Dudes, what's Your opinion on running more then 1 ballista? I know that It's a silver bullet (tutored from trinket mage)...
But I wonder If someone tested for eg. 2-3 of them. I have to say that it is briliant card for this deck (excellent in both early and late game).
Shoktroopa I know You run it as a 1-of but Do You thought about increasing the number of these pingers?
Hello, I’m a long-time lurker, but I like some others before me, I finally decided to sign up… Sorry for my English, it’s not my native language: I’m French. Also, this is my first time posting, so I hope I’ll use the tags for the decklist correctly.
So, this weekend there was a modern pptq event in paris, during the nationals, and I decided to play it, after a two-month break from Magic, despite the entry fee that was a bit high for a constructed event… I managed to top 8 on this 124 players event, so I thought I’d share the news with you guys.
Here’s my decklist, pretty different from shooktroopa’s list, kinda similar to pierakor’s…
About my decklist, I chose:
- To play Oboro And Tolaria West, because I couldn’t let go of tolaria west… During testing, it was so good at fetching a missing tron piece, chalice or even explosives… I have to say it didn’t have any use during the event, and I was probably better without it… Coming into play tapped is horrible…
- To play 2 ruins, because I have 2 O-stone, and there was a time when I played 2 mindslaver too… You always want to play with your graveyard, it’s great to have it. I never was bothered by the legendary status… People usually want to GQ it to avoid the mindslaver lock, and having 2 caught them off guard.
- To play 1 cavern of souls. It’s a remnant from the time I played sundering titan to crush multi-colored decks… Not really relevant anymore, I’ll switch again for a gemstone cavern.
- To play 3 Condescend. I’m testing something here, trying to see what’s the good number of condescend and remand… I used to think of it as a solid 4 slots, but now, I’m willing to try things.
- Not to play sundering titan or platinum angel, because I don’t find them as relevant in the meta as before: Sundering titan isn’t as good as before (opponent’s manabase lacking diversity in basic types), and angel is always answered to when you count on it not to die… I may test angel again soon, but not sundering titan with my meta… This said, both cards have won me games when I tested them… But they were not useful enough those days.
- To play 2 Ugin, because most of the time, when it hits the board, it’s game… Well it’s not great against eldrazi-tron or affinity, but still…
- I don’t have room yet for spreading seas, and I miss them… I should work on this issue….
That’s for my decklist… Here are the match’ups of the day, I won’t bother you with the details:
Round 1 : U/B Faeries WIN 2/0
I lost the toss.
Round 2 : Hatebear LOST 1/2
I lost the toss.
Round 3 : Esper Zur/Geist of St-Traft I win 2/0.
I lost the toss.
Round 4 : ????
I lost the toss; We start playing then the head judge make an announcement : “please stop playing, there’s been a mistake in the pairings, you’ll be seated again…” . Ok, changing my Opponent…
Round 4 b : Esper Control
Lost the toss. I win 2/1.
Round 5 : Grixis death Shadow I win 2/1.
I lost the toss.
Round 6 : Naya zoo. Win 2/0
I lost the toss.
Standing before the last round: 7th . I have to play my last round…
Round 7 : Junk I win 2/0.
I lost the toss. 7 times in a row, well more like 8 times with the round we didn’t play… That’s depressing… Should have played those caverns…
6/1, I’m ranked 4th.
Top 8 _ Quarter : Eldra-Tron
He has 2 perfect hands and crushes me both times…. Lost 0/2 in 10 minutes…
That’s it. It was a good day to play Tron, the meta is indeed quite favorable…
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"He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged."
I do like the look of perlios voyage. Seems like it'd be decent as a one of replacing one repeal but not a complete replacement. sometimes drawing the cards is very relevant. Also for opt.. i tried it don;t like it all
What's your typical first 6+ treasure mage target for different match-ups Pierakor? Assuming nothing in hand and tron active.
Mine has been something like sundering against grixis and uw (scapeshift if they run that 5 color enchantment), wurmcoil against random aggro/burn, mindslaver against titanshift/affinity/tron/storm. I never pick plat angel as my first pick, minus a game 1 against infect.
It just depends so much on the situation. If you only have 1-2 cards in hand and Thirst in the yard it's Gearhulk.
Slaver if you have 10 mana and other stuff in your hand ( you wouldn't get slaver when you are hellbent without Ruins)
Wurmcoil Engine against decks that don't play Path to Exile
Platinum Angel when you are close to being dead or you think opponent cannot answer it easily
Dudes, what's Your opinion on running more then 1 ballista? I know that It's a silver bullet (tutored from trinket mage)...
But I wonder If someone tested for eg. 2-3 of them. I have to say that it is briliant card for this deck (excellent in both early and late game).
Shoktroopa I know You run it as a 1-of but Do You thought about increasing the number of these pingers?
Guys really no love for more then 1 walking ballista?
It's just not great against Death's Shadow, ETron, Valakut, all the decks that are super popular. But against almost anything else it's a monster so at least 1x in Sideboard and 1x in the main has been good for me.
how do you think, guys, will Spellskite be great maindeck addition in an agro/combo meta (burn, zoo, affinity, infect, ad nauseum, living end, gifts storm, mill) ? the deck is not good for this kind of meta, I suppose, but I still like it, so trying to set it up accordingly.
I do really like ballista's useability in early/mid and late game. I'm gonna test 3 of them in the board (2 main and 1 side I supoose).
I didn't play the deck for some time and I need to refresh the card ideas hangarback walker was somehow good here but only against fast wide aggro decks - IMO ballista it's just another ligue, it shines on so many matchups (with tron online it become a real finisher).
Our LGS meta is full of Affinity and Eldrazi Tron. Which cards are especially good against them?
I'm also considering dropping Sundering Titan to the SB. There's a few Grixis DS, but not enough to justify keeping it in the MB. I always find myself sideboarding it out. I also don't know how I feel about UU spells like Torrential Gearhulk and Summary Dismissal. They seem quite hard to cast, especially in an aggressive meta like ours. I want to bring this deck to a 5k event in a few weeks and the event meta was also quite E-Tron + Affinity heavy in the most recent 5k event.
Our LGS meta is full of Affinity and Eldrazi Tron. Which cards are especially good against them?
I'm also considering dropping Sundering Titan to the SB. There's a few Grixis DS, but not enough to justify keeping it in the MB. I always find myself sideboarding it out. I also don't know how I feel about UU spells like Torrential Gearhulk and Summary Dismissal. They seem quite hard to cast, especially in an aggressive meta like ours. I want to bring this deck to a 5k event in a few weeks and the event meta was also quite E-Tron + Affinity heavy in the most recent 5k event.
Would that by any chance be the facetoface 5k event? I'm going to be playing u tron there, and I'll probably bringing some extra spreading seas and ceremonious rejections. Maybe an extra wurmcoil too because its so strong against DS and tron. The last event I went to maybe 30% of the players were on eldrazi tron.
You just crush UW control because it's a control mirror and we have card advantage through Chalice and Thirst, mana advantage through tron and better/more inevitable threats
Our LGS meta is full of Affinity and Eldrazi Tron. Which cards are especially good against them?
I'm also considering dropping Sundering Titan to the SB. There's a few Grixis DS, but not enough to justify keeping it in the MB. I always find myself sideboarding it out. I also don't know how I feel about UU spells like Torrential Gearhulk and Summary Dismissal. They seem quite hard to cast, especially in an aggressive meta like ours. I want to bring this deck to a 5k event in a few weeks and the event meta was also quite E-Tron + Affinity heavy in the most recent 5k event.
Would that by any chance be the facetoface 5k event? I'm going to be playing u tron there, and I'll probably bringing some extra spreading seas and ceremonious rejections. Maybe an extra wurmcoil too because its so strong against DS and tron. The last event I went to maybe 30% of the players were on eldrazi tron.
Yes, it is the FaceToFace 5k! Nice to meet another local Mono-U Tron player
I'm curious how you'll be tuning your deck for the meta. Any ideas? And yes, I heard a lot of them were on Eldrazi Tron and there were quite a bit of Kiki Chords as well. I think most of the other decks were some midrange company decks, Death's Shadow, and Affinity.
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Decks
Modern
Mono U-Tron U
Jeskai Control UWR
EDH
Ezuri, Renegade Leader UG
Tasigur, the Golden Fang UGB
Hello, friends. After ~2 years of being out of the game, my friend convinced me to go to a small shop tourney, so I grabbed my (extremely outdated) Ux Tron and 3-1'd it. As-is, with the old sideboard and everything. I was going to pick up a Spatial Contortion on the way in, but I completely forgot about it until midway through. Still, I think I did okay with a deck (and mind) from before Battle for Zendikar. And that was enough to make me want to play more, though it would likely be primarily xmage (or MODO if I get around to building a slightly budgety version than what I have on paper), so here I am.
Full disclosure: I know this is technically not U-Tron, but this was based on and plays more like Ux than Gx. I come to you as I think you Tron Masters (you-Tron pun very much intended) are more likely to give me good advice than randoms that would visit a new thread. That said, I'm more than willing to go away to my own thread if non-mono-U discussion is unwelcome.
I'm sure some of those choices raise eyebrows. This list is from a different time and a different meta where Burn and Affinity and Infect and Twin forced me to make some unorthodox inclusions for lifegain and anti-aggro. I am definitely more than willing to cut/replace some of the weird choices (though they have definitely done their work, once upon a time - even Frosty).
The main interaction that I decided to adopt green for was Gifts and Life from the Loam. Early game, it allows to fetch any missing Tron pieces and get them back very quickly. Late game, Gifts for Loam, Ruins, Mindslaver, and a fourth card puts the opponent on a clock. Loam helps recover lost lands throughout the match, too.
Alright, go ahead, tear this list to shreds and help me oil the machine a little more.
Minor tourney report:
Round 1 vs Abzan (2-1): G1 is won by Mindslaver, G2 is lost to my deck disagreeing with me and not saving me vs double-Goyf, G3 we go to turns, but the guy says that at this rate there is no way he could win and is kind enough to concede. 1-0
Round 2 vs Knightfall Bant (1-2): G1 Mindslaver, G2 I am slowed too much by Stony Silence, G3 Knightfall combos turn 3 and blows me out of the water. Ouch. 1-1
Round 3 vs Bogles (2-0): Game 1 I use Repeal to slow down his auras, and Thragtusk rides a Batterskull to victory. Game 2 his board is reset with an Aetherize, and this time Sundering Titan rides the 'Skull. (or maybe Titan was G1 and Tusk was G2. Doesn't matter) 2-1
Round 4 vs Jund (2-1): He wasn't familiar with this one, and I taught him about Mindslaver Game 1. Game 2 he has a clutch Fulminator Mage and it's downhill from there. Game 3 he taps out after a Cyclonic Rift, and with no mana for his Scavenging Ooze, I'm open to 'slave him again. 3-1, receive some store credit back in case I have time between dodging assignments for school.
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I'm long time reader but almost never reply to the post. I have build UG and is great but i could not find the "balance" because the U list is pretty tight.
The problem is what to replace? Sylvan Scrying/Ancient Stirrings are cards to add consistency and make sure we can get tron asap, but for they to be functioning at full potential you will need to have more G sources and there are 2 approaches to this problem: 1 Get more "dual" lands like Yavimaya Coast or run Chromatic Star/Chromatic Sphere. The problem is that doing so will dilute the "control" part of the deck and sooner or later you will realize that if you are going for fast tron then GR/GW/GB tron is better at doing so and they usually run Karn Liberated to take advantage of turn 3 tron.
In conclusion if you are adding G I recommend to go full Gx tron and replace the 4 to 6 slots of that are not part of the "engine"/"win condition" for Remand or Condescend because if you pay attention to the Gx Tron archetype you will see that 53 to 54 cards are the same no matter if they play Gr, Gb, or Gw, and probably going Gb with Collective Brutality/Fatal Push or Gr with Pyroclasm is better idea because those cards answer aggro better than any counter spell ever will.
Grats Nekros, that list is super cool looking ! I love seeing tech from the past. You definitely have some new options that can replace some of your threats and I think TKOS' advice was pretty on point.
Personally, I think that life from the loam and gifts ungiven is the best argument for the green splash, it reminds me a lot of the lands.deck tech with intuition. I'm tempted to give it a shot at some point, but as mentioned above the manabase also looks reallyyyy fragile.
Mainboard looks ok. Even with UG I would never cut the fourth Thirst. It's a borderline broken magic card in our deck.
Dismember mainbard should probably be Spatials, but each to their own.
Spatials weren't a thing the last time the deck saw the light of day, so I can get behind it.
-2 Dismember
+2 Spatial Contortion
Sideboard has some odd choices - Artisan probably isn't worth 9 mana in Modern. If you want to play a big Eldrazi threat I highly recommend new Kozilek. He's the fun-of in my deck and I've never lost after tapping out for him. He refills your hand and suddenly everything is a force of will.
Correct! Some of the really weird choices like Jin and Artisan I can probably get rid of - they're from a time when I was paranoid about control, and Artisan actually did seal a few games by reanimating a countered Sundering Titan. Artisan was also once part of an end-game Gifts pile with other creatures, but became less and less useful as the deck changed. Can definitely see cutting him and Jin.
Now I'm curious about your use of Kozilek. What other threats/finishers do you use?
-2 SB (Jin, Artisan)
Solemn Simulacrum would probably be very useful here, as would whichever Talisman is UG. You're essentially a 3 colour deck and you need more mana fixing I would say. Especially if you want to play UU spells like Frosty and Jin.
Can definitely get behind the Solemn, and it was one of the thoughts I had walking away from the tourney. I definitely want to fit one in.
There is no U/G Talisman as far as I know, but I wonder if Simic Signet will do the trick as a 2-mana accelerant? Can't tap on turn 2, but if that's a problem, then Mind Stone can step in.
I'm long time reader but almost never reply to the post. I have build UG and is great but i could not find the "balance" because the U list is pretty tight.
The problem is what to replace? Sylvan Scrying/Ancient Stirrings are cards to add consistency and make sure we can get tron asap, but for they to be functioning at full potential you will need to have more G sources and there are 2 approaches to this problem: 1 Get more "dual" lands like Yavimaya Coast or run Chromatic Star/Chromatic Sphere. The problem is that doing so will dilute the "control" part of the deck and sooner or later you will realize that if you are going for fast tron then GR/GW/GB tron is better at doing so and they usually run Karn Liberated to take advantage of turn 3 tron.
Correct. But U-based tron also doesn't rush to assemble Tron ASAP. In one of the early iterations of the deck, I did try out Ancient Stirrings, and was disappointed - it spends a colored source to try and grab something which may or may not be relevant and which may not find what is needed. Between the two, I think Sylvan Scrying is the stronger option as it at least allows to always grab the land that's needed, Tron or Academy Ruins or another color source.
Re: other lands, I've tried Yavimaya Coasts before, and my problem with them is that taking basics out of the equation makes the deck softer to things like Blood Moon and Ghost Quarter, as well as making Paths "free" (which isn't MUCH of a downside given how few creatures this plays, but still). I wonder if the fetches would rather be Islands instead, since Life from the Loam is more of a combo piece than an engine here and I likely won't be spending turns looping fetches.
Agreed. I'm even skeptical of mainboard Thragtusk now, since its inclusion was originally a response to my old Affinity/Burn/Zoo-heavy meta and I needed its immediate life and extra blocker. It did a lot of work at the tourney, but I'm not sure if Solemn Simulacrum wouldn't have a better job, between ramping/blocking/drawing.
-1 Thragtusk -> SB?
+1 Solemn Simulacrum?
In conclusion if you are adding G I recommend to go full Gx tron and replace the 4 to 6 slots of that are not part of the "engine"/"win condition" for Remand or Condescend because if you pay attention to the Gx Tron archetype you will see that 53 to 54 cards are the same no matter if they play Gr, Gb, or Gw, and probably going Gb with Collective Brutality/Fatal Push or Gr with Pyroclasm is better idea because those cards answer aggro better than any counter spell ever will.
I disagree. I think UG works better as a Ux than as Gx. The U wants to be reactive, which clashes with the Gx primary gameplan of tapping out for threats as soon as possible. The green here is smaller, and more for support than for speed.
Grats Nekros, that list is super cool looking ! I love seeing tech from the past. You definitely have some new options that can replace some of your threats and I think TKOS' advice was pretty on point.
Personally, I think that life from the loam and gifts ungiven is the best argument for the green splash, it reminds me a lot of the lands.deck tech with intuition. I'm tempted to give it a shot at some point, but as mentioned above the manabase also looks reallyyyy fragile.
Thank you for the kind words!
So given the suggestions, here's a tentative update:
I agree that the fourth Thirst would be strong, -1 Sylvan Scrying?
Also, I don't know how I feel about Frost Titan. Yes, he slows the enemy. Yes, he is difficult to remove due to his protection clause, but I can't help but feel it should be something else. Maybe even that Kozilek.
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But I wonder If someone tested for eg. 2-3 of them. I have to say that it is briliant card for this deck (excellent in both early and late game).
Shoktroopa I know You run it as a 1-of but Do You thought about increasing the number of these pingers?
So, this weekend there was a modern pptq event in paris, during the nationals, and I decided to play it, after a two-month break from Magic, despite the entry fee that was a bit high for a constructed event… I managed to top 8 on this 124 players event, so I thought I’d share the news with you guys.
Here’s my decklist, pretty different from shooktroopa’s list, kinda similar to pierakor’s…
4 Urza’s mine
4 Urza’s power plant
4 Urza’s tower
7 Island
1 Oboro, palace in the clouds
1 Tolaria West
2 Academy Ruins
1 Cavern of souls
Spells
4 remand
3 condescend
1 Mana leak
1 Supreme Will
2 Repeal
1 Cyclonic rift
1 spatial contortion
1 dismember
4 thirst for knowledge
1 Mindslaver
4 Expedition Map
2 Oblivion Stone
2 Ugin, the spirit Dragon
2 Chalice of the void
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Snapcaster mage
1 treasure Mage
1 Torrential gearhulk
2 Solemn simulacrum
2 Hurkyl’s recall
2 grafsdigger's cage
2 summary dismissal
2 Chalice of the void
1 spatial contortion
1 dismember
1 Engineered explosives
1 wurmcoil Engine
1 Repeal
1 spell burst
1 Mana leak
About my decklist, I chose:
- To play Oboro And Tolaria West, because I couldn’t let go of tolaria west… During testing, it was so good at fetching a missing tron piece, chalice or even explosives… I have to say it didn’t have any use during the event, and I was probably better without it… Coming into play tapped is horrible…
- To play 2 ruins, because I have 2 O-stone, and there was a time when I played 2 mindslaver too… You always want to play with your graveyard, it’s great to have it. I never was bothered by the legendary status… People usually want to GQ it to avoid the mindslaver lock, and having 2 caught them off guard.
- To play 1 cavern of souls. It’s a remnant from the time I played sundering titan to crush multi-colored decks… Not really relevant anymore, I’ll switch again for a gemstone cavern.
- To play 3 Condescend. I’m testing something here, trying to see what’s the good number of condescend and remand… I used to think of it as a solid 4 slots, but now, I’m willing to try things.
- Not to play sundering titan or platinum angel, because I don’t find them as relevant in the meta as before: Sundering titan isn’t as good as before (opponent’s manabase lacking diversity in basic types), and angel is always answered to when you count on it not to die… I may test angel again soon, but not sundering titan with my meta… This said, both cards have won me games when I tested them… But they were not useful enough those days.
- To play 2 Ugin, because most of the time, when it hits the board, it’s game… Well it’s not great against eldrazi-tron or affinity, but still…
- I don’t have room yet for spreading seas, and I miss them… I should work on this issue….
That’s for my decklist… Here are the match’ups of the day, I won’t bother you with the details:
Round 1 : U/B Faeries WIN 2/0
I lost the toss.
Round 2 : Hatebear LOST 1/2
I lost the toss.
Round 3 : Esper Zur/Geist of St-Traft I win 2/0.
I lost the toss.
Round 4 : ????
I lost the toss; We start playing then the head judge make an announcement : “please stop playing, there’s been a mistake in the pairings, you’ll be seated again…” . Ok, changing my Opponent…
Round 4 b : Esper Control
Lost the toss. I win 2/1.
Round 5 : Grixis death Shadow I win 2/1.
I lost the toss.
Round 6 : Naya zoo. Win 2/0
I lost the toss.
Standing before the last round: 7th . I have to play my last round…
Round 7 : Junk I win 2/0.
I lost the toss. 7 times in a row, well more like 8 times with the round we didn’t play… That’s depressing… Should have played those caverns…
6/1, I’m ranked 4th.
Top 8 _ Quarter : Eldra-Tron
He has 2 perfect hands and crushes me both times…. Lost 0/2 in 10 minutes…
That’s it. It was a good day to play Tron, the meta is indeed quite favorable…
It just depends so much on the situation. If you only have 1-2 cards in hand and Thirst in the yard it's Gearhulk.
Slaver if you have 10 mana and other stuff in your hand ( you wouldn't get slaver when you are hellbent without Ruins)
Wurmcoil Engine against decks that don't play Path to Exile
Platinum Angel when you are close to being dead or you think opponent cannot answer it easily
Youtube Channel
My stream:
www.twitch.tv/pierakor
My Disco:
https://discord.gg/gTt6xHd
Guys really no love for more then 1 walking ballista?
Did you beat Mono W D+T? If so that was my roommate
Gz on the finish, not bad at all considering your first modern event with a challenging deck
Youtube Channel
My stream:
www.twitch.tv/pierakor
My Disco:
https://discord.gg/gTt6xHd
I didn't play the deck for some time and I need to refresh the card ideas hangarback walker was somehow good here but only against fast wide aggro decks - IMO ballista it's just another ligue, it shines on so many matchups (with tron online it become a real finisher).
I'm also considering dropping Sundering Titan to the SB. There's a few Grixis DS, but not enough to justify keeping it in the MB. I always find myself sideboarding it out. I also don't know how I feel about UU spells like Torrential Gearhulk and Summary Dismissal. They seem quite hard to cast, especially in an aggressive meta like ours. I want to bring this deck to a 5k event in a few weeks and the event meta was also quite E-Tron + Affinity heavy in the most recent 5k event.
This is my current decklist:
1x Platinum Angel
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Sundering Titan
1x Treasure Mage
1x Trinket Mage
1x Walking Ballista
2x Wurmcoil Engine
Instant (17)
4x Condescend
1x Cyclonic Rift
2x Dismember
3x Remand
3x Repeal
4x Thirst for Knowledge
2x Chalice of the Void
4x Expedition Map
2x Mindslaver
1x Oblivion Stone
Planeswalker (1)
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Land (24)
1x Academy Ruins
1x Gemstone Caverns
1x Ghost Quarter
7x Island
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1x Tolaria West
4x Urza's Mine
4x Urza's Power Plant
4x Urza's Tower
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Dispel
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Oblivion Stone
3x Spatial Contortion
2x Spreading Seas
1x Summary Dismissal
2x Surgical Extraction
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Modern
Mono U-Tron U
Jeskai Control UWR
EDH
Ezuri, Renegade Leader UG
Tasigur, the Golden Fang UGB
Would that by any chance be the facetoface 5k event? I'm going to be playing u tron there, and I'll probably bringing some extra spreading seas and ceremonious rejections. Maybe an extra wurmcoil too because its so strong against DS and tron. The last event I went to maybe 30% of the players were on eldrazi tron.
Youtube Channel
My stream:
www.twitch.tv/pierakor
My Disco:
https://discord.gg/gTt6xHd
Yes, it is the FaceToFace 5k! Nice to meet another local Mono-U Tron player
I'm curious how you'll be tuning your deck for the meta. Any ideas? And yes, I heard a lot of them were on Eldrazi Tron and there were quite a bit of Kiki Chords as well. I think most of the other decks were some midrange company decks, Death's Shadow, and Affinity.
Modern
Mono U-Tron U
Jeskai Control UWR
EDH
Ezuri, Renegade Leader UG
Tasigur, the Golden Fang UGB
Full disclosure: I know this is technically not U-Tron, but this was based on and plays more like Ux than Gx. I come to you as I think you Tron Masters (you-Tron pun very much intended) are more likely to give me good advice than randoms that would visit a new thread. That said, I'm more than willing to go away to my own thread if non-mono-U discussion is unwelcome.
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
4 Breeding Pool
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ghost Quarter
Artifact: 7
4 Expedition Map
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Mindslaver
1 Batterskull
Planeswalker: 1
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Thragtusk
1 Sundering Titan
1 Frost Titan
Sorcery: 4
2 Sylvan Scrying
1 Fabricate
1 Life from the Loam
Instant: 21
4 Condescend
4 Remand
4 Repeal
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Gifts Ungiven
2 Dismember
1 Cyclonic Rift
2 Nature's Claim
2 Aetherize
1 Spell Snare
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Spellskite
1 Platinum Angel
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Jester's Cap
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Negate
1 Tormod's Crypt
I'm sure some of those choices raise eyebrows. This list is from a different time and a different meta where Burn and Affinity and Infect and Twin forced me to make some unorthodox inclusions for lifegain and anti-aggro. I am definitely more than willing to cut/replace some of the weird choices (though they have definitely done their work, once upon a time - even Frosty).
The main interaction that I decided to adopt green for was Gifts and Life from the Loam. Early game, it allows to fetch any missing Tron pieces and get them back very quickly. Late game, Gifts for Loam, Ruins, Mindslaver, and a fourth card puts the opponent on a clock. Loam helps recover lost lands throughout the match, too.
Alright, go ahead, tear this list to shreds and help me oil the machine a little more.
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Minor tourney report:
Round 1 vs Abzan (2-1): G1 is won by Mindslaver, G2 is lost to my deck disagreeing with me and not saving me vs double-Goyf, G3 we go to turns, but the guy says that at this rate there is no way he could win and is kind enough to concede. 1-0
Round 2 vs Knightfall Bant (1-2): G1 Mindslaver, G2 I am slowed too much by Stony Silence, G3 Knightfall combos turn 3 and blows me out of the water. Ouch. 1-1
Round 3 vs Bogles (2-0): Game 1 I use Repeal to slow down his auras, and Thragtusk rides a Batterskull to victory. Game 2 his board is reset with an Aetherize, and this time Sundering Titan rides the 'Skull. (or maybe Titan was G1 and Tusk was G2. Doesn't matter) 2-1
Round 4 vs Jund (2-1): He wasn't familiar with this one, and I taught him about Mindslaver Game 1. Game 2 he has a clutch Fulminator Mage and it's downhill from there. Game 3 he taps out after a Cyclonic Rift, and with no mana for his Scavenging Ooze, I'm open to 'slave him again. 3-1, receive some store credit back in case I have time between dodging assignments for school.
xMage: Jankmaster
Commander - Now Playing
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I'm long time reader but almost never reply to the post. I have build UG and is great but i could not find the "balance" because the U list is pretty tight.
We have the following good G stuff to consider:
Sylvan Scrying
Ancient Stirrings
World Breaker
Thragtusk
The problem is what to replace? Sylvan Scrying/Ancient Stirrings are cards to add consistency and make sure we can get tron asap, but for they to be functioning at full potential you will need to have more G sources and there are 2 approaches to this problem: 1 Get more "dual" lands like Yavimaya Coast or run Chromatic Star/Chromatic Sphere. The problem is that doing so will dilute the "control" part of the deck and sooner or later you will realize that if you are going for fast tron then GR/GW/GB tron is better at doing so and they usually run Karn Liberated to take advantage of turn 3 tron.
Then you have World Breaker/Thragtusk that are game finishers, but they don't do nothing that Wurmcoil Engine/Sundering Titan don't.
In conclusion if you are adding G I recommend to go full Gx tron and replace the 4 to 6 slots of that are not part of the "engine"/"win condition" for Remand or Condescend because if you pay attention to the Gx Tron archetype you will see that 53 to 54 cards are the same no matter if they play Gr, Gb, or Gw, and probably going Gb with Collective Brutality/Fatal Push or Gr with Pyroclasm is better idea because those cards answer aggro better than any counter spell ever will.
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Personally, I think that life from the loam and gifts ungiven is the best argument for the green splash, it reminds me a lot of the lands.deck tech with intuition. I'm tempted to give it a shot at some point, but as mentioned above the manabase also looks reallyyyy fragile.
Retired
Legacy:
GRUB Lands
Modern:
U Tron
RG Tron
RG Ponza
Spatials weren't a thing the last time the deck saw the light of day, so I can get behind it.
-2 Dismember
+2 Spatial Contortion
Correct! Some of the really weird choices like Jin and Artisan I can probably get rid of - they're from a time when I was paranoid about control, and Artisan actually did seal a few games by reanimating a countered Sundering Titan. Artisan was also once part of an end-game Gifts pile with other creatures, but became less and less useful as the deck changed. Can definitely see cutting him and Jin.
Now I'm curious about your use of Kozilek. What other threats/finishers do you use?
-2 SB (Jin, Artisan)
Can definitely get behind the Solemn, and it was one of the thoughts I had walking away from the tourney. I definitely want to fit one in.
There is no U/G Talisman as far as I know, but I wonder if Simic Signet will do the trick as a 2-mana accelerant? Can't tap on turn 2, but if that's a problem, then Mind Stone can step in.
Correct. But U-based tron also doesn't rush to assemble Tron ASAP. In one of the early iterations of the deck, I did try out Ancient Stirrings, and was disappointed - it spends a colored source to try and grab something which may or may not be relevant and which may not find what is needed. Between the two, I think Sylvan Scrying is the stronger option as it at least allows to always grab the land that's needed, Tron or Academy Ruins or another color source.
Re: other lands, I've tried Yavimaya Coasts before, and my problem with them is that taking basics out of the equation makes the deck softer to things like Blood Moon and Ghost Quarter, as well as making Paths "free" (which isn't MUCH of a downside given how few creatures this plays, but still). I wonder if the fetches would rather be Islands instead, since Life from the Loam is more of a combo piece than an engine here and I likely won't be spending turns looping fetches.
Agreed. I'm even skeptical of mainboard Thragtusk now, since its inclusion was originally a response to my old Affinity/Burn/Zoo-heavy meta and I needed its immediate life and extra blocker. It did a lot of work at the tourney, but I'm not sure if Solemn Simulacrum wouldn't have a better job, between ramping/blocking/drawing.
-1 Thragtusk -> SB?
+1 Solemn Simulacrum?
I disagree. I think UG works better as a Ux than as Gx. The U wants to be reactive, which clashes with the Gx primary gameplan of tapping out for threats as soon as possible. The green here is smaller, and more for support than for speed.
Thank you for the kind words!
So given the suggestions, here's a tentative update:
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
4 Breeding Pool
2 Verdant Catacombs (> 1 Island, 1 Simic Signet?)
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ghost Quarter
Artifact: 7
4 Expedition Map
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Mindslaver
1 Batterskull
Planeswalker: 1
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sundering Titan
1 Frost Titan
Sorcery: 4
2 Sylvan Scrying
1 Fabricate
1 Life from the Loam
Instant: 21
4 Condescend
4 Remand
4 Repeal
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Gifts Ungiven
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Cyclonic Rift
2 Nature's Claim
2 Aetherize
1 Spell Snare
1 Thragtusk
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Spellskite
1 Platinum Angel
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Jester's Cap
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Negate
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 [empty spot]
I agree that the fourth Thirst would be strong, -1 Sylvan Scrying?
Also, I don't know how I feel about Frost Titan. Yes, he slows the enemy. Yes, he is difficult to remove due to his protection clause, but I can't help but feel it should be something else. Maybe even that Kozilek.
xMage: Jankmaster
Commander - Now Playing
WUBSen Triplets - "If you shake my hand, better count your fingersBUW RHomura, Human AscendantR RGBorborygmos EnragedGR URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
Commander - Still Brewing
BRGGyrus, Waker of CorpsesGRB URSaheeli, the GiftedRU WRJor Kadeen, the PrevailerRW