No matter what happens over the next few weeks with regards to the modern meta, today was truly shocking for the whole format. Whether you are on the side of the bannings being heavy handed or totally justified, consequences will never be the same in the days ahead. I believe (for whatever it's worth) that Junk and Twin will become kings of the format again alongside Affinity and Burn with, UWR seeing a resurgence.
It may be prudent to wait and see what the Junk decks do, to see if Fulminator Mages truly do become part of the mainboard strategy. If so, then we do run into the Life from the Loam/Crucible of Worlds/Pithing Needle/etc debate. Until that point, I still stand on the belief that BGx decks getting to play with Dark Confidant again is enough to keep Fulminator safely tucked away in the sideboard as a 2-3 of.
Taking stock of the decks that have the potential to surface again, I feel as though it would be an egregious mistake to remove Pyroclasm from the Mainboard in place of Lightning Bolt. Yes, Bolt has its merits, but how does it help against Lingering Souls on Flashback, which just so happens to be something Junk likes to do. For anyone that has dropped the early Pyroclasm on Affinity, you know why it is just not worth removing it. Even if you are only able to take out a couple Ornithopters or Memnites, it can make a huge difference in surviving long enough to stick a Wurmcoil Engine or Karn.
We also need to stop assuming T3 Karn/Wurmcoil is an everyday thing, It's not. It DOES happen, and it DOES happen quite often, but not enough to be a certainty in every game. In my experience its about 60% of the time you will have T3 Tron online, this DOES NOT include having a Wurmcoil or Karn to play, it is ONLY having Tron, this goes to about 80% on turn 4. In the same vein as casting big things early game, Ugin seems to be a 0-1 of main with a 0-1 of side due to his mana cost and lack of versatility against Affinity. He almost seems like our special version of Keranos.
I'm going to miss the exasperated sighs of Pod players when we go Turn 1 Tron piece into Ex-Map... Just like the Jund players did.
Has anyone considered Painter's Servant in the sb? I just tested against affinity and it is a monster with ugin. I also am experimenting with Kuldotha Forgemaster into Blighsteel replacing the Eldrazi package, and it actually seems better. it can be quicker, more ways to search help consistency, and even though it is not auto GG quite as much, what really trumps it? Servant is the important one though, has anyone ever used it in the history of the deck? All is Dust would use it much the same, not as good
Kuldotha into Blightsteel... I'm listening because I think there could be hope for MUD-Tron. But it's going to have to be sold to me.
Painter's servant... yes I've considered it. No I don't like it. A combo is generally only as good as the pieces function alone, and Painter's Servant does no function alone. Also, it kills Ancient Stirrings and Eye of Ugin. A hard reset on the field though would be fun to pull off once with Ugin as the sole survivor.
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Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis,
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
I have adjusted my deck thusly based on the bannings. Still undecided on Ugin, and I am not sure about the dropping of Relic but I think this is a pretty safe route.
Painter's servant... yes I've considered it. No I don't like it. A combo is generally only as good as the pieces function alone, and Painter's Servant does no function alone. Also, it kills Ancient Stirrings and Eye of Ugin.
Wow, I totally missed that interaction. Yeah, Painter's Servant does seem a lot weaker when it turns off our best cantrip.
What I was trying to say is, if any Junk player wants to have a real chance against RG Tron, he will very probably need T3 landdestruction. I know they play it, but they also have to have it playable on turn 3.
The blowout of Karn and Ugin against them is what I meant furthermore, and I know that T3 Karn is not there most of the games. However, our main threats to overcome them already are MB (I play Ulamog and Emrakul main, alongside atleast 3 Wurmcoils). And I would never put any of that to SB in this MU, because it gets grindy most of the time. Thats Emrakuls domain, as far as I know from about a year with this deck.
Edit: as much as I can recall, I never actually lost to Junk. Not a single Game, though getting slowed down by a Fulminator Mage or Stony Silence. I lost to Jund from time to time, when Deathrite Shaman was still around - to a T2 Fulminator, followed by T3 Fulminator and T4 double Goyf into double Bolt T5. Or double TecEdge T4 followed by two sticking Shamans without me seeing any Relic or Sweeper. So I would perhaps call the MU better than 60%.
Cedric Phillips also seems to be happy with the recent announcement considering his post on Twitter
"He has been Liberated! #notimpressed"
Anyway looks like you guys will continue to be my nemesis whenever I play BG/x but at least I have GR Tron built too and so I can enjoy both of sides of the matchup from time to time
Firespout main is good when you expect a lot of Zoo and Merfolk I guess. Though 2 MB Spellskites with maybe a full playset Wurmcoils would otherwise be sufficient MB protection against beatdown decks. Put some Firespout in the SB I would say, and probably another Ugin.
Edit: I would not go with less than 3 O-Stones main to a meta with a lot beatdown. It is very good against Junk and not bad against Zoo or Affinity if they don't have a hyper aggressive opening.
Edit 2: And I would consider All is Dust, though being worse than Ugin it is playable with natural Tron.
I have 2 tournaments coming up this weekend, I'm sure to tinker with my current list. I suspect a rise of Affinity & Junk in the local meta. Somehow I don't see how Twin will be better with the increase of Junk (hand disruption and uncounterable removal).. but that's still a matchup I despise because on the play t3 deceiver into twin is almost always insta-loss. I'm debatting a list with the following core:
Sundering Titan, I'm not sure if he fits in the expected meta... And with the rise of Zoo (probably), will we run mb firespout over Pyroclasm?
No, run Pyroclasm. You need Pyroclasm to win the Affinity MU, you can easily win the Zoo MU w/o Firespout. Firespout gets to the point of being expensive enough that you're already on the 7/8 mana sweeper plans.
I'd also up the O-Stones, even at the expense of Ugins - O-Stone has huge impacts on both the Affinity and Twin matchups, whereas Ugin is a completely dead card in each (other than being an extremely slow 3-turn clock). I'd cut all Relics, run a full set of O-Stones, run 1-2 Spellskites MD (with the rest of a 3-set SB), and then use whatever small space you have left for Ugin.
Firespout main is good when you expect a lot of Zoo and Merfolk I guess. Though 2 MB Spellskites with maybe a full playset Wurmcoils would otherwise be sufficient MB protection against beatdown decks. Put some Firespout in the SB I would say, and probably another Ugin.
Edit: I would not go with less than 3 O-Stones main to a meta with a lot beatdown. It is very good against Junk and not bad against Zoo or Affinity if they don't have a hyper aggressive opening.
Edit 2: And I would consider All is Dust, though being worse than Ugin it is playable with natural Tron.
Again, I'd like to really talk about how good O-Stone is here. It's not only good against beatdown, it's great against Twin and it's good against most decks that Ugin's good against. I can list several matchups where O-Stone is great and Ugin isn't, but I can't list any matchups where Ugin is great and O-Stone isn't. I can list a few matchups where Ugin's slightly better (Junk/Jund/etc) if you can cast him, but even in those matchups O-Stone's less vulnerable to disruption bar Stoney Silence.
Ugin's a card you consider as a 5th or 6th Karn that costs 8, or as an All Is Dust replacement. It's not an O-Stone replacement at all.
Also, I'd like to sing the praises of Spellskite. In recent tournaments, that card has done tons of work. It completely wins Twin and Infect matchups while providing a valuable blocker in the aggressive MUs. Instead of worrying about how we win the game (ala Ugin), the focus of this deck should be how we get to the endgame, because with 4 Map/4 Scrying+Eye->Emrakul, we're winning the long-game. The problem is getting there.
I really wish Ugin had come at a different time; with the recent bannings and his popularity, I think that people will be planning to run into Gr Tron more.
O-Stone should always be a 4-of in our 75; it's just too good in too many situations. Spellskite is also amazing in that he helps us out in many of our worst matches (Infect, Bogles, Twin, even Burn), and can protect our other threats from Path to Exile, Vapor Snag, and so on. Ugin will probably replace a Relic or two, and possibly my fourth Slaughter Games, as I feel decks like Merfolk will be played more often.
Land destruction/disruption is our Achilles heel, so how do we best prepare for such an occasion? Is it so bad that we'll have to dedicate slots to deal with it?
Fulminator Mage will likely be the worst offender. As terrible as Sowing Salt can be, the four mana requirement is enough to knock its viability down a peg, especially when we're on the play. With the meta shake-up, we will have to have a good plan against these sorts of things. Hatebears and D&T will be played a bit more now as well, so Aven Mindcensor or Leonin Arbiter with Ghost Quarter really hurts.
I've seen people toss about Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam, but both of these still result with your land count being set back. Pithing Needle is searchable and faster, but really only shuts down GQ, FM, and Tectonic Edge as far as land kill goes. It has the bonus of being able to shut down a few other key permanents as well, but is it worth slotting for? My gut says no, but it's a nice option if you can get a good read on your meta, and it's full of direct hate. Sacred Ground is good against everything except Sowing Salt and enchantments like Blood Moon or Spreading Seas (both of which are much easier to deal with), but is narrow and harder for us to cast.
I'd really like to replace my lone Llanowar Wastes with another basic land, as that subtle change really helps against Ghost Quarter. It's very nice with Slaughter Games, though, and that's a card that breaks some uphill matches wide open.
Sorry for such scattered thoughts; I'm trying to sort things out before the 5K on the 1st in Indy
The thing that I like with Ugin in addition to O-Stone is that even though it isn't that great in some matchups, it ends up being decent purely because it gives us another way to win. I used to play this deck about a year or so ago but one of the problems I had with the deck was that it was very easy to run out of gas before finding a win condition. Ugin shores that up nicely while letting you demolish in certain matchups. On the surface, he seems like everything this deck wants in a MD win condition. He's the single biggest reason I'm picking this deck up again (plus the bans didn't hurt either )
The thing that I like with Ugin in addition to O-Stone is that even though it isn't that great in some matchups, it ends up being decent purely because it gives us another way to win. I used to play this deck about a year or so ago but one of the problems I had with the deck was that it was very easy to run out of gas before finding a win condition. Ugin shores that up nicely while letting you demolish in certain matchups. On the surface, he seems like everything this deck wants in a MD win condition. He's the single biggest reason I'm picking this deck up again (plus the bans didn't hurt either )
I don't get how people say that RG Tron has a problem with win conditions. Even in the least threat-dense builds, all of the following cards will win the game:
...That's 17/60 cards, 13 of which can be hit by Ancient Stirrings. That means Ancient Stirrings has a 70% chance of hitting a win condition, so .7*4=2.8. That's about 20/60 cards. Then we run 4 Chromatic Spheres/Stars, making that number about 20/52. If you're running Relics, that's 20/48. It's no exaggeration that 40% of our deck is win conditions. We have hands-down the best endgame in the format, and I rarely lose a game because I can't close it out. If it gets to the point that I've lived long enough to assemble Tron and am not in imminent threat of dying (which Ugin doesn't help with nearly as much as O-Stone does), I feel like that's a game Tron's going to win.
How's the MU against Blue Moon, UWr Control, and Scapeshift? Also...do we just auto lose to Splinter Twin?
Blue Moon and UWr Control are both extremely favorable. Scapeshift is unfavorable pre-board even-favorable post-board (thanks to Slaughter Games). Splinter Twin's pretty unfavorable, but I and others dedicate MD Spellskites and 5-6 sideboard slots (more Spellskites, Combusts, Torpor Orbs) to attempt to make it more favorable post-board.
Excellent. It's basically an auto-loss for them if they don't have Blood Moon. Even if they do have it, they don't have enough of a clock to threaten you, so you can just naturally cast Wurmcoil and the rest.
UWr Control,
Again, an excellent matchup. A deck designed to try to stall out the game to gain advantage doesn't do well against a deck that gets more advantage, so it basically has to play the role of an aggro deck to beat us.
and Scapeshift?
Bad. They can cast a Scapeshift for lethal before we can find and cast an Emrakul and they have significantly better disruption against us than we have against them (at least game 1). The good news is that some of our hate cards win the game upon resolution. If you cast Sundering Titan off of a Cavern of Souls or cast a Slaughter Games, you're almost guaranteed to win the game. Boil can also screw with them, but is more vulnerable to countermagic. But if any of those three cards resolve, the game is basically yours.
Also...do we just auto lose to Splinter Twin?
Not quite. We do have a better shot at beating Twin without hate than we have of beating Scapeshift without hate, but on the downside none of our hate is as much of an "instant win" for us as it is against Scapeshift. The tricky thing about Twin is that they're not as all-in on the combo, so a Torpor Orb in play doesn't mean a victory (I remember the sad game where I had two Torpor Orbs in play, which didn't do a thing to his two 4/5 Tarmogoyfs). Not only that, the hate we do have is easier for them to get rid of or bypass (Torpor Orb and Spellskite die to Ancient Grudge, you can Combust one threat and they can just cast the Twin on another).
Is Defense Grid now not the better option over Torpor Orb? Pod decks are gone from the format so we really only have to worry about Uxx decks with ETB creatures. It also puts a heavy tax on counterspells that Torpor Orb does not. They both cost 2... Just feels like the better option is Defense Grid at this time due to its all around versatility.
Is Defense Grid now not the better option over Torpor Orb? Pod decks are gone from the format so we really only have to worry about Uxx decks with ETB creatures. It also puts a heavy tax on counterspells that Torpor Orb does not. They both cost 2... Just feels like the better option is Defense Grid at this time due to its all around versatility.
I bought three before the bans (and traded away my pods, how lucky is that?) but yeah I agree with this.
I'm going to have a solid three Defense grid in my sideboard from now on
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
stony silence will see a lot of play in the coming months as tron reestablishes itself as a tier 1 deck. Junk/abzan and hatebears get better and we'll see more of them around.
Stony shuts down about half of our spells, which is insane. How do we combat this? Nature's claim all the way? Or that one 1x spell that destroys all enchantments? (back to nature or something).
I don't want a good matchup to start sacking as a result of one card. It's so good against us, as well as affinity they might run four copies in their board.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
I've been running randoms non-stop on Cockatrice and played down at my local LGS and with this weird unknown meta... and constantly being blown out by Tectonic Edges and land hate and seeing no affinity I have shifted to one main deck Crucible of Worlds and re-added Ugin, The Spirit Dragon. So currently it looks like this.
- 1 Wurmcoil Engine
+ 1 Crucible of Worlds
Changed due to Tec Edge and opposing Ghost Quarters and added 1 extra Ghost Quarter to help with destabilizing the opponents manabase.
- 2 Pyroclasm
+ 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
As much as I do not like removing Pyroclasm main Ugin has actually improved my matchups quite a bit with my current shell.
- 2 Pyroclasm
+ 2 Relic of Progenitus
I was missing the extra cantrips and graveyard hate and with Spellskite's main I have not had to worry much about opposing creatures early game.
- 1 Grove of the Burnwillows
+ 1 Ghost Quarter
I just need more land hate and with less red sources in the deck I have little need for an extra land that produces red mana, very rarely do I want these late game and find drawing into them does not help me in most situations.
I am currently on the fence with my sideboard. I really like Surgical Extraction, Nature's Claim, and Defense Grid here but Firespout with my re-inclusion of Ugin seems almost unnecessary but I do not know what to replace it with at the moment.
Beast Within has done a lot less for me then I would have hoped so I have removed it in my side as well. Every time I side it in against a deck the last thing I want to do is give them another creature. That 3/3 always puts me on the clock way to early. It feels like a dead card in practically all the situations I want it for except for late game when I can cast it while having another 5 mana to blow up my O-Stone and those games are generally control games where I should be casting my own threats which are generally answers to theirs. At that 8 mana cost I would rather play an Ugin so I am thinking it is time to go back to Slaughter Games and 1 more Ugin in over Beast Within. I know Beast is good in the mirror but a turn 3 Karn followed by a turn 4 Slaughter Games or turn 4 Ugin is stronger.
EDIT: After testing all night without Pyroclasm I just cannot justify cutting them. Crucible is back out and so is Relic for + 3 Pyroclasm back in.
It may be prudent to wait and see what the Junk decks do, to see if Fulminator Mages truly do become part of the mainboard strategy. If so, then we do run into the Life from the Loam/Crucible of Worlds/Pithing Needle/etc debate. Until that point, I still stand on the belief that BGx decks getting to play with Dark Confidant again is enough to keep Fulminator safely tucked away in the sideboard as a 2-3 of.
Taking stock of the decks that have the potential to surface again, I feel as though it would be an egregious mistake to remove Pyroclasm from the Mainboard in place of Lightning Bolt. Yes, Bolt has its merits, but how does it help against Lingering Souls on Flashback, which just so happens to be something Junk likes to do. For anyone that has dropped the early Pyroclasm on Affinity, you know why it is just not worth removing it. Even if you are only able to take out a couple Ornithopters or Memnites, it can make a huge difference in surviving long enough to stick a Wurmcoil Engine or Karn.
We also need to stop assuming T3 Karn/Wurmcoil is an everyday thing, It's not. It DOES happen, and it DOES happen quite often, but not enough to be a certainty in every game. In my experience its about 60% of the time you will have T3 Tron online, this DOES NOT include having a Wurmcoil or Karn to play, it is ONLY having Tron, this goes to about 80% on turn 4. In the same vein as casting big things early game, Ugin seems to be a 0-1 of main with a 0-1 of side due to his mana cost and lack of versatility against Affinity. He almost seems like our special version of Keranos.
I'm going to miss the exasperated sighs of Pod players when we go Turn 1 Tron piece into Ex-Map... Just like the Jund players did.
Let's see what come up,
Happy Hunting
Kuldotha into Blightsteel... I'm listening because I think there could be hope for MUD-Tron. But it's going to have to be sold to me.
Painter's servant... yes I've considered it. No I don't like it. A combo is generally only as good as the pieces function alone, and Painter's Servant does no function alone. Also, it kills Ancient Stirrings and Eye of Ugin. A hard reset on the field though would be fun to pull off once with Ugin as the sole survivor.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Eye of Ugin
Creatures
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Spellskite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Karn Liberated
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Pyroclasm
4 Chromatic Star
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Oblivion Stone
4 Nature's Claim
2 Torpor Orb
3 Firespout
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Beast Within
The blowout of Karn and Ugin against them is what I meant furthermore, and I know that T3 Karn is not there most of the games. However, our main threats to overcome them already are MB (I play Ulamog and Emrakul main, alongside atleast 3 Wurmcoils). And I would never put any of that to SB in this MU, because it gets grindy most of the time. Thats Emrakuls domain, as far as I know from about a year with this deck.
Edit: as much as I can recall, I never actually lost to Junk. Not a single Game, though getting slowed down by a Fulminator Mage or Stony Silence. I lost to Jund from time to time, when Deathrite Shaman was still around - to a T2 Fulminator, followed by T3 Fulminator and T4 double Goyf into double Bolt T5. Or double TecEdge T4 followed by two sticking Shamans without me seeing any Relic or Sweeper. So I would perhaps call the MU better than 60%.
"He has been Liberated! #notimpressed"
Anyway looks like you guys will continue to be my nemesis whenever I play BG/x but at least I have GR Tron built too and so I can enjoy both of sides of the matchup from time to time
Edit: I would not go with less than 3 O-Stones main to a meta with a lot beatdown. It is very good against Junk and not bad against Zoo or Affinity if they don't have a hyper aggressive opening.
Edit 2: And I would consider All is Dust, though being worse than Ugin it is playable with natural Tron.
No, run Pyroclasm. You need Pyroclasm to win the Affinity MU, you can easily win the Zoo MU w/o Firespout. Firespout gets to the point of being expensive enough that you're already on the 7/8 mana sweeper plans.
I'd also up the O-Stones, even at the expense of Ugins - O-Stone has huge impacts on both the Affinity and Twin matchups, whereas Ugin is a completely dead card in each (other than being an extremely slow 3-turn clock). I'd cut all Relics, run a full set of O-Stones, run 1-2 Spellskites MD (with the rest of a 3-set SB), and then use whatever small space you have left for Ugin.
Again, I'd like to really talk about how good O-Stone is here. It's not only good against beatdown, it's great against Twin and it's good against most decks that Ugin's good against. I can list several matchups where O-Stone is great and Ugin isn't, but I can't list any matchups where Ugin is great and O-Stone isn't. I can list a few matchups where Ugin's slightly better (Junk/Jund/etc) if you can cast him, but even in those matchups O-Stone's less vulnerable to disruption bar Stoney Silence.
Ugin's a card you consider as a 5th or 6th Karn that costs 8, or as an All Is Dust replacement. It's not an O-Stone replacement at all.
Also, I'd like to sing the praises of Spellskite. In recent tournaments, that card has done tons of work. It completely wins Twin and Infect matchups while providing a valuable blocker in the aggressive MUs. Instead of worrying about how we win the game (ala Ugin), the focus of this deck should be how we get to the endgame, because with 4 Map/4 Scrying+Eye->Emrakul, we're winning the long-game. The problem is getting there.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
O-Stone should always be a 4-of in our 75; it's just too good in too many situations. Spellskite is also amazing in that he helps us out in many of our worst matches (Infect, Bogles, Twin, even Burn), and can protect our other threats from Path to Exile, Vapor Snag, and so on. Ugin will probably replace a Relic or two, and possibly my fourth Slaughter Games, as I feel decks like Merfolk will be played more often.
Land destruction/disruption is our Achilles heel, so how do we best prepare for such an occasion? Is it so bad that we'll have to dedicate slots to deal with it?
Fulminator Mage will likely be the worst offender. As terrible as Sowing Salt can be, the four mana requirement is enough to knock its viability down a peg, especially when we're on the play. With the meta shake-up, we will have to have a good plan against these sorts of things. Hatebears and D&T will be played a bit more now as well, so Aven Mindcensor or Leonin Arbiter with Ghost Quarter really hurts.
I've seen people toss about Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam, but both of these still result with your land count being set back. Pithing Needle is searchable and faster, but really only shuts down GQ, FM, and Tectonic Edge as far as land kill goes. It has the bonus of being able to shut down a few other key permanents as well, but is it worth slotting for? My gut says no, but it's a nice option if you can get a good read on your meta, and it's full of direct hate. Sacred Ground is good against everything except Sowing Salt and enchantments like Blood Moon or Spreading Seas (both of which are much easier to deal with), but is narrow and harder for us to cast.
I'd really like to replace my lone Llanowar Wastes with another basic land, as that subtle change really helps against Ghost Quarter. It's very nice with Slaughter Games, though, and that's a card that breaks some uphill matches wide open.
Sorry for such scattered thoughts; I'm trying to sort things out before the 5K on the 1st in Indy
Here's what I'm gonna try; really want to play with Ugin. Plus adding a few cards i'll juggle with depending on the Meta
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Forest
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Eye of Ugin
Creatures
4 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Spellskite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Other Spells
4 Karn Liberated
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Chromatic Star
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Oblivion Stone
3 Ugin, The Spirit Dragon
2 Fire Spout
4 Nature's Claim
3 Pyroclasm
3 Slaughter Games
3 Boil
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Combust
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Torpor Orb
2 Firespout
1 Pyroclasm
1 Vandalblast
1 Ulamog, The Infinite Gyre
I don't get how people say that RG Tron has a problem with win conditions. Even in the least threat-dense builds, all of the following cards will win the game:
3 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Karn Liberated
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Expedition Map
...That's 17/60 cards, 13 of which can be hit by Ancient Stirrings. That means Ancient Stirrings has a 70% chance of hitting a win condition, so .7*4=2.8. That's about 20/60 cards. Then we run 4 Chromatic Spheres/Stars, making that number about 20/52. If you're running Relics, that's 20/48. It's no exaggeration that 40% of our deck is win conditions. We have hands-down the best endgame in the format, and I rarely lose a game because I can't close it out. If it gets to the point that I've lived long enough to assemble Tron and am not in imminent threat of dying (which Ugin doesn't help with nearly as much as O-Stone does), I feel like that's a game Tron's going to win.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
Modern
Ad Nauseam
Dredge
Living End
Legacy
Lands
Blue Moon and UWr Control are both extremely favorable. Scapeshift is unfavorable pre-board even-favorable post-board (thanks to Slaughter Games). Splinter Twin's pretty unfavorable, but I and others dedicate MD Spellskites and 5-6 sideboard slots (more Spellskites, Combusts, Torpor Orbs) to attempt to make it more favorable post-board.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
Again, an excellent matchup. A deck designed to try to stall out the game to gain advantage doesn't do well against a deck that gets more advantage, so it basically has to play the role of an aggro deck to beat us.
Bad. They can cast a Scapeshift for lethal before we can find and cast an Emrakul and they have significantly better disruption against us than we have against them (at least game 1). The good news is that some of our hate cards win the game upon resolution. If you cast Sundering Titan off of a Cavern of Souls or cast a Slaughter Games, you're almost guaranteed to win the game. Boil can also screw with them, but is more vulnerable to countermagic. But if any of those three cards resolve, the game is basically yours.
Not quite. We do have a better shot at beating Twin without hate than we have of beating Scapeshift without hate, but on the downside none of our hate is as much of an "instant win" for us as it is against Scapeshift. The tricky thing about Twin is that they're not as all-in on the combo, so a Torpor Orb in play doesn't mean a victory (I remember the sad game where I had two Torpor Orbs in play, which didn't do a thing to his two 4/5 Tarmogoyfs). Not only that, the hate we do have is easier for them to get rid of or bypass (Torpor Orb and Spellskite die to Ancient Grudge, you can Combust one threat and they can just cast the Twin on another).
I bought three before the bans (and traded away my pods, how lucky is that?) but yeah I agree with this.
I'm going to have a solid three Defense grid in my sideboard from now on
Stony shuts down about half of our spells, which is insane. How do we combat this? Nature's claim all the way? Or that one 1x spell that destroys all enchantments? (back to nature or something).
I don't want a good matchup to start sacking as a result of one card. It's so good against us, as well as affinity they might run four copies in their board.
- 1 Wurmcoil Engine
+ 1 Crucible of Worlds
Changed due to Tec Edge and opposing Ghost Quarters and added 1 extra Ghost Quarter to help with destabilizing the opponents manabase.
- 2 Pyroclasm
+ 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
As much as I do not like removing Pyroclasm main Ugin has actually improved my matchups quite a bit with my current shell.
- 2 Pyroclasm
+ 2 Relic of Progenitus
I was missing the extra cantrips and graveyard hate and with Spellskite's main I have not had to worry much about opposing creatures early game.
- 1 Grove of the Burnwillows
+ 1 Ghost Quarter
I just need more land hate and with less red sources in the deck I have little need for an extra land that produces red mana, very rarely do I want these late game and find drawing into them does not help me in most situations.
- 1 Forest
+ 1 Llanowar Wastes
To run Slaughter Games and Surgical Extraction.
- 2 Torpor Orb
- 1 Nature's Claim
+ 3 Defense Grid
Defense Grid seems like the go to card for Combo and Control hate right now. Definitely added.
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Forest
1 Eye of Ugin
Creatures
3 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Spellskite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Karn Liberated
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Oblivion Stone
4 Chromatic Star
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Chromatic Sphere
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Nature's Claim
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Firespout
3 Defense Grid
2 Slaughter Games
1 Ugin, The Spirit Dragon
I am currently on the fence with my sideboard. I really like Surgical Extraction, Nature's Claim, and Defense Grid here but Firespout with my re-inclusion of Ugin seems almost unnecessary but I do not know what to replace it with at the moment.
Beast Within has done a lot less for me then I would have hoped so I have removed it in my side as well. Every time I side it in against a deck the last thing I want to do is give them another creature. That 3/3 always puts me on the clock way to early. It feels like a dead card in practically all the situations I want it for except for late game when I can cast it while having another 5 mana to blow up my O-Stone and those games are generally control games where I should be casting my own threats which are generally answers to theirs. At that 8 mana cost I would rather play an Ugin so I am thinking it is time to go back to Slaughter Games and 1 more Ugin in over Beast Within. I know Beast is good in the mirror but a turn 3 Karn followed by a turn 4 Slaughter Games or turn 4 Ugin is stronger.
EDIT: After testing all night without Pyroclasm I just cannot justify cutting them. Crucible is back out and so is Relic for + 3 Pyroclasm back in.
all is dust