A question about extended

[nataz]

A store nearby is having a 500 dollar cash extended event in a couple of weeks. I'd like to play, but really know very little about it.

I'm thinking of playing a version of U/G madness w/maindeck stifles and intuitions.

Anyone out there have any decent extended background that would be willing to help me out? I'm not looking to win, just looking to not get completely blindsided. A general format breakdown that I could use as a starting point to tweak the maindeck and SB would be greatly appreciated. Obvious stuff that you might take for granted, but a type I player would have no clue about.

PM or post if you are interested.

.: Thanks
carter

[Bram]

I'm no extended expert (and that's an understatement) but from what I understand, viable archetypes include:
- Tog
- Affinity
- Aluren
- Goblins
- Red Deck Wins
- Life
- The Rock

That's about as varied as formats come. Therefor, it'll be difficult to SB correctly if you don't know the people who will be playing and what their preferences are. If you check the WotC pages, you can find the t8 lists for every GP that's been held so far, which should give you a general idea of what's good.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/coverage#2005

Click on the event you want to see the results of, and scroll down the coverage blog to find a link to the T8 lists. Example (GP Eindhoven):

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/gpeind05/welcome#27

Michael Leicht placed 6th there with this, so it can't be too bad...

9  Island
6  Forest
4  Yavimaya Coast

4  Basking Rootwalla
4  Wild Mongrel
4  Aquamoeba
4  Arrogant Wurm
2  Wonder

4  Careful Study
4  Chrome Mox
4  Circular Logic
4  Daze
4  Deep Analysis
2  Intuition
1  Roar of the Wurm

SB

3  Oxidize
4  Chill
4  Seal of Removal
3  Stifle
1  Ray of Revelation

 

[Toad]

SCG maintains a really good Extended Top8 database.

[thecapn]

All the Mind's Desire players I talk to say the Madness versions with Stifle have much less of a clock, and are therefore often easier than versions without.  If you're running Stifle primarily for Desire, I'd rethink this.  Then again, if I were you I'd just run Mind's Desire myself...

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

You really need to figure out your metagame if you want to run UG. A close friend of mine has won 2 GPT's with it, so it's def. viable. Lets look at the standard base for UG

4 Mongrel
4 Rootwalla
4 Wurm
4 Logic
4 Careful Study
2 Intuition
2 Wonder
2 Deep analysis

The manabase, should always be 22, looking something like:

3 Mox
4 Coast
9 Island
6 Forest

that leaves 12 slots that you can play around with. I personally recommend playing a full set of Deeps and a full set of Daze, meaning you'll have 8 slots left. Personally, I HATE, HATE roar of the wurm. It's only good vs. RDW, and you should win that matchup anyways. You really don't wanna tap out on your turn. With the remaining 8 cards, I'd probably run 2 looters, a gigapede, 4 Aquamoeba, and an open slot, depending on the metagame. You end up with something looking like:

3 Mox
4 Coast
9 Island
6 Forest

4 Mongrel
4 Rootwalla
4 Wurm
4 Logic
4 Careful Study
2 Intuition
2 Wonder
4 Deep analysis
4 Daze
2 Looter
1 Gigapede
1 Open Slot


Gigapede is really really solid. Intuition for pede, wonder, and deep is a HELLA strong play. I hear 6/1 untargettable flyiers that recur are some good. If you see a lot of ravager/reanimator, I might make the case of cutting some dazes for unsummons. And if you see literally ALL combo, I'd run MD stifles, otherwise, juts keep them in the board.

-Bob