Archetypes
An archetype is a recognizable plan a deck is built around — separate from its colors or its tribal theme. These are the same eight categories this app's own deck classifier uses, each shown here with cards that make the plan obvious at a glance. A deck's own combo package is tracked separately — plenty of Aggro or Stax decks run real combos too, that's not a category of its own here.
The Eight Archetypes
Aggro
Race your opponent to zero before they can stabilize. Cheap, efficient threats come down early and keep attacking — every turn spent not applying pressure is a turn closer to losing the race.
Control
Answer every threat, then win once the board is empty and the game slows down. Removal, counterspells, and card draw buy time until your own win condition finally lands.
Midrange
Efficient, value-positive cards that are good in almost any matchup. Midrange doesn't race Aggro or out-grind Control — it plays a flexible plan that adjusts to whichever fight it's actually in.
Lifegain
Turn your own life total into a resource instead of just a clock ticking down. A high life total buys time against aggression, and the right payoffs punish it directly.
Mill
Win by emptying an opponent's library instead of their life total. An uncommon alternate win condition — one your opponent may not even be watching for until it's too late.
Tempo
Cheap threats backed by disruption, pressuring an opponent before they can set up their own plan. Tempo cares less about card advantage than about staying a step ahead the whole game.
Ramp
Accelerate past the normal mana curve to cast your biggest spells early. Ramp buys access to a higher power level than the turn count alone would normally allow.
Stax
Slow the whole game down with resource denial until you're the only one who can actually act. A divisive way to win — and an effective one, since it works by making sure nobody else gets to.
How They Stack Up Against Each Other
Win rates for these same archetypes, tracked from tournament decklists — not a head-to-head stat, but an ongoing scoreboard of which plans are actually winning right now.
Go Deeper in the Codex
This view is Commander only. The Codex breaks these same archetypes down by format, color identity, and more.
Open the Codex