The Limited Archetypes of Kaladesh

Kaladesh represents the inventive world of tomorrow…today! And by “the world of tomorrow,” I mean the world of September 30th when the set actually hits store shelves. And by “today” I mean this weekend at the Kaladesh prelease events. So let’s try this again:

Kaladesh represents the inventive world of September 30th…this weekend!

Hm. Not the same oomph.

Regardless of when you first get your torch gauntlets on the flashy new artifacts that Kaladesh is giving us, the experience will be one of wonder, creativity, and invention. This is a limited format filled with options. Many cards offer you choices, or combine in unique ways, or play differently depending on what other colors of cards you’re playing.

Building limited decks in new formats is always tricky, so I like to take some time before a prerelease and scope out what each color pair wants to be doing in the format. Kaladesh makes this a bit easier with a cycle of multicolored uncommons designed for each of these ten archetypes (check ‘em out in the card gallery here), but I wanted to dig a little deeper in today’s article and talk about the ways in which each archetype is trying to win the game. If you’re new to Magic or haven’t been keeping up with the Kaladesh previews, this information will help you greatly as you aim to assemble the most exciting, inventive deck you can.

Hold onto your goggles, folks, this filigree skyship is setting sail into the aethersphere!

White/Blue Enter-the-Battlefield Triggers

Many creatures in White and Blue have enter-the-battlefield triggers that produce spell-like effects. They also support two of the new mechanics, fabricate (to make Servo tokens) and energy (to give you energy counters). This archetype wants to leverage these abilities again and again to overwhelm your opponent with resources.

The most important cards for this archetype are the ones that let you retrigger your enter-the-battlefield effects. This is done in two ways. White wants to exile your cards and bring them back to the battlefield (called flickering). Blue wants to bounce cards back to your hand so you can cast them again. Spells that perform these actions are the engines of your magical machines.

The fuel? Servos and energy. White cards with fabricate can create 1/1 creature tokens that you can swarm your opponent with. Blue cards can spend energy in various ways to control the game. You’ll also have a host of flying creatures at your disposal, so look to attack through the air with evasive creatures and chip away at your opponent’s life total until they’re finished.

Key cards: Whispweaver Angel, creatures with fabricate, Aether Tradewinds, creatures that make energy when they enter the battlefield

Blue/Black Artifact Control

This is the main control deck in Kaladesh limited. It’s looking to play a long game that answers all the opponent’s threats while producing a few big threats of its own. Blue wants to counter the opponent’s spells, while Black wants to kill their creatures. Patience is key.

Artifacts are a crucial part of this archetype too. Black interacts with them in order to keep you alive longer, such as gaining you life or making creatures indestructible. Black’s fabricate creatures create Servo tokens that can block attacks and protect your life total.

While your opponent struggles to attack you, Blue’s flying creatures can win the day. Blue also wants to draw lots of cards, which allows a control deck to find all its answers. If you can manage to cast one or two big flying creatures later in the game, then slowing your opponent down early will have been worth it.

Key cards: Revolutionary Rebuff, Tezzeret’s Ambition, Tidy Conclusion, Underhanded Designs

Black/Red Artifact Aggro

This archetype wants to use artifacts to pump up the power of its cheap, aggressive creatures. It’s looking to turn creatures sideways, throw around some efficient removal spells, and maybe finish the opponent off with a burn spell right to the face.

You want to be creating a lot of artifacts in this archetype, so Black’s fabricate creatures are going to be making lots of Servos for you. They’re also good at being aggressive, as it’s difficult for your opponent to block multiple creatures at once.

Many Red cards care about artifacts entering the battlefield under your control. If you’re creating Servos, then you’re also fueling these kinds of cards at the same time! If the game goes a little long and your Servo tokens lose value as attackers, both colors have some nifty ways of sacrificing them for value.

Key cards: Foundry Screecher, Maulfist Squad, Inventor’s Apprentice, Salivating Gremlins

Red/Green Energy Beatdown

Red and Green are also looking to turn creatures sideways every turn, but they’re more focused on the energy mechanic than on artifacts. These colors also want to go a bit bigger in terms of creature size than Black/Red.

In his article last week, developer Sam Stoddard talked about the different energy strategies they put into the set. This archetype is the one that wants to use energy as soon as it gets it, creating short bursts of value early and often. You’ll see a lot of creatures with self-contained energy systems. These creatures want to use up their own energy first. Then any spare energy can be used as your discretion.

As a beatdown deck, the obvious use of energy will be to make your creatures larger. You’ll want to play a lot of big creatures in order to outmuscle your opponent’s defenses. Red’s fairly straightforward with the energy mechanic, but Green also has a number of fabricate creatures. More often than not, you’ll want to be giving those creatures +1/+1 counters instead of creating Servo tokens.

Key cards: Spontaneous Artist, Thriving Grubs, Longtusk Cub, Riparian Tiger

Green/White Fabricate Go Wide/Go Tall

The fabricate mechanic ties this archetype together. This is one of the places that really showcases the inventive flexibility of Kaladesh, as there are two distinct ways to play this archetype.

First, there is a “go wide” plan that aims to create as many Servo tokens as possible and overwhelm the opponent with sheer volume of creatures. This weenie rush strategy can leverage combat tricks to push damage through or win combat.

The second strategy is a “go tall” plan that loads creatures up with +1/+1 counters instead. This version wants to make the biggest creatures on the battlefield. Giving them flying or trample to push through blockers is critical, and both colors have the tools to make that happen.

The reality is, however, that these plans aren’t exclusive. You can shift between them from game to game or even within the same game. There’s a lot of flexibility here, so understanding which strategy better beats your opponent is important. Going wide works better if your opponent has a few large creatures, while going tall can help you out-muscle smaller creatures.

Key cards: Durable Handicraft, Peema Outrider, Inspired Charge, Trusty Companion

White/Black Recursion

Things die. It happens. I even talked about it earlier in the Black/Red section, noting that Black has a handful of neat ways to sacrifice artifacts for value. White shows Black the path of renewal, however, and this archetype is all about recycling your graveyard and grinding out a win.

Since this deck can recycle its powerful cards, there’s no rush to win quickly. Invest mana in powerful artifacts and you’ll be rewarded with late-game might. Your opponent may be overjoyed when they kill your big artifact creature, but they will drown in dismay when you dust it off and bring it back from your graveyard.

White and Black has some solid removal options, so lean on those to take care of early threats. Also remember to pack your deck with enough artifact cards. Fabricate is nice to make artifact tokens for the cards that care, but you’ll want some actual artifacts to recycle too.

Key cards: Refurbish, Ninth Bridge Patrol, Fortuitous Find, Ovalchase Daredevil

Blue/Red Energy/Artifacts

Of the ten archetypes in this set, I think this is the least defined. It sits at the nexus of the slow controlling decks and the fast aggressive decks. It’s also the conflux point of the energy mechanic and the artifacts-matter cards.

So what is this archetype trying to do? It’s more about play style than specific mechanical synergies. Blue/Red wants to swing in with evasive threats while keeping the opponent off balance. Bounce and burn opposing creatures while you chip away, leveraging some powerful late-game creatures and burn spells to finish off your opponent.

I think this can skew more towards energy or more towards artifacts depending on which you open more of. Either way, your Red cards want to apply early pressure while your Blue cards clean up the late game. Get ahead, stay ahead, and manage your mana curve. Fitting that the color pair most about creativity is the one that gives you the most freedom to do what you want in this format.

Key cards: Era of Innovation, Gearseeker Serpent, Aethertorch Renegade, Welding Sparks

Black/Green Fabricate Midrange

Black and Green both have a number of fabricate creatures, but they’re not so interested in Servo tokens when they get together. Instead, this archetype is built around the +1/+1 counters you can opt into.

As far as limited decks go, this one is fairly straightforward. You want to play big creatures and cast powerful removal spells. You’re not going to be in a rush to win, but you’ll have the ability to quickly close out a game once you get rolling.

Black’s recursion can help give this archetype some legs against control decks, while Green’s pump spells help it run over aggressive decks. Don’t forget that you can freely tune your deck throughout a prerelease event, changing up your cards as you face faster or slower decks. Also remember not to be too prescriptive with your game plan. If your opponent has a deck that’s really good against large creatures, shift some cards around and catch them off guard with Servo tokens!

Key cards: Aetherborn Marauder, Lawless Broker, Armorcraft Judge, Fairgrounds Trumpeter

Red/White Vehicle Aggro

Red/White is gonna die historic on the Ovalchase. While any deck can utilize Vehicles, these are the colors that pilot them best. Both colors have artifact-matters cards that can benefit Vehicles, but their real power lies in the Pilot creature type. Pilots get extra benefits when they crew Vehicles, ensuring your motorized machines are better, faster, and more devastating than anyone else’s.

This archetype has one nagging question. How many Vehicles should you run in your deck? I wish I had a good answer, but I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to play with the cards before having any solid advice. Because of the synergy, I think you’ll want more than other decks. But too many Vehicles and not enough creatures to crew them is a recipe for disaster. Four or five Vehicles in a deck with sixteen creatures feels right? Maybe that’s low and you can go more all-in on Vehicles. I’ll be interested to hear about your vehicular experiences after prelease.

Note that you can always just cobble together an aggressive Red/White deck. Red’s aggressive creatures and White’s Servos provide the tools necessary to win without Vehicles too.

Key cards: Speedway Fanatic, Start Your Engines, Built to Last, Gearshift Ace

Green/Blue Energy Tempo

While Red/Green wanted to use short bursts of energy to attack, Green/Blue wants to stockpile energy and dole it out in the most efficient plays. Blue has a lot of cards that generate energy, while Green has a lot of cards that effectively use energy. These colors also have cards with some expensive energy costs, providing excellent sinks later in the game.

Green’s energy cards are mostly beatdown creatures, so that half of the archetype is easy. You’ll win a lot of games by curving out and turning creatures sideways. But how does Blue fit in? You’ll mainly look to play some bounce spells, counterspells, and other removal to ensure you can keep attacking. Many of these Blue spells also give you energy to feed your creatures.

There are a number of artifact cards that are excellent energy sinks, and I think this is the archetype that can utilize those artifacts best. The main issue is that a lot of this archetype’s raw power sits at rare, not uncommon. That means it’ll be more difficult to put together a top-tier Green/Blue energy deck. If you can grab some of those cards, however, your opponents better watch out.

Key cards: Sage of Shaila’s Claim, Servant of the Conduit, Aether Theorist, Glimmer of Genius

Eureka!

This set only contains three new mechanics: fabricate, energy, and Vehicles. If you noticed a lot of overlap in strategies above, you might have realized how much this set does with so little. Many of these archetypes use the same cards but in different ways. Fabricate shows this off the best, changing how you play the game even within an archetype.

Kaladesh is all about making you feel like an inventor, planeswalkers, so get out there and mix and match as many cards as you can this weekend.

honestly such an underrated moment

@odric-master-swagtician it’s community

Steam leads to polluted skies! Kaladesh needs to be bright and colorful. Aether was chosen as a replacement to steam to facilitate this aesthetic.

Aether is a clean energy source!

Whorls of filigree influence every part of Kaladesh, from wildlife to angels to trees!

More examples of Kaladeshi architecture!

This is all I could think of during the announcement, and I am sorry

Mtg People: If you were a planeswalker, what colour would you be?

I’d be UG.

Probable either bant or temur

im screaming

RISE

Me when I’m drunk and somebody says they’re ordering pizza

I’m actually bending down slightly.

Precious Smol and Big Friendly Tall

zach is a gentle giant

Tumblr glitched out and now I can finally get a MaRo clone.

@markrosewater

I really want a science fiction story where aliens come to invade earth and effortlessly wipe out humanity, only to be fought off by the wildlife.

They were expecting military resistance. They weren’t counting on bears.

Imagine coming to a hostile alien world and being attacked by a horde of creatures that can weigh up to 3 tons, run at 30 km/h (19 mph), and bite with a force of 8,100 newtons (1,800 lbf).

By the time you realise that they can traverse water, it’s too late. The surviving members of your unit manage to make it back by shedding their excess gear and running for their lives; the slower ones were crushed to death within minutes.

You later describe the creature to one of the humans you captured, wanting to know the name of the monstrosity that will haunt your nightmares for cycles to come.

The human smiles as it speaks a single word, slowly and distinctly, in its barbaric tongue.

“Hippopotamus.”

This is giving me the biggest, creepiest grin I might have ever grinned 

Imagine being the next crew to go down to earth and thinking “it’s fine, we got this. We have the weapons and equipment necessary to deal with bears and *shudders* hippopotamuses. We’ll be fine.”

And at first you are, you’ve learned how to dodge. You’ve learned where their territories are. You know how to defend yourself.

But then one night you are sleeping in your shelter. You’re in a tree covered temperate part of earth. It seems benign. There are been no sightings of the dreaded “hippos” around. Not even any bears. But there is a slight rustle of the undergrowth. You try and ignore it telling yourself it is just the wind.

Then you hear the rustle again. closer this time.

You peer out into the darkness but see nothing amongst the trees.

The rustle again and now you realise you can smell something. It’s musky and slightly foul. It’s the smell of an omen, a warning. But what of? Where is this smell coming from.

You sit up, but it’s too late. The foul smelling creature is on you. You are hit with 17kg of coarse fur and vicious bites. Long dark claws tear in to you and you are pinned down white the striped creature tries to bite your throat.

It takes some doing but you manage to wrestle free. Blood drips from your wounds and already they itch with the sign of infection. The creature has a bloodied snout, rust rad, mingling with the black and white hairs. It lets out a terrifying growl from the back of its throat and looks to attack again. It’s between you and your knife, so your only choice is to back away.

Eventually the creature gives up and snuffles off in to the undergrowth, down a hole near your shelter you hadn’t noticed before.

When you make it back to your base you once again consult the captive human.

“Badger.” they say, with a solemn nod.

One word: Moose

“Our vehicles are far superior to the local human models, in range, speed, armament, and any other metric you care to name! Nothing could possibly-”

BAMrumblerumblethumpcrash!!!

“That’s called a moose.”

Wolverines.

Also.. dolphins.

The invasion is going slowly. The humans have caught on and are actively destroying information on the planet’s flora and fauna before Intelligence can capture and process it. All that they have are survivors’ accounts. Bears. Hippos. Badgers. Moose. It is becoming obvious this mudball planet is a full-on Death World to the unprepared, and you are so very unprepared.

You lost Jaxurn to a plant. Not even a mobile or carnivorous plant, just one that caused a vicious allergic reaction on contact that killed him in less than a rai'kor. Commander Vura'ko died to an insect bite, a tiny local pest that sucked a tiny bit of her blood and apparently replaced it with a bit of its last meal, which was full of disease. Backwash. She died to bug backwash. And yet you honestly envy them after that… thing you encountered…

When you got back to base the quarantine officer refused to let you inside. They had to roll a containment tank outside to put you in, because you all knew there would be no chance of eliminating the smell if it got into the ship’s air ducts. Smell. You wonder if your nasal slit will ever recover from this stench.

And the smell would. Not. Leave. After incinerating your gear the Q.O. had you use every cleansing agent they could think of, including a few janitorial ones, and still everyone fled the stench if they were downwind of your tank. Desperate to protect everyone’s nasal slits from the smell the quarantine officer interrogated the humans. From them, a glimmer of hope: there was a cure. Somehow the juice of a certain fruit on this mudball was the only thing that could break up the chemicals in the little horror’s spray. Immediately the Q.O. sent a team to recover buckets of the stuff and made you bathe in it. That was hours ago and it didn’t seem to be working, though. All it was doing was turning your blue skin an interesting shade of purple.

Sighing in frustration you wave the med-assist on duty over, who only approaches after checking the wind direction. Annoyed, you flip on the tank`s vox speaker.

“The humans did say it was “grape” juice that removed “skunk” stench, right?“

Every night. 

It came for someone almost every night. 

Any soldier alone was a viable target for this native monster that moved unseen by any but the security viewers, usually only spotted in hindsight.  They were taken as silently as this earth-monster moved.  Sometimes they’d find the remains in the morning taken up a tree and hung there, mostly eaten, as if it were a grisly reminder that the monster was still there, waiting unseen, to strike again. 

What little they saw of the monster on the vidfeed showed true horror.  Yellow eyes that shone with all the light it could gather.  It had fangs as long as his grasping digits.  Claws half that size formed curved hooks that allowed it to climb up their fortifications with impunity.  And in the underbrush, its spots made it almost impossible to see clearly in the undergrowth, if it could be seen at all.

Even the native sentients, the humans, had a healthy respect and fear for it. 

The earth natives called the monster a leopard.  

It was a constant fear that muddied the senses, and let the monster hunt even more effectively as the soldiers were always on edge.  Sleep deprived with fear, it made them even better targets for the monster. 

But rumor was that there was worse on this planet.  Rumors of a monster like a leopard but larger, and bigger in every imaginable sense. Stripped instead of spotted, which leaped from the underbrush with a sound.

A sound that burst eardrums, paralyzed entire units, and let the monster kill with impunity.  While the Leopard wrestled soldiers down and ripped their throats out.  This other monster, the Tiger, killed with its pounce alone.

“We’ve been through this,” Group Leader 455 snapped.  “The dissection of an Earth life form will help the scientists make weapons to combat the rest of this planet’s hellbeasts.  And these are domesticated.  Harmless.”

The troops were not-quite-looking at her in the way troops do when they don’t want to be seen to contradict a ranking officer, but can’t quite muster a correct Expression of Enthusiastic Assent.  “The name of this species,” she pointed out, “is synonymous with dullness and slowness in the language of the Earth barbarians.”  Well, one language out of several thousand—these creatures needed Imperial guidance more than any other world on record—but there was no point in confusing the rank and file.

More not-quite-looking.  455 bubbled a sigh and consulted her scanner.  “That one,” she decided.  “Alone in the separate pasture.  Scans suggest that it’s a male, which means it’s probably weaker.  Possibly it’s kept isolated so that the females don’t eat it before mating season.  And yes, I know some of you are here on punishment detail, but you’re still soldiers of the Imperium.  This squad is perfectly capable of handling a lone, helpless, pathetic male cow.”

I’m enjoying this immensely. Wait until the aliens try Australia for size…

It was a strange creature Tar'van glimpsed at on the vast island known to the humans as ‘Australia’.

“I would warn you not to fuck with us, mate.” Their forced guide, a prisioner, had warned with a chilling grin upon capture. “If you think a moose is bad, wait until you tango with a red back.” To this day Tar'van fears the creature known as the red back, and what horrors it would bring.

The prisioner turned out to be of little help,the stubboness of his people causing them to refuse the danger that the captured human warned of. Tar'van recalls a moment when one of his squad members approached a creature know as a dingo, insistent they had seen these creatures before and they were tame. They barely escaped with 5 of the original 7 members of his squad.

Another moment Tar'van recalls was the brutal mauling they witnessed by the hands of a creature called an ‘Emu’

“Don’t feel too bad,” the prisioner mocked. “We lost a war to the Emu’s as well.”

Now with only 4 members of their squad left, including themself, Tar'van had learned to listen to the prisoner, to be wary of the simplest of creatures. This human was of the sub-species of ‘Zookeeper’ after all.

The ‘Zookeeper’ looks off to the distance, where the creature is.

“It’s a kangaroo, leave it be and you’ll be fine.” Tar'van nods, a human signal of acknowledgement if they are correct. The human smiles a bit.

“That creature cannot possibly harm us.” Tar'van’s squadleader protests. “It is so docile. I will aproach it and bring back it’s head to show this human is a fearmongering liar.”

The human reels back, a look of disgust crosses their face and anger passes through their eyes.

“Fucking do it mate, I dare ya.” The human hisses. The squad leader puffs up their hoinn gland, a sign of pride to their species, and aproached the so called ‘Kangaroo’.

“This will be unpleasant.” A squadmate mutters as they watch their leader raise their fist and bring it down on the creature. The ‘Kangaroo’ looks a little stunned by the impact, before it raises itself upon its strong tail and uses its powerful heind legs to launch their squadleader backwards through the air.

Their squadleader lands upon the ground, unmoving with black blooded oozeing from them. It appears Tar'van is the squads leader now.

“I don’t know what they expected.” the human says, smugness filling their tone. “Kangaroos are fucking shreaded. 8-pack and all.”

Tar'van steps forward to the human, whom inches back in a sign of fear as Tar'van pulls their blade from its holster, and in their first act as leader, frees the human of the bonds around their hands.

“Please,” Tar'van bags. “Get us back safely.”

This is so beautiful. I love this. Wait till the guys meet rhinos.

I’ll give you one better. One happens when they try to explore our ocean? The one place that not even we know about completely?