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By: toolazy2stand, Josue Ledesma
Aug 02 2011 7:29am
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Hey and welcome to a new article series I’ll be starting.  It will focus on constructed, mostly PRE’s (Player Run Events).  Ever since I learned about these PRE’s and started getting myself into these tournaments, the more fun I found myself having while keeping a competitive spirit within me.  I’ll keep the articles similar to my draft articles with drafting taking place the exception of deckbuilding.

The first format I’ll devote my time to is Overdrive! The Over-extended PRE.  More specifically, the event that took place on 7/25.  I fought with my weapon of choice- R/B Koth…Grindy..deck.

 

Full disclaimer- I don’t claim to be a very good deckbuilder, but I do try my best with the cards that are available to me.  I also prioritize fun a lot in my decks, which is why I have odd card selections, one-of’s, and cute “synergy” type cards (fleshbag marauder + unearth/Sanity Gnawers).  Especially in PRE’s and these uncharted formats, I try to play a deck that doesn’t have a clear great match-up, but is pretty good against most decks, even though none of them is an autowin.  With that being said, I definitely welcome any (constructive) criticism and advice for the deck, other viewpoints will always help. 

The only thing I knew that was a constant in Overdrive, is that Combo Elves won at least twice, or at least did very well (I lost to it a few events back) so that’s what the second Slagstorm is there for.  With that, I showed up for round 1.

 

Round 1 pitted me against an Empty the Warrens combo deck.  He went off turn 3 and quickly made 12 goblin tokens.  Fortunately, I was sitting on a Slagstorm and drew a tapped red source on my 4th turn, ensuring I’d wipe his army after taking the 12 damage.  Quickly he was put on the backfoot with 3 cards in hand which only dwindled after I used a Sanity Gnawers and dropped a Sedraxis Specter.  My opponent cast a desperation Empty the Warrens with no storm count and Koth of the Hammer plus other creatures mounted a quick enough offense to finish him off.

(Disclaimer:  I advise against watching this video.  It’s really long for no reason and I’ll be putting a detailed description of the game after the video for those who have not seen it)

 

Game 2

First of all, I’m sorry for that really long video of his just..playing with himself.  I wanted to know all there was to his deck, and since was about an opening hand’s away from drawing his whole deck, I figured there was a lot of knowledge to be had.  I tried to make the time go quicker and not stay in silence for the majority of the video and I hope it helped.

That being said, I kept a pretty questionable hand.  I had a Profane Command, Blightning, and a Torrent of Souls.  The rest of my hand was non-red lands but I still kept anyway.  I drew a red source off the top (along with many others) and drew nothing else relevant, a long with a large glut of lands.  My opponent on the other hand, played Fecundity turn 3 and went off turn 4 for 10 goblin tokens.  Luckily (kind of) I drew Slagstorm the turn afterwards and wiped the board.  Unfortunately, the Slagstorm allowed him to draw ten cards and from there I never took a turn.  My opponent carefully played Goblin after Goblin, including (Mogg War Marshall)s, multiple Skirk Prospectors, rfg-ed Simian Spirit Guides, used Goblin Matrons, played another Fecundity and drew upwards of 40 cards, finally playing Empty the Warrens for 30+ tokens.  However, he didn’t even need to attack.  Using the Skirk Prospector, along with rituals, he played a Voracious Dragon, devouring many, many Goblins and killing me easily.

What is most important about this game is that I should not have kept- there is no good reason for me to keep.  I, in actuality, only had one relevant spell in hand- the Blightning.  (Torrent of Souls) only serves as a +2/+0 because there’s no way my creatures are dying and if he’s getting his with creatures, they are most likely Sedraxis Specters, meaning, two extra damage is pretty negligible if he’s discarding every turn.  I also sideboarded very wrong.  (Skinrender)s, and Fleshbag Marauders don’t do anything, at least Goblin Ruinblasters have haste to get in for some damage.  I definitely should’ve mulliganed and looked for two things, disruption and pressure.  That could easily be solved by one creature- Sedraxis Specter, but it could also be a combination of cards like a Sword and (Sanity Gnawer)s, or Blightning plus Koth.  In the future, I need to be more aggressive with my mulligans- especially against combo, lands plus spells don’t always cut it. 

 

Game 3 went really well.  I had a lightning bolt for disruption (more relevant since he uses Skirk Prospector to go off with Fecundity) and planned to drop a Sedraxis Specter to apply pressure and threaten his hand.  He tried to go off turn 2, or at least semi-go off, which was an interesting choice.  At one point he did play Skirk Prospector, then Dragon Fodder (though I think it’s usually better to play the in reverse order) which I responded to by Bolting the Prospector.  From there, he used the remaining mana to play a kicked (Goblin Bushwacker), dealing a quick 6 damage (would’ve been 8 if the Prospector lived) but then he was down to one card in hand.

From there, I was able to play Sedraxis Specter and race while destroying his hand and there was little else he could do.  Since a deck like his (Storm) wants a lot of cards in hand so he could go off with a high storm count, keeping him down to 1 or 0 cards in hand meant I was under no combo threat and I easily controlled his board of 1/1’s and took the match.

Round 2

The first game was pretty frustrating.  I opened an alright hand of Lightning Bolt, Go for the Throat, and Carnifex Demon.  My opponent played out some fetchlands into shocklands so I imagined he was some kind of zoo deck.  He played creatures, but I dealt with them through my removal.  However, my creatures were also dealt with by his removal (Path to Exile) rendering the Mimic Vat I played, somewhat useless. 

The real game-changer came after I dropped my Mimic Vat (the only non-permanent on the board) while he had a Tarmogoyf that hit me for the first 3 damage of the game.  Then he dropped Standstill.   Yea.  Meanwhile, I drew nothing but lands and used a Go for the Throat at the end of his turn, breaking the Standstill and making a Tarmogoyf token at the end of the turn.  In response to that however, my opponent quickly dropped me from 14 to 5 with a flurry of Lightning Helixes and Bolts while still having 4 cards in hand, a very scary situation.  All I could do was play a Carnifex Demon, which was Path to Exile-d.  My opponent played a Kird Ape and, thankfully, no burn so there was still some time.  Unfortunately, even after thinning my deck out for two lands, I kept drawing lands (spell count: 5) and the Tarmogoyf I made to block the Kird Ape was also Path to Exile-d (his third one), allowing him to get in for two damage, enough for bolt range.

Game 2

The beginning of the game started out pretty well.  My opponent wasn’t terribly quick, and I was actually the first one with a body on the board in the form of Sedraxis Specter.  However, my fourth turn was best and showcased the power of Koth even in a match-up where he’s not at his best.  I clocked my opponent for 4 damage (he Path to Exiled my Sedraxis Specter) and then lost Koth to a Tribal Flames.  The turn after that, I played another Koth and hit him for another 4 damage.  However, one repetition deserves another and I lost Koth to Tribal Flames yet again.  My opponent again didn’t do much, and I saw that he had a lot of burn in his hand with a Blightning that stripped away 6 damage worth of burn spells.  By this point, between 2 Koth hits, Blightning and his own fetches, my opponent was at 7 life, soon to be six.  I was drawing very little and had removal for his creatures but this time, I had a mana sink in Profane Command.

After a lot of waiting, and drawing nothing, I finally pulled the trigger on Profane Command and fireball-ed him for 9 damage even though he was at 6.  I really wanted to play around Lightning Helix and make sure he wouldn’t stay alive at 1 or 2 life because I don’t have much reach after that.  Luckily, he didn’t have a second Lightning Helix (thought he did have one) and 9 damage was exactly enough.

Game 3

This game was a bit lopsided- my opponent mulled to 6, went first, and was stuck on one land.  I on the other hand, had the awkward 2nd turn bounceland, discard a spell, but that’s about the only complaint I could make about the entire game.  I had a lot of removal, Koth, and even a Skinrender which allowed me to apply a strong amount of pressure.  My opponent on the other hand used a Path to Exile on his own Loam Lion just to get an extra land.  The land allowed him to cast his creatures, but they quickly died to my removal.

A pretty pivotal point in the match was when I played a Koth and my opponent Tribal Flames-ed it for only 3, even though he could’ve cracked a fetchland to hit for more than that, binning the Koth.  That little misplay forced him to use a second Tribal Flames to deal with Koth.  I don’t think it mattered too much however, between his missing land drops, my 2 for 1s and abundance of removal, I won the game handily with a creature on a Mimic Vat, a Sedraxis Specter in play, Sword of Feast and Famine, and removal in my hand.  It would’ve been tough to beat with any kind of hand. 

Round 3

Again I win off of my opponent’s bad draw, and this time, I needed him to have a pretty bad draw as I won using all the resources available to me.  My opponent is a quick Boros aggro deck, full of Lightning Bolts, Lightning Helixes, and even (Shard Volleys).  His creatures included Stoneforge Mystic, (Keldon Marauder)s, Plated Geopedes, and I even saw Kor Skyfisher.  It’s a very quick deck that has roads to card advantage thanks to cards like the mystic which gets the inevitable Umezawa's Jitte, but also Adventuring Gear and Infiltration Lens (the least powerful).  I did what my deck was meant to do, remove his guys, make him discard, get a few two for ones, and apply pressure while providing disruption. 

I think one of the key points in the game was when I blocked a Jitte-d Stoneforge Mystic with my Sedraxis Specter.  He drew two cards off the Infiltration Lens but then bolted the Specter, not allowing him to get counters.  This let me unearth the specter, make him discard, then use Fleshbag Marauder for a McGyver-esque way of having a personal Gatekeeper of Malakir.  From there, my game plan was not allowing him to keep a creature on the board, or else I’d risk getting counters on the Jitte.  I’ve played against Jitte with this deck before and it can’t handle all the benefits it gives; it literally counters each way I try to attack my opponent’s deck and leaves me to shambles.  Again, Profane Command finished him off.

Game 2

This game was a slow torturous affair.  Because I had so many applications open, I didn’t have enough time to sideboard and this game was played de-sideboarded, which mattered because I planned to bring in at least 6 cards in, knowing others wouldn’t impact the game as much.  The most important card I was bringing in was Oxidda Scrapmelter, which would deal with his equipment.

Unfortunately, my opponent played a turn 2 Isochron Scepter with Lightning Helix attached to it, meaning Void was my only out since I wasn’t sideboarded.  The Helix on a stick essentially blanked any creature I wanted to play except Geth.  However, he also brought out a Stoneforge Mystic, tutoring up Jitte, meaning, between two counters and a Helix hit, Geth would also die pretty quickly.  At that point, I was just trying to delay the inevitable and he just kept gaining life and dealing incremental damage.  Eventually, my board position was decimated, and I never drew Void so I lost easily.

Game 3

I again was unable to sideboard and I was pretty mad about that and I think it affected my play because I punted pretty hard here.  My opponent started out fairly quickly with a Steppe Lynx, hit for 4 and play a Keldon Marauders.  I went first so I had the luxury of playing either a Slagstorm (I had two in hand) or a Sanity Gnawers.  For some reason, I wanted to play the card advantage route and play my Gnawers, block, and hope my opponent would play another creature so Slagstorm hits more creatures.  Unfortunately, my Sanity Gnawers was Searing Blazed, and I got hit all the way to 7.  I dealt with the Steppe Lynx, and when I went to 6 due to Keldon Marauders dying, it wasn’t hard for my opponent to throw two burn spells at me to kill me.

I really should’ve played a Slagstorm just to keep my life total high, but for some reason, that wasn’t on my list of priorities.  I even drew the Void but I didn’t live long enough to play my 5th land.

 

So there was my first (recorded) foray into Overdrive!, the overextended tournament.  It’s pretty competitive and is full of strong cards, but I think I did pretty well overall and I’m looking forward to participating in it next week.  If I do well enough, I’m planning to make this an ongoing series in addition to my limited series, so wish me luck for next Monday!  See you then.

17 Comments

Overextended will die by under_the_hammer at Tue, 08/02/2011 - 08:05
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The future is MODERN - WOTC will make sure that Modern is thrown down your throats. Why cling to O/Extended and start a new article series. This format will be deader than classic within 2 months.

Such positivity. by toolazy2stand at Tue, 08/02/2011 - 12:01
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I can't really argue your point, you're right about Modern being more talked about and embraced by WOTC but I don't really see any Modern PRE's being held (maybe I'm not looking hard enough) and I'm enjoying the Overextended PRE's a lot. Sorry this article wasn't for you, but I'll be on the lookout for Modern, if you know of any, let me know.

Grains of Salt by apaulogy at Tue, 08/02/2011 - 13:20
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I actually like what Gavin has done to create the Overextended format. AND it is just a matter of time until the corporatization takes a stranglehold and completely ruins it. Kind of like Classic...

I think this is the point that under_the_hammer is driving at, although I admit that I am not a mind reader....

I don't understand by Atomsk at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 03:22
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I really don't understand how a format can be 'completely' ruined by the corporation. It can change, in ways you don't like, but ruin ... completely?

Personally, I'd like some more people to play against. Wizards making Modern a sanctioned format will only improve things from my stand point. I have my cards, I just want faster firing games with a larger player pool.

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Sanctioning the format will certainly draw people in. The problem is that, again, some of the older more powerful cards from this format are still scarce, even on MTGO (lookin at Invasion block). I am afraid that the combination of people being drawn to the format, the polarization to 4 or 5 powerful cards (Pernicious Deed, Vindicate, Jace, the Mindsculptor to name a few), and the consequent rise in price for these cards will create the same kind of monetary entry barriers that plague Legacy and Vintage IRL, and Classic online. The pool of players will no doubt be larger than those formats online. You will get a larger pool of players for a while, until everyone realizes that it is really hard to win with a deck that doesn't have Deed or Jace.

Of course this is speculative, but you asked how "corporatization" would "ruin everything". I think there would be a boon of players for a while, then it would taper off and possibly die out due to lack of availability certain cards. Think Force of Will and Wasteland...

AND, the point here was that Overextended will probably no longer be a Player Run Event because Wizards is making "modern" the official format. Although they are different, Modern will be supported. Overextended may survive and be somewhat niche, like Pauper, but it certainly has its work cut out for it since Wizards is supporting "their" format. It's sad really because Gavin has worked pretty hard to make O.Extended.

I agree by toolazy2stand at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 13:32
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I'm definitely on a similar side to apaulogy. I'd never play normal extended, not because I'm uninterested, it's because my cards can't really compete with the power level of the "real" extended metagame. Similarly, if O.Ex was a real format backed up, there wouldn't be such a need for PRE's and my deck would honestly not be able to compete with such strong cards apaulogy mentioned. It's because many of the PRE players (I may be completely wrong on this) don't have such a large, expensive, or really powerful card collection, that there isn't such a search for the "best" deck in the PRE tournaments.

I enjoy the PRE's a lot, and, sure, Modern is obviously the favored (even the only one) on WOTC's radar, but if there are PRE's for overextended, then I'm willing to participate, and willing to share the experience here on this website. I think that's a strong enough reason to keep it as is then completely ignoring it.

Which is why Pauper PREs still exist by apaulogy at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 14:30
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I am glad that I made a point because in retrospect, it seemed I rambled a little. But you get it.

I think O.Extended could survive, but it is going to be a lot harder when Modern takes off because Shocklands will certainly be another huge factor in both Modern and OX metagames. Now I am no economist, but a rise in demand without increasing the supply = inflated prices. The fact that you will have to spend 100 tix on your manabase alone will make more of the players that have the shocklands want to play in a format with a higher EV in terms of prize payouts. While the PREs are no slouch in terms of prizes, the supported formats will have higher EV and will draw a bigger crowd. It is the nature of the beast.

PRE event players do build great and powerful decks and are among the most innovative players in the game. Just look at the Pauper Standard metagame that PiDave features every week. The difference here is that, assuming you are free on Mondays at 5PM PDT, you can play in a Pauper Standard event for free. Oh, and your deck maybe costs you 3 tix, while the O.Extended cards are inflating as I type this message, and are going to continue to go up as more people hop on the wagon.

Pauper PREs survive because there are multiple formats that aren't classic where you can get a competitive deck for less than 10 tix and the events are free. But the Pauper format supported by WotC, decks cost more and prizes pay more, making things like Invigorate and Daze cost 10 tix a piece.

You see the difference?? Overextended does not have the luxury of ignoring some of the card pool, and is sharing a lot of that card pool with "modern". The supported format is going to make the more powerful cards cost more, and then will becoma a barrier for players of both formats.

Modern is just a name by Ivo at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 15:37
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Just because Modern is going forward as a name it does not mean the respective format is going to be Mirrodin-forward. It was pretty likely that Modern was going to be the name of the new eternal format sanctioned by WotC and the Overextended players know that Overextended is not a good name for the official format. The purpose is showing the best starting point (the best starting point at the moment is Invasion-forward without much doubt, and will probably be Masques-forward).

Of course WotC doesn't always get things right but I'm cautiously optimistic that they are paying attention to the players (as they said they would) and in particular to the Overextended data that the players are giving them for free - the data reveals several things about the Invasion-forward starting point and dispels many possible fears that WotC could have about it (such as it being too similar to Legacy - it simply is very different).

As far as I know, there has been no confirmation of the Mirrodin starting point - even the confirmation of Modern (the name, not the format details) was fairly low profile as I haven't seen it in mtg.com since the panel.

Ivo.

Well by apaulogy at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 16:16
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The fact is that it is an Invasion forward format.

Plus, I just price checked the shocklands here on MTGO traders. It could be some hype due to a new format, but most of them are commanding price tags that rival their ACTUAL Duel land counterparts, especially the blue ones...Like, did you know that hallowed fountain costs as much as a tundra? Steam Vents are getting $2.75 more than Volcanic Islands. Breeding Pool also > Tropical Island.

Yeah.

Crazy by toolazy2stand at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 17:48
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That's nuts, last I remember they were all under $10 when Modern wasn't even announced and Overextended was just speculation at MTGsalvation.

I mean, the shocklands aren't even so so important (in my opinion) unless you want to run a 3+ color manabase with fetches and shocklands. The SOM duals are really really good, and like in my article, only zoo kind of decks (like the tribal zoo I faced) need that kind of manabase. I don't think they're essential, especially for a PRE event.

They did get a little bit of by Paul Leicht at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 21:37
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They did get a little bit of a price boost by the brief resurrection of Kaleidoscope.

This is true. and by apaulogy at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 22:32
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The fact is that Shards standard showcased the greediest mana bases I have ever seen in constructed formats. Ravnica was pretty bad too. There are 5-color control and zoo variants that are all viable in this format. There are plenty of good spells that give bonuses to basic land types that you can't get with the SOM, Core Set cycle duals, or the "filter" lands from LRW-SHM block. They are good supplements, but I imagine that is why the lands have gone up so much. It'll probably taper off and even drop at some point, but it will be a while until the hype of a new format dies down.

Cards like Deed, Tarmogoyf, Jace TMS, and Vindicate are what worry me. Now, these are not on any reserved list and they could make promos or put them in duel or commander decks. They will be format staples though and they are played in Legacy. Until the supply increases, they will continue to be the most expensive and powerful cards for their respective tier 1 strategies, in my opinion.

totally by apaulogy at Thu, 08/04/2011 - 11:38
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This is what I am talking about. These are the cheap counter parts.

Sementics right? But in this by Paul Leicht at Wed, 08/03/2011 - 21:35
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Sementics right? But in this case the name will likely stick unless they change the format rules because it is easy to remember. If you listened to/watched Whiffy's video interviews with Worth and co, they spoke on Modern having a potential presense because of that very thing. Modern frames = legal. (Except in specific instances where a card was printed with a modern frame in a theme deck or as a promo only.) This gimmick is what is making the format what it is.

Overextended may become like Tribal and become a sanctioned or at least semi-supported format Online as well (but I doubt it) just because of the support of its player base. But that is going to require a constant campaign and many more PREs ahead.

I think that's enough by toolazy2stand at Thu, 08/04/2011 - 15:53
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A community, however small, is really enough for me. There are a lot of different formats played (such as heirloom, legacy tribal) in PRE's that have a good 20 or more people playing with every event. That's enough for to be interested, and enough for the sponsors to keep hosting events.

Unfortunately, there is the whole shared pricing between Modern and Overextended that shoots up the price of a manabase as apaulogy had pointed out, but whoever really just wants to play a different format will play it. That's what I think is one of the real attractions of these PRE's, that players won't be turned off thinking their deck can't "compete" because they can't spend $200+ on a deck.

this by apaulogy at Thu, 08/04/2011 - 17:22
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and that may be enough to carry it.