Another Extended pro tour has come and gone, leaving behind a metagame which will define the decks we will all most likely face during the upcoming qualifier season. There have already been dozens of articles on the new Extended all over the net by people telling you what to play, not to play, or just ranting and complaining mindlessly... And the qualifier season doesn't even start for another two weeks!
There are enough good decks out there to suit anyone's play style. All you beatdown players can run Sligh, Suicide Black, The Rock, or even Trinity. The blue mages can enjoy Oath or their good friend Psychatog. There are various Aluren decks, as well as Angry Hermit part 2 - and even Timmy can bust out his favorite fatties with Reanimator. Even wacky stuff like Draco/Erratic Explosion decks can work! Sadly for me, I finished out of the money with a mediocre 7-7 record... But having been there, I can hopefully relay some sort of useful information to help you decide what to play at the upcoming PTQs.
So with all these good decks plus possible tier 2 decks like Tinker and White Weenie. Maybe people will actually not complain about the metagame (doubtful) and just enjoy themselves. Here are just some of the options for the new extended, followed by cards they really don't like and my opinion of how strong the deck will be. We'll start off with the most popular deck in PT Houston's top 32: The Rock, both Darwin Kastle's version and Jeroen Remie's build.
There are certainly some important differences in these two decks. Mainly Remie's choice to replace the Llanowar Elves with Wall of Blossoms. Looking at the rest of the top 32, the main thing they have in common is Living Wish; it seems clear that the Wishes belong in the deck as they give it a solid answer to almost anything... But beyond that, there are so many ways to go with this deck I can't even begin to go into them. Gab Tsang had an interesting variant with Krosan Tuskers and Vindicates, which may have some potential. This will probaly be an extremely popular deck since you can tune it to whatever playstyle suits you.
Number 1 Enemy: Oath of Druids
Verdict: Strong and it will probably be extremely popular.
Reanimator
Let's look at Rob Dougherty and John Larkin's builds - which show that this is another deck that can easily be tuned to your personal preference. While these two versions are obviously quite different, they share the same goal of disrupting the opponent and bashing them with an enormous fattie. Rob's deck is a little more to the point than John's, but doesn't really have a plan B in case something goes wrong (like Oath of Druids, Planar Void, and the like). Larkin's deck is a bit better at setting things up, while Dougherty's deck packs tons of disruption. It's hard to say which is better - but you'll probably see a lot of them both, as long as they can cope with the hate. The problem with them is if someone wants to adapt their deck to beat Reanimator, they probably can.
Number 1 Enemy: Planar Void or Coffin Purge
Verdict: Average. It's very good, but everyone will have sideboard cards against it. It will still see a good amount of play.
Aluren
Mattias Jorstedt and Akira Asahara had good showings with it... But I don't think Aluren will be too popular, because Aluren is both very hard to play correctly, and if you want to beat it you will. However, in the hands of a good player, they can be fast and deadly, killing you as early as turn 3. Where Asahara has Eladamri's Call, Academy Rector, and Wall of Blossoms, Jorstedt has Living Wish, Brainstorm, and Intuition. Akira also removed the Birds of Paradise for additional utility creatures because of the Calls. It seems to me like Jorstedt's single Stroke of Genius as an alternate kill might be overkill - but then again, he got 6th and I got 92nd so I should probably shut up.
Number 1 Enemy: Engineered Plague.
Verdict: I don't think it will be very good. There are too many cards that just crush it, like Engineered Plague and wished-for Stronghold Taskmasters.
While were at it I'll show you my deck, which I affectionately named...
Pasty White Guys
23 Lands
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
11 Plains
4 Mother of Runes
4 Ramosian Sergeant
4 Whipcorder
4 Galina's Knight
4 Soltari Priest
4 Meddling Mage
4 Crusade
3 Cursed Scroll
3 Parallax Wave
3 Seal of Cleansing
Sideboard:
4 Reprisal
4 Worship
1 Parallax Wave
3 Armageddon
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Disenchant
I'll just tell you right now: Do not play this deck! Although I made day 2 once there it was just out of its league. It's not terrible - just very underpowered. It just can't swing with the big boys.
Psychatog
Myrvig's deck is probably not something you should play at a qualifier, because there will be far more beatdown decks at your average PTQ than a pro tour. I think Rose's deck would be better for a PTQ, as it has far better board control with a full compliment of Edicts and three Plagues, where Myrvig only has Boomerang. There were also plenty of other tog decks in the top 32 running things like Aether Burst and Sapphire Medallion. Another good deck with plenty of ways to build it.
Number 1 Enemy: Dedicated discard or a very fast creature rush.
Verdict: I think it will be pretty good. There aren't many single cards that destroy it single-handedly, and with a good player behind it this deck could kick some ass. It's also cheap.
Sligh
Although it didn't do very well at the Pro Tour, it's worth bringing up Sligh for the simple fact that people who don't playtest a lot may simply play throw it together and play it. These two Top 32 Sligh builds are worlds apart, with one running a mere nineteen lands, while the other runs a rather high count of twenty-four. Matthew Ranks' deck depends almost totally on creature beatdown, with twenty-four creatures, four Reckless Charges and Tangle Wires to force them through. Even the burn spells are more geared towards killing creatures than being thrown at the opponent's face. Stevenson's deck is less explosive but much better suited to the midgame, with several mana-intensive spells like Blistering Firecats, Cursed Scrolls, and Firebolts. You can bet on Sligh to do well this season based on pure numbers.
Number 1 Enemy: Any number of sideboard cards (Chill, Engineered Plague, or Worship)
Verdict: It's not that great, but Sligh always puts people into top 8's through sheer numbers and it's not the worst deck in the world - so it will end up being played.
Suicide Black
Nicolas Labarre is running some really odd cards in his deck, like Flesh Reaver and Twisted Experiment - and his sideboard is downright weird, with seven one-of's. Minieri's deck is very straightforward, consisting of all creatures, discard and removal. This deck did surprisingly well for such a narrow beatdown deck. Like Sligh, some people will play it simply because they have nothing better. It's actually a pretty good deck, but there are a lot of cards that can wreck it.
Number 1 Enemy: Oath of Druids or Pernicious Deed
Verdict: Not that bad. It can get some draws that are just unbeatable. It's cheap to build and easy to play so a lot of players at the lower skill levels may play it.
Angry Ghoul
I doubt this deck will show up very much at all, since it seems like there are a million ways to beat it now that people are prepared for it. It also takes a very skilled player to use it right. Still, the potential for a turn 2 kill can't be ignored. Just don't expect to see too much of it. I think it's a bit of a one trick pony but I could be (and probably am) wrong.
Number 1 Enemy: Any creature removal. Verdict: It's not any good unless the person playing it is. Then it can be brutal. You won't see much of it since it's expensive, hard to play and easily hosed.
Oath
The deck that won it all. As Justin said in the Quarterfinals, every card in his deck stops your spells, draws more cards, or just generally kicks ass! The Deeds and Oaths just wreck most creature strategies, and the Treetop Villages give control decks fits. The other deck is only two colors (other than the Nishobas) and seems like it would just smash any creature deck with Oath, Repulse, Powder Keg, and Cunning Wish for Constant Mists. It's hard to say how many people will play this deck - as even though it's difficult to play, everyone will want to play the winning deck. Also, everyone will be packing tons of hate for it, so if you play it be prepared for a fight.
Number 1 Enemy: Probably discard.
Verdict: Very good. A lot of people who shouldn't be playing it will simply because it won the PT. If good people play it then they'll do well, but if scrubs play it then they won't get very far.
So with all of these decks, how do you pick? Most of the decks have plenty of hate for you to bring in, so none of them are unbeatable. My advice would be to just pick the deck you are most comfortable with and playtest the hell out of it until you have it like you want it. Most of these decks are rather tricky to play well, so it's especially important to know how to use it correctly.
Another important thing that most people forget is to test your sideboard. In this environment with tons of available hate, it shouldn't be too hard to find enough good cards to swing your bad matchups. Of course, if you don't like any of these decks there several others that did fairly well such as U/G Madness, Enchantress, and there was a Trinity deck just outside the top 32. I hope this article can help you do well at your next PTQ.
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