So you are still interested in post rotation Extended. This is about as new and fresh as a Magic Environment can be. With the new rotation that WOTC has implemented for Extended the metagame should be ever changing from year to year. This should make the format all the more attractive for people to play. Now your only question is what deck do I play? Here are a couple of my favorites for the upcoming season.

Let's start with a personal favorite of mine, Dragonstorm. When Timespiral was first being spoiled…everyone had their own version of this deck. The funny thing was that, aside from the lands, every deck had the same cards in them. Very few decks differed from the main build. Some splashed Black for Infernal Tutor but the best decks proved to be ones derived from Makihito Mihara's masterpiece. The biggest innovation that he added to the deck was Gigadrowse. This helped to put Dragonstorm over the top. This idea was embraced by the majority of the Magic community and the deck went on to conquer a few tournaments. After that though it couldn't compete with the newer metagames and so it has not received the dominant powers except as part of other decks such as Chapin's creation for Worlds last year.

Now that Extended has rotated and the format slowed down by almost a full turn I think that Dragonstorm will be a contender yet again. Here's a peek at my version of Dragonstorm.

[cardlist]

[Lands]

4 Steam Vents

4 Shivan Reef

5 Island

4 Polluted Delta

3 Calciform Pools

3 Dreadship Reef

[/Lands]

[Creatures]

1 Hunted Dragon

1 Rorix Bladewing

4 Bogardan Hellkite

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Lotus Bloom

3 Gigadrowse

4 Ponder

4 Rite of Flame

4 Peer Through Depths

4 Remand

4 Seething Song

4 Dragonstorm

[/Spells]

[/cardlist]

You will notice that it is still very much in the same form as its Standard counterpart. There are however quite a few additions to the deck that help add power and speed. Ponder is an easy replacement for Sleight of Hand. This allows you to set up your draws while also preventing you from drawing your dragons. This is nothing in comparison with the drawing power of Peer Through Depths. This is probably the best replacement for Telling Time that you could ask for. On top of digging 5 cards deep and shipping your dragons to the bottom of your library it's also an instant. With card draw, the speed of the spell makes all the difference.

I haven't decided which of the dragon setups is best. Bogardan Hellkite is all but guaranteed to make the deck. The problem then comes with the two extra dragons that the deck uses to ensure a kill. Hellkite Overlord, Rorix Bladewing, Hunted Dragon, and Tarox Bladewing seem to be the best choices. Then again each of them has a downside too.

1. Hellkite Overlord is uncastable in the deck but he ends the game if he sees play.
2. Rorix Bladewing is Legendary, so running two of them is rather pointless but he is a 6 power dragon with Haste.
3. Hunted Dragon is the tried and true dragon from the popular lists with 6 hasty damage but his problem comes if your opponent has any form of removal at all. If somehow they kill your dragon you will then have a trio of 2/2 knights to deal with.
4. Finally there is Tarox Bladewing which has the unique ability to be rather good if you draw one off the deck, thanks to the Grandeur ability however the problem is that he only has 4 power without grandeur.

The reason that I like the split of Rorix Bladewing and Hunted Dragon is because most decks that you will face will only have 15 life. The fetch lands and the shock lands have made the extended life totals drop by almost 5 points on average. This deck helps to exploit this. Sometimes it's best just to power out a dragon and ride him to a win.

Many people will probably wonder why Kokusho, the Evening Star isn't in the deck. My answer is rather simple, I think he is a perfect candidate for the sideboard. Bogardan Hellkite can be powered out and used as board removal if needed. Kokusho, the Evening Star can't. However, one thing to remember about Bogardan Hellkite is that he targets and that his damage can be prevented. Circle of Protection: Red really hurts this deck. Kokusho, the Evening Star doesn't target and the damage can't be prevented (loss of life as opposed to damage dealt.) This is something that many people tend to forget and I think this is going to be a powerful option out of the sideboard.

I am a huge fan of this deck in the new environment. However there has been another storm deck that has been doing quite well that may contend with Dragonstorm as the top Storm deck.

[cardlist]

[Lands]

3 Bloodstained Mire

3 Cascade Bluffs

3 Flooded Strand

2 Island

1 Mountain

4 Steam Vents

[/Lands]

[Spells]

2 Chrome Mox

4 Lotus Bloom

4 Ponder

4 Rite of Flame

4 Desperate Ritual

4 Grapeshot

4 Peer Through Depths

4 Remand

4 Manamorphose

2 Pyromancer's Swath

4 Seething Song

4 Mind's Desire

[/Spells]

[/cardlist]

This deck uses the broken power of Mind's Desire. I think that this deck is a little less consistent than Dragonstorm but it is still very strong.

The next deck that I have for you is another one of my creations, Dredge. I am not going to sit here and lie to you, this deck has suffered quite a bit from the rotation, but I don't think that the deck is dead. Take a look at the deck.

[cardlist]

[Lands]

4 Watery Grave

2 Steam Vents

4 City of Brass

4 Gemstone Mine

3 Polluted Delta

[/Lands]

[Dredgers]

2 Darkblast

1 Golgari Thug

4 Stinkweed Imp

4 Golgari Grave-Troll

[/Dredgers]

[Draw Spells]

4 Drowned Rusalka

4 Goblin Lore

4 Idea's Unbound

4 Glimpse the Unthinkable

1 Noggle Ransacker

[/Draw Spells]

[Graveyard Spells]

4 Narcomoeba

4 Bridge From Below

4 Dread Return

2 Flame-Kin Zealot

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

[/Graveyard Spells]

[/cardlist]

There are quite a few cards in here that you might have to look up. In ideal conditions a turn 1 Drowned Rusalka can be devastating. That turns your deck into the same deck as the previous Dredge lists. Notice that Drowned Rusalka says, "Discard a card, then draw a card." This sets up plays like this:

Turn 1: Land. Play Drowned Rusalka.

Turn 2: During your upkeep sacrifice Drowned Rusalka. Discard Golgari Grave-Troll. Dredge Golgari, Grave-Troll. Replace your draw step with a Dredge. Dredge the highest dredge card in the yard.

Turn 3: Dredge. Sacrifice your creatures for Dread Return. Your target will depend on the game state. If your Bridge From Belows have been removed you will probably want to go with the Akroma, Angel of Wrath win. If you still have your Bridge From Belows in your yard you can go for the Flame-Kin Zealot win. If you don't have any of the above cards…go for Noggle Ransacker to dredge twice more and get whatever else you need in your yard. If none of the above options are available you should have kept a hand with a draw spell now would be the time to use it.

As you can see this deck is very repetitive. All of the “Draw” spells are redundant. They all draw into a win condition. Idea's Unbound is an amazing card that I am really surprised hasn't played a bigger role in Extended up until now. This card is amazing in this deck because if you cast this with a dredger in the yard you should win the game. The same is also true for Goblin Lore. With the fetch lands still in Extended…adding a color is almost irrelevant. This card is as good as Breakthrough. Glimpse the Unthinkable is probably the weakest of the “Draw” cards but its effect can be huge. While these cards aren't as powerful as the older duo of Careful Study and Breakthrough they are still pretty good. With the format slowing down by almost an entire turn a two mana draw spell that wins you the game seems good in my book.

For anyone that has played Dredge or even combo decks in general for that matter you will know that you need to aggressively mulligan with this deck. You need to understand that you must have 2 lands to run optimally. You also must have a draw spell in order to exploit the dredge mechanic fully. Ideally you would also like to have a dredger but not every hand is godly. This deck absolutely does not want a hand full of lands. Very seldom will you ever keep a hand of more than 2 lands. Don't be afraid to use your draw step to actually draw cards. This was the mistake that many dredge players made last season. You used to try and force a turn 2 win this wasn't always the right move and many times this gave the game away. Now the idea is to win on turn 3. Sometimes you will have to extend your game a few turns in order to assure a win.

I fully expect people to have a heavy sideboard to combat graveyard based decks but I don't know if there is enough hate to reliably stop a deck from consistently winning on turn 3. Only time will tell if this deck is a combo deck or a bomb-o deck.

Well, that seems to be quite a lot of information for now. I will hold off next week for another batch of decks. As always, I appreciate your comments and criticism. I am always open for new ideas on decks and articles so make sure to leave your feedback.

Until next time; see you on the boards.

-Jimmy aka imachampion