9 Sphere Agrro

[Smoochy]

Greetings Oh Gurus of the vintage world.   I am not much of a vintage player but when some friends and I get together we bust out the cards and get grimy. Every now and again I net deck some of the amazing creations you all put together today I have posted a deck that needs constructive criticism. 


   Mana
1   Tolarian Academy
4   Mishra's Workshop
7   solomox
1   ManaVault
1   Mana Crypt
3   City of Brass
3   Gemstone Mine
4   Wasteland
4   Ghost Quarter edit*- 2
1   Strip  Mine

   Lock Pieces
4   chalice of the Void
4   Thorn of Amathist
4   Sphere of Resistance
1   Trinisphere
3   Crucible of Worlds

   Beats
4   Juggernaut
3   Razormane Masticore
1   Karn

   Search
1   Demonic Tutor
1   Vampiric Tutor
1   Tinker
1   Mystical Tutor  edit*- 1 + 3 Bottled Cloister
1   Ancestral Recall

   Recursion
2   Goblin Welder

60   
   SB
4   Leyline of the Void
2   Jester's Cap
2   Helm of Obedience
3   Mishra's Factory
1   Goblin Welder
2   Swords to Plowshares
1   Bounce of your Choice


Card Choices:
9 land destruction lands. Some might say "Holy land destruction Batman?" But it is nice to get an opening that can destroy a land right off the bat. Ghost Quarter is still a very underplayed card but against certain decks is a new stripmine considering the metagame uses 2 to 3 basic lands they will not go to waste.   The 1 mana is a nice bonus or it is something to pitch to the Razormane Masticore.

3 Crucible of Worlds keeps the land destruction flowing throughout the game.

Thorn of Amethist/Sphere of Resistance- I was taken with the idea of having greater probablity increasing the cost of spells on the first turn. All I seem to need is 2 on the board to take control of the game. Plus raising the cost of Stack's artifact lock pieces while destroying their land keeps me winning the race. Combo Cries when either of these hit the table.

Chalice of the void- game one is always great a 0.  Game 2 you know what they are playing and can be selective about the casting cost you shut down.

Trinisphere- Was restricted for a reason. Nuff said.

As you can see there is no draw engine working here. All I have is tutors to work with but they seem to be nice and cheap so when the casting costs go up they will be affordable. Chalice for 1 shuts me down but sometimes 1 casting cost has got to go!

Beaters- Juggernaut to me is the most affordable beater for 4 mana. He can pop up 1st turn just to look scary or he becomes an affordable beater late game when 1 mana spells now cost 4.

Razormane Masticore- I just love this thing. It slices, it dices, it makes that card sacrifice into a colorless lightning bolt, pesky creatures beware "it will shoot you!" it also has first strike for those creatures who attend a gym.

Karn - the gentle robot kills moxes and makes my spheres grow teeth.

Goblin Welder- hmmm not sure whether 2 are enough or even nessesary.  I will rely on your expertise for answer.  But he does make an 11/11 Indestructable Trampler fearful.

The sideboard is geared for the various graveyard decks that are in the metagame, particularly the dredge decks.
Jestercap resolving has a tendancy to be auto "good game" against decks that have 1 to 3 win conditions.  They may be a maindeck card I am not sure yet.

Please be gentle with me this is my first post ever and I am not a seasoned veteran like the rest of you. If it is a pile I can take the bad news.....Sniff .....Sniff...

But most of all I just want to make the deck better and welcome any suggestions you have.

Regards

[BC]

Needs more Balance.

Also, a draw engine couldn't hurt.  Right now you have a draw engine of 1 card.  For a Workshop deck, you could go with Dark Confidant, Bottled Cloister, or even Courier Capsule.  Capsule might want more Welders, though.

If I was going to cut cards from you list I would go:
-1 Mystical Tutor
-1 or 2 Ghost Quarter
-1 Masticore?

[forcethewill]

no trike or titan? with out a trike how do you expect to get rid of an early welder on the otherside of the board.

and why mystical tutor?

[Smoochy]

Also, a draw engine couldn't hurt.  Right now you have a draw engine of 1 card.  For a Workshop deck, you could go with Dark Confidant, Bottled Cloister, or even Courier Capsule.  Capsule might want more Welders, though.

If I was going to cut cards from you list I would go:
-1 Mystical Tutor
-1 or 2 Ghost Quarter
-1 Masticore?

Thanks for responding. First things first I just picked up 3 Bottled Cloisters and will be replacing 2 Ghost Quarters and the Mystical Tutor.  I goldfished for a little bit and they are pretty wild in keeping my hand fed. Works great with the Razormane Masticore too.

no trike or titan? with out a trike how do you expect to get rid of an early welder on the otherside of the board.

and why mystical tutor?

This deck is trying to work through some of the hate that is maindecked in the meta like Null Rods and Leylines of the Void the deck has only 2 welders because I want them to be a late game stratagy instead of an early game necessity.
 
The reason I excluded the Triskelion and Sundering Titan is because I was trying to keep the casting costs low.  An early welder is harsh but I was banking on my Masticore to deal with them I have little difficulty getting one out turn 1.  If you think that is unwise what do you think I should cut to include them.  Perhaps a Duplicant instead as its ability can work through Null Rod just like the Razormane.

I do love playing Titans(especially welding them in and out) but it seems that I can only get them out with tinker.  I want to make this deck different from a traditional Staxless Stax build. Like I said before what do you think should get the axe to include these Artifact Staples.

I considered Mystical Tutor Tinker #2.
Now that this was replace the Bottled Cloister and I am not running the Titan I don't see a purpose for this card anymore.


Keep em coming this is great input.

[timp]

sweet idea for welder and masticore is to let him die in the upkeep and weld him back in the upkeep (say if u cant afford to pay the trigger by means of having good cards in hand that you dont want/cant pitch away) then you still enter your draw phase with him on the board and get to do his damage trigger

speaking on the card draw are not thirsts for knowledge or capsules good for you since you are artifact heavy and have welders?
or do you think the bottled cloister is enough (i guess tfk over capsules if you are worried over null rod)

also maybe you can throw in a mind slaver somewhere

i know you where saying you dont want a welder based deck but they are in there and you do have tutors

[LotusHead]

sweet idea for welder and masticore is to let him die in the upkeep and weld him back in the upkeep (say if u cant afford to pay the trigger by means of having good cards in hand that you dont want/cant pitch away) then you still enter your draw phase with him on the board and get to do his damage trigger

I never considered this!

[Smoochy]

That is a nasty trick with the Razormane.  I may want to make space for an extra Welder.  Do you have any ideas about what to cut to to fit the Welder in? 

I am not a fan of the capsule in this deck because it requires colored mana (Gemstone Mines don't last very long even with a Crucible) and an activation cost where as the Bottled Cloister has better synergy with Workshops as well as built in hand protection.  I would leave that card for U/R welder decks.

[timp]

what about switching the mana base to include volcanic island, underground sea, polluted delta, flooded strand instead of city of brass and gemstone mine
and possibly cut 1 juggernaut for the 3rd goblin welder

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

It's radically different from your list, but you may be interested in a 9Sphere aggro deck I won a small tournament with recently.  Here's the list:

Creatures 
4   Greater Gargadon 
4   Magus of the Moon   
4   Simian Spirit Guide   
4   Vexing Shusher   
2   Viashino Heretic   

Enchantments 
1   Blood Moon

Artifacts 
1   Black Lotus
4   Chalice of the Void
1   Lotus Petal
1   Mana Crypt
1   Mox Emerald
1   Mox Jet     
1   Mox Pearl
1   Mox Ruby
1   Mox Sapphire
2   Pithing Needle
1   Sol Ring 
4   Sphere of Resistance
2   Sword of Fire and Ice
4   Thorn of Amethyst   
1   Trinisphere 

Lands 
3   Ancient Tomb
11  Mountain
1   Tolarian Academy
   
Sideboard     (15 cards) 
4   Dead/Gone   
2   Pyroblast
3   Red Elemental Blast
2   Martyr of Ashes
4   Relic of Progenitus

You can read my report in the TMWA thread here: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=35901.150

Peace,

-Troy

[the boogie man]

null rod doesnt seem to hurt you that bad, I'm wondering if you can incorporate them into your game plan? I wonder if these would perfom better than chalice.

Otherwise, sword of fire and ice seems good. Once you play it, the equiptment costs don't go up, and it's removal/damage and a draw engine.

[magicbmx]

well from your mana base why dont u just turn it into the 5 color aggro shop list and well u can still make it 9 sphere not all that hard.  This is the 5 color aggro shop list i am playing and doing well with yes its not 9 sphere but only 5 but i find it runs well and can do very dumb things fast lol

// Lands
    3  Gemstone Mine
    4  City of Brass
    1  Tolarian Academy
    4  Mishra's Workshop
    3  Wasteland
    2  Bazaar of Baghdad
    1  Strip Mine

// Creatures
    4  Juggernaut
    4  Triskelion
    2  Sundering Titan
    1  Karn, Silver Golem
    1  Platinum Angel
    4  Goblin Welder
    1  Duplicant

// Spells
    1  Mana Crypt
    1  Balance
    1  Tinker
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Coalition Relic
    1  Sol Ring
    1  Ancestral Recall
    1  Trinisphere
    1  Demonic Tutor
    4  Sphere of Resistance
    4  Chalice of the Void
    2  Crucible of Worlds
    1  Vampiric Tutor
    1  Black Lotus

// Sideboard
SB: 3  Duplicant
SB: 3  Rack and Ruin
SB: 3  Powder Keg
SB: 1  Firespout
SB: 2  Choke
SB: 3  Tormod's Crypt

Also i dont get why no trik or sundering or even duplicants

[Smoochy]

magicbmx

Thanks for posting your deck.  It looks extremely nasty. It fits the build of my usual Welder Shop Control Deck with the additions of Bazaar and 4 Trikes as opposed to my usual 1 trike definitely more aggro than my deck.  I very well may emulate this build but was trying to see how well Razormane did as a pitch engine with a heavy land destruction base.  I looked at this deck in the past Tournament posts it did inspire me.  For the most part I am trying to build something unconventional and if it doesn't work out I think this build is what I will be aiming towards.

Some questions about your build if you don't mind.
By excluding the 4Th Wasteland do you feel like you use your Crucible more defensively?
What are your bad matchups?
25 mana sources are you happy with that and why exclude mana vault.
What do you feel are the cons of Masticore over Trike?
Your only draw engine is the Bazaar it digs 2 deep and helps you pitch for the welder could you go further into detail about how you get that engine going?

[Smoochy]

Heya,

It's radically different from your list, but you may be interested in a 9Sphere aggro deck I won a small tournament with recently.  Here's the list:

Creatures 
4   Greater Gargadon 
4   Magus of the Moon   
4   Simian Spirit Guide   
4   Vexing Shusher   
2   Viashino Heretic   

Enchantments 
1   Blood Moon

Artifacts 
1   Black Lotus
4   Chalice of the Void
1   Lotus Petal
1   Mana Crypt
1   Mox Emerald
1   Mox Jet     
1   Mox Pearl
1   Mox Ruby
1   Mox Sapphire
2   Pithing Needle
1   Sol Ring 
4   Sphere of Resistance
2   Sword of Fire and Ice
4   Thorn of Amethyst   
1   Trinisphere 

Lands 
3   Ancient Tomb
11  Mountain
1   Tolarian Academy
   
Sideboard     (15 cards) 
4   Dead/Gone   
2   Pyroblast
3   Red Elemental Blast
2   Martyr of Ashes
4   Relic of Progenitus

You can read my report in the TMWA thread here: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=35901.150

Peace,

-Troy

Troy this build is simply brilliant I love everything it does especially the Greater Gargadon coming in later with the Vexing Shusher back up. LOL!!
Any deck that has Sword of Fire & Ice maindeck makes me smile.  One of these days I will build this and totally aggravate whoever is unfortunate enought to be playing against me.

[Troy_Costisick]

Troy this build is simply brilliant I love everything it does especially the Greater Gargadon coming in later with the Vexing Shusher back up. LOL!!
Any deck that has Sword of Fire & Ice maindeck makes me smile.  One of these days I will build this and totally aggravate whoever is unfortunate enought to be playing against me.

Make sure you post the results here or at least PM me with them!  I'd like to read a play perspective from someone other than me.  It's hard to know how to refine this list (if it needs any) without and documented experiences beyond my own.  Glad you like it! And good hunting

Peace,

-Troy

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

i'm not sure what how competatic of a meta your building for, but 3 main deck dup[licants have been serving my builds well (4th in sb), balance main. test tangle wire, its amazing. cloister is crap.

[pierce]

sweet idea for welder and masticore is to let him die in the upkeep and weld him back in the upkeep (say if u cant afford to pay the trigger by means of having good cards in hand that you dont want/cant pitch away) then you still enter your draw phase with him on the board and get to do his damage trigger

yeah. that way you cant swing with him. 

[timp]

dude its a situational idea
hey guess when else you cant swing with him...when he dies in your upkeep from not being able to pay that upkeep