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Editor: Audrey Chin-Quan 28th December 2005.
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GOING TO EXTREMES
Before we begin, let's do a quick test. Have a look at the following cards. For each of the colours presented, which spell is most likely to make it into your deck?
None of these spells are strictly better than the other. The one on the right generally has a much bigger effect. Even so, the spell on the left will usually see more play due to its lower casting cost. Let's do a slight edit. Which of the following would you choose?
Welcome to Extreme Magic. Now that they both cost BB (please forgive my awful editing skills), why would you ever choose Infest over Plague Wind? This illustrates the defining rule of Extreme Magic:
While that really defines what the format is about, there are a couple of other rules to make the format from being completely broken.
I discovered this format from Bennie Smith (Into The Aether Columnist over at mtg.com) back when he was writing for Star City Games. You can read his article here. I was fascinated by the format, and a search for more articles on the format turned up nothing. Now that I've got back into regular casual Magic nights, it was time to give the format a go. I started going through my collection, with the requirement to make 2 decks (one for me, one for my friend as he would not have sufficient cards of the caliber required), intending to keep their colours different. As I went through, I realized I would probably have to split blue between the two decks, as I expected card draw was a very important part of the format. Here are the two decks I came up with. They were first passes, and there are certainly areas to make improvements (or replace cards with something strictly better in the format.) To make them a little easier to digest, I've divided them into categories of spells. Deck 1 - Green/White/Blue This deck had Green for acceleration and solid (if often unexciting) creatures, White for a few Wrath effects and removal, and a blue splash for card draw. My all stars of this deck are All Suns' Dawn, Rush of Knowledge and Biorhythm. Deck 2 - Black/Blue The blue portion of the deck had plenty of draw and Control Magic effects. Black had plenty of discard and disruption. My friend John and I set about playing the decks against each other; we played something like 10 games total, swapping the decks half way through. I'd honestly have to say this is the most fun format I have ever played; it was well worth the effort it took to get the two decks prepared. At a moment's notice, either deck could explode into broken-ness. Here are a couple of things that happened.
Gifts Ungiven is awesome in this format. I've not played with the card much, and during John's end of turn step I cast it revealing another Gifts (with a blue mana up), Recover, Bringer of the Blue Dawn and Bringer of the Black Dawn. I think that is a pretty weak Gifts for the format, but powerful nevertheless for 1 mana! You can have so much redundancy, analogues of cards, and graveyard recursion that you can almost always get whatever card you want. Gifts would have been better in the Green/White/Blue deck, because of Nostalgic Dreams/All Suns' Dawn/Eternal Witness tricks. Rhystic Tutor on the other hand is crap; mana is not always tied up like I thought it would be. Both John and I both made the mistake of letting the opponent search with Library of Lat-Nam instead of draw 3 cards (Note : It helps if you read the cards sometimes. We were drawing 3 straight away which should have been next upkeep which makes this card far less useful), allowing the caster to find All Suns' Dawn, recover the Library of Lat-Nam and other cards, then cast Library of Lat-Nam again; we didn't make the same mistake twice! Aether Mutation also served a good role. In the midgame (with plenty of accelerants), I cast it on an Eternal Witness which had been Persuaded to return it to my hand and put 3 tokens into play, recast Eternal Witness, recovered Aether Mutation, cast it on Patron of the Orochi which had been Treacherous for another 8 tokens and recast the Orochi. John failed to turn up an answer and fell prey to my swarm next turn, which was nice considering my own Orochi had beaten me down from 40 to 5. After I've tweaked these decks (or completely rebuilt them), I'd like to explore some of the better cards for the format and some strategies to employ; my decks were constructed haphazardly and had some minor themes but no major cohesiveness. Bennie listed some good cards for the format in his article, so I'll not rehash them here. I'll cover a few gems he missed, plus stuff from Kamigawa onwards (5th Dawn was just out when Bennie's article was released). Time Stretch - Bennie mentioned Beacon of Tomorrows, but I'll gladly trade the shuffle into library effect for an additional turn. This should be a game breaker. Actually I think this card deserves to be banned because it is too powerful with Bringer of the Black Dawn. Forbidden Crypt and Morality Shift - I've given both these cards a single entry because they work so well together. They are not always going to be fantastic topdecks, but their power can not be ignored. Morality Shift followed by Forbidden Crypt would be intense; almost any form of card draw that got dumped into your library should allow you to win on the spot if you've moulded your deck around it with a few mana available. Both cards are reasonable on their own; Morality Shift can dump stuff to be re-animated or retrieved, and Forbidden Crypt can be cast reasonably safely in the midgame if you have something to get rid of it in your hand or graveyard. Future Sight - It's heavy Blue, but is another card that can help you explode into broken-ness. Lands might prevent you from casting too many spells off the top, but casting shufflers (land search or tutors) or general card draw will help. I did cast this twice during our games, but always won or lost (I don't remember which, probably one of each!) within a turn of casting it, so it never reached the broken stage. Legendary Spirit Dragons - Yosei, Keiga and Kokusho are the highlights here. You can get better bang for your buck than Jugan. Ryusei can be filler if you need another creature and might clear away some utility creatures sometimes, but it won't be consistently good. Azusa, Lost But Seeking - On the first turn this can help you accelerate. In the mid or late game when you're likely to be drawing a bunch of cards, it can help drop extra lands and play additional spells. Erayo - This guy would not be that hard to flip, and would be a nuisance. It probably doesn't deserve to be banned though because opponents should be able to draw out of it. Heartbeat of Spring - I'm not sure whether you would want to play this or not. Obviously it helps your opponent as much as it does you; at least it only costs one mana instead of 3, meaning you can use it a lot faster if you need to. Beware the double-edged sword! Higure the Still Wind - This guy is probably not really worth playing. But if you make him unblockable, he can go get Ink-Eyes, whom he can also make unblockable, which is cute. In The Web of War - Your creatures get fatter and have haste? For 2 mana? Nice. Iname, Death Aspect - Dump your graveyard full of fat spirits, then cast Patriarch's Bidding. The perfect hand could pull that off on turn 1. Inner Fire - A solid accelerator for Red, to accompany Seething Song. Kagemaro, First to Suffer - Still as good as ever. Or perhaps better given that you are bound to explode into extreme card drawing at some point. Konda, Lord of Eiganjo - An 8/8 in combat indestructible creature for 2 mana? At 3 points unblocked, he doesn't make a great threat, but he makes an awesome blocker who survives traditional Wrath effects. Measure of Wickedness - I'm not saying this card would be good in Extreme Magic, but it would certainly be fun with all the spells flying around. Myojin's - The Myojins are a bit on the expensive side at 3 mana, but all have powerful effects. The Black and Blue ones get my vote as the best. Oni of Wild Places - It can come swinging from nowhere, has an "upkeep" of one red mana, or recurses Anarchist or other red comes into play creatures. Overwhelming Intellect - On turn 2 I'll counter your Bringer of the whatever and draw 9 cards. Is it my turn now? Patron of the Akki - A 5/5 for 2 mana in this format isn't that great, but if you find yourself swinging with a number of creatures, he may just make the cut (although Marton Stromgald is probably a better choice) Patron of the Nezumi - With destruction flying all over the place, this could take a chunk out of your opponents life without attacking. A Plague Wind with this guy on the table is likely to hurt. Patron of the Orochi - This guy is a fantastic accelerator and all round big guy. If you cast him turn 2, on the following turn you can untap your forests (including duals you may be playing, or Forests enchanted with Dawn's Reflection) and mana creatures (Elvish Aberration), and still attack. Petals of Insight - I thought if you aren't playing black and you've already got Long-Term Plans and Intuition, this could be your third choice for a blue tutor. On the other hand, it is strictly better than Concentrate in this format, and the 'tutor' type effect should be considered a bonus. Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant - Turn 1 protection for your creatures? Yes please! Of course most creatures die from Wrath effects or targeted destruction rather than damage so I'm not so sure it is that great. Sakiko, Mother of Summer - A first turn Scaled Wurm followed by a second turn Sakiko would net you 7 mana if undealt with. I don't know if you'll always have something to spend the mana on, but it's a thought. Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant - Incredibly weak in other formats, this may have found a home (or at least a niche). Once you get card drawing online, 7 lands should not be too hard to achieve; huge mana plus huge card drawing should explode into broken-ness. Time Stop - Does your opponent control a Bringer with Rush of Knowledge on the stack? End that nonsense with two mana! Toils of Night and Day - This might not seem interesting, but one thing it can do now that it can't in normal Magic is untap two of your lands for one mana, giving you a mana boost and maybe fixing your mana if you are short on a colour. It doesn't have flair but it could be a decent filler card. Twist Allegiance - For one mana, you can steal all of your opponents creatures and attack with them? Sweet. You'd need to play around it of course, but it would certainly be a nice 'out-of-nowhere' win. Auratouched Mage - A quick search of high casting cost auras didn't find anything terribly exciting (Mythic Proportions makes him big, but it isn't that exciting), but for one white mana and a tutor effect, it could be worthwhile. Compulsive Research - I think card draw for U (or one mana of any color) is a cornerstone of Extreme Magic. You will almost always have no problem dumping a land, letting you dig deeper than Inspiration and finding better cards. Empty The Catacombs - For one measly black mana, you get back all your creatures; so do your opponents. Morality Shift or Haunting Echoes can unbalance this situation. Eye of the Storm - Just don't. Please. Your sanity is important. Followed Footsteps - This could get really nasty. Slap this on your Bringer of the Blue Dawn. Golgari Grave-Troll - With a graveyard that can get real big, this guy could also get... err... real big. With multiple cheap ways to recurse your graveyard, this guy may come in useful as a dredge machine. Grozoth - "I will cast Grozoth. I will go find the rest of my copies of my Bringers, Plague Wind, Vitalizing Wind and Searing Wind". Nuff said. Mindleech Mass - He comes with a hefty cost of 3 mana, but a hit with this guy means you can play all sorts of stuff out of your opponents hand. Moonlight Bargain - Assuming you haven't taken too much damage, you are likely to keep most of the nonland cards, making this an excellent draw spell. Primordial Sage - Glimpse of Nature on legs. Your deck probably doesn't even need that many creatures to make this guy worth playing. Three DreamsThree Dreams - Another tutor made cheap. Treachery would make a good target. Faith's Fetters and Psychic Overload can also be one mana answers to all types of permanents (Psychic Overload also has the ability to shut down land). Tunnel Vision - First turn Tunnel Vision on yourself naming All Suns' Dawn or Twilight's Call sounds pretty good to me. Twisted Justice - Most of your opponents creatures should be pretty juicy. Even if they sacrifice the smallest one you should still be drawing a decent number of cards. Vulturous Zombie - Another guy that can get big quick. This guy followed by Traumatize or Tunnel Vision will make for one big plant zombie. There are of course plenty of other playable cards for the format, but given enough interest in the forums, I'll expand on these in later articles. The variety provided by the deck size means the games don't get stale quickly. Building the deck in the first place is the hard part, but once its done, there is little maintenance. Every now and again, you can swap a few cards as you obtain better cards or new sets come up with some better spells, and it will keep the game fresh. There is plenty to discover in this uncharted format. Go build yourself a big deck, and go Extreme!
Michael Howell
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