What are all the archetypes found in Commander?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 20, 2017, 3:12 p.m. by MagicalHacker
I am compiling a list of archetypes for Commander (don't ask why...), and I want to make sure I didn't miss any after both looking online to what people have said and what I can think of that they missed. Do you know of any that I have missed?
+1/+1 Counter Shenanigans
-1/-1 Counter Shenanigans
Aikido/Copy & Steal
Alternate Win Condition
Aristocrats
Artifact Theme
Aura Theme
Battlecruiser/Show and Tell
Chaos
Discard Control
Draw Go Control
Enchantress
Equipment Theme
Fattie Reanimation
Flicker/Blink
Gimmick/Synergy
Goodstuff
Graveyard Recursion
Group Hug/Donate/Forcefeed
Group Slug
Infect
Infinite Blink/Reanimation
Infinite Mana Dump
Infinite Mill
Infinite Tokens
Landfall/Scapeshift
Lifegain
Mana Denial (Stax/MLD)
Mill
Nonland Removal Control
Non-Token Aggro
Pillow Fort
Self-Mill/Dredge
Spellslinger
Storm
Superfriends
Tap & Untap Shenanigans
Taxes
Tokens
Toolbox/Hatebears
Tribal
Voltron
Vorthos/Lore
Thanks in advance!
MagicalHacker says... #3
I named it "Fatties Reanimation" to distinguish it from that archetype. Is that the right way to distinguish between those two?
April 20, 2017 5:35 p.m.
To me hatebears is missing. The rest seems to be covered up
April 20, 2017 6:36 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #5
Would hatebears be a type of toolbox deck, or is it a different type of deck altogether?
April 20, 2017 7:01 p.m.
You play hate against all different kinds of decks. Maybe check anafenza the foremost duel commander decks Nonetheless I think the word archetype is not that fitting to your list. To me magic is just Control Aggro Combo Midrange All above are just iterations of that
April 20, 2017 7:20 p.m.
Hatebears is not toolbox, but a hatebears deck can contain toolbox features. I'd personally tack it onto "Taxes".
April 20, 2017 8:36 p.m.
griffstick says... #9
Seriously devotion decks are a real thing. Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Fanatic of Mogis also Evangel of Heliod... add "devotion", devotion decks are a thing.
April 20, 2017 9:50 p.m.
Group slug and chaose shouldn't be in the same category. They are different strategies.
The more correct name for "ramp into fatties" is called "battlecruiser".
You might consider adding ETB to flicker/blink. Purphoros, God of the Forge doesn't flicker/blink stuff, but he's techincally not winning with tokens either.
April 20, 2017 10:02 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #12
Idk how, but I lost a huuuge paragraph of text. And I don't feel like retyping it all out.
Here is the run down:
- All hatebear commander decks I found featured a much larger amount of tutors to be able to avoid having dead cards and getting relevant cards, so Toolbox/Tutors was renamed to Toolbox/Hatebears
- Devotion falls into the same category as Energy decks, Vehicle Decks, Investigate decks, Madness decks, etc., where the deck is trying to attain value by synergizing with a particular gimmick, so Gimmick/Goodstuff was split into Gimmick/Synergy and Goodstuff
- Group Hug/Forcefeed was renamed to Group Hug/Donate/Forcefeed
- Sacrifice Control and Destroy/Exile Control were merged together while adding Board Wipe Control to make Nonland Removal Control
- Burn looks like it's just Group Slug, so no change here
- Hive Mind made a new category named Alternate Win Conditions
- Group Slug/Chaos split into Group Slug and Chaos
- Ramp into/Cheat Fatties was renamed to Battlecruiser/Show and Tell
One important thing that I can never tire of writing though: Thank you very much to all who have commented with feedback!
April 21, 2017 1:07 a.m. Edited.
I agree to disagree on the Hatebears matter lumping it with Toolbox/Tutor, but this is your list, do as you will with it.
As for Group Slug, I would like to hear your thoughts on that archetype as I'm a bit confused on your lumping Burn with Group Slug.
April 21, 2017 5:54 p.m.
Not highly competitive, but soul sisters works. But it might fall in token/life gain/control as I play it with eternal pilgrim and/or fat boy slim.
April 21, 2017 6:22 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #16
Eiti3, I can see the reason they might seem different, but I can't see how one would be more effective lacking the main elements from the other.
With high life totals, burn will be most effective when dealing that damage to all opponents at the same time, which is the same strategy as group slug, which deals damage to each opponent. Group slug can include other strategies, but I can't help but see burn as a type of group slug. Unless, do you know any successful burn decks that don't burn each opponent simultaneously?
pskinn01, yeah, I think soul sisters is probably lifegain and tokens.
UpperDeckerTaco, I do have 4-6 combo archetypes already listed. Any other types of combos I should include?
K34 says... #2
Did you miss reanimation, or are you lumping it in with graveyard recursion?
April 20, 2017 4:07 p.m.