Mono Blue Workshop Aggro

[Sean Ryan]

I'd like to generate some discussion on this blue Workshop centric aggro deck.  It's a hybrid that trys to take the streanghs of Fish and Workshops while reducing some of their weaknesses.  The strongest cards in Fish are Force of Will and Null Rod and I wanted to include them, but also have Workshop accelerate the disruption.  Esperoza maintains Tangle Wire at 4, while allowing chalice to be initially dropped at 0, then resent to 1 once I resolve Nullrod.  It's threats are better than traditional workshop aggro, and I really like being able to play turbo tinker-Leviathan.  Weaknesses: It might need a couple more beat sticks, and Welder can ruin it's day.                     

Beatz: 9
4 Esperoza
4 MAster Etherium
1 Inkwell Leviathan

Broken: 3
1 Recall
1 Walk
1 Tinker

Disruption: 20
4 Force
4 Chalice
4 Thorn
3 Null Rod
1 Trinisphere
4 Tangle Wire

Mana:26
4 MWS
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
1 Academy
7 Island
9 SoLoMoxCrypt/Vault

It's short 2 cards.  I have been considering the fourth Null Rod, thirst for knowledge, Brainstorm, more beat sticks like Jugg or Razormane.

My teammate is considering playing this or Aggro-Mud, weighing the pros and cons.  Force/blue cards/Null Rod vs Metalworker acceleration, extra spheres, and the Trike-Sword-Ravager combo.

Your input is appreciated.

Thanks

[timp]

do you run the null rod as a bounce target for the zoa to be sneaky

[Sean Ryan]

do you run the null rod as a bounce target for the zoa to be sneaky

No.  I run Null Rod becasue it's good against Tez and I can play under it well.  The comon play is bouncing moxes while you have Null Rod.  It lets me justify running a full set of acceleration and Null Rod in the same deck.  Esperoza resets my Tangle Wires keeping the opponent locked down, but is not really sneaky in this build.  Any sneaky ideas?     

[Miaou]

I said it in another blue workshop thread, and I will say it here again, but I really believe Mindlock Orb to have a place in this type of deck. It is blue, playable off a Workshop and if you get it out early enough, will wreck a whole lot of decks. Just like Aven Mindcensor is popular right now in Fish variants that run white, I think this card should be run. Yes it does shout down your Tinker, but theirs also, plus their fetchs, tutors. You have 2 free slots, think about it

[Sean Ryan]

I said it in another blue workshop thread, and I will say it here again, but I really believe Mindlock Orb to have a place in this type of deck. It is blue, playable off a Workshop and if you get it out early enough, will wreck a whole lot of decks. Just like Aven Mindcensor is popular right now in Fish variants that run white, I think this card should be run. Yes it does shout down your Tinker, but theirs also, plus their fetchs, tutors. You have 2 free slots, think about it

It's worth considering.  It pitches to force and stops tutor-bouce - the death blow to workshops

[Lurker101]

Totally agree on Mindlock Orb. Also what about Pithing Needle in the main instead of null rod? That way you can not only hit vault but also welders, bazaars, etc. Also for another fat robot what about Sundering Titan? You can play him, bounce him with zoa when you need to take out more lands and replay him.

[Sean Ryan]

Totally agree on Mindlock Orb. Also what about Pithing Needle in the main instead of null rod? That way you can not only hit vault but also welders, bazaars, etc. Also for another fat robot what about Sundering Titan? You can play him, bounce him with zoa when you need to take out more lands and replay him.

Titan provides another Tinker target that can also be exploited by Esperzoa.  I just don't like the prospect of him sitting in my hand unable to cast him.

I would be hard pressed to cut Rod from this deck.  Needles certainly belong in the SB though.

[jaeppel]

This deck needs draw.  ancestral recall is great but it doesnt cut it as the only draw spell.  im not sure where i would slide it in, but i think you could get by with less mana disruption artifacts for four of either thirst or thoughtcast.  4 chalice, 4 thorn, 3 rod, 1 3sphere, 4 tanglewire is alot of cards devoted to mana denial.  i feel like -4 (of these cards) +4 (synergistic draw spell) would be good.  wallowing on the topdeck really sucks, and there is no reason to do that if you are playing blue.

[Luecifer]

I had been working on a mono-blue workshop list which ran academy ruins for recursion and curiours capsule for some extra draw. Though the capsule is dead with rod in play, they are 2 more options i would consider.

[madmanmike25]

Here's a crazy suggestion for a Shop Aggro deck;  try running Juggernaut.  With Tangles(and recurring Tangles from 'Zoa) it's an efficient clock for 4 mana. 

I'm not sure FoW and Thorn go in the same deck.  I mean Thorns are great against combo, but I think they could go in the SB since you have Rod and Chalice(which are better) and people don't really expect you to lay Mishras Workshop + Threat and have Force backup.  I'd rather see more REAL threats in here than Thorn.  This isn't Stax where Sphere-like effects are mandatory.

I think if Mindlock Orb cost 3 mana it would be a good card.

For your 2 extra slots maybe try Pithing Needle(Zoa tricks) or Thoughtcast(draw and pitchable)

Btw, in my testing Zoa just wasn't good enough, what are your thoughts after more exp with the deck?  If Master was in play that changed things.

Good luck,
Mike

[Blovdek]

Lets try to discuss this thread with mine in Mono U Prison thread, because we could make it a better discussion that way, as the decks seems like the same archtype.

Why dont you run Karn Silver Golem, i think he is insane and every workshop should play at least 1. After all it block inkwell all day long, eats opponents moxes and beats as well...



Blovdek

[Leooooh]

I have been testing a diferent kind of mono blue aggro stax, using more locking elements and discarding the fow option. So here is the decklist.

4 esperzoa
4 master of etherium
1 sundering titan
1 karn, silver golem
1 triskelion
(11)

1 ancestral recall
1 tinker
(2)

3 chalice of the void
3 crucible of worlds
4 tangle wire
3 smokestack
4 thorn of amethist
1 pithing neddle
1 black lotus
5 moxen
1 mana vault
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
1 memory jar
1 trinisphere
(28)

4 wasteland
1 strip mine
1 tolarian academy
2 seat of the synod
4 mishra's workshop
6 islands

The decks is really fast, and we have tons of possibilities with the ability of the esperzoa, by bouncing Wire, Needle, and even mana crypt and mana vault. I even tested this deck using Ancient Tomb, since I only own one workshop, and the deck maintains it speed (not the same as with the shops, but it continues to be fast). I think you should try some games with this build. It has the locking elements of the mono brown and a awesome speed. It is also possible to set the chalices to any number below 3, since all your spells costs 3 or more. So chalices at 1 or 2 doesn't hurt you, and chalice at 2 is cripling play for a lot of decks, shutting mana drain, fish decks, demonic tutor, oath, vault and etc....


-Leonardo Indini

[Darkenslight]

I still see a distinct lack of Mindlock Orb in these decks; its effect may besymmetrical, but your deck is designed to abuse it much better than just about any other deck not named Ichorid.

What about the side for this deck?  Would boarding into the Tezz plan be useful for this deck, keeping the Tinker in the board as well?  Then you could side out the Mindlocks for the Tezz 'oops, I win' combo (Tezz, Vault, Key, Painter, Grindstone).

[maatn]

I tested Mindlock Orb shortly after it was printed, somewhere near November '08, in a 'Crazy Staxx' shell as suggested by Steven Menendian.
I found that Mindlock, as a prison-piece, was usefull. However, its CMC makes it come into play too late. In most matches, it's probably smarter to drop spheres of even null rod in stead of M.orb. By the time you want to drop M.orb, you could have also played Smokestack, Uba Mask, a Juggernaut, or simply gone bonkers with Metalworker. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid card and it can win games for you. It just felt underachieving to me to run it 4 or 3 times. Could be nice to have 2 or even a singleton though.

[Sean Ryan]

I basically dropped this project after not getting better results agaisnt Tezz than other mana denial decks that had better matches against the rest of the field.

The reason to run this kind of design is you get the streanghts of both Fish and Workshops in one deck.  Force of Will backing up Null Rod with fatty beats and blue draw spells.  However, aggro Mud was just better against the field.  9balls and explosive mana was more effective than Null Rod/Force.

You could try cutting one of the sets of lock peices if you wanted to fit in Juggs.  Goblin Welder is pretty hot right now so I wouldn't cut Chalice, which leaves Thorn.  This would make running some draw spells more attractive as well.   

BtW, Mindlock Orb is crap
 

[ColinOscapi]

A few things:

Esperzoa is a freaking house. A friend of mine played it over Juggz in No More Heroes at the ICBM Open yesterday. It's so sneaky no matter what you drop for purpose of staxx.

If you can manage it, play green for Tarmogoyf. It gets around all artifact hate your opponent will board in.

And why not Solemn Simulacrum? It's kind of efficient as a mid-game accelerant.

And finally, myr retriever. It totally recurs any relevant artifact in your yard, such as your bombs.