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)
Malevolent Hermit may seem unwieldy and extremely conspicuous as a Spell Pierce on a stick, but its a fantastic deterrent
That also enables Oversold Cemetery to give you repeat Kardur's ETB ability without the commander tax
How Many of Each Card Should be in an MTG Deck
Let's break this down, starting with how commanders work