Gro-A-Tog (hereafter referred to as GAT) is back in Extended. Aside from Alvin Chen's articles (which are outdated, but still solid), the forums have been quite busy lately. The current GAT list is nearly perfect, having a 50+% matchup against the field (and thanks for asking, it performs a lot better than 50% against certain decks like Aluren and Mind's Desire). The only bad matchups are most Rock builds and White Weenie (20-30%), even with the last-minute addition of a Pyroclasm to the sideboard.

(By the way, there are two GAT versions: three-color GAT (3C-GAT) and five-color GAT (5C-GAT). This tourney report is about 5C-GAT, although not everyone agrees that it is the best version.)

To spread the word, Rob Wagner (Sacred_Zion on the forums) and I went to Extended Grand Prix Trials on the eighth of January in London and Tiel (Holland), respectively. My vendor, one Rudy Meijer, had e-mailed me two days before the tourney that he didn't have a Mox Diamond and a Cunning Wish, so I spent the days before the tourney scrounging them up, making a deal with Paul van der Gun to meet at the tourney where he would sell me a Cunning Wish. (In Dutch, "gun" means something like "to grant" instead of "rifle").

Here is the list that I used:

Gro-A-Tog
4 Meddling Mage
4 Quirion Dryad
3 Psychatog

2 Armageddon (good with Gush and Mox Diamond)
4 Brainstorm
1 Cunning Wish
4 Daze
3 Fire / Ice
3 Gush
2 Miscalculation
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
1 Vampiric Tutor

4 City of Brass
3 Flooded Strand
5 Island
4 Mox Diamond
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Cursed Totem
3 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
2 Energy Flux
2 Engineered Plague
1 Ensnare
1 Ghastly Demise
1 Oxidize
1 Pyroclasm
1 Smother
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sideboard Plans

Affinity: +1 Vampiric Tutor, +2 Energy Flux, +1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Smother, +1 Oxidize, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Echoing Truth, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Armageddon, -3 Psychatog, -2 Miscalculation

Goblins: +1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Smother, +1 Vampiric Tutor, +2 Engineered Plague, +1 Pyroclasm, -2 Miscalculation, -3 Psychatog, -1 Cunning Wish

Life: +1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Smother, +1 Vampiric Tutor, +1 Cursed Totem, +2 Engineered Plague, +1 Pyroclasm, -3 Psychatog, -1 Cunning Wish, -1 Daze, -1 Armageddon, -1 Sleight of Hand

Madness: +1 Cursed Totem, +1 Vampiric Tutor, +1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Smother, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Miscalculation, -1 Psychatog

Mind's Desire: +1 Vampiric Tutor, +3 Duress, +1 Oxidize, -1 Cunning Wish, -3 Fire/Ice, -1 Psychatog

RDW: +1 Oxidize, +1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Smother, +1 Vampiric Tutor, +3 Duress, +1 Engineered Plague, +1 Pyroclasm, -1 Cunning Wish, -4 Meddling Mage, -4 Quirion Dryad

Reanimator: +1 Ensnare, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Vampiric Tutor, +3 Duress, +1 Ghastly Demise, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Armageddon, -3 Fire/Ice, -1 Psychatog

Rock: +3 Duress, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Fire/Ice (if they run Troll Ascetic: +1 Cursed Totem, +1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Daze, -1 Fire/Ice)

Scepter: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Oxidize, +1 Vampiric Tutor, +1 Ghastly Demise, +3 Duress, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Fire/Ice, -2 Miscalculation, -2 Sleight of Hand

I buy the final Cunning Wish, register my deck, and trade a Sapphire Medallion to Rudy Meijer (who happens to be present as well) for a pile of Type Four rares. [Nice! - Knut, ever the T4 evangelist] I scout around and see that there is one weenie player (well, White Weenie player) in the room. There are 57 people present, so I will have to play six rounds of Swiss. I really want to win my first two or three rounds to minimize my chances of being paired against WW.

Just before the tourney starts, I learn that there is another GAT player in the room! His deck is nearly a card-by-card copy of mine. He tells me that he had tested three-color GAT quite a bit, but that he had not played with five-color GAT at all, the deck he is now using. We wish each other the best of luck. During the tourney, two others would recognize me as "Adriaan from the StarCityGames.com thread" - they did not post on the thread, but they read it. I did not know that Gro-A-Tog is already somewhat known around here...

Round 1 vs. Rick with RDW
Game 1: I am nervous before the game starts, opening defensively with a Mox Diamond, Brainstorm, Flooded Strand, go. Then he casts a Goblin Cadets. The games were over in an instant.

Now, for a GAT player, RDW may be the single most skill-testing matchup of all the popular Extended decks. However, when played correctly, it is one of GAT's easiest matchups as well. RDW can't handle the Psychatog/Gush combo, especially when Fire / Ice and Armageddon back them up. Their land destruction is far too slow, Blistering Firecat often leaves RDW wide open for a lethal counterattack and casting Daze on a three-mana spells feels like cheating. If you don't believe me, watch the next two games.

I cast a second Brainstorm in response and misplay by Dazing the Goblin Cadets (I had a Fire/Ice in hand, so I should have baited a second creature). I cast Miscalculation on a Cursed Scroll next turn, letting him have a Grim Lavamancer. I go on a cantrip spree, dropping a second Mox Diamond in the process. He is using Rishadan Port the whole time, but I barely notice it. I Fire/Ice the Grim Lavamancer and a Mogg Fanatic on his next turn's end step (he forgets to ping me) and drop a Psychatog on an empty board with seventeen life left. He wisely scoops.

Game 2: I later learn that he had sided in Pillage against me. He drops a turn 1 Cursed Scroll, one of RDW's most dangerous plays. I Fire/Ice his Jackal Pup and Mogg Fanatic, play some cantrips and utter the magical words, "Gush, Geddon, game," nuking my Island and his three lands while disabling his Cursed Scroll. I drop a Psychatog, cast Gush, and my two Vampiric Tutors (for Fire/Ice and a second Gush) finish him off. I had dealt myself five damage in the entire game, while he had dealt me three.

1-0 in matches, 2-0 in games

Round 2 vs. Paul van der Gun with RDW
Paul was the guy who sold me the Cunning Wish. He says that he knows that I am playing some Blue-based control deck, and that he will probably beat me in game one, but that he fears my Chills post-board. I only smile.

Game 1: He wins the die roll and comes racing out of the gates, having four power on the table by turn 2. My Quirion Dryad gets burned out in no time. He drops a turn 3 Scroll and begins disrupting my mana while I dig for a Psychatog. My two Meddling Mages and two Quirion Dryads in hand are too clunky to cast because of his Grim Lavamancer and Seal of Fire. I finally find and cast a Psychatog.

When I untap, he has a Mogg Fanatic, Grim Lavamancer, morph (obviously Blistering Firecat) and Cursed Scroll against my two Islands, City of Brass and Psychatog. I have a Brainstorm, a Cunning Wish, a Gush and four creatures in hand. My life is low enough that if I let him untap, he can burn me out if he has two burn spells in hand, and he can burn me if I let him untap twice, regardless of what I do.

I think for a few minutes and finally settle on a plan. I Brainstorm and find the Island that I need, playing it and passing the turn. I Cunning Wish for and cast Ensnare before he can attack (he is smart enough not to flip the Blistering Firecat in his main phase). Fortunately, he doesn't burn me out on his turn, although I am effectively at two life against Cursed Scroll and Grim Lavamancer (he has a Mogg Fanatic and a Seal of Fire while I am at five). I untap, cast a cantrip, cast a second Island, cast Gush floating U, cast an additional cantrip and attack him to -2. That was a very close game.

Game 2: He has a Japanese Jackal Pup, an English Mogg Fanatic and German Cursed Scroll when I Pyroclasm, giving him a nice mix of Magical Axis and Allies. Then I throw away the game in a horrible misplay. I Serum Visions, putting a card I don't remember and then a Psychatog on top. I Sleight of Hand next turn with two land on the table, seeing a Psychatog and an Island. I think, "I already Serum Visioned into a Tog last turn, so I can take the Island".

Of course, the Serum Vision last turn didn't put the Psychatog into my hand - it merely put it on top, and I Sleight of Handed the only creature away that I would see during the entire game. I don't find a second kill spell or any kind of permission to deal with his Blistering Firecat and he burns me out.

Game 3: I smile when I see my opening hand and say, "keep!" immediately. He mulligans once, then says, "I'd keep this hand, but it dies utterly to a turn 1 Chill. So I'll go to five." I try to stifle my laughter, as I don't run a single Chill in the side. I'm playing first against one of my best matchups, while he mulliganned to five. That's fair. I only remember casting Vampiric Tutor for a Mox Diamond (I had a Swamp but no City of Brass), dropping a Psychatog and Gushing for the match.

2-0 in matches, 4-1 in games

Round 3 vs. Johan with U/B Scepter Control
His build was rather strange. He had at least one Orim's Chant and Fire/Ice in the main (seemingly without Red or White sources of mana), along with Opt, Chrome Moxen, Shadowmage Infiltrators, Isochron Scepter and at least three Force Spikes and one Daze.

Game 1: I pretend to be a control deck as well, opening with fetchland, go. He opens with an Island and lets my end of turn Brainstorm resolve. I cast a second land and let his Opt resolve. He cast a second land and Chrome Mox, imprinting Force Spike, and I tap one of his Islands on his end step with Fire/Ice.

On my turn, I finally drop my disguise, floating two mana and casting Gush. I return two Islands to my hand and ask for permission. He Force Spikes, apparently forgetting that I had floated mana, and then lets the Gush resolve. I proceed to drop a Mox Diamond, Quirion Dryad and grow the Dryad to 2/2 with a cantrip.

He casts a Shadowmage Infiltrator and begins drawing cards while I drop an extra Quirion Dryad (the original one gets Smothered) and two Psychatogs over the next few turns. He Cunning Wishes for a Submerge, but I explain to him that I control no Forest. I then simply overrun him, double-Dazing his last spell.

Sideboarding: -2 Fire/Ice, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Miscalculation, +1 Smother, +3 Duress, +1 Vampiric Tutor. (I should have sided out a Fire/Ice and a Sleight of Hand for an Oxidize and an Echoing Truth).

Game 2: He opens with an Island. I lay a Polluted Delta, Mox Diamond and then cast Meddling Mage. He Brainstorms in response. Meddling Mage resolves and I name Smother. I cast a second Mage next turn. It somehow resolves as well, and I name Shadowmage Infiltrator. He gets an Isochron Scepter with Orim's Chant under it, but can't find a White source. He dies to Meddling Mage beatdown.

I have survived the randomness. No more White Weenie for me!

3-0 in matches, 6-1 in games

Round 4 vs. Merijn with U/G Madness
Madness really isn't a bad matchup, and GAT really isn't an inconsistent deck. Except for this match, I mulliganned once during the tourney. However, any deck just craps out on you sometimes. That is what happened here.

Game 1: I keep a hand containing an Island, a Serum Visions and some more expensive stuff. I make my second land drop four turns later. Needless to say, I get overrun, despite successfully casting Daze on a Wild Mongrel and a Roar of the Wurm.

Game 2: My first hand contains one land and spells that cost 2+ mana. I mulligan it into a no-lander. I finally settle into a hand consisting of double Mox Diamond, double City of Brass and Fire/Ice. I put up a good fight, casting a Meddling Mage on Wild Mongrel. On his turn, he Unsummons the Mage and casts a Wild Mongrel. I re-cast the Mage, naming Arrogant Wurm this time. He summons a second Wild Mongrel, discards Wonder and the two hounds go all the way. He ends the game with three Arrogant Wurms in his hand.

We played a third game for fun, and of course I won that one easily. Sigh...

3-1 in matches, 6-3 in games (not counting the fun game)

This match ends my winning streak. Hello, loser's bracket... hello, randomness.

Round 5 vs. Carlos with Affinity
I had watched him beat the other GAT player the last round, so we both knew each other's deck. He tells me that the other GAT player screwed up heavily in game one against him. He seems to use Mana Leak and Cabal Therapy instead of Somber Hoverguard and Myr Enforcer.

Game 1: He doesn't have much land, although he has a turn 1 Aether Vial. I drop a double Quirion Dryad, cantrip through my deck and find a Psychatog. I Vampiric Tutor for a Fire/Ice to finish him off.

Game 2: He mulligans to five cards, but otherwise has a very good draw. He drops a turn 2 Arcbound Ravager with two lands on the board and sacs them both when I Fire/Ice the Ravager. Unfortunately, I can't find a Smother, Ghastly Demise, or a Vampiric Tutor to punish his gamble. I get a triple Quirion Dryad, but draw zero cantrips. He drops a second Ravager a few turns later and kills me while I am manaflooded.

Game 3: I drop some quick Meddling Mages, naming Arcbound Ravager and Cranial Plating. There is almost no way for Affinity to beat me without those two cards, so I know that as long as he doesn't draw Aether Vial, I'm fine. He drops two Mages as well, locking my Psychatogs and Energy Fluxes. I drop two Quirion Dryads and we draw-go for a few turns.

I then topdeck a Sleight of Hand. I cast that, finding a Gush, which finds Brainstorm and another Gush, which I cast as well after re-playing an Island. I cast a Mox Diamond and some more cantrips and attack with my Dryads, who are suddenly 6/6 and 7/7 instead of 1/1 and 2/2. I cast some more cantrips next turn, bash him again and tutor for an Echoing Truth on my next upkeep. I remark to the crowd that was watching this match, "who says that Affinity is the explosive deck here?"

4-1 in matches, 8-4 in games

I don't have very good tiebreakers so drawing may not be good enough to get into the T8. Well, I can win one more match. Unless...

Round 6 vs. Frits with White Weenie
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I quickly reconsider drawing, but he doesn't want to draw because it may mean that neither of us will get into the Top 8. He then says that he doesn't think he can beat my deck anyway. I try not to laugh, then not to cry.

Game 1: I drop a turn 1 Dryad while he drops a Cursed Scroll. He answers my triple-Meddling Mage with an Enlightened Tutors for a Parallax Wave. With it, he kills my Mages one by one and when the Wave fades out, he kills my Dryad as well (she lost her counters when she faded back in). Fortunately, I find a Psychatog to race his Leonin Skyhunter. I bluff a Gush and he chumps with his only creature. I kill him on the next turn.

Anyone can win against an aggro deck that drops one creature in the entire game. Still, I'm not complaining, as I only have to win one more game to T8. I know that if I do so, then I have a pretty good chance of winning the whole tourney, as RDW and Reanimator seem to be the best-represented decks on the top tables and GAT doesn't have much trouble beating them. There is also at least one Aluren deck, which is nearly a bye. Still, I have to win against White Weenie first...

Sideboarding: +1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Smother, +1 Pyroclasm, -1 Cunning Wish, -2 Miscalculation

Game 2: He curves out perfectly with a second turn Samurai of the Pale Curtain and some other stuff while I find no Psychatogs. I do manage to Daze a Crusade, but I can't stop the onslaught.

Sideboarding: +1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Smother, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Cunning Wish, -3 Meddling Mage.

I decide to lean more heavily on Pyroclasm in this game, so I sideboard out my Meddling Mages and side in an additional tutor. GAT has such a disgusting amount of cantrips that you can reasonably count on a three-of card in a given game (in my case, Pyroclasm + two tutors); still, I knew that the plan was pretty weak.

He casts a turn 1 Mother of Runes, making the Ghastly Demise in my opening hand completely worthless. I drop a Quirion Dryad and a Meddling Mage, naming Parallax Wave (in retrospect, I should have named Crusade). In the meantime, he drops a Silver Knight and a Leonin Skyhunter and begins attacking. I cast some cantrips and find Pyroclasm! However, he untaps and casts Crusade. My removal and blockers are unable to touch or race his creatures. I die a few turns later.

I end in the fourteenth place, winning two boosters. My fellow GAT player goes 3-3, still a good result for someone who had not tested the current version of the deck at all. He lost to Scepter Control and Affinity, two decks that I had beaten, and Cephalid Breakfast (Cephalid Illusionist + Nomads en-Kor combo). GAT has a 50-60% matchup against Affinity and Scepter Control, although it depends heavily on the build they use. He won against Goblins, another Affinity deck and U/G Threshold (I have not tried Threshold, but Mike Flores likes it better than U/G Madness).

I am disappointed that I did not T8, but then again, my deck won every match that didn't involve Lady Luck trying to screw me (see round four and six). Aside from that, 4-2 is still a great result for someone who has only attended two ten-person tourneys before. I might go another Trial next weekend. If I do, I'll be sure to post my results on the thread.

Why GAT is so good
One of the main reasons that GAT is so good is that it is only has to spend two or three mana on creatures in an entire game, and it will still have the largest threat on the board. If you drop a Quirion Dryad and go on a cantrip spree to make it bigger, then you're not investing at all - you're already digging for a new threat, even before the first one is dealt with. Even with no creatures on the board, each cantrip that you cast still increases the effectiveness of future Psychatogs.

In essence, GAT is aggro-control in the purest sense of the word, as nearly every spell that you cast both sets up your end game and increases your immediate board presence at the same time. New players sometimes think that GAT is too slow, as it has a low land count and leans heavily on its cantrips. However, cantrips do affect the board, and GAT has a number of spells that are capable of stealing momentum from an opponent, like Fire/Ice and Armageddon.

GAT is also a very tight deck - I recommend not making any changes to it until you have played about ten matches against every popular deck. If I would go to a tourney tomorrow, then I would bring the exact same list.

Finally, GAT is also very hard to play correctly. If you pick it up for the first time, then you will most likely think that it sucks badly, because most new players make about one mistake per turn with it. Heck, I have lost games in the past because I popped a Polluted Delta for an Island instead of a Flooded Strand for an Island on turn one (popping fetchlands ASAP is crucial to GAT's late game). Still, if you devote the time to it, then you will find GAT to be a good deck indeed.

Adriaan Schipper
adriaan_schipper at hotmail.com