Extended Format Discussion

[Forgotten One]

This thread is for the discussion of the latest and greatest Extended Format just unveiled by Wizards of the Coast.

The latest announcement can be seen here.

The portion affecting the Extended format is below:

Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules Change: Extended
On July 1, 2010, the following sets will leave the Extended format: Ninth Edition, Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn, Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa, Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, Dissension, and Coldsnap. From that point forward, the Extended format will include approximately four years of Magic sets instead of seven.

At that time, the following sets will be legal in the Extended format: Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, Tenth Edition, Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Eventide, Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn, Magic 2010, Zendikar, Worldwake, and Rise of the Eldrazi.
With the upcoming release of Scars of Mirrodin, the following sets will leave the Extended format: Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, and Tenth Edition. One year's worth of releases will leave Extended with every subsequent fall Magic set.

Extended
Sword of the Meek is banned.
Hypergenesis is banned.

Note: The four cards previously on the banned list (Æther Vial, Disciple of the Vault, Sensei's Divining Top, and Skullclamp) are in sets that are no longer in the Extended format.

The new format has been dubbed by many as "Double Standard", alluding to the fact that cards are legal for Standard for two years and Extended for four. The idea is to make it such that cards playable in Standard remain playable for much longer by shrinking the card pool, and to make the environment more relevent to FNM players and/or newer players that may not have access to 7 years worth of cards.

Overall, this is a HUGE change. This is not only a big philisophical change, but it is a huge pragmatic change as far as what cards leave the environment en masse. In essence, almost every deck that was good pre-Rotation is dead. Click here to see a list of what was most popular and successful during Worlds (the last time Extended was used in a Pro Tour) and here for a list of decks that were popular at GP:Houston (which was the last premeir event that used the Extended format) and you can see what I mean.

Hypergenesis Combo - banned out of existence
Thopter-Depths - Thopter is banned, Depths rotates
Dredge - rotated out
Scapeshift - Lose STE, Muddle, Peer through the Depths, Remand, Repeal, and Boseiju, but at least the namesake combo (Scapeshift + Valakut) is still legal
RW Landfall Aggro - loses Lightning Helix and Sacred Foundry
Elf Combo - loses Cloudstone Curio, Glimpse of Nature, and Eternal Witness
Zoo - loses Ravnica shocklands, Lightning Helix, and Kird Ape (although the Ape mostly was replaced by other creatures)

The decks that really don't lose out
Faeries - loses Jitte and Mana Leak
Living End combo - no real losses other than the shocklands

Overall, this really makes things interesting going forward.

So what does everybody think will be the decks to beat in the upcoming Extended?

[Hawk]

All-in Red is also probably dead; Desperate Ritual, Rite of Flame, and Chrome Mox are gone, and Seething Song and Simian Spirit Guide will be following them into the dark in a few months. The decks to beat in this format, in my opinion, are...

Faeries! - Mana Leak is back, as is good instant card draw. This deck can play the best cards in the format (Jace 2.0, Bitterblossom, Cryptic Command, and Mana Leak) in a deadly aggro/control shell that plays almost entirely on the opponent's turn and is absurdly resistant to wrath effects (man-lands of many different stripes, Bitterblossom). It can also run Spreading Seas if need be, which punishes the nonbasic heavy contenders of the format. This is the deck to beat, unless scars brings some serious business to the table.

Ranger of Eos token aggro - the Ranger has quite the army of one-drops to fetch (Burrenton Forge-tender, Elite Vanguard, Student of Warfare, Figure of Destiny), and the deck can generate even more board advantage than that, thanks to Spectral Procession. That army looks small at first...but Honor of the Pure, Glorious Anthem (for a few months at least), and Ajani Goldmane can see to that. And this deck packs some great removal to boot! Seems worth testing.

Offshoot: R/W landfall beatdown - losing Lightning Helix sucks, but this deck can be blisteringly fast, which is a major advantage against slow Jund and clunky 5 CC. Ranger of Eos, fetchlands, Mutavault, burn, and the landfall beatdown machines make for a good deck...basically, this is everything that was good about Ranger of Eos landfall in standard, but the deck also gets to run Figure of Destiny and a few more/different burn spells.

Jund - another modern boogeyman who gets to live again. Has so many options for deadly creatures it's not even funny, but until October I imagine that Tarmogoyf, Great Sable Stag, and of course Bloodbraid Elf will lead the charge, backed by stupid amounts of discard and burn. Everything that makes Jund good now will make it good in this format, mostly its ability to fight faeries card advantage, murder them with Stag, and come back from behind thanks to the power of cascade. Fulminator Mage and Goblin Ruinblaster might make appearances versus the next deck...

5 Color Control - with so many good manafixing lands in the format (Reflecting Pools chief among them), and a serious lack of good ways to punish people playing an almost all non-basic manabase (no Blood Moon here!), this deck can gleefully play tons of 'walkers, instant speed card draw, counters, and sweepers...all in the same deck. Just as when it was in standard, this is a deck that can forcefield out with Bitterblossom, draw cards off Esper Charm, break your back with Cryptic Command, reset the board with Day of Judgment, win the fae arms race with a Cloudthresher, and then win the game off of Ajani Vengeant or Baneslayer Angel or Cruel Ultimatum or whatever else it wants to play.

Fringe decks that need testing:
Mono-black Aggro - we have a lot of great discard in the format, alongside the return of the Shade in M11. Might be worth a look...

Fish - 3.5 lords in standard; just 2.5 come October but this deck also has Path, Mana Leak, Cryptic, Jace 2.0...

Turbo-fog/Jacerator - Temple Bell is a spicy addition to this deck, and it has Cryptic Command and Pollen Lullaby back as fog effects. Could splash red for a different win con; the mana base is easy to build.

'Next Level' R/W/G/U Mythic monstrosity thing - Sovereigns of Lost Alara, Uril, the Miststalker, Shield of the Oversoul, Eldrazi Conscription, Rafiq of the Many, Noble Hierarch, Lotus Cobra, and lots of fetchlands.

Time Sieve combo - well, there are lots of card-drawing artifacts still legal...and potentially some great artifacts coming up this fall. A deck to keep your eyes on.