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With the release of RNA red decks had received some cheap and powerful tools in Skewer the Critics and Light up the Stage. Both factors had shifted the bo1 metagame and knowing how to deal with aggressive decks has become a neccessity for deckbuilding rather than something that wise nice to have. Let's go over how you should play against aggro decks.
If you're playing an aggressive deck yourself
Aggro in a mirror match and especially in red decks comes to a variety of factors. Who goes first, who had mulliganed better and who has more ways of dealing consistent damage. Knowing the sequencing of the plays and the key threats is extremely important and will likely make or break the match-up for you.
For example, if you see a steam-kin you know that you need to remove it ASAP. In combination with almost any number of red spells and especially Frenzy on the field it can win the games on the spot, so you need to remove it fast. Wizards of all sorts enable spells such as Wizards Lightning. Removing or trading with them to stop this from happening might be valuable as well.
If you're plaing White Weenie your main goal is to survive until the mid and late-game. Try to trade favourably with the red creatures, don't rush to attack with everything and wait until you have a board presence with fatties (i.e. Venerated Loxodon). To completely hose red and burn decks you might want to be a little more midrange. Having a copy of either Shalai or Lyra wins you most games vs red decks on the spot if you're still alive. Alternatively you may want to include some lifegain. If the opponent uses his spells to get rid of a healer's hawk or ajani's pridemate you're surviving until midgame.
In almost all matchups vs aggro and the current bo1 meta you must have at least some early plays: have creatures or cheap removal spells you can play in the first 1-3 turns.
If you're playing a midrange deck
As discussed in the chapter on the metagame, midrange is generally favored against aggro for the following reasons:
- Midrange threats are beefier and difficult to remove for aggro
- Midrange has persistent card advantage tools
- Late game is much better for those decks than aggro
In the current bo1 metagame midrange decks have access to extremely powerful tools to combat aggression. One of the popular ways to combat aggro is to play the explore package that consists of Wildgrowth Walkers and creatures with explore such as Jadelight Ranger
Gaining three life with each explore trigger while filtering your deck is something fast red decks can't deal with if you were able to get them on the battlefield and they had survived long enough. It's no wonder that the explore package that has been going strong in Golgari shell in GRN is still alive and kicking in the sultai lists in the RNA metagame. Once you've survived and landed Vivien Reid you'll likely be able to win that game with the persistent card advantage.
Midrange decks that don't rely on green should include ways of dealing with aggression. Cheap removal and some lifegain is valuable in this matchup. Sweepers also play a role (to a lesser extent against burn).
As an example Esper midrange lists run Basilica Bell-Haunt that has 4 toughness and gains the player three life. The list also runs Deputy of Detention that allows to delay the game. If you want to hose aggro completely with Esper midrange you can also include cards like moment of craving that allow you to remove creatures and gain life in the process.
We've covered the white aggro hosers above in Shalai and Lyra. There are plenty of tools to combat aggressive decks right now in the midrange decks. Adjust the number of your answers based on the popularity of aggro decks and your winrate should considerably improve!
If you're playing control
Control has been one of the victims of the aggro meta and sees less play in bo1 meta. However, that doesn't mean that the aggro matchup is unwinnable. Control has a wide variety of tool to combat aggressive decks. At the moment of writing one of the most popular control decks is Esper control. With a good manabase control has access to a wide variety of removal spells, sweepers, life gain and card draw.
Early game control keeps itself alive with removal spells, such as Moment of Craving and Cast Down. In bo1 meta Control decks might even use spells such as Revitalise to gain life and survive long enough. Do note, that only life gain is not going to win you games vs aggro though.
To expand on the lifegain theme, Absorb has been reprinted and allows not only to gain life, but also counter a spell. It's a universally good card in any matchups, but does put constraints on your manabase to be able to cast it reliably (i.e. expensive rare dual lands). Mortify is also an option for targeted removal vs aggro creatures and enchantments, e.g. Experimental Frenzy
In the midgame Esper control also uses a 4 mana sweeper to keep the board clear of pesky creatures that might attack you. As a bonus it gets rid of hexproof creatures as well.
Additional information
Cheap aggressive decks play an important part in the MTG ecosystem. It's easy to forget their importance when you lose on turn 4 to such a deck, but they're essential for new and f2p players to have a chance of getting into MTG. Knowing how to play against aggressive decks and how to build your decks in this environment is a good skill to have.
You can find how to play against Control here and how to play vs Midrange here.
Alternatively, you might want to try out limited modes. Then, we've got a chapter for you!
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