INTROI am playing combo for about a year now, and I'm very happy playing it. It first started with a budget version of neo-academy which I changed to tendrils when scourge came out. I pulled the deck apart when mirrodin came out because all of my metagame was playing type two and I was going to play it too back then. I started playing atog sligh for the interested under you. Then I started with suicide because I didn't like type two, which changed when darksteel came out when I began again with atog sligh. And again I changed to suicide.
But then a month ago or so, I saw the deck Jos Schreurs played in the dutch city of Eindhoven. Belcher was its name, and I decided to play it too; in a budget version that is. And I'm still playing the deck in its budget version and still having fun with it. I have also had some very positive feedback on my list and some people netdecked it too, which i was very flattered with.
For reference:
http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=139 - Jos Schreurs' list. (8th)
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17272 - My list.
Well, so far my history of playing combo. What does this have to do with this thread? Well, playing combo made me taking a better look at spoiler lists for cards that may fit in _good_ combo decks. And when I saw the fifth dawn list, a very cool card caught my eye. And it must have been seen as a good card by others too.
THE CARD, 1.0: THE CARDhttp://mi.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/krark_clan_ironworks.jpgThe card text:
Krark-Clan Ironworks - 4
Artifact - U
Sacrifice an artifact: Add 2 to your mana pool
All the junk, refuse, and offal of the Krark Clan is diligently collected, melted down, and made into more junk, refuse, and offal.
Tim Hildebrandt
THE CARD, 1.1: ANALYSING THE CARDWhen you see the card, the first other card that springs to mind is metalworker or Ashnod's Altar. And those are just the two cards the Ironworks should overpower to be truly played in type one, however I will come to that later on.
So how can this card be used? Well, by sacrificing artifacts obviously. However, you do want to get extra benefit out of those cards. So those cards must give more mana than they cost when sacrificed, must produce 1 mana less than it costs so you will gain additional mana out of it or must do something very good when put into the graveyard.
That leaves us the following list to work with.
-Moxen, lotus, mana vault, mana crypt, etc. The usual mana producers used by combo decks.
-All artifacts that cost less than 2 mana so the ironworks will give more mana than it had cost. Some examples: ornithopter, the mirrodin spellbombs, aether vial and black vise for instance.
-Every random creature equiped with skullclamp, su-chi, myr moonvessel, myr retriever, myr servitor, etc.
I find this list good enough to work with.
Well, over to in what occasions this card is better than ashnod's altar and metalworker.
Ashnod's altar is better when working with creatures, since the card is one mana less. However, we _do_ live in type one after all. So that means we have moxen to sacrifice too when not needed. However, the difference in mana cost is quite important, since mishra's workshop gives three mana , and that is exactly the altar's casting cost.
However, in what occasions will you play the altar in turn one _and_ need it too? I cannot recall any, since you already have used your mana. Casting a turn one metalworker with the help of a mox is much more beneficial, unless you are playing combo just like Menno Rieff with the altar did in Eindhoven. However, in all other occasions and probably also in Menno's occasion: even with the difference of one mana, ironworks is better.
But now the other card: metalworker. Are the ironworks better than metalworker? No, I do not think so.
Metalworker works better in almost all scenarios. Why? Because the current artifact decks are mostly prison decks, and you need to have the prison as fast as possible. Casting a turn one metalworker will almost always result in having your hand on the table in turn two. The other group of artifact based decks is aggro, based around arcbound ravager. This deck however needs to have lots of things on the table in turn one, and therefore metalworker is not sufficient in the deck. Does ironworks work in this deck then? Well, not in the current versions, where all spells must be three mana or else do something realy, realy good. Allas, the ironworks are not that good, so a new version which has more mana available on turn one must be made to let ironworks function properly. Does that mean metalworker or none of these two cards is better than playing ironworks in all decks? No, first of all I name combo. Combo has at most of the time enough mana to make good use of ironworks or the worker. However, the worker has summoning sickness, and you want to play your hand down as fast as possible. Therefore: metalworker is a dead card in combo. The ironworks could function in these combo decks.
THE CROSSROADS, 2.0: INTROBut, before creating a deck: the kill method must be known first. Since the decks will differ quite much in land count, card choices, etc. And this is all defined by the kill method, because that is what you are trying to work to after all. Here are some kill methods used by popular decks which could be used
-Braingeyser and Stroke of Genius
-Tendrils of Agony
-Goblin Charbelcher
-Kaervek's Torch
-Mindslaver and Pentavite Tokens
-Arcbound Ravager and his friends
-Phyrexian Dreadnought
-Juggernaut and Karn, Silver Golem
THE CROSSROADS, 2.1: ANALYSING THE KILL CONDITIONSLet's start with the geyser and the stroke. Well, not much can be said about these two, they need about fifty three mana to kill the opponent whilst a card such as the Torch only needs 20. Second: just a simple force of will to counter the torch isn't enough. Turn one kills can be made without having to care about FoW countering your kill method. The only advantage of geyser and stroke is that they work together with Force of Will. Only good if you realy need the blue spells for supporting FoW, otherwise the other cards will do just fine.
The second card is tendrils, used in a very popular combo deck called The Perfect Storm and also in DrawSeven. It is also used sometimes in belcher as a fifth kill condition. The deck would need a lot of low mana cost spells to work properly, it would also need more artifacts to work since the current builds don't support a artifact count high enough to abuse the ironworks.
Third in line is the charbelcher. It is currently used in a build which runs two lands and abuses land grant to get these two lands and then just kill when not revealing any lands. It also runs things like Tinder Wall to get as much mana as possible and not using lands. If you want the ultimate fast mana deck, try belcher. The ironworks would fit perfect in this deck if it wasn't for the high count of non-artifact spells, this is however change-able by putting in more artifacts, if build good enough: I am convinced it is just as viable as the belcher list with less artifacts. However, one problem arises: null rod. The list with less artifacts already has a tough job versus null rod, but the coming list will have even more. But isn't null rod just the card that says to all combo players "scoop you!". Or more accurate said: even with less artifacts, belcher loses to null rod. So does it matter if you have more artifacts? I think not.
And fourth in the list: mindslaver and its friends. Does the ironworks work in this list? No, I do not think so. The deck does not have enough artifacts to support the card. Second: metalworker would work better in this deck, and as said: in occasions where metalworker can be played, ironworks is not needed.
I will analyse the last three in line in once since they all kill with creatures. First off: ravager. I will not analyse this deck because all is said already about this deck; it doesn't fit in the current build, if it wants to run ironworks, it needs to change. If ironworks is good enough to change the deck? I'm not sure about that, but my current opinion is that the current raffinity build is better than one with ironworks. Second: dreadnought. Played in just a few deck which almost all look the same; full english breakfast and vengeur masque. They all work with getting the dreadnought, and other creatures too, into play without getting the drawback. They both work with Volrath's Shapeshifter but the second has the, more expensive, illusionary mask. Could the ironworks be played in the current builds? No, I don't think so since they don't have enough artifacts to tinker around with. Changing the builds could be a good idea, however: they would have to change from multicolor to one or two colors. Else the mana base will not be solid enough for a deck as this one, I would recommend either mono blue, mono black or a black and blue list. And the last of the kill conditions: juggernaut and karn. These two cards are played in Tools 'n Tubbies, some stacker builds and lots of mud runs it too. TnT wouldn't work because is doesn't have enough artifacts to work with, and doesn't want to change just for ironworks since it relies on bringing back fatties with goblin welder. Stacker and mud already have metalworker, and as said: no ironworks are necessary then.
This brings us the conclusion:
-Neo-Academy with either stroke and geyser or torch, perhaps sideboard stroke for wishing.
-TPS with more artifacts
-Belcher with more artifacts
-Vengeur Masque with more artifacts
-Menno Rieff's combo deck, revised
However, perhaps the card has such potential that it could make its own deck with a new kill condition that doesn't look like one of these builds run. I don't think this card is able to do that, since the best kill conditions are already summed up.
ANALYSING THE BROKENNESS, 3.0: THE LOGS OF DOOMSo after writing the things before, I made a deck in apprentice around the ironworks card and I was just stunned by the results.
These logs are from the first game I tried the deck, and I took no mulligan.
Irritating log removed. Things like this are unnecessary. I suggest in the future you merely add in your new threads that you have logs one can look at, and if somebody wants them that they can PM you for it. Most of us, however, find things such as this to be no more than an eyesore.[/color]
ANALYSING THE BROKENNESS, 3.0: ANALYSING THE LOGSAs you can see, I killed during goldfishing in turn 1: however: this was just the first game! That means I just put together some cards and played.
Taken that I am a dutch scrub who has never played any tournament, these are just good results isn't it?
Well, I tried the deck against some other decks because goldfishing a deck just isn't sufficient. And you might have guessed: the deck dies to anything with 4 fow and 4 mana drain, and has a very tough matchup versus any deck with null rod. And yes, that _is_ the whole metagame.
However, after testing with all the previously named decks: I couldn't get it to beat those other decks.
Does that mean the card is not good enough for tournament play? Hell no! Just because a dutch scrub like me without a team or cards to test the deck real good with is not able to break the card, doesn't mean no one can!
So therefore I am handing the TMD public these testing results. I hope someone will be able to break the card.
For decklists I have recently come up with, with ironworks as the center of it off course, just pm me.
Well, so far my second thread on TMD. I hope you found it a good read.
This was a well written article, sans the apprentice logs and a couple grammatical mistakes. It's a shame there were so many poor posts that followed.[/color]
