feeling dirty? disgust yourself with this deck... FELN CONTROL

this deck is nasty...
~17 cards dedicated entirely to destroying units
~20 cards to generate card advantage
~11 units that can win the game by themselves
...gross
but there is a downside -- it's slow.
however, it's VERY fun! there's rarely a moment where you don't feel completely in control. between the plunder of Exploit, the 2 mana draw spells, and the 4 inscribing Direwood Packs, you'll almost never have mana problems. the deck is also quite modular and cheap, using only 3 legendaries from the base set.

the foundation of the deck is the classic base set trio: Champion of Cunning, Withering Witch, and Black-Sky Harbinger. after 8 years these guys still absolutely dominate in control shells. turn 5 witch into turn 6 harbinger with champion follow-up snowballs into an unstoppable flying, lifestealing, aegising avalanche. then we have Direwood Pack... this card is just STUPID. gauntlet AI don't have the processing power to deal with this beast.
EDIT: removed 2x annihilate and 2x withering witch for 4x Iadria, Twisted Brewer. truth be told, i hadn't played with this card much until recently and it is the stupidest of stupid cards. it completely befuddles the AI and, despite how much it hurts me to say, removes any need for withering witch (rest in peace you nasty old hag)...

now, one of the keys to making the deck run smoothly is reaching a critical mass of damage dealing spells to capitalize on our unsung hero -- Grenahen. a 1/3 life steal for 2 is an amazing body that slows down early game aggro and survives our lightning storms while we stall to the late game. then she provides amazing card selection/advantage. we have over 30 cards she can hit between units, hard removal, draw spells, board wipes, and counter spells... granny gives you access to literally any type of card you need and we have enough hits that she should statistically always give you a card; she's the backbone of the deck.

as for the deck being modular -- any card that has the word "kill" or "draw" on it can be replaced with anything else that has those words on it... while i think everything in the deck is arguably the best/most synergistic version of any given kill or draw effect, there are lots of other options that won't drastically affect the deck's performance. however, i do recommend keeping as many damage dealing spells in the deck as possible. for instance if you want to cut Stealth Strike think about replacing it with Desecrate or Dangerous Gambit. if you cut Stormblast add Backlash or Display of Survival, etc.

replacements/alternates for the non-cheap or non-required cards:
Furious Accusation and Icy Scrying -- these are the best draw spells in the game BUT, you can run Wisdom of the Elders, Trailblaze, Strategize, Read the Stars, or Forbidden Research
Stormblast -- dirt cheap to craft but this is truly the flexiest slot, these 2 can be literally anything else (more removal, draw, units, etc.)
Hailstorm -- Cover From the Storm

market talk:
Obstructive Flicker -- crazy good with our fast market access. helps stall/clean up in the early game or stops big slow spells late game
Dazzle -- again, fast market access makes this very good. can slow down a big threat or negate pretty much anything we care about and fixes our mana (can also be swapped with Stormblast in the mainboard)
Heavy Hail -- this is the market flex slot. i use this the least since we have good aegis proof removal in Ice Bolts, but sometimes you need that bigger board wipe and this comes in clutch
Mirror Image -- our deck runs few but potent units so having a pocket clone is extremely useful especially because it clones the buffs. can be Sudden Schism if you like the idea of casting it on the opponents turn with Wilderness Delivery
Mental Image -- this card is WIIIILLD and i'm strongly considering putting it in the mainboard. it's the card i pick the most and it NEVER disappoints. just crazy value and my go-to market pick.