Good article; it reminds me of some of my own observations. A MTG-style control deck can’t exist within Codex’s framework, but you can get close… I think “a translation of sorts” is an apt description. I mostly agree with charnel and mystic, and I’ll add that Codex’s asynchronous design makes it possible for card prevention mechanics to whiff in a way that simply doesn’t exist in MTG, and that control mechanics are spread out across many Codex specs, but players are limited to 3 at a time and almost never have access to all of their cards at once, whereas with MTG you can just build a big deck, stuff it with search mechanics, and have an answer for anything on demand.
If I consider the 3 points you identified:
Card advantage can be found in Blue, Purple, White and Black in various forms. In terms of raw draw power, Peace is the king thanks to Flagstone Garrison, though Present is a strong contender. Law’s approach is more about precision than power. Sometimes, it’s better not to draw a card right away, and Law lets you draw cards one at a time, on your terms, and even float one if you overreach. This is a concept that doesn’t really exist in MTG, because in MTG you don’t discard your whole hand each turn, so you can rush to draw (or search) for a specific card and just hold onto it until needed. Stash also lets you tech key cards a bit earlier than would otherwise be practical, because you can hold a card in hand while setting up the preconditions to play it.
Inevitability, as you describe it, was specifically avoided in Codex’s design. Both the pay-to-win aspect and the possibility of one player’s deck design hard countering another’s were considered unhealthy.
The finisher… I think every Codex spec has one or two cards like this, typically the tech III unit and the ultimate spell.
With Blue, and especially Law, most cards aren’t really great on their own, but they shine in combination with other cards which aren’t always in the Law spec. Like, Jurisdiction provides flexilbility, but the 2 premium can really drag you down, except there’s Insurance Agent that can more than offset the loss. Community Service can provide excellent value, but it can also whiff and cost you $5 and a card for nothing but a bit of information… unless you have something like Eyes of the Chancellor or Flagstone Spy tip you off to the potential payoff. Guardian of the Gates will just die to heroes, disabling nothing and doing little damage, unless you have some way of stopping those heroes from attacking, but there’s Justice Juggernaut that can roll right up to your hero of choice and usually kill them, especially if you’re playing Boot Camp on it after it attacks. Jail doesn’t help much on its own, as your opponent will probably just play his tech III unit and immediately follow it up with some $1 (or $0) unit, unless you have Censorship Council, which gives you an extra turn to prepare for its arrival (or to smash it with General’s Hammer if it’s really nasty). Etc., etc. But, the more moving parts are involved in a control scheme, the harder it is to pull off, and often one or more of those parts need to be protected. It’s all much less straightforward than MTG, so I don’t know what kind of advice I could give to a MTG player to quickly and properly explain it.