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Every Extend(ed) Extra Part 1: Aggro/Aggro ControlBy The Aardvark on February 28th, 2007 · Filed in Extended (Type 1.x) · 8 CommentsExtended is quite the interesting format. It is quite deep, with 22 legal sets as I write this, but it is also constantly fluctuating. In the fall of 2005, the format had two significant changes occur: 1) Three blocks and a base set rotated out, and 2) Ravnica: City of Guilds was released. The combination of these two factors breathed new life into the format and allowed for new innovation in deck design, with an unprecedented number of distinctly different decks now being viable.
Both of these builds are from the 2006 Worlds archive, and both lists performed very well. There are significant differences between these lists, but the primary one is that the second build splashes green for cards that can dominate the aggro matchups, particularly the mirror. Let's look at each a little more closely. On the first list, the core of the deck is pretty much the same as it has been for most of the past year, aside from the exclusion of the "new" kid on the block, Soltari Priest. The deck's designer obviously wanted more burn to finish off opponents after sweepers like Wrath Of God, and Char certainly helps in that area. However, the aggro matchups can prove to be problematic, especially the mirror. As most builds include Soltari Priest, they can afford to trade creatures and burn, knowing that the Priest is the trump in the matchup. In addition, while Lava Dart can be really strong in the mirror and a couple of other matchups, against the majority of the field it’s not going to be overly efficient, costing you two cards to kill anything X/2. Sudden Shock is definitely more efficient, and can wreak havoc against certain cards (Wild Mongrel, Psychatog, Umezawa’s Jitte, etc.), and still deal the same two damage at the cost of one card. The sideboard definitely needs tweaking for a PTQ environment, as TEPS is one of the big decks, and you need some kind of answer for it. It seems that, overall, this build would be fairly solid against the control decks in large part to the additional burn, most notably Char. However, it seems that the aggro, aggro/control, and combo matchups would be problematic, as the deck has few answers to bigger, better creatures and the storm mechanic. On the second list, the deck has been subtly changed to allow for better early pressure. With the inclusion of Kird Ape, the deck now has 14 1-drops, 10 of which have a power of two. That greatly changes the deck's early game, as it will almost assuredly have a creature on turn one, and Kird Ape is about the best 1-drop there is against aggro, as its 3 toughness (assuming you have a Stomping Ground or Temple Garden in play) will often require your opponent to two-for-one themselves to get rid of it early. The rest of the maindeck is remarkably similar to other Boros builds, with Soltari Priest and Grim Lavamancer usually doing the dirty work or batting cleanup. The maindeck itself is very solid, with nothing leaping out to destroy any one deck or archetype. The sideboard, however, is very good, with Armadillo Cloak, Umezawa's Jitte, and Worship to dominate the aggro matchups; Pyrostatic Pillar for the combo matchups; and Ancient Grudge for a variety of different matchups. It seems that this build would have greater success in a PTQ environment, as the maindeck lacks any significant weaknesses aside from those endemic to any aggro deck, and the sideboard allows the deck to improve against just about any particular deck you would play against. Our next deck is a wacky little thing using some mildly surprising cards...
Taking some of the basic components of the traditional Zoo deck, this build includes Gaea’s Might and Tribal Flames in conjunction with every basic land type via the Ravnica Block duals to deal large amounts of damage. Boros Swiftblade, when slapped with Gaea's Might, is a truly frightening prospect; it is downright evil when combined with Armadillo Cloak. The creatures are all very aggressive and efficient, allowing the deck to only have eight mana producing lands, and Grim Lavamancer gives the deck some much needed late-game reach, allowing you to deal the last few points or help clear out blockers. The sideboard is fairly basic, with cards to help prevent the control decks from stabilizing (Molten Rain), cards to help pressure the combo players (Pyrostatic Pillar), and utility cards (Ancient Grudge, Krosan Grip, Vindicate) to help shore up various matchups and destroy any troublesome permanents. This is possibly the most flat out aggressive deck in the format, and you need to be prepared for Boros Swiftblade to deal 12 to your dome on turn three or you’ll be dead in very short order. Next up we have a deck that has been gaining a lot of popularity since Worlds...
This deck, the winner of the 1/27 PTQ in Indianapolis, is quite a bit different than the original list that Stuart Wright ran at Worlds, adding more efficient spells and creatures while keeping the same game plan. The strength of this deck lies in the metagame itself; more specifically, the control and combo decks of the format. The deck looks to drop some early beats with a turn two or three Destructive Flow, which will wreck the mana of 60-70% of the decks played in the format, particularly the "big mana" decks like U/W Tron/Cloudpost and Tooth & Nail. Playing a lot of fetch lands and basics allows the deck to operate normally under Destructive Flow, playing threats while the opponent struggles to develop their manabase. Obviously, the Flow deck will have the advantage against the nonbasic-heavy control and combo decks, but something that is overlooked is the potential to lock the other aggro decks out of the game with an early Flow. Both Boros Deck Wins and Affinity rely on nonbasics almost exclusively, so an early Flow can really knock them off of their game plan early and allow your threats to come online, almost all of which outclass theirs, especially when combined with the maindeck equipment. All in all, Aggro Flow has developed into a very good deck with a format defining card in Destructive Flow, and you can definitely count on seeing this deck near the top tables of many PTQ. Now, from one Rock style list to another...
Eschewing the third color for a more stable manabase, this is the kind of deck I like a lot; after all, I did qualify for Honolulu with a B/G Aggro Rock list in 2005, so it will always be a sentimental favorite. That aside, while not as powerful in the abstract without the presence of Destructive Flow, the deck has a lot going for it, particularly a solid disruption and removal suite. Smother is a card that has been sort of forgotten with the printing of Putrefy, but it kills many troublesome creatures in the current metagame, and is a definite addition if you expect a good amount of aggro. The ubiquitous Duress and Cabal Therapy are also here, allowing you to clear out the opponent's hand of any dangerous cards and continue swinging. The creatures are slightly different than many builds, as this build has no Dark Confidant but does include Wild Mongrel. The creature that really stands out here is Wretched Anurid, as it is rarely seen in competitive play. As a 2cc 3/3, it’s a quick, beefy guy that allows you to really get the beats started against control and combo; as a liability against aggro, though, you may find yourself slow to play it or even siding it out. The sideboard is pretty interesting, although it does have many of the usual suspects, like Engineered Plague, Pernicious Deed, and Krosan Grip; the odd card here is Braids, Cabal Minion, which can actually be a sort of Destructive Flow against many of the decks, as they will often sacrifice lands/mana accelerators to satisfy her needs. Although she is at the 4cc slot, she is practically a must-counter for the control decks, allowing you to get other threats online, and if she resolves, you can grind them into submission. As this PTQ proved, the right build of B/G Aggro can really take you far, and I definitely feel that it is an underrated deck due to the hype surrounding Aggro Flow. You may see some versions with a white splash for various cards like Loxodon Hierarch, Vindicate, Armadillo Cloak and the like, since the deck is very customizable. This next deck is one championed by none other than Mike Flores a few weeks ago...
This deck is all about consistency. Aside from the mana producers, the creatures in this deck are all beefy and will win most fights against other aggro decks. The full set of Eternal Dragon looks out of place, but they give the deck both deck thinning and late game reach, giving the deck trumps to Exalted Angel. Another inclusion that seems abnormal at first glance is the presence of Worship. However, in conjunction with Troll Ascetic (and, in a pinch, Vitu-Ghazi), it creates a sort of soft lock against aggro decks, as they typically can’t remove the Troll, and they often have zero maindeck outs to Worship. The matchups against control and combo are not as good, but that's where the sideboard comes in. Plow Under is devastating against control decks (and, let's be honest, most decks in general), and Rule of Law really slows down the combo decks, allowing you to get some extra beats in. Again, this deck should be terrific in an aggro heavy field, and the sideboard allows you to customize the deck to beat the harder control and combo matchups. It may not be flashy, but it is pretty solid, so people will be drawn to it for consistency's sake. Next up, a deck that has fallen in the eyes of many since the end of last year's PTQ season...
The second half the last year's Extended PTQ season was dominated by Ichorid, as there were few immediate answers to multiple hasted 3/1s every turn. In case you have never seen the deck in action, the optimal turn one play is Putrid Imp, discard Stinkweed Imp or Golgari Grave-Troll, and on turn two, start dredging like mad. There are other ways to accomplish this: Zombie Infestation, Wild Mongrel, Careful Study, and Tolarian Winds all put cards into the graveyard to allow the dredge mechanic to start work on turn two. The deck frequently has half of its deck in the graveyard by turn three, with multiple Ichorids coming out every turn thereafter; it can also win with a very large Psychatog in a similar manner. Ichorid is incredibly consistent, and can get around the majority of graveyard hate with the sideboard: Pithing Needle shuts off Withered Wretch and Tormod's Crypt (as well as many other cards for different matchups), while Ray of Revelation takes care of Leyline of the Void if that card doesn't come down on turn zero. If you don’t take sideboards into account, Ichorid is the most blatantly powerful deck in Extended. Do not discount it just because it can die to graveyard hate, as some people WILL play it regardless. Our next aggro deck is one that still evokes nightmares in many players who played Standard and Extended in the first half of 2004...
Thank God they banned Skullclamp, Aether Vial, and Public Enemy #1: Disciple Of The Vault. For the very few of you who have never seen it work, the deck revolves around the Affinity mechanic and making Arcbound Ravager (and, in some builds, Atog) bigger by sacrificing your artifacts; Cranial Plating allows even Ornithopter to swing for lethal damage. Affinity can be brutally fast, and can refuel from the cards drawn via the Chromatic pieces and Thoughtcast. Some versions cut blue for more potentially powerful cards like Dark Confidant, while others focus more on blue with Erayo, Soratami Ascendant; the deck is pretty customizable, and you can even play hate cards like Tormod's Crypt and Pithing Needle maindeck without any real drawbacks, as they help the Affinity mechanic and can be Ravager/Atog food. The deck seemed to have fallen out of favor in most circles due to Boros being a bad matchup, and hate cards like Pernicious Deed and Kataki, War’s Wage. It seems that, as per usual, the reports of Affinity’s death were greatly exaggerated. I was witness to that at the PTQ in Indianapolis on 1/27, as three Affinity builds made the T8, including this list. The lure of Affinity is twofold: it is very inexpensive to build, and it is very explosive, allowing you to win games in short order. If you expect a field full of Tron/Cloudpost type decks, Affinity may very well send you to Yokohama. Unless your deck has a good/great matchup against it, definitely relegate some sideboard space to it, as it will be played. Next up are a few decks that fall in the realm of aggro-control, packing disruption in some form (counters or mana denial) while the efficient creatures kill the opponent. First up, a deck with deep roots in Invasion Block Constructed...
Also called The Solution (and various other names), this deck was designed to defeat a specific metagame, and it did exactly that, going 6-0 at Worlds. Aside from the use of the Sensei's Divining Top/Counterbalance combo, this deck features a toolbox in the form of Trinket Mage and various 0-1cc artifacts. This allows the deck to fight many different strategies game one that it might otherwise lose to with solutions like Engineered Explosives, Pithing Needle, and Tormod's Crypt. The creature selection is very solid all around, with Silver Knight shining against aggro decks, Meddling Mage shining against combo and control, and Exalted Angel batting cleanup. Another nice innovation is the inclusion of maindeck Stifle, which can stop everything from a timely fetch land to a Mind's Desire; it’s an incredibly versatile card, and it allows you to steal games with the proper timing. The sideboard helps to shore up the troublesome Affinity matchup, as well as providing additional disruption for the combo and control matchups. With a solid game against a diverse field, this is definitely a deck to look out for. Next up we have deck similar in concept to Trinket Angel, but with a different gameplan...
Trinket Mage is showing up everywhere these days, allowing players to search for various answers at a very reasonable cost. This deck differs quite a bit from Trinket Angel, though, as it uses Chalice of the Void to pseudo-lock an opponent instead of Counterbalance/Top, and looks to completely smash aggro decks with its superior creatures and Armadillo Cloak. Combining the creatures and Trinket toolbox with Ghost Quarter allows you to have game against the Urzatron/Cloudpost decks as well, and the combo matchups can be decent as well game one. The sideboard has a wide range of helpful cards, with Meddling Mage in particular helping out against both control and combo. One card I like to gush about is Phantom Centaur, because I don’t think it sees enough play; I won the PTQ last season largely on the back of this monster, and if he is equipped/Cloaked, he’s nearly impossible to kill. More recently there has been an evolution of sorts for this deck, adding a black splash for Cabal Therapy and Duress out of the sideboard. To wit:
The deck definitely looks a little different, but it is primarily a cosmetic change, as the core remains the same, and the deck still plays the same way. The manabase is quite different, upping the fetch count to allow you to hit all four colors more easily. In addition, the sideboard has been tweaked to accommodate the new manabase, dropping Meddling Mage in favor of Duress, and adding Putrefy to replace Krosan Grip, allowing a bit more flexibility for some matchups. I'm not certain about the changes made to the deck, as Meddling Mage is a house; however, Kyle piloted this build to a solid finish at GP: Dallas. Also keep in mind that a build with the black splash won SCG's $1K Extended tournament a couple of weeks ago, so it obviously has merit. Now for a deck that hasn't been seen in competitive circles for a while...
Opposition was once a card to be feared, but its most recent relevance was its last hurrah in Standard back in 2003. Since then, it has been on the fringe in Extended, but never really making a splash. It is possible that this could have been a flash in the pan; only time will tell. However, mana denial, in this case with Opposition and Static Orb, has rarely been stronger in Extended, so I expect to see this deck a few more times in the PTQ season. For those who are unaware, your goal is simple: get a few fast creatures out, play Opposition, locking your opponent out of mana every turn, and then drop Static Orb. Once Static Orb is in play, you can break its symmetry by tapping it on your opponent’s turn, allowing you to untap everything on your side. There are many cards that will allow the opponent to break out of this soft lock (Putrefy and Krosan Grip to name two), but those cards are not always played maindeck, so in some cases you may be able to hard lock your opponent with Static Orb. The issue with the deck is that unless you have Opposition, you have primarily a bunch of 1/1 dorks. The deck designer uses two ways to subvert this: Spectral Force and Umezawa's Jitte. The Force is just that, a force, and will smash through pretty much any blockers. Umezawa's Jitte, as has been discussed for the past two years, is a beating against anything aggro, simultaneously keeping your creature alive and smashing your opponent's board. The deck seems to have a strong game plan; it really depends on how quickly you can drop the lock pieces and keep the opponent locked down. The sideboard addresses some weaknesses, and can even press mana denial further in the form of Stifle and Voidslime (on fetch lands), but it is more of a utility sideboard, giving you a broad range of effects in 15 cards. If the deck can get its game plan going, I would definitely expect it to win the vast majority of its matches, so I expect to see it win a few more Top 8 slots in the next few weeks. Next we have an aggro-control deck that evolved from last season's CAL control decks...
Last Extended PTQ season featured the development of CAL, a control deck built around the combination of Solitary Confinement, Seismic Assault, and Life From The Loam. After the Extended PTQs ended, the online community worked to evolve the deck, and this is the result. Packed with disruption in the form of discard and mana denial, the deck has many ways to overwhelm the opponent with card advantage, and can either develop the board over a longer game, or go for the throat with an early Devastating Dreams and Terravore. In addition, the deck can win simply via the Life from the Loam/Seismic Assault combo, pitching lands at the opponent until they are dead. Burning Wish allows the deck to tutor for answers to many problems, or to get the engine itself going. With a lot of redundancy, the deck can get its plan online very quickly, and Devastating Dreams will pretty much blow away the opponent 90% of the time, allowing Terravore to mop them up. The sideboard is comprised of the Wish targets for additional disruption and removal as well as answers to Tormod’s Crypt/Withered Wretch. A very good deck, just beware Chalice of the Void and graveyard hate. Before I finish, I'd like to give a brief breakdown of how the above decks have done in the first month of PTQs. Note: this is through February 25th (including GP: Dallas). Boros Deck Wins (including splashes): 13 Gaea's Might Get There: 5 Aggro Flow: 14 Aggro Rock (including W splash): 4 G/W Haterator: 8 Ichorid: 2 Affinity: 22 Trinket Angel: 3 W/G/U Trinket (King In The Castle): 3 U/G Opposition: 5 Aggro Loam: 19 Rogue: 10 As you can see, Affinity has put up the numbers; however, Aggro Loam has really come on in the last few weeks, largely due to the return to past tech in the form of Dark Confidant. Aggro Flow has done pretty well so far as well, as its disruption package and quick, resilient creatures really cause headaches for most decks. Boros appears to be making a slight surge, which is likely due to Affinity's popularity, so don’t be surprised to see Boros make waves as we close in on the end of the season. One more note, and that is regarding my use of the term "Rogue". I am combining all of the aggro/aggro control style lists that are not discussed above and classifying them as rogue. There are a couple of decks that are sort of "known" (B/W Deadguy and Balancing Tings most notably) included in that, but they are a very marginal part of the metagame, and are really out of the mainstream at this time. Hence the classification of "rogue". I would like to conclude by saying that while I may not have discussed every single aggro or aggro control deck, I feel I have represented those aspects of the metagame fairly accurately. There will always be new decks evolving, especially with new sets being released three (or four) times every year, so no list can ever be 100% comprehensive. I stand by the content included in this article, and I look forward to my next article, where I will tackle the control and combo decks in the current Extended environment. Until then, remember: What's past is prologue. By The Aardvark on February 28th, 2007 · Filed in Extended (Type 1.x) · 8 Comments |
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