Similar to enchantment auras, artifacts have a common subtype of their own, known as “Equipment.” Think of these as weapons on your side of the battlefield that can be used to buff your creatures. Marauder’s Axe, for example, increases your equipped creature’s power by 2. Unlike auras, equipment cards can be moved around your creatures as you please, by paying the “Equip cost” (two mana of any color, in the case of Marauder’s Axe). Your lands pay for your spells by providing a magical energy source, known as “mana.” The mana cost of any card is listed in the top right corner. (Grizzly Bears, for example, costs one green mana, plus another mana of any color).

A planeswalker-only strategy is difficult to pull off in faster formats like Modern or Legacy since they generate value over time rather than impact the game immediately. In Commander, however, planeswalkers like [c]Terefi, Hero of Dominaria[/c], are an excellent resource if you can protect them, and they can swing the game in your favor if you’re patient enough. You’ll mostly find Dredge and other similar decks in Legacy and Modern, where all the best graveyard cards come together to form this powerful deck. Nevertheless, Combo is an excellent deck archetype for those who like to master a single skill. The weaknesses and strengths of this style are entirely based on what kind of combo it’s trying to pull off.

Stax is like the Commander version of Prison (see #8 in the above section). Using cards like [c]Trinisphere[/c], [c]Winter Orb[/c], and [c]Tangle Wire[/c], Stax decks slow down the game immensely until they find a few combo pieces to finish the game off. We’ve already pauper decks seen tribal as an archetype in the previous section, but tribal Commander decks are different enough to merit a category of their own.

Definitive Beginner’s Guide To Magic: The Gathering – Rules Explained, Types Of Decks, And More

They can’t be too far behind their formats curve, or else they can’t exist. The most important thing to consider with a ramp deck is your ramp curve. Most ramp spells jump you ahead by a single mana, and you want to maximize the extra mana every turn possible. For example, a deck with an odd ramp curve would start with a ramp spell on turn 1 like Llanowar Elves, which gives you three mana on turn 2, which goes into a 3-mana ramp spell like Cultivate.

You’ll nearly always be playing in Blue if you’re piloting a Control deck. Of course, you could also be using any other combination of colours, though it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be playing Green. Azorius Control is a very powerful deck in nearly every format. If you were to look for one single MTG card that embodied the Control way of life, you could probably stop with planeswalker Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. Control does well against Midrange but often finds itself too slow to defeat Aggro.

With this Dimir Rogues deck, players can access another Standard mainstay tactic – Rogues, a creature type that provides benefits with more of them cast on the field. Courtesy of Lurrus of the Dream-Den, players also get the opportunity to cast one permanent card from the graveyard per turn. This time around, most creatures in the deck force enemies to mill (or discard) cards from their deck (Merfolk Windrobber, Ruin Crab, Thieves’ Guild Enforcer, Soaring Thought-Thief).

MTG Deck Types Explained + 20 Popular Deck Archetypes!

Strategically, Enchantments can effectively control the board state. Cards that prevent opponents from attacking or that impose restrictions on card play can be game-changing, forcing opponents to adapt their strategies. The right Enchantment can tilt the balance of the game in your favor, making them an integral part of many decks. Enchantment cards are permanents that provide ongoing effects to the game. They can enhance creatures, alter rules, or influence other permanents and players.

Yep, aggro-combo decks exist, and from experience, I can say that they’re super challenging to play against. At its heart, Affinity is an aggro deck, but since it relies on synergy between its cards to function, it certainly has a combo component to it. Midrange decks are for those who like to be a little more flexible. Each and every card should be feared in a Midrange deck, and if even a single threat stays alive, it can usually end a game.

The specific color of mana added by your lands depends on the type of land (“Plains” tap for white mana, “Islands” for blue, “Swamps” for black, “Mountains” for red, and “Forests” for green). This action is known as “tapping.” You’ll see it represented by a circular right arrow symbol on cards. Your permanents stay tapped until the beginning of your next turn, so once you tap a land for mana, you can’t use it again until your next turn. Lastly, the rarity of cards—Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Mythic Rare—affects their availability and value. Mythic Rare cards, for instance, are typically more powerful and sought-after, leading to a higher market value. Understanding the rarity system can help players make informed decisions when building their decks.

#5: Green Stompy

There are countless exceptions to the rules like these–far too many to list here! Soon, the card effects and creature abilities that alter the fundamentals of the game will become second nature. However, whenever a creature enters your side of the battlefield, it will have what’s known as “Summoning Sickness” until your next turn. (Think of it as being a bit wobbly and disoriented, having just been cast into existence by a sorcerer and all).

Abilities range from simple effects to more complex interactions, adding layers of strategy to each card’s use in gameplay. Mono-white decks often aim for an aggressive start, focusing on deploying small creatures in the early turns to put immediate pressure on the opponent. Mono-green decks may also take advantage of spells to pump up their creatures to deal extra, unforeseen damage. Mono-green decks that focus on large creatures often revolve around big nasties with high power/toughness and abilities such as trample that allow them to deal damage to players even when blocked. Mono-green decks may also manipulate their opponents’ mana through spells such as Plow Under.

Green Stompy decks are most common in Standard, where formats tend to be slower and fairer. This deck archetype struggles against fast and powerful combo decks, which is why you won’t see it played a lot in Legacy and Modern. You’ll often see cards like [c]Counterspell[/c] and [c]Archmage’s Charm[/c] in control decks. These will stop your opponent from ever resolving their own cards. They might also run spot removal in the form of [c]Swords to Plowshares[/c], mass removal in the form of [c]Wrath of God[/c], or both. To gain incremental advantages over the course of the game, counter-control decks will also run a handful of planeswalkers such as [c]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/c] or [c]Teferi, Hero of Dominaria[/c].