[Deck] Welder Lattice

[Bonesmuggler]

I spent weeks debating which deck to play for a Type I tournament held at Dream Wizards in MD this past Sunday (6/6). I loved the idea of Draw 7, but after extensive playtesting and multiple variations I found that it was not consistant enough. I finally decided on running 7/10 and playtested it for about a week. I liked it, but it did not feel like my deck, so I decided to be origional and try out a card I have long been curious of - Mycosynth Lattice. I put it together a couple days before the tournament and was not able to playtest it much. Consequently I went to the tournament expecting to lose, but I really wanted to see it's potential and be able to playtest it in preperation for the Star City tournament (Richmond).
The origional build included too many layered combos like Darksteel Forge + Lattice + Disk. It played a bit rough, but I was pleased at it's versatility once it got going. I have since toned the deck and made some adjustments including the addition of Demonic tutor as suggested by a fellow competitor.

Why the Lattice?

Mycosynth Lattice, 6
All permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types.
All cards that aren't in play, spells, and permanents are colorless.
Players may spend mana as though it were mana of any color.

The main uses are:
Lattice + Hurkyl's Recall = No permanents for opponent
Lattice + Karn = No land or zero cast artifacts for opponent.
Lattice + Welder/Tinker/Trash for Treasure lets you use lands to exchange for threats.
Lattice + Memnarch makes it cheaper to acquire permanents.
Lattice prevents easy-cast Force of Wills.

The current build is:
Search:
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Frantic Search
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Memory Jar
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Trash for Treasure
1 Tinker
Control:
1 Shattering Pulse
3 Mycosynth Lattice
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Fire/Ice
Creatures:
2 Karn
1 Memnarch
2 Triskilion
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
4 Goblin Welder
Mana:
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol ring
5 Mox
1 Mana Crypt
2 Gilded Lotus
1 Mana Vault
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Shivan Reef
3 Glimmervoid
2 City of Brass
1 Tolarian Academy

I'm going to keep working with this deck and would appreciate any suggestions.

Been thinking about adding Cunning Wish and Stifle for more control.

Thanks!
Jeremy

[Jacob Orlove]

Not enough actual discussion. Moved to newbie.

[johnstown713]

How did the tournament go.  Do you have results for us or how certain matchups are for you?

Johnstown713

P.S.  Props for breaking out the originality

[Bonesmuggler]

It was a 4 round tournament with a top 8 single-elimination (around 20 players).
Remember, the origional build had unnecessary cards which are now removed (primarily Darksteel Forge and Nevynril's Disk)

Round 1
I faced a modified tog deck which was fortunate with a second turn Isochron imprinted with Mana Drain.  The deck used a lot of control and card drawing to power the tog.
I lost both games, but I learned from the experience.
I needed more control.

Round 2
Game 1 - My opponent played a Draw 7 and won on first turn.
Game 2 - I dropped a first turn Trinisphere and opponent scooped.
Game 3 - See Game 2.

Round 3
My opponent was playing a Mono Blue Fish and lost quickly to a 2nd turn Sundering Titan the first game. I won the second game with a 2nd turn Lattice / Hurkyl's followed by a third turn Karn.

Round 4
I was paired up with my friend who was playing U/R Fish.  He had a better record and I told him to go on to the Top 8 (he eventually wins the Tournament).
We played about 7 games while waiting for the round to finish and it was about half and half, with him usually winning after dropping a Null Rod.
Again, I learned I needed to remove the fluff and add some control.

I've been playtesting against Welder Mud, Stacks, Fish, Tog, and FCG.  the Welder Lattice is generally strong against Artifact-based decks and weak against Agro-combo and Combo.
Are there any options that seem viable other than Stifle/Cunning Wish?
I can't run FoW because of the Lattice, and Mana Drain sits in the hand the first few turns because of Workshop.

The sideboard will have to be worked on after changes to the main deck are done (or Cunning added). But, I expect to run Misdirection, Stifle, Fire/Ice, Hurkyl's, and Trinisphere.

I have noticed it has a problem with having 4 available mana (Workshop / Mox) on turn 1 and nothing to play.

[johnstown713]

I like the concept and it is good that people can turn a 15cent rare into a playable card.  It is a hard deck to play if you have no counters cause you can be comboed out easier and some cards just say "win" against you.  Good luck with it.

Johnstown713

[xerxes]

I like this deck, but it does need serious tweaking. There are two options on using the lattice, null rod complete lock or no. Here is my decklist using Gorilla Shaman and Trinisphere for a complete lock under the lattice. I added in forces because they are 100% necessary. The deck auto looses to cards like null rod and gorilla shaman. My list lacks the draw 7's and is more controllish. Tell me what you think. Here is my decklist.

3 Mycosinth Lattice
4 Goblin Welder
2 Trinisphere
3 Gorilla Shaman
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Shattering Pulse
2 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Tinker
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

24 Mana
5 Mox
4 Volcanic Island
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Polluted Delta
5 Island
4 Shivan Reef

SB: 1 Rack and Ruin
SB: 1 Shattering Pulse
SB: 1 Fire/Ice

[Jacob Orlove]

You're running a lot of one-of spells that seem kind of suboptimal. Frantic Search and Trash For Treasure in particular seem suboptimal. Also, you're running black for demonic, but you have no yawgwill.

For creatures, Karn seems pretty weak in here. Razormane Masticore (beats null rod aggro) and Pentavus (all around goodness) would be strong replacements.

One mindslaver could be surprisingly strong, especially with all your blue search.

You might want to go up to 3x gilded lotus. That card is insanely strong.

[Bonesmuggler]

Reasons I picked these cards:
Frantic Search - I run 5 lands that produce more than 1 mana which results in the spell being free or generating additional mana.

Trash for Treasure - My metagame runs a lots of Welder killers (Triskilions, Fire/Ice, Grim Lavamancers, etc). Since FoW is prevented with Lattice, I have found that TFT can be effective.

If I had to choose 1 black card, it would be Demonic Tutor.  My black mana sources are Petal, Lotus, 3 Glimmervoid, 2 City of Brass, Jet, 2 Gilded Lotus.  The tutor lets me pull devestators like Hurkyl's Recall and Karn - and if I have artifacts in graveyard, I'll TFT or Weld them.  I will look into adding the Will, but I'm leary of adding too much off color since I run non-dual lands to avoid Sundering Titan.

Karn - Lets me destroy any lands and zero cost artifacts the second it hits in addition to allowing me to swing with Gilded Lotus' and Lattice. Razormane Masticore may be a sideboard consideration.

Mindslaver would be strong and I shall try it out in a future build.

I origionally tried the deck with 4 Gilded Lotus', but I found myself often holding 5-cost spells during the first couple turns without being able to cast them - this deck is cursed with the 4 mana start.  

Thanks for your suggestions and constructive critisicm - I will make full use of them.

[Wollblad]

Even with Latice in play, you cannot use mana from your Workshops to play non-artifact spells. The fact that you have only 13 (14 with Mana Vault) spells to cast from your Workshops will render you Worksops dead a little to often. This is the same inconsistency problem as with Workshop Slavery but that deck has Brainstorm to solve such problems, why don't you?

[Bonesmuggler]

I'm aware that Lattice will not allow you to play non-artifact spells with Workshop.
I tested running four Brainstorms in addition to the Thirsts, but found I was playing too many search cards and getting too many search cards in return. I know it sounds goofy, but it's true.
I agree that the workshops are not used every turn.  What additional artifacts would you suggest?  Another Titan? Gilded? Slaver?

[rvs]

Lattice is pretty cool. I remember playing against a rogue build played by Peter Matyssek in Duelmen. His setup was more Mud-style, some lock components, and playing 4 Mox Monkeys alongside a few Lattices.

I'm not sure that would be more competative, but as your deck stands right now, I have to agree with Jacob. It seems a little random. I'm sure you can cut the lesser strong cards, and build and overall more powerful and consistent deck. Unfortunately, I'm too busy to actually give it a test-run, so I can't say I know any of this from experience with this particular deck.

[riggy]

A while back, I posted a null rod + Lattice prison deck. Most of the flaws and ideas that were discussed there have been mentioned here already.  One that bears mentioning is to try using Myr Enforcer as a kill. He comes down really quickly and hits for 4 a turn.

Here's a link to the old thread so you can see some more discussion. I know there are a couple decklists in there, including one from ill_Dawg.

I hope it helps. I really enjoy playing Lattice decks.

[Bobduh]

xerxes- your deck needs to be able to kill them somehow. Add a couple fat creatures to administer the finishing touch once your control has left them pillaged and burned.

riffy- Null Rod is a crazymean idea, but is it or Karn a better idea? It's single-investment disruption versus mana-investment destruction.

[dromar]

When I saw this article, the first thing I thought was "Null Rod LOCKDOWN." I think Null Rod could be a big player in that deck. Your deck could be built around the problems that Null Rod + Mycosynth Latttice creates, while your opponent curses at his inability to play FoW to stop you. Myr Enforcer could be quite a solid win condition in that deck too. Mycosynth Golem is another option, but Golem is only good if you wanna play other artifact creatures for free too, and you don't need to once you have the lock.

On another note, there's a reason Yawg's Will has been dubbed Yawgmoth's WiN. It's like a combo with every card in your graveyard, especially Demonic Tutor, Tinker, Ancestral Recall, Black Lotus, well... everything. You should put it in. I have a similar deck of my own, and I decided to add black for Demonic and Yawg's WiN, and I have to say my deck is twice as good because of it.

That's all I have to say on the subject. Interesting idea, but I think lockdown is just too powerful to pass up.