Grafdigger's Cage in MUD

[madmanmike25]

It's been spoiled a while now and I'm surprised there isn't any discussion here about putting this card maindeck in MUD.  A few things to ponder over:

Is maindeck Cage a meta call?  I would assume unless you play in no-proxy land vs a field of goblins, fish, and other random jank aggro that you would like to see this card more often than not in game 1.  Ok, to be fair this card isn't useful against MUD unless they are Forgemaster-based.

A turn 1 opening of Cage then Sphere or Thorn seems really powerful to me.  If you want to get even more bonkers try Cage, Sphere/Thorn, then Cotv@0.  For the low price of 3 mana total, that's a solid play.

Playing Cage on the draw seems pretty decent vs a turn 1 Oath or a turn 1 Bazaar even with activation.  Obvious statement is obvious.

Now the downside:  This card does nothing in multiples.  It is useless in certain matchups.  You won't be able to cast it if you are in a blind match and you set your Chalice @ 1.

So a good question is do you run 2, 3, or 4 of this card maindeck?  A 2/2 split between maindeck and sb seems very safe to start out but the card is just so damn powerful against certain matchups it almost cries out to be a 4-of.  That's where I'm starting.  I haven't been into Vintage as much lately for several reasons (some restricted, some not) so I'm curious as to how others are adapting their MUD builds to include this card.  Does Null Rod go?  Smokestack at 4 mana doesn't seem so hot at answering Oath compared to this 1cc gem.  Will this card bring even more creatures to the party for Shop players?  By all means, post lists and lets discuss.

[yespuhyren]

While I think it’s partially deck dependant, Metamorph in the main deals with Blightsteel and Oath targets for the most part in the maindeck.  I’d say SB 3/4, but I don’t like playing cards that can literally be 100% dead and played around in the main.

Play it against a drain deck and you stop tinker and tezzeret from searching, but is that really worth having maindeck just for those 2 cards?  Any of those decks run Hurkyl’s or something in the main, which negates that as they do what they always do, EOT hurkyl’s untap/win
Shop decks are rarely affected due to the lack of crucibles being played, etc.
Fish style decks are in the same boat as shops here

That being said:

IF you have enough Oath and Ichorid in your area that you actually find yourself playing more than 50% of your matches against them, I’d maindeck it.  Otherwise SB

Just my 2 cents

[Commandant]

It seems fine as a main deck card in Espresso in some number depending on your meta characteristics, one could always feed multiples to Smokestack.

[bluemage55]

Since it's worthless in multiples, why not just run a singleton maindeck if you don't have Forgemaster?  That way, it'll rarely hurt you, occasionally win you random games, and it'll help seal the game if you draw it later on and the opponent is already close to locked out with Tinker or Oath as their main outs.

[ed0]

... Play it against a drain deck and you stop tinker and tezzeret from searching...
... Shop decks are rarely affected due to the lack of crucibles being played...

Grafdigger's Cage doesn't stop you from searching with Tezz - you just can't search for a creature, which you probably wouldn't do in the first place.
neither does it stop recurring lands via crucible either, as lands are played, not cast.

in blue decks the card stops tinker, yawgwill, snapcaster and in workshop forgemaster.

[Kiriyuu]

It also stops the flashback on ancient grudge, which means they have to use the first half destroying this rather than what they wanted to kill.

I think it's a better fit in a stax style workshop deck than a MUD deck, but I think it could be played effectively in the MUD MD, but I'm not sure what I'd cut for it.

[madmanmike25]

While I think it’s partially deck dependant, Metamorph in the main deals with Blightsteel and Oath targets for the most part in the maindeck.

I never really cared for Metamorph as an answer to Oath.  This is because they are just going to Oath again next turn.  The exception is if you were fortunate to Metamorph a Terastodon or you are able to Waste their Orchard.  I'm glad you mentioned the card though, because it seems to me that if you decide to run Cage maindeck, Metamorph will help shore up the matches where Cage will be subpar to useless.  Ya know, vs creature-based decks and Shop decks.

Stopping Ancient Grudge is also a nice bonus, thanks for pointing that out.

I'll post up a decklist shortly and put it up for scrutiny.

[credmond]

... Play it against a drain deck and you stop tinker and tezzeret from searching...
... Shop decks are rarely affected due to the lack of crucibles being played...

Grafdigger's Cage doesn't stop you from searching with Tezz - you just can't search for a creature, which you probably wouldn't do in the first place.
neither does it stop recurring lands via crucible either, as lands are played, not cast.

in blue decks the card stops tinker, yawgwill, snapcaster and in workshop forgemaster.

To clarify, Tinker and Forgemaster can still find great cards like memory jar. The artifacts that are searched just can't be creatures.

Here's a Mud list I am running. I don't see the need for any main deck Cages. You can't afford to run cards that might miss entirely or to swap out cards in the main deck that put more pressure on the opponent than this card. However, it's an awesome SB card and worth running in the SB as a 4 of. Null rod is great these days to answer the rise of Turbo Tezz, Vault-Key, Bomberman, and Engineered Explosives. The 2 x crucible and 2 x ghost quarter is extra juice for the mirror, which is extra important these days also.

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Null Rod
3 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
2 Mishra's Factory
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Slash Panther
1 Mana Crypt
SB: 2 Duplicant
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Steel Hellkite
SB: 2 Ghost Quarter
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Crucible of Worlds
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage

[yespuhyren]

Just reread the card and it's good, but arguably weaker than I'd originally thought.  I will be testing it as a 4x of in the sb, however definitely will not be maindeck for now.  Here is what I'm playing:

Jester 2012

4x Mishras Workshop
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Wasteland
3x Rishadan Port
2x City of Traitors
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Strip Mine

1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt

4x Lodestone Golem
4x Phyrexian Metamorph
4x Wurmcoil Engine

4x Chalice of the Void
4x Thorn of Amethyst
4x Orb of Dreams
4x Tangle Wire
4x Jester's Cap

SB:

4x Relic of Progenitus
4x Grafdiggers Cage
3x Forcefield
3x Masticore
1x Trinisphere

[nataz]

I love it in the SB, it clears up so much space acting as dedicated dredge and oath hate.

MD is another story, at least in workshop aggro. Metamorph does a decent job at answering tinker -> BSC AND being a sphere/wire/beater when needed. With a million sphere effects I'm not that worried about chaining a ton of spells off will. What I am worried about is steel sabotage, trygon, h-recall, snapcaster + claim, tarmo, legionnaire, etc, and this does nothing to stop or slow them from being played.

I keep trying to cram it in, but I can never find the space over spheres, null rod, beaters, or wire. 

[yespuhyren]

What I am worried about is steel sabotage, trygon, h-recall, snapcaster + claim, tarmo, legionnaire, etc, and this does nothing to stop or slow them from being played.

I keep trying to cram it in, but I can never find the space over spheres, null rod, beaters, or wire.  

With the amount of destruction out recently, I've been favoring Wurmcoils in the main, as well as Masticore in the sideboard.  Regeneration rocks, as does pinging Confidants, snapcasters, lotus cobras, slash panthers, revokers and more.

[Ruboonia]

I love it in the SB, it clears up so much space acting as dedicated dredge and oath hate.

MD is another story, at least in workshop aggro. Metamorph does a decent job at answering tinker -> BSC AND being a sphere/wire/beater when needed. With a million sphere effects I'm not that worried about chaining a ton of spells off will. What I am worried about is steel sabotage, trygon, h-recall, snapcaster + claim, tarmo, legionnaire, etc, and this does nothing to stop or slow them from being played.

I keep trying to cram it in, but I can never find the space over spheres, null rod, beaters, or wire.  

I mostly agree with nataz. Cage is a very powerful card, but it doesn't put pressure on the opponent as much as it needs to to deserve a place in the maindeck. (NOTE: I should mention that this makes me extremely sad because I originally thought it had high maindeck potential given the versatility of its effects against the vintage powers). It will steal game ones against dredge, but it's completely underwhelming against Tinker. They will be finding Hurkyl's Recall anyway and casting the Cage instead of another Sphere/Smokestack/whatever has likely increased your opponent's chances of being able to resolve said Hurkyl's. I haven't tested against Oath, but it is possible that people will stop playing Oath for a few months just in fear of Grafdigger's Cage; if that's the case, is there a need to play Cage yourself?

I think it does have a place in the sideboard. However, dredge is already packing a mixture of Nature's Claim/Chain of Vapor/Mental Misstep in the sideboard--all of which hit the Cage. I do think it's an improvement over other options. The first turn Shop, Cage, with protection like a Sphere could be enough pressure to keep the Chains and Claims uncastable until it's too late. Certainly beats mulliganing to hit Leyline or Relic of Progenitus, IMO.