Worlds Extended metagame analysis

By Wagz

Hi all, have you been watching the Worlds Coverage? I didn't stay up all night to do so and they're being very slow to put the videos online so I'm filling my time by writing this article. Coming out of Worlds the only relevant format for most Brits will be Extended, so this is an attempt to bring to you an analysis of the format, listed by the most played decks and including the number of them which went 4-1-1 or better:

#1 Jund - 48 Players, 3 5-1's, 1 4-1-1.

4 Blackcleave
Cliffs
2 Copperline Gorge
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Graven Cairns
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Mountain
3 Raging Ravine
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Putrid Leech
1 Sygg, River Cutthroat

4 Blightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Thoughtseize

Jund was promised to be one of the more popular decks going into Worlds and it didn't disappoint. It did, however, disappoint most of the players running it. Probably due to it being too much of a Standard deck, the loss of Tarmogoyf hurt this deck a lot. There were rumours of a version with Woodlurker Mimic going around before the tournament due to the large number of Green-Black spells making this card a regular 4/5 for 2 but they either didn't get played or simply didn't perform very well.

Verdict: A bad choice of deck for Extended, but many players in the UK will play it anyway and think that I'm wrong *sigh*.

#2 Vivid Control - 41 Players, 1 6-0, 1 5-0-1. 1 5-1, 1 4-0-2 (Matignon), 3 4-1-1's.

Decklist from Luis Scott-Vargas
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Sunken Ruins
4 Vivid Creek
2 Vivid Marsh
3 Vivid Meadow

3 Wall of Omens
2 Wurmcoil Engine

2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Cryptic Command
1 Day of Judgment
4 Esper Charm
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
1 Path to Exile
4 Preordain
2 Volcanic Fallout

Cruel Control was a big player during its time in Standard and an Extended version was always going to appear. The manabase allows one to play the best spells across any number of colours, which makes it easy to fit in any spells from the whole of Extended. Jace and Preordain are clearly auto-includes for any Blue-based control deck (Ali Aintrazi is plain wrong, he could have 6-0'd with a better decklist) and make sculpting the game up to that first crippling Cruel Ultimatum that much easier.

Verdict: A good performer, getting many pilots the points they required. This will be the main control deck going into the PTQ season.

#3 Scapeshift - 32 Players, 1 5-0-1, 4 5-1's, 2 4-1-1's.



I won't provide you with a decklist, for the plain reason that there isn't a definitive Scapeshift deck yet. Some are straight Blue-Green decks like last season's version, some are Prismatic Omen-based Bant Control decks, using Wargate as an effective tutor for Valakut or the Omen, and some have even replaced Pyromancer Ascension in that shell of a deck for a better kill.

Verdict: Scapeshift looks like it will form the basis of the best or second best deck in Extended, but we're a way off figuring the right build as there is a lot of room to do bad things on the path to goodness.

#4 Fae - 30 Players, 1 6-0 (Jonathan Randle :D), 2 5-1's, 2 4-1-1's.

3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
3 Sunken Ruins
3 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge

4 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique

4 Bitterblossom
3 Cryptic Command
3 Disfigure
1 Doom Blade
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
2 Smother
4 Thoughtseize

This is the Japanese list but most are likely to be very similar. The perennial aggro-control deck, Bitterblossom is a potent threat which drastically powers up Spellstutter Sprite and Mistbind Clique. The idea behind the deck is to slowly take control of the game and then when you have the opponent locked out to finish them off. The most annoying deck in Standard in its time and the best deck in Extended 2 years ago, Fae looks to be a player yet again with Jace thrown into the fold.

Verdict: A solid choice if you know what you're doing, the deck has benefitted greatly from Darkslick Shores in giving it turn 1 Thoughtseize more often to enable the Seize-Blossom-Counter-Clique draws which are nigh unbeatable.

#5 GW Hideaway - 28 players, 3 5-1's.

Decklist from Rafael Levy
5 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Mutavault
1 Plains
1 Sejiri Steppe
4 Stirring Wildwood
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windbrisk Heights
1 Wooded Bastion

3 Baneslayer Angel
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Nest Invader
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Primeval Titan
4 Summoning Trap

Originally conceived by Zvi Mowshowitz for Amsterdam, this is the fast mana cheat-a-fatty deck with a solid back-up plan of big creatures. I saw Richard Bland and Joe Jackson bash this against Elves for a while at the Nottingham PTQ where the faster combo deck won, often a Baneslayer Angel was useless - even on turn 3. I don't think decks need to adjust too much to beat this consistently but the pilots need to be aware of its existence to beat it with regularity.

Verdict - a fun fatty-cheat deck with some powerful things to do but not consistent enough for me. This is one for the coin-flippers among you (if you play Belcher in Legacy and Eldrazi Green in Standard, this might be a deck for you).

I don't have the time or inclination to go on but some noteable decks are:
- Elves with 17 pilots, 3 of whom went 5-1. This is a weenie combo deck which got a big hand from Ezuri, Renegade Leader in having a spout for its mana.
- White Weenie, UB Polymorph, RDW and Pyro Ascension having 21, 13, 13 and 7 appearances respectively but unable to buy (wescoe check) a 4-2 between them.
- Merfolk, UW Reveillark and Doran doing fairly poorly - the midrange aggro decks with a bit of disruption aren't battling well in this field. This is presumably because Jund is doing their job better, but it could also be bad matchups.
- Tempered Steel being the mathematically most successful deck with 7 players yielding a 6-0, a 5-1 and a 4-1-1. It remains to be seen if this was a fluke but it looks like it has a lot of power with 12 Anthem effects, lots of cheap weenies and a bit of card draw thrown in.

Overall Verdict:
We seem to lack a fast aggro deck because of Jund's popularity. The metagame is shifting into midrange aggro (Jund), control (Cruel), aggro control (Fae) and Combo (Scapeshift). These decks are just quick enough to force out anything too quick but there would be room for a very quick combo deck to do its business if one emerged. The Tempered Steel deck could bring out a very fast aggro deck but it seems like the diminished popularity of Jund is the only thing that will help shake up the meta. Since Jund isn't a very good deck to be taking to a tournament right now (at least if you're expecting to face good players) then this could happen come the new PTQ season. Of course, Mirrodin Besieged could bring anything along. What're your thoughts?

Guest Column: Worlds Day 3 with Mick

By Mick Edwards

Since so much happened at worlds I have decided to only write about the games on day 3 as it was one of the better days for me (and not just because I won more games on day 3).

The previous night I had built a Zoo list using blood moons and molten rain with Mark Glenister. But afterwards a friend of mine on the Norwegian team convinced me I would be playing zoo for the wrong reasons and I should go with the deck I had been testing instead of the one I had just made up. So here is the decklist I played:

4 River of Tears

2 Swamp

1 Island

1 Dark Depths

3 Sunken Ruins

3 Tolaria West

2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

2 Watery Grave

2 Underground River

1 Ghost Quarter

4 Chrome Mox

4 Thoughtseize

3 Dark Confidant

1 Vampire Hexmage

1 Time Seive (thanks Rob)

1 Shred Memory

1 Echoing Truth

2 Repeal

3 Engineered Explosives

3 Chalice of the Void

4 Muddle the Mixture

3 Beseech the Queen

4 Thopter Foundry

4 Sword of the Meek

---Side---

3 Damnation

3 Ravenous Trap

1 Ghost Quarter

1 Tormod’s Crypt

2 Hurkyl’s Recall

1 Pithing Needle

2 Threads of Disloyalty

1 Doom Blade

1 Yixlid Jailor

But before the extended started there were 2 rounds of team event. Ironically the 2 teams we played against were the 2 teams I had been testing with at the hotel and so we mostly knew each others decks before hand.

Round 3: Norway

This game resulted in a draw due to the Zoo vs Martyr game going to time. And Fortunately the Norwegian captain had a turn where he played standstill followed immediately by Aether Vial instead of the other way around (he was playing legacy merfolk).

More interestingly the whole round got disrupted by everyone having to fill out forms to join the Italian sports federation in order to get paid for the event.

Round 4: Isreal

I can’t remember any of these games particularly well as I think we all won these pretty fast going 3-0 across the team.

So from the Team rounds Great Britain had gone 3-0-1 which was pretty good to balance out the less than impressive individual records. Onto Extended:

Round 1: Hypergenesis

Game 1:I managed to assemble the combo fairly fast here but the turn after this he cascaded into hypergenesis with enough in hand to win the game.

Game 2: I flukily got both Hexmage and Dark Depths in my opening hand and made a turn 2 20/20 on the play, that was enough to win that game.

Game 3: This game seemed like it was back and forth a lot but really I was never too worried. From early on I had chalice set to 0 but when he eventually destroyed it with krosan grip and combed off I was ready with the Damnation to undo his combo and a tutor to get a second Chalice. He managed to combo off a second time but I had a second Damnation by this time so I was I no hurry to combo off too fast and eventually won with thopters.

1-0

Round 2: WU Thopter Combo

My opponent here was a guy on the Australian Team and I had previously leant him a Chalice of the Void so I figured he was playing some sort of control deck. The ‘mirror’ turned out to be one of the most fun games of magic I’d played in a long time and the 1^st game lasted nearly 50 minutes.

Game 1:

His deck was a slower more control version so although I was able to assemble my combo first, when he assembled his combo he was able to get more land in play to better use it. At one point he even cast gifts ungiven for 4 land when he was at 8 land already! In trying to get an edge I tried various things, from using explosives to blow up both our combos to casting chalice so neither of us could replay the combo should we draw it again (I drew the thopter foundry the next turn, at this point both our academy ruins were in the graveyard).

Eventually the chalice got removed and we both replayed the combo. I then tutored up time sieve and waited until it could not be countered to go infinite to take the game (thanks again Rob).

Game 2:

He assembled his combo very fast, but not before time was called and I used Echoing Truth and Hurkyl’s Recall to survive long enough to force a drawn game but a won round.

2-0

Round 3: UR Control

Game 1: He gets an early blood moon which locks me out of the game.

Game 2: He again gets an early blood moon, but this time it’s too late as I’ve already played my thopter foundry and I combo off through it (he gets me a warning as I accidently try to imprint time sieve on a chrome mox)

Game 3: I keep a hand with an island and a mox and some black spells thinking it will be good as I can play around blood moon. Then he goes turn 1 mox into chalice for 0, then turn 2 blood moon! I eventually draw my swamp to explosives for 3 and kill his blood moon but the next turn he drops a chalice for 2 to stop me from playing my combo (Afterwards I felt stupid for not saving my explosives to kill his chalices but with 2 chalices at 0 and a blood moon in play there is no way for me to actually do that). I go for another win condition: manually removing dark depths counters, and the turn I get a 20/20 he plays Venser for the win.

2-1

Round 4: Hypergenesis

Game 1: I play chalice for 0 and he can’t deal with it so casts nothing all game.

Game 2: He combos off on turn 2... But I’m almost glad as my hand contains foundry, sword and time sieve and enough land (inc. Acad ruins) to go infinite should I draw a land in my next 3 draws. However, he puts 2 Angel of Despair into play so I concede rather than show him my tech.

Game 3: He mulligans and keeps a 1 land hand which kills my chalice for 0 with Ingot Chewer, but I tutor up a second chalice before he finds his second land and I win soon after.

3-1

Round 4: Martyr

I don’t remember much about this round except he was playing a weird martyr build and he won 1 game because he had double castigate to remove my combo. In another game I managed to get my combo just in time as he had exactly lethal plus path and I was able to make 1 thopter... leaving me at 1 life when he cast path. I then untapped and made about 5 thopters and gain 5 life to win a few turns later.

4-1

Round 5: Zoo

Game 1: I have the worst draw in the world against zoo as I draw 3 thoughtseize in a row (one gets imprinted on a mox) and he draws pridemage to play in between my thoughtseizes. Despite this I manage to combo off when he is tapped out to make a few blockers, but he uses punishing fire combo to clear them out of the way so he can swing in for the win.

Game 2: I use chrome mox to make a turn 1 sword of the meek as a decoy as I have hexmage + dark depths in hand. He makes turn 2 kataki and I make a 20/20 the following turn. He plays path from the top of his library (how lucky) and then begins playing meddling mages. After he has played 2 meddling mage both naming thopter foundry I kill them both with engineered explosives... so he sets his next mage to explosives when I academy ruins it to my hand. I have echoing truth ready but not enough mana to cast that + explosives + activate and he wins the next turn as he had been beating in for a long time.

4-2

I felt both games against zoo were very unlucky draws for me and very lucky draws for him (he told me the path was off the top.) I really enjoyed playing the deck and was very glad I didn’t play zoo instead as most of my match-ups would have been a lot tougher for zoo.

Mick