Making The Most of Your Magic Money – Preparing For The New Extended Part 3
07 Jul 2010 | David Li Wang
This is the third part of my series of articles on preparing for the new Extended. For the first part of the articles and an introduction on the issue, go to http://community.goodgames.com.au/articles/magic/2010/06/21/making-the-most-of-your-magic-money-preparing-for-the-new-extended-part-1/. The second part can be found at http://community.goodgames.com.au/articles/magic/2010/06/28/making-the-most-of-your-magic-money-preparing-for-the-new-extended-part-2/.
The Archetypes Continued (Again… I know) – Old Standard Archetypes
It’s time for some more of the Lorwyn Block/ Alara Block Standard decks.
Boat Brew
Boat Brew is a R/W mid-range aggro deck, credited to be designed by Brian Kowal, playing with some of the better creatures and built in Card Advantage engines such as Reveillark and Ranger of Eos to help with the longer attrition wars. It played creatures such as Figure of Destiny, Mogg Fanatic and Burrenton Forge-Tender that could be fetched by Ranger of Eos. Most of the creatures barring Siege-Gang Commander and Ranger of Eos, could be revived by Reveillark. Ajani Vengeant would be able to hold the fort by tapping down the opponent’s creatures or acting as removal. Cards such as Spectral Procession and Kitchen Finks also made frequent appearances in this deck.
If I were to build Boat Brew for this new Extended environment, I would build it something along the lines of this:
A Possible Version of Boat Brew (With no Mogg Fanatics sadly…)
Lands (24)
4 Arid Mesas
4 Battlefield Forge
1 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Windbrisk Heights
Creatures (24)
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Ranger of Eos
3 Reveillark
3 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Student of Warfare
Non-Creature Spells (12)
4 Ajani Vengeant
2 Elspeth Knight-Errant
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
Sideboard
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Stillmoon Cavalier
3 Guttural Response
3 Day of Judgement
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
Cards to pick up: Windbrisk Heights is dirt cheap under $4 and will be played in several decks so snap it up now. Figure of Destiny is great value around $12 or so and is expected to fit into several other decks such as Kithkin and B/W tokens. Reveillark is here again. Ranger of Eos and Ajani Vengeants are also definitely worth buying and will be there for a while.
Kithkin
Kithkin is a tribal variant of white weenie, utilising the most efficient Kithkin creatures available such as Figure of Destiny, Goldmeadow Stalwart and Knight of the Meadowgrain, backed up by their tribal lord, Wizened Cenn. Cloudgoat Ranger joins the battle later on, bringing 3 Kithkin soldiers with him. Ajani Goldmane, Glorious Anthem (now with Honor of the Pure instead) and Zealous Persecution pumped the Kithkin folk up to finish off the opponent quickly. There were also Red-White and Black-White variants of Kithkin back in the old Standard.
Mono-White Kithkin List
Lands (25)
2 Mutavault
15 Plains
4 Rustic Clachan
4 Windbrisk Heights
Creatures (20)
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn
Non-Creature Spells (17)
3 Ajani Goldmane
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession
Cards to pick up: Yeah there’s Figure of Destiny here again and you’ll also need to pick up Honor of the Pure for $7 or less each, to play Kithkin. If you’re paying less than $9 for Ajani Goldmanes, you’re getting a good deal and expect to see it rise in value at the end of the year when token decks might become popular. Cards such as Knight of the Meadowgrain and Cloudgoat Ranger shouldn’t be too hard to pick up, and will be played widely. Did I mention Mutavault is here again? Oh I just did…
Black White Tokens
Ahhh it’s another similar deck! Somebody help me! Nevertheless I still have to explain it as it was a major part of the metagame. Has 2 of the best token generating spells in Spectral Procession and Bitterblossom, backed up by Glorious Anthems and Ajani Goldmanes. Cloudgoat Ranger adds some extra damage, Knight of the Meadowgrain and Kitchen Finks are awesome like usual, Terror (will probably be Doomblade that does the job) cleared the way and Tidehollow Sculler acts as an important source of disruption. The later versions also had the power of Zealous Persecution to pump the army. Black White Tokens is going to have an awkward time in Extended as Glorious Anthem won’t be there for long and Honor of the Pure won’t be able to pump some of the Bitterblossom tokens. With Thoughtseize available, the deck may be better than other Weenie decks at disrupting the random combo decks, though it may have difficulties against Faeries initially.
Luis Scott-Vargas’ 2009 Pro Tour Kyoto 2nd Place List
Lands (25)
4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Fetid Heath
2 Mutavault
2 Plains
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
4 Windbrisk Heights
Creatures (16)
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Tidehollow Sculler
Non-Creature Spells (19)
3 Ajani Goldmane
4 Bitterblossom
4 Glorious Anthem
4 Spectral Procession
4 Terror
Note this version did not play Zealous Persecution as it was not out yet at the time.
Cards to pick up: Look back up and you’ll find the similar advice for this deck and Bitterblossom is here (again…). Tidehollow Scullers shouldn’t be too hard to pick up for under $1.
5 Colour Control
My old Standard favourite deck and I’ll be writing an in depth article on this archetype alone soon! This deck is your control deck that plays the best control cards possible, stalling until it can cast Cruel Ultimatum or resolve Broodmate Dragon or Baneslayer Angel. There were plenty of variations around and it’s quite difficult to explain it properly without going into extreme depth. Basically cards like Broken Ambitions, Cryptic Command and possibly Essence Scatters and Negates held off the opponent’s threats early on. Spot removal spells got rid of those pesky threats, while sweepers such as Wrath of God, Hallowed Burial and Volcanic Fallouts cleared the board of the critters that managed to resolve, to ensure your better board position. Mulldrifters and Esper Charms acted as the card drawing engine (and could beat down in Mulldrifter’s case while Esper Charm had its awesome utility value). Plumeveils and Wall of Reverence held the fort down to ensure you survived longer. Broodmate Dragons or Baneslayer Angels would finish off the opponent real quick back in those days. I’m really excited about 5 Colour Control’s return. However, before 5CC can feature strongly, it will need to have some idea of what the metagame will look like. My in depth article will cover a lot on 5CC and I hope you read it.
Gabriel Nassif’s 2009 Pro Tour Kyoto Winning List
Lands (27)
2 Cascade Bluffs
2 Exotic Orchard
3 Island
1 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Meadow
Creatures (13)
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Mulldrifter
3 Plumeveil
3 Wall of Reverence
Non-Creature Spells (21)
4 Broken Ambitions
1 Celestial Purge
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Cryptic Command
4 Esper Charm
1 Pithing Needle
1 Terror
4 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard
1 Celestial Purge
2 Infest
2 Negate
1 Remove Soul
4 Scepter of Fugue
1 Wispmare
2 Wrath of God
2 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Charles Gindy’s 2009 US Nationals Winning List
Lands (26)
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Exotic Orchard
3 Islands
2 Mystic Gates
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Crags
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Meadows
Creatures (9)
3 Broodmate Dragon
3 Mulldrifter
3 Plumeveil
Non-Creature Spells (25)
2 Ajani Vengeant
3 Broken Ambitions
3 Cruel Ultimatums
4 Cryptic Commands
4 Esper Charm
1 Essence Scatter
2 Hallowed Burials
2 Negate
4 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard
1 Essence Scatter
2 Firespout
4 Great Sable Stag
1 Hallowed Burial
2 Identity Crisis
2 Jace Beleren
1 Negate
2 Runed Halo
Cards to pick up: Reflecting Pool is hands down the most important card in 5 Colour Control. Without it, the deck has a terrible manabase. Pick them up around the $11 mark. Cryptic Commands are here again and worth buying for under $15. Volcanic Fallouts are a must buy for $2 or less. As for the other cards, they are either easy to pick up or might not be played, depending on your version of the deck.
Blightning
It takes no brains to work out what card this deck is named after. It’s pretty similar to RDW, being very aggressive with creatures such as Boggart Ram Gang, Figure of Destiny and Demigod of Revenge, except it has access to Blightning and Goblin Outlander. It has access to Volcanic Fallout, Lightning Bolt, Flame Javelin and Banefire, all potentially great spells in this New Extended. With access to Black, Burrenton Forge-Tender and Kor Firewalker will be easier to deal with. I wouldn’t underestimate this deck at all and it has Karrgan Dragonlord and Ball Lightning this time round, giving it more gas.
Cards to pick up: Figure of Destiny should be bought for under $12, while Demigods are great deals under $7. Boggart Ram Gang is easy to find for under $2 each.
5 Colour Blood
This Patrick Chapin innovation is an evolution from 5 Colour Control into a more aggressive oriented deck that plays 6 Cascade spells, notably Bloodbraid Elf (who we’re all sick of now) and Bituminous Blast. It’s pretty similar to Jund in many ways but with no Blightnings but with access to Cryptic Command and Cruel Ultimatum, you would think it’s better. It will also have Tarmogoyf to start off with and may be bolstered by cards such as Ancestral Vision before rotation. With access to cards such Lotus Cobra, Vengevine and Jace, this deck could be warping into almost anything. It has the potential to be one of the top decks as it will be playing the best spells possible.
Michael Jacob’s 2009 Grand Prix Seattle Top 8 List
Lands (26)
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Exotic Orchard
2 Flooded Grove
1 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
3 Twilight Mire
3 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
4 Vivid Marsh
Creatures (19)
4 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Boggart Ram-gang
4 Putrid Leech
3 Sygg, River Cutthroat
Non-Creature Spells (15)
2 Bituminous Blast
4 Cryptic Command
2 Jund Charm
2 Volcanic Fallout
1 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Maelstrom Pulse
Cards to pick up: Reflecting Pool is here again and so buy them around the $11 mark. If you don’t have Maelstrom Pulses already, purchase them for under $20 a piece to get a good deal. Sygg River Cutthroat should be easy to find in trade folders or selling for $2.
Cascade Swans
I expect this deck to feature on the Pro Tour but let’s not forget that formerly Saito in relation to the Joel Calafell’s win with Cascade Swans, said “I think last week’s deck that won is a joke.” In many ways I do agree with this statement as the deck can be so easily disrupted but when you put these decks out of contention, they will be able to dominate as people aren’t prepared for them. The deck’s ability to kill on turn 4 is really deadly and will be the sole reason why it will be played (wait there’s also Countryside Crusher) but because Seismic Assault is in 10th edition, by the time it hits October, this deck will be probably be gone. For those who don’t know how the deck plays out, the deck has around 40 lands and Cascade spells that can only cascade into Seismic Assault or Swans of Bryn Argoll. Then you deal damage to the Swans until you draw sufficient lands to finish off your opponent. It will now also have access to Treasure Hunt which may or may not be played.
Joel Calafell’s 2009 GP Barcelona Winning List
Land (41)
2 Battlefield Forge
2 Cascade Bluffs
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Ghitu Encampment
4 Graven Cairns
1 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Spinerock Knoll
4 Treetop Village
4 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh
4 Vivid Meadow
Creatures (8)
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Swans of Bryn Argoll
Non-Creature Spells (11)
2 Ad Nauseam
2 Bituminous Blast
2 Captured Sunlight
1 Primal Command
4 Seismic Assault
Sideboard
2 Aura of Silence
4 Countryside Crusher
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Primal Command
2 Vexing Shusher
2 Wickerbough Elder
2 Wrath of God
Cards to pick up: Swans of Bryn Argoll and Seismic Assaults are worth picking up for under $5 if you intend on playing Extended before rotation.
Elves!
Combo Elves was one of my favourite decks in Extended, and the first competitive deck I played in Extended. When aggro Elves died down in popularity and Combo Elves became popular with Oberg’s list in GP Barcelona, I was really excited. Then with the printing of Elvish Archdruid, the deck exploded in popularity. In this new Extended format the deck will also have access to Arbor Elf and Joraga Warcaller (which may or may not see play as a 1 of). The advantage of Elves is once again its speed but it can easily be wrecked by decks that pack sweepers. I expect this deck to do particularly well when the metagame is more aggressive oriented.
Lands (19)
8 Forest
1 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Windbrisk Heights
4 Wooded Bastion
Creatures (35)
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Cloudthresher
4 Devoted Druid
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Mirror Entity
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Regal Force
Non-Creature Spells (6)
2 Manamorphose
4 Primal Command
Sideboard
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Cloudthresher
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Oversoul of Dusk
1 Platinum Angel
2 Qasali Pridemage
Cards to pick up: Buy your Elvish Archdruids after M11’s release as they will be as cheap as $5. Rangers of Eos for $8 and Regal Forces under $6 are both worth picking up. You probably can buy Primal Command for as cheap as $3 now.
Current Standard Archetypes
I’ll be very brief on some of these decks.
Jund
You should definitely expect to see Jund in this new environment and there will be several versions of it. Some will play Makeshift Mannequin, some will play Scapeshift with Prismatic Omen and others may splash blue or white, since making a good manabase for Jund is much easier in Extended and it will not face the problems it does in Standard. It should be able to deal with Faeries reasonably well with Volcanic Fallout, Cloudthresher and Great Sable Stag.
U/W Control
Likely to see play, but may have another colour splashed for extra power or people may just switch to 5 Colour Control. Cards that will bolster its ranks include Cryptic Command and possibly Teferi initially.
Mythic Conscription
It is potentially very deadly in this new environment. Remember the old Finest Hour Bant? Well it might look something more like that or it might be like some of the Dark Bant decks, splashing into black for Doran. I can already see this happening even though it’s not significantly better than what Mythic is doing at the moment:
Turn 1 – Land into Noble Hierarch
Turn 2 – Lotus Cobra, drop fetchland and crack for a land to cast Doran.
Turn 3 – Fetchland into Sovereigns of Lost Alara and swing with Doran for 17 damage, which might even be enough to kill them.
Next Level Bant
With more creatures to choose from, it will be a lot easier to bring back Vengevine in Extended than in Standard. We might see awesome creatures such as Shorecrasher Mimic featuring in this deck.
Turboland
I’m not too sure about Turboland but it might see some play and who knows but maybe someone can break the format with it by tweaking this deck to fit the Extended environment somehow. Who knows?
Naya
The new equivalent of Zoo in this new Extended environment but don’t expect it to dominate like Zoo did in previous seasons, as this is going to be very very different. With access to Figure of Destiny, the deck will definitely be better (especially at recurring Vengevines).
Red Deck Wins
Let me explain this deck. Red decks win (when people don’t expect them to). It will remain either Mono-Red or morph into the Blightning deck I described earlier.
General Tip– Shadowmoor Filter Lands
So why buy Shadowmoor Filter lands now? Well they are available at a dirt cheap price at the moment and when it reaches PTQ season, expect them to naturally increase by $2-$3 each. They are a safe investment because:
1. They are guaranteed to be played as they are great at mana fixing and vital in all manabases.
2. More diversified across decks and the popular ones such as Sunken Ruins and Fire-Lit Thicket are less likely to be affected if a certain archetype is unplayable in the metagame.
3. They are cheap and don’t require you to pour in a lot of money to buy them unlike staple cards in Standard.
4. Won’t be dropping in value and if you have no use for them, they can be played in EDH or traded away reasonably easily.
Metagame Speculation
Of course I don’t have too much evidence to back myself up, but these are just some wild guesses based on my knowledge at what the metagame might look like. It will be judged, based on how good I think the decks will be and what people will want to play:
The scale I will use is as follows:
Quality – 1 is poor and 10 is extremely good.
Popularity – 1 is will represent 2% or less of the metagame and 10 is will account for 20% or greater of the metagame.
Note this is purely my opinion and may not be extremely accurate. You may strongly disagree with some of my decisions
Before Rotation and During Pro Tour Amsterdam
Faeries
Quality- 9
Popularity- 9
Living End
Quality- 7
Popularity- 3
Scapeshift will included as part of Naya or Jund
Boros
Quality- 4
Popularity- 1
Doran
Quality- 8
Popularity- 3
Dragonstorm
Quality- 5
Popularity- 2
Black Green Mid-Range Aggro will be included as part of Jund
Pickles
Quality- 4
Popularity- 1
Mannequin decks will included based on the various incarnations they are present in such as Jund and Esper etc.
Dedicated Reveillark Combo decks
Quality- 5
Popularity- 2
Merfolk
Quality- 7
Popularity- 3
Seismic Assault/ Cascade Swans
Quality- 5
Popularity- 2
Black Red Tokens
Quality- 5
Popularity- 1
Boat Brew
Quality- 6
Popularity- 2
Kithkin
Quality- 6
Popularity- 2
Black White Tokens
Quality- 7
Popularity- 2
5CC
Quality- 8
Popularity- 4
Blightning and RDW
Quality- 8
Popularity- 4
5CB
Quality- 8
Popularity- 3
Elves
Quality- 6
Popularity- 3
Jund (Without splash)
Quality- 7
Popularity- 4
U/W Control
Quality- 6
Popularity- 2
Mythic
Quality- 7
Popularity- 2
Next Level Bant
Quality- 6
Popularity- 1
Turboland
Quality- 6
Popularity- 1
Naya
Quality- 7
Popularity- 3
Other decks
Quality – N/A
Popularity – 3
I hope my advice was useful and the article enjoyable! That’s all for this week! Good Games! Good Times! GG!
By David Li Wang aka RedBluePlayer on Good Games Forums and MTG Salvation
For discussion.