Gro-A-Tog

[DayWalker]

Hello Guys!

I assembled times the following deck:

//Guys:(7)
4 Quirion Dryad
3 Psychatog

//Counters:(10)
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain/4 Counterspell--->What is better ?
2 Misdirection

//Draw:(13)
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge/4 Opt--->Same as Mana Drain/Counterspell
3 Sleight of Hand
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Gush

//Search:(6)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Cunning Wish

//Utility:(4)

1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Pernicious Deed

//Manasources:(20)

4 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
5 blue Fetch
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
2 Island

SB:(15)

3 Duress
2 Coffin Purge
2 Smother
1 Diabolic Edict
3 Naturalize
1 Crumble
1 Berserk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Pernicious Deed

As the first time, I do not have Time Walk. Does someone have already
tested which is better? Mana Drain or Counterspell. I consider the
Counterspell better, since the colorless Mana of the drain me does not
bring me anything, because I have nothing, where I could pump
it. AK/Opt: For what hold their of it Opt over AK to play? Very
frequently I did not use the AK's and her times by Opt's did not
replace and those to make their job at the beginning of the play
rather well.  I come relative fast by the Library and find the cards,
which I need also very fast however nevertheless like I know, what it
of hold. The remainder of the deck custom one probably do not discuss,
because it looks like nearly every other standard Tog deck.

[MadManiac21]

I'm a little bit confused on one of your statements; You have no where to pump the colorless mana that mana drain gets you?

Maybe you don't understand how AMAZING Mana Drain is in this deck. Almost every single spell you are going to cast in the course of a game has colorless mana in it. Drain sets you up to cast or help cast AKs, Dryads, togs, yoru tutors, cunning wish, and most importantly YAWGMOTHS WIN! The extra mana you would be getting from the mana drains is invaluable, and will most definately help you win more games than regular counterspells, period.

It would do you well to take a look at older and more recent GAT builds to see where people are going with the deck. The most recent winner of the big waterbury tournament piloted GAT, and there are a great number of players on TMD who play either GAT, Hulk, or some mix of the two.

From first look I would have to add several things. Move the duresses to the MD over the sleight of hand, and consider adding a Deep Analysis or two. Otherwise the list looks very strong, You may want to consider stifles or BEB blast in the sideboard to help combat dragon, blood moons, etc. as a good add on to your deed and naturalizes. You may want to also consider adding an intuition or two. Many GAT and Hulk decks to utilize them (mainly to fetch for 3x AK), but the recent big winners with GAT have not. I would suggest doing some testing in both scenerios to find out what works for you.

[nietzreznor]

Yeah, Duress would be a lot better MB than Sleight of Hand.  The AKs should definitely stay in over the Opts.  Without AK (and since Gush is restricted), you'd have nothing to really DRAW cards, onoly cantrips.  You definitely need a cheap spell that actually puts some cards in your hand, and thats AKs job.

     As far as Mana Drain vs. Counterspell, I've always liked Drain when I've played GAT.  Thats not to say, though, that its the right choice.  I have seen many people turn to regular counterspells to avoid the burn mana, and that makes sense, as there really are not many large mana sinks in the deck (outside of Yawgwill, Cunning Wish, and possibly Twist).  If you're taking lots of burn (and that burn is costing you games), I would definitely replace them with counterspells.

[DayWalker]

O.K. Guys, I will play AK over Opt and Mana Drain over Counterspell.
So, that's the new listing:

//Guys:(7)
4 Quirion Dryad
3 Psychatog

//Counters:(13)
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
3 Duress

//Draw:(10)
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Gush

//Search:(6)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Cunning Wish

//Utility:(4)

1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Pernicious Deed

//Manasources:(20)

4 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
5 blue Fetch
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
2 Island

SB:(15)

2 Coffin Purge
2 Smother
1 Diabolic Edict
3 Naturalize
1 Crumble
1 Berserk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Pernicious Deed
2 Stifle
1 Blue Elemental Blast

So, the SB was revised and I put the Duress for SoH in the MD.
Let me know when you find some places for 1 Analysis and 1-2 Intuition.

[Metanoia]

I haven't tested your exact build but I have a lot of experience with Tog and GaT in T1

considering your build I would go with:
-1 Vampiric (move to the SB), +1 Wish, faster kills, more SB utility
-1 Regrowth, +1 Intuition, the draw engine is more important, plus its an instant
-1 Fastbond, +1 Intuition, FB is only really good in three scenarios
1) with Gush, 2) with YWill 3) in you opening hand
but in case 1) and 2) the other cards should be game winning anyhow and in case 3) Intuition is almost always better (especially if you are powered)

I never found DA necessary MD but if you insist, you could play 2 over the Misdirections

Hope this helps

PS get a Time Walk already, dammit!

[nietzreznor]

I definitely would not remove the Misdirections.  DA is not all that necessary, but if you insisted on playing it, I would find something to remove other then MisD.  The card is too strong in this deck to take out, as it is a real weapon in forcing through your creatures and draw spells, keeping your dryads/togs alive, etc.

[Wudil]

Just in order to know, there is no Time Walk in your build??? It's a bomb in GaT, just test it and you'll adopt it.

Anyway, I won't play Intuitions in this build if I were you, they're really heavy and only usefull to get the AKs, you can get them without Intuitions. I've made a post of where some gave their point of view and after my many many testings, I ended up with this idea. Everyone were ok to say no Intuitions in GaT, it's not Hulksmach though...

Considering the Misdirections, I think it's more dependant upon your metagame but I would rarely run them, what are the great cards to Misdirect??

Mind Twist, no more played or just a bit, Ancestrall? Good point, that's all unfortunatly, the only one which was good for me once was a Rancor on my Dryad, it seems it loved this one rofl
The only Tournament where I play Misdirections is in Paris where there are quite many Suicide type decks, Taigas and some other Red Stompy where MisD helps a lot. I don't in Dülmen or Turnhout ect...

I shall agree that running 1 more Wish and move the Vamp Tutor in side isn't bad, this is the choice I've made, but to say the truth, Vamp Tutor is no more in Side or even in MD in my deckbuild, question of place.

Just to finish this little post, I've found that Fastbond no more belongs in the deck since you're not running 4 Gush + Dazes anymore... Just try and test it, you'll see it by yourself  

For my point of view, I run just a little less Tutors (Demonic, Mystical + 3 Wishes), more Drawers/Library Manip (same as you + Skeletal Scrying) and a bit less Disrupt (MisD out most of the time). It works very well but I managed to have a little better manabase with 22 mana sources which isn't bad against LD.

I think there are no Combos in your meta seeing your Sideboard cause Null Rod/CoTV can be a great addition in order to play against these type of decks. CoTV is also a very good card against Keeper-like decks when you can resolve one for 1.

Have good testings and see ya around later  

[Rico Suave]

I would run no less than 2 additional mana sources, and 3 would be my preference.  To make room, you can start with cutting Fastbond and Regrowth.