The World of MtG Deck Archetypes

[@bobbiechristine]

I learned!!!!!!!

[@mightyone3737]

I also learned! Very informative!

[@Eggyism]

Thank you for explaining Stax. Every time someone mentions stax I just smile and nod because I had no idea what they were talking about

[@nilejoanrivers]

@@Eggyism haha yeah it's gotta be the least intuitive one

[@jmssurina4515]

I recently stumbled across a really good description of midrange - Rhinos and other cascade combo decks use Cascade because they know it will hit their combo pieces. Jund Midrange used Bloodbraid elf because it didn't matter what it hit, the card would be live value anyways. Midrange is the style of "just play good cards."

[@bloomcrawler]

Yes and they also use the most mythic and rare cards out of any deck so they are not budget friendly.

[@domotoro3552]

good video nile! 🔥🔥 I know its probably great for new players because of the amount of times I went "yeah actually I can see how that could be unintuitive to people not engrained in the game's culture yet"

[@bloomcrawler]

I really love the value engine decks. Best beginner value engine I can think of is all on one card: Chulane, Teller of Tales. Displacer Kitten is also adorable! Also, RED DECK WINS! JACKAL PUP for life!

[@Uttgard5]

Thanks for the informative overview. ^^

[@lora5030]

Thank you for the cool video! I don't know if it's a universal experience but nowadays I have to space out building typal decks because they get too repetitive to build and play since a lot of pieces are pre-determined and similar to each other.

[@toriofthevast]

another control player is born today

[@Fillian89]

Thank you! 🎉

[@roriksavant]

Can't help but appreciate the 666 subscriber count atm, great video!

[@celeste9958]

Group hug sounds fun.

[@bloomcrawler]

Definitely, Group hug fits under the value engine umbrella. You provide value to everyone, tokens, card draw like she said, but you get slightly more value and that extra value is what pulls you ahead in the end game for the win. My favorite Value engine deck, uses Displacer Kitten to blink creatures and reuse enter the battlefield effects; It's not group hug but it's cool value.

[@MrLean74]

Voltron player here! I've a Commander Greven, Predator Captain and it's my all star 21 damage to win...love to end in 1 life and end the game there haha...I think is a good archetype to consider having at least one or two in your playgroup...great channel!

[@nilejoanrivers]

@@MrLean74 thanks!! Yeah i think Voltron is just good clean fun lol. Love those lil guys

[@mightyone3737]

People play Stax in other formats, Blood Moon for example.

[@nilejoanrivers]

@@mightyone3737 true!! But i find that outside of edh no one ever calls them "stax pieces" even tho that's what they are. I think it's just a cultural thing!

[@mightyone3737]

@@nilejoanrivers OMG you replied! Anyways, probably a good point, most people just call a deck like that a Blood Moon deck.

[@Titanreaver616]

@@nilejoanrivers I was initially going to push back on this, but it is truer than I initially thought. It is true that people still play Stax in Vintage and Legacy and call it as such, but for the most part they've been competitively replaced by Prison decks, and even then, more of those have been replaced by Stompy decks. And historically in each of them you would say your Stax pieces, but now the use of Prison pieces, and Lock pieces has become, arguably, more common. In commander we sort of group all of those together, because they share a lot of the core "Stax" pieces, but they are different things. It's just that the nature of commander tends to make everything get bigger, the same reason Aggro looks different in commander than other formats, and when you make Stompy get bigger it looks like Prison and when you make Prison get bigger it looks like Stax, and so some of the nuance in the second and third tier effects tends to blend or fade out. And also in newer formats, since mtg has moved away from a lot of hard stax, you just usually call the deck by its name. Esper Doom Foretold is a stax deck but it's really the only one. And fwiw, Blood Moon is not traditionally a stax card, not that it never is, but its more emblematic of prison and stompy.

[@wrenfrances]

elesh norn, mother of machines, she's mother

[@yoshilikescandy4020]

8:31 is that a cat in the background? XD

[@nilejoanrivers]

haha i do have a cat but i don't think she makes an appearance :)

[@junyisang8672]

Your eyes 😍

[@lordsnowdragon7834]

I disagree with your description of midrange. A deck with aggro + control is better described as tempo. Yes, midrange decks have control elements. However, they tend to play higher value spells and threats than aggro. A midrange decks love getting 2 for 1s and going over the top of aggro decks.

[@nilejoanrivers]

That's fair! As I said in the video, you can get much more granular about your deck definitions. I was trying to paint with veryyyy broad strokes, it's possible I should have been slightly more specific with midrange. Also the cards I showed as midrange staples are both very good at 2 for 1s :)

[@lordsnowdragon7834]

@nilejoanrivers good points. I was super into mono blue tempo for a while, and "aggro + control" describes it well. I'm also a midrange enjoyer which means to me "high quality cards, higher mana curve, some control". Not trying to be mean. I do like your videos, and the algorithm likes comments.

[@nilejoanrivers]

@@lordsnowdragon7834 I didn't take it as mean at all tbc! I think you make valid points, and I sincerely appreciate you watching and discussing opinions and stuff :) I rewrote the midrange section like 3 times because it's just sorta the most nebulous of the general archetypes lol. So I'm not surprised that it ended up missing the mark a lil 💚

[@damonlouis6536]

mid range and tempo are different. a good example is a lot of mid range play chalice of the void on 1 or 0. side note stax is very viable in vintage. pox is a viable legacy deck and i consider it stax. stax isn't as good in edh since tokens are so easily produced

[@ThreeGuysOneBucket]

Youre my favorite trans youtuber!

[@nilejoanrivers]

@@ThreeGuysOneBucket :) 💚💚

[@Shydoshi17]

Oh, if only aggro was more viable in Commander.

[@Varler_]

A lot of the typal decks fall into aggro. I have a Najeela Warrior deck with no combos that can win by turn 5-6 by going exponential. And a Lathril Elf-Ball deck that can similarly win quickly by spitting out a ton of elves and then cheating out a Craterhoof finish. (The problem is that, just like in 1v1, aggro falls to board wipes. So, if someone wipes the board before I win, I'm left sitting around with not much to do. I try to play many Teferi's Protection/Clever Concealment/Heroic Intervention cards to offset that, though.

[@McShieldBash]

its not typal. it's kindred now.

[@silphonym]

Not true. Wizards changed the name of the card type formerly called Tribal to Kindred as the word tribe is used by some real world groups. Typal is a neutral term that refers to card types which also avoids the issue of Tribal. There is no good reason I know of not to use typal.

[@DuskyPredator]

Oh, I didn't know that "tribal" fell out of favour.