UB Psychatog

General Plan#

UB Psychatog is a matchup similar to UW Landstill, but without many of the problems tied to white.

This is a fundamental point. Against UB Psychatog you don’t have to worry about cards like:

• Swords to Plowshares;
• Disenchant;
• Humility;
• Meddling Mage.

This difference significantly changes how you can approach the game. In particular, Survival of the Fittest is much stronger, especially Game 1, because the opponent has very few ways — often none — to remove it once it resolves.

For this reason, your main approach should be to try to resolve Survival and build the game from there.

UB Psychatog has no manlands and no particularly fast clock, other than Psychatog itself. Even Psychatog, though, isn’t always an immediate kill: it often has to clear the board first, handle any chump blockers, and then attack in a spot where the opponent can convert hand and graveyard into lethal damage.

This gives you time. And against a control deck that can’t easily remove Survival, time is often on your wincon.

Game 1#

Survival Is the Best Plan#

In Game 1 the best plan is almost always to try to resolve Survival of the Fittest.

If Survival sticks, UB Psychatog struggles a lot to keep you under control: the opponent has to interact on the stack. This means the game often gets decided the moment you try to resolve Survival. If it goes through, you can build a line patiently, force the opponent’s resources, and pick the best moment to win.

The Hermit Druid plan can still exist, but it’s less central. In a matchup that tends to go longer and where the opponent has counters, instant-speed draw, and possible ways to punish a full mill, you should generally lean on Survival.

Psychatog as a Clock#

Psychatog is the opponent’s main threat, but it has to be evaluated correctly.

You don’t always have to treat every Psychatog attack as lethal. Often an attack takes three, four, or five life, maybe even for two consecutive turns, but doesn’t immediately close the game.

This is important because you don’t always have to chump block automatically. Sometimes taking an attack is correct if keeping that creature lets you win the following turn or build a better line.

You do, however, have to watch out for cards that can throw off the math in combat:

• Gush;
• Accumulated Knowledge.

These cards are often run in four copies and can suddenly increase the number of cards in hand, and therefore the potential Psychatog pump. So when you decide whether to block, you have to consider not only the visible hand and graveyard, but also the possibility that the opponent draws or refills resources at instant speed.

The question to ask is:

If I don’t block this attack, am I actually dying, or am I just taking damage I can afford?

If not blocking lets you win the following turn, it can be the right choice. But.. always do the math!

Discard and Resolution Windows#

As against all control decks, discard spells are very important.

In Game 1, a Duress or Cabal Therapy in the early turns can open the window to resolve Survival or Hermit Druid. The difference from UW Landstill is that here you don’t necessarily have to strip Swords or Humility: often you have to strip the counter that prevents your key card from resolving.

The most common calls depend on the spot, but they can include:

• Counterspell;
• Circular Logic or Mana Leak;
• Smother;
• Gush, in some spots;
• Psychatog, if the game is set up on the board.

The principle stays the same:

Discard has to open a window, not just strip a strong card.

If your hand has Survival, you want to strip what prevents Survival from resolving. If you’re planning a Hermit line, you want to strip what can stop or punish that line.

Cards to Respect#

Gush and Accumulated Knowledge#

Gush and Accumulated Knowledge are important for two reasons.

The first is that they let the opponent find counters and interaction. The second is that they suddenly increase Psychatog’s potential in combat.

A Psychatog that looks non-lethal can become lethal if the opponent draws more cards or increases the resources available to exile/discard. For this reason you should never count Tog’s clock too statically.

Chain of Vapor#

Some versions run Chain of Vapor.

It isn’t a definitive answer, but it can break your sequence on the key turn by bouncing Survival, Shapeshifter, or a relevant creature. It has to be respected especially when you’re trying to close in a single turn.

Green Hate#

Some lists may have Hibernation or Perish.

Both are cards to keep in mind because can make you lose time in spots where you thought you had a stable board. They aren’t always present, but these are one of those “one-of” or situational sideboard cards UB can use to buy time.

Cephalid Coliseum#

You have to be very careful about Cephalid Coliseum.

The practical advice is simple:

Don’t die to Cephalid Coliseum.

If you’ve activated Hermit Druid and have no cards left in your library, the opponent can activate Coliseum at instant speed and make you draw. If you can’t put at least three cards back into your library, this can be lethal.

So Hermit lines against blue decks with access to Coliseum have to be planned very carefully. It isn’t enough to say “I activate Druid and then fix it with Krosan Reclamation”; you have to consider whether the opponent can make you draw before you manage to stabilize your library.

Counters on Krosan Reclamation#

As against many blue decks, activating Hermit Druid in upkeep can be dangerous.

If the plan is:

Upkeep, activate Hermit Druid; mill everything; cast Krosan Reclamation;

then you have to remember that Krosan Reclamation can be countered. If the opponent neutralizes Reclamation, you lose the game on your draw step.

For this reason, against blue decks, an often safer line is to activate Hermit Druid in your main phase, use any Cabal Therapy from the graveyard to clear the opponent’s hand, and then put Animate Dead or other relevant cards back into the library with Krosan Reclamation.

This line reduces the risk of losing immediately to a counter on Reclamation in upkeep.

Post-Sideboard#

Post-board the matchup stays generally favorable, but the opponent gains more situational cards.

You can bring in:

• additional Duress;
• Xantid Swarm;
• Swords to Plowshares, especially for Psychatog;
• any versatile answers to problematic permanents.

You don’t particularly need cards like Pyroclasm or Ghitu Slinger, unless the opponent’s list shows specific creatures that make them relevant.

Swords to Plowshares is very good because it directly answers Psychatog, which is their real clock. Removing Tog often means stripping the opponent’s main way to close the game.

What to Cut#

Post-board you should cut:

• Elvish Spirit Guide;
• a number of Hermit Druid;
• a number of Birds of Paradise;
• some cards that are less relevant in the long run.

Elvish Spirit Guide is less important because you don’t necessarily want to play a game based on maximum speed. The matchup tends to go longer, and you prefer cards that stay relevant even after the early turns.

Hermit Druid can be reduced because it isn’t the main plan. You don’t want to eliminate it entirely, but you also don’t want to depend too much on a line that can lose to counters, Coliseum, or instant-speed interaction.

Birds of Paradise isn’t fundamental and can be vulnerable to cards like Engineered Plague. Even if Plague on Birds isn’t necessarily the opponent’s best play, it can still 2-for-1 you or shrink your development. Since you don’t desperately need to accelerate, you can afford to cut some.

Opponent’s Sideboard#

UB Psychatog often has many sideboard cards in single copies or in small numbers. This makes the matchup a bit peculiar: you don’t always know exactly which card you need to beat, but you have to expect a wide range of interactions.

The possible cards include:

• Engineered Plague;
• Phyrexian Furnace;
• Tormod’s Crypt;
• Zombie Infestation;
• Infest;
• Chain of Vapor;
• Hibernation;
• Perish;
• additional spot removal.

Engineered Plague can hit some of your smaller creatures, particularly Birds of Paradise or other support creatures. It isn’t always devastating, but it can generate value.

Furnace and Tormod’s Crypt have to be respected if your plan goes through the graveyard.

Infest can work as a real wrath against you, sweeping mana creatures, Hermit Druid, and other small creatures. So you should avoid exposing the entire board unnecessarily.

Zombie Infestation is an important card because it can become an alternative plan for the opponent, creating pressure and making the game harder to manage just around Psychatog.

Shapeshifter and Black Spot Removal#

A point in your favor is that many black removal spells don’t deal well with your bigger creatures.

Cards like Smother, Vendetta, or edict effects can be relevant, but they don’t always handle a Triskelion, a big Volrath’s Shapeshifter, or a creature with a mana value out of range.

This means you can often play Shapeshifter in a way that changes identity and makes it harder for the opponent to use their removal correctly.

You shouldn’t ignore removal, but compared to UW Landstill the interaction is less clean and less universal. Not having Swords to Plowshares is a huge difference.

Why the Matchup Is Favorable#

You should consider UB Psychatog a fairly favorable matchup for three main reasons.

First: it isn’t white, so it doesn’t have the most efficient answers against your plans.

Second: it doesn’t have a fast, consistent clock. Psychatog is dangerous, but it requires setup and often doesn’t kill immediately.

Third: Survival of the Fittest is very hard to remove. If it resolves, the opponent has to make up for it with counters, tempo plays, or sideboard cards, but they don’t have a clean, natural answer.

This lets you play a more patient game than other matchups, picking the line that loses to the fewest possible interactions.

Note: UB Zombie Infestation#

A similar argument applies to UB Zombie Infestation.

The deck is similar to Psychatog in many ways, but the clock revolve much more around Zombie Infestation. This slightly changes how you count pressure.

Zombie Infestation can build a more consistent board in certain games, especially if the opponent has enough “air” cards to discard, like Krovikan Horror and Squee. This can make the race more concrete than against pure Psychatog.

That said, the general principle stays similar:

• Survival is very strong;
• discard opens windows;
• you have to respect sideboard cards;
• don’t die to effects that punish a full mill;
• versatile enchantment answers can be valuable if Zombie Infestation is central.

Against Zombie Infestation you just have to be slightly more careful about the fact that the clock can become more stable and less tied to a single attack.