Editing Magic: The Gathering Gameplay Principles (section)

==Every game there is an aggressive deck and a controlling deck==
This is a rule of thumb that generally holds true (in constructed) even if both decks are aggressive or controlling (more so with the former). In an aggressive match up, there usually will be a deck that isn’t faster than the other that game. Perhaps that deck is slower or maybe it’s just stumbling a bit. As such the pilot will have to do what his deck ''isn’t'' designed to do, control. He will likely lose, but if he tries to race he probably is more likely to lose. The aggressive deck and the controlling deck might switch roles during the game. As for limited, which deck is the controlling and which deck is the aggressive often goes back and forth so much (usually no more than once every few turns) that this rule arguably loses meaning.