intergalactic ( a psychatog deck )

[memnarch]

i have been doing well with this deck on the web wizard program.

win condition 6:

3 psychatog
1 phyrexian negator
1 tinker
1 darksteel colossus

counters 13:

4 force of will
4 counterspell
4 mana drain
1 force spike

draw 13:

4 accumulated knowledge
4 intuition
1 frantic search
1 ancestral recall
1 fact or fiction
2 think twice

other 7:

1 wipe away
1 pithing needle
1 cunning wish
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 time walk
1 yawgmoth's will

mana 21:

1 black lotus
1 mox saphire
1 mox jet
1 sol ring
4 polluted delta
4 underground sea
2 seat of synod
6 island
1 library of alexandria

sideboard 15:

1 undermine
1 force spike
1 mana leak
1 boomarang
1 chain of vapor
1 hideous laughter
1 smother
1 sudden death
1 stiffle
3 trickbind
2 shadow of doubt
1 engineered plauge






Since you're new you won't get a warning for posting just a decklist, but please familiarize yourself with the board rules. Posting just a decklist is frowned on because it looks really lazy. Talk about your matchups, what has been working and what hasn't, what you've tested, explain strange card choices, etc. Welcome to TMD!

-Hi-Val

[dandan]

You really really should consider Gush in this deck. Dredge is also very useful in Tog decks - Darkblast is a good card vs Welders and Fish (at least some versions of Fish).

[ErkBek]

First off, please explain some of your choices further. Why do you play counterspell over Leak or MisD? Also, how is this deck on par with Meandeck Gifts? You actually need your GY for your deck to work right? what happens pre or post board if your opponent plays a tormod's crypt?

[Sporkcore]

4 Intuition is way too many. I would probably go -2 Intuition, +1 Cunning Wish, +1 Mystical Tutor. With so many 1 ofs, It's better that you can play a tutor that can find them for you. Also, the extra Cunning Wish allows you to take more advantage of a Wishboard.

[xycsoscyx]

Gotta agree, Cunning Wish is almost a must in Tog, but I'd also consider splashing a Tropical and SB Berserk, as it really simplifies the Tog win, as well as giving your Trample to get over whatever weenies may be in your way.

[memnarch]

thanks for reply. yes cunning wish is awsome i probably should put another in. i like counterspell much more then leak i have the mana base to support it because this deck last into late game i find it nesisary. misdirection only works against certain spells and counterspell works against almost everything. never underestimate the power of consisnant countering. This deck may not be better then meandeck gifts and its a WIP but it has more win conditions, somthing I feel many T1 decks are lacking.

Berserk is a great idea and if i were to splash for tropical island i would probably run one life from the loam because its such a great tog machine. as for darkblast i realy dont like it espicialy maindeck it dosnt dredge enough and there are many decks that it would be a dead card against.

gush seems a good choice to me i will add this and try it out.

I was going to include mystical tutor i just didnt have the slots available unless you suggest going over 60 cards? i dont know if thats a good idea but doable.

i put 4 intition becuase it makes it consistant but i could see lowering that number. playing intuition for 3 accumulated knowledge is just great. next turn I dont have to counter or have enough mana open accumulated knowledge is basicly ansestrial recall for 1 more mana. and by that time i have 5 cards in my graveyard so its just more food for tog.

as far as tormods cyrpt i have counter spells AND pithing needle so im not to worried about it. also i have phrexidon negator and the colloses so it isnt entiraly relient on the graveyard.

thank you for your input. i will try some of those suggestions.

[Zarathustra]

My question is, how is this deck more powerful than Gifts?

The draw engine - Intuition/AK - is very slow, it costs 3UU for only 3 cards.  Compare this to Merchant Scroll -> Ancestral Recall.

The clock of this deck is 3-5(Fully powered).  Which is on par with Gifts.  However, this deck really, really wants to resolve a Mana Drain before it can even go broken.  This is a huge weakness, considering most people know to just play around Mana Drain.

-DShell 

[Sporkcore]

Here's something I didn't pick up on till now, I would take out the 2 Think Twice, the Force Spike and the Frantic Search and put in 4 Brainstorm instead. There is no reason any deck running blue shouldn't have those in there. they work great with the fetchlands shuffling away dead cards and help make hands broken.

[Dragondevil]

I would do exactly the same as sporkcore, brainstorms are a must.. 4 intuition is too much, and cunning wish is a must as it was already said

[Sporkcore]

Here is a Tog deck I want to try out. It's completely untested, but it should be a good starting point.

3 Dark Confidant
2 Psychatog
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Collosus
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Cunning Wish
3 Duress
1 Gush
1 Regrowth
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Saphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tolarian Acadamy
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea

Sideboard
1 Berserk
1 Rebuild/Hurkyl's Recall
2 Echoing Truth
3 Pithing Needle
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Darkblast
2/3 Tormod's Crypt


The Dark Confidants help with the card drawing.
Togs and Tinker/DSC are your win conditions.
Duress, Force of Will, and Mana Drain are your disruption.
Brainstorm is always a must.
There is a normal tutor package, since here are plenty of 1 ofs that you would want to get.
The 2 Cunning Wishes allow a decent wishboard, but not making it too dependent on 1 ofs in the board.
Gush is strong in Tog, so it went in.
I went with the Intuition/AK package since it's a good thing to put drain mana into, as well as setting up a strong Yawg Will.
Regrowth would like to be Recoup, but with no red, this is the best you got.

In the sideboard, I feel Pithing Needles are needed to stop Tormod's Crypt or something like Mindslaver/Welder that would cause problems.
Bersek is a must for Tog as it makes it so you can go off with less cards.
Echoing Truth handles Leyline of the Void or Chalice of the Void on 0 and 1.
Fact or Fiction allows you to spend drain mana wishing for one of the best draw spells.
The artifact bounce slot is something to wish for against Stax or problematic artifacts
Darkblast is a wishable answer to things like Welder, most of the Fish creatures (blast during upkeep, then dredge and blast again during main phase) and Ichorid
There are 2-3 meta slots for things like Misdirection, Massacre, or whatever is in your meta that might be a problem. This could even be Tendrils of Agony and some more bounce to turn the deck into some kind of Drain TPS deck.

[Zarathustra]

The biggest problem with Tog is that everyone is packing ways to deal with Colossus.  Which this deck is way more vulnerable to.  This deck's draw engine is seriously outdated and very expensive, yet it draws no more cards than Gifts for example.

Again, this deck wants to play a Mana Drain in order to go off.  Plus, it needs to cast Tog and wait a turn.  Sure, you can Time Walk, but that's hoping.

Using Colossus is an ok idea.  It might steal some wins, but ultimately, it's no alternate win considering the same hate that hits Tog hits this(STP).

-DShell

[Sporkcore]

The only other option for tog is to go with a Tendrils of Agony main deck, that way you can go with a combo finish incase the tog plan doesn't work.

[Zarathustra]

The only other option for tog is to go with a Tendrils of Agony main deck, that way you can go with a combo finish incase the tog plan doesn't work.

If you did that, the deck would be completely different.  If you were playing with Tendrils, it's gonna be your main plan.  Tog would be the back-up.  But, I wouldn't even use Tog as a back-up it's not worth it.

However, there is a 2U creature that's mighty naughty...   

-DShizzle

[memnarch]

ok i just noticed admistrator warned me on first post so let me explain how the deck works for those that are curious. this is a deck made almost entiraly of instants, its not a tendils deck becuase alot of essental overpowerd cards in tendrils are sorceries and artifacts. gifts uses many of these same sorceries as well. Im not using merchant scroll for that reson as well as many other cards suggested for that reson.

the job of the deck is very simple, counter spells and if your oppenent plays nothing or you have enough mana left eot draw or do somthing usfull. its classic blue im sure you all know how it works.

as far as some of my anti-creature heavy disruption the reson being that this is trying to be a mid to late game deck and creatures are a big problem if they stay on the board, probably one of the reasons that U/W control has been so good over the years blue needs wrath of god to deal with the ankle bitters. magic is still a creature game even in vintage yes there is tendrils decks but there is tons of decks that use creatures as a win condition.

i desided brainstorm is definitly needed to smooth out draws so i added that. I wanted to make it more consistant so i made more 4 ofs in deck. think twice stays in intuition is a great draw engine, gifts perhaps is better but the flipside is you have to build your entire deck around it, this isnt a gifts deck.

im not sure that using creatures as a win condition is nessisarly a draw back there is definitly a lack of removel in the meta game of vintage
disruption

4 counterspell
4 force of will
4 mana drain
4 mana leak
4 cunning wish
1 pithing needle

draw

4 intuition
4 akumulated knowledge
1 fact or fiction
1 ansetrial recall

lets go for the kill!

1 tinker
1 dark steel colossus
1 phyrexian negator
2 psychatog
1 time walk
1 demonic tutor

mana

1 black lotus
1 mox saphire
1 mox jet
1 sol ring
1 library axendria
4 polluted delta
4 underground sea
4 seat of synod
4 island
1 swamp

cunning wish side board

1 hidieus laughter
1 force spike
1 misdirection
1 smother
1 chain of vapor
1 boomarang
1 whipe away
1 undermine
1 memory lapse
1 darkblast
1 stiffle
1 trickbind
1 shadow of doubt
1 sudden death
1 spell snare


@ Sporkcore i like that list it looks fine to me  let me know how it works for you i just wanted to go almost pure eot deck though.

[Implacable]

memnarch, I'm sorry, but that decklist looks like it should be in the Casual Forum.  A deck that is 70 cards, runs Think Twice and Brainstorm, and cannot compete against most if not all Type 1-viable decks simply doesn't help anyone.

[memnarch]

whoops. eh he he i cant count ment for it to be 60 cards. i updated the list. i took out force spikes think twice and brainstorm. is it really that bad? i need to test it against good vintage decks and players but they are hard to find on the web wizard program alot of times.

[Implacable]

I have now written several replies to you, all of which I have deleted with my finger on the Post button because I felt them to be insufficient.  While I attempted to talk about your individual matchups, the only way you can really learn about the format is to test it.  I encourage you to take advantage of MWS to test against the TMDers who frequent it, so you can learn more about just why Counterspell is awful.

[Roat17]

Can you please explain the random Negator.

It seems that with all the counters you run as opposed to more draw, that this could be a third tog, or perhaps all your togs should be something else since you seem to want to counter a lot of things.  The reason I say this is that if you have relatively no draw, but you continually play counters, how are you able to pump your tog?  With so much counters, I would replace the tog with either all negators, or perhaps all dimir cutpurses.  I just don't see you having enough drawing to be able to recover if someone Forces or Duresses one of your draw spells.

[Dakkon]

Alright....I would take out 4 counterspells, atleast 2 mana leaks, 1-2 cunning wishes, 1 negator, and 1-2 intuitions.

In those spots I would add 4 brainstorm (really good card, should definatly be run), yawgmoths will, mystical tutor, vampiric tutor, and maybe another psychatog.

Then add some MD answers. maybe a chain of vapor and an echoing truth. maybe even md duresses (probably the best Idea), or some deep analysis to compliment the ak/intuition draw engine.