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By: Bazaar of Baghdad, BoydB
Aug 30 2009 12:21pm
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Introduction

Magic, and in particular, the Classic format, is such a varied game that any attempt to classify it will inevitably breakdown in places due to deck evolution, or due to the diversity of the decks themselves and the myriad game plans they represent. However, science must do the best it can to break down the chaos, and best represent what is known with the tools available.
 
This Classic format taxonomy (i.e., classification system) will attempt to 1) define a continuum of the overarching magic archetypes; 2) identify which traditional decks fit under which archetype; and, 3) highlight the various iterations each deck has seen. From there, the tree that evolves will hyperlink to an appendix of stock decklists, presented with basic commentary.
 
Although conceits do exist that would allow a tiered ranking system (tier 1, tier 2, etc.) through use of italics or stars, etc., doing such is outside the scientific scope of the classification system, and will be confined, at most, to the individual deck commentaries in the context of historical performance only. Primarily I will list only the decks that have made the top 8 in the Magic Online Daily Events, however I will also note several historical decks that haven’t produced any notable tournament results recently (for example: Bomberman, Enduring Ideal, Madness, etc.) as well as some untested surprises, usually of my own preparation. It is still possible to see some of these decks in an early round or in a casual setting.
 
As the current naming editor at classicquarter.com, it is my job to dissect a list, figure out what current list it is emulating, or if new, how it seeks to win, give it a name, and assign it a tag like Aggro or Control. I take traditionally accepted deck names whenever possible, but when classifying the different deck iterations, I am more likely to assign names based on the cards themselves than less identifiable proper names. For example, the B/G Pox decks of late have been affectionately named DunklePox after their wildly successful inventor, however this article and the web site will stay with the more boring, but hopefully more descriptive B/G Pox.
 
For each list in the appendix, I have tried to incorporate a successful iteration of the deck’s concepts, as piloted in one of the many Classic events this past year. Along with these blueprints, I try to give a brief analysis as to what makes the deck tick and how the list might be improved upon. Since I am not an expert on any given list, the reader is cautioned to always do further research and testing before playing any given list in an event. As a final disclaimer, please note the article’s publication date. I cannot commit to keeping the decks up to date. Today’s meta-star is tomorrow’s bin material; success will obviously hinge on the metagame, an influx of new cards, and restrictions.
Archetypes
When making a taxonomical chart of the format, it is imperative to categorize the decks along an identifiable pattern, preferably a logical continuum encompassing the entirety of the various strategic plans. The unifying theme that I see correlating all decks is their path to victory within the context of interactivity. At one end of a spectrum we may see a deck with highly explosive threats and little interactivity – combo. As we progress down the continuum the threats become less explosive but more interactive, passing through aggro, aggro/control, and control in roughly that order. At the other end of the spectrum is the lockdown deck, which would probably ideally have zero true threats, seeking to win a game purely through decking an opponent by one card.
 
Presented on a continuum, it might look something like this:
 
 
As previously mentioned, due to Classic’s great diversity, some decks will be hard to classify. Decks under one archetype will have packets of cards that are more identifiable under another. Alternately, some cards simply work well for multiple purposes. For example, the Elves deck has several cards that can both lead to a devastating combo or simply beatdown. I try to classify such decks under what I feel is their primary path to victory, but I realize there will be some disputed cases.
Combo
These decks typically assign premium value to speed and consistency; therefore they may not have much room for disruptive elements. The least interactive ones tend to be listed first. Please note that some decks traditionally considered Combo decks have been usually classified here as ‘Combo-Aggro’ if they seek to win via the attack step as their main win condition. However some “2-card combos” require so little deck space that they could easily fit into a wider shell that has more control (Natural Order Progenitus) or lockdown (Imperial Painter) elements. These are listed here for convenience.
 
1)      Belcher Storm
2)      Ad Nauseam Storm
3)      Desire Storm
4)      HelmLine
5)      Dream Halls
6)      Enduring Ideal
7)      NecroSpike
8)      Dragon Combo
9)      Flash – Disciple Kill
10) Flash – Sliver Kill
11) Bomberman
12) Sensei, Sensei
13) Aluren
14) Natural Order – Progenitus
15) Painter – Imperial Painter
16) Painter – Trinket Painter
Aggro-Combo
I classify under this category both the combo deck that generally seeks to win via the attack step (with the notable exception of the Flash – Sliver Kill) and the creature decks whose synergy is so great that the sum is easily greater than its parts. Each decklist in the appendix is divided by its mana, engine, top-line threats, and disruption. Interactivity and their combo-like aspect determine their order here.
 
1)      Reanimator
2)      Dredge
3)      Elves
4)      Affinity (includes Erayo Affinity, Flingatog)
5)      Goblins
6)      Slivers
Aggro
These decks maximize on efficient threats and board control (to clear a path for the threats) without major synergies among the various pieces of the lists. They can also be characterized by both sides racing when paired against each other. On one end, Burn doesn’t want to interact but can do a passable job if needed, whereas the black-based aggro decks on the other end seek to interact on a number of fronts.
 
1)      RDW – Burn (including Rakdos versions)
2)      Zoo – Naya Zoo (also Domain Zoo)
3)      Zoo – Toolbox Zoo
4)      Suicide Black
5)      Eva Green
6)      Deadguy Ale
Aggro-Control
These decks also seek to win through the attack phase but must play control against any of the faster aggro decks, usually to advantage. The versions with copious countermagic among the group try to approximate true control vs. combo, and all are well-equipped to lay down a threat and protect it against the control decks. These decks usually lack blowout matchups, but rarely have weaknesses as well. Madness and GAT have just a light control suite and do not seek combat interaction, and from there we move on to board control to decks that interact with certain strategies well to decks like Thresh and Baseruption which are basically control decks with enough aggro elements to keep the slower control decks on their toes.
 
1)      Madness
2)      GAT
3)      Haterade
4)      Rock (note Gifts Rock would be considered a Control deck)
5)      Bant Aggro
6)      Merfolk
7)      Fish – UW Fish (also, Dark Fish, Dreaded Fish, Wizards)
8)      Thresh – UGr/UGw Thresh
9)      Baseruption
Control
These highly-interactive decks look to shut down key spells, sitting on their 20-life cushion to trade spell for spell, often with profit, until their fewer and slower, but much more powerful, threats can take over the game while the Aggro and Combo decks watch helplessly. They almost always have at least one recursive control element. Because they are slow and multifaceted, they have access to a variety of finishers and engines. In the appendix lists, I tried to divide up the different plans where they made the most sense, despite the fact that in real life deckbuilders have bled the common threats and engines across most of the color combinations.
 
1)      BW* Control – Trinket Stalker
2)      Mono-Blue Control – Dreadstill
3)      UW* Control – Landstill
4)      UBg Control – Team America
5)      UB* Control – Psychatog
6)      UG* Control – CounterTop Intuition (a.k.a. It’s the Fear)
7)      Tezzerator
Lockdown
These denial strategies attack a specific resource, usually mana, but possibly your hand, the phases of your turn, your paths to victory, or your ability to cast spells. These decks can be frustrating to play against, and lulling moreover, as turn after turn goes by with no useful play, so even when a window does appear for the opponent, they are more likely to miss the opportunity. The most representative cards are Chalice of the Void and a recursive Wasteland, both of which strand many cards in the opponent’s hand while the archetype’s few but potent threats march unimpeded. Death knell to the goodstuff.dec, these decks keep the format honest and focused.
 
1)      Scepter Chant
2)      Pox (includes B/G Pox)
3)      Aggro Loam
4)      Dragon Stompy
5)      Stax
6)      Threat Exhaustion
 
Well, in the pages to follow, you will find fifty (50!) decks for you to explore. Some that I did not cover were White Weenie, Cephalid Breakfast, Gifts Rock, and Lifegain Combo, but there are even a few others as well, so far, all very rare. I hope you enjoy the lists, the ideas, and the handy reference. Most of all, I hope you enjoy a great unexplored format, full of fun and surprises. Bazaar of Baghdad // Ben Bentrup – July 29, 2009

14 Comments

Impressive work, wow. by LOurs at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 12:34
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Impressive work, wow. Congratulation for this AWESOME article. Definitly a *must to be rade*

I must admit, very by Anonymous (not verified) at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 12:45
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I must admit, very comprehensive. Thank you :)

dude by menace13 at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 13:32
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WOW this article will be refrenced for a long time. great work BOB thank you!

? by Anonymous (not verified) at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 16:35
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is it just me or do the deck links not go anywhere?

the article was all one by Bazaar of Baghdad at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 19:19
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the article was all one document at one point - I suspect breaking it up into two articles (as requested) ended up defeating that purpose - fortunately the other article's decks are alphabetized

The chart above is also missing - it didn't copy over from my word document to the puremtgo editor here is that chart.

Photobucket

Edit: thanks for the fix!

Sorry that chart is so big, by Bazaar of Baghdad at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 16:55
Bazaar of Baghdad's picture

Sorry that chart is so big, lol - can'g get photobucket/ms-paint to shrink it. Also, please note the date of the article - late July; some commentary is a bit out of date accordingly plus not much MedIII/Exiled commentary which will obsolete large swaths of the decklists.

Is anything supposed to by CottonRhetoric at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:14
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Is anything supposed to happen when I click the links in this article? Nothing does.

Very handy list. Some by theintangiblefatman at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:39
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Very handy list. Some oddities I see are the lack of the Reveillark kill in your flash listings (could probably be combined with the Disciple listing), the lack of separation between Tempo Thresh and Counter-Top Thresh (I suppose could be lumped in as UGw Baseruption), and the listing of Slivers under aggro, as apposed to with Merfolk (as most Meathooks lists I see are Merfolk but with Slivers and Swords instead of Merfolk and Wasteland).

http://www.filefactory.com/fi by Paul Leicht at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:51
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http://www.filefactory.com/file/ah45h18/n/taxonomy_jpg

I cropped the extra whitespace around it.

The Reveillark Kill never by Bazaar of Baghdad at Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:55
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The Reveillark Kill never made a top 8 showing until this past week; this article was half-written in March, half in July. I definitely agree that people should visit classicquarter.com to see the Reveillark lists. Slivers is REALLY hard to classify. The lists so far, as I noted, have used control shells, but my definition for the tribe is that it has synergistic pieces and therefore connotes combo - admittedly, as how I defined it. Ultimately, I decided the sliver shell is in itself combo and could have used more traditional aggro cards instead of control, but if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and I'm ok with that possibility.

Very nice article, lots of by Kaxon (not verified) at Mon, 08/31/2009 - 01:37
Kaxon's picture

Very nice article, lots of good information. I do agree that Slivers shouldn't be under Aggro-Combo - the creatures have synergy, but only one small step above Merfolk in that respect. The deck plays like aggro-control.

Another interesting issue is the definition of "Rock" - you listed Rock in Aggro control while personally I would consider Rock a true control deck. The thing that makes it difficult is that there's basically a full spectrum of GBW decks from Deadguy Ale to full Genesis / Pernicious Deed / Living Wish Rock that people can and do play. But anything on the aggro end of the spectrum isn't Rock in my book. It might actually make sense to introduce a third name for the aggro-controlish GBW decks that fit in between Deadguy Ale and Rock. Hank used to call his deck Indiana Jones, which seems as good as any name to me.

GWB Aggro by rukcus at Mon, 08/31/2009 - 11:28
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That deck is more affectionately called PT Jank. It has always ran green beaters, white removal, and black discard and focuses on effeciency.

I can imagine it being build these days with Goyf, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Swords, Vindicate/Maelstrom Pulse, Wastelands, and Canonist. MED3 will make it see more play since Bayous now mean it works much better!

Scrubland as well eh? by Paul Leicht at Mon, 08/31/2009 - 14:28
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Scrubland as well eh?

Thanks for the two very by Wyrath (not verified) at Mon, 08/31/2009 - 14:02
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Thanks for the two very useful articles. They certainly helped me as my knowledge of the format is still somewhat limited.