We can see the control influence with cards like Lightning Bolt and Force of Will, and we’ve got some of the best aggressive creatures ever printed, like Dragon’s Rage Channeler and Delver of Secrets. The best-known example of combo control is the Splinter Twin deck. Its primary win condition was the two-card infinite of Splinter Twin with Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite to end the game as soon as turn 4. The secondary color usually gives access to removal that blue lacks. These decks use a bunch of cheap interaction to extend the game as long as possible so they can win at their leisure.
Paired alongside a whole bunch of cards like [c]Pyretic Ritual[/c] and [c]Manamorphose[/c] to generate mana and draw cards, storm decks can easily cast lots of cards in a single turn. Then, something like [c]Past in Flames[/c] will give them all flashback, so you can cast each one of them a second time. By the time you’re finished generating all this mana and drawing all these cards, all it takes is a single copy of Grapeshot to win. Another deck that turbos out threats is Urza Tron in Modern which uses the Urza lands to drop cards like Karn Liberated on turn 3. These decks combine the elements of a control deck with a combo finisher. You’ll often find combo decks with a strong engine feel like this.
It can be simple, like “I am a red-white aggressive deck that wants to attack and win quickly.” No problem. This might seem surprising, but I actually consider Mill to be an aggro deck. For those of you who don’t know, milling means putting a card from the library straight to the graveyard. If at some point in the game, you have to draw a card but you have no cards left in your library, you lose the game instead. Mill decks leverage this rule by milling their opponent’s entire library.
The Original Elven Colors
If anything, building your own deck from scratch can be considered admirable, but netdecking should not be looked down upon. Almost every successful deck ever has had a plan behind its construction. And now hopefully you can apply this to your own deck building. An aggressive deck, strategically, is seeking to reduce its opponent down to 0 as quickly as possible. As a result, its plan is to attack quickly, apply pressure, and finish off the opponent before they get a chance to stabilize and recover. Imagine you’re playing against your friend Stromboli, who pauper decks has what looks like an aggressive red-white beatdown deck.
However, most tribal decks are aggro decks at heart and use straightforward attacks to win the game. Prison decks aim to lock the opponent out of the game through a combination of unique artifacts and enchantments. [c]Chalice of the Void[/c] is one of the signature cards of the archetype, as it can shut out all cards of a certain mana cost.
Then, [c]Cranial Plating[/c] and [c]Nettlecyst[/c] come in to grow your creatures so they can pack a real punch. A deck that falls under both the aggro and control categories might seem like a contradiction, but it isn’t. [c]Blue-Red Delver[/c] is named after [c]Delver of Secrets[/c], a super cheap yet effective creature that can whittle away at your opponent’s life total over the course of a game.
#5: Thassa’s Oracle Combo
Standard mono-red has some good tools, but it’s nothing compared to Modern burn with access to Goblin Guide and tons of 1-mana spells that deal three damage. But the core idea of the deck remains the same; kill the opponent as quickly as possible with the most efficient creatures and burn spells in their respective format. Even the aggressive and controlling ones will be closer to the middle of the spectrum because of how unfocused the decks are.
To start, I tend to view Magic archetypes as sitting on a spectrum defined by aggro and control on either end. The four archetypes I’m about to cover are the foundations of deckbuilding. I’ll also take a look at what happens when they intermingle, or when other strategies get introduced. With how diverse and uncertain Magic tournaments can be, there’s a huge advantage to focusing on your own game plan, and knowing that if you can succeed in executing it, you’re likely to win. It’s more difficult to have answers for everything your opponents might have. The longer the games go, the more you open yourself up to things going wrong.
Equally important, when you pick up a popular archetype from the internet, you’re getting the benefit of thousands and thousands of players’ hard work. Once you have that down, you can start considering every card in that light. [c]Thassa’s Oracle[/c] might be one of the most popular combo pieces ever printed in Commander.
There’s never been a better time to get into the original trading card game. You can see we have a nice curve of spells, focused primarily on mana value two and three. I’d start out with one or two tutors that can get your wincons, but if you start working your way up the power scale, having more will be necessary for keeping up with your pod. Using our Elf example from before, Fierce Empath is an effective way to find Craterhoof Behemoth.
More importantly, deck building is one of the best ways to learn and grow as a player. When you’re in charge of everything from deck building to game play, you develop a deeper understanding of exactly what’s going on in your games, and what’s causing you to win and lose. For starters, many Storm Commander decks don’t actually use cards with the storm keyword! That’s right, Storm Commander decks like to use finishers like [c]Aetherflux Reservoir[/c] as a more flexible way to eliminate opponents. For example, consider a deck whose commander is [c]Krenko, Mob Boss[/c]. At four mana, this card’s a bit too slow to be an effective aggro card.
Midrange
I usually play decks that focus on the graveyard (another popular strategy), so Rest in Peace gives me nightmares. Cards that protect you or your game pieces like Heroic Intervention and Ghostly Prison are defensive interaction. Counterspells can switch between offensive and defensive depending on your situation, making them a unique and powerful option for interacting with your opponents. Each color combination and commander page on EDHREC has a handy “mana artifacts” section that can help get you started. I would try to include about eight to twelve cards that fall into the ramp category. That’s why preventing a Stax player from setting up in the first place is so crucial.
With all those options, it’s important to choose the right ramp for your deck. A Landfall deck will definitely want to use Rampant Growth, but an Artifact deck would benefit more from Mind Stone. Depending on who you ask, Stax is either the best thing ever or an abomination that should’ve been scrubbed out of Magic years ago. You’re likely to get some wildly polarised opinions to it, with those who don’t like it sometimes really taking an issue to people who do play it. You can supercharge your deck with Darksteel Colossus, a titanic creature capable of turning the tides of battle.