Building the New Extended: Part 1

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Zvi Mowshowitz

Due to the time constraints involved, a number of cards that will not be legal in November Extended managed to make it into some of the decklists. While none of the cards involved, which were Urza's Bauble, Forsaken Wastes, Spinning Darkness and Merfolk Traders, are vital to their respective decks and all have since been replaced, please note the changes that have been made. I would like to personally apologize for these errors, as speed is no excuse for sloppy work.

The Extended we've come to know and love over the past few years is in for some huge changes. The card rotations will take away a large chunk of Extended's signature cards, from Swords to Plowshares to Force of Will. There's only one deck type that gets away clean, and right now it's an obscure rogue deck that has never been a major player in the format. Everyone else takes a major hit, but some decks will survive much better than others. A deck like Stasis that has lost its key cards will die, while a deck like Sligh will find replacements for lost gems. Whenever a new format is born, and these changes are definitely drastic enough to be considered a new format, I find it is best to start with the aggressive decks. The order I choose to present the decks has nothing to do with their past or future relative strength. Sligh

**Old Status:** Strong

**Pro Tour Nice Masters: Sligh** Dan Clegg **Main DeckSideboard** 4 Barbarian Ring

**Pro Tour Nice Masters: Sligh** Alex Shvartsman **Main DeckSideboard** 19 Mountain

It will probably always begin with Sligh. The deck will get better and worse with time and the card changes, but it will probably never die in a format as large as Extended. The loss of the dual lands is a huge edge for Sligh, because the substitute will often be to use painlands in their place. Painlands are some of Sligh's best friends. On the other hand, many players will be forced to cut back on their colors, so basic lands may become more popular, making Price of Progress less effective. In terms of casualties, Sligh loses Fireblast, Incinerate and Ball Lightning. Ball Lightning would be replaced by Viashino Sandstalker, but that's gone as well. Assuming the mana curve still goes that high, the empty three mana slots will be filled by Chimeric Idol. While Oath of Druids may not be the overriding concern that it once was, the Idol is still an efficient colorless threat that is immune to many forms of removal.

How much do these losses hurt? Although comparatively it's probably a side note, Incinerate is actually quite painful, with Sligh losing its best general purpose burn spell. Volcanic Hammer is still available and will probably end up having to replace it, but it's not the same. Urza's Rage is also available, but three mana is very different from two. Ball Lightning, Viashino Sandstalker and Fireblast are the ones that really hurt. Even the threat of one of these cards is often enough to force changes in an opponent's play, since at any time they could be killed by a Fireblast or lose enough points from a drive-by to put them into burn range. Without such threats, opponents are free to treat Sligh as much closer to just another aggressive deck rather than the monster that can kill you anytime you tap out.

What will Sligh do to fill its missing slots? As noted, Volcanic Hammer replaces Incinerate, but it's considerably less attractive and won't be as automatic as Incinerate used to be. In general, the deck no longer has enough pure burn to plan on sitting back and dealing most of its damage directly to the head with burn spells. It's just not good enough anymore. Instead, expect Reckless Charge to finally come into its own. The deck should round itself out with enough cheap creatures to launch Charged creatures all the time.

The sideboard loses Pyroblast (along with its companion Burnout) and Anarchy while Powder Keg should lose much of its urgency. That leaves a lot of room to mess around. Judgment offers some help in the form of Flaring Pain. Flaring Pain is the new Anarchy, getting around the bane of Sligh players everywhere: Circle of Protection: Red. And if you're wondering why I would put that last card into the sideboard, keep thinking about it. I'll explain it when the time comes.

**New Sligh: November 2002** **Main DeckSideboard** 16 Mountain

**Old Status:** Dying

**Ben Rubin: 2001 World Championships** **Main DeckSideboard** 10 Forest

Stompy has been abandoned for some time, a relic of times past. Ben Rubin played it at Worlds trying to find a safe deck, and in his own words 'ended up playing a bad one'. There will always be an appeal to a lot of quick, efficient green creatures, and the Odyssey Block has offered us some very respectable creatures to consider. Before, none of that was attractive enough to attract even a single Gateway competitor. With much of the competition suffering, can Stompy make a comeback?

Stompy will lose Ghazban Ogre, Quirion Ranger, Rogue Elephant, Elvish Spirit Guide, Spectral Bears, Bounty of the Hunt, Briar Shield and Winter Orb. That's a huge blow, taking away the majority of the cards that made players want to play Stompy in the first place. The good news is that like most aggressive decks there are lots of replacements waiting in the wings. Ben Rubin's deck already has decided not to run Giant Growth (or the relatively poor Seal of Strength) that many others use, as well as rejecting Ghazban Ogre, which Sligh has rendered somewhat questionable anyway. Our latest block offers at least two natural additions: Basking Rootwala and Wild Mongrel. Seedtime is a potentially very strong new sideboard card for the deck. Still, the deck has taken quite a beating. Without either the Spirit Guide or Bounty of the Hunt, Llanowar Elves are going to have to return to the deck. Then again, Urza's Saga was where Stompy shined brightest, even if overshadowed by the artifact decks, and that entire block is still around.

As for the sideboard, Emerald Charm is gone, and Tranquil Domain is not around to take its place. Reverent Silence is a real shame becaue it means giving the opponent six life, but there aren't any real alternatives. While I don't think this deck has what it takes, it's still out there. New Stompy: November 2002

**Expected New Status:** Weak

**New Stompy: November 2002** **Main DeckSideboard** 14 Forest

**Old Status:** Dying

**Alexander Witt: Worlds 2001** **Main DeckSideboard** 4 Flood Plain

It is no big secret that I've always hated White Weenie in almost all of its forms. I've been forced to treat it with true respect once, at the Rebel Pro Tour, and back in the days of Savannah Lions I had to give it its due. But in general, I feel these decks are underpowered piles of junk that try to cheat their way into wins. The most annoying aspect of these decks is their ability to often achieve good matchups by throwing massive amounts of enchantment or artifact removal at their problems. What sealed their fate in the current Extended format was the shift away from permanent enchantments as answers towards decks with huge creatures like Miracle Grow and the unstoppable Pernicious Deed. On top of that, everything that hit Miracle Grow hit these guys almost as badly. Without good ways to steal their matchups, these decks died a lonely death.

What will happen to them now? In terms of its cards, the deck loses Swords to Plowshares but nothing else of importance. Splashing blue goes from being free to starting to hurt. Adarkar Wastes is more than willing to step in, but without Tundra, Flood Plain and Tithe, where are the other sources going to come from? If Flood Plain is acceptable than Coastal Tower should be fine as well, but Brainstorm is a lot less abusable than it used to be. In short, it comes down to choosing between monowhite, Meddling Mage as the only blue card off of dual lands, and turning blue into a serious color. With both Soltari Priest and Steadfast Guard in the deck, Skycloud Expanse is not an option, and City of Brass seems disastrous with Sligh running around and Rebels to search out. But without Stasis to worry about, most of the Guards could become Fresh Volunteers if they had to.

Swords doesn't have a replacement, so the deck will be without good creature removal. Parallax Wave is out of the format's price range. That leaves the deck with extra room, and I think this calls for bringing back everyone's favorite white card, Armageddon. It also gives the chance to think about extending the Rebel chain. The mana base on this one doesn't seem to justify Brainstorm and Tithe, but I think the deck needs the engine to survive so it's going to have to take that risk. Hopefully there are less Wastelands getting in the way, and Tithe can no longer be Force of Willed. Again, I'm not a fan of this deck - but the white devils need to get their due.

**New White Weenie: November 2002** **Main DeckSideboard** 4 Coastal Tower

**Old Status:** Dead

Please Note: Decklist not currently legal - Demonic Consultation is banned.

**Alex Shvartsman: GP-Buenos Aires ** **Main DeckSideboard** 3 Lake of the Dead

Probably not worth the trouble.The blows to this deck have mostly come and gone, leaving an underpowered mess in their wake: Dark Ritual and Demonic Consultation are gone, and now even Lake of the Dead is unavailable. The last practical way to accelerate Hatred left is Culling of the Weak, and that seems pretty pathetic without even a good way to get Hatred when you need it. Vampiric Tutor is still around, but that carries with it certain obvious drawbacks. Then again, can't this deck get ahead by more than two life points? As always, this deck has a gigantic weakness: It will probably never beat Sligh in a game one, and in game two things aren't going to be easy even without the worst of the cards. Then again, Force of Will was a gigantic thorn in the side of Hatred. In the new era, either they save mana or they don't. When that two mana taps for a Powder Keg on turn two, you know you've got an opening.

The question is how much the deck should try for Hatred and how much it should just play out fast black creatures. I'd like to take one last shot at the good old Hatred kill, because it keeps things so much more interesting, but the gig may well be up at this point. Also, Nantuko Shade is such a good creature that it has to be considered. Wasteland no longer has as many targets and this deck is extremely black mana intensive, but it should still be worthwhile.

As a last addition, I would suggest Cabal Therapy from Judgment. With both Duress and Unmask looking at the opponent's hand, Cabal Therapy will often know exactly what it is going after. Even if you don't have an advance look, many decks will have one or two cards they're counting on to stop you, and this will ensure they don't have one in their hand. You can also pay the flashback cost without much trouble.

**New Suicide Black ** **Main DeckSideboard** 20 Swamp

**Old Status:** Obsolete (Super Grow)

**Alex Borteh: GP Houston** **Main DeckSideboard** 6 Island

I'm splitting up Super Grow and Miracle Grow for two reasons. The primary one is that they really are different decks, but the other is that they do not share the same fate. Super Grow is both far more dependant on threshold, which will help shape its future, but it is also three colors and manages to support those colors by using the dual lands and various dual land tricks. Miracle Grow relied only on Tropical Island, but it also relied on the idea of only using ten lands and could only do that because of Tropical Island's status as both an island and a green source. To put it as plainly as possible, the mana base no longer works. Period. Gush can no longer be used with reckless abandon. Winter Orb is gone too. In short, this deck cannot survive in its present form.

That brings up the question: Where did Miracle Grow come from in the first place? Its roots like in a deck called Gloo Fish:

**Gloo Fish** **Main DeckSideboard** 6 Island

The new Force?This is a Merfolk deck much more than anything else. It only has two Quirion Dryads! While our crack team quickly fixed that and other problems with the deck, it points out the basic idea can survive with very little green in the deck. The four Gaea's Skyfolk are nice, efficient creatures but could hardly be called either vital or irreplaceable. This version didn't have Winter Orb in it. It also shows that Foil can potentially replace Force of Will.

So what happens to this deck? It will have to abandon its green cards and return to monoblue. At this point, it becomes known by some other names. In most formats it goes by the name of Merfolk. Skies is another deck based on similar principles, but the principle of staying insanely low on land would rule out big enough creatures to make Skies worthwhile. That would be a different deck, although I wouldn't rule it out by any means. The other issue is the loss of Force of Will. One of the biggest advantages of ripping through your deck at maximum speed is finding more copies of Force of Will. They're no longer there to be found. The deck would probably start looking something like this:

**Merfolk (No-Grow): November 2002** **Main DeckSideboard** 14 Island

That might well just be a horrible pile of cards that never does anything, but it's also possible that there's something there. It's a general rule in **Magic** well worth keeping in mind that the ideas at the core of any successful deck will always be there to be applied again. Often the only reason decks are found or the only reason most people find them is that they retain many of the elements of a deck from the past. It gets people to try things out, because there are past successes to draw upon. **Magic** players are quite correctly influenced heavily by results.

That completes the cycle of monocolor aggressive decks. Of course, it only touches on what was and will remain a very complex format with a wide variety of decks, and included only one of the current top decks. Finally, four words that hint at other things to come:

Oath of Druids lives. Discuss this article on the message boards.

© 2002