MUD

Artifacts have always been a staple of MtG. In fact, ever since the release of Antiquities, the game has even promoted the concept of decks built entirely around the card type. The most obvious benefit to playing MUD is that it only requires colourless mana, and therefore can never get colour-screwed. Because of this, and the fact that any deck has access to them, a lot of artifacts are “over-costed”. Wizards of the Coast recognized both sides of the coin however, and decided to help negate this drawback for artificers by creating cards that helped them generate a lot of colourless mana. Cards such as Grim Monolith and Metalworker were later versions of these, as the early ones were deemed too strong (Mishra’s Workshop and Sol Ring are amazing cards..).

MUD’s main drawback however, is not its average mana cost, but rather that it relies on permanents to win the game. That’s right, MUD decks have zero instants or sorceries. This means that you need to use permanents to interact with the opponents’ spells.

As always, I’m going to focus on some of the more obscure card choices from my deck list. For example, an often over-looked card in MUD’s repertoire is Tawnos’s Coffin, which acts as both pseudo-creature removal as well as protection. It can also act as a “bounce” effect to re-stock your Triskelions. Because Ancient does not have access to more “Sphere effects” (aka Sphere of Resistance) ala Vintage, the deck must rely on other forms of prison-style magic to lock out an opponent. Cards such as Smokestack, Winter Orb, and Icy Manipulator have all been strong choices in the past, but I’ve chosen to focus on the interaction between Rishadan Port and Mana Web. With dual lands being so prevalent, using Port/Web during an opponent’s upkeep can really help lock them out of a game.

There are many different forms of MUD decks to choose from. Aggro and prison are among the most popular, but splashes of colour can really change how the deck functions as well. Happy brewing!

MUD

Land:

4 Ancient Tomb

4 City of Traitors

4 Mishra’s Factory

4 Wasteland

4 Rishadan Port

Total: 20

Creatures:

4 Metalworker

4 Juggernaut

4 Su-Chi

2 Triskelion

1 Masticore

Total: 15

4 Tanglewire

4 Grim Monolith

4 Sphere of Resistance

4 Mana Web

2 Tawnos’ Coffin

2 Voltaic Key

2 Chimeric Staff

2 Phyrexian Processor

1 Defense Grid

Total: 25

Sideboard:

2 Powder Keg

4 Smokestack

1 Defense Grid

4 Tormod’s Crypt

2 Tetravus