Welcome back! In Part 1, I covered the aggro and aggro-control decks that you are most likely to see while playing in PTQs this Extended season. This edition will cover the flip side: control and combo. As in the previous article, I will be discussing the decks that have proven to be the most popular and/or successful, so there are certain decks you may not see mentioned specifically.

So, without further ado, let's start with one of the preseason favorites...

Shaheen Sorani—U/W Tron 2006 World Championship
CREATURES 2x Eternal Dragon 2x Exalted Angel 2x Solemn Simulacrum SPELLS 4x Condescend 4x Fact or Fiction 4x Remand 3x Repeal 3x Decree of Justice 3x Wrath of God 2x Renewed Faith ARTIFACTS 4x Azorius Signet 3x Mindslaver 1x Talisman of Progress	LAND 4x Hallowed Fountain 4x Urza's Mine 4x Urza's Power Plant 4x Urza's Tower 1x Academy Ruins 1x Adarkar Wastes 3x Island 2x Plains	SIDEBOARD 4x Meddling Mage 3x Sphere of Law 3x Sun Droplet 3x Tormod's Crypt 2x Trickbind

Any deck with Urza lands has the capability of dominating, and this is no exception. Obviously, the deck likes to stall with Condescend, Remand, and Repeal, finally Wrathing away the board and setting up for the win with its draw spells into Decree of Justice or Mindslaver + Academy Ruins. The sideboard has several cards for the aggro matchups, as well as hate for the combo players in the form of Meddling Mage and Trickbind, allowing you to buy time until you can set up your mid/late game. When this deck was played, Aggro Flow was not really on the radar, so you definitely want to be wary of that, as they can lock you out as early as turn 1 with Destructive Flow. Even though many of the slots in the deck are pretty much set in stone, there are several additional options presented by alternate builds. Here is one such example:

Richard Feldman—Tenacious Tron 5th Place—Nashville, TN—1/27/07
CREATURES 1x Platinum Angel 1x Razormane Masticore 1x Sundering Titan SPELLS 4x Condescend 4x Remand 4x Thirst for Knowledge 3x Gifts Ungiven 3x Wrath of God 2x Repeal 2x Decree of Justice ARTIFACTS 4x Chalice of the Void 4x Chrome Mox 3x Azorius Signet 1x Crucible of Worlds 1x Engineered Explosives 1x Mindslaver	LAND 4x Urza's Mine 4x Urza's Power Plant 4x Urza's Tower 3x Hallowed Fountain 2x Skycloud Expanse 1x Academy Ruins 1x Flooded Strand 1x Petrified Field 1x Island	SIDEBOARD 2x Repeal 2x Engineered Explosives 2x Platinum Angel 2x Razormane Masticore 2x Ghost Quarter 1x Gifts Ungiven 1x Mindslaver 1x Serrated Arrows 1x Tormod's Crypt 1x Academy Ruins

Designed by Feldman and Zac Hill, this build differs significantly from most "conventional" builds, cutting the card advantage factor of Fact or Fiction in favor of the raw power of Gifts Ungiven. There are only a handful of piles that you would ever conceivably construct, but almost all of them give you an out or the Mindslaver lock (a pile of Mindslaver, Crucible Of Worlds, Academy Ruins, and Petrified Field will do the trick). One of the deck’s biggest strengths is the presence of a full set of Chalice of the Void, a card which can devastate the game plans of many opposing decks, allowing you to essentially ride it to victory. In addition, the finisher suite is deceptively powerful, with the usual suspects (Sundering Titan, Decree of Justice) backed up by the "new" toys: Platinum Angel and Razormane Masticore. The Angel can steal games where the opponent has no maindeck outs, sometimes allowing you to essentially win on turn three. The Razormane, on the other hand, mows down opposing creatures brutally and efficiently, caring nothing about their color or casting cost; he is indiscriminant in his killing, and has quite the large body as well. If the deck has a definite weakness, it is against Destructive Flow; unless you can drop Crucible before they drop Flow, and protect it, you will be in for a hard time, as the one basic land should tell you. Aside from that inherent weakness, this build is quite strong, and I expect to see it more often as the season winds down.

Next up is another flavor of U/W "big mana", courtesy of the home of shapeshifters...

Josh Stewart—Trinket-Post 4th Place—Los Angeles, CA—2/3/07
CREATURES 3x Trinket Mage 2x Exalted Angel 2x Triskelion SPELLS 4x Fact or Fiction 4x Spell Snare 4x Talisman of Progress 3x Condescend 3x Thirst for Knowledge 3x Wrath of God 2x Decree of Justice 2x Mindslaver 1x Azorius Signet 1x Chalice of the Void 1x Engineered Explosives 1x Pithing Needle	LAND 4x Cloudpost 4x Hallowed Fountain 4x Vesuva 3x Adarkar Wastes 3x Flooded Strand 1x Academy Ruins 1x Ancient Den 1x Seat of the Synod 3x Island	SIDEBOARD 3x Disenchant 3x Sphere of Law 2x Arcane Laboratory 2x Chalice of the Void 2x Tormod's Crypt 1x Rule of Law 1x Engineered Explosives 1x Pithing Needle

Although there are several differences in card choices, Trinket-Post plays very similarly to U/W Tron: draw cards, eliminate threats, establish control, and either win via big threats or lock out the game with Mindslaver recursion. The primary difference is, of course, the mana base. This setup has advantages and disadvantages, naturally. The primary advantage is that the Cloudpost/Vesuva engine will produce more mana than Tron, with a combination of 3 Cloudpost/Vesuva producing nine mana, whereas a set of Tron will "only" produce seven mana, and so forth. Another positive is that you will have four more slots open for colored mana sources, which is sometimes hard to come by in the big mana decks. The primary disadvantage is the fact that without a Cloudpost, Vesuva is not particularly relevant. In addition, your mana engine comes into play tapped, which can sometimes spell doom for you against some of the faster aggro decks. I can’t claim to know which mana engine is "better", because there are countless variables involved; I can only say that both are powerful and should be feared. The other relevant difference regarding this build is the inclusion of Trinket Mage and his toolbox. As discussed before, the Mage allows you to play 1-of answers maindeck, and in conjunction with Academy Ruins, you can really improve some matchups by recurring Tormod's Crypt or Engineered Explosives. Trinket-Post allows for more flexibility within the maindeck, but is it "better" than Tron? It's hard to say. Either way, you'll see plenty of both, especially in a field light on Destructive Flow.


Next we’ll give a shout out to an "old" favorite...

Davin Frankosky—Scepter-Chant 1st Place—High Point, NC—2/17/07
CREATURES 3x Dwarven Blastminer 1x Eternal Dragon 1x Exalted Angel SPELLS 4x Counterspell 4x Thirst for Knowledge 3x Cunning Wish 3x Fact or Fiction 3x Force Spike 3x Wrath of God 3x Fire/Ice 2x Orim's Chant 1x Absorb 1x Lightning Helix	ARTIFACTS 4x Isochron Scepter 1x Chrome Mox LAND 4x Flooded Strand 3x Adarkar Wastes 2x Sacred Foundry 2x Seat of the Synod 2x Steam Vents 1x Academy Ruins 1x Ancient Den 1x Hallowed Fountain 5x Island 2x Plains	SIDEBOARD 3x Morningtide 2x Disenchant 1x Echoing Truth 1x Hinder 1x Stifle 1x Dwarven Blastminer 1x Exalted Angel 1x Orim's Chant 1x Pulse of The Fields 1x Wing Shards 1x Fire/Ice 1x Lightning Helix

Typically, Scepter-Chant is one of the more homogenous decks in the format, with most builds being very similar, barring the occasional tech. This build, however, is definitely not the norm, as it has cut Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir in favor of Dwarven Blastminer. While weakening the actual lock aspect of the deck, it helps in some of the more troublesome matchups like Tron and Trinket-Post. Regardless, the main plan is to imprint Orim's Chant onto Isochron Scepter to keep the opponent from playing spells and attacking until you can clear their board and deal lethal damage with creatures and/or burn spells. More to the norm, the deck has the usual countermagic, and can always imprint Counterspell onto the Scepter to stall until it finds a way to win, which will often be Cunning Wish into Lightning Helix onto the Scepter. Because of the large amounts of cheap permission plus the removal (and Cunning Wish), aggro matchups aren’t terribly bad for Scepter-Chant, Ichorid notwithstanding. The sideboard is very Wish-centric, containing a lot of the tools you'll need for most situations you can expect to see, in addition to answers for Ichorid and Destructive Flow. In all, a very innovative build for a stale deck, and obviously a strong one as well. I would still try to fit Teferi in somewhere, but that’s just me, I guess.

Our next control deck is an evolved form of a deck I know well...

Jesse Hawkins—Gifts Rock 6th Place—High Point, NC—2/17/07
CREATURES 4x Birds of Paradise 4x Sakura-Tribe Elder 3x Eternal Witness 3x Loxodon Hierarch 1x Genesis 1x Ravenous Baloth SPELLS 4x Gifts Ungiven 3x Cabal Therapy 3x Duress 3x Living Wish 2x Putrefy 1x Haunting Echoes 1x Smother 1x Plow Under 1x Global Ruin 1x Vindicate	ENCHANTMENTS 3x Pernicious Deed LAND 4x Overgrown Tomb 4x Windswept Heath 2x Polluted Delta 1x Breeding Pool 1x Godless Shrine 1x Golgari Rot-Farm 1x Hallowed Fountain 1x Temple Garden 2x Forest 1x Island 1x Plains 1x Swamp 1x Snow-Covered Forest	SIDEBOARD 2x Krosan Grip 1x Cabal Therapy 1x Duress 1x Withered Wretch 1x Meloku, the Clouded Mirror 1x Eternal Witness 1x Loaming Shaman 1x Kataki, War's Wage 1x Harmonic Sliver 1x Meddling Mage 1x Loxodon Hierarch 1x Pernicious Deed 1x Ghost Quarter 1x Golgari Rot-Farm

Based on The Rock of old, this deck is a card advantage house, with Gifts Ungiven allowing you to search out your engine (Genesis + Eternal Witness + 2 other cards), or to search for answers, or to search out threats. It has a nice disruption package for the combo and control matchups, as well as a variety of removal for the aggro matchups. It is a bit on the slow side, but the overall strategy is very powerful. Pernicious Deed can make a huge impact in some matchups, and Living Wish allows you to tutor for a threat to finish off the opponent after they have been overwhelmed by your card advantage. The sideboard again is Wish-centric, but it also contains some powerful spells to Gifts for to make the control and combo matchups a little better. This is one of the more skill intensive decks you will find in the format, so don't expect to pick it up the night before a tournament and do really well with it. The deck lends itself well to metagame customization while retaining the core strategy of winning with card advantage, and you will need to make more choices in each game than you would with most decks. It has sort of fallen by the wayside in favor of the more aggressive Flow-based Rock decks, but it has a lot of powerful cards, so never count it out.


Next, a control deck that may evoke nightmares in some players...

Daniel Neeley—Trinket-Tog 7th Place—High Point, NC—2/17/07
CREATURES 4x Dark Confidant 3x Trinket Mage 3x Psychatog 1x Meloku, the Clouded Mirror SPELLS 4x Counterspell 3x Ghastly Demise 3x Thirst for Knowledge 3x Spell Snare 2x Fact or Fiction 2x Repeal 1x Smother ENCHANTMENTS 3x Counterbalance ARTIFACTS 3x Sensei's Divining Top 1x Engineered Explosives 1x Pithing Needle 1x Tormod's Crypt	LAND 4x Polluted Delta 3x Flooded Strand 3x Watery Grave 1x Academy Ruins 1x Cephalid Coliseum 1x Hallowed Fountain 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds 1x Seat of the Synod 1x Vault of Whispers 6x Island 1x Swamp	SIDEBOARD 4x Duress 4x Kataki, War's Wage 2x Infest 2x Smother 2x Trickbind 1x Engineered Explosives

Regardless of how many times people say it, Psychatog will never die. After Time Spiral was unveiled, people again claimed that ‘Tog was dead, this time due primarily to Sudden Shock and Tormod's Crypt; they were, of course, wrong. As is becoming par for the course during this PTQ season, Trinket Mage rears its head again, primarily to set up the Counterbalance/Sensei's Divining Top combo, but also to tutor up the 1-of answers found in the maindeck. Dark Confidant makes an appearance, adding yet another card advantage engine to the deck, as well as being particularly good with Top. The Boros matchup is weakened by this, but it was probably dismissed as a threat since it has been persona non grata for most of the PTQ season. Instead, the deck builder chose to go for help with the Affinity menace, adding the very minor white splash to support the 4 copies of Kataki in the sideboard. There's just no getting rid of Dr. Teeth. Well, not until October of 2008, that is.

The final control deck I'll discuss today was once a very popular deck in Standard, but has sort of fallen off of the radar in recent times...

Shawn Iden—Astral Slide 5th Place—Madison, WI—2/10/07
CREATURES 4x Sakura-Tribe Elder 3x Eternal Witness 3x Loxodon Hierarch SPELLS 4x Living Wish 4x Gilded Light 4x Wrath of God 3x Life from the Loam 3x Plow Under 3x Renewed Faith	ENCHANTMENTS 4x Astral Slide LAND 4x Secluded Steppe 4x Tranquil Thicket 4x Windswept Heath 3x Nantuko Monastery 3x Temple Garden 4x Forest 3x Plains	SIDEBOARD 3x Krosan Grip 3x Orim's Chant 1x Eternal Witness 1x Loaming Shaman 1x Kataki, War's Wage 1x Harmonic Sliver 1x Loxodon Hierarch 1x Sundering Titan 1x Blinkmoth Well 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All 1x Ghost Quarter

Another very customizable deck, Slide is typically a house against any aggro deck, and with the proper build it can be successful against control and combo as well. The various builds usually have at least one soft lock of some kind, and in this case, you have Eternal Witness in conjunction with Plow Under; if you can establish control, you can cast Plow Under every turn using Eternal Witness with Astral Slide. In addition, out of the sideboard, you can also loop Orim's Chant. This deck's designer decided to go with the Living Wish plan, allowing for several answers in the sideboard, including answers to very problematic cards with Blinkmoth Well and Ghost Quarter. The Wishes also give you access to your big finisher: Sundering Titan. Traditionally, the Titan has been incredibly effective AGAINST Slide; in this case, you can devastate your opponent's manabase repeatedly if necessary while bashing in for the win. This build is slightly different than most that are seen, as it has no Eternal Dragon or Decree of Justice for the long game, preferring to rely on Nantuko Monastery and Wishes to finish the game. Many builds also splash black for disruption in the form of Duress and Cabal Therapy, or red for Dwarven Blastminer, which can wreck many a deck if it drops on turn 2. It is up to you to decide if this additional versatility is worth the weaker manabase.


Now we will look at the more successful combo decks in the environment. First, the school bully...

Jelger Wiegersma—TEPS 2006 World Championships
SPELLS 4x Cabal Ritual 4x Careful Study 4x Burning Wish 4x Rite of Flame 4x Seething Song 3x Duress 3x Sins of the Past 3x Mind's Desire 1x Tendrils of Agony 1x Chain of Vapor ARTIFACTS 4x Chromatic Star 4x Sensei's Divining Top	LAND 4x Ancient Spring 4x Geothermal Crevice 4x Sulfur Vent 3x Polluted Delta 2x Bloodstained Mire 1x Blood Crypt 1x Steam Vents 1x Watery Grave 1x Swamp	SIDEBOARD 4x Defense Grid 2x Chain of Vapor 1x Duress 1x Sins of the Past 1x Tendrils of Agony 1x Mind's Desire 1x Channel the Suns 1x Empty the Warrens 1x Pyroclasm 1x Shattering Spree 1x Hull Breach

Probably the most explosive deck in Extended, TEPS (which stands for The Extended Perfect Storm…yes, silly) has existed for a while, but it wasn’t until Rite of Flame was printed that it became a force in the format. In case you don't know, the deck wins by chaining a lot of spells into a Mind's Desire, which will then fuel more Desires, into a large Tendrils of Agony or Empty the Warrens for the win. The acceleration in the deck is second to none, and the deck is quite consistent, although it can fold to disruption backed by a fast clock. The deck has solid matchups overall, with almost every matchups being at least 50-50, and most better than that. This particular build is a little different than most I have seen, eschewing the more explosive Chrome Mox and Lotus Bloom for a more stable, consistent build, upping the land count slightly. There are obvious benefits with the Mox/Lotus version, adding even more acceleration to put it at critical mass. The only issue with this build is that the Desires can have too much mana/setup cards and not enough bombs, but I think the higher consistency overall makes up for that. The sideboard is mostly Wish targets, but also include Defense Grid for the control matchups, and Chain of Vapor for the often lethal Pyrostatic Pillar, which will be present in droves if Boros and Affinity builds are common in a tournament. Another solid deck that can just flat out win in an unprepared metagame; play it or prepare to play against it.


Next we have another dirty combo deck, one that has fallen out of favor in recent times...

Dan Skinner—Heartbeat Combo 2nd Place—Kansas City, MO—2/17/07
CREATURES 4x Sakura-Tribe Elder 1x Eternal Witness SPELLS 4x Cunning Wish 4x Gifts Ungiven 4x Nostalgic Dreams 4x Search for Tomorrow 3x Fact or Fiction 3x Early Harvest 2x Moment's Peace 1x Deep Analysis 1x Ideas Unbound 1x Muddle the Mixture 1x Revive	ENCHANTMENTS 4x Heartbeat of Spring LAND 12x Forest 9x Island 1x Snow-Covered Forest 1x Snow-Covered Island	SIDEBOARD 2x Gigadrowse 1x Brain Freeze 1x Deep Analysis 1x Echoing Truth 1x Envelop 1x Mana Short 1x Muddle the Mixture 1x Opportunity 1x Stifle 1x Early Harvest 1x Hunting Pack 1x Krosan Grip 1x Moment's Peace 1x Seedtime

Last Extended season, Heartbeat of Spring-based combo burst onto the scene with PT: Los Angeles and remained the only competitive combo deck in the format for the length of the season. Using loads of mana gained by Heartbeat of Spring combined with Early Harvest, the deck burns through card-drawing spells, building up the storm count to unleash a lethal Brain Freeze; the Heartbeat player can then deck the opponent with Opportunity or Deep Analysis. The deck is quite resilient to disruption unless there is a very fast clock on the table; otherwise, you can Gifts into the combo at any given time. There are really two schools of thought on the way the deck is constructed, and that primarily centers around including either the Ideas Unbound/Nostalgic Dreams engine or simply playing the powerful Mind's Desire. The Desire builds are a little more open to various hate cards, such as Stifle, Orim's Chant, and the newly-seen-again Trinisphere. On the flip side, the Ideas/Dreams builds (called Nevermind) are slightly more vulnerable to Tormod's Crypt, Pyrostatic Pillar, and Chalice of the Void. Nevermind builds are, generally speaking, slightly faster than Desire-based builds, which is sometimes relevant in the current environment. Regardless, there are several hate cards out there that can hurt either build, and that is what the Wishboard is for. Most of the cards are pretty self-explanatory, but a couple deserve special mention. First, Gigadrowse can obviously act as a Mana Short or a Moment's Peace, but make note that Tormod's Crypt requires a tap to activate, so you can turn it "off" before going off to protect your graveyard; you can also "turn off" a Trinisphere with it. Second, Hunting Pack is there to be used in a pinch if they can't be decked for some reason, or can't be targeted, or some other nonsense that won't allow you to win the "normal" way. As far as the deck goes, it’s still a solid competitor, but it seems people have shied away from it in favor of TEPS, so it is not really expected; you can take advantage of that. Just be sure to practice your Gifts piles.


The last deck I'll be listing today is another combo deck. And yes, it IS a combo deck...

Tyler Woods—Tooth & Nail 1st Place—Lubbock, TX—1/27/07
CREATURES 4x Sakura-Tribe Elder 4x Wall of Roots 3x Eternal Witness 1x Indrik Stomphowler 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 1x Sky Hussar 1x Duplicant 1x Sundering Titan SPELLS 4x Reap and Sow 4x Sylvan Scrying 4x Tooth and Nail 3x Moment's Peace	ARTIFACTS 4x Sensei's Divining Top 2x Mindslaver LAND 4x Urza's Mine 4x Urza's Power Plant 4x Urza's Tower 2x Windswept Heath 1x Tranquil Thicket 1x Wooded Foothills 7x Forest	SIDEBOARD 3x Krosan Grip 3x Trinisphere 2x Plow Under 2x Serrated Arrows 1x Indrik Stomphowler 1x Mindslaver 1x Sundering Titan 1x Blinkmoth Well 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All

I'm sure most, if not all, of you have seen this deck in action, but I'll give a brief description anyway. The plan is to ramp your mana with Elders/Walls and the Urza lands in order to cast Tooth and Nail with Entwine (if necessary), putting out Kiki-Jiki and another creature... usually Sky Hussar, because you can win right there, but sometimes Sundering Titan for mana denial and winning maybe 1-2 turns slower. In addition, you could Mindslaver-lock the opponent with Kiki-Jiki/Eternal Witness, although that would be a last ditch effort, I think. Sensei's Divining Top is the deck's engine, giving you a turn 1 play and allowing you to search for Tron pieces or Tooth & Nail itself. One of the deck's strengths is consistency, which the Top and the land-fetching spells provide; going off on turn 4 is pretty common with most builds. There are faster and more explosive combo decks in the format, but Tooth has consistency and resilience, making it an attractive alternative for the combo player.

As with Part 1, I will post the results if each of the decks I have discussed through the course of the PTQs this season. This is through February 25th (including GP: Dallas).

U/W Tron: 21
U/W Cloudpost: 9
Scepter-Chant: 16
Gifts Rock: 7
Psychatog (all variants): 4
Slide: 2
TEPS: 10
Heartbeat: 1
Tooth & Nail: 4
Rogue: 6

As you can see, U/W Tron has been the winner here, beating out runner-up Scepter-Chant by a solid margin. The two decks that seem to have gained the most momentum in the last two weeks are Gifts Rock and Trinket-'Tog, the latter of which stands to reason largely due to a huge surge in popularity on MTGO. Again, this is all subject to change due to the natural flux in the metagame, but it looks like Dr. Teeth has officially announced his return to relevance in a format he has owned for much of the last five years. Scepter-Chant seems to have waned, not putting players in the T8 with as much frequency as a month ago; this can be attributed to any number of reasons, ranging from a large increase in the copies of Ancient Grudge in opposing decks to perhaps fewer players choosing to play the deck. Do not think that people will suddenly stop playing the Stick, however; like Psychatog, nothing short of rotation will end the reign of terror completely

This has been perhaps the most interesting Extended PTQ season ever, providing a seemingly endless array of playable, competitive decks. Any format where qualifying decks contain cards like Locket of Yesterdays or Gaea's Might has a lot going for it, and I am eager to see what the next few sets bring to the table for next year's Extended season. I am sure it will be just as diverse and, most importantly, fun as this season. I hope you all enjoyed covering the format with me, and I will definitely be up for it next time.

Until next time, remember: there is nothing new except what has been forgotten.