Back in the days of the old TMD, a weird thing happened. Like many innovations in Magic, an idea for a deck sprung from the successes of other decks that exploited very efficient engines. The successful decks in question are wMUD/$t4k$ (ala Thug/Toad/Smmenen) and Dragon w/Bazaar (ala Shock Wave/DicemanX). The resultant decks - StP$t4k$ and Bazaar MUD - were developed in parallel, albeit separately, by Dr_Nuxvomica and myself, respectively.
A brief intro.I presented my deck,
Bazaar MUD, on November 11th of last year after I had playtested and tweaked it for a couple of weeks on Apprentice. The results seemed very promising: not only was it winning against a huge assortment of decks, but it was doing it with authority as well as consistently.
The idea for the deck came about from the (then recent) successes of MUD and Dragon. It borrowed the Squee/Bazaar engine from Dragon (and perhaps in some small respect UB/r Reanimator) to replace Grafted Skullcap in wMUD, although several other cards were also cut from wMUD in order to make room for all 7/8 cards (testing showed that 3 Squee was only marginally inferior to 4). The result of this is that MUD went from an inconsistent yet powerful prison archetype to a card-drawing and Welder abusing Juggernaut.
To corroborate my findings, I also became aware of another fellow TMD'er who was experiencing enormous success piloting a prison deck with Bazaar+Squee - Dr_Nuxvomica (Dr_Tongue on IRC). He called his deck
StP$t4k$, due to his splashing white for Swords to Plowshares and Balance.
Here is even an old log of a game I managed to dredge up, that shows both decks up to their usual tricks.
The response from the rest of the TMD community was, well, less than enthusiastic. The main arguments against the deck, all valid in some respects, were thus:
1) Essential lock components, various key support cards, and mana acceleration are compromised for a graveyard dependant draw engine.
2) The Squee/Bazaar engine (7/8 cards) lacks enough synergy with the overall deck concept to warrant consuming that much deck room.
I abandoned the deck soon thereafter, because the release of Mirrodin spawned new and powerful prison builds. The emergent Slaver archetype appeared strictly superior; not only did it dominate the mirror, but it utilized Thirst of Knowledge extremely effectively. Plus, I had also gotten tired of fighting for a deck that was widely discredited, despite all my efforts to prove otherwise. It seems that a momentary resurging interest in Squee+Bazaar in Prison was quickly
shot down, and these decks seemed destined to fade into obscurity.
Now, I find myself drawn back to the "archetype", mainly because I have had time to reflect on what was good and bad about it - but despite its flaws, it remains one of the most fun decks I ever played (if not so fun to play against), which is why I have decided to resurrect it.
Presenting, Neo Bazaar MUD// CREATOR: V.G.B.
// CREATED: 7/1/2004 3:41:00 PM
// FORMAT: Classic
// Lands
2 Mountain
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Petrified Field
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
3 Wooded Foothills
// Creatures
1 Darksteel Colossus
3 Sundering Titan 2 Triskelion
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Goblin Welder
2 Gorilla Shaman// Spells
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker 1 Wheel of Fortune
// Artifacts
1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Trinisphere 1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
// Sideboard
SB: 1 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 4 Null Rod
SB: 2 Rack and Ruin
SB: 2 Razormane Masticore
SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
Oh no, not again...Although Smokestack and Tangle Wire are the defining components of the prison archetype, one thing that sets Bazaar MUD apart is the ability it has to quickly dig through the deck to find cards, and to abuse Welder. The focus of this deck has shifted from setting up a hard lock after initial disruption to landing the best disruption in the format ASAP (3Sphere and Sphere of Resistance), and focus on mana denial and superior win conditions to
just win.
This deck doesn't have the explosive mana of MUD with Metalworkers, but nonetheless doesn't have many issues with hardcasting its threats -
even factoring in the loss of a land drop when playing Bazaar. The enormous digging benefits of Bazaar often outweigh the lost drop, due to the resultant hand optimization and Welder synergy - plus it turns useless cards into playables, such as when a Trinisphere is already in play and you have multiples crowding your hand. Many people that played against the deck had a hard time believing that such a seemingly suboptimal pile could consistently find the cards it needed when it needed them - and it is all thanks to Bazaar.
Dr_Nuxvomica's efforts showed that the deck could easily support a secondary color, but not a third - I opted for blue for obvious reasons.
The sideboard is not set in stone, but serves to illustrate what problems this deck
does have, as well as what it doesn't.
Null Rod is a non-issue - which is why it, R&R, and Razormane come in for the prison mirror. Null Rod doesn't stop Smokestacks or Tangle Wire, but it does give this deck time to dig while the opponent falls behind, as it shuts down Metalworker, Mindslaver, Pentavus, Karn, Triskelion, etc.
Dragon is this deck's hugest threat, as it is to all prison decks, which is why Tormod's is sided - although Platinum Angel might be warranted, it is an imperfect solution. Damping Matrix could possibly be beneficial, as it shuts down all of their creature-based win conditions, but the asynergy with Welder is perhaps too painful.
And in conclusion...I hope you've enjoyed this brief tour down a block of my Memory Lane, and even if you don't like the deck's premise, I hope you can at least appreciate this small fragment of TMD history.
