Hey Dan, this is Brendan from Fienstiens tournament who played an older version of your deck. I want to thank you as many have for building such a fun deck to play in vintage. As far as a creature to replace gathan raiders, have you considered nezumi graverobber? He does have poor synergy with leyline, but its grave removal ability is semi relevant and once he flips he is a 4/2 beater who can return your dead creatures or all the dudes you have been killing. The leyline issue might be enough to ax him though. Just a thought.

I would have to disagree with the statement that when you get these cards most of the time you will win before they can slave you. Tinker, Jar is not very good against slaver. Many times when I tinker for Jar I want to be able to wait to untap so I will have more mana. However, against control slaver if they have a welder I can not do that I have to pop it right away. Also, if i do fail to go off I probably dumped many artifact goodies into their graveyard.

Necro also isnt very good as it gives them a turn before I win. If I do not play necro on turn 1 it is very likley they could slave me with it on the table. Control slaver can slave your very fast.

I could see an argument for leaving bargain in the deck. If it hits you will win right then and there are many times they will not be able to cast it even if they do slave you. I could go both ways on this but I was looking for a way to bring in my SB options.

First off I would like to say that this was a great tournament and it was a lot of fun to play in. It also got a nice turnout of 40 people and I would love to see the YMG Providence to keep running them. I am technically a member of Team Underground but I have been absent from magic for a while as I applied for college and took my midterms. I’ve been looking to get back into it now that I am less busy and Mixing Mike lent me enough power to pretty much play any deck. I decided to play TPS. I didn’t feel comfortable in the control slaver mirror, which I knew there would be a ton of and I just don’t like playing Stax. TPS seemed fun and I am a bit rusty. Just concentrating on what I’m doing most of the time was easier.  I only tested for a week or so before the tourney having never played the deck before so I was not expecting huge results. Here is the list I ran. I’ll get into choices after the report.

TPS

61 Cards:
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Swamp
3 Island
1 Flooded Strand
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerad
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
4 Dark Ritual
 
4 Force of Will
4 Duress
2 Rebuild
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Timetwister
1 Windfall
1 Memory Jar
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Frantic Search
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Mind's Desire
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Spiral
1 Time Walk

SB:
3 Mystic Remora
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Coffin Purge
1 Platinum Angel
2 Skeletal Scrying
2 Energy Flux
3 Hydroblast

I arrived with my friend Mike Lovett, got the cards I needed from Mixing Mike and waited for the tourney to start. I found out my first round opponent was a member of my team Rob. Hurray! I was not too worried because for some reason he was playing some crap scepter chant deck.

Round 1 vs Rob

Game 1: I lose the die roll and Rob chooses to play. Rob keeps a hand with only 1 land. I keep an okay had with duress, rebuild, necro, and a couple of lands. I duress rob and see he has drain, force, tinker, leak and disenchant but still only 1 land. I take the force. He never draws another land; I hard cast necro and easily ride it to the win.

SB: I bring in an extra chain of vapor to combat his arcane lab and meddling mages I know are coming in. I leave in rebuild for the scepter and platinum angel.

Game 2: I keep a nice hand with 2 lands brainstorm, ritual, force, and demonic tutor. Rob plays a land and 2 moxes and says go. I drop a land and say go. On his turn he drops a land and another mox and plays Isochron scepter with 1 card in his hand. I brainstorm in response seeing force, ritual, mox sapphire. I allow him to play the scepter knowing I am going to win next turn. He plays chant on the scepter I force it on my upkeep then ride 2 rituals and demonic tutor for yawg will for the win.

Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0

Round 2 vs Greg

I knew from scouting Greg was playing control slaver. He was a very nice guy and also from what I saw a skilled player. I would especially like to thank him for pointing out I should protect my deck more when shuffling as I was flashing cards.

Game 1: I don’t remember many of the details of this game but I kept a slow hand with duress. I basically sat there and did nothing until he hard cast slaver with a welder on the table. I was forced to ritual into gifts ungiven but nothing at that point could save me. He slaved me and did many broken things on my turn. He had 4 artifacts out on his side as well and I scooped.

SB: I board out the stuff that kills me necro and bargain was well as tinker and memory jar. In comes coffin purge and chain of vapor. Also a skeletal came in for something.

Game 2: I have to mulligan and my 6 cards are 2 lands, mox pearl, brainstorm, duress, and tendrils. Its not that great but it had disruption and draw. I felt that I could not get a better 5-card hand against control slaver so I kept. My brainstorm is god-awful as I get desire, land, gifts ungiven. I do not have a fetch and the 2 dead draws kill me. Even when I was not drawing dead I picked up another tendrils. He got out like platinum angel and 3 welders and that was that.

Matches: 1-1 Games: 2-2

Round 3 vs Dan

I knew Dan was playing oath. He was very cool and our decks both did what they were supposed to do making this match a lot of fun.

Game1: He wins the die roll and starts off with the wonderful mox, orchard oath. I have a hand with ritual, ritual duress, 2 lands, brainstorm and a mox jet. On my turn I duress him taking a force of will seeing no other counters. He oaths up Arkoma beats me for 6 and passes. I’m going to be either dead or at 1 if I don’t win on my second turn. I get an amazing brainstorm of ritual, tutor, and something else. I ritual 3 times on my turn cast tutor get yawg will and win in the face of my ensuing death.

SB: Out goes the rebuilds for chain of vapor as I expect to see some arcane labs and platinum angel.

Game 2: I have a very nice hand with lotus demonic tutor, duress and ritual among other things. However his game is amazing. First turn he drops orchard, mox, mox arcane lab! Its okay I can deal as long as he doesn’t start oathing up stuff soon. On my turn I play and a land and duress his drain leaving him with a land and an akroma. He then proceeds to topdeck oath!. Okay wonderful. My turn I am forced to demonic for chain of vapor to get rid of the lab. He then oaths up on his turn platinum angel after like 2 cards. So on turn 3   I’m staring down arcane lab and platinum angel. I play a land on my turn and pass. At EOT I bounce his laboratory back to his hand. On my turn I make my dumbest mistake of the day. I play like I still have demonic tutor in my hand and can go get yawgwill. I am forced to windfall for 4 for BB floating and storm at around 6. I get nothing off the windfall and am one short of casting tendrils to prolong my death. I did make him discard arcane lab however. I cant’ get up enough steam after that and lose to oathed up Akroma with platz.

Game 3:  His hand is pretty slow this game and so is mine. I am able to punch through a necro after duress. After this I am a position to cast a desire for 5 with no mana floating but I wait one more turn to up the storm a bit. I am rewarded with the cards of the necro and he does not cast the lab, which was all I feared. I cast desire for 7 revealing tendrils and take the match.

Matches 2-1 Games 4-3

Round 4 vs Jacob Orlove

I knew by reputation that Jacob was a very skilled player but I also knew he was playing workshop aggro which was a matchup I was confident in.

Game1: I keep a good hand if he does not play turn 1 trinisphere which he does. I have two lands one of which is a underground sea and 1 wasteland will bury me. Luckily he does not have one but he does cast platinum angel off a shop, lotus and a city. I draw a land after taking a beat from the angel and at the end of his turn rebuild his stuff. On my turn I play two rituals and Timetwister, then Time Spiral after the twister. I stupidly shuffle the spiral into my deck but Jacob was gracious enough to allow me to remove it from the game and draw another 7. I was only a few spells away and I played brainstorm, demonic, tendrils for the win.  I got lucky to take this game.

SB: I bring in chain of vapor for tinker and jar.

Game 2: I get one of those bunch of mana and two duress hands. I am debating whether or not to keep as he mulligans. I can tell from his body language after the mulligan that he does not have the turn one trini and decide to keep. He plays a land an a mox on his first turn and says go. On my turn I duress away his trinisphere where I see a crucible and not much business. I duress him again next turn after picking up a brainstorm. I see he has a stifle but I take something else for some reason. On the brainstorm I get a Time Spiral with academy out and 3 artifacts and also a ritual. I spiral into a desire for about 7 reveal tendrils and win the match.

Matches 3-1 Games 6-3

Round 5 vs Jason

Jason is also playing workshop aggro. If I win this match I can draw into the top 8.

Game 1: I rely too heavily on rebuild to win me this game. I demonic tutored for Time Spiral fully expecting to rebuild on his turn and play it with 4 lands and some artifact mana on the next turn. He however casts sundering titan and I cannot recover as he has a welder and he blows up 4 of my lands.

SB: In come the vapors for tinker jar again.

Game 2: I have a nice hand but it only has island and mana crypt. A turn 1 trini shuts me down completely. He has to mulligan though and I can tell from his body language that he does not have it so I keep. I am able to rebuild around 7 artifacts back to his hand including crucible, platinum angel and tangle wire this game and win on the next turn with a large desire.

Game 3: This game was pretty uneventful, as he has to go down to 5. My hand after duressing is just two powerful and I win on either turn 3 or 4 with a large yawg will and tendrils.

Matches 4-1 Games 8-4

After finding I was not paired down I draw into the top 8 with Purple Hat.

First match of top 8 vs Purple Hat

We drew in and now we play. I was not exactly thrilled since I saw that he was playing Dragon and he also was a very good player. I had not tested much against dragon and TPS and dragon are trying to do similar things. He however had bazaar.

Game 1: His first turn he plays bazaar dropping 2 dragons and squee in the yard and passes. I duress him seeing animate, force, ancestral as relevant targets. I should have taken the animate here but I made a mistake and took the ancestral. On his next turn he drops xantid swarm and I have to force. I duress on my turn but he forces. My only option is to hardcast memory jar and pop it, which does not help me. He is able to animate the dragon for the win.

SB: I bring in the chains, purges, and a platz.

Game 2: I keep an okay hand with windfall, tinker, lands, lotus petal, and chain of vapor.
He has a turn one bazaar and after throwing dragon in the yard passes. On my second turn I cast tinker, which he forces. On his turn he attempts to animate the dragon but I have chain of vapor off a lotus petal removing all of his permanents. I play yawgwill with just enough mana to tinker out platz. I attack 3 times and play small tendrils for the win.

Game 3: I mulligan down to 6 and keep a bad hand with a jet and 2 vapors. I need to top deck a land for it to be okay. I do not get the land and he wins on turn 2 with force of will back up. It was a poor decision to keep the hand but I would have needed to have 2 methods of disruption up by turn 2 to survive anyway. With a 5-card hand that was not likely.

Overall I was please with my performance, as I did not test that much and I am just getting back into the game. I would have liked to at least win one more match to get something but eh what can you do. It was a fun tourney and I will definitely be returning if there is another. Congratulations to Rich Shay and ELD who split the win.

Card Choices as well as questions:

I thought my maindeck was okay it performed fairly well all day. I was never a big fan of cunning wish and I love frantic search. I should have cut it down to 60 cards removing the chain of vapor. I left it in because I did not like the idea  of without wish having no answer to non artifact based hate. I could have run 1 chain and 1 rebuild but rebuild is so amazing I was loath to cut one. After seeing the field it should have just been 2 rebuild.

The sideboard was utter crap. I was the only TPS there as far as I saw so the mystic remoras were useless. Coffin purge should have been Tormod’s crypt all day, which would have helped in my slaver and dragon matches. I also miss sided in my one control slaver match up I should have brought in hydroblasts and not chains. I would have included at least 1 more rebuild on the SB but I do not have a third right now. Energy flux is just bad, as usually have some artifacts out as well. I would put the third rebuild and a possibly third Tormod’s crypt in their spot. I know from testing skeletal scrying is good I just did not face much control that day. Platinum angel worked out fine and I prefer her to DSC.

I also had one question about necro for the experience TPS player. When you get it out do you go for broke trying to assemble the perfect hand for next turn or do you slowly accumulate card advantage? I usually slowly get advantage drawing around 2 more than what puts me up to 7. I have never lost with it out but I would still like to know what is the generally accepted way to go about it.

Thanks for taking the time to read the report and feel free to make any helpful comments.

If you are having a trouble with fast combo decks one viable sideboard option could be pyrostatic pillar. It does not really help if they are going first but you may be able to steal a game one with a platinum angel.

I really enjoy your deck and have been testing some modifications. First off I too found the burning wish to be very random and I had to cut it. I really do like the 1 maindeck swords though it is great to have the option to tutor for it.

I tried as I am sure many have or will to combine the man show and 7/10. I'll post what I am currently testing here.

The 7/10 Show
        1 Mana Vault
        4 Wasteland
        1 Strip Mine
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Tolarian Academy
        4 Mishra's Workshop
        4 Gemstone Mine
        4 City of Brass
        3 Crucible of Worlds
        4 Goblin Welder
        3 Thirst for Knowledge
        1 Memory Jar
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        4 Trinisphere
        1 Darksteel Colossus
        2 Triskelion
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Razormane Masticore
        3 Sundering Titan
        4 Juggernaut
        1 Swords to Plowshares
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Tinker
SB:  2 Oxidize
SB:  2 Rack and Ruin
SB:  3 Blue Elemental Blast
SB:  1 Razormane Masticore
SB:  1 Swords to Plowshares
SB:  3 Chalice of the Void
SB:  3 Chains of Mephistopheles

Heres an explanation for some of my choices:

Thirst for knowledge over Chains main: Pretty much a metagame decision. In the northeast combo is almost non exsistant and where I play there has been a decline in Hulk of late. That leaves 4ccontrol the only deck where I really want to see them. They are OK against fish but sundering titan is a bomb in that matchup so main deck chains in my opinion are not needed. If your meta has lots of combo and hulk I would not make this change.

I left in the juggernauts to maintain early pressure but cut su-chi's to make room for the titans which are my mid game bomb. Triskelion as well as tinkering out collosusss are still great and the 1 razormane masticore can come in handy.

Due to my addition of titan I upped the welder count to 4. Titan can be hardcast and frequently is but 4 welder is still needed.

Yawgmoth's will has been medicore. Sometimes it is spectacular and sometimes it just falls flat. It needs more testing.

About the Sideboard:
The oxidize are for taking out null rods as there are not always 2 artifacts for rack and ruin to hit. I bring in chains against 4ccontrol siding out memory jar and 2 thirsts. Also when chains come in 1 titan comes out for a Razormane because you are mostly going to hardcast them without the thirsts in. Chalice is golden against fish as well as combo and can come in handy against any random aggro you may face.

Testing results have been positive but not spectacular. The deck needs some tweaking. Props TheWhiteDragon for making the Man show and placing so well with it. Hopefully the deck or a varient of it remains a contender in the Type 1 meta.

Phele I really like the look of the deck. It seems like it would be a blast to play. I do think this is one way fish could go. Standstill + manlands has not been as good to me as it used to be. I for one hate conclaves and although I will miss the factories I am going to test this deck. I just have a couple of questions.

How have the serendibs been treating you? Has the removal of manlands allowed you to support a 3 casting cost slot in fish?

Is rishidan port needed? I understand the desire for extra disruption but I believe that shaman fills that role rather nicely. Also, you removed manlands and replaced 2 of them with ports. i ma not sure if I like this because they tie up roughly the same amount of mana. I have not tested so correct me if I am wrong. I can see there usefulness in tapping down a workshop during upkeep. If they were replaced I would probably go with another island and a Library of Alexandria.

Only 2 null rod? Partially do to my meta and my personal bais towards one of my favorite cards, I always felt the need to run 3 in my fish builds to ensure that I saw one. I understand it is very very easy to draw into them but I really like them in my opening hand.

Last question, Do see many Sundering Titans in your area? Like many fish builds i can see this deck having a problem with them. Maybe even more so due to the lack of manlands leaving more of the mana base vunerable. I think this deck can hold its own though with null rod, shaman and lavamancer keeping the big bad titan away. And after sideboarding rack and ruin should help things out.

I see the mise prize has been won. Congradulations thissa and combo_dude. All things must pass eventually.

As for the issue of playing optimally, I think that if you are able to kill your opponent you should be forced to do so.  The only time not attempting to kill your opponent would be fair is if you knew you would lose taking that course of action. If the only optimal play is to go for the draw than that is what needs to be done. I hope that makes sense.

I am not sure if your card pool is limiting the deck but wouldnt arcbound ravager just be better than atog? It may not pump as fast but if it is hit with some kind of removal one of your other creatures just takes all his counters. Also he has better snergy with disciple because he gets a permanent +1+1 when you have to sac in response to something.

As for the time spiral im not sure if it is necessary. Do you have wheel of fortune that is a much chepaer draw 7. I wouldnt worry about spending the academy mana once you cast wheel you'll pick enough stuff to use it. For the other time spiral I would probably add in the 4th skullclamp as the card is just busted and if you were going to burn from academy you could move it around. If you did use ravager skullclamp is much better as you can clamp a creature sac it to give him +1+1 and draw 2 cards.

One suggestion I have if you are looking to run something that produces mana of any color the obvious choice would be glimmervoid. You said city of brass or gemstone mine but with the large artifact count glimmervoid is stricly superior.

Hey id like to be added to the directory

AIM: BBxcountry25
Format: Type 1
Firewalled: yes

So is the prize that is my namesake yet to be given out in another tourny?

Jp you mentioned cards like genrsis chamber at the end of your article. Have you gotten a chance to do any testing with it? I cut a thoughtcast, a worker and a ornithopter for 3 genesis chamber and it seems to be working well.  

It has allowed me to get around null rod on occasions by generating enough tokens to make ravager huge before coming down or by just attacking with 1/1 dudes and frogmites and myr enforcer. Another benefit was the ease of casting enforcers with it making each creature -2 to their casting cost.

Also with a academy or a lot of artifact mana with a skullclamp it allows the deck to go into a combo like mode where after one attack phase if you have a disciple out there dead. It also allows you to clamp them for cards and keep your frogmites and ornithopters around. I am not sure if I cut the right things for them but I do think they deserve a spot in the deck.

Hey If you IM me im almost always up for a game on apprentice.

AIM:BBxcountry25
Format: T1

I would have to disagree that Arcbound chrusher is necesarry to a genesis build. The genesis are about speeding the deck up and keeping the draw with skullclamp going. I found without workshops that the chrusher is too slow to come out and without a chamber not that stellar. To be able to cast the crusher at 4 mana I had to empty my hand of most of my artifcats. I was trying to stay away from a workshop build do to my available card pool.

Hey I have looked at a couple of the builds in this thread and I have created my own. First here is my list,

Creatrues or stuff that makes them:
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Frogmite      
3 Genesis Chamber
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Disciple of the Vault

Draw and a bit of disruption:
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister  
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Skullclamp
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Windfall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Wheel of Fortune

Mana:
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Glimmervoid
1 Tolarian Academy

I saw the genesis chamber in a list with workshop and I decided to test out how it works in here. With the ravager and skull clamp the tokens it makes allow you to go nuts. They also count towards affinty which is never a bad thing.

Some people were complaining about the lack of disruption in this deck and I had to agree with them. To try and aliviate some of the problems I put in cabal therapy which if you know what to call has been very effective. Also genesis chamber has helped out with the speed of the deck, sometimes allowing it to combo off with disciple very quickly.

The hate is still a large problem for this deck however cabal therapy helps the first game and a sb can be made to remedy some problems. I am not sure what to include but I definetly think stifles deserve a place. Also it may need some beb's as welder is a HUGE problem. Suggestions are welcome.

Hey I am not sure if this would be good in the deck because it is completly untested. If finding a skulllclamp can be a problem could diabolic intent work in here? With so many saccable creatures it could be very good.

Thats true maybe it could be an alternate win? It could be like in FCG where you can either go for straight beatdown or the combo route and your combo route would be hunting pack.

I really like your build as it is one of the first sligh builds have seen that has not relagated it to being a budget deck or included 1 or 2 peices of power. Including much of the power 9 obviosuly makes it more optimal.

As for the actual build I had a question about chrome mox. How has it been treating you in this deck? I was never a huge fan of the card disadvantage espically in sligh. I do understand it gives you a speed boost but is it worth it. If your testing has proven so then thats great. If you were to replace it, it seems like you could need another blue source so maybe a lotus petal or the 4th volcanic?

Also, I must admit I am a bit skeptical about the 1 pillage I will have to test it. I may replace it for the 4th shaman because shaman is such a house as you said. I was never a huge fan of singletons that arent restricted unless you have a massive card drawing machine. Scepter is great but wont always function that way.

Im not really sure about any specific deck right now but i agree that the card food chain seems to have potential outside of FCG which of course is a very good deck. One possibly idea i had would be to create a large chain of creatures with search and cast a massive hunting pack. That is purley specualtion and the difficulty in making this type of deck is you have the standard of FCG to live up too. Also the stacking ability of goblin recruiter is what really breaks food chain so although a deck like this is not impossible it will be very difficult.

Wouldnt this deck be sort of unfesiable at a tournament?  I mean if you do set up the combo someone could be an asshole and not scoop play out all the turns and make the game a draw. Also, 1 chalice will not be drawn realiably enough to stop all enchament hate.

Is that what I was trying to do absolutly not. lol I just really suck at 3cb have no sense of what the metagame will be and put in a deck for fun. Just so happened to be super draw.dec this time.

Mise! I drew every game.   My deck sucked but hey at least something good came out of it. I got a freakin prize named after me!

I havent done any testing so i cant really speak about how the deck runs but as for a way to deal with null rod possibly gorilla shaman? If you have 5 mana you can eat it and if you have a shaman and a welder out you can eat a mox and then weld the null rod out. That is the best I could come up with for a main deck solution. 2 or 3 shaman seems best, maybe 3 if you cut a lightning greaves. 4 seems like too many to me.

Could you explain what a boilover format is? I am always interested in hearing about different types of magic.

The bouncer is good against quite a number of decks as I already listed not just madness.  It is bad against keeper but it is just fine against hulk. If your metagame is dominated by keeper than obviously dont play bouncer main. However you metagame does not have to be dominated by madness to make the bouncer a good maindeck choice. Its good against dragon, mask, madness, big 0, hulk, gat and okay against welder mud. All pretty good decks if you ask me.

Although your point is vaild about putting average stuff on it, if you are just going to go for average I do not see the advantages of this card of isochron scepter. Scepter does cost 2 to activate but it does come out faster and will probably work more consistently. If you are trying find average soceries by all means go for it, i just cannot think of many unrestricted soceries in established decks. I think you have to go all the way trying to win the game with this card or just stick with the stick.

Considring the rise of big O has anyone considered running a waterfrount bouncer/ gilded drake creature base in Gay/r? I have not tested it as of yet but it does seem like it could have many advantages. Razorfin hunter and sigil of sleep have been suggest as a solution but  think that the bouncer and gilded drake are a more powerful solution.

I have cut daze from the list and as a result spiketail has not always been what it once was in my testing so i would most likely run bouncers in my main deck over them. I am not sure about running gilded drake main. It would depend on the meta. No matter what meta I was in I would only want to run 3 so i would probably removed 3 voidmages for them and have an open slot.

The advatages of it I think are that both creatures are just a house against most of the top decks in the metagame right now.

Against hulk it is hard for them to win with an active bouncer out and taking a Tog with gilded drake is a very strong play. Hulk was never really a problem for me in the past but with the addition of back to basics in some build the matchup has increased in difficulty.

Against mask the applications are obivous keeping the naught in there hand or taking a 12/12 sounds pretty damn good to me. If you wanted to be a jerk you could put a curosity on the dreadnaught too. Mmm so good  

Against big o an active bouncer will always be good for you helping to stop them from beating back harder on the ground than you can in the air. Gilded drake is mediocore in this matchup but taking a mongrel or arrogant wurm can be good. It is the bouncer that really shines.

Against dragon the gilded drake is awful but an active bouncer with all of gay/r's other tools makes it almost impossible for them to go off. Sounds good to me.

Against GAT you can keep counters of dryads, bounce togs, or just plain take them away.

A matchup where it is really lacking is against keeper. Most of the time the boucner will just be a vanilla 1/1 that hopefully can get some damage through. However, you can bounce tokens into non-exsistance so it isnt totally useless.

They do not really shine against welder mud either but they have there uses. The bouncer keeps welder from being active, and you can steal a welder with the drake although i wouldnt recommend it without a bouncer on the board.

Looking at my matchup analysis the bouncer is strong in most of the top matchups and its a worthy maindeck canidate. The gilded drake is only good sometimes so I would probably relegate it to the sideboard. Any thoughts?

I really think that the new TMD layout is superior to the old one and I do not see why everyone seems to have a problem with the two "open" forums.

On the old site I found in the one newbie forum there was just so many low quality threads to wade through, before finding a truely meaningful discussion. I shy away from making new threads about decks without  a lots of testing back up (which due to school i do not often have). I did not start many threads but I enjoyed posting in quality discussions on the newbie forum. I think the T1 Open forum has given me the oppurtunity to make more quality posts.

As to the issue of being able to post in the tournament forum although I would love to post in it I understand why it is closed. It is for well written reports of tournies hopefully with matches against many of the established archtypes. If you really want to post a tourny report you can post it in the Newbie forum. When I won my first power tourny I posted a report in that forum and got plenty of feedback so it is not like the option to post a report is not open.

Zherbus and the other mods do not even have to have a newbie forum so just be grateful that the site is open to everyone.

I would have to disagree with the suggestion to add hyppies back and move up to a base of 16 creatures. 12 creatures has always been enough threats for me and withered wretch is simply superior to hyppie in today's metagame. Also although i dont know your meta the rise of big O has made flesh revear a poor in choice in my opinon.

How do the kegs work out for you? In a mixed meta they do double duty taking out moxen and creatures, but if you face mostly upper level decks null rod often outshines the keg. The keg only seems better in the big o matchup.

I echo the sentiments about removing vampiric and mind twist , vampiric is slow and twist is too expensive for sui.

On the sideboard I think you need more quick graveyard hate to supplement the withered wretch. I would run either Tormod's crypt or planar. I have always been partial to Tormod's Crypt. It will help shore up the dragon matchup which is less than stellar. I would consider cutting down on the masticore and edicts to accomadate the crypt's.

It seems like in a slaver type deck or tnt this would just be a win more card. If you have an active welder on the table you are already in pretty good shape and there are better targets (ex: mindslaver) to be welding in once one is active. It would be a pretty cool trick but when you could have an ongoing slaver lock why use this?

In Tnt is seems a bit more possible because the thing does beat pretty hard, but id probably want to be welding a platnium angel into play over this. Tnt already has enough beats.