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Editor:Dan Gow. Sunday 25th July 2004.
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Card Review - Krark Clan Ironworks
Krark-Clan Ironworks - Casual
Since this is the first column I thought best to begin with a bit of a
pause to consider what 'reviewing a card for casual play' means - at
least to me, since I'm the one who you all have to deal with. You see I
figure the other columnists have got it all pretty good - you
readers all know what they're referring to, all they have to do is tell
you if card X is going to fit into any old deck Y (or create a new deck
Z) in a format nicely defined by that most benevolent of all
organisations, the DCI. Unfortunately the DCI doesn't dictate how to play casual
Magic, so I'm lost in a nether world where everyone out there will be
expecting something different. Bugger! Some of you will be thinking
huge multi-player melee's, others schoolyard duels while some probably
see 5-colour as the most important 'casual' format. I'm left with a
quandary - on the up side I'll get to define what I want to consider, but on
the down side there's no way I can be everything to everyone, so some
of you will miss out - sorry for that.
Okay enough pontificating its time for some decisions.
When I review a card for casual play I'll be aiming my analysis at the
aspects of the cards which the other reviewers aren't going to consider
- the social aspects of the cards. I'll be trying to consider
the questions which aren't hooked up on the competitive tournament
world, but the non-competitive worlds we play in, with our friends and
teammates. I'll try to ask questions like "Can you do things which are fun
with the card, and that your opponents will at least smile at while you
beat them?" Stasis
isn't one of these cards. Mono-blue draw-go is not a casual deck. For
all you players who think that the most enjoyable thing you can do is
watch your opponent writhe in frustration as you force them to deck
themselves - these are not the comments you're looking for.
So with that all out of the way, what does Krark-Clan Ironworks mean for the
casual player? The answers pretty easy - Mana, and lots of it (you've
probably been getting that from the other guys' comments by now). KCI is an
engine. Engines go in combo decks. Combo decks are rarely fun to play
against more then once. It's true (or at least, it's my opinion) that
if all I get to do is watch you shuffle your deck and draw cards before
you Fireball me
for 20, then I'm bored - the only way to redeem a combo deck is to make
it's kill inventive, and then I'm still probably going to be bored the
second time you do it.
The social challenge is to build a fun deck that uses the KCI without
degenerating into a single turn kill engine (pretty much exactly the opposite
of what all the constructed formats guys have been trying to achieve).
Unfortunately KCI is just not a card that lends itself to this kind of
thing. All the interactions which look promising degenerate either
into combo kills (2x Myr Retriever + a whole host of things KCI. Is this because I lack imagination, or
there something inherent to the card which causes it? I won't deny the
first, but I do think that KCI has got an inherent flaw when it comes to
social play. It doesn't do anything new. It lets you generate mana, but
mana is just a tool for doing other things, and it lets you sacrifice
artifacts, an activation cost which is attached numerous times to lots
of other juicy abilities (Slobad or Extruder). This leaves KCI as a card who's only constructed purpose is to
produce mana better then the previous mana production engines - a
purpose which inevitably leads us into degenerate combo decks which
aren't really much fun to play against.
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Krark-Clan Ironworks - Extended/1.5
It’s a powerful card when you look at it, but how do you best take advantage of its power? Well, hopefully I’m going to help you along this path in both Extended and Type 1.5. First up, an extended deck list, I’ve taken the liberty of modifying Yann Hamon’s PT New Orleans deck from October 2003:
TCS
Extended
Compared to the current standard format, extended is where I would expect an Ironworks deck to truly thrive. The biggest gain comes from the presence of Vampiric Tutor and the excellent instant speed card drawing available in the format. Mana Severance is 6 times more efficient on paper than Myr Incubator at maximising a Goblin Charbelcher, and it can’t be Stifled. However, you do need UU open to start things firing (Fabricate & Mana Severance), but that is hardly a problem with Chromatic Sphere, Talisman of Dominance and the Artifact Lands.
So, what kind of things can you do with Krark Clan Ironworks in Type 1.5? Lots of degenerate things spring to mind, though of course the most powerful tricks are limited to Type 1 because of the Power 9. There is still a lot to play with in Type 1.5, thought I feel this sample deck list, while rough can go places:
TCS
Type 1.5
This deck is loosely based on the “Gas Chamber” concept that was around before Ravager Affinity took a strangle-hold on standard earlier this year. But instead of the Steelshaper/Genesis Chamber combo, it uses Iron Works/Spawning Pit. IronWorks is capable of producing all the mana you’ll ever need to equip Skullclamp and generate a token. After drawing your deck, you finish up with an arbitrarily large Brain Freeze pointed at your opponent’s library.
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Krark-Clan Ironworks - Limited
Krark-Clan Ironworks. We’ve all heard the rumours. We all been taken aback by the price people wanted for it at the prerelease. A now it’s staring at you in you sealed deck as you begin to construct – but the question is, do you play it? As a precursor to this column, I’d say that there are going to be very few cards that will actually get good reviews from all 5 columnists. Not that we aren’t going to agree on cards – it’s just that most cards are usually intrinsically designed for a purpose. Example: Krark-Clan Ironworks is a constructed card, and far too focused for limited play.
OK, so we’ve all thought of breaking it, with infinite combos in constructed, but lets be honest – in limited, you want something a little quicker than 4th turn mana acceleration. It doesn’t even give coloured mana for those off colored spells (or sunburst dudes). Realistically, if you drop it fourth turn, it’s not going to be totally effective until fifth turn.
But can you focus your deck towards utilizing it? I’m thinking the best way to try would be with multiple Myr Retrievers/Myr Servitors. But you’re unlikely to get duplicates of those in sealed. In draft, it’s still not the most solid of plans, as retrievers are long gone by the time you open your Fifth Dawn pack, and there are better cards to take from Fifth Dawn than 1/1 retrievers.
I doubt even with a Fireball (no, you shouldn’t be seeing multiples of those regularly) you can justify giving it a slot in you deck. I can only see you using the Ironworks/Fireball combo when you already have board control. If you draw it when you’re losing, you probably have had to chump block with your artifact creatures, and if you draw the fireball first, I’m sure you’ll have much better things to do with it in the meantime.
So where is this as a draft pick? Not last for the simple reason that it’s a very playable constructed uncommon. Being the last pack of the draft you should pretty much know for sure if you’re actually going to play another card from the pack it’s in – so if you’re choice is the Ironworks or a 3rd Sawtooth Thresher, perhaps you should consider after the draft. About 8th pick, depending on how strong your deck is/how resigned you are to going 0-3.
As a single I guess it will hover around the $2-$3 mark, but that’s standard for an excellent uncommon (second in Fifth Dawn only to Relentless Rats).
Final word: It won’t make the cut in the deck, and you’ll seldom considering sideboarding it in.
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Krark-Clan Ironworks - Standard
Krark Clan Ironworks has been touted as the most broken combo card in type two.
Results from national tournaments accross the world seem to indicate that (in it's current form) its not even viable in the current format.
FYI: Sample deck list from the forums on MTG Paradise - by NEil
NEil
Standard
This is the basic version for ironworks in type 2. Some versions play counters (Mana Leak, Condesend) and/or Echoing Truth to deal with problem cards.
Problems for ironworks decks in type 2.
Nobo's: (cards people think work but dont) echoing truth/echoing decay. (If ironworks is out they can sack the myr token you target, therefore these cards are not effective unless you have already destroyed the ironworks.)
Another version, which I believe is more viable at present forgoes the Myr Incubator/Goblin Charbelcherr wins for Mind's Desire and Tendris of Agony instead.
A large part of the problem for ironworks decks is that control is now a top contender in the current format, and has Counterspells, Stifle, Akroma's Vengence and March of the Machines main deck, making versions packing Mind's Desire and counters much more viable than versions relying on Incubator/Charbelcher kills.
But, all is not lost. Ironworks decks are quite good against some versions of affinity, goblins, slide and tooth and nail (note: this can change after sideboarding). With the current downturn in Ironworks results people's main decks and sideboards will be less devoted to stopping it. So, if your area has few people packing control, go for it!
Block on the other hand, doesnt have Mana Leak, Stifle, Starstorm, Guilded Light, or Akroma's Vengeance. Hmmm....
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Krark-Clan Ironworks - Type 1
Well, it should be said that the first time I saw this card, I thought it had great potential, no so much for type 2 or extended, but for vintage play, and mainly type 1. Couple with a few of the real power (Black Lotus, Moxes etc)because it could give you a real boost of mana first turn, and would be very useful for first turn kills. We all know the good old channel-fireball combos, or the braingeyser/ card death combos first turn, but they are very vulnerable, especially when most top-players in type 1 use force of will. The Ironworks will be a better mana base, and be more reliable in this kind of deck, as it is a permanent and its ability cant be countered (unless you can first turn stifle with no mana!!) It will provide people that play with first-turn kill decks a chance to still be able to win if their mega combo fails.
I look back to 2000 when artifacts really hit the front pages with Jon Finkel's tinker deck. Imagine a Krark-Clan Ironworks in his deck....there would have been second turn kills everywhere with tinkers and monoliths not yet banned. In type 1, this deck is quite viable even though the real guts of the deck is restricted. Here is a decklist that I have built that could use Ironworks quite effectively, based on Jon Finkel's masterpiece:
Matthew Holtham
Type 1
The idea of this deck is to get your Ironworks/Thran Dynamo early in order to cast things like your Platinum Angel or Darksteel Colossus in turn 3 and its pretty much game from there. You can get mana very easily, and of the colour you need with no real hassle. The alternate kill condition is obviously you infinite mana combo with Voltaic Construct,
In decks like these, where colourless mana is as good as any, Krark-Clan Ironworks will be a powerful card. Its reliability, and it being a permanent (not like channel combos etc), will see it played in many Tier 1- Type 1 decks. I have fears though for the time that it will be not restricted, because, as we have seen before, powerful artifacts (i.e. Grim Monolith, the Moxen, Black Lotus, Voltaic Key etc) have all been restricted immediately after very good players have used it, and subsequently "broken" it. None the less, a very useful, and powerful card given the right environment and deck.
Matthew Holtham
P.S. Feel free to tell me things that are wrong...or not appropriate, as this is my first time doing a card review
Thankyou
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