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A midrange deck is a type of deck somewhere between an aggro deck and a control deck in pace, seeking to attain victory during the midgame. Midrange decks generally try to control the board during the early game, before moving into a more aggressive role mid-game with medium-costing minions and spells, with the goal of winning before the late game. Midrange decks focus on cards with good overall value, for efficient trading, top decking and card advantage.

Discussion[]

Midrange is a typical deck archetype that shows up in many different collectible card games. Midrange decks are somewhere in between aggro and control as an archetype. They generally have minions that costs a medium amount of mana to play, while their spells have somewhere between a low to medium cost. Typically midrange decks are built on the theory that every single card in the deck has a greater sole value than any card in the opponent's deck. A great example of this would be the card NaxxramasSludge Belcher, as when it dies it leaves behind a second minion. The reason midrange decks are built around this idea is, because if both you and the opponent are top decking your top decks will always be better than the opponent's. Thus assuming both players are top decking the player playing a midrange deck will naturally win the game, as each one of the midrange deck's cards will contain more value than each of the opposing decks cards. The main way midrange decks achieve this goal is by either playing cards that create 2 for 1 trading scenarios in the midrange player's favor, for example causing the opponent to use two cards to remove one minion; or by playing cards, usually minions, that are very efficiently costed, which naturally leads to a tempo advantage. An example of minion that falls into the latter category would be The League of ExplorersFierce Monkey - as a 3/4 minion with Taunt for only 3 mana, it would generally be considered under-costed.

Rock, paper, scissors[]

Main article: Deck type#Rock, paper, scissors

Midrange decks generally lose to aggro decks. The reason is that generally even if they can stabilize against an aggro deck and gain board control, aggro deck will keep dealing face damage even when the midrange deck's cards have greater value. However, the damage dealt by the top decks of aggro is often minimal and having stabilized early enough, midrange deck can beat aggro. This is especially true after the nerfs to pure face decks (for example LegacyLeper Gnome), which has lead to rise of the popularity of for example Midrange Shaman.

Because of this, when facing an aggro deck, midrange decks should aim to delay and slow the game. As the turns pass the midrange deck will be able to play out bigger and more valuable cards, outstripping those of the aggro deck. The priority should be thwarting the aggro deck's momentum - once this has been achieved, the midrange deck should be able to steadily seize control of the game. In contrast, when playing against a control deck, the midrange player needs to adopt a more aggressive strategy, with the goal of defeating the opponent before they are able to play their key cards, or put their main combos into play. This early game tempo combined with the longevity of midrange decks often leads to the victory for the midrange deck.

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