Kamigawa Block Snakes!

Bennie Smith has a good article in this week's Into the AEther column on magicthegathering.com. Inside, this snake deck appears:

Land (23):
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
22 Forest

Creatures (25):
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
4 Orochi Sustainer
2 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
3 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
3 Kodama of the North Tree
3 Seshiro the Anointed
1 Jugan, the Rising Star
1 Patron of the Orochi

Other Spells (12):
2 Time of Need
4 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Wear Away
4 Sosuke's Summons

Sideboard:
4 Gale Force
1 Jugan, the Rising Star
1 Kodama of the North Tree
4 Ronin Warclub
3 Shell of the Last Kappa
2 Wear Away

Very interesting...

Extended Fish

This deck finished first at the Columbus PTQ I attended (and got trounced at). Another version also finished second, but I think I like this one better:

Marshall Arthurs's Blue-Red Fish
1st Place - 3/20

Land (18):
5 Mountain
4 Shivan Reef
9 Island

Creatures (21):
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Mogg Fanatic
3 Voidmage Prodigy
3 Flametongue Kavu

Other Spells (21):
4 AEther Vial
3 Mana Leak
3 Fire/Ice
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Echoing Truth
3 Daze
3 Standstill

Sideboard (15):
3 Masticore
4 Submerge
2 Arcane Laboratory
2 Mana Maze
4 Overload

I like the options Arthurs has in his deck. However, I believe that the number of 4-ofs will have to increase post-rotation. Also, Mike Flores reports that Cloud of Faeries is the MVP of the deck according to those who run it. As the Faeries are rotating out, it will be interesting to see what works best as a replacement. I enter the deck here so I can reference it in next year's Extended season.

Umezawa's Jitte

A Ninja deck and a mono-Red deck - both which abuse the crap out of Umezawa's Jitte...

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/9282.html

Note: The two decks therein are Kamigawa-block (COK/BOK), but contain good strategies for both block and (theoretically) Type-2.

Standard Mono Blue Control

Permission/Counterspells:
4 Hinder
4 Mana Leak
4 Condescend

Control:
4 Isochron Scepter
4 Boomerang
4 Vedalken Shackles

Card Drawing:
4 Thieving Magpie
4 Serum Visions
2 Inspiration

Win Conditions:
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror

Land:
4 Stalking Stones
20 Island

Sideboard:
4 Spectral Shift
4 Temporal Adept
3 Quash
2 Bribery
2 Staff of Domination