Get the MTG
Interactive Encyclopedia
from Amazon.com

A few weeks ago, Wizards released the next banned and restricted list. On the banned list was (if you don't know, you must be rather out of date!) Necropatance, Replenish, Demonic Consultation and Survival of the Fittest. You star at the screen shocked, your mouth wide open. You instantly reach for your deck box and check which deck is hidden within. Trix. Tradewind Survival. Damn! You have two extended decks, each deck with their main card banned. You feel so mad that you are about to throw your deck out of the nearest window, refrained only by the fact that it took you a month to complete either decks. You calm down slowly and think about the decks that survived the onslaught of Wizards weapon. The power to ban. The following are a few of the decks that survived,

- Sligh,
- Stompy,
- Stasis,
- Forbiddian,
- Countersliver (survives, scared only by the lost of Demonic Consultation)
- Secret Force
- Three Duece
- Tinker
- Turboland
- Oath
- Ponza

Decks that died during the onslaught

- Trix
- Pandeburst
- Tradewind survival
- Counter Survival
- Special K (enduring renewal + goblin bombardment combo)
- Replenish

And a lot of other decks…….*sigh*

Wizards obviously eliminated the board of combo decks and also with the banning of Survival of the Fittest, some creature decks also suffered. Most of the combo decks were once tier 1 and now the old tier 2 decks will come to take their places. Now, the question is, which deck do I bring to the next extended tourney? To answer this question, lets look at some of the hot decks.

Sligh is defiantly a long lasting hero. Sligh is a very aggressive beatdown type deck, but since the environment changed slightly, the idea of tempo seems to have been left out to save space for cards that would help meta game against the environment. Sligh's worst enemy was combo, since all sligh needed usually was another turn to do the finishing blow, but combo decks would be one step ahead. And with the disability to destroy enchantments or to counter, sligh always suffered. But things have changed, with the extended environment being far more creature based, sligh could once again take the crown, with it's speedy creatures and effective burns, this is a deck to look our for.

Countersliver may have suffered from the loss of Demonic Consultation, but still, it is a steady creature based deck. Even though I'd say countersliver is a little slow, once crystalline sliver hits the table the sligh player will only stare in bewilderment. Follow this up with a winged sliver and one or two muscle slivers and you have an army that can kill. Only time will tell whether this deck will survive the battle, but regardless of such, this is still a force to keep an eye on.

Turboland is another deck I am looking out for. Although I must admit that the deck is sub-optimal, it seems to be one of the few remaining decks that don't rely on pure beatdown. Maybe not hot, but it seems interesting to play.

Stasis is another deck that might work. Stasis type decks have been around since stasis was created, but with the addition of the free counters from The Masque Block, stasis has further improved it's deck power. Also, there has been a new addition to the list of cards. Forsaken City! This card can help keep the upkeep paid, reducing the chance of being screwed because of not drawing an island.

Oath decks are another power. Let me ask you a question. When is it not good to go "mountain, Jackal pup, go!" ? It's when you are facing sligh for in return of your Jackal Pup your opponent might slap a superman (term for Morphling) on the table. This is some of the power of Oath decks. Also, it was taken to the top even when combo decks were around, and without the combo decks (trix, pandeburst) , this could regain it's former glory.

Above, I have covered some of the decks that I think are going to be rather hot in the next extended tournament. Still though. I could be wrong, since we never know what deck will rule supreme without a battle with the top players in the world. Now, have you made up your mind on what to build? If not, there actually is another option, and that is to go rouge. Considering that the environment has been stripped of dominant combo decks, I see that there is a possibility that your rogue deck will be the next tier 1 deck, so start thinking of one if you don't like netdeck. After all this, I thought I would add my opinion on what I would take to the next extended tournament. And here is what I choose….

…………..[drums please]…………………………

My choice is…

I'll tell next you next time in another article and I promise that I will write a detailed report on the deck I choose so watch out!