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Thirst for Knowledge: Aggression EvolvedBy Chris Jobin on March 25th, 2009 · Filed in Thirst for Knowledge, Extended (Type 1.x) · 13 CommentsSince the beginning of the game, players everywhere have always flocked to the aggressive decks. Long thought to be the "easy" decks to play, many players eventually found out that these types of decks could indeed be just as mentally taxing as the average control deck. Of course there are exceptions, but once in a while you're sure to stumble on an aggro deck that just challenges you as a player. When I started playing Magic, I was the type of player that enjoyed aggressive strategies (like a lot of newbies). However, it wasn't until Ravnica that I first played an aggro deck that made me really think (I'm not entirely sure if that was due to the fact that I was advancing as a player, or that I had finally found an aggro deck that was difficult to pilot), and that was the turning point for me. The deck? RGW Zoo, of course.
With a rock-solid manabase and some of the most beefy, cost-efficient creatures to ever see print, the Zoo deck was at the top of the food chain. Stomping Ground plus Kird Ape was easily one of the best combos in the format at the time, and burn spells like Char and Lightning Helix made for what was perhaps the best burn suite a Standard deck has ever known (arguably even better than the decks that got to play Fireblast, though that in itself might be a stretch). Zoo decks are notorious for dealing a considerable amount of damage to themselves, and this iteration of the deck was even more brutal on its pilot than those of previous years. Lightning Helix and Umezawa's Jitte out of the sideboard helped to alleviate the pain, but with twelve shocklands and four copies of Char (not to mention the painlands) it was usually not enough. The upside to dealing upwards of eight damage to yourself in an average game? Well, I'm sure it's no surprise that the deck was incredibly aggressive and innately resilient to most control strategies, but the suicidal nature of the Zoo deck also allows it the edge against other aggressive decks as well since the tradeoff was bigger and better creatures for the same cost as "regular" beaters. Easily my favorite burn spell in the game. Regardless of how much I enjoyed the summer I spent playing Zoo, the necessary cards for the deck eventually rotated out of Standard like all cards are condemned to do. I found myself once again with a control deck in my hands after that, and the rest is history. I knew, deep down, that there would come a day when I would swing with Kird Ape again, but it was unclear to me when that day would come. *** The spring following the release of Time Spiral, a friend of mine suggested that I get into Extended. I had only dabbled in the format here and there up until that point, so I decided to give the format a shot. At that point in time, Next Level Blue had already been brought into the picture by Mr. Chapin, and as such I immediately found myself piloting that deck. We did a lot of testing against the Extended Zoo deck (called "Domain Zoo" or "Gaea's Might Get There"), but I never played it in a PTQ or anything. My playtest partner ended up running the deck once or twice, but I never had the cards to do so (I was missing fetches at the time). Aside from that, I was also a bit too fascinated with the blue decks in the format to resort to getting aggressive with 2/2s (unless they were named Trinket Mage, that is). Here's a taste of last season's Extended version of Zoo:
In Extended, the addition of lands like Windswept Heath allowed for the Zoo deck to not only play a more stable manabase, but also to play additional colors at almost no cost (other than life) to itself. Black brought card advantage to the deck via Dark Confidant, and also land destruction/threat removal in Vindicate. Splashing both blue and black in tandem with the RGW package, "Domain" Zoo could also utilize what many would consider one of the most cost-efficient burn spells of all time: Tribal Flames. When you take a deck that already plays incredibly cheap and powerful creatures as well as amazing burn spells like Lightning Helix and suddenly allow it to have a spell that can knock off five points of life for just two mana, the results are easy to predict. Two mana for five damage? Really? *** Fast forward eight months or so, and the 2008/2009 Extended season was about to begin. One of the forerunners among the viable aggressive decks in the new format was, no surprise to anyone, Domain Zoo. Oblivion Ring had stepped up to replace Vindicate despite not hitting lands, and Tidehollow Sculler had taken over the slot of Grim Lavamancer (as there was no realistic replacement). Other burn spells and the like filled the void left by Gaea's Might (mostly cards like Seal of Fire, Tarfire, and Shadow Guildmage). Shards of Alara had also brought the deck Wild Nacatl, which is about as close to a true Godsend that any deck has gotten in ages. The new cast lining up to take on the Extended metagame looked tough enough to stand tall as a contender, and stand tall it did for the beginning of the season. The Zoo deck was one of the most-played decks at Pro Tour-Berlin, but the rise of the Elf deck (as well as the Faerie deck) caused the Domain Zoo archetype to take a step out of the spotlight. And away from the spotlight it remained for many months. Around mid-to-late January of this year, a new take on Zoo in Extended emerged. It was only three colors (choosing to cut both black and blue), and featured a bulkier creature suite as well as maindeck copies of Sulfuric Vortex, a card previously only used in the mono-red burn decks of Extended. Here's a look:
What's different about this version of the deck (aside from the obvious lack of the fourth and fifth colors, that is)? It actually looks like a burn deck, but with a small creature package to go along with it. The regular beaters are all present and accounted for, though this list does not contain Mogg Fanatic. A very heavy burn suite accompanies the creatures, and Sulfuric Vortex allows the deck to apply an incredible amount of pressure on the blue decks of the format without lifting a finger. Because Zoo decks hurt themselves so badly in order to curve out so efficiently, Pulse of the Forge is often a recurring burn spell that is hard to counter - Rift Bolt likewise dodges the traditional counterspells of the Faerie deck and its ilk. Creatures like Keldon Marauders give players relying on Control Magic effects a headache, and Seal of Fire returns to the stage as a powerful tool to disrupt Spellstutter Sprite shenanigans. Too aggressive for even Zoo? These days, Naya Zoo is one of the most awkward match-ups a Faerie player could face in the Swiss rounds of a PTQ. While traditional Zoo decks are favorable to Faeries, the Naya deck is closer to 50/50 (or, more realistically, Naya Zoo is favored in the match-up) these days due to Volcanic Fallout. With a host of ways to dodge the efficiency of Spellstutter Sprite as well as tons of strong burn spells and the ability to steal wins with Volcanic Fallout, Naya Zoo has fought its way to the top of the Extended tiers, and as of the writing of this article stands alongside Faeries as the "deck to beat" in the format. Further proving its worth to the world, Naya Zoo helped its pilot Tomoharu Saito win Grand Prix Singapore this past weekend. Below is his winning list:
The first thing you might notice about Saito's deck is that he chose to forgo Sulfuric Vortex entirely, and instead decided to run a full set of Woolly Thoctars. I would imagine the reasoning behind this was that he assessed that Sulfuric Vortex only really applied pressure on blue decks if you yourself were in a position where you could drop your opponent's life total faster than he could finish off yours. This seems like a reasonable (and probably quite obvious) observation, but the importance here is how often the aggressive deck just can't get there. In the event that you resolve a Sulfuric Vortex, it is not always guaranteed that you will be able to finish the job through the waves of counterspells that the Faerie deck is capable of slinging your way. The strongest draw of Sulfuric Vortex is its ability to effectively shut down the life-gaining aspect of Umezawa's Jitte and company, but the reality of the situation is that the blue player can simply bounce the enchantment and do whatever he wants while you watch your fool-proof plan fall apart before your eyes. Not playing the card also allows the Zoo player to play his own Jittes, and I can't find a good reason not to do that if I had the option to do so. Well...it is a 5/4. Gaddock Teeg in the maindeck is a rather interesting development, also, as it doesn't play that well with Volcanic Fallout. Due to the fact that you'll be boarding in Volcanic Fallout against a deck like Faeries (a match-up where Gaddock Teeg is quite good), I can see how this decision might sometimes be a bit clunky. On the other hand, if you land an early Teeg and he sticks long enough, I don't think you'll mind if you don't get to use the Volcanic Fallout in your hand. Besides, they'll eventually have to deal with the 2/2 at some point, and when they do you can always hit them (and the whole board) for two when they finally make a move. Saito also chose to play Path to Exile, which is a choice I was originally against. My reasoning was that a card that did not drop my opponent's life total was not good enough for the maindeck, but with more consideration it seems to me that the ability to off any threat (whether it be a Sower of Temptation against Faeries or a Woolly Thoctar in the mirror) just seems too strong in this format not to take advantage of. The card also pairs well with Oblivion Ring after sideboarding to create an even more efficient removal package than the burn suite already included. Fetching two of these with Ranger? Nuts. *** This Extended season has seen me partake in five PTQs thus far. Some haven gone well, and others have gone poorly. In each event I piloted Faeries, and each time I felt confident that that was the correct choice; this past weekend I attended the second PTQ in Garden City, Michigan, and it was no different. I played a UB Faerie list with maindeck Damnation and a tuned sideboard for both Zoo and Loam decks. The list I had settled on was great, and I was in tip-top shape for the event (lots of sleep, plenty of testing, etc). However, I ended up going 0-2 (and then dropped, obviously) in the tournament. How, you ask? Well, in the first round I played against Brad Tinney and took him to time in game three. He was piloting Naya Zoo, and ended up finishing me off just in time to win the match with a Volcanic Fallout that I could not find the Venser for. In the following round, I played against Naya again and lost in a similar way in game three (although this time it was not in turns). I played fine in all six games I played, and I don't feel as though I made any mistakes. The issue was, simply, that I lost to a card that I simply could do nothing about. Aside from having the proper blue Legend in my hand, I have no outs as a Faerie player to a card like Volcanic Fallout. Ironically, Saito used the card in a similar fashion to win game three of the finals in Singapore the next day, so I felt a little bit better about my blowouts. I suppose the moral of this story is that in this metagame, it certainly is possible to be taken out of games you deserve to win based solely on the existence of one card. And, if such is the case, I think it might be in my best interest to try playing the game from the opposite side of the table, and return to my roots as an aggressive player. That being said, here is what I plan to play this weekend in Indianapolis (barring some last-minute changes I'm sure to make, which I'm more than willing to bet will be brought on by Mr. Dale DeWood), which will mark the first time in years that I've played an aggressive deck in any large event:
The sideboard as of now is still up in the air, but it will obviously include Volcanic Fallout. It's strange for me to imagine myself playing this deck, and even more so for me to consider not playing Faeries. I know that if I run this deck and don't perform well that I will somehow feel like I let Faeries down (as if I somehow see the deck as an entity or something with thoughts and feelings), but I think now is the time for me to play the deck I feel has the best shot at winning a large PTQ (like that following a 5K), regardless of whether or not it is the deck I have been playing all season. I think it will be nice for me to go back to the days of turning dudes sideways and slinging burn spells; somehow playtesting with decks like this all the time just isn't the same as making it your own deck choice for a large event. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Besides, I feel like this is a strong list in the metagame right now. I think Saito had it right almost to a tee, and with that I can say that I fully endorse the list I just presented. It has the tools to fight Faeries, Elves, combo, the mirror, and even Loam (though a number of those match-ups need to be addressed in the sideboard), and that, when combined with the impressive reputation and history that proceeds it, makes Naya Zoo easily one of the top choices for the remainder of the 2009 Extended season. When you consider a deck to run until the season ends in April, this one should be in your top three picks, without a doubt. *** And with that, folks, I must depart. There is still much playtesting to be done with the remainder of the week, and I have little time to do it. If you're going to be attending the Star City Games 5K in Indianapolis, be sure to look me up! And should you be unfortunate enough to play me in either the 5K or the PTQ on Sunday, I hope you come prepared! Until next time, Chris "Shinjutsei" Jobin By Chris Jobin on March 25th, 2009 · Filed in Thirst for Knowledge, Extended (Type 1.x) · 13 Comments |
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