Analyzing the New Extended
Gadiel dissects the many Extended archetypes seen at Pro Tour Los Angeles, then follows it up with his recommendation for the current PTQ season.
TagExtended
Unpacking New Extended
Pro Tour Los Angeles showed just how great the new Extended format can be, with rogue decks and old favorites duking it out for the title of best deck and $200,000 in cash and prizes. However, there is a ton of information out there to sift through, so where do you even start? I’m here to throw you a lifeline in this sea of information and give you the insider scoop on what the coverage staff saw at this past weekend’s Pro Tour, including news on the controversial semifinals, good decks that flew under the radar, and what you should and should not play in the upcoming PTQ season.
Magical Hack: Extend Your Point Of View
States has come and gone, but Extended PTQs started Sunday, so it’s time to shift focus to the newly-rotated format where almost broken things can happen. Today Sean takes a look at the Extended metagame and provides eight starter decklists for those of you looking to do battle in the next couple of weeks.
Ben’s Corner: The 100 Most Essential Extended Commons
Ben’s Corner presents a list of the 100 most essential commons you’ll need in Extended! Find out which commons you should get your hands on in order to be most prepared for the upcoming Extended PTQ season.
Also in Ben’s Corner: Which of the four Ravnica guilds has taken a massive jump in sales and popularity? Which sets from The Monster have been tamed this week? How high have buy prices gone on our buylist? Click the article to find out!
Magic: The Annoying And The Prize At The End Of The Box
We’ll be honest with you in the blurb here and tell you that the editors didn’t really know how to classify this article, but it includes a spiffy new Extended decklist at the very end, so we’ve placed it here in Strategy. However, before you get to the decklist, Richie speaks his mind about the state of Magic, the Player Rewards program, and the Top 6 Things He Dislikes about the game today.
Playing Fair
Mike claims that the deck he discusses in this article just might be the best Constructed deck he’s ever designed. Okay fine, those who know Mike know that he says this sort of thing at least once a month, but what if he’s right?
The Tale of the Tog and the Head Judge
After working for a week on a modified version of Gush-a-Tog, Terry set out to test the deck at the final Grand Prix of the season. In spite of posting a 6-1-1 record, he didn’t end up in Day 2 because the judge gave him a match loss after the match had completed. What is the normal ruling in this case and how did Psychatog, of all decks, end up taking over the Extended season at the end? The answers to these questions and more are just a click away.
The Magic Jerk: That Sweet, Sweet Taste
There’s nothing quite like victory to put a little spring in a man’s step, particularly when it vaults you onto the Pro Tour only a week after your team narrowly missed out on automatic qualification.
Much Love
Flores goes suicidal examining yet another creation from his new favorite Constructed deck designer!
The Black Perspective: Mistakes, Mistakes, and more Mistakes
Being the subject of a recent documentary for G4 TV hasn’t gone entirely to Joe Black’s head, in fact he seems downright humble discussing his recent mistakes at Grand Prix: Seattle and Pro Tour: Atlanta. In addition to those tasty tidbits, Osyp riffs on “The Falling Star Ballot” for the Magic Invitational, shows you what card he plans to propose, and much, much more.
Fifteen PTQs, Fifteen Potential Matchups: The Dumbest Deck Name Ever
After a recent bit of forum criticism, the editors of this site challenged Nathan to write again, since his previous works had all been quite solid. Nathan proved more than up for the challenge this week, writing about a stone-cold rogue deck for the end of the Extended season and including an impressive amount of goofy humor to boot. If you like Magic, you will probably like this article.
The Limit of Skill and Other Topics
This week Mike puts Sneak Attack to the test to see if it really is the sauciest goldfish deck in the environment. In addition, he also talks to some of the game’s best players to get their thoughts on the Extended format, the Limit of Skill, and playing threat decks vs. answer decks.
Aggro Rock and an Examination of Playing the Best Deck
After disappointing results from Pro Tour: Columbus, The Rock has been tearing up the PTQ scene and is one of the hottest decks around. In this article, Noah puts aggro Rock to the test and is not disappointed by the results. Why did he choose a deck that is underpowered, in spite of knowing that in the first place? Well, I’ll let the man explain for himself…
Spike Pushes Timmy Aside: Rediscovering The Rock
How do you weather one of the worst Magic slumps of your career? By returning to your roots, of course, and piloting a deck that fits like an old pair of house slippers to a consistent set of wins. Today Rick discusses the midifications Rock decks have had to make to compete and gives a complete matchup analysis against all the major decks in the field.
Everybody Loves Draco
It’s not often that you get to go behind the scenes during a deck’s development, but that’s exactly what Quentin Martin delivers today. The “Top Deck” as it was so named, received more coverage than any other new deck at Grand Prix: Eindhoven and in this article Quentin shows you how the deck came about, what changes they made in testing, and what the deck looks like now that eight of Europe’s best players put the deck to the work against over a thousand other players at Grand Prix: Eindhoven!