Aggro Decks Against Control Decks: Who's Got the Edge?

This is actually a trick question that can be distorted in many ways. For example, the specific cards a player might be packing against certain decks, the difference in play skill between the two pilots, and sometimes it's just a coin flip and whoever wins has the edge. For purposes of this article, we're assuming that the decks are not tweaked to beat each other, and that the two pilots of the decks are exactly equal. In this case, in theory, these are the fundamental advantages from each side, so read 'em up and see where you stand in the classic battle of aggro vs. control.

Aggro decks are faster than control decks. They come out quickly, get in early points of damage, and can finish a control deck off before it sets up or manages to stabilize the board. They almost always have a better mana curve than the control deck, so they can steal many games against better creatures because they play spells (if not multiple spells) every single turn and just overrunning the opponent. Also, sometimes the aggro deck can just get its perfect draw and no matter how good the control draw is, the aggro deck will still win.

Aggro decks tend to do the same thing every game. They play a guy, attack, rinse and repeat. They toss in random support spells or removal, often with burn spells for the finishing touch (if your aggro deck of choice happens to be red). No matter what an aggro deck draws, it will consistantly have creatures to attack with, and some form of support spells to back them up. Does it really matter whether you play Hand of Honor or Leonin Skyhunter on turn 2? Regardless, your opponent is taking two points of damage next turn.

The control deck on the other hand, needs specific cards each game in order to beat the aggro deck. For example, they might have eight cards that they need at least one of to stand a chance. Four Wrath of God and four Loxodon Hierarch are good examples. If they happen to not draw one, or if they draw one too late, they probably can't win. For this same reason, control decks often have to mulligan much more often against aggro decks since you can't take the risk of keeping a hand that's too slow.

The aggressive deck is the one putting the pressure on the opponent. From the start of the game, tt forces the control player into a defensive position. The aggro deck makes the control deck react to its game plan instead of developing its own. The control deck often cannot play permanents in their hand because it would tap them out, leaving them without counter or removal mana open, and it runs the risk of just losing to any kind of removal spell. The control deck is forced to play a guessing game about what the aggro player might be holding and has to play around cards that an opponent might not even be holding. This rewards skill, meaning a better player will have better results in this type of game, but it also allows less skilled or experienced players to make mistakes, which brings me to my next point.

While not recommended, the aggro player can get away with a mistake or two. They simply need to deal 20 damage before the game ends. It doesn't matter if they did it in a fancy or most optimal way. If you've taken 20, you're dead. If the aggro player misses a point of damage, or plays out the wrong creature one turn, it's a mistake, but they can still win the game with speed and burn and such. The control player, on the other hand has to play much much tighter and can't afford to make any mistakes. Playing the incorrect card at any given time usually means game over.

This doesn't matter for casual play, but in tournaments the clock is the friend of the aggro player. If the aggro player takes game one, and the control deck can't finish you off you've won your match, even if the control deck was about to win game two. Control decks kill the opponent much more slowly than an aggro deck would. While you can't stall, because it's considered cheating, if you can legally prevent the opponent from killing you, you're in really good shape.

Right from the opening turns, the control deck is going to be holding more cards than the aggro deck and have more options of what to play. The control deck will have many more 2-for-1s, leaving it with more cards to play with, and will draw more cards than the aggro deck to boot. If the aggro decks trades card for card it will lose the game almost every time.

The creatures in the control deck are almost always significantly larger and better than the ones in an aggro deck. A control deck has dragons and angels and creatures with nasty abilities and has absolutely no need to run 2/2s for two mana or random one drops. Once a control deck plays a creature, the aggro deck will need to use two cards to destroy one or just overrun it in order to get it off the board, as trading one for one in combat with a dragon is highly unlikely.

Even the non-creature spells are almost always better in the control deck. It has no need to run a card like Shock, and instead has cards that destroy multiple creatures and such. If it has an engine that it functions on, like Gifts Ungiven and one copy of a lot of cards, the control deck can play silver bullets and situational cards and dig for the exact card it needs for a given situation.

The longer the game goes the more favored the control deck becomes. Aggro decks quickly run out of gas and always will before the control deck does, and if you can stabilize and reach the late game you've essentially won. Once your mana is set up the control deck has better creatures, more cards, and more time. It's unlikely that the aggro deck can top deck enough gas to steal the game, and even if so, the control deck usually has the answers at this point.

As knowledge grows about the current format the deck builder can alter the control deck easily to be better against specific cards in aggro decks, or even against specific aggro decks entirely. An aggro deck has to stick to its game plan You can't remove important creatures or burn spells without making the deck a lot weaker, so there's really no room besides the sideboard to add hate cards to an aggro deck. Not to mention the control deck has access to more options and answers, since it has tutors, card draw, and usually more colors than the aggro deck.

So there you have it. There's really not a correct answer as to which has the edge. Back in the day, Psychatog was the best deck in the format and it crushed all the aggro decks. Likewise, not too long ago, Affinity was the best deck in the format and no control deck was fast enough to deal with it. Use your best judgement knowing the format going into any given tournament and take your deck of choice to the top tables. Until next time, enjoy attacking for two followed my Char to the face, or enjoy casting Wrath of God and following up with a dragon. Either way, good luck playing magic.