Perfect Storm - Playstyle & Sideboard

[Punkish]

Hia!

Since this is my first post in this community, I would like to say hello to everyone around here.

Lately, I was searching for not so expensive T1 deck (10 proxy environment) and found this - http://morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=1182 (1st place).
Since Im kinda new in Vintage, I would love to become more familiar with the deck (+, -, SBing and gamestyle).

Thanks in advance.

P

[Liiva]

Hello and welcome to TheManaDrain.

There are quite a few articles written by Stephen Menendian about TPS which are free by now.

Here's a link of one of his more recent articles:
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/17980_So_Many_Insane_Plays_The_Perfect_Storm_Revisited.html
There are definitly more, you should be able to find them if you google around a bit.

Good luck

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

You can also check out the following threads:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38084.0 (primer by Markse with links to more articles)
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=39266.0 (starting TPS advice thread)

Once thing I would like to note is that in my experience, 3-4 Phyrexian Negators in the sideboard can be very helpful against Stax or Control in games 2 and 3, because they usually focus on storm hate against you rather than creature hate--the creatures make your deck more versatile because they provide options that allow you to win through Arcane Lab or Spheres, for example.  Also, an extra 2 basic lands are great to bring in against Stax and Fish.

[Marske]

@Gandalf_The_White,
Shees, you'd think people knew how to spell my nick (it's MarSke instead of MarKse) Still thanks for linking.

@Punkish,
A tournament report of me almost making top 8 with TPS.
A tournament report from LennoxLewis piloting a list suggested by myself to a top 8 finish (Same event)

Also some links from the primer I wrote, already mentioned by GTW but I thought this might help:

Articles mentioned or quoted:
The Perfect Storm
Playing with The Perfect Storm
Winning with the Perfect Storm
Mastering the Perfect Storm

Last but not least, feel free to ask me anything regarding the deck. Reading tournament reports and stuff like that is highly useful, but nothing is more useful then actually playing A LOT, the decks very very complicated.

[Punkish]

Thank you for your help 

P

[Doomsday]

Does anyone still like Misdirection in this deck?  I was playing Windfall in the Imperial Seal slot (to keep it at 10 proxies) and wasn't very happy with it.  Was debating trying Misdirection in that slot instead.

[Marske]

@Doomsday,
If you find some of my most recent reports and people using decklists suggesting by me you'd notice I've moved Misdirection back into the maindeck. It's definitely very solid.

[Killane]

Yeah, please don't cut MisD. Grabbing Ancestrals is still the bee's knee's.

Oh, and don't cut Seal either. If you have to cut Seal or Grim, cut Grim. Seal is redic is this deck - soooo powerful. I started off with the mindset of Grim > Seal, but after running the deck though a few tournaments now and about 8,000,000 goldfishes, Seal rocks so hard it's gross.

[Ten-Ten]

MisD is a keeper. Seal is too. I also had a list that included windfall over Grim and switched it for MisD. I admit I have sensei's divining top in my deck in place of Imperial Seal when im not playing with proxy. Helps keep the deck consistent and synergy with top deck tutors, just marvelous! I replaced a second Grim for thoughtseize. I was thinking maybe 2 Intuition instead of 2 Grim tutors and 1 Recoup in place of Seal to make it a Tinker->DSC Plan A and making Tendrils Plan B like it was in MEANDECK GIFTS, any thoughts?

[Killane]

MisD is a keeper. Seal is too. I also had a list that included windfall over Grim and switched it for MisD. I admit I have sensei's divining top in my deck in place of Imperial Seal when im not playing with proxy. Helps keep the deck consistent and synergy with top deck tutors, just marvelous! I replaced a second Grim for thoughtseize. I was thinking maybe 2 Intuition instead of 2 Grim tutors and 1 Recoup in place of Seal to make it a Tinker->DSC Plan A and making Tendrils Plan B like it was in MEANDECK GIFTS, any thoughts?

1. Top is excellent in this deck as a substitution for thigns you can't or don't want to buy/proxy.

2. DSC is not the best plan A right now. It's a good plan B in TPS because its very presence prevents them from going all out on Storm hate and removing all answers since it's such a short clock. However, there are alot more answers being maindecked for DSC than there are for Storm these days. (see SM's 2010 Vintage article on SCG- you'll notice lots of maindeck things like Edict and even STPS but far fewer things like Stifle, MindTrap, and Arcane Lab). In fact, in tournaments even if I go Tinker-Robot unless it's turn 1 I usually find myself swinging at them with it once and then Storming them out rather than actually killing them with the Bot.

3. Grim Tutor is more powerful than intuition. You want to be able to go get YawgWill and then recast it to go get Tendrils, which you can't use Intuition for.

If you have maximum ten proxies, I'd recommend Marske's list (in the tournament reports he mentioned) dropping Grim Tutor for a Sensei's Top, and tweaking the sideboard to fit your metagame requirements. Since I adapted this list and recived soem excellent mentorship from Marske, I've gone approx 30-4 in tournament Vintage - but that said I practice with the deck ALOT - it's insane, but don't expect to come out of 5 rounds with it without a headache.

[Doomsday]

3. Grim Tutor is more powerful than intuition. You want to be able to go get YawgWill and then recast it to go get Tendrils, which you can't use Intuition for.

This is why I chose Grim over Seal for my last proxy slot.  I get this 1vs3 CMC thing, but I have a lot of other possible turn 1 plays that I prefer over Imperial Seal, and it doesn't have the same ability to win me the game like Grim Tutor can.  I mean I'll obviously defer to your expertise with the deck, but could you maybe go into more detail about this?

[Killane]

3. Grim Tutor is more powerful than intuition. You want to be able to go get YawgWill and then recast it to go get Tendrils, which you can't use Intuition for.

This is why I chose Grim over Seal for my last proxy slot.  I get this 1vs3 CMC thing, but I have a lot of other possible turn 1 plays that I prefer over Imperial Seal, and it doesn't have the same ability to win me the game like Grim Tutor can.  I mean I'll obviously defer to your expertise with the deck, but could you maybe go into more detail about this?

When I first started with the deck I felt the same way you feel now.

What it comes down to is this - TPS is a deck that likes to set up. It likes to set up the perfect hand and execute an engine in order to win. There are enough draw spells (especially if you run Sensei's Top) that most "top deck tutors" end up being just as good as regular tutors. Also, the mana is very important - often times 1 mana makes the difference between winning and loosing.

Imperial Seal is a INSANE turn one play - it's fantastic set-up. Seal- Lotus with Will in hand will often allow a turn 2 kill. (or seal- Will with lotus in hand). Given that you're not (usually) trying to win on turn 1 but rather on turn 3, Seal allows you to set up without using Rituals or Moxen in a way that Grim never can. While ideally I'd run both (and I'm getting close to the point of acquiring a Grim Tutor so that I can), I've foudn over the course of testing, goldfishing, and running the deck that the speed of Seal is better than the raw power of grim. TPS is a finesse decj as while as a power deck, vs somethign like Grim Long which just wants to explode in your face.

[Ten-Ten]

@Killane..       Thanks for the help with the DSC plan. You are also right about imperial seal being better in TPS than actually running that 3rd grim. I can see why most players would get GrimLong, mixed up with TPS way of playing. I was researching IntuitionTendrils on Deckcheck.net and I kept getting results in my search of TPS decks mixed in with GrimLong and PitchLong and a bunch of SenseiCombo decks. Sure they all have half the same lists but the other half is what makes them a totally different deck.  TPS combines these in one way or another.

[Doomsday]

Ten-Ten, I was discussing the use of a single copy of Grim over the restricted Imperial Seal.  I haven't seen any lists with more than 1 Grim Tutor in a while, does anyone still like 2x Grim Tutor + 1 Imperial Seal when proxies aren't an issue?  The blue count is kind of low as it is, and I can't think of the already-run black spells that I'd want to replace.

[Marske]

@Doomsday,
If you look at the top 4 finish my boy Martin put up during Dutch Vintage Champs you'd see he played 2 Grim and No seal.  We had to build his list that way because of card availability, but he stated he actually preferred it like this.

@Ten-Ten,
Running more then 2 Grim Tutor is something I'd never do, you're turning way to much into Grim long that way and you'd have to start cutting into blue cards (and with it FoW) to be able to support it. Not to mention you'll be tempted to play TPS incorrectly.

[Killane]

@Doomsday,
If you look at the top 4 finish my boy Martin put up during Dutch Vintage Champs you'd see he played 2 Grim and No seal.  We had to build his last that way because of card availability, but he stated he actually preferred it like this.

@Ten-Ten,
Running more then 2 Grim Tutor is something I'd never do, you're turning way to much into Grim long that way and you'd have to start cutting into blue cards (and with it FoW) to be able to support it. Not to mention you'll be tempted to play TPS incorrectly.

Agree.

And just a note to anyone who's seen eye to eye with my line of thinking in this thread, Marske pretty much taught me 99% of what I know about this deck that I didn't learn from playing it. He's a great mentor for TPS and IMHO magic in general. In general, you should follow his line of thinking as I'd say he's right on the money.

[Marske]

@Killane,
Thanks for the credit, I should start giving lessons!! if anybody is interested in a more indepth view regarding TPS you can look into some of the articles Steve has done and some of the threads I've created over the years or just ask your question here. If there's really a huge request for it we could start a workshop kinda deal or something.

[Ten-Ten]

Yup yup. Well, as far as knowing the difference between TPS and GRIMLONG, I know them simply because I researched TPS as much as I could when I first picked it up. I didnt have to go far though, I read all of Stephen Menendian's articles on TPS. and LONG.dec. Not to mention all the tourney reports and threads done here on TMD by Maske.    Now i am simply tweeking here and there to fit my playstyle or metagame. I still think the harder part of TPS is in the sideboard. . .At least for me now that im more familiar with the lines of play. . .Any suggestions on creating a SB for an unknown or random field?

[Marske]

Depending on the fact if you know there are regular tournaments (probably true) you can safely assume people have been playing powered decks (with or without proxies) or look at previous events to get an idea of the meta. There are only 2-3 decks you should be worried about when playing TPS. The number one target are decks running Mishra's Workshop (WS aggro, MUD, 5c Stax etc), second is Dredge and to a lesser degree some fish variants although depending on meta this could be a higher presence then elsewhere.

Depending on this data I'd go with this:

5-7 cards vs Dredge
5-7 cards vs  Stax
1-4 cards vs Creatures

Now this looks like a lot but actually a lot of cards can overlap, as common dredge hate (like Needle, Extirpate) can play multiple roles. You should be on the look out for cards like this instead of using targeted hate (Like Leyline vs Dredge) although the targeted hate might be better, having cards that are slightly worse but are useful in other situations as well  quickly negates the drawback as you're trying to cover as much as possible.

[Ten-Ten]

Thank you Marske for your help on putting together a sideboard! Much appreciated.

[Marske]

@ten-ten,
No problem, if you want more help regarding card choices feel free to post your board and I'm sure we can help out.

[i_set_fire]

i am trying to learn TPS because it seems like a very fun and powerful deck.  i also enjoy the challenge of all the intricacies with the deck.  steve's articles and the posts in this thread have definitely helped, thank you everyone who has posted!

@marske
you mention not using leyline in the SB.  steve recommends this card in the SB for dredge and the TPS mirror.  leyline works great in the mirror and against dredge but does take up 4 slots, or more with extra dredge hate.  have you had better luck with a different card (or cards)?

also, what cards do you typically side out and side in against tezz, TPS mirror, and Fish?

[personalbackfire]

@marske
you mention not using leyline in the SB.  steve recommends this card in the SB for dredge and the TPS mirror.  leyline works great in the mirror and against dredge but does take up 4 slots, or more with extra dredge hate.  have you had better luck with a different card (or cards)?

also, what cards do you typically side out and side in against tezz, TPS mirror, and Fish?

Leyline isn't that great in the mirror, or rather it should not be. If they are bringing in 4 leyline to try and stop you they are wasting space and taking out cards that are better to do it. The value of cards lost should be enough for you to just beat them.

Lets look at what Leyline does for a minute.. It pretty much is played to stop the best, and easiest engine that TPS has. Since TPS plays chain of vapor it really is not that big of a deal since you can just set up a turn when you chain the Leyline and win via will anyways. TPS also has other engines such as Necro, bargain, Desire, Tinker, and Jar that if played properly, (maybe with exception of jar since its whatever 7 or 8 cards you get) you can just win without Will.

The TPS is mirror really isn't that common, but if I had to play it I would board in a Thoughtseize or two since they are in my board for the Tezz match.

[Doomsday]

Does anyone board Sacraments for Tezz/Oath/Mirror/ANT?

[failtofind]

i tested sacraments but found they are too narrow,if im going to blow a ritual to play it, i would rather just kill my opponent. my board is 7 dredge cards, couple of gw aggrp cards, 2 stax cards, variable tezz cards, thoughtseize etc.

i dont really worry about other decks.. when played correctly tps is too busted for anything except t vault/key...spell pierce is a problem


over the years of playing this deck, a lot of the time its what you leave in, its a fine balance of not sideboarding in too many cards and weakening the decks overall integrity i.E keeping it as explosive as possible against tezz.

            anyway, those are my thoughts


                                                                             

[Killane]

i tested sacraments but found they are too narrow,if im going to blow a ritual to play it, i would rather just kill my opponent. my board is 7 dredge cards, couple of gw aggrp cards, 2 stax cards, variable tezz cards, thoughtseize etc.

i dont really worry about other decks.. when played correctly tps is too busted for anything except t vault/key...spell pierce is a problem


over the years of playing this deck, a lot of the time its what you leave in, its a fine balance of not sideboarding in too many cards and weakening the decks overall integrity i.E keeping it as explosive as possible against tezz.

            anyway, those are my thoughts
                                                                            

Sacrament is GG's vs Tezz, Oath, and the Mirror. you do "just win" when it resolves - what are they going to do, beat you down with Bobs before you storm them out? the problem with Sacrament is that people are devoting too many slots to it - it's best as a 1-of that your tutor for. I've been running it and it's INSANE.

2 cards for Stax? TWO !?!? it's our worst match-up - how can you go below 6?? you want Bob's for that matchup, you want more basics, you want bounce. I run 7 and I'm thinking of making some tweaks so I can bring in 8. Really, post board what does duress do for you? Misdirection? have you ever resolved Mind's Desire vs Stax?

7 for Dredge - what do you board out? other than Duress and Misdirection, what maindeck card is bad in that matchup?

Extirpate > thoughtseize vs Tezz since you already have 4 x Duress.

[failtofind]

i tested sacraments but found they are too narrow,if im going to blow a ritual to play it, i would rather just kill my opponent. my board is 7 dredge cards, couple of gw aggrp cards, 2 stax cards, variable tezz cards, thoughtseize etc.

i dont really worry about other decks.. when played correctly tps is too busted for anything except t vault/key...spell pierce is a problem


over the years of playing this deck, a lot of the time its what you leave in, its a fine balance of not sideboarding in too many cards and weakening the decks overall integrity i.E keeping it as explosive as possible against tezz.

anyway, those are my thoughts                                                                          

Sacrament is GG's vs Tezz, Oath, and the Mirror. you do "just win" when it resolves - what are they going to do, beat you down with Bobs before you storm them out? the problem with Sacrament is that people are devoting too many slots to it - it's best as a 1-of that your tutor for. I've been running it and it's INSANE.

2 cards for Stax? TWO !?!? it's our worst match-up - how can you go below 6?? you want Bob's for that matchup, you want more basics, you want bounce. I run 7 and I'm thinking of making some tweaks so I can bring in 8. Really, post board what does duress do for you? Misdirection? have you ever resolved Mind's Desire vs Stax?

7 for Dredge - what do you board out? other than Duress and Misdirection, what maindeck card is bad in that matchup?

Extirpate > thoughtseize vs Tezz since you already have 4 x Duress.

sacrament isnt amazing against tezz because they usually play dconf, tinker target, tvault key, sometimes tendrils...not to mention if you blow your load playing the sac and they have win cond in hand...against tezz the minds desire plan is your most effective weapon, every tutor becomes a must counter for them, drawing accelerants and desire is more effective than drawing sac, hoping it resolves, and then hoping it gets there
against oath it is good, but every oath deck is loaded with disruption, making it hard to cast, i would rather just side in hurkyls and do the combo kill plan since it takes a few tyrns for them to win anyway

i have never had problems in the mirror, i dont think ive lost one in a tournament yet, i just side in a crypt and its fine

shops is tricky, i could run more, but again i try to keep the deck as fluid as possible and side in 2 hurkyuls and leave the rebuild and chain in, i dont want to be drawing a ton of bounce that becomes redundant when i want to be drawing kill cards.


i have never lost to ichorid in a tournament ever, i side out duress misd, and the rest varies if i play fisrt game 2 i side out rebuild, then cards like imp seal and tinker target

my plan isnt to stop tezz from winning, its to win faster. extirpate isnt proactive.

Please take the time to use capitals where appropriate in future.
-Godder

[Gekoratel]

Sacrement isn't GG against Tezz at all, its not that hard to believe they can still win the game beating in with Confidant, you have wasted at least two cards so the rest of your hand will likely not be able to combo off for some time making Tezz's Duress/Drains/Forces/REB still being quite live against you.  If Tez can get down two Bobs and a Top, not that hard to imagine, they can certainly still win the game.  Not to mention if they have Tezzeret or Inkwell in hand then they really don't care about Sacrement.

Against Oath many lists are running up to 4 creatures out of the board to deal with Jester's Cap/Sacrement especially lists closer to Elias style than Vroman.  They won't board it in for game 2 but if there is a game 3 then you should expect them to board up to 4 diminishing the value of Sacrement.

I agree that 2 cards for Stax is too few but I hardly think its the decks worst matchup.  I'd rather face Shops than Dredge depending on your hate count.  Against Dredge you could easily board out something like Chain/Hurks depending on if they are running Leyline or Chalice in addition to the 4 Duress + Misdirection.

[honestabe]

i tested sacraments but found they are too narrow,if im going to blow a ritual to play it, i would rather just kill my opponent. my board is 7 dredge cards, couple of gw aggrp cards, 2 stax cards, variable tezz cards, thoughtseize etc.

i dont really worry about other decks.. when played correctly tps is too busted for anything except t vault/key...spell pierce is a problem


over the years of playing this deck, a lot of the time its what you leave in, its a fine balance of not sideboarding in too many cards and weakening the decks overall integrity i.E keeping it as explosive as possible against tezz.

            anyway, those are my thoughts
                                                                            

Sacrament is GG's vs Tezz, Oath, and the Mirror. you do "just win" when it resolves - what are they going to do, beat you down with Bobs before you storm them out? the problem with Sacrament is that people are devoting too many slots to it - it's best as a 1-of that your tutor for. I've been running it and it's INSANE.

False.  The standard Tezz deck runs Tezz, Timevault, tinker target, Confidants, and sometimes Tendrills.  Even if you get their tezz, vault and robot, you've exhausted too many resources, and with the amount of control Tezz runs (especially post board) it would be hard to recover from such an exhausting effort.  The confidants can also make it hard for you to use necro/vamp/bargain/grim tutor

It's EXTREMELY hard to resolve a sacrament vs oath.  They're more than 80% likely to have a force or spell peirce in thier opener, and getting a sacrament pierced after sinking in a ritual and maybe even a tutor is a BLOWOUT.

The only possible effectivness I can see is vs the TPS mirror, but even then, you have to hope they don't have tendrills in thier hand, and you're probably better off with extra duress/thoughseizes and tormods crypt.


I do, however, like it in GWSx, but that deck is another beast entirely

2 cards for Stax? TWO !?!? it's our worst match-up - how can you go below 6?? you want Bob's for that matchup, you want more basics, you want bounce. I run 7 and I'm thinking of making some tweaks so I can bring in 8. Really, post board what does duress do for you? Misdirection? have you ever resolved Mind's Desire vs Stax?

7 for Dredge - what do you board out? other than Duress and Misdirection, what maindeck card is bad in that matchup?

Extirpate > thoughtseize vs Tezz since you already have 4 x Duress.

Stax isn't that bad of a matchup.  Remember, all it takes is 1 rebuild/hurkyls to beat them, 2 in the board, 2 in the maindeck, along with a large amount of tutors seems on the low side, but still not ridiculous.  6 seems nuts.

7 for dredge seems right, because their cabal therapies/chalices/unmasks combined with a quick clock make it a difficult matchup

Extirpate has always been underwhelming in my testing.  Thoughtsieze snags creatures (Gaddock Teeg), and is usefull in more matchups

[Marske]

First thing, anybody telling me "Tezz can still win after you take TV, Bot, Will" out of the deck because they have confidant should seriously reconsider if a 2/1 that's most likely to be costing them 1-5 life every turn is REALLY a threat for a deck like TPS. I've never EVER felt threatened  by any 2/1 dork, not even Confidant. The entire and single reason Tezzeret is able to win against any TPS players comes down to 2 and only 2 scenario's.

1st Scenario,
TPS player fucks up, Miss assigns his role, blows his load to quickly or any of the other million things you as a TPS pilot can do wrong.

2nd Scenario,
Turn 2-3 TV/Key + Backup is GG.

No other scenario (I'll just beat you down with this here 2/1 for about 10 turns without you storming me, even if they have 2 it's 5 turns...) is realistic for them. If you cannot win, within five turns vs a drain deck I'd seriously reconsider playing TPS or go back to goldfishing it a zillion times.

@personalbackfire,
Well put good sir, I agree with everything you said regarding Leyline in the TPS mirror. Now the real question was:

you mention not using leyline in the SB.  steve recommends this card in the SB for dredge and the TPS mirror.  leyline works great in the mirror and against dredge but does take up 4 slots, or more with extra dredge hate.  have you had better luck with a different card (or cards)?

Let me on a very rare occasion quote something from the RND boards I put up regarding leyline and playing vs Ichorid to answer this question:

Having a turn 2-3 Leyline in which you need to "waste" a dark ritual is counteracting the fact that you want to time walk them and use your rituals for winning yourself. In my experience Leyline works best in a deck which needs to "stall" ichorid long enough to get other defenses online, which makes it nearly inevitable the defensive player is going to win because Ichorid can't find enough solutions to the stuff you're playing. My strategy with TPS is "Time Walk" them until I reach my turn 3 and win, I don't need to hold them off very long, I just need them to not win before turn 3-4 that's it. I want to keep them busy with stuff that costs me relatively next to nothing when in the mean time I can use my resources to fuel my own win.

I've played Leylines in my SB for a very long time and I've tested a LOT of ichord matches from both sides of the table pre and post sideboard. The current package proved the worst when I was piloting Ichorid facing it and it proved to be the best when Playing TPS as I've not lost yet.

Link to decklist and sideboard for reference

Also keep in mind what I said earlier in this thread:

Now this looks like a lot but actually a lot of cards can overlap, as common dredge hate (like Needle, Extirpate) can play multiple roles. You should be on the look out for cards like this instead of using targeted hate (Like Leyline vs Dredge) although the targeted hate might be better, having cards that are slightly worse but are useful in other situations as well  quickly negates the drawback as you're trying to cover as much as possible.

Leyline IS  the best card to have in your board if you REALLY want to slow Dredge down, but it only has uses against dredge and it doesn't fit my philosophy regarding how you should handle the matchup.

shops is tricky, i could run more, but again i try to keep the deck as fluid as possible and side in 2 hurkyuls and leave the rebuild and chain in, i dont want to be drawing a ton of bounce that becomes redundant when i want to be drawing kill cards.

Jesse, I know you're a solid player, I also know you'd want at least 3 global bounce (Hurkyl's + Rebuild) 1 targeted (chain) and 2-3 basics when facing Stax. I've found the mix of cards I'm bringing in (as noted in the list I just referenced) to be tremendously strong vs European (9sphere MUD or mono R). It's also let me beat 5c Stax and WS aggro fairly consistently. That, coupled with my experience in piloting TPS has made me believe the board I'm using is correct. Stax builds have evolved to be prepared facing EOT Hurkyl's / Rebuild, even if they haven't it's still not sure you'll ever win the race for mana to be able to do it. Confidant has been huge in smoothing out draws, making you naturally draw into your mana and bounce consistently enough.

Stax isn't that bad of a matchup.  Remember, all it takes is 1 rebuild/hurkyls to beat them, 2 in the board, 2 in the maindeck, along with a large amount of tutors seems on the low side, but still not ridiculous.  6 seems nuts.

Anybody saying this should REALLY learn what the heck strategic superiority means....

Workshop decks are build to focus on Mana Denial (ok oversimplification), negating this weakness for themselves by playing lands that give them more mana (Workshop, Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors etc) to keep functioning like normal under their sphere effects. They supplement these spheres (who make the game more "fair" for them) with stuff like Wasteland and Strip mine to make it "unfair" for you whilst keeping it "fair" for them.

The entire strategy and aim of the deck is to prey on decks using a "light" mana base. Which every other deck in Vintage is compared to Shop decks.  The reason why Shop decks were so good during the last "Gush" era was because they make people that want to play "cheap" stuff like cantrips (or Dark Rituals) play them more "fair".

Paying B for BBB is a good deal, paying 1B for BBB is sometimes interesting (Cabal Ritual isn't that hot without threshold) and paying 2B for BBB is just a waste. (see how spheres make rituals bad?)

Saying that Workshop strategies aren't the "worst" thing to face when playing a deck filled with "Cheap" effects with high gain is just foolish. Workshop decks ARE THE NATURAL PREDATOR of decks like TPS, ANT, Grim Long (and GAT and any other deck that wants a light mana base and to play cheap stuff) not realizing you're facing your natural predator is like walking up to a lion and saying "what a nice kitty", it's a man eater, you should show the respect it deserves.

Now sure, we've "tamed" the lion a bit and we know how to deal with it (EOT, Bounce you, untap, BONKERS am I right !!?) but by no means should you feel comfortable with this play as any decent shop pilot can keep your mana tied up with Sphere effects, Tangle Wire, Wasteland (If you fetch duals straight away) long enough to have you locked out of the mana you need to play the bounce spell.

It's EXTREMELY hard to resolve a sacrament vs oath.  They're more than 80% likely to have a force or spell peirce in thier opener, and getting a sacrament pierced after sinking in a ritual and maybe even a tutor is a BLOWOUT.

It's not, Oath isn't a super deck, it hardly plays more counters then Tezz does and it has the same inherent weakness regarding Ritual based strategies as drain decks have. Your claim that they are "80% more likely to hold a Force or Spell Pierce" what is this based on?  I see no reason or math to come to this percentage. They play 4 Force of Will, 4 Spell Pierce, TPS plays 4 Force of Will, 4 Duress, 1 Misdirection TPS even plays MORE protection then they do.

Having Sadistic Sacrament resolved is a WIN allot of the time, the chances that they have a creature in hand aren't that high (with only Iona in the deck) and anybody now suggesting "They can still beat you down with conclave !" should look at what I said regarding confidant (earlier in this post)

I also don't see how getting  Mox, Land, Tutor =Sadistic Sacrament, Ritual, Sacrament stopped turn 1-2 is worse then getting Mox, Land, Tutor = Necropotence Ritual, Necropotence stopped. Sure you wasted a tutor and a Ritual and you didn't win. (Like with going Tinker and they FoW it right?) but if you resolve it you win, plain and simple.