Hello everybody and welcome to another show. Today we have footage of the Top 8, Top 4, and Top 2 rounds in the StarCityGames New Planar Chaos-legal Extended tournament that occurred last weekend. You ready for live footage, decklists and more? Let’s take a look:
Top 8 Matchup — James Norris (B/W Discard Aggro) versus Albert Davis (Gaea’s Might Get There)
In this matchup James has a commanding lead due to his maindeck Paladin En-Vec and Silver Knight. However, he’s unsure going in, but the match tells the tale:
Top 4 Matchup — James Norris (B/W Discard Aggro) versus Kenny Mayer (Kyle Sanchez Trinket Mage)
As you’ll see in the video, Kenny Mayer (whose last name I misspell in this video due to a misunderstanding) got some personalized help from StarCityGames.com own Kyle Sanchez and took his Always The Bridesmaid.dec and gave it some special Cabal Therapy to give it that push needed against control matchups.
Take a look:
Top 2 Matchup — Mike Mihealsick (B/W Discard Aggro) versus Kenny Mayer (Kyle Sanchez Trinket Mage)
In the final matchup, we have another B/W Aggro Discard deck, but one very much different than James’ in the previous round. You may remember Mike Mihealsick from a previous show in which he piloted a then-new-and-exciting R/W/b Firemane. The same deck I modified slightly and took to the Top 8 of Tennessee Champs. Let’s take a look at this match:
Ready for the decklists? Here they are:
Creatures (20)
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
- 1 Sensei's Divining Top
- 2 Umezawa's Jitte
- 4 Armadillo Cloak
- 3 Call of the Herd
- 4 Cabal Therapy
- 1 Tormod's Crypt
- 1 Chalice of the Void
- 2 Chrome Mox
- 1 Engineered Explosives
- 1 Pithing Needle
Sideboard
Creatures (20)
- 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 2 Withered Wretch
- 4 True Believer
- 4 Rotlung Reanimator
- 4 Dark Confidant
- 3 Jotun Grunt
Lands (21)
Spells (20)
Sideboard
Creatures (21)
- 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 4 Savannah Lions
- 4 Silver Knight
- 3 True Believer
- 3 Paladin en-Vec
- 4 Dark Confidant
Lands (22)
Spells (17)
Sideboard
Creatures (18)
Lands (21)
Spells (21)
- 2 Umezawa's Jitte
- 4 Duress
- 4 Call of the Herd
- 3 Sword of Fire and Ice
- 4 Destructive Flow
- 1 Chrome Mox
- 3 Putrefy
Sideboard
Creatures (25)
- 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 1 Savannah Lions
- 4 Kird Ape
- 4 Wild Mongrel
- 4 Grim Lavamancer
- 3 Boros Swiftblade
- 4 Watchwolf
- 2 Tin Street Hooligan
Lands (20)
Spells (15)
Sideboard
Creatures (25)
- 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 1 Savannah Lions
- 4 Kird Ape
- 4 Wild Mongrel
- 4 Grim Lavamancer
- 3 Boros Swiftblade
- 4 Watchwolf
- 2 Tin Street Hooligan
Lands (20)
Spells (15)
Sideboard
Creatures (20)
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
Sideboard
Creatures (23)
- 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 1 Savannah Lions
- 4 Kird Ape
- 4 Wild Mongrel
- 4 Grim Lavamancer
- 3 Boros Swiftblade
- 4 Watchwolf
Lands (20)
Spells (17)
Sideboard
With the lists out of the way, let’s examine what impact Planar Chaos had in this Top 8.
Which is to say… not much. At all. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t spy a single Planar Chaos card in the entire Top 8. You know what I did find?
True Believer is absolutely fantastic right now. It stops Gifts, it stops Cabal Therapy, it stops burn to the face, and it makes TEPS players cry.
You want a weenie that can go the distance (yes, you’re welcome for that awkward sentence), hit up the True Believer. He doth not play with you – rather, he swings for two and kicks ass all ‘round.
Troll Ascetic is one of the best threats in the format. This guy was at the top tables all the livelong day, all the way to the finals.
And this guy is coming back in Tenth? Holy crap, grab your playset soon before they hit the $10+ range. Unless we see some serious Infest reprinting, this guy will be an auto-include in a myriad of decks, from oddities like Dredge to the average Mono-Green Aggro.
Trinket Mage is the most useful creature in Extended. Now your definition of “Useful” may vary, but my God, is there nothing he can’t do?
Fix mana? Check. (Ancient Den)
Stop broken artifacts like Jitte? You bet. (Pithing Needle)
Kill a 1,000 Goblin tokens? With two mana, sure. (Engineered Explosives)
Find artifacts that counter spells? Yup. (Chalice of the Void)
Destroy Graveyard-based decks? Uh huh. (Tormod’s Crypt)
Compile the Sensei’s Divining Top & Counterbalance easier than any other method? Darn tootin’.
This guy has begun to see play in all sorts of decks as people realize that there is too much card, resource, or utility advantage to running him. Engineered Explosives fits in every single deck, as it kills weenies in two-color builds, wipes out annoying Chalice of the Voids, kills tokens and so on.
“Good Stuff” Junk Decks Will Get More And More Popular
You could call Kyle Sanchez build above a Trinket Mage deck, but really it’s just fantastic beaters (Troll Ascetic), Life Gain and Beats (Loxodon Hierarch), Utility (Trinket Mage), and now Control Reach (Cabal Therapy). I’m sure it will add Red if it could use it in any way.
As some decks try to get more focused, a lot of them will simply vary themselves to have something akin to Answer.dec (or, as we like to refer to them, Solution.dec). The format is so full of playable decks that having the trump to them (Engineered Explosives against weenie / combo, Tormod’s Crypt against Ichorid, Pithing Needle against Affinity, etc) along with playing a Grey Ogre to boot will be front and foremost in the format until this season ends.
But you want to hear of a fantastic creature for Trinket Mage Junk decks that has yet to be utilized?
Ninja of the Deep Hours. Try it out. I think you’d be surprised.
Thanks for watching and reading, I’ll be back next week with music (had to cut it due to size issues this week), along with a fantastic interview with our very own Ben Bleiweiss.
Until then,
Evan “misterorange” Erwin
dubya dubya dubya dot misterorange dot com
eerwin +at+ gmail +dot+ com
Written while listening to Band of Horses’ “Everything All The Time”