GAT tweaks

[the boogie man]

So far, I have been really working in finishing my Gat build, but I have just a couple of questions thAT i need help answering. But before anything else, here is the decklist.

Land:
3x underground sea
3x tropical island
2x island
2x volcanic island
3x polluted delta
2x flooded strand
1x strip mine

Counters/disruption:
4x force of will
4x mana drain
2x duress
2x fire/ice
1x pernicious deed

Draw/tutor:
1x ancestral recall
1x demonic tutor
1x vampiric tutor
2x cunning wish
4x brainstorm
1x mystical tutor
1x merchant scroll
4x nights whispers
1x gush

Broke:
1x yawgmoth's will
1x time walk

Creatures:
4x quirion dryad
2x psychatog
1x gorilla shaman

Power:
1x black lotus
1x mox saphire
1x mox jet
1x mox emerald
1x mox ruby
1x mana crypt

Sideboard:
1x berserk
2x tsabos web
2x red elemental blast
2x blue elemental blast
1x rack and ruin
2x daze
1x hurkyls recall
1x coffin purge
1x misdirection
1x naturalize

Some changes that i would be interested in adding are:
1-3 trade routes side
1-4 citanul druids
another duress in the side
a future sight anywhere
and what about deep analysis?
and null rods or those hidden gibbons

The reason that I wonder about the druids is if they are good enough in the workshop match that they could warrant a couple of side deck slots, but does this belong more in a deck like stompy

The trade routes could be useful for drawing extra cards or even helping to fill your hand for tog.

And the future sight in the side would be for control mathces, super density of threats.

And the duress is super for combo and control.

deep anals are good for control too.

And this is for a super diverse meta, not for one based for any specific meta. Any help would be appreciated.

[Grand Inquisitor]

Your deck looks pretty good, but here are some general points that I'd recommend:

1) As much as I've tried to make 4c GAT work, the extra utility is never worth the inconsistency.  REB and especially F/I are savage, but the consistency is better in my opinion.  Red also looks like is solves your issues against workshop, but energy flux is strictly better here.  The rest of the remarks will be geared towards improving your 4c list.  I'm going to post a report from waterbury with my current 3 color version; check the tournament thread if you're interested.

2) If you have an LoA, you may want to consider runing it.  Its won me so many games, and those who think its too slow are out of their minds.  In ultra aggressive GAT lists, I can see going with out it, but 4c will never have that kind of combo ability.

3) The utility and counter section looks good, but I'd find something else for Pernicious Deed.  You just don't get enough bang for your buck compared with engineered explosives, another cunning wish, or something else.  Its always too slow, or too hard to cast, or something.

I also don't like Duress in 4c GAT, since you're already trying to get green and red early in certain matchups.  Daze is probably the best substitute, unless you play in heavy control meta and want to run misdirection.  Annul might not be bad, actually, but I've never tested it in GAT.

4) Your draw/tutor section looks fine, too, except that I think 4x Night's Whispers is too many.  Eventually the life loss will cost you games.  Also, the black is another weight on your mana base.  In 4cc versions I usually make room for the AK's, even though I won't run Intuition.  I'm currently running a crucible of worlds for mana support and for anti-crucible reasons, but you'd probably want to find room for a strip mine then.

5) Sideboard:

I don't know why you'd ever sideboard daze.  Care to explain?

Tsabo's Web is strictly worse than F/I against Fish, and you shouldn't be worried about the bazaar engine against dragon, as ground seal is more of an answer.

I've never liked misdirection as a wish target.  You give up a crucial sideboard spot for the possibility of netting one card when your opponent casts ancestral recall.  Its especially strange in a 4cc version, where you can always wish for REB.

Trade Routes is an interesting idea to protect your mana base, but it seems to do to little for too much mana.

Future Sight is great, especially in 4color versions, which tend to play more controllish.  However, I've found another 'just win' card to supplement yawgwill that you can find out about in the report.

I think Deep Analysis is solid, and a much better SB card against control, especially if you're running mana crypt.


I hope this is helpful, as GAT truly is a fun deck to play, and competitive in a diverse, workshop light metagame.

[AggressiveDude]

Most people who say that Red Splash is needed because it is good against 1,Workshop Machtup(RnR) 2,Control Machtup(REB) 3,F/I(Aggro or Aggro Control/Aggro Combo).

If we find something similiar like these cards we could drop the red splash right?

We could replace RnR with H.Recall or Enegery Flux(yes I know you cant fetch it).
We could replace REB with random Duress,Misdirection in the board(I once tried 2 duress and 1 misd. main and sb 1 duress 2 misd. and it worked well for me).
We could also swap the Fire Ice with Smothers.Well it only kills one Creature but it can also be used to kill Morphs,River Boas and Togs.

The red choices(RnR,REB and F/I) seem a bit better than Smother,H.Recall etc but is the difference really worth to splash an extra color?

[the boogie man]

Well tell you the truth ,I have really considered dropping red. here is the new deck list.

4x quirion dryads
2x psychatog

4x nights whispers
4x brainstorm
1x ancestral
1x gush

1x time walk
1x mystcal tutor
2x cunning wish
1x demonic ttutor
1x yawgmoths will
1x fastbond

3x polluted delta
2x flooded strand
4x underground sea
4x tropical island
1x Loa
2x island

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

1x black lotus
3 on color mox
1x mana crypt

side:
1x null rod
2x energy flux
1x wail of the nim
2x ground seal
1x naturalize
1x hurkyl's recall
2x blue elemental blast
1x berserk
1x snuff out
1x coffin purge
1x vampiric tutor
1x misdirection

I completely and utterly aggree with you about the consistency. I have long wondered if it was stable, but I really wanted that fire/ice. But that wail of the nim does everything that fire/ ice could do (usually) and even do combat tricks on your oponent, and null rod was too much of a burden with so much artifact mana.

But I still need a space to fill maindeck, and is the null rod and the energy fluxes needed? And why not run the snuff out instead of the ghastly demise? And what are you're thoughts on other "free"spells playable with Gat?

Here is a short list:
Saprazan legate (free 1/3 flier that can hurt fish a lot, but far too narrow)
thwart (return 3 island to hand to counter spell for free) (I know that this is also very conditional, but with a tog out its +5 /+5 with a counterspell. Probably too harsh a cc)
Tidal Bore (return an island to tap or untap a creature) ( nevermind this one)

[Evilkin]

Your build looks solid.  I have some suggestions, feel free to ignore, but I have done well with this deck at multiple tournys and have playtested it fairly extensively.  These are just my own personal preferences...

I would cut 1 Night's Whisper like was suggested.  I started with 4 and found the damage added up to fast and 3 is perfect.

I would go up to 3 Cunning Wish.  This deck can out control other control decks and you usually want to see at least 1 Cunning Wish every game.  I originally started with 2, but would just never see them and upped to 3 which is what I feel comfortable with atm.

Fastbond is preference only.  I can play 10 matches in a row and not use it once, but it will occasionaly win you a game you should have lost.  I don't think it's consistant enough myself.  

I'd cut 1 Mana Drain.  You usually only ever use these after you have board position and can safely sit back with mana open to cantrip at the eot.  Normally you are tapping out on your early turns casting Dryad and Night's Whisper.  You normally want to see a FoW and Daze in your opening hand then draw into a Mana Drain.

I think running a Mana Crypt in this deck is too risky.  You are already taking damage from Night's Whisper and have no way to get rid of the Crypt in a long game.  This deck seems to play more Control/Aggro then combo.  You can combo out with Tog but usually you will be disrupted enough with Duress, Null Rods, Wastelands etc, making most games last quite a few turns.  Running all the Moxen is a must.

Vampiric Tutor is better in the maindeck then sideboard.  I started with it in the side, but you don't really have maindeck answers you can tutor for after a Cunning Wish.  Basically, you will only Wish for this to grab a creature, where as running it in the maindeck you'll more often use VT or Mystical to get an Ancestral Recall or Yawgmoth's Will when needed and to grab your sideboard cards after boarding.

I would also recommend adding a Regrowth to your maindeck.  I wasn't playing with it at first, but man is it awesome.  The more times you can replay Ancestral or Time Walk the better.

You may consider running a couple Serum Visons.  Really smoothes the mana base and good for controlling your draws better.  4 Brainstorms + a couple Serum Visions are really great for letting you keep 1 land hands.

I would suggest adding 1 Strip Mine to deal with Maze of Ith.  Your opponent can have 3 Mazes out on you and you can still win with just 1 creature in play as long as you're running at least 1 Strip.  It may seem random but you have Regrowth and Will to replay them.  They're not bad to randomly get against Workshop either.

Your sideboard looks good although I'd main the VT, cut the Mis D or main deck it and add at least 1 Oxidize to your sideboard.  I agree with you about Snuff Out... It is simply amazing in just soo many situations.  You only need 3 mana to Cunning Wish and kill Goblin Welder during your upkeep.

My biggest concern with GAT atm is wtf do we do against Storm combo?

[Grand Inquisitor]

I would go up to 3 Cunning Wish

I find that with three wishes you depend too much on them to try to answer threats, when you could just be winning.  Given how much tutoring you have, you shouldn't have trouble finding one when you need it.  In a tempo based format, they're really slow.

My biggest concern with GAT atm is wtf do we do against Storm combo?

I find the matchup to be pretty good if your build is prepared for it.  Post board I have:

4x FoW
3x Drain
3x Daze
2x Duress
1x Null Rod

So far this has been sufficient.  With daze you should be able to answer their early threats more easily.  Also, GAT kills faster than most control decks, which means they don't get as long to find more bombs.