If you want to play mono U control, I really think you must add 4 wasteland and 1 stripmine

also,  brainstorm are way better than impulse.

try to add 2-3 intuition to use with the accumulated knowledge

just my 2 cents

I have to agree this decks may need some more bombs to tutor for,  I'll try to take out the 2 opts to replace them by 1 more tog and 1 more deed

but to stay on subjet,  I don't see LDV as a mini vampiric tutor in this deck, It is more of a setup card, making the engine rolling (by stacking the 5 top cards) and making my dryads deadly really quick.

Now about card disadvantage, I've always tough that the point of playing gro was to play as many spells as possible, not actually drawing that many cards, (well gaining card advantage is always interresting, especially when switching to the Tog plan) but to pump a dryad really quickly, I think cheap cantrips are more synergic than 3cc card drawer (TFK)

We have seen a lot of arguments recently regarding GAT and the best engine to make it work, it can be seen in the forum about the place of red in the deck.   I really think this question can be discuss in a forum of its own.

At the moment, everybody is trying to determine if the AK/intuition is still a good choice, even if hulk has a better use for it, of if the new TFK/DA engine has replaced it.

So far, it seems that TFK/DA is the great winner, mainly because GAT cannot afford to run the AK engine in a field full of Hulk.  My only concern about TFK is that I find it to be a little too mana intensive and it doesn't pump my dryad as fast as I want it to.

Let's not forget the pre-restriction GAT engine using a lot of cheap cantrips.

Recently, after reading the comparative analysis of serum visions vs sleight of hand in the full member forum, I began to test this card in my GAT build ( not legal until fifth dawn )  Matt exposed the great synergy this card has with any deck using brainstorm.  That's when I started to add Lim dul's vault to the deck.  And when I was able to cast it, I just loved it.

those three card seems to work pretty well at the moment.  stacking the next 5 cards (making sure the top one is the one you want), getting rid of the undesirable cards if there is any (with serum visions), drawing those you want, all with cheap cantrips.   My dryads began to explode very quickly.  The main problem with lim dul's vault is the casting cost, while it is cheaper than say, intuition or TFK, it has two color in the cc.  But with a deck running 4-6 blue fectch in addition of 8 duals, it may not be that difficult to cast..

Actually, I'm not saying this engine IS the futur of GAT, I just wanted to expose this new engine to the community, Maybe we will find out after some times that this is pure crap, but maybe not.

so, here is my decklist using this engine

4 quirion dryad
2 psychatog

4 force of will
4 mana drain (could be counterspell, since I dont have lots of use for drained mana)
3 misdirection

4 brainstorm
4 serum visions
2 lim dul's vault
2 opt
1 ancestral recall
1 gush

1 demonic tutor
1 yawgmoth's will
1 merchand scroll
1 time walk
2 cunning wish

1 pernicious deed

1 black lotus
1 mox sapphire
1 mox emerald
1 mox jet
4 underground sea
4 tropical island
3 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
4 island

the sideboard contains the usual (berserk, BEB, 2 more deed, oxidize etc but is higly dependent on the metagame so I'm not putting it in detail here since my decklist is not  the main subject,  I just want to discuss the engine.

feel free to put your opinions on any engine this deck runs.

Thanks

also, if you cannot afford power (Not counting drains),  you should consider running GAT instead of hulk....

GAT is a lot easier to run without power (it was even easier before gush restriction)......it is not even mandatory to run drains in gat (but it his highly recommended) because you'll run a lot of 1cc cantrip and won't have many use for drain mana.  

What I suggest is for you to first build GAT,....play in some tournaments, win some money, acquiring power in the process...then you'll be able to run Hulk

I don't see the point of running TFK in Hulk instead of the intuition/AK engine....Like most people said, Hulk has the upper hand in the AK/mirror vs GAT,  so why change it....

TFK might be good for GAT....But for Hulk,  the main goal is to actually Draw cards....that is why Hulk is running 2-3 intuition (3 in the latest smmenen build),  The Hulk player will rarely play an AK for 1,  He will first play 1 for 3 and the next for 4.   TFK is an expensive cantrip for hulk and won't replace the original engine IMO.

Speaking of GAT, I'm still not a big fan of the TFK engine,  too clunky and mana hungry for me.  I don't play in a Heavy tog environnement so I'm still able to play AK without to much risk. But since the goal in GAT is to "gro" the dryad playing as many spells as you can,  I think I'll be playing serum vision as a 4of as soon as it is legal.  paired with brainstorm, this card will be awsome (check the type 1 forums for more explanations).

I usually play in local tournaments of about 50-70 players.....The top decks are landstill (both budget and powered), slaver, Hulk, bazarless dragon, rector tendrils, tps.  but almost half of the matchup are against mono colored aggro or r-g beatz.

I agree that I should try to get more duals...they are just tough to find at a good price these days...

Like I said, I'm trying factories over strip/waste to help me against some of the most common matchup : mono colored aggro (sui, sligh, elf)....those are my worst enemy....Of course strip effects are excellent against stronger decks.....for the time being, it is just a metagame choice

thanks for your comments

I'm currently working on a deck I began to develop last year,  I play in a semi powered metagame where you must expect to face a lot of aggro deck (all kind of sligh, mono-red, r-g beatz, elfball)....I usually don't fear to much fully powered decks (curiously, I'm always more successfull against them than against budget aggro)....

The stronger decks I have to face are Landstill, dragon, all kinds of survival-engine aggro et some prison.  Very few keeper of even hulk.

Here's my decklist,  any suggestion would be appreciated. (by the way, I'm also a budget player...but I'm sick of playing ankh sligh....not good anymore)

''kind of EBA''

1 Morphling
2 Masticore
4 Meddling mage
4 shadowmage infiltrator

4 force of will
4 counterspell
2 duress
2 misdirection

4 brainstorm
2 cunning wish
1 demonic tutor
1 mystical tutor
1 yawgmoth's will

3 swords to plowshare
1 balance

1 sol ring
1 lotus petal

4 mishra's factory
3 flooded strand
3 polluted delta
2 underground sea
1 tundra
1 adarkar waste
1 underground river
5 island
1 plain
1 swamp

sideboard

2 duress
4 phyrexian negator (against control or combo)
4 hydroblast
1 diabolic edict
1 coffin purge
1 disenchant
1 stifle
1 fact or fiction


odd card choice explanation

masticore: few people still play this in control...but in a metagame where sligh is rampant, those two just shine

shadowmage infiltrator:  since I don't own any mana drains, these are juste as easy to play as the old phids.......and are not stop by little dorks.

counterspell: I'm still not sure about those...maybe I should use mana leak instead....but I run a lot of blue sources and I'm rarely missing UU....

misdirection:  there is still some good misdirectable spells in my meta....but they could be replace by 2 more duresses

cunning wish:  without power, they are often slow...but shine in the late game...

mishra's factory: those use to be 1 strip and 3 wasteland....but they don't do much against sligh or suicide.


Of course my mana base needs to be improved...I'm trying to get at least another tundra....until then that's the more stable mana base I can use....

One of the many options I'm considering right now is to cut the shadowmage to use more real draw spells (ak+intuition)....the cunning wish are also on the watch list (I could cut the shadowmage and the wish to use 2 intuition+4 ak and 1 decree of justice)....I've also tried to replace the shadowmage with 4 isochron scepter........but the deck was slowed down .....

Hi!, My name is Fred and I'm From Quebec, Canada.

I play type 1 on a regular base in a semi powered metagame in the area. About once a month there is a type 1 tournament in a very know cardshop in the area (l'imaginaire).  About 40-70 players are showing up each time...

I use to be a hardcore ankh sligh partisan....a deck that won me some money last year....but the metagame being very different this year, I'm searching for a new archetype to play,  

Being a budget player,  it is very important for me to metagame correctly, that is why I'm reading the forums on themanadrain.com to be aware of all the new decktype idea running around.