Hello everybody and welcome to another show. Today we have footage of the Top 8, Top 4, and Top 2 rounds in the StarCityGames New Planar Chaos-legal Extended tournament that occurred last weekend. You ready for live footage, decklists and more? Let's take a look:

Top 8 Matchup — James Norris (B/W Discard Aggro) versus Albert Davis (Gaea’s Might Get There)

In this matchup James has a commanding lead due to his maindeck Paladin En-Vec and Silver Knight. However, he's unsure going in, but the match tells the tale:

Top 4 Matchup — James Norris (B/W Discard Aggro) versus Kenny Mayer (Kyle Sanchez Trinket Mage)

As you'll see in the video, Kenny Mayer (whose last name I misspell in this video due to a misunderstanding) got some personalized help from StarCityGames.com's own Kyle Sanchez and took his Always The Bridesmaid.dec and gave it some special Cabal Therapy to give it that push needed against control matchups.

Take a look:

Top 2 Matchup — Mike Mihealsick (B/W Discard Aggro) versus Kenny Mayer (Kyle Sanchez Trinket Mage)

In the final matchup, we have another B/W Aggro Discard deck, but one very much different than James' in the previous round. You may remember Mike Mihealsick from a previous show in which he piloted a then-new-and-exciting R/W/b Firemane. The same deck I modified slightly and took to the Top 8 of Tennessee Champs. Let's take a look at this match:

Ready for the decklists? Here they are:

G/W/u/b King in the Castle An Extended deck, by Kenny Mayer 1st place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Chalice of the Void 2 Chrome Mox 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Pithing Needle 1 Sensei's Divining Top 1 Tormod's Crypt Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Loxodon Hierarch 4 Trinket Mage 4 Troll Ascetic Enchantments 4 Armadillo Cloak Legendary Artifacts 2 Umezawa's Jitte	Sorceries 4 Cabal Therapy 3 Call of the Herd Artifact Lands 1 Ancient Den Basic Lands 2 Forest 1 Plains Lands 1 Breeding Pool 4 Flooded Strand 1 Godless Shrine 1 Overgrown Tomb 4 Temple Garden 1 Watery Grave 4 Windswept Heath	Sideboard: 3 Chalice of the Void 1 Pithing Needle 4 Meddling Mage 4 Condemn 3 Krosan Grip
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B/W Clerics An Extended deck, by Mike Mihealsick 2nd place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Dark Confidant 3 Jotun Grunt 4 Rotlung Reanimator 4 True Believer 2 Withered Wretch Instants 3 Smother Legendary Artifacts 3 Umezawa's Jitte	Legendary Creatures 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda Sorceries 3 Cabal Therapy 4 Duress 3 Smallpox 4 Vindicate Basic Lands 3 Plains 4 Swamp Lands 2 Bloodstained Mire 1 Flooded Strand 3 Godless Shrine 2 Polluted Delta 1 Windswept Heath Legendary Lands 1 Eiganjo Castle 4 Flagstones of Trokair	Sideboard: 1 Withered Wretch 3 Disenchant 4 Shining Shoal 1 Smother 3 Kataki, War's Wage 3 Gerrard's Verdict
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B/W Aggro An Extended deck, by James Norris 3rd place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Dark Confidant 3 Paladin en-Vec 4 Savannah Lions 4 Silver Knight 3 True Believer Instants 2 Funeral Charm 2 Mortify Legendary Artifacts 3 Umezawa's Jitte Legendary Creatures 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda	Sorceries 2 Castigate 3 Chainer's Edict 3 Duress 2 Vindicate Basic Lands 2 Plains 2 Swamp Lands 4 Bloodstained Mire 2 Caves of Koilos 1 Flooded Strand 3 Ghost Quarter 4 Godless Shrine 2 Windswept Heath Legendary Lands 1 Eiganjo Castle 1 Flagstones of Trokair	Sideboard: 3 Tormod's Crypt 2 Disenchant 2 Sudden Death 4 Cabal Therapy 2 Deathmark 2 Rancid Earth
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Aggro Flow An Extended deck, by Geoff Graham 4th place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Chrome Mox 3 Sword of Fire and Ice Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Dark Confidant 2 Elves of Deep Shadow 4 Troll Ascetic 4 Vinelasher Kudzu Enchantments 4 Destructive Flow	Instants 3 Putrefy Legendary Artifacts 2 Umezawa's Jitte Sorceries 4 Call of the Herd 4 Duress Basic Lands 4 Forest 2 Mountain 2 Swamp Lands 1 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Stomping Ground 2 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills	Sideboard: 3 Tormod's Crypt 2 Pernicious Deed 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Krosan Grip 2 Smother 4 Cabal Therapy
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Gaea's Might Get There An Extended deck, by Adam Bowles 5th place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 3 Boros Swiftblade 4 Grim Lavamancer 4 Kird Ape 1 Savannah Lions 2 Tin Street Hooligan 4 Watchwolf 4 Wild Mongrel Enchantments 4 Armadillo Cloak Instants 4 Gaea's Might 3 Lightning Helix	Legendary Creatures 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda Sorceries 4 Tribal Flames Basic Snow Lands 1 Snow-Covered Forest Lands 2 Bloodstained Mire 2 Flooded Strand 1 Godless Shrine 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Steam Vents 2 Stomping Ground 1 Temple Garden 4 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills	Sideboard: 4 Pyrostatic Pillar 3 Ancient Grudge 4 Deathmark 4 Molten Rain
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Gaea's Might Get There An Extended deck, by Chris Woltereck 6th place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 3 Boros Swiftblade 4 Grim Lavamancer 4 Kird Ape 1 Savannah Lions 2 Tin Street Hooligan 4 Watchwolf 4 Wild Mongrel Enchantments 4 Armadillo Cloak Instants 4 Gaea's Might 3 Lightning Helix	Legendary Creatures 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda Sorceries 4 Tribal Flames Basic Lands 1 Forest Lands 1 Blood Crypt 2 Bloodstained Mire 1 Breeding Pool 2 Flooded Strand 1 Godless Shrine 1 Sacred Foundry 2 Stomping Ground 1 Temple Garden 4 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills	Sideboard: 4 Pyrostatic Pillar 3 Ancient Grudge 4 Deathmark 4 Molten Rain
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Affinity An Extended deck, by Richard Bowles 7th place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Chromatic Star 4 Cranial Plating 3 Pyrite Spellbomb Artifact Creatures 4 Arcbound Ravager 4 Arcbound Worker 4 Frogmite 3 Myr Enforcer 4 Ornithopter Artifact Lands 4 Darksteel Citadel	Creatures 1 Atog Instants 2 Fire / Ice 3 Shrapnel Blast Sorceries 4 Thoughtcast Artifact Lands 4 Great Furnace 4 Seat of the Synod 4 Tree of Tales Lands 3 Blinkmoth Nexus 1 Glimmervoid	Sideboard: 3 Pithing Needle 2 Tormod's Crypt 4 Ancient Grudge 2 Fire / Ice 4 Stifle
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Gaea's Might Get There An Extended deck, by Albert Davis 8th place at a Miscellaneous tournament in Roanoke, Virginia, United States on 2007-02-11 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 3 Boros Swiftblade 4 Grim Lavamancer 4 Kird Ape 1 Savannah Lions 4 Watchwolf 4 Wild Mongrel Enchantments 4 Armadillo Cloak Instants 4 Gaea's Might 3 Lightning Helix 2 Wax / Wane	Legendary Creatures 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda Sorceries 4 Tribal Flames Basic Lands 1 Forest 1 Plains Lands 2 Bloodstained Mire 1 Flooded Strand 1 Godless Shrine 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Steam Vents 2 Stomping Ground 1 Temple Garden 4 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills	Sideboard: 4 Pyrostatic Pillar 3 Ancient Grudge 1 Krosan Grip 3 Deathmark 4 Molten Rain
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With the lists out of the way, let's examine what impact Planar Chaos had in this Top 8.

Which is to say… not much. At all. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't spy a single Planar Chaos card in the entire Top 8. You know what I did find?

True Believer is absolutely fantastic right now. It stops Gifts, it stops Cabal Therapy, it stops burn to the face, and it makes TEPS players cry.

You want a weenie that can go the distance (yes, you're welcome for that awkward sentence), hit up the True Believer. He doth not play with you - rather, he swings for two and kicks ass all ‘round.

Troll Ascetic is one of the best threats in the format. This guy was at the top tables all the livelong day, all the way to the finals.

And this guy is coming back in Tenth? Holy crap, grab your playset soon before they hit the $10+ range. Unless we see some serious Infest reprinting, this guy will be an auto-include in a myriad of decks, from oddities like Dredge to the average Mono-Green Aggro.

Trinket Mage is the most useful creature in Extended. Now your definition of “Useful” may vary, but my God, is there nothing he can't do?

Fix mana? Check. (Ancient Den)
Stop broken artifacts like Jitte? You bet. (Pithing Needle)
Kill a 1,000 Goblin tokens? With two mana, sure. (Engineered Explosives)
Find artifacts that counter spells? Yup. (Chalice of the Void)
Destroy Graveyard-based decks? Uh huh. (Tormod's Crypt)
Compile the Sensei's Divining Top & Counterbalance easier than any other method? Darn tootin'.

This guy has begun to see play in all sorts of decks as people realize that there is too much card, resource, or utility advantage to running him. Engineered Explosives fits in every single deck, as it kills weenies in two-color builds, wipes out annoying Chalice of the Voids, kills tokens and so on.

“Good Stuff” Junk Decks Will Get More And More Popular

You could call Kyle Sanchez's build above a Trinket Mage deck, but really it's just fantastic beaters (Troll Ascetic), Life Gain and Beats (Loxodon Hierarch), Utility (Trinket Mage), and now Control Reach (Cabal Therapy). I'm sure it will add Red if it could use it in any way.

As some decks try to get more focused, a lot of them will simply vary themselves to have something akin to Answer.dec (or, as we like to refer to them, Solution.dec). The format is so full of playable decks that having the trump to them (Engineered Explosives against weenie / combo, Tormod's Crypt against Ichorid, Pithing Needle against Affinity, etc) along with playing a Grey Ogre to boot will be front and foremost in the format until this season ends.

But you want to hear of a fantastic creature for Trinket Mage Junk decks that has yet to be utilized?

Ninja of the Deep Hours. Try it out. I think you'd be surprised.

Thanks for watching and reading, I'll be back next week with music (had to cut it due to size issues this week), along with a fantastic interview with our very own Ben Bleiweiss.

Until then,

Evan “misterorange” Erwin
dubya dubya dubya dot misterorange dot com
eerwin +at+ gmail +dot+ com
Written while listening to Band of Horses' “Everything All The Time”