The Book of Job
a Column by Jonathan
Job
Chapter 1� "Let there be Extended"
Verse 1 � �Aggro�
Welcome to what will be at least a monthly article here on Front Range
Magic. First let me introduce myself, my name is Jonathan Job. There
are those that know me and those that don't. Just remember, just as in
the Book of Job, my word is infallible. I have been playing Magic for around 10
years now. I have been to numerous Pro Tours, top eight in GP Houston,
and multiple
Today I would like to talk about the current extended format as a reflection to GP LA and how to choose a deck that suits your play style and will give you a good showing during the PTQ season. When first looking at the metagame I came to the conclusion that there were many viable decks. Instead of trying to build a deck that beats every one of these, which is impossible, I decided to lump the decks into categories and build to beat these archetypes instead of individual decks. I have found this to be a very successful method in choosing which deck I would like to play. If you try to beat specific decks I think you'll end up making your card choices based on too narrow of a field. I would rather have a card that is slightly less powerful against all the decks in a category, than have a card that is amazing or terrible against one specific deck. There is always the exception to the rule. Sometimes it is very obvious that a deck will make up a third or more of any given tournament or if you know your local player base rather well and know a deck will make a strong showing at say a PTQ, then choosing cards that beat a specific deck is acceptable.
The categories that I broke extended into include; aggro,
control, midrange, and combo. First I am going to break down the
categories and then I will explain how I go through and what you should do to
choose what deck you will eventually play.
AGGRO
I define an aggro deck as any deck that tries to win over the course of multiple turns with little concern as to what their opponent does.
First let's define the main aggro decks. We have Zoo, AIR (all in red), mono red, and affinity. In the aggro category I put my main focus on affinity. The affinity main decks tend to be rather standard. There are really only about 5-6 cards that you can mess around with. Here is affinity as writ from The Book of Job.
Maindeck:
Artifacts
4 Chromatic Star
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
Artifact Creatures
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Frogmite
4 Master Of Etherium
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Ornithopter
Sorceries
4 Thoughtcast
Instants
2 Fatal Frenzy
Lands
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
Artifact Lands
4 Great Furnace
4 Seat Of The Synod
4 Tree Of Tales
4 Vault Of Whispers
Sideboard:
3 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Delay
4 Thoughtseize
I decided that atog was unnecessary in the deck. Playing the full complement of masters and Myr Enforcers I believe gives you enough beef. Also with a lot of the decks in the format doing damage to themselves fatal frenzy is normally good enough on a Master. The thing I really like about this deck is the sideboard. � With the feeling that the format will move toward combo and death cloud as it has the best match up against the one turn decks, I think this sideboard has a lot of promise.� I really like being able to bring in Cannonist and Thoughtseize.� I think that they combination of the two cards will give you the time needed to make the machine you are assembling enough time to win.� Be cautious when sideboarding.� Don�t focus too much on hurting their combo and take out to much beef.� The cards you are bringing in are just to delay not win you the game.� I think affinity will begin to see more play as well.� If you have a every played the mirror match and cast Hurkyl�s Recall you know that it is pretty much impossible to lose.� Delay is a great card in the fairy and control match ups. I give props to Carl Hendrix for this one.�
I feel that zoo must get a mention when we are talking about aggro.� There are many variants of the zoo deck. The first thing I did was put a list together of what I thought might be the optimal build of the zoo deck. Behold�Zoo as writ from The Book of Job:
Maindeck:
Creatures
3 Gaddock Teeg
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
Enchantments
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Seal Of Fire
Instants
4 Lightning Helix
Legendary Artifacts
3 Umezawa's Jitte
Sorceries
4 Tribal Flames
4 Molten Rain
Basic Lands
1
1 Mountain
Lands
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard:
4 Psychogenic Probe
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Jund Charm
3 Shattering Spree
1 Plains
I've decided very quickly that I didn't like a lot of black in the deck. I found that in the current environment that the black just isn't potent enough. Don't get me wrong, I love sculler and BOB as much as the next guy. However, I feel the addition of Gaddock Teeg and molten rain are much better and allows the deck to stay more focused. By comparison, the reason for black is mainly for the control and combo match up which I feel Teeg and molten rain are strictly better. Even though the TEPS decks should all be packing Electrolyze, they only have two.� If they don�t find it quick and you keep the pressure on Teeg is a house.� Look carefully at the sideboard.� Here we find a long lost friend that makes TEPS almost unable to win.� I remember playing twiddle desire back in old extended days and this card is a pain.� I will continue to lay out the ever changing extended metagame as we will continue down our path of trials and tribulations.�
So it is written in the Book of Job. Best luck to all in the upcoming extended season and I hope that my teachings may be of some guidance. If there is anything that you disagree with or want further explanation on please bring it up in the forums and I will be happy to discuss it further.
Jonathan Job