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This thread is for discussion of this week's Top Decks, which goes live Thursday morning on magicthegathering.com.

I loved the shopped picture of LSV :D.

Would be nice to see some articles for people who are already into extended.

Always nice to seeRock decks doing well. Anyone who likes the deck we have a very active thread on these message boards http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1007396.

My one pet peeve is that for the first half of each video he just read exactly what he wrote above that. The videos could be a little shorter and maybe talk more about the gameplay instead. Other than that, it was great :D.

This was an absolutely amazing article Mike. It went extremely in-depth and accurately analysed each archetype.

jimmypoopins wrote:

nice article. could you suggest some board strategies for death cloud?

also, what would your new 15 be? you suggested taking out baloth / persecute for possibly CoP:red. how would the main change for a white splash?

thanks!

I'd be happy to give you whichever board plans you'd like. Are there any particular matchups you were thinking about?

As for the new sideboard, I'm not completely sure yet (although Baloth and at least one Persecute probably go), but for the maindeck changes I think your three options are either to A. add a temple garden and switch all of the fetches to Wooded Foothills, B. cut the Breeding Pool for a Sacred Foundry, or C. cut Ancient Grudge from your sideboard and switch the basic mountain for a basic plains, turn the foothills into windswept heath's, and add a Godless Shrine. Right now I'm leaning towards C, with B also being a possibility. I think cutting Ancient Grudge isn't the end of the world. Although it's worse against the control decks, if you're worried about affinity you now gain access to Kataki which is kind of exciting. I also probably want to play 2 Dark Heart of the Wood (look it up, then imagine playing it against the burn deck if you can keep them off Vortex) in the sideboard too, so the grudge slot might have to vanish entirely.

Guest1009347949 wrote:

Questions for Gavin - what u think about thoughtseize - isnt it better than putrefy?
And what u think about Choke - is it a good SB against MonoU and swans? or ur plan is better?
what do u usually side against swans?

I think Thoughtseize is an entirely different category of card than Putrefy. Thoughtseize is awesome on turn one to deal with upcoming threats. The problem is that Thoughtseize is miserable late game and doesn't help deal with on-board threats. You already have the crime plan, so while that engine is online Thoughtseize's quality lessens. Furthermore, Thoughtseize often plays right into the opposing game plan with it's sorcery speed nature - Spellstutter Sprite loves to see a Thoughtseize - whereas Putrefy is much more flexible. Finally, Putrefy is a dead card against very few decks at any point of the game. It's seldom a card that you're unhappy to see. It destroys not only all of the usual creature vermin, but also Jitte, Chrome Mox, Signets, Cranial Platings, Pithing Needle, etc... all the while dancing around your opponent's Spell Snares. In short: Putrefy is awesome.

Choke is good vs swans and faeries, but your Swans matchup is already favorable and your sideboard plan vs. faeries is so ridiculously strong that I didn't feel Choke was necessary. If for any reason you insist on Choking, instead I would much rather play Boil.

Versus Swans I would make the sideboard changes of -3 Smother +2 Extirpate +1 Ancient Grudge. If their deck is like LSV's build and artifact-laden, as they often are I would also swap two Engineered Explosives for the last two Ancient Grudges. Explosives can be useful if you can play it for 4 and leave 2 mana up, and it's good at destroying Chrome Mox, but other than that it's not particurally helpful. You can also reduce the numbers on Kitchen Finks if you want to leave Explosives in.

Thanks for the questions!

Edit:

IthilanorStPete wrote:

Gavin - why no Jund Charm either MD or SB?

Jund Charm is only really good in two situations: you are playing against Elves, or you are playing against the mirror match. (Or some other deck that abuses the graveyard.) I already had a very strong plan against Elves I felt was better than Jund Charm. As for the mirror match (and decks like Cactus Control, etc) I would rather have Extirpate to do that job much, much better. One could argue that you could shave sideboard slots by combining Persecute and Extirpate into the weaker Jund Charm, but I don't think Jund Charm does anywhere close to as good of a job as Extirpate (Removing all of their Loams usually removes their chances of victory unless they Extirpate you back, getting rid of their Glen Elendra Archmages with Extirpate is absolutely ridiculous, Extirpating discarded/Ghost Quartered 'tron pieces prevents them from hitting 'Tron, etc. As for elves, you already attack the creature side of the deck with Darkblast, and so Persecute is important to beat strategies like Fecundity.