Working the Shop

Mishra’s Workshop Decks in Vintage

A Prison Shops Sideboard Guide

Author: Nico Bohny

Three for One Trading not only is the name of our beloved “mothership”, it was also a concept behind one of Magic’s first card cycles back in Alpha, the so-called Boon Cycle, featuring incredibly powerful cards like Ancestral Recall, Lightning Bolt, Dark Ritual and… well… also the significantly less powerful cards Healing Salve and Giant Growth.

Today we’re focussing on Vintage, and in particular on another very dominating and overpowered card which also comes with a built-in Three for One: Mishra’s Workshop.

What’s the Deal?

Workshop deck, besides Bazaar of Baghdad-decks and blue decks featuring Ancestral Recall and Time Walk, were always part of the holy trinity of Vintage since the introduction of the format. And with the printing of Vexing Bauble in Modern Horizons 3, Workshop Decks just got a huge upgrade.

Workshop decks were slowly falling out of favor with the dominance and sheer power of Lurrus midrange decks, but Vexing Bauble might just be what this archetype needed to return to life.

There are three kinds of Workshop decks:

  • Jewel Shops, a combo deck trying to go off as soon as turn one
  • Aggro Shops, trying to set up as much pressure as possible in the form of small artifact creatures
  • Prison Shops, about which we’re going to talk about today
Mishra's Workshop ATQ

Traditionally, Prison decks try to lock out their opponents by playing restrictive cards like Sphere of Resistance, Null Rod and Wasteland to attack your opponent’s mana, preventing them from casting spells and therefore completely locking them out of the game.

This usually works much smoother on the play, resulting in a very high win rate when winning the die roll. Vexing Bauble underlines this fact once again, depriving your opponent of fast mana in the form of Moxen, Lotus and Mana Crypt, as well as their ability to react with Force of Will.

Vexing Bauble MH3

When to play and when not to play Prison Shops?

A main strength of Shops is converting going first into easy wins. You should be favored against almost any deck if you win the die roll.

In the current metagame, I feel like Shops is favored against the non-green midrange decks and the Bazaar decks, of which there are not many at the moment. Combo decks are only slightly favorable, since you usually win on the play and lose on the draw, but with Mindbreak Traps in the sideboard and some hands being slow against you, you are overall favored against them.

Your bad matchups are Aggro Shops and Mono White Initiative, since they are doing a similar thing as you, while being faster at deploying their threats. Green matchups like Oath and Sultai midrange can also be very tough if they come prepared for the matchup and have the full set of Force of Vigor and some Natures Claims in their 75.

If you expect a Lurrus metagame like it was before MH3, I think that Shops is a decent candidate going into a tournament.

Mindbreak Trap OTP

WHAT TO INCLUDE

Jegantha the Wellspring IKO

There are many cards worth considering, but I feel comfortable with this configuration. The sideboard is geared towards a metagame without a lot of Dredge, but if you’re afraid of that deck, feel free to bring your playset of Leyline of the Void.

I also tried Jegantha, the Wellspring as a companion, since it only costs you Chalice of the Void in your maindeck, which doesn’t seem like a great loss considering you get Vexing Baubles doing something very similar, but then, I never cast Jegantha in my games, so it kind of just wasted a sideboard slot.

If I could add more cards to the deck, it would for sure be Metamorphs! The card proved to be awesome in so many spots against so many different decks while rarely being dead in a matchup.

Unfortunately, after all, it was just not powerful enough to justify running it over other cards. My current sideboard version consists of many 1-of bullets, which makes sense considering Karn, the Great Creator, Urza’s Saga and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim in the maindeck.

What That Sideboard Do

Let me go over the slots very quickly.

Bojuka Bog is a nice way of interacting with graveyards through Golos. Against graveyard decks, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is usually your go-to target, but there are games in which you need to get rid of their yard instead of their board, e.g. if they have Ichorids or Vengevines, or threaten to dredge you out with Creeping Chill.

Grafdigger’s Cage is mainly here versus Oath, but serves double duty against graveyard decks and Breach.

Mental Misstep is very important to deal with Vexing Bauble on the draw and cheap spells like Ancestral Recall, Steel Sabotage, Deathrite Shaman, Nature’s Claim or Spell Pierce.

You could even consider running it in the maindeck in the current meta.

Phyrexian Metamorph NPH
Null Rod WTH

Mindbreak Trap is very important against fast decks on the draw and is often your only way to keep pace.

Null Rods come in against decks with the full suite of Moxen as well as against Jewel Shops against which they truly shine.

Phyrexian Metamorph is your Swiss Army Knife dealing with threats ranging from Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Atraxa, Wurmcoil Engine, White Plume Adventurer or Crucible of Worlds while also doubling your lock pieces.

Soul-Guide Lantern is your Urza’s Saga bullet against graveyard deck, while also creating loops with Karn, exiling your own cards to wish for them one more time. The fourth Vexing Bauble might also just be in the maindeck, but regularly comes in whenever you’re on the play.

Wurmcoil Engine and Shadowspear come in against creature decks whenever you need to get into races, which is something this deck is naturally not very good at doing.

Matchup Guide: Oath of Druids

Grafdiggers Cage DKA

This matchup is very interesting to play, especially on the draw, but you are overall slightly behind.

On the play, you just try to do your thing and prevent them from even playing their Oath of Druids or Show and Tells. Even if they land an Oath, at some point you can even start resolving Golos, grabbing Karakas and not caring about their Atraxas.

On the draw, there are two scenarios. If they have an early Oath plus Orchard, you are in trouble unless you have Grafdigger’s Cage. If they don’t, you have to overload them with taxing effects so they don’t have the time to find their combo. Aggressively, mulligan away creature heavy hands and look for Sphere of Resistance and Null Rod on the draw.

Mindbreak Trap isn’t great against them, but it’s a necessary evil on the draw since it’s your only way of stopping turn 1 Oko, Thief of Crowns and Show and Tells. Pay attention to Boseiju, Who Endures, since its channel ability works through your Spheres, and getting rid of your Grafdigger’s Cage can be backbreaking.

Matchup Guide: Doomsday

Sphere of Resistance EXO

Doomsday is a good matchup, but you sometimes lose games on the draw if they go off too fast.

Don’t underestimate Vexing Bauble into Sphere of Resistance – even though those cards don’t work together, Bauble makes it much easier to actually resolve Sphere, and an unchecked Sphere goes a long way in this matchup.

The longer the game lasts, the easier it usually gets for you to lock them out.

Matchup Guide: Sultai

OUT

2 Null Rod

Patchwork Automaton NEO

Sultai might be your worst matchup, since they have all the tools they need against you. Deathrite Shaman stops your Crucibles while nullifying Spheres with the extra mana it delivers.

Their other creatures are hard to deal with, while Force of Vigor can single-handedly destroy your efforts, while their Wastelands can even turn your Spheres against you.

That being said, on the play you can still deploy very reasonable threats and be faster than them. Patchwork Automaton is very hard for them to handle, and since they play lesser Moxen, a turn 1 Sphere of Resistance can buy you a lot of time.

Matchup Guide: Initiative

Dismember NPH

Initiative is another rather unflavored matchup, and a pretty uninteractive one as well. The player on the play usually wins, but Initiative has much better threats and many basic lands, which sometimes allows them to assemble enough mana to sneak through some plays even through your Spheres and Wastelands.

The games you steal on the draw are usually on the back of a slow draw from their side, as well as Wurmcoil or Shadowspear going all the way, or Metamorph stealing the initiative in a crucial turn.

If you expect a lot of Initiative decks, bringing some Dismembers might also be a decent plan. Which might still not be enough to overcome them, unfortunately.

Matchup Guide: Dredge

Wasteland TMP

Dredge is a decent matchup and can be turned into a very good one if you’re willing to spend some additional sideboard slots.

Vexing Bauble shuts off all their spells, and you usually have enough Wasteland effects to destroy their Bazaar and slow them down. Ichorid can be a problem, especially paired with Bridge from Below or Prized Amalgam, but Golos into Tabernacle can keep those in check as well.

Whenever possible, protect your life total so you don’t lose to Creeping Chill.

Matchup Guide: HollowVine

Golos Tireless Pilgrim M20

HollowVine is another decent matchup which got a lot easier thanks to Vexing Bauble.

However, they can have very explosive starts that are hard to deal with, as well as Wastelands to mess with your Tabernacle. Spheres can help to prevent Vengevines from entering the battlefield, which is usually your biggest concern.

Golos is your MVP in this matchup, both blocking Vengevines and Hollow Ones while getting Tabernacle.

Matchup Guide: Jewels

Null Rod WTH

Jewels is another slightly favored matchup, mainly because Null Rod is such a broken card against them. If you resolve it, this usually means light out for your opponent.

Postboard they try to attack you with Wurmcoil Engine. Golos into Karakas can keep one Wurm at bay, so does Metamorph.

Keep in mind they also play Metamorphs, so your priority after they resolve a Wurm might be to attack their mana instead of immediately try to deal with it, since as soon as they start chaining them, you cannot realistically win.

Shadowspear off Saga can race Wurms, but it’s also poor in combination with Null Rod.

Matchup Guide: Shops

Crucible of Worlds 5DN

The mirror might be the most interesting matchup, since going first isn’t a huge deal here.

Symmetrical cards don’t do much in this matchup, in the end, creatures and Crucible are most important. Correct sequencing can be very challenging, e.g. if you can choose between a turn 1 Crucible and Automaton.

Keep in mind that they can attack your mana, so in hands with few lands, it might be correct to play Crucible to protect your Workshop first.

Matchup Guide: UB Lurrus

On The Draw

IN: 1 Mental Misstep

OUT: 1 Pithing Needle

Pithing Needle SOK

You are slightly favoured against Lurrus, but the trend of swapping Orcish Bowmasters with Psychic Frog is scary. An early Frog can be very hard to beat, especially on the draw – on the play, your creatures are usually able to race it or your Spheres prevent them from casting it.

Pithing Needle is your best card at shutting it down, but if the Psychic Frog trend continues, it might be time to resleeve some Stonecoil Serpents.

Conclusion

That’s it for the matchups you will face most.

I hope this guide helps you navigate the deck, which seems pretty easy to navigate at first glance, but correct sequencing and sideboarding goes a long way with this deck.

Feel free to ask questions or provide feedback on Twitter if anything sounds sketchy or doesn’t make sense, I’ll happily add some more thoughts.

You can find me and my stuff on YouTube, Twitter and Twitch, be sure to catch up and say hi:

twitter.com/ShirKahnMTG

youtube.com/@ShirKahnMTG

twitch.tv/ShirKahnMTG

About the Author

Nico Bohny is a retired Pro Player from Switzerland. His impressive resume contains of two PT top 8’s, 2 Grand Prix Top 8’s and a win with the Swiss national team at Worlds 2007, where they beat Austria in the finals. He’s a Vintage aficionado and skilled Limited player.

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