I had a list very similiar to that one up for a long time:
Standard 47.
3 Uba Mask
3 Tangle Wire
3 Sphere of Resistance
2 Null Rod
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Duplicant
Duplicant is better than Karn because there's no dyssynergy with Null Rod.
I personally don't fear Force of Will hardly at all. I don't want my opponent to ever mana drain anything I do. Sphere is good at this, especially in a 3 sphere/3 tangle wire build, but Uba Mask is just better at removing counters.
In fact, if I have multiple threats in my hand, and my opponent doesn't force my first threat, I get pissed off, because I fear that he's gonna force my second one. When he does, I get extremely pissed off. This is one of the scenarios where Sphere of Resistance comes in handy, because if they allow it, and you somehow get five mana to cast a smokestack, you are SICK.
What really pisses me off is when my opponent forces a mana crypt, and I'm holding strip mine/crucible. With some more 1-mana lands in my hand and more threats. My friend Mike likes to do this just to piss me off.
But yeah, I like my first threat getting forced because it's card advantage. It's basically a 1 for 2.
Uba Mask is far superior to any other lock for getting rid of counterspells.
My current list is this:
Standard 47.
3 Uba Mask
3 Tangle Wire
3 Null Rod
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Duplicant
More consistency in pieces, plus double duplicant. Double Shaman is good too, but I can cut one or both of them for something else, but the problem is when you cut Shaman for stuff, you have to add in other things too. Like...
Standard 47.
4 Uba Mask
4 Tangle Wire
3 Null Rod
2 Duplicant
I don't think this list is as good, because Uba Mask redundancy is nice, but it's not needed. The 4th Tangle Wire, however, is REALLY nice. However, it doesn't have Shaman to compliment it.
I might try this list:
Standard 47.
4 Tangle Wire
3 Uba Mask
3 Null Rod
2 Duplicant
1 Gorilla Shaman
This might work better than everything, but it limits my chance of drawing Shaman to make Tangle Wire effective. I like 3/2 better.
Another thing that might be tried is the following:
Standard 47.
4 Tangle Wire
3 Uba Mask
2 Null Rod
2 Duplicant
2 Gorilla Shaman.
I don't think this has ever been tried before. This puts the pressure on Gorilla Shaman, which has dyssynergy with Chalice at 1, which is why we wanted to get rid of him in the first place. This hasn't be tried before for a reason - it's probably the worst of all of them.
I think the current build that Yesphuryen and myself has come to is the best, if you're not trying to incorporate spheres.
With spheres in, everything gets mucked up, because out of this skeleton:
Standard 47.
3 Uba Mask
3 Tangle Wire
3 Null Rod
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Duplicant
At least THREE of those components has to go. Unless you're JD, and put Tangle Wires in the board (which I don't think is right as it doesn't give you enough SB space), you've got a real problem on your hands here.
You could try the following:
Standard 47.
3 Spheres
3 Tangle Wire
2 Null Rod
2 Uba Mask
2 Duplicant
1 Gorilla Shaman
This list sacrifices an Uba Mask for a Duplicant.
You could try to get rid of Shamans all together, but I don't think that's particularly advantagous, because then your opponent gets to keep moxes in play.
You could try to get rid of Duplicants all together and put them in the board, which isn't a particularly bad option:
3 Spheres
3 Tangle Wires
3 Uba Mask
2 Null Rod
2 Gorilla Shaman
This is really good against blue based control, but does bad against most other stuff because of the lack of Duplicant.
Many people have put locks in the board for certain decks, the most notable of these is JD's putting Wires in the board. I think Spheres are better to put in the board, because you can side them in for Duplicants and other such things against Blue Based Control (like Gifts or Slaver).
There needs to be ALOT of SB analysis when it comes to HOW MANY of a lock piece you put in the board. I personally feel that Wire is better against the entire meta than spheres, and will probably not put spheres in the SB, as my SB is already getting crammed for space.
I already don't lose on the play, I really don't need to increase my chances of losing on the draw by putting Sphere into the MD and Wires into the board. I'd rather do it the other way around if anything. I want to be VERY strong on the draw game 1.
I ran a version with no resistors in the MD or SB, and went undefeated on the play (except for one game because of double energy flux, where I didn't have pyroblasts in my SB), at Blue Bell.
Our deck does NOT have a problem on the play against blue based control.
Also, a few things about the non-core group of cards.
You don't need 4 of any of the non-core group.
Singletons are not as beneficial to the deck as adding to other locks to increase probability and consistency.
However, if you play 2 Null Rod MD, you're going to want to play 2 Null Rod SB as well, to make up for the losses that going down on a Null Rod might give you Game 1. Null Rod sometimes does singlehandedly win you games, and against Slaver, you're going to want a 4th Null Rod in particular.
3 Uba Mask is pretty much what the community has settled upon as the optimum number, although going down to 2 isn't necessarily bad, although you pretty much forfeit the chance for Uba Lock, and you're more dependant on Welder now, but your Slaver Matchup is actually better game 1. If you go with 2 Uba Mask MD, you probably don't want to go with more than 1 SB.
Sphere of Resistance is good at 3 or 4, but never 1 or 2, and is actually a very good SB card at a set of 4, or possibly even 3.
Tangle Wire is good at 2, 3, or 4. I believe it to be best at 3, because you increase your chances of drawing it in the early-mid game but have a lower chance of drawing it in your opening seven. If you run 3, I've found 1 in the board to be VERY good, as you can side it in on the draw to increase the probability that you'll get it in your opening hand.
Duplicant is good at any number, although a singleton Duplicant is a BAD plan against Oath. After EXTENSIVE testing, I'd go with 0 or 2 in the MD. You want to have 3 or 4 total with SB, however. If you're not running any other Oath Hate, I'd go with 4 Duplicants total, however, if you're also running additional hate, like Jester's Cap (SICK!) or Maze of Ith, I would only go with 3 Duplicants, as you don't want to draw a 6cc guy in your opening hand most of the time.
Gorilla Shaman is better with Tangle Wire than he is with Sphere of Resistance. If you don't understand why this is, you should not be playing Ubastax, straight up. He, unlike Duplicant, can be run as a 1-of in the MD. He is not an "answer" to deck strategies, so he does not need to be played as an at-least-to-of-mentality. He can also be played in the board, but I would never play more than 2 of these guys total because of dyssynergy at Chalice at 1.
Personally, I have crafted the MD with the SB VERY heavily in mind. Because of this, I don't go down to 2 Null Rod (because it cuts 2 slots away from the board) and also I have taken into consideration ways to combat Oath without giving us dead SB cards (Jester's Cap is so sick against Oath, but nearly nothing else, so it had to go), as well as trying to minimize slots in the SB simply against Oath (Maze of Ith) that do little against other decks. This is also why I have Shaman maindecked. He is better in the Maindeck Game 1 because if I lose the roll, I will be much happier playing second with Shamans in my deck. Moreover, he can be boarded out for things, but not always be boarded in for things, giving us more slots in the SB.
The SB is a VERY important part of my deck, and I view it as more important than the MD in most cases, as most of the games you play will be WITH SB. Because of this, I have spent quite a long time developing and testing new SB tech and have comeout with a diverified and intense SB to go with the MD. The pyrostatic pillars are still in testing (about 50 games tested with them now) and they've been better than I've expected, actually. There have been times where they've actually screwed me over, however, and I'm probably going to cut them, even though I like them alot. The current MD and SB up for netdecking, however, is the following:
4 Bazaar
4 Workshop
4 Wasteland
4 Barbarian Ring
3 Mountain
1 Academy
1 Strip Mine
5 Moxen
1 Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
4 Smokestack
4 Crucible
4 Chalice
4 Welder
1 Trinisphere
3 Uba Mask
3 Tangle Wire
3 Null Rod
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Duplicant
SB:
4 Fiery Temper
3 Viashino Heretic
1-2 Duplicant
6-7 Metagame Slots
I really have determined that those 6-7 slots are totally metagame based. I put Jester's Caps in mine because they kick Oath's ass. Everyone can decide what to put in theirs based on what is in their area. If you have alot of Slaver, play something else, but if you insist on playing this deck, your best options are probably Lava Darts, Null Rods, and Pyroblasts in addition to this.
If you're getting schooled by Energy Flux every week, Pyroblast is the way to go.
I hope this helped some people.
