Standard Spike: 1/23/2011 Extended PTQ, Part 2

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  1. Not sure if it is good enough, but calcite snappers seem like they could be good against red deck. Not just because of the obvious stuff like shroud. In particular the ability to keep a fetch up and trade with a 4/4 figure with the snapper, on top of being able to block every other creature. Just seems like if you can slow down the 4/4 figure attacks, you can stall out long enough to find your answers.

    Snapper is pretty good against Valakut also, as it gives you 4 damage a turn with a shroud creature. It puts a decent clock on and if you can cast it on the play on turn 3 I don’t think you lose to much. Of course it has to compete with Finks at 3 mana, but it seems to be worth a look.

  2. Hello there,

    I am not really familiar with the Extended meta so I am curious if the Kitchen Finks are mainly there to fight Mono Red? If so why are Kor Firewalkers worse? It seems to me that the life gain and protection red would be a very good asset in this matchup. I would appreciate if someone could explain the downsides. Thanks!

  3. Kitchen finks do a lot more than fight Red. When you’re looking to beat Scapeshift or another control deck down, the difference between 3 and 2 power is a lot – and firewalkers are also absolutely terrible against finks, which is awkward.

    Thanks for the content, congrats on T4!

  4. Finks live through day, present a reasonable clock, and are just overall solid in every matchup, path is the only way to get rid of them that’s widely played.

    They are particularly effective against Creature decks, since they can block vengevines and come back and block bloodbraid elves, or just chump putrid leeches and give an 8 point life swing. They do have more synergy with Sun Titan, I’m think this list is wrong not to play him.

    Kor Firewalker is considered practically unplayable in extended, due to Burrenton Forge-Tender.

    This list plays 2 MD and 2 SB spot removal, choosing not to play O-ring, which I’m not a fan of, since it is so versatile and spell pierce is so mediocre. Only 2 Wall of Omens is also bad for this matchup. He shaved points off of his RDW matchup to try and game scapeshift and faeries, and he paid for it.

  5. @CSeraph @Just Helping: Thanks for the clarification. Makes sense. I was suspecting something along this line but not having played Extended for a very long time made me wonder about the Finks.

  6. Hey,

    I really like this deck and would like to continue playing it after Mirrodin Besieged. Since BSA becomes obsolete when GFTT becomes legal, what do you suggest to combat this? Could BSA be switched for another win condition? If not, is this deck dead?

  7. @Kuriboh b/c no one is playing doom blade right now b/c of the meta (faeries, jund) … but once GFT is legal, it replaces grasp of darkness etc

  8. Saying the deck is dead now that GFTT is around is a slight exaggeration, but I feel like it’s enough of a blow to the deck that I will be moving on to something else. Most other UW players have been running Sun Titan, which is much better against removal than Baneslayer is. I just don’t like the card too much.

  9. The Sun Titan/Jace B engine is one of the most absurdly resilient card advantage engines since witness/slide.

    That said, 6 mana is a LOT in extended.

  10. All Go For The Throat does is make jund a little worse (they can already play terminate, or this if they choose) Steel Artifacts a little better, and makes the faerie mirror and Wurmcoil slightly different. Elves doesn’t care, scapeshift doesn’t care, UW control doesn’t really care, same with naya/bant/mythic.

    Green Sun’s Zenith however is going to have a huge impact on the format. It can tutor for GSS, Pridemage, fauna shaman and every other elf, KotR, Finks, chameleon colossus, cloudthresher, primeval titan – basically every playable creature.

  11. Congratulations on your PTQ win! The deck you played was so sick. Really hope to see some videos of the rounds you played. Good luck in Nagoya.

  12. My bad, actually found out it was your friend Ricky Sidher that won 1st. Still though, gratz on your top 4 finish, really hope to see some vids of this deck.

  13. Congrats for winning the CF Standard 5K and beating Louis Scott Vargas on the way to the final. Way to go!