Growing pains

[plagicantothetop]

I have been testing a GAT build recently that i think and has proven to be a very succesful deck. I've been testing most day and night against decks like 4cc, U/R Fish, Dragon, FCG, MonoBlue Control, 7-10, landstill, and Belcher. And all with good matchs.

Kill(6)
4x Quirion Dryad
2x Psychatog

Draw(14)
1x Ancestral Recall
2x Night's Whispers
1x Gush
4x Brainstorm
4x Accumulated Knowledge
2x Deep Analysis

Counter(10)
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
3x Misdirection

Utility/Tutor/Broken(10)
1x Yawgmoth's Will
3x Cunning Wish
1x Pernicious deed
1x Demonic Tutor
2x Fire/Ice
1x Time Walk
1x Regrowth

Mana(20)
3x Tropical Island
3x Underground Sea
2x Volcanic Island
1x Island
1x Strip Mine
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
4x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
1x Mana Crypt

SideBoard(15)
1x Berserk
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Artifact Mutation
1x Oxidize
1x Rack and Ruin
1x Naturalize
1x Ebony Charm
1x Damping Matrix
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Diabolic Edict
1x Pernicious Deed
1x Stifle
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Fire/Ice

Now understandably there are some card choices that you my think are alittle sketchy but let me give you my reason:

Main

Gush- I have found that with the gush main as opposed to the board i can not only save my cunning wishing for the berserk or it is an unexpected way to pump the dryad.

A.K.- This is one of those cards that to my understanding stopped getting played in fear it would help the already powerful Hulk but with my decline in seeing Hulk(Tog) its an extra way to fill my hand, pump my dryad, force pitch, and if needed it doesnt hurt to put it in the yard if you have excess 7 in the hand.

Deep Analysis- A good pitch for either the end of turn, to the tog, or to force.

Misdirection- I went with this main for another way to protect my dryad/tog when im tapped out(which i pretty much always am). also since im normally tapped out when i play things i dont have the mana to run drain. Plus the obvious fact that i love the misdirected recalls, they just give me an overwhelming sense of joy and card advantage.
 
Daze- This is a card that goes along the same premise as misD but also i have found that many people (unless playing fish) tap out when going of withat combo or attempting to play some thing first turn and they dont count on the annoying daze. and in the late game it proves as a good card to remove for force and misD.

Pernicious deed- While this is one of those cards that i have debated dropping, it has helped me in many match-ups(fish, landstill, FCG, and even welder decks)

Sideboard

I run 4 artifact destruction cards(oxidize, RnR, artifact mutation, and natty) in the board because i have found that i have a tough match up against many welder decks such as slaver and 7/10.

I found that with the vamp in the board helps bucause ther is that every few games where i just need one card and i have the cunning so its just helpful.

Fact or fiction- I need some sort of draw in the board and i felt that since it wasnt main i figured it would work in the board.

Diabolic edict- It started as gastly demise but it didn't handle the tog, then it became smother but play testing alot against 4cc and seeing how mono blue was coming back it seemed to be a dead card, so i went with terminate, but only running 2 volcanics  there are times when i dont want to have to fetch for a volcanic just for one turn if i need other lands, hence i ended up with edict because it stops angel and morphling and the deed can take care of the deacks with many creatures.

Stifle- Though it has its reasons this is prob the first card i would take out.

Crucible or worlds- With many decks now playing these main along with 5 wastes its tuff for my deck to compete with that with out a crucible of my own.

Well this is my version and I was just looking for some feed back to see what the concencious thinks I should add or take out.

PS. I've tried things like intuition, merchant scroll, and mystical and I found that they didnt give me the performance that i was expecting.

[Ric_Flair]

Lots of people have tried upping the artifact count with more Moxen and swapping out the two togs for 1 Tinker and 1 Colossus with a good deal of success.

[negator0808]

I have to say I really am impressed by this list. I think you may have found a very good draw configuration in 2 Whisper, 4 Storm, 4 AK, 2 Analysis. The only part of that engine that I'm unsure about is the Deep anal slot, you said yourself they were "good for pitching to FoW" which is hardly a reason to run a particular card. How easy are they to cast for you?

Apart from the engine, I would definitely cut down to 2 Cunning Wish and 2 Misdirection in order to fit the Mystical and the Scroll. I don't know what problems you had with them but especially in a build running AK, Scroll and Mystical are gold.

Is the lack of non-FoW hard counters a problem at all for you? I'd be more comfortable with 2-3 Drain but it depends on how often you are able to leave UU up, obviously.

[TheBrassMan]

All of the cards you're using are solid, but I think the numbers may be a little off.  The first thing I'd look at with this deck is the mana base, 20 is just way too light, even with cantrip-type spells.  Personally, I'd cut red, but I'm guessing you're against that, I'd definitely go up to 24 sources, at least:

+1 Island
+1 Mox Ruby
+1 Wasteland
+1 Blue Dual (whatever you think you need most)

- 1 Cunning Wish
- 1 Daze
- 1 Misdirection
- 1 Fire/Ice or D.A. (both meta cards, take your pick)

Also, is Mana Crypt really better than Mox Pearl here? not a lot of spells have more than one colorless in the cost, and you're already taking damage from DA and Nights Whispers.  That's more of a judgement call for you though, considering you've played with this build more.

The all one-of sideboard is a little sketchy, too, at a bigger-sized event, where the meta is likely to be higher-tier stuff, I'd run something like this:

1 Berserk
1 Pernicious Deed
2 REB
2 Artifact Mutation
1 Rack and Ruin
2 Ground Seal
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Coffin Purge (way better than the charm)
1 DA or Fire/Ice (whichever one you cut before)
2 Vendetta or Snuff Out (but you can throw the Edict here if you want)
1 Skeletal Scrying or FoF (I don't really like the card drawing in the board plan, but it's your call)

Obviously, metagames vary, build what wins where you play, but that's what I'd bring to a Waterbury if I wanted to keep the same general feel of your deck.

[plagicantothetop]

The only part of that engine that I'm unsure about is the Deep anal slot, you said yourself they were "good for pitching to FoW" which is hardly a reason to run a particular card. How easy are they to cast for you?

I have found that many times when i am playing with the D.A. i use the crypt and maybe a mox and play it like 3rd turn after i resolve a dryad.

Is the lack of non-FoW hard counters a problem at all for you? I'd be more comfortable with 2-3 Drain but it depends on how often you are able to leave UU up, obviously.

After much testing i have noticed that it is alittle difficult for me to keep UU open due to the fact that i like to play as many draw spells that i can to help keep a hand and also to pump the dryad. many turns i just get on a roll and play like 2 AKs a nights whisper and maybe even a brainstorm and its really helpful when the dryad is on the board to just keep drawing. that is why i never have mana.

[Hi-Val]

It seems to me that two more Whispers would be better than DA on account of them costing half the mana. With Hulk this wouldn't be a problem because you don't need to cast spells in any particular order, but when you need to put a Dryad down ASAP and then start growing it, I personally wouldn't want to wait on DA and would rather have whisper so I might be able to cast a spell I drew off it.

[eddavatar]

Here's my opinions...

1)I wouldn't play AK personally w/o intuitions. And with that many different 2CC+ cards...i would run full power.

2)Deep Analysis is a sideboard card against control. It's too tough to be utilized maindeck.

3)I would like more hard counters than 4....try a couple vanilla counters.

[JACO]

Here's my opinions...

1)I wouldn't play AK personally w/o intuitions. And with that many different 2CC+ cards...i would run full power.

2)Deep Analysis is a sideboard card against control. It's too tough to be utilized maindeck.

3)I would like more hard counters than 4....try a couple vanilla counters.

AK is still fine without the Intuitions; but Deep Analysis PLUS AK makes Intuition much better.

The problem with this deck is you have a lot of cards that cost an assload to cast, and aside from a couple Moxes and Mana Crypt, you don't have any acceleration. If you're just going to run the on-color Moxes (which is what I would do), you should really think of running Mana Drain. Not only is it the hard counter you really lack, but it also powers out cheap Deeps, Cunning Wishes, huge Yawgmoth's Wills, and more. I won't litter this thread with my decklists, but you should really find a way to fit in 4 Mana Drains, like cutting 1 Daze, 1 Misdirection, 1 Regrowth, and 1 Psychatog (which you never want to see early; only mid to late game).

You've got a good start on the deck; just test test test.