Best Workshop in a certain Meta

[(nameless one)]

I'll try to get into Vintage even though I don't have power (because of proxy tournaments).

Basically, its a 10 proxy tournament (4x Workshop, 6x Moxen+Lotus [no Crypt])

My meta revolves around blue decks (Landstill, Pyromancer, BUG) and some hatebear decks (Thalia Thrash and Humans) with Dredge that comes and go. Surprisingly, no Workshop and Ritual based combo decks.

What would be the best way Workshop deck to deal with this as I have no experience when it comes to Vintage metagaming.

Also, what would the suggested proxy be as I currently do not own any power and Workshops but have most, if not all, of the artifacts needed for the deck.

Thanks in advance.

[mini1337s]

I'll try to get into Vintage even though I don't have power (because of proxy tournaments).

Basically, its a 10 proxy tournament (4x Workshop, 6x Moxen+Lotus [no Crypt])

My meta revolves around blue decks (Landstill, Pyromancer, BUG) and some hatebear decks (Thalia Thrash and Humans) with Dredge that comes and go. Surprisingly, no Workshop and Ritual based combo decks.

What would be the best way Workshop deck to deal with this as I have no experience when it comes to Vintage metagaming.

Also, what would the suggested proxy be as I currently do not own any power and Workshops but have most, if not all, of the artifacts needed for the deck.

Thanks in advance.
By nature, Shops is positioned well versus most blue decks; you run so many tax/lock effects that it is difficult for a blue deck to ever get into the game. It is important to play multiple lock effects early in these games; IE T1 Workshop, Mox, Chalice on 1, Sphere.

Decks that focus on Young Pyromancer will use cards like Ancient Grudge or Abrupt Decay to take out your look pieces, so, in my experience, stacking up Sphere effects will make it difficult for them to interact with you. Decks like Landstill will use cards like Hurkyl's Recall to put you behind.
Hatebear decks generally try to deal with your artifacts through cards like Qasali Pridemage or Leonin Relic-Warder. This is a bit more difficult for you to deal with, so I would suggest accelerating your own gameplan in addition to trying keep them locked out.

Do you know what style of Shops you want to play? There are very heavy lock builds like Espresso staxs or faster acceleration builds that abuse Metalworker like Kuldotha MUD.

Locally, a friend plays Espresso staxs, and I'm normally on some sort of Blue based build (currently Gush), and even while running 2 maindeck Ancient Grudge, I struggle with his deck game one. Espresso staxs might be a good starting point for you.

[Koby]

This came up in one of my circles recently as well.

I'm a big fan of Espresso Stax as a way to understand the limitation and boundaries of the format. Once thing I noticed is how vitally important Phyrexian Revoker has become for the Prison/Stax archetype. Oathing into Griselbrand is quite troublesome, as are any openings from Jace TMS or even a quick Sol Ring before you've managed to start Resisting all spells.

One very interesting suggestion that popped up has been Winter Orb against some of the the Fish decks. I think it's important to run it with conjunction of Smokestack, as with all the time that you buy you need to pressure the opponent. Against Fish, this may work against you without Smokestack to bleed the board state.

[nedleeds]

I'd recommend walking the spectrum from

Pure prison shops:

3-4 Null Rod
12+ Sphere effects
3-4 Crucible
2-4 Smokestack
3-4 Metamorph
4 Tangle Wire
likely man lands

Sample List:


4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Batterskull
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Trinisphere
3 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Tangle Wire
3 Smokestack
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Null Rod
SB: 3 Duplicant
SB: 2 Batterskull
SB: 2 Wurmcoil Engine
SB: 3 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge


Middle ground shops:

No null rod
More dudes, including but not limited to Metalworker, KFM, Revoker, Wurmcoil, SHK, Trike, Karn
Sometimes Tangle Wires
variable spheres (thorns and golems) and maybe a trinisphere


4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
1 Duplicant
1 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Metalworker
1 Myr Battlesphere
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Triskelion
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
3 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
3 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 2 Crucible of Worlds
SB: 1 Expedition Map
SB: 3 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 1 the Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale



Big mana / combo shops:

Ze Key is Ze Metalverker.
Wurmcoils
Caverns
Greaves
KFM
BSC
Staff of Nin / Karn Liberated


1 Black Lotus
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster
3 Lightning Greaves
4 Lodestone Golem
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
4 Metalworker
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Sol Ring
1 Staff of Domination
1 Steel Hellkite
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Triskelion
1 Trinisphere
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
SB: 3 Crucible of Worlds
SB: 2 Dismember
SB: 2 Duplicant
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Razormane Masticore
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction


Aggro shops:

Back to Null Rod
12 spheres
4 wires
4 metamorph
4 revoker
4 slash panther / actual juggernaut


1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Slash Panther
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
2 Null Rod
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Tangle Wire
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Crucible of Worlds
SB: 2 Jester's Cap
SB: 2 Ratchet Bomb
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus


All these of course have the must plays like shop, waste, chalice

Play them all to get a feel for how different they really are. Some lines of play are the same, but other lines of play are very different in terms of how you want to sequence and mulligan. No one build is strictly better or worse they all have their +/-. By playing the whole spectrum you'll also understand how to better play / mulligan / sideboard versus the other shop builds with your own shop deck. Which is very important.

[(nameless one)]

I think I'll go with the middle ground prison-aggro. I like how it can switch gears so i can play different styles against Jace control to Pyro tempo

I'll start playing this when people start coming back. Hopefully we can fire an event with minimum 10 people.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Kap'n Cook]

To all you vintage aficionados, what is your opinion on this decklist? If I were ever to get into Vintage this is where I would start.

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=4703&d=227167

20 LANDS

4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Bazaar of Baghdad


9 CREATURES
4 Goblin Welder
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Duplicant
1 Triskelion
1 Sundering Titan


7 INSTANTS and SORCERIES
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Crop Rotation
1 Balance
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Ancestral Recall


24 OTHER SPELLS
4 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Smokestack
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Trinisphere
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring


SIDEBOARD

1 Ancient Grudge
3 Sylvok Replica
1 Duplicant
1 Triskelion
4 Leyline of the Void
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pithing Needle

[Koby]

I've tried the 5C Workshop build before, and highly recommend Chromatic Lantern to help fix. Nothing is more satisfying than casting Ancestral Recall on turn 1 via Workshop + Lantern. It makes Gemstone Mine sustainable too.

At the same token, the list should likely include 2 Karn, Silver Golem to help pop Moxen or animate your Smokestack and Lanterns for beat down to end the game quicker. Duplicant and Replica are low performers in my experience, but YMMV.