Extended is an ever-changing format. Due to the large card pool to choose from, the decks to beat can change multiple times in a small period of time, and as the format progresses, control decks pop up and try to answer the current metagame. Premium examples of this include the Rock deck Gerard Fabiano used to win a Grand Prix last year, and the Flow Rock Deck designed by Adrian Sullivan. After an Extended Pro Tour, and six more rounds plus a team competition at Worlds, the Extended format has now been defined rather clearly, and so this seems like a fine moment to start experimenting with a Rock deck.
As a starting point, I took a look at some of the Rock decks that did well at Worlds. Here is the deck with which I started:
Creatures (15)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (23)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
First of all, I don‘t like Tarmogoyf in the current Extended. Not only do they turn on your opponents Spell Snares (with Sakura-Tribe Elder being the only other real target), but they can also turn against you since all Mono-Blue decks are running Threads of Disloyalty and/or Sower of Temptation nowadays.
Also, in testing it showed that Garruk and Death Cloud are just a bit too slow for this format. Cutting these took away a large part of the late-game potential this deck has, so to combat that I added the Gifts Ungiven engine of Life from the Loam, Worm Harvest, and Raven‘s Crime. By doing that, the deck also gained a way of creating card advantage. A lot of the games against Faeries (running the original decklist) would end up in both of us running out of gas, but Faeries just drew one Thirst for Knowledge to get back in the game whereas we were living straight from the top.
One of the biggest concerns for Rock decks has always been that they generally contain a whole lot of “situational” one-for-ones, and it is hard to overcome the inherent card disadvantage of drawing too many of these cards, such as drawing too many Thoughtseizes against Red Deck Wins/Zoo, or drawing too many Smothers or Damnations against Faeries. This problem also showed during testing for Berlin, as we couldn’t really find enough cards that were good against Elves, Tron, and Zoo. We were losing far too many games through this problem, and in the end we just abandoned the whole Rock plan. Now things have changed. Engineered Explosives and Crime/Punishment turn out to be really good against the majority of the field. Both these card are much more versatile, and thus give us fewer dead draws against some archetypes.
This is where the deck ended up after testing:
Creatures (11)
Lands (27)
Spells (22)
- 3 Persecute
- 2 Gifts Ungiven
- 1 Death Cloud
- 3 Engineered Explosives
- 1 Life from the Loam
- 2 Putrefy
- 2
- 1 Damnation
- 1 Slaughter Pact
- 4 Thoughtseize
- 1 Raven's Crime
- 1 Worm Harvest
Sideboard
Some explanation about the choices I made:
The Creatures
Your main kill condition is Ravenous Baloth, although sometimes you just have to get there with Worm Harvest. Both Faeries and Tezzerator are running Vedalkan Shackles / Sower, so by running Baloth you still have a way to put some early game pressure while not losing when they have Sower or Shackles. Baloth is, of course, also amazing against Zoo and Burn. 4 Baloth and 4 Sakura also make sure that you don’t have any problems with Bridge from Below from Dredge. Also, Baloth doesn’t die to your own Engineered Explosives and Crime/Punishment (as opposed to Tarmogoyf).
The Spells
3 Persecute
During testing, I always try to think about the card that would be the best in a given situation. I think this is a good way to think about cards I’d otherwise never think about. It was during a game against Elves that I thought about adding Persecute, and it turned out to be amazing. With all the mono-colored decks running around (Elves, Faeries, Burn Deck Wins, All-in Red), this card can be a huge blowout in the right situation, generating massive card advantage and ending the game right there. Against Elves, they can either play out their elves and have them crumble to Engineered Explosives, Damnation, and Crime/Punishment, or die to Persecute. Most Faerie lists only run 4 Mana Leaks to battle this card, as Spellstutter Sprite is often not enough and Glen Elendra comes too late. Late game, you’ll often just bait them with your Thoughtseizes/Raven’s Crime before destroying them completely with Persecute. Persecute is also an attempt at having a card that ends the game proactively. Other Rock decks are running Death Cloud these days, but with all the removal you have in this deck, Persecute does basically the same without needing such a big setup.
2 Gifts Ungiven, 1 Raven’s Crime, 1 Life from the Loam, and 1 Worm Harvest
One of my first versions of this deck for PT: Berlin had 4 Life from the Loam and 4 Raven’s Crime. Unfortunately, I was drawing one without the other far too often. Raven’s Crime and Life from the Loam can combine to quickly empty your opponent’s hand, but by themselves they are rather bad. Gifts allows you to only run one copy of each and search up both of them, meaning you won’t be drawing dead cards all that often.
Raven’s Crime plus Loam is an extremely powerful engine that can’t be stopped by most decks. Here are some typical Gift piles, just to make your life easier:
– Late game against control decks: 1 Life From the Loam, 1 Raven’s Crime, 1 Cycling land, 1 Urborg.
– When you absolutely need a board sweeper: 1 Damnation, 1 Eternal Witness, 1 Engineered Explosives, 1 Crime/Punishment or Death Cloud.
-When you‘ve emptied your opponent’s hand but need some pressure, it’s probably wise to get 3 lands (including 2 cycling lands) plus Loam just so you can draw a lot of cards in one or two turns. Fetching Baloth and Witness is pretty useless at that time, because they’ll just put them in your graveyard and you’ll have two fewer business spells in your deck.
3 Engineered Explosives, 2 Crime/Punishment, 1 Damnation
This format is fast, so you can’t really afford to go large. Both Engineered Explosives and Crime/Punishment are cheap, and allow you to break the symmetry with expensive cards like Eternal Witness and Ravenous Baloth. Both of them are also a solution to opposing Blood Moons, Sulfuric Vortex, Shackles, and/or Bitterblossoms. The singleton Damnation is mainly there so you can fetch it with Gifts Ungiven.
1 Death Cloud
I’ve seen versions with none and version with four. I’m still not sure whether this card is good or not, but one is never bad as you can fetch it with Gifts when holding Witness.
The Lands
2 Mutavault, 2 Treetop Village
It might seem inappropriate to run Mutavault in a four-color deck, but Mutavault is a beast, and four life sometimes just makes the difference against Burn and Zoo.
1 Ghost Quarter
If it weren’t for the Mutavaults I’d run more Quarters, but you just can’t afford that many colorless lands. Ghost Quarter is a huge weapon against Tron decks, and it’s also quite essential against Riptide Laboratory and Academy Ruins. Even against Zoo it does the job once you’ve controlled the board. Ghost Quarters just lock them out of the game in a turn or three, and they have no way of beating you with consecutive Tribal Flames or Lightning Helixes.
27 lands might seem a lot, but with six lands that cycle, four manlands, and the Raven’s Crime/Loam engine, you shouldn’t get flooded too often.
Matchups and Sideboarding
Faeries
Game 1 is pretty hard, but after sideboard things get a lot better. Darkblast is actually quite insane against them, and it makes cards like Spellstutter Sprite and Vendilion Clique a joke. Choke is, of course, a huge blowout as well. Their best cards against you are Thirst of Knowledge, Bitterblossom (if they are running Black), and Glen Elendra Archmage.
Sideboarding:
+3 Choke, +4 Darkblast
-1 Slaughter Pact, -1 Damnation, -2 Crime/Punishment, -1 Death Cloud, -2 Eternal Witness
Witness is a bit too expensive for what it does, and apart from Choke and Thoughtseize there‘s nothing you really want to fetch back anyway. Death Cloud and Damnation come out because you usually have better targets for your Gifts. After sideboard you can try to sneak Tarmogoyfs in if you suspect they are boarding out Threads/Shackles/Spell Snare. If they keep in Spell Snare, it’s probably wise to cut some Sakura Tribe-Elders as they are their only target.
Another thing to remember is that it’s always better to use one (or even more) colorless mana when resolving Engineered Explosives for 2. This way you play around Spell Snare, and it’s harder for them to Spellstutter Sprite your Explosives.
Zoo
One of your best matchups, and things after sideboard things only get better with 4 Tarmogoyf coming in. Just don’t take any unnecessary damage and you should be fine.
Sideboarding:
+4 Tarmogoyf, +2 Darkheart Sliver
-1 Death Cloud, -1 Raven’s Crime, -2 Gifts Ungiven, -1 Life from the Loam, -1 Worm Harvest
The Gifts package is a bit too slow in this matchup, and with 4 Tarmogoyf, 4 Baloth, and 3 Witness the late game should be yours anyway. Remember that you can sacrifice your Mutavaults to Darkheat Sliver as well!
Elves
Another great matchup, as you have cheap removal combined with Raven’s Crime plus Persecute to completely wreck them.
Sideboarding:
+4 Darkblast, +4 Tarmogoyf
-1 Worm Harvest, -1 Death Cloud, -2 Gifts Ungiven, -1 Life from the Loam, -2 Putrefy, -1 Ghost Quarter
Goyf comes in just to make sure your clock is a bit faster. Again, the slower cards come out as you don’t have time to set up your combo anyway. Raven’s Crime stays in because it’s good on his own, because Elves needs as many cards as possible in their hand when going off.
Burn Deck Wins
I haven’t played this matchup yet, but with 4 Baloths plus 3 Witness to get them back, I think you should be more than fine. Persecute is probably your best card against them, and it will win games all by itself.
Sideboarding:
+2 Darkheart Sliver, +4 Tarmogoyf
-1 Damnation, -2 Putrefy, -2 Crime/Punishment, -1 Death Cloud
The sideboard could probably use some more Darkheart Slivers, as you still have some suboptimal cards after boarding, but I don’t want to cut anything for it. Engineered Explosives stays in to handle Pyrostatic Pillar and/or Sulfuric Vortex.
Now that Sensei’s Divining Top is banned in Extended, I strongly believe that mid-range decks like this Rock deck can once again be real powerhouses. Sensei’s Divining Top gave your opponents a cheap and efficient way to get back in the game once you had emptied their hand with your disruption. This Rock deck combines one of the best engines in Extended (next to… erm… Glimpse of Nature plus Elves?), and combines it with a lot of cheap removal and some great creatures. If only those stupid Faeries would stop flying around…
Until next time, thanks for reading!
Bonus Section
As a bonus, I’d like to share a decklist I found on the mothership that runs the full amount of Death Clouds, Life from the Loam, and 28 lands. Gavin Verhey used it to win a premier event on Magic Online, and he’s convinced that it’s one of the best decks in the current Extended. His deck is a little different when compared to mine, as it concentrates completely on the Life from the Loam / Raven’s Crime / Death Cloud combo, whereas my deck tries to do more things at once.
Creatures (8)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
- 3 Smother
- 4 Death Cloud
- 4 Engineered Explosives
- 4 Life from the Loam
- 4 Putrefy
- 1 Slaughter Pact
- 3 Raven's Crime
- 1 Worm Harvest
Sideboard