Couldn't keep me away for too long, I guess! I know I said I'd take a break from writing, but putting the pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is just a nice personal release of mine. Combining that with my LOVE for yapping about MTG and we have a blog, folks. One thing you should know, before we dive in, is that of all the MTG formats in the world (including Unhinged draft), I LOVE EXTENDED. I just love it. I don't know what it is exactly. The speed of the format, the variety of sets, riding the thin line between Standard's tempo and Vintage's pure speed and brokenness... Something about Extended season makes me feel alive again (when it comes to MTG).
Last Extended season, I played a homebrew UBW Fish concoction (decked out with Bobs, Meddling Mages, Soltari Priests and SoFI's) to some decent success. Towards the middle of the season I noted that though I won plenty of games, much of it was due to my knowledge of my deck versus my opponent's knowledge of theirs (very important, btw). Despite winning, I felt it was a real grind every round and towards the tail-end of every tournament I was more and more tired. This year, I decided to test and tune a much faster deck so if I win, I win fast (but if I lose, I can sit down and chill for a while as well).
Enter Domain Zoo.
Domain Zoo (as inspired by Raphael Levy at GP: Dallas/ Singapore from last season) is probably the premier aggro deck in the format. Though taking anywhere from 4-6 pain early on just from the manabase, Zoo very easily recoups that with swings and will finish you off with 7-10 points of burn by turn 5 or 6 if you don't do anythng to slow them down. Levy played a very explosive version that could go turn 2 Boros Swiftblade, turn 3 swing + Gaea's Might = take 12 (just from the Swiftblade). Throw an Armadillo Cloak on 'em and say gnite...
As I began to test the deck online over the summer (during TSP Block breaks), I started out with a bit of a "budget" version of the deck (I mean, how "budget" can you really get, running 10 fetches, 9 duals, 4 Tarmogoyfs and a bunch of rares in Ext?). Though I got my Tarmogoyfs early, I didn't have any extra tix for the Grim Lavamancers; so I just replaced him with my most favoritest card ever - Dark Confidant.
My logic was simple. Nothing in the deck costs more than 3 (4 Molten Rain/ Vindicate in the deck) so you basically start to trade the 1 or 2 damage you take every turn from him for a 2-5 damage burn spell. Even more importantly, Bob keeps a steady flow of gas (creatures along with burn) so that the deck can consistently deal enough damage to finish off with Tribal Flames or Gaea's Might. He basically did what Grim Lavamancer did, except differently. Lavamancer takes the spells you've already played and turns them into late game gas. Bob just draws the gas for you, plus he can swing for 2.
One October morning, I took my very rough Domain Zoo deck (with Swiftblade and Bob) to an Extended PE and, whaddya know, I top 8!! Going 4-1 overall with an ID into the Top 8 was a small accomplishment that I'm still pretty proud of considering how techy Bob was at the time (and considering it was my first constructed PE ever). Though I lost in the quarterfinals to a RG beats deck, I felt I was heading in the right direction by playing Domain Zoo. Plus I brought my online constructed rating back into the black for the first time in over a year. (Block and Standard 8-mans have not been kind to me...)
...weeks pass.
I get in a few Ext games on MTGO when I get frustrated with drafting or testing for Standard, but I have yet to start seriously testing the format. It's nice to let out your frustrations with a good MTG beatdown once in a while (hear that, control players? Take a note from Richard Feldman: beating down is fun).
However, once PT: Valencia wraps up, I get the bug... My friend Kevan and I began Ext testing very early last season to some decent success for both of us. So we bust out the old Apprentice and start it up again. With the new cards from Lorwyn on MTGO now, I have 2 very solid avenues of tuning my Zoo deck (3 if you count real life testing... which we haven't started yet). I take a note from Koike's and Herberholz's Valencia lists and decide to try a more "consistent" version of the deck, adding Molten Rain/ Vindicate and some solid burn while cutting the gimmicky Swiftblade/ Gaea's Might combo. One word: Wow. Two Words: It works.
Through our testing I discover one thing about Zoo: maindeck Threads of Disloyalty hurts this deck like a muther.
This wouldn't be a huge problem except for the fact that Cloud Strife (read: Remi Fortier) ran THREE of them in the maindeck of his PT winning CounterTop Goyf. So now, according to the laws of netdecking, the "number one" deck in the format is one of my toughest matchups. To boot, CounterTop Tog served me my only 2 losses at GP: Dallas last season, so I already have a personal vendetta against this archetype. (How's that for foreshadowing???)
I take the new Zoo deck and begin a little winning streak on Ext 8-mans. I start out with my newly tuned, more consistent than ever Zoo deck (now replacing the Lavamancer with 3 MD Gaddock Teeg main for Modo budget purposes) and parlay 8 tix into 2 Grim Lavamancers. Throw another one in their from my own pocket change and we have a deck! If it weren't for all the dang Lorwyn release events I would've taken the deck to a PE right then and there. But I'm a patient guy, so I wait it out, testing and tuning with Kevan more.
Early in the week, I find out that there's a Extended PE event on Wednesday. Sweet! Time to get that 2nd Top 8...
I rush home from work and scramble selling crap rares to get enough tix together to enter the PE. Here's the build I took:
It's Zoo Biatch:
4 Dark Confidant
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Kird Ape
3 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Lightning Helix
3 Seal of Fire
2 Tarfire
4 Tribal Flames
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Vindicate
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
Sideboard:
3 Slaughter Pact (for aggro)
3 Kataki, War's Wage (for pretty much any deck that runs artifacts)
3 Molten Rain (for control/ combo)
2 Engineered Plague (for Goblins and maybe a random elf deck)
4 Leyline of the Void (for Dredge, but also Aggro Loam, any Tog deck, etc.)
Note: I would run 4 Vindicate, 3 Seal of Fire and 1 Tarfire/Firebolt, but do you know how expensive Vindicate is on Modo? Do you know do you know do you know? Ya...
The PE almost doesn't go off, but after half an hour of advertising in the other rooms (read: spamming "ONLY __ MORE FOR EXT 2X PE!!"), we finally get started!
Round 1 - CounterTop Goyf
Of course I get paired with the most unfortunate of pairings right off the bat. The good thing about Zoo is that it punishes mediocre hands and that is exactly what my opponent has. Game one isn't much of a contest as the tempo is too much.
In: 3 Molten Rain, 3 Kataki War's Wage
Out: 2 Tarfire, 1 Seal of Fire, 3 Mogg Fanatic
He has Goyfs too, so I figure boarding out the Tarfire wouldn't be so bad. The tempo gained from an LD suite against a deck like this is decent enough to add in the double R, 3cc spell. I didn't really need them though as game 2 is a wash. After my opponent goes land, Mox (imprinting Counterspell) into Counterbalance, he fails to draw a third mana source for the rest of the game. All my spells slip under/ over his revealed Thirst for Knowledge and lands, respectively.
The match finishes fairly quickly (around 10 minutes), but I am alarmed to discover that I wasn't even the first one done! I try to check what decks the other speedy guys played, but replays were down at the time. The sad thing about finishing so early was I had to read all my opponent's gripes about how he played such a "skill intensive" deck and how "his luck is the worst" and all that mambo jambo... Heard it all before, son. I even apologized for his bad draw, but he still went on in the chat room about the bad beats. C'mon man! Didn't you read Zaeim's article? Sheesh...
Round 2 - CounterTop Goyf
I feel like Denzel Washington in that movie where he travels back in time and sees himself (and that girl who looks a lot like Alicia Keys). This time around, the tempo goes to my opponent as he draws 3 (one, two, three) Threads of Disloyalty in game one. He follows this, of course, with 2 (one, two) Threads in game two. I quickly reference Fortier's list on the Wizards website and verify that he ran only THREE Threads in his deck and not the SEVEN that my opponent appeared to be running. The matches aren't even close and I quickly go from "Woot! I just beat CounterTop Goyf!" to "Dammit, I just lost to CounterTop Goyf" all in less than an hour. And we're barely getting started.......
Round 3 - CounterTop Goyf
I quickly switch from Denzel to Bill Murray in that movie where everything keeps happening again. I start off the round joking with my opponent, "Please tell me you're not playing CounterTop Goyf..."
He replies with a 
...
I know I'm in for a long one.
Game one goes off without a hitch. The 4 Colored Army beats through before the flavor of the month even gets a chance to set up.
I board In and Out similarly to my first round, and the shuffler sets us up for game 2. Well... He sets my opponent up, at least. I start off with a one drop and a two drop. After a few swings back and forth, my opponent trades with a blocker, then steals my Goyf with Threads. I now drop Kataki, set on wrecking his board of Island, Seat of Synod, Chrome Mox, Sensei's Top, Umezawa's Jitte and my Goyf. However, he manages to escape this dire situation, drops a land, equips his Jitte to my Goyf and beats me down with it! I take the hit, but Kataki gets pinged and we're back where we started. However, with Vindicate and plenty of burn spells in hand, it's just a matter of time before I draw my third land, get my Goyf back, swing in and finish this match...
I said, it's just a matter of time...
Hello? Land? Where are you? Now it's my turn to .. We go to game 3.
To try and help with the "stolen Goyf" situation, I decide to go
In: 2 Slaughter Pact
Out: 2 Seal of Fire
I start off strong, once again. The strong start leads up to my opponent playing Venser on my Jitte and blocking an Isamru. I don't mind the trade because I respond with another Isamaru and a Gaddock Teeg for Engineered Explosives protection. My opponent, now with 3 cards in hand casts a Trinket Mage and plays the Divining Top he fetched. Now comes the pivotal decision... I have enough burn in hand to take the match after 1.5 swings. I really don't want my opponent to find a Threads and regain control. Plus, he's already played a Venser this game so I feel it's pretty safe to cast...
Slaughter Pact.
I add some burn in and pass the turn. During his main phase, my opponent taps island... island... Breeding Pool... Forest -and I know what's coming before the little picture even comes on the screen. The 2/2 Legend comes into play bouncing my Godless Shrine (and lone black source) back to my hand. During my upkeep I try to click it as if to hope it'll magically drop onto the screen and prevent my untimely demise. Unfortunately, this is Magic, not magic... Greed got the best of me this game and it stung like a B.
Round 4 - RGB Aggro Control
At this point, if I see another Breeding Pool into Sensei's Divining Top on turn 1, I would have thrown my laptop into the street -straight up Evan Erwin style... Luckily for me and my Dell, my opponent leads off with Forsest, Birds of Paradise. I go on my normal curve out and it takes a while for me to actually figure out what he's playing. I see a mid-game Troll Ascetic and a late game Sword of Fire and Ice, but that combo comes way too late as I finish my opponent off with some hefty burn.
I don't board anything in this matchup as I expect to take my opponent down with speed. Game 2 comes down a lot tougher than game 1. While I go on my normal weenie curve, my opponent sets up a turn 2 Troll Ascetic and a turn 3 Phantom Centaur. The board gets stalled as I hold off the crazy Troll with random chumps. It all goes downhill when my opponent combines the SoFI with a SoLS (Sword of Light and Shadow... Ya. the other sword) So now his guy's really big, I can't kill him, and I can't block him with anything except for Tarmogoyf. Bad times...
For game 3 I don't board anything in once again, simply hoping the heart of the cards will be on my side. This win comes a little tougher than game 1, but the burn in hand saves me before his SoLS equipped BoP can do too much damage.
Round 5 - Goblins
I've played against this deck a lot in the tourney practice room, but never in an 8-man or PE. I knew that it was a tough matchup overall, so I paid extra attention not to misclick or misread or misplay in general. Game 1 went down to both players in the red zone, but the old red circus, lead by 2 Goblin Ringleaders, overpowered my 4 color army in the end.
In: 3 Slaughter Pact, 2 Engineered Plague
Out: 3 Seal of Fire, 2 Gaddock Teeg
Plague is icy hot nuts in this matchup, obv. Pact lets me burn and kill creatures, then swing through the proceeding turn. I mulled to 6 and kept a hand with a creature, a burn spell, the Plague and some lands. After my opponent accelerates into a quick Warchief (which is burned) and I drop the Plague on turn 3, he quickly concedes.
Game 3. One game to rule them all... This is probably the closest game I've had all tournament. Exchanging burn spells for Goblins and cycling Gempalm Incinerators for my dudes, we go into late game topdeck mode. With no cards in hand, I topdeck a Kird Ape and a Mogg Fanatic consecutively. My opponent has to hardcast his 3rd Gempalm to chump the Ape, but finishes the game with 4 cards in hand.
*ding* (I get a PM from him)
Him: You got me...
Me: Wow, that one was close. What do you have in hand??
Him: 3 Naturalize and a Chrome Mox
Me:
Him: I have the best breakers though, and 2 people have already won who have better breakers than you.
-I check this-
Me: No, only one person has 9 points right now and I have better breakers than him. I also have better breakers than the 2 people still playing.
Him: Oh... You're right.
Me: If I knew I was 100% out of it, I might give it to you, but I think I still have a shot. Sorry man, ggs.
Him: ggs
He concedes the match and now I play the waiting game...
Suddenly, the main room chat announces the tournament is done and congratulations to the Top 8 players. I'm expecting the "Duel" screen to pop... But it doesn't. I check the standings and see that the other 9 pointer had better breakers than me in the end. The Goblin player killed my breakers! gahhhh!
0.0188...
If my Opponent's match win percentage had been 0.0188 better, I would've been in the Top 8! How's that for frustrating? Coincidentally, the 2 CounterTop Tog players that beat me had Top 8'ed as well, so I don't know how well I would have done. And strangely, there is no record of the Wednesday EXT 2x Tournament in the MTGO PE Room, so I can't go back and check what the Top 8 decks were for you guys. (I promise to check immediately after the tournament next time!) Those are the breaks, I guess (pun intended). To be honest, I'm not even mad at my performance. This is just a stepping stone to better tournaments in the future, I hope.
Overall, I think that this is a very strong deck with strong potential. It brings the most quick, efficient threats in Extended; backs it up with a plethora of burn and a catch all answer in Vindicate; has card draw to keep your hand full of gas and brings in Lightning Helix to help keep your painful manabase afloat against other aggro decks! Some changes that I am currently testing are
- MD: Goblin Legionnaire (he serves the same purpose as Mogg Fanatic, but isn't as weak in the mid-game)
- MD: tuning of the burn spells (Firebolt vs. Seal of Fire vs. Tarfire -one HAS TO be better than the others. Which one is it?)
- SB: Ray of Revelation (A reusable option to take down Threads and Counterbalance, but also viable against Solitary Confinement, Seismic Assault, Collective Restraint and Form of the Dragon. This slot could possibly be Ronom Unicorn but I don't like the fact that it can be killed before he is useful. Testing will reveal the answers...)
Thanks for reading and I hope you all get a chance to test out some Extended soon!
Peace.
Jeremy Fuentes
60 Card Monkey on MTGO
