great tournament nick. i'll see you in 1 year with some other random deck that i will inexplicably do well with.

-josh

Hey Everyone,

Thought I'd write a small report, not bc my finish was amazing, but bc the deck i played was a slightly different take on painter than what everyone else seems to be playing. the list:

3 painter's servant
3 trinket mage
1 goblin welder
1 grindstone
1 darksteel colossus
1 pithing needle
1 sensei top

4 thirst for knowledge
1 ancestral
1 mystical tutor
1 merchant scroll
1 brainstorm
1 ponder
1 tinker
1 echoing truth
1 time walk
1 demonic tutor
1 yawg's will

4 force of will
3 red elemental blast
2 pyroblast
2 misdirection

1 tolarian academy
1 academy ruins
2 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
1 underground sea
3 volcanic island
3 island
3 ancient tomb
5 mox
1 lotus
1 sol ring
1 mana crypt

sb
3 master of etherium
3 arcane lab
2 rack and ruin
2 commandeer
2 threads of disloyalty
1 pithing needle
1 relic of progenitus
1 tormod's crypt

I didn't plan on doing well, so i have no notes on the day, and a bad memory. anyone i played against, feel free to fill in the blanks.

Rd 1 vs. mono r shop aggro
-game 1 i win fairly quickly with painter + trinket for grindstone
-game 2 i paris to 4... i almost make it out, but seriously- i paris'd to 4
-game 3 i kept a hand which i convinced myself was good: tolarian, mox, tomb, volc, threads, thirst, reb. threadsing a welder or shaman seemed like a good way to win, especially with a quick tfk... except that i played a land and passed, and my opponent cast a 1st turn chalice@1, magus, and something else... i never had a blue mana source after that

Rd 2 vs. TPS
-game 1 he keeps a hand with a slow start. I may have misdirected an ancestral, and eventually all the rebs in my hand become hard counters with painter on the table.
-game 2 commandeer and arcane lab come in. he starts somewhat slow again. key play is when i reb gifts and commandeer duress in the same turn. that was pretty much it.

Rd 3 vs. mystic remora blue
-game 1 i win a major counter war over misdirecting an ancestral. and then i think i played my own ancestral...
-game 2 my opponent plays a few remoras, but meditates once or twice too. although he drew quite a few cards, the xtra turns with him tapped out allowed me to power out the combo. 13 counterspells after sideboarding didnt hurt either.

Rd 4 vs. mystic remora blue
-game 1 was very funny. i win the die roll and have a hand of volc, island, tomb, trinket mage, time walk, fetch, and misdirection. i play a first turn island and pass. my opponent plays mana crypt -> painters servant, mox -> grindstone, mox, land ! 1 mana short of activation! i had time walk + trinket mage which means i can get the pithing needle and cast it with tomb on my walk turn, but it was almost a quick win for him. then on my upkeep he recalls, which i get to misdirect. out of my 4 new cards i see a reb, so i walk and then untap, reb his grindstone, and trinket mage for my own grindstone. on to game 2.
-game 2 i cast very few spells due to at least 1 remora being in play at any time, sometimes 2. i play a grindstone which lets my opponent draw a card. then after a few turns of draw go, i play a painters servant, which doesnt trigger remora my opponent counters it, and then i play a welder. next turn i activate grindstone and then weld it out for the servant.

Rd 5 vs. tezzeret + tinker -> leviathan + dark confidants
-game 1 i dont remember anything except playing a turn 1 sensei's top and winning with grindstone
-game 2 i dont remember much about either. at one point my opponent was able to cast tezzeret and fetched out time vault. on my turn i was able to tinker in pithing needle on tezz and then kill him with a creature... eventually i find grindstone and activate it hoping my opponent doesnt have a gaea's blessing boarded in. he didnt

Rd. 6 vs. slaver + time vault
-game 1 i had both misdirects in my opening hand, eventually drawing a reb. my opponent has a lot of mana, and casts gifts maybe around turn 3- i had a choice of reb-ing gifts, effectively cancelling out the effectiveness of my misdirects. i let gifts resolve hoping he goes for ancestral in his pile, which he does. i give him recall and tinker. on his turn he recalls, i misdirect, he drains, i misdirect, he forces, i reb. i get 3 cards. and one of those 3 was a second blast for the tinker. and then next turn i think i drew my own recall...
-game 2 i remember nothing about. i think my opponent had to paris, and i think my hand might've been even better than in the first game.

Rd. 7 - ID

T16 vs. Bomberman + tinker ->leviathan
-game 1 i have a thirst, reb x2, tinker, mana crypt, island, volc or something. i figured a turn 2 tinker with 2 rebs to protect my colossus was safe enough. and it was. i had to use both rebs and a force to counter 2 trinket mages from my opponent, thinking he may have an aether bomb. anywayz colossus and 3 counters was enough to win.
-game 2 i thought i had control but ran out of counters and end up losing to a tinker ->leviathan, even with a grindstone on the table and 3 turns to try to find an answer
-game 3 i keep a risky hand of painter x2, tomb, mana crypt, mystical, volc, and something i forgot. since i was on the play, i decided to keep it thinking turn 1 mystical, turn 2 tinker + painter. I took a chance hoping that in the 8 cards my opponent would see, none would be a force of will. i played a volc and passed, he plays library, taps to draw, and plays sapphire. on my upkeep he ancestrals! ok 8 --> 12 haha. i had to go with the same plan though, so i mystical eot for tinker, play my crypt and tinker, and it resolves (grindstone)! then i play a painter, which also resolves. my opponent then tinkers in a pithing needle on grindstone. i rip a blast, kill the needle and play a second painter (no mana to activate stone that turn). my opponent searches but cant find an answer, and im on to t8.

T8 vs. sligh
-game 1 i keep a decent hand with alot of mana and a sensei top. my first trinket mage gets reb'd. my second one resolves and i fetch and cast grindstone. i proceed to lose to a mogg fanatic and a goblin cadet that were cast early (opponent on the play), and 2 price of progresses (the second of which got forced). i had a sensei top and shuffle effects and couldnt find answer.
-game 2 i paris to 5 and proceed to draw a few more lands, while i lose to 2 jackal pups and a grim lavamancer.

So, i lost 5 games all day, and almost all of them were to mono red something The deck was fun to play, and i think having a lot of red blasts is really good for the metagame right now, not to mention how they double as removal with painter. people have asked about the singleton welder- ill agree its somewhat random, but with ruins and will, it makes the 3rd recursion card, which seems about right. not to mention there's nothing great to fill the slot with (4th painter, 2nd stone, 2nd top, fof??) the moral of the story is: if you play this deck and have a little luck, you can draw a lot of red blasts and do well at a tournament.

Big thanks to Ray for always putting on great events, and everyone who shows up and makes them fun, including roland chang (who usually shows up but didnt bc it was his birthday!) and the forinos who make me play magic, and the Li crew who make me come to these things. and war mammoths.

josh

the gencon t8 had 2 gat's and 2 stax. while im not sure what the metagame is at the moment, it seems like the you are speaking alot about these 2 matchups..... so u/r then? btw do you know who you've been arguing with?

Congratulations! I'm always happy to see Gat do well- and I'm super excited about being able to play with 4 gushes. 

As to how many moxen to play- i still believe 5 is correct.  In fact, up until the unrestriction, i was still running 5 mox and mana crypt.  When you dont have a duress, playing a 2cc first turn spell is usually crucial, whether it be playing a dryad or merchant scroll.  I've lost very few games that began with land mox dryad.  I definitely like how you worked in street wraith and imperial seal- great job

I chose the red splash over black or white because i felt that it had the least amount of dead cards (2 pyroclasms vs. any amount of targeted removal in builds with other colors).  I also thought that pyroclasm was a better way to win vs. goblins than relying on mongoose/ worship (ironically goblins was the only deck that beat me).  You have access to reb for anything with counterspells or high tides.  And finally, although white gives you meddling mage and black gives you confidant, legacy is big on creature removal, and those guys are really easy to kill.  That's also one of the reason for the scepters- aside from being amazing, they're also a strong alternate win condition.

As for the 1-ofs: I've read all the decklists but I'm not all that familiar with legacy in general.  It seemed smart to have access to a bounce spell, a wish for extra utility, and a removal spell that does more than 2 damage.  The mystical would have been merchant scroll #2 if it were able to find pyroclasm.  Psi blast was amazing every time I drew it.  I would probably go up to 2 if I were to play the deck again.

the sideboard was:

2 tormod's crypt
2 artifact mutation
2 pyroclasm
3 stifle
3 reb
1 FoF
1 berserk
1 echoing truth

I would also cut the wish and add in the second echoing truth md.  Which means you can cut the berserk and fof from the board. Maybe a 3rd scepter belongs there.  Overall, I think this deck is very powerful although not completely tuned.  I hope some ppl will decide to break out the dryads for columbus.

I was the grow player that split in the finals.  Here's the decklist:

4 Quirion dryad
3 Werebear

4 FoW
2 Misdirection
3 Daze
2 Counterspell

4 Fire // Ice
2 Pyroclasm
1 Psionic blast
2 Isochron Scepter

4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Serum Visions

1 Cunning Wish
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Echoing Truth

3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Island
1 Mountain

So there it is.  Some people that play T1 might know me as the guy that refuses to stop playing with quirion dryad.  She's also infintely better than nimble mongoose.  The list may look a little random wit the one-ofs. Ill try to explain the particular choices later on.

Great job!  If dryads couldn't make it into the t16, at least some sort of gro did.  Congratulations on the win and especially on the innovation.

-Josh

maybe you should pm roland and ask the estimate he got on his prize

why don't you guys just play quirion dryad like normal people??  She wins games by herself.

Well, there are still some people working on GAT.  I took it to day 1 at richmond and was still in t8 contention until round 7, when i lost to Rich, who won the whole thing.  For whatever reason, everyone still refuses to give the deck any credit, and I can't quite understand why.  As Vegeta put it, this deck runs very powerful threats, and runs enough disruption that they're fairly easy to protect.  If this archetype was played as much as some of the others, we would probably start seeing some serious results.

Nice report Klep- I was the dragon player from round 4- its funny that you say I knew what I was doing, as I had to double-check how the witness combo worked with Kowal before round 1!  Anywayz it was a good match and definitely some bad luck for you.  Oh and my last name is Meckes, not Schnek??

-J.

Hey Brian- Congratulations!  So apparently Burning Slaver can beat Metalworker staff, but hows your GrowaTog matchup?!?  Heheh nice report- see you in Richmond.

-Josh

Hey Cr0v4x- Your new and improved sideboard looks fine, but also remember that the ground seals are major in the control slaver matchup (which I mistakenly expected to see the most of at Waterbury).  Also, when boarding against stax, side in ALL of the sb cards and take out the wishes, along with some of the higher cc cards like 1 gifts, 1 tog, etc.  Additionally, you might replace one sb card with a hurkyl's recall (I hear thats good against artifacts  )

-Josh

actually we've tested the matchup quite a while back when roland's build was a little different, but the results were always the same.  About even with stax taking a bit of an advantage. 

This is true, but not quite as true as everyone thinks.  Workshop is by far Gat's worst matchup, but not nearly unwinnable.  I can't claim to have tested enough games to throw out percentages, but Roland and I have been testing the matchup for quite a while.  Basically what it comes down to is: stax needs to throw out 2 or more lock pieces within the first 3 turns.  Crucible strip is great against Gat, but won't singlehandedly win stax the game by a long shot.  If stax can get the crucible strip combined with either chalice zero, smokestack, or either of the spheres, then things start to go down the drain for the Gat player.  On the other hand, if Gat can come out quick with a first or second turn dryad, and back it up with a force of will or daze (ever notice how often stax players go workshop---> 3sphere/ crucible, or workshop mox----> stack?) --or-- if stax fails to resolve enough artifacts in the first few turns to lock Gat down, then things are looking fine.  Overall, if i thought there was going to be such a high chance of facing stax, I would've either played a completely different build, or (more likely) not even played the deck at all.  As everyone has pointed out, I was lucky enough not to have to face any  .   But getting back to the point, I don't consider a pairing against workshops an auto-loss.     

-updated- props to John Blake (Ultima), Seth and the rest of the Jersey crew (Sorry guys, it wasn't an intentional omission).  These guys have been working on GaT forever, and it was their idea to put gifts ungiven in the deck, and everyone knows how savage it is.

So here it is guys- I was going to take some time to write a complete report, but to be honest, I can't remember the day all that well!  It all starts out on friday night.... Elias V, Roland Chang and the Forino brothers are all over my place doing some last minute testing and drinking some beers.  Im trying not to play too much because I know I'm gonna hate the game by about 4pm the next day.  I also hadn't decided what deck to play.  We were testing 2-land, the new ichorid deck and slaver, among others.  I was toying with the idea of running GaT.  I had pretty good success with the deck 2 rochesters ago (10th), and it just happens to be my favorite deck.  The guys suggest that I run it, as we expected to see lots of gifts, cs, and the new tps-ish drain deck with dark confidant- all of which are fine matchups for the deck.  I figure at the very least, I'll have some fun with it.  The night ends around 2am, leaving me only a few hours of sleep before taking the trip from long island to Waterbury.  Here's the list:

GrowAtog 2006

4 quirion dryad
2 psychatog

4 force of will
3 daze
2 misdirection
2 mana drain
3 duress

4 brainstorm
2 merchant scroll
2 cunning wish
2 gifts ungiven

1 gush
1 ancestral recall
1 time walk
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 mystical tutor
1 yawgmoth's will
1 regrowth
1 darkblast

2 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
3 tropical island
3 underground sea
2 island
1 library of alexandria
5 moxes
1 black lotus
1 mana crypt

Sideboard:

3 ground seal
2 naturalize
2 oxidize
2 gilded drake
1 duress
1 skeletal scrying
1 echoing truth
1 berserk
1 mana drain
1 darkblast 

So what looks funny about this list?  Probably the mana drain counts.  At the tournament in rochester, I had already cut the 4th drain.  My counters looked like: 4 force, 3 drain, 3 misdirect.  I wanted to make the deck a little more aggressive for this tournament.  I added the dazes so I could always tap out for that early dryad.  There's also a whole lot less to drain into than with other decks, so I went down to 2.  The drain in the board replaces the traditional misdirection.  Realistically, its rare that you'll be able to wish and drain in the same turn, so the drain there is more for deterrence.  I usually wish for it EOT and hold it in my hand.  If it buys an extra turn or two for the dryad to swing while the opponent decides what to do about it, its done its job.  Not to mention, most players will just try to power through with 2 counters, which doesn't usually work against GaT because it has so much free countermagic.  On top of that, if you play a daze in game one, all 3 usually come out game 2 and the 3rd drain and 4th duress get sided in.  I think the rest of the list is relatively self-explanatory.

The tournament:  I'm going to post what I remember- which may or may not be correct in every case.  For those of you that I went up against in the tournament- it'd be great if you could add on/ correct my report.

Round 1- Enchantment based deck running root maze and stasis

Game 1- I let a root maze resolve and counter the stasis that might have won him the game- dryad beats end it quickly.
In: 1 naturalize, 1 mana drain  Out: 1 darkblast, 1 (?)
Game 2- I counter a black vise, a howling mine, and daze a choke when he taps out to cast it.  He was out of steam and a dryad (i think) took it home
1-0

Round 2- Control Slaver

Game 1- I keep a hand with two fetches, a dryad and a brainstorm.  He wins the flip and lays a first turn library.  I play a fetch and pass.  He starts drawing too many cards.  I play a second fetch and crack them both for a dryad.  He draws more cards and strips my sea.  I brainstorm and then swing on my turn.  He draws even more cards and then wastes(!) my trop!  I never see another land and he tinkers colossus for the win.  Yup, slaver with DSC and Wasteland!  I dont know how he found room but i love it!
Game 2- I paris and keep a hand with no gas, but 2 lands and a brainstorm.  I think he got the library again, and proceeded to steam roll over me with a triskelion (?)- it was a sad match.
1-1

Round 3- Oath

My opponent didn't show up on time, and received a game loss for the lateness.  We go straight to game two.
Game 2- I feel like Im in good position until he resolves oath and finds his orchard- Razia and Akroma kill me rather quickly.
In: 2 gilded drake, 1 duress, 1 Mana drain, 1 naturalize  Out: 1 Gifts, 1 darkblast, 2 daze, 1 tog
Game 3- I dont quite remember this one- I think he got an oath and I wished for a naturalize.  Dryads took care of the rest.
My opponent was really upset about the game loss- I felt really bad about it.  Im not the type of guy that likes to win that way.
2-1

Round 4- Foodchain Goblins

Game 1- I keep a solid hand with multiple lands, force, brainstorm and darkblast(!).  He gets a turn one lackey which is fine by me.  I get a quick dryad which becomes huge and dredging wins me the game.
In: 1 darkblast, 1 mana drain, 1 scrying  Out: 1 duress, 2 misdirection
Game 2- He mulls to 6 and has turn 1 ruby, chalice 0, lackey which gets forced.  He didn't see another land for quite a while.  Eventually I DT for time walk with tog in hand hoping he'll tap out sometime soon... which happens next turn.  I let the warchief resolve, hoping he'll swing.  He does, and on my turn I lay tog and time walk, winning next turn.
3-1

Round 5- Gifts

Game 1- I duress and counter a few times, and 2 small dryads take him down to 4 when he finally tinkers out DSC.  I now have 2 cards in hand (2x tog), and 2 dryads (1/1 and 5/5).  I have to get the smaller one up to 4/4 in order to win.  ANY spell will do- I may even survive one more turn if I drop both togs and try to block.  I draw a merchant scroll which he forces, bringing him to 3.  I play 1 tog and swing for the win.
In: 1 mana drain, 1 scrying, 1 duress, 1 gilded drake  Out: 1 darkblast, 1 merchant scroll, 1 tog, 1 daze
Game 2- He mulled to 6 (I believe) and got duressed a few times.  I cant remember how this one ended- I remember his draw was a bit subpar though.
4-1

Round 6- unpowered(?) oath w/ mana leak- the guy with the multi-colored top hat

Game 1- He only played one oath which got forced.  Dryad won it.
In: 2 gilded drake, 1 duress, 1 mana drain, 1 naturalize  Out: 1 gifts, 1 tog, 1 darkblast, 2 daze
Game 2- Super uneventful.  I think he played a choke, which got countered, and then he was out of steam.
5-1

Round 7- Gifts w/ Oath board (the guy that t8-ed)

Game 1- I duress and see the tinker (with force backup), which he casts on his next turn.  I dont mind because I have force (+ pitch card) and cunning wish.  He casts tinker, and I force, and he forces back, putting DSC into play.  EOT I got to.... where's my wish??  I wasnt thinking straight and pitched my wish instead of my daze!!
In: 1 duress, 1 gilded drake, 1 mana drain, 1 skeletal scrying  Out: 1 tog, 3 (?? daze ??)
Game 2-  He transforms into oath, which I relaly didn't expect.  I only put the drake in to gift for uncase the DSC hits play.  I don't remember how I won this won.  I think it was a quick dryad.
In: drake #2, 1 naturalize  Out: ?? forgot again!
Game 3- he gets an early oath down and has both Razia and Akroma in play, and Im at 2!  I had one turn to find a drake, because I had wish in hand and some drain mana coming- Im planning on draking Akroma and wishing for echoing truth to bounce the drake back.  I brainstorm (either once or twice) on my turn and dont see any possibility of finding the drake.  I concede and check the next card i would've drawn... Gilded Drake!!!  I don't get upset too often, but this one hurt!
5-2

Round 8- Flame vault gifts

Game 1- After i duress and counter a few times, he plays an early will with not a whole lot of available mana, so I let it resolve.  He refills his hand, but Im relieved that will is gone.  I end up duressing/ oxidizing his win conditions away, and proceed to win with a dryad.  After the game he admitted he had no way to win, but wanting to see what i was playing.
In: 1 drake, 1 duress, 1 mana drain, 1 scrying  Out: 1 tog, 1 merchant scroll, 2 daze
Game 2- He plays a delta and passes.  I duress and see: Delta, DT, Tinker, DSC, Time Vault, and Flame Fusillade!!  How funny is that!  I take the DT, because he won't have the mana for a while.  Nex turn he lays a mox.  The turn after that he rips a lotus and plays fusillade.  I brainstorm and see a second daze, but he has 2 mana available.  I promptly scoop.
Game 3- Im in control and have a dryad on the board until he resolves tinker for DSC.  At this point, he had no cards in hand and a DSC on the table, and I had a gush in hand and a 5/5 dryad.  He's at low life, and Im at 8, meaning I have 2 turns to find an answer, since i can block when he swings next turn.  I gush at the end of his turn and see nothing.  At this point, anything can save me... a wish, a drake.. i would've been happy with a brainstorm!  I rip a gifts and cast it with one (mana open) for: regrowth, mystical, drake, and time walk.  He gives me the time walk and the mystical.  I proceed to lay a land and time walk.  On my upkeep I explain how I will mystical for Yawg's will.. and he understands whats going to happen. 
6-2   

I squeek into the t16 in 16th place! 

t16- Dragon

Game 1- I keep a hand with a duress, force, and brainstorm.  He rolls and gets a 20.  I give him a funny look and roll a 19! Haha!  He plays first and lays bazaar, which Im actually rather happy to see, as I have the duress in hand.  He plays a swarm, and I EOT vamp for a 2nd duress and wish for darkblast....ouch!  I get an early dryad, draw into ancestral, and counter a few animation attempts.  Dryad takes it home.
In: (wow everything!) 3 ground seal, 2 naturalize, 1 echoing truth, 1 mana drain, 1 duress  Out: 1 tog, 2 wish, 1 merchant scroll, 3 daze, 1 gifts 
Game 2- I have a crazy hand with duress, force, ancestral, lotus, 2 lands, and brainstorm.  He mulls to 6 (?) and plays another bazaar.  I play turn one duress and lotus.  He bazaars and sees alot of creatures to discard.  Turn 2 I ancestral into DT.  I crazk lotus for green and DT, putting ground seal into play, then pass.  He continues with bazaar, not finding much, and losing cards all the time.  Next turn, I decide that he probably wont be able to get rid of ground seal and animate through force of will in one turn, so I lay psychatog and pass.  He bazaars and casts mainphase intuition.  I do my psychatog math and figure out that I have 17 points of damage next turn and he is at 18.  I let the intuition resolve, and he takes 3 animates.  On my upkeep I discard darkblast to tog and dredge it back, giving me the extra boost for the win.

t8- Gifts w/ Oath board- same guy I played in the swiss

Game 1- I lay all my resources into a dryad, which takes him within one turn of dying before he brainstorms twice and casts will and wins!
In: 2 drake (anticipating oath board), 1 duress, 1 drain  Out: 1 tog, 1 merchant scroll, 2 daze
Game 2- He mulls and is stuck on land.  The dryad wins it.
I watched and didn't see him sideboard back, so I left it the same too
Game 3- Cant remember this game too well.. I believe I had a dryad in play, countered an oath attempt, let DT resolve and then cast will solely to reuse the duress in the graveyard (which took the oath he tutored for).  Dryad and 3(?) orchard tokens win the game.

t4- Seth w/ Ak-Drain-TPS-But-Better
I played against Seth a few weeks ago and know that his deck is a monstrosity.  However, I feel like I have the upper hand going in, as I run duress and a fast clock, and his deck probably takes some time to develop a strong kill.

Game 1-  I remember having a dryad on board and dazing a frantic search when all he had was a lotus petal open.  I end the game with all 4 forces in my hand.
In: 1 drake, 1 drain, 1 duress  Out: 1 merchant scroll, 1 tog,  1?
Game 2- I have to admit, my hand was ridiculous this game.  You name a good card, and I was holding it.  The I remember about this game was a deep analysis that I misdirected, he forced, and I forced back.  leaving us both with three cards in hand.  Luckily, I have a dryad on board and don't really need cards in hand to win.

Wow Im in the finals!

Finals versus jcokn w/ Hulk
Ok, I know the history of the matchup, but I'm still not feeling super confident because I know he runs maindeck deeds.  I figure I'll need at least a little more luck to finish things up here.

Game 1- Totally lopsided- I win with a dryad, as he never saw a second island.
In: 1 drake, 1 duress, 1 drain  Out: 1 merchant scroll, 1 daze, 1 tog
Game 2- Totally lopsided, but in his favor, as I get smashed by DSC.
Game 3- A monumental last game in the finals!  My opening hand is: Sapphire, Jet, Emerald, Ancestral, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, ffetch land!  I play the sapphire and fetch and proceed to cast recall.  He forces and I brainstorm looking for a force, daze or misdirect, none of which i find.  However, I do find a dryad, lay the other two moxes, and cast it.  On my next turn, I brainstorm and see mana crypt land, land.  Wow that hand got bad really fast!  2 turns later I draw a dryad and cast it to go for a fast kill, seeing as he is having as much trouble developing as I am.  I take him down to within one turn of killing him with (2 lands?) in my hand.  He only has one card left and needs to draw the answer this turn, as he is it 4.  What does he rip?  Pernicious Deed of course!  He plays it and passes the turn.  On my turn I draw a tog and declare my attack.  He pops the deed and the dryads die.  "I hope you have a mana drain too!", I exclaim as I play the tog!  and of course, what happens??  Tog gets drained!!  Its not as bad as it looks though because he had to pop a fetch to play the drain, and he's now at 3 with no cards in hand and 3 mana in pool during his next mainphase.  What does he rip?  Cunning wish for FoF!  FoF came up Mox Jet, Deed, Drain, Force, and Brainstorm.  I split the pile [jet deed drain][force brainstorm].  I figured if he took the drain and deed, i could at least keep drawing until I found another threat and a way to force it through.  If he took the force and brainstorm, he would be facing the tough decision of forcing whatever I drew, or taking the chance on brainstorming and maybe not finding that blue card.  I ended up drawing gifts, which he forced, putting us both back at zero.  we play draw go for about 5 turns.  I see force, daze, force, force, mox.. no business, but alot of anti-business.  It was around this time that the whole mystical fiasco took place.  It got straightened out and was no big deal.  Someone in the crowd goes: "Thats too bad that he might get a game loss because he would've won this turn".. to which someone behind me replies, "have you seen Josh's hand?"  The guy replies "It doesnt matter", to which I reply, "I think it does".  On his turn he tries to mind twist me for 4- I hardcast force.  On my turn I drew some business (finally) in DT.  I tutor for Yawg's will, which he forces (putting him at one) and I force back.  I have lotus and moxes in the graveyard from the deed, as well as a duress and drain in the yard.  I duress him and see DSC, Tinker and Will (I think).  I announce that I will cast dryad and DT for Time Walk, and I win the title!  This game was absolutely monumental, and I couldn't have asked for a better finals.  I get home at about 6:30-7am and have a celebration beer with Roland, and then go to sleep after 24.5 hours of being awake!

Props:
Ray and crew for putting on a great tournament
My friends who had more faith in my game than I did, and forced me to take this tournament seriously!
Vincent Forino who t16ed with me
All the competitors who came out, and especially the t16- congratulations guys
Davide and the Italians
Quirion Dryad and Psychatog
GrowAtog versus Hulk Smash facing each other in the finals in 2006
and thanks to everyone who has left me congratulatory posts

Slops:
Winning a tournament then not being able to go out and celebrate because its 3am and you're in CT.
To the guy who stole EliasV's stack of cards- it all comes back around 


-Josh
 

There were definitely more workshops there than I expected, so I suppose I was a little lucky not to run in to any.  Last Waterbury there was a whole lot of dragon gifts and cs, and given cs' recent success, I expected even more than last time.  GaT really beats up on most drain decks, (usually) has a great matchup with cs, and has a fine matchup against any deck without solid locks (ie. trinisphere crucible waste!), so my friends and I figured it was a fine choice for the meta we expected.  as it turned out, most of my matches were against gifts variants.  GaT also happens to be my favorite deck...
here's my list for whoever's curious- I'll try to get a short report out sometime this week
4 dryad
2 tog
4 force of will
2 misdirection
3 daze
2 mana drain
3 duress
1 mystical
1 vamp tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 yawgmoth's will
1 regrowth
2 cunning wish
2 gifts
4 brainstorm
2 merchant scroll
1 gush
1 ancestral recall
1 darkblast
1 time walk
3 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
3 trop
3 underground sea
1 library
2 island
5 mox
1 lotus
1 crypt

sb
3 ground seal
2 naturalize
2 oxidize
1 echoing truth
1 berserk
1 skeletal scrying
1 duress
2 gilded drake
1 darkblast
1 mana drain

-Josh