Shops with Metalworker Deck Help

[lizardking1545]

I went 4-0 at a Vintage side event at GPNJ with this list:
Main Deck (60)
Creatures (16)

4 Phyrexian Revoker   
4 Metalworker   
4 Lodestone Golem   
1 Steel Hellkite   
2 Wurmcoil Engine   
1 Blightsteel Colossus   
Spells (25)

1 Black Lotus   
1 Mox Emerald   
1 Mox Jet   
1 Mox Pearl   
1 Mox Ruby   
1 Mox Sapphire   
3 Chalice of the Void   
1 Sol Ring   
2 Thorn of Amethyst   
4 Sphere of Resistance   
1 Trinisphere   
2 Crucible of Worlds   
2 Staff of Domination   
4 Tangle Wire   
Lands (19)

1 Strip Mine   
1 Tolarian Academy   
2 City of Traitors   
3 Ancient Tomb   
4 Mishra's Factory   
4 Mishra's Workshop   
4 Wasteland   
Sideboard (15)
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale   
2 Ghost Quarter   
4 Tormod's Crypt   
2 Thorn of Amethyst   
2 Dismember   
1 Phyrexian Metamorph   
1 Witchbane Orb   
1 Batterskull   
1 Sundering Titan   

I have since changed to this version:

Main Deck (60)
Creatures (20)

2 Phyrexian Revoker   
4 Metalworker   
4 Lodestone Golem   
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster   
1 Duplicant   
1 Steel Hellkite   
2 Wurmcoil Engine   
1 Sundering Titan   
1 Blightsteel Colossus   
Spells (22)

1 Black Lotus   
1 Mana Crypt   
1 Mox Emerald   
1 Mox Jet   
1 Mox Pearl   
1 Mox Ruby   
1 Mox Sapphire   
3 Chalice of the Void   
1 Sol Ring   
2 Lightning Greaves   
2 Thorn of Amethyst   
4 Sphere of Resistance   
1 Trinisphere   
2 Staff of Domination   
Lands (18)

1 City of Traitors   
1 Strip Mine   
1 Tolarian Academy   
3 Ancient Tomb   
4 Mishra's Factory   
4 Mishra's Workshop   
4 Wasteland   
Sideboard (15)
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale   
2 Ghost Quarter   
4 Tormod's Crypt   
2 Thorn of Amethyst   
2 Dismember   
1 Phyrexian Metamorph   
1 Witchbane Orb   
1 Batterskull   
1 Sundering Titan   

I'm stuck because is Metalworker/Staff of Domination combo better than having more lock pieces?  Should the list cut the Metalworkers and add (2) Thorn and (2) Revoker?  Any help would be very much appreciated!

[Prospero]

The stress in Metalworker style decks is typically that they want to play enough lock pieces to push out an opponent while still having enough game-ending threats to make Metalworker worthwhile.

Your list looks very similar to Keith Seals' list from N.Y.S.E. Open II:

http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=14013&iddeck=103101

Before you ask what you should do to the deck, let's establish what your metagame is like.  Without knowing what the rough percentages are on what we're trying to beat, it's difficult to make suggestions.  Decks exist in relation to metagames, not as solitary propositions in a vacuum.

Good luck with the deck, regardless of what you choose.

[lizardking1545]

Unfortunately there is virtually no Vintage scene in my area.  I play against the same two decks in Dredge and Pyromancer/Delver, I though that shops is good against most weak against few so when I do get to travel to events I'm relatively safe.  I know that doesn't help the progress of the deck but I play at GenCon and Vintage Champs every year so that's most of my exposure.

[jcb193]

I was messing around with a similar configuration (2 metalworkers, 2 greaves, no staffs), as a hedge against Dack and Monastery (get quicker attacks in), but have found it to be a little too inconsistent in the current meta.  Shops creatures are very fragile right now with all the removal, so investing even more cards into them doesn't seem to work out.  Especially with the importance of the sphere effects, and the tendency of metalworker to cause too many first turn lines of play.  I was running it with Caverns instead of Factories (to maximize metalworkers), but still didn't come together for me.  Maybe time to dust off Buried Ruin.

[lizardking1545]

I finished 3rd in a non proxy event on 4-11 with the second list.  I lost to Oath in the semi finals, game three, despite landing a turn one Trinisphere.  Several bad draws later and I'm out.  Luckily the man I lost to won the event and the Time Vault prize, congrats Tim!

[rikter]

With fewer lock pieces I would really think about adding Caverns, so you can force an early Metalworker through counter magic while you still have enough artifacts in hand to actually do something with the worker.

LSV had a video on channelfireball of a metalworker list he played in an online event, but he was heavy on the combo aspect (3 staffs, 3 greaves).

[lizardking1545]

I think the Cavern idea is good and will make the change.  It may be wrong to have the Metalworkers in but I have been able to combo with Staff of Domination on a regular basis.  Plus staff lets me slow down other decks like Oath and Tinker based decks by tapping down their threats when they come up.

[GoblinSettler]

I also played at the 4-11 event mentioned above. (Hello!) I ran a Shops list heavily based off BC's 2014 Vintage Champs deck that I expected to position me well in the mirror. It worked out against another player on what appeared to be a Martello list. Then Lizardking1545 defeated me in the first elimination round.

Between Metalworker, Forgemaster, and artifact mana, my Revokers were stretched thin. I named the wrong card several times through the match. A failed soul-read during the final game had me pondering the utility of Gitaxian Probe for much of the drive home. The conclusion I came to on the road was that I would only want them in the mirror. (I see a thread for that exact discussion, but I'll keep the anecdote here instead of repeating myself across several threads.)

Metalworker mana also helped go over the top of a field of spheres. I don't know if Metalworker is always the correct choice, but it seems like a fine one right now. Especially strong if you expect the mirror.

[Islandswamp]

I recently started playing a Metalworker Combo build, at least it was referred to as a combo build in the article in which I found the list.

There's only one Staff of Domination, so I suppose it's less combo-focused. I think that Lightning Greaves is the real combo enabler though. I've never even made infinite mana with Staff yet. I have killed people with Blightsteel in the first several turns on several occasions. I feel like the chains you can pull off with Greaves -  equipping it on a Metalworker, Cast Forgemaster, give it haste, search up a robot and slap some boots on it - That is the "combo" that happens most of the time. I don't even mind siding out Staff of Domination if I need to.

So, for my list, I changed the original sideboard. There were some Caltrops and Batterskulls in there, and caltrops went because it's not good against Mentor, and I didn't think siding in 3 more lifelinkers was all that great. I run an eighth sphere effect, three Crucibles, an extra Ghost Quarter, and two Razormane Masticores so I can become more of a controlling or mana-denial deck if I need to.

Here's my current list:

1 Black Lotus
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Duplicant
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Metalworker
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Sphere of Resistance
1 Staff of Domination
2 Staff of Nin
1 Sundering Titan
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
4 Wasteland
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Lightning Greaves

4 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Homeward Path
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Pithing Needle
2 Razormane Masticore

Cavern of Souls is super useful. You can resolve things when you need them, and protect them afterwards with Greaves.  I would consider playing four Caverns, as I'm thinking an 18th land might help things. I've had to mulligan for lack of lands somewhat frequently.

Staff of Nin feels better in this deck than it's been in my other Shops decks. Mainly because the extra cards are even more important with Metalworker. Drawing more gas is always good. Also, something I never thought of using Staff for, until the other night, is to kill a Dack Fayden. If people resolve Dack, they almost always steal something right away. At that point you can ping him to death with Staff of Nin. It's not ideal, but it's better than Dack sticking around!

Razormane has been good so far. The entire list is pretty solid, but not perfect. The original list was from a decent finish at a Vintage tournament at Gencon, I believe.

Anyway, any comments, questions, or suggestions are welcome. Tomorrow, my next article will be published, and there is more on that list there. I've been playing nothing but shops for a few weeks, so that's what I wrote about.

Edit - I ended up 2-2 in the daily event this weekend, but r1 i'm pretty sure I'd have won if my mana situation had been better. I had my opponent down to 4, but was at 4 mana and kept drawing things like staff of nin and kuldotha forgemaster. Same basic plot for g3.
Also, I played poorly round 4 and paid for it.
I think that the deck is good though.