[Deck] Liquid Termites

[MaximumCDawg]

I ran a liquid termites build at sanctioned Vintage last night.  Here's my decklist and report.  Going into it, I should have used more fetches but I did not have them.

1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Tiaga
2 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

2 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Gorilla Shaman
2 Goblin Welder
4 Dark Confidant

4 Ancient Grude
3 Thoughtseize
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Root Maze
4 Liquimetal Coating

Sideboard

4 Leyline of the Void
3 Ylixid Jailer
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
4 Nature's Claim

Match 1 - Dredge (Loss)

Game one went pretty much as expected, with the excitement that he managed to within one point of lethal damage to my head on his second turn.

Game two I had the Leyline and kept him off dredge the whole game.  Didn't help though; I couldn't draw a threat and he just beat me down with creatures.  I think I made one mistake here, though.  I got Liquimetal going early and had a Grudge in my grip.  I burned one if its uses on killing a Baazar, which in retrospect might have not been the smart play.  If I had left the Bazaar alive, and burned only his colored lands instead, I could probably keep him from hard casting his necromebias and ghasts.  The problem is, I have no real way to stop him from removing Leyline and going off.

Match 2 - Random Red Storm (Win and then Loss)

Pretend Game 1 and 2 - I have to run to the car, so I let a friend play my deck.  He crushes the red storm player.  Game one he gets out an early Root Maze and that disrupts the other player long enough for the beats to connect.  Game two the other player goes all in on a Storm Elemental... which gets Liquimetal'd.  I got back with enough time to play the real rounds after the other side knew exactly what to watch out for.

Game 1 - I chalice at zero, hoping to stop Chrome Mox.  He has red rituals instead.  He goes Empty the Warrns for Storm 8 on turn 1.  Then he casts a second empty on the heels of the first for 30+ gobbos.  I scoop.

Game 2 - Takes him until turn 3 to get an Empty this time.  I chalice at one to stop artifact mana and Rite of Flame, but he has other ways to get there.

Match 3 - Old School Gro (win)

Game 1 - We shoot at each other for awhile, but gushes into fastbond and Qurion Dryad gets too big to stop.

Game 2 - He plays a turn 1 tinker.... into a Red Elemental Blast.  Shortly thereafter I get Liquimetal going and he eventually scoops, unable to get any mana.  Takes me about 10 land draws to finally get something to finish him off with, though.

Game 3 - Red Blasts are again MVP, preventing him from doing much as I assemble the Land Killing Machine. 

We play some additional games, and I win every one of them.  I notice that, in addition to REB being absurdly good, the fact that I am nuking basic islands on a regular basis is a huge problem for his gush engine.  He is mana screwed almost every game.

Final thoughts: Chalice lives in the sideboard, if there.  Monkey and Maze in main is more than enough power hate.  REB might be main deck material if people are going to try Gush decks.  I was unimpressed with the Spirit Guides all day, but I really like the idea of fast mana that can become a win condition if necessary.  Welder is garbage in this build; potentially SB against MUD.

[beder]

Sure, in such a build, welders are not really impressive.
In fact, IMO, "Bazaar+Chalice+Welder" is a package that should come "all together" in that kind build.

Chalice for "fast artifact" and "fast denial".
Bazaar for "fast digging" and "fast discarding".
Welder for "fast yard manipulation" and "counter protection".

[MaximumCDawg]

Ran Liquid Termites again, sanctioned tournament.  Here's what I used:

1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Tiaga
2 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

2 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Gorilla Shaman
2 Tin-Street Hooligan
4 Dark Confidant

4 Ancient Grude
3 Thoughtseize
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Root Maze
4 Liquimetal Coating

Sideboard

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Ylixid Jailer
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Nature's Claim

As you can see, I was impressed enough with the Blasts that I moved them maindeck.  Since, as beder very correctly points out, Welder and Chalice were not impressive without Bazaar to help the synergy, I freed up a bunch of slots in the maindeck and sideboard.  Most of the Blasts went main, together with a Tin-Street Hooligan.  The Hooligan was a really great addition, if only because I now have another 2 power threat.  This deck does NOT end the game quickly.

I did much better this time, getting 3rd out of 11 players.

Match 1 - W/B Aggro (win)

The opposing deck was bascially all sui black creatures like Abyssal Persecutor, Hypnotic Specter, Vampire Nighthawk, etc, with a splash of white for artifact hate and Path to Exile, I think.  It SHOULD have eaten me alive.  But, Joel was not packing nearly enough black sources.  I was able to keep him off double black with timely wastelands, and later with Gorilla-Coating, and beat him down with 1/1s to win both games.

Match 2 - Dark Times (loss)

Game one, Alex fields two Leylines and asks me if I'm playing dredge. (Lol.) He wastes my duals, and I am stuck with hand full of black mana and no black mana sources.  Can't flashback my grudges either, thanks leyline.  He assembles helm+leyline and grinds me out.

Game two was more interesting.  He had boarded out the helm combo in favor of null rod, which I find suspect given that he knew I was packing at least 10 ways to destroy artifacts maindeck.  I'd brought in the Claims too.  We both field early Bobs, but he gets a SECOND bob and I'm unable to draw a friggin red source to get Gorilla-Coating going.  Evnetually, his card advantage pushes me over.  I keep him off Marit Lage by threatning to Waste, and pull some shenanigans with coating and claim to earn a few extra turns, but in the end he just beats me down with his bobs.  A big dissapointment; this match could easily have gone differently.

Match 3 - TPS (win)

Game one, Brian starts doing threatening things turn 1 on the play, including a pair of relevent-color mox.  He Preordains, and after considering the threat of a first turn win, I chuck simian spirit guide and red blast.  He lets it go.  I then try to run out a Root Maze... and he has a Spell Pierce.  He then goes lethal turn 2 with some help from necropotence.  In retrospect, I should have held back the blast to protect my Root Maze; that would have bought me more turns while he fetched up some bounce.

Game two goes better.  He slams a turn 2 necropotence and starts yanking cards.  He is unable to go off turn 2, however, and I hit his necropotence-swollen hand with thoughtseze.  Force of Will meets red blast and I yoink his Mystical Tutor.  Without it, he is unable to do much except dig his next turn, and when paying all but 3 of his life fails to find him the win, he conceeds.  Note, however, that he checked his library after the game - if he had paid 2 more life, he would have pulled it out.  Ouch.

Game three is more bad luck for Brian.  I have the option to either Thoughtseize or Monkey on turn 1.  I go monkey, hoping he doesn't combo out immediately.  He doesnt.  Seize gets countered next turn, but now I'm chomping his artifacts, adding a creature to the beats each turn.  I use the opportunity to educate myself on priority rules - when EXACTLY does my monkey have a chance to bite each mox he drops? - over the next few turns, beating him down into the danger zone.  Eventually he goes for it, tinkering up a memory jar, and we both figure I'm toast.  But jar does not deliver, and he conceeds before dying to beats.

Match Four - Mostly unpowered Gro (win)

I love this deck against Gro so much.  Both games went long, but the permanent removal that Termites uses makes Gush actually really, really bad.  Root Mazes keep him from chaining together any nonsense on his turns, even with a Fastbond, and I'm basically able to beat down at my leisure.

Conclusions:

Since I am not using Bazaars, this build is much tighter.  I was able to do relevant things to my opponents every game.  

This deck has great game against Gush.  You want to return two lands to your hand?  Be my guest, I'll just eat the ones you left behind.  And your artifact mana.  Oh, look, you're out of mana again.   Trying to ancestral or tinker?  Without a FoW you're not getting past Blast.

The Dark Times and TPS matches could easily have gone the other way.  TPS is a total crapshoot; you can keep the lid on with Root Maze, Blast, and Gorilla, but if they draw the nuts there's just nothing you can do but pray they poop out.  Dark Times shouldn't have been a loss; this deck has lots of ways to deal with it.  

I'm considering losing the fetchlands entirely in favor of City of Brass.  They have such awful synergy with Root Maze (forced me to mull game 1 against Dark Times).  That's probably what led to my manascrew.  Perhaps just lose one of the Catacombs?  I dunno.

[limitedwhole]

I think the deck looks very cool and could definately win games.
1) If you are having trouble with Bazaar, you might try Mogg Fanatic.  He kills all one toughness creatures like Confidant, Cobra etc.  This could also let you save your liquid metal destruction for other things.
2) Chains of Mephistopheles any good out of the board?
3) Black Tutors?  Do they add something to the deck or make it worse?

Do you not have moxen?  They are very good in this deck. 

[urweak]

I love Root Maze. I play it in my R/G Beats deck, but I only run 2x Fetchs. Do you have trouble with your fetchs + Maze out? It would seem that it hurts your deck just as much as you want it to effect your opponent. I would up the dual land count and drop some fetchs.

[MaximumCDawg]

I think the deck looks very cool and could definately win games.
1) If you are having trouble with Bazaar, you might try Mogg Fanatic.  He kills all one toughness creatures like Confidant, Cobra etc.  This could also let you save your liquid metal destruction for other things.
2) Chains of Mephistopheles any good out of the board?
3) Black Tutors?  Do they add something to the deck or make it worse?

Do you not have moxen?  They are very good in this deck.  

1) I thought about Fanatic, but it's not like this deck is trying to save it's removal for something in particular; if you're nuking something each turn, you're winning.  It gives you a maindeck option against dredge, but I ultimately don't think it's good enough in that role because this deck has nothing to quickly follow up on the repreive from zombie tokens he provides.
2) Dunno.  What are you thinking, storm?
3) Tutors are dynamite.  Being able to confidant up the missing half of Liquid Gorilla or a timely Red blast saved me three times yesterday.
4) Nope, don't own moxen, and this tournament is sanctioned.  This weekend is an unsactioned proxy tourney, and I'd definetly add three mox and a lotus if I use this deck.

I love Root Maze. I play it in my R/G Beats deck, but I only run 2x Fetchs. Do you have trouble with your fetchs + Maze out? It would seem that it hurts your deck just as much as you want it to effect your opponent. I would up the dual land count and drop some fetchs.

You betchya.  Just like I explained a few posts above, the frustration of drawing Root Maze and some fetches is making me want to trade them out for other lands.  I think I'd go city of brass before more duals, since I the cities actually fill the "any color" role fetches currently do.  There's always the specter of being vulnerable to wasteland, though...

[Troy_Costisick]

I think the deck looks very cool and could definately win games.
1) If you are having trouble with Bazaar, you might try Mogg Fanatic.  He kills all one toughness creatures like Confidant, Cobra etc.  This could also let you save your liquid metal destruction for other things.
2) Chains of Mephistopheles any good out of the board?
3) Black Tutors?  Do they add something to the deck or make it worse?

Do you not have moxen?  They are very good in this deck.  

1) I thought about Fanatic, but it's not like this deck is trying to save it's removal for something in particular; if you're nuking something each turn, you're winning.  It gives you a maindeck option against dredge, but I ultimately don't think it's good enough in that role because this deck has nothing to quickly follow up on the repreive from zombie tokens he provides.

Fanatic can also remove Bridges from the GY.  Not saying you should necessarily play him, but just wanted to point that out.  What's your Dredge matchup like?  Any insight?

Peace,

-Troy

[MaximumCDawg]

Fanatic can also remove Bridges from the GY. 

Yea, but:

I ultimately don't think it's good enough in that role because this deck has nothing to quickly follow up on the repreive from zombie tokens he provides.

In other words, say you do nail the bridge.  Okay, now you've still got to deal with Ghasts and Ichorid and friends.  This deck does not run enough larger creatures or removal to keep up with them.  I think.

What's your Dredge matchup like?  Any insight?

I'm not qualified to say, since I've only done one Dredge match "for reals" so far.  In that match, my hate was perfectly sufficient but my creatures could not keep up.

[MaximumCDawg]

Another day, another report.  I bombed out big-time at a proxy tournament with this build (i might be forgetting a card here and there, this is mostly right):

1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 City of Brass
2 Tiaga
2 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald

2 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Gorilla Shaman
2 Tin-Street Hooligan
4 Dark Confidant

4 Ancient Grude
3 Thoughtseize
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Root Maze
4 Liquimetal Coating

Sideboard

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Ylixid Jailer
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Nature's Claim

It was the wrong deck for the meta and I played it badly.  Went 0-4 in a field of 12.  Super stinky.

Match 1 - Belcher w/ Empty the Warrens backup (LOSS)

This game was no contest at all.  I have no way of stopping him from going off, not even Root Maze, since he uses red ritual spells to go.  Game 2 I thoughtseize his gas on turn 1, then I get double Monkey-Coating going, and keep his board empty. Sounds good, right?  Well, Monkey beats at 1 a turn.  He has plenty of time to draw the perfect hand and make a dozen warren tokens.

Match 2 - Ru Slaver? (OMG LOSS)

Game 1 - I open with two mox, city of brass, and a dark confidant.  GREAT!  Except that he has a turn 1 Shaman and a lotus.  He slaps them down, wipes my board, wastes my city, and proceeds to find his Time Vault - Key a few turns later.

Game 2 - I keep double wastelands.  Good call!  I waste his lands, drawing a third waste, and keep his board empty with monkey.  As soon as Liquimetal drops, he scoops.

Game 3 - His starting hand has Time Walk, Welder, and Lotus, and he draws into an Ancestral.  I try to blast, but eat a Force of Will.  He gets out to a fast start and breaks me with recurring Lotus and his extra three cards.  I forget exactly how he won.

Match 3 - MUD w/ Ghost Quarter and Steel Hellkite (LOSS, thanks, team meandeck!)

At this point in the day I was just playing like ass.  You'd think this would be my best matchup; I have zillions of maindeck answers for shop, right?  Well, it doesn't help if you make crappy mulligan decisions, then make crappy strategic decisions.  (I'll save this mana so I can answer his Golem when it attacks instead of killing his Crypt during upkeep.. oh look ANOTHER Golem, gg)  Not worth talking about, just awful.

Match 4 - Noble Fish w/ Ghost Quarter and Leonin Arbiter (LOSS, thanks, myself!)

This guy was playing another deck I made for him, which also flopped that day.  Turns out Leonin Arbiter is not that good!  But, it was still traditional Fish enough to deny me mana, run creatures bigger than mine, and beat my face in. 

I think I'm done with this archetype for awhile :-/

[xouman]

I have been updating my computer lately and didn't have any test team, so I haven't tried coating as I wished.  But seeing all these gush decks, I'm afraid coating+shaman is too slow itself. While I agree that Rgb seems its natural deck, I could try RB approach this weekend (not sure, though). The main idea would be introducing a soft *Moon* lock, and then kill the game with coating. Moon effects would make gush more difficult (so opp cannot defend its lands by playing gush) and gives tempo making fetchlands *colorless* mana.

20 creatures
4 magus of the moon
4 dark confidant
4 simian spirit guide
3 gorila shaman
2 viashino heretic
2 goblin welder
1 goblin tinkerer

9 instants & sorceries
3 demonic,vampiric, consultation
4 thoughtseize
1 duress
1 unearth

9 artifacts
4 liquimetal coating
2 sensei divining top
2 voltaic key
1 time vault

2 enchantments
2 blood moon

20 lands & mana sources
2 sol ring, mana crypt
2 mox jet, ruby
4 bloodstained mire
2 polluted delta
4 ancient tomb
4 swamp
2 badlands

sideboard
3 grim lavamancer
3 fleshbag marauder/throath slitter
4 goblin bombardment
3 REB
2 Pyroblast

I'm not sure at all about this deck. Coating makes voltaic key useful, key makes sensei a drawer, sensei improves confidant, key makes vault a win condition. Maybe it's better to play -2 key, -2 sensei, -1 vault, +4 leyline of the void, +1 helm of obedience (I don't expect any dredge, though) , or +3 reb, +2 fleshbag marauder (more resilient against blue decks, and marauder is nice against golem).

20 mana sources +4 simian is about ok. Only 9 red mana though (+4 simian, and post moon effects there are lots of red mana), 13 black mana. 2 draw engines: confidant and voltaic top. 8 artifact destruction creatures +4 coating, maybe a couple of goblin vandals would be nice. 5 duress effects, 6 moon effects, no strips (i prefer ancient tomb). One unearth as fifth magus/confidant/artifact destroyer

The idea is opening with duress (denying quick threats), and play a confidant/magus as quick as possible. Then try to make coating online, killing permanents slowly and beating till dead. It can't respond to explossive starts, but that's the deal. Against gush decks duress are key, and then REBs give time to play moon effects. Against MUD we have to play magus as possible in order to deny MWS. 8 maindeck artifact destruction and ancient tomb (fast mana) could help too. Against fish, coating+gorila is our best deal if we can leap null rod.

It does not look like encouraging enough, what do you think?

[MaximumCDawg]

I have been updating my computer lately and didn't have any test team, so I haven't tried coating as I wished.  But seeing all these gush decks, I'm afraid coating+shaman is too slow itself.

....

It does not look like encouraging enough, what do you think?

From my experience playing this deck in the last three weeks, Gush decks are actually your best match up.  Traditional gro-ish type Gush, anyway.  Red Blast keeps them from doing anything too broken early, they actually pack very few answers to early creatures, and they are very vulnerable to permanent removal and land destruction.  I found I was most at a disadvantage against other Fish and Storm decks.

[xouman]

Lavamancers are good against fish and can handle golems and bridges. coating + artifact destruction can handle fish creatures. for too fast combo decks, maybe i can pack mindbreak trap just in orde to avoid storm...

[znoyes]

Hi,

Here is a list you may find interesting. It is a U/R liquimetal standstill fish deck.
I always like playing blue because of the card drawing and the permanent distruction that coating offers combos nicely with standstill and spell pierce.
Some things that I am unsure about are the Fire/Ices, as I just wanted another card to pitch to Fow and they seemed best.

2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Volcanic Island
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
4 Standstill
4 Gorilla Shaman
3 Goblin Vandal
4 Viashino Heretic
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Force of Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Spell Pierce
4 Liquimetal Coating
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Fire/Ice

[MaximumCDawg]

From having played Liquid Termites in two sanctioned events and one proxy, I can vouch for Ancient Grudge being bananas.  I don't think you want to skimp on that.  The ability to blast an artifact creature from the yard (monkey cant handle creatures even with coating) is stupendous.

[beder]

Hi all,

Don't want to necro that thread. Based on Troy_Costisick results (see http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=37439.60), I wanted to give another try to this build.

But in order to deal with some of the weaknesses I noticed at first - mainly being too dependant of an early liquidmetal , I changed the approach, trying to put liquidmetal in a build which would benefit from it, instead of being focuss on it.

In the end, here is what I came with

[Liquid Termites B/R/g]

// Lands
    4 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    3 Badlands
    2 Bayou
    1 Swamp
    1 Mountain
    3 Wasteland
    1 Strip Mine

// Creatures
    4 Gorilla Shaman
    4 Dark Confidant
    4 Tarmogoyf

// Spells
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Jet
    4 Chalice of the Void

    4 Liquimetal Coating
    4 Ancient Grudge

    4 Thoughtseize
    4 Duress
    4 Lightning Bolt

    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Consultation
    1 Demonic Tutor

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4 Nature's Claim
SB: 3 Yixlid Jailer
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Ingot Chewer

The deck has a solid gameplan, even without liquidmetal, simple but solid :
- Mana disrupt through wastes, chalices and Gorilla,
- Draw through dark conf
- Discard,
- Pressure (through tarmo).

Some remarks :
- 4 lightening and 4 ancient grudge are pretty good main deck against most of the matchups (except oath which is a difficult one).
- The black tutor suite enables a consistent set-up of the liquid combo.
- Not having any answer to tinker is difficult. Perhaps is it necessary to find some room for a black solution to tinker.

[Daenyth]

- Not having any answer to tinker is difficult. Perhaps is it necessary to find some room for a black solution to tinker.

I have no clue what would be cut, but diabolic edict seems like it would solve the issues. I doubt you're very afraid of Myr Battlesphere.

[Troy_Costisick]

- Not having any answer to tinker is difficult. Perhaps is it necessary to find some room for a black solution to tinker.

I doubt you're very afraid of Myr Battlesphere.

Remember that Gorilla Shaman can't target Myr tokens.  That narrows the options quite a bit.

[Daenyth]

- Not having any answer to tinker is difficult. Perhaps is it necessary to find some room for a black solution to tinker.

I doubt you're very afraid of Myr Battlesphere.

Remember that Gorilla Shaman can't target Myr tokens.  That narrows the options quite a bit.

True, but they just become chump blockers to goyf if you can grudge the sphere. Additionally, it's possible that they board in sphinx and out sphere, depending on their deck.

On the other hand, I haven't done anywhere near enough testing to say that I know what I'm talking about with this situation, so perhaps it's not as clear-cut as I originally thought.

[beder]

- Not having any answer to tinker is difficult. Perhaps is it necessary to find some room for a black solution to tinker.

I doubt you're very afraid of Myr Battlesphere.

Remember that Gorilla Shaman can't target Myr tokens.  That narrows the options quite a bit.

True, but they just become chump blockers to goyf if you can grudge the sphere. Additionally, it's possible that they board in sphinx and out sphere, depending on their deck.

On the other hand, I haven't done anywhere near enough testing to say that I know what I'm talking about with this situation, so perhaps it's not as clear-cut as I originally thought.

You are right. Battlepshere is not a very big deal. With 4 ancient grudge main (+ the 3 tutors), grudging the sphere can be consistently achieved. And then, the non flying token are not a pb, with tarmo for instance.

The real issue is the other tinker targets. For those, you are right, Diabolic Edict is the black solution I was talking about. But for the time being, I haven't  found the right place and numbers for it. Lightening bolt x4 are the slots used in order to deal with creature.
It would be tempting to remove some of them for some Diabolic.

Except that this Lightening bolt x4 is what allows me to consistently deal with Dark confidant, MetalWorker, Noble hierarch, Jace, Lodestone, Welder or even Trygon...
This is directly inspired from Troy_Costisick R/G build and this is something I like a lot with this build, even if it may be pretty dead against oath or storm.

On a matchup point of view, here are the main difficulties of this build :
- dealing with oath, which is too easy to play to be efficently disrupted by the strong mana denial plan,
- dealing with big robots tinkered by blue decks,
- dealing with fast dark ritual in combo deck (even if the 8 duresses help)

Then and with regard to the deck itself, one issue has to be solved : the mana curve of the deck is not perfect for the time being, with too many 2CC spells for a deck with only 3 moxes. This generates a tempo which is not optimal.
Possible solutions :
- try to reduce the number of 2CC spells (for instance, replacing some grudges with some natural's claim)
- add moxes (and perhaps remove chalices, for more solutions)
- add dark ritual and try to increase the black card account, for instance removing tarmo for some another options. Gatekeeper of the Malakir could be an option which would solve the tinker issue. But then, you will miss a clock for this aggro/control strategy. So either you find another one, or you change the focuss of the deck to move to more control...

[xouman]

Isn't gorilla shaman+chalice too much hate against moxen? I reckon it is solid against drain decks and decent against mud if they can't find MWS quick, but 8 slots feels too much. And chalice is only good at 0, because most of your costs are CC1 and CC2.

Against big guys I packed Fleshbag marauder. It is a creature so you can evade spell pierce, thorn, and sacrifice a Shaman (if you have multiples) in order to get a 3/1. Only 1 black mana, decent in a 3 color deck.

Instead tormods, why you don't play nihil spellbomb? 1 more mana, but cantrip for B.

And foremost, isn't welder an option? Shaman, welder and coating sounds really good. Besides if BSC replaces sphinx, welder is top.

[Troy_Costisick]

Isn't gorilla shaman+chalice too much hate against moxen? I reckon it is solid against drain decks and decent against mud if they can't find MWS quick, but 8 slots feels too much. And chalice is only good at 0, because most of your costs are CC1 and CC2.

They each attack Moxen in different ways.  Chalice attack Moxen that have not been played.  Shaman attacks the ones that have.  It's important for an aggro deck to be able to deal with both, IMO, because Tinker is such a devistating play.  Against MUD, I would side out my Chalices and side in more card-advantageous artifact hate like Grudges, Mutations, or Shattering Spree.  Once you get MUD in topdeck mode, they're no better off than you.

[beder]

Isn't gorilla shaman+chalice too much hate against moxen? I reckon it is solid against drain decks and decent against mud if they can't find MWS quick, but 8 slots feels too much. And chalice is only good at 0, because most of your costs are CC1 and CC2.

Against big guys I packed Fleshbag marauder. It is a creature so you can evade spell pierce, thorn, and sacrifice a Shaman (if you have multiples) in order to get a 3/1. Only 1 black mana, decent in a 3 color deck.

Instead tormods, why you don't play nihil spellbomb? 1 more mana, but cantrip for B.

And foremost, isn't welder an option? Shaman, welder and coating sounds really good. Besides if BSC replaces sphinx, welder is top.

Tormod's are mainly there against dredge. And the 1 more mana may make a significant difference, when it comes to be able to play the hate and duress in the same turn for instance, in order to discard their anti hate. On the opposite, the cantrip is not especially significant against dredge.

If I start considering welder, then I will come back to the original build which I posted few month ago...

[beder]

After some more testings, made some modifications :

=> Remove the 4 chalices
Chalice is good, for sure. But with so many artifact destroyers and given that I can only play it at 0, it is perhaps not the most efficicent card which can be used in these slots.

=> Add lotus petal and mana crypt.
Lotus petal because this 3 color build may face color issue. Mana crypt because most of the time, this is better than an off color mox. This helps the build to be more aggresive in early game (and mana crypt helps against shop).

=> Add 3 Diabolic Edit
Once you remove the 4 chalice, tinker=>bot becomes too much of a threat not to deal with it main deck. With 3 diabolic and the 3 tutors, i have some real and reliable out to tinker

=> From 4 to 2 lightening bolt
With 3 Edict main, 2 lightening is a nice complement, for any early creatures

=> Remove 1 ancient grudge, add 2 natural's claim
This is an interesting choice, for different reasons. Tempo is the first reason : the difference between 2 (for ancient) and 1 (for natural's) may be significant when it comes to destroying the right permanent at the right time. Then, given that most of my threats/finishers are at 2CC, using another 1CC out for chalice at 2 is interesting. Finally, this is good against oath, which is a difficult matchup. Those 2 natural's claim main may be significant against oath also because it frees 2 slots in the side, allowing me to add 2 seal in addition to the 4 natural's claim for game 2 and 3.

In the end, here is the new version (and the side used). The tempo of the build is smoother, I would say that it is significantly better.

// Lands
    4 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    3 Badlands
    2 Bayou
    1 Swamp
    1 Mountain
    3 Wasteland
    1 Strip Mine

// Creatures
    4 Gorilla Shaman
    4 Dark Confidant
    4 Tarmogoyf

// Spells
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Mana Crypt

    4 Liquimetal Coating

    4 Thoughtseize
    4 Duress

    3 Ancient Grudge
    2 Nature's Claim

    3 Diabolic Edict
    2 Lightning Bolt

    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Consultation
    1 Demonic Tutor

// Sideboard
SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Lightning Bolt
SB: 2 Nature's Claim
SB: 2 Seal of Primordium
SB: 3 Yixlid Jailer
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt

[RecklessEmbermage]

Just a tiny remark: Even though you'll need double black now and again, I think your manabase should have less of a tilt towards black. Particularly after adding claims. -1 badlands, +1 taiga?

I would also be inclined to cut the third edict to play the full set of wastes. How many edicts would you like game 2 against a blue deck without confidants/cobras?

Its interesting to see where you are taking this deck. I wanted to build something similar when liquimetal released, but my meta isn't suited for it.

[beder]

Just a tiny remark: Even though you'll need double black now and again, I think your manabase should have less of a tilt towards black. Particularly after adding claims. -1 badlands, +1 taiga?

I would also be inclined to cut the third edict to play the full set of wastes. How many edicts would you like game 2 against a blue deck without confidants/cobras?

Its interesting to see where you are taking this deck. I wanted to build something similar when liquimetal released, but my meta isn't suited for it.

Well, black is definitely the most important color. Especially because this is the color to be played first turns (either for duress effect or the dark conf). I haven't tried 1 taiga, maybe I should. For the time being, I feel compfortable with this mana base but it may be interesting to go for a taiga.

Regarding Diabolic Edict, having 3 main allows me to regularly have one Diabolic in hand. Against blue deck with this new Colossus, I noticed that relying on a tutor to get the Diabolic, as a reaction to tinker, is often too late or too mana extensive. The turn you play Diabolic, you frequently need to keep mana for discard or to play around spellpierce. So I put 3 Diabolics because I don't want to rely too much on tutor to get it in hand. Sometimes it is a dead card, for sure, but on the other hand it often saves me. So in the end, I like it

Rigth now, the main weakness of this build is Yawgmoth will... This is generally the last game plan of opponent and this is a gameplan that I cannot consistently block. I would need a solution main, but I can't find a way to add a consistant answer which would make sense with regard to this build.

[MaximumCDawg]

Just a tiny remark: Even though you'll need double black now and again, I think your manabase should have less of a tilt towards black. Particularly after adding claims. -1 badlands, +1 taiga?

I would also be inclined to cut the third edict to play the full set of wastes. How many edicts would you like game 2 against a blue deck without confidants/cobras?

Its interesting to see where you are taking this deck. I wanted to build something similar when liquimetal released, but my meta isn't suited for it.

Well, black is definitely the most important color. Especially because this is the color to be played first turns (either for duress effect or the dark conf). I haven't tried 1 taiga, maybe I should. For the time being, I feel compfortable with this mana base but it may be interesting to go for a taiga.

Regarding Diabolic Edict, having 3 main allows me to regularly have one Diabolic in hand. Against blue deck with this new Colossus, I noticed that relying on a tutor to get the Diabolic, as a reaction to tinker, is often too late or too mana extensive. The turn you play Diabolic, you frequently need to keep mana for discard or to play around spellpierce. So I put 3 Diabolics because I don't want to rely too much on tutor to get it in hand. Sometimes it is a dead card, for sure, but on the other hand it often saves me. So in the end, I like it

Rigth now, the main weakness of this build is Yawgmoth will... This is generally the last game plan of opponent and this is a gameplan that I cannot consistently block. I would need a solution main, but I can't find a way to add a consistant answer which would make sense with regard to this build.

Root Maze is the answer.  I was running it in the R/B/g build I had awhile ago.  Root Maze just stops the stupid one-turn plays you otherwise have no way to stop.

[beder]

Just a tiny remark: Even though you'll need double black now and again, I think your manabase should have less of a tilt towards black. Particularly after adding claims. -1 badlands, +1 taiga?

I would also be inclined to cut the third edict to play the full set of wastes. How many edicts would you like game 2 against a blue deck without confidants/cobras?

Its interesting to see where you are taking this deck. I wanted to build something similar when liquimetal released, but my meta isn't suited for it.

Well, black is definitely the most important color. Especially because this is the color to be played first turns (either for duress effect or the dark conf). I haven't tried 1 taiga, maybe I should. For the time being, I feel compfortable with this mana base but it may be interesting to go for a taiga.

Regarding Diabolic Edict, having 3 main allows me to regularly have one Diabolic in hand. Against blue deck with this new Colossus, I noticed that relying on a tutor to get the Diabolic, as a reaction to tinker, is often too late or too mana extensive. The turn you play Diabolic, you frequently need to keep mana for discard or to play around spellpierce. So I put 3 Diabolics because I don't want to rely too much on tutor to get it in hand. Sometimes it is a dead card, for sure, but on the other hand it often saves me. So in the end, I like it

Rigth now, the main weakness of this build is Yawgmoth will... This is generally the last game plan of opponent and this is a gameplan that I cannot consistently block. I would need a solution main, but I can't find a way to add a consistant answer which would make sense with regard to this build.

Root Maze is the answer.  I was running it in the R/B/g build I had awhile ago.  Root Maze just stops the stupid one-turn plays you otherwise have no way to stop.

You are right, Root maze is excellent at doing that. But for the time being, I am reluctant, because :
- this is a  permanent to be played early, meaning that you have to fetch for green and it weakens your mana base,
- this would be pretty symetric in this build,
- this has to be played early games and it has to stay on board for it to be efficient,
- this is pretty weak against a significant part of the meta, like oath, shop or fish.

In the end, I feel that the power of this card has a too huge volatility, for it to be really consistant. Just my humble opinion...

[MaximumCDawg]

The off-color issue is a problem, sure.  And perhaps Root Maze is a SB instead of main deck card depending on your meta.  However, consider:

(1) It really isn't that symmetrical.  None of the creatures you're running (confidant, goyf, shaman) really care a lot about coming into play tapped.  Goyf can't block, I guess, but the other two creatures just keep doing their thing.  Practically the only issue is that it delays using Liquimetal Coating, and your lands come in tapped.  But recall that the enemy's mana is also coming in tapped, and so the tempo balances out.  Also consider the things you most want to eat with Liquimetal are lands, so they'll be delayed just as much as Coating is.  Practically the only case I see Root Maze working against you is where they just slammed down Oath and you need to Coat it to get rid of it.  That's why I supplemented Ancient Grudge with Nature's Claim, btw.

(2) Maze is bad against shop and fish.  But against decks with the blue restricted package like oath, storm, tezz, etc, you are almost always concerned with a Yawgmoth's Will based win.  It may be worth it to pack maindeck hate for such a widely-played and game-winning card.  In other words, you want cards to thwart the other winning decks:

Oath - Claim, Pridemage, Predator
Yawgwill - Canonist, Arcane Lab, Root Maze
Shop Beatz -  Spree, Rack and Ruin, Grudge, Pulverize, Smash, Claim, Pridemage, Predator, L.Bolt, Seeds, Recall
Tendrils - Canonist, Arcane Lab, Root Maze, Pyrostatic Pillar
Fish/Elf Beatz - Pyroclasm, Massacre, Firespout, Horsequake (lol)
Tinker - REB, Edict, Weirding, Recall, Tariff, Curfew
zVault

So you want to be sure you have something out of each category.  Working off these ideas, here's a thought:

Four-Color Liquimetal Beatz
Maindeck
(Geared to target popular "win now" conditions as much as possible, and stop shop.  Vulnerable to Moon effects in return for access to wide range of super-efficient removal)

Creatures (16)
4x Trygon Predator
4x Dark Confidant
4x Gorilla Shaman
2x Simian Spirit Guide
2x Elvish Spirit Guide

Disruption (20)
4x Ancient Grudge
4x Nature's Claim
4x Root Maze
2x L.Bolt
1x Edict
1x Recall
2x Liquimetal Coating

Other (3)
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Consultation

Mana (21)
4x City of Brass
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Scalding Tarn
2x Tiaga
1x Badlands
1x Bayou
1x Volcanic Island
1x Tropical Island
1x Mountain
1x Forest
3x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

SB
(Stop threats you are ill-prepped for maindeck; big blue, dredge, fish)
3x Ylixid Jailer
4x Leyline of the Void
4x Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast
3x Pyroclasm
1x Massacre

Also: Null Rod might be fun, or a bunch of artifact mana + tinkerbot for a surprise win that way.

[beder]

@MaximumCDawg

If you want to go that way, in the "Liquidmetal family", you can try "Water" (because this is a Blue Liquid ).

I tested it over the last week and it is definitely interesting. There are still some tuning to be done but it show potential. This is a nasty little deck...

Some slots I am not so sure about right now :
- the 4th liquid metal,
- the 3rd trygon,
- the key/vault combo.

What could be added is a package "Intuition + Strip mine + life from the loan".

One good and significant caracteristic of this deck is that it has a decent matchup against shop. Not too bad nowadays.

----------- Water 1.0 ----------------------

// Lands
    1 Tolarian Academy
    4 Scalding Tarn
    1 Polluted Delta
    1 Flooded Strand

    2 Underground Sea
    2 Volcanic Island
    2 Tropical Island
    1 Island
    1 Mountain

// Creatures
    3 Gorilla Shaman
    3 Trygon Predator
    1 Blightsteel Colossus

// Spells
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Sol Ring

    1 Voltaic Key
    1 Time Vault

    4 Liquimetal Coating

    2 Ancient Grudge

    4 Force of Will
    4 Spell Pierce
    1 Ponder
    1 Ancestral Recall
    1 Brainstorm
    1 Mystical Tutor
    1 Preordain
    1 Time Walk
    1 Merchant Scroll
    1 Tinker
    1 Thirst for Knowledge
    1 Gifts Ungiven
    1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Yawgmoth's Will

[MaximumCDawg]

That's an interesting take on the deck; more blue control than fish.  I suspect 4x Shaman and 4x Grudge are critical.  I've rarely lost a game when I get Metal and some grudges online.  I suppose, though, that the blue countermagic gives you time to use your draw engines to locate the lower number of Grudges you do run, making it less important to draw the nuts right away.  

Also, remember that Shaman+Metal is basically a mana denial package.  I would always run at least 4 wasteland effects to supplement.  Loam+Strip is a good idea, too.

Finally, I don't like running 4 Coatings.  I tried that in a B/R/g shell, and I found that multiple Coatings was a bit of a weak link.  It's really only good if you have Monkey or Grudge or Claim around.  If you run 12 of those, then maybe 4 Coatings makes sense, but you're not running quite so many.  

EDIT: Now I'm getting interested in the applications here.  Predator + Liquimetal is a pretty powerful soft lock, better than Shaman perhaps even.  I wonder if we could eliminate black from the deck, relying on the speed of our permanent removal to give up duress effects?  Something like this?

Vintage - Liquid Termites v. 3.0

Creatures (16)
4 Gorilla Shaman
3 Vedalken Certarch
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Trygon Predator
1 Goblin Welder      
1 Inkwell Leviathan

Disruption (12)
4 Ancient Grudge
3 Nature’s Claim
4 Root Maze
1 Curfew

Artifacts (14)
4 Liquimetal Coating
3 Mox Opal
5 Ring/Vault/Crypt/Petal/Emerald
2 Divining Top

Tutor Suite (3)
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Intuition   

Land (16)
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tiaga
2 Tropical Island

SB (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Nature’s Claim
3 Pyroclasm
3 Mindbreak Trap

UPDATE

UPDATE - So I ran this list in a local sanctioned tournament.  Only three rounds.

Creatures (9)
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Trygon Predator
1 Inkwell Leviathan

Removal (6)
2 Ancient Grudge
4 Nature’s Claim
1 Curfew

Permission (8)
4 Spell Pierce
4 Force of Will

Artifacts (9)
4 Liquimetal Coating
5 Ring/Vault/Crypt/Petal/Emerald

Tutor / CA (7)
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Personal Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
1 Tinker
1 Windfall
1 Regrowth

Land (21)
3 City of Brass
2 Ancient Tomb
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Flooded Strand
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Tiaga
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest

SB (15)

4 Steel Sabotage
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
4 Mindbreak Trap
1 Curfew
2 Pyroclasm

MATCHUPS:

Round 1 - Dredge (0-2)

You gamble, you lose.  Look at my sideboard and weep.


Round 2 - Oath (2-0)

It turns out that 8 counterspells and 8 maindeck answers to Oath is really, really good.  

Game one, he keeps a hand with second turn Oath combo and counterspell backup.  However, I have spell pierce (countered) and nature's claim (resolves).  Then I have another Force to his next Oath, and get Liquimetal+Predator online for the win.

Game two, it is much of the same.  I roll out a Predator before he gets Oath to stick and it's gg.

Round 3 - Tendrils.  (0 - 2)

Went badly, but more because I had to mull to oblivion than anything else.  

Game one, I mull to four to end up with some lands, a claim, and a force but no other blue cards.  He ancestrals turn 1 and things go downhill from there.

Game two, I mull to five and can't find anything.  I manage to stick some gorillas and beat while he digs for gas.  When he finally goes off, I have a few counterspells, but he has more, and then he nails my Mindbreak Trap with duress before going lethal with Tendrils.  I think that Root Maze may be superior to Mindbreak in this matchup.