This is the deck I'm testing at the moment:
Mana:
7 SoLoMoxen
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Wasteland
1 City of Traitors
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
4 Metalworker
--
31
Creatures:
4 Juggernauth
4 Triskelion
2 Arcbound Crusher
2 Arcbound Ravager
1 Platinum Angel
--
13
Equipment:
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Sword of FIre and Ice
--
4
Lock control:
4 Trinisphere
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Chalice of the Void
--
12
Ok, It seems pretty strange and un-professional.
It's no stacker, uses equipment and hyped arcbounds.
At first glance it can seems like some strange attempt to mess new T2 creatures and equipment in a T1 deck.
I've played TnT for years then Lock&Stock/Prison with Smokestack and Tangle Wire but I ever wondered if there can be an aggro deck that uses the incredible power of metalworkers.
This deck, that in a similar shape was first used here in Italy by french player Yann Levet, placed 2nd over 130 players in Massa 03/21/2004, 2nd in Milan 02/29 over 134 players and 5th in Turin 02/15 over 74 players.
(you can see metagame analysis and deck breakdown of such events in
http://www.theabyss.biz)
Looking at the list you can say there's a lot of fast mana: 10 land give 2 or more mana, and you have artifacts and metalworkers.
You have to reach 3 mana to play 3sphere, but 3 mana had to be reached anyway to play this deck.
You can count on a exceptional amount of mana in firsts turns.
So factories and metalworkers needs no explanation.
So is for juggernaut and the angel.
Now about the news:
4 triskelion is a dream for almost all workshop players: they're 4/4 with direct damage.
Arcbound ravager, greatly hyped in T2, can be a real finisher in this deck with triskelion. And you can get rid of crypt damage and unwant spheres and 3speheres.
Arcbound crusher: is a 4cc 1/1 and thats bad, but growing ability and trample can represent a real threat in most of cases. And it grows even when your opponent plays artifats.
Equipment: in a T1 deck all the cards must be useful (better broken) and I know that equipment can be a dead card sometimes. But:
Lightning greaves: its equip cost of 0 lets you give haste to every new creature that hits play AND you can protect every key creature like metalworkers in early game or crushers/juggernaut in mid game.
Sword of fire and ice: that's the BOMB.
+2/+2 and that's great
protection from blue AND from red: so stops fire/ice red burn spells, stifle and can block 'tog, every gay/r non-flying creature and a lot more.
when hits an opponent can do 2 damage to any target AND you draw a card.
And you have a trampler.
Assuming 1st turn workshop-mox juggernauth or crusher (or whatever) you can drop 2nd land on turn 2, cast sword with workshop and equip it with the other two mana, having a 7/5 or 4/4 protected with 2 direct damage on turn 2.
And it's not so strange to happen.
About the control:
You can always set chalice for 1 (you lose only the mana vault/sol ring).
You can set chalice for 0 if you are in 1st turn playing moxes or if you dont have any in hand.
Chalice for 2 (that you can play on turn 1) stops ravagers, greaves and spheres and it can be bad but playable.
Chalice for 3 can be played in mid/late game but stops metalworkers, 3sphere and sword and that's bad.
(but chalice for 1 and for 3 can stop keeper/hulksmash/combo pretty well).
But there's some problem:
-Equipped greaves sometimes stops your own combos (so Mr. Levet cut it away in his last tourney)
-You dont draw, and in T1 it's bad. But you gain a lot of tempo.
-You can add memory jar, but 1x in a deck that doesnt draw and with no fetches is pretty lost.
-You dont have so much SB options. Jester caps, Tormod's, Mind's eye, Geth's Grimoire (for madness!), Sundering titan, darksteel colossus but I have to think about it.
-You are extremely vulnerable to null rod and damping matrix, and you have no way to destroy artifacts (I have to think about it too, suggestions?).
What do you think about it?
