Ironworks

[waSP]

I went to SCG Chicago III and did well, but not great.  I believed my deck had more than enough tools to overcome the field and dominate.  Unfortunately luck dealt me some hands that weren’t good enough to land me in the top 8.  I won 5 matches 2-0 and lost 3 matches 1-2.  I had a better winning percentage than all but 12 of the players in placing 24th.  Change one of those 1-2’s to a 2-1 (for instance, had a drawn a draw spell in any of 5 games before turn 5), I’d have the 5th best game winning percentage, be in a higher bracket and easily have made the top 8 (as the #8 seed).  Unfortunately, this didn’t happen.  A deck with all the tools to win didn’t happen to win.  I want to post it, because it’s good.  I know it’s good.  62.5% of my opponents know it’s good.  Just about everyone I played was impressed when I absolutely rolled them game 1 (except the Stax player who got 2nd, who beat me games 1 and 3; game 1 possibly due to the roll of the die—game 1 was close, with an early Smokestack pulling it out).

Time for me to actually do something on these forums, besides posting on bad aggro decks.  I’m going to introduce a new “bad� deck to all of you.  It is “bad� because it runs a 4 card combo and a lot of “weak� cards.  I’ll post a deck list, because that’s the most interesting, then I will explain how the deck is meant to work (combos, strategy) and then how the deck too often works (disappointments, etc.).

Old threads:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=18170.msg301618#msg301618
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=19075.msg311096#msg311096


Decklist: Ironworks

Lands (12)
        4 Glimmervoid
        4 Mishra's Workshop
        2 City of Brass
        1 Ancient Tomb
        1 Tolarian Academy

Nonland/Noncreature Mana (13)
        2 [card]Krark-Clan Ironworks[/card]
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Chromatic Sphere
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Sol Ring
        1 [card]Talisman of Dominance[/card]

Creatures/Creature generators (19)
        4 [card]Genesis Chamber[/card]
        4 Goblin Welder
        4 Metalworker
        4 Myr Retriever
        2 Ornithopter
        1 [card]Frogmite[/card]

Tutors (4)
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 [card]Steelshaper's Gift[/card]
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Tinker

Draw (9)
        4 Skullclamp
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Memory Jar
        1 Time Walk
        1 Timetwister
        1 Wheel of Fortune

Other/Utility (3)
        1 [card]Conjurer's Bauble[/card]
        1 Echoing Truth
        1 Trinisphere

//  Sideboard:
“The Fish/Workshop Plan�
SB:  3 Seal of Cleansing
SB:  2 Myr Enforcer
SB:  2 Rack and Ruin
SB:  1 Echoing Truth
SB:  1 Oxidize

“The Combo Plan�
SB:  2 Meddling Mage
SB:  2 Tormod's Crypt
SB:  1 Enlightened Tutor
SB:  1 Mystical Tutor

This is a cog-style combo deck.  It runs several draw cards and a few “weak� cards that have a lot of synergy.  Goblin Welder retrieves countered artifacts/used Memory Jar, Myr Retriever returns Ornithopter/Frogmite to your hand for more draw.

The ultimate goal of the deck (the way it wins) is to get the 4 card combo of Krark-Clan Ironworks, Genesis Chamber, and 2 Myr Retrievers.  This provides you with infinite tokens and colorless mana.  If you happen to have a Skullclamp, you get infinite cards.  That leads to infinite turns (via Timetwister, Time Walk, and Conjurer’s Bauble).  That all means that you can win NOW.  In summation, get 10,000 tokens and play Time Walk.

You usually don’t tutor up your main combo.  You work more like a cog deck.  You continually just play the strategy of drawing cards (via Clamp or the restricted draw) until you happen upon the combo.  The only issues you usually have while comboing are having blue mana to cast Time Walk and Twister (however many times it takes) and getting the Ironworks in play (having 4 mana).  The Metalworkers are meant to solve the latter problem and Chromatic Sphere the former.  You can recur Chromatic Sphere (or Lotus for that matter) with Myr Retriever.  Chromatic Sphere is your 4th artifact source of blue (Sapphire, Lotus, Talisman).  When your Timetwister gets countered the first time, you want to be able to have mana to cast it again.

Conjurer's Bauble is there to give you up to 7 threats in one turn against control (3 Retrievers, 1 Bauble, 1 Timetwister, 1 Time Walk).  It's how I roll.  You can not run it and lose to control more often.

Trinisphere is excellent early and a great disrupter against control when you’re comboing.  While there’s only about a 12 percent chance that you’ll get the Trinisphere on turn 1 (and less of a chance that you’ll get it and be able to cast it), it downright wins games.  You can even combo through it with 2 Genesis Chambers out.  It makes it so they can only cast one counterspell (if you don’t have any untapped Welders and you’ve used all your Myr Retrievers or have somehow limited resources).  It makes winning easier.  It might be a sort of sacred cow to me.  I ran it to improve the TPS matchup a little bit (so they couldn’t set up as fast AND counter my spells).

Echoing Truth deals with most threats game 1 (Null Rod, Chalice, and Platz).  It becomes a lot worse against Chalice when the Workshop player knows what you’re doing.  Chalice for 2 is much more likely to come out when they know Echoing Truth is your only out if you want to go infinite.  You need at least 1 spell in the main that can deal with your threats.

Steelshaper’s Gift is a good 5th Skullclamp and usually serves as a Metalworker enabler.

Mystical and Enlightened aren’t main because they are slow and inflexible in comparison to other things.  E. Tutor might as well be Steelshaper’s Gift, because rarely will you want to spend a mana to lose card advantage and fetch an artifact.  In any case, Mystical would be better than E. Tutor in all those circumstances, fetching Tinker -> Jar (the only other play besides E. Tutor -> Skullclamp would be E. Tutor -> Jar or E. Tutor -> Lotus which is awful).  They are in the sideboard to bring out a turn 2 Trinisphere as often as possible, which is less of an issue these days.  It used to be much better.  They will probably change in future sideboards.  I didn’t once use them.

Meddling Mage was awful for me.  Maybe if I’d played with Birds of Paradise or Forbidden Orchard, they maybe have been much better.  I played them once.  Pithing Needle would be much better in the future, as it stops Trike, Jitte, and Welder (in some cases).

Myr Enforcer was for the deck when it was built to beat a metagame of Fish (pre-Jitte and Vial), TPS, and random decks.  It isn’t bad, but isn’t nearly as good as it used to be.  It lets you play aggro against some decks (like Control with Rods).

Seal of Cleansing is obviously artifact removal that hits Energy Flux without being overly reactive.

This deck has a number of cards in common with the Modular aggro decks, and many people though I was in fact playing a deck like the one that top 8’d the previous Chicago tournament.  Oh, how they learned.  I’ll run down my matches, to the best of my knowledge, describing what won each game.

Round 1 against MWS + big creatures
Game 1
I have to play through several strips in the early turns, but win on turn 4.  There was some big creature on the board.
Game 2
I have to deal with a Trike, but win on turn 4.

Round 2 against Tog
Game 1
Decklist matchloss
Game 2
I win on turn 3 through a FoW.  He was playing Tog.

Round 3 against Stax
Game 1
I lose to Smokestack + Crucible + Sphere of Resistance.  I think he got about as good a hand as he could against me.
Game 2
I win with triple Genesis Chamber and random creatures.
Game 3
I lose to Smokestack, Goblin, Welder, Crucible, and Gorilla Shaman.  Variable draw does very well against me.

Round 4 against TnT
Game 1
I combo out turn 3 or 4.  No resistance.
Game 2
I manage to draw all but 5-6 of my mana sources and only 1 draw spell in the first 10 or so turns.  Seal of Cleansing keeps Survival and his threats off the board.  I get Tinker on my last turn and stall with not enough mana (unable to cast Ironworks).
Game 3
I get a glut without draw.  I make a play mistake the turn after he cast Survival.  He has already pitched Trike for Squee (an apparent misplay to my advantage).  I have 3 mana, he has enough mana to survival up Anger and a Welder, but not to play the Welder.  I play a Welder instead of holding my mana for a Rack and Ruin to keep Trike in his graveyard.  He pitches Anger for Welder and welds Trike to kill my Welder.  I never recover.

Round 5 against something
Game 1
I combo
Game 2
I combo

Round 6 against Landstill (Fish?)
Game 1
I combo out turn 3.  He has a Tundra and a Factory out and cast FoW 2-3 times as well as an effective Daze on turn 1.  He looked shell-shocked.
Game 2
Early Chalice ruins my hand.  I never get enough mana to get out of it and start comboing.  I die to Factory beats.
Game 3
This time he gets Chalice and Null Rod.  Then he plays an Energy Flux.  He almost lets the Null Rod go and keeps the Chalice (which would have allowed me to win), but rethinks.  I never find my Cities of Brass and my Glimmervoids are useless.  I eventually lose, after a LONG time.

Round 7 against WTF
Game 1
I win on what may have been my last turn.  Jitte does NOT wreck my day.  I may have Echoing Truth’d it.  My memory is not great.
Game 2
I he plays a lot of creatures and gets me down to 5 with more than 5 points of damage on the board.  I win the next turn.

Round 8 against Goblins
Game 1
I win with the inevitability that good combo often has.  He can’t finish me early enough.
Game 2
He halts my development with a turn 2 RnR on my Skullclamp and Mox.  He gets out Goblin Sharpshooter and has an untap phase with it.  This severely limits my ability to use Skullclamp.  He’s tired and plays really badly.  I eventually figure out that he’ll let me equip my creatures with Skullclamp, instead of shooting them.  He may have won this, but I found Echoing Truth and proceeding to combo out smoothly.


Some of the inadequacies of the deck were clear to me after the tournament.

I had not prepared for the current metagame, but was still prepared for the metagame of last December.  Not playing magic for 6 months will do this to you.  I knew of all the decks and knew their plans, but hadn’t done much testing against them and didn’t know how the interactions would play out.  Chalice of the Void was a HUGE pain to me throughout the day.  Hands that were extremely fast, but had only moxen lost me 2 games (and matches as a result) due to a first turn Chalice for 0.  The mana base proved inadequate and inconsistent (flooding happened too often).

That said, there are ways to fix all this up.  One is to run more lands that can be played in to a Chalice for 0 that don’t require a Mishra’s Workshop opening or a Mana Vault/Sol Ring/Bauble/Sphere.

Questions to pose to you all if you don’t want to make comments about the deck.

Glimmervoid or Forbidden Orchard?  This discussion only pertains to playing against decks with Chalice.  Synergy against Oath is irrelevant, because you beat Oath.  A poorer game 1 against aggro is also irrelevant.  You always win game 1.

Suggestions for the sideboard?  It needs to be updated.

Does this deck seem like it can compete?  Give reasons other than those that either I have mentioned or if I’ve only alluded to them, flesh out the reasoning.

What I'm currently testing:

Lands (12)
        4 City of Brass
        4 Mishra's Workshop
        2 Forbidden Orchard
        1 City of Traitors
        1 Tolarian Academy

Nonland/Noncreature Mana (13)
        1 [card]Krark-Clan Ironworks[/card]
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Chromatic Sphere
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Sol Ring
        1 [card]Talisman of Dominance[/card]

Creatures/Creature generators (19)
        3 [card]Genesis Chamber[/card]
        4 Goblin Welder
        4 Metalworker
        4 Myr Retriever
        2 Ornithopter
        1 [card]Frogmite[/card]

Tutors (4)
        1 Demonic Tutor
        2 [card]Steelshaper's Gift[/card]
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Tinker

Draw (9)
        4 Skullclamp
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Memory Jar
        1 Time Walk
        1 Timetwister
        1 Wheel of Fortune

Other/Utility (3)
        1 [card]Conjurer's Bauble[/card]
        1 Echoing Truth
        1 Trinisphere
        1 Lightning Greaves

//  Sideboard:
SB:  3 Seal of Cleansing
Obvious
SB:  2 Rack and Ruin
Obvious
SB:  1 Echoing Truth
Good against Null Rod and Energy Flux
SB:  2 Meltdown
Replaces Oxidize for multiple cc Chalice removal
SB:  3 Pithing Needle
Shuts down Trike, Salvagers, Jitte, and sometimes Welder
SB:  2 Tormod's Crypt
Obvious
SB:  1 Yawgmoth's Will
For Decks with Energy Flux
SB:  1 Genesis Chamber
For Stax and decks that make cards in the deck worthless (Conjurer's Bauble against WW or something)

[Thug]

As the guy who basically came up with the deck I'lll guess I'l chime in.

First of all, congrats, you didn't win, but you proved at least that this is a viable archetype.

On the deck:

I would play 4 Cities before even thinking about Glimmervoids or Orchards.
After the cities it's a close call between Glimmervoid, Gemstone and Orchards, I would proably go for a mix of the first two but maybe I'm giving Orchard too little credit. Maybe orchards drawback might actually need be that bad at all since you sometimes end up with a Retriever you can't get rid of, or a clamped Thopter that won't die.

I still rather have Acrbound Ravager + Lightning Greaves as a Kill then Time Walk + Bauble as I feel the first cards are more synergistic with the deck. Lightning Greaves allowed me to go near infinitive with mana more than KCI ever did. 1 KCI is needed and not a bad card at all, but Greaves seems much better than the second KCI.

Also I'm still going to try to convince you to play Tangle Wire because this deck is made for it, it has Shops and countless permanents that don't mind being tapped.

The choice to play 4 Genesis Chambers as opposed to 2 or 3 seems pretty hot with all the Stax floating around, great call.
Crucible is a great sideboard card against Stax as well you might want to give it a spin.

There's not much more I can add, but keep up the great work,

Koen

[Revvik]

That was you?

Round 2 against Tog
Game 1
Decklist matchloss
Game 2
I win on turn 3 through a FoW.  He was playing Tog.

I was really impressed by what I saw there - it was overwhelming.  I really regret not being able to give you more of a challenge due to my mistake.
Those were some fun R/G matches, by the way.  I was pretty fortunate in having the experience already playing against R/G for the better part of a year.
Classy with the double Kird Apes.  PM me if you're interested in some ideas as to how to boost its competitiveness.

And the match loss didn't keep me down for long.  It was a fun crawl back up to 9th place 

[Prometheon]

Have you considered Myr Incubator as a win condition? If you have KCI out, the 12 mana shouldn't be hard to amass, and it basicaly says "I win" when you pop it in their EoT.

[waSP]

Prometheon:  Myr Incubator wins a turn later than the current deck.  You have to wait a turn.  This wins now.

Revvik:  I really should have introduced myself as my mana drain name all day.  I didn't do it until the very end.  I only met a couple of people off the Drain.  I've learned my lesson.

Koen:  As I tested it, I kept on disliking Cities.  They rarely seemed better than Glimmervoids.  I think we've had some divergent testing.  I'm sure you've seen a lot more Chalices with the deck than I have.  I'm going to test different configurations of lands with the deck for awhile before I decide what's best.

Tangle Wire takes up too many slots in my opinion.  One of the great weaknesses was hands that had a bunch of good cards, but not the right mix of them.  I needed to draw a certain type of card to win almost instantly, but never did.  I'd get hands with a ton of mana, a couple of creatures, and a Time Walk going second.  I'd keep because I could go off turn 2 if I had a draw spell in the top 2, turn 3 in the top 3, etc.   I kept too many of those hands and lost a few games because of it.  I'd rather have more spells that are directly business spells.  Tangle Wire slows your opponents down, but not enough.  Without Strips, Wastes, Chalices, Smokestacks, or any sort of complementary disruption, they're weak.

If you switch the win condition, you open up a slot.  That's the only reason I did it.  I wanted another slot to play Vampiric.  Running Greaves over the second Ironworks is interesting.  I will certainly try it out in testing.  I think Bauble is still better than Ravager for no other reason that it gives you more game against Control.  It won me a game against Landstill, after my Time Walk and Timetwister got countered.  It also sort of destroys your opponent's morale.  They feel helpless against the deck if they don't get Chalices.

[Thug]

Koen:  As I tested it, I kept on disliking Cities.  They rarely seemed better than Glimmervoids.  I think we've had some divergent testing.  I'm sure you've seen a lot more Chalices with the deck than I have.  I'm going to test different configurations of lands with the deck for awhile before I decide what's best

Can you descibe whats your problem with the Cities? They seem superior to Orchard in every way (aside from the Oath Matchup). Glimmervoids seems decent aside from Chalice, but you don't want to weaken yourself against Chalices I think. I realise you can still cast an Oxide of a Glimm against a Chalice but still.

Tangle Wire takes up too many slots in my opinion.  One of the great weaknesses was hands that had a bunch of good cards, but not the right mix of them.  I needed to draw a certain type of card to win almost instantly, but never did.  I'd get hands with a ton of mana, a couple of creatures, and a Time Walk going second.  I'd keep because I could go off turn 2 if I had a draw spell in the top 2, turn 3 in the top 3, etc.   I kept too many of those hands and lost a few games because of it.  I'd rather have more spells that are directly business spells.  Tangle Wire slows your opponents down, but not enough.  Without Strips, Wastes, Chalices, Smokestacks, or any sort of complementary disruption, they're weak.

You might want to try out Top, I haven't got to it yet, but it sounds pretty good for finding business.
I simply love Tangle Wire since it often buys you two turns against Combo or Control-Combo, and it makes the aggro matchup even better. It cost you one card but gives you at least 2 more changes to draw into something. Recurring Tangle Wires can win games by themselves.

If you switch the win condition, you open up a slot.  That's the only reason I did it.  I wanted another slot to play Vampiric.  Running Greaves over the second Ironworks is interesting.  I will certainly try it out in testing.  I think Bauble is still better than Ravager for no other reason that it gives you more game against Control.  It won me a game against Landstill, after my Time Walk and Timetwister got countered.  It also sort of destroys your opponent's morale.  They feel helpless against the deck if they don't get Chalices.

Why, I only need Ravager and Greaves, you got Time Walk and Bauble. Both Ravager and Greaves fit very good into the deck, especially greaves, I can't imagine running the deck without one. Don't forget you can even get it with a Steelshapers Gift. Ravager is simply Clamp food early on, and gets welder/retrievered back when you need to win. Time Walk becomes bad when you run Wires because it becomes an even lousier topdeck.

Why do you need Time Walk to win, whats wrong with waiting a turn? With wires it's probably less of an concern, but how often is your opponent going to counter your Walk and Twister when he just allowed you to go infinitive, and even if he does what are the changes be wins next turn? Aditionally with Greaves, your opponent needs to stop all your retrievers and welder to stop you from winning the same turn, which is basicly impossible.

What cards have you used the Truth on? I found that most often I had problem with an Artifact, and therefore maindeck artifact destruction was often better than a Bounce spell.

Koen

[Prometheon]

While Incubator does take a turn longer and more mana, it is also a 1 card combo as opposed to a 4 card one. I havn't tested either version, I'm just throwing out suggestions.

[RThomas]

Actually, you Echoing Truth'd my Sharpshooter on the second or third untap, so it really wouldn't have mattered anyway.

[waSP]

Simplest question first.  I've used Truth on creatures to stall, Platinum Angel, Goblin Sharpshooter (this one matters), and random artifacts.  The only time that an artifact destroyer would have been better is when I am stalled with a clamp and a Thopter/Mite/Worker and no Myrs or Welders or Ironworks (this is where Ironworks is better than Greaves).  I actually am really liking the Greaves over the 2nd Ironworks so far.

I lost a few games to Cities that I probably shouldn't have.  You can Echoing Truth Spirit tokens and invalidate the drawback a little.  It hasn't come up yet, but it could.

Top sounds ok, but on initial inspection has too much anti-synergy with the deck.  You want to use it right away, but you can't because of Workshop or your lands (because they have drawbacks).  I want to use all my colored mana in the early turns.

I tend to cast my Time Walk and Timetwister before I do the infinite combo (because I can recur it easily once I'm infinite--2 extra Retrievers with nothing to do).  This can be a crucial way of getting the combo through (especially if I don't have 2-3 untapped Welders).

I was talking about my initial cut of Ravager + Greaves.  Honestly, they're both strong in different ways.  Greaves relies on getting Metalworkers (since you don't cast that many Welders).  Ironworks is sometimes hard to cast (like when you don't have a Metalworker or Workshop).

Incubator requires 12 mana.  So really it's not a 1 card combo.  It's expensive and slow.  I'm not saying it's the worst thing you could run.  It's just worse than what we have.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I just want to be clear about what is optimal.

I'll put my current list at the bottom of the original post.

[Brutha]

Ashnod's Altar is in my opinion better than Krark-Clan Ironworks. 4 Mana is a lot, and the altar does often about the same as Ironworks.

Is there a reason for the lack of Junk Diver's?

[waSP]

Ashnod's Altar will net you about 8 mana (16 if you have a lot of myr).  KCI will net you about 20 mana.  Sac'ing moxen is really good.  I hope that's clear.  Ironworks rarely sacrifices myr tokens.  They're used for drawing cards.  It sacrifices artifacts (like extra Skullclamps and Talismans and Mana Vault) to get mana so you can activate Skullclamp a lot.

Junk Diver costs 3.  The only reason Metalworker gets run is because he taps for a lot of mana.  Myr Retriever is really good (but often weak).  At best Junk Diver gets back a lotus.  But at that point you may as well run an Ornithopter or Frogmite to get you some mana.  I actually hadn't considered it.  The oftenness that you have a Lotus is much lower than you'd hope.  If you're running Koen's version (with Ravager), 1-2 Junk Diver could find a place (Flying makes sure Ravager gets through).

[Thug]

Retriever #4 actually is on the edge IMO, even if junk diver would cost only 2 mana and was unrestricted, I probably wouldn't run more than 4 total (instead of Retriever obviously). A single Thopter provides all the flying beats I need.

I'm gonna give the deck another spin against the relativly new archetypes, and see how it does and get back with the results. I hope this will give me/us some new insights.

Koen

[PipOC]

Is there a reason I'm missing why ornithopter is better than grim monolith, lotus petal, mox diamond...etc.?

[Komatteru]

Is there a reason I'm missing why ornithopter is better than grim monolith, lotus petal, mox diamond...etc.?

1) It generates tokens with Genesis Chamber, which can be Clamped to draw mad cards.
2) It can be clamped and then sac'ed to the Works for 2 cards and 2 mana.
3) It can be clamped twice for 4 cards.

All of those things are pretty amazing.

Back in...October of last year or so, I experimented with "Drainworks."  It was a Mana Drain deck with the Ironworks/Incubator combo in it.  I didn't have the resources to put into developing it very far, and I ultimately wrote it off as a failed project and haven't really looked back at it since.  I played KCI in T2 when everyone thought it was bad and won a mad amount of prize with it.  I'm glad to see that you've got something here that works and does well for you.  Keep up the good work.

I do also agree that Glimmervoid should not be in any deck.  With the number of Chalices out there, I think it's nigh unplayable.  I do suggest testing Engineered Explosives.  It's a serves as accel under KCI (since you get 2 for 0) and also can take out opposing Chalices, Vials, Mages, w/e annoys you.  It was always really amazing for me when I played KCI.

[vartemis]

i used to run ironworks in type 2 before it got shot to s**t... and I used to switch between goblin cannon, charbelcher, and fireball as a kill.  you can generate a ton of mana with this deck so its not hard.  charbelcher wont work because you arent using artifact lands... but the other 2 are viable, or any other version of fireball, ideally k's torch.  resolving and blowing off an incubator with an ironworks onboard and one of these in hand is gg.  I figured this was obvious, but maybe i'm missing something.

j

[WildWillieWonderboy]

I honestly have to say that sideboarding Yawgmoth's Win confuses me. I know that you don't have to generate storm or anything and that the whole point is to just make a ton of menz, but that card isn't first in our hearts for no good reason.

I can see that it would have dissynergy with timetwister, but I still think will gets the nod over the 9th power. Especially since it can recur time walk for the win. In fact, refilling your opponent's hand when you seem to kill on turn four pretty often seems somewhat flawed.

Ill Mask also seems like pretty good sb technology. Since you don't have to worry about generating storm, it seems like it would be an ideal replacement or compliment for trinisphere. Furthermore, it could smooth out some of your mana problems, at the very least making it easier to play welder.

Also, why no crop rotation? I would think that finding Academy would really help.

[Rico Suave]

Having played several games against waSP the night before the tournament, me playing Slaver, I can say the deck oftentimes pulls very scary first and second turns. 

Stopping Skullclamp is not enough, since you also need to stop such bombs as Tinker, Goblin Welder, and the several tutors that find Skullclamp not to mention the various draw7 effects.  Genesis Chamber even without Skullclamp can also put some decent pressure on an opponent who spent resources keeping the aforementioned cards off the table. 

I also saw the deck sometimes just play Metalworker and beat for 1 a turn.  If the inconsistencies can be worked out of the deck, and if it can find a way to deal with Chalice of the Void, I think it would be a top contender. 

[waSP]

Yawg's Will makes it impossible to go infinite and removes your win condition.  It's only good if you're playing against a slower deck where direct card advantage is absolutely good rather than could be good (eg. Stax or Fish or Landstill).  In every matchup where you need to combo right away (Gifts, Slaver, Tog, Goblins, TPS, Long, any other deck with a fast kill), Will is worse than every card in the deck most of the time.  There are certainly situations where it could be useful.  But putting cards that are likely to be dead draws in most of your matchups doesn't sound smart.  You have to consider what Will will actually do.  It basically does what Timetwister does but only once.

It seems like I kill on turn 4.  I could most certainly kill on turn 6 every game if my opponent wasn't forcing my hand.  That wouldn't make it a turn 6 deck, it would just be able to kill on turn 6 when turn 6 is when it's necessary.  When my opponent feels it necessary to strip my lands, I can take my time to set up my kill.  I'll go get Memory Jar and sit on it for a turn.  I'll get some tokens out to block.  How aggressively I play the deck is proportional to how aggressively my opponent's deck plays.

If you're casting Timetwister and your opponent is in a position to win off it, there are roughly 3 situations.
1: You can easily win through 2-3 counters and you're just Timetwistering to get you Time Walk and Myr Retrievers back.
2: Your opponent is about to win the game (set up a huge Will, has too much on the board for you to deal with)
3: You've exhausted your hand and you just need to draw some cards
Comparison of Will and Timetwister
1. Will gets back cards you already played but does not allow you to win that turn (or the next, because you won't be going infinite this turn).  Timetwister gives you some gas and recurs your win condition.
2. Will is much likelier to be weak and can't create any parity of resources.  It just brings back threats you don't necessarily need to bring back.  It's hard to describe how it functions in these situations, because there is a great deal of variety in your board position.  If your opponent has been molesting you with Gorilla Shaman, it could very well be good.  If your opponent has ignored you, it is likely very weak.  This one is difficult to tell which is better.  I would argue Timetwister in most cases.
3. Because you won't often a lot of colored mana, recasting a lot of spells won't often be the best plan.  Usually, you want to use Skullclamp to draw most of your cards, not cast Ancestral, Wheel, Demonic, etc.  Those other cards are there to give you a little oomph in the early game or to find combo pieces.  They aren't ends to themselves.

You have to understand that this deck is different than other combo decks.  You are more concerned with assembling cogs than drawing a lot of cards.  Will removes your cogs from the game.  Not the best strategy.

JDizzle, it sounds like you have a good understanding of how the deck works.  I'm glad there's somebody
Glimmervoid isn't THAT bad.  It is certainly worse than City of Brass and Forbidden Orchard right now, but back in early testing (a year ago), it proved itself better than City (Orchard wasn't released), at least for me.  Right now, yes, it is wretched.

Engineered Explosives sounds like a great idea if I can get a Mana Vault or Sol Ring (or Ironworks I suppose) out, but I'm thinking Meltdown is my best Chalice protection for now.  If it's an early Chalice, all my accel will be in hand.  If it's a midgame Chalice, I can play around it until I'm ready to win (which is when I'd cast the Meltdown).  Meddling Mage hasn't been an issue yet.  Decks that play it are pretty susceptible to Welder tricks (and Echoing Truth takes care of their Mages, or I get the combo--they have to decide which they want to guard against).

Illusionary Mask sounds like an excellent way to resolve Goblin Welder when I absolutely need to.  I don't think I absolutely need to very often, to be quite honest.  Maybe if the metagame shifts and there is a lot more hate directly targeting Goblin Welder.  The rest of the creatures are better cast with Mishra's Workshop.

You don't need Academy to win the game, it just makes things smoother.  You'd have to cut a real mana source to run Crop Rotation.  This deck doesn't like non-real mana sources.  For example, Lotus Petal is awful.

I think that Grim Monolith would be good if we were running 4 KCI, so it could be cast turn 1 off Workshop, but, we aren't.  It provides 1 mana and would often cost you colored mana.  Having to use your red source to get some colorless mana isn't good.

Vartemis, you're talking about having a 3 card combo after you manage to get 12 mana.  Why not just run a 3 card combo that doesn't need a 12 mana jump start?  And it wouldn't lose to a Deed, or an Engineered Explosives, or a number of other cards.

Thanks for the feedback on that matchup, Rico.

Okay, I'll post my current sideboard later and try to make it clear why I run each card.

[jackpot]

I saw this Metalworker combo deck a year ago. It basically needed 3 artifacts in hand w/ metalworker and a staff of domination in play.

To refresh your memories:
Staff of domination
 Card text:
1: Untap Staff of Domination.
2, T: You gain 1 life.
3, T: Untap target creature.
4, T: Tap target creature.
5, T: Draw a card.

4 mana from the metal worker untaps the staff and untaps metal worker. See where this is going? You stiil have 2 mana floating soon to be 100 zillion. You then proceed to gain billions of life, tap all their guys, and draw the rest of your deck. I forgot what the win condition actually was. I think it was a stroke of genius. An artifact would be a better win solution. You could play something hilarious like Rod of ruin for the win. You can always untap it with the staff and all that mana.  Anyways, Thought this combo would be worth your consideration.

[b-tings]

You can only untap creatures with Staff of Domination.

The best win condition for the deck at that point would be a single Orim's Chant I would think. It's the best I can come up with for a card that can function outside of the combo (in my old Stax decks I used Karn). Basically, you draw your deck, Chant them (if they had an answer you wouldn't be comboing off in the first place), and then Twist. Infinite Time Walks. Beat down with Metalworker.

But this doesn't really shore up the deck at all. If you can combo off undisrupted, it doesn't really matter how you do it. The problem I see with this deck is that it runs no disruption. The best you've got is Welder to invalidate counters. Is there a way for this deck to play enough blue cards to squeeze in Force of Will?

[Thug]

Everybody suggesting awful win conditions are missing the point. You already have a win condition, it just takes one turn to win. One card can be added so that you can kill the same turn that you combo, but it has to have synergy with the rest of the deck. At least 95% of the time it won't matter if you have such a card in your deck or not, so putting in a non-synergistic card will lose you more games (by forced mulligans and bad topdecks) than it will win you games.

Yagmoth's Will as amazing as it is, is pretty weak in this deck and often a win-more card. The deck is all about getting the engine started, and for that you need cards like Gift and Chamber, not Crop and Will. On top of that you want to keep a high artifact count to be able to justify the Shops and the Workers. Before adding a single coloured cards you have to think of the consequences it has to the core of your deck.

Koen

[jackpot]

Decklist deleted. If you want to propose changes to a deck, just say that you're cutting these three cards for those three cards--we don't need to see the whole list again.
-Jacob

This way you can have the staff in the deck and stroke them out. I added a chromatic sphere, to ensure that you can get that 1 U mana in  a pinch. These pieces have a synergy with the deck as well. I think gifts ungiven should be in a combo deck as well. You are already playing goblin welder and myr retriever, so that would help get back Gifts cards.

[PipOC]

This way you can have the staff in the deck and stroke them out. I added a chromatic sphere, to ensure that you can get that 1 U mana in  a pinch. These pieces have a synergy with the deck as well. I think gifts ungiven should be in a combo deck as well. You are already playing goblin welder and myr retriever, so that would help get back Gifts cards.

If you're using Staff as a kill, wouldn't chain of vapor be alot better than echoing truth, allowing you to bounce several artifacts to your hand and setting up metalworker?

[ElyasMachera]

Trike is much better then stroke.  Just get your whole deck in your hand and play it, a welder and greaves or time walk - GG.  Also, Trike is a lot better then stroke in this deck as there are workshops and metal workers.  This also lets you cut Chromatic Spheres, add a 4th chamber and other good stuff you cut.  With this set up you can combo off with both the Retrievers/ironworks/chamber or worker/staff and having trike is never a bad thing in a deck that uses welders against a field of stax and slaver.

You can win now with or without the staff combo added, but I think it makes the deck much more versatile with the inclusion of 3 cards which are all pretty good on there own (staff, greaves and trike) and lets you drop cards that are not (Conjurer's Bauble, C. Sphere).

EDIT: Oh ya, and the talisman should prob become darksteel ignot with this set up.

[jackpot]

voltaic construct works well with metalworker and goblin welder if you don't like the staff for some reason. Playing both isn't bad idea. Is fabricate a bad idea for this deck? You're most likely going to tutor for an artifact anyways. How is Trike a better win condition than just stroking them out?  Also, there is

Magma mine:
 Casting cost: 1

Card text: 4: Put a pressure counter on Magma Mine.
TAP, Sacrifice Magma Mine: For each pressure counter on it, Magma Mine deals 1 damage to target creature or player. I still think stroke is better, however.

Even more fun- Voodoo doll:
 artifact
6
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a pin counter on Voodoo Doll.
At the end of your turn, if Voodoo Doll is untapped, sacrifice it and it deals damage equal to the number of pin counters on it to you.
XX, T: Voodoo Doll deals X damage to target creature or player. X is the number of pin counters on Voodoo Doll. This card is silly and purely a win condition with little/no synergy with the deck other than it's an artifact. a better idea is

Viridian longbow:
1
 Equipped creature has "T: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player." Equip 3 (3: Attach to target creature you control.
Equip only as a sorcery.

equip it onto the metal worker or some guy you have out and ping them to death, untapping the guy with the staff over and over. This is also a cool way to keep opponent's welders in check.

I don't know how you win in one turn with Trike when you combo with the staff. How is this done?

[ElyasMachera]

combo off with staff.  Play trike, welder and greaves your welder.  Ping opp twice and trike once.  Weld trike in for a mox.  Ping them 3 times.  use staff to untap welder.  Weld trike out for mox.  use staff to untap welder.  Weld trike in for mox.  ping 3 times.  Repeat.

Its the same kill speed as stroke, is usefull on its own and if you hand is mox mox trike with metal worker and staff out on board you win where as mox mox stroke is not a win.

[elias]

i used to run ironworks in type 2 before it got shot to s**t... and I used to switch between goblin cannon, charbelcher, and fireball as a kill.  you can generate a ton of mana with this deck so its not hard.  charbelcher wont work because you arent using artifact lands... but the other 2 are viable, or any other version of fireball, ideally k's torch.  resolving and blowing off an incubator with an ironworks onboard and one of these in hand is gg.  I figured this was obvious, but maybe i'm missing something.

j

I've been puzzling over this for so long, but how does goblin cannon work? You have to sacrifice it to do the damage right? Can you stack multiple pings before saccing it?

elias.

[Rico Suave]

I've been puzzling over this for so long, but how does goblin cannon work? You have to sacrifice it to do the damage right? Can you stack multiple pings before saccing it?

elias.

Yes. 

What is wrong with "make infinite tokens and Time Walk" kill?

[waSP]

Thank you Rico.

Here's an arbitrary rule for this thread.  You get one slot for a kill.  If you can't do it in 1 slot, you're not allowed to mention a different kill method.

Staff of Domination is not an adequate kill, it does not finish off your opponent on its own.  It is merely a bad Skullclamp.  If you wanted to run another Skullclamp and didn't like Steelshaper's Gift, maybe you could run Staff.  That said, Steelshaper's Gift is much, MUCH better.  Maybe you can think up a monoblue deck that runs Staff and Crucible and Wastelands.  That isn't this deck.

Viridian Longbow is an adequate kill (but not a good one).  You do not run this kill with Staff first because that's 2 slots and forbidden by the rules of this thread and second because it isn't necessary.  It is mentionable, but utterly not as good as other kills.

Arcbound Ravager is a good kill because it kills that turn and is 1 slot.  I don't believe it's an optimal kill, because it only kills once.  This is a very good kill if you cut Time Walk.  Don't cut Time Walk.

Conjurer's Bauble is a good kill.  It kills immediately and definitely.  It also allows you to recur other things in addition to just Twister (using Myr recursion and Welders).  It cantrips for 1.  It is almost like a non-slot.

Magma Mine is an acceptable in the context of this thread, but like many other kills is just not good enough.  As an early draw it's worthless.  It's only good once you've combo'd out.  It is about the same as Disciple of the Vault.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Disciple.  Now that I've done it, there is no need to ever speak of it again.

So, in summation.  When thinking of new win conditions, ask yourself first this.  Does it require more slots than the single Conjurer's Bauble?  Next, does it do more than Conjurer's Bauble?  In each stage of the game does it do more than Bauble?  Will it help you if you're in mana trouble early and need a cantrip?  Once you're infinite will it help beat the control deck with several counterspells and a Pyroclasm in hand waiting to wreck your board?  Conjurer's Bauble is an elegant answer to several problems this deck has.  Elegant answers are most often the best ones.

Time Walk works a little better than Orim's Chant, IMO.

Triskelion is a metagame call.  IE, if you want to play fat, you can.  I don't recommend it.  I prefer simply winning.

Jackpot: Please keep your replies in this thread to things that are neither silly, fun, nor bad.

I never addressed the problem of not running disruption.  There is the single Trinisphere, but I'd agree with you if you said that that was too little disruption.  The matchups where you want disruption are solely against decks that are faster than you.  How many decks are faster than this deck?  TPS, Long, and Dragon.  How often do you see those decks at tournaments currently?  There might be a metagame where running Sphere of Resistance, Tangle Wire, or Wasteland (and Crucible) would be a good idea.  The current metagame (at least not states-side) is not that.  Against "Control" decks, your primary goal is to win the game now.  You don't have just one method of doing that, unlike other combo decks.  You have several paths you can take to victory.  They aren't so distinct, but the way your opponent plays against them is.  Disruption is not an issue when your deck is faster (through several counters) than your opponent's deck.

My current sideboard.

1 Echoing Truth
This is a stall card against Oath (or disruption if it's salvagers).  Also is useful against Goblins.  Increased redundancy is often useful.  Also good against Dragon.
1 Genesis Chamber
When what your opponent is doing is pretty irrelevant and you want to combo sooner.  Side this in for Talisman, Steelshaper's Gift, Trinisphere, or Echoing Truth.
2 Rack and Ruin
Good against Artifacts (like Chalice, Sundering Titan, Juggernaut, Su-Chi, Sphere of Resistance, Smokestack, Tangle Wire, etc.).  Also gives you tempo advantage in a lot of matchups.
2 Tormod's Crypt
Your secondary answer to Dragon.  Also helps against Gifts.
3 Seal of Cleansing
Your tertiary answer to Dragon.  Is excellent against Energy Flux.  Helps against TNT.  Good against Oath.  Comes in a lot.
2 Meltdown
Your best answer to Chalice.  Variable casting cost is key.  This is untested so far, but looks to be excellent.
1 Yawgmoth's Will
I've explained this before.  Most matchups you don't want it.  Some you really want it.
3 Pithing Needle
This is my newest answer to Triskelion, opposing Goblin Welders, Jitte, and a variety of other threats that might come up.  I don't know if they're going to stay, but I'm running it for now.

[jackpot]

As far as disruption goes, with all the cheap/free artifacts this deck plays, Tangle wire would be a fit. A bunch of the artifacts still work when tapped, like skullclamp. You could always borrow control elements from Control slaver decks. Not their counter-magic however. With all those guys you'll be making, Opposition is an idea. Tapping all of your opponents permanents seems to be good disruption.  The 2 U may be tought o achieve with the cureent mana.