MTG Salvation

@DrPepper836 It's interesting - can You share Your UB list? I was trying UW (non gifts) version but after testings I found that straight U is just much consistent.

@platinum angel - It's a panic button against a lot of decks (yep - mostly the aggro ones that You complain about). You know, this deck got a lot of weird card choices which can be bad in specyfic matchup (platinum angel or sundering titan for example) but with all this clunky cards we are versatile
Many artifacts are not that strong after sideboard (chalice / platinum angel or oblivion stone) so IMO we need to "have everything" in game 1 (ofc If Your meta is healthy and You face various matchups).

Here's the decklist I'm working with at the moment. I've only taken it to one event so far, so it's pretty untested:



In addition to the black splash, there's a lot of unconventional choices here based on the lists I've seen on the last few pages of the thread. The high number of treasure mages, spell bursts, talismans, and snapcaster mages seem pretty rare? Conversely, I'm not running chalice of the void, trinket mage, or solemn simulacrum.

My take on Mono-U tron is that the core of the deck - high end artifacts, stack interaction, and deck velocity - will beat nearly any fair deck. The losses come to fast decks like affinity and burn, hyper efficient decks like death's shadow, or decks whose top end nears ours like eldrazi tron. I'd imagine the scapeshift MU is pretty rough? It's hard to counter lands.

This list is an attempt to fix those bad MU's with strong early interaction on the board, while keeping that core that makes our late game good. This also helps the problem with a lot of our cards being bad on the draw. I'm playing talismans because they fix the mana, and they're very good with the 1 CMC interaction. T1 play map, T2 talisman pass with fatal push or spell snare up feels very strong.

The downside is that the deck velocity is noticeably lower. I felt like I had fewer cards in my hand than I was used to, and was losing more counter-wars. The deck I was playing at the event was +1 dispel,+1 talisman/-1 repeal,-1 Platinum Angel compared to the above list. TBH I put the angel back in because I remembered I have a FTV foil version, but it should probably be another repeal...

I see some lists running 2 O-Stones, how's that working out?

Hi guys!!!! Long time lurker.. First time poster child! That list we top 8'd the modern challenge is pretty solid. If you notice we are running 1x trinket, 1x tolaria west, and they can find 1 chalice, 1 Engineered Explosives, and 1 walking ballista. The treasure mage is down to 1 because the trinket is doing the same gig but finds things on a smaller (faster) level. The river of tears, and 2 gemstones is all you really need to hit EE on 2 when the time calls for it. It's like running two different tutor packages in the same 60 with 1 trinket 1 treasure. On a side note we started that challenge 4-0, lost 2, then won the last round. We 5-0'd a league during the same time as well. We were boozing at an extraordinary clip ( the alcohol was being consumed at a high velocity if you will) and I didn't even realize we made top 8 of the challenge. The next stream we threw down another 5-0 league. Wizards has just stopped posting my 5-0's which is awesome but don't think we've stopped dominating the dojo because we've been running good lately. I'm a married man now so the gaming sessions are minimal but I try to keep my reputation as one the best of spell slingers in the game. Crunked or sober =).

Yeah boi ! Been advocating that trinket/treasure split for a while now, and I've been running an almost identical list for about a month now. Glad you're seeing success with it.

Curious about your sideboard in that you don't run any silver bullets for trinket mage such as pithing needle, relic, tormod's, graffdigger, etc. For me, that's always been a big incentive

Been playing GDS to mediocre success and after watching some Shok streams I got the U Tron itch again. Glad I got some Ballista early on before the craziness. My only difference is running 1 TKS main instead of 1 Snap. Not sure if that is going to make a difference or not. Maybe it is better having 2 Ballista MD?

@kharniverous: Great to see what's You're up to Shok still rollin with impressive results GZ

@thewrush: Yea, I'm still impressed about walking ballista - I used to run 3 MB (but now I'm sold on 2 mainboard). It's great early/mid/late game card. With academy ruins and trinket mage package it's one of the best card in the deck.

Anyone gonna switch to the new condescend or O-stone artwork? I think I'm gonna.

Will not switch, really dont like the new artworks tbh..

Anyone else seem to never have an opening hand with Gemstone? I rarely get to use it and then I'm just stuck with what I wished was an island...

@GrimDucky: Ye I know What You sain, that's why I don't run any gemstone in the board It's a bit too random for me (and there is no slots for playin more then 1-2).

I'm gonna run with 0 gemstone and see how that works out. I might also try sundering titan again tomorrow... but I do love gearhulk...

How can I over sideboard against GDS? I have x4 chalice but im sick of losing to x4 ceremonious rejections

What do you guys think of Shore Keeper in the sideboard against agro/burn? Decent one drop defense and sacking it instant speed for 3 cards could be game changing.

I prefer Sidisi's Faithful

3 Gearhulk stories from last night. 1 game I cast him and the only targets I had were repeal and condasend. I would have rather had a remand target at the time but I chose condasend. It scryed me into tron . Another game I didn't have UU to cast for a while :(. I sided him out a game and I mulled down to 4! I built myself up to 6 mana, played a treasure Mage and was looking at the thirst in my graveyard and wished I had gearhulk :(.

On A side note field of ruin saved me with a blue source last night and 2 out of 4 opponents would have been good to have titan. I like Gearhulk and Titan more than I like platinum. So much artifact hate, wurmcoil was my BFF.

I actually wish I had Myr Battlesphere a few times for blocks and liliana sacs.

After some testing I think Field of Ruin is very strong, I like it a lot more than Ghost Quarter and a bit more than Tectonic Edge.

Other than that I really like 2 Supreme Will, it's not easy to know when to dig and when to just use them as a counter but the great thing is they can do both.

Walking Ballista has done some work for me vs D+T and GW Vizier. So many relevant creatures are 2/1s it's fun to ping them

I have to agree with Pierakor about Field of Ruin. Ran one in the main last night for the first time with good success. Had it in about half of games over four rounds. I never worried about cracking it and dropping behind like I would with Ghost Quarter. If I had it in my opening hand I felt better about keeping hands I might not have otherwise kept, because it was basically a guaranteed island in a couple turns.

Definitely worth at least trying.

Is Trinisphere a budget replacement for Chalice of the Void? Is the only card I'm missing and not going to get it in the near future. Or it is better not to use it at all and put another card in its slot?