2 Tog questions

[hobbitmofo]

I am putting together a type 1 unpowered Tog deck and have 2 questions.
1. Why do all the powered versions not run Tolarian Academy with so many mana artifacts?
2.  I rencently acquired a set of antiquities that I will liquidate and use the $$ for my deck. What should I get
Ancestral Recall or
Time Walk or
4 Mana Drain or
a Mox

[Zherbus]

Moved. Basic Question regarding standard card choices belong in newbie.[/color]

[Doom]

I'd recommend Ancestral Recall that is the most prized blue card these days and is shooting up in price.

[Matt]

Time Walk is more important to Tog than Recall, but Recall is also more widely useful. Both are probably better than Drains (though Tog needs these too).

[xzero]

Having a playset of Mana Drains is essential to play Psychatog.  You just have to have the extra mana to set up the Intuition/AK goodness.

Besides, 4 cards > 1 card

[jpmeyer]

Ancestral is the least important power card in Tog

[Doom]

But yet its the most versitile one. But its really your choice

[slighguy]

I would go with the drains over the recall cause I have wanted to play tog for a while but since I have the big blue but no drains it just doesnt work.I never actually realized how essential the drains were in tog.(Until I tried to build it)

[rvs]

Don't play underpowered Tog.

[hobbitmofo]

Thanx MoreFling for your useful advice.
No comment on Tolarian Academy?

[jpmeyer]

You don't need that much mana

[Squee]

1. Why do all the powered versions not run Tolarian Academy with so many mana artifacts?

What mana artifacts are you talking about?  Tog plays like 6 (4 Mox, Lotus, Sol Ring) and maybe Mana Crypt.  That isn't nearly enough to justify academy.

If you go for Italian Drains you could buy 4 Drain and a Time Walk which is probably your best choice.

[Dante]

Thanx MoreFling for your useful advice.
No comment on Tolarian Academy?

His advice is actually quite useful, it's just not the answer you want to hear.  Judging by your list you don't have:

any moxen (or very few)
Ancestral recall
time walk
any mana drains

Trying to build a Hulk deck without full or mostly full power (and I don't even include Mana Drains as "power" but you need 4) just won't be able to compete.  You need to reliably cast things like intuition, cunning wish, etc on turn 1-3 (or multiple cards on turn 3 off Drain mana) and without the acceleration (moxen, lotus, etc), you just aren't going to be able to get your draw/search going fast enough to matter.

It doesn't run Academy because even though it wants acceleration for the 2 and 3 CC spells, it needs reliable land drops.  With only 7 artifacts, the academy will be producing 0 more often than you like early game.  (The reason workshop decks can get away with sometimes Academy producing zero is because they have so many other lands [workshop, ancient tomb] that produce more than one mana, so an opening hand of workshop, academy still leaves you with 3 mana, not the 1 mana of <random Hulk land> + Academy.  Those decks also run more cheap artifact acceleration (vault, sol ring too) to lessen chances of a 0-mana Academy.)

Bill

[Klep]

The people saying you should probably look to another deck are, unfortunately, right.  I would not even consider running Hulk unless I could have a Lotus, Drains, Walk, and most of the moxen.   It really relies on the acceleration and cannot work properly otherwise.

That said, if I were you, I would probably get the Drains.  They are vitally important to any blue-based control you wish to play.  You cannot function without Drains.

[jpmeyer]

The Drains are important because of the fact that they make plays like Intuition -> DA playable.

Walk is important so you can win in one turn.

Lotus is important for Intuition into Lotus, Tog, and Walk.

Moxes are important for turn 1-2 Intuition/Cunning Wish.

[hobbitmofo]

Thank you all for you great advice.
I dont go to tournaments, but would like to start.
My tog deck is ok for play among my friends...and now i know i may need some more time before taking it to the next level (competitave level)
It turns out the guy has 2 sets of antiquities, which i should be getting for 300 CAD. I think with that I will go for the Mana Drains and Ancestral, as i think that is the best call for playing other blue decks to.  Damn...i have always wanted a Time Walk...guess i will have to wait.
Where is the best place to get cards like that.?  I have only ever used Ebay...should I continue to?

[Dr. Sylvan]

Reputable places to buy Power.

[Master Grinder]

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

[LinkXwing]

I play 1.5 'Tog alot in my area and I've slowly leaned that tog does indeed need acceleration.  It needs it to compete with the aggro that you come up against.  Without the mana acceleration of drain-->Deed (Or disk in Lanstill)  You can barely keep up with the weenie beats comming at you.  Drains power out Intuition and Deed.  Intuition and Deep A. make your early Tog big enough of a blocker to keep your opponent from attacking.

To really survive in T1 where the format is a full turn faster than 1.5 you needs drains AND power 9.

My advice: get Drains and play tog in 1.5 or find another deck.