Out of curiosity, why aren't you running Snapcaster Mage here? I definitely don't think he's an auto-include, but he seems pretty solid regardless. You have plenty of worthwhile targets in the counters, tutors, and utility spells.
I've been running a very similar deck with excellent results, and this post provided a good chunk of the foundation. I definitely think you could expand this into a full primer!
Now that Bloodbraid Elf is banned, the world might be a bit safer for Prismatic Omen if Jund starts to decline. I'm still not sure this deck even needs to waste the card spots on Omen, but it's at least worth thinking about.
@Dromar: Yeah, I finally got to play with UG and it definitely overperformed for me. I think blue is just generally in a good spot in AVR, since UR has also been a good friend recently. I also agree with the above post that only one person at a table can really run the loner archetype, unless the first pack floats multiple Homocidal Seclusions and enablers.
Yeah, I see the loner deck as a really cool niche deck that can be a massive blowout if you pull the right cards, but you really have to make sure that it's open (like Burning Vengeance or Spider Spawning in ISD) before going for it. Nonetheless, it's a very real thing, and I'll definitely be talking about it. In fact, I'll start updating the list with the Bx loner archetype right now!
I'll definitely give it a shoutout in the description, since that's the type of card that you can build a killer deck around. I'm thinking about mentioning a few rares that might make you want to go into a each archetype (or maybe to send a signal) as I continue to update this. I'll get UG, Bx, WG, and UR up here later tonight. Keep the discussion going and the ideas flowing, guys!
@Spectre3353: I think you're absolutely right here, as I go on with updating the other archetypes I'll make that change. I was going to try and discuss each humans deck individually since they have slightly different angles (such as UR abusing "peel from reality" for Malcontents, soulbond, etc.) but they're really all red humans with another color splashed to support the main event. I think I'll expand my description of that deck to address all the different styles.
You guys are definitely right about seraph, I totally forgot about that when I was describing UW. I probably blocked it from my memory because I lost to one that I passed toward the end of a draft when I was playing UR the other day... haha
I know that there have already been threads like this, but most of them were speculative and I'd like to have one place to discuss the format's archetypes. I'm going to post the deck types that have stood out to me so far to get us started, but since I've had very limited exposure to this format and am by no means anywhere CLOSE to an authority on limited, I'd love it if other people would post their experiences playing different archetypes here too. At the end of each section, I'm going to post 5 of the commons / uncommons and a few of the bombs that seem to be major players in the archetype. The list of the bombs is not supposed to be a "best of," but just a brief reference of a few that work well in the given archetype. Even though I'm organizing mine by listing the colors first, it looks like there are very different strong deck types out there within the same color combinations, and I'll continue updating my list over time as we get more discussion going on in here and we all become more experienced with the format.
Rx Humans Aggro
I'm a fan of this deck. The cards are really there to make it work, and it has no problem going white, blue (despite not being a human, Latch Seeker is probably good here), or green while maintaining the deck's aggression and human synergies. You can pick up cheap aggressive creatures with upside (i.e., Nearheath Pilgrim), a pretty strong removal package (at least as strong as AVR limited removal gets...), utility humans such as Borderland Ranger, and some human synergy pieces which manage to make decent use of cards that seem to go later in packs right now (i.e., Thatcher's Revolt). Furthermore, you can also play cards like Nephalia Smuggler to abuse Kessig Malcontents or Goldnight Commander. The goal of this deck is to build an army of humans that play off of each other and rush your opponent's board before they even have a chance to set up properly. I would definitely try not to run less than 14 creatures here, and be careful not to avoid playing better aggressive creatures in favor of humans. After all, Heirs of Stromkirk and Havengul Vampire used to be human anyway, right? This deck really only needs about 8 humans and a couple of "human matters" cards to really take off. Big players: Kruin Striker, Riot Ringleader, Hanweir Lancer, Thatcher's Revolt, Kessig Malcontents Bombs which lead you this direction: Zealous Conscripts, Silverblade Paladin, Riders of Gavony
GR Aggro
This is just a really mean deck, and easily my favorite in the format right now. It starts fast and grows. Green has some incredibly potent soulbond creatures, and they are reliable enough to make a relatively unexciting card like Wandering Wolf into a complete monster. The lack of really solid spot removal (with a few exceptions) in this set makes the soulbond creatures in this set better than they would be in a different environment, and from what I've seen so far, I think this deck's curve is going to be very tough to top in this format. Cards like Heirs of Stromkirk, Falkenrath Exterminator and Lightning Mauler are just fantastic in this deck. Combine that with cards like Pillar of Flame, Thunderbolt (which is, in my opinion, seriously underrated right now), and red's premium burn spell Thunderous Wrath and you have a very scary deck on your hands... And we haven't even gotten to the green cards yet. The green soulbond creatures are just incredible, and Blessings of Nature has the potential to turn into a one-mana Travel Preparations. Turn 2 Wandering Wolf, turn 3 bonded Trusted Forcemage is just beautiful. It isn't too difficult to pick up a large number soulbond creatures in GR, and if you find that you're running a good number of them (maybe 5-6?), Flowering Lumberknot and Joint Assault can turn every game into a total blowout. Big players: Wolfir Avenger, Trusted Forcemage / Druid's Familiar, Lightning Mauler, Blessings of Nature, Heirs of Stromkirk Bombs which lead you in this direction: Wolfir Silverheart, Archwing Dragon, Burn at the Stake
UW Fliers / Tempo
As has been the case in every limited environment I can remember, UW fliers is a perfectly viable deck. It has fantastic tempo plays, multiple relevant combat tricks, and access to angels and Mist Raven. The bird is a serious contendor for best common in the set, in my opinion, and can serve equally well as a mid-game tempo play or a late drop finisher. You can go a couple of different directions with UW fliers as well, making a slightly faster deck with Favorable Winds and a bunch of fliers, or you can build a slightly higher-curve tempo deck which utilizes ETB effects, soulbond, and bigger creatures to win over the top. Angelic Wall seems particularly nice here, but most aggro decks will just power through it, so be cautious about playing this in multiples. On the other hand, pick up Amass the Components as early as you can, since this card can singlehandedly turn a mulligan into a hand full of options. This deck actually makes bounces and flicker effects a pretty real boon, and it can do a good job of stalling out the opponent with cards like Defang, Into the Void, Vanishment, Crippling Chill, and Peel from Reality. As a side note, don't underestimate Geist Snatch in this deck, since it is probably not as bad as you might think and deserves one spot in the sideboard of this deck every time. Even though they're grounded, soulbond creatures like Elgaud Shieldmate and Galvanic Alchemist can really help you outlast an early-game onslaught, especially if you run a decent number of flicker / bounce effects (Emancipation Angel, anyone?). Big players: Mist Raven, Gryff Vanguard, Nephalia Smuggler, Emancipation Angel, Seraph of Dawn Bombs which lead you in this direction: Entreat the Angels, Restoration Angel, Deadeye Navigator
Bx Loner Deck
This is a really interesting niche archetype. Where do I even start here... Well, first things first, Homicidal Seclusion is a very real game, and it will show up throughout this format. I wouldn't try to force this archetype, since you really do need certain pieces to make it work effectively. However, if you see those pieces, this deck can be pretty difficult to stop once it gets started. The key pieces to look for here are Demonic Taskmaster, Homicidal Seclusion, sacrifice engines, and creatures that sacrifice profitably. Ideally, you want to populate this deck with creatures that either make homicidal seclusion go into insane mode (Latch Seeker, Fettergeist, Marrow Bats, etc.), creatures that have no problem being sacrificed (Butcher Ghoul, Maalfeld Twins, Soulcage Fiend, etc.), or sacrifice engines (Corpse Traders, Bloodflow Connoisseur, Barter in Blood and Barter's younger cousin Bone Splinters really stand out here). Black has access to a decent removal package and I could see a version of this deck running only one color, but there are plenty of reasons to go into a second. While you could splash the aforementioned Fettergeist and Latch Seeker in blue, why not try splashing green to better fill your curve and survive an early-game aggro onslaught? While this might just be a pipe dream, I really want to see someone win off of a Wandering Wolf or Howlgeist with Homicidal Seclusion in play. Adding in some of red's early game and burn options here could also speed this deck up enough to give you such a strong board state that your opponent has to make some pretty difficult decisions when Homicidal Seclusion finally hits the board. Big players: Demonic Taskmaster, Barter in Blood, Homicidal Seclusion, Corpse Traders, Marrow Bats Bombs which lead you in this direction: Demonic Rising, Demonlord of Ashmouth, Lone Revenant
Sorry for the delay on the updates, I'll try and make the time to add UG, UR and WG soon.
I'm actually not sure how I feel about the set now that it's all been spoiled... there are definitely some cards I love, but plenty I'm not completely sold on yet. Overall, the art and the flavor are both fantastic (with a select few strange thematic departures with the art), and the uncommons in this seem EXTREMELY strong.
It looks like DKA is going to complement Innistrad very well and add another layer of depth to an already spectacular and complex limited environment. We'll see what kind of impact it has on constructed formats, and I'm definitely withholding judgement until I've had a chance to play with the new cards.
Predator Ooze: I'm a huge fan, despite his rather prohibitive mana cost. I like tricky cards that can take over a game slowly without the right answer... even if the right answer.
Deadly Allure: I think this will see more play than we all think in draft, and it makes Undying look even nicer. It's very situational, and has a few glaring weaknesses for sure but synergizes with a variety of common plays from the ISD limited environment, so I foresee it having a decent role in how DKA limited evolves.
Feed The Pack: Man, Wizards is really trying to push the "werewolves deck" in DKA, aren't they? This could end up being really cool in the right deck, but it IS a 6-drop Enchantment, so I'll wait and see...
Warden Gargoyle: This is a pretty risky tempo play, other than chumping spirit tokens and providing a weird pseudo-acceleration in limited, I don't really see why anyone would ever want him. Even for chumping and pseudo-acceleration, he's still under par though, sooo...
Grafdigger's Cage: All of Legacy is crying right now.
Hellrider: This is actually really cool, I'd love to see him in a draft and I can see him turning into an absolute monster of a finisher in aggro decks. I almost want to build a casual wolf token deck with Mayor, Sword of Body & Mind, Garruk Relentless, Huntmaster, and Hellrider now just to have some block constructed fun at an FNM.
Oh my God... Huntmaster might be on its way to becoming one of my favorite cards of all time. This is everything I've always wanted werewolves to be...
I'd mostly say there's a reason these cards are underdrafted, but there are definitely a few on here that seem like unsung heroes whenever I do see them. Some of these cards are win conditions in very specific decks, while some are good in pretty much all the "basic archetypes" they could run in.
Feeling of Dread, Curse of Death's Hold, Midnight Haunting, and Manor Gargoyle are valuable players in almost any deck with the mana base to support them. Feeling of Dread is an excellent trick (and sometimes even a decent finisher) in aggro decks, and it's a reasonable sideboard card in slower, pseudo-control decks matched against aggressive GW / UW decks. Midnight Hanting is another card that suits multiple different strategies (instant-speed surprise blockers or just an early start with two 1/1 fliers), and it's good in all of them. Curse of Death's Hold is just a solid card... nothing absolutely mind-blowing, but it's always good. Same with Manor Gargoyle.
Spider Spawning is an excellent finisher and serves as the backbone of that weird, rare, but awesome "GB Control" archetype. It's rare to draft a deck that uses it well, but if you ever play with or go up against a deck that does, you'll quickly realize just how undervalued this card is. Traitorous Blood is incredible with Skirsdag Cultist and can work pretty well in a UR tempo draft, but otherwise it's mediocre at best. Thraben Sentry is just okay in a vacuum but it works very well with a few cards (e.g. Doomed Traveler) that find their way into most aggressive human decks, making it a bit better than okay.
I've been running a very similar deck with excellent results, and this post provided a good chunk of the foundation. I definitely think you could expand this into a full primer!
Rx Humans Aggro
I'm a fan of this deck. The cards are really there to make it work, and it has no problem going white, blue (despite not being a human, Latch Seeker is probably good here), or green while maintaining the deck's aggression and human synergies. You can pick up cheap aggressive creatures with upside (i.e., Nearheath Pilgrim), a pretty strong removal package (at least as strong as AVR limited removal gets...), utility humans such as Borderland Ranger, and some human synergy pieces which manage to make decent use of cards that seem to go later in packs right now (i.e., Thatcher's Revolt). Furthermore, you can also play cards like Nephalia Smuggler to abuse Kessig Malcontents or Goldnight Commander. The goal of this deck is to build an army of humans that play off of each other and rush your opponent's board before they even have a chance to set up properly. I would definitely try not to run less than 14 creatures here, and be careful not to avoid playing better aggressive creatures in favor of humans. After all, Heirs of Stromkirk and Havengul Vampire used to be human anyway, right? This deck really only needs about 8 humans and a couple of "human matters" cards to really take off.
Big players: Kruin Striker, Riot Ringleader, Hanweir Lancer, Thatcher's Revolt, Kessig Malcontents
Bombs which lead you this direction: Zealous Conscripts, Silverblade Paladin, Riders of Gavony
GR Aggro
This is just a really mean deck, and easily my favorite in the format right now. It starts fast and grows. Green has some incredibly potent soulbond creatures, and they are reliable enough to make a relatively unexciting card like Wandering Wolf into a complete monster. The lack of really solid spot removal (with a few exceptions) in this set makes the soulbond creatures in this set better than they would be in a different environment, and from what I've seen so far, I think this deck's curve is going to be very tough to top in this format. Cards like Heirs of Stromkirk, Falkenrath Exterminator and Lightning Mauler are just fantastic in this deck. Combine that with cards like Pillar of Flame, Thunderbolt (which is, in my opinion, seriously underrated right now), and red's premium burn spell Thunderous Wrath and you have a very scary deck on your hands... And we haven't even gotten to the green cards yet. The green soulbond creatures are just incredible, and Blessings of Nature has the potential to turn into a one-mana Travel Preparations. Turn 2 Wandering Wolf, turn 3 bonded Trusted Forcemage is just beautiful. It isn't too difficult to pick up a large number soulbond creatures in GR, and if you find that you're running a good number of them (maybe 5-6?), Flowering Lumberknot and Joint Assault can turn every game into a total blowout.
Big players: Wolfir Avenger, Trusted Forcemage / Druid's Familiar, Lightning Mauler, Blessings of Nature, Heirs of Stromkirk
Bombs which lead you in this direction: Wolfir Silverheart, Archwing Dragon, Burn at the Stake
UW Fliers / Tempo
As has been the case in every limited environment I can remember, UW fliers is a perfectly viable deck. It has fantastic tempo plays, multiple relevant combat tricks, and access to angels and Mist Raven. The bird is a serious contendor for best common in the set, in my opinion, and can serve equally well as a mid-game tempo play or a late drop finisher. You can go a couple of different directions with UW fliers as well, making a slightly faster deck with Favorable Winds and a bunch of fliers, or you can build a slightly higher-curve tempo deck which utilizes ETB effects, soulbond, and bigger creatures to win over the top. Angelic Wall seems particularly nice here, but most aggro decks will just power through it, so be cautious about playing this in multiples. On the other hand, pick up Amass the Components as early as you can, since this card can singlehandedly turn a mulligan into a hand full of options. This deck actually makes bounces and flicker effects a pretty real boon, and it can do a good job of stalling out the opponent with cards like Defang, Into the Void, Vanishment, Crippling Chill, and Peel from Reality. As a side note, don't underestimate Geist Snatch in this deck, since it is probably not as bad as you might think and deserves one spot in the sideboard of this deck every time. Even though they're grounded, soulbond creatures like Elgaud Shieldmate and Galvanic Alchemist can really help you outlast an early-game onslaught, especially if you run a decent number of flicker / bounce effects (Emancipation Angel, anyone?).
Big players: Mist Raven, Gryff Vanguard, Nephalia Smuggler, Emancipation Angel, Seraph of Dawn
Bombs which lead you in this direction: Entreat the Angels, Restoration Angel, Deadeye Navigator
Bx Loner Deck
This is a really interesting niche archetype. Where do I even start here... Well, first things first, Homicidal Seclusion is a very real game, and it will show up throughout this format. I wouldn't try to force this archetype, since you really do need certain pieces to make it work effectively. However, if you see those pieces, this deck can be pretty difficult to stop once it gets started. The key pieces to look for here are Demonic Taskmaster, Homicidal Seclusion, sacrifice engines, and creatures that sacrifice profitably. Ideally, you want to populate this deck with creatures that either make homicidal seclusion go into insane mode (Latch Seeker, Fettergeist, Marrow Bats, etc.), creatures that have no problem being sacrificed (Butcher Ghoul, Maalfeld Twins, Soulcage Fiend, etc.), or sacrifice engines (Corpse Traders, Bloodflow Connoisseur, Barter in Blood and Barter's younger cousin Bone Splinters really stand out here). Black has access to a decent removal package and I could see a version of this deck running only one color, but there are plenty of reasons to go into a second. While you could splash the aforementioned Fettergeist and Latch Seeker in blue, why not try splashing green to better fill your curve and survive an early-game aggro onslaught? While this might just be a pipe dream, I really want to see someone win off of a Wandering Wolf or Howlgeist with Homicidal Seclusion in play. Adding in some of red's early game and burn options here could also speed this deck up enough to give you such a strong board state that your opponent has to make some pretty difficult decisions when Homicidal Seclusion finally hits the board.
Big players: Demonic Taskmaster, Barter in Blood, Homicidal Seclusion, Corpse Traders, Marrow Bats
Bombs which lead you in this direction: Demonic Rising, Demonlord of Ashmouth, Lone Revenant
Sorry for the delay on the updates, I'll try and make the time to add UG, UR and WG soon.
It looks like DKA is going to complement Innistrad very well and add another layer of depth to an already spectacular and complex limited environment. We'll see what kind of impact it has on constructed formats, and I'm definitely withholding judgement until I've had a chance to play with the new cards.
Deadly Allure: I think this will see more play than we all think in draft, and it makes Undying look even nicer. It's very situational, and has a few glaring weaknesses for sure but synergizes with a variety of common plays from the ISD limited environment, so I foresee it having a decent role in how DKA limited evolves.
Feed The Pack: Man, Wizards is really trying to push the "werewolves deck" in DKA, aren't they? This could end up being really cool in the right deck, but it IS a 6-drop Enchantment, so I'll wait and see...
Warden Gargoyle: This is a pretty risky tempo play, other than chumping spirit tokens and providing a weird pseudo-acceleration in limited, I don't really see why anyone would ever want him. Even for chumping and pseudo-acceleration, he's still under par though, sooo...
Grafdigger's Cage: All of Legacy is crying right now.
Hellrider: This is actually really cool, I'd love to see him in a draft and I can see him turning into an absolute monster of a finisher in aggro decks. I almost want to build a casual wolf token deck with Mayor, Sword of Body & Mind, Garruk Relentless, Huntmaster, and Hellrider now just to have some block constructed fun at an FNM.
Feeling of Dread, Curse of Death's Hold, Midnight Haunting, and Manor Gargoyle are valuable players in almost any deck with the mana base to support them. Feeling of Dread is an excellent trick (and sometimes even a decent finisher) in aggro decks, and it's a reasonable sideboard card in slower, pseudo-control decks matched against aggressive GW / UW decks. Midnight Hanting is another card that suits multiple different strategies (instant-speed surprise blockers or just an early start with two 1/1 fliers), and it's good in all of them. Curse of Death's Hold is just a solid card... nothing absolutely mind-blowing, but it's always good. Same with Manor Gargoyle.
Spider Spawning is an excellent finisher and serves as the backbone of that weird, rare, but awesome "GB Control" archetype. It's rare to draft a deck that uses it well, but if you ever play with or go up against a deck that does, you'll quickly realize just how undervalued this card is. Traitorous Blood is incredible with Skirsdag Cultist and can work pretty well in a UR tempo draft, but otherwise it's mediocre at best. Thraben Sentry is just okay in a vacuum but it works very well with a few cards (e.g. Doomed Traveler) that find their way into most aggressive human decks, making it a bit better than okay.
Just my $.02.