What's up guys. It sounds like a lot of people are enjoying the sideboard guide which is cool to hear. I just made a couple tweaks to it and added the Bridgevine matchup.
I managed to go 5-0 in back-to-back leagues over the past couple days which was pretty awesome, with a couple slightly different lists, attached below.
The first list is closer to standard with 1 Relic and 1 Dismember main. I feel like the sideboard covers most of the bases well and the symmetry is really appealing (3 each of Surgical, Spatial, TKS, Thragusk and Claim). EDIT: I just noticed that's a pic of an older list - the one I went 5-0 with had the regular 4 O-Stone, 2 Ugin, not 3 and 3 as shown.
The second list is a bit more experimental. I cut the Dismember altogether and haven't missed it. I moved 1 Thragtusk to the main for a combination of reasons - it's good in so many matchups in the current meta as it is, and it frees up a sideboard slot. I shaved the 3rd from the 75 to experiment in the SB a little bit and having 1 in the main makes up for some of the lost equity from the 3rd in the matchups I want it.
Trying a Loam and a Spyglass in the side. Both are good in the mirror and even better against UW which is a deck I always like hedging against. I like both of these cards better than more big threats like Emrakul for example because they are so mana efficient and still have a huge impact. Spyglass can name Field early or either of their planeswalkers, and the fact that you can sneak it in after they counter a Karn, Thragtusk or TKS (or vice versa, force them to counter it/look at their hand to play around counters) for example is so good. I went with a 1-1 split because while they're both good in the aforementioned matchups, they have differing applications against the field so I'm just hedging my bets. Nothing set in stone at all but it seems to be a fun and effective configuration for the time being.
Also, I may try out Urza's Factory. I've never given it a shot and it seems intriguing. Hard to find space though - I don't wanna cut my precious Scavenger Grounds or a Forest.
Finally, the main thing that both lists have in common is 3 Walking Ballista. This card continues to feel fantastic in the current meta so I'm locked into that for the time being unless something changes.
Hey all I just got back from SCG Dallas. While my team didn't day 2, we dominated the standard and modern portions of the team event. Our legacy player was a great young buck who is just starting to get his taste for competitive legacy so I'm sure he'll grow. My record on day was 7-2 with Tron (the deck went 8-1 I made a huge misplay which I'll get too later). I signed up for the SCG Modern Classic and placed 18th out of about 270 players. My only losses were to 2 other Tron decks (The finalist Batu Acar and I had a great conversation about his list and a few MD choices, check out his list on the SCG site).\
After talking to Sicsmoo about my list for the weekend I registered this:
The surgicals were a concession to the mirror, KCI, and GY based decks like BR Vengevine and Hollow One.
Day 1: 7-2
RD 1) Vs Mardu Pyromancer 2-0
This was a clean sweep, and it wasn't close. You all know how this match up goes
RD 2) Vs Valakut 1-2 Loss (The deck won, I screwed up)
So, in G3 I manage to pull of GQ + Surgical. I failed to grab the 4th copy of Valakut and punted. I had to run to the rest room and you know do stuff and I got a time extension. That uneasiness didn't help and this tilted me all day.
Rd 3) Vs GB Elves 2-0 Win
I win the die roll, I land a T3 Stone, and Ugin G1. A lot of the same happens G2.
Rd 4) vs Grixis Control 2-0 Win
Nuff said, this match is great, feels easier than Mardu
Rd 5) Vs the Mirror 2-0 Win
I won the Die Roll
Rd 6) Vs 2-0 the Mirror
I got to tron before him (so much to say about these lol)
Rd 7) Vs KCI 0-2
G1 I get T4 combo'd out. G2 I get T3 combo'd out. FUN!
Rd 8) Vs Mardu 2-1 Win
This guy was salty, woo, he didn't like playing against Tron at all. I reminded him of why. He did manage to Molten Rain + Surgical me in G2. I was fine with it. G3, I landed cast'd 4 Oblivion Stones against him. WOO we heard "Tron needs a ban, it's too good!" Yep, I just kept smiling and played more cards they can't ever beat.
Rd 9) Vs Martr Proc 2-0 Win
My opponent was also mad to see T1 Tower into Star. Oh well another match where Ugin was unbeatble.
So, it was unfortunate to be that decent and fail to make a day 2. That's fine, I took the night to drink and blow a lot of steam off. Spoke to a well known player in the MTG community (former coach of mine, soon to be coaching me again once I return to that group) and he convinced me to play the Classic.
Day 2: SCG Modern Classic
So, I wonder if my latest paper success with Tron is a fluke. I wonder if maybe all the time I put into the deck and actually playing it is really paying off. It was nice to see the hard work see some degree of verification. I wasn't the only one who chose Tron, I played 4 tron mirrors (YES 4) and in the true 50/50 mirror match, went 2-2 against it. I went 6-2 in the Classic for a 18th place finish. I played against the 2 published lists and lost. Against Batu (and his gorgeous foils) I got wrecked and against the GR player we both knew what was up and he took it in 3.
Matches:
Rd 1) vs Titan shift 2-1 Win
YAY, dude I was like "really" ? Already? I start off by losing G1. G2 I manage to get tron on line and start taking him off R sources. I cast Karn on 3 and begin to -3. He bolts, and I follow up with World Breaker into Warping Wail back up (he knew I had it since I found it off of Stirrings). G3 was ... woo! I get an early Karn and start the process of removing R sources again. I manage to keep him off 6 mana by T4 and TKS him, he reveals Scapeshift and Prismatic Omen Had I sequenced by casting wurmcoil I flat out lose next turn. I take the Scapeshift and pass. He makes his land drop and I follow up with Ulamog. YEAH!
Rd 2) Vs TRON! 2-1 Win
Well this was going to the flavor match up of the day. I didn't know it at the time though. Ya he wins the die roll, and T3 Karns me. FUN! I go on the play, and I T3 karn him on a mull to 5. The next game is better, he do the Ghost Quarter dance and I get the early lead on tron lands in play and in hand. I also tutor up a GQ but I wound up being able to get my karn out and start slowly putting further and further away from getting tron on line. It was close because he had multiple copies of the the tron lands but it was enough.
Rd 3) Vs Humans 2-0 Win
Easy peesey, my friend on GDS lost hard to this humans player the rd before. I gladly came and got a little vengeance. This game wasn't close and it finished with about 38 min left in the round.
Rd 4) Vs TRON!! 1-2 (loss)
He wins the die roll and gets tron on line. He plays Karn in Worldy B. I conceded at about 5 min into the rd. G2, looks grim, I don't have functional hands but he seems to be in the tank with his opening 7. I got info from his expressions that it's close be may be hedging on a stirrings to find him a piece. Well I mull to 5 and top deck a Map. We T3 Karn him and survive GQ on his T3. G3 was great, we went back and forth on stone raining each other. I thought I had the upper hand when I landed Wurmcoil and Thrag's. I'd already exiled 2 Towers and crosses my fingers. He dug about 6 deep missed and I got 1 attack in for 11 before he top deck'd a Tower. He Ulamog'd me and that was all she wrote.
Rd 5) vs TRON!!! again lol 0-2 Loss (2nd place at the Classic)
G1 I see a potential T4 tron and even though I have 1 tron piece I have 2 Scrying's and a stirrings. Figure it's fine and I'm also on the draw so hey , okay. He goes T1 Tron land into Star... -sigh- He also T3 Karns me and I concede since I can't piece together tron with 2 -3 activation's and another karn. G2 I mull into oblivion and can get a decent hand, I lose hard.
Rd 6) Vs TRON!!!! 2-0 Win
Just read what happened above and this time I had the nut draws. I also won the Die roll here.
Rd 7) Vs Humans 2-0 Win
Not close, not close, and this is a good match up for us.
Rd 8) Vs Burn 2-1 Win
Well, I knew I was out of top 8 contention but hey, let's play for the pts and tickets. Sure, he wins the die roll. I have a clear T4 Tron with the potential of T3 Tron with star cantrip. He starts off with T1 Swiftspear (my heart sinks a bit) and I die by t4. I did manage to get wurmcoil on line but I was at 1, he showed me the helix before the untap step so ya. I'm a bit deflated but I don't show it. I figure, well it was a good run. Hey I'm on the play, lets see if I can string together some decent action T1-3. Well I manage to have a T3 Tron but no real follow up. I do have a star/sphere out to cast a T4 Thrag tusk but I'm a bit worried. My opponent has me at about 11, and he seems to be flooding. He goes in for an attack and I contortion the swiftspear. He groans a bit but that takes the pressure off of me. I untap play Thrag into a T5 Wurmcoil, but he drops an Ensnaring Bridge I was like, "Excuse me?". I look at the bridge and start thinking about how to get this thing off the table. He passes turn and I draw my first actual forest. I stirrings and find a Ballista and then play another star, crack it to play a scrying's and tutor up sanctum of Ugin. I pass turn and he untaps. He's beginning to flood andI smell blood. I play a 4/4 Ballista ,crack sanctum and grab Ulamog. I leave up a G, he cast's destructive revelry and I ping him 3x before casting Nature's Claim on my own ballista with 1 counter left. Ulamog comes down and we go to G3. He gets stuck on 1 land and I T3 tron, Play TKS, and land Ulamog, since there are no targets besides 1 Sacred Foundry I exile one of my redundant tron lands. He scoops when I leave leave him on 0 permanents in play. WOO the win against Burn felt good !!
Well that's my write up, 6-2 (2 losses to the mirror ) but crushed everything else. Deck's great, and here's hoping we don't see any hits tomorrow that effect tron. I'm locked into The next SCG open in Oct (modern) unless things change tron is my weapon of choice. 13-4 on the weekend and 20-6 in competitive events (PPTQ and SCG). Woo!
Hi everyone, sorry for being AWOL as of late. I'm planning on updating the primer, though if anyone else wants to take over, I wouldn't be opposed to handing it off either.
Sicsmoo, do you mind if I use your excellent SB primer in the OP? I'll give you full credit, of course. I was planning on making my own, but yours is almost certainly than what I have, and I don't see the need to duplicate effort for a (likely) worse attempt.
Hi everyone, sorry for being AWOL as of late. I'm planning on updating the primer, though if anyone else wants to take over, I wouldn't be opposed to handing it off either.
Sicsmoo, do you mind if I use your excellent SB primer in the OP? I'll give you full credit, of course. I was planning on making my own, but yours is almost certainly than what I have, and I don't see the need to duplicate effort for a (likely) worse attempt.
Hi everyone, sorry for being AWOL as of late. I'm planning on updating the primer, though if anyone else wants to take over, I wouldn't be opposed to handing it off either.
Sicsmoo, do you mind if I use your excellent SB primer in the OP? I'll give you full credit, of course. I was planning on making my own, but yours is almost certainly than what I have, and I don't see the need to duplicate effort for a (likely) worse attempt.
By all means, go ahead
Done! The OP should be completely up-to-date at this point. If anyone has any suggestions for other things they'd like to see or corrections that need to be made, feel free to let me know. Also, if anyone wants to submit any material, feel free to message me as well.
Slivortal, very nice primer update, thank you! I did catch a few things on a quick pass:
There is a mention of RG Tron instead of Gx Tron in the Sideboard Composition section (just below that title block, before the spoiler tagged section). Also, under "The Cards You Will Generally Play" section, 3-4 Forests should probably be 4-5, and the mention of "green-producing lands 5-6" in the paragraph there can come out.
You might consider adding a single Horizon Canopy to the Tech section, based on how it's been showing up in multiple performing lists. It's sad to see Spellskite no longer mentioned as a tech or sideboard option anymore, but almost no one plays it anymore, do they?
All this said, your primer is and always has been clear and direct, as well as a joy to read. Great work!
Slivortal, very nice primer update, thank you! I did catch a few things on a quick pass:
There is a mention of RG Tron instead of Gx Tron in the Sideboard Composition section (just below that title block, before the spoiler tagged section). Also, under "The Cards You Will Generally Play" section, 3-4 Forests should probably be 4-5, and the mention of "green-producing lands 5-6" in the paragraph there can come out.
You might consider adding a single Horizon Canopy to the Tech section, based on how it's been showing up in multiple performing lists. It's sad to see Spellskite no longer mentioned as a tech or sideboard option anymore, but almost no one plays it anymore, do they?
All this said, your primer is and always has been clear and direct, as well as a joy to read. Great work!
Canopy is definitely as playable as scavenger, factory, and 5th forest. Between all of the choices, canopy synergizes with crucible of worlds the best, and as crucible is seeing more play due to UW control being popular, canopy has popped up more and more. Not to mention it's the only of the utility lands that taps for green mana.
Spellskite should probably be mentioned, but mostly as a silver bullet to affinity and infect. Unless either of these decks rises to the top of the format, it should probably only be used in a specific paper meta to hedge against infect, as affinity is a fine matchup without skite.
Slivortal, very nice primer update, thank you! I did catch a few things on a quick pass:
There is a mention of RG Tron instead of Gx Tron in the Sideboard Composition section (just below that title block, before the spoiler tagged section). Also, under "The Cards You Will Generally Play" section, 3-4 Forests should probably be 4-5, and the mention of "green-producing lands 5-6" in the paragraph there can come out.
You might consider adding a single Horizon Canopy to the Tech section, based on how it's been showing up in multiple performing lists. It's sad to see Spellskite no longer mentioned as a tech or sideboard option anymore, but almost no one plays it anymore, do they?
All this said, your primer is and always has been clear and direct, as well as a joy to read. Great work!
Slivortal, very nice primer update, thank you! I did catch a few things on a quick pass:
There is a mention of RG Tron instead of Gx Tron in the Sideboard Composition section (just below that title block, before the spoiler tagged section). Also, under "The Cards You Will Generally Play" section, 3-4 Forests should probably be 4-5, and the mention of "green-producing lands 5-6" in the paragraph there can come out.
You might consider adding a single Horizon Canopy to the Tech section, based on how it's been showing up in multiple performing lists. It's sad to see Spellskite no longer mentioned as a tech or sideboard option anymore, but almost no one plays it anymore, do they?
All this said, your primer is and always has been clear and direct, as well as a joy to read. Great work!
Canopy is definitely as playable as scavenger, factory, and 5th forest. Between all of the choices, canopy synergizes with crucible of worlds the best, and as crucible is seeing more play due to UW control being popular, canopy has popped up more and more. Not to mention it's the only of the utility lands that taps for green mana.
Spellskite should probably be mentioned, but mostly as a silver bullet to affinity and infect. Unless either of these decks rises to the top of the format, it should probably only be used in a specific paper meta to hedge against infect, as affinity is a fine matchup without skite.
Thanks for the kind words, Thenarus! Updates noted and added; new section created for Spellskite under SB cards. Also added a short piece on Fog, given that it's been championed by Joe Lossett MD and is another SB tool vs Infect. Finally, added SB sections for Pithing Needle, Fog, Sorcerous Spyglass, and Seal of Primordium, since they all see small amounts of play from time-to-time.
Yeah I have seen Skite popping up here and there but I think that's just due to the small rise in Infect. It's super narrow currently, and I don't even think I'd want it against Affinity. I'm not sure stopping their Ravager trigger is worth a card, especially when our main goal is blowing up O-Stone which Skite dies to. It is a bit sad, I love the card and wish it were better in the meta. I have fond memories of playing 3 in my main deck at a GP in the Twin days.
Went to dallas, overall my team went 5-4. I personally was 5-2-2, losing only to storm and infect. Went against a different deck each match, it was fun but a little unfortunate. I hate storm
Hey all I just got back from SCG Dallas. While my team didn't day 2, we dominated the standard and modern portions of the team event. Our legacy player was a great young buck who is just starting to get his taste for competitive legacy so I'm sure he'll grow. My record on day was 7-2 with Tron (the deck went 8-1 I made a huge misplay which I'll get too later). I signed up for the SCG Modern Classic and placed 18th out of about 270 players. My only losses were to 2 other Tron decks (The finalist Batu Acar and I had a great conversation about his list and a few MD choices, check out his list on the SCG site).
If you don't mind me asking, what did he have to say about his unusual MD choices (2 MD All Is Dust, 2nd MD World Breaker, 1 Field 0 GQ)? The 2 All Is Dust I'm guessing is a concession to fast board-centric decks like Humans and Elves, and the 2nd World Breaker to gain back % points vs Affinity/colorless decks? I'm especially curious about his decision to run 0 copies of Relic MD and the 1 Field over GQ (especially since we've largely seen Tron shift back to GQ over Field post-GPLV)?
One thing I really liked about his list is how many more "hits" he's running for his Sanctums (17 vs the usual 14), but I'm still not sure 2 All Is Dust are better than a 3rd Ballista.
You and me both raised an eyebrow at his list initially. He made some interesting choices in the mirror and kept in cards like Ugin against me (he said "I like it as another way to trigger sanctum"). Also, the Field tech was very impressive. While I'm not 100% sold on it, he did manage to take me off tron on his T3 and didn't go down a land which did make a difference in G1. I liked how his maps were basically tutor up a psuedo strip mine, take you off your tron at the upkeep and get my own Tron on line T4. That was a nice insurance policy if you are in the mirror and are looking at a T4 Tron but want to stay at parity when making lands drops (sorry if I sound redundant).
The fact that he wasnn't using an main deck relics surprised me too. Maybe he hedged on not playing against Hollow One or Vengevine? Not sure, but no relics seems hard against the current % of gy decks out there. That said he got second, I got 18th. All is Dust is fine I guess, but against humans I feel that favored already, our decent draws beat theirs on the play. That said that match is play draw dependent and hedges on us being able to diversify our threat density to take G1 right?
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Yeah I thought that was a really intriguing list. It seems like he was hedging heavily against Humans and graveyard decks in particular, with the 2 All is Dust main, and a full 8 GY hate pieces in the side. Both of those choices seem like overkill, given that Humans is already a good matchup without AiD, and the card isn't really greatagainst much else. 8 slots for graveyard hate is a ton when you notice there are no Thought-Knots or Thragtusks, so he would have been caught with his pants down if he ran into any combo decks or Burn. Maybe he had a good read on the meta or just got lucky, but that's not my style of list for sure.
Okay, I am sick of Ponza, like 'go across the table when I see Arbor Elf' sick of it. what are we supposed to do about it? I know we are not supposed to be favored, but are there sideboard options or strategies that allow us to hose them? I have 5 SB slots if needed to remind them that Karn is king.
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Okay, I am sick of Ponza, like 'go across the table when I see Arbor Elf' sick of it. what are we supposed to do about it? I know we are not supposed to be favored, but are there sideboard options or strategies that allow us to hose them? I have 5 SB slots if needed to remind them that Karn is king.
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Okay, I am sick of Ponza, like 'go across the table when I see Arbor Elf' sick of it. what are we supposed to do about it? I know we are not supposed to be favored, but are there sideboard options or strategies that allow us to hose them? I have 5 SB slots if needed to remind them that Karn is king.
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Loam and/or Crucible would be my starting point if I wanted to improve the Ponza matchup. On a different axis, you could try to lower your curve and play cards like Karn, Scion of Urza, Tireless Tracker or Tarmogoyf. The problem with that plan though is that it doesn't play super well with O-Stone, which is the best card in the matchup. Ballista and Thragtusk are both good cards in the matchup, so playing more is better. I actually won against Ponza today because I got 2 Ballistas down through his Blood Moon when he didn't have much other action. Just started pumping them and pinging off his Trackers while he was on the back foot. Ballista also kills their Arbor Elf if you're on the play.
What do you think of SB 1 Crucible now? Seems like as a 1 of it's not a bad, has been on my mind as a way to combat the ever popular Field of Ruin. Ponza while not a great match up is winnable. Sometimes they blow up 3-4 lands and have no action. Last few leagues with tron I'm 3-2, and 4-1. My teammates is 5-0-1 today a a PPTQ. I think my own run/ success at SCG Dallas my have made him lean towards the deck locally. There are very few actual tron players in my area (Tons of "Tron is too good, Ban it") but for guys like me who don't mind joining the Imperial Court of Karn, rattling off wins is sweet.
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Funny you should mention that - I've actually been testing out a 2x Crucible/Tec Edge package in the side to fight UW and land destruction in general. Was suggested by Jeff Cunningham in his SCG article this week. I didn't agree with most of his other conclusions about the deck, but the package feels good so far.
I really like Faustino's list from the Baltimore Open. Cutting the 3rd Relic for the 3rd Ballista is what I've been doing as well, and it feels really solid. It both ups your Sanctum trigger count to 15, provides an early-game way to interact with mana dorks and Bridges, and is relevant in pretty much all stages of the game. 3 Ballista/2 Relic is the way I see spending "flex" spots for the near future (given that 36 of 41 nonlands seem to be pretty much settled by most lists at this point).
The 3ball in the SB's kind of bizarre, but I don't fault her for it given how much more popular Storm seems to be in SCG events as compared to GPs. The lack of GY hate's also a little strange, but running 4 Claims shores up KCI, the 3ball's good against Storm and KCI, and Ballistas are pretty good against Bridge.
I've also tried the 19th land Scavenger Grounds tech and ended up cutting it again for Urza's Factory, but GY decks aren't nearly as popular in my local meta as control and company decks.
I managed to go 5-0 in back-to-back leagues over the past couple days which was pretty awesome, with a couple slightly different lists, attached below.
The first list is closer to standard with 1 Relic and 1 Dismember main. I feel like the sideboard covers most of the bases well and the symmetry is really appealing (3 each of Surgical, Spatial, TKS, Thragusk and Claim). EDIT: I just noticed that's a pic of an older list - the one I went 5-0 with had the regular 4 O-Stone, 2 Ugin, not 3 and 3 as shown.
The second list is a bit more experimental. I cut the Dismember altogether and haven't missed it. I moved 1 Thragtusk to the main for a combination of reasons - it's good in so many matchups in the current meta as it is, and it frees up a sideboard slot. I shaved the 3rd from the 75 to experiment in the SB a little bit and having 1 in the main makes up for some of the lost equity from the 3rd in the matchups I want it.
Trying a Loam and a Spyglass in the side. Both are good in the mirror and even better against UW which is a deck I always like hedging against. I like both of these cards better than more big threats like Emrakul for example because they are so mana efficient and still have a huge impact. Spyglass can name Field early or either of their planeswalkers, and the fact that you can sneak it in after they counter a Karn, Thragtusk or TKS (or vice versa, force them to counter it/look at their hand to play around counters) for example is so good. I went with a 1-1 split because while they're both good in the aforementioned matchups, they have differing applications against the field so I'm just hedging my bets. Nothing set in stone at all but it seems to be a fun and effective configuration for the time being.
Also, I may try out Urza's Factory. I've never given it a shot and it seems intriguing. Hard to find space though - I don't wanna cut my precious Scavenger Grounds or a Forest.
Finally, the main thing that both lists have in common is 3 Walking Ballista. This card continues to feel fantastic in the current meta so I'm locked into that for the time being unless something changes.
Happy Troning!
After talking to Sicsmoo about my list for the weekend I registered this:
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Creature (8)
2 Walking Ballista
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 World Breaker
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (27)
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Oblivion Stone
5 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
3 Nature's Claim
2 Spatial Contortion
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Warping Wail
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Thragtusk
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
The surgicals were a concession to the mirror, KCI, and GY based decks like BR Vengevine and Hollow One.
Day 1: 7-2
RD 1) Vs Mardu Pyromancer 2-0
This was a clean sweep, and it wasn't close. You all know how this match up goes
RD 2) Vs Valakut 1-2 Loss (The deck won, I screwed up)
So, in G3 I manage to pull of GQ + Surgical. I failed to grab the 4th copy of Valakut and punted. I had to run to the rest room and you know do stuff and I got a time extension. That uneasiness didn't help and this tilted me all day.
Rd 3) Vs GB Elves 2-0 Win
I win the die roll, I land a T3 Stone, and Ugin G1. A lot of the same happens G2.
Rd 4) vs Grixis Control 2-0 Win
Nuff said, this match is great, feels easier than Mardu
Rd 5) Vs the Mirror 2-0 Win
I won the Die Roll
Rd 6) Vs 2-0 the Mirror
I got to tron before him (so much to say about these lol)
Rd 7) Vs KCI 0-2
G1 I get T4 combo'd out. G2 I get T3 combo'd out. FUN!
Rd 8) Vs Mardu 2-1 Win
This guy was salty, woo, he didn't like playing against Tron at all. I reminded him of why. He did manage to Molten Rain + Surgical me in G2. I was fine with it. G3, I landed cast'd 4 Oblivion Stones against him. WOO we heard "Tron needs a ban, it's too good!" Yep, I just kept smiling and played more cards they can't ever beat.
Rd 9) Vs Martr Proc 2-0 Win
My opponent was also mad to see T1 Tower into Star. Oh well another match where Ugin was unbeatble.
So, it was unfortunate to be that decent and fail to make a day 2. That's fine, I took the night to drink and blow a lot of steam off. Spoke to a well known player in the MTG community (former coach of mine, soon to be coaching me again once I return to that group) and he convinced me to play the Classic.
Day 2: SCG Modern Classic
So, I wonder if my latest paper success with Tron is a fluke. I wonder if maybe all the time I put into the deck and actually playing it is really paying off. It was nice to see the hard work see some degree of verification. I wasn't the only one who chose Tron, I played 4 tron mirrors (YES 4) and in the true 50/50 mirror match, went 2-2 against it. I went 6-2 in the Classic for a 18th place finish. I played against the 2 published lists and lost. Against Batu (and his gorgeous foils) I got wrecked and against the GR player we both knew what was up and he took it in 3.
Matches:
Rd 1) vs Titan shift 2-1 Win
YAY, dude I was like "really" ? Already? I start off by losing G1. G2 I manage to get tron on line and start taking him off R sources. I cast Karn on 3 and begin to -3. He bolts, and I follow up with World Breaker into Warping Wail back up (he knew I had it since I found it off of Stirrings). G3 was ... woo! I get an early Karn and start the process of removing R sources again. I manage to keep him off 6 mana by T4 and TKS him, he reveals Scapeshift and Prismatic Omen Had I sequenced by casting wurmcoil I flat out lose next turn. I take the Scapeshift and pass. He makes his land drop and I follow up with Ulamog. YEAH!
Rd 2) Vs TRON! 2-1 Win
Well this was going to the flavor match up of the day. I didn't know it at the time though. Ya he wins the die roll, and T3 Karns me. FUN! I go on the play, and I T3 karn him on a mull to 5. The next game is better, he do the Ghost Quarter dance and I get the early lead on tron lands in play and in hand. I also tutor up a GQ but I wound up being able to get my karn out and start slowly putting further and further away from getting tron on line. It was close because he had multiple copies of the the tron lands but it was enough.
Rd 3) Vs Humans 2-0 Win
Easy peesey, my friend on GDS lost hard to this humans player the rd before. I gladly came and got a little vengeance. This game wasn't close and it finished with about 38 min left in the round.
Rd 4) Vs TRON!! 1-2 (loss)
He wins the die roll and gets tron on line. He plays Karn in Worldy B. I conceded at about 5 min into the rd. G2, looks grim, I don't have functional hands but he seems to be in the tank with his opening 7. I got info from his expressions that it's close be may be hedging on a stirrings to find him a piece. Well I mull to 5 and top deck a Map. We T3 Karn him and survive GQ on his T3. G3 was great, we went back and forth on stone raining each other. I thought I had the upper hand when I landed Wurmcoil and Thrag's. I'd already exiled 2 Towers and crosses my fingers. He dug about 6 deep missed and I got 1 attack in for 11 before he top deck'd a Tower. He Ulamog'd me and that was all she wrote.
Rd 5) vs TRON!!! again lol 0-2 Loss (2nd place at the Classic)
G1 I see a potential T4 tron and even though I have 1 tron piece I have 2 Scrying's and a stirrings. Figure it's fine and I'm also on the draw so hey , okay. He goes T1 Tron land into Star... -sigh- He also T3 Karns me and I concede since I can't piece together tron with 2 -3 activation's and another karn. G2 I mull into oblivion and can get a decent hand, I lose hard.
Rd 6) Vs TRON!!!! 2-0 Win
Just read what happened above and this time I had the nut draws. I also won the Die roll here.
Rd 7) Vs Humans 2-0 Win
Not close, not close, and this is a good match up for us.
Rd 8) Vs Burn 2-1 Win
Well, I knew I was out of top 8 contention but hey, let's play for the pts and tickets. Sure, he wins the die roll. I have a clear T4 Tron with the potential of T3 Tron with star cantrip. He starts off with T1 Swiftspear (my heart sinks a bit) and I die by t4. I did manage to get wurmcoil on line but I was at 1, he showed me the helix before the untap step so ya. I'm a bit deflated but I don't show it. I figure, well it was a good run. Hey I'm on the play, lets see if I can string together some decent action T1-3. Well I manage to have a T3 Tron but no real follow up. I do have a star/sphere out to cast a T4 Thrag tusk but I'm a bit worried. My opponent has me at about 11, and he seems to be flooding. He goes in for an attack and I contortion the swiftspear. He groans a bit but that takes the pressure off of me. I untap play Thrag into a T5 Wurmcoil, but he drops an Ensnaring Bridge I was like, "Excuse me?". I look at the bridge and start thinking about how to get this thing off the table. He passes turn and I draw my first actual forest. I stirrings and find a Ballista and then play another star, crack it to play a scrying's and tutor up sanctum of Ugin. I pass turn and he untaps. He's beginning to flood andI smell blood. I play a 4/4 Ballista ,crack sanctum and grab Ulamog. I leave up a G, he cast's destructive revelry and I ping him 3x before casting Nature's Claim on my own ballista with 1 counter left. Ulamog comes down and we go to G3. He gets stuck on 1 land and I T3 tron, Play TKS, and land Ulamog, since there are no targets besides 1 Sacred Foundry I exile one of my redundant tron lands. He scoops when I leave leave him on 0 permanents in play. WOO the win against Burn felt good !!
Well that's my write up, 6-2 (2 losses to the mirror ) but crushed everything else. Deck's great, and here's hoping we don't see any hits tomorrow that effect tron. I'm locked into The next SCG open in Oct (modern) unless things change tron is my weapon of choice. 13-4 on the weekend and 20-6 in competitive events (PPTQ and SCG). Woo!
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
Sicsmoo, do you mind if I use your excellent SB primer in the OP? I'll give you full credit, of course. I was planning on making my own, but yours is almost certainly than what I have, and I don't see the need to duplicate effort for a (likely) worse attempt.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
There is a mention of RG Tron instead of Gx Tron in the Sideboard Composition section (just below that title block, before the spoiler tagged section). Also, under "The Cards You Will Generally Play" section, 3-4 Forests should probably be 4-5, and the mention of "green-producing lands 5-6" in the paragraph there can come out.
You might consider adding a single Horizon Canopy to the Tech section, based on how it's been showing up in multiple performing lists. It's sad to see Spellskite no longer mentioned as a tech or sideboard option anymore, but almost no one plays it anymore, do they?
All this said, your primer is and always has been clear and direct, as well as a joy to read. Great work!
Canopy is definitely as playable as scavenger, factory, and 5th forest. Between all of the choices, canopy synergizes with crucible of worlds the best, and as crucible is seeing more play due to UW control being popular, canopy has popped up more and more. Not to mention it's the only of the utility lands that taps for green mana.
Spellskite should probably be mentioned, but mostly as a silver bullet to affinity and infect. Unless either of these decks rises to the top of the format, it should probably only be used in a specific paper meta to hedge against infect, as affinity is a fine matchup without skite.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
One thing I really liked about his list is how many more "hits" he's running for his Sanctums (17 vs the usual 14), but I'm still not sure 2 All Is Dust are better than a 3rd Ballista.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
The fact that he wasnn't using an main deck relics surprised me too. Maybe he hedged on not playing against Hollow One or Vengevine? Not sure, but no relics seems hard against the current % of gy decks out there. That said he got second, I got 18th. All is Dust is fine I guess, but against humans I feel that favored already, our decent draws beat theirs on the play. That said that match is play draw dependent and hedges on us being able to diversify our threat density to take G1 right?
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
What do you think of SB 1 Crucible now? Seems like as a 1 of it's not a bad, has been on my mind as a way to combat the ever popular Field of Ruin. Ponza while not a great match up is winnable. Sometimes they blow up 3-4 lands and have no action. Last few leagues with tron I'm 3-2, and 4-1. My teammates is 5-0-1 today a a PPTQ. I think my own run/ success at SCG Dallas my have made him lean towards the deck locally. There are very few actual tron players in my area (Tons of "Tron is too good, Ban it") but for guys like me who don't mind joining the Imperial Court of Karn, rattling off wins is sweet.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
3 Walking Ballista
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 World Breaker
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Planeswalkers (6)
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Lands (19)
4 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Scavenger Grounds
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Oblivion Stone
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Trinisphere
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Thragtusk
4 Nature's Claim
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Warping Wail
The 3ball in the SB's kind of bizarre, but I don't fault her for it given how much more popular Storm seems to be in SCG events as compared to GPs. The lack of GY hate's also a little strange, but running 4 Claims shores up KCI, the 3ball's good against Storm and KCI, and Ballistas are pretty good against Bridge.
I've also tried the 19th land Scavenger Grounds tech and ended up cutting it again for Urza's Factory, but GY decks aren't nearly as popular in my local meta as control and company decks.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW