In honor of the upcoming Extended tourney, I've decided to make an overview of the most common decks in Extended. This review is based mainly on the 2001 world championship decks, and partly on my own experience, attempts, and conclusions I reached in the field.
-=Polite=- criticism, coments and corrections will be welcome.
Donate-Illusions
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This deck is based on a combo of 2 cards - Illusions of Grandeur and Donate. You gain 20 life, give the Illusions to your enemy, and sit back and relax as he tries to pay the cumulative upkeep cost. Inevitably, he cannot - and loses 20 life.
The deck uses many cards designed to reach the desired combo. Merchant scroll to bring counterspells (to protect the combo) or other card drawers. Brainstorm, Impulse, and Accumulated Knowledge for card drawing, and Intuition as an instant Demonic tutor.
Sapphire Medallions allow a 4th turn win on a god draw, and prove useful in many other situations.
Counterspells are used to protect the combo - especially the infamous Force of Will.
Common sideboard cards : Hibernation, Chill, Gainsay.
This deck can be frightening indeed in the hands of a cunning player. Many a counter wars have been 'lost' at the end of turn, only in order of tapping the opponent's lands and casting the combo next turn. Non-blue, unprepared decks shouldn't have much chance against it.
And herein lies its greatest problem - because almost all Extended decks have prepared themselves against this deck, that way or another. I will demonstrate this as we go on.
Sligh
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Old good Sligh can be quite a match. It packs a bunch of 2-power, 1-mana critters, adds a couple of Ball Lightnings and Viashino Sandstalkers, and finishes the game with an assortment of cheap burn (Incinirate, Shock, Hammer of Bogardan, Cursed Scroll and Fireblast). The game can easily be won by 5th turn, using a frontal, aggresive assault.
This deck is the ban of all slow decks. Its demise can be found in sb cards - most especially CoP red and Hydroblast.
Also, Secret Force deck and White Weenie can be the death of it. White Weenie because it has more quality critters, as well as Soltari Priest which has Pro-red, and Secret Force because it can come out with Verdant Force on 3rd turn. (although a combination of Incinirate and Fireblat gets rid of the beastie)
Common sideboard cards : Ankh of Mishra, Pyroblast, Anarchy, Price of Progress.
Secret Force
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Secret Force is a collective name (along with Cradle-elf) for a mono-green deck, using utility critters, fast critter mana, and Natural Order.
Utility creaturs are creatures that have other purpose than attack/block. Elves can be tapped for mana. Elvish Lyrist is also an enchantment destroyer (and an especially good one, for 1 mana). Spike Feeder can aid other creatures, and also give you extra life. Spike Weaver is also 3 times Fog. Masticore can be an excellent creatures-direct-damage. Uktabi Orangutan destroys an artifact whenever it comes into play. Wall of Roots blocks weenies, and gives mana. Verdant Force... Well, it's just BIG! :>
In short, every creature in this deck has its uses, other than the simple attacking/blocking.
Natural Order is the glue that brings them all together. This 4cc sorcery enables you to go through your library, choose a critter and put it into play. Most often you'll pick one of the Verdant Forces in the deck. Do you need to destroy an artifact? Bring Orangutan. An enchantment? Bring a Lyrist. Need to defend yourself? Pick Weaver.
Every critter has a purpose, and each is useful by itself.
Other critters that are often used in the deck are Roffelos, Priest of Titania, and Deranged Hermit.
Gaea's Cradle is also used to generate an enormous amount of mana.
Common sideboard cards : Choke, Tranquil Grove, Emerald Charm.
This deck beats Donate-Illusions easily, since it has Spike Feeder and Lyrist main-deck - both of which ruin the Donate-Illusions plans. After sb, Donate has no chance left.
It also deals easily with Sligh, since it can bring much better, bigger critters by the time Sligh is still messing around with Viashino Sandstalker.
White Weenie is tough, mainly owing to the Sb Perish.
Draw-go / Forbiddian decks are infernally tough to beat, as this deck lacks a barrage of threats to throw at them. It's enough for them to counter the one big threat, and the game is lost.
White Weenie
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The name is self-explanatory. This is a deck of white, incredibly good for their mana cost critters. Mother of Runes, protects your creatures, Ramosian Sergeant brings you other rebels, Steadfast Guard is unaffected by Stasis, Soltari Priest is the win-card against Stasis. Most decks include a few tundras, and put in Meddling Mages as well.
Crusades, Cursed Scroll, Brainstorms, and the ever-useful Seal of Cleansing and Swords to plowshares are added in as required. Tithe helps sustain mana-consistency, especially considering the blue and black streaks of the deck.
Common sideboard cards : Perish, Bottle Gnomes, Erase, Hydroblast.
Perish is included by means of 2 Scrublands in the maindeck. This, along with 4 Tithe, is enough to insure you'll get the mana to cast Perish. And when you do, Secret-force can forget any hope it had for winning.
The Bottle Gnomes are in against Donate-Illusions.
Some people also add Armaggedons.
This deck is versatile and powerful all the same. Never underestimate the power of white critters and permanent removal.
Counter-Sliver
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Now this is my favorite deck. If only I had the number of Dual-lands required to play it... :>
This is a 5 colors deck, based on those nifty little critters called Slivers. Each sliver costs 2 mana (usually of a different color) and gives all other Slivers a unique ability.
Crystalline Sliver protects all slivers from spells or abilities. Hibernation Sliver allows you to return a sliver to hand for 2 life - i.e. a protection from Wrath of God. Acidic Sliver enables a painful finish, by sacrificing a sliver to cause 2 damage to a target. Winged Sliver makes your slivers soar above the opponent's creatures, and into victory. Muscle Sliver... Well, it just makes all slivers stronger. What more could you wish for?
Add to that the best, cheapest cards of each color. Meddling Mage is often included, as is Duress, Vindicate, Swords to Plowshares, Seal of Cleansing, and various counterspells (usually cheap ones - Force Spike, Mana Leak and Force of Will).
The deck handles slow decks easily enough, by summoning 1 or 2 early critters, each of which strengthens the other. All it has to do, then, is attack and counter/destroy any threat/defense the other deck tries to cast.
Common sideboard cards : Hibernation, Honorable Passage.
This deck works well against just about anything. Couldn't find any weakness in it.
Forbidian
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The wicked all-counter deck, also called Draw-go.
The deck packs lots of counterspells - from the cheap Force Spike, through Counterspell and Forbid, and up to the mighty Force of Will, Thwart and Dismiss. In order to protect itself from permanents that manage to hit the table, it uses Nevyniral Disk and Powder Keg. Ophidians are an incredible card-drawing engine, to resupply your hand. And, when you're sure that you have enough counterspells in your hand, you can cast a Masticore or a Morphling and win the game at ease.
The Forbidian version uses Forbid as a buy-back counterspell, discarding the cards gained through Ophidian from their hands to sustain an advantage.
All versions use Impulses, opts, and other cards designed to bring the cards you need to your hand.
Common Sideboard cards : Hibernation, Hydroblast, Back to Basics.
Back to Basics may well be one of the more powerful blue extended cards. It strongly hoses even decks which only use 8 non-basic lands. In a match against a Sliver or an Oath deck, it can easily decide the fate of the game. It's so powerful that some people play with 2 BtB maindeck, while they themselves only use basic islands, of course.
Oath
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This is not an easy deck to explain. The base idea is that you have 3 critters in the deck : Spike Feeder, Spike Weaver and Morphling. Some people also use Crater Hellion. Oath of Druids enables the deck to bring one of those into play very early, and if you're not happy with the critter you got, simply waste its counters and get another one next turn.
Combine this with plenty of counterspells, white removal (Swords and Disenchants) and blue card-drawers and searchers, and you've got quite a powerful deck. Gaea's blessing enables you to recycle the whole graveyard back into the library, when it's thrown by the Oath.
This deck may not look like much, but it's quite powerful and can adapt itself to just about any other deck. It can be quick or slow, just as needed.
Try it - you won't be dissapointed. Just make sure you have enough Dual-lands to play 3-4 colors.
Stasis
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The attempts at a Stasis deck are never-ending. The current version utilizes Claws of Gix to get rid of the Stasis the turn before you can't sustain it, Gush and Thwart for a few more turns of Stasis, Boomerang for every purpose, Powder Keg for permanents destruction, and 2-3 Morphlings for the winning stroke (Morphling can untap itself for 1 blue mana!)
Common sideboard cards : Back to Basics, Chill, Masticore.
Unfortunately for this deck, White Weenie is well equipped to deal with it, using enchantment/artifact destruction instants, and un-tapping critters. Secret Force is also something of a problem. Sligh just tramples over it.
Stompy
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THE deck for the newbie, looking for a cheap deck.
It is full of cheap, common green creatures, usually the ones who cost 1 green mana - Pouncing Jaguar, Ghazban Ogre, Rogue Elephant, Skyshroud Elite, Quirion Ranger and Wild Dogs. 4 Giant Growths and 4 Bounty of the Hunt help those critters survive the early creature fights (the only ones they need to overcome, as the game tends to end soon after that). A second turn Rancor makes any weenie into a damage trampling machine.
The deck uses only 10-12 forests, due to the low mana cost of the cards. Many decks use 4 Land Grant to gain additional lands, and maindeck Winter Orbs to shut down their enemies.
This is THE weenie deck - the essence of it. And thus, if it doesn't win till the 7th turn, it will usually die horribly.
Common sideboard cards : Emerald Charm, Wasteland, Hidden Gibbons.
Pox
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This is the deck the Israeli Champion Danny Yosef took to the world championship, and thus deserves a special mention.
Pox affects all aspects of the game - hand, lands, and creatures. By utilizing this card well, it is posibble to create an overwhelming advantage over the opponent. Chimeric Idols and Scalding Tongs survive the outburst, and Vindicating/Funeral charming/Cursed Scrolling/Gerrard's Verdicting the remains can ensure a clear table/hand for the opponent. Nether spirits, Chimeric Idols or Ensnaring Bridges+Scalding Tongs can be an easy way to win, after the Pox.
Tinker
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The Tinker deck won a world championship once, and remains true to its accomplishment. It is a fast, strong deck, using Toymaker, Grim Monolith and Voltaic key to generate an enormous amount of mana, and using it to summon a Phyrexian Colossus or a Masticore. Tinker serves the same as Natural Order, bringing you the card you need when you need it.
There are plenty of other kinds of decks, and many versions of the ones that are listed. You'll probably meet many other decks at any Extended tourney. This list, however, does encompass a large number of the common Extended decks.
If anyone has any other decks to tell off, I'd be delighted to hear about them.
Good luck in the tourney, all of you.
Dup.
A survey of Extended decks - long message
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Duppleganger
- MTGil Wizard
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Fox of another fox
- MTGil Wizard
- הודעות: 336
- הצטרף: 04/10/2001 , 2:00
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Fox of another fox
- MTGil Wizard
- הודעות: 336
- הצטרף: 04/10/2001 , 2:00
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The Mushroom of Doom
- MTGil Apprentice
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Duppleganger
- MTGil Wizard
- הודעות: 174
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- מיקום: Haifa
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Very nice. i've always favored the Illusions
Donate deck myself. it has won me many a game on appr but just a question, would you use foil in this deck? and what if a creature comes into play... do you just rely on the 20 life and spike feeder or do you add washouts and stuff like that aswell?
Donate deck myself. it has won me many a game on appr but just a question, would you use foil in this deck? and what if a creature comes into play... do you just rely on the 20 life and spike feeder or do you add washouts and stuff like that aswell?
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies."
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise."
Thomas Gray
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies."
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise."
Thomas Gray