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If you are a valid StarCityGames.com Premium member and still cannot view the article, please consult this FAQ. After Trinisphere was restricted back in February, the common belief was that it was going to weaken Mishra's Workshop decks too much and possibly knock them out of viability. Out of all the various lists, the list that I personally thought would lose the most was Eric Miller's The Riddler variant, which he won the previous SCG Richmond with. The original version was more than capable of playing a Trinisphere and killing the opponent before they could even get their third land into play.
Instead, Eric is currently sitting at the top of the standings with an undefeated record and, in his own words, cutting the Trinispheres made the deck even better than it was before.
JP: What changes did you have to make after losing Trinisphere?
EM: I added Chalice of the Void to replace the Trinispheres and then because of that I reduced the one-mana spells to just Sol Ring, Mana Vault, and Ancestral Recall.
JP: How were the Chalices working for you today?
EM: It hits just about every important card against every deck. No Oxidize, no Swords to Plowshares, no Duress, no Brainstorm, no Aether Vial. It's cheaper than Trinisphere and it still shuts down probably just as much of their deck. I can buy a lot of time too, especially against Storm Combo by dropping it for zero. It's also game against Oath of Druids if you drop it for two.
JP: Where do we go from here with Workshop decks?
EM: I would say that it definitely stopped the lock aspect from being as explosive. I mean, it was just about the best play you could get for any prison deck. Sphere of Resistance isn't a lock, but it's still really good for slowing people down. You just can't get random locks like with turn 1 Trinisphere, turn 2 Crucible of Worlds.
JP: What makes this one better than the original version?
EM: Trinisphere usually would just buy you time, but Chalice actively messes up what their deck's game plan can be now. That's the biggest difference now in how Workshop decks play out. You don't need to combine Chalice with other cards as much like you did with Trinisphere.
JP: Without Trinisphere, how does the combo matchup change?
EM: In general, if the combo deck was built well it could play around both cards. In terms of how the decks actually play out then, I guess Chalice and Trinisphere do the same thing. The big difference, though, is that now combo decks can get away with bad mana bases and don't have to worry about having plenty of basic lands so they can be able to cast spells under Trinisphere. I still have the one Trinisphere in the deck for times like that.
JP: The Illusionary Mask kill and the Workshop beatdown kill are kind of mutually exclusive, so which one do you end up using more often?
EM: Either one, actually. Juggernauts or Dreadnoughts are both about as common. Sometimes I can get draws with a lot of mana, like if I have Tolarian Academy - and then I can actually play creatures like Juggernaut or Platinum Angel with Mask. If I'm up against a deck that packs Mana Drain, I'll even wait as long as I need to in order to be able to cast my creatures through Mask to keep them from being able to counter.
JP: What do you do about Goblin Welder, since you really can't win as long as there is an active one in play?
EM: Game one I try to Chalice for one, which just stops all of their Welders. If I can't do that, I can always try to dig out a Hanna's Custody and make all of my guys untargetable, or I can just kill the Welders with Triskelion or Balance.
JP: And then in games two and three you bring Ground Seal and another Custody?
EM: Sometimes I'll do that, but I usually bring in cards like Eon Hub or Hurkyl's Recall instead that work well against Welder decks in general instead of bringing in cards that are just against the Welders.
JP: Come to think of it, what does Eon Hub actually do?
EM: Against Oath, they obviously can't use Oath. Against Stax, you completely shut down their Tangle Wires and Smokestacks. They play more permanents than I do and their whole plan is to screw up my permanents with those cards, but with Eon Hub they suddenly have no upkeep and none of their lock cards work - and then they can't slow me down.
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