GAT is Back: 1st Place at the Ann Arbor "Black and White" Vintage tournament,QnD

[voltron00x]

The card that has impressed me the least thus far is Misdirection.  Putting Bolt in the main sounds like a great idea to me, otherwise I'd consider maybe... Ancient Grudge?  Its an out to Chalice 1 and awfully good with Dryad, and solid against Vault and Shop decks.

I'm still sorta unsure on Tinker/Bot. Multiple times its just been FoW fodder.  It should definitely be in the 75 somewhere, though.

Nice job with this deck.

[btops]

Even though I played Fish and not GAT, I need to emphasize just how good Spell Pierce was.  It saved my butt like no tomorrow against a lot of decks where any other card would have been a blank.

[Doomsday]

Hi Steve, could you explain a little bit about Spell Pierce over Duress?  Blue count is still high without it, but were you worried more about topdecked removal or topdecks in general?  Flashbacks from Dredge?  Do you think these outweigh seeing their hand, pumping Dryad sooner, and them not being able to pay to shut it off (especially since there's no mana denial other than Trygon)?  Thanks

[Tobi]

@Stu
Thanks for the lists!
Can you please check which cards are missing in Gilberto's list? I have 56 cards maindeck only.
--> http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=1333

[Stormanimagus]

@Stephen -- Do you think it would be wise to have a "win now" card at least in the SB of GAT?

I'm specifically thinking of Tendrils Of Agony or Brain Freeze. Could one of these cards get the nod as a way to capitalize on a hurkyl's turn when you need to win right away? If so, which one?

-Noah

[Stu]

The 4 missing cards were Goblin Welders.

[Tobi]

The 4 missing cards were Goblin Welders.

Aaah, obv! Should have guessed this one. 
Thanks!

[gamegeek2]

4 Thoughtseize still seems a little too many, and I'm inclined to have a couple Duress instead. I may go -1 Duress, -2 Drain, +3 Pierce in my own list; that seems reasonable. But drawing Spell Pierce while you're Gushing seems a bit worse than drawing Duress, as the latter is proactive and pumps Dryad on your own turn.

I'll stand by Bolt; there's better cards against Shops, but it's sick in a bunch of matchups, and is really efficient.

[Cyberpunker]

I'll stand by Bolt; there's better cards against Shops, but it's sick in a bunch of matchups, and is really efficient.

Drawing Bolt will cost you games

[Ten-Ten]

That Grixis Control list looks nice! Wurmcoil Engine and Frantic search is just what Welder needed 

[KrauserKrauser]

Stu,

That Stax list only has 55 cards.  What are the other 5?

My guess is:

4 Smokestack
1 Tinker Target (Sundering Titan)

[Smmenen]

Hi Steve, could you explain a little bit about Spell Pierce over Duress?  Blue count is still high without it, but were you worried more about topdecked removal or topdecks in general?  Flashbacks from Dredge?  Do you think these outweigh seeing their hand, pumping Dryad sooner, and them not being able to pay to shut it off (especially since there's no mana denial other than Trygon)?  Thanks

Spell Pierce, I think, is an overall stronger card on account of the fact that the opponent must invest mana resources into the spell before it is dealt with, whereas with Duress, you are the one expending mana to deal with their threat.    Duress is a really strong card, and great in GAT, but I think Spell Pierce, in general, is better. 

@Stephen -- Do you think it would be wise to have a "win now" card at least in the SB of GAT?

I'm specifically thinking of Tendrils Of Agony or Brain Freeze. Could one of these cards get the nod as a way to capitalize on a hurkyl's turn when you need to win right away? If so, which one?

-Noah

Tendrils is a tempting inclusion, except that since Brainstorm is restricted, the costs of having a dead card in hand are higher.  Post-Will, you can pretty much set up an on-board kill with a Dryad + Sphinx + Time Walk.   

[Stu]

Sorry, just realized the omission. It was 4 smokestacks and 1 ancestral recall. Tinker was good enough not to have to play a big guy like wurmcoil or sundering titan. Most of the time you could just tinker away a low counter wire for a new one or a lodestone golem. It was also a good way to get an artifact into the yard for welder to get active.

[Killane]

Hi Steve, could you explain a little bit about Spell Pierce over Duress?  Blue count is still high without it, but were you worried more about topdecked removal or topdecks in general?  Flashbacks from Dredge?  Do you think these outweigh seeing their hand, pumping Dryad sooner, and them not being able to pay to shut it off (especially since there's no mana denial other than Trygon)?  Thanks

Spell Pierce, I think, is an overall stronger card on account of the fact that the opponent must invest mana resources into the spell before it is dealt with, whereas with Duress, you are the one expending mana to deal with their threat.    Duress is a really strong card, and great in GAT, but I think Spell Pierce, in general, is better. 

@Stephen -- Do you think it would be wise to have a "win now" card at least in the SB of GAT?

I'm specifically thinking of Tendrils Of Agony or Brain Freeze. Could one of these cards get the nod as a way to capitalize on a hurkyl's turn when you need to win right away? If so, which one?

-Noah

Tendrils is a tempting inclusion, except that since Brainstorm is restricted, the costs of having a dead card in hand are higher.  Post-Will, you can pretty much set up an on-board kill with a Dryad + Sphinx + Time Walk.   

After some initial goldfishing and VERY prelim testing, what about sideboarding Tinker/Bot and maindecking Tendrils? Tendrils just seems like a better kill than just another fatty, and this deck doesn't seem to have ANY issue producing a tendrils kill.