Iconic Cards: Counterspell, Ponder, Damnation, Jace, the Mind Sculptor Popular Decks: UW Control, Jeskai Control, Taking Turns, Esper Control 3 Midrange Midrange decks are popularly said to solve problems, not create them. In other words, these decks are sort of designed to be able to win against every archetype, although they wont bulldoze over anything (the way aggro often wrecks control, for example)
It thrives on graveyard recursion, card advantage, and overwhelming inevitability
The format was initially created as a compilation of the best limited cards of all time, with the main points of divergence being between cubes that were powered and unpowered
Budget path, add those two
As quickly as players tend to draw in Vintage games, an early Orcish Bowmasters is an enormous threat , punishing opponents for drawing cards with both damage and a growing army of orcs