Breaking Down the “Big Three”: Aggro, Midrange and Control

If you’ve ever played a card game before you have probably heard the terms before; Aggro, Mid-range and Control. These are the three core archetypes in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game, and most of the top decks fall into one of these three categories. As I write this we are in the heart of the Opus X meta which has mostly been a product of the results of the 2019 World Championships. This meta has seen most players and results orbit around three decks which each perfectly embody one of the different archetypes: WoFF is the aggro deck, Wind/Water YRP is the mid-range deck, and Ranperre variants are the control decks. You will hear players refer to the “rock-paper-scissors” nature of these three archetypes because for the most part they largely keep each other in check. Over the course of the Opus X meta, each of these three decks has won a large tournament in a field where it had to compete against the other two. By understanding the three major archetypes you will learn the strengths and weaknesses of the core strategies of these three decks. Becoming familiar with the three archetypes will help you either choose one that fits your style of play or help you create a new deck within one of those archetypes to compete against the strengths of the others while exploiting their weaknesses.

Aggro

Aggressive or “aggro” decks are decks that want to win in the early game. They often consist of cheap, efficient threats that flood the board to do 7 points of damage as quickly as possible. Aggro decks are typically less interactive than other archetypes, and use their summons or abilities to help them actively push in for the win. If an aggro deck is unable to put significant pressure on their opponent before their opponent reaches their late game, the aggro deck is extremely unlikely to win. Aggro decks usually run out of steam in long, drawn-out matches. Whenever you are playing an aggro deck, you should almost always be on the offense and playing proactively.

World of Final Fantasy Earth/Fire lists have been popular throughout all of Opus X because of the decks reliable access to cheap, efficient threats. WoFF has more than enough tutors baked into its card pool to help you consistently and quickly set up your core strategy. WoFF decks play a large amount of cheap 2CP category WoFF cards to reduce the cost of Reynn (card#), the centerpiece of the deck. Reynn is an excellent aggro card because she rewards the player for aggressively swarming the board with WoFF characters. She can be an incredibly cheap (if not free) threat that allows you to remove blockers by attacking, in turn allowing you to invest less CP in summons and abilities and invest in forwards instead. The other WoFF characters all compliment the aggressive nature of the deck; Brandelis and Girl who Forgot her Name help you flood the board with WoFF characters, Hauyn and Lann help you convert your board state into pressure, and Seraphie Tama and Rorrik help you reload your board with your core threats.

Aggro decks typically have tempo advantage over midrange and control decks. They are playing more threats faster and hoping that it is enough to prevent their opponent from being able to gain significant board or card advantage over them. Aggro decks want to end the game as fast as possible and should always be racing their opponent to the finish line. Aggro decks are typically new-player friendly because the strategy is straightforward and doesn’t require as much interaction with your opponent’s strategy. That being said, mastering an aggro deck is harder than it may seem. Timing is incredibly important in aggressive decks and can often be the difference between winning and losing. An aggro player with a strong understanding of timing is a terrifying opponent!


We’re going to go a little bit out of order here and skip right over mid-range for now while we talk about…

Control

Control decks are essentially the polar opposite of aggro decks. They want to win in the late game and often consist of expensive, powerful threats and cards that limit their opponent’s ability to execute their strategy. Control decks are extremely reactive and spend most of their game playing not to lose rather than playing to win. These decks thrive in long, drawn-out matches. When playing a control deck, you want to out-value your opponent by slowing them down until you can play your high-cost big-impact cards or combos to win the game. You will almost always be on the defense and playing reactively.

Ranperre decks have been popular throughout Opus X because of their reliable access to huge swing-plays that can overwhelm their opponent. Ranperre is more popular than other styles of control because it uses the same cheap, efficient cards to build towards late game that it uses to execute its late game strategy. Ranperre decks want to ramp up to five backups as soon as possible and then abuse card combinations to flood the board with expensive threats while simultaneously dismantling their opponent’s board. Once the deck reaches their late game, they are able to consistently mitigate the drawbacks of cards like Garland, Vincent and Kain and even convert that drawback into playing free high-cost threats like Shantotto resulting in turns where they can develop 2-3 forwards while simultaneously removing up to two characters from their opponent’s field. Usually when Ranperre decks win the game it is off of the advantage created by these plays. One of the most popular ways to end the game as a Ranperre deck is to abuse the board advantage you are able to create during those swing plays with things like Illua and her S ability Sheol to attack with multiple high-power forwards to wear down your opponent’s last defenses. In Sam Tuell’s dominant Ranperre list from Reunion II we can see that he plays popular ice cards like Sephiroth to help him slow his opponent down until he reaches the late game, and then uses Rinoa to snowball his advantage once he gets there.

Control decks typically create overwhelming card or board advantage, either by playing expensive cards for free with things like Ranperre or Star Sibyl or by taking cards away from their opponent with cards like Sephiroth. Control decks are usually complicated and require a strong mastery of sequencing, or playing the right pieces in the right order. One of the hardest things to do in a control deck is identify the moment when you need to switch from defense to offense. You should not switch to the offensive role as a control deck until you are sure that you will win the game. It is always better to play carefully and slowly as a control deck. Mastering a control deck is difficult but many players find them highly rewarding. Having a wide knowledge of decks and strategies will help you be a better control player as it will become easier for you to know where to target your opponent to slow them down.

Mid-Range

And finally we get to mid-range decks. Mid-range decks are exactly what they sound like, decks that sit happily in the middle between aggro and control. These decks have some elements from both of the other archetypes but pride themselves on truly being a “jack of all trades, master of none.” Mid-range decks often are balanced, efficient decks that incrementally gain advantage over time. Their strength lies in their flexibility and they are often the most modifiable decks in any format. As a result, mid-range decks often lack the obvious “kill turn” and are harder to identify whether you are attacking or defending. These decks focus on board advantage with things like efficient trades and spot removal to help them squeeze more advantage out of every interaction than their opponent. In mid-range decks you play both offense AND defense and it is important to know which role you are taking at any given time. Mid-range decks are often the “safe picks” because they focus less on overwhelming the opponent and more on playing the most efficient game of Final Fantasy possible. This makes them strong against unknown or “rogue” decks while still giving them the tools they need to compete against aggro and control decks. Mid-range decks will find that they typically play defensively against aggro and aggressively against control.

Wind/Water YRP is hands down the most popular Mid-Range deck in Final Fantasy TCG. Cards like Paine are the perfect example of a midrange card - a card that requires some setup to get the most value out of but that is still playable early and doesn’t affect the opponent directly. Paine can help you develop a “free” body while also pushing you towards your next play by drawing a card. She is both an excellent blocker (so you can play another Paine, of course) and also helps you flood the board with bodies because she refunds her cost. You can also trade her ability to be “free” for the potential to abuse an action ability on one of your backups like Penelo. Paine can be used both to slow your opponent down or to put pressure on your opponent. Wind/Water is full of cards that share this duality. Fina is the perfect example of a huge payoff card for a mid-range deck. She is a card that can help you defensively reset your opponents board with damage while also having the capability of activating your characters to defend after an attack and/or play even more characters with the same backups. Citra is another excellent example of a mid-range card. She allows you to find the answer you need the turn you play her while her action ability can be used both to win the game or stop your opponent from winning the game.

As you can see from these examples, mid-range decks’ strengths lie in their flexibility. They don’t have the obvious end-game strategy of control decks or the early-game speed and power of aggro decks. For this reason an experienced player will find mid-range decks exciting and rewarding as they offer a wealth of options and rely on your ability to choose the right pieces at the right time. Because they are so open-ended, mid-range decks typically have the highest skill ceiling. Newer players may find that they do not see as much success with the same 50 cards that others may say are dominant together. This isn’t something to be discouraged by! These decks are easy to gain a basic understanding of but harder than they seem to truly master. While the combos are obvious, the true difficulty of piloting a mid-range deck is knowing when to attack vs defend, and when to play to win vs play not to lose.

And The Rest..

There are of course decks that don’t fit into these three archetypes, and there are countless examples of different variations of decks in all three archetypes. There are aggressive fire/water decks, lightning decks, even one-turn-kill decks! There are ice control decks, monster control decks, lock decks, and even Paradise decks that stall the game until they can take consecutive turns to win! There are mid-range decks that focus on summons, monsters, categories, jobs, and more! The world is your oyster! When building a deck, keeping in mind what kind of deck you are building and what it’s core strategies are is important. When you know what kind of deck you are building you can include pieces that compliment the strengths and strategies of your deck while mitigating some of its glaring weaknesses. WoFF decks know that Reynn has a target on her back, so they invest their summon slots on cards like Cu Sith to help get her back. Wi/Wa decks know that the efficiency of their cards can be interrupted so they play cards like Yaag Rosch and Aerith to protect against popular threats to their efficiency. Ranperre decks know that they need to slow the game down and get to late game no matter what so some play cards like Feolthanos.

Knowing how you enjoy playing Final Fantasy TCG can help you decide what decks you may like, and understanding the roles can help you guide new players towards finding an archetype they will find fun and engaging. If you or somebody you know is struggling with finding “their” deck in the FFTCG, point them in the direction of this article! Ask them what kinds of things they like to do when they play a trading card game. Do they enjoy fast-paced aggression, slow methodical control, or a little taste of everything? There is no wrong answer! I hope this article helped paint a clear picture of the top 3 archetypes and the current top decks occupying those roles and that you can use this knowledge to level up your game!

-By John Schreiner