Extended decks

[Mulletus]

I know, I know! This is a Legacy site. But with upcomming Extended exents in the GrandPrix scene.... I'd like to be to discuss some deck ideas and deck crossovers from our format. After all, Extended is a lot closer to our format than Type 1. Lets face it....

I personnaly live in the NorthEast of the US. So I will prolly attend the GrandPrix Philly. (afterall I got 30th there last time) I am looking to play a GBw pt junk deck with creatures, disruption, and mass removal. I'll hold off on my tentative decklist.... incase the powers to be shut this thread down on principle. I would just like to get the feedback of people who I consider 'seasoned vets' of the older cards, as compaired to a 'fair-weather fan' like a Type 2 player would be, when it comes to Extended.

So I'll leave this open ended.....

Thanks

[freakish777]

GBw? Doran Rock is currently the deck to beat in Extended from everything I hear, but it's also got a big target on it's back at the moment. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/hollywood08ptq/welcome , won the 1st PTQ at Worlds side event, crushing a T8 full of control deck, put 6 people in T8 in a regular PTQ in NYC including Jeff Folinius (Gekoraatal, so maybe shoot him a PM if you're really interested in the deck) etc.

Between the following, you have a basically the elements you wanted:

Confidant (good enough to see Legacy play)
Goyf (good enough to see Legacy play)
Doran
Hierarch
Therapy (good enough to see Legacy play)
Vindicate (sometimes good enough to see Legacy play)
Deed (good enough to see Legacy play)
Jitte (good enough to see Legacy play)

I know a lot of Extended players don't have any respect for the card Gerrard's Verdict, but it's the closest thing to Hymn to Tourach Extended has, and it occassionally gives you life to keep your Confidant from killing you. My current list has 22 lands (5 basics and 8ish fetches) and 4 Birds of Paradise, getting screwed by Molten Rain/Blood Moon/Destructive Flow can be problematic. I've put the Deeds in the SB in favor of 10 discard spells (4 Therapy, 3 Thoughtseize, 3 Verdict), but there's certainly room in the deck, as far as slots go, to customize as you see fit.

[Shtriga]

I've been advocating BGR in the extended format but no1 seems to listen to me lol. it has as good a matchup vs the metagame as Doran rock does as I have tested it quite a bit on MWS. it plays nantuko shade instead of doran, destructive flow and terminate (to make up for the loss of vindicate somewhat). it also packs a bigger discard suite, and a fine suite of burn for removal/reach, to break ground stalls that doran more often than not finds itself in

my build was something like:

dark confidant
nantuko shade
tarmogoyf

duress/seize
cabal therapy
incinerate
seal of fire
pernicious deed
destructive flow (SB but it gets in almost always so might be worth the MB slots, and move deeds to SB)

yet no1 gave 2 shits about it lol :P . it has a somewhat even matchup vs doran, and I'd risk saying a better/same matchup vs the rest, as it packs more removal, more discard, and land hate. shades might be a bit slower currently but they trade with goyfs and doran and are a beating after some disruption

[Mulletus]

Another thing I'm lookig at int eh dorna build is the new tri color forest in Morningtide: Murmuring Bosk. I can search it out with a green fetch, and every one would take the place of two 'shock dual's. Sometimes I would want to have it come into play untapped, but there's fortunately treefolk in the deck to help with that. I want my basic count to be very high also, so any non-basic thinners like this would help.

I am also thinking of leaving out Bob. and replacing with Wall of Blossums and or Spectral Lynx. I figure there's going to be too many 4 drops in the deck... wall is a 4/4 blocker for 2cc with a cantrip under Doran.... and the Lynx will be there after I Deed or EE. I think the lynx will help in the mirror tremendously. The problem with the wall is, I want to begin the offensive by turn 3.

If I were to play red I would just run a Fires deck. Goyf with haste could be good. And FTK is still legal

I also want to go over some nice sideboard options that white give me. Kataki's War Wage for all the Ravager decks that random pro's play. And the Ronom Unicorn for things like dovescape and standstill. White will be a splash in the deck (Vindicate, Doran, Heirearch, Lynx) with no white-only cards. Therefore my quantityof mans and sideboard slots will have to be carefully scrutinized.

ok more later.... tear it up...lol

[frogboy]

Dark Confidant is beyond insane in the Doran mirror.

[Shtriga]

I'm fonder of ancient grudge/seal of primordium/shattering spree against affinity, rather than kataki. because if they have a ravager out, they can just sac them all to ravager, and unless you have another removal spell, you die. it's a good card nonetheless

vindicate is seriously good though, as my deck has no way to deal with walkers other than discard

[Xero]

I am also thinking of leaving out Bob. and replacing with Wall of Blossums and or Spectral Lynx.


Wall of Blossoms is not Extended legal.

[Shriekmaw]

John,


I've been testing extended a lot lately since I'm going out to Vancouver and play to go down to Philly for those 2 GP's. The top decks in the format are the following: Doran Rock, Goyf/Counterbalance, Domain Zoo/RDW, Enduring Ideal, and Affinity. I'm always a personal fan of affinity so thats why its always in my top decks. Affinity is a decent choice with all the Doran Rock and Counterbalance Goyf as it has good matchups against both of those decks.

PM me and we can arrange some times to get together to start playtesting the format. I'm always welcome to new and innovating ideas in extended.






Another thing I'm lookig at int eh dorna build is the new tri color forest in Morningtide: Murmuring Bosk. I can search it out with a green fetch, and every one would take the place of two 'shock dual's. Sometimes I would want to have it come into play untapped, but there's fortunately treefolk in the deck to help with that. I want my basic count to be very high also, so any non-basic thinners like this would help.

I am also thinking of leaving out Bob. and replacing with Wall of Blossums and or Spectral Lynx. I figure there's going to be too many 4 drops in the deck... wall is a 4/4 blocker for 2cc with a cantrip under Doran.... and the Lynx will be there after I Deed or EE. I think the lynx will help in the mirror tremendously. The problem with the wall is, I want to begin the offensive by turn 3.

If I were to play red I would just run a Fires deck. Goyf with haste could be good. And FTK is still legal

I also want to go over some nice sideboard options that white give me. Kataki's War Wage for all the Ravager decks that random pro's play. And the Ronom Unicorn for things like dovescape and standstill. White will be a splash in the deck (Vindicate, Doran, Heirearch, Lynx) with no white-only cards. Therefore my quantityof mans and sideboard slots will have to be carefully scrutinized.

ok more later.... tear it up...lol

[Eldariel]

Your list lacks MUC, which is definitely a contender and has taken more Top 8s than Affinity for example, and Dredge which is perhaps the best deck in the format.

[emidln]

I'm at a hotel here in Louisville and am audibling into 4c Landstill. Does anything see anything significantly wrong with my maindeck/sideboard? I know that I have no basics, and if I can't counter the Blood Moon effect, have deed on board, or float mana into an answer for Magus of the Moon, I'm willing to accept defeat. I also realize I have 61 cards.

4 Standstill
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Condemn
3 Smother
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Counterspell
4 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Academy Ruins
3 Breeding Pool
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Faerie Conclave
3 Nantuko Monastery

SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 3 Krosan Grip
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Threads of Disloyalty
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt

[Nihil Credo]

I'd strongly consider going UBG. Your only loss is Nantuko Monastery, because Condemn is eminently replaceable in black (Innocent Blood, Chainer's Edict, Shriekmaw, Terror). Garruk and/or Tombstalker can be added to provide additional win conditions.

Also, I realize they're a fresh chase rare, but one thinks Mutavaults would be an auto-inclusion. Faerie Conclaves suck less when Wasteland isn't in the picture, but much more when you actually have to pay for countermagic.

Finally, as a 4-of Rune Snag is practically always better than Mana Leak. The only time I can remember Leak being better was in Kamigawa standard where it was imperative to counter a turn 4 Jitte - this isn't the case here.

Tentative list (needs one last cut - I would guess a Spell Snare, especially with the Mutavaults to make Snag active sooner, but I'd need testing):

4 Standstill
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Innocent Blood
3 Smother
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Counterspell
4 Spell Snare
4 Rune Snag
1 Crucible of Worlds

2 Garruk Wildspeaker

1 Academy Ruins
4 Breeding Pool
4 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Mutavault
1 Faerie Conclave
2 Island
1 Swamp

[Illissius]

Have you tested that deck? Just from looking at it, my thoughts are:

- Shocklands are not dual lands. Very not. A four color manabase is far more painful when every land drop hits you for 2-3 damage or comes into play tapped, doubly so in a control deck. I mean, I'd stick an Island in there just so I can use the fetches to get a normal, "free" land with them.

- But I'd much rather make a two color build in the first place, optionally with a small splash of a third. The options: UW, UB, UWg for Monastery, UWb for Extirpate, and UBg for Deed.

- Crucible is much less impressive without Wasteland. If you just want insurance, use a single Loam, or some nonland finisher. (Garruk, Tombstalker, Meloku, Echoes, some artifact dude (Trisk?) for Academy).

- Aren't Mutavaults legal now? Aren't they better than Conclaves?

[Whit3 Ghost]

Brandon, what was wrong with your other choices?

[Shriekmaw]

I know a lot of legacy players were talking about playing Landstill in extended, but it simply isn't that good. I believe that you have too many bad matchups for myself to consider playing it in a big event.

If you want to play a blue deck, then play Counterbalance Goyf/Next Level Blue as the best control deck in the format. The main reason why I'm not a fan of Landstill is because its just too slow and you don't have the power cards like you do for legacy which really makes the deck good.

I forgot about Dredge, its a very powerful deck, but since its easier to hate then affinity, I don't agree its the best deck. The best deck in the format is between counterbalance goyf/Next Level Blue and Doran Rock.

I would look into the format a little more and kind of leave landstill to the legacy format.

[Janos_Wuryon]

Dredge is this events glass cannon.. It smashes so many matchups game one and in g2 its a coin toss based on how much hate your opp plays and actually sees by turn 2. I think the real focus of the educated should be building to beat doran game 1 with your main deck consistantly and then having so mauch hate that you cant lose to dredge after board. By my readings that strategy should see you through 60-80% of your rounds.

Dredge is in a bad way vs MUC and Doran post board, so they should die off by round 4 then the doran decks will attrition out pretty much every other strategy by that point. So if you can deal with randoms and dredge through 4 then it shoudl be a road paved with golden trees to get to day 2.

[Phantom]

I don't know much about extended, but it seems that Loam has almost all the same tools it has in Legacy, right? Goyf. Terravore. Confidant. Cycling Lands. Devastating Dreams. Burning Wish to get around yard hate. Seismic Assault. Genesis. Thoughtseize and Duress. Garruk. And now Countryside Crusher.

So why isn't AggroLoam a major contender?

[Mulletus]

I would love to playtest with you Nick, but I moved. I live in Potsdam now, finishing my degree. I would also love to go to Vancouver, but I'm banned from Canada for life. So I think I'll go to Philly and maybe fly to one of the midwest/southern GPs if it's Legacy.

I'm glad this is constructive and not getting shut down on principle. I will come out with a decklist later in the weekend.

Oh and thanks for the info on the whole Blossums thing. I have been using Oracle to get the available cards now.

[atv]

I don't know much about extended, but it seems that Loam has almost all the same tools it has in Legacy, right? Goyf. Terravore. Confidant. Cycling Lands. Devastating Dreams. Burning Wish to get around yard hate. Seismic Assault. Genesis. Thoughtseize and Duress. Garruk. And now Countryside Crusher.

So why isn't AggroLoam a major contender?

But it is?

It's very popular (and powerful) in Extended at the moment.

[TheAardvark]

I don't know much about extended, but it seems that Loam has almost all the same tools it has in Legacy, right? Goyf. Terravore. Confidant. Cycling Lands. Devastating Dreams. Burning Wish to get around yard hate. Seismic Assault. Genesis. Thoughtseize and Duress. Garruk. And now Countryside Crusher.

So why isn't AggroLoam a major contender?

Counterbalance.

When your entire gameplan revolves around resolving 2cc spells, Counterbalane will wreck you. Now, AgLoam did win the PTQ in Rockville two weeks ago, but even the deck's pilot said he had very good matchups all day (0 decks with Islands of any kind, and like 6 Doran decks).

It is not very popular that I have seen; people try it because it rolls Doran, etc. but they still have to avoid Counterbalance to be successful.

@Janos

Dredge isn't really a dog to Doran post-SB. I mean, Dredge will win G1 ~90% of the time, and post-SB most Doran decks have a max of 4 cards to bring in. If those 4 cards are Leyline, Doran is at best 50-50 at that point; Extirpate is better, but Dredge still has plenty of ways to win.

[thefreakaccident]

Dredge is a house in extended... I would suggest something with a tool-box to hate on it...

Landstill has been my strong consideration for extended as well, Cwish into extirpate (actually al of the available wish target cept tutor) is very possible and very devastating in a war of attrition against an ichorid player.

Doran is good in extende right now as well, because of the powerlevel of its' cards... their creatures are the largest around, and they have good disruption... that gives them an edge against lots of decks (especially like affinity and Catch)...

Catch by far has the better combo MU becaude of counterbalance + countermagic, doran whiffs at mainly because they are board control as well... Tron is still a mystery to me, it doesn't really have any auto wins, but it has a fighting chance against everything, which is why it requires a competent player to do anything with...

Spell snare is an auto include as a 4of in this format, as everything costs 2... just putting that out there.

[Janos_Wuryon]

a couple things.. agrro loam has the least anti dredge options but is/can be a house vs doran so it will be a viable option but not a popular one i think.

second: I forgot that mulletus was banned from canada, thats a problem i wish i had.

3rd hey nick Im good for some testing this week just let me know when.

[Mulletus]

I'm sorry I wanted to post a decklist for critique, but it turns out 19 credits of upperlevel material is very time consuming.

[Getsickanddie]

I would also love to go to Vancouver, but I'm banned from Canada for life.

Sorry to derail this thread, but there has to be a story behind this that is waaaay more interesting than Extended. Do tell.

[zulander]

I doubt I'll make it to GP philly. If I did go though I'd play Doran the Explorer.

[revenge_inc]

I would also love to go to Vancouver, but I'm banned from Canada for life.Sorry to derail this thread, but there has to be a story behind this that is waaaay more interesting than Extended. Do tell.

Yes, do tell (maybe in mash-mash).