MUD is one of the best pure artifact decks in legacy, aiming to leverage powerful mana ramp, lock cards and large threats to win the game.
Metagames Suited For:
MUD has good match ups with combo decks, such as Ad Nauseum Tendrils, Belcher or Epic Storm. With its lock pieces (Chalice of the Void on 1 and 0,
Trinisphere
turn 1 and
Thorn of Amethyst
out the sideboard), it can be hard to impossible for a combo deck to go off or draw into answers.
MUD also has a fairly decent miracles match up, as it is able to slow or shut the deck down with Chalice of the Void on 1, and its wide range of cards are hard for a blind top to counter.
MUD doesn't do so well against decks that are able to attack its land base and mana. Lands is generally a loss, as their Ghost Quarters and Wastelands combined with the recursion engines can lock MUD out of the game. Death and Taxes can also be a pretty bad match up, especially on the draw, as they have their own lock pieces, can tap down or destroy your lands with their own lands, can cheat on mana with Aether Vial and similar.
MUD also has a poor Jund match up, as Wasteland locks them out of fast mana, Lili shuts off their 1 big creature and turn, and Abrupt Decay hits all their acceleration.
How the Deck Plays
Card Choices and Deck Core
The deck has a strong core of 47-49 cards you play in every deck and never cut. This core is
The Deck Core Show
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Grim Monolith
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Spine of Ish Sah
1x Staff of Domination
4x Trinisphere
4x Kuldotha Forgemaster
4x Lodestone Golem
4x Metalworker
4x Ancient Tomb
3-4x City of Traitors
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
3-4x Wasteland
The most important part of the deck is the lock cards. 4 Chalice of the Void and 4
Trinisphere
. In most match ups are aiming to play Chalice on turn 1 to shut off Brainstorm, Ponder, Thoughtseize etc to protect yourself and slow your opponents down, or go turn 1 Sol Land, into Grim Monolith into
Trinisphere
.
Next, the lands. Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Cloudpost and
Glimmerpost
generally tap for 2+ mana, allowing either the turn 1 Chalice of the Void on 1, or setting you up for big mana plays early. Wasteland and Cavern of Souls back this up with mana denial to keep Trinisphere useful, and protection from counter spells to allow you to resolve threats.
Metalworker
and Grim Monolith provide fast mana to power out big threats. A turn 2 Wurmcoil is not out of the question in this deck. One important things to note, are Pithing Needle does not shut off the ability of
Metalworker
to make mana, but Phyrexian Revoker does. So if someone plays a needle naming
Metalworker
you can laugh yourself all the way to the Wurmcoil Engine.
Next up, you have the toolbox. Kuldotha Forgemaster, blightsteel collosus, Lightning Greaves and Spine of Ish Sah. Forgemaster has a generally bigger body than anything else in the format, and can cash in small artifacts to get something big. Generally you will be getting Blightsteel Colosus to end the game, with a Chalice on 1 to protect it from Path, or with a pair of boots out to win on the spot, but other tools are possible, such as fetching Spine to remove a Moat. Remember that Forgemaster can sacrifice itself if need be too.
For the rest of the creatures, nearly every deck plays 4 Lodestone Golem. A big threat who makes everything your opponent plays cost more.
Finally, the last card of the core is the cutest, but funniest way MUD can win. Staff of Dominion. As well as providing a way to leverage excess mana during the late game, it also gives access to an infinite mana combo with
Metalworker
and 3 artifacts in hand. You simply tap
Metalworker
for 6 mana, tap staff and pay 3 to untap
Metalworker
, pay 1 mana to untap Staff, and repeat with a 2 mana gain each time. You can then use this mana to gain infinate lives and draw your deck, until you've played down enough lock pieces to stop them countering your cards, then play Lightning Greaves and Blightsteel Colossus for the win.
You also want to be playing, generally 17-20 creatures, giving you 5-8 spaces for creatures in your deck.
Wurmcoil Engine is one of the best, being a 6/6 for 6 with two relevant abilities, who produces tokens when Forgemastered away, or killed by artifact removal. The life link is also a biggy, as you take a lot of damage from Ancient Tomb. You will tend to see 1-4 in a MUD deck.
Sundering Titan is also a great card, and is generally seen as a 1-2 in the deck and sideboard. Its land destruction ability won't effect you, and you are able to destroy the land base of most 3 coloured decks. Remember duals count as two types, so you can take 1 Taiga as your forest choice and another Taiga as your mountain choice. Removing it is just as bad for them, and it makes a great target for forgemaster to both sacrifice and tutor up.
Steel Hellkite is a meta dependant card, and can be seen in some main decks and some sideboards. In the current meta, it flies over Moat, beats delver, as well as being a flexible answer to many problems the deck can face. By not having to dual TNN on the ground, it can destroy it on 3, it destroys EE and tokens on 0. You will generally see 1-2 between mainboard and sideboard.
Cogwork Assembler
is a more recent choice. A fairly cheap body, it is unimpressive, but with Cogwork Assembler out, Metalworker and 4 artifacts in hand, it gives another mana combo, which turns into infinite 1/2s, in a similar vein to Splinter Twin. It also can provide some late game value with cards like Sundering Titan.
Thought-Knot Seer is another interesting option. Despite not being an artifact, it is a 4/4 body and disrupts the hand, something MUD can struggle with.
Phyrexian Revoker is a Pithing Needle who can sometimes attack, but mostly just sits there to shut off problem cards such as Top, Jace, mana producers such as Heritage Druid, AEther Vial, and stuff. There is also an argument for Pithing Needle to shut off fetches.
