I tweaked Mr. Coyle's list to fit my playstyle and I've been having moderate success with it. I started my legacy career with MUD (wurmcoils, forgemasters, blightsteels, etc.) long ago before switching to other decks (DnT, Miracles, Infect), and this mono brown pile of cards has felt much more consistent and powerful than my experience with big creature MUD ever did. Here's my current list:

Creatures (3):
3 Metalworker

Spells (31):
1 Staff of Domination
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Trinisphere
3 Tangle Wire
3 Sorcerous Spyglass
4 Smokestack
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Mox Diamond

Lands (26):
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Buried Ruin
4 Inventor's Fair
4 Wasteland
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Gemstone Caverns

Sideboard:
2 Walking Ballista
1 Metalworker
2 Lodestone Golem
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Thorn of Amythest
1 Staff of Domination
1 Tangle Wire


I consider the Gemstone Caverns in the main deck and the 4th Tangle Wire in the sideboard to be flex slots. Everything else has been outperforming and I'm still currently happy with those two choices regardless of them not being shining stars like everything else.

Spyglass is excellent at shutting down Deathrite and Wasteland, which are the two most common ways I lose with the deck, as well as other pesky permanents such as Jace and his -12. After establishing the lock and my mana base I'm happy to eat my own Spyglass with Smokestack if I named wasteland to turn the mana denial back on with my own wastelands. Picking off fetches has won me games, but I usually lean to naming cards I know may be a problem down the line (Deathrite, Deathrite, Deathrite) and hitting fetches with second copies of Spyglass or naming them when my opponent has no other relevant targets rather than take the gamble that they wont draw more land topdeck (it seems like 2 out of 3 times they topdeck into perfect mana bases, but you do occasionally get them). The information is really relevant turn 1 as well, setting up the correct lock pieces / FoW bait the following turns.

I originally tried Coyle's list verbatim, and found that the Serum Powders weren't nearly as helpful with mulligans as I needed them to be (they either didn't show up or made the hand less powerful themselves) and were terrible top decks when I needed lock pieces. Similarly with Rishadan Port, I found my own deck to be mana hungry in the early turns, and prefer wasteland/ghost quarter for finishing the lock in the later turns. Removing the Serum Powders I found that the deck wants 26 lands to consistently see good hands, and in the rare case Tabernacle is dead for a match (it usually outperforms) it still pitches to Mox Diamond. Darksteels keep the artifact/non-artifact ratio at 3-2 for Metalworker shenanigans and provide some light shielding against enemy wastelands.

Lodestone generally comes in when Bridges go out (mostly against noncreature combo), and finishes the game quickly before they find their Hurkyl's Recall or what have you. I miss the Sphere of Resistance's a little (Aluren and Food Chain), but am happier with Thorn in all other matches, as Thorn into Metalworker or Lodestone is often gg.

The 4th Metalworker comes in when the 2nd staff or Ballista's do. He is broken with either, and I like the 2-2 split because Ballista can be powerful on its own.

I have felt strong against delver (BUG has the most game against this list, but I think the match is at worst 50-50), DnT, Elves, Aluren, Reanimator (when they don't turn 1 Grisel/Sire), SnS, Storm and similar lists, and any Dark Depths / Lands variants. Miracles feels 50-50, and so does Food Chain.

Czech Pile feels bad. Blade decks feel slightly unfavorable. If a deck has consistent answers to artifacts while spitting out utility creatures with P/T <= 3 things are at their hardest I think.

Every once in a while the deck loses to itself with mulligans, or an opponent's 1 of wasteland, but then again I think every non-blue deck can maybe only slightly less often than this does. You pay a price for not having cantrips. There is an equal or greater amount of times where the deck has a busted opening and the lock is established immediately, regardless of the opposing deck. Not a terrible trade.

I've been having a blast building and playing this, this has been the best hard prison has ever felt to me. Thanks everyone for introducing the core pieces and sharing your experiences.