Premodern Psychatog Deck Guide (2026)
Premodern Psychatog, or Tog, is a blue-black control deck that wins with Psychatog, which grows when you discard cards or exile them from your graveyard. Premodern bans Brainstorm and Force of Will, so this is not the Legacy deck: Foil is the counterspell that costs no mana, and Gush and Accumulated Knowledge draw the cards. Since September it holds about 3 percent of the MTGTop8 lists (52 of 1,914, eleventh among the decks with a guide here), most of them blue-black. Chris Roy finished second of 80 at the New England Autumn Regional on October 3, and RokeJunior (MTGO Challenge) and Michele Zino (Empoli) each won a 45-player event in early September. Its hardest matchups are Enchantress, Landstill, Mono Black, The Rock, Full English Breakfast, Pit Rack and Contamination.
How the deck wins
- Psychatog is a 1/2 for three that costs no mana to pump: discard a card for +1/+1, exile two cards from your graveyard for +1/+1. Every card you discard goes to the graveyard and can then be exiled too, so each card in hand is worth about one and a half power: a Tog with five cards in hand and ten in the graveyard hits for thirteen. Against 20 life that is usually two attacks, and since Psychatog is the only creature in most lists, the deck plays four and can afford to lose the first one to removal.
- The engine is cheap card advantage. Accumulated Knowledge draws one card plus one for each Accumulated Knowledge in all graveyards, so four copies draw ten cards across a game as long as none of them is exiled; exile other cards for Psychatog first. Gush costs no mana if you return two Islands you control, and you can tap both for mana before you return them. On the kill turn the two Islands and the two cards it draws are four discards for +4, and exiling those four cards afterward adds +2, so one Gush is six extra power.
- Unlike Legacy, Premodern bans Brainstorm, Force of Will, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Necropotence, Entomb and Yawgmoth's Will. Foil takes Force of Will's place, and casting it puts three cards into your graveyard (Foil itself, the Island and the other discarded card), where Psychatog can exile them.
- Psychatog is a control deck with one finisher, and most games are long. Upheaval, the reset card of the Extended-era Tog decks, is legal here, but almost no current list plays it, main deck or sideboard: six mana is a lot against the format's one-mana creatures.
- About one Psychatog list in five since April added white, but only about one in nine since September (6 of 52 on MTGTop8). Most of these lists are registered simply as Psychatog and run City of Brass, Flooded Strand and Mox Diamond for Meddling Mage, Swords to Plowshares, Armageddon and often Fire // Ice, usually without Duress, Smother or Polluted Delta. They play very differently and cost far more: one Mox Diamond costs more than a whole blue-black list.
Core cards
- 4 Psychatog
- 4 Counterspell
- 4 Gush
- 4 Portent
- 4 Accumulated Knowledge
- 3 Foil
- 3 Impulse
- 3 Opt
- 3 Duress
- 2 Smother
- 2 Sickening Dreams
- 4 Polluted Delta
- 3 Underground River
- 10 Island
Key cards
- Psychatog: A 1/2 for three that blocks the format's X/1s early, and bigger creatures once you pump it, then turns your hand and graveyard into power at instant speed for no mana: +1/+1 for each card you discard and for every two cards you exile from your graveyard. Each pump is a separate activation, so the opponent can respond to every one of them.
- Foil: The closest thing to Force of Will in Premodern: it counters any spell for no mana if you discard an Island card and another card from your hand, and Foil and both discarded cards go to your graveyard, where Psychatog can exile them later. It costs you two extra cards, which a deck with Gush and Accumulated Knowledge can afford.
- Gush: It costs no mana if you return two Islands you control, so you can cast it at instant speed with all your lands tapped; tap the Islands for mana first if you need it this turn. It refills the hand, and on the kill turn the two Islands and the two new cards are four discards for Psychatog, plus two more power once those four are exiled from the graveyard.
- Accumulated Knowledge: It draws one card plus one for each Accumulated Knowledge in all graveyards, so the four copies draw ten cards over a game if all of them stay there. Cast them one at a time as soon as you can, and do not exile them to Psychatog while copies are left in your library.
- Counterspell: Four copies in every blue-black list: two mana, any spell. Save it for the cards that beat you, such as Survival of the Fittest, Opalescence, Replenish, Stasis or the removal spell aimed at Psychatog.
- Duress: Turn-one disruption against Enchantress, Replenish, Oath, Stiflenought and the mirror: it takes a noncreature, nonland card, so it finds enchantments, combo pieces and counterspells, but not Argothian Enchantress or Phyrexian Dreadnought. Three or four copies in every blue-black list since September.
- Sickening Dreams: Discard X cards as an extra cost, and it deals X damage to each creature and each player, you included. In almost every list since September, after almost none before June: a sweeper against Goblins and Elves, X cards in your graveyard for Psychatog, and a way to finish a game when the opponent has less life than you. With X of 2 or more it kills an unpumped Psychatog, so pump it in response or cast Dreams first.
- Smother: Instant-speed removal for a creature with mana value 3 or less, at any size: Goblin Warchief, Quirion Dryad, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Terravore, an opposing Psychatog, a face-down Exalted Angel or an animated Mishra's Factory. It cannot target Argothian Enchantress, which has shroud, or a creature with protection from black. In every blue-black list since September, usually two or three copies.
- Wonder: Played much less since July: in about one in eight MTGTop8 lists since September, against about two in three in the spring. It is rarely cast: discard it to Foil, Sickening Dreams or the Tog's own pump, and as long as it is in your graveyard and you control an Island, your creatures have flying, so a big Psychatog gets past ground blockers. Do not exile it to pump the Tog, and expect graveyard hate to take it away.
Mulligan guide
Keep
- Two lands including a real Island, two cantrips (Portent, Opt) and a Counterspell or Duress.
- On the draw, one-land hands with an Island and two or more cantrips: risky, but the deck runs eight to twelve cheap cantrips (Portent, Opt, Impulse).
- Three lands with Accumulated Knowledge and one piece of interaction.
Ship
- Any hand with no Island and no Polluted Delta. Gush returns two Islands you control and Foil discards an Island card from your hand; Underground River is not an Island, but Polluted Delta can fetch one.
- Two Psychatog and no cantrips: the second Tog does little while the first is alive, and nothing in the hand finds lands or answers.
- All-reactive hands with no card advantage against Enchantress or Landstill, which have more card advantage than you.
Count Islands as well as lands: Gush and Foil are paid for with Islands instead of mana, so a hand or a deck with too few Islands loses two of its best cards.
Play tips and sequencing
- Swords to Plowshares is the removal spell that hurts most, because it exiles the Tog at any size, and the life it gives you does not make up for the cards you discarded to pump it. Attack with an unpumped 1/2, pump only after blockers are declared, and only as far as you need: every activation gives them another chance to respond.
- Against Landstill, Tron, The Solution and Enchantress, which all play Swords to Plowshares in almost every list, one of your four Togs can be bait: an early copy draws out their removal or a counter before the copy you want to protect.
- Against aggro, cast Psychatog on turn three as a blocker. Against control and combo, hold the copy you want to win with until you can protect it with a counterspell of your own or end the game in two attacks: cast into open counter mana with nothing behind it, it only trades for their Counterspell.
- Cast Accumulated Knowledge early, one copy at a time, so each one counts the copies before it. Graveyard hate shrinks the count: a Tormod's Crypt used before your third copy turns it from three cards into one. Copies in your opponent's graveyard count for you too.
- Graveyard hate only takes half your fuel: discarding from your hand still pumps Psychatog. Phyrexian Furnace exiles one card each turn, Withered Wretch one card for each {1}, and Tormod's Crypt a whole graveyard at once. Annul counters Furnace and Crypt while they are cast; once they are on the battlefield, they can be used in response to anything, so Chain of Vapor on them saves little.
- Gush returns two Islands to your hand, so tap them for mana first if you need it; the mana stays only until the end of the step. The Islands are not lost: they are your next land drops and the Island cards Foil wants to discard.
- Sickening Dreams deals X damage to your own Psychatog and to you as well. With X of 2 or more, pump the Tog in response, for example by exiling the cards you just discarded to cast it, or cast it while Psychatog is not on the battlefield.
Matchups
- Stiflenought (favorable): Stifle and Phyrexian Dreadnought are a two-card combo, and you have answers to both: Counterspell, Foil and Duress for Stifle, Smother for a Dreadnought that stays, and Annul, in about a third of your main decks and every sideboard, counters Dreadnought as it is cast. Chain of Vapor, in half your lists, returns Dreadnought to their hand, and they need another Stifle to keep it. Their Daze, Foil, Thwart and Misdirection fight your counters, Vision Charm, in every list, phases Dreadnought out in response to Smother or Chain of Vapor, and Powder Keg, in most of their lists, destroys Psychatog on three fuse counters. After boarding about two of three bring Back to Basics, which keeps your Underground River from untapping. MTGDecks: 58 percent over 113 matches.
- Goblins (favorable): Counterspell and Foil stop Goblin Warchief and Goblin Ringleader, Smother and Sickening Dreams kill small Goblins, and Psychatog blocks anything except Goblin Piledriver, which has protection from blue. Engineered Plague, Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast come in after boarding. MTGDecks: 60 percent over 48 matches.
- Sligh (even): Burn goes around a Psychatog on defense, Foil costs you two cards and Polluted Delta costs life, but Counterspell and Hydroblast trade well with one-for-one burn and a big Tog blocks every creature they have. Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast come in after boarding, in a few lists Ivory Tower too, whose lifegain Sulfuric Vortex stops; expect Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast and Overload in return. A quarter of Sligh lists now play four Black Vise and four Pyrostatic Pillar and keep only eight creatures. The Blasts can't answer Vise, which is colorless, so counter it as it is cast. Psychatog, Counterspell, Duress, Smother, Accumulated Knowledge and Sickening Dreams each trigger Pillar for 2 damage to you; Fact or Fiction, Foil and Gush have mana value 4 or more and don't. MTGDecks: 46 percent over 61 matches.
- Enchantress (unfavorable): Duress and Annul on the draw engine is a real plan. Smother can't target Argothian Enchantress, but Sickening Dreams with one discarded card kills it, and a resolved Opalescence or Parallax Wave out-resources you. MTGDecks: 38 percent over 69 matches.
- Landstill (unfavorable): Two control decks, but theirs has more answers to your one threat: four Swords to Plowshares exile Psychatog through any pump, Mishra's Factory attacks while you hold up counters, and Phyrexian Furnace exiles cards from your graveyard. A resolved Standstill punishes Gush, Portent and Accumulated Knowledge. Your best cards are Duress before Standstill lands, Foil in the counter war, Smother for an animated Mishra's Factory, and after boarding Tsabo's Web, which keeps their Mishra's Factory, Faerie Conclave and Dust Bowl from untapping. MTGDecks: 26 percent over 43 matches.
- Replenish (favorable): Duress, Counterspell and Annul all hit their combo pieces, and in game one they have no clock without the combo. Their ways past your counters are Abeyance, in most of their lists, Decree of Silence and, after boarding, Defense Grid; Meddling Mage can name Counterspell, and Exalted Angel adds a clock. Tormod's Crypt in response to Replenish empties their graveyard. MTGDecks: 64 percent over 45 matches.
- Elves (slightly unfavorable): Their Survival of the Fittest with Squee finds a new threat every turn, and Gaea's Cradle makes more mana than one-for-one counters can handle, but Sickening Dreams, in most of your main decks since September, kills every one-toughness Elf for one discarded card, and Smother kills Priest of Titania. After boarding Engineered Plague naming Elf kills every Elf with toughness 1, though Wirewood Symbiote, an Insect, and Masticore survive it. Counter Survival and Deranged Hermit and let the mana Elves resolve. Masticore, in most of their lists, cannot be targeted by Smother and survives a small Sickening Dreams. Limited data: 53 percent over 17 matches.
- Mono Black (unfavorable): Duress and Cabal Therapy take your counters before they matter, Hypnotic Specter and Ravenous Rats empty your hand, which is the Tog's ammunition, and Withered Wretch exiles your graveyard one card per mana. Smother and Diabolic Edict kill Psychatog whatever its size, so protect it with Counterspell or Foil or hold it until they are tapped out. Your own Smother and Sickening Dreams kill their two-drops and Hypnotic Specter, and Annul after boarding counters Cursed Scroll. MTGDecks: 42 percent over 53 matches.
- Oath of Druids (favorable): A resolved Psychatog switches their Oath on, so fight the enchantment first: Duress and Counterspell answer Oath of Druids and Sphere of Resistance, and so does Annul, in about a quarter of your main decks and almost every sideboard. Their Rishadan Port and land destruction punish a twenty-land mana base, so fetch basics early; their Wasteland finds little beyond Underground River. Smother kills Terravore, and after boarding Control Magic takes it and Tormod's Crypt shrinks it. Limited data: 69 percent over 35 matches.
- UG Madness (even): Smother handles Wild Mongrel and Basking Rootwalla, and Sickening Dreams does too unless they pump them in response, but Circular Logic and Roar of the Wurm out-tempo you if you stumble. Limited data: 47 percent over 17 matches.
- The Rock (unfavorable): Duress takes your counters, Cabal Therapy takes them or Psychatog itself, and Smother, in most of their lists, and Diabolic Edict, in about half, kill the Tog whatever its size. Pernicious Deed, in almost every list, destroys Psychatog with X of 3 along with your Powder Keg and Tsabo's Web, and once it is on the battlefield your counters cannot stop it. Treetop Village is a land your counters cannot touch, Ravenous Baloth gains them 4 life when it is sacrificed, and Krosan Tusker can be cycled for a card and a basic land. After boarding they bring Haunting Echoes and Tormod's Crypt for your graveyard. Counter the discard and Deed, and cast Psychatog when they are tapped out. Limited data: 21 percent over 19 matches.
- Reanimator (favorable): Duress and Counterspell take or counter Reanimate, Exhume and Animate Dead, but their Cabal Therapy, Duress and Unmask try to clear the way first. Akroma, Angel of Wrath, in almost every list, has protection from black: Smother cannot target it and Psychatog cannot block it, so counter the reanimation spell or exile their graveyard first; Chain of Vapor, which is blue, can still return Akroma to their hand. Exhume also returns a creature card from your graveyard, a Psychatog or a Wonder. After boarding bring Tormod's Crypt and use it in response to the reanimation spell; most of their lists bring Oath of Druids, and their Sickening Dreams for two or more kills Psychatog unless you pump it in response. No match data.
- Tron (even): Two control decks, and theirs has the bigger late game: the Urza lands pay for Stroke of Genius and Fact or Fiction, and a cycled Decree of Justice makes more Soldiers than one Psychatog can block. Cycling it is an ability, so your counters only stop Decree when they cast it. Swords to Plowshares, in every list, exiles Psychatog, Masticore deals 1 damage to it for each {2} they pay, so every shot costs you a pump, and Wrath of God clears the board. Duress, Counterspell and Foil fight Stroke of Genius, Masticore and Wrath, and Gush and Accumulated Knowledge keep you level on cards. No match data.
- Clerics (even): Engineered Plague naming Cleric after boarding kills Dark Supplicant and Priest of Gix and shrinks the rest, though every Cleric that dies gives them a 2/2 Zombie through Rotlung Reanimator. In game one their discard and Cabal Archon's drain are hard on a two-attack clock: Duress and Cabal Therapy take your counters, Withered Wretch, in almost every list, exiles your graveyard one card for each {1}, and Smother, in most lists, kills Psychatog at any size. Dark Supplicant can sacrifice three Clerics to put Scion of Darkness, a 6/6 trampler too big for Smother, onto the battlefield, and their Snuff Out cannot target Psychatog, which is black. Your Smother and Sickening Dreams kill Rotlung Reanimator, Cabal Archon and Withered Wretch. No match data.
- The Solution (even): Lightning Angel flies over the Tog, and they hold Swords to Plowshares and counters, but Gush and Accumulated Knowledge give you more cards. Smother and Sickening Dreams kill Mother of Runes and Meddling Mage, Duress takes their counters and burn, and Hydroblast after boarding destroys Lightning Angel. No match data.
- Dromar Control (even): Meddling Mage naming Psychatog or Accumulated Knowledge stops you from casting that card, so Smother the Mage first. Smother also kills Shadowmage Infiltrator, but not a face-up Exalted Angel, which is in every list, and they can turn a face-down Angel face up in response, so counter the Angel when it is cast face down. Their Swords to Plowshares and Vindicate kill Psychatog, Mother of Runes can protect a creature from your Smother, and their Duress and Mana Leak fight your counters, so the game turns on whose discard and counters land first. No match data.
- Deadguy Ale (even to slightly unfavorable): Duress, Gerrard's Verdict and Hypnotic Specter attack your hand, and Withered Wretch, in most of their lists, exiles your graveyard one card for each {1}: it keeps Psychatog small and takes Accumulated Knowledge, or Deep Analysis in the lists that play it, before you can use it. Swords to Plowshares and Vindicate wait for the Tog, so pump it only after blockers are declared and only as far as you need. Exalted Angel, in almost every list, is the card to counter, best when it is cast face down, since turning it face up cannot be countered: face up it is too big for Smother and gains them life. Smother still kills Hypnotic Specter, Withered Wretch, Nantuko Shade and a face-down Angel. Their Phyrexian Arena draws them an extra card every turn in a long game. No match data.
- Aluren (even to slightly favorable): Counterspell, Foil and Duress answer Aluren itself, and Man-o'-War and Chain of Vapor, main deck in about half their lists, are their answers to Psychatog: either returns the Tog to your hand, and you have to cast it again. Once Aluren is out, Smother on Man-o'-War, Spike Feeder or Soul Warden works best while a Cavern Harpy spell is on the stack. At any other moment they can save the target: Harpy, returned to hand for 1 life and recast, returns Man-o'-War before Smother resolves, and a recast Man-o'-War returns any other creature. Countering that Harpy spell with Counterspell or Foil is cleaner still. Sickening Dreams is a sorcery, so it only sweeps their board on your own turn. After boarding most of their lists bring Xantid Swarm, which keeps you from casting spells on the turn it attacks, and some bring Swords to Plowshares, Meddling Mage or Tormod's Crypt. Every time Cavern Harpy returns itself, they pay 1 life, so a big Psychatog makes long loops risky for them unless Soul Warden or Spike Feeder gains the life back. Very limited data: 100 percent over 5 matches.
- Terrageddon (slightly favorable): Counterspell and Foil answer Armageddon and Terravore, Duress takes Armageddon, and Gush cast in response to Armageddon returns two Islands to your hand before it resolves. Smother kills Terravore at any size, and Psychatog exiling the land cards in your graveyard shrinks it. Swords to Plowshares, in every list, is their answer to Psychatog, Wasteland and Rishadan Port go after your lands, and Nimble Mongoose, which has shroud, and Call of the Herd, which comes back by flashback, are hard to answer for good. After boarding expect Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast, which destroy Psychatog, Cursed Totem, which stops its pumps, and Tormod's Crypt. MTGDecks: 57 percent over 44 matches.
- MUD (even): Counterspells and Foil fight Tinker and Duress takes lock pieces, but Psychatog needs mana, and Winter Orb plus Tangle Wire limit it. Triskelion's three pings force you to pump Psychatog twice, with a card from hand or two from the graveyard each time, and Phyrexian Furnace shrinks your graveyard. Expect Defense Grid after boarding.
- Full English Breakfast (unfavorable): Counter Survival of the Fittest or take it with Duress: once it resolves, only Chain of Vapor, in half your lists, can return it to their hand. Smother and Sickening Dreams kill Hermit Druid before it can activate, and Counterspell and Foil stop Unearth and Animate Dead. From the sideboard, Annul counters Survival and Animate Dead, and Engineered Plague naming Druid kills every Hermit Druid while it stays on the battlefield. Their Cabal Therapy takes your counters, and after boarding Xantid Swarm keeps you from casting spells on the turn it attacks, Duress protects the combo, Pyroclasm kills an unpumped Psychatog, and Swords to Plowshares, in about half their sideboards, exiles it. Limited data: 27 percent over 22 matches.
- Stasis (favorable): You play the same free spells with Gush and Foil, draw with Accumulated Knowledge, add Duress, and Psychatog grows without mana, so a Tog that is untapped when Stasis lands can still attack once for a lot of damage. Duress, Counterspell, Foil and Annul answer Stasis and Black Vise, which is in every list: with a full hand Vise deals you 1 damage for each card over four in each of your upkeeps, but with Psychatog out you can discard in response to the trigger. Their Chain of Vapor, four in every list, returns a pumped Psychatog to your hand, so pump only after blockers are declared. Their main sideboard plan is Cursed Totem, which stops Psychatog's pumps: take it with Duress or counter it. MTGDecks: 67 percent over 24 matches, limited data.
- White Weenie (even): Soltari and Mother of Runes put you on a clock Psychatog cannot block, and Armageddon strands your counters. Sickening Dreams kills their X/1s except the ones with protection from black, Smother handles the rest, and Counterspell or Foil answers Exalted Angel. After boarding, your Engineered Plague naming Cleric kills Mother of Runes, Soltari Priest and Soltari Monk, and they bring Tormod's Crypt. Very limited data: 50 percent over 8 matches.
- BW Control (slightly unfavorable): Their graveyard hate is the problem: Phyrexian Furnace, in about two of three main decks, and after boarding Tormod's Crypt and Haunting Echoes, which also exiles from your library every copy of each card it exiles, Accumulated Knowledge included. Swords to Plowshares exiles the Tog, so pump only after blockers are declared and only as far as you need, and Gerrard's Verdict makes you discard two cards of your choice. Save counters for Vindicate, Exalted Angel, Eternal Dragon and their discard. Decree of Justice cycled in your end step and Eternal Dragon's return to their hand are abilities your counters cannot stop, but the Dragon itself is a seven-mana spell you can counter. Limited data: 43 percent over 14 matches.
- Gro-a-Tog (favorable): Both decks play Psychatog, Gush, Counterspell and Foil, but yours is built for the long game: Smother kills Quirion Dryad at any size and Meddling Mage, Sickening Dreams kills a Dryad before it grows, Duress takes their counters, and Accumulated Knowledge keeps you ahead on cards. Their Swords to Plowshares exiles your Psychatog, Fire // Ice kills it unless you pump it in response, and Meddling Mage can name Psychatog, though that stops their own copies too; counter the Mage. Most of their lists also play Armageddon: cast Gush in response to keep two Islands. Limited data: 83 percent over 18 matches.
- Pit Rack (unfavorable): Their discard empties the hand Psychatog needs: Duress, Funeral Charm and Cabal Therapy take your counters, and Bottomless Pit makes you discard a card at random in each of your upkeeps. Smother or Diabolic Edict kills a lone Psychatog, and Cursed Scroll, in almost every list, deals 2 damage to it or to you every turn once their own hand is down to one card. Counter Hypnotic Specter and Bottomless Pit, and The Rack and Cursed Scroll with Counterspell or Annul; your Smother kills a Specter or Ravenous Rats, and Sickening Dreams handles several. Use Gush on a turn you can spend the cards right away. Limited data: 13 percent over 15 matches.
- Rebels (even): Their searches are abilities, so your counters only stop Lin Sivvi and the searchers when they are cast. Smother kills Lin Sivvi or a Ramosian Sergeant and Sickening Dreams every X/1, unless Mother of Runes gives the creature protection from black in response, so kill the Mother first. Duress takes their Swords to Plowshares. Whipcorder can tap Psychatog, and Defiant Vanguard destroys it at end of combat if it blocks the Tog, whatever its size, so attack when Whipcorder is tapped and no Vanguard is untapped. No match data.
- Contamination (unfavorable): Counter Contamination with Counterspell, Foil or Annul, or take it with Duress before their Duress and Cabal Therapy take your counter: under it your lands only make black mana, so Psychatog, Counterspell, Accumulated Knowledge and your cantrips cannot be cast. Gush and Foil, which cost no mana, black spells such as Duress, Smother and Sickening Dreams, colorless cards such as Powder Keg and Tsabo's Web, and a Psychatog already on the battlefield still work. They must sacrifice a creature in each of their upkeeps to keep it, but Nether Spirit returns from their graveyard and Zombie Infestation makes tokens, so killing their creatures seldom breaks it. Innocent Blood and Powder Keg kill a lone Psychatog, and Phyrexian Furnace, in most lists, exiles your graveyard. Very limited data.
- Turbo Lands (even): Glacial Chasm prevents all damage to them, Psychatog's included, and it is a land, so you cannot counter it. Fight their spells instead: Duress, Counterspell and Foil on Exploration, Horn of Greed and Seismic Assault, the card that wins for them. Their Horn of Greed draws you a card for every land you play too, and after boarding they bring Pyroblast for your counterspells and Psychatog. No match data.
- Fluctuator (favorable): Counterspell and Foil stop Fluctuator, Songs of the Damned and Drain Life, their kill spell, and Duress takes them first. Annul from the sideboard counters Fluctuator for one mana, and Tormod's Crypt exiles their graveyard in response to Songs or to Twilight's Call, which they bring after boarding. Their Expunge cannot kill Psychatog, which is black; expect Misdirection, Miscalculation and Gilded Light after boarding. No match data.
- RG Zoo (slightly favorable): Zoo goes wider than a Psychatog can block: Elephant tokens, Treetop Village and Quirion Dryad attack alongside the one-drops, and a countered Call of the Herd can still be flashed back. Smother kills the Dryad at any size and Sickening Dreams sweeps Jackal Pup, Mogg Fanatic and Grim Lavamancer, while Counterspell and Foil trade with the burn. After boarding they bring Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast, which destroy Psychatog for one mana, and Tormod's Crypt; Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast come in for you, in a few lists Ivory Tower too. Limited data: 54 percent over 13 matches.
- Zombies (even): One-mana 2/2s are poor targets for Counterspell and Foil, their Duress and Cabal Therapy take your counters, and Withered Wretch exiles your graveyard one card at a time, which keeps Psychatog small. Smother kills almost any of their creatures, and a Sickening Dreams that discards two cards sweeps the 2/2s. Psychatog blocks well, so their Shepherd of Rot and a cycled Gempalm Polluter are how they finish you. Their Snuff Out cannot target Psychatog, which is black, and Engineered Plague naming Zombie comes in after boarding. No match data.
Sideboard guide
- vs Sligh, Goblins and red decks: Hydroblast, Blue Elemental Blast. Hydroblast is in four of five sideboards, Blue Elemental Blast in half. Either counters a red spell or destroys a red permanent for one mana: burn, Goblin Warchief, Sulfuric Vortex. Goblin Piledriver can only be countered as it is cast, since on the battlefield it has protection from blue.
- vs Goblins, Elves, Clerics, White Weenie and Zombies: Engineered Plague. In almost every blue-black sideboard, usually two or three copies. Name Goblin, Elf or Cleric and every X/1 of that type dies at once while the rest shrink; Cleric also covers White Weenie's Mother of Runes, Soltari Priest and Soltari Monk, and naming Zombie turns the Zombies deck's 2/2s into 1/1s.
- vs Enchantress, Replenish, Stiflenought, Oath, Stasis, Mono Black, Fluctuator, Full English Breakfast and graveyard hate: Annul. In every blue-black sideboard, usually two or three, and one or two in about a third of main decks. One mana for any artifact or enchantment spell: the enchantments of Enchantress and Replenish (Replenish itself is a sorcery), Phyrexian Dreadnought, Oath of Druids, Stasis, Black Vise, Cursed Scroll, Fluctuator, Survival of the Fittest and Animate Dead, and an opposing Tormod's Crypt or Phyrexian Furnace before it can exile your graveyard.
- vs Manland and utility-land decks: Landstill, Goblins, Oath and The Rock: Tsabo's Web. In three of four blue-black sideboards, four of five since September: Mishra's Factory, Faerie Conclave, Treetop Village, Rishadan Port, Wasteland and Dust Bowl stop untapping, and it draws a card when it enters. It does nothing against the Urza lands, which only have mana abilities.
- vs Graveyard decks: Reanimator, Full English Breakfast, Replenish, Fluctuator and Oath: Tormod's Crypt. In about two of five blue-black sideboards since September, one in three since April. It exiles one player's graveyard: point it at theirs in response to the reanimation spell, Replenish or Songs of the Damned, or at the land cards that make Oath's Terravore big.
- vs Control and decks with heavy graveyard hate: Zombie Infestation. In about a quarter of sideboards and a few main decks: discard two cards for a 2/2 Zombie, a second threat when the opponent keeps answering Psychatog, and the discarded cards still go to your graveyard for the Tog.
- vs Burn and aggro: Ivory Tower. In a few sideboards: in each of your upkeeps it gains you life equal to the number of cards in your hand minus four, so a hand of six or seven gains two or three, and more after you draw at the end of their turn. Sulfuric Vortex, main deck in about two thirds of Sligh lists, stops it.
Budget and upgrades
Typical cost: $280–$885. The reference list (Beicodegeia, second of 31 at an MTGO Premodern Challenge on September 19, 7-1) costs about $885 with its sideboard at the Premodern-era printings tracked here. Four Polluted Delta are about $505 of that, more than half. Psychatog itself costs about $6 and Gush about $5.
- Cut the four Polluted Delta for two Islands and two Swamps. That is the biggest saving, about $505, and costs little: the fetch finds an Island for Gush or a Swamp for black mana and costs 1 life.
- Keep the four Psychatog and the four Accumulated Knowledge: both are cheap and neither has a substitute.
- Powder Keg (about $70) and the two Tsabo's Web (about $24 each) are the expensive utility cards: replace them with another Smother and Engineered Plague or Annul.
- That build costs about $280 with sideboard and plays the same game.
- Do not budget toward the white 'Tog Cannon' build. It needs Mox Diamond, which costs more than this entire deck.
Every deck that costs under $500 with reprints is on our budget decks page, priced from a real tournament list.
