Cardsplain
Learn

Patchwork Midrange

How we'd draft and play Patchwork Midrange.
On this page

Patchwork Midrange is the weakest two-color deck in the data and the only one that loses more games than it wins (49.7% over 1,323 games). Goblin Army, the most-played deck, wins 57.6% over 85,459 games. No card has numbers for this deck except the basic lands (for a Plains here, 50.4%), so the card numbers in this track are overall numbers or come from other decks.

It is weak because the set has no white and green and no white and green dual land, so nothing was designed to make these two colors work together. White's themes ( in Dwarves & Equipment, and Humans in Draw Two) and green's themes (, Bears and Wolves in Ferocious Wolves, Elves and in Elf Landfall) don't feed each other. White's strongest cards win more in Draw Two and Dwarves & Equipment, and green's win more in Ferocious Wolves. Green is also short on , and white's only common removal spell is Magnificent End.

You end up here anyway when you take strong white cards and strong green cards early and no partner color comes. In that case, build a plain midrange deck: green creatures like Mirkwood Pathmaker and Ordinary Bear, every white removal spell you have, and no cards that need Dwarves, Elves or extra card draw. Hybrid cards help fill it. A hybrid symbol like or can be paid with either of its two colors, so Patient Instructor () costs here and Large Bear () costs .

Deck win rate 49.7% −6.5 vs average 1,323 games

Compared with the set average (56.2%). Win rates from 17Lands.

How a game goes

Mirkwood Pathmaker and other green creatures that are big on their own do the attacking, with Quarrel and Stone by Sunlight as .

  1. Early turns

    Turns 1–3: Nasty Little Rabbit on turn 1, Attercop or Iron Hills Blacksmith on turn 2, Mirkwood Pathmaker on turn 3. Play Hobbit Hole on a turn when you don't need all your mana, and hold Stone by Sunlight for their best creature rather than the first one you see.

  2. Middle turns

    Turns 4–6: use Celebrate the Mountain-king and Quarrel on the creature that walls your ground attack, kill attackers with Magnificent End for , and have a 4-power creature on the battlefield before combat so the Rabbit keeps growing.

  3. Late game

    Turn 7+: Mirkwood Pathmaker is now as big as your land count, and a like An Unexpected Party or Beorn the Fierce takes over. Without one, this deck has few ways through a stalled board (few , little ), so attack whenever your clears the way instead of waiting.

No shared mechanic

White and green share no keyword. White's mechanics are (Celebrate the Mountain-king, The Mountain-king's Return) and (Fíli the Pathfinder). Green's are and . To recruit, you draw a card and then discard a card, and if you discarded a nonland card you also create a 1/1 Human Soldier . Storied gives you an for the rest of the game once you control three or more , and in any mix, and that turns on Fíli's bonus.

The one mechanic that shapes how this deck plays is green's ferocious, a bonus that is on while you control a creature with power 4 or more. Nasty Little Rabbit checks at the beginning of combat on your turn. If you control a creature with 4 or more power at that moment, the Rabbit gets a +1/+1 counter . Example: with three lands, Mirkwood Pathmaker is a 3/3. Play your fourth land before combat and it becomes a 4/4, so the Rabbit gets its counter that turn. Ordinary Bear (a 4/5) and Large Bear (a 5/5) turn it on by themselves, and once the Rabbit has 4 power it turns on its own ability.

Opponent 20 life
You 20 life

Key cards

  • Celebrate the Mountain-king

    Celebrate the Mountain-king

    Enchantment

    Removal

    Why it works

    Anything nonland the opponent controls is a legal target, including the and that Quarrel and Stone by Sunlight can't touch. The lasts while the stays on the battlefield, and the replaces the card you spent, often with a 1/1 Human Soldier on top.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    Hold it for the that would beat you, such as a rare or a your ground creatures can't block. If the opponent destroys the , the card comes back. A spare land is the easy discard late in the game, and a creature card with 3 or less sets up The Mountain-king's Return.

    White also has four banger uncommons, one of which is the best in the entire set (Celebrate the Mountain-king).

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    62.2% 30,687 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Celebrate the Mountain-king, these do the same job: removal.

    Win rates from .

  • Stone by Sunlight

    Stone by Sunlight

    Instant

    Removal

    Why it works

    Each mode has a use here, so it is rarely dead in your hand. One destroys a creature with at least 4 power, the size Ferocious Wolves and Goblin Army creatures . The other makes your creature until end of turn, which saves Mirkwood Pathmaker or a grown Nasty Little Rabbit from a "destroy" spell or a lethal block.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    Small are out of its , so save the kill mode for their best big creature. does nothing against , "" effects or shrinking, so read the opponent's spell before you answer it.

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    60.3% 28,322 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Stone by Sunlight, these do the same job: removal.

    Win rates from .

  • Quarrel

    Quarrel

    Instant

    Removal

    Why it works

    Your creature deals damage equal to its power and takes none back, at speed for 2 mana. With Attercop's it kills anything, and Mirkwood Pathmaker's damage grows with your lands. Big partners matter, which is why it wins 58.4% with Ferocious Wolves' large creatures and 55.3% with Elf Landfall's small Elves.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    Aim it from your biggest creature or from Attercop, and cast it while they are out, because a spell in response costs you two cards for their one. Early creatures are small, so it is usually a turn 4 or turn 5 play.

    Its lack of besides Quarrel and Troll Negotiations is its greatest weakness, and it leaves green highly vulnerable to black/red and kill spells.

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    57.0% 34,443 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Quarrel, these do the same job: removal.

    Win rates from .

  • Mirkwood Pathmaker

    Mirkwood Pathmaker

    Creature — Elf Ranger

    Threat

    Why it works

    Your land count sets its size, so it needs no help from the rest of the deck and grows every turn you hit a land drop. Quarrel and Troll Negotiations deal damage equal to its power, so a five-land Pathmaker kills a 5-toughness creature with either.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    Attack into a blocker only with Quarrel up for the blocker or Stone by Sunlight up for Pathmaker. By turn 7 it outsizes most ground creatures, which makes it the best home for Beorn the Fierce's .

    Green's only real selling points are a handful of broken rares (Beorn the Fierce, Dancing from Dark to Dawn), two excellent uncommons in Mirkwood Pathmaker and Nasty Little Rabbit, and its potential for synergy with .

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    59.6% 19,147 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Mirkwood Pathmaker, this does the same job: threat.

    Win rates from .

  • Magnificent End

    Magnificent End

    Instant

    Removal

    Why it works

    Five damage at speed kills almost anything, and a target cuts the cost from to . Against Ferocious Wolves and Goblin Army, whose big creatures attack every turn, that makes it a cheap kill spell in almost every game.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    A creature that attacked you stays until its controller's next untap step, so you can also kill it on your own turn for and still cast a creature. attackers never tap, and paying the full 5 mana is the misplay to avoid.

    Magnificent End, Dwarven Shortsword, and Esgaroth Garrison are the only white commons I'm ever happy to play

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    56.8% 46,144 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Magnificent End, these do the same job: removal.

    Win rates from .

  • Nasty Little Rabbit

    Nasty Little Rabbit

    Creature — Rabbit

    Threat

    Why it works

    Every combat on your turn with on, this 1-drop gets a +1/+1 counter , and the counters stay. Your ferocious sources include Mirkwood Pathmaker from four lands, Ordinary Bear, Large Bear, Beorn the Fierce, a 3-power creature carrying Duskwatch Hunter's counter, and Dwarf under An Unexpected Party, so it usually starts growing around turn 4.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    Turn 1 gives it the most combats to grow, and a Rabbit cast later still grows. Keep it out of early trades with , since three counters make it a 4/5.

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    59.7% 17,848 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Nasty Little Rabbit, this does the same job: threat.

    Win rates from .

  • Hobbit Hole

    Hobbit Hole

    Land

    Gets you the color you need

    Why it works

    Hobbit Hole becomes whichever basic your hand is missing, a Plains or a Forest. Played and cracked on the same turn, it gives Attercop and Thranduil two triggers, one as it enters and one for the land it fetches.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    Crack it the turn you play it, for the color you are short of. Halflingcycling for rarely matters, because this deck has almost no Halfling cards.

    You'll want to run 16 or 17 lands, with 8/8 basics or 9/8 basics, minus whichever ones you can replace with dual lands/Hobbit Holes.

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    56.5% 60,133 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Hobbit Hole, these do the same job: gets you the color you need.

    Win rates from .

  • Patient Instructor

    Patient Instructor

    Creature — Human Citizen

    Early play

    Why it works

    usually adds a 1/1 Human Soldier beside the 2/2, and lets the 2/2 attack and still block.

    How to play it and the numbers

    How to play it

    On turn 3 it is the play when you have no Mirkwood Pathmaker, and later it fits beside a 2-mana spell. The is the place to throw away a second or a card in a color you can't cast yet.

    Win rates

    Win rate when drawn () in all decks
    58.3% 55,365 games

    Win rates from 17Lands.

    Replacements

    If you don't see Patient Instructor, these do the same job: early play.

    Win rates from .

How to tell it's open

White and green are almost never open together, so read each color separately. White is open when Celebrate the Mountain-king (average pick 2.9), Stone by Sunlight (3.5) or Magnificent End (6.1) come well after their average pick. Green is open when Mirkwood Pathmaker (3.8), Nasty Little Rabbit (4.4) or Quarrel (6.0) do. If both are open, check blue, red and black too.

Common mistakes

  • Drifting into Patchwork Midrange because your first picks were one white and one green card. White is far stronger with blue (Draw Two: 56.4% over 58,594 games) or red (Dwarves & Equipment: 56.5% over 52,797 games), and green with black (Ferocious Wolves: 56.9% over 57,277 games). Keep taking the strongest white or green card during pack 1 and move into the deck whose second color is flowing.

  • Taking synergy cards for decks you're not in. Dwarven Mattock only attaches for free to a Dwarf and otherwise costs to equip (it wants the pile of Dwarves in Dwarves & Equipment), Woodland Weavemaster wants Elves, and Lake-town Toymaker wants extra card draw. In this deck, take cards that work alone: , and creatures that are big without help.

  • Ignoring the mana. There is no white and green dual land and Wood Elves only fetches a Forest, so take Hobbit Hole and Long-Bodied Grey Dog when the pick is close, and watch double-colored costs like Troll Negotiations () and An Unexpected Party (). Large Bear and Thranduil also need two green sources here, and Eagle's Rescue two white.

  • Running short on . Green's removal is mostly Quarrel and Troll Negotiations, which both need a creature of yours on the battlefield. Take removal over a medium creature.

  • a third color to rescue a weak Patchwork Midrange deck. It makes mana that is already shaky worse. Move into a better deck during the draft instead.