Esperzoa is an amazing creature in the right deck. I used to try to make it work in Legacy, but it really only shines in Vintage where there are so many cheap artifacts.
If you don't have anything of note to bounce early in the game, just replay Moxen or Seat of the Synod for the Zoa. However, the real fun starts when you play stuff like:
- Tangle Wire. Remove a counter from Wire during upkeep, then tap down three of your stuff (easy for shops decks usually), THEN use Esperzoa trigger to bounce Tangle Wire back to your hand. In your main phase, you can replay Tangle Wire for a fresh four counters and keep your opponent locked down this way. Phyrexian Metamorph can then copy the Wire and strengthen the lock even more.
- Chalice of the Void. You can play a Chalice @ 0 on your first turn and prevent your opponent from playing artifact mana. Then, bounce your Chalice with Zoa during your upkeep and play out any Moxen/Lotus that you drew, then replay the Chalice @ 0 or even at other settings.
- Faerie Mechanist. This guy is actually a Ponder on a 2/2 flying body for Shop decks. Play him once, find an artifact that you like, then bounce him with Zoa during your upkeep and play him again, and you have yourself a draw engine, which is something that Shops decks usually don't have.
- Mana Vault. This card is supposed to have a drawback, but with Esperzoa in play, Mana Vault just becomes "Free Mana Vault". If you bounce it during your upkeep with Zoa, you take no damage from Vault, and you just replay it for one mana during your main phase to get two free mana every turn for as long as you want. Awesome.
Master of Etherium is a true beast in this deck. For 2U, you basically get a anywhere from a 5/5 - 8/8 typically. On average, he is around a 6/6. And he happens to give any other creatures you have in play +1/+1. Lodestone Golem hits for 6 damage with Master in play. It would be nice if he had evasion of some kind, but you can't argue with the raw power of this guy in a typical Shop deck. He ends the game FAST if your opponent can't deal with him.
Lonestone Golem and Phyrexian Metamorph need no explanation and should be automatic 4-ofs in every Shop deck made after their printings. Metamorph is particularly nice because it pitches to Force of Will in addition to being a very useful card.
Force of Will is great, obviously, but you need blue cards to support it. Sixteen blue creatures (4 Zoa, 4 Master, 4 Metamorph, 4 Mechanist) plus the four Force themselves is usually enough to cast it consistently. The great thing about the creatures in this deck is that they not only pitch to Force of Will, but they also happen to be artifacts as well, which means they pump Tolarian Academy, get drawn by Mechanist, and pump Master of Etherium. Lots of synergy here.
Ancestral Recall is the best blue card ever and you can cast it pretty regularly with the four Seat of the Synod, two Island, one Academy, one Mox Sapphire, and one Black Lotus.
The two Island / two Ancient Tomb split seems to work best, but if you're worried about not being able to cast the blue stuff because of the slim number of blue sources, then I'd cut the Tombs for two more Islands.
I don't think you need Tinker or Time Walk, because you want to maximize the number of stuff you can cast with Mishra's Workshop and draw with Mechanist and bounce with Zoa. Recall makes the cut because it's only one mana and it's the best blue card ever. If I were to play Time Walk, I'd probably cut one of the blue creatures like Metamorph or Mechanist, but I've found that I'd rather play artifacts than Time Walk usually. But it's up in the air. Tinker this deck has no use for, because it's a bunch of 4-of cheap, redundant threats, and 2U non-artifact can become tough to cast with Lodestone in play or say, only Workshop plus a Seat/Island.
I also don't think you need to play any Spheres. I tried testing Spheres out, and even just 4 Thorn of Amethyst was often clunky in this deck. Thorn will often just be a road-bump for decks that are supposed to be heavily affected by it, and sometimes will even hurt you badly when you need to cast a Force of Will or a Mox or a Recall. I'd rather just play Chalice and Tangle Wire, because they give you hard card advantage (in the case of Chalice) and big tempo gains (in the case of Tangle Wire) instead of just a minor annoyance of a tax (if you play Spheres), AND you will basically never be hurt by Chalice or Tangle Wire yourself, especially when Esperzoa can bounce both back to your hand to make it even more asymmetrical. Spheres are useful, but more so in a controlling build of a Shop deck that can afford to play 4 Sphere of Resistance alongside 4 Thorn of Amethyst, and then use Crucible and Smokestack alongside those. Spheres do not belong in Workshop aggro, in my opinion, and definitely not in Workshop aggro build that plays Force of Will.
This deck is a lot of fun to play and is surprisingly competitive. It plays a little bit faster than traditional shop aggro decks, and has the benefit of playing Force and Recall, and a psuedo-Ponder / draw engine, which most shop decks simply do not have access to. Try this deck out!
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Wasteland
2 Ancient Tomb
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Opal
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Tangle Wire
1 Trinisphere
4 Esperzoa
4 Master of Etherium
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Faerie Mechanist
4 Force of Will
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Mindlock Orb
3 Razormane Masticore
3 Hurkyll's Recall
Esperzoa is an amazing creature in the right deck. I used to try to make it work in Legacy, but it really only shines in Vintage where there are so many cheap artifacts.
If you don't have anything of note to bounce early in the game, just replay Moxen or Seat of the Synod for the Zoa. However, the real fun starts when you play stuff like:
- Tangle Wire. Remove a counter from Wire during upkeep, then tap down three of your stuff (easy for shops decks usually), THEN use Esperzoa trigger to bounce Tangle Wire back to your hand. In your main phase, you can replay Tangle Wire for a fresh four counters and keep your opponent locked down this way. Phyrexian Metamorph can then copy the Wire and strengthen the lock even more.
- Chalice of the Void. You can play a Chalice @ 0 on your first turn and prevent your opponent from playing artifact mana. Then, bounce your Chalice with Zoa during your upkeep and play out any Moxen/Lotus that you drew, then replay the Chalice @ 0 or even at other settings.
- Faerie Mechanist. This guy is actually a Ponder on a 2/2 flying body for Shop decks. Play him once, find an artifact that you like, then bounce him with Zoa during your upkeep and play him again, and you have yourself a draw engine, which is something that Shops decks usually don't have.
- Mana Vault. This card is supposed to have a drawback, but with Esperzoa in play, Mana Vault just becomes "Free Mana Vault". If you bounce it during your upkeep with Zoa, you take no damage from Vault, and you just replay it for one mana during your main phase to get two free mana every turn for as long as you want. Awesome.
Master of Etherium is a true beast in this deck. For 2U, you basically get a anywhere from a 5/5 - 8/8 typically. On average, he is around a 6/6. And he happens to give any other creatures you have in play +1/+1. Lodestone Golem hits for 6 damage with Master in play. It would be nice if he had evasion of some kind, but you can't argue with the raw power of this guy in a typical Shop deck. He ends the game FAST if your opponent can't deal with him.
Lonestone Golem and Phyrexian Metamorph need no explanation and should be automatic 4-ofs in every Shop deck made after their printings. Metamorph is particularly nice because it pitches to Force of Will in addition to being a very useful card.
Force of Will is great, obviously, but you need blue cards to support it. Sixteen blue creatures (4 Zoa, 4 Master, 4 Metamorph, 4 Mechanist) plus the four Force themselves is usually enough to cast it consistently. The great thing about the creatures in this deck is that they not only pitch to Force of Will, but they also happen to be artifacts as well, which means they pump Tolarian Academy, get drawn by Mechanist, and pump Master of Etherium. Lots of synergy here.
Ancestral Recall is the best blue card ever and you can cast it pretty regularly with the four Seat of the Synod, two Island, one Academy, one Mox Sapphire, and one Black Lotus.
The two Island / two Ancient Tomb split seems to work best, but if you're worried about not being able to cast the blue stuff because of the slim number of blue sources, then I'd cut the Tombs for two more Islands.
I don't think you need Tinker or Time Walk, because you want to maximize the number of stuff you can cast with Mishra's Workshop and draw with Mechanist and bounce with Zoa. Recall makes the cut because it's only one mana and it's the best blue card ever. If I were to play Time Walk, I'd probably cut one of the blue creatures like Metamorph or Mechanist, but I've found that I'd rather play artifacts than Time Walk usually. But it's up in the air. Tinker this deck has no use for, because it's a bunch of 4-of cheap, redundant threats, and 2U non-artifact can become tough to cast with Lodestone in play or say, only Workshop plus a Seat/Island.
I also don't think you need to play any Spheres. I tried testing Spheres out, and even just 4 Thorn of Amethyst was often clunky in this deck. Thorn will often just be a road-bump for decks that are supposed to be heavily affected by it, and sometimes will even hurt you badly when you need to cast a Force of Will or a Mox or a Recall. I'd rather just play Chalice and Tangle Wire, because they give you hard card advantage (in the case of Chalice) and big tempo gains (in the case of Tangle Wire) instead of just a minor annoyance of a tax (if you play Spheres), AND you will basically never be hurt by Chalice or Tangle Wire yourself, especially when Esperzoa can bounce both back to your hand to make it even more asymmetrical. Spheres are useful, but more so in a controlling build of a Shop deck that can afford to play 4 Sphere of Resistance alongside 4 Thorn of Amethyst, and then use Crucible and Smokestack alongside those. Spheres do not belong in Workshop aggro, in my opinion, and definitely not in Workshop aggro build that plays Force of Will.
This deck is a lot of fun to play and is surprisingly competitive. It plays a little bit faster than traditional shop aggro decks, and has the benefit of playing Force and Recall, and a psuedo-Ponder / draw engine, which most shop decks simply do not have access to. Try this deck out!