteractive powerhouses like Dragonlord Ojutai or The Scarab God? Or will we find a sweet spot, leveraging cards like Expansion//Explosion to serve as fair, but powerful finishers for control? I’m looking forward to finding out!

Ryan Normandin is a grinder from Boston who has lost at the Pro Tour, in GP & SCG Top 8's, and to 7-year-olds at FNM. Despite being described as "not funny" by his best friend and "the worst Magic player ever" by Twitch chat, he cheerfully decided to blend his lack of talents together to write funny articles about Magic.