What is midrange?
Midrange decks are aggressive decks that attempt to control the early game, then go aggressive with large creatures in the mid to late game. Midrange typically features a few creatures in the 1-2 CMC range and instead tries to win with creatures in the 3-6 mana range while casting aggressive removal, board sweep, discard, and ramp cards in the early game.
DJ, Break it down.
What's goin' down early.
Elvish Mystic- The classic mana dork that any self-respecting midrange deck has.
Sylvan Caryatid- Dayum! It's fixin' your mana, it's blockin' all day and it's gonna need a sweeper to take it out. One helluva card.
'Nough ramp. Let's check out the support.
Loxodon Smiter- Noice! Loxo is a total bamf coming in as a 4/4 for 3CMC and easily castable on turn two. If you opponent is playing RDW, block all day! If your opponent is playing control, he is an uncounterable beatstick. Just an all around great card. If they just so happen to Thoughtseize you on turn one and find that you kept a six land and one Loxodon Smiter because you anticipated their move, you are a total idiot! That was a terrible hand!
You are also a lucky bastard...
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
- Mmm mmm mmm! She is mighty fine! Want some life? Have it all! With cards like Whip of Erebos, Obzedat, Ghost Council,
Advent of the Wurm
and Archangel of Thune, you'll have more life than you know what to do with!
Whip of Erebos- All your creatures have lifelink? Hell yeah! Oh yeah, by the way, go ahead and bring back that Obzedat, Ghost Council that died earlier. Forever. You see, when you stack your triggers correctly, Obzedat's EoT trigger dodges Whip of Erebos' exile trigger. So yeah, that's cool.
Now, it's time to drop some fat beats. Check it.
Obzedat, Ghost Council- Woah, mama, is this guy good! Five mana for a 5/5 fatty that dodges sorcery speed removal and constantly drains life? That's what I call value! There is beautiful synergy hear with Whip of Erebos,
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
and Archangel of Thune. But I'll get into that later. Overall, Obzedat, Ghost Council is a force to be reckoned with.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa- Out of all the threats, this is one of the most troublesome for your opponent to get rid of. It's got protection from 66% of removal and 40% of everything else! He is a real beat stick, and a pain to deal with. However, he is very susceptible to Mizzium Mortars, which is becoming a very common card in the current standard. Most notably, though, he is a royal pain in the ass.
Desecration Demon
- There is no better feeling than playing a 6/6 flying on turn three. (Shut up, you know it's true.) Unless they have removal or an overabundance of creatures, they are in deep doodoo. He does some serious work even if he never even attacks!
Armada Wurm- Or as I like to call him, "Boom boom". Paying six mana for two 5/5 Trample Wurm's? Yes please! It's also one of my only ways to deal with an opposing Blood Baron of Vizkopa. It makes for a great Whip target and is synergistic with
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
. Even though he looks like penis, (WoTC y u do dis?) he is a nice fit in the deck.
Advent of the Wurm
- Who doesn't like a 5/5 Trample Flash Wurm for four mana? Lemme tell you who does, Trostani. Seriously, this card is banaynays. Four mana for a 5/5? Nice!Four mana for a 5/5 Trample? Hot damn! Four mana for a 5/5 Trample Flash creature that can be Populated? You're kidding right? No, no I am not.
Archangel of Thune- She may be the last but she is certainly not the least. She's a 3/4 Flying for five, not bad, yet still susceptible to Mizzium Mortars. Oh you swing with her and gain three life? 4/5. Obzedat blinks himself? Go ahead and put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Trostani populates? Go ahead and make your army even bigger. Her only downside is that she can't fricken protect herself, and with such a large amount of removal in the meta, she's probably not gonna stay for long. . However, she is some card, lemme tell ya.
Show me the removal!
Abrupt Decay- Halts every aggro deck ever, kills off those pesky planeswalkers like Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Domri Rade and Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Takes out Detention Sphere,
Spear of Heliod
, Boros Reckoner etc. And to top it all off it can't be countered!
Doom Blade
- The classic. Not much to say other than it kills 80% of creatures for 2 mana.
Hero's Downfall- It's great that it kills most things it can target. But, the true reason of why it's here over Putrefy is planeswalkers. I'm talkin' Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Chandra, Pyromaster, Jace, Architect of Thought, etc. Just a really valuable card.
Whatchu dealin' on the side?
Centaur Healer
- The key reason he/she is here is to stall an aggro deck long enough to drop fatties. It's great on turn two to play
Centaur Healer
gain three life and have a nice blocker they won't want to attack into. It really gives you the time to recover.
Pithing Needle- The answer for planeswalkers and, well, AEtherling. Seriously, that biotch is a problem.
Putrefy- Deals with a Whip of Erebos on the other side of the field and other pesky artifacts, also kills almost anything it can target. Yay removal!
Rootborn Defenses- Bring these in for against control decks or any decks that utilize sweepers. Populate works nicely with
Advent of the Wurm
/Armada Wurm.
Savage Summoning- Again, bring in these bad boys for against control when you really need to have a creature hit the battlefield, eg., Obzedat, Ghost Council. And it's nice for any of your creatures to have flash. Throw one down in response to a Sphinx's Revelation or other such spells. Pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?
Sin Collector- Bring in theses babies against control/midrange. Always nice to get a look at their hand and maybe make them discard a counterspell or a boardwipe. You catchin' on to how much I hate control?
Thoughtseize- Only the best hand disruption in standard sitting at the hefty price of $25. Now you know why I only have one. I figured if it turns out to be a total gamechanger I might get two more, but I really don't want to spend another $50 on my sideboard. -.-
Fun interactions.
This right here, ooooooh, baby. This right here is the combo wombo. So lets say your Obzedat, Ghost Council gets Thoughtseized out of your hand. Turn three play a
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
. Turn four play a Whip of Erebos. Now here's where it gets fun. Tap four mana and the Whip, reanimate Obzedat. You gain seven life (two from Obzedat plus five from Trostani) and your opponent loses two life. Swing for five gain five stack your triggers on EoT to exile Obzedat using his ability and not Whip's. Rinse repeat. If you want to add more craziness, throw Archangel of Thune into the mix for some crazy +1/+1 counter action.