Pro Tour: LA and the subsequent Grand Prix proved just how far Goblins had fallen in the metagame. Part of this was people simply fleeing the deck without putting real effort into fixing the archetype, but another part was the deck simply lacking the options or sheer power of older seasons. By battling opponents’ Ravinca cards with some of our own, we have my attempt to resuscitate Goblins in Extended.
I am writing this article for two primary reasons: Number one is to namedrop as flagrantly and savagely as is humanly possible. Number two is to help people learn how to play the CAL deck, since it is actually the stone nuts. Here are the lessons I’ve learned over the course of my hundreds of pre-and-post-board games against the Extended gauntlet with my version of the CAL deck, culminating in a second-place finish at a PTQ a week and a half ago.
Welcome to the most diverse Extended format in the history of the game, where Osyp Lebedowicz recently put Goblins back on the metagame map. In the spirit of highlighting the underdogs, or rogues, or whatever you want to call them, I’m going to examine some of the more interesting decklists I’ve seen lately.
It’s been a slow week for non-Premium strategy articles, so we figured we’d give you the next best thing – a freebie John Rizzo article! If you’ve never read the man, now’s your time to start as he looks at his pet card for Extended and discusses how netdecks and Hollywood are all part of the same dang thing.
Three hundred and thirty players. Nineteen Rounds. Sean McKeown breaks down the entirety of Pro Tour: Los Angeles deck-by-deck and match-by-match. Which archetypes had the best winning percentage? Which were the weakest? And what two major (and still-popular) archetypes are dead, dead, dead? If you’re playing Extended this season, you must read this article!
Think Goblins is dead in Extended? Think again. The number one Goblins player at the Pro Tour tells you today that with some sideboard tweaks and correct play, Goblins is still good enough to take home the title.
As thanks for you reading all week, Jim produces two Boros creature loads for Extended that are a bit off the beaten path. Check it out.
I’ve got to finish this report. I’m writing for posterity, so here we go — time to quit sitting on my big fat… laurels. Time to explain my perspective on a fairly interesting Top 8 Sunday. Time to own up to what’s mine.
Everyone knows the Top 8 decks from PT LA: Ruel’s Two Color Tog, SWK’s Heartbeat deck, Fujita’s Boros build, Moreno’s Madness Tog and so forth. I want to look beyond the Top 8 – and beyond PT LA – to see what other decks are being played. I’ll even throw in some metagame info from the recent GPs.
One week Ervin Tormos was just some PTQ kid Tim Aten introduced me to at a Grand Prix. Then, attending his first Pro Tour ever, he was suddenly a Top 8 contender. This is the unlikely story of how that came about, including the inside skinny on how Ervin sideboarded PT Jank against the field.
Some people even went so far as to say that Mind’s Desire is an “awful” card, and that Chris battled to the Top 8 on the back of pure playskill and experience with the deck. Having seen Chris play at States the week before the Pro Tour, I can vouch for the playskill part. However, after playing some games with the Ideas Unbound version, I began to agree with the anti-Desire people too.
Today I will try to introduce you the deck I played in at PT: LA and GP: Copenhagen, posting satisfying results both times (respectively 14th and 15th), while unfortunately missing the Top 8. I will try to explain the choices I made for the deck, why I played it, the matchups and what I would change. I’ll even go through the two events I played with the deck and give you a little analysis of the deck in action and explain why I think B/G Aggro is an excellent choice for the current Extended metagame.
Flores puts a new Zoo variation through the flames of battle and discovers that it might just be a very solid contender for the PTQ and Worlds metagames.
One of the more interesting decks that no one noticed in Los Angeles was a deck called Crazy Pedro, an aggro deck designed by last year’s Extended Pro Tour winner Pierre Canali. Tiago Chan made Day 2 with the deck and says that it’s better his performance would indicate. If you are looking for a rogue creation to battle with at your local PTQs, this may be your lucky day.
Johnny “hasn’t played Magic in five years” Rizzo takes his homebrew to the first Extended PTQ of the year. How does the man do when battling against the likes of Mouth and the legendary Go Anan? The answer is inside… somewhere.
