Sorry for the late response. Ive not been around in awhile.

This Dutch Aggro looks ok, but its just the same Gilded Claw list I tried with a couple card counts adjusted.


Against Oath. With the current list including 4 Chalices, 4 Mages, a Jesters Cap, and a Duplicant, game one has been perfectly winnable and after sideboard I rarely have much trouble. All my testing has been against fully powered Oath in a couple variants, which leads me to think I will do better considering many of the players play somewhat or totally budget versions and are not all that expert at it.


I have 8 rainbow lands, Tolarian Academy, Crop Rotation, Mox Sapphire, Mox Pearl, and Black Lotus for the Mages. Im actually more likely to have 4 mana and Chalice on turn one than they are to have Orchard, Mox, and Oath. Its not like Oath is guaranteed to open with that every single game. I also have multiple routes with dealing with Oath once its on the board.


Hurkyl's Recall? Rebuild? Am I missing something or is Meddling Mage now an artifact? Its not even Duressable.


Having had a lot of time to test it and even getting to talk with the team who created it, I hardly think the deck qualifies as Workshop Aggro anymore. The fact that it happens to win the majority of its games during the attack phase is pretty superficial compared to the powerful complement of prison and control pieces it has. And I think that saying all others have failed is pretty ignorant considering the archetype in its many forms has taken many SCG T8s and innumerable victories at smaller tournaments.


Gee, maybe because I have a set and would love to use them in something other than the same boring stax decks that are hardly ideal for the random things like Ankh Sligh and G/R beats that quite a few people around here play?


I dont know what he means about "bad". The deck has been nothing but amazing for me.


If you have a "stronger" deck than by all means provide a list. The one you gave earlier was just Gilded Claw, which I already know is outdated and too weak against Oath for me to ever want to use. Of course I play for prizes. I play to win. I put up this topic to make my deck win more, not to be more fun. If I want fun, Ill run Battle of Wits. And please dont suggest Stax. It has a tough enough time handling Oath let alone all the random aggro and hate we have out here.

Pardon my ignorance but a lot of your issues appear to be solved rather easily. Ive been testing the list Hydra suggested with a couple very minor changes and have been amazed at how some of the matchups have been completely turned around. Oath isnt really so infallible when I do in fact have eight cards that prevent it from even resolving in the first place. TPS cant effectively get around the first Chalice when Im following it up with another one or just shutting off the Rebuild completely. I love not having to race the game when I can simply lock my opponent out of it. The point about disruption being superior to beats appears moot when I can get pack plenty of the first and still have enough of the second to finish the game long before they can get the necessary pieces together to break out.

As for what Fantaman said, I still have no idea what youre talking about. Oath is the biggest deck around here with the players that can afford it. Why would I worry about the mirror match when almost no one plays Stax let alone anything else with Workshops? I dont have a problem beating them anyways.

Im not quite sure I understand what youre talking about, but then again Im not quite sure you do either.

Some of the changes you suggest like the Chalices are relevant but why would I take out Jesters Cap when Im trying to beat Oath mainly? And whats the point of Crucible? I dont run wastes and I dont have a problem beating on Stax. Synod Centurion is just begging for me to get 2-for-1ed over and over especially since I already run Glimmervoid.

I guess I should just give up and run 7/10 or something. Can anyone link me to a decent list?

Ive been trying to work on this new version of Workshop Aggro for almost a month now, but Ive been pretty frustrated by several matchups including GWS Oath and TPS. I wanted to make something aggressive enough to take Stax and stuff, but with enough solutions to beat a lot of the random things that I have to face, lots of Fish and budget Oath are very popular.

Heres the deck:
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        4 Mishra's Workshop
        4 Ancient Tomb
        4 City of Brass
        4 Glimmervoid
        1 Demonic Tutor
        3 Sphere of Resistance
        1 Imperial Seal
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Enlightened Tutor
        2 Ground Seal
        2 Fabricate
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Time Walk
        1 Tinker
        1 Defense Grid
        1 Jester's Cap
        1 Sword of Fire and Ice
        2 Lightning Greaves
        4 Ankh of Mishra
        1 Darksteel Colossus
        2 Platinum Angel
        2 Triskelion
        4 Su-Chi
        4 Juggernaut

Sideboard:
1 Jester's Cap
2 Defense Grid
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Ground Seal
1 Trinisphere
2 Duplicant


Some things I looked at were Hannas Custody which is also very good against Welder and makes Platinum Angel great, and moving Chalice to the main, but I cant find room. I would like to do that since the best player around here plays TPS and he is very frustrating to lose too.

I built the deck from looking at some of the few Workshop Aggro lists that have placed this past year, though that hasnt been much. I originally had something that looked a lot like Dan Carps list from Starcity in april, but I dont really like Sundering Titan or Crucible since many people here play lots of basics. Since I dont run Welder I never liked Thirst for Knowledge or Brainstorm, so Ive been trying to run it running lots of tutors which has worked out pretty well in testing. I had Sensei Top in but since I dont want to run a fetchland manabase I prefer having the additional tutors. The sideboards been pretty weak too, and I want to fit Duplicant into the mainboard to take out Oath and Colossus.

My matchups right now:

Stax: Very good, but I havent tested a lot since nobody out here runs it. I can usually just race them with a beatstick and Lightning Greaves and sideboarding in Rack and Ruin really hurts them game 2.

Gifts: About even, depends how fast I can start dealing damage. Getting out Ankh of Mishra usually sets me on the right path. Ground Seal slows down their clock, and getting Platinum out with Greaves is very good if they have Colossus out (so they cant Rebuild without hurting themselves) When they sideboard in artifact hate it can be very bad, also if I walk into Mana Drain too early and they go broken.

Control Slaver: Very good, provided they dont go broken too fast. Welder can suck but I run a lot of ways around it and they never expect maindeck Ground Seal. Lightning Greaves is usually what wins it and Ankh makes them very mad. Sideboarded artifact hate does suck, but I usually still come out on top.

Oath: Not so good. Since most of the guys around here play the many counterspell version, I have a hard time getting Platinum Angel out before I die. Ive had sucess tutoring up Jesters Cap (thats why its maindeck) but I still cant seem to beat them consistantly. The unpowered ones are a lot easier to beat of course.

TPS: I know Im losing because I dont have the maindeck Chalices, I just cant seem to fit them in. I really dont want to cut Ankh and cutting Sphere of Resistance makes it just as bad as before.

All help, questions, or criticisms are welcome.