What is a midrange deck? Ask ten people and you will get fifteen different answers. To keep it simple we are going to define it as a deck that exists on a spectrum somewhere between Aggro and Control. Against an aggro deck it is the control deck, and against control, it is the aggro deck. Midrange decks tend to play inherently powerful cards, especially those that provide choices, or are valuable in multiple different situations. Midrange decks often win through incremental advantage which is often achieved through the efficiency of their cards.
Midrange decks are probably the most common in Mythgard. There are several reasons for this.
They are enabled by Mythgard's design: two and three colour decks are easy to build, and Mythgard cards are complex, often having several abilities, which allows them to be flexible and powerful in many different situations. This allows for the critical mass of cards that is required for midrange decks to exist.
They are fun to play. Midrange decks often house the most individually powerful cards that they can play, and the game plan is to play as many of them as possible. Who doesn't like slamming hay-maker after hay-maker?
They tend to be the favourite of skilled players. Skilled players like to be in control of their own destiny and midrange decks tend to have more decision points than other decks. This gives the decks "game" in any match up and ample opportunity for people to outplay their opponents.
They can be tailored to the meta. Adjusting a few cards can greatly improve certain matchups, without having to invest in a new deck. Midrange decks after often tweaked slightly as they are piloted up the ladder.
Midrange decks in Mythgard tend to be two or three colours. In the case of three colours, the third colour is generally significantly smaller, using only single gemmed cards. Midrange decks do not like to give up too much consistency for their power. Stumbling on gems early can force a midrange deck into sub-optimal plays. This is diametrically opposed to how a midrange deck wants to operate.
The advantage to a third colour is that it bestows the deckbuilder with an embarrassment of riches, often adding access to an effect that does not exist in the base colours. It can become not a matter of which cards to put in the deck, but of finding what cards to remove.
Take Cover...
Aggro can be hard to stop. The lane mechanics can make it difficult to deploy blockers fast enough. Aggro decks also take longer to run out of steam than in other games and have more tools to force through damage making it tougher to stabilize.
The attacker also dictates combat. This can make it difficult to regain control of the board after it has been lost. Sometimes a midrange deck will get on the back foot and be unable to recover.
Don't neglect your early game, it's easier to catch up if you don't fall behind in the first place.
...Or come out swinging
Control decks tend to be slightly bigger, so they have the advantage the longer the game goes. When one of their minions takes two of yours to remove, any advantage you have gained will slip away fast.
Some of the control decks also have value engines that are nearly impossible to compete with. Midrange decks need to be able to pressure the control decks to close out the game before these are established.
Building a Midrange Deck – The important questions
What does our deck do?
How do we defend ourselves against the onslaught of aggro decks?
How do we pressure the control decks?
How do we generate value? do we rely on synergies, or singularly powerful cards?
How does our deck win?
Do we grind our opponent out of resources, and then bleed them dry with whatever we have left?
Do we snowball small advantages into an avalanche ?
Do we aim to disrupt their game plan while simultaneously playing difficult to handle threats?
Once again these answers help to dictate our choice of Path and Power. Midrange decks still rely heavily on minions, so Journey of Souls is still a frequent choice. Often times it will be paired with a method of curating the Boneyard in order to return higher value targets. Turn of Seasons is another popular choice as it does a little bit of everything, including providing an extra card every 4 turns. However, Winter can be punishing, so caution may be required. The remaining paths all see play in different midrange shells.
Infuse and Impel are still the most common powers employed by the midrange decks, but Reconstruct sees play in some lists looking to benefit from the on-demand creature or looking to control the minions returned by Journey of Souls.
What's a playset?
name: Midrange Example
path: turn of seasons
power: infuse
2 extract life
2 ignition
4 strigoi pup
2 firesong prodigy
1 dashing ringmaster
1 hekate's wheel
2 ichor feast
2 panic raider
2 shopworn bull
1 the oak of dodona
1 gigantomachia
2 magmataur
1 sideshow chimera
1 seven ring ritual
1 wake the bones
3 detained
4 gallows boy
2 raid the tombs
1 bald mountain
3 gamayun
1 pseudonomicon
1 fated firebird
Midrange decks have some of the ugliest decklists. They often hedge their bets by playing different, but similar, cards that fulfill the same purpose. For example 2 panic raiders and 2 ichor feast instead of three of one of the cards.
The decks also sometimes end up with dead cards, like drawing an anti-aggro card against a control deck. For this reason, card selection and card filtering are valued very highly. Gamayun provides both card selection and an evasive threat, while Shopworn provides filtering and a good body. As are removal like Ignition (can go face), or Detained/Deported. Deported can often be used to save a friendly minion, or to reuse an awaken effect.
As midrange decks are comfortable going slightly deeper into the game, and play numerous selection/filtering options, they will see a large portion of their deck. This allows them to play more situation cards or 1-ofs, like Hekate's Wheel or Bald Mountain. These cards can also be burned when not relevant.
In summary, when building your own midrange deck look for cards that excel in multiple situations. Don't be afraid to experiment with different cards and ratios, and adjust as needed, midrange decks are living entities.
In the next article in the series we'll take a look at control decks. They do exist! However, in Mythgard they look a little different.
Interested in other Midrange decks? Check these out.
Valkyries (Monoblue, or Blue/Yellow)
Orange/Blue Enchantments
Orange/Red Stairways
The Mythgard discord is friendly, and a great source for decklists.