INTRODUCTION

DECK LISTS

     For this first article I'm going to go over the obvious three decks you would expect to see in Extended as well as one deck that caught me by surprise in the last event. I am going to start off with what I thought would be the most dominating deck in the format, Jund.

Jund

Decklist by Loot_Backwards

Creatures 4 Bloodbraid Elf 4 Boggart Ram-Gang 4 Putrid Leech 4 Sprouting Thrinax 4 Vampire Nighthawk 20 cards Other Spells 4 Bituminous Blast 4 Blightning 4 Lightning Bolt 3 Terminate 15 cards

Lands 4 Akoum Refuge 4 Forest 4 Kazandu Refuge 4 Mountain 4 Savage Lands 5 Swamp 25 cards   Sideboard 3 Goblin Ruinblaster 2 Grim Discovery 3 Jund Charm 3 Kitchen Finks 1 Shriekmaw 3 Wickerbough Elder 15 cards

     This list was from the first or second week of events. It is a solid package of creatures and removal backed by the powerful Cascade mechanic. These cards make up the core of pretty much any Jund list. The mana base is definitely player preference. There is an abundance of multicolor lands you can play including the refuges, tri-lands, vivids, and two fetches which makes hitting all your colors easy. This list plays the refuges for a slight life gain along with a lot of basics probably for protection against some of the LD cards. I've played a Jund list that ran a minimum of 4 basics (for Path to Exile) with refuges and vivids making up the rest of the lands. The biggest threat to Jund right now is mana disruption. Goblin Ruinblaster, Tectonic Edge, and Spreading Seas have all been seen making the Jund mages life hard. Results have been mixed in events so far. I don't think Jund has taken the top spot yet but it has claimed several 2nd places. It will always see play but there have been a good mix of decks to combat it, including this next one.

Esper Control

Decklist by Necrosavant543

Creatures 2 Cloudgoat Ranger 4 Mulldrifter 4 Plumeveil 2 Shriekmaw 4 Wall of Omens 16 cards Other Spells 4 Esper Charm 4 Makeshift Mannequin 4 Mana Leak 3 Path to Exile 4 Preordain 19 cards

Lands 4 Arcane Sanctum 5 Island 4 Plains 2 Swamp 4 Vivid Creek 2 Vivid Marsh 4 Vivid Meadow 25 cards Sideboard 4 Infest 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Lone Missionary 4 Spreading Seas 15 cards

     This list was piloted to a first place finish in the second Extended event. This deck does an excellent job at clogging both the ground and the skies with Wall of Omens and Plumeveil's while using Mulldrifter's to chip away at an opponent's life and finishing them off with a couple Cloudgoat Ranger attacks. The all-star of this deck has to be Makeshift Mannequin. Early, it allows you to get extra uses out of Mulldrifter's and Shriekmaw's and later Cloudgoat Ranger's if necessary. The drawback is barely noticeable since there are very few non-removal targeting effects being played so anything that would target these creatures would kill them regardless of the counter. This has been my favorite deck to play so far. The card advantage is insane, sometimes being able to draw a quarter of your deck in a couple turns. It struggles against some very fast aggro draws but other than that it holds up well against most other decks.

Cunning Naya

Decklist by Happy Clam

Creatures 4 Bloodbraid Elf 4 Cloudgoat Ranger 4 Cunning Sparkmage 3 Druid of the Anima 4 Enlisted Wurm 4 Kitchen Finks 4 Squadron Hawk 27 cards Other Spells 2 Behemoth Sledge 2 Gorgon Flail 4 Lightning Bolt 8 cards

Lands 4 Ancient Ziggurat 1 Evolving Wilds 4 Forest 4 Jungle Shrine 3 Mountain 4 Plains 1 Tectonic Edge 1 Terramorphic Expanse 3 Vivid Grove 25 cards Sideboard 2 Arc Trail 1 Behemoth Sledge 3 Goblin Ruinblaster 2 Gorgon Flail 2 Journey to Nowhere 1 Tectonic Edge 4 Woolly Thoctar 15 cards

     This is also another deck from one of the early Extended events. There hasn't been a lot of artifact removal played which allowed cards like Behemoth Sledge and Gorgon Flail to shine in this deck. Cunning Sparkmage + Gorgon Flail allows you to kill practically any creature and quickly clear out your opponent's army. Connecting with any creature equipped with Behemoth Sledge causes nothing but smiles for its controller. Most creatures in this deck provide excellent card advantage either through Cascade, token-generation, or Squadron Hawk's ancestral recall. The one thing I would definitely change in this list is the use of Ancient Ziggurat. While it may look like a good multicolor land, its drawback is often very harsh. Drawing a couple of these will leave you short mana to play removal or pay equip costs setting you further back than the tempo loss from playing other tap lands.

Shamans

Decklist by Full007

Creatures 4 Bloodbraid Elf 4 Boggart Ram-Gang 4 Bosk Banneret 4 Cunning Sparkmage 4 Elvish Visionary 4 Flamekin Harbinger 4 Rage Forger 4 Tattermunge Witch 4 Wolf-Skull Shaman 36 cards Other Spells 4 Lightning Bolt 4 cards

Lands 5 Forest 1 Kazandu Refuge 5 Mountain 3 Savage Lands 2 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Vivid Crag 2 Vivid Grove 20 cards Sideboard 3 Burst Lightning 3 Elixir of Immortality 3 Filigree Fracture 3 Pyroclasm 3 Vines of Vastwood 15 cards

     This last list showed up unexpectedly at the last event, posting a 5-1 second place finish. Individually the cards don't look like much but they have a nice synergy. Rage Forger and Wolf-Skull Shaman are both cards that demand immediate answers. Left unchecked the board will quickly get out of control. I was playing Esper against this list, feeling safe behind my wall of creatures at 12 life until my opponent dropped 2 Rage Forger's and attacked. I was dead before we even got to the declare blockers step. Rage Forger also does an excellent job of getting most of your creatures out of sweep range which can be very important against the many playable sweepers in this Extended format. I really like this deck and plan on tweaking it a bit and playing it at a future event.  

In Closing

     With that I am going to bring my first article to its end. SilverBlack runs every Wednesday in "/join SilverBlack" with registration beginning at 6:30pm est and games starting 30 minutes after that. It's free to enter and prizes are given to the Top4/8 depending on turnout along with a door prize for one player. Event threads can always be found on the Wizards PRE forums. So throw a deck together and come play for a few hours. At the very least you can laugh at me as I complain about how much the shuffler hates me

     - Niabock