By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the news. This morning, Wizards announced Modern as an official format. Moreover, they announced that it would be used for Pro Tour Philadelphia in three weeks, and that there would be tournaments on Magic Online a little before that.

I don’t know about you, but I’m psyched.

I can’t remember the last time I was this excited for a Pro Tour. And better than that, you have yourselves to partially thank for this awesome change. Without the success of Overextended, I’m not sure this would even be possible.

I tend to think big picture. However, even with all of my big picture thinking, I had never fathomed how well Overextended would grow. What started as little but an idea in my head quickly found shape and flourished into an entire community. That it was something that could affect a Pro Tour not four months away from the time of its creation was something I couldn’t have dreamed of.

When I was working on Overextended by myself before putting everything into motion, my goal was to create a brand new nonrotating format like players had been clamoring for. Nothing like this had ever been tried before, but that was all the more reason to give it a shot.

The demand was there and the format looked great, and I realized all that the format needed was unification and a rallying point. Thanks to my voice in the community, my game design/development experience, my competitive Magic background, and my creative mindset, I knew I could make a huge push for the format that would get Wizards’ attention.

What I didn’t know is that Wizards was discussing and developing Modern at the same time I was working on Overextended.

Wizards and I ended up releasing our respective formats at virtually the same time. On the Thursday that Modern was announced, Mtgoverextended.com was ready to go live on Monday, the site was full of content, and my StarCityGames article had been written. The target date had been set for two weeks. I went forward with the plan, even though I knew many people would see them as competing ideas.

I want to clear something up. Modern and Overextended were never rivals despite many seeing them that way. I knew as soon as Wizards announced Modern that Overextended would serve as an additional source of data, testing something slightly different than Modern just to increase the range of available results.  I fully expected Wizards to go with Modern, but data from another course would make for an interesting comparison. In essence, it could help Wizards get the best of both worlds without having to trial two formats.

However, my primary goal never changed. I still wanted to push for a nonrotating format, and I’d be happy with whichever cutoff Wizards chose. My goal with these Overextended events was to show how excited people were about a nonrotating format, show the diversity of the format, and affect Wizards’ banned list decisions. Each of these goals has been met, and the result of our hard work is clear.

Though I’m very happy with all of the work I’ve done, my largest regret in all of this is that I didn’t contact someone inside R&D ahead of time. Had I let them know I was working on this project, we could have better coordinated our efforts. If I could have had a hand in announcing the Modern format that Wizards wanted, it would have expedited this process significantly. Perhaps the announcement could have been weeks ago. However, I am still very happy they went forward with it now.

Without you guys, this may have never been possible.

When I thought of trying to give a new nonrotating format a nudge out the door, I went to lengths few people would ever consider. Overextended was an apt name, as it quite literally grew to describe my affiliation with how the project related to my life.

In the end, I gave away over a thousand dollars in event tickets, and spent countless hours writing pieces, editing articles, working with stores, and, yes, running tournaments. Tuesdays all but disappeared from my calendar. However, I wouldn’t go back and change any of that. I’m ecstatic about the end result of all this work.

But really, this has little to do with me. I was just the figurehead for the format. I brought it all together and unified our efforts. I built the engine. But without you guys, the engine wouldn’t have any power at all.

Overextended is a testament to the power of the community. If you want something to have a chance of succeeded in this world, you have to back it 100% with all your being or watch it fall apart as your efforts are fragmented. And even then, you have to get a little lucky and win some community support. If there’s ever something enough people want, the power to make it happen exists. Things won’t always go perfectly, and they won’t always be easy.

Fortunately, everything came together for Overextended.

I know a lot of people are complaining about Modern. You guys don’t like the banned list, you don’t like the cutoff, and so on. However, I ask you to please, please set your reservations aside and rejoice in what might quickly become the best format in Magic.

As far as the banned list goes, I can assure you that this was a good decision and that it will change before the PTQ season. This banned list is far better than the one they used for the Community Cup (despite containing more cards) and I applaud Wizards for their unconventional choice. Without a ton of time to work on the format, it makes sense to kick out cards that could be problematic or define the format.

The last thing Wizards want is their brand new format to feature 24+ copies of Stoneforge Mystic in the top 8. While I do agree that some of the bans weren’t completely necessary, I would rather than Wizards is safe rather than sorry here. If the goal is to make this Pro Tour better than the disaster that was going to be PT Philadelphia, you can’t just let the same problems run rampant for this event. It’s bad for the players and terrible from a promotional standpoint.

Instead, Wizards has set a large banned list and will scale it back over time. I wouldn’t be surprised if the banned list is 2/3rds or even half of its current size this time next year. Please be patient. Wizards R&D isn’t trying to tightly constrict you, they’re just trying to be safe for the sake of the Pro Tour. And keep in mind that, even with these cards banned, the format is still one of the most diverse ever.

As far as the cutoff goes, it honestly won’t change that much from what we have right now. It’s no secret that I am a fan of an older cutoff, but Modern is still a fantastic format. And honestly, it won’t change much. While there are some cool Invasion through Odyssey cards, many decks will still function similarity. Only a handful of decks really needed cards from those sets to compete, and few Overextended archetypes will die from the set choice. Over time I think we will end up with a format that looks so similar to Overextended you will have a hard time telling the two apart.

I’d like to personally thank all of Wizards R&D for their decision, and especially Aaron Forsythe and Tom LaPille for their visibility and openness to discuss the format with us. Your explanations in articles and Twitter discussions have provided an important level of transparency to the change.

I’d also like to thank all of you who came out to support my tournaments. You guys rock! We created the consistently largest tournament series ever on Magic Online. Special thanks to Woodjt5, Chrandersen, Gardevi, Caggii, Optimis334, Frozen_Dead, DreadWaffle, Josthoalemar1322, and anybody else who has been coming out to events from week one all the way to today! You’ve been a major part of this process.

Also huge thanks to BlippytheSlug for running the Monday events, and anybody who wrote articles for the site. The fact I was able to run free content every weekday for 9 weeks truly shows how much you guys wanted a new format. Additionally, thanks to all of the stores that ran in-store Overextended event. You guys really helped spread the format even further.

This concludes the trial run of the Overextended format. My goal of establishing a new format for players has been accomplished, and therefore I no longer see a reason to run events.

The site and its forums will remain here as a historical testament to the project, and for people looking for Modern ideas. However, this will be the last post to the front page.

If you would like to continue keeping up on me and any future projects now that this project has concluded, feel free to follow me on Twitter @GavinVerhey, read my StarCityGames articles, friend me on Facebook, or check out my blog on game design.

Please welcome Modern with open arms. It’s going to be incredible.

Gavin

Like last month, before bringing down (or lifting up) the hammer on any cards, I am interested in your opinions. Anything you say may have a direct impact on the format, so please consider that while posting.

This month there is one card up for discussion. That card is Glimpse of Nature.

Many other cards have been discussed for banning or unbanning. As far as bannings go, nothing but Glimpse can really be argued for power reasons. The unbanning of Dread Return has done almost nothing, and Aether Vial, while a fine card, hasn’t been anywhere near overpowering. Neither need to be rebanned at this point.

The other card up for discussion last month was Stoneforge Mystic. While certainly a strong card, the format needed more time to develop to see if Stoneforge was too good or not. A month later, and we see but a complete fall in Stoneforge’s dominance. Tons of good strategies that are favored against Stoneforge Mystic have appeared. While it is a very strong card, it has only become less powerful since last month. The main deck it is played in is Zoo, and it’s just another highly efficient creature in Zoo’s arsenal.

As far as unbannings go, some people have mentioned Narcomoeba, Sensei’s Divining Top, and Mind’s Desire. However, for this month I would just like to look at a card that will definitively modify the format if banned: Glimpse of Nature.

The Combo Elves deck has grown in popularity and its power has only grown more prominent with its popularity. Until taking a loss this week, Chrandersen had won 20 consecutive games in Tuesday Night Overextended. Numerous other players, like Sneakattackkid and TristanJWL, have picked up the deck and done very well with it, sporting multiple 4-0s. The results have certainly not indicated anything against the decks power.

Additionally, the deck is arguably on peoples’ radar even more now and they still have had trouble beating it. If the hate isn’t good enough and the deck is doing even better, that’s a dangerous sign.

Of course, it’s also possible people aren’t trying hard enough. Cards like Mental Misstep still don’t have widespread popularity, and there are cards like Mana Maze and Gut Shot that people haven’t even widely adopted.

Some people have noted that another card like Heritage Druid or Nettle Sentinel should be banned. However, Glimpse takes away from the deck’s absurd starts while taking the least away from the format. It doesn’t hurt, say, the R/G Elves deck. The goal is not to kill Elves as a strategy, just remove the absurd speed and resiliency Glimpse of Nature creates.  For the full argument, I’ll repeat the section on Glimpse from last month:

Why Glimpse of Nature Shouldn’t be Banned

There are tons of answers for the combo Elves deck in this format.

Remember Pro Tour Berlin where combo Elves dominated the format? Not long afterward, Worlds happened, followed by an entire PTQ season with the same Elves deck completely legal.

And you know what? It was completely fine.

After the deck lost its surprise factor in Berlin, there were plenty of Chalices, Engineered Explosives, Darkblasts, Firespouts, and otherwise to keep the green combo menace in check.

Now granted, after Berlin the Mono Blue Faeries deck that Gabriel Nassif played became very popular and that deck was highly favored against Elves. However, people played plenty of decks in that format and could beat Elves with them. While Elves did take down a few events, its popularity certainly waned and did not perform incredibly well overall.

Overextended results have similar echoes. Elves is certainly doing well, but there are enough Mental Missteps, Volcanic Fallouts, Engineeded Plagues, Explosives, Chalices, Pyroclasms, and so on around to keep the deck at a fine level.

It’s a combo deck that revolves around creatures and it hasn’t been oppressing the format. There are clearly plenty of answers that people are using – the deck isn’t that much of an issue.

Why Glimpse of Nature Should be Banned 

Have you ever been killed on turn two?

It’s not a lot of fun. Being killed on turn three isn’t much different. Unhindered, the combo Elves deck will do that with most hands that have Glimpse of Nature in it. The format’s combo decks should mostly kill on turn four, so killing earlier than that is certainly strike number one against Elves.

It’s true that there is a lot of hate out there. However, that’s more a testament to Elves’ resiliency than anything else. Despite all of the hate floating around, the deck is still putting up results!

First of all, sometimes you can sideboard in your hate card, draw your hate card, and still just lose on turn 2 or 3 before you can deploy it.

Second of all, the deck is incredibly resilient. I’ve seen players don’t feel safe wiping Elves’ board with a sweeper, because they’re afraid that they’ll die to a Glimpse if they tap out. Even the hate isn’t always enough – let me set the stage for you. I was watching a game between Samwise_GeeGee with Elves and Hateful Zoo. In game one, Hateful Zoo played a misers Chalice for one on turn two, and an Ethersworn Canonist turn three. In game one!

Elves easily won, comboing out that game. That’s an absurd amount of resiliency.

Additionally there’s the Buried Alive package. Your opponent can have Chalice, Fallout, Explosives, Engineered Plague, or basically anything but an Ethersworn Canonist and it won’t matter. If you go turn 1 mana elf, turn 2 Buried Alive, turn 3 two creatures and return triple Vengevine, you’ve completely sidestepped their hate and then they’re dead next turn.

The deck is tough to pilot, and I think it’s fair to chalk up some of its results to inexperienced players. However, players like Chrandersen who know the deck and have been playing Combo Elves from week one have consistently put up good results with it

Closing

So, speak up. Should Glimpse be banned? Should it stay? Your feedback is important! Please post below with your thoughts, and I’ll see you later this week with the verdict!

After eleven weeks of Magic, the deck that has traditionally been the hot choice is finally cooling down. Only two copies of the baseline beatdown deck made the 3-1 or better decklists, and not a single one went 4-0. Coupled with a slight downturn in Zoo last week, has the format shifted to properly fight it?

If these new decklists are any indication, the answer is yes.

From Martyr decks to Tooth and Nail , it seems like the format has evolved to tackle Zoo at large. Gone are the Kavu Predator fights of old. There are some new bosses in town, and it’s going to be exciting to see where the format evolves next!

We’ll find out more next week. Until then, take a look over this week’s decklists!

4-0 Decklists

ssWakizashI’s Twelvepost, 4-0 (9:30)

DarkestNight’s Burn, 4-0 (5:30)

Kman102191’s R/G Aggro Elves, 4-0 (5:30)

3-1 Decklists

Ranth’s B/W Junk, 3-1 (9:30)

Hix360’s Reanimator, 3-1 (9:30)

Doqpelganger’s Elevenpost, 3-1 (9:30)

IvoMV’s Bant Wizards, 3-1 (9:30)

Rosita’s Midrange Mishra, 3-1 (9:30)

Hix360’s Reanimator, 3-1 (5:30)

Chrandersen’s Combo Elves, 3-1 (5:30)

Frozen_Dead’s Zenith Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

DirtyDuck’s Tooth and Nail, 3-1 (5:30)

Ronfar’s Domain Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

Voidmaw’s Stuffy Swans, 3-1 (5:30)

Josthoalemar1322’s Grindhouse, 3-1 (5:30)

Doqpelganger’s Elevenpost, 3-1 (5:30)

American Nightmare’s Boros, 3-1 (5:30)

Beekerk’s Mono Blue Wizards, 3-1 (5:30)

Overdrive! Decklists

Donwon’s Azorius Wizards, Overdrive! Champion

Josthoalemar1322’s Grindhouse, Overdrive! Finalist

Bonus Decklists

Justcanceled’s Restore Balance

Optimis334’s Warp World

Woodjt5’s Warp World

Metagame Breakdown

9:30AM PST Event – 17 Players
2 Zoo (1 Dark Predator, 1 Burn)
2 Twelvepost
2 Living End
1 Time Sieve
1 B/W Deadguy
1 Burn
1 Allies
1 Bant Wizards
1 Esper Rebels
1 Reanimator
1 Eva Green
1 Restore Balance
1 Warp World
1 Midrange Mishra

5:30 PM PST event – 37 Players
4 Zoo (2 Zenith, 1 Dark Predator, 1 Domain)
3 Burn
2 Combo Elves
1 U/G Poison
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Reanimator
1 Midrange Mishra
1 Boros
1 Warp World
1 Burning Bridges
1 Time Sieve
1 Allies
1 R/G Elves
1 Twelvepost
1 Suicide Sundial
1 Stuffy Swans
1 Protean Hulk Combo
1 GWB Junk
1 JunkDepths
1 B/W Deadguy
1 U/B Control
1 Grindhouse
1 Esper Rebels
1 White Weenie
1 ExarchMite KikiTwin
1 Mono Blue Wizards
1 Gifts Rock
1 Dragonstorm
1 Dirty Kity
1 BUG Control

5:30 PM Monday Overdrive! Event
For a complete Overdrive! breakdown, please go here.

The level of innovation in Overextended is nothing new at this point, and it’s almost at expectation to see brand new archetypes.

However, as new decks begin to crawl out of the woodwork, some old favorites have come back out to play. A pair of Twelvepost decks (okay, one of them is actually elevenpost) came out of nowhere and climbed the standings all the way up to 4-0. Could this week mark the resurgence of Twelvepost?

The other big question mark is Glimpse of Nature.

The banned list announcement has been pushed back to next week, and it continues to look like one of the strongest points of discussion is Glimpse. Chrandersen hasn’t dropped a single game in the past two weeks, and alongside Sneakattackkid they have consistently been on top of the standings each week. Will Glimpse get the axe? Stay tuned next week for more discussion on the topic.

In the meantime, week ten is in the books! Thanks for ten great weeks so far, and I look forward to week eleven starting next week. See you then!

4-0 Decklists

Dreadwaffle’s Overextended Allies, 4-0 (5:30)

Chrandersen’s Combo Elves, 4-0 (5:30)

Doqpelganger’s Elevenpost, 4-0 (9:30)

Sswakizashi’s Twelvepost, 4-0 (9:30)

3-1 Decklists

Moseph’s Dark Predator Zoo, 3-1 (9:30)

Ghstgrftr's U/B Faeries, 3-1 (9:30)

Peskinator’s Burn, 3-1 (9:30)

Werecrow’s Merfolk, 3-1 (5:30)

Sneakattackkid’s Combo Elves, 3-1 (5:30)

Donwon’s Vial Stoneforge 3-1 (5:30)

Woodjt5’s R/G Elves, 3-1 (5:30)

Frozen_Dead’s Hateful Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

Ronfar’s DomainStill Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

Zahori’s Doran, 3-1 (5:30)

Caggii’s Protean Hulk Combo, 3-1 (5:30)

MtgVector’s U/G Twelvepost, 3-1 (5:30)

Moseph’s Dark Predator Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

LelouchViBritania’s Final Fortune Burn, 3-1 (5:30)

Beekerk’s Domain Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

Overdrive! Decklists

Capriccioso’s Hive Mind, Overdrive! Champion

Woodjt5’s R/G Elves, Overdrive! Finalist

Bonus Decklists

Cinderdruid’s Burning Bridges

bsr Orion Purple’s R/W Stax

BlippyTheSlug’s Suicide Sundial

Metagame Breakdown

9:30am PST event – 19 Players
4 Zoo (1 Phelddagrif, 1 Zenith, 1 Burn, 1 Dark Predator)
2 Mono Blue Twelvepost
1 GWB Junk
1 U/B Faeries
1 U/R Kiln Fiend
1 Heartbeat Combo
1 Hive Mind
1 Suicide Sundial
1 Izzet Guildmage Combo
1 Dragonstorm
1 Burn
1 Stuffy Swans
1 Second Sunrise Combo
1 Eva Green

5:30pm PST Event – 43 Players
6 Zoo (1 Dark Predator, 3 Domain, 1 Zenith, 1 Phelddagrif Zoo)
3 Burn
3 Combo Elves
3 Merfolk
2 Affinity
2 Dragonstorm
2 Midrange Mishra
1 Allies
1 U/W Stoneforge
1 Protean Hulk Combo
1 Burning Bridge
1 U/b Infect
1 Time Sieve
1 W/B Deadguy
1 R/G Elves
1 JunkDepths
1 Stuffy Swans
1 Esper Rebels
1 G/B Midrange
1 U/G Twelvepost
1 Enduring Ideal
1 Hive Mind
1 W/R Stax
1 U/W Stoneforge
1 U/B Mill
1 Doran
1 U/W Control

Monday’s 5:30PM PST Overdrive! Event – 23 Players
The metagame breakdown and results can be found here.

I have prized in more than half of them. When I started thinking about Overextended I knew I wanted to be able to have a fast clock while disrupting whatever my opponent was trying to do. After glancing at Gavin’s 10 places to start in Overextended there were a couple decks I liked, but I wanted to do something a little different.

I started thinking about Psychatog, the old king of creatures, and remembered a list I loved playing in Extended. For reference here is the list:

Billy Moreno’s Madtog 20/20, 2nd at Pro Tour LA

So I had a shell for a deck I wanted to play with the added benefit of already owning most of the cards. I set off to work.

My initial list had Vengevines in it, but I found that, unless I had the rare busted start with a turn two Vengevine, I was paying four mana for a 4/3 haster. That’s not such a bargain when you can have a 4/4 at the end of your opponents turn for 2G and get the same damage on turn four, so Vengevine got the axe

Instead, I decided to move onto another creature that had synergy with the Life From the Loam engine: Bloodghast.

That was the last change I made before the first Tuesday Night Overextended. I don’t really remember much about the games, but I did come away with some knowledge that I used to change the deck. One of the first things I wanted to do was up the ‘Tog count from three to four. With a little bit of work, Tog gets out of hand really quickly.

One other thing I wanted to do was add some more dredgers. I figured one Golgari Grave-Troll and one Stinkweed Imp would be enough and would allow for a gifts pile that can allow you to kill from out of seemingly nowhere.

For example in a game one against American Nightmare’s Enduring Ideal deck, I mulled to 5 and went from 2 cards in my hand and 3 in the ‘yard with a ‘Tog and a Rootwalla on turn four, to 21 damage on turn 5.

Those 2 cards were a Careful Study and Gifts Ungiven, so during the end step I cast Gifts for a Troll, an Imp, Life From the Loam, and a cycling land. He made the best choice in giving me the Troll and Imp, but it didn’t matter. I dredged Loam, cast it for two fetchlands and a cycling land, played a fetch, pitch the Troll and Imp, cast Careful Study (dredging both) then cycled the land and dredged Troll again. Oops! I win.

Here is my current list:

Madtog 2011

The mana base was almost directly ported from Moreno’s deck. I just cut the pain lands for the better fetches, and also used the now-available Breeding Pool. The Ghost Quarter is important for combo decks that may never turn on a Tectonic Edge, and they help against ‘Tron/Twelvepost that may not have many basics. I want to talk about some card choices and cards I tried but didn’t work.

Gifts Ungiven

This is probably the most busted spell in the format. It just lets you do so many different things! Think the game will go long? Set up a Loam engine. If you’re playing against Living End, you can fetch 4 creatures and, with a discard outlet, make Living End help you out.

Careful Study

Study smoothes out your draws and helps set up some quick pressure with Bloodghast and Rootwalla. It can also be really good late game with a ‘Tog and some dredgers.

Thoughtseize

Thoughtseize is great against the combo decks and control decks. There isn’t much to say about this card.

Circular Logic

Usually a hard counter for U with your discard outlets.

Condescend

I tried counterspell here, but UU was tough to get sometimes. I decided the scry could help you set up turns a little better.

Life From the Loam

Loam is your late game draw/dredge engine, and it’s really good with the Ghost Quarter against decks that are all non-basics. It can also fill your hand to make Mongrel huge.

Psychatog, Wild Mongrel, and Necrotic Ooze

I clump these three together because the basically all do the same thing. Ooze is ideally ‘Tog five and six, but can sometime do other relevant things. Worth noting is that I only run two Ooze due to it being a four drop.

Basking Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm, and Bloodghast

Free and undercosted guys are good! The Madness guys also make great surprise blockers.

Wonder, Golgari Grave-Troll, and Stinkweed Imp

Pretty much all of these guys belong in the ‘yard, although on more then one occasion I have hardcast an Imp to deathtouch something.

Some cards I tried but didn’t make the cut are:

Vengevine

They were in the slot the Bloodghasts now hold. They just never returned, except for the rare times were I had turn 2 Mongrel, pitch ‘Vine, madness Rootwalla and hit you for four haste.

Genesis and Eternal Witness

I wanted these for control matchups to get some more card advantage and buy back my spells, but they just didn’t do enough. I will keep them in mind if the metagame shifts though.

Cabal Therapy

I have thought about adding this. It’s really good with bloodghast, but you have to have a really good idea about what’s in your opponent’s deck. I haven’t reached that point yet in this format.

The ‘board needs some work. I started trying to play a couple different broad answers so I could Gifts and always get one of what I needed, but that plan didn’t really work. I found when I had Gifts I wanted to be abusing it to set up broken things. If you were to play this deck next Tuesday, I would suggest a board that looked something like this:

4 Leyline of the Void
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Darkblast
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Krosan Grip
2 Go for the Throat

The format is too wide open to give an all inclusive sideboard guide so I’ll just give you an idea of what I do and touch on the major decks

Zoo
-3 Thoughtsieze
-2 Bloodghast
+2 Go For the Throat
+3 Pernicious Deed

The Bloodghasts aren’t great in this matchup for the most part. Any creature they have can chump it. Thoughtsieze may save you a point of damage or two, but isn’t really worth it. The Deeds are to make sure you don’t get overrun. Go For the Throat can take down a ‘Goyf.

‘Tron and Twelvepost
-1 Wild Mongrel
-1 Kitchen Finks
-1 Bloodghast
+3 Krosan Grip

This matchup isn’t too bad. The Grips are mostly just to take out an Oblivion Stone or any other trouble artifacts.

Elves
-1 Kitchen Finks
-3 Thoughtsieze
+3 Pernicious Deed
+1 Darkblast

The Thoughtsiezes aren’t bad in this matchup, but it’s better to get more value out of your cards. Darkblast is really good against a deck full of one toughness guys.

Burn
-3 Thoughtsieze
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Go For the Throat

Similar reason on the Thoughtsieze as Zoo, and the lifegain from Finks should buy you a turn or two.

Living End
-1 Golgari Grave-Troll
-1 Kitchen Finks
-2 Bloodghasts
+4 Leyline of the Void
Their deck is full of cyclers so it is only a matter of time before they find a grip for the Leyline. You just want it to buy you some time to get enough damage in that once they answer it you are in a good position anyway.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think below.

Bobby Greene

Speaking of Elves, this week certainly lends a nice case against Elves, putting three decklists into the undefeated category. What will be the fate of the card? Well, there’s still time before anything happens, but this week certainly doesn’t help it out. Speaking of banning cards, Aether Vial continues to be a fine addition to the format, adding variety without breaking anything.

What evolutions of popular archetypes and new spins on the format will we see next week? That’s up for you guys to figure out! I’ll see you then.

4-0 Decklists

Ronfar’s DomainStill Zoo, 4-0 (5:30)

Sneakattackkid’s Combo Elves, 4-0 (9:30)

Temok’s Azorius Faeries, 4-0 (9:30)

Chrandersen’s Combo Elves, 4-0 (5:30)

Killjoy00’s Combo Elves, 4-0 (5:30)

3-1 Decklists

Frozen_Dead’s Hateful Zoo, 3-1 (9:30)

BlippyTheSlug’s Predator Zoo, 3-1 (9:30)

Darkestnight’s Burn, 3-1 (9:30)

Capriccioso’s Hive Mind, 3-1 (9:30)

Optimis334’s Stuffy Swans, 3-1 (9:30)

Chomfucjusz’s R/G Elves, 3-1 (9:30)

Ncsu31sb’s Affinity, 3-1 (5:30)

Theamericandream38’s Mono Blue Twelvepost, 3-1 (5:30)

BlippyTheSlug’s Predator Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

Boland’s Azorius Faeries, 3-1 (5:30)

Largebrandon’s Combo Elves, 3-1 (5:30)

Kranz’s Affinity, 3-1 (5:30)

Werecrow’s Merfolk, 3-1 (5:30)

Ranth’s Hateful Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

Moseph’s Dark Predator Zoo, 3-1 (5:30)

B Nixon’s Enduring Ideal, 3-1 (5:30)

Ledgerdamayn’s Mono Blue Twelvepost, 3-1 (5:30)

DaeDae’s Living End, 3-1 (5:30)

Overdrive! Decklists

”Frozen_Dead,

Kranz’s Boros, Overdrive! Finalist

Bonus Decklists

IvoMV’s BantStill

Rosita’s Mishra Midrange

Caggii’s U/R KikiCombo

MTGVector’s SwathStorm

Metagame Breakdown

9:30 AM PST Event – 28 Players
4 Zoo (2 Hateful, 1 Predator, 1 Dark Predator)
3 R/G Elves
3 Burn
2 Azorius Faeries
2 Combo Elves
2 Affinity
1 Enduring Ideal
1 Esper Rebels
1 Merfolk
1 Hive Mind
1 Dirty Kitty
1 Bantstill
1 Stuffy Swans
1 Dark Boros
1 Jund
1 G/R Ramp
1 Living End
1 R/B Vampires

5:30 PM PST Event – 55 Players
6 Burn
6 Zoo (1 Predator, 1 Dark Predator, 2 Hateful, 1 Zenith, 1 DomainStill)
4 Combo Elves
3 Azorius Faeries
3 Mono Blue Twelvepost
3 Affinity
3 Boros
2 RG Elves
2 Enduring Ideal
1 Stuffy Swans
1 Death and Taxes
1 G/W Soul Sisters
1 U/R KikiCombo
1 Club Ninja
1 Merfolk
1 R/B Crypt of Agadeem
1 UG Madness
1 Depths Junk
1 Living End
1 Dredge
1 Project Melira
1 G/W Slide
1 Goblins
1 GWB Junk
1 Mishra Midrange
1 Esper Rebels
1 Swathstorm
1 W/B Deadguy
1 Hive Mind
1 Bant Midrange
1 Jund
1 Allies

Overdrive! – 35 Players

Metagame information unavailable.

Several stores have contacted me about running more Overextended events. I’ve been waiting for a good way to promote those events, and it’s finally ready to launch!

I’ve partnered with Ken Bearl of www.Mtgfinder.com to help bring you a complete Overextended calendar! If you have an upcoming Overextended event, please send me an e-mail and it will be added to his website.

Mtgfinder is a great way to find events. Just type in your location and preferred format, and you’ll see lists of events all around you. This works great for Overextended! If you’re looking for a way to find events, this is a good place to start. So head on over to Mtgfinder now and check it out!

The next series of events kicks off this weekend in Washington at O.G.R.E-fest, with a big Overextended event followed by Overextended 8-man events all day. If you’re in the area, check it out! Otherwise, take a look at the calendar and find a place for you to play!

If you have any questions or comments, post in the comments below. Thanks!

Ok, you got me, I am oversimplifying. We have seen a ton of other style decks pop up in the 4-0 or 3-1 brackets, but my embellished point remains true: Zoo might just be the boogeyman of the format. Now I am not suggesting it is too powerful and needs bannings, but after a few discussions with some of the overextended online players, some conclusions have been drawn.

Conclusion #1) Zoo is hard to hate against. Rather than worry about the metagame, Zoo takes the opposite approach and just plays very solid cards. It’s threat density is so high that even the most creature kill heavy decks can be caught without an answer. Unlike a deck like reanimater or affinity, a single hoser card will not seal the deal against Zoo.

Conclusion #2) Zoo is not the best deck. Despite a lot of top appearances, a lot of people feel that it lacks the raw power to truly ever be the best deck. It plays too fair. It doesn’t have the instant wins that some combo decks have. It doesn’t have the comeback potential of the top end control decks. It doesn’t have silly tricks up it’s sleeve (I’m looking at you scepter/chant). It sacrifices raw power and potential for being consistent

Conclusion #3) Zoo is the king of the unknown meta. It doesn’t need to pack specific hate to beat every deck. Every deck will eventually fall to a slew of cheap beefy bodies turning sideways. The rule of thumb is to play blistering fast aggro or blistering fast combo when a new format comes out. We are only 2 months into our journey with Overextended and as long as new decks will pop up every week, a deck like Zoo will be around to exploit there inconsistencies.

So what we need is a deck that will take advantage of the linear design of Zoo. However, the deck also needs to be able to put pressure on control decks, and have enough disruption to not instantly lose to combo. I’m sure a few of you have a slight idea where this is going. Midrange decks have been around for a while, but most of them owe a debt to the constantly evolving deck known simply as “The Rock”.

This is normally the point where I would bring up the history of “The Rock”, or simply rock, but it has had hundreds of iterations in almost every format. So instead, I will just give a general overview of the archetype. Rock decks are B/G/X decks that revolve around consistency and card advantage. The original version of the deck used Deranged Hermit and Phyrexian Plaugelord to generate card advantage and repeatable removal.

Since then many cards have shown up in the archetype that exemplify the theme. Spiritmonger, Precocious Deed, Eternal Witness, Ravenous Baloth, Cabal Therapy, Death Cloud, and Life from the Loam have all found places fueling Rock decks over the years.

Recently Rock has shown up in some formats in a B/G/W form (referred to as Junk)  because of the power of Doran, The Siege Tower, Kitchen Finks, and Knight of the Reliquary. It has even seen play in recent standard under the hidden title “Jund”. Some might argue that Jund was not a Rock deck because of the influence of red, but the deck had everything that made Rock good through the years: Consistency and Card Advantage.

With Zoo and other creature based aggro ruling the Overextended format, I think it’s time to bust out a specific  style of Rock to put an end to their boring shenanigans.

B/G Death Cloud

Here we have a list that any Zoo deck should hate to face, but doesn’t have horrible match ups against other decks. Now for some single card discussion.

Bloodghast – Probably your most constant win condition in this deck. It is an efficient beater, especially when they are low on life, and it can hit your graveyard off of sacrifices, discard, and dredge. It might not seem like a lot, but in combination with Life from the Loam, it will be a very resilient threat that gets even better in multiples.

Sakura-Tribe Elder – Acts as a blocker and ramp at the same time. A nice use of this guy is in conjunction with deathcloud, innocent blood, and smallpox. If you don’t have any other creatures, he turns the downside of those cards into land advanatage. Very powerful, and very needed for this style deck.

Kitchen Finks – No one needs to be told the raw power of Kitchen Finks. A good sized body, a decent chunk of health, and some removal immunity all rolled up in one package. Killing these with death cloud leaves you with 2/1s, which might not seem a lot but the damage stacks up will your opponent struggles to rebuild.

Nihilith – This spot could be filled with a few different cards (most notably Tarmagoyf) but I felt that Nihilith has a lot of power and synergy in this deck. For 2 mana, you can cast this almost at any time before you wreck the board , and then get a 4/4 with fear on your next turn. It’s pretty durable, given that it’s black, has 4 toughness, and has a high casting cost.

Garruk Wildspeaker – A real star in this deck. All 3 of his abilities are needed in this deck, and he will be useful at any point of the game. The first ability helps ramp up death clouds, and gives a big mana boost after the cloud. The second ability is a chain of threats for after the cloud or other sweeper. His final ability isn’t used as much, but in conjunction with Worm Harvest, it ends the game out of nowhere.

Maelstrom Pulse – An all around answer. It kills what you need it too when you need it too. If you don’t think planeswalkers or enchantments are going to be an issue, consider Purify for the instant speed.

Raven’s Crime – A great card against control. With life from the loam, it begins to read “1GBBB: Your opponent discards 3 cards”. It isn’t always the most useful, but it can be a win condition all on its own.

Worm Harvest – Much like Raven’s crime, in conjunction with Life from the Loam, this card will win the game if not disrupted. Unlike Raven’s crime, this is good against every deck.

Death Cloud – The reason for this deck. A resolved death cloud can outright end games if your opponent has over extended. Don’t be afraid to death cloud for small or large numbers. Your better equipped to win after a big wipe, and a lot of decks have issues even losing 2-3 lands and 2-3 cards from their hand. Remember to choose your discarded cards and lands wisely. A lot of your deck runs better from your graveyard, so get those dredgers and Bloodghasts into the bin.

Damnation – Wrath effects are never a bad thing to have around. One of Death Clouds weaknesses is if your opponent manages to pour our 1-2 creatures a turn. With Damnation around, overextending like that becomes a liability.

Life from the Loam – An card advantage engine as well as a recovery tool. It makes your cards better and makes your recovery from a death cloud guaranteed. The dredging is not irrelevant either with Bloodghasts lying around.

Smallpox – Death Cloud’s little brother. Against aggro it acts as some removal and kills some gas at the same time. Against control, discard and land destruction can put them on their heels. But against all decks, it really punishes loose keeps. A turn 2 smallpox can result in a dead weenie, some lost gas, a stalled opponent, and them looking at the unplayable cards in their hand. Sometimes though, you don’t want to do this unless you’re getting a lot of value (discarding or sacrificing bloodghast , sacrificing a Dakmor Salvage, discarding life from the loam).

Innocent Blood – One of the most underplayed cards in Overextended. You can’t direct it, but with the amount of removal in this deck, you will almost always get some advantage out of this card.

For basic (and obvious) sideboarding, you can bring in the Worm Harvest for decks you feel you need more threats against. The Leylines come in against any graveyard based deck. The Plagues put a hurt on any tribal or token deck.  The Ravens Crime make the control match ups easier. The Darkblasts should help with weenie decks. Finally the Chokes can cripple an unprepared blue deck.

So how does the deck work? Well, it is a midrange deck that tends to fall more into the control aspect of things. The triple Bloodghast and a Finks draws do happen, but for the most part, your goal is to be spending your early game playing innocent blood and smallpox to quell the opponent’s plans and elders and finks to gain some early value. Sometime when you hit 5-8 mana, you need to start considering casting your Death Clouds or Damnations.

Ideally you want to have a Death Cloud, but sometimes you just need to roll with the punches and win the old fashion beatdown way. But when you can get your hands on a deathcloud and can punch it through, the deck quickly shines. Anyone who has been hit with 2 stone rains can tell you that rebuilding can be difficult. Now picture getting hit with 4 stone rains and 2 mind rots and a wrath of god at the same time. That is the power of Death Cloud. Most decks will just fall apart while your deck starts it’s dredge engine, or drags a few Bloodghasts back into play.

So with all the removal and board disruption, the deck is fairly favored against creature based strategies, but what about control and combo? I won’t lie and say it’s great against them, but it does have some great tricks against them. If you’re expecting a lot of combo or control, you can put some more discard spells in the board.

If you feel like you expect a lot of creatures, but still want some plans against the rest of the field than you need to look to Smallpox, Ravens Crime and Death Cloud as your best friends. Smallpox is the nightmare of control decks as it strikes at their two most important resources at the same time.

As mentioned earlier, Raven’s Crime can strip them of their gas in the mid to late game, but it is still useful early. Making them make decisions like discarding, then playing a Smallpox will often lead to your opponent mana screwing themselves.  And don’t be afraid to Death Cloud with a low value. A Cloud for 2-3 still puts a big hurt on decks that need mana or cards to win. It is especially important to play it very aggressively against Combo decks, as they tend to spend 95% of the game trying to either craft their hands or build up mana to fuel their deck.

So when all is said in done, I do really like this deck and think it can be a big Overextended contender. I would recommend it to

• People who expect a lot of creature based decks
• People who love the Stax/Mana Denial strategies from the past
• People who have had Zoo kick their teeth in for a month straight (I’m guilty)
• People who want to play a graveyard based deck that isn’t combo based

I would not recommend this for the faint of heart. Many games will be won at average to low life because of the drain from Cloud and the need to wait around to power up your namesake card. It’s a grinding type of deck, and if your not up for grinding, I would leave this on the cutting room floor.

So pick this up, strap in and enjoy watching the board go up in a cloud of smoke…or smog if you will.

Zac Turgeon

-Gavin]

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

Part Ten

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven