It's that time of the year again - yes, time for Extended. With the New Orleans Pro Tour coming up this week, and the PT Osaka qualifiers shortly after, Extended has returned to the spotlight. Thanks to the excellent 2001 Worlds Coverage at The Sideboard, I'm able to provide a thorough analysis of the Extended environment. Although the World Championships took place over two months ago, results from the six rounds of Extended will have a strong influence on the current format. It's important to note, however, that the Odyssey cardset will also be added to the mix beginning November 1st.

The Extended portion of Worlds contained a wide variety of decks, with over twenty different decktypes being played. The banning of four key cards in March 2001 (Necropotence, Survival of the Fittest, Demonic Consultation, and Replenish) really shook up the Extended scene, paving the way for many viable decktypes. Sligh and Sligh-variants were the most popular decks played at Worlds, numbering 46 out of 282, or about one-sixth of all decks played. Non-Oath Blue Control decks were the next most popular deck, with a total of thirty-eight decks being played. Oath/Turbo-Land, Secret Force/Cradle Elf, Stompy, Counter Sliver, White Weenie, Stasis and Donate-Illusions were the next most popular decks in that order.

Within each general decktype could be found several distinctly different sub-categories of decks. Non-Oath Blue Control decks appeared in over a dozen forms, including classic Draw-Go/Forbidian, Blessing/Draw-Go, TurboPhid, Counter Phoenix and Accelerated Blue, as well as numerous"Rogue" multi-color variants. White Weenie decks also showed up in a number of multi-color forms, including W/u/b, W/u and W/r, with only four of the twenty-two White Weenie decks being exclusively white. Listed below is a breakdown of all decks played in the Extended rounds of Worlds.

Note: While going through the Extended decklists page at The Sideboard, I noticed some mistakes on their page that I corrected before compiling my own list.

Sligh: 46
40 Sligh
5 Dark Sligh
1 Rogue - Red-White Goblins

Non-Oath Blue Control: 38
16 Draw-Go/Forbidian
5 Blessing/Draw-Go
4 TurboPhid
2 Counter Phoenix
2 Rogue - Accelerated Blue
2 Rogue - U/W Control
1 Rogue - U/G/b Pernicious Control
1 Rogue - U/G/W/r Control
1 Rogue - U/r Rage/Stroke Control
1 Rogue - U/W Squee+Masticore/Forbid
1 Rogue - U/W/g Control
1 Rogue - U/W/g/b Control
1 Rogue - U/W/g/r Control

Oath/Turboland: 32
25 Oath
7 Turbo-Land

Secret Force/Cradle Elf: 31
22 Secret Force
8 Cradle Elf
1 Rogue - Tradewind-Secret Force

Stompy: 22

Counter Sliver: 22

White Weenie: 22
11 W/u/b
6 W/u
4 White
1 W/r

Stasis: 16
14 Stasis
1 Howling Mine Stasis
1 U/W Treva's Ruins/Kismet Stasis

Donate-Illusions: 12

Three-Deuce/PT Jank/PT Junk-type decks: 8
3 Three-Deuce
1 PT Junk
2 Rogue - G/W/U Weenie Control
2 Rogue - B/W Weenie Utility

Rector Recur/Tomb Raider: 7
3 Tomb Raider
3 Rector/Recur
1 Rogue - Green/Black Hermit

Hermit-Opposition: 4

Land Destruction: 4
2 Ponza
1 Rogue - R/G Oath/Ponza
1 Rogue - White/Green LD

Pox: 3

Merfolk: 3

Tinker/Welder Red: 3
2 Tinker
1 Welder Red

Pebbles: 2

Reanimator: 2

Arena: 2

Fires: 1

Rogue - Iron Phoenix: 1
Rogue - U/G Aluren Bounce: 1

For those who are interested, I also broke down the decks into Aggro, Control, Combo, and mixed deckstyles to get a broader picture of the environment. As you can see, DCI bannings over the past year contributed to the relatively low number of combo decks played at Worlds 2001.

143 Aggro (Sligh, Secret Force/Cradle Elf, Counter Sliver, Stompy, White Weenie)
58 Control (Oath and Non-Oath Blue Control)
38 Combo-Control (Stasis, Turbo-Land, Rector Recur/Tomb Raider, Hermit-Opposition, Tinker/Welder Red)
26 Aggro-Control (Three Deuce/PT Jank/PT Junk, Pox, Merfolk, TurboPhid)
14 Combo (Donate-Illusions, Pebbles)
3 Aggro-Combo (Reanimator, Fires)

Now that we've seen what decks were played at World's, let's see how well they did. Reports would lead you to believe that Donate-Illusions and White Weenie decks splashing Blue and Black were the best Extended decks that day. Although a few of those decks posted some of the best individual records, there were other decktypes that turned in better average match wins. Specifically, some lesser-played decks including Three-Deuce (74%) and Counter Phoenix (67%) won at least two-thirds of all their matches compared to Donate-Illusions decks (55%), and the popular W/u/b White Weenie decks (59%). Other decks with decent average winning percentages included Tinker (61%), Blessing Draw-Go (59%), Arena (58%), and Pebbles decks (58%). Secret Force decks (59%) also performed nicely, although the closely related Cradle/Elf decks (48%) didn't fare as well.

People have been quick to say that Sligh is dead, but that didn't seem to be the case. Dark Sligh decks won 57% of their matches, while standard Sligh decks won 52%. That's not much better than 50/50, but at least they had winning match percentages - unlike Reanimator (33%), Accelerated Blue (36%), Tomb Raider (39%), Turbo-Land (40%), W/u White Weenie (41%), TurboPhid (43%) and Stompy (43%). Rogue decks didn't fare much better. Only three Rogue decks ended up with winning records, while seven others finished even at 50%. The remaining ten Rogue decks, along with two Stasis variants, a Fires, and a W/r White Weenie deck brought up the rear, with abysmal winning percentages ranging between zero and 33%

Listed below are the winning percentages of all decktypes played at 2001 Worlds Extended, along with their match records. Note: A draw is considered one-third of a win for purposes of calculating match win percentages.

74% Three-Deuce, 13-4-1
67% Counter Phoenix, 8-4
67% PT Junk, 4-2
67% Rogue - U/W/g Control, 4-2
67% Rogue - U/W/g/r control, 4-2
61% Tinker, 7-4-1
59% Secret Force, 77-51-4
59% Blessing Draw-Go, 16-10-3
59% White Weenie (W/u/b), 38-26-2
58% Arena, 7-5
58% Pebbles, 7-5
57% Dark Sligh, 17-13
56% Merfolk, 10-8
56% Rogue - U/G Aluren Bounce, 3-2-1
55% Donate-Illusions, 38-29-4
55% Rector Recur, 9-7-1
55% Stasis, 44-35-3
52% Sligh, 109-98-3
50% Pox, 9-9
50% Rogue - Green/Black Hermit, 3-3
50% Rogue - Iron Phoenix, 3-3
50% Rogue - Tradewind-Secret Force, 3-3
50% Rogue - U/G/W/r Control, 3-3
50% Rogue - U/r Rage/Stroke Control, 3-3
50% Rogue - Welder Red, 3-3
50% Rogue - White/Green LD, 3-3
50% Oath, 67-64-10
48% Cradle Elf, 21-22-2
47% Draw-Go/Forbidian, 41-45-2
47% White Weenie, 11-12-1
45% Hermit-Opposition, 10-12-1
44% Counter Sliver, 53-68
43% Stompy, 55-71-2
43% TurboPhid, 10-13-1
41% White Weenie (W/u), 14-20-1
40% Turbo-Land, 16-24-2
39% Tomb Raider, 7-11
38% Ponza, 3-5
36% Rogue - Accelerated Blue, 4-7-1
33% Fires, 2-4
33% Reanimator, 4-8
33% Rogue - U/G/b Pernicious Control, 2-4
33% Rogue - U/W Control, 4-8
33% White Weenie (W/r), 2-4
33% Rogue - G/W/U Weenie Control, 3-6-1
28% Stasis (w/ Howling Mines), 1-3-2
25% Rogue - R/G Oath/Ponza, 1-3
22% Rogue - U/W Squee+Core/Forbid, 1-4-1
17% Rogue - B/W Weenie Utility, 1-5
17% Rogue - U/W/g/b Control, 1-5
17% Stasis (U/W Treva's Ruins/Kismet), 1-5
0% Rogue - R/W Weenie Utility, 0-4
0% Rogue - Red-White Goblins, 0-2

In specific matchups, certain decks had clear advantages over other decks. Blessing Draw-Go never lost to Oath in five matches, while W/u/b White Weenie seemed to have all the answers for Stasis, winning 83% of the time. Both Donate-Illusions (80%) and Secret Force (78%) were able to keep Sligh under control... But Sligh smacked around Turbo-Land, winning 76% of the time. Remarkably, CounterSliver beat Cradle Elf decks 67% of the time - but in a complete reverse, lost to Secret Force decks 64% of the time. Listed below are the records for all decks that played five or more matches against a particular deck.

Blessing Draw-Go
100% Oath, 5-0
27% Secret Force, 1-3-1

Counter Sliver
67% Cradle Elf, 4-2
60% Draw-Go/Forbidian, 3-2
57% Stompy, 4-3
44% Sligh, 4-5
40% Stasis, 2-3
36% Secret Force, 4-7
27% Oath, 3-8

Cradle Elf
60% Stompy, 3-2
43% Sligh, 3-4
33% Counter Sliver, 2-4

Dark Sligh
40% Oath, 2-3

Donate-Illusions
80% Sligh, 8-2
71% Draw-Go/Forbidian, 5-2
43% Stompy, 3-4
33% White Weenie (W/u/b), 2-4

Draw-Go/Forbidian
67% Sligh, 4-2
63% Oath, 5-3
40% Counter Sliver, 2-3
37% Stompy, 3-5-1
29% Donate-Illusions, 2-5
27% Secret Force, 3-8

Hermit-Opposition
40% Secret Force, 2-3

Merfolk
60% Secret Force, 3-2

Oath
73% Counter Sliver, 8-3
71% Stompy, 5-2
64% White Weenie (W/u/b), 7-4
62% Turbo-Land, 4-2-1
60% Dark Sligh, 3-2
55% Sligh, 6-5
44% Stasis, 2-2-2
38% Draw-Go/Forbidian, 3-5
33% Secret Force, 4-8-1
0% Blessing Draw-Go, 0-5

Secret Force
78% Sligh, 13-3-1
64% Counter Sliver, 7-4
73% Draw-Go/Forbidian, 8-3
67% Blessing Draw-Go, 3-1-1
64% Oath, 8-4-1
60% Hermit-Opposition, 3-2
56% Stompy, 5-4
40% Merfolk, 2-3
30% Stasis, 3-7

Sligh
76% Turbo-Land, 5-1-1
71% White Weenie (W/u), 5-2
63% Counter Sliver, 5-3
60% Stasis, 6-4
57% Cradle Elf, 4-3
56% White Weenie (W/u/b), 5-4
52% Stompy, 12-11
45% Oath, 5-6
33% Draw-Go/Forbidian, 2-4
20% Donate-Illusions, 2-8
20% Secret Force, 3-13-1

Stasis
70% Secret Force, 7-3
60% Counter Sliver, 3-2
56% Stompy, 3-2-1
44% Oath, 2-2-2
40% Sligh, 4-6
17% White Weenie (W/u/b), 1-5

Stompy
59% Draw-Go/Forbidian, 5-3-1
57% Donate-Illusions, 4-3
48% Sligh, 11-12
44% Secret Force, 4-5
43% Counter Sliver, 3-4
40% Cradle Elf, 2-3
39% Stasis, 2-3-1
29% Oath, 2-5

Turbo-Land
33% Oath, 2-4-1
19% Sligh, 1-5-1

White Weenie (W/u)
29% Sligh, 2-5

White Weenie (W/u/b)
83% Stasis, 5-1
67% Donate-Illusions, 4-2
44% Sligh, 4-5
36% Oath, 4-7

What Does All This Mean?
Well, the Extended environment is wide open...For the most part. Although dozens of competitive deck-types showed up at Worlds, some decks obviously did better than others. Secret Force decks achieved significantly better results than Cradle Elf or Stompy decks, and W/u/b White Weenie decks performed much better than Straight White and W/u Weenie decks.

The information I have compiled should help a person formulate a clear understanding of the pre-Odyssey Extended environment. Knowing the current metagame will be very important when deciding what deck to play, but knowledge is only half the battle. To have the best chance at victory, a person must have a lot of skill, a healthy amount of luck - and most importantly, have playtested thoroughly against most of the major decktypes listed above.

Good luck in New Orleans!