Breaking the Format: Swans :D

[John Galli]

I was thinking about extended this morning, mulling over deck choices that all seemed fairly run-of-the-mill and uninteresting or homebrews that couldn't cut the meat.

Then I thought, why not Seismic Swans???

Before you immediately dismiss or drop a few comments about how this one card or that one card or choices of decks destroy it, think hard about it for a moment. Seismic Swans surfaced in various iterations last Standard season, but the core deck that ultimately came to fruition surprised the hell out of people and won tourneys for a good month or two. People weren't prepared, and that was precisely why it pummeled the snot out of just about anything in the field.

We face a situation that while not identical, is still very much open to rogue choices. The existing combo-ish decks are fast, but most of them can be disrupted and like all extended seasons their true speed is over-estimated. Hypergenesis can kill turn 3-4, but is inconsistent and easily hated out, Dredge can kill turns 3-6 but is easily crushed out of the board, Dark Depths can kill turn 2 but usually likes to disrupt for the first 5-6 turns and again suffers weaknesses of being hated out. Then you've got the fair decks, Rubin Zoo, Regular Zoo, RDW, all of which usually kill more into the mid-late game and often have a strict sideboard plan that is geared towards beating the known combo decks and the mirror.

Furthermore, extended is a format where most of the non-creature permanent hate is direct at artifacts. There are some universals, and some enchantment hate, but very little. The worst thing you might run into is some counter-magic, but there ain't too many blue players these days and those that are running countermagic are still decks that would probably just outright lose to you. Stuff like Chalice of the Void can be a pain in the neck (which is run by dark depths and tezzy), but with enough sideboard or maindeck hate, you can deal with it and then combo off.

I think this could arguably be the savior deck that no one expects, or at least a deck that is good and surprises the heck out of many. Even if this idea falls flat on it's face, the deck was never uber-challenging to play and it's fun. I dug up some lists from different places, and even stumbled across an extremely early build by Patrick Chapin. Below I present two lists with different approaches but the same overall plan, I'm hoping you guys can help me iron out / consolidate into a workable list because I'm pretty sure I'm sold on this deck and unlike every other season I want to settle on one deck and rock it for almost the entire season.

Without further adou-

Patrick Chapin Seismic Swans (circa early 2008)

Seismic Swan

4 Seismic Assault
4 Sulfurous Blast

4 Glittering Wish
3 Swans of Bryn Argoll
1 Teferi’s Moat

3 Idyllic Tutor
1 Oblivion Ring

3 Fertile Ground
3 Sylvan Scrying
2 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Abundance

4 Lotus Bloom

4 Dakmor Salvage
3 Gemstone Mine
2 Brushland
1 Fire Canopy
1 Mistmeadow Fields
4 Vivid Meadow
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Reflecting Pool

Sideboard:
3 Cloudthresher
1 Pyrohemia
1 Fiery Justice
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Zur, the Enchanter
1 Void
1 Swans of Bryn Argoll
4 Vexing Shusher
1 Teferi’s Moat

Joel Calafell Seismic Swans (GP Barcelona; 1st Place)

Seismic Swans

2 Battlefield Forge
2 Cascade Bluffs
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Ghitu Encampment
4 Graven Cairns
1 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Spinerock Knoll
4 Treetop Village
4 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh
4 Vivid Meadow

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Swans of Bryn Argoll

2 Ad Nauseam
2 Bituminous Blast
2 Captured Sunlight
1 Primal Command
4 Seismic Assault

Sideboard
2 Aura of Silence
4 Countryside Crusher
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Primal Command
2 Vexing Shusher
2 Wickerbough Elder
2 Wrath of God

[Travis Lannoye]

I would like to see an Extended-legal list and some play-test results before I make any judgments.