Running Gushbond engine when I don't have Fastbond.

[meadbert]

Without Brainstorm, I find that when running Gushbond there are many games where I do not have Fastbond and end up with a lot of lands in my hand.  Ponder and Preordain do not really fix this.  They help you drawer fewer lands in the future, but they do not get rid of lands in your hand.

From there I tried a few ideas.  Careful Study I did not like because it was card disadvantage.  Gushing into Careful Study led to no card advantage even if it was decent for filtering.
Cephalid Coliseum has similar issues and does not play well with Gush.

Three possible solutions are Raven's Crime, Jace The Mindsculptor and Nostalgic Dreams .
Jace and Gush interact well in general.  Jace shuffles back extra lands.  Gush helps you hit your 3rd land drop for a turn 3 Jace.
The problem is neither is good against Resistor effects so a deck that leans hard on both tends to lose hard to Mud.

Another option is Raven's Crime.  I am not sure it is worth running though.  Basically  I would never tutor it up since I would rather have Fastbond.  They are not great in multiples.  Still, it is nice to be able to turn excess lands into bad Duresses against other control decks.

A final option is Nostalgic Dreams.  In general this is dangerous because if it is countered you still discarded the extra cards, but discarding lands vs Control is not the end of the world and against decks without counters this is not an issue.
Also  is a pain to get out.  When it resolves Dreams is nearly like a Yawg Will.  With Fastbond you can do silly stuff like Gush and Dreams discarding 3 lands for 2xGush + Recall and draw more cards with more mana.
In practice it is not so good.  It is slow against Dredge pre board.  It gets coutered against Control decks and it is tough to get  against Mud.  The flexibility does allow you to discard uncastable cards to get exta mana sources vs Mud.  For instance you might actually discard a Gush to get lands.  Because Nostalgic Dreams is not unique to lands you can potentially discard a Tinker or Oath target.

I know Jace is played with Gush usually with only 0-2 copies.  I have not seen Raven's Crime or Nostalgic Dreams played.  Are they potentially viable even as just a one of?  Has anyone else tested them?  What did you find?

[TheBrassMan]

I wish I had concrete results to give you, but I dont.  I've been extremely interested in Nostalgiac Dreams myself for some time now, but haven't found the time to test it in actual tournament play.  I think it has quite a bit of potential.  I think Dreams is most definitely worth testing.

I haven't really had much of a problem with "Gush but no Fastbond" hands.  I tend to aggressively search for Fastbond (the way someone might tutor for Tinker, Ancestral, or Yawgmoth's Will early), and I tend not to play gushes via their alternate cost unless I actually *want* the lands in my hand (i.e. if I haven't played a land that turn, if I have a Brainstorm, jace, or Fastbond already, or I'm in a desperate situation.)  Generally I run 0-2 ponder/preordain (usually 0), and around 24/25 sources, but I just haven't found "too many lands" to be a problem.  It's possible this is a result of small differences in my lists or play, but it's also possible this is just variance.

[Rico Suave]

Whenever I hear this problem brought up, the first thing that comes to mind is an individual's use of Gush is far more meaningful than the other cards that surround the Gush itself. 

Brassman detailed a bit of it, but frequently I'll see people using Gush's alternative cost when they could be manually casting it.  I know, paying 5 for a draw 2 isn't exciting, but sacrificing board position is less exciting - especially if you draw into another Gush.  Additionally, some people feel the need to cast a spell the moment they get a chance, but sometimes being patient and waiting for an extra land drop before Gushing is correct.  I guess it's not the size of the ship, but the motion of the ocean.

Interestingly enough, despite my feelings for Fastbond being necessary and vital, I haven't actually gone off with Fastbond/Gush once in tournament play since Gush was unbanned.  I can't tell if this is a result of specific circumstances I've been thrust into, whether the printing of Blightsteel has made Fastbond less important (and Tinker more important), or whether it's just the luck of the draw.  Despite the fact I haven't gone off with Fastbond, I *have* used Gush to a great extent.  I'm using Gush all the time to "generate" mana, artificially build storm, draw into combo pieces like Vault/Key, or just make Yawgmoth's Will lethal this turn as opposed to next. 

Rarely do I encounter problems with having too many lands in hand though.  I do find, however, that alternative mana acceleration helps this problem quite a bit.  I would actually think that Dark Ritual, Mox Opal, or Lotus Cobra are more relevant to this discussion than any other card mentioned so far.

[meadbert]

So its sounding like my play choices are the real problem here.  I rarely use Gush's official casting cost.
Back when I played it in conjunction with Drains it was not uncommon for me to use Drain mana on hardcasting Gush, but these days I am usually bouncing lands.  Also when running Gushbond outside of Turboland I do not tutor aggressively for Fastbond.  Usually I will go for Recall or Tinker early game.  Maybe that is my problem.  I will pay more attention in testing and consider tutoring for Fastbond more often.

Thank you for your responses.

[Meddling Mike]

How about explore? I always felt like it fit the theme of a gush deck really well and works if you have gush or just to provide some mana acceleration in the early game.

[TheBrassMan]

Don't get me wrong, I still think Jace and Nostalgiac Dreams are extremely good/interesting in a Gush deck.  If you *do* have a Fastbond in play, Dreams is BETTER than Yawgmoth's Will (because cards don't get exiled), and that's exciting.  I'm a lot less interested in Raven's Crime - though it makes sense here, and I haven't played it with Gush, my experience with it in the past has been extremely disappointing.

[Phele]

I tested Gush Painter quite a bit a while ago with five pitch counters. With Painter on the board I really liked how you can use unneeded lands to pitch into Force or Misdirection. Just if you are looking for alternative ways to use the lands.

[Ufactor]

scroll.rack.

There's nothing else to add to that..