This weekend was a buzz for me and my computer. Never have I been so riveted to the screen. What made me so enthralled? Grand Prix Oakland that's what. It was so cool to see and follow the feature games and even the mere glimpse of other decks was enchanting.

I even joined the Twitter world in hopes of garnering more info about the tournament itself. I was not disappointed. I realize that for many of you 'Tweeting' is second nature but I was amazed at how many little bits of info players would put out there between rounds. If you missed it the hot rumor is that the Japanese were buying up Jwari Shapeshifter for next week's Pro Tour. Anyway I'm @MtgXman on Twitter if you want to follow me. I'll probably follow you back. That reminds me of summer camp one year when my counselor would always say "Do not follow me, I may not lead. Do not lead me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." Cheesy Huh? Anyway feel free to follow me.

The real reason that I was so riveted is because of the entire deck tech that was there. I, like many players and writers felt that the field would be dominated by Zoo and Thopter Depths. I personally like to play Zoo-ish decks and was testing a list myself. I built mine to go quick and efficient to beat the Thopter side of the combo while having answers to the Marit Lage Token. I was truly getting there and felt that there had to be someone playing nearly my list so I could see how it played out live. I really figured on a quick Zoo package winning it. Sure I figured there would be some Rogue concoctions here and there but the top 8 would be basically Quick Enough Zoo (QuEZ) and Thopter Depths (though I prefer calling it Dark Foundry or Tepths).

Wow was I and everyone else so WRONG! Sure two Zoos and a Thopther Depths made top 8 but all 5 other decks were unique and very different. That's about as healthy and diverse as Extended can get. Aggro, Combo, and Control were all represented. I was all around fun to be seen. There was even some drama mixed in when Saito barely edging into the top 8 by hundredths on a tie break. He was on screen live in the moment for all to see. That was cool and I hope you all saw it. It probably isn't recorded.

What I want to do today is look at the 5 decks that Top 8'd without having multitude of players run them and try to analyze which would be best for us to pick up for the remaining PTQ season. We'll look at them in order of getting knocked out of the top saving the best for last.

The Quarterfinal losses.

[cardlist]1 Calciform Pools

3 Forbidden Orchard

1 Forest

3 Fungal Reaches

1 Gemstone Caverns

4 Gemstone Mine

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Tendo Ice Bridge

4 Angel of Despair

4 Bogardan Hellkite

4 Progenitus

1 Sakashima the Impostor

4 Simian Spirit Guide

4 Terastodon

4 Ardent Plea

1 Demonic Dread

3 Hypergenesis

3 Oblivion Ring

3 Thirst for Knowledge

4 Violent Outburst

Sideboard

2 Firespout

2 Ingot Chewer

4 Leyline of the Void

3 Ricochet Trap

2 Sakashima the Impostor

2 Shriekmaw[/cardlist]

Saito's list is nearly the Hypergenesis deck that everyone raved on last summer when Cascade was revealed. The cool additions since then are the Storage Lands that allow Saito to hard cast his crew if facing a Chalice of the Void set for zero. Add the real beef of Terastodon as the new tech. That card is takes the Champions Belt in the MWF (Magic Wresting Federation). Notice the absence of the foolish Magister Sphinx/Wound Reflection combo. Hyper doesn't need it. In a meta absent of Wrath of God just having bigger and better fatties will do. I would have liked to see a mirror match with this deck. The resolution of ETB's after Hyper is cast must be comparable to Warp World (or even more cool).

I do have a question for you rules dudes. I can remember back in the day playing a deck that used Faceless Butcher and a rules issue to permanently exile a creature (this was before Path). What they did was play the Butcher and use some instant speed destruction to destroy him while his ETB was still on the stack. He leaves the Battlefield triggered upon his death and since it was a triggered effect went on top of the stack. Now the return clause returned nothing since nothing had been exiled yet and then his Enter the Battlefield trigger that exiled a target creature forever since the Butcher couldn't leave the Battlefield twice. Have they fixed this? Because the same chain of events would happen with an Oblivion Ring that was removed before its ETB could occur. Saito did this live in the quarters by Targeting his Ring to remove his own Terastodon and using the Big Elephant to convert the Ring to a 3/3. If the rules are tweaked now to make this work it was a masterful play. If they aren't then... Yurchick won out anyway.

[cardlist]4 Arid Mesa

4 Flagstones of Trokair

4 Ghost Quarter

3 Mountain

1 Plains

3 Sacred Foundry

4 Scalding Tarn

4 Goblin Guide

1 Jotun Grunt

4 Plated Geopede

4 Steppe Lynx

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Lightning Helix

2 Magma Jet

3 Path to Exile

4 Searing Blaze

3 Shard Volley

4 Zektar Shrine Expedition

Sideboard

3 Damping Matrix

2 Joetun Grunt

1 Oblivion Ring

3 Refraction Trap

3 Smash to Smithereens

3 Volcanic Fallout[/cardlist]

The "Brozek Deck Wins" was probably the deck that caused the most Buzz out of Oakland. At its most fundamental level it's a Boros Deck from standard with the addition of Sacred Foundry to its mana base. At least that what people were saying early. That was before you really saw the subtle and devastating mix of Flagstones of Trokair/Ghost Quarter/Landfall. Being able to fit Ghost Quarter main is already devastating to the Dark Depths monster but to be able to sac it targeting your own Flagstone fetching a Plains and a tapped basic of your choice add and easy two to your landfall triggers making Zektar Tokens in just one turn. With that masterful stroke Petr Brozek became a true deck artist in my opinion.

Unfortunately I see the future of this deck as pretty bleak. Too many cards exist the can just hate it out and most of those serve well against ELVES as well. At Oakland the world wasn't prepared but now the hate will be in full swing. If you plan on playing this deck make sure bring your rabbits foot because if you don't win quick in games 2 or 3 you won't win. I do feel you'll have some winning numbers on game one though.

On to the Semi's

[cardlist]1 Arid Mesa

2 Breeding Pool

2 Flooded Grove

2 Forest

2 Hallowed Fountain

2 Island

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Plains

1 Temple Garden

1 Tolaria West

2 Treetop Village

3 Verdant Catacombs

4 Aven Mindcensor

4 Noble Hierarch

1 Stoneforge Mystic

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Vendilion Clique

4 Bant Charm

2 Cryptic Command

2 Engineered Explosives

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Mana Leak

4 Path to Exile

1 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard

1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero

1 Engineered Explosives

4 Rhox War Monk

4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain

4 Tormod's Crypt

1 Umezawa's Jitte[/cardlist]

Oh Conley, where to begin. Let me first state that I really love the way Conley thinks. He shows that there are a few of us out there that aren't sheep. I found it moderately amusing to hear Gerry Thompson bash on Conley's list and watch as less that 5% of the players running Thopter Depths made the top 8 while 100% of the Bant Wagon players made the Final Four. It was even cooler when between the final two rounds of Swiss to see them both side by side and hear Conley just say "scoreboard."

This deck is probably the best tuned a Control Deck could be for the anticipated Meta. The unanticipated Elves took it down and the surprise Brozek deck was a squeaker. Many people laughed at the inclusion of Stoneforge Mystic (my favorite art in Zendikar BTW). I know many people who said Mystic had potential to be Jitte number 5 and 6 for a deck to use but Jitte number 2 didn't seem right. In most lists this is true but the subtle interactions with Jace and the potential extra shuffle with a Brainstorm is that extra spice that makes the recipe work for the refined Deck Palette. My favorite addition is the Aven Mindcensor. That card alone stopped many potential threats and was very frustrating to many a search engine. Cards that range all the way from fetchlands to Scapeshift are hosed by this little gem. I would go so far as to say that it's the MVP of this list.

Should you pick this deck up? I would probably vote no. The meta at your PTQ will not match Oakland and therefore some tweaking is needed. Can a deck very similar to this win a PTQ? In the right hands, yes, but be prepared for an exhausting day. It is probably the only current deck with Potential for Wrath effects that I feel are needed in the current meta.

[cardlist]2 Arid Mesa

1 Blood Crypt

2 Forest

3 Mountain

1 Overgrown Tomb

2 Scalding Tarn

1 Stomping Ground

3 Swamp

4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Deadshot Minotaur

4 Fulminator Mage

4 Ingot Chewer

4 Jungle Weaver

4 Monstrous Carabid

4 Street Wraith

4 Valley Rannet

4 Demonic Dread

1 Living End

3 Living End

2 Night of Souls' Betrayal

4 Violent Outburst

Sideboard

3 Kitchen Finks

3 Maelstrom Pulse

1 Night of Souls' Betrayal

4 Shriekmaw

3 Thought Hemorrhage

1 Yixlid Jailer[/cardlist]

Much like the earlier mentioned Hypergenesis deck Living End looks to cascade into its name sake. Only instead of having some huge game winning dudes in hand it looks to have some moderately cool creatures in its graveyard. The reason they are only moderately cool is because of the fact they need to get there by themselves. Cycling creatures and Evokers make the list easy. The only real issue is which ones to use? The real edge is in the cyclers. Giving the Living End deck a lot more consistency and resiliency to cards like Thoughtsieze than Hypergenesis decks have. In exchange you play with weaker critters but 20 is 20 no matter how big the hits are.

I would recommend this deck for a PTQ. It has a strong game against all forms of zoo and moderate play against the rest of the field. If they don't pull a turn 3 win like elves, Brozek, and Thepths can do then you're looking good. I might suggest a peak at Aethersnipe as extra Chalice/Leyline hate and maybe Mulldrifter for Lauren Lee to enjoy.

The Finals

[cardlist]4 Forest

3 Horizon Canopy

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Pendelhaven

1 Temple Garden

4 Verdant Catacombs

2 Arbor Elf

4 Boreal Druid

4 Elvish Archdruid

4 Elvish Visionary

1 Essence Warden

1 Eternal Witness

4 Heritage Druid

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Nettle Sentinel

1 Ranger of Eos

1 Regal Force

4 Cloudstone Curio

4 Glimpse of Nature

1 Primal Command

4 Summoner's Pact

Sideboard

1 Burrenton Forge-Tender

1 Gaddock Teeg

4 Ghost Quarter

1 Loaming Shaman

3 Ranger of Eos

4 Umezawa's Jitte

1 Viridian Shaman[/cardlist]

The final unique deck I'm going to feature is the winner of the whole thing. Elves are apparently back again. Perhaps this deck shouldn't have been the surprise that it was. Many players wrote off the combo deck as being too fragile and Mulligan happy. I feel that what made the deck work is the absence of Grapeshot/Manamorphose. With those cars being used as the win condition the deck is just a little lacking because they take away from the critical 1 drop elves count and therefore lower the expected value from cards like Glimpse and Curio. Like I mentioned early in the lesson the absence of true Wrath Deck makes waiting a turn and attacking with a swarm just fine for the win. And that is what Matt did. Bypassing the need for Grapeshot and increasing his turn one accelerants and making Glimpse and Curio mathematically stronger. Kudos!

If you want to run this then you need to do two things. First get your cards early before everyone makes you pay. Second Goldfish, Goldfish, Goldfish, Goldfish. And the Goldfish some more! The math can be complex at times and it needs to be second nature so you'll pull it off right. The only way to assure yourself of having flawless play is to have flawless practice. This is especially true when it's crunch time.

Well anyway there's my take on Oakland. Class dismissed.

Remember I'm @MtgXman on Twitter.