In my last article, I discussed the recent rise of Workshop strategies and whether there is a reason to do something about it. Well, if there is any argument in favor of a banning/restriction better than what has transpired in Qualifier Tournament #4 of the Classic Quarter League, then I would hate to see it. Here are the 12 decks that are currently in position to Top 8, at 3-1 or better:
5 Affinity
4 Workshop
1 Oath
1 Dredge
1 Stoneblade (U/W) Control
Yes, that is 36 Mishra’s Workshops in the top 12 decks. Taking it a step further, out of the 13 Affinity/Workshop decks that entered the tournament, 9 are still alive for a Top 8. If all breaks correctly, we could very well be looking at a full 32 Mishra’s Workshop in the Top 8.
There is an outside chance that one of the 2-2 decks could sneak into the top 8, but only one 4-2 deck advanced to the Top 8 of QT #3 and that player started 3-1.
Clearly, this is a trend, and it is a major problem. Without Power, decks are simply not able to compete against Workshop strategies. I imagine that the Invitational will consist of a ton of Workshop decks, especially since the prizes to be awarded are going to be insane. It might be ripe time for a dedicated anti-Workshop deck to run rough-shod through the Invitational field, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
As for what WotC can possibly do, their options are somewhat limited. The next B&R update will come after M14 is released in mid-late July. They could restrict some of the cards that I mentioned in my last article, but with only 5+ months left in the year that was destined for Power to be released, would anyone even notice that Classic’s B&R list changed?
I also believe that any action on WotC’s part might signal that Power is not imminent. WotC could make a change for the sake of change, knowing that Classic, as a format, has only a few more weeks or months to live, but I don’t think that’s what they would do. If any change is going to be made to Classic’s B&R list, that would be a clear indication that Vintage might not be coming until November at the earliest. Maybe, Vintage gets pushed back until 2014, which would be really bad considering all the pent-up frustration that many people have from the years of waiting for full Vintage to come online.
With that, I leave you with the first four Rounds of my Qualifier Tournament. I was unable to play Round 2 due to personal reasons, but I have Rounds 1, 3, and 4 for your enjoyment. Someone asked to see some Workshop videos a couple months back. Well, better late than never!
Null Rod Shop by enderfall
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enderfall
Clan Magic Eternal
Follow me on Twitter @enderfall
Tangle Wire always seals the deal.
“Tangle Wire always seals the deal.”
Yes. Yes, it does. The more I think about it, the more I realize that the perfect card to restrict, if any sort of change is to be made, would be Tangle Wire. Before TW, decks would get 1-3 turns to wiggle out of trouble from a Shop deck. These days, Workshop decks only need to get ahead on the board and then drop TW to seal the victory. It’s like a Standstill that you can’t break for 1-3 turns.
Agreed. I posted in a YSO thread more than a month ago that I thought it was the card to restrict and then found myself agreeing with you in a CQ forums post later.
It’s in both Affinity and Prison Shop builds, and it’s so asymmetrical as to be comical. It feels like a minimum-2-turn-Time Walk, and it’s very hard to remove even with gimmicky cards like Hex Parasite and Vampire Hexmage that you would think were designed to deal with it. (I had to play Needlebug to get around it, but that card is pretty bad because of Shop’s Strip effects.) Even playing it on Turn 1 on the draw can be good for Shop if it needs to buy time to draw more cards.
Best ways to combat it involve emptying your hand — even Engineered Explosives for 0 and Lotus Petals — and praying that they don’t have a second one. And doing that is horrible.
I think I mentioned this last time but I dislike the restrict more strategy for a deck that is doing great. I rather make slight rule changes or unrestrict cards. As we know a rule change is coming that I think will impact workshop decks, that is the legend rule. No longer can metamorph kill legendary creatures, which I think will impact shop decks. Is it enough? I am not sure, but it could be. If more needs to be done then I would start by unrestricted wheel of fortune and see if anything changes. If still not, then unrestrict balance or yawg will or necro – I would playtest many decks to see the best one to unrestrict to not warp the format.
Lastly, and only if the above does not work, then WOTC should develop a card in an upcoming set that can assist (people in other forums have good ideas on what this could be). But I am against restricting cards unless there is no other options.
My thinking is that the format was far more balanced before Tangle Wire. Restricting it seems like hitting a reset button rather than playing around with the chance of breaking the format in a different way with an unrestriction. I suppose the only real way to verify this would be through some playtesting in the anything goes room, though I doubt we could come up with an empirical number of matches played to get a statistical outcome that could benefit the format.
Unrestricting Balance sounds pretty sexy, but that would do a number on aggro, right?
I just dislike the restrict plan compared to other options. Like I implied I have not done the extensive playtesting to determine what to unrestrict but WOTC has full time employees who do this for a living (I think). So I am not suggesting that WE should playtest extensively to determine a statistical outcome that could benefit the format, but WOTC should.
For all we know restricting tangle wire, golem, etc.. could make the format more unhealthy than unrestricting say necro, balance, etc… We also have the legend rule coming as I mention which might have implications. I guess after all this pontificating, if WOTC feels there is evidence that classic needs tweaking, then I would push for other options besides restricting more. I would want them to do extensive playtesting on the array of options to come up with the best solution.
I can’t remember the last time I Legend ruled anything in Oath and actually went on to win the game. Metamorph only has value against Blightsteel and Show and Tell. Emrakul just goes back into the Oath library and it all starts over again. Griselbrand draws 7 cards which usually is enough to find a counter spell. Duplicant is a far better removal against Oath.
I don’t know what unrestricting a card would do to the format, but I do know what it looked like before Tangle Wire and it was quite balanced. Storm was even a deck back then. We all know WOTC won’t perform a single spec of testing for Classic. It’s up to us to do the work for them, IMHO.
After the Legend-rule update, sometimes Prison Shop will just be able to copy their Emrakul with Metamorph, take a big hit from their original Emrakul, and then attack back for the win.
I will say that it would seem that Kataki gets a bump up in value however. Metamorphing a Kataki was just about the only thing you could do to it. Going forward, only Triskelion, Duplicant, and an unopposed Steel Hellkite (with 2 available mana to activate its ability) are outs to a Kataki. Having to use a Duplicant on a 2/1 is a poor use of the card, however.
Pauper all-star Serrated Arrows?
Sure, why not. Pretty good in a Karn, Silver Golem shell, too. Along those lines, Staff of Nin would also be a good choice at the 6 mana slot.