Welcome to the World of Overextended
Welcome to the world of overextended. This new format has rejuvenaded my love for Magic in a way that most normal people would not understand. As I flip through the forums and play the test matches I am reminded of formats that not only made since but where fun! I have not played in a format I considered to be a fun format in a long, long time. In the end, however, I want to win. Never before has there been such emphasis on innovation and I for one am getting on board.
Before I get started into the deck I have been practicing to great results I would like to go over what I consider to be the top 5 decks in overextended to give you a brief history on what you’re trying to attack. I would also like to say before I do that the format is so diverse focusing on 1-hell 5 strategies is flawed. My deck runs cards that are universal in their implications so that I can hold my own against all decks not just that 5 that I will list and go over.
Here are the top 5 enemies and brief synopsis of each:
1. Living End
Living End is a combo deck that cycles a bunch of creatures then plays a cascade spell into Living End to generate a bunch if bad creatures into play. Even though the creatures suck you are at least getting 4-6 of them usually so that is hard to handle. Here is a list for reference:
Voidmaw’s Living End, 3-1
| Lands: (20) 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Copperline Gorge 3 Mountain 3 Verdant Catacombs 2 Forest 2 Swamp 1 Forgotten Cave 1 Dryad Arbor Creatures: (29) Spells: (11) |
Sideboard: (15) 4 Faerie Macabre 4 Krosan Grip 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Engineered Plague 1 Ingot Chewer |
This is one of the best lists that I have seen. The Dryad Arber so you can have a target for Demonic Dread is missing from some lists and I would not like Forbidden Orchard as that can get you in the wrong quickly as they have at least one blocker for the next turn to dig for more answers. Keep in mind you are not allowed to play anything with mana cost less than 3 as your cascade spells to hit Living End would be random then.
2. Zoo/Burn
Yes, I am well aware that these are two different archetypes and I am not going to jumble them into one. I am going to focus on Zoo but burn, boros, big red, and all in red are all viable options right now. Zoo has put up the most consistent results out of the lot and I am going to look at two different deck lists that have done well. The first has done well basically since the first TMOE.
Ranth’s Hateful Zoo, 3-1
| Lands: (20) 4 Grove of the Burnwillows 4 Arid Mesa 2 Sacerd Foundry 2 Temple Garden 2 Forest 1 Stomping Ground 1 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Windswept Heath 1 Wooded Foothills 1 Flooded Strand Creatures: (27) Spells: (13) |
Sideboard: (15) 4 Leyline of Sanctity 3 Pyroclasm 3 Chalice of the Void 2 Kataki, War’s Wage 2 Gaddock Teeg 1 Ethersworn Canonist |
servism’s Burn Zoo, 3-1
| Lands: (22) 5 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Marsh Flats 4 Arid Mesa 2 Sacred Foundry 1 Stomping Ground 1 Plains 1 Temple Garden Creatures: (16) Spells: (22) |
Sideboard: (15) 4 Path to Exile 3 Kor Firewalker 2 Shattering Spree 2 Searing Blaze 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Volcanic Fallout |
This list is far more threatening as Sulfuric Vortex negates a lot of things that are there to stop regular zoo decks. This is obviously a more burn heavy version not relying as heavy on creatures to finish the game. Out of the two I do like the second list better for tournaments as drawing Great Sable Stag against mono red burn seems like it would be really bad. You have to draw the right cards for the right situations which I do not like.
3. Cloudpost/Tron/Big Mana Decks
These decks are built to abuse big mana engines to drop out powerful late game spells early. They are equipped with disruption and counters to prevent you from disrupting their mana and to get to the mid-late game. Here are two sample deck lists:
Lemurite’s U/B Twelvepost, 4-0
| Lands: (25) 4 Cloudpost 4 Gimmerpost 4 Vesuva 3 Island 3 Polluted Delta 2 Watery Grave 1 Academy Ruins 1 Eye of Ugin 1 Tolaria West 1 Swamp 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Creatures: (5) Spells: (29) |
Sideboard: (15) 4 Duress 3 Hurkyl’s Recall 2 Infest 2 Disfigure 2 Trinisphere 1 Damnation 1 Wurmcoil Engine |
gjagasia’s U/G Twelvepost, 3-1
| Lands: (24) 4 Vesuva 4 Glimmerpost 4 Island 4 Cloudpost 1 Flooded Grove 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Seat of the Synod 1 Academy Ruins 1 Tree of Tales 1 Breeding Pool 1 Lonely Sandbar 1 Tolaria West Creatures: (5) Spells: (31) |
Sideboard (15) 3 Envelop 3 Exclude 2 Chalice of the Void 2 Wall of Tanglecord 1 Wurmcoil Engine 1 Steel Hellkite 1 Myr Battlesphere 1 Tormod’s Crypt 1 Tectonic Edge |
As you can tell the first list has more creature control and has more of a plan to win the game with creatures and a side plan to end with Mindslaver lock. The U/G list is set up to end with Mindslaver lock after using Gift’s Ungiven to search up the pieces and Moment’s Peace to delay the game.
4. Combo Elves
This is probably my least favorite deck to play against out of the bunch. They are extremely resilient to disruption and can kill you turn three consistently. To top it off their sideboard plan now covers then a lot of the time by bringing back a lot of hasted 4/3’s. Here is a sample decklist:
| Lands: (18) 6 Forest 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Dryad Arbor 1 Temple Garden 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Pendlehaven Creatures: (30) Instants: 3 (3) Sorceries: (9) |
Sideboard: (15) 4 Vengevine 4 Buried Alive 2 Viridian Shaman 2 Cabal Therapy 1 Gaddock Teeg 1 Dauntless Escort 1 Inquisition of Kozilek |
As you can see the main plan is to play Emrakul after making tons of mana and drawing almost your entire deck by playing Glimpse of Nature and making tons of mana with Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel. The sideboard backup plan includes Buried Alive and Vengevine so that you can just make a bunch of hasted beaters and attack with all your little creatures.
5. Scepter Chant
This deck has only came up recently but put up rather good numbers in the past couple weeks. The basis is to abuse Scepter with either Orim’s Chant or Counterspell. Here is a sample list that did well last Tuesday:
HRRNighthawk’s Scepter-Chant, 4-0 (5:30)
| Lands: (25) 6 Snow-Covered Island 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Snow-Covered Plains 2 Seat of the Synod 2 Sacred Foundry 1 Academy Ruins 1 Ancient Den 1 Steam Vents 1 Arid Mesa Creatures: (5) Spells: (30) |
Sideboard: (15) 4 Leyline of Sanctity 1 Path to Exile 1 Volcanic Fallout 1 Fact or Fiction 1 Dismantling Blow 1 Lightning Helix 1 Steady Progress 1 Orim’s Chant 1 Stifle 1 Disenchant 1 Angel’s Grace 1 Muddle the Mixture |
As you can see Cunning Wish is going to search up the instants in the sideboard. I honestly hate the sideboard on these because there are too many targets. If you are running 11 targets for Wish you need 4 Wish in the maindeck. I would work on streamlining the sideboard and deciding what you want circumstances you see yourself needing certain cards in.
So with all of this being said I do not want to pretend like I am an expert of any of the decks listed about. I have played them all and against them all but I can not claim to be the best. What I will say is that my deck is very solid against all of these lists and I feel quite confident in almost all of these matchups.
Here is the list I have been testing called, “Harvesting dubyas”
4 Tranquil Thicket
3 Barren Moor
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Swamp
3 Forest
2 Golgari Rot Farm
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Mountain
1 Blood Crypt
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Life from the Loam
4 Thoughtseize
3 Death Cloud
3 Raven’s Crime
2 Duress
2 Putrefy
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Damnation
1 Worm Harvest
Sideboad:
3 Engineered Plague
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Memoricide
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Deathmark
This is a deck I was testing for Pro Tour Berlin. The fact that the Elves matchup should be good is what made me first want to pick up this list and give it a try. Back then I was more focused on the Zoo match as well. Now there are other lists but overall the strategy is very easy to adapt. Here is a sideboarding guide against the top 5 decks since I do not want to explain every card.
Vs. Living End
+3 Relic or Progenitis
+2 Memoricide
-2 Engineered Explosives
-2 Putrefy
-1 Kitchen Finks
There is not good way to Explosives as all their cards end up costing more than three. Putrefy is a mute point when all of their creatures are kind of bad anyway and Kitchen Finks just blocks later on and I would rather be attempting to disrupt the combo at that point. The only other switch I debated was -1 Golgari Rot Farm +1 Ghost Quarter to help deal with Fulminator Mage but decided with all the discard I could play around it.
Vs. Zoo
+1 Deathmark
+2 Obstinate Baloth
-1 Death Cloud
-2 Duress
You want to keep the Thoughtseize as usually you can hit a spell or creature that would deal you more damage than 2 in the end. I would happily pay two life for my opponent to discard a Sulfuric Vortex or Tarmogoyf. The Baloth are just there to draw cards and the Deathmark is there as a help against Elves but is fine to bring it for turn one threats. Especially if they play a turn one Steppe Lynx as that is almost always 4 damage.
Vs. Post Decks
-2 Damnation
-2 Engineered Explosives
-4 Kitchen Finks
+2 Memoricide
+1 Ghost Quarter
+3 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Ancient Grudge
Kitchen Finks is just slow and really does not do anything other than beat for three and waste a turn. Your goal is to slow them down by using a mixture of Ghost Quarter and Life from the Loam along with your discard to disrupt their mana base. Memoricide is there the either take out their Sundering Titan or Wurmcoil Engine and to have Relic to fight their graveyard recursion.
Vs. Elves Combo
+ 3 Engineered Plague
+1 Deathmark
+3 Relic of Progenitus
-1 Deathcloud
-2 Duress
-2 Putrefy
-1 Life from the Loam
Plague is the obvious concession to this deck and unfortunately they bring in Vengevine so this only hurts one of their strategies which is why I bring in the Relic’s as well. I take out Duress and Putrefy as Duress does not do enough and Putrefy is weak against 4 Vengevine and 6 Elves. The Life from the Loam comes out because you will not need them early for cycling as you will want to tap out on your early turns. The Deathcloud comes out as it is too slow and by the time you set it up for 3 they will have way more creatures than that.
Vs. Scepter Chant
-2 Kitchen Finks
-2 Damnation
+ 3 Ancient Grudge
+1 Ghost Quarter
The Ghost Quarter is to stop Academy Ruins and to stop any Man-lands they man run. They Grudge’s are obviously for the Scepter. It is important to note that they likely will be trying to run out Teferi if they have time. This is where the Raven’s Crime comes in handy. Playing a turn 1 Raven’s Crime is clutch a lot of the time and following that with Life from the Loam really helps to not give them the time they need to set up.
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