Shop Agro

[xycsoscyx]

Here is an aggro deck that I've been tweaking around with lately for an upcoming tournament:

// Lands
    1  Strip Mine
    4  Wasteland
    1  Academy Ruins
    1  Tolarian Academy
    4  Mishra's Workshop
    4  Mishra's Factory
    4  Gemstone Mine
    4  City of Brass

// Creatures
    2  Gorilla Shaman
    3  Vexing Shusher
    4  Dark Confidant
    4  Triskelion
    1  Karn, Silver Golem

// Spells
    1  Trinisphere
    4  Thorn of Amethyst
    4  Sphere of Resistance
    4  Tangle Wire
    3  Engineered Explosives
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mana Crypt
    1  Sol Ring

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Chalice of the Void
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 3  Ray of Revelation
SB: 4  Ancient Grudge

Based on previous tournaments, I can expect some Ichorid (there has always been at least 1 person playing it, though rarely much more than that), and Oath (same as Ichorid, someone usually plays it, but it's not out in force), but a lot of what's hot now.  This means that I can probably expect Slaver to be running around (it's a proxy tournament), but I really dunno what else.  I was trying Juggs in place of the Trike for a while, but if Slaver is popular, I'd rather run the Trikes to be able to get rid of opposing Welders easily (which gives me 7 ways to get rid of them with the Explosives).  Chalice in the SB is mostly against Combo (which always shows up in some form or another), but I'd rather run the 9Sphere MB for stronger openings (Chalice seems a bit subpar now, opening Chalice at 1 just isn't what it used to be).  The SB is still a bit generic, Rays for Back to Basics and Energy Flux, Grudges for the mirror (Shop is pretty popular), and Leyline is just a general SB staple it seems (still really good against Stax, Ichorid, Dragon, etc).

Any thoughts on the deck, improvements, suggestions?

PS: I just noticed that I don't have Lotus on the list (which means I can play this list sanctioned, w00t), I'll have to add it back in somehow (or not, I'll play it out a bit and see).

[KnowmaD]

How do you forget your not playing with black lotus?

Chalice for one isn't as hot but for two is the nuts right now.   It would hurt you bad though.

Can you give more detail on the differences of this Aggroshop than others.  I do see, an have an idea.  I really like aggroshop an would just like more input to personally grow.  Thanks.

                                                                                                                                          Knowmad

[xycsoscyx]

About Lotus, meh, it gives you a little extra oomph turn one, but takes away the staying power of a strong first turn.  I also built the list with consideration towards Worlds which is sanctioned, and the Lotus is the only card in the deck that I don't actually own.

As for Chalice, Chalice at 2 doesn't actually hurt me if I can get out a Shusher (and Shusher itself can't be countered by Chalice).  The biggest difference is the inclusion of the Shusher itself (which takes the place of what is usually Swords).  Shusher lets you power through counters without even caring.  The biggest problem being, with no Crucible, Gemstones are again the weakest land in the deck.

The other difference is the inclusion of Explosives (which is catching on a bit, but still not widely played).  I've long included that card in my 5c Stax builds because of it's versatility, it lets me destroy Goyfs (at the expense of my own cards sadly, but Goyf beat down can be brutal), kills Empty AND Bridge tokens, kills moxen, kills Energy Flux (though Ray does that better), kills many things that can really ruin my day.  The late game recursion through Academy Ruins actually won me a few games before against GAT because if I kept playing it at two, they couldn't do anything to actually win other than relying on Tog (which I could just recur and play it at three instead of two for a turn to get rid of him, as well).

I am also trying Tangle Wires currently, mostly for a bit of added disruption while trying to stall them out with Spheres.  They give me extra time to get the mana to drop more Spheres and ultimately a create to start swinging in with.  Recurring them via Ruins, while not as strong as with Welder, can also add to the late game disruption (and still keep them off the extra mana that they've most likely built up by then).

[KnowmaD]

I agree whole heartedly about the explosives.  I play them myself when ever possible.  They can handle so many annoyances.  Shusher is a very good call.
Whats your thoughts about Crucible of Worlds .  They make your week ( gemstone mines ) an strong waste effects better.

[xycsoscyx]

The problem is finding room for the Crucibles, which is the most difficult part.  I cut them when I went from a Stax deck to an Agro deck, but haven't been able to add any back in (even as a deuce).  Crucible is not an absolute necessity, but can attribute wins to a broken first turn Crucle/Strip (especially when I pump out spheres after that to keep Moxen off the table).  I would like to find a way to fit it back in, though, as it makes Gemstones all that much stronger and can help lock down the game with Wastelands/Strip Mine.

[Tha Gunslinga]

I would main Chalice over Explosives; what exactly do you need to blow up?  This is also the least Aggro of any Shop Aggro list I've seen; you're only running 5 real guys.  No Juggs?  No Titan?  No TINKER?  Am I missing something here?

[xycsoscyx]

As for the aggro part, true, but it's still more aggro oriented than Stax, so I'm not sure what other name better describes it.  The fact that 9 of the guys are smaller is inconsequential, though.  They still swing in the same as any other, and if I'm keeping my opponent from playing spells, then they are able to swing in unobstructed.

In the case of Chalice -vs- Explosives, it's really dependant on what I am going to be playing against.  In the case of decks like Fish (which are common in my area), I'd rather destroy their guys than prevent them from casting them (until they find an answer to Chalice).  They can keep the guys in hand until they find an answer, but they are lost forever if I destroy them.  Engineered also destroys tokens quite well, I can get rid of Ichorid and Empty tokens.  It also lets me get rid of the 1s and 3s (Welder, Shaman, Heretic, Flux, Back to Basics, etc) without hurting myself too much.  Just to note, I like Engineered for it's versatility, but I really don't like cutting the Chalice MB, it's just what I'm trying out currently (Shushers make Chalice even better since I can still play through them for just a R/G extra).

Trike over Juggs I explained already, it's mostly because I am expecting Fish and Slaver (Trike does a much better job against opposing Welders than Juggs, since he just gets turned into a Moxen and destroyed).

Titan isn't in the list in there since Tinker isn't, but I've honestly never been wowed by Tinker.  Every card in the deck is currently a permanent.  Most of the time whatever I draw, I can play (the exceptions of course being the colored spells, but even those aren't too difficult most of the time).  In a deck like this, Tinker would pretty much always get Titan (which isn't a bad thing, btw), but it starts losing consistency by going that route.  Obviously, things like the Shaman are easy to cut and change for Tinker/Titan, but I'm still not sure if it's worth it.  It seems like a win more card most of the time (in this deck, in a deck like Slaver it's nuts, but Slaver also has card drawing and selection).