The Future of Workshop Aggro

[Rico Suave]

With a recent uprising in the number of Fish decks, I had figured Workshop Aggro would be a good choice if it could manage to get its act together.  When Trinisphere was first restricted I had toyed around with several different incarnations and eventually threw them all away because they lacked the consistency I was looking for.  The deck would win a lot of games due to sheer power, but would lose many games because of poor draws or because it would have to mulligan too much.  It would also lack that little bit of extra umph if the opponent did manage to deal with early threats and would topdeck a bunch of lands while the opponent stabilized.

For a while I was playing Gifts because it was the best deck to play.  Then Fish started destroying me, and in my frustration I pulled out a different deck that I figured would beat Fish - Workshop Aggro.  It tore Fish apart with the power of Crucibles, Workshops, and Welder, but still lacked the ability to do it on a regular basis or win the "close" games due to no reason on my own part, which I could not tolerate in any competitive deck. 

Eventually, I thought I would retry an old card I hadn't used in a while, that card being Brainstorm.  Every deck that uses 4 Brainstorms becomes better, so why not this one?  After some initial testing it certainly helped but I had noticed that certain cards like Sphere of Resistance (which I tried to use as a replacement for Trinisphere) made Brainstorm difficult to play.  So instead of playing Sphere, I relegated it to the SB because it is too symmetrical for my tastes and this deck can't take advantage of it enough for the card to be worthwhile - and besides the advantage of playing Brainstorm was much better overall.  The consistency of Brainstorm early game (finding Workshop, Moxen, and Chalice for 0) as well as it's digging power late game (finding a bomb while I still have the opening to play it or a large man while I have an active Welder) assured me that it should definitely have a place in the deck. 

I had originally thought taking out Sphere of Resistance would hurt my combo matches, but upon further testing I noticed that TPS still lost because it was either too slow or when it would try to go off it would stall out much of the time.  After this discovery I took Sphere out of my SB and never looked back.  In fact, one of the advantages of playing Brainstorm is that sometimes you can Brainstorm and much like Force of Will you can find exactly the hoser you need against combo, which in this case is Chalice of the Void.  If I were actually concerned about combo, which I am not, I would probably use Pyrostatic Pillar in the SB.

Some of you may be thinking, why not just play Stax? 

The simple answer there is that Workshop Aggro destroys Stax when faced head to head.  Considering Workshop Aggro has just as much game, if not more, against nearly every other archetype Stax is supposed to be good against, it made my decision easy. 

So without further ado, I present a list that I feel will be strong in the metagame to come:

4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus

4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
2 Razormane Masticore
2 Triskelion
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Duplicant
1 Sundering Titan

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Crucible of Worlds

4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker

SB:
1 Trinisphere
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Gorilla Shaman
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Aether Spellbomb

Most of the maindeck cards are self-explanatory.  One thing that may be curious is the creature selection.  Karn, Duplicant, and Titan all serve as a nice Tinker toolbox being able to destroy their lands, artifact mana, and whatever threat they may have been able to play.  Razormane is a house against Fish, FCG, Welders, and the mirror but I did not wish to run more than 2 because of the discard effect, although I have run 3 in the past to good effect (just not in this version).  Also, I still expected Null Rods and Razormane certainly shines against that.  Triskelion is a 2-of mostly because of where it sits on the mana curve and running 3 can often be a detriment.  I figure in any case, Tinker is a nice 3rd copy of it if need be. 

As far as the SB is concerned, being on the draw I often SB'd out Chalice of the Void.  In those situations, what better card to SB in than Gorilla Shaman?  The threat of Chalice of the Void causes your opponent to play out their acceleration, and that plays right into Shaman.  Additionally, Shaman is hot in avoiding opposing Chalices set at 0, being able to eat them, and gives you a permanent advantage against Stax.  It is a solid card to supplement your fight against your opponent's mana base if that is the route you choose to take, and best of all it is a mere 1 mana making it a first turn play.

A lone Trinisphere is useful for those matches where it pays to have first turn impact - think combo.  Being able to randomly Tinker it out can be a boon too especially with Crucibles being in the deck. 

Aether Spellbomb is for the Oath match.  When they Oath up Akroma to your Jugg and other beater, their Akroma is going to win.  Spellbomb is essentially a Time Walk in that match which is enough by itself, but it also forces them to find a way to put Akroma back in their deck which they may not be prepared to do.  Spellbomb also comes down as a first turn play.  It is recurrable via Welder, which can put them in a lock.  The fact it can be cycled when dead is just icing on the cake.

It has been suggested to me that perhaps Sensei's Divining Top may be used either as a supplement or in place of Brainstorm.  I have not tried that out, nor have I tried out many other ideas.  This is for you all to chime in on.  Overall, I feel impressed by how this deck performs against much of the metagame, and I urge you all to try it out and provide some feedback.  This is merely one direction that Workshop Aggro can be taken in, and there are many others.

[A Black Lotus Buddy]

I also have a big Fish problem in my metagame.  However, I like to play black to fix the inconsistency problem and make the deck more broken at the same time.  Playing a rainbow manabase not only makes playing black easy, it also helps out with Sundering Titan.  Getting 2 lands blown up when Sundering Titan hits play is not fun.

I did try a straight U/R Workshop Aggro with Blood Moon, but I really missed black.

[Sean Ryan]

I have been testing your build over the past couple of days, and I have come to realize how well Brainstorm helps 5/3 with it's consistency issues.

I have been trying a few modifications to your list:
+1 Mystical Tutor
+1 Trinisphere
+1 Colossus/Platinum Angel ???
+1 Ancient Tomb

-1 Trike
-1 Masticore
-1 Volcanic Island
-1 Wasteland

SB: ?
You should try Eon Hub x2 for Oath & Stax.  I like your idea of Shaman when going second.  Earlier I tried fitting one in the MD but it was redundant with CotV...but not on the play.

Changes:

Mystical Tutor - it really is a must, I'm surprised you don't have it.  By removing a Trike/Masticore you are able to use MT to find Tinker then...well you know.  It does need some set up against control but, control is at a low point.

Trinisphere - I realize its only a 1 of but I almost always love seeing it. 

Colossus/Platz - this spot is very questionable.  The fact that we have fetches/brainstorm/tinker invites the use of Colossus.  However, the big guy may prove to be over kill and maybe better in the board.  When I was playing 5/3 around last Gencon, Platz was in my list and helped versus TPS and other combo.  I know you said that TPS is too slow, this may be  true w/ a chalice set at 1, but back when Trinisphere unrestricted they could go - island/swamp/island/rebuild/game.  Unless you found the Strip they could often beat you game 1.  Combo is underrepresented now but, Platz may still be worth investigating.

Manabase - I'm still seeing if I can get away with one less Volcanic, also replacing a Waste with a Tomb is a personal preference I have.

Let me knowyour reaction to these modifications.  Just remember they are a work in progress and I would just like to hear  what you think and why.

**************************************************
       
Another topic in relation to aggro-prison, what will be the impact of Pithing Needle upon this most recent build of yours?  I worry that it threatens both the fetches and welders while leaving you little options for using it your self other than the SB.

Indubitable, the Needle will be used MD in both Fish & Stax (especially Meandecks build).  It maybe that the Needle will demand that 5/3 once again adopts the rainbow manabase for both offensive and defensive purposes.  It is too early to tell what the impact of this card will be long term but, you can almost guarantee to see it at the next big tourney.  There will be tradeoffs with either manabase, time will tell which is best for the evolving meta. 

Thanks
Sean

[MaxxMatt]

@Rico.

Congratz for the results with this deck at your last tourney's appeareance.
By the way,

How often you get your 9-10 1cc cards clunked into your hand or how often you have dead draws against the decks against which you HAVE to resolve a CotV for 1 in order to "survive" some more turns?

Are CotVs for 1 AND your 11-fatties' configuration enough to put fast clocks against Combo or Control-Combo decks?

OTOH, I really appreciate the deck, because of its inherently strong aggro component coupled with a good way to find things through the  deck.

As usual, TPS or other Storm based decks, can deal with only 4 Protections with ease, but they cannot always abuse of Necro and Bargain because of your Fats. On the other hand, you need at least 3 or 4 turn to "goldifish" against a Combo deck, while he can find soon some bouncers to gain a bit of time and then Search for Y Will or Gifts or Mind's Desire to set up a strong quick ( And for you , sadly unstoppable ) winning ) .

How is you macthup against C-Slavery and Atog? I read the report and some of your opponents haven't impressed me that much.
As I read from your lines, I think that C-S and his more dedicated draw engine can have an edge over the high number of fatties that your deck support.

Good work!

MaxxMatt


PS. I would try to find the space for the single Trinisphere in the maindeck, maybe cutting Brainstorm #4. The "CotV-for-1-Plan" is one of your stringest move against a lot of different decks...

[Luiggi]

I've never played Workshop Aggro in a competitive setting, but I figured I'd chime in anyway, .

First off, your decklist looks really tight. Adding Brainstorm seems like a perfectly logical move to me, and the presence of Volcanics and fetchlands makes your mana base better (I'd imagine that you never lose more than a single Volcanic to a Titan, and that's assuming your opponent isn't with CS or Gifts; and who isn't playing with Islands to destroy these days?).

I think having a Platinum Angel in there would be excellent, as sryan0079 was saying. It's always pulled its weight for me in Slaver, and I think it's a nice "Oops, I win" card in many matchups, generally buying you at least a few turns to swing your men to victory. My first instinct would be to cut the 2nd Razormane Masticore, but you make the very good point that it's awesome vs. Fish, and we know there's been a lot of that lately!

As far as your mana base goes, I don't agree with sryan0079's changes. Especially if you're running more Blue with Brainstorm I don't think cutting a Volcanic Island is the right call, especially if you also want to add Mystical Tutor. I do think that cutting a land might be the right call, since you have 27 mana sources in your deck, and that could free up space for Mystical Tutor, which would be a good addition to the deck, I believe. I'm not sure what I'd cut, since Wasteland is just golden these days, so I'll leave that decision to you.

I also think that, as everyone has been saying, the lone Trinisphere should be in the maindeck. It'll always be annoying for your opponent, no matter what deck he's playing. Obviously it becomes worse if your opponent lays an Aether Vial, but your men should still be faster, and you've got really good removal with Razormane Masticores and Trikes (not to mention when you add a Welder to that equation).

I'd be interested in hearing about matchups, as MaxxMatt was saying.

Congrats on the tight build, and I'll see if I make this deck my first foray into Workshop-country, .

Luiggi

[Smmenen]

I have lots and lots of questions about Workshop aggro. 

Basically, I have tried the archetype many times over the years including some attempts recently.  My problem with it is that when I test it against teammates, I can rarely get in the final points of damage.  Getting them to 5 with a Juggernaut isn't easy, but it isn't the hardest thing in the world.  I tried Eric Miller's deck to see if that worked but I think Mask/Naught just doesn't function becuase you have a dead card too much of the time.  I tried really heavy disruption like Kevin's stax and that had the same problem.  Don't you worry about not being able to seal the deal?

[Luiggi]

I would imagine that Rico Suave's list has much less of the problem you mentioned, Steve, just because it's much more aggressive than other builds, I think. Your Stax build from Richmond (and I'm assuming you meant that Stax list when saying that you had trouble getting in the last few points of damage) is very controlling, but can't go as beatdown as this build can, especially since this deck can continually Weld in Trikes and clear the way for its Juggernauts with Razormane Masticores...

Just a thought.

Luiggi

[Smmenen]

My point is that your clock is still slower than most control decks.  You must disrupt them some how.  But I was testing against our teams Gifts list and Collossus was able to kill me with the Gifts TIme Walk, Wish for Walk or whatever play before I could do the final points of damage. 

[Luiggi]

I'd imagine that having a Platinum Angel in the deck as a few people suggested would help quite a bit in that situation, especially if the creature-kill that Gifts can usually Burning Wish for is Chainer's Edict, that shouldn't do much against this deck (I'm not sure if you guys are still running Primitive Justice in the SB or not). The problem is getting the Platinum Angel into play before they resolve Gifts to find Colossus and double Time Walk you, and therein lies the rub.

Post-SB this deck looks to be in a lot better shape vs. Colossus because of the Aether Spellbombs, that are really good because of their usefulness against both Oath and decks that want to Gifts-Colossus kill you...

Luiggi

[And11]

I played this list in Paris and went 5-3 drop (yes, I know it's funny ). I've tried to explain the card choices the best I could. It has a lot of disruptoin, but I would never cut any of it. Because of the Pillars, it has mulligan issues sometimes...

4x Juggernaut
4x Suchi (More likely to see turn 1 beater. These could have been Centurions...)
1x Triskellion (Against Welder and Fish)
1x Sundering Titan (Main Tinker target)
1x Duplicant (Tinker target vs. Oath, but might be too random)
1x Platinum Angel (I wish this wasn't in there)

4x Sphere of Resistance (Keeps opponents low on mana resources and makes Strips, CotV and Pillar even better)
3x Crucible of Worlds (To keep stripping your opponent is just nasty with a fat creature on the board)
4x Chalice of the Void (Offen, this is played for 0, but against TPS it's 1, Oath and Tog is 2 and so on...)
4x Pyrostatic Pillar (If you have resolved a beater, this card will always be at your advantage. These are simply house against Gifted, Tog and TPS.)
1x Trinisphere (Why can't I play four?)

1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk (Untap, attack!)
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Tinker
1x Vampiric Tutor

4x MWS
9x SoloCryptVaultMoxen
5x Strips
4x City of Brass
4x Gemstone Mine
1x Tolarian Academy

Sideboard: 15
3x RnR (Shops)
3x ReB (Combo, most Drain)
3x StP (Gifts with DSC as only kill and random.dec)
4x Ray of Revelation (Oath, b2b)
2x Triskelion (FISH!)

If I were to play this deck again, I'd probably get rid of both Duplicant and Platinum Angel and squeeze in cards like Gorilla Shaman and Yawgmoth's Will. I must warn you, that you will never get better at magic as long as you play this deck  

GL with the deck...
/Andreas Petersen

[Luiggi]

Just from a personal-taste point of view, I like Rico's version more because of the Goblin Welders and Thirst For Knowledge, that give the deck more staying power if the opponent manages to survive the initial onslaught. Having said that, though, your build has a lot more disruption, which is never a bad thing, .

Luiggi

[o]

And11: I like your build a lot.  I have always thought that Goblin Welder was not needed for workshop aggro and that it was pure overkill.  By cutting it, you can run the broken black spells in addition to the blue ones.

A few suggestions though:
Metalworker - This guy can pump out fat artifact men like no other.  First turn MWS + Metalworker means you can probably empty your hand next turn.
Tanglewire - I think sphere of resistance is really just not what it used to be.  Since you're running soo many artifacts, Tanglewire should be really good for you.
Updated creature base - Take Rico's.  It's excellent for the most part.
Jitte - Why are only the fish decks running this?  A Ninja-Juggernaut means a soon dead opponent.
Lightning Greaves - In combination with Metalworker, you can make tons of mana RIGHT NOW! In combination with a beatstick, you hit a turn ahead of time.

So what I would run would be something like:

4x Juggernaut
2x Razormane Masticore
2x Triskelion
1x Duplicant
4x Metalworker
2x Lightning Greaves
2x Jitte
3x Tanglewire
4x Challice
3x Crucible
1x Trinisphere
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Tinker
1x Vampiric Tutor
4x MWS
9x SoloCryptVaultMoxen
5x Strips
4x City of Brass
4x Gemstone Mine
1x Tolarian Academy

[Rico Suave]

I also have a big Fish problem in my metagame.  However, I like to play black to fix the inconsistency problem and make the deck more broken at the same time.  Playing a rainbow manabase not only makes playing black easy, it also helps out with Sundering Titan.  Getting 2 lands blown up when Sundering Titan hits play is not fun.

I never faced a problem with not having enough mana post-Titan.  Not only does the deck only run a single copy, but I found that more of my lands died by playing Gemstone Mine and having the counters run out than by getting Titan on the board.

I'm not sure how adding more colors to the mana base fixes inconsistency issues.

I have been testing your build over the past couple of days, and I have come to realize how well Brainstorm helps 5/3 with it's consistency issues.

I have been trying a few modifications to your list:
+1 Mystical Tutor
+1 Trinisphere
+1 Colossus/Platinum Angel ???
+1 Ancient Tomb

-1 Trike
-1 Masticore
-1 Volcanic Island
-1 Wasteland

SB: ?
You should try Eon Hub x2 for Oath & Stax. I like your idea of Shaman when going second. Earlier I tried fitting one in the MD but it was redundant with CotV...but not on the play.

Changes:

Mystical Tutor - it really is a must, I'm surprised you don't have it. By removing a Trike/Masticore you are able to use MT to find Tinker then...well you know. It does need some set up against control but, control is at a low point.

Trinisphere - I realize its only a 1 of but I almost always love seeing it.

Colossus/Platz - this spot is very questionable. The fact that we have fetches/brainstorm/tinker invites the use of Colossus. However, the big guy may prove to be over kill and maybe better in the board. When I was playing 5/3 around last Gencon, Platz was in my list and helped versus TPS and other combo. I know you said that TPS is too slow, this may be true w/ a chalice set at 1, but back when Trinisphere unrestricted they could go - island/swamp/island/rebuild/game. Unless you found the Strip they could often beat you game 1. Combo is underrepresented now but, Platz may still be worth investigating.

Manabase - I'm still seeing if I can get away with one less Volcanic, also replacing a Waste with a Tomb is a personal preference I have.

Let me knowyour reaction to these modifications. Just remember they are a work in progress and I would just like to hear what you think and why.

**************************************************
 
Another topic in relation to aggro-prison, what will be the impact of Pithing Needle upon this most recent build of yours? I worry that it threatens both the fetches and welders while leaving you little options for using it your self other than the SB.

Indubitable, the Needle will be used MD in both Fish & Stax (especially Meandecks build). It maybe that the Needle will demand that 5/3 once again adopts the rainbow manabase for both offensive and defensive purposes. It is too early to tell what the impact of this card will be long term but, you can almost guarantee to see it at the next big tourney. There will be tradeoffs with either manabase, time will tell which is best for the evolving meta.

Thanks
Sean

@Eon Hub: This card is certainly a possibility, but I just wasn't feeling the mana cost.  Oath is 2 mana, whereas I am supposed to answer it with a 5 mana card?  The fact Aether Spellbomb is useful even after they activate Oath is yet another reason for it, and I don't have that many slots to SB out in that particular match-up.  I was also expecting Oath decks to board in RnR against me.  Of course, use whatever works for you.

Oh, and I would much rather board in RnR against Stax than Eon Hub.

@Mystical Tutor: My one friend loves to play Mystical Tutor.  Yes, it finds Tinker.  It also loses a card in hand, isn't an artifact, and takes a turn to have any effect on the game.  It's been in the deck before, I just didn't use it this go-round.

@Maindeck Trinisphere: Welder and Brainstorm aren't nearly as good when they cost 3 mana.  Of course it can hurt the opponent, but I also hate seeing a midgame Trinisphere and with only a 1-of that is where it is going to show up the most.  It is certainly not out of the question though.

@Colossus/Platz: At no course during the day did I want either card in the deck.  Platz is a 7 mana 4/4 that doesn't help against your example play (since they Rebuild the Plat along with everything else), nor does it help win Welder wars like Trisk/Razormane, and without counters to keep it on the board its abilities are not as stellar as they normally are in something like Slaver.  Tinker-Colossus is alright, but I felt very happy with all of my Tinker targets all day long.  Titan and Karn are very solid to keep your opponent from doing anything broken, Razormane handles a vast array of threats on the board, and your opponent's Colossus is answered by Duplicant.  I feel that Colossus is a very overkill card and everything that you are scared of can be answered already.  At least you can Weld in expensive things like Titan, but you cannot do the same with Colossus.

@The Mana-base: If anything, I would go up to 28 mana sources before going down to 26.

@Pithing Needle: 2 Strands and 2 Deltas will minimize the impact Needle has on the mana base, and if they Needle naming Welder, oh well.  I'll just Brainstorm/TFK them away if I see them.  This is of course assuming that Pithing Needle actually sees play.  In either case, the rainbow mana base is absolutely terrible and you will lose more lands to your own tapping than you will to your opponent's cards.  It honestly feels sometimes like some people try to play around Titan and the opponent's cards so much that they end up losing more to their own deck than what they're trying to avoid.  I even had people tell me that I should run the rainbow mana base because I lose to Stifle.

@Rico.

Congratz for the results with this deck at your last tourney's appeareance.
By the way,

How often you get your 9-10 1cc cards clunked into your hand or how often you have dead draws against the decks against which you HAVE to resolve a CotV for 1 in order to "survive" some more turns?

Are CotVs for 1 AND your 11-fatties' configuration enough to put fast clocks against Combo or Control-Combo decks?

OTOH, I really appreciate the deck, because of its inherently strong aggro component coupled with a good way to find things through the  deck.

As usual, TPS or other Storm based decks, can deal with only 4 Protections with ease, but they cannot always abuse of Necro and Bargain because of your Fats. On the other hand, you need at least 3 or 4 turn to "goldifish" against a Combo deck, while he can find soon some bouncers to gain a bit of time and then Search for Y Will or Gifts or Mind's Desire to set up a strong quick ( And for you , sadly unstoppable ) winning ) .

How is you macthup against C-Slavery and Atog? I read the report and some of your opponents haven't impressed me that much.
As I read from your lines, I think that C-S and his more dedicated draw engine can have an edge over the high number of fatties that your deck support.

Good work!

MaxxMatt


PS. I would try to find the space for the single Trinisphere in the maindeck, maybe cutting Brainstorm #4. The "CotV-for-1-Plan" is one of your stringest move against a lot of different decks...

Thanks.

I hardly ever Chalice for 1.  When I do, it's often because I either have a Welder on the board or there is nothing better to do at the time and so instead of just sitting on it in hand I'll play it so I don't fall too far behind on tempo, in which case it will buy time so the rest of my hand can develop.  I never found that I needed to play a Chalice at 1 against TPS.  Chalice for 1 is a solid play, but what am I afraid of?  I don't care if they Duress me, we both use Brainstorm, and Ritual is only good if they can Ritual something out.  It also shuts down my Welders.  On the play Chalice for 0 is far superior, and I will sometimes set Chalice to 3 so they are unable to Rebuild, Cunning Wish for answers, or play threats such as Tinker or Timetwister.  

I have seen this deck race TPS more than you would believe.  In Rochester I raced 2-land Belcher in our first game, and I didn't even see a single Chalice that entire match.  I have been thoroughly unimpressed with combo in Vintage lately.

My match-up against Tog is fantastic.  Chalice for 3 is strong there as well, since many versions will just flat-out scoop to it.  Otherwise, I view Tog as yet another Drain deck that doesn't run Goblin Welder - not a threat.  I understand that both TPS and Tog do well over in Italy, and I apologize if none of my opponents impressed you.  I honestly just haven't feared Tog in over a year now, in much the same way I no longer fear Keeper.  

Against Slaver, I am concerned because they run Goblin Welder.  Oftentimes it comes down to Welder wars, which this deck is equipped to win because it has the men to ping opposing Welders.  What is more important though is the ability to draw some acceleration and get threats down before they get Mana Drain up.  In either case I consider Slaver to be my toughest match, and I was hoping people would keep that deck in check.

I have lots and lots of questions about Workshop aggro.

Basically, I have tried the archetype many times over the years including some attempts recently. My problem with it is that when I test it against teammates, I can rarely get in the final points of damage. Getting them to 5 with a Juggernaut isn't easy, but it isn't the hardest thing in the world. I tried Eric Miller's deck to see if that worked but I think Mask/Naught just doesn't function becuase you have a dead card too much of the time. I tried really heavy disruption like Kevin's stax and that had the same problem. Don't you worry about not being able to seal the deal?

I struggle against Gifts decks if they manage to go broken.  Chalice and Wastelands backed by Crucible are all very important in this match.  Welder is also solid against a random Tinker-Colossus, unless of course they are going off via Will (Scrying tends to make the clock run out), or if you are able to Dupe it.  After SB'ing, REB buys time against Gifts and stops Tinker.

One thing that this deck needs to focus more on is beating Drain decks that pack the same engine (TFK/Brainstorm).  I am at a loss for how to do this however.  

And11: I like your build a lot. I have always thought that Goblin Welder was not needed for workshop aggro and that it was pure overkill. By cutting it, you can run the broken black spells in addition to the blue ones.

Goblin Welder won me more games in Rochester than any other card in the deck.  Even Tinker.  It is very, very necessary.

[A Black Lotus Buddy]

Running black for the tutors and your own Colossus has worked well for me.  Tinker/Colossus is so good, it may be worth using in any deck that runs TFK. 

3x Juggernaut
3x SuChi
4x Goblin Welder
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Platinum Angel
1x Razormane Masticore
4x Thirst for Knowledge
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Crucible of Worlds
1x Trinisphere
1x Tinker
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Yawgmoth's Will
3x Pyrostatic Pillar

4x City of Brass
3x Gemstone Mine
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
5x Moxen
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
4x Mishra's Workshop

SB
3x Choke
2x Pyroclasm
1x Triskellion
3x StP
3x Seal of Cleansing
3x Tornod's Crypt

The rainbow mana base is there so the deck is not restricted to 2 colors.  Crucible makes Gemstone Mine better and makes opposing Wastelands useless.  The Pillars are a metagame call.  I like Pillar because it helps a lot against the problems that Smennen mentioned.  It is also an easy card to board out because it is not essential to the deck's overall strategy.  I tried to make this deck like the old 5/3 decks that used Trinisphere.  Chalice is a solid replacement and is even better in many cases. 

With Fish beginning to dominate tournements, Workshop aggro is a solid choice.

[Moxlotus]

You seem to be underestimating the fact that Brainstorm is insane.  The card is really, really good in MWS decks.  Not to mention BS+Fetchland.  Ping damage from City hurts and you can't always find a Crucible to protect yourself from wastelands.

[Rico Suave]

Running black for the tutors and your own Colossus has worked well for me.  Tinker/Colossus is so good, it may be worth using in any deck that runs TFK. 

3x Juggernaut
3x SuChi
4x Goblin Welder
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Platinum Angel
1x Razormane Masticore
4x Thirst for Knowledge
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Crucible of Worlds
1x Trinisphere
1x Tinker
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Yawgmoth's Will
3x Pyrostatic Pillar

4x City of Brass
3x Gemstone Mine
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
5x Moxen
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
4x Mishra's Workshop

SB
3x Choke
2x Pyroclasm
1x Triskellion
3x StP
3x Seal of Cleansing
3x Tornod's Crypt

The rainbow mana base is there so the deck is not restricted to 2 colors.  Crucible makes Gemstone Mine better and makes opposing Wastelands useless.  The Pillars are a metagame call.  I like Pillar because it helps a lot against the problems that Smennen mentioned.  It is also an easy card to board out because it is not essential to the deck's overall strategy.  I tried to make this deck like the old 5/3 decks that used Trinisphere.  Chalice is a solid replacement and is even better in many cases. 

With Fish beginning to dominate tournements, Workshop aggro is a solid choice.

And how good is Gemstone Mine without Crucible?  In many circumstances I was unable to get it on the board because my opponent would not let it hit.  When your own Gemstone runs out of counters, you are stuck up a river without a paddle and that is poor.  At least a dual land sticks around for a while.

Running only 3 Juggernauts is a mistake.  So is Yawgmoth's Will in a deck that plays minimal colored mana spells at the 3 drop on top of: 4 Chalice of the Void, 3 Pyrostatic Pillar, 1 Trinisphere.

I don't get what is so good about Darksteel Colossus in this deck.  He has absolutely no synergy with Welder, mediocre synergy with TFK, and no synergy with anything else in the deck aside from Tinker.  Tinker-Colossus, at least in this deck, is not a Spike move.  Colossus is totally dead in your hand and you don't want to rely on Brainstorm/TFK to get him out of it.  You would rather just play a threat instead.

If you are going to play a rainbow mana base, then please cut the Seals of Cleansing for Ray of Revelation.

[w00t3n4t0r]

First let me congratulate Rico Suave on your high finish and the results you have had and may your results continue to be good.

Next, let me introduce myself because I have not posted on the Drain very much. Maybe 3 or so times. Regardless I have read just about everything that catches my eye on here as well as SCG and I play quite often. My name is Elliot Gross (member of Team Ogre which basically just started). So despite the lack of posts I am not a total noob. I have been playing "workshop aggro" for quite a few months and have gone through many of the problems that you guys seem to be facing.  First I will start out with my decklist, explain my choices, talk about my meta, and we'll go from there. My current list as  of right now:

Mana Sources
2x Volcanic Island
3x City of Brass
2x Glimmervoid
4x Mishra's workshop
2x Ancient Tomb
2x Shivan Reef
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
1x Tolarian Academy
3x Gilded Lotus


Draw and Broken Stuff
3x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
4x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Time Walk
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Tinker

Protection
4x Goblin Welder
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Overload

Beef
3x Juggernaut
1x Memnarch
1x Triskelion
1x Duplicant
1x Sundering Titan
1x Pentavus

SB (possibilities)
1x Overload
3x Rack and Ruin
3x Choke
3x Damping Matrix
1x Duplicant
1x Sundering Titan
3x Null Rod
3x Viashino Heretic?
2x Maze of ith?
2-3x Ray of Revelation?



Now after you look at the deck you may be perplexed by the idea, card choices, etc. But all will be explained shortly. When first looked at it may remind you Gilded Claw etc. The deck gets tons of mana really quick, and can consistently power out things like Bus, Titan, Memnarch as early as turn 2. Now I have tried out things like Gilded Claw (actually I was playing a version much like this before Dan Carp performed so highly with "Gilded Claw") and things like Rico Suave's Aggro Workshop, but neither deck really has performed the way I really wish it to.

Now a short look into my metagame. I'm not sure how familiar you guys are with Uba Stax (Piloted by Robert Vroman at SCG Chicago), but @ our local store Ogre's (Owned and Run by Robert Vroman) I have the delight pleasure to play against it in every tournament I play in.  Our store has a very limited number of people except for our power tournaments.  However, it is a very strong metagame. Decks usually consistent of 1x Doomsday, 1x Uba Stax, 2-3 UG Fish, 2-3 Stax, 2-3 CS, 1-2x Affinity along with a few other decks present. Usually this deck would wreck house vs. most of these decks except for the fact that my good friend, Robert Vroman is now running 3 maindeck null rod in his deck, which is a complete house against my deck in most cases. Hence the reason I am running 3 maindeck overload. I am also not playing Karn, Memory Jar, etc for the same reason (Null Rod is running around again). Now from looking at your posts I see that Fish and Drain decks are your biggest problems.  I have had 6 SB slots dedicated to these matchups and they have preformed fairly well. If fish is your problem run Damping Matrix (you may think I'm a noob, but I'm dead serious.  Test it. It is really freaking good against UG Fish. It turns their creature base into a bunch of overcoasted 1/1 and 2/2s stops jitte, stops vial, etc. It is good.) The other bomb vs. drain and fish is Choke. Granted you may have to run a mana base kind of like mine (which is terrible if you are playing against people running B2B etc, but it has preformed fairly well. Not to mention it makes you realize that you dont mind playing sundering titan at any time because it never nukes any of your lands and choke never affects you as well.
My SB changes for power tournaments as well because of the increase of oath at these events compared to my normal metagame.

I guess the reason I'm posting on here is looking if you guys think there is anyway to really improve this as well as trying to offer some answers to some of the problems you guys seem to be facing. If you are close enough to St. Louis I strongly urge you to come down first to the Ancestral Recall tournament on the 26th and then to the Black Lotus tournament on July 31 (the day after SCG Chicago).  I'd love to meet some drainers and show what St. Louis and Team Ogre have to offer. For more info check out www.Ogrescards.com.  Thanks.

You can contact me at w00t3n4t0r@gmail.com or on AIM at w00t3n4t0r. Thanks,

-Elliot Gross aka w00t3n4t0r

[fatalist.remix]

Mana Sources
2x Volcanic Island

[snip]

Granted you may have to run a mana base kind of like mine (which is terrible if you are playing against people running B2B etc, but it has preformed fairly well. Not to mention it makes you realize that you dont mind playing sundering titan at any time because it never nukes any of your lands and choke never affects you as well.

You're running 2 Volcs.  Why are you running 2 Volcs?

Also, with a Shop/Tomb manabase, you could run Jittes yourself instead of Damping Matrix.

[Polynomial P]

Elliot,
I think your decklist is missing 3 guilded loti. Additionally, I dont think the brainstorms are all that great if you are not using fetches. Running volcanics and maybe and island or two with fetches should help your mana base out alot and make your brainstorms much better. Dropping a S-titan is never scary in a deck like this because even if you have to nuke one of your lands (which is the most you should be nuking) you should be in a great position to beat them down.

 

[Marton]

I have also played workshop aggro for a few months now, and I have a quite strange decklist. I will not bother plaguing thethread with my decklist, since it is unpowered because I play in a non-proxy place (ok, well, I don't play with proxies but others do, anyway). I have to say that thru several games it becomes clear that it is almost impossible not to run brainstorm in workshop aggro. Workshop decks are too random/unstable to warrant brainstorms to let go. Things were much different when we could play 4x trinisphere (they really should unrestrict imo, anyway). The instability of workshops could be 'compunded' by the use of trinisphere who would 'balance' things out. But now, well, you need good threats and fast (much like a replacement for trinisphere come to think of it). Also, it is simply too good at fixing your hand. Often it will turn into a mana accelerant (since you play nearly 50% of mana), allowing you to power-out big stuff.

[w00t3n4t0r]

Well ha.  I went and tested this build quite a bit more extensively (I had been using a different mana base before and really decided that the deck needed quite a bit of reworking.  So basically here's the decklist I'm playing now: (Changes are in BOLD)

Mana Sources
1x Glimmervoid
4x Mishra's workshop
2x Ancient Tomb
4x Shivan Reef
1x Strip Mine
1x Wasteland
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
1x Tolarian Academy
3x Gilded Lotus

Draw and Broken Stuff
4x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
4x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Time Walk
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Memory Jar
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Tinker
2x Crucible of Worlds

Protection
4x Goblin Welder
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Force of Will

Beef
1x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Memnarch
1x Triskelion
1x Duplicant
1x Sundering Titan
1x Mindslaver

SB (possibilities)
As far as sideboard I really don't know at the moment.

As far as changes are concerned I'll try and explain what I did and why they were made. It seemed with the previous version I was always either flooded or screwed mana wise and I was just not getting things done.  Juggernauts were being blocked I'd daw into land turn after turn. In short it was no good. Instead of playing overload I figured I'd just go back to force.  It can be used for infinitely more things and is just better. I took out Pentavus in favor of better things like slaver. The mana base was kinda janky in the first place and I seemed to be taking quite a bit of damage. So instead I just switched all to shivan reefs and included Crucibles, a strip, and a waste because who are we kidding crucible/waste is in many cases a game winner. Not to mention crucible helps to play against Smokestack. Now onto a few of the comments that you guys made.

@fatalist.remix I was running them because I was damn near killing myself with my lands. But the land base has changed as you can see from above.

@Polynomial P. I like the mana base I have running right now for the moment. In regards to brainstorm I think if you are going to run force of will you have to run it not to mention that brainstorm on t1 can lead into more moxen, chalice of the void, answers, etc.

This deck powers out huge guys and has the potential to go broken all over your opponent's face quite often. It is a lot of fun to play and quite good. Of the matches that I tested today I went 6-0 against UG Fish, and had game versus a few other decks I played against.

[Rico Suave]

It  is nice that you wish to share your dceklist with us, but please tell us how it takes the archetype in a positive direction that the original deck does not.  Just posting a decklist, then a day or two later posting the same list with 20 cards in bold is not going to help anybody.  If you feel that some of your choices are better, you can explain it without even using a decklist.

For starters, Gilded Lotus is a liability that leaves you with 4 less colored mana than you should have, and anything less than 4 Wastelands is a mistake.  Gilded Lotus just isn't good, and IMO it never has been.

Also, this deck cannot support Force of Will for two reasons.  The first is that you don't have enough blue cards to pitch, and the second reason is because you don't want to trade 2:1 with your opponent's cards since you are unable to make up for the loss.

Finally, you are not playing an aggro deck anymore.  You have 5 creatures outside of Goblin Welder.  One is a reactive card, one can be blocked by Ornithopter, and the others are at least 6 mana and will hardly ever be played first turn before Drain is up.

[w00t3n4t0r]

I'm sorry that my post didn't really help you, but to say that my post is useless and tells us nothing about the archetype is a little harsh.  Just because I made changes from your deck and I don't feel like playing the exact same deck as you does not mean there are not positive things that can come from playing this deck.  I did win a piece of power with it, and just because I have never played against you doesn't mean that my deck is crap.  Have you ever played with gilded lotus? That card is amazing because it can generate insane amounts of mana very quickly.  It is quite easy to lay down sundering titan as well as any other creature in the deck by turn 2 which in most cases is up before drain comes online.  We have different metagames as well.  Control Slaver and gifts are not the only decks which I have to prepare for.  How many times have you played against Uba Stax? It is a very interesting deck and one of the strongest in my metagame. Gilded lotus allows you to make up for "this 4 less colored mana that you need".  It allows you to power out tons of things in your deck and really is a huge mana fixer. As far as force of will goes it does have a bit of a lack of blue cards to run it, but I could not afford not run it with some decks running around here. Force of will is a necessity. And with the help of Gilded lotus you can easily hardcast force of will in most cases. Never did I really say this was an aggro deck.  I think aggro decks aren't quite right yet.  This is probably the main reason you have trouble with some decks that control the game such as CS and Gifts. This basically is U/R Workshop Control, and I only posted it in here because it was basically the closest to my deck.  I'm sorry if it doesn't help you, but you are not the only one that reads this post.

And who really plays ornithopter?

[Revvik]

I will, out of spite.
Did you find fetchlands to be bad, especially with those Brainstorms you run?

[w00t3n4t0r]

To tell you the truth I'd much rather run more threats and better cards then use them on fetchlands? What do you think the real bonus of running fetchlands beyond brainstorm/fetch? I mean at most you are getting 5 lands? Just curious.

[Revvik]

4 fetchlands, 5 fetchable lands.  As long as you're careful, you shouldn't ever miss on a fetch.
Hell, Oath decks require you to be more careful.  Plus, painland damage won't become an issue, and you shouldn't be losing land to Sundering Titan at all.

Run more threats instead of fetchlands?  I probably would have dropped lands for fetchlands, instead of dropping threats to make room for fetches

[w00t3n4t0r]

I'll do some more extensive testing on the deck later this week. Your deck with fetches that is.

[Dozer]

@Revvik: I think he meant to drop Brainstorms for Fetchlands.

[...] Just because I made changes from your deck and I don't feel like playing the exact same deck as you does not mean there are not positive things that can come from playing this deck.  I did win a piece of power with it, and just because I have never played against you doesn't mean that my deck is crap.  [...] This basically is U/R Workshop Control, and I only posted it in here because it was basically the closest to my deck.

It's not about not liking your deck. Of course there are positive aspects about that deck, and congrats on that piece of power. But as you say, you are posting U/R Shop Control -- and that has entirely nothing to do with this thread. It is the Future of Workshop Aggro that is the topic, so keep to it. Open a thread for your deck, if you feel the need. And no, your post did not help me, either.

However, you also said in the aforementioned post "I think aggro decks aren't quite right yet." You don't give a reason, but I'd like to hear more on that, seeing that you obviously prefer a more controllish deck. Personally, I don't agree. Workshop into Juggernaut or any other threat is still a powerful play. Barring the horrible rainbow mana base, which will give people big fits coming into Wasteland-heavy metagames (which seems to be a majority right now), the deck's real problem seems to be the inability to get through with those last points of damage, that Steve and others mentioned already. As a solution, I'd like to point to o's suggestion of Jitte, which everybody seems to have ignored so far. It is a great way to get ahead in any race, and also forces control decks to deal with the board more quickly. If Jitte piles up (i.e. two hits or more), it becomes very very dangerous. The problem is to get it active, since it is a mid-game card and any defense may already be established. Albeit, Jitte comboes extremely well with Juggernaut, since you have to send it in anyway. Jitte + Juggs is likely to draw removal moreso than a single Jugg, which in turn might help to protect the Welder. The main advantage of Jitte, though, is that it can remake Welder into a beating machine.

When you are at a point in the midgame where you need those extra points before the defense gets too strong, what options do you have? Typically, you start Welder-tricks to gain advantages. If you go Jitte (Sword of Fire and Ice might even work better here!), equip to Welder, you add board pressure without having to go through Welder activation (taking away a point of damage) or rely on a slower threat like Razormane Masticore. I am aware that almost any threat could end the game in that situation, but Jitte (or Sword of F&I) has more applications beyond a finisher. Jitte is as good in board control as Trisk is, since you could say that both require tapping a Welder anyway (one for welding, the other one for attacking). I would even go as far as saying that Razormane Masticore could be replaced with a smaller, faster threat when that threat is supported by the powerful equipment. I particularly like the old Masticore, but unless you run Gilded Loti, which Rico rightfully doesn't, you can't pay for it. I don't like Razormane -- even though it can be welded in, the upkeep is tough (although synergistic), it is expensive if you have to cast it and it doesn't much Jitte can't do.

Ok, equipment doesn't come with a warm 5/5 body, but still does the job. Rico justified that "Masticore handles a variety of threats across the board", but so does Jitte, and that is faster -- unless, and here I admit that I have not tested this, the equip cost may be too much to handle since Workshop can't pay for it. In combination with Triskelion, you should be able to keep everything away while gaining more versatility than RMM gives. It would possibly require a slightly different playstyle, since Welder should be regarded as a potential attacker much more than without equipment.

If there is another cheap creature that could carry Jitte and be dropped first turn like Juggs, the deck speeds up considerably since a) you get more first-turn drops and b) you can more easily follow them up. Ideally, you do Shop -> Juggs on turn one, and follow with a mana source and either Jitte + equip or Jitte and creature, or threat + Welder on the second turn. Alas, the only creature that comes to my mind is Ravager... or maybe Arcbound Slith, but that one needs Haste to be any good. Both are not as punchy as Juggs. Or maybe Cathodion, which has other uses, too... Or maybe my thoughts go in a wrong direction here?

To summarize, with more early game threats the deck could utilize the control elements better to back up the game when the aggro plan stumbles instead of using the same tools as an inferior way to punch through the final damage. Unless you have Karn, Crucible doesn't deal damage.
Options:

- Jitte/ to a lesser extent Sword of F&I
- another 1st turn aggro creature
- going aggro with Welder (+ equipment) more often

Just to give some input.

Dozer

Addendum/ Rant: Is Jitte really that good? Someone, please, tell me that Jitte is not good enough to warrant inclusion in such a deck, and back that up with arguments -- because I can't find any good ones. To store the question away for later discussion or even its own thread: Does every deck with creatures need to run Jitte? I hope not, but my experience so far tells me that this is likely. Unless Null Rod comes back... wait, Null Rod... a viable option for this deck? You could play it somewhat like the "old" Fish decks did. Drop a threat, and lock 'em out with Null Rod + Chalice/Crucible. Of course, that'd mean no Jitte...

D.

[Rico Suave]

I'm sorry that my post didn't really help you, but to say that my post is useless and tells us nothing about the archetype is a little harsh.  Just because I made changes from your deck and I don't feel like playing the exact same deck as you does not mean there are not positive things that can come from playing this deck.  I did win a piece of power with it, and just because I have never played against you doesn't mean that my deck is crap.  Have you ever played with gilded lotus? That card is amazing because it can generate insane amounts of mana very quickly.  It is quite easy to lay down sundering titan as well as any other creature in the deck by turn 2 which in most cases is up before drain comes online.  We have different metagames as well.  Control Slaver and gifts are not the only decks which I have to prepare for.  How many times have you played against Uba Stax? It is a very interesting deck and one of the strongest in my metagame. Gilded lotus allows you to make up for "this 4 less colored mana that you need".  It allows you to power out tons of things in your deck and really is a huge mana fixer. As far as force of will goes it does have a bit of a lack of blue cards to run it, but I could not afford not run it with some decks running around here. Force of will is a necessity. And with the help of Gilded lotus you can easily hardcast force of will in most cases. Never did I really say this was an aggro deck.  I think aggro decks aren't quite right yet.  This is probably the main reason you have trouble with some decks that control the game such as CS and Gifts. This basically is U/R Workshop Control, and I only posted it in here because it was basically the closest to my deck.  I'm sorry if it doesn't help you, but you are not the only one that reads this post.

And who really plays ornithopter?

I did not say your post was useless.  In fact I even said it was nice you wanted to share a decklist with us.  I also did not say positive things could not result from your list.  I'm asking you to say WHY positive things are coming from it, and that is something you can do without a decklist.  Even something as simple as asking "why do you not run Gilded Lotus?" is FAR better than posting decklist after decklist.  If your deck is substantially different, which it is, then perhaps it is more deserving of its own thread.  By all means start one up - nobody is stopping you.  The last thing you should do is start attacking me personally as if I am ignorant of what you are saying. 

Yes, I have played with Gilded Lotus, and I have played with decks that look surprisingly similar to what you posted long before you even posted it.  I would not have said anything about either one of those things if I had not played them.  I have also talked at length with other people who have played decks like yours, and in fact I played against a deck like that at Rochester and we talked after our games and discussed the general direction of the archetype, and why certain cards (such as Force of Will) do not belong in the deck. 

As far as Gilded Lotus, you should realize it is a huge liability and makes itself a crippling target.  If your opponent stops Gilded Lotus, they essentially stop your deck's colored mana.  This is unacceptable in a competitive deck that runs as many colored spells as yours does. 

Lastly, it is posts like this that make me not want to start threads, and ultimately not post at all.  Why would I want to try and have a discussion about Workshop Aggro when a person comes in, posts 2 lists 20 cards apart in a single day (honestly, how tuned can it be?), and even says that the list is not an aggro deck.  How relevant is this? 

I'm sorry if this offends you, but if you had waited even a day I would have responded with a more in depth reply to your first post that you may have found less seething. 

Dozer:

I have played Sword of Fire and Ice in the deck, but it was lacking something I couldn't put my finger on.  I have not played Jitte though, although I see no reason not to give it a run.

[Mordred]

First of all I've been doing playtesting with different versions of U/R Shop Aggro with 4 Brainstorms.  They've been an amazing help in several aspects of the deck(s).  First of all it's easier to keep opening hands with some reliable draw power in them, so I've been mulliganning less.  Second they make it easier to overwhelm opponents mid-game (assuming they dealt with the initial onlslaught)  This has all been tested with the same mana base, sporting 4 Volcanics and 3 Fetchs.

As far as the prison elements I've been trying/thinking about, it seems Tanglewire would be a strong option.  I'll start my explanation with the Metagame around here, it's nothing but Fish (of all styles and variants) and Control Slaver, also a healthy chunk of Oath.  And every deck I face seems to be running Tinker/Collossus.  Anyway, unless Chalice is set to 2, it will have negative effects on most Shop builds.  Granted by the shop player running chalices he can chose what to set them at after weighing out the consequences.  People are also gunning for Chalice, with Gorilla Shaman popping up more and more.

I've been running a lighter prison element featuring only 3 Tanglewires and 1 Trinisphere.  If more is needed, it's brought in for games 2 and 3.  The absence of Crucible may seem odd at first, epecially in a deck like mine that runs 5 Strip effects, but this isn't Stax, we really only need enough distruption to make sure our opponents don't get fancy and deal with our Juggs.

As for the Aggro portion, I might be biased by having run CS for so long, but Goblin Welder is just too sick to set down.  In my deck I'm running Sword of F/I, which can turn any creature in this deck into Batman (Even the Goblins)  Another element I've tried and enjoyed some success with is running Anger and Wonder.  By bringing haste and flying into a deck with beaters and Welders, sealing the deal can be very easy.  The only liablity here is that you need a Volcanic in play, and the only outlets are usually TFK and Masticore and to some extent Jar. 

One thing I enjoy when playing against Fish is the sheer threat density I have can usually overrun them.  Brainstorm makes a lot of that possible, making sure my hand is optomized for my plan.  In the past one thing I've hated about Shop decks is I have very little control over what cards are in my hand.