CrucibleLock.dec

[Lockdown]

I posted this originally in the perfecting artifact aggro thread, but I figured it was significantly different enough to merit its own thread.  This deck focuses on getting out the Crucible lock as soon as possible, except when I want to win really quickly with Tinker for a Colossus.  

//Lockdown(13)
4 Trinisphere
4 Crucible of the Worlds
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

//I Win Now(3)
1 Tinker
1 Platinum Angel
1 Darksteel Colossus

//Disruption(6)
4 Duress
2 Chalice of the Void

//Draw/Search/Broken(14)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
2 Impulse
2 Tainted Pact

//Mana(24)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Mishra's Workshop
7 SoLoMoxen
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Underground Sea
2 Underground River

Obviously not optimal yet and there are certain questionable card choices, but I've been getting decent results.  Goblin Welder can be troublesome and I was thinking about adding Triskelion, or even Damping Matrix. This deck may also have problems with combo/super-fast aggro in which case the ideal plan would probably be to tinker for the Angel as fast as possible. However, I haven't had too many problems with doing this, given the amount of search and draw this deck.

I'm thinking about splashing green, which gives me the additional options of Xantid Swarm/Ground Seal/Oxidize, and the possible inclusion of the Fastbond/Zuran Orb/Crucible combo.

With regards to sideboard options, I haven't given it that much thought.  As I mentioned before Damping Matrix could be a viable option.  To deal with control, Defense Grid is another.  Could also use Tormod's Crypt to hit Dragon/Crucible/Artifact decks.  And Stifle is yet another option.

Any thoughts?

[jazzykat]

Just one obvious point. You have great hosers MD vs. fast combo in trinisphere and chalice. If you have a lot of it in your area then you could move to 2 more chalice in the board (it wrecks fish as well!)

I played draw 7 for a long time, and there was nothing that said you lose faster than a trinisphere coming down. The TPS builds people seem to favor may be a little more resilient.

[MisterShark]

I'd be inclined to add FoW.

Other than that, maybe, mayyybe, splash   for a Crop Rotation to help assure better chances of finding the Strip Mine in the face of basic land-toting opponents like Food Chain Goblins and  B/G Madness.

[Lockdown]

Of course, silly me.  If I splash green, it adds the option of Crop Rotation.  With regards to Force of Will though, I just don't have enough blue cards to fuel it.  Given the number of blue mana sources, I probably couldn't effectively run Mana Drain either.  So I'm just not sure what counters, if any, I should put in.

[garlick]

Of course, silly me. If I splash green, it adds the option of Crop Rotation.

If you do this, you could eventually play strip mine in the side and abuse it whit a multiple copies of living wish, and this looks good expecially because in your deck list Crucible does not seems as a "bonus" card (4x), but as a foundamental piece of the deck.

[Jacob Orlove]

I notice that you're running Chalice and a bunch of 1-mana spells. Since Welder can be such a problem for you, wouldn't it make sense to cut some of those 1-mana cards (Duress) for the other 2 chalices and enough blue cards to let you run force?

Also, if you add green, Fastbond is insane.

[Lockdown]

All right, so it sounds like the inclusion of green seems pretty obvious.  That means:

1x Crop Rotation
1x Fastbond

?x Xantid Swarms
?x Ground Seal
?x Oxidize

I'm thinking Crop Rotation and Fastbond MD, the others in the SB.  Does the inclusion of Fastbond automatically merit at least one copy of Zuran Orb as well for the infinite life combo?

Also, I'd love to be able to run FoW, but I just don't see where the slots would be coming from, especially with the addition of the green splash now.

[Razvan]

Green ain't bad, as they say, but I wonder why you wouldn't add Welders and Gorilla Shamans for red.

The lock is not enough, since they might squeeze some artifact mana, or just counter your key spell(s). The disruption you have is nowhere enough to stem the assault. The welders also help re-occur the lock parts that get killed / countered, mess with their stuff, etc...

I would add green for crop rotation and fastbond, if nothing else. 4 Xantid (instead of Chalices and Impulse) could really help you get your stuff through...

Just thoughts...

[MisterShark]

It'd be decidedly less flashy and you'd lose style points, but what if you got rid of the Platinum Angel and Colossus altogether in favor of Mishra's Factory x4, backed up by the afore-suggested Living Wish(s)?  Just slowly bleed em with your Factory Workers.
You could also keep the Colossus in the board for a Living Wish target if you want to.
With the Living Wishes, Crucible and Factories, even if your win conditions are few, there is no place that they are inaccessible.  You can re-cur them from the grave, wish them back in from the out-of-game zone, or pick the alternate win condition creature (Colossus) from the board.  Your creatures become recoverable from any zone.
The Xantid Swarms would help to assure your Living Wishes are uncountered.
And of course don't forget to put a Naturalize or two in somewhere in case of opposing Crucibles.

If you're thinking about running Living Wish with your newly added green, then even if your opponent manages to Swords some of your Factory Workers, you'd be able to recover them with the Living Wishs.  Any other Factory Worker elimination would be irrelevant anyway since you'll have crucible to re-cur them.
Slower beatdown yes, but more inevitable...Mr. Anderson...

I'd look to even cut out some or all of the black stuff to shore-up your blue spells, welcoming FoW.  your mana base is fast enough without Dark Ritual and your spells are redundant enough to be found via Brainstorm or Impulse, or whatever sorting cards you choose to finally go with.

Radical overhaul; maybe.  More boring win; probably.  More dependable; most likely.

[jCoKn]

Intuition has found it's place, and rightfully so, in some newer Prison decks because Intuition lands a threat in hand as well as a threat in the grave. I'd suggest trying it out.

Living Wish seems like a great addition, too.

[martyr]

I've just been testing this build, with 2x Intuitions instead of the Impulses, and they're awesome. I've noticed some problems with this deck, though.

First, sometimes (read: a lot of the time), you'll end up second or third turn with multiples of some card in your hand, and either no use for them, or they're extremely clunky. Cards like Brainstorm and Dark Ritual are awesome sometimes, but really crummy the rest of the time. So far the only real use I've gotten out of Dark Ritual was to have a broken first turn  Yawg Win and cast a first turn Platinum Angel.

Also, the deck has issues with colored mana. I've noticed that this happens a lot with decks like this and the man show.

So. I would replace two of the Dark Rituals with lands, two of them with Accumulated Knowledge, and two of the Brainstorms with Accumulated Knowledges. I don't know if the other two 'storms should stay in, or if they should be replaced with something really useful, like a threat or utility or something.

The thing is, usually you're Intuitioning for the Strip Mine, and putting the AKs in the 'yard is usually just an added bonus. This also makes the one you drew in your opening hand a LOT better, as you won't want to cast it until at least third turn, generally, and it gives Mystical Tutor a purpose if you draw it after the Ancestral has been cast.

With this build, maybe an additional Intuition should go in.

I dunno, really, if the AKs are the right call, but I know that I definitely don't like that many Brainstorms and Dark Rituals.

I like this deck's sb options the most of any other part of it, though. Tsabo's Web and Chalice of the Void can both be sided in to wreck Fish, and they hardly effect the functioning of this deck at all, unlike how it functions in Landstill.

I'm worried, though, about other Aggro decks like the Man Show and TriniSTAX. This deck has NO creature removal, other than to just prevent them from being cast. That's awfully risky, in my opinion. Maybe Diabolic Edict in the SB or something...I don't know.  Any ideas?

[Setnakt]

Doesn't Brainstorm actually help alleviate some of the problems you're trying to solve by cutting them?

[martyr]

Ok, so maybe cutting Brainstorm wasn't the right call...

...at least not for what I put in. AK is too slow, even with the bursts of card advantage late-game. It's just not worth the mana before you're already winning. I've tried this out with the full complement of Dark Rituals and with 4x Tainted Pact, 2x Brainstorm...and it's awesome. The Tainted Pacts are the perfect mixture of versatility and power. They also give you something to do with extra Dark Ritual mana, as well as set up third turn locks when you wouldn't expect them possible.

I still hate that there's no creature removal.

[Bob The Builder]

When adding green  (living wishes, fastbond, crop rotation) to the deck and as martyr suggests add lands to cut the rituals, I'd add City of brass.

That way you can add Gorilla Shaman in the SB if you want to eat something.  I know it's red, but with one mox, crucible and (at least) 2 city of brass (maybe one in the side along with the strip? But I'd go for 4 city main...) you should be able to pull it off when needed.
I'd choose Shaman above any other because of the infinite mana with fastbond / Zorb wich means you eat everything!!

So I do think Zorb is a must if you go for fastbond!

Just a thought    

Edit: Removed the rubbish, since shaman doesn't eat creatures indeed...

[Eddie]

I'd choose Shaman above any other because of the infinite mana with fastbond / Zorb wich means you eat everything, (even titans)!!

Shaman would be great indeed. It doesn't eat artifact creatures though (so no Titans as you suggested)... Nevertheless, you should put one in the side to wish for.

[martyr]

I don't like Green in the deck, really. It doesn't add as much versatility as I thought it would, and when you're banking on this much speed, it doesn't seem worth it.

[Lockdown]

I'm still undecided on the whole green thing but I think its worth at least one look.  With regards to the Fastbond/Zorb/Crucible combo, I think that it's a win more kind of thing, at least the Zuran Orb part of it.  Fastbond/Crucible is devastating enough without it.  You also have to take into consideration the matchup vs. control.  With the current build, you have Trinisphere/Duress/Chalice of the Void to stop them.  Is that enough?  Possibly.  But I'd like to at least try Green.  I agree that adding Green to the deck makes it slower and less consistent in general, so how about switching out the Underground Rivers and 2 Dark Rituals for 4 City of Brass.  This would allow you to play green cards without losing the current speed of the deck.

In response to earlier comments;
-I've found Dark Ritual to be useful in allowing first turn plays such as Duress, then Demonic/Vampiric Tutor for Tinker, and also for basically guaranteeing the ability to play Crucible/Trinisphere turn 1.  However, playing more lands instead is an interesting option, and as I just mentioned, I'm trying to replace them with City of Brass for the green splash.

-Intuition is an obvious choice, I should have spotted it earlier.  But only for the ability to tutor for Strip Mine/Wasteland.  I don't think AK is the way this deck wants to go.

-Creature removal against aggro decks... yes that is a problem.  However, that's one of the reasons why I try to have a lot of tutoring and draw.  This allows me to get Tinker for Collossus or Angel, effectively winning the game against most aggro.  Oxidize hits many things, including Artifact aggro, and as you mentioned Diabolic Edict is an option.