Did you notice that the Gro deck has 4 Commandeer maindeck!?

I would love to view the finished product. Would you mind sharing upon completion?

You should also have a look at the work of Nerea Iturgaiz and Ron Spencer to have a look at uber pimp art on cards........ you might be able to deduce techniques from it.

You should totally peep the uber proxy thread on Star City's Vintage forums. It's like a million pages long and can answer all of your proxy needs.

I would like to point out that Pact is very, very, narrow; even in a quick combo deck.  It is true that you can protect a game winning bomb (Yawgmoth's Will, Yawgmoth's Bargain) on the turn you are going to win.  And, in this situation Pact is extremely powerful.  However, what you sacrifice is flexibility.  Pact does not allow you a tool to interact with other decks in the way that Duress or FOW do.  You cannot use it to take away a Trinisphere, or counter a Meddling Mage the way that Duress or FOW allow you to in problematic match ups.  That being said:  Pact is still awesome, and an absolute house against Drain decks.  The problem is:  Who plays Drain decks anymore?

Personally I disagree with this statement because the Intuition/AK control decks had a very strong showing at Waterbury.  I do agree with your assessment that Gifts can win faster I think that T1T would rather assume the control role on the back of Duress/Force/Drain.  The only decks that I know of that run Intuition and AK are actually more control-centric than combo.

The article was very good, probably one of your best in a while which is saying something.  I am constantly modifying my combo deck and I've tried many iterations with varying degrees of success.  The fragmentation you addressed is something that I knew in the back of my mind but I enjoyed the way that you addressed it.  I think one of the most important things for combo players is choosing a deck that fits your play style.  I tried Cross-Long for a while but the decreased number of threats and slightly slower combo didn't fit my way of playing combo.  Probably my favorite part of the article was the table at the end of the article; I think there is a ton of information in that small portion.

That was one of the best articles I've read in a long time. The line between combo and control is drawing so thin now its crazy. I noticed that you didn't address Drain TPS, what are your thoughts on that deck? Do you think the intuition AK engine is just not right in these hybrids?

  I mean, only clowns wear pajamas to a tournament. 

Burning Wish is only Yawgwill #2 when you've resolved a yawgwill already.  Which means both finding it and winning the counter war.  Not that I've never made this play, but it has also been sort of academic to pull out the second will, I could probably have tutored up a fistful of counters and a tinker instead with no more trouble.  If burning wish read 1R: search your deck for Yawgmoths Will I would run 4.

Suspend 4 is just too much. Cant you just Stifle it?

i dont think many of these suspend cards are playable in type one.

the problem is that MDG is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to hard to play for the average pilot, imo.     

The level of complexity and possible gifts piles rivals that of Doomsday. 

think about the number of decisions: the deck is ALL tutors: 4 Scroll 4 Gifts.

The opportunities to fuck up are numerous and varied.  Plus, I'm willing to bet that 99% of the MDG pilots can't competently fight Slaver. 

Yeah, the MCAT was a bitch to prep for, but I'm finally done!

Also, I quit mary jane cause it got in the way of too many activities like hiking/tennis (I have no idea how Lou does it).

So, if I'm the Harold, who's my Kumar? Ashok?

back on topic, with Trav winning it all with Gifts, will we see a change in the metagame?

Hell Yeah!

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle

(thats 2 u's 3 q's...)

Luckily, no one was hurt, and I manage to secure the artwork at our hotel before heading to White Castle for a celebration meal with Scott, Lou, Zach, Zac "no h" from California, and Rafe from team ICBM.

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Echoing Truth

3 Night's Whisper
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

3 Goblin Welder

2 Mindslaver
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Triskelion
1 Memory Jar
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald

1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
3 Island

9 StripLoam Kudzu?!? Awesome! Nice to see rogue decks break a meta open with their techy tech.

About Croatia I know nothing. We thought about a bus route up by coast of Croatia, do you have any info on that? Which are the best places to sleep there? We are interested on all kinds of national parks, so they're, so thaks for the advice.

That just cannot possibly happen.
if you want to beat ze Germans, you have to do that in 120 minutes. With penalties ze Germans just can´t lose.
If I was the french, which fortunately I am not, and they have to play the final, I suggest they beat ze Germans in 90 minutes.
History shows that also in the extra time with 2 goals down, they can´t be beaten.

Here is my analisys.

The Brazilians will not win because in history only once a team that was of another continent won, so a European team will win.

The Germans will not win because their team is sheer crap, the Germanss themselves don't even believe they will win. They will however survive the groupstage as they have the worst group ever.

The Italians are favorites. They will not win it because their team historically do not play attacking, and they only need to have 1 goalless draw to go out with penalties.

The French will not win because they are a team of hasbeens. The only player that really stands out anymore is Henry, and a striker can make goals only if his team provides him with chances and that will not happen.

The Czecks are a very good team but lack experience. As are the Croats.

The Argentinian players are good but they will be missing some keyplayers due to injuries as far as i know. If they survive the groupstage they will get far though.

The English have a very dangerous team but i think the loss of Rooney will proove to great for them to handle.

That leaves the Dutch. If they survive the groupstage (which i really think) they will take it all the way.

GO HOLLAND GO, DON'T LEAVE THE LION IN ITS UNDERWEAR, GO HOLLAND GO

AANVALLUH (ATTACK)

come on! They at least deserve to be part of the pull...

Croatia is missing from the poll too, however you'll change your mind after the first game when we humiliate Brazil.

True, The Netherlands are one of the favorites, if they manage to overcome their group which is savage. That's the strongest group and there's a possibility that one of the favorites (Arg, Holland) won't go through. Also, there will be one surprise team in quarter/semifinals (think something like Croatia in '98, S. Korea in 2002, or Greece in European cup), and there's always at least one African team that will shine.
Germany is rather weak, but considering what Shock Wave said (playing at home & money) and that they are always better as tournament progresses, they could go far. However, I don't see them on top.