Media314r8
10-16-2007, 02:37 PM
I've been developing an original aggro control deck (that beats Thresh) over the past six months and have come up with the following:
//Artifacts//
4 Chrome Mox
2 Umezawa's Jitte
//Creatures//
4 Dark Confidant
3 Shadowmage Infiltrator
3 Psychatog
4 Looter il-Kor
//Disruption//
3 Duress
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
//Kill Spells//
3 Slaughter Pact
3 Damnation
//Lands//
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
//Sideboard//
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Engineered Plague
3 Extirpate
3 Pithing Needle
1 Umezawa's Jitte
I've placed second at a Team-meandeck 30-some man tournament in columbus undefeated with the deck, and won a smaller tournament in CA with a previous build. (won games against solidarity, Mono-red Goblins, Doug Linn's WGB 'junk.dec', UG Thresh, and tied with a UGr thresh player)
Favorable mathups:
My tested matchup against Thresh/Grow (Goyf UGr) has stabilized to land at about 60% in favor of Tog game one, while games two and three are slightly more in Tog's favor. (especially against thresh pilots who do NOT already know 4 chalices and another Jitte are coming in for the three duress and one of each shadowmage and damnation) Often times factory can stave off the mongeese until Tog can build card advantage and overpower goyf, othertimes random explosive plays like 1st turn bob/chalice for 1 or jitte on tog win the game in a hurry. Thatwithstanding, the deck performs as most similar agggro control decks, with favorable combo matchups with 10 disruption spells MB and another 7 coming in post boards. Damnation often gives this deck the massive advantage it needs to pull out seemingly impossible wins, as thresh and other aggro-control decks havent seen it played in quite a while and it is often possible to simply ride factory, jitte, or shadowmage until they overcommit, expending their counters on togs and bobs then simply win following a damnation. Stax decks bend over, as Tog and friends allready cost two or three, and the deck packs enough mana and removal to fight through windborn/ghostly prison and tanglewire. Angel Stompy is winable, but if they can land a Parallax Wave they can often race you. TES and Iggy are often won via 1st turn looter or bob yielding the permission to counter/remove a key tutor, and vial for 0, 2 post boards. Solidarity is favorable, but I often go 2-1 in games against good players who stockpile cards with the understanding that I have a slow clock and combo off in after (the only game I've tried Tog fodder FTW against solidarity) the Tog been hand-pumped. (combo in response to looter's ability on the stack has happened before as well) Generaly, solidarity loses to all the permission Tog packs and post board chalices and extirpates are bomb.
Neutral matchups:
The matchup is neutral against all but red-green goblin builds, as tin-street in the main and Krosan grip coming in Sb really can disrupt the manabase and eliminate the 'auto win' facilitated by either jitte or e plague. None of my guys except for bob block the piledriver very well, and the wastelands/ports already wreck havoc on colored mana. Mono-red and Rb/Rw really come down to whether or not they can resolve vial and/or whether or not I can get a jitte/E-plauge to stick. Faerie Stompy is much the same, as if they can resolve and protect a first turn sea drake their clock is simply faster barring any damnation or pact i can quickly muster and resolve. Landstill is all about who draws right combination man-lands and wastelands thus forcing the opponent to give them a free ancestral. (yes, I HAVE made my opponent break his own standstill before with a land-heavy opener of bob, 2x factory, 1x wasteland, delta, Force, duress)
Unfavorable Matchups:
Survival has too much card advantage and wacky third turn armageddons + 7/10 beatstick for this deck to handle without a needle (post board) or spot-on permission. I've also had some wackey plays like welder killing my attacking factory by giving me a chrome mox I had previously pitched to looter/tog. Needles, chalice, and E-Plauge help with this matchup post-boards. 46 land I would imagine being similar, as if they have some wackey 1st turn nacle, dump hand of manlands, waste, and LftL... GG. Few answers to this post-board. Luckily, the decks aren't played too often.
With the unfavorable RG goblins (previously a common deck to beat) and Survival seeing less play, I think the current meta may be ripe for Tog to reclaim his position of best creature ever printed from the usurping goyf.
//Artifacts//
4 Chrome Mox
2 Umezawa's Jitte
//Creatures//
4 Dark Confidant
3 Shadowmage Infiltrator
3 Psychatog
4 Looter il-Kor
//Disruption//
3 Duress
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
//Kill Spells//
3 Slaughter Pact
3 Damnation
//Lands//
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
//Sideboard//
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Engineered Plague
3 Extirpate
3 Pithing Needle
1 Umezawa's Jitte
I've placed second at a Team-meandeck 30-some man tournament in columbus undefeated with the deck, and won a smaller tournament in CA with a previous build. (won games against solidarity, Mono-red Goblins, Doug Linn's WGB 'junk.dec', UG Thresh, and tied with a UGr thresh player)
Favorable mathups:
My tested matchup against Thresh/Grow (Goyf UGr) has stabilized to land at about 60% in favor of Tog game one, while games two and three are slightly more in Tog's favor. (especially against thresh pilots who do NOT already know 4 chalices and another Jitte are coming in for the three duress and one of each shadowmage and damnation) Often times factory can stave off the mongeese until Tog can build card advantage and overpower goyf, othertimes random explosive plays like 1st turn bob/chalice for 1 or jitte on tog win the game in a hurry. Thatwithstanding, the deck performs as most similar agggro control decks, with favorable combo matchups with 10 disruption spells MB and another 7 coming in post boards. Damnation often gives this deck the massive advantage it needs to pull out seemingly impossible wins, as thresh and other aggro-control decks havent seen it played in quite a while and it is often possible to simply ride factory, jitte, or shadowmage until they overcommit, expending their counters on togs and bobs then simply win following a damnation. Stax decks bend over, as Tog and friends allready cost two or three, and the deck packs enough mana and removal to fight through windborn/ghostly prison and tanglewire. Angel Stompy is winable, but if they can land a Parallax Wave they can often race you. TES and Iggy are often won via 1st turn looter or bob yielding the permission to counter/remove a key tutor, and vial for 0, 2 post boards. Solidarity is favorable, but I often go 2-1 in games against good players who stockpile cards with the understanding that I have a slow clock and combo off in after (the only game I've tried Tog fodder FTW against solidarity) the Tog been hand-pumped. (combo in response to looter's ability on the stack has happened before as well) Generaly, solidarity loses to all the permission Tog packs and post board chalices and extirpates are bomb.
Neutral matchups:
The matchup is neutral against all but red-green goblin builds, as tin-street in the main and Krosan grip coming in Sb really can disrupt the manabase and eliminate the 'auto win' facilitated by either jitte or e plague. None of my guys except for bob block the piledriver very well, and the wastelands/ports already wreck havoc on colored mana. Mono-red and Rb/Rw really come down to whether or not they can resolve vial and/or whether or not I can get a jitte/E-plauge to stick. Faerie Stompy is much the same, as if they can resolve and protect a first turn sea drake their clock is simply faster barring any damnation or pact i can quickly muster and resolve. Landstill is all about who draws right combination man-lands and wastelands thus forcing the opponent to give them a free ancestral. (yes, I HAVE made my opponent break his own standstill before with a land-heavy opener of bob, 2x factory, 1x wasteland, delta, Force, duress)
Unfavorable Matchups:
Survival has too much card advantage and wacky third turn armageddons + 7/10 beatstick for this deck to handle without a needle (post board) or spot-on permission. I've also had some wackey plays like welder killing my attacking factory by giving me a chrome mox I had previously pitched to looter/tog. Needles, chalice, and E-Plauge help with this matchup post-boards. 46 land I would imagine being similar, as if they have some wackey 1st turn nacle, dump hand of manlands, waste, and LftL... GG. Few answers to this post-board. Luckily, the decks aren't played too often.
With the unfavorable RG goblins (previously a common deck to beat) and Survival seeing less play, I think the current meta may be ripe for Tog to reclaim his position of best creature ever printed from the usurping goyf.