We had a pretty good turnout at C&Js last night, a bunch of serious players and good decks show up. I threw together Tog-Gro (with a few modifications) and goldfished it a couple times before the tournament started. My impression was that it was extremely explosive -- if you can draw land.
The decklist (major inspiration = RolandB, 6th @ Dulmen)
R Lotus
3 Mox (BUG)
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection
1 Foil
1 Counterspell
2 Mana Drain
2 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Opt
4 Gush
2 Cunning Wish
3 'Tog
4 Dryad
R Demonic Tutor
R Yawmoths Will
R Vampiric Tutor
R Regrowth
R Fastbond
R Mystical Tutor
R Time Walk
R Ancestral
R Library of Alexandria
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Island
4 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
Sideboard:
R Berserk
1 Tormods Crypt
2 Powder Keg
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Tranquil Domain
3 Duress
1 BeB
1 Terror
1 Naturalize
So I stand around and chat with Saucemaster and Criticism before the tournament. Criticism has borrowed Spevacks power and slyly refuses to reveal what deck he is playing. I resolve to scout him during round 1.
Round 1: Raziel with Mask
Game 1:
Raziel leads off with DR+Hyppie which resolves. I reply with a Tropical,Lotus and two Dryads shortly after. The Hyppie keeps chipping at my hand, but I am able to hide all my necessary cards with Brainstorms and by burying them among "Islands returned to hand" with Gush. I Force his last ditch effort to Recoil a Dryad and swing for 12. During this game I look over at the sneaky Criticism and find that he is also playing Mask. Great, two Masks in the field.
Game 2:
Raziel mulls to 6 and agonizes about his hand. He decides to go to 5 and then throws his hand on the table for discussion. The hand is Ritual, Jet, Necro, Duress, Hyppie, Mask. I tell him I would probably keep, since you have activity for 2 turns. Lead with Jet->Duress and try to resolve Ritual->Winningpotence next turn.
Anyway, even at 5 cards and no land he manages to make something of a game of it, which shows the potential of Mask to just win. But I have the Counters when I need them and a 'Tog eventually chips away his life. In the end, the Tog is big enough to eat a Dreadnaught so my worries diminish.
Record (1-0) matches (2-0) games
Round 2: J. Flores Reanimator
I brought Gro so that I could have the fun of having the biggest creatures on the board. So far I face Mask and Reanimator. Hmm.
Game 1:
He launches conservatively with Entomb, Nether Spirit. I expect Therapy to follow and spend a minute thinking about which cards I will try and save with my Brainstorm. I have FoW, Gush, Brainstorm and Cunning Wish (->Ebony Charm) which could be problems for him. I let the first Therapy resolve, assuming he will name FoW, then Brainstorm in response to the second to hide the Wish (which he does indeed name). I draw FoW off the Brainstorm. I grow a Dryad to 10/10 off a huge Yawgmoths Will and Time Walk him while Jon is tapped out.
Game 2:
He launches with a Duress and I protect the one useful thing in my hand -- the SB'd Tormods Crypt with the other useful things in my hand -- FoW and a Brainstorm. I get Crypt on the table and he tries to tempt me with Nether Spirit. I am not tempted. I D-Edict him to kill the Spirit and then blow the Crypt to catch the Verdant Force he was trying to Exhume at the same time. Empty graveyard. He topdecks Buried Alive and buries Nishoba, Wurm and Visera. I topdeck Regrowth and Regrow Crypt.
My Dryads are all hiding in the bottom quarter of my deck, so the game remains tight. I finish him with a 'Tog, but not before I have to deal with a hardcast Masticore and couple attempts to Exhume him.
Record (2-0) matches (4-0) games
Round 3: Gary with MonoB
Gary is playing a creature heavy MonoB with Hyppies and Skittering Skirges, Duress and Hymn. He draws a lot of land in both games, so they arent too interesting. I pass up a likely 'Tog kill one turn (multiple Gushes) to set up a Cunning Wish->Berserk turn since I have not killed with Berserk yet.
Record (3-0) matches (6-0) games
Round 4: Saucemaster with Reaplace
I've only played against Reaplace once before and I remember a severe beating. Before the tournament Criticism asks whether Reaplace can win if the opponent refuses to play permenants. Lol.
Game 1: I play Tropical, holding Ancestral. Saucemaster begins this game with Land-Mox-Mox-Duress and I Ancestral in response. He takes my FoW and then casts Balance! Eeek, I am Mind Twisted. But I do manage to save a Land, a Gush and a Counterspell. I topdeck Library and am able to quickly Gush into it. He draws 3 Duresses and 2 Fow in the first 1/3rd of his deck but cant get the combo rolling against me drawing 2 cards every turn. I Gush back one Tropical that he Deathlaces and then Misdirect his Prismatic Lace to his own Mox. He concedes when he cant stop the second Dryad. The first game went long and he's concerned about the time.
Game 2: I have the all-counter hand (Counter, Daze, Fow, Mis-D) and I feel strong. I believe Saucemaster mulls to 6? If so, I feel stronger. I Daze an early D-Tutor for no particular reason (fearing a Library that he does not run) but quickly drop a Dryad with Time Walk backup and run him down.
Record (4-0) matches (8-0) games. Flawless victory!
So, looking back on it, I wish I had gotten another match against Mask. I watched the Mask out of the corner of my eye all night, and it seemed incredibly variable. Sometimes it would explode out of the gate and just wreck the opponent; sometimes it would just sit there like a lump and die.
Looking at the finals, I think Gro must autowin against Reaplace. Everything in my deck is good against them. I finished both games with a Cunning Wish ready to fetch Ebony Charm and a Misdirection ready for the Abeyance.
OTOH, I think none of my opponents all night played Wasteland, which is a huge relief for me. Also, a relief that they dont play BtB or especially Blood Moon. I have the one Island, so I could theoretically Wish->BeB but other than that I either Counter Blood Moon or I scoop. I can work around BtB a little with Gush or maybe Daze, but I've played that sort of game before and its just not enough.
Also, in testing I got those draws where you get one Land and a Brainstorm; you Brainstorm and find nothing and then just sit there with one land on the table for multiple turns. This is just one of the inevitable downsides of playing with 14 land + 4 artifacts. Fortunately, I didnt have this happen in the tournament.
But, as I said somewhere else, this deck seems much better than the UGW version, though if you've played that version you know how vulnerable it can be to land destruction as well. I really didnt use the Demonic or Vampiric all that much, but the Y-Will is phenomenal. Also, the sideboard is pretty good and mostly Black. I considered throwing 2xPernicious Deed in the side, but stuck with 2xPowder Keg. But I like the options Black gives you.
Changes: The deck is a hybrid of RolandB's and Ribbecks. I substituted in Mana Drains for Counterspells because I always feel mana-tight in Gro and there are a good number of colorless mana sinks in the deck. I was never unhappy with this change, and there were several times it paid off.
Anyway, I had a good time and I hope everyone else did too. I'd be interested in feedback from anyone else who has played the deck as well.
