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Everyone knows the Top 8 decks from PT LA: Ruel's Two Color Tog, SWK's Heartbeat deck, Fujita's Boros build, Moreno's Madness Tog and so forth. I want to look beyond the Top 8 - and beyond PT LA, to see what other decks are being played. I'll throw in some metagame info from the recent GPs.
Here's the breakdown of decks that placed 8th to 64th at PT LA.
Affinity: 10
Tog (splashing Green for Life): 9
Gifts Control (wide variation): 7
Scepter Chant: 5
Mono-Red: 4
GB Aggro: 3
Boros: 3
Dump Truck (U/W/B): 2
Balancing Act: 2
While I'm at it, here are the combined Top 8s for GP: Kitayuushu, Melbourne and Copenhagen.
Tog (both 2 and 3 color): 8
Affinity: 4
Boros: 4
Scepter Chant: 3
Balancing Act: 2
other: 4
I'm not going to talk about the mainstream archetypes. Teddy Cardgame will have experts hitting those (for example, Julien Nuitjen talks about winning GP Copenhagen with Dredge-a-Tog.) Instead, I'll pull up some decklists that you may not have seen, but might be worth testing - if just for the novelty factor. Of course, playing something off the radar has other advantages - do you know what to name with Cabal Therapy against someone that drops a turn 2 Boros Swiftblade off a Sacred Foundry and Temple Garden? No? Okay - but that Swiftblade could be doing 16 points of trample damage on turn three. (Yes, the deck is described below.)
I'll start with the one new, probably Tier One archetype to appear in the recent GPs - the Solitary Confinement deck that Makihito Mihara used to make T8 at GP Kitayuushu. [And that Olivier Ruel used to win Bilbao. - Knut] Other decks have attempted to break Life of the Loam, but nothing breaks it quite as thoroughly as a deck that wins by pitching land to Seismic Assault and/or Zombie Infestation. Of course, if that is not enough, the deck also has a toolbox in the sideboard - and Burning Wish to fetch the tools.
| Solitary Confinement An Extended deck, by Makihito Mihara 3rd place at a Grand Prix tournament in Kitakyuushuu, Japan on 2005-11-06 | ||
Artifacts 3 Sensei's Divining Top Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Eternal Witness 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder Enchantments 3 Seismic Assault 2 Solitary Confinement 2 Zombie Infestation |
Sorceries 4 Burning Wish 4 Cabal Therapy 3 Life from the Loam Basic Lands 2 Forest 2 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Swamp Lands 4 Barren Moor 3 Bloodstained Mire 4 Forgotten Cave 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Tranquil Thicket 4 Wooded Foothills | 1 Solitary Confinement 2 Moment's Peace 2 Putrefy 1 Chainer's Edict 2 Cranial Extraction 2 Duress 1 Hull Breach 1 Life from the Loam 1 Nostalgic Dreams 1 Pyroclasm 1 Sickening Dreams |
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I really like the idea. I wish I had the cards to play it on MTGO. In real life, I haven't enough time to playtest this thoroughly, but it seems solid. I'm just not sure whether this will still be able to beat Tog and Scepter Chant once the deck is widely known - but while it still takes people by surprise, it does quite well. (A note on playtesting - I hate it when the best decks are control decks, like Tog and Scepter. It means playtest games take so much longer. Remember the days of playtesting Affinity on Goblins? Back then, you could get fifty test games in while waiting for the coffee to brew.)
Life from the Loam and cycling lands are so good, I almost expect people to start playing Stabilizer out of the sideboard. More likely, we will see Withered Wretches in a lot of sideboards - possibly including Tog.
Right now, a lot of people are talking about Red/White Boros decks like Tsuyoshi Fujita's at LA, or the ones that did well at the GPs. However, Chih-Hsiang Chang and Ervin Tormos also made Top 8 at LA with RDW2K5 (updated for the new Extended) and their decks were almost entirely Red. The ninth place deck was all Red. Boros is strong - but maybe dogs and cats are not givens. Here's the mono-Red alternative.
| Red Deck Wins An Extended deck, by Baojie Felix Leong 9th place at a Pro Tour tournament in Los Angeles, California, United States on 2005-10-30 | ||
Artifacts 3 Pithing Needle Creatures 4 Frostling 4 Grim Lavamancer 4 Hearth Kami 4 Slith Firewalker Enchantments 3 Genju of the Spires |
Instants 4 Lava Dart 4 Magma Jet Sorceries 4 Firebolt 4 Pillage Basic Lands 8 Mountain Lands 2 Barbarian Ring 4 Blinkmoth Nexus 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Wooded Foothills | 4 Flametongue Kavu 3 Fledgling Dragon 4 Pyrostatic Pillar 4 Sulfuric Vortex |
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Mono-Red. No real answer to CoP: Red. No way of killing Isochron Scepter. Nothing to deal with graveyard recursion. Nothing, that is, other than a deck focused solely on making the opponent really dead really fast. I'm somewhat surprised not to see Chrome Moxen - but I can't really argue. Sucky decks don't make ninth at the Pro Tour.
Most of the metagame analysis would have you believe that seeing an Overgrown Tomb would indicate a Tog deck running Life from the Loam, or maybe Madness Tog. That's not a given: the T16 at LA had at least one solid G/B Aggro deck. In many ways, this looks more like a Standard deck than Extended, with Birds, Elves, Putrefy and Hyppies, but this is Extended, so you also get to play with Troll Ascetics wielding Swords of Fire and Ice, Elephants with Jittes and Cabal Therapy. I love decks like this, but I wonder whether you can rely on Dark Confidant for card drawing. Every deck out there has something to kill the Confidant - and too often that answer is Darkbalst, which trashes half this deck. On the flip side, the Withered Wretches trash Darkblast. [Levy covered this deck more completely on Monday. - Knut]
If the fourteenth place deck seems like a copy of Macy Rock that was left over from last season, the fifteenth place deck is even more of a throwback. Finkel and Pikula in a deck together - how old school! Markus Pettersson even names his deck "Solution."
Shadowmage Infiltrator does not seem to have the same pure card drawing power as Life from the Loam - at least, not until you name the cycling lands that Life from the Loam targets with the Pithing Needle you fetched with Trinket Mage, and stick a Jitte on old Jonny Magic. This deck seems good now - and it will only get better once the U/W duals become legal.
Markus Pettersson - UWB Solution 15th place PT LA
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Watery Grave
2 Skycloud Expanse
1 Swamp
1 Caves of Koilos
2 Plains
1 Ancient Den
1 Vault of Whispers
3 Adarkar Wastes
4 Galina's Knight
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Meddling Mage
3 Exalted Angel
3 Trinket Mage
3 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Pithing Needle
3 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Vindicate
4 Counterspell
Sideboard
3 Arcane Laboratory
2 Crimson Acolyte
3 Worship
4 Duress
3 Kataki, War's Wage
Erik Gröndahl came in 27th with an almost identical maindeck, and a slightly different sideboard.
Back when I spent a lot more time playing that judging PTQs, I loved toolbox decks. This is probably about what I would build, given the current card pool. I would definitely build a toolbox, and play Gifts Ungiven and Living Wish to find my hammers. (Of course, I would probably make less optimal choices.) This is the shell of the modern Rock deck - but I'm not sure it is fast enough to win.
Gerardo Godinez Estrada - 17th at PT LA
2 Yavimaya Coast
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Polluted Delta
4 Windswept Heath
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Island
5 Forest
1 Spiritmonger
1 Genesis
1 Grave-Shell Scarab
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Ravenous Baloth
3 Eternal Witness
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Living Wish
2 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Putrefy
1 Smother
4 Pernicious Deed
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Plow Under
1 Haunting Echoes
Sideboard
2 Cranial Extraction
3 Smother
3 Oxidize
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Withered Wretch
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Duplicant
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
For what it's worth, Fernando Dominguez placed 23rd at LA with a very similar deck.
Dave Williams played an interesting deck. It tries to abuse Dark Confidant, and plays a mana curve built with that card in mind. Having spent a lot of time working with the Confidant for Standard, I understand what this deck is trying to do, but I'm not sold. For one thing, I think too many decks have answers to Confidant - and this deck does not have Withered Wretches to get rid of the dredge cards. The deck did well - but part of that might be Dave Williams, more than the deck.
| Zoo Two An Extended deck, by David Williams 22nd place at a Pro Tour tournament in Los Angeles, California, United States on 2005-10-30 | ||
Artifacts 3 Chrome Mox 4 Pithing Needle 2 Sensei's Divining Top Creatures 4 Dark Confidant 3 Flametongue Kavu 4 Kird Ape 1 Mystic Enforcer 4 Watchwolf Enchantments 2 Armadillo Cloak Instants 3 Smother |
Legendary Artifacts 2 Umezawa's Jitte Legendary Creatures 1 Kataki, War's Wage Sorceries 4 Duress 4 Vindicate Basic Lands 1 Forest 1 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Swamp Lands 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Temple Garden 4 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills | 3 Kataki, War's Wage 4 Cabal Therapy 4 Gerrard's Verdict 4 Haunting Echoes |
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Reliving Past Glories:
Extended provides a chance to play, one more time, cards that have rotated out of current Standard and Block formats. Every year some people take this to an extreme and sleeve up an old favorite deck for one more run. At LA, two people rode old Standard decks to strong finishes. Mikko Nurmi played Tooth and Nail, complete with Mindslavers and the Kiki-Jiki / Sundering Titan elbow drop, to a twenty-fourth place finish. His additions were some Overgrown Tombs, two Moment's Peace, one Windswept Heath, one Pernicious Deed and a Putrefy. Lasse Norgaard stayed even closer to an old format and took fiftieth place with a classic Wake deck, which went outside the block for a couple lands and Gifts Ungiven - plus Kataki, War's Wage in the sideboard. Even if they are from your favorite block, isn't it taking things too far to bring Hunting Pack and Vengeful Dreams to the Pro Tour?
I also saw at least one Slide deck being played, but it did not finish well.
The thirty-first place deck was built around Contested Cliffs. How cool is that? I won't try describing the deck - Jeff wrote about his deck, and he knows it far better than I. I'll just share the decklist.
| Red Rock An Extended deck, by Jeff Novekoff 31st place at a Pro Tour tournament in Los Angeles, California, United States on 2005-10-30 | ||
Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 2 Eternal Witness 4 Flametongue Kavu 4 Ravenous Baloth 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 3 Spiritmonger Enchantments 4 Pernicious Deed Instants 2 Putrefy |
Sorceries 4 Cabal Therapy 2 Duress 1 Farseek 4 Living Wish Basic Lands 3 Forest 1 Mountain 1 Swamp Lands 2 Bloodstained Mire 4 Contested Cliffs 3 Llanowar Wastes 3 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Wooded Foothills | 1 Dwarven Blastminer 1 Eternal Witness 1 Genesis 1 Goblin Pyromancer 1 Silklash Spider 1 Spiritmonger 1 Viridian Shaman 1 Withered Wretch 3 Engineered Plague 1 Kataki, War's Wage 2 Duress 1 Blinkmoth Well |
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At first, I dismissed the thirty-second place deck as just another Gifts control deck. Then I noticed that Robert van Medevoort placed thirty-third with the same deck - and Frank Karsten also made Top 64 with it. Since I watched a fair amount of some of Frank's matches (and watched the deck almost overcome a double mulligan on his part against some very good draws by his opponent,) I was intrigued. If Gifts control is your thing, this may be your list.
Kamiel Cornelissen - Dutch Gifts - 32nd at PT LA
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
2 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
5 Forest
5 Island
1 Genesis
3 Eternal Witness
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Mindslaver
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Cabal Therapy
2 Heartbeat of Spring
1 Recollect
2 Decree of Justice
3 Moment's Peace
2 Wrath of God
4 Counterspell
2 Fact or Fiction
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Farseek
Sideboard
3 Meddling Mage
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Naturalize
1 Disenchant
1 Kataki, War's Wage
4 Engineered Plague
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Wrath of God
As a judge, you notice things that are out of the ordinary. That includes players stretching (look - someone has an arm up - oh, never mind), and players making unusual noises. Normally, the pros play with pro-level poker faces. However, I remember hearing several involuntary grunts of pain - and in at least three cases, that happened when a player was blindsided by one card: Global Ruin, coming from Domingo Ottati's Domain Go deck. On its face, the deck is just another toolbox with Gifts Ungiven and Living Wish - but this deck also demonstrated how quickly players can assemble Domain, if they want to. Global Ruin is so good against so many decks - just not those with lots of counterspells.
Domingo Ottati - Domain Go - 36th at PT LA
6 Forest
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
4 Tendo Ice Bridge
3 Windswept Heath
1 Polluted Delta
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Eternal Witness
1 Genesis
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Evasive Action
4 Living Wish
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Reclaim
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Global Ruin
1 Putrefy
1 Wrath of God
1 Collective Restraint
Sideboard
3 Collective Restraint
2 Sphere of Law
1 Withered Wretch
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Eternal Witness
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Goblin Pyromancer
1 Bringer of the Black Dawn
1 Naturalize
In every tournament, in every format, some player will try Reanimator. PT LA was no exception. Here's a real throwback Reanimator deck - it has nothing from Ravnica except Watery Grave, and nothing else from the last eight sets except Chrome Mox.
If the new card faces bug you - here's your deck.
Tsuyoshi Iwai - Reanimator - 42nd at PT LA
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Underground River
4 Polluted Delta
4 Watery Grave
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Putrid Imp
3 Hapless Researcher
4 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
4 Phantom Nishoba
2 Visara the Dreadful
4 Mental Note
4 Careful Study
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress
4 Life/Death
4 Stitch Together
4 Chrome Mox
Sideboard
1 Duress
2 Echoing Truth
3 Defense Grid
4 Petradon
4 Ghastly Demise
1 Cranial Extraction
Osyp played a classic Goblins deck - and was about the only player to do even passably well with that archetype. Goblins has a hard time when nearly every deck in the format has Engineered Plague, or something similar (e.g. maindeck Galina's Knights.) However, one player looked at Goblins, at Goblin Bidding and at the new duals, and created a three color Goblin deck that not only ran the Burning Wish-into-tools-or-Patriarch's-Bidding plan, but also splashed for Naturalize and Pernicious Deed. It is amazing how much the fetchlands and new duals can do. It is almost like the old Countersliver days.
Hironobu Hasegawa - Goblin Deed
8 Mountain
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Sulfurous Springs
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Shadowblood Ridge
1 Karplusan Forest
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Sparksmith
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Goblin King
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Sledder
2 Patriarch's Bidding
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Naturalize
2 Burning Wish
Sideboard
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Artifact Mutation
2 Cranial Extraction
1 Patriarch's Bidding
1 Pyroclasm
1 Naturalize
1 Eradicate
1 Exile into Darkness
1 Hull Breach
One last decklist: the deck that finished 64th in LA. It is hard to describe. In some ways it is a Dark Confidant deck. In some ways it is a Domain deck. In some ways it is closest to classic Zoo decks. It is takes the prize for playing lots of unexpected cards. Now I have seen 5color decks run Tribal Flames - but Gaea's Might? Not since I drafted Invasion.
Aniol Alcaraz - Dinosaurs - 64th at PT LA
1 Mountain
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Watery Grave
2 Temple Garden
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Dark Confidant
4 Kird Ape
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Boros Swiftblade
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Watchwolf
3 Savannah Lions
4 Tribal Flames
3 Predator's Strike
2 Armadillo Cloak
3 Gaea's Might
Sideboard
4 Oxidize
4 Engineered Plague
4 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Magma Jet
1 Shock
This deck demonstrated one thing - just how well the fetchlands interact with the duals. Even with only 40% of the duals now in print, twelve fetchlands mean you can reliably have Domain in place on turn 3. That does good things for Kird Ape, of course, but it also means that Tribal Flames can deal five on turn 3, and Gaea's Might provides +5/+5. That is not too bad - and it is better on a Boros Swiftblade. It certainly sounds cool to make a Swiftblade on turn 2, then attack for 12 the next turn - 18 with Trample if you can also cast a Predator's Strike (although not on turn 3 - not until another Red or White dual land is printed.) However, this smacks of the danger of cool plays: I don't know if the deck is reliable enough to really sing. The whole deck strikes me as being like, well - anything running Armadillo Cloak. It is really great when it functions, but such decks are also prone to malfunction. Only testing will tell.
That, of course, is the point of the whole article. All of these decks did quite well at either the Pro Tour or a major GP. They are all also somewhat below the radar (or, in the case of Dinosaurs, way, way below the radar.) But if you find yourself at all bored with the standard PTQ decks, try them out. Extended is still wide open and there is a ton of innovation left to be done. In a format with lots of Meddling Mages and Cabal Therapies seeing play, being below the radar is a definite advantage.
PRJ
jahnp@itis.com
