Mono Red Workshop Aggro post restrictions and M10

[Miaou]

*I didn't want to necro the old thread, but if it is appropriate, I will delete this and post on the old thread*

With the new rules and the new metagame, I think it is time to look at this deck and maybe bring some modifications. I will post the deck I am testing with good results and then discuss some choises:


Mana (27)

4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
7x Mountain
4x Mishra's Workshop
2x Ancient Tomb
1x Tolarian Academy
5x Moxes
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt

Creatures (18)

4x Goblin Welder
4x Juggernaut
4x Razormane Masticore
2x Karn, Silver Golem
2x Gorilla Shaman
2x Magus of the Moon

Spells (15)

1x Trinisphere
4x Thorn of Amethyst
4x Chalice of the Void
2x Crucible of Worlds
4x Sculpting Steel

SB

2x Magus of the Moon
2x Lava Dart
4x Null Rod
4x Tormod's Crypt
3x Viashino Heretic

First of all, you will see that there are no Solemn Simulacrums. While I really appreciate their mana fixing abilities, I feel that they don't provide enough of a clock to fit the deck. Losing the ability to stack their damage then weld them out makes them also less attractive in my eyes. To compensate, I have added an extra Mountain to the mana base, and I am pleased with the results. Color screw does happen, but not nearly enough to make me go back to using these guys.

You will also notice the lack of Triskelions. These are probably the most hurt with the combat changes and lose a lot of power. Which is why I replaced all four with Razormane Masticores. These guys hit as hard, don't care about the new rules and cost less to boot. You do lose some Welder pinging tricks, but you can also gain some others via the upkeep cost. And to top it all off they are unaffected by Null Rod which I have in the board (can be main too, more on this later) and which other aggro decks are bound to have against you as well.

This leads me to another card that is missing from traditionnal lists: Sword of Fire and Ice. Although I love the card, I don't think it fits in this deck (especially since I replaced some of the smaller creatures for bigger ones: Solemns -> Juggernauts). It is the most usefull against aggro decks, but then again you aren't even sure that you will be able to equip it because of Null Rod. That said it does enhance Welders, Shamans and Magus but combined with all the disruption, I think they are not needed.

Also in the creature base are 2 Karns and 2 Gorilla Shamans. I absolutly love the Shamans as their effect really goes well with your strategy. It slows down the opponent (and shuts off Time Vault with 5 mana) while your beaters get the job done. Combined with the other disruption it can steal a lot of games. Karn serves the same role, but can beat as well and holds back Inkwell Leviathan all day. I have considered playing more Shamans, but opted not to since I already have quite a few Red spells and they don't do much in multiples. So I think a 2/2 mix is right.

Finally Magus of the Moon. Recently I have relegated this guy to the SB because he just doesn't do enough against the field I am up against. However with Crop Rotation unrestricted, I expect a lot of Strip Mines to be present, as well as possibly more Dragon, Cerebral Assassin or other decks abusing the GY. So this guy becomes more interesting as it basically shuts down Strip Mine and Bazaar. On top of that he is golden against Dredge, Oath, Fish so I think it should be played again. I only have two though because against Drains he is mediocre. They frequently have 3 Islands MD so it hurts the effectiveness of the Magus. That is the reason I have the other 2 in the SB.

Speaking of Drains, with Thirst restricted, I believe most players will now adopt Inkwell. Since Tinker -> robot is a problem for this deck, I included Sculpting Steel (SS) as an answer. The beauty of SS is that not only does it answer Leviathan, but it also puts the opposing player in serious trouble. Thats not even counting when you copy it twice (totally overkill, but lots of fun ). Should the opponent play another robot, no problem, SS answers them all. If your opponent doesn't play Tinker, well then SS isn't even dead since you play artifacts. The most common cards that I copy are Juggernaut and Thorn of Amethyst. Even if you don't like SS, I think you need an answer to Tinker main, be it more Karns or whatever else.

Thorn and Chalice is what makes the deck great. Thorn is most often a Time Walk allowing you to bypass Drain, and Chalice all together shuts down Drains. And is usefull against everything.

Then there are the 2 Crucibles. These two slots are open, but I think with Crop Rotation here now, that an answer to Strip Mine is important. It also helps lock down an opponent via your Wastes.

Null Rod absent from the MD. I am not sure that this is the right call, especially since only the artifact mana and Karns are affected by it. I am currently testing:
-2 Magus of the Moon (moved to SB)
-2 Crucible (moved to SB)
+4 Null Rod

It definatly improves the Tezz match up as well as TPS, but weakens Stax, Ichorid, Fish, Oath...So I guess it comes down to what you are expecting to face. Either way, I wouldn't play this deck right now without 4 Null Rod and 4 Magus of the Moon (MD or SB).

No Memory Jar: with Null Rod I don't think it is the right call to play it, however it is just so explosive...I could very well be wrong on this.
No Sensei's Divining Top: These smooth out your draws a lot, however this version is pretty aggressive and the loss of Solemns means no more shuffle effects. And it gets hit by Null Rod...Not worth the space in my opinion.
No Mishra's Factory: I have tested these, and they are really great, however with 4 Magus of the Moon, their value declines. Also the fact that I want to be able to power out Juggernauts, Masticores and Chalices early, so Ancient Tomb got the nod.

Final note about the SB:
No REBs: they can really be gamebreaking, however too often I find myself having to decide between playing a threat or doing nothing and holding back mana to play this. I don't think that it fits the deck's strategy and there is not much synergy with Thorns and Chalice (which I often play @ 1 vs combo, which is where REBs shine at stopping Rebuids).
Tormod's Crypt: I am debating using Leylines instead as I find myself too often caught with a Chalice @ 0 played by the Ichorid player shutting me down. However Leylines cannot be welded back in...Thoughts?
Lava Dart: Great against opposing Welders, Confidants, Hierarchs, Selkies, Gorilla Shaman, and the list goes on...

So if you have other opinions, suggestions or anything else, post away!

[Akuma]

Have you tested out Su-chi? That gets much better after M10.

[Miaou]

I have to admit that I haven't tested him out. However he is competing with Juggernauts, Razormane Masticores and Karns. He is worse than Juggernaut, and I would rather have creatures with abilities in the other slots, as Masticore is a huge pain for aggro decks and Karn is mana denial and Tinker protection.

But you are right, got to rethink some older cards!

[Mantis]

Not sure if I will still play this deck with Crop Rotation in the format, but here are some thoughts.

No Tangle Wire puzzles me, this card is extremely good in this archetype.

Sculpting Steel doesn't look that good, an opponent can easily play around it and just go for the Vault/Key combo instead of Inkwell. That said, Karn is going to be extremely good, I might want to run three.

I'd run at least a singleton Gargoyle Castle from the new M10 (land, adds colorless to pool, if you sac it for 5 mana put a 3/4 flying artifact into the 'battlefield')

Magus of the Moon is terrible, cut it.

Is there a reason you chose not to run Null Rod in the maindeck? I mean, you built your entire deck around it so might as well run it maindeck right?

I like your deck, but I prefer my own version with Wire, no Magus, Triskelion, Solemn and Top. Inkwell was rarely an issue as I could easily race it or Karn just blocks it. Wire also taps it out surprisingly often.

[Darkenslight]

Mantis: Do you run Rods main with Magus in the board?  If not, why is magus not in the list?

Also, something to note, is that you could use Plats in the side as a beater/stall tactic versus Storm.  Just a thought.

[Vegeta2711]

Sculpting Steel is horrible, this deck still can't beat anything good and folds to a resolved Mana Drain and why would this deck possibly get better with the rules changes? Taking mana burn once or twice wasn't holding this deck back from not sucking, it was the whole slow clock and limited disruption aspects.

[LotusHead]

Sculpting Steel is horrible, this deck still can't beat anything good and folds to a resolved Mana Drain and why would this deck possibly get better with the rules changes? Taking mana burn once or twice wasn't holding this deck back from not sucking, it was the whole slow clock and limited disruption aspects.

Sculpting Steel Game 1 can possibly be quite strong as Tinker for Leviathon is a very common play.  They're possibly awesome in the mirror (Nice Crucible!) They can also be sided out easily game 2 and 3 for more fun from the board.

With 9 Spheres and 8 (non-Karn) artifact dudes, there isn't exactly a lack of valid targets for Sculpting Steel.

[Miaou]

Mantis:

As I said the Null Rods are in the board depending on what you expect to face the most. If you expect to see more Tezz and Combo than anything then it clearly is the right call to have them main deck.
Regarding Sculpting Steel: when you have a Null Rod out, more often than not, it forces them to adopt "plan B" which is the Tinker plan. Therefore if you do run Null Rod (and you should since it shuts down their insta-win) they will resort to Tinker -> Leviathan. So you have to have an answer to it. Maybe you can get away with only 3 Karn because of the Tops that allow you to do some searching, but for me 3 answers with no tutoring or draw available doesn't cut it. So while I totally agree that this isn't a Tangle Wire that locks the opponent down, it gives you outs to something that is bound to happen. Not being prepared for the Tinker plan is not very bright in my eyes.
I agree that currently, Magus is mediocre at best. However (and this may be where I am wrong) I predict that there will be alot of decks trying to use the new unrestricted cards. That means that a lot of Strip Mines and Bazaars are going to show up, and Magus is a nice answer to them. It also hits Fish and Oath (which is a terrible match up).
And finally about the new land, I will have to test it out. I'm not a fan of running a random one of unless it's a restricted bomb since I can't tutor for it. So for consistancy's sake, maybe Ancient Tombs are better...

Darkenslight:
Problem with Platinum Angel is that it gets bounced just the same as all your artifacts against a H. Recall / Rebuild

Vegeta2711:
As I said to Mantis, I agree that Sculpting Steel isn't a great card, however I don't see one better than it at stopping Tinker. You need to be able to answer Tinker because with Null Rods shutting down the Time Vault route to victory they will tutor for Tinker. If you see a better answer to Leviathan I'm all ears.
You are right that the deck struggles if the opponent has a heavy counter draw. However you have quite a lot of tools to stop that. Thorns, Chalices, Wastelands are all very powerfull if you go first. If on the draw, it is not uncommon to slip a Welder or a Juggernaut under their counter wall. That being said, if they have Force + Drain and some gas left in their hand, I probably lose. If they run out of gas, then it's a top deck war most likely and it can go either way.