Tolarian Tutor: Deck Archetypes - Aggro, Control, Combo - A Magic: The Gathering Study Guide

Learn to improve your MTG gameplay with these videos:

Our Professional Consultant is my own tutor, Emma Handy
Twitter: @Em_TeeGee

Our Script Supervisor is Michelle Rapp
Twitter: @ninox_morpork

Check Tolarian Community College out on
Twitter: @TolarianCollege
If there’s something that humans are very good at, it’s categorizing things - themselves, cats, colors, even Hogwarts houses. That’s because we’re adept at recognizing patterns, not just in how things look, but how they interact with one another. In Magic, we often see recurring themes and patterns in how certain decks play out, and how they interact not just with your opponent, but the board state as well.

We call these archetypes, because we see them come up in almost every format again and again like an old friend, or in some cases, an old nemesis. By labeling these different deck archetypes, we can understand what a deck is trying to do just by hearing the name of it. If I say “Red Deck Wins”, you know this deck is focused on a Aggro strategy, has no Control elements, and uses cards like lightning bolt and goblin guide. It immediately tells you what the deck is trying to do, and how going about it.

In this episode, we’ll be exploring the three primary types of deck archetypes we see in Magic: The Gathering: Aggro, Control and Combo. We’ll talk about their strengths, their weaknesses, and how to evaluate cards to build these archetypes in both Limited and Constructed.

Which of these archetypes should I play?

This depends on the format, and also on the timing. If you’re looking for a good win rate, the best time to play an Aggro strategy is usually right after a set comes out in Standard. Because the format is still being in some ways “figured out”, being proactive and focusing on just killing your opponent is an effective way of getting those early wins.

Once a format becomes more defined, it’s easier to build a Control deck to beat what other people are doing, which is usually at the end before the next set is released, or before rotation. Combo is sprinkled throughout the lifespan of a format sometimes, when and if there is a good busted combo in a Control deck. If people are playing a lot of Aggro decks, then it’s a good time to do one of those Engine decks, as long as it’s fast and can kill by turn 5 if there isn’t interaction.

But honestly, the real answer to this question is: any of them you want! What is amazing about Magic: the Gathering as a game is its flexibility. You can express yourself through gameplay in almost any way you might wish. I love my Modern Merfolk deck, and no matter how it’s doing in the meta, I’ll continue to play it, regardless of what other people think. For you that might be your Cat tribal Standard deck, your Burn deck, or even 8 Rack. Whatever you choose, follow your bliss and fine tune it to the best of your ability. Different people play Magic differently, and in that lies the inherent beauty and freedom of the game.

Music Courtesy Of:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[RaccoonKing]

This feels so much like a college class that I feel bad for not taking notes.

[fotophotographer]

6 years later, this is still valuable for us noobs. Hope this the views are still providing some coin for the college and its faculty.

[albertfajarito]

50 years from now these videos will still form a core fundamental for teaching mtg.

[aham]

Prof, you struck gold with the Tolarian Tutor series. Probably your most educational (and fun) series yet. Fantastic work!

[colvinatchison]

What a great series of videos! There are plenty of resources available for the beginner, but until now nothing for the intermediate player. Your Tolarian Tutor series fills a much needed niche, like classes in the 200-300 level. Well done Professor.

[JWentu]

I am really not into MtG but I must say I adore the way you speak. When someone fascinates you even when speaking about something you basically don't care about, it does mean something.

[mnis]

Prof I've been watching you for sometime now but with Tolarian Tutor I have to say that you've really found your style. Thumbs up for MtG academia

[tylerzilkie]

I really appreciate these videos. I've been playing for years, but only in the last month or two have I been seriously learning all the little things about the rules and deck construction. I like that you take time to address both Limited and Constructed deck building. I'm looking forward to when you do your more indepth videos about each deck archetype, as well as the other deck archetypes that were not covered here.

[adamvanhoozer]

My son and I are just getting into mtg and I can easily say these are the best videos out there explaining the foundations.  Thank you so much for providing this knowledge!

[purklefluff]

Also Prof - slight nitpick! a removal spell won't disrupt the devoted druid combo. In response to the spell, you just layer another untap trigger on the stack and 'go off' above the removal spell in the stack. There's no way (short of Sudden Shock) to disrupt that combo in Modern. You'll always get the infinite mana if you have both pieces on the board and druid isn't summoning sick. Cheers!

[willropa]

This has definitely been eye opening. I've been running around with Magic for a bit and settled on a creature type I really liked, good ol' Slivers. I really enjoyed their ability of sharing traits with one another, but always found myself on the downswing when playing with them. Finally, opponent sat down and looked over my deck to help give me a better fighting chance, his reaction to my deck was "You're playing an Aggro deck as a Control deck. You have so many creatures that you're doing nothing with because you can't pump out enough mana for them.". Thanks again for this, kinda had to learn how to act with them.

[herajuno]

Just started MTG this year. Good stuff. More power to you, my dude.

[NeonThoughtBox]

This video is fantastic and this channel is quickly becoming my favorite. Can't wait for Ixalan!

[danielgolinski]

As a player that returned to mtg less than a year ago, I'm spending a great deal of time actually learning to play this game. I have tried many of the game's formats, (standard, limited, and commander). I really appreciate your videos on the mtg swag (saved me a bundle) and on learning to play this game in different formats. Many of my commander decks are the pre-constructed decks, and have not yet been modified, I have one deck that I built from scratch (initially a net deck that I have been tweaking) and I'm working on upgrading the commander 2017 decks thanks to you and others who have put out great videos with some ideas of ways to improve the already playable commander decks. Thank you for your great contribution to this game!

[Avathee]

This is exactly what I need! Can't wait 'til next week! THANK YOU!

[Indieevar]

To answer your question: I just play midrange, tbh. The possibility to do a bit of everything is just more fun than vomiting your hand or just playing solitaire with combo decks. Also, depending of the format and the cardpool/match up, YOU can choose how to play the game (more defensive against aggro, more ofensive againt control/combo).
Since midrange is one (if not the most) interactive archetypes on every card game, it's always my first option for me. Some removal, some spells, with some mini-combos in the decks or just pure value... All at your choice. Also, generally speaking, Planeswalkers usually fits in midrange decks, and they are hella fun to play, so... Yep, midrange all the way!:)

[Hugme]

Can you please do a video on sideboards?

[gemofmagic]

FINALLY got a chance to watch this. Very good, and many 'ahhh so THAT'S what it means!' moments for me. I'm finding I have to pause every now and then to absorb it because there IS a lot of info there. I don't know if pause spaces in the video itself would work or not. I love this series very much, I'm gonna become such a better player! :D

[FlourEater]

fun fact : my local game club for both MTG and Warhammer is called Tolaria !

[Milinthrak]

Love these Tolarian Tutor videos!!! Thank you so much for doing these. It's really nice to find high quality videos about these less-discussed topics on Youtube.