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So Many Insane Plays – As Clear As MUD

Read Stephen Menendian every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
The Vintage metagame is currently in flux. While GAT ruled the roost with an iron fist, it seems that other potent strategies are taking up the slack. One such strategy, Workshop Aggro, proves that consistency is at a premium in modern Vintage. So, can an uber-consistent deck like MUD prove potent in the current field? With the hybrid ability to take on multiple roles, Stephen Menendian believes the deck has promise…

It has been a long time since Mishra’s Workshop decks were the best deck in Vintage. Workshops were once an established member of the Restricted list. The era of “The Deck,” and even the Academy era, all happened while Mishra’s Workshop was restricted. I can only imagine how Brian Weissman might have fared if he had had to deal with Workshop, Mox Juggernaut, or Su-Chi on turn 1 instead of Kird Ape or Dark Ritual into Hypnotic Specter.

With the rise of Grow in late 2002 and early 2003, Workshops, now unrestricted, were back in vogue. The Germans were pretty much the premiere Vintage innovators of that era, with the exception of Patrick Chapin and the Invitationalists. David Price ran a deck at the Magic Invitational of 2000 that was pretty much a Workshop fueled Aggro-Control deck using Juggernauts and Su-Chis. He called it Teletubbies:

Teletubbies
Dave Price, 2000 Magic Invitational

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Underground Sea
2 City of Brass
4 Underground River
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Memory Jar
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Icy Manipulator
4 Juggernaut
4 Su-Chi
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Duress

Sideboard:
4 Hydroblast
3 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Bottle Gnomes
1 Triskelion
2 Misdirection
1 The Abyss

This deck was very popular in Germany circa 2001-2002. While Americans were having fun with Fact or Fiction, the German tournament scene was being won over by Workshops. Scroll down to the “classic” Top 8 from October of 2001 here.

A creative German named Benjamin Rott came up with the idea of fusing the toolbox menagerie enhanced by additions from the set Judgment (several Incarnations, such as Anger and Genesis) into the Tubbies frame. Thus, “Tools N Tubbies,” or “TnT” for short, was born.

Since I’ve been writing this column for over five years now, I can point you back into my archive to see some of this history as if it were yesterday. Here’s a matchup analysis article I wrote featuring TnT and Psychatog. You can see the TnT list I was running after the restriction of Gush.

With the rise of Grow, TnT took a back seat. Although Blood Moon was quite a beating (and in fact, I lost to Geoffrey Siron playing TnT at a Dutch Vintage tournament in Eindhoven). The Germans built upon an innovation coming out of California, focusing more on cards like Tangle Wire and Smokestack than Triskelion and Juggernaut. Since Sphere of Resistance punished Grow for having such a light manabase, Stax was born. Matthieu Durand and myself wrote the primer that pretty much introduced Stax to the Vintage and Magic community.

Although Stax in 2004 never really ascended as far as it did in the brief moment between the rise of Grow and the restriction of Gush, the release of Mirrodin Block did wonders for the archetype. Most ironically of all, once Trinisphere was restricted, Stax took off. It won the Vintage Championship in 2005 and every major Vintage circuit tournament. Then Control Slaver, Gifts decks, and later Grim Tutor decks were ascendant, and Stax waned.

The return of Grow has not really brought back Stax as I expected. Instead, Workshop Aggro is the new star, the new hero of Vintage. Thorn of Amethyst is no small part of it, as is the printing of Magus of the Moon.

In the last few weeks, I’ve showed you some Workshop Aggro decks that have serious incisors. These decks are mean and unforgiving.

Let me focus on two decks that have recently performed very well in the United States of this archetype. The first is a deck that got second place in a recent tournament in New England.

3 Goblin Welder
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Juggernaut
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Triskelion
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorns of Amethyst
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
7 Snow Covered Mountain
2 Ancient Tomb

Sideboard:
3 Shattering Spree
3 Pyroclasm
3 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Viashino Heretic
3 Razormane Masticore

In a 43-man tournament, Rich Meyst went undefeated through the swiss and undefeated until the finals match, where he lost to Vintage guru and sage Rich Shay. I’ve selected this deck because it features most of the key elements we are seeing with the mono-Red Aggro Workshop builds. First of all, he runs 9 Spheres, which is pretty much the standard start to these decks. By “Spheres” I refer to Trinisphere, Sphere of Resistance, and Thorn of Amethyst. Second, he has 3 Welders and 2 Shamans. Some other lists I’ve seen run 3 and 3, but he has both represented. Third, he runs 4 Juggernaut, 4 Simulacrum, and 4 Magus of the Moon. This also appears standard. Simulacrum is sort of a surprising card to see in these lists to the uninitiated observer. It is not the most striking winning Invitationalist submission. A four mana 2/2 is not a shockingly good deal. Fourth, he has 19 lands and 2 Ancient Tombs. The TnT list I posted from 2004 ran 2 Tombs. Some of these decks run 4 Factories, and those lists have 20 mana. I’ve seen some mono-Red Aggro-Workshop lists with as few as 16 mana, but they seem to hover just around or below 20 lands. Finally, he is using equipment, specifically Sword of Fire and Ice. Another equipment I’ve seen used is Umezawa’s Jitte, but Sword of Fire and Ice seems to be the most popular and prevalent weapon of choice. This deck has no Tangle Wires, no Smokestack, and not even Crucible or Chalice. It relies on the asymmetrical disruptive power of the Spheres, tempo annoyances such as Wasteland and Gorilla Shaman, and now highly disruptive creatures like Magus of the Moon.

Workshop Aggro has a huge assortment of tools at its disposal for combating various threats. If it is concerned about Oath, it is not uncommon to run multiple Duplicants in the mainboard with more in the side, as can be seen in this deck:


It if is worried about Ichorid, it can pack on Tormod’s Crypts and Leyline of the Voids. For combo, Pyrostatic Pillar is a tremendous obstacle.

These decks have seen a huge spike in their recent success. But I’m not entirely convinced that mono-Red is the way to go…

In Vintage at the moment there is a tremendous premium on consistency. If there is one flaw in the Workshop plan, it’s always been the consistency issue that comes from relying on a four-of to power our big spells, and the lack of Blue fixing to smooth uneven draws with Brainstorm and Ancestral Recall. GAT is possibly one of the most consistent broken decks ever to inhabit Vintage. Competing in that environment, no matter the inherent advantage, really rewards consistency. I think these Workshop decks become even more consistent once you cut the colors out completely. The interaction of Spheres and Mountains can sometimes be a playful dance. While Magus of the Moon is a huge bomb, if every land tapped for two mana, you have a much more consistent manabase with which to work.

Of course, I speak of MUD.

A European innovation, MUD is and has been the mono-brown equivalent of Stax whose central feature is Metalworker.

In 2002, Arthur Tindemans wrote his treatise on the deck, an article submission so massive that it drove the Ferrett into retirement from the editorial duties of this website. Peruse that three part file at your leisure.

Here is his MUD list, circa 2003 and pre-Mirrodin technology:

4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
4 Powder Keg
4 Grafted Skullcap
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Winter Orb
1 Memory Jar
3 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Metalworker
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 City of Traitors
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
3 Petrified Field
1 Strip Mine

This deck used Petrified Field as a way to recur Wastelands and protect Mishra’s Workshops. It also used Grafted Skullcap as a draw engine, and later Mindtone Crown. Powder Keg and Winter Orb played cleanup. The real power of this deck was twofold: first was the ability to play so many threats on turn 2 after turn 1 Metalworker. Second was the fact that you had a super consistent manabase that could power out expensive lock components with or without Mishra’s Workshop.

The breadth and quality of MUD tools has grown exponentially since 2003. Cards like Sword of Fire and Ice provide a much more powerful draw engine that actually has other functions. Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, and Thorn of Amethyst are far more powerful than the weak links in 2003 MUD. Orb of Dreams is also highly disruptive. Crucible of Worlds can replace Petrified Fields. Cards like Eon Hub and Pithing Needle can address particularized threats. Skullclamp can combo with Myr Retriever to recur game-altering threats and generate card advantage. Staff of Domination also provides a combo finish with Metalworker and three cards in hand. Finally, Arcbound Ravager turns out to be a fine beatdown option.

What goes on in GAT – the ability to build a hybrid decklist that can play Aggro, control or combo – is now an option for MUD. It can ride the back of an Arcbound Ravager with lock components to an incremental victory, or it can combo out with Retrievers or Metalworker plus Staff of Domination.

The synergies are enormous. Metalworker, a creature whose sole purpose was previously simply to generate mana, is now a source of mid-game damage with equipment on the table.

Take a look at my MUD list.


If there is one thing I’m certain of, it’s that the mana is right. There is the option to run Mishra’s Factory, but the combination of City of Traitors, Ancient Tombs, and Workshops that I have here will produce excellent consistency. Metalworker provides further stability. Much like Stax decks, one-half of this deck is mana. The upside is that that’s not all it is. Wastelands and Strip Mines are disruptive, and now with Sword of Fire and Ice, Metalworker is an actual beater.

Aside from the incredible stability of the MUD manabase, if there is one other overarching reason to run MUD over a Stax variant or a more colorful Workshop Aggro variant, it is this: Chalice of the Void. Take a look at the Aggro Workshop lists I posted above. Those lists run Gorilla Shaman, Goblin Welder, and no Chalice. Even Stax decks of late have eschewed Chalice. And for good reason. They are often full of Welders, tutors like Crop Rotation, Vampiric Tutor, Ancestral Recall, and Shamans. Chalice for one has almost as good a chance of backfiring as not.

Yet Chalice for one is probably the most potent single-card play in modern Vintage for three or less mana, aside from Trinisphere. With Ponder and Thoughtseize displacing cards like Mana Drain, and so many other one-mana spells making their way into the center of the format with Stifle plus Phyrexian Dreadnaught combo growing in popularity, Chalice for one is more powerful than it has ever been. If Chalice for one is as powerful as it has ever been, it’s certainly as asymmetrical as imaginable in MUD. MUD has, in my list, two one-mana spells: Sol Ring and Mana Vault. A Chalice for one will take out large swaths of an opposing deck, probably up to a third if not more, without touching you. It’s my view that the default play with this deck, with respect to Chalice, is Chalice at one, not Chalice at zero. Once you’ve dropped a few Spheres onto the table, you may then want to drop a Chalice for two.

Admittedly, many of the European MUD variants run Skullclamp and Myr Retriever for a more aggro-combo affinity feel. These variants do not really lessen my overall point, but merely bolster the argument that MUD is a flexible hybrid deck. And that is really the third key argument in the case for MUD: Mud is a hybrid deck, just like GAT and most of the most successful Vintage decks. MUD can play combo, aggro, or the control role. Although certain hands will nudge you in one direction or another, there is generally enough flexibility of options to pursue varied plans. For instance, you may want to play creatures before playing lock spells or vice versa. Alternatively, you may have the option of turn 1 Metalworker, turn 2 Staff of Domination for the win. The more hybridized these decks become, the more options you have and the greater your ability to select the proper role and win any given game.

In a sense, my MUD list is the non-Blue GAT. Instead of Force of Will, Duress, and Misdirection, I have Spheres to control the game. Instead of Quirion Dryad, I’m running Arcbound Ravager. Instead of running Tog, I’m running Trikes. This deck can go control mode, beatdown mode, or just combo out. Arcbound Ravager plus Trike can produce lethal damage at the speed of a Berserking Tog.

In my sideboard I have Leyline of the Void and Eon Hub. Hub is there to fight Energy Flux and Ichorid. Your opponent will not be able to upkeep dredge or return Ichorids so long as Hub is in play. Leyline of the Void is there to fight Ichorid and Flash combo.

If you needed further evidence that MUD is a tournament winner, Jerrett Rocha won the most recent Power Nine tournament in the United States with MUD.

Unlike 2003, MUD has an incredible assortment of options and a diversity of possible strategic paths. Although it was once a part of Vintage history, MUD is now on track to be a pre-eminent part of its future.

Until next time,

Stephen Menendian