MTG Salvation

I've been thinking of getting into Vintage, and I think I'd go the shops route. Affinity/Genesis Chamber aggro shops decks seem really neat because of how explosive they can be. Here's sort of what I was thinking:


Is this a good start? Is this type of shops deck a decent route to take? Do Genesis Chamber shop decks have the same potential to be successful in tourneys like MUD/stax? Any tips or advice would be awesome!

Thanks a lot for the honest response and helpful suggestion! This does look a lot better. Random question, do you think Sword of Fire and Ice has a place in this deck/SB, for the draw power and ability to take out delvers, pyromancers, monastery mentors, etc?

The list you proposed isn't new.... it was around in 2012 and 2013and did very well for the few months it was popular. The reason it would be as successful today is in how the meta changed. Shops were more prolific then, more focused on locking out players, but had very few cards that closed out games. Delver was on the rise, bug fish was on the decline as oath got better, and vintage was n this wierd place where deck we're still trying to go broken, by going over the top of one another. The list you have was a shop brew that sought to win before the opponent could go broken. There were hands where the deck could just win on turn 3, and it beat up on other shop lists because those other lists couldn't machine its speed or damage output.


I think Frobots is an ode to this list, in that it is vintage's version of affinity. Today, the Genesis chambers are outdated, as all the creatures that saturate the format make it less one sided than it used to be (you only.want it to churn out tokens for you). They also made skullclamp and the cranial plating insanely good.

The brew of choice for vintage affinity seems to be ravager/ hangerback decks. The reason this seems to be the flavor of the month is due to one card: Dack Faden . This planes walker has singlehandedly made red the 2nd most utilized color in the format, and presents serious issues for shops.

Shop decks have diverged in lists in order to deal with the threat of Dack. Forgemaster lists look to cheat Sundering titan into play as a way to help sphere Dack from being played. These lists have dropped Blightsteel Colossus, as the slot is too risky in a Dack infested Metagame. Blue decks have cut tinker for Blightsteel under the same pretenses.

Arcbound Ravager was one divergent way shops attempted to answer the problem, as anything Dack targets can be sacrificed, and thus not used against you. The worst thing Dack can do is steal a creature, and then use that creature to defend Dack, as it ticks up to steal everything. Hangerback is actually the best target for Dack to steal, which is why the most successful hangerback lists utilize Arcbound Ravager as a 4 of.

Even though the deck did well at Champs, the deck has critical flaws. The best merit for the deck is that Hangarback trumps those U/R and U/R/X best answers to you: Pulverize and Ingot Chewer, but does so at the cost of inconsistent hands and the abandonment of the hard lock on your opponent.

As for Sword of fire and ice, the card has had great results on the Frobots list. It prevents Dack from stealing whatever it is equipped to, and allows you to both race delver and pyromancer, and kill them both without casting a spell, which slows the Dig through Time engine. Dig players need spells to counter to be able to dig faster. It has worked for Rich Shay and is one way to present the dack decks problems.

Wow Jostin, thank you so much for all that information! I really appreciate the explanation of why Genesis Chamber is no longer relevant and how the meta changed since then. As for the Frobots deck, here's sort of what I'm thinking now:


Compared to Wildfire's deck: +2 Sword of Fire and Ice, +1 Ravager (since you mentioned the Hangarback decks with the most success run 4x Ravagers), -1 Phyrexian Metamorph, -2 Sphere of Resistance.

At this point, do you think this approach to shops is a viable option for a newcomer? Or would it be better to go for a more traditional lockdown stax deck?

Also, on a side note, is Triskelion still a good option for shooting pyromancers, delvers, etc?

Thanks again, both of you, for helping me out!

I think it's a powerful approach for people unfamiliar with the hardlock approach. It is a powerful deck, but not the best deck imho. It did very well at worlds, but I think that was on the back of the pilots skill (and some luck with the pairings) than solely the strength of the deck. Of the 2 top 8 hangerback lists, neither pilot is a traditionally a shops tactician: they both are lifelong blue players. And just before Hangerback was spoiled, frobots lists were running 3x trike, so yes, trike lion can get it done.