So based on decklists from the past month+, there appear to be about 2-3 flex spots in the main, which are usually filled with:
- 3rd Walking Ballista, usually coupled with 2x Dismember
- 3x Relic of Progenitus, or maybe 2x Relic with 1x Dismember and no 3rd Ballista
For some reason I feel like Dismember is going to be more flexibly strong than a Relic, but Relic is definitely more popular at the moment. Is it just because it cycles and has incidental hate? I have been loving the 3rd Ballista vs. all sorts of low-toughness decks that can potentially run us over, like Affinity or Infect. Being able to remove counters one-by-one is a real beating for Infect on the stack.
Cool list. Hedging a lot against Ironworks with that sideboard? I basically never see that deck online so I don't worry about it much but I think it will probably see play at the GP, so maybe Leyline is a good choice. I don't think it's a card you want to play less than 3 of though. It's 3-4 or 0 I think. And I wouldn't leave home without 3 Thragtusks. With only 2 Tusk and only 2 basic lands, you're more vulnerable in the midrange/control/grindy matchups than I'd want to be, especially when the control decks are building with Tron in mind these days. UW in particular will start strip mining that list pretty quickly.
My main is actually pretty close to that right now though, but I have -1 Ballista, -1 Ulamog, +2 Relic. I don't really like cutting the second Ulamog and it probably won't stick, but I'm trying to capitalize on the tons of Dredge and Humans I'm seeing with that configuration and it's working out for now.
What did you have in mind for Engineered Explosives?
@shanebeeps I've been on 2 Ballista/2 Relic/1 Dismember in Mono Green for a few months and I think it's pretty much perfect. Dismember can be really high impact so I like having access to it but it's also dead in many matchups so I've never liked having 2. Relic is never dead and has amazing free-win equity against graveyard decks so it's a solid 2-of. But I even like 3 right now as Dredge is really popular online, at the expense of one of the Ballistas. I'm not seeing the Infect deck, thankfully. But as a rule I like the 2-2-1 split.
Is GR Tron the way to go these days with all the humans/token decks? Kozilek's return seems like it could be a real bomb. I haven't played tron in a couple months and I am thinking of taking it to an IQ this weekend. Also I'm not too worried about alpine moon or damping sphere. Tron is so redundant, even without big mana, most of the time the opponent spends so much time trying to disrupt you, you get to enough mana to cast things anyway.
Well, you're bolder than I. I still see plenty of UW online (the Miracles version is popular) and Taxes style decks where I want the 3rd basic (Swamp) in the sideboard, and also just for cases when I'm bringing in a lot of black mana stuff. Having the 4th source is important there I think. Good luck at the GP!
So I played 11 leagues with GB lists and did very well with them (1 5-0, 4 4-1, 4 3-2, 2 x-3), but overall I still don't think that adding the color appreciably improves the deck against the field, especially considering how it makes the manabase a bit awkward. It's fun to play with the black cards but I'm gonna go back to tuning Mono Green looking towards the MOCS on Friday.
Is GR Tron the way to go these days with all the humans/token decks? Kozilek's return seems like it could be a real bomb. I haven't played tron in a couple months and I am thinking of taking it to an IQ this weekend. Also I'm not too worried about alpine moon or damping sphere. Tron is so redundant, even without big mana, most of the time the opponent spends so much time trying to disrupt you, you get to enough mana to cast things anyway.
Mono-G is more popular right now, but RG is also putting up good results, so I'd say pick whichever you're more confortable with.
After being off Tron for a looong time and with all the commotion about Ancient Stirrings lately, I decided to take your exact 75 and a condensed print out of your side boarding guide to a 1k with 72 people yesterday and managed to pull off top 8. Thanks a lot for the work you've put in! I referenced your match notes in between rounds and it all felt right on the money.
One thing that really struck me was how much of a power house Walking Ballista was all day, especially playing Humans three(!) times. If I could run it back I'd want a third in the list, possibly cutting a Relic. Dismember always felt terrible against Humans, but I understand its utility as an out to Meddling Mage. If the deck could upgrade that slot I think things tilt in Trons favor quite a bit.
Yeah Ballista is really nice against Humans, but I always fight the urge to get greedy and hedge too much for one matchup. As soon as you cut the 2nd Relic for a 3rd Ballista, you'll stop seeing Humans and start seeing Dredge and Hollow One. When I was seeing a lot of Dredge recently I really wanted a 3rd Relic but that would be at the expense of the 2nd Ballista or the Dismember, and sure enough Dredge cooled off. Obviously there are other matchups to consider but the point is I just like having the most well-rounded list I can and I think that's what the current list is. I don't mind the Dismember against Humans either. The life loss does suck but it just means you have to use it more aggressively. A turn 1 Champion usually deals more than 4 damage to you, for example. Or if they play turn 2 Mantis Rider off Hierarch, Dismembering that feels pretty good. It's worth the 4 life to get your O-Stone back from under Freebooter. And the fact that it only costs 1 mana is really relevant cause mana efficiency is so important in that MU. I said that the matchup was even in the guide but now that I've played it a bunch more I'm confident in saying that it's at least slightly favorable, if not favorable.
Really want to thank you sicsmoo, I played the exact 75 from your sideboard guide (and stuck to it for sideboarding like 90% of the time) and finished 11-4 in GP Barcelona. Scavenger Grounds won me both games in a match against Dredge, I really like the inclusion.
Fantastic finish!
Also, I'm super onboard with Scavenger Grounds. It wasn't even a blip in my head when looking at Tron until Sicsmoo pointed it out and it's been an absolute rock star.
Really want to thank you sicsmoo, I played the exact 75 from your sideboard guide (and stuck to it for sideboarding like 90% of the time) and finished 11-4 in GP Barcelona. Scavenger Grounds won me both games in a match against Dredge, I really like the inclusion.
Yeah I go against the grain a little bit by only running 2 Claims. I won't go as far as saying it's "correct", but I'm confident in saying the 3rd is not necessary as I'm now over 1000 matches played with just the pair and I've rarely felt the need to reach for the 3rd. The only card you really need to kill with it is Stony Silence, and even in those matchups I don't want more than 2 because drawing multiples is awful. And that applies to any matchups where there's not that many targets. Affinity and Boggles are already favorable with just 2. Ironworks sees very little play online so I don't really worry about that. The 3rd would be nice against Blue Moon though, I'll admit. At the end of the day its just a meta call. On the whole I've felt the slot is better used elsewhere.
I still like Emrakul a lot. The fact that it has such a huge impact (often game-winning) in several tougher matchups (Storm, Valakut, Ad Nauseam, Ironworks, Grishoalbrand) makes it worth the slot for me. If I wanted to make room for something else I'd cut the Warping Wail.
How do you usually beat an early Stony Silence, Damping Sphere, or Blood Moon without Nature's Claim? Do you usually side in the Seers and Thragtusks to buy time vs. the decks that commonly play these hate cards? Or count on them being slow enough to get O-Stone active?
Yeah, you pretty much answered it yourself. In the majority of matchups, O-Stone and Thragtusk "beat" Damping Sphere or Blood Moon. Stony Silence is a bit more of a concern because if it lines up right it can lock us out, but as I said before I still don't want more than 2 Claim in those matchups and not that many decks play that card anyway.
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- 3rd Walking Ballista, usually coupled with 2x Dismember
- 3x Relic of Progenitus, or maybe 2x Relic with 1x Dismember and no 3rd Ballista
For some reason I feel like Dismember is going to be more flexibly strong than a Relic, but Relic is definitely more popular at the moment. Is it just because it cycles and has incidental hate? I have been loving the 3rd Ballista vs. all sorts of low-toughness decks that can potentially run us over, like Affinity or Infect. Being able to remove counters one-by-one is a real beating for Infect on the stack.
My main is actually pretty close to that right now though, but I have -1 Ballista, -1 Ulamog, +2 Relic. I don't really like cutting the second Ulamog and it probably won't stick, but I'm trying to capitalize on the tons of Dredge and Humans I'm seeing with that configuration and it's working out for now.
What did you have in mind for Engineered Explosives?
Mono-G is more popular right now, but RG is also putting up good results, so I'd say pick whichever you're more confortable with.
If you want some references for RG, I really like this list from a recent IQ:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1154097#paper
I think I'd go -1 Grove +1 Forest, but everything else looks great.
After being off Tron for a looong time and with all the commotion about Ancient Stirrings lately, I decided to take your exact 75 and a condensed print out of your side boarding guide to a 1k with 72 people yesterday and managed to pull off top 8. Thanks a lot for the work you've put in! I referenced your match notes in between rounds and it all felt right on the money.
One thing that really struck me was how much of a power house Walking Ballista was all day, especially playing Humans three(!) times. If I could run it back I'd want a third in the list, possibly cutting a Relic. Dismember always felt terrible against Humans, but I understand its utility as an out to Meddling Mage. If the deck could upgrade that slot I think things tilt in Trons favor quite a bit.
Yeah Ballista is really nice against Humans, but I always fight the urge to get greedy and hedge too much for one matchup. As soon as you cut the 2nd Relic for a 3rd Ballista, you'll stop seeing Humans and start seeing Dredge and Hollow One. When I was seeing a lot of Dredge recently I really wanted a 3rd Relic but that would be at the expense of the 2nd Ballista or the Dismember, and sure enough Dredge cooled off. Obviously there are other matchups to consider but the point is I just like having the most well-rounded list I can and I think that's what the current list is. I don't mind the Dismember against Humans either. The life loss does suck but it just means you have to use it more aggressively. A turn 1 Champion usually deals more than 4 damage to you, for example. Or if they play turn 2 Mantis Rider off Hierarch, Dismembering that feels pretty good. It's worth the 4 life to get your O-Stone back from under Freebooter. And the fact that it only costs 1 mana is really relevant cause mana efficiency is so important in that MU. I said that the matchup was even in the guide but now that I've played it a bunch more I'm confident in saying that it's at least slightly favorable, if not favorable.
BRGJundGRB
GCTronCG
WBRMardu PyromancerRBW
Legacy:
GElvesG
Fantastic finish!
Also, I'm super onboard with Scavenger Grounds. It wasn't even a blip in my head when looking at Tron until Sicsmoo pointed it out and it's been an absolute rock star.
Modern: Storm
Legacy: ANT
I still like Emrakul a lot. The fact that it has such a huge impact (often game-winning) in several tougher matchups (Storm, Valakut, Ad Nauseam, Ironworks, Grishoalbrand) makes it worth the slot for me. If I wanted to make room for something else I'd cut the Warping Wail.