[article] Attacking is Miserable

[Skeggi]

To my knowledge is not uncommon to play Chalice set at zero to gain time to play your hate bears, but I might be wrong. Of course I wasn't speaking about workshop aggro, which is more akin to stompy/stax (depending on the build)

It is: usually it's stronger to play Moxen and Lotus yourself and play Null Rods.

If ANT is on the draw and can't win on turn one, it takes a bit to get rid of Gaddock (particularly g1 where you usually have very few answers maindeck).

As a Zoo player, you shouldn't have to run Gaddock Teeg maindeck. After sideboarding, ANT has no problems getting rid of Gaddock Teeg using Chain of Vapor, Deathmark or Slaughter Pact. If it has to, it can Tutor/Brainstorm for these cards.

This makes ANT probably the tier 1 of the format, but still not an unbeatable monster. Some matchups (not all, I admit) can be heavily modified by a strong sideboard plan (like people already do for dredge). [Is it that bad for aggro loam? I never tested the matchup, but the deck maindecks chalice, has a strong LD plan and big beaters... I would be glad to hear some more details about this :)

No, not unbeatable, but since people realise its potential it's gaining popularity and we'll all have to run maindeck Combo hate. I personally don't think that's healthy for a format. And while Aggro Loam does have maindeck chalice, you don't always know you play against Combo game 1, and if you do, mulling to that Chalice and a Mox can be devastating to your hand. Not a good match-up for Aggro Loam; maindeck Chalice doesn't solve everything.