The control deck has been a passion for many Magic players over the years. I will be the first to admit, I am not one of those players. Most control archetypes have seemed to me to be too unstable, too inconsistent, and not much fun to play. While some in the past couple years have been Tier 1 decks, I have always managed to find something about them that I don’t like. That’s my own problem, though, and several control archetypes have been much better than I originally make them out to be.

Last year we saw a variety of control decks win big. Nether-Go. Counter-Rebel. Go-mar. Go-sis. Probe-Go. Even some U/W Millstone decks were successful. This year at States came many new control decks: Finkula, Opposition (of many kinds), Tempo, Liquid Tempo, Snaketongue, U/W/R control, and many more. It was only very recently, after States, that is, that a new control deck popped up: one more consistent and easier to play than any of the above. Psychatog. This is the one control archetype that I actually like to use.

I, for one, am not exactly sure why this deck didn’t catch on sooner. It gained potential to win big as soon as Psychatog came out; Invasion Block and 7th had everything it needed. But I do know that once it sprang up, it became one of the best decks, if not the best deck, in Standard.

In this article, I will take a look at what makes up this deck, before and after the release of the latest set, Torment. A lot of people, when this deck started to prove itself, began calling Psychatog the best deck in Type II. This may be true, and if it is, then what Wizards has just done is they have taken the best deck there is and made even better. This may be considered bad for the game, but with the way the metagame works, it will eventually end up being demolished as people figure out how to beat it.

The truth of the matter is, that may not be possible for quite a while. Let’s take a look at the deck itself. I’ll share my decklist for Psychatog. Feel free to post your own, or just whine and moan about mine.

LANDS (22)
11 Island
7 Swamp
4 Underground River

CREATURES (4)
4 Psychatog

SPELLS (34)
4 Counterspell
4 Duress
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Force Spike
4 Memory Lapse
4 Opt
3 Probe
3 Recoil
2 Repulse
3 Syncopate

Okay, there you have it. My version of the unbeatable Psychatog deck. There are a few differences you will notice between my decklist and others you will see. The cards you may have expected include:

Salt Marsh: I cannot afford to wait another turn while I could be playing a first-turn Duress, Opt, or Force Spike. With thirteen one-drops it just doesn’t make sense.

Nightscape Familiar: This guy almost made the cut, but I have a couple problems with these: first, I have thirteen blue spells that have no colorless mana, and second, tapping out early in the game to play it, making myself vulnerable to uncountered, immediate threats (and burn of Familiar himself), is just too risky.

Shadowmage Infiltrator: Also came close, but I like an almost-creatureless way of playing this deck. Too many people have gotten used to Finkels and know how their deck kills them, so it’s just not worth the deck space.

Undermine: Quite frankly, I should play these. I just don’t use them ‘cause I don’t have any. I’m only fifteen and don’t work during the school year. If you have them, by all means, use them.

Innocent Blood: My only creature is Psychatog, so this hurts me just as much as it hurts them. It just doesn’t work well for this deck.

Aether Burst: This may, after more playtesting, make its way in. Right now I favor the Repulses, because the drawing helps me find ‘Togs, but these are strong too.

So, now that you’ve taken a look at my approach to the deck, let me explain how Torment will make it even better. Here are five cards that will win themselves a slot in my upcoming Psychatog deck in March 2002:

Obsessive Search
C, Instant , U
Draw a card.
Madness U

This card has great synergy with the Tog; discard a card to pump it up, then cycle in a new card to your hand for only one mana.

Chainer's Edict
U, Sorcery , 1B
Target player sacrifices a creature.
Flashback 5BB

I have been looking for a dirt-cheap creature removal. Two mana is nice, and flashback, although way too much, may come in handy (hey, don’t laugh, you never know). Innocent Blood, I already explained, and Ghastly Demise, well, the word “nonblack” is a pain in the you-know-what.

Tainted Isle
U, Land
T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool.
T: Add U or B to your mana pool. Play this ability
only if you control a swamp.

The new “Tainted” lands are going to be great. They are duals as long as you have a swamp, and with a two-color deck, you will.

Ambassador Laquatus
R, Creature - Merfolk Legend, 1UU, 1/3
3: Target player puts the top three cards of his or
her library into his or her graveyard.

Most people see this as only useful in Millstone decks that deck the opponent to win. Not me. This is a tool to feed your graveyard. Save up dozens of cards in the grave in order to hasten the Psychatog’s victory.

Circular Logic
U, Instant, 2U
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1 for
each card in your graveyard.
Madness U

This card is perfect for this deck. Obviously, there is pretty much no way they will be able to pay this cost, as you will have a graveyard of mass proportions. With a Tog in play, this is a Counterspell for only one mana. Got to love that!

Okay, so Torment did take great deck and made it even better. What will it look like in the end? Here’s my guess, I’d be happy to see people post theirs, because mine may be way off.

9 Island
7 Swamp
3 Tainted Isle
3 Underground River

4 Psychatog

3 Ambassador Laquatus
4 Circular Logic
4 Counterspell
4 Duress
3 Memory Lapse
4 Obsessive Search
4 Opt
3 Probe
2 Recoil
3 Syncopate

Note: The aforementioned Edicts will be sideboarded, to save for when big creatures are a serious problem. There’s just not enough room for them unless they are really, really needed.

So there you have it. A deck that is believed by many to be the best deck in Type II is now new and improved. It has gotten more effective in several areas: the manabase, creature removal, card drawing/graveyard feeding, and, hands down, the deck’s best counterspell.

Torment rolls in to Type II on March 1, 2002, a Friday, and I’ve already picked out my deck for that FNM. I seriously wonder if there’s any deck out there that can compete with this Psychatog deck. Tings has a fighting chance, because Obliterate can be a pain. Luckily, that’s where Duress comes in. Most aggro archetypes are just too vulnerable to the mass counterspells, so they are the best matchups for this deck. Other control decks should be interesting; Tempo, Snaketongue, Counter-Trenches and others should be the most fun matchups to watch. But, definitely, this deck will be the one to watch when Torment jumps into the ring this March. If you’re like me, and you don’t like control decks that much, and you’re like me in another way, you’re overly stubborn, then there’s only one thing I have to say to you: if you can’t beat them, join them. And trust me, you can’t beat them.

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A) You're just giving your opponent another removal bait, those four Psychatogs aren't going to overload them alone anyway

B) I could imagine you'd be wanting to cast Fact or Fictions at end of turn while keeping mana for counters open at all times, and Laquatus doesn't help at that

C) When you've used 6 mana, your Psychatog does 1½ damage more. With 9, you have 3 extra damage, and you've used a card itself in Laquatus... I'd rather be running more bounce to get rid of my opponent's creatures

And I wouldn't play both Opt and Obsessive Search, or that many counters.

Your deck will so lose if your opponent drops a hard-to-kill creature or something with evasion. You got only 2 bounce spells in the whole deck!

No... Fact or Fiction? Huh?

Just my opinions. I might be wrong. But most probably not.

quote:

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Originally posted by Trnothr:
I wouldn't play Laquatus. Why? Because

A) You're just giving your opponent another removal bait, those four Psychatogs aren't going to overload them alone anyway

B) I could imagine you'd be wanting to cast Fact or Fictions at end of turn while keeping mana for counters open at all times, and Laquatus doesn't help at that

C) When you've used 6 mana, your Psychatog does 1½ damage more. With 9, you have 3 extra damage, and you've used a card itself in Laquatus... I'd rather be running more bounce to get rid of my opponent's creatures

And I wouldn't play both Opt and Obsessive Search, or that many counters.

Your deck will so lose if your opponent drops a hard-to-kill creature or something with evasion. You got only 2 bounce spells in the whole deck!

No... Fact or Fiction? Huh?

Just my opinions. I might be wrong. But most probably not.

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You're probably right about Laquatus, he might not make the final cut. The reason for no Fact or Fiction was to make room, manawise, for Laquatus. But you definitely make valid points, so I might just replace the Ambassadors with FoFs. I like the idea of both Opts and Searches, both one-mana ways to dig deeper into the library. I don't see what's wrong with running both. With your bounce spells comment, Aether Bursts may find their way in there (in place of Opts or Searches if some playtesting proves you right), and I may make room for some Repulses too. I like these comments, we will see the outcome of all this in March though.

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"If you dont like your job, go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way."
-Homer Simpson

I collect Wild Mongrels! If you have foil ones, foreign ones, or just plain regular Mongrels, go to my list!

Now, there are three viable cyclers for one mana: Opt, Peek and Obsessive Search. I'd run Obsessive Searchs only if Cephalid Coliseums would be in, as they work wonders with them. Opt is better digging than the other two, but i'd still take Peek over it, as Peek lets you know when it's safe to attack with Tog and shows you the things you should save counters for.

You need more bounce, 2 Recoil just can't clear the way for Tog. I have 4 Aether Bursts and 2 Recoils, and they are usually enough for the Alpha Strike.

Undermine is a must-have for a Tog deck. You can go off much earlier after a couple of 'Mines, as you don't have to pump your Psychatog so much when they already have some damage. These are just so important for the deck that you can't leave them out.

Salt Marsh vs. Tainted Isle. I prefer Marsh, because you cannot play one-drops with Isle either. Also you may find yourself mana-screwed if you don't draw any swamps.

Here is a decklist i'd suggest:
2 Cephalid Coliseum
7 Island
7 Swamp
1 Tainted Isle
3 Salt Marsh
4 Underground River

4 Psychatog

4 Fact or Fiction
3 Circular Logic
4 Counterspell
3 Duress
3 Memory Lapse
4 Peek
2 Probe
4 Aether Burst
2 Recoil
3 Undermine

My decklist probably lacks some early control like Force Spikes or Disrupts, but it should do well against control decks. Feel free to share your thoughts!

__________________
"I just heard Napalm Death today. Now every band sounds a lot better than before."
-Me

4 cephalid coliseum
4 salt marsh
6 swamps
7 islands

quote:

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Originally posted by bburgamy2001:
you will be screwed if someont manages to get a sabertooth nishaboa out. and if all your atogs get killed my one of the numerous creature kill spelld out there.

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Ignorance is bliss, isn't it?

The tog deck will either counter nishoba or get slays out of the SB and kill it with that.

Aether Burst is a must. your main concern with bounce is to make way for psycatog. i, myself, go with 4 bursts and 3 repulses.

I would try out predicts in the deck. More often than not, it will give you two cards in your hand and two cards in your graveyard(if you predict yourself) giving you 4 more points of damage with 'tog.

Fact or fictions is a must for the deck also. nuff said.

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Magic1264@hotmail.com

Famous Quote:

Obsessive Search is only good in the later game, when your Togs are in play and your Colosseums are active. Your 1-CC burrowers should remain Opt and/or Peek. Both are good for certain situations. I prefer running 23 lands and 3 Opt and 2 Peek personally.

Probe is too slow. It just is. Plus it's way too mana-intensive.

Predict is also an excellent choice, as you will often hit due to either Memory Lapse or the number of Islands in your own deck.

You also, as many others have said, need at least 6 bounce spells in some reasonable combo of Aether Bursts, Recoils and/or Repulses. The deck thrives best when it can effectively clear the way for the Tog.

And yes, Laquatus is a terrible idea.

__________________
"Where are you Jebus??"
-Homer Simpson

quote:

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Originally posted by Lim Dul, the Ravenous:
can anyone tell me why there are no zombie infestation in pyscatog decks? I think 2 of these would be a nice addition? maybe Im wrong

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