Fulminating on Extended

Happy New Year — or it would be if I was not so mad at one MichaelJ Flores. Steaming mad. Sooooooo mad.

OK, not actually mad but he did deprive me of getting banana pudding and that is hard to forgive. I spent the afternoon with Mike wandering around the Lower East Side, eating Berkshire Pork Belly, and talking about the fresh Extended season that lies ahead of us. Along the way we ended up at a desert place called Sugar Sweet Sunshine and he suggested that I get a Yum Yum Bar, insisting it was the best treat they made. I was skeptical but I got it. As we were leaving I saw a sign on the inside of the door that read: “Do You Dream of Pudding”, which is something I indeed do dream of.

As I read further they discussed their upcoming pudding tasting and, specifically, their banana pudding.

“Mike, did you know this place has banana pudding?”

I will leave the rest to the listener to discover for themselves but suffice it to say the Yum Yum Bar was not the correct play.

Not.

Even.

Close.

The second game of the Grand Prix Kobe 2009 Finals between Tomoharu Saito and Yuuya Watanabe has been posted by judge/coverage reporter Naoaki Umesaki. When last we left our finalists the former Rookie of the Year Watanabe was up one game to zero.

Level 3 Judge and Japanese coverage reporter Naoaki Umesaki has a video camera set up at Grand Prix Kobe 2009. He has put together a video for Game One from the finals match between 2007’s Player of the Year Tomoharu Saito and 2007’s Rookie of the Year Yuuya Watanabe. Subsequent games should be going up on YouTube as the week progresses.

Saito was playing the latest iteration of Zoo, tuned for the tournament with maindeck Ethersworn Canonist and Knight of the Reliquary (and some Treetop Villages for it to fetch) while Watanabe was playing with Storm.

Sorry I have not posted for awhile. I have dissapeared a little bit into the frenzy that is Twitter and if you want to follow me there I can be followed at http://twitter.com/Top8Games. What I have been tweeting about mostly are some decks that have popped up recently at the Star City 5K Open, PTQ Top 8s, and even here in our ersatz forums/comments sections. The first was a new version of the green-white token deck that originally appeared at the 5K immediately preceding PT Kyoto. There was another 5K this past weekend in Indianapolis and a new version of the deck made it as far as the Final Four.

Green-White Overrun
Joshua Scott Honigmann — 4th Place
StarCityGames.com $5,000 Standard Open

4 Birds Of Paradise
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Path To Exile
2 Ajani Goldmane
2 Elspeth, Knight-errant
3 Martial Coup
2 Overrun
4 Spectral Procession
5 Forest
1 Plains
4 Brushland
1 Reflecting Pool
4 Treetop Village
4 Windbrisk Heights
4 Wooded Bastion

Sideboard:
4 Burrenton Forge-tender
3 Cloudthresher
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Ranger Of Eos
1 Wilt-leaf Liege
3 Naturalize

Read the rest of this entry »

I really liked the BW deck I had been posting about a couple weeks ago. I won a lot of games with some sub-par cards. I was beginning to convince myself that the deck was PTQ worthy. That was, until I hit a rash of faeries/N-Level blue decks on MWS and began to lose faith. I decided I should try to add a little more power to the deck by cutting Descendant and Ghost Council for Tarmogoyf and Doran.

I sent my newly christened Doran list to local favorite/extended Doran expert Chris “magic players just call me Calcano” Calcano. He checked it out and sent me back this list, which I have been testing on and off for the past two weeks:

Doran
2 Windswept Heath
2 Godless Shrine
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Fetid Heath
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Treetop Village

4 Kitchen Finks
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Dark Confidant
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Tarmogoyf

3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
3 Chrome Mox
1 Slaughter Pact

This deck is a lot of fun to play. Who, other than MichaelJ, doesn’t love a turn 1 Dark Confidant? I was having pretty good success against Zoo and Bant decks, and non-elves combo. However, my blue deck matchup still seemed really bad even with the improved creature base. I am going to continue tweaking the sideboard to see if I can crack the matchup (testing Darkblast’s currently), but as a backup I have begun testing the Bant list that Jeff Cunningham placed 2nd with in the Seattle PTQ last weekend. I found the list in this tournament report.

I really like the Troll Ascetics, and I love the Worship in the sideboard. Blue decks seem to have a really hard time dealing with the Troll, especially once he picks up a Sword or Jitte. The sideboard is a little too advanced for me; I don’t think I could pull off the Trinket Mage + Relics and/or Engineered Explosives. I think I would rather just play 2x more Explosives and not have to spend the extra mana/turns to get my EE into play. I would also cut the single Kataki for a third Relic. Between Bant Charm, Path to Exile, and randomly Stifling a Modular trigger, that matchup is pretty good.

If all continues to go well, this is what I will be sleeving up for the Brooklyn PTQ in a couple of weeks. If anyone has any sideboard advice or tips on playing the deck, post them in the comments.

WillPoP

Congratulations to Jonathan Loucks on not only winning his PTQ this past weekend but doing it in grand style with a home brewed deck that is not what you might expect at this poing in the Extended metagame. Jonathan popped up in a chat window on Friday and we had the following conversation:

Jonathon: I’m casting Kiki-jiki tomorrow, fyi me: Kiki Mite Get there? Jonathon: +reveillark & trinket mage

You may remember Kiki Mite Get There as a Day Two deck from GP Philadelphia played by Zeilend Powell and featured in my column. At the time it seemed like an interesting deck that was relatively unaffected by rotations but it never picked up much traction. Then along came Loucks with his eye for the rogue build and desire to qualify for the Pro Tour — often mutually exclusive qualities in terms of execution.Here is the deck Jonathan played and that you will almost certainly be seeing in the closing weeks of the PTQ season.

Kiki-Jiki gets Friki-Diki
Jonathan Loucks — Winner
PTQ Honolulu — Seattle

4 Flooded Scrand
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Polluted Delta
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Island
3 Rugged Prarie
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West

4 Pestermite
3 Trinket Mage
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2 Reveillark
1 Body Double

4 Mana Leak
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Resurrection
1 Firespout
1 Wrath of God
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Chrome Mox

SB:
1 Shatterstorm
1 Kataki
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Firespout
1 Wrath of God
1 Pact of Negation
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Stifle
1 Trickbind
1 Cannonist
1 Rule of Law
1 Duergar Hedge-Mage
1 Gilded Light

Congratulations Jonathan. Hopefully you will be writing about this deck real soon for one of the strategy sites or perhaps get an interview in Top Decks or The Week That Was. If only we had a way to make that happen around here.

Honolulu Bound: Part 1

Ft. Lauderdale Extended PTQ

January 24^th, 2009

So on New Years, at around midnight or so, my friend Brad sent me a text message that said “Happy New Year!” I responded to the sentiment by saying, “Happy New Year, buddy! We both ‘q’ in ’09!” A week or so later Brad made good on my prediction and actually won the first PTQ of the year in Atlanta with Lightning Angel. I was both shocked and proud, as over the past few years I’ve watched Brad go from a mediocre player, to someone I completely respect in this game. Though now I had to complete the other half of the resolution and make sure Brad wasn’t going to Hawaii alone.

My first foray this year was an eight hour drive to Mobile, Alabama, where I went 5-1 with Faeries only to lose the bubble match to Zoo. It was a disappointing 16^th place to say the least. We drove home and I was intent on making it to every PTQ this season, and I began planning for the next weekend in Ft. Lauderdale. I tested everything from TEPs, to AIR, to Sea Stompy, to some black/white Orzhov concoction that I thought might be good in this format. At that point I really just wanted to play fun cards like Descendant of Kiyomaro, Shining Shoal, and Ghost Council and not have to think as much as would be required by playing Faeries. But alas, that isn’t how we win PTQs, a lesson I’ve slowly learned over time. Read the rest of this entry »

Unfortunately I did not make it out to the PTQ in Pittsburgh last week; neither the length of the drive or missing valentines day appealed to me too much. Had I gone, however, I would have gotten to see a friend of mine from the area do pretty well with a deck that is not really on anyone’s radar right now. Click here to see the top 8 decks from that tournament.

Andrew Wagner ended up getting third in the tournament, losing in the semifinals with this deck:

Main deck
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Kataki, War’s Wage
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Spectral Procession
4 Path to Exile
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Chrome Mox
4 Mutavault
1 Eiganjo Castle
15 Plains

Sideboard
2 Rule of Law
2 Jötun Grunt
3 Icatian Javelineers
3 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Kataki, War’s Wage

I caught up with Andrew over Facebook to ask him about his deck. Andrew said that he picked the deck because he is stubborn and does not like to play well established decks. Despite how well he did (6-0-1 in the swiss), Andrew does not think the deck is a great pick right now because it hasunfavorable matchups against some popular decks. Here is how he evaluated the matchups:

Strengths: Can beat all the aggro and combo decks on the back of maindeck and sideboard hate. This deck is loaded with cards to beat red decks (Burrenton Forge-Tender, Jitte, Kitchen Finks, Path to Exile) and combo (Ethersworn Cannonist, Rule of Law, Jitte and Path against Elves).

Weaknesses: You are playing bad cards like Isamaru, and you can’t really beat any of the control decks in the format. Icatian Javelineers in the board hypothetically helps the Fae matchup. Rock decks are pretty tough as well, and Jotun Grunt is in there to get rid opposing Life From the Loams and shrink Tarmogoyfs. The main deck Liege is a nod to Raven’s Crime.

Andrew lost to Bant Aggro in the top 8, a deck that Mike has been posting about recently on his site. If he played it again, which he wouldn’t, he would get rid of the Chrome Mox and put another Oblivion Ring in the main.

Despite Andrew’s lack of enthusiasm for his deck choice, white weenie looks like it could a great gap deck at some point in the season if Faeries or Bant should become unpopular.

~WillPoP

PS: Knight of the Reliquary + Scapeshift = Nombo or Combo?

Whenever a new set comes out there are usually 3-5 cards that I really want to try and build decks with. I think there are a lot of really strong, constructed playable cards in this set, but I have a gew clear favorites. Here is my short list for Conflux cards that I want to build with:

Master Transmuter
Nyxathid (aka Handogoyf)
Knight of the Reliquary (aka Landogoyf)

Nyxathid looks like it is playable in both extended and standard. He seems like a natural fit in the rock decks that play Raven’s Crime and Life From the Loam. There is a good amount of hand disruption in standard right now as well: Thoughtseize, Ravenous Rats, Distress, Mind Shatter, Scepter of Fugue, Rotting Rats, and of course Raven’s Crime. Nyxathid could also give Cunning Lethemancer, a card that has never quite been good enough for competitive play, a chance to shine. Nyxathid looks like it could be great in some kind of mono-black aggro deck or a BG aggro-rock deck. Mike was always a big advocate of taking the The Rack out of Black Rack, so maybe now would be a good time to revisit that strategy,

Master Transmuter isn’t normally the type of card I would want to build around. I think this lady is too fine to ignore, and Master Transmuter could be the cornerstone of a really good artifact deck in block or standard. There are some really interesting synergies with Transmuter and comes-into-play effects. BDM has been mentioning for a while that comboing Transmuter with Tidehollow Sculler could allow you to RFG 1-2 cards from your opponent’s hand a turn. Transmuter can also sneak something big into play, like a Platinum Angel or a Sharum. I could definitely see some series of plays like this during block season: Transmute Sphinx Summoner into play, Tutor Sharum into hand –> Transmuter the Summoner back to hand, windmill slam Sharum into play (reanimating something) –> Transmute Sharum back to hand, putting Summoner into play… repeat until your opponent concedes.

Knight of the Reliquary is the card I like the most from the set. In the early game he can fix your lands and accelerate your mana. Late game, he is an undercosted win condition. I thought building a deck with him would be pretty easy, but every time I try to draw up a list I keep getting hung up on the lands. His second ability is not that stellar when you want to be three or four colors. The best thing I could figure to do with him was to put him into the GW little kid deck that was somewhat popular during block. That deck ran enough basics to make his ability worth while, and using him to fetch out some Treetop Villages seems pretty awesome. The other card I think would be awesome in the GW deck is Lapse of Certainty, which would give the deck a way other than Gaddock Teeg to combat a Wrath of God. Knight of the Reliquary seems like it could also work in a GW big mana deck, maybe something that plays a lot of lifegain (Primal Command and Feudkillers Verdict in the same deck!). This is the type of deck I will likely try to work on for the next PTQ season.

Anyone else have any pet cards from the new set? Working on any new deck lists? Lets hear about your impressions in the comments! I will be working on building a Nyxathid deck this week, so I will post again in a few days with a list and some early results.

~WillPoP

In addition to the awesome coverage work that Bill Stark and Dane Young did covering GP: LA, Bill has followed up with an exhaustive burst of typing over at TheStarkingtonPost.com to post ALL the decklists from Day Two of the GP. Below you can find the decks that finished from 9th through 20th in that event and you can look through all the lists on Bill’s blog. I was only going to post 9 - 16 but when the next four players are Martin Juza, Sam Black, Gabe Walls, and Adam Yurchick I decided to just keep going a little while longer.

A couple of notes:

The top tables of this tournament were absurd. It was a pretty hot little Top 8 but then as you keep scrolling down the standings you have a former World Champion, a pair of Worlds Team Champions, Gavin Verhey locking up another invite on his climb to PT inevitable PT success, rising star Martin Juza, Gabe Walls, and Adam Yurchick.

The Top finishing Elf deck was in 18th place but it warrants looking at as LSV suggests that Elves might be good again based on the Storm front that is rolling in for the PTQ season.

The highest finishing Death Cloud deck — Michael Jacob’s — did not have any actual Death Cloud in it but Brazillian superstar Carlos Romao’s did. With or without the Clouds, the Raven’sd Crime package seems like it could be a nice way to combat TEPS decks from crafting that perfect turn.

I broke the ManuelB deck away from the traditonal Faeries listing mostly on the basis of Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Although you could easilly lump it in with the Fae this deck is something else altogether.

Gabe Walls’ Slide deck was certainly an unexpected but welcome surprise. When people were prepping for Berlin I definitley liked Edge of Autumn as a sneaky cycler and was glad to see it have some success although it would have been nice to see Walls make a return to the PT in Hawaii.

Death Cloud
Carlos Romao - 9th Place
Grand Prix-Los Angeles
Format: Extended

3 Damnation
4 Smother
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Raven’s Crime
1 Worm Harvest
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Kitchen Rinks
4 Thoughtseize
4 Life from the Loam
3 Death Cloud
2 Crime/Punishment
3 Barren Moor
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Golgari Rot Farm
3 Tranquil Thicket
2 Windswept Heath
4 Polluted Delta
2 Forest
4 Swamp

Sideboard:
4 Bitterblossom
2 Persecute
3 Darkblast
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Ravenous Baloth Read the rest of this entry »