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]
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[edit] Basic Deck types
Most classifications of decks begin from one of three major types: aggro, 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 having a superior ability to punish opponents with subpar draws while remaining dangerous in the late game against opponents with low life totals. Aggro decks also generally have access to disruptive elements, which can significantly inhibit the opponent's ability to curtail their attacks.[2]
- Example cards: Savannah Lions, Bitterblossom, Jackal Pup, Rogue Elephant,[3] Incinerate[1]
- Example decks:
- Goblins, which uses cards like Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Ringleader and Siege-Gang Commander[4]. As the name suggests, goblin decks heavily employ the goblin creature type, a class of creatures that are typically cheap and deal high damage, at the expense of being easily destroyed.
- White Weenie, which uses small, efficient creatures such as Savannah Lions, Icatian Javelineers, and Mother of Runes[5]
- Affinity, which uses the affinity mechanic and large numbers of artifacts to quickly play spells such as Thoughtcast and Frogmite, while efficiently dealing damage using Disciple of the Vault and Arcbound Ravager.[6]
- Red/Green Beatz, 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 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. As the game enters the middle and later turns, control decks leverage their slower and more powerful cards.[10]
Ben Rubin describes the basic strength of control decks as the ability to "devalue the opponent’s cards", and he describes four ways that they accomplish this.[11] First, control decks can neutralize threats at a reduced cost. Generally, this means that the control deck will generate card advantage by, for instance, killing several creatures with one spell. Also, control decks can use cheap counterspells or removal to trade one-for-one with more expensive threats, and then spend their remaining mana on spells that draw cards, thus remaining ahead of the opponent. Second, control decks can generate "virtual card advantage" by not playing threats to be answered. Control decks can avoid playing early creatures and other proactive spells, and thus any cards in the opponent's deck dedicated to reacting to such nonexistent threats are no longer effective. This is called virtual card advantage because having a card that can never be utilized effectively is no better than having no card at all. Third, control decks need not answer every card the opponent plays; they can remove key components of a synergy and thus render the surviving elements ineffective. For instance, the control deck can safely leave an opponent's Glorious Anthem in play by removing all his creatures. Fourth, control can drag the game out past the point that its opponents cards are relevant, as fast, efficient cards become less effective over time.
Early control decks tended to employ blue for counterspells, but more recent control decks have focused instead on controlling the board. Mike Flores coined the term "tap out control" for decks that follow an attrition strategy but begin playing finishers before it is possible to protect them with counterspells. The underlying theory is that it's unlikely that the opponent will produce anything more threatening despite having a turn to resolve spells.[12]
- Example cards: Force of Will, Duress, Wrath of God, Pernicious Deed, 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.[13] 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 such as Wrath of God, and Pacifism.[14]
- Psychatog, supplemented by card-drawing like Fact or Fiction and a number of disruptive spells.[15]
- Astral Slide, which uses large numbers of cards with cycling, including those with added benefits such as Eternal Dragon and Slice and Dice, to power Astral Slide and Lightning Rift.[16]
- Mono-Black Control, which uses removal spells such as Innocent Blood and Barter in Blood to control the board, and Cabal Coffers to kill the opponent with spells such as Consume Spirit.[17]
- The Deck, which uses card drawing such as Fact or Fiction and deck searching cards such as Demonic Tutor to find powerful cards that are highly effective against particular strategies (such as The Abyss, Diabolic Edict, and Balance), alongside a Blue base of counterspells to control the game and obtain an insurmountable lead.[18]
[edit] Combo
Combo decks utilize the interaction of two or more cards (a "combination") to create a powerful effect that either wins the game immediately or creates a situation that will lead to a win in subsequent turns. The term "combo" can also describe a deck built around resolving a single powerful spell such as Tooth and Nail to create the same kind of insurmountable advantage. Combo decks value power, consistency, and speed: the combo should be strong enough to win, the deck should be reliable enough to produce the combo on a regular basis, and the deck should be able to play the combo fast enough to win before the opponent can win the game himself.
Many decks have smaller, combo-like interactions between their cards, which is better described as synergy.
- Example cards: Flash, Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens, Aluren, Painter's Servant.
- Example decks:
- ProsBloom, which uses Prosperity, Squandered Resources, Cadaverous Bloom and Drain Life. It was the first combo deck to experience tournament success.[citation needed]
- 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.[citation needed]
- The Perfect Storm, which utilizes Dark Ritual 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.[19] More recently, the deck has incorporated the card Ad Nauseam, which allows it to draw through its low mana-cost deck with great efficiency. [20]
- 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.[21]
- Worldgorger Dragon Combo, 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. [22]
- One-Land Belcher, which uses free and efficient mana acceleration to play a first turn Goblin Charbelcher or Empty the Warrens. Because the deck has a Taiga as it's only land, and Land Grant to remove that land from the library, one activation of Goblin Charbelcher will usually kill the opponent.[23]
- Flash, which is dedicated to casting Flash and putting a Protean Hulk into play and then into the graveyard, allowing the player to find a combination of creatures which will kill the opponent instantly. Summoner's Pact and Merchant Scroll are used to find the combo pieces, while Force of Will and Pact of Negation protect the combo. [24]
[edit] Hybrid strategies
[edit] Aggro-Control
Aggro-control is a hybrid archetype that contains both aggressive creatures and control elements. 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: Dark Confidant, Meddling Mage, Daze, Standstill
- Example decks:
- Faries, which uses cards like Mistbind Clique and Bitterblossom to push high-power flying creatures towards the opponent, while employing elements of control decks, such as countering spells through Spellstutter Sprite and drawing cards through Ancestral Vision. Faries also makes use of tribal interactions, positive synergies between cards which share a type, mirroring classic aggro decks such as elves.[25]
- Blue-Green Madness, which uses cards like Wild Mongrel, Careful Study and Circular Logic.[citation needed]
- PT Junk, which uses cards such as Spectral Lynx, River Boa and Swords to Plowshares.[citation needed]
- Dump Truck, which uses cards like Exalted Angel, Duress and Meddling Mage.[citation needed]
- Threshold, which uses cards like Tarmogoyf, Daze and Brainstorm.[citation needed]
- Landstill, which uses creature lands such as Mishra's Factory, and Standstill to ensure that attempts to defend against them will result in the player drawing more creature lands, counterspells such as Force of Will, or removal such as "Fire // Ice".[26]
- Fish, which uses disruptive creatures that double as efficient sources of damage such as Meddling Mage and Jotun Grunt, alongside control elements such as Force of Will and Swords to Plowshares to answer opposing threats.[27]
[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.[citation needed]
- Ghost Dad, which utilizes Ghost Council of Orzhova, Dark Confidant, and Pillory of the Sleepless, for efficient creatures, card draw, and lifegain.[citation needed]
[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: Orim's Chant, Mana Drain, Goblin Welder, Oath of Druids, Smokestack
- Example decks:
- Stax, which uses cards such as Smokestack, Tangle Wire and Sphere of Resistance.[citation needed]
- Stasis, which uses Stasis and cards such as Forsaken City or Boomerang.[28]
- Scepter-Chant, which uses Isochron Scepter and Orim's Chant.[citation needed]
- Trix, which gains life using Illusions of Grandeur and then uses Donate to leave the opponent with the often deadly drawback.[citation needed]
- Oath, uses Oath of Druids and Forbidden Orchard to quickly put a large creature such as Tidespout Tyrant or Hellkite Overlord into play.[citation needed]
- Control Slaver, which accelerates powerful, high casting cost artifacts such as Mindslaver into play using Goblin Welder, Tinker, or Mana Drain.[29]
- Drain Tendrils, which controls the game using Mana Drain, Force of Will, and Duress while setting up for a lethal Tendrils of Agony.[30]
[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.[31]
- Fires, which uses Fires of Yavimaya with Saproling Burst and Blastoderm.[32]
- Manaless Ichorid, which uses cards with the dredge mechanic such as Golgari Grave-Troll to fill the player's own graveyard, enabling free creatures such as Ichorid and Narcomoeba, which, in conjunction with Bridge from Below, can generate a large number of zombie tokens.[33]
- Project X, which used Crypt Champion, Saffi Eriksdotter, Soul Warden to create an infinite lifegain loop, combined with other aggressive creatures.[34]
[edit] Aggro-Control-Combo
Aggro-control-combo decks combine efficient, creature-based damage, heavy disruption elements, and an ability to unleash an extremely powerful synergy that can end the game in "combo" fashion.[1]
- 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 Force of Will and Duress as it "grows," but can also win by playing Fastbond and chaining together Gush and Merchant Scroll to draw many cards and instantly make Quirion Dryad lethal.[35]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Aggro, Combo, and Control by Jeff Cunningham
- ^ Playing Against Aggro by Jeff Cunningham
- ^ We've Got the Beatdown by Mark Rosewater
- ^ Gob-volution by Brian David-Marshall
- ^ Playing White Weenie In Vintage by Pedro Godinho
- ^ The Dafiinitive Affinity Guide by Mark Young
- ^ 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
- ^ http://www.wizards.com/magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mf84
- ^ Standardizing Standard: Mono Blue Control by HKKID
- ^ Chicago-Style U/W Control by Zvi Mowshowitz
- ^ Giant-Sized Regionals Primer: Psychatog by Mike Flores
- ^ Astral Slide in the New Standard by Gabe Walls
- ^ The Power of the Dark Side by The Ferrett
- ^ You CAN Play Type I #17: The Control Player's Bible, Part I by Oscar Tan
- ^ The Perfect Storm by Stephen Menendian
- ^ Unlocking Legacy Ad Nauseam Tendrils by Doug Linn
- ^ Painters, Grindstones, and Blasts, Oh My! by JACO
- ^ Dragon by Peter Olszewski
- ^ The Ultimate Vintage Primer by Stephen Menendian
- ^ The Ultimate Vintage Primer by Stephen Menendian
- ^ [1]
- ^ Landstill in Legacy by Belgareth
- ^ The Ultimate Vintage Primer by Stephen Menendian
- ^ 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
- ^ Crushing Vintage Without Power Nine: The Manaless Ichorid Primer by Stephen Menendian
- ^ Magic Deck Vortex: Project X 2006
- ^ Gardening In Vintage: How To Gro-A-Tog And Clip A Lotus by Stephen Menendian and Paul Mastriano
