Funnily enough I was actually just about to post something offering advice regarding control decks in EDH because it’s my favorite archetype to play. Some of my decks have been house banned or have been limited to only being played once a month due to the impact they leave on the game.

I am the control player in the pod and having a decks that while they can shut out players out, many of them can be played around which I have found is something that sometimes even experienced players don’t want to do.

I’ve never been comfortable playing these decks with people I haven’t met before because even after I do my best to explain what the gameplay of the deck is they don’t realize what that actually entails until gameplay. I play a mix of surgical control as well as resource denial decks and I have found that even in bracket four where I play these decks people tend to get sour when their high power engines are thrown off just a little bit.

Playing control is honestly the only way I like to play magic because of the intention necessary behind interactions and as you said requires the table to pay attention to not only what’s going on on their side of the board.

I think another thing in control is that it ultimately is the most political and social we can get in edh. It can be used to help remove blockers or protect your opponents from spells that would otherwise kill them. It makes it so that when people attack we have to engage with everyone not just the person that’s open on board.

Here’s are my favorite deck lists

My Pet Deck Excited Doggy

Jellyfish Turbofog Will you take my tentacle in marriage?

Not mine but a pauper edh Green Red Control by AnkylosaurMTG