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Extended PTQ’s, A way to climb up on the top!
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Extended PTQ’s, A way to climb up on the top!
I have been watching the recent extended ptq season and with the upcoming ptq’s and grand prix trials in my country ,I ‘ve started playing magic again, competitive, after some big break I had. The extended format, as it is currently, it is very interesting because there are many different decks to choose. And surprising, most of them are quite competitive too. So, how can you divide the decks into categories, according to the power each deck has? To be able to put decks into tiers, you must first see the individual results each archetype had in the pro tour qualifiers,grand prix trials or even grand prix, they participated in. Most of the pro tour decks are outdated, not only because the morningtide is out, but because the format is evolving all the time(this occurs in all constructed formats in magic). And that’s why we are playing ptq’s after a pro tour. To get ideas from the pro tour, then evolve their deck, or even come up with a new idea based on how to beat those decks.
The decks currently are so many that I wont be refering to all of them. Instead I will talk about the deck that it seems to me its having the best chances of winning a tournament. This article is about a deck many people are refering to as “Next Level Blue”, that’s been abusing the card named Counterbalance with an artifact called Sensei’s Divining Top. Ive been playing much the past month with this deck. There are many different builds running around lately and its quite hard to pick the correct one. I must assure you though, this deck IS the deck to play. Despite the fact it requires quite an amount of playtesting versus all the rest of the field(so you need decide your plays according to the deck the oppoent is playing), the deck itself will reward you if you can be able to use the cards it has with the maximum efficiency they can give to you. Without any more blah blah I will proceed to the version that’s probably the better:
Creatures:
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Trinket Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Shavant
Instants
4 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1 Forse Spike
2 Spell Snare
3 Thirst For Knowledge
Enchantments
4 Counterbalance
2 Threads Of Disloyalty
Artifact
4 Chrome mox
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
3 Vedalken Shackles
Land
1 Academy Ruins
2 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Steam Vents
1 Tree Of Tales
Sideboard
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Sower Of Temptation
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Cryptic Command
2 Krosan Grip
1 Threads Of Disloyalty
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod’s Crypt
The deck was played by Selim Creiche on 3rd of February at Nogent. At this point I will go on an analysis of most of the cards in the deck and their purpose in it.
Tarmogoyf
This is your primary winning condition. It is up to the match up if you will take it down as early as possible(especially if your opponents are playing smother, although this is most unlikely) This creature is almost imposible to be burned only by 1 card and its sure that it will trade for 2 cards if your red opponent wants to kill it. Vs control deck he can just come down turn 2 (or even turn 1) and start doing his work. With all the pain people are getting from painlands, the impact on the game an early tarmogoyf can make is huge.
Trinket Mage
This is your wish with a body. 2/2 for 3 mana isnt something good. But this “drawback” is overcomed with its ability. The cards you can fetch with him are: explosives,top,mox, tormod’s crypt, pithing needle and tree of tales. So this guy makes you run all the cards named above +3 times. He can even fetch you a land when you gonna need it. In most control match ups all you want is just lie a top down and you will be ok. In beatdown decks this card shines as well, enabling you to fetch explosives to blow their team out. He will give you more time by acting as a 2/2 wall as well.Why does not the deck include 4? Because the things you are going to bring are almost streightforward in every match up, resolving more than once will not really help. The usual card this guy will fetch is the top(except some specific cases, if you are beaten up he will fetch explosives, if u have mana problems he will fetch land and mox) He acts like 7 tops in the deck. If you have a top and draw this guy you will probably keep him in hand as a shuffle engine.
Venser. Shaper Savant
The purposes of this card in this deck are many. First of all, it really helps at the decks weak point, the 4+ casting cost spells. When you have counterbalance and top down, the things that you are afraid of happening only is a spell with 4 casting cost or more. If u manage to keep this guy on top of your library you can just say no to those anoying baloths(well, if you don’t have shackles at that point that is), blistering firecats, gifts ungiven and many more. Secondly he helps by acting as a lifesaver vs boseijus and generally anything that goes on the stack that concerns you. Thirdly, he can turn the board upside down just by bouncing a threat an oppopent has and block an attacker. Now you will ask why don’t the deck run more of theese guys, the reason is that you cant afford having “expensive” spells because the format as it is, is quite fast.
Cryptic Command
This can be as the second Venser in the deck. It serves as a 4 mana spell as Venser does, and it as well bounce stuff as well. There are times you need to just counter something instead of giving it to his hand. Now you gonna ask, how can you say that, you play only 1. This card acts as a 5th counterspell, thik it as this. More importantly, it can just give you the win, or an extra turn if you use the other card’s ability that taps the opponent creatures.
Force Spike and Spell Snare
When I saw the decklists from Tom Lapille they had either forse spikes, either spell snares. The first thing that came to my mind was: “why don’t he put both?”. This thought is becoming a fact as we see the above decklist. It is obvius that when your opponent will see a forse spike he wont be ever force spiked again by playing around it. The fact that every spell our opponents will play will cost 1 more mana is huge but when this will happen the only use for your force spikes will be to toss them on thirst for knowledge or imprint it on mox.. If your opponent see’s spell snare he will think that you are not running spikes and he will not play around it. So, he will get spiked if you have one. Imagine to play them both on the same game. The opponents head will surely go nuts.
Threads of Disloyalty
The impact this card can give vs creature match ups is very very big. Imagine stealing your opponents Bob Maher or even just a kird ape. Versus control matchups it is not very good, only if your opponent is running goyfs will it have some use. Its all about the environment you gonna face. If you think that you wont have many beatdown decks just toss them out and put more late cards, like meloku or more commands. I like this card better than hierarch because it’s a lot faster and it actually 2 for 1 trade.
Pithing Needle
This card seems odd in the deck at the first view of the decklist. Its uses are infinite though. Firstly don’t forget that u can name a fetch land to just disable it. More important though, this card serves as a saver from many dangerous things. Barbarian rings, Pernicious Deeds, Plainswalkers, Lavamancers and many many other things. It is sideded out though if the deck you are facing does not include stuff that this card can shut down. It is only 1 so the chances of drawing it in game 1 are small, but even if you do, you can only throw it away with thirst.
Academy Ruins
This card is an MVP of the deck. It can do really infinite things. See every artifact the deck has. Versus rock decks, if it does not get vindicated, it will win you the game by recuring your shackles. Versus tarmogoys, if you are in danger or dieing you can just crypt all the graveyards(this works vs lilliana as well). Vs dredge you can crypt them every end of their turn. It prevents you from getting decked, if you have 7 hands in hand(vs a deck with infinite life). You can, unfortunatly run only 1 of those, because despite the fact that its legendary, you need colored mana.
Gaddock Teeg
When I saw this card I said it sux in this deck. Better put in Meddling mage or something. I tested the deck with meddling mages for a week. I was not very good option. Gaddock teeg shuts down : Dredge(they cant dread return), Desire(all you have to do is counter their wishes and its game), Ideal(same as desire) and urzatron blue deck(there u need to counter their wishes and watch out for triskelion). Have in mind that you cant cast explosives or the blue command when this guy is out so better at least put the command out when theese are in.
Sower of Temptation
This card, although it seems poor in first sight, it is very good. You side it in vs creature decks or vs decks that have a really big creature that you cant shackle. When he sees down an akroma or a big troll he will smile(along with you). He can take everything that can be targeted, and if you can protect it its game.
Ancinent Grudge
This card is not only for affinity. The new trend is that many decks side in needles to say no to your tops or to your crypts. Imagine the face of a dredge player when you grudge his needle. In the mirror it wrecks shackles, it kills artifact lands and blinkmoth nexus some mono red decks tend to run. It kills moxes as well. Its an all around card that you should include.
Theese 3 cards mentioned in the sideboard is a must in my opinion. The other 6 slots are about the metagame you are going to face.
I will speak now about how the deck must be played. It may seem easy for people to say that if you have the counterbalance and the top on the table things are very easy for you and tough for your opponent. This is partly true. If you don’t know what you are doing it is very very easy to screw up the whole lock. Things are getting harder if you are beaten up.
First of all, try to keep unsaced your fetch lands. Keep them in play no matter what. The only reason for you to crack them apart for a shuffle is end of your opponents turn, if you want to fetch a land and not take 2 damage from it(that is if your opponent is playing a fast deck) Otherwise just wait. And wait.. When your opponent tells you to play and u have only 1 mana open along with a fetch land just wait(if he has instants in his deck). Don’t look with the sensei. Don’t make him make u crack the fetch land. Do it in your upkeep. Usually all you need to find is land and finding a land isnt worth of sacrifising a fetch land. The deck must do the following in order to win:It is almost as what rock deck must do. It must make the game a world that it will benefit it.
For this deck to win, most of the times, is to have counter-top lock down, along with a shackles and wait for a goyf to come. But it does not do only that. It can just play an early goyf and win the game with it. The deck has infinite different descisions you need to take in each game. You just need to make “the perfect play” each turn. In theory, this seems hard. But, most of the time when you will do the second best play it will just win you the game(assuming that your opponent is not extraordinary good).
Before taking a deck to a tournament, you MUST be able to know all of the “imbalananced” plays this deck can do. It must be natural for you that if your opponent is at 5 and your goyf is 4/5 while you are having a counterspell and a card type that its not in any graveyard, that you have to play and counter your own spell just to make your goyf 5/6. Here is one more “tough to see” play: You are playing threads on an opponents creature. After a couple of turns he decides to kill it using 2 cards. If you have venser or command you will take to your hand the threads before the creature is killed. In that way your opponent will lose 3 cards and you will lose 0. And then you play the threads on another creature. Making your card advantage even bigger. This of course depends of the situation, but u can do it. There are about 5 more “tough to see” plays (at least for me), that you cant possibly see them when you play in this deck. Try to play this deck. And play it slow. See every different thing you can do every single turn. If you can , try to think what will happen in the next turn. You might play something that seems correct now, but it is wrong next turn. You may even discover something you didn’t knew.
Also, don’t forget that you can always counter 1 casting cost spells just by tapping the top when counterbalance is out. Another important thing is not to draw spells with casting cost that hurt your opponent on top of your library. If lets say you are playing vs a red deck and you have only 1 card with 2 casting cost on the top, you need to put it somewhere that you wont draw it. All you need to draw is lands lands and lands. Time will come for you to attack but be patient. This thing is called LOCK because you must keep 2 and 3 casting cost spell son top of your deck. If you can you will possibly win.
Another important issue is to be able to know what cards are 1st 2nd and 3rd on your library. Being able to counterbalance a spell without tapping a land to see what card is on top is huge. Try to see the next turns of the game. What spells will possibly your opponent will play.
Lets proceed with the deck match ups:
Doran-Rock variants
This match up, seems hard. But it is not. It really depends on the build they are having. Many decks playing deeds main(which hurts), many are playing vindicate and putrify, others living wish and others gifts ungiven. Some people even play with plainswalkers and death clouds.
The builds theese decks are having are so many that you cant just say”this is a good or a bad matchup”. You can say this though: If I will lay lands down I will win. In this type of match up, all your deck needs to do is have lands on the table. They cant win fast (except with a 2rd or a 3rd turn doran which will indeed hurt) and you have all the time you want to set up your mana. If they lay down a fast doran things are hard, but shackles can handle him. Just keep your counters for supporting the shackles and you will have no problem. Don’t hesitate in thread their bird if they keep a therapy in their graveyard. Explosives their treetops. Tormods Crypt their graveyard. Take control of their goyfs and confidants.You need to pay attention for 3 mana spells once u have your lock down. The only way they can fight it game 1 is with deed or with vindicate. Keep them off and you will have a win. The tough part starts with the decks that are playing huge mana spells.
It is better to avoid them in the early rounds of the tournament, since they will probably lose to fast decks but if you pair with a guy who is playing Garruk and Lilliana what will you do? The match up is really tough for you, especially if the opponent is good. The key card in this is pithing needle. Although you can explosive for 4 you cant for 5. Needle can shut down lilliana and explosives can take care of garruk. Deathcloud is bad :P Still all you need to do , is stay out of the cloud range to kill you (being around 10 life will be ok) and have as many lands as possible. Academy ruins shines in this match up. The things that must not hit the table in theese match ups are obviously pernicious deed and vindicate. So keep your counters for those , or for the big mana spells they might have. As I said they will lose from beatdown decks in the early rounds, so don’t excpect them to be on competitive pairings late on the tournament. It would be a shame if you lose from those though in the early rounds, so it is better to be prepeared.
The sideboard goes like this: ( I will take the sideboard the person who played the deck had, although I am planning to do some changes in it)They will probably bring in deeds(if they didn’t play them), some high cost cards and maybe extripates(to take out your goyfs and shuflle your deck). The only way to counter extripate is to have on top a top.You need to take control of their big creatures like doran, baloth(kill it!), and sower of temptation is good way to do it. If they have confidants in their deck, along with tarmogoyfs the 3rd threads would be good addition too. Cryptic Command will help as well. You would take out cards that.don’t have much impact of this game and of course cards that does do much to your opponents decklist.
It helps veeeeeeeery much to know what your opponent is playing. Taking out the Tormod’s Crypt is not often a good idea, in case they play witness,genesis etc.Needle stays in as well for their deeds(they will definatly play deeds game 2 if they didn’t game 1). You can take out force spikes(especially if you played one in game 1) and the spell snares since the only things they can counter are goyfs and confidants and the cards you are siding in are for those. Generally, I believe this deck has an advantage over rock decks it is like 60-40.
Red Decks with burn and with red/green creatures,5 color green with gaeas might and tribal flames
The whole match up is if they are running firecats or not. If they do, then things are quite hard for us, but they have to draw it. One cat usually is not a problem(u can eat 7) or its countered, but a second cat can be lethal. Remember that u can counter morphs with a land on the top(as well as moxes, lotus bloom and every that has casting cost 0). Other than cats, their deck is all about the first 2-3 turns. If they have a kird ape or a fanatic out and a confidant things are bad. In the first game you rely much on your goyfs to keep their stuff back and on threads-shackles. Also you need to have down counterbalance and top asap. Make sure u have a top and a 2 mana spell on top of your deck and you will win 100%. Sac your fetchlands with care, every single life counts. Take control of their Grim Lavamancer, get out a steam vents and start pewpewing their creatures.Versus those deck, all you have to do is to survive their initial attacks. Get rid of the creatures they will place in the beginning of the game and you will win.
The builds of the red decks are many. There are mono red decks with some artifacts in them, there are red green decks with goyfs and there are deck that run confidants or even both bob and tarmogoyf. If they play barbarian rings, leave your crypt or your needle in (although I don’t reccoment needle because they must be playing some short of artifact removal in their sideboard). The problem is that you don’t know what are their answers to your shackles. If they are removal that’s ok.(apart from krosan grip) If it is needle, you need to fetch explosives and blow it, which will make you lose some important time. If you know they are playing blistering firecats , find a venser or a command and leave it on top.That’s the only way of not letting them come into play(you can always counter their morph form with a land). If they don’t, take those cards out because they are way too slow.
Another pain in the ass are the kami of the ancient law. If they run something like this you are in deep trouble.However I am very happy with the results I am having with this deck vs the red aggro decks, if they arent lucky and you wont have bad luck, you will win. Versus most builds, you have advantage.
Goblins
This is a very interesting match up. Again we have many different builds of goblins. Some are mono red, some are red black and some others contain green in them.They play a deck that will lay creatures. Only that. But they will crush you with it if you are not carefull. All you need to do , is have an early goyf out.(if they play terminates that’s another story) and take control of their warchief. The whole problem if this deck is one card. Gobling Ringleader. He costs 4 mana. That means you cant counter him with counterbalance(unless u have a venser or a command on top , which is game). When ringleader kicks in, it is very important your opponent does not have warchief. Also it is very important that he does not have skirk prospector. He can counter ur shackles or threads, so he must be taking care of first. Explosives are huge in this match up. So is the trinket mage. Remember that Goblin Piledriver has protection from Blue so you cant just block him with trinket mage or thread it. That new goblin with prowl will be problematic(if they choose the correct cards to remove from it).
All you need to do here, is have the lock out and beat them with a goyf. If you manage to have a 3 and a 4 mana cost spell on top you win. Also don’t forget that if you have warchief the next goblin you will get will have haste.
Sideboardring vs goblins is a bit streightforward. Crypt does not do much, its only good vs Wort, Boggard Auntie. Pithing needle is out for sure. The things you need to bring in definitely are another explosives and the 3rd copy of threads. Sower of temptation maybe is good addition since they will probably be taking out their gempalm incinerators. If you can have an early lock on the board its game. Still, this match up needs extremely handling with care, the first turns are, like the other red decks, the key to victory. You need to take control of the game, before they will put an army on the table, and then it is too late.
Minds Desire(TEPS)
From the first time this card is out, people find ways of abusing it and as it seems this deck is having an impact in this format too. They will try to fill their hand with spells that give more mana than the mana they spend for them and by playing 4 or 5 of those spells and a desire will try to win you. In game 1 if you have the counterbalance and the top down, there is no way they will win you, if you only counter their burning wish. Remember lands on top of your deck can counter their mox and their lotus bloom. An early tarmogoyf is definitely the correct play. Put them some pressure, to state them that they don’t have all the time in the world to beat you. If you don’t have the lock down, you will probably going to lose. In games 2 and 3 you take out all the cards that take control of creatures, and putting in Gaddock Teeg+ some artifact removal spells. Now, when gaddock teeg is out, they cant win. You just counter their burning wishes and that’s it. If they sided in deathmark its something you should know of. In every game, if you have counterbalance and top down its imposible to lose.
In addition there is the Desire build that runs Heartbeat of Spring and Early Harverst. You must follow almost the same plan, but in game 1 you need to be able to cut their heartbeats and early harvests. With a counterbalance and a top you wont be having any problem at all.
Enduring Ideal
You need to see this deck almost like minds desire. But this time, they wont cast spells. They will cast 1 spell and try to win. Those kind of decks always lost from a permision deck, although I would not call our deck a permision deck. Enduring Ideal tries to produce mass amount of mana by playing Invasion Sac lands and cast the spell. Counterbalance does not help much now. But Counterspells do. Of course you will lay down counterbalance just to make him out of his low mana spells, but you need to have in hand a counter. The thing that’s in fashion nowadays is Boseiju, Who Shelters All maindeck. If they bring down that its bad news. All you need to do then is find a venser. Again a fast goyf is key for winning.
Game 2 will go as much as desire with the exception that they don’t run any creature removals, apart maybe from fire/ice. So, mr Teeg will win you the game. Try to lay down as many creatures as you can and bounce the boseiju if its out. Keep spell snares in for wish targets. If your teeg lives then its good game.
Dredge/Cephalid Breakfast
Theese decks are almost the same for ourdeck to take care of. Dredge is a deck that can easilly go off turn 2. Cephalid deck can kill at turn 1. I am sounding scary aint I? If they manage to kill you the first 2 turns then congratulations to them. You can answer their “perfect” draw with a perfect draw of yours in this occasion. Turn 2 trinket mage for crypt will shut them down. And in game 1 they don’t have anything for it. Once the crypt is down they will try to win you with some small creatures. Try to stabilize the board, show them who is the boss and win. If you don’t draw trinket mage, well you possibly going to lose. Counterbalance is irrelevant vs Dredge deck and it is being sided out. It does hurt cephalid breakfast though. In game 2 Gaddock Teeg shines again. Vs dredge they cant do dread return and if u lay in the first turns down a crypt and a teeg its good game. Even if they manage to bring a fatty out , you can steal it with sower of temptation. Versus infinite life combo you cant lose because of the academy ruins and you can remove their colossus from the game with the crypt. So you win the “decking” war. Countering wishes is a must.
Playing versus dredge is something not as easy as it sound and you need to play many many many games to be able to live. This deck beats those kind of decks overall and the player you are facing must be very good in order to play around the hate.
Bauble Hulk
This deck is an easy match up vs our deck. In game one you can just pithing needle for Mogg Fanatic or Carrion Feeder ,counter their wishes and they cant win. They will lose from a tormods crypt as well. In game 2 side in Teeg and worry about only Footsteps of the Goryo. I really don’t know what other decks to speak of, as you can see the deck has solutions versus all the metagame you could possibly have and I guarantee that if you will test with it the deck will reward you.
In magic there are many different options you can take in every single game. The thing that makes the whole game difficult to be bored of is that, unless you play many many times a specific match up, no game will be the same as the one before. Just remember this: There are the plays and THE play(I really dont know where I had read that in the past, but am sure it was 3-4 years ago). In this deck, you need to find THE play which is the best play. It is all about playing with the deck.
I have many more things to say that could not fit in this article but I think I will be boring. You can always send me e-mails about anything, I will be happy to answer them. Happy ptq’s and happy wins!
Related to:
Magic: the Gathering
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