I wouldn't worry about shoving him in just because you need a green 6-drop. Just put a better 5 or 7 drop in, it won't affect the balance of your cube much or at all.
A control Token deck doesn't seem plausible either. Control spends the game answering threats until a win-condition, not fielding a bunch of creatures.
Token generators make great wincons for control decks because they're hard to interact with, stabilize the board, and often can win the game quickly on their own. Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Assemble the Legion and Kjeldoran Outpost in particular come to mind. A control deck running multiple token generators doesn't seem all that out there, IMHO.
I suppose when I think of a Tokens deck I think of a deck that synergizes tokens with anthems, Purphoros, and the like. Some token cards are certainly a win-con, but if you throw in a couple token win cons in your control deck, is that necessarily a Token deck?
I suppose a Pox/Stax or Opposition deck can be controlling, so that could be a controlling Token deck.
Awesome article! I'm sure this took a lot of hard-work and it definitely shows. I just wanted to point out a few things just to be nit-picky.
I don't know if Upheaval is a strict build-around card. You can put it in a Wildfire deck that utilizes mana rocks, or Super-ramp or Artifacts for the same reasons. It's basically useful in any deck that can get a lot of mana out quickly.
Exactly, and it's pretty useless in any deck that *isn't* able to get a lot of mana out quickly. That makes Upheaval an ideal example of a build-around card to me. But generally, I just wanted to point out that one card doesn't make an archetype by itself.
Hmm, a fair point. But what about Time Vault? Couldn't we make the same argument for that card? In its archetype section you basically list a bunch of cards that can untap it - the same could be done for Upheaval, where you list a bunch of mana rocks and other mana accelerators to flood your mana pool.
I think Voltron is very much a midrange archetype as well, depending on the build.
It's a deck that tries to win relatively fast, using mostly cheap creatures and a form of reach and/or increased damage output, doesn't have any real card advantage engine (on the contrary, it opens itself up to card disadvantage with Auras and pump spells), and actually wants to interact with the opponent as little as possible. Sounds like Aggro or Aggro/Combo to me.
I think your basic midrange deck that puts out a bigger resilient threat kind of falls in line with this strategy. Instead of spending your early game mana ramping into a bomb, you're making your little hexproof guy into the bomb.
I think it's fine to have Green be that bridge between Aggro and Midrange. I'll always welcome more quality one drops and two drops but I'm not sure I want the color to be the same as red, white, and black. I'm happy with it being an aggro filler color that specializes in midrange.
Awesome article! I'm sure this took a lot of hard-work and it definitely shows. I just wanted to point out a few things just to be nit-picky.
I don't know if Upheaval is a strict build-around card. You can put it in a Wildfire deck that utilizes mana rocks, or Super-ramp or Artifacts for the same reasons. It's basically useful in any deck that can get a lot of mana out quickly.
I don't really think it's possible to make an aggro Blink deck, the archetype feels too durdly to end games quickly. Also, I think Kor Skyfisher and maybe Galepowder Mage deserve mention.
A control Token deck doesn't seem plausible either. Control spends the game answering threats until a win-condition, not fielding a bunch of creatures.
Sylvan Tutor maybe deserves a mention for Top-of-Deck Matters. I've found it to be not that different from Worldly Tutor when it's used.
I think Voltron is very much a midrange archetype as well, depending on the build.
Otherwise, FANTASTIC analysis! This should be stickied
Bloat is kind of a relative and subjective term. I run a 630 unpowered and don't feel there's any bloat at all, minus maybe a couple filler role players like Diabolic Servitude.
Genesis, Parallax Wave, and Student of Warfare are all pretty solid though. Especially Parallax Wave, that card does all kinds of good stuff in a variety of decks.
I play this in an unpowered cube. I don't run fast mana, all the way down to Grim Monolith, and pretty much agree it's not nearly as degenerate if you don't have fast mana in your cube.
It's scale-able dividable damage that makes your 5/5 creature even bigger. Best case scenario for 5-mana: it shoots down two 2/1's and gets bigger. That's pretty worthwhile in my book.
Is this good enough for larger cubes? It seems like a nice roadblock against control's weakest matchup, aggro.
Walls have to be pretty good to make it in cube. Wall of Blossoms and Wall of Omens are staples, and Wall of Roots sees plenty of play in many cubes. Is trying to grind out some lifegain over the long game a worthwhile investment? You could also pump it up and attack, since it's technically not a wall, but that seems to be a corner case.
I also think the fact that it's a sheep is a huge plus
I suppose when I think of a Tokens deck I think of a deck that synergizes tokens with anthems, Purphoros, and the like. Some token cards are certainly a win-con, but if you throw in a couple token win cons in your control deck, is that necessarily a Token deck?
I suppose a Pox/Stax or Opposition deck can be controlling, so that could be a controlling Token deck.
Hmm, a fair point. But what about Time Vault? Couldn't we make the same argument for that card? In its archetype section you basically list a bunch of cards that can untap it - the same could be done for Upheaval, where you list a bunch of mana rocks and other mana accelerators to flood your mana pool.
I think your basic midrange deck that puts out a bigger resilient threat kind of falls in line with this strategy. Instead of spending your early game mana ramping into a bomb, you're making your little hexproof guy into the bomb.
I don't know if Upheaval is a strict build-around card. You can put it in a Wildfire deck that utilizes mana rocks, or Super-ramp or Artifacts for the same reasons. It's basically useful in any deck that can get a lot of mana out quickly.
I don't really think it's possible to make an aggro Blink deck, the archetype feels too durdly to end games quickly. Also, I think Kor Skyfisher and maybe Galepowder Mage deserve mention.
A control Token deck doesn't seem plausible either. Control spends the game answering threats until a win-condition, not fielding a bunch of creatures.
Sylvan Tutor maybe deserves a mention for Top-of-Deck Matters. I've found it to be not that different from Worldly Tutor when it's used.
I think Voltron is very much a midrange archetype as well, depending on the build.
Otherwise, FANTASTIC analysis! This should be stickied
Genesis, Parallax Wave, and Student of Warfare are all pretty solid though. Especially Parallax Wave, that card does all kinds of good stuff in a variety of decks.
Is this good enough for larger cubes? It seems like a nice roadblock against control's weakest matchup, aggro.
Walls have to be pretty good to make it in cube. Wall of Blossoms and Wall of Omens are staples, and Wall of Roots sees plenty of play in many cubes. Is trying to grind out some lifegain over the long game a worthwhile investment? You could also pump it up and attack, since it's technically not a wall, but that seems to be a corner case.
I also think the fact that it's a sheep is a huge plus
Sewer Nemesis
Desecration Demon
Abyssal Persecutor
Graveborn Muse
Shadowborn Demon
Tombstalker
Bloodgift Demon
Puppeteer Clique
With some reasoning if you can manage it