One Step Ahead - Fae, Loam, and Zoo in Extended

With the Extended PTQ season fully under way, it seems like I would be doing you all a disservice by simply writing about one deck, as there are certainly a lot of viable choices. I think that playing either Faeries, Elves, or Michael Jacob Aggro Loam deck are probably your three best bets if you are trying to qualify this season.

I can certainly respect someone who wants to play Zoo (either five-color or the Prosak/LSV list) or Adrian’s Red deck, but I simply cannot condone playing All-in Red or Burn in this environment. There are better options available, and if your goal is to win, you should think about switching decks.

As Luis pointed out, Burn is worse than playing Zoo with a bunch of burn spells. All-in Red is actually better than most people give it credit for, but the TEPS matchup isn’t very good post board, GB is very difficult to beat, and even Faeries can be rough depending on how many basic lands, Sowers, and Moxes they have. Even Zoo is a terrible matchup. If you go into a tournament playing AIR, what exactly are you expecting to beat?

I’ve talked about how much I dislike TEPS in the past, mostly due to the luck factor. Sometimes you have to work really hard to find your Mind’s Desire, but then can only cast it for a few copies. Why do all that work and still end up flipping coins when you could find a more consistent deck? Sure, TEPS might have been positioned well during Grand Prix: LA, but how many opponents do you think are going to have their Stifles or Canonists ready for you now?

I think that if you want to play combo, Elves is your best bet. The only truly poor matchups are GB and Faeries, but those are two of the biggest decks at the moment. If you can dodge those, or fight them with sideboard cards, you should be on track to win the tournament, especially since Elves’ TEPS matchup is so good.

TEPS just seems like Swans v2.0, where LSV won with it because it was both good during that specific tournament and he is on a tear, whereas post-tournament the deck gets a lot worse.

So what is the best deck to play? The answer is probably Faeries. Here is what I would run:

Thompson Faeries

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 02-01-2009

Extended

Creatures (14)

Lands (24)

Spells (22)

Sideboard

I believe the main key to this deck is building a manabase that is solid against Choke, while also not rolling over to Blood Moon should you play against something like AIR or even Swans. I would prefer to play Seat of the Synods instead of the legendary lands, but with Affinity taking two slots in the LA Top 8, Grudge is probably poised for a big comeback.

If you decide to run Ancient Grudge (and you should), I advise the full eight fetchlands. I have seen lists with five sources of Red and Green for three Ancient Grudges. The math on that doesn’t work out very well. Against the mirror, not being able to cast Grudge early is often fine, but against Affinity you can’t risk it.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who play an excess of duals in order to get the colors that they need. One of each Steam Vents and Breeding Pool are sufficient, as you never want to actually draw the duals and have to play them untapped.

Four Grudge might seem like a lot, but I would be playing two or three for the mirror anyway, so I might as well add the other copies to help against Affinity.

“Chrome Mox or no” has been the major debate, and I have been on both sides. Last year I was championing a NLU build with the full amount of Moxes, but I don’t believe that is right in this deck. While the format is arguably faster, you don’t have Counterbalance to recoup the lost cards. I wanted my Counterbalances early and often, but there is nothing in this deck that I could say the same about. Every card is great, but they all work mainly as incremental advantage rather than just being huge blowouts.

When I was playing with no Moxes and only four Visions for card drawing, I noticed two problems. First, I was losing some games to Zoo and Affinity that I shouldn’t have been, all because I was on the draw, or they simply had a fast enough draw that meant I was a turn behind. Just being content with drawing dead in those situations didn’t feel right, so I felt that two or three Moxes were necessary if I wanted to consistently defeat those decks.

I was also looking to supplement my Ancestrals with a couple of other card drawing spells. Now with Moxes (and I had a couple Seats at the time, mostly to help with the Choke problem), I felt like Thirst had enough artifacts that I wouldn’t mind discarding. Thirst was solid, but I was looking for something more robust, so I tried out maindeck Jaces. While insane against GB and the mirror, they were just terrible against the rest of the field, so I felt like I should settle with the solid yet unspectacular Thirsts.

Riptide Laboratory is amazing. Heezy ran four copies, although I think three is fine. Without Shackles, Academy Ruins is kind of pointless, as I would run the fourth Lab over it anyway. Recurring Explosives are fine in some matchups, but very rarely do I need to rebuy Jitte, so Ruins has little purpose, as it is just worse than always having Lab.

I feel like seven sources of Blue that aren’t affected by Blood Moon is enough, especially with eight fetchlands. That leaves you with eleven lands that don’t get hit by Choke or Boil. While it’s not even to completely nullify those cards’ effectiveness against you, you should be able to still win games when they resolve those cards.

After a few weeks of playing the deck, I cut Shackles as it was only great game 1 in the mirror. Post board, everyone had answers, and Shackles is too much of a mana investment when you can expect it to die every time. If they only had one-for-one answers, I would advocate keeping Shackles, as eventually you could protect Shackles with counterspells or Academy Ruins, but when they get extra value from things like Ancient Grudge or Duergar Hedge-Mage, Shackles becomes too much of a liability. At least with Jitte you can gain some life or kill a creature before it dies.

Venser isn’t cuttable. At first, I thought it would be worse than Cryptic Command, but because of things like Archmage (which Venser is awesome against) and Riptide Lab (which Venser is awesome with), the dude is actually preferable to the spell in this case. I think that Venser is actually the best card in the mirror. The games were so often coming down to a tempo advantage caused by Venser, Mutavault, and Riptide Lab that I even devised a sideboard plan that involved Momentary Blink and Riftwing Cloudskates. The plan was awesome in the mirror, but took up too many sideboard slots to be worth it.

Future Sight out of the board is Gavin Verhey innovation, and one that I really like. It’s a hard to deal with permanent source of card advantage that is great against the mirror and all forms of GB Loam. Relic is also helpful against Loam, while Trickbind is for TEPS.

Faeries

+ 3 Ancient Grudge (if they have Shackles), 1 Sower of Temptation, 2 Future Sight
– 3 Umezawa’s Jitte, 3 Engineered Explosives

Jitte is a card that I only see myself cutting. I have no problem siding out power cards like Jitte (or Goyf in Tribal Flames, like in Zoo) if it’s correct, but other people seem to be attached to their supposed sacred cows. The reality is that Jitte will often be useless due to Riptide Lab, Venser, or Grudge that it is just a waste of valuable tempo.

Explosives don’t have much to kill, so it’s pretty obvious why they come out.

TEPS

+ 3 Trickbind, 2 Ancient Grudge
– 3 Umezawa’s Jitte, 2 Sower of Temptation

Try to leave your fetchlands uncracked so you can fight Gigadrowse. The waiting game is usually in their favor, so if you absolutely have to tap out for Archmage go for it. Bluffing counters probably won’t work out for you unless you have something like Ancestral about to come in. Then again, the fear of Ancestral might make them want to combo off anyway, so you are usually just better off casting your spells.

Jittes and Sowers are both fairly useless, so you get some sick Trickbinds and additional Lotus killers which aren’t great, but better than what you are bringing in.

GB Death Cloud

+ 3 Relic of Progenitus, 2 Future Sight, 1 Sower of Temptation
– 3 Spell Snare, 3 Engineered Explosives

Again, Explosives is nearly useless, as is Snare, although you can probably hit a random Tribe Elder or Loam with it.

If you can keep them from outdrawing you with Loam, you are in great shape, as eventually you will take over with Riptide Lab, Jitte, or Archmage. Just watch out for Choke!

GB MJ Aggro Loam

+ 3 Relic of Progenitus, 2 Future Sight, 1 Sower of Temptation
– 3 Engineered Explosives, 3 Vendilion Clique

Sideboarding here is a little bit more difficult, as they have the Loam engine, but some very effective two-drops instead of slow, controlling cards. You need to keep in the Snares, but Explosives is too slow. Vendilion is the next worst card, as they have Bitterblossom and Darkblast, and you most likely won’t be able to snag their Loam with it.

Elves

+ 1 Sower of Temptation, 2 Firespout
– 3 Glen Elendra Archmage

Sideboarding here is pretty straightforward. Archmage is too slow and doesn’t counter much of relevance. By the time you can cast it, they can probably Chord in response and they probably already cast any Glimpses they had.

Sower stops whatever anemic beatdown plan they were on, and can even be a huge blowout if they have Mycoloth.

Zoo

+ 2 Firespout
– 2 Sower of Temptation

Sower isn’t even necessarily bad against Zoo, but it is the worst card against them in the maindeck. The case could be made for cutting Thirst for Knowledge, at least on the draw. It will most likely be too slow if they get a fast draw, whereas Sower might take some wind out of their sails if they have to use a burn spell on it and then not get to attack with the dude you stole. The sideboard games are often slower than the game 1s though, as they are probably packing Thoughtseize and Sculler which make you want more card drawing. They could also have Disenchants to fight your imaginary Shackles, which will slow down their draw as well.

Affinity

+ 4 Ancient Grudge, 1 Sower of Temptation
– 2 Glen Elendra Archmage, 3 Engineered Explosives

Everyone seems to have trouble with this matchup, but any hand with Spell Snare or Ancient Grudge should be good enough to contain their explosive draws. If you are still alive by turn 6 or 7, you are probably in good shape.

Thirst for Knowledge may seem too slow, but you are really just digging for certain cards like Sower and Grudge that blow them out. Spellstutter and Vendilion are decent cards, but you will not beat Affinity on those cards alone. You need to mulligan aggressively for your good cards and you should be fine.

If you don’t like the Fae, you will probably like either of the next two decks. Your National Champion Michael Jacob took Aggro Loam to a Top 8 finish, but lost to Affinity twice on the weekend. This is what I would play:

Aggro Loam

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 02-01-2009

Extended

Creatures (8)

4 Tarmogoyf
4 Kitchen Finks

Lands (26)

Spells (26)

Sideboard

Adding Ancient Grudge is a very simple yet elegant upgrade. Your Affinity matchup becomes much better and you also get a great way to prevent Faeries from riding a Jitte to victory. Grudge is also a decent way to kill an early Relic of Progenitus.

I didn’t change the deck much other than that. The fourth Thoughtseize is a concession to TEPS, Elves, and Faeries, while also being solid against Affinity, as long as you don’t draw multiples. Burn is a little better against you, although that matchup hinges on whether or not they have Sulfuric Vortex anyway. If you are worried about strictly the Burn deck, Molder is an acceptable answer. Dark Heart of the Woods is fine, although it is just another card that does nothing against Vortex.

For a decent explanation on how to play with Life from the Loam and dodge Vendilion Clique, check out my forums from my Death Cloud article a couple of weeks ago (and maybe if Craig is nice he will link it here). [Soooo tempted to Rick Roll there… – Craig, amused.]

Faeries

+ 2 Ancient Grudge, 3 Choke
– 2 Slaughter Pact, 3 Putrefy

The spot removal is somewhat useless and pales in comparison to Darkblast. They don’t have many artifacts worth killing, so there is no need to overload on Grudges. You just want enough to keep Jitte (and maybe Shackles) off your back long enough for your engine to take over. If they have Relic and/or Shackles, I could see wanting the third Grudge, probably at the expense of a Jitte.

You really want a Loam here, but unlike Death Cloud, you can keep reasonable hands with Tarmogoyf or Bitterblossom and attempt to play a fair game against them.

TEPS

+ 3 Extirpate, 3 Ancient Grudge, 3 Choke, 3 Ravenous Baloth
– 4 Darkblast, 2 Slaughter Pact, 2 Umezawa’s Jitte, 3 Putrefy, 1 Worm Harvest

This matchup is kind of weird in that you bring in twelve cards, but most of them aren’t even that good in the matchup. However, they are much better than the cards you are cutting.

Again, respect their deck. Michael Jacob cast a Raven’s Crime against Luis rather than a Thoughtseize, and had Ad Nauseam not killed its master, Luis would have won the match. While it might seem better to wait a turn in case they draw a Desire that turn, you run the risk of TEPS simply killing you on turn 2 or 3. If you have a Thoughtseize and Raven’s Crime, you are probably going to destroy their hand in a few turns, so might as well make sure they can’t kill you in the meantime.

Death Cloud/GB Aggro Loam

+ 3 Extirpate, 3 Ravenous Baloth
– 4 Darkblast, 2 Putrefy

Bitterblossom and Jitte are your best threats here, as everything else will most likely die before too long. If you can Extirpate their Loams while abusing your own, you will probably will. However, they are looking to do the same to you. You have to try to be aggressive, especially if they are drawing a bunch of cards with Loam. This matchup is kind of a coin flip, since you are doing similar things.

Elves

+ 3 Damnation
– 3 Kitchen Finks

This matchup is heavily in your favor thanks to the discard, Darkblasts, and other removal spells. Respect their deck and don’t give them a window to combo, as that is basically the only way you can lose. Fecundity is decent but it can’t fight Loam and Darkblast.

Zoo

+ 3 Damnation, 3 Ravenous Baloth
– 3 Raven’s Crime, 3 Darkblast

Darkblast might be alright if they have Dark Confidant, but otherwise the Blasts are too weak against Kird Ape and company to keep in. Raven’s Crime is also a very low impact card. Thoughtseize is well worth the two life when it takes their best card, as you have a lot of ways to stop their offense, and you don’t take much damage from your manabase.

Affinity

+ 3 Ancient Grudge, 3 Damnation, 3 Ravenous Baloth
– 4 Darkblast, 3 Raven’s Crime, 1 Worm Harvest, 1 Thoughtseize

Much like against Zoo, Crime and Darkblast are very weak here. Mulligan into hands that can contain their early aggression and you should be alright.

And finally, my Zoo update for those of you who still have faith:

Thompson Zoo

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 02-01-2009

Extended

Creatures (22)

Lands (21)

Spells (17)

Sideboard

I’ve discussed sideboarding plans with this deck in earlier articles, so there isn’t much I can add except that Tarmogoyf is probably good against Faeries again, as most of them don’t have Threads.

Good luck in your PTQs, and if you do well, please write a report or something. Those are very interesting, and I (along with everyone else) like seeing what’s going on.

GerryT

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