Serenity: Workshop's Bane?

[Tonmehr]

Has anyone else thought about splashing white and boarding in 4x Serenity?

Serenity 1W
At the beginning of your upkeep, destroy all artifacts and enchantments. They can't be regenerated.

I feel like with a few Tundras, this could own Workshop, and this would also work pretty well against Oath. 

I was planning to use it as part of a Bob Tendrils SB.

[Commandant]

Read a book, read a book, read a mother fucking book!

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/20138_The_Long_and_Winding_Road_The_One_Where_Elias_Battles_Menendian.html

[TopSecret]

This doesn't seem great against Oath because the Oath player gets to Oath out a guy before Serenity blows up.

[TheBrassMan]

Serenity is a totally valid tool for fighting Workshops, though I'm of the belief that any one card is not flexible enough to handle all of the ways a Workshop deck will attack you, and therefore Serenity has to be but one tool  in a comprehensive plan against the deck

[Tonmehr]

Thanks, I already read that article.  It was pretty helpful.   

I was hoping to use this as a Bob Tendrils SB

4x Leyline of the Void
2x Yixlid Jailer
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Rebuild
1x Swamp
1x Tundra
1x Plains
3x Serenity
1x Massacre

Does anyone have any thoughts on using Strip Mine and Wastelands to handle the Shop?

[Troy_Costisick]

Does anyone have any thoughts on using Strip Mine and Wastelands to handle the Shop?

Those usually don't play well with the high color requirements of most spells in a storm deck.  Lotus Cobra and Mox Opal are possible options to get through Spheres.

[Juggernaut GO]

eon hub....


BONG

[Tobi]

Does anyone have any thoughts on using Strip Mine and Wastelands to handle the Shop?

Actually I used a sideboard with Waste/Strip against Shops and Dredge. It played out quite nicely.
Vs Shops it needs to be combined with E-Fluxes.

Of course, then you won't have SB space for Serenity anymore.

--> http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=40710.0

[TheBrassMan]

I ran Wastes as part of a larger plan at the Vintage Champs this year and was extremely disappointed in my shops matchup (this plan included energy flux).  I would not personally consider running Strip effects as anti-shop cards again until the environment changes in some significant way.

[hitman]

Does anyone have any thoughts on using Strip Mine and Wastelands to handle the Shop?

While destroying Mishra's Workshop is a good goal, it costs you too much in land drops against a deck that's bottlenecking your mana with Spheres and the like.  Workshop decks often run Crucible of Worlds, as well. 

Has anyone else thought about splashing white and boarding in 4x Serenity?

Serenity 1W
At the beginning of your upkeep, destroy all artifacts and enchantments. They can't be regenerated.

I feel like with a few Tundras, this could own Workshop, and this would also work pretty well against Oath.

I was planning to use it as part of a Bob Tendrils SB.

For the same reason Wasteland and Strip Mine aren't ideal plans for a combo player, Serenity has always had a tendency to bottleneck my mana.  I often just play out my Moxes against Workshops so I have workable mana.  If I play an early Serenity, Workshop players don't play more artifacts into it, obviously.  If they don't play into it and I can't win on the spot when my Serenity trigger resolves, they play out their hand and I'm back in my original predicament.  If I play out my Moxes to have sufficient mana to maneuver and drop the Serenity when they've committed more to the board, I lose my Moxes and a lot of my mana making it harder to leverage the "open window" into an explosive bomb.  I guess what I'm saying is Serenity requires me to have an ideal hand of explosive mana in hand (Rituals), ample mana on board (Lands and Moxes) and a bomb (usually not a tutor).  I don't think tutors are that great against Workshops because they take too much setup when Spheres makes them cost more and you can't play more than one spell a turn.  If you're depending on tutors to find a bomb, you need more mana.  I've found the best solutions to Workshops are cards that don't set you back in the most important resource in the matchup, mana.  Cards like Hurkyl's Recall are amazing because they Wrath the board at instant speed and don't set you behind in mana.  In conclusion, I would consider playing Serenity in old-style Long builds like Grim Long but not decks like TPS or Bob Tendrils.  TPS and Bob Tendrils usually skimp on Ritual mana, only including one copy of Cabal Ritual, and don't play as many bombs as Grim Long. 

[Rico Suave]

From my experience, the biggest problem that a post-Golem metagame has created for Ritual storm decks is the Workshop deck can apply a considerable amount of pressure.  No longer can we sit back for an eternity of turns, patiently build our mana base, and eventually clean up with a bounce spell at a time of our convenience.  We are now going to be facing a threat of some kind that forces us to act quickly.  In most cases that threat will be the Golem itself, but in other instances it could be a Smokestack or Juggernaut or Karn or anything really.  The Workshop opponent is better equipped to find a threat in the early stages of the game and win a few turns later. 

The reason a traditional board sweeper like Hurkyl's Recall or Rebuild doesn't work for me, or at least doesn't solve the problem like before, is because we may be forced to Hurkyl's Recall at a point before we are prepared to win just to stay alive before a Golem eats us.  Sure it's great if we've managed to bounce their board, then untap and win.  But this expectation does not become a reality often enough for my liking.  This is particularly true if we are sideboarding because our deck is less likely to have the threshold of game-winning bombs that it did before (I often take out cards like Mind's Desire).

Serenity is particularly useful because it deals with a problem.  It removes the Golem, and forces the Workshop player to present a new threat.  In combination with Force of Will, we can use Serenity to buy a significant amount of time by neutralizing their threats.  We can achieve a board state where the opponent has simple Spheres and Wires and Chalices, but nothing that forces us to act just yet which means we can better prepare for our critical turn.  Of course it also helps that Serenity clears the board.

That being said, it is still difficult for a Ritual deck to find that sweet spot where it has the ability to consistently wipe the board at an early stage of the game, then untap and win.  There are two main parts, one being the "build mana and sweep" with the other part being "win against a clear board."  Those two parts each require a substantial number of cards, and by turn 3 or so we'll be able to accomplish one of those goals but rarely both because we just haven't drawn enough cards yet.  Cheap draw, like Ancestral Recall or Dark Confidant, will go a long way towards boosting us to the point where we have a critical mass for both phases of our game and execute our strategy.