rozetta
Full Members
Basic User
Posts: 288
|
 |
« on: January 27, 2004, 07:45:05 am » |
|
After toying around with Damping Matrix, I realised that it's a bomb against enough good decks right now that I wanted to incorporate it into MUD. This, coupled with a few new cards appearing in Darksteel prompted me to consider such a deck.
To start, I have listed some key cards Damping Matrix currently shuts off:
Creatures:
- Goblin Welder (wMUD, Stax, TnT, Stacker, Slavery, etc.)
- Gorilla Shaman (Keeper, Sligh, URPhid, wMUD)
- Psychatog
- Most of the creatures in fish (lavamancer, kai, spiketail hatchling)
- Karn, Bosh, Pentavus, etc. (random)
- Nantuko Shade, Withered Wretch, Masticore (sui)
- Troll Ascetic, River Boa, Viridian Zealot (stompy)
- Ambassador Laquatus, Sliver Queen, Flamewake Invoker, etc. (dragon)
- Morphling (extinct)
Artifacts:
- Illusionary Mask
- Mindslaver
- Isochron Scepter
- Memory Jar
Taking the above into account, perhaps the most important points to note are:
- shuts off opposing Welders
- shuts off Gorilla Shaman and Karn (both quite respectable threats versus MUD)
- shuts off most of Dragon's win conditions (important, since this is often an unfavourable matchup)
On the downside, Memory Jar cannot be abused.
When deciding on a build, my two main goals were:
- obviously incorporate the Damping Matrices
- minimize the effects of opposing Null Rod, since we have no way to stop it
Obviously, in matchups where the Matrix has little effect, it can be sided out and artifacts with activation abilities can even be brought in.
I decided to start by testing a mono-brown version of MUD, allowing me to run 100% permanents.
The following is a preliminary listing of what I first tested. I'd like to point out, before I show the list that I decided to try out some less-used cards in an attempt to gauge their usefulness. I will elaborate on how well the cards tested later in this post. Unconventional choices have been bolded.
Mana: 29
7 SoLoMoxen
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Ancient Tomb
4 Cloudpost
4 Wasteland
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
Spells: 31
4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mind's Eye
4 Chromatic Sphere
3 Sculpting Steel
3 Damping Matrix
1 Black Vise
1a) Only 7 SoLoMoxen as artifact mana
I decided to only use the 7 SoLoMoxen as artifact mana for a number of reasons. Firstly, since this deck plays a slow game, I only need these for initial acceleration and subsequently to sacrifice to Smokestack. I have no quick way to get rid of a Mana Crypt or Mana Vault, so decided to omit them. Also, with Damping Matrix in play, I cannot untap Mana Vault or Grim Monolith, although this is of little consequence. The lowered amount of artifact mana also increases the decks resistance slightly to Null Rod.
1b) No Metalworker
I tested with Metalworkers and realised that it was often negative to the tempo of the deck. Whereas it is nice to get a strong turn 2, dropping multiple artifacts, dropping one of these early game would either mean I didn't drop a sphere or other lock component and often the metalworker would get destroyed, leaving me further behind. Also, I found that the extra mana was not always needed, since, again, the plan was the slow game. Again, this also fits into the Null Rod resilience plan. I'm not 100% sure about omitting these, but I'm currently testing without them.
2) Mishra's Factories
Since I only need colourless mana, these were an ideal fit as a win condition. They can also help versus strategies incorporating man-land/standstill. The factories themselves provide a little added protection of being able to block the odd weenie which slips out before the lock is in place. With this deck, like all lock decks, one only needs to start attacking after the opponent is locked down, in which case the speed of the clock is irrelevant.
3) Cloudpost
This is obviously not exactly optimal looking. Generally comes into play tapped lands are not. I wanted to try them out, since they have the possibility of providing a decent amount of mana later game when you might have sacrificed off some other mana sources. The idea behind these is to not drop them early, but as a replacement for the less useful Ancient Tombs later game, when you've stabilized. One thing to note is that the deck runs 23 land and a total of 29 mana sources, so it's rare that you would have to mulligan because of drawing multiples of these and no other fast mana. So far, I'd say these have been okay, but not spectacular. They tend to stay in my hand until I've draw multiple at which point I'll start playing them out. An interesting thing to note is that, although they come into play tapped, any one after the first always provides an equivalent to multiple extra land drops for that turn. Example, you have one in play untapped and play the second. Your untapped cloudpost immediately makes 2 mana, like one extra land drop. If you have 2 untapped and drop the third, both the 2 untapped now make 3 mana each, essentially like 2 extra land drops. These especially help with the Mind's Eyes where they tend to up the amount of mana needed to fuel multiple Mind's Eye at about the same frequency as the Mind's Eyes themselves start to multiply.
4) Library of Alexandria
This has honestly not been that good. I included it because it provides colourless mana, but it might be better off as a dustbowl, for instance. Early game, you'll be casting out threats, so you'll never have 7 cards in hand. Later game, if you have Mind's Eyes, this is not normally needed.
5) Mind's Eye
I decided to try this over Grafted Skullcap for a couple of reasons. Firstly, with the lack of metalworkers, you won't tend to drop your hand as quickly. Strategically dropping this over, say, some other lock component is sometimes the better play and with skullcap, you lose your other threats. Plus there are no welders to capitalize on discarded artifacts. Furthermore, since I run more land, I'd like to keep them in my hand to play out turn-by-turn. With skullcap, I noticed that often I might want to drop it on a certain turn, but I'll lose the land I was holding (for instance, wastelands which I didn't yet play because I wanted the faster mana earlier). With Mind's Eye, I get to keep those lands. Also, it allows me to hold onto Cloudposts until I find a time which would be most appropriate to play them. Finally, I'm not automatically hosed by Hurkyl's Recall. The casting cost hasn't been an issue, since I run more land than standard MUD builds, so am less susceptible to being hosed by multiple opposing Wastelands.
6) Chromatic Sphere
This one probably looks really odd. I decided to try these by chance when looking through my pile of artifacts, and I've been quite happy with them. They are dropped early off Workshop mana and can be used with no loss of mana to cantrip into more lock components on subsequent turns. Since it's a mana ability, it isn't stopped by Damping Matrix (as far as I know, but let me know if this is wrong). Also, they double as cheap artifacts for smokestack or tangle wire.
7) Sculpting Steel
With no welders in the deck, it's not possible to recur used-up lock components such as tangle wires and smokestacks. These provide a way to continue enforcing a lock you've started. However, their best use is probably to copy Mind's Eyes on the cheap. Another ideal use is to copy a sphere against combo decks, pushing them even further away from the chance of going off. Obviously they are dead early game, which is a strike against them. However, in testing, I've not had one sitting in my hand doing nothing so far.
8) Black Vise
This seemed like an obvious choice for alternate win condition. It can be copied with sculpting steel and can end games or force a concession quite easily with any kind of lock on the table. Still, as a one-of, it's a little debateable whether this is worth it, since the deck is not aggro.
This deck was built entirely from my going through the cards I own and therefore, I've most probably overlooked something which would fit better in the deck than some of the current card choices. Ideas and suggestions in this department would be welcome!
Sideboard Considerations
I haven't thought much on the sideboard for this deck as of yet, since I must test it more to decide where it's real weaknesses lie. Upon inspection, the deck most likely has weaknesses to TnT, since it can play out quick creatures and keep up on the tempo due to workshop mana. This deck has no maindeck answers to creatures save the Mishra's Factories. Post-sideboard, I'd expect to have to face Rack and Ruin, Energy Flux, Hurkyl's Recall and Pernicious Deed. Suggestions for sideboard possibilities would also be very welcome.
Possible additions from Darksteel
Obviously Trinisphere is going to be worth a look when darksteel becomes legal. Another possiblity could be Eater of Days as a 2-of, since with Damping Matrix, there's no chance of it being used against you with an opponent's welder. The indestructable artifact land is also a possibility, although it might be better suited to decks with metalworker and/or welder.
Weaknesses
So far, the main weaknesses I've found this deck to have are of the fact that there is no removal available. For instance, a situation such as a meddling mage naming smokestack is a big problem for this deck.
Possible colour splash?
Of course this deck could be transformed by a simple colour splash. The most obvious would be:
Red - Would provide useful cards mostly in the form of sideboard choices, for instance Blood Moon, Rack and Ruin, Pyrostatic Pillar and REB. It would also allow for creature-control should it be needed.
Blue - Would provide mainly card draw, big blue.
White - White has quite a few powerful sideboard options available such as seals of cleansing, sword to plowshares, sacred ground, karmic justice and the like.
I couldn't think of anything that black or green would bring into the mix that would be strong enough to warrant the splash. (Am I wrong?)
The only problem with splashing a colour is accomodating enough basic land to do the job. Obviously the cloudposts would be the first lands to go, but then we'd have a tougher job cutting land. Of course, the chromatic spheres help a little here, too.
Conclusion
I have attempted to introduce the idea of creating a slightly different variation on the established MUD archetype, while at the same time, trying out some cards that have so far not been put to use in type 1 decks (purely for exerimental purposes). The card choices available to this style of deck are more limited by the fact that damping matrix shuts off some more commonly used MUD cards, and this poses a significant challenge. However, the power of damping matrix is what we're trying to tap into, and to that end, I'm interested in starting a discussion into the possibility of this design. I'm interested in input about card choices, overall design (splash colours, for instance), sideboard options and as to whether this could even be viable in any form as compared to other established builds.
|
