Hey everyone! While some people complain about Universes Beyond, it’s hard to argue that The Hobbit doesn’t feel right at home in the world of Magic: The Gathering. Medieval swords-and-sorcery fits the game perfectly, especially when contrasted with some of the more absurd experiences like SpongeBob. On top of that, The Hobbit was my favorite book as a kid, so I’m personally excited to see what they cooked up for us. (and we all know how much Hobbits love cooking)
Today, we’re breaking down all five Limited archetypes in the set and providing an archetype skeleton for each one. While I generally prefer sets with ten archetypes, having only five gives us the opportunity to take a deeper dive into each of them.
If you’re unfamiliar with archetype skeletons, think of them as realistic examples of what a successful draft deck looks like under normal conditions. These aren’t dream decks full of perfect rares and mythics. Instead, they’re built to represent the kinds of decks you can reasonably expect to draft while still giving yourself an excellent chance to succeed.
To keep things consistent, every skeleton follows the same guidelines:
No mythic rares
A maximum of two rares
Five uncommons with no duplicates
No more than two copies of any common
For simplicity’s sake, each deck uses a static mana base consisting of the appropriate common dual land and eight of each basic land. While some archetypes would ideally tweak those numbers, the goal here is to examine the structure of the archetype rather than optimize the mana.
This archetype could be an early frontrunner after Azorius put up a dominating performance in Marvel Super Heroes. Azorius has long been a successful Limited staple, typically winning by attacking the opponent into submission. The big question every set is whether it’s taking to the skies or keeping its feet firmly on the ground.
This time, it’s very much a ground-based strategy centered around Humans. The secondary theme rewards you for drawing extra cards, because who doesn’t love getting something thrown in for doing something you already wanted to do? It’s like finding an extra burrito at the bottom of your Chipotle bag.
We all know Dwarves love their axes—perhaps a little too much—so it should come as no surprise that the Dwarven deck is built around Equipment.
We also know Dwarves love telling stories to one another, usually with just enough exaggeration to make them interesting. Thematically, that makes Storied a perfect fit because, once three of them get together, the tales really start flowing.
Flavor aside, this is an aggressive Boros Equipment deck with a nice bit of late-game staying power thanks to the Storied mechanic.
Would you be shocked if they, once again, made Simic a ramp deck? Unlike Bilbo on that fateful morning, there is no surprise here. It is what it is.
At its core, this is exactly what you’d expect from a Simic deck. Ramp your mana, play oversized creatures and powerful spells, and let your landfall cards generate extra value along the way. There also happen to be a bunch of Elves running around, but they’re mostly there to help you cast the really big stuff even faster.
Whether it’s in Magic or Tolkien lore, everybody knows Goblins usually show up in massive swarms. You’d think that would be the plan here too, but Wizards threw us a bit of a curveball. Instead of going wide, this archetype wants to go tall with Amass. If you like your creatures supersized, Rakdos has you covered this time around.
Despite the unusual twist, the deck is still every bit as aggressive as you’d expect from Rakdos. Rather than overwhelming your opponent with a horde of small Goblins, you’re building one enormous threat while using removal and efficient creatures to keep the pressure on.
Instead of its usual graveyard value plan, Golgari is borrowing a page straight from Gruul’s playbook by centering the archetype around Ferocious. It’s all about Wolves and Wargs rewarding you for controlling a creature with power 4 or greater. If that doesn’t sound like Gruul, I don’t know what does.
The strength of the deck will largely depend on how consistently you can turn Ferocious on. Fortunately, Duskwatch Hunter makes that much easier by giving you a reliable way to hit the magic number for just three mana, whether it’s pumping itself or helping another creature reach new heights.
Josh is a member of the elite limited team The Draft Lab as well as the host of The Draft Lab Podcast. He was qualifying for Pro Tours, Nationals, and Worlds literally before some of you were born. After a Magic hiatus to play poker and go to medical school, he has been dominating Arena with over an 80% win percentage in Bo3 as well as making #1 rank in Mythic.
