Hi guys, the crazy guy from U/W scepter Tron is back. After some testing, I've found a list I'm really comfortable with. Posting it now and reasoning my picks:
As darksteel correctly stated before, my deck has worse average cards, but those cards empower the Isochron Scepter. On Game 1 against many decks, Scepter-Remand or Scepter-Silence becomes a lock that allows me to take the game to the state that gives me advantage. Even though, a second turn Silence alone usually gives me the chance to get to turn 3-4 Gift and reanimate my win-cond. Playing 12 artifacts, Thirst for Knowledge becomes a good drawing card. My sideboard might need some fixing but what I can tell is that Blessed Alliance alone or with scepter (and escalate too!) is really an amazing card, worth testing for sure in your sideboards.
Pro's I've found after testing a while this list are that on a good average, I win a lot the first game (even for matches like RG Tron, Bant Eldrazi, aggro decks in general which are on paper bad match-ups for us). A notable con is that with sideboard, almost all decks become really good against me, as a lot of people has Land/Artifact/Graveyard hate (even the three of them!), which really hurts me. I need to work on taking a different strategy for follow-ups matches, but I haven't really figured it out well.
This list kinda can be considered as rouge, but it's fun for sure. Some wtf faces on your opponents really are worth the shot when they don't know what the hell is that you are playing and what you are planning to do
I haven't been posting my records for Tuesday's Modern night lately but here they go again. Yesterday was not my day for sure, but the list have seen better days in the past weeks I tell ya.
First match R/W Burn. I'm on the play. He starts pushing forward but I deal with some board menaces and get a third turn gift and reanimate Iona. I was left with 5 lives but Iona was a lock. Second game I start with Leyline, he deals with it but I drop a Scepter-Blessed Alliance and it was too much for him to handle. I win 2-0.
Record 1-0.
Second match was against a Naya burn. He really doesn't start really that aggresive, but the turn I was about to play gift to reanimate my threat I drew Unburial Rites (that luck tho!). Nothing to do and he finish me off. Second game I start with Tron/Wurmcoil, I tutor Academy Ruins to get back the Wurmcoil everytime he dealt with it. It was too much for him at that point. The last game I mulligan to 5, get a leyline and Tron but I drew only crap. I lost 2-1.
Record 1-1.
Third match was Living End. I was not aware of what I was playing so I was playing with caution. He had a lot of Land hate on main so he kept dealing with my mana, and that really penalizes me. Cascade and Living End, game for him. On the second match I wasn't so sure of what to sideboard, but he got inside some more Land hate and it was even worse than the first game. I Remand his Living End but then he got another one. 2-0 for him.
Record 1-2.
The next match was against Bant Eldrazi. The first game I get Scepter-Silence and it was basically game. Got my Tron and casted my threats. The second match I overcame a 2-Engineered Explosives and Rest in Peace. I get Tron online, tutor Academy Ruins and did the Slaver lock (it's like the second or third time I've managed to pull it off to win a match!). 2-0 for me.
Record 2-2.
The last match was Modern Abzan. To be honest we were both aware that we couldn't win something that night so we played a bit lazy (slow but serious). The first match somehow a desperate Scepter-Path was really annoying for him and turned the game into my favor. I casted (yes, casted) Iona and Ulamog and won the game. The second game, of course, he got all the hate and made a difficult match. I didn't feel the game was far but details turned it up to him (Lingering Souls is a difficult card to deal with!). We didn't have time to finish the match so it ended 1-1.
Final record 2-2-1. Not the best exhibition but I'm satisfied that the match ups I had weren't easy and Naya Burn didn't feel that far from winning. I'll try luck next week and post a better record in the coming weeks! Any suggestion is always welcome, thanks for reading.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Mostly Modern Player RBridgevineB RGR/G EldraziX UBlue MoonR UU/W TronW
Game 1 was a really fun game, he had a decent start and I had some removal to keep myself in check. I ended up stabilizing at 2 life and he just couldn't get a foot back into the game. Game 2 I just had relatively poor answers and couldn't keep up with him. He had some clutch counters that really helped him, Stubborn Denial and Disdainful Stroke are both pretty good. Game 3, once again I got low but I was able to stabilize. I kept passing with lots of nothing to do and he was fearing counters from me (I boarded every last one of them out except the Ceremonious Rejection I boarded in), so he kept passing even though he had plays to make, waiting for Cavern of Souls. Anyway, that gave me enough time to eventually find what I needed, and then Elesh Norn killed his board, then Iona closed it out (he scooped). There was one key moment in the third game where I luckily drew well over the course of two turns to get both Gifts and Path so I could Path his Drowner and then reanimate Elesh Norn, Path making me able to play around Stubborn Denial.
Record: 1-0
Round 2 vs Eggs
Yes, you read that right. Buddy of mine built it, there's a new version playing Scrap Trawler and honestly, it seems pretty powerful. It loses really hard to removal or Surgical unlike the Eggs of old, but it fizzles less often. Scrap Trawler lets it recur artifacts really easily. In particular, Ichor Wellspring sacrifices to return Chromatic Star which returns Engineered Explosives, so they just get to chain a bunch of draws like this. They also play Nihil Spellbomb since it pseudo draws as well.
Game 1 I wasn't quite sure what he was doing until I saw him start going off and realized what was happening. I just didn't have the answers to deal with his stuff, he chained until 15 mana and cast Emrakul while I had 6 permanents in play and I scooped. In game 2, I had a Surgical and was hoping to hit Scrap Trawler with it, but he had Duress to remove it and then also Nihil Spellbomb to exile it, preventing my Snapcaster from getting the job done. He went off and I conceded when he had 10 mana and 7 cards in hand.
Record: 1-1
Round 3 vs Mono Black Devotion
These games went exactly how you think they did. Gifts -> Iona was good in both of the games. Someone was just trying out the deck, it was 1-1 but it's not good against our deck. Again, this is really one of the biggest selling points for the deck, that you crush a lot of these random matchups because of the variety of answers (Path, Wrath, Iona, Elesh Norn, Emrakul, counter spells).
Record: 2-1
I've been having a lot more success against Bant Eldrazi. Turns out Oblivion Stone is really quite good against them, even if they board in Stony Silence. I've also really enjoyed having Engineered Explosives with x=3 as an option. You'd be surprised at how much additional reach it gives you. I'm still back at all 12 Tron lands and an extra Map, not sure if I like it or not. I've had some games where I've had to mulligan hands because of a lack of coloured sources, but then I've also had Tron more consistently, and it's always good to get Tron earlier. I think this list might want a Karn somewhere, but it's hard to tell what to cut and I don't own one anyway. I think the 3-3 split on Condescend and Remand is working out well, Remand is good for Tempo and Condescend is good as a hard counter. I'm not sure if that's ideal though, perhaps others like Spell Snare or Syncopate are worthwhile just to give you options to fetch counters, but it's usually irrelevant in sideboard games when I have a Negate, Dispel, and Ceremonious Rejection in the board.
I doubt this card is good, but a four mana Wrath effect is always worth at least mentioning. It's possible that it's better than the Martial Coup in my sideboard, though Martial Coup might be better as a second Elspeth. For real though, it seems solid against Eldrazi. Dawn is pretty bad for us but it's just pure upside after the fact, you might hit a Snapcaster but you don't really care that much.
Now this card actually seems good. It's Sphinx's Rev for one mana less without the lifegain and a slight drawback that's actually not that bad for us. The UU casting cost is a bit easier on us, though I suspect it probably is rarely going to be relevant. Sometimes Sphinx's Rev gaining life is relevant though, so it's hard to say if this is better or not. This is obviously better in slower metas, but maybe being able to draw earlier/more cards and the extra consistency casting it might be a real reason to run it. It's at least a card to take a serious look at.
I'm not sure how good the card really is, but it's an interesting card to say the least. Failure is basically Remand without the draw, but Comply makes up for it by giving you extra value. It's kind of like Reflector Mage but for spells. I think the fact that it allows you to stall an additional turn on a specific card is pretty big, especially in Modern. Some decks require certain cards to even function so potentially you Time Walk an opponent. For example, if you bounce Scapeshift then Comply name Scapeshift you get an additional turn. Is an additional turn better than an additional card? It's hard to really say, as there are cases to be made for both.
The biggest issue I see with this card is how good it is early and how bad it is late. It's really good on turns 2-4 but after that it falls off really hard. An opponent being able to just play the card again is the issue. It seems like in a lot of aggressive matchups, it could be really good because you can stall that extra turn, and the card being poor late game should be irrelevant when the games don't last long enough for that to happen.
Another thing is that you can use it like Remand on your own spells as well, just to give it that slight bit of extra utility.
I think this set of dual lands is pretty good. The ability to cycle them makes it really powerful in the late game for us. With fetches, the downside is very minimal since you can just end step fetch it up to avoid having it come into play tapped. We already run Colonnades and Seachrome anyway so it's not as if we're unwilling to play tapped lands. I think if I'm running two Hallowed Fountains, I'm now running 1 and 1.
I think Pull from Tomorrow might be pretty solid for Mono U Tron. The normal lists have signets to help you out cast Sphinx. The white source might be significant but the life gain also is. A card worth testing at least imo.
Now Irrigated Farmland is a card I'm excited to test. It can be fetched, cycled and the tapped source is not really relevant, as I have found that I usually get end-of-turn fetch with Hallowed Fountain or dropping it tapped against aggro decks to avoid the life loss. It can also be brought back for the ones that play Crucible of Worlds. I'm for sure will be testing Fetid Pools instead of Watery Grave. This land cards are coming strong for our deck.
Not long time lurker, first time poster. I've played Blue Tron for about two years, but once shadow started getting really popular it seemed like UW had a much better game against it. I went 3-1 last night at a relatively competitive fnm, beating Mardu midrange, grixis delver, and bant spirits, and losing in the finals to RG Tron. The primer and the posts were all really great in getting me up to speed, so thanks! And if anyone wants a full report, let me know.
Gifts Tron is a very fun deck and like you said, it can be tailored to different metas. I don't think this UW Tron forum would tell you to not build the deck. I recommend proxying it if you are not sure if you want to build it, or watch videos of Gifts Tron on youtube, twitch, etc., so you can see if you like the gameplay and the in game choices the deck requires.
Hey guys, I've never played this deck before, but am looking for new decks. For some reason the idea of Approach of the second sun in a Tron deck came into my head today. Are there enough flex slots in this deck to include this as a 1 or 2 of? There is potential to bypass is being 7 cards down in the deck with Remand since the first doesn't need to resolve and Sphinx's revelation. Does the deck assemble Tron lands often enough to cast this without using 7 lands? Is this just a terrible idea? Any thoughts are welcome.
Hey guys, I've never played this deck before, but am looking for new decks. For some reason the idea of Approach of the second sun in a Tron deck came into my head today. Are there enough flex slots in this deck to include this as a 1 or 2 of? There is potential to bypass is being 7 cards down in the deck with Remand since the first doesn't need to resolve and Sphinx's revelation. Does the deck assemble Tron lands often enough to cast this without using 7 lands? Is this just a terrible idea? Any thoughts are welcome.
It's an interesting proposition. We play Emrakul on the grounds that casting it wins the game, which is true pretty much every time (I cannot remember the last time it did not win the game). Approach will win the game guaranteed the second time you cast it, assuming it resolves. The questions to then ask yourself:
How likely is it that one or more of the casts get countered?
How likely is it that you don't draw the second copy?
How likely is it that being down 7 mana for literally no positive gain loses you the game?
Let's go through each of these:
It's actually decently likely that some of them don't resolve. It's the sort of card that once your opponent knows what's up, won't be resolving. It's a legitimate concern that you won't win with it as consistently against blue decks the way you do with Emrakul. Part of what makes Emrakul so good is that it just wins the game in nearly every matchup because that's the kind of card it is. Approach simply won't. Remember that you really do need the first to resolve because you won't play a second copy (it's not that good) and you'll struggle to cast it again from your hand if it went into your graveyard.
In some matchups, you won't have the luxury of waiting this long. You cast it, then you have to draw a few more cards. Sometimes drawing that many cards is trivial, sometimes it's not. Other times, opponents will mill it. I think it's probably not that difficult to draw it again if you do resolve it.
My main concern is how bad the card is the first time you cast it. It does literally nothing at sorcery speed. To that effect, you need to put yourself in a position where you can actively afford to take off a turn. That might be holding up Path/Remand when you cast it, maybe Oblivion Stone with 5 mana for the second ability (effectively making Approach a 12 mana spell). Sometimes you'll Wrath an opponent then cast this the following turn into a board that's not scary enough and gives you the opportunity. Honestly, this is probably a dedicated midrange matchup card, because it's too slow against aggro and leaves you too open against combo (i.e. you don't want to wait until a billion mana to cast this and can't risk casting it earlier).
If I had to put a stance on it, I'd say it's not good. I don't think there are enough matchups where it's going to be reliable and better than other options.
So I played yesterday with some new cards: Pull From Tomorrow, Failure//Comply, and Dusk//Dawn. I came late due to work so I took a round one loss then played the remaining three rounds.
Round 2 vs Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 I stomped him. He struggled getting Tron up and I had answers for everything. Wurmcoil was good at slowing down the game and counters helped buy time. I eventually Sphinx'd for 8 and he was basically dead at that point; I quickly closed it out with Emrakul. In game 2, I didn't draw nearly as well and got run over. In game 3, we got to topdeck mode and he drew much better than me. He drew things like Ulamog and Walking Balista and I drew lands. I actually drew six lands in a row if you count that Thirst drew three lands.
I felt like the games weren't that bad, it was more so a clunky draw when it mattered. He has explosive starts and the potential to kill me too fast the same way traditional RG Tron does. This deck just plays cards that our deck is better suited to handle, so we get a bit more time to stall and don't just lose on turn 3.
Record: 0-2 (counting the round 1 auto loss for signing up late).
Round 3 vs Budget Burn
The guy was obviously new and obviously quite bad at the game. Fundamentally he was alright - he knew the correct sequence of things and had a solid grasp. But I believe it was his first or second tournament, and he clearly wasn't up to speed with competitive decks in any sense of that term. As such, the games really weren't close or interesting. I won with Iona both times. His deck simply didn't have the gas you need to win with, he was playing very mediocre cards (playable in old Standard mono red lists but not Modern playable). Games were over very quickly.
Record: 1-2
Round 4 vs Eldrazi D&T
Once again, this deck aimed to be a mash of Eldrazi and D&T and it's really clunky. It has the best of both decks, but the problem is the decks don't mesh well. You get this Eldrazi ramp package that features the best Eldrazi creatures in Smasher and Thought-Knot Seer, but then the rest of your game plan isn't about winning the game quickly. It just leads to a bunch of clunky draws, in my opinion.
In game 1 I got really far ahead as he durdled a bit. Some decent Wrath effects helped keep the board clear. When I started drawing multiple cards with things like Pull From Tomorrow/Sphinx's Rev, the game was essentially over. I closed it out quite quickly from there with Emrakul. In game 2, my draw was significantly worse and I got run over. More importantly, he had a lot of land destruction to put me behind coupled with Thalia to keep me off ever Wrathing him. In game 3, there wasn't so much LD interaction, so I got ahead and started chaining Gifts. We would have drawn, but he knew he was playing slow and knew his demise was inevitable so he politely conceded to me.
Record: 2-2
Pull From Tomorrow - Very good, it performed exactly how I hoped it would. The fact that it discards a card is irrelevant most of the time, and I was just happy to dig an extra card deep. In some situations I cast it, I discarded multiple cards during the following end step anyway. The life was also generally not relevant, which makes sense to me - slow matchups means higher life totals. I played it alongside Sphinx's Rev to try to present a Gifts package of Gifts, Sphinx's Rev, Pull From Tomorrow, and Emrakul, the idea being that I no longer chain Gifts and just go straight for X mana draw. I never got to test out this option though.
Dusk//Dawn - Never cast it, unfortunately, so no data on this card.
Failure//Comply - Wasn't as good as I had hoped. Turns out that sorcery speed on Comply makes a much bigger difference than it seems. Also, I don't think it's worth one card unless you're in a spot where blanking their card is crucial to not losing the game. Ultimately, I wish I had a Remand on top of the card. I can see situations where it will be good, but I'm unsure if they will be frequent enough to justify this card.
Thank you for this response! I definitely agree with your assessment about it. I mocked up a deck on xmage and played a few games and boarded it out every game.
That said the deck is super fun and I'll probably be lurking around this thread now.
Game 1 I crush him after he unluckily drew three Searing Blazes that are completely dead. Literally could not cast them at any point to hit me. In game 2 he mulled to 5 and ran out of gas. I kept a 1-land hand and drew into the lands I needed so I was a bit fortunate there. He did actually correctly board for the matchup, but he was unlucky. I won with Iona in both games.
Record: 1-0
Round 2 vs Blue Moon
Game 1 he turn 3 Blood Moons me but turns out Signet is pretty good. I actually resolved a Wurmcoil on turn 5 and coasted that to victory. He literally couldn't answer it, and was just cycling things like Serum Visions and Electrolyze. The one time he did attempt to actually kill it I had an answer. Game 2 he had turn 3 Blood Moon again but I had a Celestial Purge in hand. The game just got out of hand really quickly with Tron, and when I presented Gifts + Sphinx's Rev + Emrakul + Pull From Tomorrow he scooped. I was going to either win the game or draw 10 cards.
Record: 2-0
Round 3 vs Jund Death's Shadow
Game 1 I drew into a lot of the early removal and Wrath effects, so I was able to keep the board very clear. It was pretty easy to cost through like that, eventually Tron came online and all the silliness that follows. Game 2 he drew better than I did, I didn't get the answers I needed and he ran me over. It was probably more like he had lots of Inquisitions/Thoughtseizes to take the few answers I did, and then I got left with things that aren't so good. In game 3, he kept a 1-lander and we ended the game with him having 2 lands in play after he Traversed for one. Pretty fortunate for me that he just basically bricked. My hand was good, but it never hurts to be lucky.
Record: 3-0
Split in the finals.
Pull From Tomorrow is quite good. I like in slower matchups that it closes the game faster, though it feels unnecessary. Like, you can just Gifts for Pull, Sphinx's Rev, Gifts, and Emrakul, and you're going to win a lot faster, but it also probably isn't relevant; chaining Gifts isn't that bad. I would probably say Pull is better than Sphinx's Rev because honestly, you generally don't like Sphinx's Rev against the aggro decks. You see one more card but discard a card, but discarding almost never matters and is sometimes beneficial.
Dusk//Dawn is a fine card, I'm not sure if it's better than second Elspeth but hey, it's another uniquely named Wrath effect. I haven't been too bothered small things live, it's good vs Eldrazi and Death's Shadow and I'm happy with that. I've never Aftermath'd but I never really cared about that.
Failure//Comply is bad. I always just wish I had a Remand in my hand. Comply being sorcery speed just hurts too much, you generally don't buy yourself enough time that way. Sure, Comply can be great sometimes, but for the most part I think those cases are quite rare.
Playing all 12 Tron lands hasn't been that detrimental for me. Particularly that I have an Oblivion Stone in the mainboard, it's quite nice that I can activate it super early sometimes, or activate it while doing other things in the same turn. Speaking of which, Oblivion Stone has been quite good for me. While it certainly has some anti-synergy, I've just been happy to draw more Wrath effects, even the Engineered Explosives has been putting in work. Recurring either is just upside, the cards are good already.
Ugin is amazing in grindier matchups but against some aggro and combo, the game may not last that long to cast him. I have been playing UW tron for 3 years now and can say that I have never lost a game when I have been able to have ugin resolve. Erasing your opponents board and presenting a clock is quite good. I've playtested with two and having multiples can also be interesting in the right meta. My meta is full of junk/Jund and he does wonders. I would highly recommend him for the deck. He is a must answer. I have haven of the spirit dragon as my 24th land to recur him and it can be interesting for gift piles if for example you have the land in your hand and you gifts for ugin. I am playing in a small tournament next week and I'll post a list closer to that time.
I haven't tested it but my initial thought is that it's not needed. Though, the value you get if it's chosen with gifts is intriguing to, say, get rid of a Liliana.
Have you tested it? If so, how has it ran for you? I'd be worried about it being a more expensive oblivion ring effect.
@Darksteel: You have mentioned playing pull from tomorrow a couple times now. Would you say it's a mandatory include at this point based on the pure value it offers or is it more a card still being explored? Wondering also if it should be replacing sphinxes' rev.
I'm playing Pull in addition to Sphinx's Rev. It feels unnecessary to play both, the cards function very similarly and the old plan of Gifts + Emrakul + Sphinx's Rev + X is fine. It's hard to tell if Sphinx's Rev or Pull is better because neither is strictly better. Rev gains life, and even though you're drawing several cards, sometimes that life is relevant in those grindy midrange matchups like Jund or Eldrazi.
Anyway, I played in my local today:
Round 1 vs Eldrazi
Game 1 I get TKS'd out of the game. Just too much removing of my important cards and I never draw into anything useful. Game 2 I keep a one-lander on the draw with a Signet, Path, double Wrath, and some draw, and I luckily drew into a land early on. I draw a bunch of Wrath effects over the course of the game, Day, Verdict, Dusk, and Elspeth. After a bit of a rough early game from the land dilemma, I just had enough Wraths to keep him off doing much, and then Elspeth with Wraths in hand to clean up stuff that goes under her was good enough. In game 3 I mulled to 5 and crucially missed the second white source for Wrath for 3 turns in a row.
Record: 0-1
Round 2 vs Goblins
Game 1 I crush him with Elesh Norn, game 2 with Iona. He's a really bad player playing a budget-ish deck and has no idea what he's doing. Not close at all, not really worth explaining anything. I shouldn't really say he's that bad, he's new to the game, but he's trying to be competitive with a really bad understanding and it's not working out.
Record: 1-1
Round 3 vs Bant Spirits
Game 1 he draws a bunch of Birds and turns out they don't do much. His draw was simply too slow and I had all the time in the world. I resolved Iona and he just basically scooped. In game 2, early Geists killed me; turn 2 Geist into a second one when I killed it, brutal. In game 3, he flooded with Birds again and I ended up resolving Iona on white. He couldn't cast a lot of his deck and lost to it.
Record: 2-1
Round 4 vs Burn
Game 1 I had no idea what he was playing and kept a hand that unfortunately didn't really do much. I Wrathed him while I was low on turn 5 I believe it was, then he killed me on his turn. Game 2 I drew better very early on, but then drew a bunch of lands and basically hedged on Wurmcoil. I was reminded of why I cut it in the first place - Mono Red doesn't care. He killed me that game casting a total of four Skullcrack / Atarka's Commands.
Record: 2-2
Turns out some early anti-aggro might be worthwhile, perhaps Timely instead of a Pull or Sphinx's Rev, maybe one or two more things in the board. Also seeing that perhaps more Wrath effects for Eldrazi are good. My counters have been pretty abysmal lately, but I know if I take them out combo will show up the next time I play.
4 Flooded Strand
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Academy Ruins
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
Creatures
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Sundering Titan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Karn Liberated
Artifacts
3 Azorius Signet
1 Talisman of Progress
2 Isochron Scepter
3 Expedition Map
1 Mindslaver
Spells
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Unburial Rites
3 Path to Exile
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Unsubstantiate
4 Remand
2 Into the Roil
2 Silence
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Rule of Law
1 Warping Wail
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Celestial Purge
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ghostly Prison
2 Disenchant
As darksteel correctly stated before, my deck has worse average cards, but those cards empower the Isochron Scepter. On Game 1 against many decks, Scepter-Remand or Scepter-Silence becomes a lock that allows me to take the game to the state that gives me advantage. Even though, a second turn Silence alone usually gives me the chance to get to turn 3-4 Gift and reanimate my win-cond. Playing 12 artifacts, Thirst for Knowledge becomes a good drawing card. My sideboard might need some fixing but what I can tell is that Blessed Alliance alone or with scepter (and escalate too!) is really an amazing card, worth testing for sure in your sideboards.
Pro's I've found after testing a while this list are that on a good average, I win a lot the first game (even for matches like RG Tron, Bant Eldrazi, aggro decks in general which are on paper bad match-ups for us). A notable con is that with sideboard, almost all decks become really good against me, as a lot of people has Land/Artifact/Graveyard hate (even the three of them!), which really hurts me. I need to work on taking a different strategy for follow-ups matches, but I haven't really figured it out well.
This list kinda can be considered as rouge, but it's fun for sure. Some wtf faces on your opponents really are worth the shot when they don't know what the hell is that you are playing and what you are planning to do
RBridgevineB
RGR/G EldraziX
UBlue MoonR
UU/W TronW
First match R/W Burn. I'm on the play. He starts pushing forward but I deal with some board menaces and get a third turn gift and reanimate Iona. I was left with 5 lives but Iona was a lock. Second game I start with Leyline, he deals with it but I drop a Scepter-Blessed Alliance and it was too much for him to handle. I win 2-0.
Record 1-0.
Second match was against a Naya burn. He really doesn't start really that aggresive, but the turn I was about to play gift to reanimate my threat I drew Unburial Rites (that luck tho!). Nothing to do and he finish me off. Second game I start with Tron/Wurmcoil, I tutor Academy Ruins to get back the Wurmcoil everytime he dealt with it. It was too much for him at that point. The last game I mulligan to 5, get a leyline and Tron but I drew only crap. I lost 2-1.
Record 1-1.
Third match was Living End. I was not aware of what I was playing so I was playing with caution. He had a lot of Land hate on main so he kept dealing with my mana, and that really penalizes me. Cascade and Living End, game for him. On the second match I wasn't so sure of what to sideboard, but he got inside some more Land hate and it was even worse than the first game. I Remand his Living End but then he got another one. 2-0 for him.
Record 1-2.
The next match was against Bant Eldrazi. The first game I get Scepter-Silence and it was basically game. Got my Tron and casted my threats. The second match I overcame a 2-Engineered Explosives and Rest in Peace. I get Tron online, tutor Academy Ruins and did the Slaver lock (it's like the second or third time I've managed to pull it off to win a match!). 2-0 for me.
Record 2-2.
The last match was Modern Abzan. To be honest we were both aware that we couldn't win something that night so we played a bit lazy (slow but serious). The first match somehow a desperate Scepter-Path was really annoying for him and turned the game into my favor. I casted (yes, casted) Iona and Ulamog and won the game. The second game, of course, he got all the hate and made a difficult match. I didn't feel the game was far but details turned it up to him (Lingering Souls is a difficult card to deal with!). We didn't have time to finish the match so it ended 1-1.
Final record 2-2-1. Not the best exhibition but I'm satisfied that the match ups I had weren't easy and Naya Burn didn't feel that far from winning. I'll try luck next week and post a better record in the coming weeks! Any suggestion is always welcome, thanks for reading.
RBridgevineB
RGR/G EldraziX
UBlue MoonR
UU/W TronW
Round 1 vs Bant Eldrazi
Game 1 was a really fun game, he had a decent start and I had some removal to keep myself in check. I ended up stabilizing at 2 life and he just couldn't get a foot back into the game. Game 2 I just had relatively poor answers and couldn't keep up with him. He had some clutch counters that really helped him, Stubborn Denial and Disdainful Stroke are both pretty good. Game 3, once again I got low but I was able to stabilize. I kept passing with lots of nothing to do and he was fearing counters from me (I boarded every last one of them out except the Ceremonious Rejection I boarded in), so he kept passing even though he had plays to make, waiting for Cavern of Souls. Anyway, that gave me enough time to eventually find what I needed, and then Elesh Norn killed his board, then Iona closed it out (he scooped). There was one key moment in the third game where I luckily drew well over the course of two turns to get both Gifts and Path so I could Path his Drowner and then reanimate Elesh Norn, Path making me able to play around Stubborn Denial.
Record: 1-0
Round 2 vs Eggs
Yes, you read that right. Buddy of mine built it, there's a new version playing Scrap Trawler and honestly, it seems pretty powerful. It loses really hard to removal or Surgical unlike the Eggs of old, but it fizzles less often. Scrap Trawler lets it recur artifacts really easily. In particular, Ichor Wellspring sacrifices to return Chromatic Star which returns Engineered Explosives, so they just get to chain a bunch of draws like this. They also play Nihil Spellbomb since it pseudo draws as well.
Game 1 I wasn't quite sure what he was doing until I saw him start going off and realized what was happening. I just didn't have the answers to deal with his stuff, he chained until 15 mana and cast Emrakul while I had 6 permanents in play and I scooped. In game 2, I had a Surgical and was hoping to hit Scrap Trawler with it, but he had Duress to remove it and then also Nihil Spellbomb to exile it, preventing my Snapcaster from getting the job done. He went off and I conceded when he had 10 mana and 7 cards in hand.
Record: 1-1
Round 3 vs Mono Black Devotion
These games went exactly how you think they did. Gifts -> Iona was good in both of the games. Someone was just trying out the deck, it was 1-1 but it's not good against our deck. Again, this is really one of the biggest selling points for the deck, that you crush a lot of these random matchups because of the variety of answers (Path, Wrath, Iona, Elesh Norn, Emrakul, counter spells).
Record: 2-1
I've been having a lot more success against Bant Eldrazi. Turns out Oblivion Stone is really quite good against them, even if they board in Stony Silence. I've also really enjoyed having Engineered Explosives with x=3 as an option. You'd be surprised at how much additional reach it gives you. I'm still back at all 12 Tron lands and an extra Map, not sure if I like it or not. I've had some games where I've had to mulligan hands because of a lack of coloured sources, but then I've also had Tron more consistently, and it's always good to get Tron earlier. I think this list might want a Karn somewhere, but it's hard to tell what to cut and I don't own one anyway. I think the 3-3 split on Condescend and Remand is working out well, Remand is good for Tempo and Condescend is good as a hard counter. I'm not sure if that's ideal though, perhaps others like Spell Snare or Syncopate are worthwhile just to give you options to fetch counters, but it's usually irrelevant in sideboard games when I have a Negate, Dispel, and Ceremonious Rejection in the board.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
I doubt this card is good, but a four mana Wrath effect is always worth at least mentioning. It's possible that it's better than the Martial Coup in my sideboard, though Martial Coup might be better as a second Elspeth. For real though, it seems solid against Eldrazi. Dawn is pretty bad for us but it's just pure upside after the fact, you might hit a Snapcaster but you don't really care that much.
Now this card actually seems good. It's Sphinx's Rev for one mana less without the lifegain and a slight drawback that's actually not that bad for us. The UU casting cost is a bit easier on us, though I suspect it probably is rarely going to be relevant. Sometimes Sphinx's Rev gaining life is relevant though, so it's hard to say if this is better or not. This is obviously better in slower metas, but maybe being able to draw earlier/more cards and the extra consistency casting it might be a real reason to run it. It's at least a card to take a serious look at.
I'm not sure how good the card really is, but it's an interesting card to say the least. Failure is basically Remand without the draw, but Comply makes up for it by giving you extra value. It's kind of like Reflector Mage but for spells. I think the fact that it allows you to stall an additional turn on a specific card is pretty big, especially in Modern. Some decks require certain cards to even function so potentially you Time Walk an opponent. For example, if you bounce Scapeshift then Comply name Scapeshift you get an additional turn. Is an additional turn better than an additional card? It's hard to really say, as there are cases to be made for both.
The biggest issue I see with this card is how good it is early and how bad it is late. It's really good on turns 2-4 but after that it falls off really hard. An opponent being able to just play the card again is the issue. It seems like in a lot of aggressive matchups, it could be really good because you can stall that extra turn, and the card being poor late game should be irrelevant when the games don't last long enough for that to happen.
Another thing is that you can use it like Remand on your own spells as well, just to give it that slight bit of extra utility.
I think this set of dual lands is pretty good. The ability to cycle them makes it really powerful in the late game for us. With fetches, the downside is very minimal since you can just end step fetch it up to avoid having it come into play tapped. We already run Colonnades and Seachrome anyway so it's not as if we're unwilling to play tapped lands. I think if I'm running two Hallowed Fountains, I'm now running 1 and 1.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
comply is probably pretty solid follow up to have afer you complete a mindslaver effect.
Now Irrigated Farmland is a card I'm excited to test. It can be fetched, cycled and the tapped source is not really relevant, as I have found that I usually get end-of-turn fetch with Hallowed Fountain or dropping it tapped against aggro decks to avoid the life loss. It can also be brought back for the ones that play Crucible of Worlds. I'm for sure will be testing Fetid Pools instead of Watery Grave. This land cards are coming strong for our deck.
Any thought on Cascading Cataracts?
RBridgevineB
RGR/G EldraziX
UBlue MoonR
UU/W TronW
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
It's an interesting proposition. We play Emrakul on the grounds that casting it wins the game, which is true pretty much every time (I cannot remember the last time it did not win the game). Approach will win the game guaranteed the second time you cast it, assuming it resolves. The questions to then ask yourself:
Let's go through each of these:
It's actually decently likely that some of them don't resolve. It's the sort of card that once your opponent knows what's up, won't be resolving. It's a legitimate concern that you won't win with it as consistently against blue decks the way you do with Emrakul. Part of what makes Emrakul so good is that it just wins the game in nearly every matchup because that's the kind of card it is. Approach simply won't. Remember that you really do need the first to resolve because you won't play a second copy (it's not that good) and you'll struggle to cast it again from your hand if it went into your graveyard.
In some matchups, you won't have the luxury of waiting this long. You cast it, then you have to draw a few more cards. Sometimes drawing that many cards is trivial, sometimes it's not. Other times, opponents will mill it. I think it's probably not that difficult to draw it again if you do resolve it.
My main concern is how bad the card is the first time you cast it. It does literally nothing at sorcery speed. To that effect, you need to put yourself in a position where you can actively afford to take off a turn. That might be holding up Path/Remand when you cast it, maybe Oblivion Stone with 5 mana for the second ability (effectively making Approach a 12 mana spell). Sometimes you'll Wrath an opponent then cast this the following turn into a board that's not scary enough and gives you the opportunity. Honestly, this is probably a dedicated midrange matchup card, because it's too slow against aggro and leaves you too open against combo (i.e. you don't want to wait until a billion mana to cast this and can't risk casting it earlier).
If I had to put a stance on it, I'd say it's not good. I don't think there are enough matchups where it's going to be reliable and better than other options.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Round 2 vs Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 I stomped him. He struggled getting Tron up and I had answers for everything. Wurmcoil was good at slowing down the game and counters helped buy time. I eventually Sphinx'd for 8 and he was basically dead at that point; I quickly closed it out with Emrakul. In game 2, I didn't draw nearly as well and got run over. In game 3, we got to topdeck mode and he drew much better than me. He drew things like Ulamog and Walking Balista and I drew lands. I actually drew six lands in a row if you count that Thirst drew three lands.
I felt like the games weren't that bad, it was more so a clunky draw when it mattered. He has explosive starts and the potential to kill me too fast the same way traditional RG Tron does. This deck just plays cards that our deck is better suited to handle, so we get a bit more time to stall and don't just lose on turn 3.
Record: 0-2 (counting the round 1 auto loss for signing up late).
Round 3 vs Budget Burn
The guy was obviously new and obviously quite bad at the game. Fundamentally he was alright - he knew the correct sequence of things and had a solid grasp. But I believe it was his first or second tournament, and he clearly wasn't up to speed with competitive decks in any sense of that term. As such, the games really weren't close or interesting. I won with Iona both times. His deck simply didn't have the gas you need to win with, he was playing very mediocre cards (playable in old Standard mono red lists but not Modern playable). Games were over very quickly.
Record: 1-2
Round 4 vs Eldrazi D&T
Once again, this deck aimed to be a mash of Eldrazi and D&T and it's really clunky. It has the best of both decks, but the problem is the decks don't mesh well. You get this Eldrazi ramp package that features the best Eldrazi creatures in Smasher and Thought-Knot Seer, but then the rest of your game plan isn't about winning the game quickly. It just leads to a bunch of clunky draws, in my opinion.
In game 1 I got really far ahead as he durdled a bit. Some decent Wrath effects helped keep the board clear. When I started drawing multiple cards with things like Pull From Tomorrow/Sphinx's Rev, the game was essentially over. I closed it out quite quickly from there with Emrakul. In game 2, my draw was significantly worse and I got run over. More importantly, he had a lot of land destruction to put me behind coupled with Thalia to keep me off ever Wrathing him. In game 3, there wasn't so much LD interaction, so I got ahead and started chaining Gifts. We would have drawn, but he knew he was playing slow and knew his demise was inevitable so he politely conceded to me.
Record: 2-2
Pull From Tomorrow - Very good, it performed exactly how I hoped it would. The fact that it discards a card is irrelevant most of the time, and I was just happy to dig an extra card deep. In some situations I cast it, I discarded multiple cards during the following end step anyway. The life was also generally not relevant, which makes sense to me - slow matchups means higher life totals. I played it alongside Sphinx's Rev to try to present a Gifts package of Gifts, Sphinx's Rev, Pull From Tomorrow, and Emrakul, the idea being that I no longer chain Gifts and just go straight for X mana draw. I never got to test out this option though.
Dusk//Dawn - Never cast it, unfortunately, so no data on this card.
Failure//Comply - Wasn't as good as I had hoped. Turns out that sorcery speed on Comply makes a much bigger difference than it seems. Also, I don't think it's worth one card unless you're in a spot where blanking their card is crucial to not losing the game. Ultimately, I wish I had a Remand on top of the card. I can see situations where it will be good, but I'm unsure if they will be frequent enough to justify this card.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
That said the deck is super fun and I'll probably be lurking around this thread now.
Round 1 vs Burn
Game 1 I crush him after he unluckily drew three Searing Blazes that are completely dead. Literally could not cast them at any point to hit me. In game 2 he mulled to 5 and ran out of gas. I kept a 1-land hand and drew into the lands I needed so I was a bit fortunate there. He did actually correctly board for the matchup, but he was unlucky. I won with Iona in both games.
Record: 1-0
Round 2 vs Blue Moon
Game 1 he turn 3 Blood Moons me but turns out Signet is pretty good. I actually resolved a Wurmcoil on turn 5 and coasted that to victory. He literally couldn't answer it, and was just cycling things like Serum Visions and Electrolyze. The one time he did attempt to actually kill it I had an answer. Game 2 he had turn 3 Blood Moon again but I had a Celestial Purge in hand. The game just got out of hand really quickly with Tron, and when I presented Gifts + Sphinx's Rev + Emrakul + Pull From Tomorrow he scooped. I was going to either win the game or draw 10 cards.
Record: 2-0
Round 3 vs Jund Death's Shadow
Game 1 I drew into a lot of the early removal and Wrath effects, so I was able to keep the board very clear. It was pretty easy to cost through like that, eventually Tron came online and all the silliness that follows. Game 2 he drew better than I did, I didn't get the answers I needed and he ran me over. It was probably more like he had lots of Inquisitions/Thoughtseizes to take the few answers I did, and then I got left with things that aren't so good. In game 3, he kept a 1-lander and we ended the game with him having 2 lands in play after he Traversed for one. Pretty fortunate for me that he just basically bricked. My hand was good, but it never hurts to be lucky.
Record: 3-0
Split in the finals.
Pull From Tomorrow is quite good. I like in slower matchups that it closes the game faster, though it feels unnecessary. Like, you can just Gifts for Pull, Sphinx's Rev, Gifts, and Emrakul, and you're going to win a lot faster, but it also probably isn't relevant; chaining Gifts isn't that bad. I would probably say Pull is better than Sphinx's Rev because honestly, you generally don't like Sphinx's Rev against the aggro decks. You see one more card but discard a card, but discarding almost never matters and is sometimes beneficial.
Dusk//Dawn is a fine card, I'm not sure if it's better than second Elspeth but hey, it's another uniquely named Wrath effect. I haven't been too bothered small things live, it's good vs Eldrazi and Death's Shadow and I'm happy with that. I've never Aftermath'd but I never really cared about that.
Failure//Comply is bad. I always just wish I had a Remand in my hand. Comply being sorcery speed just hurts too much, you generally don't buy yourself enough time that way. Sure, Comply can be great sometimes, but for the most part I think those cases are quite rare.
Playing all 12 Tron lands hasn't been that detrimental for me. Particularly that I have an Oblivion Stone in the mainboard, it's quite nice that I can activate it super early sometimes, or activate it while doing other things in the same turn. Speaking of which, Oblivion Stone has been quite good for me. While it certainly has some anti-synergy, I've just been happy to draw more Wrath effects, even the Engineered Explosives has been putting in work. Recurring either is just upside, the cards are good already.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
1 Negate
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Dusk//Dawn
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Celestial Purge
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Condemn
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Cyclonic Rift
Tweak it however you need for your local meta.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
I like it as a gifts ungiven target because it can work from either hand or graveyard.
Have you tested it? If so, how has it ran for you? I'd be worried about it being a more expensive oblivion ring effect.
@Darksteel: You have mentioned playing pull from tomorrow a couple times now. Would you say it's a mandatory include at this point based on the pure value it offers or is it more a card still being explored? Wondering also if it should be replacing sphinxes' rev.
Anyway, I played in my local today:
Round 1 vs Eldrazi
Game 1 I get TKS'd out of the game. Just too much removing of my important cards and I never draw into anything useful. Game 2 I keep a one-lander on the draw with a Signet, Path, double Wrath, and some draw, and I luckily drew into a land early on. I draw a bunch of Wrath effects over the course of the game, Day, Verdict, Dusk, and Elspeth. After a bit of a rough early game from the land dilemma, I just had enough Wraths to keep him off doing much, and then Elspeth with Wraths in hand to clean up stuff that goes under her was good enough. In game 3 I mulled to 5 and crucially missed the second white source for Wrath for 3 turns in a row.
Record: 0-1
Round 2 vs Goblins
Game 1 I crush him with Elesh Norn, game 2 with Iona. He's a really bad player playing a budget-ish deck and has no idea what he's doing. Not close at all, not really worth explaining anything. I shouldn't really say he's that bad, he's new to the game, but he's trying to be competitive with a really bad understanding and it's not working out.
Record: 1-1
Round 3 vs Bant Spirits
Game 1 he draws a bunch of Birds and turns out they don't do much. His draw was simply too slow and I had all the time in the world. I resolved Iona and he just basically scooped. In game 2, early Geists killed me; turn 2 Geist into a second one when I killed it, brutal. In game 3, he flooded with Birds again and I ended up resolving Iona on white. He couldn't cast a lot of his deck and lost to it.
Record: 2-1
Round 4 vs Burn
Game 1 I had no idea what he was playing and kept a hand that unfortunately didn't really do much. I Wrathed him while I was low on turn 5 I believe it was, then he killed me on his turn. Game 2 I drew better very early on, but then drew a bunch of lands and basically hedged on Wurmcoil. I was reminded of why I cut it in the first place - Mono Red doesn't care. He killed me that game casting a total of four Skullcrack / Atarka's Commands.
Record: 2-2
Turns out some early anti-aggro might be worthwhile, perhaps Timely instead of a Pull or Sphinx's Rev, maybe one or two more things in the board. Also seeing that perhaps more Wrath effects for Eldrazi are good. My counters have been pretty abysmal lately, but I know if I take them out combo will show up the next time I play.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer