Pre-Worlds, I was messing around with a GWB deck in Extended. It had the whole Ooze combo package, and kept winning in testing against Jund and 5CC.

Thing is, I don't remember seeing it combo out once. In fact, a different two drop was far more important to victory: Tidehollow Sculler. It wasn't even that good, the deck just wanted another four Thoughtseize.

After the Pro Tour, I looked into decks to buy. The Canadian Esper/Affinity deck was not only relatively cheap, but it appealed to my love of mediocre beats. As of now, as ridiculous as it might sound, I can honestly say I would be around 90% in match wins if I just corrected the punts I saw. The same duo that was shredding people when backed up by Green monsters has been shredding people with robots.

Seriously, Thoughtseize is the most important card in Extended.

Why is this? First, the card quality in Extended is extremely variable. In Standard the major cause Thoughtseize declined in Faeries was that the field was saturated with Spectral Procession decks, which were almost entirely high power threats. What's the point of taking a Spectral Procession when your opponent's hand also had a Glorious Anthem and Cloudgoat Ranger you also lost to? Gaining real tempo by answering their threats up the curve was the way to beat them. In current Extended, those decks just don't exist. Even the decks that come closest have cards that are vastly more important, such as Bloodbraid Elf, Cryptic Command, and Day of Judgment. Even if your cards are average, the rest of their hand will be too once those heavy hitters are stripped.

There's also a trend among the actually important cards: they almost all cost more than two. This not only means that drawing a discard effect a bit later than turn one is still fine, but that you can wait to get value out of them. If you want to minimize the odds of your opponent drawing the one relevant spell after they get Thoughtseized, you can easily slow roll it until right before they can cast it. People's hands also tend to stay gassed up for much longer in this format, meaning that Duresses are live going even later.

So, which decks can best abuse Thoughtseize? The typical archetype that utilizes the card is a generic aggressive strategy that uses it as a way to protect and clear the way for their threats.

The first Thoughtseize deck I would recommend for this format is the aforementioned Artifact beatdown deck.

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

4 Memnite

3 Ornithopter

4 Court Homunculus

4 Steel Overseer

4 Tidehollow Sculler

4 Master of Etherium

4 Ranger of Eos

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Thoughtseize

2 Thopter Foundry

4 Tempered Steel

3 Springleaf Drum

3 Mox Opal

[/Spells]

[Lands]

4 Darkslick Shores

4 Seachrome Coast

4 Marsh Flats

1 Fetid Heath

3 Plains

1 Swamp

[/Lands]

[Sideboard]

2 Path to Exile

1 Celestial Purge

2 Disfigure

1 Sleep

2 Spell Pierce

3 Leonin Arbiter

1 Thopter Foundry

1 Duress

2 Burrenton Forge-Tender

[/Sideboard]

[/cardlist]

For those who aren't familiar with the deck, it plays out very similar to old school Affinity decks. You have 12 cards (Master, Tempered Steel, Overseer) and 48 that make them good. Ranger of Eos is just Myr Enforcer in disguise, and Court Homunculus does a good Frogmite. Actually winning a game by just playing out the filler cards is fairly difficult, but resolving one of the power cards usually ends the game almost immediately. The one difference is that you are playing eight hand disruption, which covers the issue previous Affinity decks have always had of their opponents just having answers for their real threats.

This list is card for card the same as Pascal Maynard's in the main deck. I've seen lists with Mutavault and Vedalken Cetarch, but I don't see how the mana base can afford the former and how the later helps with the real issues the deck has, namely heavy spot removal and sweepers. The sideboard is also derivative of his list. I really have found no use for Ethersworn Canonist (it's such conditional value against Bloodbraid Elf), so it got trimmed. Spell Pierce is to really drive the nail in the coffin of 5CC, and Sleep is the miser tech for the mirror that I have shamelessly stolen from someone in the MODO two man queues. Usually when boarding I will cut a couple of the cheap creatures then either a Ranger of Eos if the match will be a race, a Steel Overseer or two if they are heavy on spot removal, and even more early drops if the matchup will be a grind fest. Ornithopter is surprisingly insane and should stay in over Memnite if you expect the ground to stall.

While it may seem on the surface this is a deck that is vulnerable to hate, it really isn't. There aren't actual artifact hate cards on the scale of Ancient Grudge in this format. The best one, Fracturing Gust, is really just a five mana Day of Judgment. The rest are more or less marginal improvements on Shriekmaw and Path to [card]Exile" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/Exile%22+href%3D%22%2Fp%2FMagic%253A%2BThe%2BGathering%2FPath%2Bto%2B%255Bcard%255DExile%22%3EPath+to+%5Bcard%5DExile%3C%2Fa%3E">Exile" href="/p/Magic%3A+The+Gathering/Path+to+%5Bcard%5DExile">Path to [card]Exile, and I'm almost certain no deck in Extended is maxed out on the non-artifact specific versions of those cards that it could play.

As I alluded to earlier, this deck is deceptively hard to play. You have a lot of possible plays at every point and have to figure out how best to play around Wraths while racing various end games. I am still averaging at least one punt I can see a match and I feel I've improved a significant amount with the deck since I started playing.

The second deck would be something along the lines of the WGB Ooze deck I described, except I'm convinced the actual combo is just a gimmick and you should just bash them with assorted Green men.

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

4 Noble Hierarch

1 Birds of Paradise

2 Treefolk Harbinger

4 Tidehollow Sculler

4 Putrid Leech

4 Doran, the Siege Tower

4 Knight of the Reliquary

3 Kitchen Finks

1 Chameleon Colossus

1 Reveillark

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Path to Exile

4 Thoughtseize

2 Maelstrom Pulse

1 Profane Command

1 Elspeth, Knight Errant

[/Spells]

[Lands]

4 Murmuring Bosk

4 Marsh Flats

4 Verdant Catacombs

1 Misty Rainforest

1 Sejiri Steppe

1 Stirring Wildwood

3 Forest

2 Plains

2 Swamp

[/Lands]

[Sideboard]

1 Reveillark

2 Dark Tutelage

1 Duress

1 Path to Exile

1 Kitchen Finks

2 Burrenton Forge-Tender

3 Gaddock Teeg

2 Shriekmaw

2 Great Sable Stag

[/Sideboard]

[/cardlist]

This deck is a port of the Extended deck from back when Counterbalance-Top and Dredge were legal. Some mana guys, some monsters, some Duresses, and a couple of value cards to fill in where Jitte did its job. I'm not sold on the Treefolk Harbingers in the main, nor am I sold on the full set of Dorans, but this shell is a good place to start. The removal base could also use tweaking depending on how much Wurmcoil Engine starts showing up in main decks. I can also see another Profane Command or a Thornling being very good, mainly to add reach.

Out of the board, Gaddock Teeg is a monster against both control and the Scapeshift decks that have been popping up. Unlike the previous deck, you will want to shave some hand disruption in the aggro mirror as your average threat already trumps theirs. You should instead focus on having more effective answers for their trumps.

Another kind of deck that actually abuses Thoughtseize is combo. By choosing combo you have minimized your opponent's relevant cards already. Thoughtseizing out of combo is on par with Thoughtseizing an opponent who has mulliganed. The appropriately named Bertil Elfgren ran this 75 to a 5-1 record at Worlds, barely missing top 8 on the karmic pair down.

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

4 Nettle Sentinel

4 Heritage Druid

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Joraga Treespeaker

4 Fauna Shaman

2 Devoted Druid

4 Elvish Archdruid

3 Ranger of Eos

3 Regal Force

1 Shriekmaw

1 Joraga Warcaller

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Primal Command

3 Thoughtseize

[/Spells]

[Lands]

4 Gilt-Leaf Palace

4 Razorverge Thicket

4 Verdant Catacombs

3 Wooded Bastion

3 Forest

1 Swamp

[/Lands]

[Sideboard]

4 Mark of Asylum

3 Chameleon Colossus

4 Summoning Trap

1 Thoughtseize

2 Vendetta

1 Molten-Tail Masticore

[/Sideboard]

[/cardlist]

For those who don't remember the Standard lists, this deck don't have to combo off to win, but can do so quickly. It can switch gears at any time as well, meaning those two Nettle Sentinels off a Ranger of Eos or that Elvish Archdruid will Threaten both lethal damage and leaving you with no permanents. However, as evidenced by the sideboard Mark of Asylums, Volcanic Fallout is a serious concern. Thoughtseize allows you to pluck this or other sweepers from the opponent's hand and set up a clear path to victory.

I would be remiss not to mention what might be the best Thoughtseize deck in the format. People have dismissed it time and time again, but Faeries is still a force to be reckoned with. Based on the MTGO metagame I have seen (around 25% Wargate Scapeshift, 30% Control, 15% Affinity, 15 % Jund, and 15% random), I would run the following:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

4 Spellstutter Sprite

4 Bitterblossom

3 Vendillion Clique

4 Mistbind Clique

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Jace the Mind Sculptor

4 Mana Leak

4 Thoughtseize

4 Cryptic Command

1 Inquisition of Kozilek

3 Smother

1 Agony Warp

4 Mutavault

4 Secluded Glen

4 Darkslick Shores

3 Sunken Ruins

2 Swamp

5 Island

2 Creeping Tar Pit

1 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard

3 Wall of Tanglecord

2 Ratchet Bomb

1 Disfigure

1 Wurmcoil Engine

2 Jace Beleren

1 Duress

1 Doom Blade

2 Peppersmoke

1 Flashfreeze

1 Tectonic Edge

The sideboard looks really random, but I've crunched the numbers for 5CC, Elves!, Jund, the mirror, Affinity, and Scapeshift and it all comes out right. The main differences between John Randle's list and this one are the lack of main deck Disfigures and a slightly different mana base. Disfigure is really good against some forms of the Extended metagame, but the current list of top decks are not those is shines against. If Goblin Guide, Fauna Shman, and Steppe Lynx show up again I will immediately return to main decking them, but the Worlds results and post-Worlds metagame don't support this. I've moved those slots to the 4th Cryptic Command and an Agony Warp, which shreds Jund. I also felt Randle's mana base was a little heavy on CIPT/ETBT lands, especially Creeping Tar Pit. When I played the deck in Standard, Faerie Conclave was a card I always regretted playing. Tar Pit is significantly better, but the same issue of tempo still applies. His mana base was also slightly heavy on Black mana, so cuts could be made to shift towards basic Islands.

Surprisingly, the card I'm most skeptical about is Jace the Mind Sculptor. Four mana sorceries don't mesh well with this deck's game plan. You always want to leave mana up. In Standard, getting to five for Jace Beleren with counter backup was about as good as it got. Sower of Temptation was a pipe dream. Big Jace might just be good enough to warrant not needing mana up, but if it isn't I would immediately cut it.

If GP Atlanta was tomorrow, I would be playing one of these four decks. Most likely that would be Faeries, but I can also see smashing some artifacts at people's faces. Regardless of what you play, be aware that a large amount of your hands will essentially be forcibly mulliganed by your opponent's one and two cost black spells.