I tested a few decks today. First was Dark Depths. I was leaning toward playing it since I liked the fact that it had some easy to get nutdraws that involved some disruption plus a quick combo. Most decks had a hard time beating that. But it was vulnerable to a very aggressive draw if it got a clunky one, and just didn't have the tools to win a long game against Tezzeret very often. On the upside, GerryT did come out of semi-retirement today to win a MODO PTQ with this list:

// Lands
3 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins
2 Swamp
2 Island
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 River of Tears
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Dark Depths

// Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage

// Spells
1 Into the Roil
4 Chrome Mox
1 Slaughter Pact
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Doom Blade
4 Thoughtseize
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Beseech the Queen
4 Muddle the Mixture

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Thopter Foundry
SB: 1 Sword of the Meek
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Duress
SB: 1 Chalice of the Void
SB: 3 Deathmark
SB: 3 Extirpate
SB: 1 Ghost Quarter

I think he said he's writing an article about Dark Depths, so look for that this week. I personally have not liked Beseech in game 1, but have found it very good for finding sideboard cards.

Next up was Saito Zoo aka Charm School:

// Lands
1 Treetop Village
2 Temple Garden
2 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Arid Mesa

// Creatures
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Baneslayer Angel

// Spells
4 Bant Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
2 Umezawa's Jitte

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Ghost Quarter
SB: 2 Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 4 Meddling Mage
SB: 4 Negate
SB: 4 Ravenous Trap

You could do a lot worse than this deck. All the cards are pretty powerful, but you may have a hard time against combo in game 1. Still, Zoo remains a reasonable choice if you are lazy or unprepared (or both). I would suggest trying something else over the Katakis in the SB as Affinity isn't a deck I'd expect to face, nor is it something you should be afraid of even without Katakis. If you want something to annoy Tezzeret with, Gaddock Teeg or Qasali Pridemage both seem much better.

A deck that was forgotten after last Extended season, but has gotten some buzz recently, is Faeries:

// Lands
6 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Mutavault
4 River of Tears
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Secluded Glen
2 Watery Grave

// Creatures
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Vendilion Clique

// Spells
3 Ancestral Vision
4 Bitterblossom
3 Cryptic Command
3 Doom Blade
4 Mana Leak
2 Repeal
2 Thoughtseize
3 Umezawa's Jitte

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Doom Blade
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
SB: 3 Deathmark
SB: 3 Flashfreeze
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus

I like Faeries quite a bit, and am still considering playing it. My main concern is Zoo decks with Punishing Fire, as that trumps Bitterblossom and even Jitte usually. Your only hope is to Mistbind Clique them, then sneak in a hit with Jitte while they're tapped out. Sometimes that works, but more often than not they end up burning out all your creatures before turning their attention to your face. At the end of the day though, one of the cardinal rules of Extended is: "Play what you know." And I certainly know Faeries better than just about any other archetype, so it merits serious consideration.

After a long day of testing, I logged onto Facebook. After securing GerryT's list I saw that Jacob Van Lunen had won a PTQ with Elves. I tried a fairly conventional list with Primal Command and Elvish Archdruid, then gave in to being a barn and asked JVL for his list. He sent me this:

// Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Stomping Ground
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Pendelhaven
9 Forest

// Creatures
4 Heritage Druid
4 Boreal Druid
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Eternal Witness
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Elves of Deep Shadow
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Essence Warden

// Spells
4 Cloudstone Curio
2 Manamorphose
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Grapeshot
1 Weird Harvest

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Magus of the Moon
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 4 Blood Moon
SB: 2 Viridian Shaman
SB: 3 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Nissa Revane



I don't know quite what to think of this list yet. I have to say I like Primal Command, Archdruid, and Regal Force a lot. I sort of feel like JVL's list is too reliant on Curio, and I could see cutting some of the crappier 1-mana guys (Elves of Deep Shadow, some Boreal Druids) and Manamorphoses for some more powerful cards.

I'll be testing Elves a lot more, but no matter how much testing I do this week, I probably can't learn the deck as well as I know Faeries. There are lots of triggers and many ways to make mistakes with the Elf deck, but I may end up choosing to play it due to how powerful it is. Time and testing will tell, I guess.

I like Saito Zoo a lot, but that elf deck looks really interesting. I saw some Saito list running Temporal Isolations and Negates, but that seems terrible to me.

-AA