Doubling Planeswalkers!

Note: The Miniseries 2 will not be airing for a while, due to Worldwake about to consume every post in this blog for about a month. In the meantime, enjoy this random-ass Extended deck.

Have you ever felt like Planeswalkers would be more awesome if you could use their ultimate as soon as you played it? I have. And now, there is a way.

Before anyone asks, this does, in fact, work within the rules. Behold the comprehensive rules excerpt that proves it:

306.5b A planeswalker is treated as if its text box included, "This permanent enters the battlefield with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to its printed loyalty number." This ability creates a replacement effect (see rule 613.1c).

Thus, as it's a replacement effect that adds the counters, Doubling Season works as another replacement effect to instead put more counters on. I scoured the planeswalkers to find the ones that could end the game basically by themselves with an Ultimate activation and found these:

Chandra Nalaar

Sarkhan Vol

Ajani Goldmane

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Nicol Bolas was out, way too expensive, but the other three work well. Chandra Wraths the board and takes 10 life from them, Sarkhan makes 10 4/4 fliers and Ajani makes two gigantic dudes (remember, Doubling Season!) Together, they provide enough consistency that I am near certain to draw one.

Doubling Season doesn't have that, so I added it's good friend Idyllic Tutor.

Here's the decklist I ended up with:

Lands (22)

4 Arid Mesa

3 Forest

2 Ghost Quarter

2 Mountain

2 Plains

3 Sacred Foundry

3 Stomping Ground

3 Temple Garden

Creatures (8)

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Noble Hierarch

Spells (30)

4 Ajani Goldmane

4 Chandra Nalaar

4 Chrome Mox

4 Idyllic Tutor

4 Naya Charm

2 Path to Exile

4 Sarkhan Vol

Sideboard (15)

4 Chalice of the Void

4 Engineered Explosives

2 Guttural Response

3 Krosan Grip

2 Path to Exile

Basically the idea is simple.

Step 1: Ramp into a Doubling Season.
Step 2: Drop a planeswalker.
Step 3: Win the game.

I don't think it's Tier 1, but it's a nice little strategy. If you already play Extended, you'll have all the expensive cards, and people will often think you're playing Zoo until it's too late.

I'll have some basic testing of the deck up tomorrow, as well as the rudiments of a sideboard plan. Enjoy!

Fetch A Shockland: Part 1 - A Journey Into Extended

Hello, new and returning readers and welcome to my newest series: Fetch A Shockland. This series will chronicle my journeys into learning more about Extended as a format, and becoming more skilled in playing it. This first post will be all about the introduction: where I am now, and where I intend to go.

I know a bit about Extended already. I know the major players in the format and I keep a casual view of the metagame. So here's my current, immature analysis of the metagame:

The major players are Zoo, Faeries, Next Level Blue, Hypergenesis, and recently Dark Depths. Various Rock decks including Death Cloud also exist in some capacity. Dredge is a rogue deck that comes and goes in cycles. Everyone forgets about it, and it strikes. Everyone boards in hate, and it dies. People stop boarding in hate, and forget about it. It strikes again.

The deck I intend to begin with is Zoo. It's the only really Tier 1 aggressive deck, but comes in a few flavours. Here are the decks I considered:

Rubin Zoo

Pros:

•  Has controllish elements in Baneslayer and Punishing Fire / Grove of the Burnwillows.
• Good lategame: something many Zoo decks lack.

Cons:

• Noble Hierarch is a bad topdeck.
• Has to play 24 lands, thus has more chance of flood.
• A lot of people will be playing it, since it won PT: Austin.

Spectral Zoo:

Pros:

• Has random tech against Hexmage Depths
• Has Jitte, which Rubin Zoo couldn't fit in.

Cons:

• Sideboard seems weird.
• Spectral Procession puts a lot of strain on the manabase.

Landfall Zoo:

Pros:

• Abuses the HELL out of landfall. I mean, seriously.
• Has very aggressive starts.
• Has better Knights than other Zoo builds.

Cons:

• Can attack from less angles.
• Hasn't got much of a late-game.
• Can't really defend with it's landfall guys.

Hyper Aggressive Zoo:

Pros:

• 16 1-drops.
• Fastest Zoo deck ever.

Cons:

• Runs out of gas too quickly.
• NO lategame.
• Sweeper = you lose.

I decided to go with a process of elimination. I figured Hyper Aggressive Zoo simply wouldn't cut it in the mirror, so that was out. I also want a deck to start that will teach me a lot about the format, and mindless attacking won't do it. That ends the chances of Landfall Zoo.

I really like Rubin Zoo, but I also like the Jitte. However, in the end, I'm a sucker for an aggro deck that can control the game (that's why I play Jund) and the Grove / Punishing Fire combo simply suckered me in, so I decided to choose Rubin Zoo.

Here's the decklist I will be using, copied almost card for card from Brian Kibler's deck:

Lands (24)

4 Arid Mesa

2 Ghost Quarter

4 Grove of the Burnwillows

1 Marsh Flats

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Sacred Foundry

2 Stomping Ground

1 Temple Garden

2 Treetop Village

Creatures (21)

3 Baneslayer Angel

4 Knight of the Reliquary

3 Noble Hierarch

3 Qasali Pridemage

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Wild Nacatl

Spells (15)

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Lightning Helix

4 Path to Exile

4 Punishing Fire

Sideboard (15)

3 Ancient Grudge

3 Blood Moon

3 Celestial Purge

2 Ghost Quarter

1 Kataki, War's Wage

3 Tormod's Crypt

The only change I made (and the changes that rippled from that) was removing the Meddling Mages. I don't have enough of a handle on the format to name the right card. Because of that, I removed the Hallowed Fountain from the sideboard, and due to that was able to cut a Marsh Flats for a second Ghost Quarter (against the mirror). To make up for the missing slots, I added Tormod's Crypt as an anti-Dredge mechanism and Celestial Purge against Dark Depths.

I'm concerned about my ability to beat Hypergenesis now, so the next thing to do was to look at the match reports for an idea on how Zoo can combat the deck. I don't know too much about how it works, either.

After a read up on Kibler's beating Hypergenesis, I find that Hierarch into Blood Moon is a strong move, and Ghost Quarter is very good. (So it's good against Hypergenesis, Dark Depths AND Rubin Zoo? Why am I not playing FOUR!?)

And so this is the deck I've decided to play. I'll be playing some matchups over the next week, and that, as well as the lessons I learn about the format, will be featured next week!

Play Along At Home:

This is the Play Along At Home portion of the post. If you want to learn more about Extended yourself, you can follow along with my journey and do what I intend to do in order to improve our knowledge of the format.

Homework: Play 10 matches of Rubin Zoo (either through real-life, proxies, MODO or MWS, I'm really not picky).

Look up some articles on the current metagame and Rubin Zoo.

See you next week with Fetch A Shockland: Part 2!

Zendikar Spoilers + Bonus Extended Decklist

Hello, readers! Let's cut to the chase, shall we? We have plenty more Zendikar cards to analyse, so let's get analysing! For those who just showed up for the decklist, it's at the end of the post. Okay, for the 3% still with me, let's go!

*Mind Sludge
Sorcery
Target player discards a card for each Swamp you control.

This could prove quite useful in MBC, obviously. I don't know if it'll be enough to bring it to Tier 1, but I know one friend of mine who will be very, VERY happy with this card.

Turntimber Ranger
Creature - Elf Druid Ally
Whenever Turntimber Ranger or another Ally enters the battlefield, you may put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Turntimber Ranger.
Illus. Wayne Reynolds	2/2

Another one to watch out for. Could an R/G midrange Ally deck be possible when Worldwake comes out? Food for thought...


Also, this will kill you in Limited in any deck that plays 2 allies after it plays this.

Celestial Mantle
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +3/+3. Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, double its controller's life total.
Illus. Steve Argyle

Another ULTIMATE UBER AURA, this card will see play in EDH for certain. Zur decks and away! Similar to Elder Mastery, this card will get played for the sheer awesome factor. Best played on an evasive dude though. If it connects a couple of times, you'll find it near impossible to lose. Sealed will find this guy on a flier or a trampler to be a game-winner.

Carnage Altar
Artifact
3, Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card.
Illus. James Paick

This is the kind of card people try to break, and never will. Especially with M10 rules. NEXT!

Felidar Sovereign
Creature - Cat Beast
Vigilance, lifelink At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game.
	4/6

Hmm. How to describe this guy. In Sealed, he's obviously a beating, with a 4/6 vigilance lifelink just winning games even without his 'you win the game' text. In EDH he'd see play if there was ANY chance he'd survive a turn. Maybe with Teferi.


Naturally, he'll be featured as a win condition in a casual Beacon of Immortality deck. But I don't see this guy played competitively.

Scalding Tarn
Land
, Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Scalding Tarn: Search your library for a Island or Mountain card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.

The U/R fetchland is officially named Scalding Tarn. What the hell is a tarn? Google defines Tarn as:


a mountain lake (especially one formed by glaciers) 

Well, that makes sense then. So we have a scalding mountain lake. Makes perfect sense. Good name.

Oh! The card! Yeah. U/R Storm got a bit better. Yeah... Grixis Control too...let's move on to some interesting cards. Powerful does not equal interesting all the time.

Marsh Flats
Land
, Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Marsh Flats: Search your library for a Plains or Swamp card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
Illus. Izzy

Moving on. Nothing to see here. Yep, it's great. Yep, it'll cost 15-20 bucks. NEXT!

Khalni Heart Expedition
Enchantment
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a quest counter on Khalni Heart Expedition. Remove three quest counters from Khalni Heart Expedition and sacrifice it: Search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Illus. Jason Chan

A Limited fixer, but how good? This has to reach 5 land before it can be used, assuming a Turn 2 play. Otherwise, it's basically dead. I don't think this'll see much play except in a dedicated Landfall deck: but they should be able to pick up 2-3 of these in a draft.

Lorthos, the Tidemaker
Legendary Creature - Octopus
Whenever Lorthos, the Tidemaker attacks, you may pay . If you do, tap up to eight permanents. Those permanents don't untap during their controllers' next untap steps.
When Lorthos emerges from his deepwater realm, the tide bows to his will and the coastline cowers in his presence.
Illus. Kekai Kotaki #53/249	8/8

Lorthos, the Tidemaker
Lorthos, Winner of Sealed Games
Lorthos, First Pick of Drafts
Lorthos, The Should We Reanimate This Guy? Probably Not.
Lorthos, the NEXT!


Oh. That's it. Okay. I present to you, the deck I would play in Extended if I played Extended. Although I do intend to dabble in it online some more. I present:


Dark Zoo


Lands (20)


4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
2 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Marsh


Creatures ()


2 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Dark Confidant
3 Kird Ape
3 Plated Geopede
2 Scute Mob
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar


Spells ()


4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Quest for the Gravelord
2 Umezawa's Jitte


Sideboard:


1 Ancient Grudge
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Krosan Grip
2 Ranger of Eos
1 Sulfuric Vortex
3 Volcanic Fallout




Features: The deck runs 10 fetchlands. This is to allow it to abuse Plated Geopede more often. The deck also runs some new cards. Let's go through each.


Bloodbraid Elf: This is just incredible. The ability to have a 3/2 haste and cascade into any of Zoo's devastating spells is amazing. 2 is just a trial: I would like more.


Plated Geopede: a 5/5 as often as not, and if not, it's generally a 3/3 in the first 4-5 turns: and by then, the opponent should be dead.


Scute Mob: A rare LATE-GAME plan for Zoo, Scute Mob can become a 5/5 for one in the lategame: a super Wild Nacatl. It gets bigger and bigger, too. And all for one mana.


Quest for the Gravelord: With lots of creatures dying, how better to bust the game back open after Blue gains control than with an uncounterable 5/5 creature?


I think this deck is something to watch out for come Extended season: although it will probably be tuned by better hands than mine. Enjoy the decklist!


Until next time, may you not be shy to embrace new tech.