The deck I am going to introduce to you is not new; many of these cards have been around for quite some time with the exception of Thorn of Amethyst, which this deck tries to abuse by making it one-sided, at least partially. The deck I am talking about is MUD, a mono-brown workshop deck that aims to slow its opponent down while still functioning at normal speed, The deck plays lock components, mana denial, and big beaters.
A list to consider:
26 Land/Mana
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
3 Mishra’s Factory
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
14 Creatures
4 Metalworker
4 Juggernaut
4 Triskelion
2 Duplicant
16 Lock Components
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Tangle Wire
4 Draw/other
3 Sword of Fire/Ice
1 Memory Jar
There are a couple of general rules that the deck wants to follow when sitting down against an unknown matchup.
Chalice of the Void for 1 is generally the default. It cuts off so many spells decks are playing as 4-ofs right now. For Instance, Ponder, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Duress, Thoughtseize, along with key 1-ofs Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Chain of vapor, etc. Another thing to remember with this deck is that you have no way to guarantee what you cast is going to resolve, however, you deck has a very high threat density so the question becomes what spell do I lead with in an attempt to bait a counterspell to ensure my key spell will resolve. Baiting with this deck is often the key to success. And the critical question is always: which card is more important, assuming your opponent will counter either? This is the key skill with the deck, and it’s a difficult skill because it is extremely context sensitive. It requires experience to help you resolve the costs and benefits to reach the correct answer.
The decks first few turn usually pan out one of two ways:
Plan A
Turn 1: Sphere of Resistance/ Thorn of Amethyst/Chalice of the Void
Turn 2: Juggernaut/ Metalworker
Turn 3: Triskelion/Tangle Wire/Sword of Fire and Ice
That basic plan is the primary mode of this deck.
The deck has other modes it can take
Plan B:
Turn 1: Chalice for 0, Metalworker/Juggernaut
Turn 2: Lots of spells.
Metalworker is often a spell people will counter unless they have a way to remove it before your next turn, otherwise they open up the flood gates and will not be able to control what you are going to be able to throw at them in subsequent turns.
When faced with a known matchup some general rules are changed.
Against a combo deck like Long or Gush based combo decks your hand must consist of one or more of the following:
Trinisphere
Thorn of Amethyst
Sphere of Resistance
Chalice of the Void
Mana to cast the above threats
Starting the game without a way to slow them down, especially Long, leaves you open to being first-turned. Consider the following: Workshop, Thorn/Sphere, and Mox first turn followed up by Juggernaut second turn puts them on a clock with limited resources and time to try to win the game.
Against an aggro-control based deck, such as TK Deeznoughts or U/W/B Fish a more creature heavy hand with little or no disruption is fine because your threats will have a larger power and toughness than theirs.
Constructing a sideboard is obviously meta dependant, but with a completely colorless deck there are some cards you always want in there, especially cards that help against the decks apparent weaknesses.
One card Bob/Goyf aggro decks will always have in their sideboard is Energy Flux, which is harsh on our deck. Metalworker and Ancient Tomb/City of Traitors can help, but that shuts down our ability to produce threats. To remedy the situation we have Eon Hub (Players skip their upkeeps). You don’t have to pay for your stuff if you don’t have an upkeep. This works double duty for Tyrant Oath which has been winning all over the place as of late. They also board Trygon Predator who eats one of your permanents every turn. Triskelion helps with this, but I also recommend Razormane Masticore who shoots down the flying menace and loses his drawback with an Eon Hub in play.
Another card that is a thorn in our side is Empty the Warrens, a bunch of little guys block a few big guys for a long time, this threat is partially answered by our maindeck Sword of Fire and Ice, but Powder keg allows us to eliminate all of the tokens at once to allow all of our creatures to get through instead of just one. Powder Keg helps against Zombie tokens generated by Bridge From Below in dredge decks, and with one counter on it stops Poison slivers from ruining your day.
The rest of the sideboard can be filled with utility answers like Pithing Needle, combo enabler Staff of Domination, Crucible of Worlds if you expect to see Wastelands or want to abuse your own, or additional creatures such as Duplicant or Razormane Masticore.
My current sideboard looks like this:
3 Powder Keg
3 Eon Hub
3 Staff of Domination
3 Crucible of Worlds
2 Razormane Masticore
1 Duplicant
Razormane Masticore is great against any deck that relies on creatures to win the game. Duplicant is powerful against Oath creatures, Darksteel Colossus, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Sundering Titan and Tarmogoyf. He takes care of creatures that are bigger than your 5/3’s and 4/4’s.
Here is a matchup sideboard analysis:
Vs. Combo (If you saw no red)
-3 Tangle Wire
+3 Staff of Domination
Vs. Bob/Goyf or TK DeezNoughts or Fish
-3 Tangle Wire
-2 Thorn of Amethyst
+3 Eon Hub
+2 Razormane Masticore
Vs. GAT or Empty Gush
-3 Tangle Wire
-1 Thorn of Amethyst
+3 Powder Keg
+1 Duplicant
Vs. Oath
-3 Tangle Wire
-3 Sword of Fire and Ice
+3 Eon Hub
+3 Staff of Domination
Vs. Flash or Ichorid/Dredge
+3 Powder Keg
Vs. Stax or Mirror match
-3 Tangle Wire+3 Crucible of Worlds
I realize that I side out Tangle Wire almost every matchup, but I still think it deserves a maindeck spot. Here is my reasoning, Tangle Wire will help you edge out wins in game one whereas in games two and three it becomes less useful 90% of the time than what you are boarding in to help in a given matchup. Plus it is an obvious switch when you bring in Eon Hub because it becomes useless.
