MonoRed Bridge Stax - Testing and Ideas

[Leooooh]

Hey,

I have been testing the following list, and I would like to hear some comments about it (negative or positive, but please, be constructive) since I have never seen anything like it in the last months (not sure if anyone have already tested this idea...If you have already seen anything similar, please, feel free to post the deck/idea).


MonoRed Bridge Stax

Lands (22)

4 Mishra`s Workshop
4 Bazzar of Baghdad
4 Wasteland
4 Barbarian Ring
3 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Acedmy
1 Ghost Quarter

Creatures (4)

4 Goblin Welder


Artifacts (34)

4 Smokestack
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Null Rod
1 Trinisphere
1 Memory Jar

1 Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt


SB:

4 Grafdigger`s Cage
3 Pithing Needle
3 Dismember
2 Tormod`s Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Duplicant
1 Ensnaring Bridge



As you all can see, this is a Stax deck that tries to lock out the oponent, and then wins with Barbarian Ring or with the lonely Karn, Silver Golem. The major difference in this list is the addition of Ensnaring Bridge. In the past, I tried to test a version of this deck without the Ensnaring Bridges, but the deck had a lot of troubles with Aggro MUD, Dredge or any creature based deck. If they could play a big guy fast, I was doomed. So I began testing this idea with the bridges.
 
In theory, this card stops any kind of strategy related with creatures. For example, Aggro MUD has no way to deal with this card. Their only out is animating the bridge with their Karn and kill it with dupe/trisk/razormane or anything else that deals direct damage (They still need to deal with the Null rods) or lock your manabase wich will cause an increase in the number of cards in your hand, enabling their critters to attack. Your ideal gameplan against Aggro MUD is find a Bridge cast it and keep your hand size low. They cant do nothing after this. Things will be even better if have a Bazzar and a Crucible in the game already, keeping your mana base safe. Also, few shop decks are using Welders, so in theory you will have the advantage here.

This card can also be huge against dredge, since you can empty your hand pretty easily with the help of Bazzar. By using this card in the maindeck, you will be abble to win game 1 against dredge, wich is a huge advantage. Post board you will bring in 4 Cages, 2 Tormods, 1 Nihil and the 4th Bridge, giving you 11 cards against dredge. I only tested a couple of games against dredge, but I could see that g2 and g3 are pretty  favorable to you due to the large quatity of hate this deck can use.

With Oath, the addition of those Bridges helped a lot to keep them from ending the game fast. It not only stops that stupid green enchantment, but also Tinker + Robot. Now, you have more tools to deal with their strategy. At first try your best to keep Oath aou of the game. If they resolve it, dig as fast as you can for a Bridge, to buy time until you find a Smokestack. In games 2 and 3, you can have if you want 9 cards ( 4 Bridges, 4 Cages and 1 Dupe) against them. But don`t pay atention only in the Oath plan and Tinker. They can still win with Jace or the Vault + Key combo.

In testing, the worst matchup seems to be the Fish arquetypes. Scavenning Ooze is a big problem for this deck, since it relies a lot in the graveyard use, like recurring wastes/strip/quarters and your kill condition Barbarian Ring. It also stops the crazyness of Welder + Bazzar, one of the most powerful weapons in this deck. In order to keep the Bridges safe, you will need to cast a Chalice @2 (Which will stop Qasali and Ooze) with Welder or Chalice @1 (Nature's Claim, Lightning Bolt and Swords to Plowshares) with Welder. You don`t fear too much Trygons since you can nulify their ability with Welder or find and cast a Bridge and keep your hand size down.

Another problem that this deck has is against a resolved Jace. Jace ignores the Bridges and ultimate you to death. Your only out is cleaning their board with Smokestack, as fast as you can. Pinging the Jace with Barbarian Ring can also buy you time to find a Smokestack or Needle post board.
 The best answer I could think of, was Pithing Needle, which I am already using 3 in the sb. Also, since this deck uses less sphere effects then the other ones, so you will have less protection against Hurkyls and hate cards. But using less sphere effects doesn`t mean that this deck is not good. You still use the best lock pieces and have a way  to find them and recur them back. You also have a "kind of" drawing engine with the 4 Bazzars. Keep an eye on your hand size so you can keep using bazzar, as a filter or as a digger for the desired lock. Use wisely the chalices. They are one of, if not the best lock piece in this deck. Also, the way this deck causes pressure is through Smokestack+ Spheres/Tangles or Crucible + Sphere/Null Rod + strip effect. With the aid of Bazzar you should be abble to keep doing things every turn and keep the opponent locked.


Well thats it. I still need to test the idea of this deck a lot more to see if it is really viable. So far it has been doing good. It requires a lot of practice and a lot of attention on your plays. Let me know what you guys think of it.

Thanks for reading it!!!!

[Twaun007]

Only having four Goblin Welders, have you experimented with The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale in the main? In my past testing it has proven amazing with Smokestack, Tanglewire, and Ensnaring Bridge. Of course this would depend on how creature heavy your metagame is, but it's only a suggestion.    


The list looks solid in the right metagame.

I believe that Scott Huges won a tourney not to long ago with a mono red Workshop list. you may want to look at that for suggestions as well.

EDIT:
Here is the tourney Scott won.  

[BC]

Looks pretty good, but if it was me I would go -4 Sphere +4 Lodestone Golem.  A Workshop deck without Lodestone Golem is like a pizza with no cheese.

[desolutionist]

Ensnaring Bridge is very good in the metagame, but I think 3 is too many; with Null Rods especially.  Instead, have you tried only 1-2 Bridges and 0-1 Null Rods? 

I've had some crazy fun generating advantage with Goblin Welder, Bazaar of Baghdad, and Spine of Ish Sah.  Spine serves as additional Strip Mines that can hit moxes, bobs, lodestones mostly, making your low supply of Sphere effects passable.  I played 4 Spines and Tinker (5c). (also makes your Welders good for defensive capabilities) Give it a try, you might like it!

[Archae]

Given that you struggle with Qasali, ooze, and Jace, try moving some needles to MD. You can reset them with welder, and they can also help against opposing wastelands, as well as doubling up as mana denial against fetches.

[Prospero]

There was a Mono Red Shop deck back in 2009 that Ici Li and Jostin Rodriguez played, it was called 'The Truth'.  From what I can tell, the only difference between the two lists is that they ran the Bridges in the sideboard.

Good luck with the deck.  At the very least, it looks like a lot of fun.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Looks pretty good, but if it was me I would go -4 Sphere +4 Lodestone Golem.  A Workshop deck without Lodestone Golem is like a pizza with no cheese.

The tension between Lodestone and Bridge is...questionable.

Since Lodestone can block everything that matters except BSC and Trygon, is Bridge really worth it?  Said a different way, is Lodestone or Bridge better against Guli.dec?  Lodestone is certainly better against the Jace "fish" builds.

[Shax]

Bridge is better when you play against Trygons.

Both lose to Guli.decs Kataki, Wars Wage.

Qasali Pridemage kills both with little impunity, except against Lodestone it cost 1 more. So Lodestone gives you a turn usually.

Overall from a card design both have uses because Ensnaring Bridge stops Blightsteel Collosus for 3 Mana, the Workshop mana number.

Lodestone Golem is only Juggs, Profit, ???.

Also both are not effected by Null Rod. Lodestone Golem only has varience with Null Rod since it hits moxen so your two lands deep to cast him then. While Bridge sits at the magic 3 mana Workshop mana. Bridge definatley should have uses in a traditional Prison $43X$ list.

[GNU]

0.My experience with similar lists, is that you won't struggle to find a red source with 4 bazaars, crucibles. I would suggest you cut 2 red sources and replace with ancient tombs. I also feel that 4 Bazaars is too many, whilst you can bazaar multiples....it really hurts drawing multiples in the first few turns, so I would cut it back to 3.

Yes, pridemage can blow stuff up, but the fact you can recur with welder and dig into multiples with bazaar, means its not as concerning.

[Blue Lotus]

Personally in a welder/mud deck I would never go below 4 barb ring/4 mountain: welder is just that important.

[John Jones]

I feel like this deck wants Sundering Titan and some amount of Phyrexian Metamorph

[Liiva]

Have you tried Cavern of Souls instead of the mountains?
I'd say making your welders uncounterable in the blue matchup is pretty huge and it allows you to cast welders with a chalice @ 1 on the board.

[Twaun007]

Have you tried Cavern of Souls instead of the mountains?
I'd say making your welders uncounterable in the blue matchup is pretty huge and it allows you to cast welders with a chalice @ 1 on the board.

Cavern of Souls would be cute, but you'd have to rework the mana base to support the Barbarian Rings. Barbarian Ring also allows you to win without an attack phase, a phase which this deck is trying to eliminate.

[credmond]

Cavern of Souls is more than just cute. Being able to play turn one chalice at 1 and play a turn 2 uncounterable welder is huge.

[Twaun007]

Cavern of Souls is more than just cute. Being able to play turn one chalice at 1 and play a turn 2 uncounterable welder is huge.

I think you missed my point.

Cavern of Souls would be cute, but you'd have to rework the mana base to support the Barbarian Rings. Barbarian Ring also allows you to win without an attack phase, a phase which this deck is trying to eliminate.

Cavern of Souls cannot fuel Barbarian Ring. Barbarian Ring is the only other win condition in the deck since it wants to win outside of the attack phase. Hence reworking the manabase to support the other win condition of the deck.

It doesn't matter what you win with once your opponent is locked out, but you should make your path to victory as easy as possible. Barbarian Ring and Cavernous Souls do not compliment each other well. That's all I'm saying.

[credmond]

Cavern of souls is the clear way forward for this deck. Without it, mental misstep on your welder means you likely lose in this meta. I agree that the deck needs some way of finishing beyond the ever popular welder beats after smokey clears the way but it is far more critical that the deck establishes its lock first. The finish is an afterthought in this deck.

[Twaun007]

Cavern of souls is the clear way forward for this deck. Without it, mental misstep on your welder means you likely lose in this meta.

I think the importance on resolving Welder isn't the end all be all that you're wishing it is. Don't get me wrong, he has a powerful effect on the game state. It's just that today's meta is more creature heavy than ever and along with that there's an increased amount of removal. Jace TMS, Phyrexian Revoker, Phyexian Metamorph, Fire & Ice.... and that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dealing with the lil bugger. Plus, I don't even want add up the amount of artifact hate decks are packing either.

EDIT: I'm not saying that Welder shouldn't be played or abuse. I'm just saying that he just needs to find the right home. 

[Stormanimagus]

Cavern of souls is the clear way forward for this deck. Without it, mental misstep on your welder means you likely lose in this meta.

I think the importance on resolving Welder isn't the end all be all that you're wishing it is. Don't get me wrong, he has a powerful effect on the game state. It's just that today's meta is more creature heavy than ever and along with that there's an increased amount of removal. Jace TMS, Phyrexian Revoker, Phyexian Metamorph, Fire & Ice.... and that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dealing with the lil bugger. Plus, I don't even want add up the amount of artifact hate decks are packing either.

EDIT: I'm not saying that Welder shouldn't be played or abuse. I'm just saying that he just needs to find the right home. 

I don't generally post these days but I would like to point out that this deck should be running Golem. Golem is just too good not to include IN SPITE of the potential inclusion of Ensnaring Bridge. Like seriously, Justify NOT running a 5/4 sphere on creatures/instants/sorceries in a deck that has 4x of a land that is a dark ritual for golems?

So, that being said, Cavern makes even more sense cause you can make GOLEM uncounterable with it as well. because of this you can reduce B-Ring to a 1-2 of (supplementary win con no longer primary). Then you run 4 Cavern and 2 Mountain. I'm still working on the deck but the combination of uncounterable Welders, Golems and ability to avoid Chalice @1 seems solid to me. Maybe there is a way to rework the deck to make it abuse Cavern even more. Still not sure though.

-Storm

[bluemage55]

Cavern of Souls cannot fuel Barbarian Ring. Barbarian Ring is the only other win condition in the deck since it wants to win outside of the attack phase. Hence reworking the manabase to support the other win condition of the deck.

It doesn't matter what you win with once your opponent is locked out, but you should make your path to victory as easy as possible. Barbarian Ring and Cavernous Souls do not compliment each other well. That's all I'm saying.

Triskelion in conjunction with Welder would be a reasonable alternative that also dodges the attack phase, if a Cavern of Souls approach was used.

[shrewarmies]

This list came second here in Australia earlier in the year in a 20 man tournament for a Library. Only lost in round 3 vs cobra Gush Storm (in 2 games, I went t1 kill on the play game 1 and T1 tinker on the draw game 2) and the finals (to Snap Bob in 3 games) due to extreme luck on the bob players side and hitting a bunch of lands in a row while on like 1 life.

The deck was extremely consistent in starting its lock and making sure you were held down and generally won by karn beats or Ring Recursion.

Note that this was before cavern was printed.

2) *******  – Red Stax

ARTIFACTS (29)
5 x Mox
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Sol Ring
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Mana Vault
4 x Chalice of the Void
4 x Smokestack
4 x Tangle Wire
3 x Crucible of Worlds
1 x Trinisphere
4 x Sphere of Resistance

CREATURES (10)
4 x Lodestone Golem
4 x Goblin Welder
2 x Karn Silver Golem

Lands (22)
4 x Mishra’s Workshop
4 x Wasteland
3 x Mountain
3 x Ancient Tomb
1 x Strip Mine
3 x Bazaar of Baghdad
1 x Tolarian Academy
3 x Barbarian Ring

SIDEBOARD (15)
4 x Greater Gargadon
4 x Tormod’s Crypt
1 x Crucible of Worlds
3 x Ensnaring Bridge
3 x Phyrexian Metamorph