[Deck] MUD (Metalworker)

[Bobmans]

@Bobmans: Good luck to you!

For BUG, I was consistently playing against it this week and had less than 40% win ratio on more than 40 games playing Stax, combo, and stompy (changing lists trying to find a build that would consistently beat BUG). Then I decided to focus on the list I know best (Stax) and made some tweaks with how I play. With the same lists for my Stax (that i had been losing with) and opposing BUG, I was able to win 7/10 games... Weird how changing the way you play increases your probability to win...

Could you elaborate about what you changed in the way you play BUG?


So this is what i am currently tweaking. Nothing to weird but the maindeck Mishra's Factory instead of Cavern of Souls. Also the 2/2 split between Steel Hellkite and Wurmcoil Engine has been real good to me.

//Main 61 cards:
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
2 Vesuva
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland

4 Grim Monolith
4 Metalworker
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Steel Hellkite
1 Sundering Titan
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Blightsteel Colossus

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Trinisphere
2 Lightning Greaves
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Staff of Domination

3 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

//Side 15 cards:
2 Karn Liberated
1 Trinisphere
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Wasteland
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Sundering Titan
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Defense Grid
1 Spine of Ish Sah

Not included:
1 Powder Keg instead of Wasteland (going 4 main), Keg instead of Ratchet Bomb, nostalgia man. The thing is just used for creature tokens or a random Deathrite Shaman or Pithing Needle.
1 Staff of Nin instead of Staff of Domination explanation later on.

Optional manabase changes:
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland

or

3 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland

I am still in doubt of playing Mishra's Factory instead of Cavern of Souls. CoS have been dead more often then not, while Mishra's Factory can actually fulfill multiple roles. Hence, sac for Forgemaster, block/attack (MUD was missing critters to put up some early pressure, or sac for Liliana in order to protect a bigger piece. Also Factory stalls the board when the opponent puts up some early pressure.
Also i really like to play the deck more stax-like then focusing on the combo. A lot of decks are very weak to wasteland, running 4 of them with a second Crucible is pretty darn good. But i think that running 4 Factory's makes the most use out of it.
Staff of Domination has once again disappointed me. Never, but i mean never, have i once used it for the win. On rare occasions i use some mana to draw an extra card, but that's about it. So i will make room for the main Staff of Nin (or Spine of Ish Sah and Staff of Nin on the board).
I never saw Thorn of Amethyst, but i also didn't mis it. I can imagine 3 Revokers being solid and a to be determined flex slot.

ANT: 4-2
-3 Ugin
-2 Steel Hellkite
-1 Crucible of Worlds

+1 Trinipshere
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Thorn of Amethyst
+1 Platinum Emperion

Most games involved in me landing a "lock" piece. G2/G3 he still has outs like end of turn Chain of Vapor or Abrupt Decay. Revoker on Lion's Eye Diamond was pretty hardcore as well as a hasted Wurmcoil Engine/multiple Glimmerposts.
I never saw the Thorn of Amethyst. Also i landed Platinum Emperion G1 on t3 and that is always a win. That game was awesome, on the play. Ancient Tomb, Grim Monolith, Trinisphere,go. T2 Factory, Metalworker, go, T3 tap Metalworker into Platinum Emperion, scoop. Also, Lodestone Golem shines in this (kind of) match-up.

Oozing: 2-1
-3 Ugin
-2 Steel Hellkite
-1 Crucible of Worlds

+1 Trinipshere
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Thorn of Amethyst
+1 Platinum Emperion

Landing Chalice @ 1 did do it, but it is tricky considering they can Entomb in respond, untap and cast Shallow Grave. Also if they have the mana they can go Buried Alive into Shallow Grave. Luckily Buried Alive is sorcery speed. Lock pieces work very well, but the deck is incredibly resilient and can win fast and out of nowhere. 1 game won going T1 Lightning Greaves, T2 Metalworker, 1 mana floating reveling 6 Artifacts, 1 being Metalworker, 1 being Forgemaster. I casted the second Metalworker, equipped and revealed 2 artifact, cast Forgemaster, equip and sac 2 Metalworkers and the Forgemaster for Blightsteel, equip and yay!

DnT: 1-2
-4 Chalice of the Void
-2 Lodestone Golem

+2 Karn Liberated
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+1 Spine of Ish Sah
+1 Ensnaring Bridge

Perhaps i would have switched the Trinispheres for Chalice's on the play, but i didn't think about it during the match-up. On the draw those are only good if they do not cast a vial. If you get a Chalice @ 1 followed by a Chalice @ 3 it is usually over. But often we do not get to that point. Ugin was really important, but you need tools like Karn and Spine to get rid of Revoker. One game he responded to my Forgemaster activation with a Containment Priest. He had a Pithing Needle on Ugin, while i had Ugin. I fetched the Spine targeting the Needle and bolted the Priest. Karn and friends showed up on the ultimate.
I would say that Aether Vial is the problem card of that deck. Revokers help to stop that interaction. Also Revoker stops Batterksull or Jitte. Lodestone Golem is often to weak in this match-up, but i leave in some to have some bodies. The Ensnaring Bridge is there to stop them from overloading. It is sometimes relevant to stop Batterskull and/or a creature equipped with Sword of x and y.

BUG: 2-3
-1 Platinum Emperion
-4 Chalice of the Void
-4 Lodestone Golem

+2 Karn Liberated
+1 Sundering Titan
+1 Wasteland
+1 Crucible of Worlds
+1 Trinisphere
+2 Defense Grid
+1 Spine of Ish Sah

Again here i find Golem to be weak, also Chalice meet Abrupt Decay.. I rather invest in stopping their mana from developing. Often if you can hold them of 3 mana your in the safe zone, especially under a Trinisphere. Their best T1 play against us is Fetch + Deathrite Shaman. Hymn or Abrupt Decay + Wasteland is pretty killing. Not sure if i want Thorn of Amethyst here to bait FoW or Daze in order to get a Trinisphere or Metalworker out. Mishra's Factory was decent as it was able to hold of Dark Confidant and unflipped Delver. Karn Liberated acts as a very huge Liliana against them. Often it was like who has the better early turn plays. I punted one game really hard. I casted a T2 Metalworker which resolved and survived one turn. Then i untapped drawing a 6th artifact. I revealed all for 12 mana and greedy as i was i casted Blightsteel which met a FoW. I should have gone for Lodestone Golem (preboard), Forgemaster and another Forgemaster into Sundering Titan.

[darkgh0st]

I used to avoid Daze and don't use my Wasteland right away. The longer you can keep them at low level lands, the better you will be off mid-game. I used to save my Wasteland to have mana to cast Lodestone or something else. Also, when they alternate cost Daze, that takes away that land from them. So I try to bait Daze with less important items, sometimes even baiting the Chalice or Sphere only to put them behind and have something better after. Also, if you do resolve the tax piece, chances are they have a creature and pressing you. I normally try to match it up right away, meeting FoW or Decay. I find that the right play was to ease in mana rocks, or the small items, or even just a couple Mishra's Factories and gain life with Glimmerposts. Eventually they'll have to respond. Then that's when you take out your big items. There were times where Hymn was taking two big cards away from me, a Lodestone and a Forgemaster, only for me to resolve a Wurmcoil or Steel Hellkite. And if they cast the Goyf instead, you're free to cast the fatty you want. Then there's Lilliana, who's been a b... to handle. Mishra's Factories were great.

Any thoughts on this?

[Bobmans]

I used to avoid Daze and don't use my Wasteland right away. The longer you can keep them at low level lands, the better you will be off mid-game. I used to save my Wasteland to have mana to cast Lodestone or something else. Also, when they alternate cost Daze, that takes away that land from them. So I try to bait Daze with less important items, sometimes even baiting the Chalice or Sphere only to put them behind and have something better after. Also, if you do resolve the tax piece, chances are they have a creature and pressing you. I normally try to match it up right away, meeting FoW or Decay. I find that the right play was to ease in mana rocks, or the small items, or even just a couple Mishra's Factories and gain life with Glimmerposts. Eventually they'll have to respond. Then that's when you take out your big items. There were times where Hymn was taking two big cards away from me, a Lodestone and a Forgemaster, only for me to resolve a Wurmcoil or Steel Hellkite. And if they cast the Goyf instead, you're free to cast the fatty you want. Then there's Lilliana, who's been a b... to handle. Mishra's Factories were great.

Any thoughts on this?

I fully agree with this. fire of Wastelands right away on T1 even if that leaves you with 0 lands is often pretty good. especially if they go Fetch -> Ponder. Dealing with them if they go Fetch -> Deathrite Shaman changes things. Anyway, manascrewing them is the best tactic and early Wasteland really is good. Also Sundering Titan is a house against them. Liliana is a big trouble. Mishra's Factory plus Revokers from the board should help a lot.
Would you rather see 3/4 split Factory/Wasteland or the other way around?

[darkgh0st]

From my testing, it didn't really mattered when it was a 3/4 or a 4/3. Vesuvas make up for the lacking copy (I am running 3). I'd even say as long as you have 3 of each (Wasteland and Mishra's Factory) or more you are doing fine.

[Bobmans]

From my testing, it didn't really mattered when it was a 3/4 or a 4/3. Vesuvas make up for the lacking copy (I am running 3). I'd even say as long as you have 3 of each (Wasteland and Mishra's Factory) or more you are doing fine.

Copying a factory seems more appealing then Wasteland since you fire those away pretty fast while factory's stay. So i basicly answered my own question. Thanks for reflecting.
Also what are your thoughts on Staff of Domination?

[darkgh0st]

I put Staff of Domination in the same category as Blightsteel Colossus. You just win out of nowhere with it, or it becomes a bad draw. So if you want to eliminate all your bad draws, take out both. But include both in if you want to win out of nowhere. And Staff of Domination should not be compared to Staff of Nin, they have different purposes in the deck, even if Staff of Domination can acts as a draw engine.

[Bobmans]

I put Staff of Domination in the same category as Blightsteel Colossus. You just win out of nowhere with it, or it becomes a bad draw. So if you want to eliminate all your bad draws, take out both. But include both in if you want to win out of nowhere. And Staff of Domination should not be compared to Staff of Nin, they have different purposes in the deck, even if Staff of Domination can acts as a draw engine.

The thing is, i have never won with Staff of Domination. I am not comparing the two staffs, i was just suggesting i'd rather put in something else like the staff of nin or spine of ish sah. Might aswell be wurmcoil nr3 or lightning greaves nr3. I would never cut Blightsteel from a deck running Forgemaster. That card has won me lots of games.

[darkgh0st]

I guess it depends on what you are trying to solve. Staff of Domination can let you combo out before an opponent can. The 9th place in SCG last week didn't have any Staff of Domination, but a Spine of Ish Sah main instead.

[Bobmans]

I guess it depends on what you are trying to solve. Staff of Domination can let you combo out before an opponent can. The 9th place in SCG last week didn't have any Staff of Domination, but a Spine of Ish Sah main instead.

I'm going with a Spine main and drop the Staff from the 76. Also going for 4 Wasteland and 3 Mishra's Factory.
Another card i have doubts about is Thorn of Amethyst. I guess i prefer running 3 Revokers. That leaves me with one open spot, any suggestion? Emrakul would be fun to against Miracles and painter like decks. Also might be funny to drop one under an opponents Show and Tell (after i made sure he cant instantly win with Omniscience due to lock pieces.

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

What do you think of this?

4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
3 Vesuva
4 Wasteland
2 Blasted Landscape

I find 24 lands to be too many. ... I'm unimpressed with Mishra's Factory save for protecting against planeswalkers. Which it's not particularly great at doing.

I don't like Cavern Of Souls because it holds out counterspells against Ugin

[potatodavid]

Blasted Landscapes just seems bad for card draw. Just play darksteel citadel instead.

[Bobmans]

What do you think of this?

4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
3 Vesuva
4 Wasteland
2 Blasted Landscape

I find 24 lands to be too many. ... I'm unimpressed with Mishra's Factory save for protecting against planeswalkers. Which it's not particularly great at doing.

I don't like Cavern Of Souls because it holds out counterspells against Ugin

Buried Ruin can also be a solid cards. Being able to regain forgemaster food or countered cards back from the bin a good consideration.

Don't forget that Mishra's Factory is not in the deck simply to protect walkers. It has a lot more utility that can be used in different situations. Most likely if you resolve Ugin, the board is empty and often doesn't need (much) protection. In this matter i also take in account that he can soak a lot of damage because he has 7 loyalty and bolting ups it by 2 each time. MUD also misses a quick creature deployment when not dropping bombs from your hand. The lowest CMC creature is Lodestone Golem and sometimes Phyrexian Revoker out of the board. By using Factory's you are able to create more boardpresence, while not polluting your deck mediocre cards. It produces mana so it help stabilizing a manabase. It can be an artifact so you can sac it for Forgedude. And having a creature bring more advantages. Plus, they become better if you land multiples. Just by having an untapped Factory and mana open you prevent a lot of creatures attacking into it. Also with Crucible of Worlds they become even better. Let them waste a bolt on it. Fine, thats one less for Lodestone Golem or Metalworker. That said, i am not saying that the card is super awesome, i am just trying to say that the card offers more then one might expect and has some synergy with MUD. Being multi functional is important.

I agree on your take on Cavern of Souls. Better they waste FoW on Forgemaster or Lodestone Golem and then Ugin pops up. Better they run out of counterspells and removal fast so the bombs eventually start to land.

[Alex Holland]

I put Staff of Domination in the same category as Blightsteel Colossus. You just win out of nowhere with it, or it becomes a bad draw. So if you want to eliminate all your bad draws, take out both. But include both in if you want to win out of nowhere. And Staff of Domination should not be compared to Staff of Nin, they have different purposes in the deck, even if Staff of Domination can acts as a draw engine.

lol

1 activate kuldotha
2 equip greaves
3 win

but yeah blightsteel colossus is totally 'random' in this deck

[potatodavid]

Went 3-1 at FNM last night. Did not get a chance to try out Coercive Portal (the shop didn't have any) last night or Ugin. They never came up in any of my games to try them out.

------------------
4x
-------------------
Cloudpost
Glimmerpost
City of Traitors
Ancient tomb
Metalworker
Grim Monolith
Lodestone Golem
Chalice
3 ball
Forgemaster
-------------------
3x
-------------------
Wasteland
Vesuva
Wurmcoil
-------------------
2x
-------------------
Sundering Titan
-------------------
Various singletons
---------------------
1-Punch Robot
Staff of Domination
Greaves
Platinum Angel
Spine of Ish Sah
Staff of Nin
Ugin
Steel Hellkite
------------------------
Board
------------------------
2x Pithing Needle
2x Revoker
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Bottle Cloister
1x Witchbane Orb
1x Greaves
1x Spine
1x Karn
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Contaigon Engine

-------------------------------------

Games:

Round 1: High Tide
Game 1: Chalice on 1 + 3 Ball + Lodestone Golem = I win
Game 2: He Lands a rebuild end of my turn 3. Then Plays Solitaire for 10 minutes on turn 4.
Game 3: See Game 2.

Round 2: ANT
Game 1: Chalice on 1, 3 ball turn 2. Wurmcoil seals it this time!
Game 2: He has the turn 1 kill.
Game 3: Chalice on 1, He abrupt decays it. Turn 2 Witchbane orb, He concedes.

Round 3: Death's Shadow
Game 1: He lands a Delver turn 1 which flips and starts going to town on my life total. I get a chalice out which pretty much shuts all of his spells off. I land a Sundering titan and since his deck is running shocklands he's forced to block with his delver to see if he can find some miracle spell. Dies anyways.
Game 2: He counters the first 2 chalices I drop. I land a 3 ball and waste one of his lands. I win with a platinum angel in the air oddly enough.

Round 4: ANT
Game 1: Chalice + Sphere + Wurmcoil win.
Game 2: Chalice + 3 Ball + Witchbane Orb + Thorn of Amethyst + Lodestone = win


I hit all the right cards all night with the exception of the high tide player having rebuild. Things I wanna tweak, I do want to try Coercive portal over Staff of Nin. I would also like to play more fair match-ups. I was against decks that this was designed to eat a live. Wins are great but I would love more practice against the delvers of the world just to be a better pilot of this deck.

[darkgh0st]

I played a generic MUD deck with 2 main deck Phyrexian Revoker at a 40 player legacy tourney at Face to Face Games Toronto.

I didn't do so well, winning my first two matches and losing the next 3.

Round 1 was UG 12post:
Game 1: I resolve an early Chalice for 1 and then a Lodestone Golem. We both have late Cloudposts. I didn't see much from his side other than him getting rid of my Chalice through Repeal, SnT a Primeval Titan, and Ulamog hitting my Greaves. Got a Forgemaster, Greaves, double 3sphere, then went for a Blightsteel FTW.
Game 2: We both were opening with Cloudposts and Glimmerposts enough so we can both generate 12 mana. I get a Karn online first and go a long way with it.
1-0

Round 2 with MUD Mirror Match:
Game 1: We both open with Grim Monoliths then clog up the board with artifacts. He was shutting down my mana with Crubile and Wasteland, and I had my Phyrexian Revoker set to Metalworker. He would win as we both tutor for a Blightsteel and he attacks me with it and he has 3 more artifacts, but he decided to fetch Spine to target Blightsteel, which is Indestructible. We both shuffle Blightsteel, only for me to draw it again after some draw and gos. I end up ahead with a Wurmcoil FTW.
Game 2: He didn't have much lands as I shut his mana sources down with Phyrexian Revoker on Grim Monolith and Wasteland him to none. I get a Forgemaster out and fetch Blightsteel for the scoop.
2-0

Round 3 with Lands:
G1 and G2: lose horribly and G2 not able to get Chalice on Turn 1, but on turn 2. 2 Explorations came out T1.
2-1

Round 4 with RU Omni-Tell:
G1: Didn't know what I was playing against so I kept a fast hand with no taxes. My Blightsteel met Emrakul and got sacrificed after.
G2: Chalice for 1 got countered and didn't draw any other tax effects while him having solutions for Lodestone and anything I threw at him.
2-2

Round 5 with some BW deck:
G1: He won with a whole bunch of Discards, StP, and Lillian a to seal the deal.
G2: I won by locking him out.
G3: I didn't really care as I can't make it for top 8, so I went to sac 3 artifact to fetch another Grim Monolith to cast Ugin, only to see the opponent topdeck a Pithing Needle and I proceed to lose.
2-3 and dropped



Couple of take away notes that I got from that tourney:
- There were 4 MUD players in that tourney, which is 10% of the total meta there. Seems like MUD really is growing.
- For lands, mull to a first turn Chalice or 3sphere
- The red brew of Omni-Tell uses Young Pyromancer and Lightning Bolts
- For Omni-Tell, even with a first turn Chalice or tax effect, we are still screwed as they have tons of countermeasures against us.
- A fellow MUD player has sworn on Staff of Nin in his 75. There was 8 DnT decks in one tourney he was in and lots in previous ones. Though, none that I know of in this tourney today.

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

For the Liliana / Discard matchup, play Dodecapod in sideboard. If they hymn him or Liliana it, it gets put right into play as a 5/5 . Then maybe you have a clear shot at taking out liliana with it. I don't know what else to play lol but have seen this card show up in some lists .

[BlackHawkX9]

For the Liliana / Discard matchup, play Dodecapod in sideboard. If they hymn him or Liliana it, it gets put right into play as a 5/5 . Then maybe you have a clear shot at taking out liliana with it. I don't know what else to play lol but have seen this card show up in some lists .

Against Lilli, the combination of coercive portals and wurmcoil engine usually proves too much for those decks to handle. Dead guy ale (BW discard, stp, etc) is a rough match for mud without chalice on 1.

[Bobmans]

For the Liliana / Discard matchup, play Dodecapod in sideboard. If they hymn him or Liliana it, it gets put right into play as a 5/5 . Then maybe you have a clear shot at taking out liliana with it. I don't know what else to play lol but have seen this card show up in some lists .

Stuff like Dodecapod is just so narrow. To narrow to push a possible win out of it.

[potatodavid]

I think we make the point of trying our Portal/Staff against lily and keep jamming fatties if we can.

[Scott]

This only applies to Welder MUD, but my go-to SB card against BUG and the Liliana decks being discussed would be Blood Moon, as it's never dead against those decks, and has broad application against the field.