I think I'm going to make it a regular weekly ritual to review some issues with, and replies to, the previous week's article. Since I always do it anyway, I might as well make it official, I guess. So here it is:

Issues from Last Week
Chris Worden posted a reply on the forum about the effectiveness of Astroglide after an Upheaval, and my statement that it's Game Over for Slide. While I have found the"hard-casting Renewed Faith" idea to be true (and incredibly effective, since they don't seem threatening and never get countered, and the Tog invariably seems to be good for exactly twenty to twenty-four damage), that's basically the only out you have against Psychatog.

One of the biggest mistakes people usually make when playing against Psychatog is not playing around Force Spike. What this means to the Slide player is basically even if you play first, you still play second. As soon as you see that Polluted Delta, that says"do not cast a turn 2 Lightning Rift or turn 3 Astral Slide." Whereas Lightning Rift really doesn't concern some decks - such as Wake, Beasts, and U/G - and will often go ignored, they're both at about the same threat level to Tog, and your opponent will be equally happy to counter either one. And believe me, they have enough counters to stop every single threat in your deck.

(Not really... But it seems like it sometimes, doesn't it? Damn Cheesers. Heh.)

Therefore, the"resolve a Rift and kill them quickly" strategy is usually not a good choice for Preferred Kill Method. Even if you play around the Spike like a good little reader who's done his homework, they can always cast Cunning Wish for Chain of Vapor when they can counter it the second time around. As for Sliding out an Exalted Angel in response, they always have the option of casting Cunning Wish for either Ghastly Demise or Mana Short. Either way, you're screwed.

At this point, I would like to say that I am not by any means trying to bash Chris Worden, or discount his ideas. They were, in fact, very good ideas, and probably the only ways that Astroglide has slightly better than a snowball's chance in hell against Tog. I'm just explaining what will usually happen in those cases, so twelve-year-old Timmy doesn't sue me over false information when his net-decked Slide doesn't perform against Tog, even though he followed the instructions.

Anyway, if they Wish for Mana Short on your second main phase the turn before they Upheaval, and Short you, sliding out the Angel is completely pointless. I'm sure most good Tog players will be well aware of the effectiveness of the Angel-sliding tactic, and won't go for the win until they can prevent it. And as for Ghastly Demise, it just ruins your day, straight up. If you Slide out the Angel and they Demise it, you'd better have another cycler in hand, and the mana to use it. I'm pretty sure, though, that most of the time, they'll just go for the Short. After all, that's what it's there for.

Now, on to Kai's favorite deck. Over the last year, playing Tog has evolved from something a ten-year-old could use (and easily succeed with, or so States led me to believe - although I think he was actually about fourteen), into a form of art mastered only by a few. It has lost a lot of the combo deckness (yes, that's a word) that made it slightly unstable in OBC, and has turned into a control monster. Someone summed it up very succinctly, describing the new Tog as MBC splashing blue. While the fact remains that the main color is unquestionably blue, countermagic aside, the deck's focus seems to be along the lines of what we've always thought of as black. At least, ever since Jakub Slemr made black a color more widely associated with control than suicidal aggro. And while we lack Ravenous Rats, Cursed Scroll, and Phyrexian Plaguelord in Standard, Tog seems to have found bigger and better weapons to take potshots at opponents with.

Most Common Builds
The predominant build seems to be, again, the version presented by Kai on the Sideboard:

3x Psychatog
4x Smother
3x Innocent Blood
4x Counterspell
4x Circular Logic
4x Force Spike
3x Deep Analysis
2x Concentrate
3x Compulsion
2x Cunning Wish
2x Upheaval
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground River
4 Swamp
2 Darkwater Catacombs
3 Lonely Sandbar
9 Island

Sideboard
1 Deep Analysis
1 Compulsion
1 Psychatog
1 Mana Short
1 Ghastly Demise
1 Alter Reality
1 Opportunity
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Duress
2 Chainer's Edict
1 Persecute

Another popular build replaces the versatility of Cunning Wish with some sort of addition to the control element - sometimes hand control, but usually extra creature kill:

3x Psychatog
4x Chainer's Edict
4x Circular Logic
3x Compulsion
2x Concentrate
4x Counterspell
4x Deep Analysis
1x Ghastly Demise
2x Innocent Blood
4x Smother
2x Upheaval
3x Darkwater Catacombs
8x Island
4x Lonely Sandbar
4x Polluted Delta
4x Swamp
4x Underground River

Sideboard
4x Duress
1x Engineered Plague
2x Ghastly Demise
1x Persecute
2x Persuasion
1x Psychatog
1x Shadowmage Infiltrator
1x Upheaval
2x Zombie Infestation

This version is very similar to Dave Humphreys' Masters Tog, and I've seen it all over the internet. It's very solid, and while it lacks the toolbox-style versatility of the Cunning Wish versions, it seems to run much better against R/G and U/G, thanks to more creature kill in the main.

Strengths
Tog demolishes a good 60% of the top eight or nine decks in the format right now, and is the sole reason that several excellent Onslaught-based decks won't be Tier 1 material until Odyssey rolls out. It runs more countermagic than any other Standard deck thinks about, and almost as much creature kill as MBC. Combined with a combo-style finish almost as frustrating - and unstoppable - as that of Extended Aluren decks, Tog is definitely one of - if not the - deck to beat right now.

Against beatdown decks, you have all the tools you need to staunch the flow of blood after your first three or four turns are spent setting yourself up for the rest of the game. Compulsion allows you to easily find your Smothers, Bloods, and whatever other kill you're running, should you not draw into them right off. Also aiding your survival is one of the best creatures in the format - Psychatog. Quite possibly one of the hardest critters in the environment to get rid of (I said"critters"; heh), the fact that he feeds off both your hand and your graveyard makes him incredibly difficult to deal with through burn or combat damage. He's partially black, thereby immune to any Banish effects running around (limited though they may be).

His casting cost makes him vulnerable to Smother, but that really doesn't matter; with Tog, you're always going to have some kind of counter to protect him, and the only decks you want a turn 3 Psychatog against aren't likely to be running Smother - namely, U/G, R/G, and Sligh.

When you find yourself paired against a control deck, be it MBC, Wake, Slide, or some form of Ensnaring Bridge/Words of War (which I played for about eight months, and I can assure you it's definitely Tier 2 quality if built correctly), your hand disruption comes in from the board in the form of Duress, and occasionally Cabal Therapy and Persecute, to seal the deal.

As Kai stated, there's really nothing too big for Tog to handle - there are some matchups that could use a little extra focus during playtesting, but nothing that just makes you grimace. Sometimes it just gets run over by R/G... But at one point or another, I think everything gets run over by R/G.

Weaknesses
When I said it runs almost as much creature kill as MBC, I meant just that - almost. The lack of just two or three key removal spells can swing things in favor of an extremely aggressive opponent, even with Compulsion filtering your hand. You can't always rely on your counterspells, and sometimes eight removal spells in the main just isn't enough. It tends to be slightly more vulnerable to decks that can deal a significant amount of damage before you can get your feet planted squarely; not enough so to knock it down to Tier 2 by any means, but enough to warrant slightly longer playtesting sessions against those types of decks than against, say, Reanimator.

I think one of Tog's biggest weaknesses is the mirror. I've noticed that, for whatever reason, people always tend to overlook their own weapon of choice while pumping iron for fight night; when they come across someone with a similar deck, they're not really up on how to play it out. Why, I'm not quite sure, but I can tell you this: if you're playing any of the top decks, rest assured that, most likely, you will play at least one mirror match over the course of the day. Be ready.

(I admit, I'm guilty of my own charge, to some extent. While I generally go up against my own decks while playtesting, I just realized I haven't been providing any information for mirror matches at all in this series, and I'll do my best to fix that.)

Because of the fair amount of familiarity and level of skill required to play Tog effectively, it probably won't show up in such massive numbers as R/G and U/G - but it will definitely be around. While both beatdown decks do actually require a fairly high level of skill to pilot (and the higher the skill level, the better the deck performs), the fact remains that they're still beatdown-oriented decks, and don't take as much cognitive activity or extensive knowledge of opposing decks to manipulate effectively.

Psychatog:
Kai pointed out Carlos Romao's interesting habit of letting opponents resolve card drawing spells... And apparently it worked for Carlos. However, the fact of the matter is, your own deck doesn't really have anything else that concerns you. You have plenty of counters; might as well prevent them from finding theirs. It's not absolutely crucial to keep them from ever drawing any extra cards (actually, the pain for flashing back Deep Analysis can sometimes come in handy when you're counting up your hand and 'yard after an Upheaval), but for lack of any better targets, Concentrate looks good. And if possible, don't ever let Compulsion resolve.

The main reason you don't want to waste all your Circular Logics on their card-drawing is because of the inevitable counter war over Upheaval. It's going to happen, so don't be surprised. As you get closer and closer to critical mass, start hanging on to most of the counters you draw into. I wouldn't recommend casting Upheaval with less than twelve to fourteen mana available, as that leaves three to five mana for (hopefully) as much blue power as you might need - and having a Tog in play beforehand isn't a bad idea, since your Logics will only cost one. It sounds like a lot, but in the mirror, twelve lands shouldn't be that hard to reach.

Also, I know it seems redundant, but always wait until after the 'Heave to play your land for the turn. I would be extremely frustrated if I went to all the trouble to build up the mana, win the counter war and force through an Upheaval, float three and drop the Tog, only to have it Blooded away on my opponent's next turn because I thought I might need the one extra land before the Heave for a Force Spike. Trust me, that lone Island will be much more useful protecting your win condition than adding support to your already-impressive countering power.

R/G Beatdown:
This is probably the roughest ride you'll have in the Tog-mobile, as it requires more removal than most builds can muster. You'll usually have to push the Big Blue Reset Button a lot earlier than you want to, just to stay alive. If you can Spike a turn 1 Llanowar Elves or a turn 2 Wild Mongrel, then by all means, do it - but it's generally a good idea to save most of your counters for the late-game burn.

If you played first and are holding a Blood, and the only creature they have is an Elf - cast the Blood. No questions asked. Not only will it stave off the turn 2 Call of the Herd or Mongrel/Grim Lavamancer (complete with end of turn Basking Rootwalla), but if you try to cast it later on, you're probably going to get the Elf anyway. Why wait?

What makes R/G so dangerous to Tog is the burn. There are several decks that can deal near-ridiculous amounts of damage early in the game, but R/G is one of the few that has the necessary tools to finish the job. A good R/G player who's done his research will know that most Tog decks don't maindeck much (if any) hand disruption, and will hang on to the Volcanic Hammers and Violent Eruptions until Tog starts approaching nine mana - at which point they're probably low on life already, and are generally less equipped to deal with it.

After sideboarding, don't be hesitant to Smother an Elf. A turn 3 Phantom Centaur is definitely bad news for Tog, especially when they have an Elf of Rootwalla to martyr in the event of an Edict or Blood. A 5/5 unblockable, unSmotherable, usually unsackable creature is definitely a Bad Thing. Your saving grace is usually Cunning Wish for a Chain of Vapor. At worst, they'll bounce your Compulsion or Tog, and you can chain it again and re-cast your permanents. As for the non-Wish versions, I don't really know what to tell you. Elephant Guided Centaurs can rearrange your face a lot faster than you can scrounge up enough mana to Upheaval - and without the Chain, you won't get the two-for-one with the Guide even if you do manage to somehow relieve yourself of the big meanie.

One problem that post-sideboarded R/G presents is kind of a catch-22 for Tog. They have better answers to your questions, sure, but the real issue is Compost giving them the upper hand whenever you can answer theirs. This essentially makes every creature in their deck a Call of the Herd, and that definitely qualifies as another Bad Thing. I really like Kai's idea of running Alter Reality as a Wish target - there shouldn't be too many purple cards hitting your graveyard too often, should there?

Or, if you have a really picky judge that makes you choose a color that's actually found somewhere in the game of Magic, I suppose white is just as scarce. It serves, anyway.

U/G Madness:
Believe it or not, you won't have as bad a time against U/G as you will R/G. While U/G has the ability to stay in the game longer, even its card-drawing power won't stand up to The Teeth the way straight burn does. Your only real problem is Arrogant Wurm - everything else in the deck can be Smothered, and the early Rootwallas, Merfolk Looters, and Aquamoebas will be easy prey for Innocent Blood. Playing an early Psychatog just to block, say around turn 5 or 6, will basically ensure the win, as long as you can keep them from amassing too many little soldiers.

A turn 1 Spike on a Careful Study can gain you a huge tempo advantage, as you're denying them the ability to dig for their fickle land base, and play one (or even two) Rootwallas in the process. Of course, the important thing isn't so much gaining tempo for yourself as much as taking it away from them. It's usually a good idea to hold a blue open after an Upheaval in case you need to Spike a certain reptilian chump blocker that can buy them an extra turn to start rebuilding their forces.

After sideboarding, watch out for opposing Upheavals. While it doesn't seem like it would be that devastating, if they pull if off before you're ready, it may very well be game, as they can recover much faster than you when you're not able to float Tog mana. Compost can also be a major pebble in the shoe, even more so than against R/G since they already have ample card drawing; Compost just provides more of something you don't want them to have - options. Of course, Alter Reality works just as well against U/G, but keep an eye out for Circular Logic. A timely counter on their part can really set you back, and that goes for any of your important spells, not just Wish/Alter Reality - most especially Upheaval.

Since they rarely have more than one Logic in hand, there shouldn't really be a counter war to resolve it, but make sure they don't have a Mongrel on the board when you're ready to reset. When their counters are cheaper than yours, you could be in some trouble.

Astroglide:
Another one of your easier matches. In Game One, things should run pretty smoothly, as long as you remember two things: Number one, Astral Slide and Lightning Rift are both equal threats to you. A lot of people will ignore Rift and focus on killing or countering Slide - but against Tog, either one can be just as useful. They can either start recurring a Teroh's Faithful and get way out of easy kill range, or they can just burn you out before you reach critical mass. Counter them both, if possible.

Number two, always counter Renewed Faith. Do not let them hard-cast it, or you'll have an extremely tough time amassing enough fuel for your Tog to go all the way. The little guy is usually good for about twenty to twenty-four points in a post-Upheaval swing, and if they resolve one (or, God forbid, two), that's one extra turn per point you'll have to take to kill them. If the game goes long for some reason, you'll be much better off, as that's more cards in hand and more in the yard to feed to your Tog. In normal situations, however, you're usually going to want to Heave around turn 10 or so, and a resolved Faith can really throw a monkey wrench in the beatdown machine.

In the next game or two, Duress is your best friend. If you can keep their enchantments off the board early, they'll be so preoccupied with milling themselves to find more that you can usually go about your business uninterrupted. Keep the Alter Reality in mind again; if they resolve a Faith and it's going to take you a few extra turns to make the KO, there's a good chance that a Circle of Protection: Black will pop up at the very wrong time - like their second (or third) turn after Upheaval.

Sligh:
This one can be tricky if you're not careful. Obviously, you should Smother Goblin Piledrivers immediately, and hold back counters for Blistering Firecat. Other than that, I don't think there's really a set game plan to go with against a deck like Sligh; just hold out through the initial rush, spot-kill some of the more dangerous-looking guys when necessary, counter what you have to, making sure to hang on to a few for the late burn, and just do what Tog does.

For Game Two, you're obviously going to want to bring in Engineered Plagues if you have them, usually set to Cat since they present more of a threat than most of their goblins. If you happen to come across two, they're going to have an extremely difficult time trying to hurt you. You can probably board out some of the slower card-drawing like Concentrate for this match, since usually if you've survived to the point where you would cast it, you have a pretty good handle on things. If you're playing Kai's version, you'll definitely want the two Edicts off the bench.

Beasts:
Another easy matchup for Tog. They don't get up and running fast enough to cause any real harm before you simply cast Upheaval for the win; however, if they get the fat crank rolling and you haven't seen a Heave yet, the water's starting to boil. Protect your Compulsion, and cycle like crazy.

Coffin Purge is a wise choice for a Wish target, just in case your win condition is running a little behind schedule and you need to stiff-arm a few tackles while Glory is active. Again, Alter Reality works wonders to cure the Compost disease.

Aside from the basics, this should be a pretty simple match, and over fairly quickly - at least, as far at Tog games go. It's not exactly RDW2K3, I guess, but you shouldn't go into extra turns.

Monoblack Control:
While they actually have some cards that really worry you, they don't have too much other than those few spells that you really want to counter. If they can slip a Corrupt under the radar, with or without Mirari, it will throw off your combat math, sort of like Renewed Faith does. My advice? Don't let that happen.

The fact that your deck contains a grand total of three creatures gives MBC a whole lot of dead cards in Game One, and they don't have the luxury of being able to cycle them all away with Compulsion like you do. In Games Two and Three, though, when the removal takes the back burner to disruption, you'll have a slightly harder time holding on to all your fun stuff. If they're running any creatures, don't counter a Cabal Therapy the first time around, even if they hit the battleship - unless it's something really important. You'll want to counter it the second time, after they've seen your hand and know what to call.

Tog has the luxury of being able to simply Counterspell anything it can't deal with. So, I think I'm going to take advantage of that ability, and give you a short list of targets: Diabolic Tutor, Corrupt, Mirari (always save one for Mirari, since it can make the rest of their spells soak up two counters), Riptide Replicator, Skeletal Scrying, and any disruption that would hit something really good. All pretty obvious, I know, but just in case.

Unless you just have a spare counter sitting around, I wouldn't really worry about Tainted Pact, since it doesn't usually find them what they're looking for anyway. The reason I prefer to counter Diabolic Tutor is along the same lines as the"Counter the Wish, or the Wish target?" debate. In a match I saw once between U/G and Beasts splashing red, the Beasts player cast Living Wish, and the U/G player let it slide, holding back a Logic with the intention of getting the two-for-one. The Beasts player, to his opponent's astonishment, grabbed Contested Cliffs from his sideboard, drops it, and proceeds to demolish the U/G player's board.

The moral of the story: Counter the tutor. You don't know what they're looking for, especially at the crazy tech world of Regionals.

Wake:
This is yet another fairly simple match - I know, surprise, freakin' surprise. The key here is usually countering their Mirari and Cunning Wishes. If possible, counter the Wake as well, but it's not that big of a deal, and remember that they have counters of their own, so don't waste them all.

While Wake has a toolbox full of fun stuff to combat just about every deck out there, they don't really have anything specifically designed for Tog, except a Counterspell or two, maybe Seedtime, and a Mana Short of their own. The best part about this match is that they take just about as long as you do to really get rolling, so you're not having to fend off the multitudes while you get ready to go off.

You'll want a Compulsion in play as soon as possible, for two reasons: Since all your removal is dead here, it will serve you much better being replaced for 1U, and since your early mana won't be tied up with said removal, you can spend all you have on cycling anything you don't need, to speed yourself into what you do need. I've noticed that some people are in the habit of using Compulsion to cycle away one Upheaval if they're holding two - don't do that here. There is a very distinct possibility that you will lose a counter war over Upheaval, should one occur. It's always good to have one waiting, just in case.

This is one of the very few matchups where you don't really have to test against their deck post-sideboard, since their board is mostly Wish targets and they don't really have anything to bring in against you, save maybe the occasional Seedtime. Their removal is usually all in the form of Wrath of God, so you won't create as many dead cards for them as you do for MBC, but countering a few key spells here and there can really gum things up for them. If you have an extra Spike, and they're not playing around it, stopping a Rampant Growth can be some serious tempo loss for them. At worst, it's slightly more effective than Memory Lapsing a spell - and that extra turn or two could prove to be crucial.

Opposition:
In Game One, it's almost a joke. Don't let them resolve an Opposition, and you're all clear. Not much tech to share with you guys here. For Game Two, chances are they'll pull out most of the control elements and go for the beatdown - in which case it's a bad U/G Madness, which is a deck you already beat anyway.

As for the versions splashing black, they're even less focused than the U/G builds. Their black spells aren't completely useless, but they're not too effective, either; Cabal Therapy can catch you off-guard, and Smother may soak up a Logic or two, but it's nothing to worry about. After sideboarding, they'll have an even tougher time becoming the aggressor than straight U/G will.

Since you probably won't have any creatures before Upheaval, they're probably going to try and tap your lands during your upkeep. If they get you into a sort of lock like this, simply tap all your mana in response to Compulsion into a Cunning Wish, go for Chain of Vapor, and send Opposition back where it came from (not that I'm trying to equate their hand to the pits of hell...). They'll realize that you doing so means you have a counter in your hand, and will probably wait until they find another one before they attempt to recast it.

Even if you don't really have a Counterspell, threats are usually good enough. Make lots of obvious"go ahead, play it" gestures, such as slowly and deliberately leaving the appropriate amount of mana open when tapping for something, and conspicuously moving a card from the back of your hand to the front or reaching for you lands whenever they tap to cast something.

Well, I think that about sums it up. As much as I'd like to throw in a short little rundown of last Saturday's PTQ, to do so would raise painful memories that I don't think I can handle yet. I'm sure the people in my apartment complex have no clue what in the hell an Exalted Angel is, nor do they want to listen to me repeatedly and vehemently curse it. So, I'll spare you the details of how a guy that got a Silvos could barely finish with a winning record, and leave you with the assurance that only one of the losses came from play errors on my part.

Really - only one, I promise.

Yes, it was an extremely bomb-a-licous day at Neutral Ground (or Matchplay, or whatever it's called).

As always, if I missed anything in the review, email me or post a reply, and I'll go over it next week.

Jared Gardner
LokiStrife@aol.com