Magic: The Gathering deck types
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The game Magic: The Gathering requires each player to have their own deck in order to play. There are over ten thousand unique cards which can be used for this purpose; thus a considerable number of different decks can be constructed. However, decks can usually be loosely classified based on their play style and mode of victory.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Basic Deck types
Most classifications of decks begin from one of three major types: aggro (aggression), control, and combo.
[edit] Aggro
Aggro or beatdown decks attempt to win quickly through force rather than focus on a long-term gameplan. Aggro decks focus on converting their cards into damage; they are interested in engaging in a tempo-based race rather than a card advantage-based attrition war. Such decks generally rely on creatures as a cumulative source of damage. According to Jeff Cunningham, aggro is often underestimated because it is "the most strategically primitive of the decktypes" despite being able to quickly punish opponents with subpar draws while remaining dangerous in the late game against a severely damaged opponent. Aggro decks also generally have access to disruptive elements, which can signficantly inhibit the opponent's ability to curtail their attacks.[2]
- Example cards: Jotun Grunt, Jackal Pup, Rogue Elephant,[3] Rancor, Incinerate[4]
- Example decks:
- Goblins, which uses cards like Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Ringleader and Siege-Gang Commander[5]. As the name suggests, goblin decks heavily employ the goblin creature type, a class of creatures are typically cheap and deal high damage, at the expense of being easily destroyed.
- White Weenie, which uses cards like Isamaru, Hound of Konda, Savannah Lions and Soltari Priest[6]
- Affinity, which uses cards like Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating and Frogmite.
- Red/Green Beatz, a fast and efficient deck that uses low-cost, high power creatures such as Tarmogoyf and Kird Ape to kill the opponent quickly. It also utilizes mana denial such as Magus of the Moon and Wasteland.[7]
- Sligh, which utilizes its mana as efficiently as possible to kill the opponent quickly, using low-cost cards such as Jackal Pup and Lightning Bolt.[8]
- Suicide Black, which uses utilizes efficient but dangerous cards that cost life such as Thoughtseize, Dark Confidant, Grim Tutor, and Bitterblossom. Suicide Black epitomizes Black's philosophy—win at all costs—and treats its library, hand and even life totals as viable resources in the quest for victory.[9]
[edit] Control
Control decks avoid racing and attempt to slow the game down by executing an attrition plan. Once they do, they capitalize from their slower, but more powerful, cards.[10] The most empowering attribute of control decks is their ability to devalue the opponent’s cards. They do this in four ways:[11]
1) Erasing threats at a reduced cost. Whether this means killing a multitude of creatures with one spell, using a relatively cheap counterspell to stop an expensive spell, drawing cards, or using a single discard spell on multiple cards, control decks gain card advantage when they have the time and opportunity to match their answers to opposing threats.
2) Not playing threats to be answered. Control decks are so robustly dedicated to reactive spells that it can go without playing early creatures and other proactive spells. This means that whatever reactive cards the opponent has may not find targets. This has been labeled virtual card advantage, as it makes opposing removal cards so narrow that they are almost as good as dealt with.
3) Disrupting synergies. Even if control decks do not deal with every threat directly, they can leave out whichever ones stand poorly on their own and still be in good shape. The most extreme example of this is a creature enchantment that might never need attention if all enemy creatures are quickly removed.
4) Dragging the game out past opposing preparations. An opponent's faster, efficient cards will become less and less effective over time.
- Example cards: Counterspell, Wrath of God, Fact or Fiction, Pernicious Deed, Stupor, Void
- Example decks:
- Mono Blue Control, which uses a heavy suite of counterspells alongside card-drawing such as Thirst for Knowledge, removal such as Echoing Truth, and a win condition such as Tezzeret the Seeker.[12] This class of deck is nicknamed "Draw-Go," because most of its players' spells are instants designed to be played during his or her opponents' turns.
- Blue-White Control, which is similar to Mono-Blue Control, but features more board-control cards like Wrath of God[13]
- Psychatog, supplemented by card-drawing like Fact or Fiction and a number of disruptive spells.[14]
- Slide, which uses Wrath of God to clear out opposing threats, and then uses cards which can be used while cycling (like Eternal Dragon and Decree of Justice) to power Astral Slide, which removes any blockers the opponent may have, making Slide a threat even if it has only one attacking creature.
- Mono-Black Control, which uses cards like Phyrexian Arena, Mutilate, Mind Sludge, Consume Spirit, and Cabal Coffers
- The Deck, which uses card drawing such as Fact or Fiction and tutors such as Demonic Tutor to find powerful "silver bullets" (cards that are highly effective against particular strategies) such as The Abyss, Diabolic Edict, and Balance, alongside a Blue base of countermagic to control the game and obtain an insurmountable lead.[15]
[edit] Combo
Combo decks utilize the interaction of two or more cards (a "combination") at the same time or in sequence, resulting in a powerful effect. Combo decks can also use a single powerful spell to instantly win the game while the rest of the deck is designed to ensure its success. Many decks have smaller, combo-like interactions between their cards, which is better described as synergy. A good combo should be fast (achievable early enough in the game to matter), consistent (regularly achievable), and powerful (so the effect translates into victory).
- Example cards: Dragonstorm, Dark Ritual, Tendrils of Agony, Vampiric Tutor, Aluren.
- Example decks:
- ProsBloom, which uses Prosperity, Squandered Resources, Cadaverous Bloom and Drain Life. This was the first combo deck to experience tournament success.
- Dragonstorm, which uses mana acceleration such as Rite of Flame to quickly combo into Dragonstorm and Bogardan Hellkite; more recently, using Spinerock Knoll's hideaway ability to play Dragonstorm without paying its mana cost
- Channel-Fireball, one of the simplest and oldest combo decks, uses Channel to cast a game-ending Fireball (typically a 20 damage Fireball with a barely survivable 19 life Channel, plus one red mana, two green mana and another mana); with a Black Lotus and a Mountain this combination can win on the first turn.
- Academy, which utilizes Tolarian Academy, zero-casting-cost mana-producing artifacts, Time Spiral, Stroke of Genius, and Mind Over Matter to generate an arbitrarily large amount of mana and "deck" the opponent on the first turn.
- The Perfect Storm, which utilizes Dark Rituals and artifact mana to draw cards and fuel a lethal Tendrils of Agony, all the while disrupting the opponent with Duress and Force of Will.[16]
- Painter, which utilizes Painter's Servant (declaring Blue) in conjunction with Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast to counter any spell or destroy any permanent, before finishing with a single activation of Grindstone to put the opponent's entire library into their graveyard.[17]
- Dragon, which revolves around the abilities that trigger when a Worldgorger Dragon is animated from the graveyard using an enchantment such as Animate Dead. This results in an infinite loop that allows the owner to generate large amounts of mana to kill their opponent. [18]
[edit] Hybrid strategies
[edit] Aggro-Control
Aggro-control is a hybrid archetype that contains both aggressive creatures and control elements. Aggro-control is well-typified by Blue-Green Madness and Threshold. These decks attempt to deploy quick threats while protecting them with light permission and disruption long enough to win. These are frequently referred to as "tempo" strategies, as their control elements are often more temporary; for instance, they may return opposing creatures to their owners hands rather than remove them entirely.
- Example cards: Duress, Meddling Mage, Daze, Standstill
- Example decks:
- Blue-Green Madness, which uses cards like Wild Mongrel, Careful Study and Circular Logic
- PT Junk, which uses cards such as Spectral Lynx, River Boa and Swords to Plowshares
- Dump Truck, which uses cards like Exalted Angel, Duress and Meddling Mage
- Threshold, which uses cards like Tarmogoyf, Daze and Brainstorm.
- Landstill, which uses Standstill and "manlands" such as Mishra's Factory (which ignore Standstill's effect) to ensure that attempts to defend will result in the Landstill player drawing either more manlands, counterspells such as Force of Will, or removal such as Fire/Ice.[19]
[edit] Midrange
Midrange strategies seek to control the game's first few turns and then win in the middle turns with large, yet highly efficient, threats. The black-green "Rock" deck is one of the most common decks to execute this strategy: it uses cheap creature removal and discard in the early turns to disrupt aggro and combo decks, and then starts playing large creatures in the middle turns that are, if not removed, capable of ending the game quickly after hitting play.
- Example Cards: Pernicious Deed, Spiritmonger, Hymn to Tourach, Troll Ascetic, Ravenous Baloth
- Example Decks
- The Rock, which uses cards such as Genesis, Eternal Witness, Living Wish and Pernicious Deed
- Ghost Dad, which utilizes Ghost Council of Orzhova, Dark Confidant, and Pillory of the Sleepless, for efficient creatures, card draw, and lifegain.
[edit] Control-Combo
Normally, Control-Combo is a control deck with a combo finisher that it can spring quickly if need be. A notable subtype of Control-Combo is "prison," which institutes control through resource denial and tap effects (usually via a combo).
- Example cards: Isochron Scepter, Winter Orb, Goblin Welder, Oath of Druids
- Example decks:
- Stax, which uses cards such as Smokestack, Tangle Wire and Sphere of Resistance.
- Stasis, which uses Stasis and cards such as Forsaken City or Boomerang[20]
- Scepter-Chant, which uses Isochron Scepter and Orim's Chant
- Trix, which uses the Illusions of Grandeur/Donate combo
- Oath, uses Oath of Druids and Forbidden Orchard to quickly put a large creature such as Tidespout Tyrant or Hellkite Overlord into play.
- Control Slaver, which accelerates powerful, high casting cost artifacts such as Mindslaver into play using Goblin Welder, Tinker, or Mana Drain.[21]
- Drain Tendrils, which controls the game using Mana Drain, Force of Will, and Duress while setting up for a lethal Tendrils of Agony.[22]
[edit] Aggro-Combo
Aggro-combo decks employ aggressive creature strategies along with some combination of cards that can win in "combo" fashion with one big turn. For instance, Ravager Affinity decks that include Disciple of the Vault can win by attacking with creatures and also with a combo finish of sacrificing multiple artifacts to Arcbound Ravager and killing the opponent with Disciple triggers.
- Example cards: Berserk, Food Chain, Hatred
- Example decks:
- Fling Affinity, which uses Arcbound Ravager or Atog and Fling along with Disciple of the Vault
- Food Chain Goblins, which uses Food Chain and Goblin Recruiter and Goblin Ringleader[23]
- Fires, which uses Fires of Yavimaya with Saproling Burst and Blastoderm[24]
- Dredge, which uses cards with the dredge mechanic such as Golgari Grave-Troll to fill the player's own graveyard, enabling free creatures such as Ichroid and Narcomoeba, which, in conjunction with Bridge from Below, can generate a large number of zombie tokens.
- Project X, which used Crypt Champion, Saffi Eriksdotter, Soul Warden to create an infinite lifegain loop, combined with other aggressive creatures.
[edit] Aggro-Control-Combo
Aggro-control-combo decks combine efficient, creature-based damage, heavy disruption elements, and an ability to unleash an extremely powerful internal synergy. This very rare decktype is usually only seen in deeper formats that feature enough specific cards and enough powerful cards to allow decks that are strategically very versatile. [25]
- Example cards: Tinker, Survival of the Fittest, Cunning Wish, Necropotence
- Example decks:
- Gro-A-Tog, which generally wins by playing Quirion Dryad and protecting it with disruption such as as Force of Will and Duress as it "grows," but can also win by playing Fastbond and chaining together Gushes and Merchant Scrolls to draw many cards and instantly make Quirion Dryad lethal.[26]
[edit] References
- ^ Aggro, Combo, and Control by Jeff Cunningham
- ^ Playing Against Aggro by Jeff Cunningham
- ^ We've Got the Beatdown by Mark Rosewater
- ^ Aggro, Combo, and Control by Jeff Cunningham
- ^ Gob-volution by Brian David-Marshall
- ^ Deconstructing White Weenie by Brian David-Marshall
- ^ Team ICBM GR BEATZ!!! NEW TECH FOR EMERGING META
- ^ Famous Red Decks in Magic History by Alex Shvartsman
- ^ Vintage on a Budget: Suicide Black 2K9 by Stephen Menendian
- ^ Playing Against Control by Jeff Cunningham
- ^ Your First Control Deck by Ben Rubin
- ^ Standardizing Standard: Mono Blue Control by HKKID
- ^ Chicago-Style U/W Control by Zvi Mowshowitz
- ^ Giant-Sized Regionals Primer: Psychatog by Mike Flores
- ^ You CAN Play Type I #17: The Control Player's Bible, Part I by Oscar Tan
- ^ The Perfect Storm by Stephen Menendian
- ^ Painters, Grindstones, and Blasts, Oh My! by JACO
- ^ Dragon bu Peter Olszewski
- ^ Landstill in Legacy by Belgareth
- ^ Deconstructing Stasis by Brian David-Marshall
- ^ How to Play Control Slaver Now by Brian DeMars
- ^ Drain Tendrils: Staying Ahead of the Curve by Codi Vinci
- ^ Chaining Goblins by Paul Sottosanti
- ^ Deconstructing Fires by Brian David-Marshall
- ^ Aggro, Combo, and Control by Jeff Cunningham
- ^ Gardening In Vintage: How To Gro-A-Tog And Clip A Lotus by Stephen Menendian and Paul Mastriano
[edit] See also
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
