I think it's the exactly same deck from Tom Ross in SGC Columbus. I tested in MOL for a couple weeks and was wondering if I wanted to add a spellskite for infect / burn but in the end I kept the same 75.
Match 1 (Dario with Faeries)
G1: Nothing much to do here. Got T3 Tron into T4 Tower into Ulamog. Oponent scoops.
G2: Got early tron but not much to pressure the oponent. Game was back and forth and he got me to 2 life. Here, I made a horrible, horrible punt when he casts a Vendillion EOT and I let resolve the trigger even when I had a Path in hand and untapped Razorverge
G3: Late Tron. He got me to 1 life but I managed to resolve a Ugin to clear the board and wurmcoil to stabilize a little. Again, he got a flying faerie on board but this time I got the Path and use it
2-1
Match 2 (Christophe with full foiled Jund :D)
G1: Was not able to find my third tron land and got Junded pretty hard
G2: He got an Ooze early into Liliana. I was able to cast a Wurmcoil to stabilize and draw Ulamog to clear the board and win.
G3: Don't remember much, other that I had all the answers in hand for his threats.
2-1
Match 3 (Javier with WB Eldrazi and taxes)
G1: Early Karn into Wurmcoil. Oponent scoops.
G2: I kept a risky hand but managed to find a map for the secodn land and my oponent didn't draw a white land in three turns. GG.
2-0
Match 4 (¿Francisco? with Naya Zoo)
Being 3-0 I was pretty happy overall. I offered the split to my opp (Really friendly guy btw) but he prefers to play so away we go.
G1: He got Wild Nactl into Goblin Guide into 2 Wild Nactls. I scoop crying like a little baby
G2: Kept a hand with path to exile and spellskite but didn't saw any other hate card and in the end I got bolted and Boros Charmed. Oh, well... GGs
0-2
So 3-1, enough to get 18 boosters, which is deece, like the kids say nowadays Deck seemed really fine once it got traction but I think that my matchups were fairly reasonable. Burn was really hard and didn't draw any of the sideboard cards.
Been doing lots of 3-1s lately, but got a 4-0 today with the following list, which i like it alot.
MU were agains't Grishoalbrand (2-1), U Tron (2-1), Infect (2-0) and Kiln Fiend Aggro (2-1).
Also had a judge called on me when I drew something I needed with Chromatic Sphere. I'm starting to like those little spheres.
care to elaborate?
i'm sure it was fine and all above-board, but just from your brief description, i'm wondering about the motivations of the judge call.
I forgot which card exactly but he tried to respond to me cracking the sphere to mill a card I needed off the top of my library. I informed him that since it's a mana ability he can't respond and I draw the card as part of the ability. Judge confirmed.
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Modern: -UBG Lantern Control-GW or RG or R Tron - G Stompy - C KCI Combo-
EDH: -UG Ezuri-UGZegana-BRMogis-WUBRGRamos-WBREdgar-URLocust God-WUBRBreya-BMacar-WUBrago-WEvra-
Also had a judge called on me when I drew something I needed with Chromatic Sphere. I'm starting to like those little spheres.
care to elaborate?
i'm sure it was fine and all above-board, but just from your brief description, i'm wondering about the motivations of the judge call.
I forgot which card exactly but he tried to respond to me cracking the sphere to mill a card I needed off the top of my library. I informed him that since it's a mana ability he can't respond and I draw the card as part of the ability. Judge confirmed.
holy crap that's amazing
never knew! will remember this one =D
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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
which 1-mana creatures were you pertaining to? if it's delver, you can just +2 ugin to kill it. but you're right, it's hard to land the ugin and will be at 1 loyalty when facing a tasigur. you can still ideally be with 10 mana in turn 4 and mostly turn 5. so you can play around mana leak to remove the tasigur.
i'm personally liking Tom Ross' GW Tron list but only 3 oblivion stones seems to be a concern (when facing bant eldrazi or affinity) and i usually cut the 2 relics when sideboarding.
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plays Ad Nauseam and Amulet Bloom in Modern
"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand."
—Afari, Tales
It's been awhile since I last posted here, but what a difference a year makes. I top 4'd the local RPTQ last Sunday, sticking with the G/W Tron archetype that I've played since last year, though obviously with some card changes. Here's my tournament report:
Deck Choice:
Going into the tournament, I anticipated a bunch of Infect, some Dredge, maybe some Burn, Affinity, and Merfolk (every local modern tournament that I've attended has had at least one Merfolk player). I also thought there would be at least one or two decks that would play Blood Moon and/or turn-1 Chalice of the Void. My testing against Infect had gone really poorly, to the point where I almost switched to W/R Prison (aka Sun and Moon) five minutes before the event. I did some soul searching, decided that all the time that I had put into developing and testing my G/W list shouldn't go to waste, and stuck with Tron. Also, my friend who drove me up to the event had jokingly threatened not to give me a ride if I played W/R (he was on Infect), so it seemed like switching decks after the fact would only add unneeded tension if we had to face each other. Besides, we could just dodge each other all day, right? Ultimately, I stuck with G/W Tron for the same reason I chose to play it when I first started playing modern last year: it mulligans well.
Card choices:
Gemstone Caverns: In my attempt to answer fast starts from decks such as Infect, I decided to try this card in Tron after testing it in W/R Prison. Tron mulligans fairly well, so starting with one less card on the draw in exchange for fixing your color requirements right away and enabling turn-0 Path, turn-1 Blessed Alliance, or turn-3 O-Stone+activation or Ugin while on the draw seemed worthwhile. During the event, however, the most it got to do was serve as a no-brainer sacrifice to Smallpox while it had no Luck counter on it.
Plains: Against Blood Moon, I don't lose access to white mana. More importantly, it gives me one more basic to find off of a Path to Exile or Ghost Quarter. In desperate times, I can Ghost Quarter myself to find this surprise white source.
Horizon Canopy: This turns a late Map or Scrying into a new card while providing an untapped source of G/W to search up as needed. Life total becomes less relevant when no one is playing burn, but also the Canopy did not give me problems when I took down 2 out of the 3 Burn decks that I faced (on the draw, no less).
Spellskite: One maindeck copy gives me something extra to battle Infect in game 1. It also helps with early blocks while eating removal meant for my threats. I cut a second copy from the sideboard because, against infect, I don't want to enable Twisted Image further, and Blessed Alliance and Ghostly Prison should work better if they slow themselves down in anticipation of Spellskites.
Ghostly Prison: Resolve this early enough and Infect cannot both attack and still have mana left to pump or stop your removal. I also planned to bring this in against Dredge and other swarming creature decks. Never brought it in all day.
Timely Reinforcements: I really dislike this card, but I had a legitimate concern that Burn might make an appearance at this RPTQ. I shaved one Thragtusk for it. Never brought this card in either.
Engineered Explosives: I usually run two of these. I ended up cutting one of them prior to leaving for the event to hedge more against Infect. While this card is okay against most of Infect's creatures, it really serves more of a back-up for your instant-speed removal. EE makes Spreading Seas your best friend against Merfolk because the free blue mana combos with any one of your colored sources to put EE on 2, which blows up the Spreading Seas and most of their annoying fish-men.
Reclamation Sage: I wanted a way to remove a Chalice on 1, which Nature's Claim can't handle. Sage provides a blocker to go with the effect, so it can come in against Burn as well.
Surgical Extraction: Not only can you remove key cards from a Dredge graveyard, but you can protect your Tron pieces from getting removed by an opposing Surgical Extraction by removing their target first and then choosing to remove 0 other copies. This also becomes a plan against opposing Tron opponents.
Going up to 4 Paths in the main and 3 Blessed Alliance in the board was a nod to the Infect match-up.
The Matches:
As a Tron player, what deck do you want to face the most?
Round 1: Jund splashing W (2-0)
Instantly rewarded for my deck choice, I started feeling really, really good about my chances. I never came close to losing this match, and I didn't even keep the best hands. Game 1, my loose 7-card keep contained 3x Stirrings, Forest, and no Tron pieces, but I survived long enough to take over the game. Brought in EE, Thragtusk, and Surgical Extraction for game 2, and EE took out Bob and Goyf, which stabilized me long enough to take over with big threats. 1-0.
Round 2: 8-Rack (2-1)
I did not expect this deck, and I hadn't tested against it. I couldn't assemble Tron or much of anything through all the discard in game 1 and get destroyed by Mutavault. I board in EE and enchant removal, and I keep Wurmcoil in to gain life. For game 2, I elected to go on the draw, having read in Tom Ross's 8-Rack article that 8-Rack wanted to be on the draw. I used my Chromatics and Maps to manage my hand size to avoid damage from The Rack and Shrieking Affliction and won with Wurmcoil Engine. Game 3, he elects to be on the play and I'm able to stabilize and take over the game with Ulamog and Ugin. 2-0.
Round 3: Bant Knightfall (2-1)
Another unexpected match-up. I lose game 1 to the Knight of the Reliquary/Retreat to Coralhelm combo. I board in enchantment removal, which never actually becomes relevant because my opponent keeps the Retreat in hand until he's ready to combo off. For games 2 and 3, I have turn-3 Tron, but he has Negates. I beat him both games with Wurmcoil Engine after he runs out of gas. 3-0.
Round 4: Ad Nauseum (0-2)
I had no experience against this deck either. I punted a few times in what is reportedly already a tough matchup. I lose in a quick 2 games. I had a Karn out in Game 2, but only attacked his mana base once before trying to attack his hand. I took the opportunity to drink some water to rehydrate. 3-1.
Round 5: Skred Red (1-1-1)
One of my friends had arrived at the event only to discover he forgot his sideboard, but he did have his back-up deck, Skred Red. We didn't really want to knock each other out of top 8 contention, but we played 2 games, which we ended up splitting. Going into game 3, we decided we should just take the intentional draw given the randomness of this match-up and keep us both live for top 8. Unfortunately, he would end the event 9th on tiebreaks. 3-1-1.
Round 6: Bant Eldrazi (2-0)
Due to my draw in the previous round, tables 4-6 are all fighting for two spots in the top 8. I get the pair-up against a Silver-level Pro with Top 8 on the line, but my deck is able to do Tron things and I take the match in 2 games on the back of Ugin. While the Spirit Dragon seems like it would perform poorly against all the big colorless creatures, I kept it in for game 2 because it performed well in game 1 to clean up some of his smaller creatures and it gives me another big threat that, in this matchup, can either provide some distraction or allow me to replenish my life total and hand. Also, I didn't have specific cards to bring in for this matchup, though I think I brought in Thragtusk and maybe Blessed Alliance. 4-1-1.
Meanwhile, my Infect friend had not dropped a match all day and very easily drew into the top 8. We had time to discuss the make-up of the top 8 and figured the top 4 would be Ad Nauseum, Jund, him on Infect, and the Bant Knightfall that I beat earlier. A second Ad Nauseum, KCI Eggs/Thopter-Sword, me on Tron, and Grixis Delver ended up rounding out the Top 8, which meant...
Top 8: Jund (2-1)
I couldn't ask for a better match-up for a win-and-in match for the Pro Tour. Of course, I lose game 1 after a questionable keep that has no good path to assembling Tron. While shuffling up for game 2, several people, including me, the judge sitting next to me, and several spectators, noticed something odd about the way my opponent was shuffling and presenting, so we had a deck-check break, which resulted in a game loss for my opponent. Game 3, I have a threat-heavy hand and manage to stabilize at 4 life. I play very conservatively not to allow myself to fall into Lightning Bolt range, and then take the game over with Karn, Ugin, and Wurmcoil to qualify for my first Pro Tour!
Tron becomes a great choice when you expect to face Jund in key rounds. But it also has a lot of play against the rest of the expected (and unexpected) field.
anyone else understand the importance of collective brutality with joe lossett's green black tron which also won 1st place? it seems like an iffy card with the -2/-2 on just one creature isn't that impactful compared to a pyroclasm to possibly hit 2 or more creatures or even going GW for path to exile as a permanent answer regardless how big the creature is.
anyone else understand the importance of collective brutality with joe lossett's green black tron which also won 1st place? it seems like an iffy card with the -2/-2 on just one creature isn't that impactful compared to a pyroclasm to possibly hit 2 or more creatures or even going GW for path to exile as a permanent answer regardless how big the creature is.
Claiming Joe's deck "won 1st place" is more than slightly deceiving; while I'm happy Joe won the tournament, he went 1-2 with his Modern deck in tournament matches, only making 2-2 thanks the non-games in the finals (which were won off the backs of copious amounts of GY hate and opposing mulligans). He even says his Modern performance was disappointing in his post-tournament interview with SCG.
Collective Brutality's been Joe's pet card for a while now, and he's streamed with it several times. While it's one of the best-looking removal slots in paper, it doesn't seem to work too well in practice for some reason. It doesn't help that black lacks many good SB options outside of Ravenous Trap, which the black splash often doesn't matter for.
According to mtggoldfish we are currently the 3rd most played modern deck, anybody care to speculate as to what metagame factors have lead to this uptick in performance and presence?
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--> Modern <-- RBUSplinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBU UUUMono U TronUUU GRGGR TronGRG GWURKnight FallGWUR
I'm guessing because (from what I understand, I'm a new Tron pilot) the Jund matchup is awesome, and Jund is currently the 2nd most placed Modern deck according to MTGGoldfish. That, and Tron's adjustment to the metagame, with options of Rest in Peace (for Dredge, the 4th most placed) and Blessed Alliance (for Infect, the 1st most placed), it appears that Tron is doing quite well for itself. I'm currently building the BG version, and would go for the GW if I had Rest in Peace and Paths. I may just do that. I already have the lands for the BG, though.
I'm guessing because (from what I understand, I'm a new Tron pilot) the Jund matchup is awesome, and Jund is currently the 2nd most placed Modern deck according to MTGGoldfish. That, and Tron's adjustment to the metagame, with options of Rest in Peace (for Dredge, the 4th most placed) and Blessed Alliance (for Infect, the 1st most placed), it appears that Tron is doing quite well for itself. I'm currently building the BG version, and would go for the GW if I had Rest in Peace and Paths. I may just do that. I already have the lands for the BG, though.
I mean jund has always been one of the most played decks in modern and usually is the most played deck. I'm just surprised that tron has been able to successfully adjust to what would seemingly be a hostile metagame. I just switched over to the GW version after months of not even touching tron and it has thus far seemed pretty good. Additionally I feel like I can run more answers and less threats now due to the diminishing numbers of path to exile decks.
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--> Modern <-- RBUSplinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBU UUUMono U TronUUU GRGGR TronGRG GWURKnight FallGWUR
Will be printed in AER, has just been confirmed like an hour ago. I know it's not a land but damn, tutor up Ugin, Karn, O-Stone a Fatty or whatever seems pretty dece
Will be printed in AER, has just been confirmed like an hour ago. I know it's not a land but damn, tutor up Ugin, Karn, O-Stone a Fatty or whatever seems pretty dece
I am very excited for that one, more for EDH, but it will definitely be tested here. it could definitely put us in a better spot, MCL is turn 4 Emmy, but it is worth noting that it is not cast, so the extra turn does not trigger, still gives the opponent an uninterrupted turn to race us. time will tell, I will be picking up an EDH+playset for sure. I am just concerned and I hope it doesn't give Wizards an excuse to ban Karn or the Tron lands, you know they don't love the lands
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Project Booster Fun makes it less fun to open a booster.
I'm honestly not too concerned that this will be yet another cut for tron. I know they dislike fast mana but also said that Tron is a pretty big and also important part of the metagame. In the Eye of Ugin ban we were more like Collateral Damage. This card does nothing on Turn 3 and gives our opponent a lot of time to react and find answers.
I think this is basically the "fixed" version of Eye of Ugin which gives tron some lategame inevitability while being easy enough to handle since it's an artifact and not tutorable outside of Stirrings.
About the Cast triggers: I think if you go EOT: Big M there is not much any deck can do about that and it should be good enough. Even going EOT Thragtusk against burn would be pretty great.
Edit: I think 1 or maximum 2 will be in our lists. Running fewer threats or sacrificing one of our flex slots for it seems like the way to go.
Planar Bridge isn't tutorable, which pretty much kills its viability in Gx Tron. I would much rather just draw a threat directly than take the extra step to get one. The ability is gross powerful, but it doesn't give us anything against the decks that are beating us (and is often weak to the sideboard hate they will typically bring in).
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Deck was as follows:
1 Brushland
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Karn Liberated
3 Oblivion Stone
3 Path to Exile
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Sylvan Scrying
1 Spellskite
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
2 World Breaker
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Nature's Claim
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Rest in Peace
2 Thragtusk
3 Warping Wail
I think it's the exactly same deck from Tom Ross in SGC Columbus. I tested in MOL for a couple weeks and was wondering if I wanted to add a spellskite for infect / burn but in the end I kept the same 75.
Match 1 (Dario with Faeries)
G1: Nothing much to do here. Got T3 Tron into T4 Tower into Ulamog. Oponent scoops.
G2: Got early tron but not much to pressure the oponent. Game was back and forth and he got me to 2 life. Here, I made a horrible, horrible punt when he casts a Vendillion EOT and I let resolve the trigger even when I had a Path in hand and untapped Razorverge
G3: Late Tron. He got me to 1 life but I managed to resolve a Ugin to clear the board and wurmcoil to stabilize a little. Again, he got a flying faerie on board but this time I got the Path and use it
2-1
Match 2 (Christophe with full foiled Jund :D)
G1: Was not able to find my third tron land and got Junded pretty hard
G2: He got an Ooze early into Liliana. I was able to cast a Wurmcoil to stabilize and draw Ulamog to clear the board and win.
G3: Don't remember much, other that I had all the answers in hand for his threats.
2-1
Match 3 (Javier with WB Eldrazi and taxes)
G1: Early Karn into Wurmcoil. Oponent scoops.
G2: I kept a risky hand but managed to find a map for the secodn land and my oponent didn't draw a white land in three turns. GG.
2-0
Match 4 (¿Francisco? with Naya Zoo)
Being 3-0 I was pretty happy overall. I offered the split to my opp (Really friendly guy btw) but he prefers to play so away we go.
G1: He got Wild Nactl into Goblin Guide into 2 Wild Nactls. I scoop crying like a little baby
G2: Kept a hand with path to exile and spellskite but didn't saw any other hate card and in the end I got bolted and Boros Charmed. Oh, well... GGs
0-2
So 3-1, enough to get 18 boosters, which is deece, like the kids say nowadays
care to elaborate?
i'm sure it was fine and all above-board, but just from your brief description, i'm wondering about the motivations of the judge call.
MU were agains't Grishoalbrand (2-1), U Tron (2-1), Infect (2-0) and Kiln Fiend Aggro (2-1).
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Forest
Creatures.
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 World Breaker
1 Spellskite
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Firespout
Other Spells.
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Karn Liberated
3 Oblivion Stone
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Nature's Claim
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thragtusk
2 Pithing Needle
2 Fog
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Warping Wail
1 Spellskite
GXTronGX
RWxBurnRWx
I forgot which card exactly but he tried to respond to me cracking the sphere to mill a card I needed off the top of my library. I informed him that since it's a mana ability he can't respond and I draw the card as part of the ability. Judge confirmed.
EDH: -UG Ezuri-UGZegana-BRMogis-WUBRGRamos-WBREdgar-URLocust God-WUBRBreya-BMacar-WUBrago-WEvra-
BRGJundGRB
GCTronCG
WBRMardu PyromancerRBW
Legacy:
GElvesG
holy crap that's amazing
never knew! will remember this one =D
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
2 Sanctum of Ugin
Creatures: 8
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
2 World Breaker
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Expedition Map
3 Oblivion Stone
Spells: 11
3 Kozilek's Return
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
Walkers: 6
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Firespout
3 Nature's Claim
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Thragtusk
1 Vandalblast
2 Warping Wail
2 Ravenous Trap
Taking this to a blind meta fnm, soon as I pick up the rest of the cards.
i'm personally liking Tom Ross' GW Tron list but only 3 oblivion stones seems to be a concern (when facing bant eldrazi or affinity) and i usually cut the 2 relics when sideboarding.
"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand."
—Afari, Tales
Decklist from the mothership:
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Creature (6)
1 Spellskite
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 World Breaker
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Sorcery (8)
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
Instant (4)
4 Path to Exile
Artifact (17)
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
3 Oblivion Stone
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Gemstone Caverns
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Rest in Peace
3 Blessed Alliance
1 Thragtusk
2 Nature's Claim
2 Warping Wail
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Reclamation Sage
Deck Choice:
Going into the tournament, I anticipated a bunch of Infect, some Dredge, maybe some Burn, Affinity, and Merfolk (every local modern tournament that I've attended has had at least one Merfolk player). I also thought there would be at least one or two decks that would play Blood Moon and/or turn-1 Chalice of the Void. My testing against Infect had gone really poorly, to the point where I almost switched to W/R Prison (aka Sun and Moon) five minutes before the event. I did some soul searching, decided that all the time that I had put into developing and testing my G/W list shouldn't go to waste, and stuck with Tron. Also, my friend who drove me up to the event had jokingly threatened not to give me a ride if I played W/R (he was on Infect), so it seemed like switching decks after the fact would only add unneeded tension if we had to face each other. Besides, we could just dodge each other all day, right? Ultimately, I stuck with G/W Tron for the same reason I chose to play it when I first started playing modern last year: it mulligans well.
Card choices:
Gemstone Caverns: In my attempt to answer fast starts from decks such as Infect, I decided to try this card in Tron after testing it in W/R Prison. Tron mulligans fairly well, so starting with one less card on the draw in exchange for fixing your color requirements right away and enabling turn-0 Path, turn-1 Blessed Alliance, or turn-3 O-Stone+activation or Ugin while on the draw seemed worthwhile. During the event, however, the most it got to do was serve as a no-brainer sacrifice to Smallpox while it had no Luck counter on it.
Plains: Against Blood Moon, I don't lose access to white mana. More importantly, it gives me one more basic to find off of a Path to Exile or Ghost Quarter. In desperate times, I can Ghost Quarter myself to find this surprise white source.
Horizon Canopy: This turns a late Map or Scrying into a new card while providing an untapped source of G/W to search up as needed. Life total becomes less relevant when no one is playing burn, but also the Canopy did not give me problems when I took down 2 out of the 3 Burn decks that I faced (on the draw, no less).
Spellskite: One maindeck copy gives me something extra to battle Infect in game 1. It also helps with early blocks while eating removal meant for my threats. I cut a second copy from the sideboard because, against infect, I don't want to enable Twisted Image further, and Blessed Alliance and Ghostly Prison should work better if they slow themselves down in anticipation of Spellskites.
Ghostly Prison: Resolve this early enough and Infect cannot both attack and still have mana left to pump or stop your removal. I also planned to bring this in against Dredge and other swarming creature decks. Never brought it in all day.
Timely Reinforcements: I really dislike this card, but I had a legitimate concern that Burn might make an appearance at this RPTQ. I shaved one Thragtusk for it. Never brought this card in either.
Engineered Explosives: I usually run two of these. I ended up cutting one of them prior to leaving for the event to hedge more against Infect. While this card is okay against most of Infect's creatures, it really serves more of a back-up for your instant-speed removal. EE makes Spreading Seas your best friend against Merfolk because the free blue mana combos with any one of your colored sources to put EE on 2, which blows up the Spreading Seas and most of their annoying fish-men.
Reclamation Sage: I wanted a way to remove a Chalice on 1, which Nature's Claim can't handle. Sage provides a blocker to go with the effect, so it can come in against Burn as well.
Surgical Extraction: Not only can you remove key cards from a Dredge graveyard, but you can protect your Tron pieces from getting removed by an opposing Surgical Extraction by removing their target first and then choosing to remove 0 other copies. This also becomes a plan against opposing Tron opponents.
Going up to 4 Paths in the main and 3 Blessed Alliance in the board was a nod to the Infect match-up.
The Matches:
As a Tron player, what deck do you want to face the most?
Round 1: Jund splashing W (2-0)
Instantly rewarded for my deck choice, I started feeling really, really good about my chances. I never came close to losing this match, and I didn't even keep the best hands. Game 1, my loose 7-card keep contained 3x Stirrings, Forest, and no Tron pieces, but I survived long enough to take over the game. Brought in EE, Thragtusk, and Surgical Extraction for game 2, and EE took out Bob and Goyf, which stabilized me long enough to take over with big threats. 1-0.
Round 2: 8-Rack (2-1)
I did not expect this deck, and I hadn't tested against it. I couldn't assemble Tron or much of anything through all the discard in game 1 and get destroyed by Mutavault. I board in EE and enchant removal, and I keep Wurmcoil in to gain life. For game 2, I elected to go on the draw, having read in Tom Ross's 8-Rack article that 8-Rack wanted to be on the draw. I used my Chromatics and Maps to manage my hand size to avoid damage from The Rack and Shrieking Affliction and won with Wurmcoil Engine. Game 3, he elects to be on the play and I'm able to stabilize and take over the game with Ulamog and Ugin. 2-0.
Round 3: Bant Knightfall (2-1)
Another unexpected match-up. I lose game 1 to the Knight of the Reliquary/Retreat to Coralhelm combo. I board in enchantment removal, which never actually becomes relevant because my opponent keeps the Retreat in hand until he's ready to combo off. For games 2 and 3, I have turn-3 Tron, but he has Negates. I beat him both games with Wurmcoil Engine after he runs out of gas. 3-0.
Round 4: Ad Nauseum (0-2)
I had no experience against this deck either. I punted a few times in what is reportedly already a tough matchup. I lose in a quick 2 games. I had a Karn out in Game 2, but only attacked his mana base once before trying to attack his hand. I took the opportunity to drink some water to rehydrate. 3-1.
Round 5: Skred Red (1-1-1)
One of my friends had arrived at the event only to discover he forgot his sideboard, but he did have his back-up deck, Skred Red. We didn't really want to knock each other out of top 8 contention, but we played 2 games, which we ended up splitting. Going into game 3, we decided we should just take the intentional draw given the randomness of this match-up and keep us both live for top 8. Unfortunately, he would end the event 9th on tiebreaks. 3-1-1.
Round 6: Bant Eldrazi (2-0)
Due to my draw in the previous round, tables 4-6 are all fighting for two spots in the top 8. I get the pair-up against a Silver-level Pro with Top 8 on the line, but my deck is able to do Tron things and I take the match in 2 games on the back of Ugin. While the Spirit Dragon seems like it would perform poorly against all the big colorless creatures, I kept it in for game 2 because it performed well in game 1 to clean up some of his smaller creatures and it gives me another big threat that, in this matchup, can either provide some distraction or allow me to replenish my life total and hand. Also, I didn't have specific cards to bring in for this matchup, though I think I brought in Thragtusk and maybe Blessed Alliance. 4-1-1.
Meanwhile, my Infect friend had not dropped a match all day and very easily drew into the top 8. We had time to discuss the make-up of the top 8 and figured the top 4 would be Ad Nauseum, Jund, him on Infect, and the Bant Knightfall that I beat earlier. A second Ad Nauseum, KCI Eggs/Thopter-Sword, me on Tron, and Grixis Delver ended up rounding out the Top 8, which meant...
Top 8: Jund (2-1)
I couldn't ask for a better match-up for a win-and-in match for the Pro Tour. Of course, I lose game 1 after a questionable keep that has no good path to assembling Tron. While shuffling up for game 2, several people, including me, the judge sitting next to me, and several spectators, noticed something odd about the way my opponent was shuffling and presenting, so we had a deck-check break, which resulted in a game loss for my opponent. Game 3, I have a threat-heavy hand and manage to stabilize at 4 life. I play very conservatively not to allow myself to fall into Lightning Bolt range, and then take the game over with Karn, Ugin, and Wurmcoil to qualify for my first Pro Tour!
Tron becomes a great choice when you expect to face Jund in key rounds. But it also has a lot of play against the rest of the expected (and unexpected) field.
anyone else care to chime in on the idea?
this was the list he ran
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=110491
"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand."
—Afari, Tales
GXTronGX
RWxBurnRWx
Collective Brutality's been Joe's pet card for a while now, and he's streamed with it several times. While it's one of the best-looking removal slots in paper, it doesn't seem to work too well in practice for some reason. It doesn't help that black lacks many good SB options outside of Ravenous Trap, which the black splash often doesn't matter for.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
RBU
Splinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBUUUUMono U TronUUU
GRGGR TronGRG
GWURKnight FallGWUR
Legacy
GWBDark MaverickGWB
--> EDH <--
BWUErtai, the CorruptedBWU
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
I mean jund has always been one of the most played decks in modern and usually is the most played deck. I'm just surprised that tron has been able to successfully adjust to what would seemingly be a hostile metagame. I just switched over to the GW version after months of not even touching tron and it has thus far seemed pretty good. Additionally I feel like I can run more answers and less threats now due to the diminishing numbers of path to exile decks.
RBU
Splinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBUUUUMono U TronUUU
GRGGR TronGRG
GWURKnight FallGWUR
Legacy
GWBDark MaverickGWB
--> EDH <--
BWUErtai, the CorruptedBWU
Will be printed in AER, has just been confirmed like an hour ago. I know it's not a land but damn, tutor up Ugin, Karn, O-Stone a Fatty or whatever seems pretty dece
BRGJundGRB
GCTronCG
WBRMardu PyromancerRBW
Legacy:
GElvesG
I am very excited for that one, more for EDH, but it will definitely be tested here. it could definitely put us in a better spot, MCL is turn 4 Emmy, but it is worth noting that it is not cast, so the extra turn does not trigger, still gives the opponent an uninterrupted turn to race us. time will tell, I will be picking up an EDH+playset for sure. I am just concerned and I hope it doesn't give Wizards an excuse to ban Karn or the Tron lands, you know they don't love the lands
I think this is basically the "fixed" version of Eye of Ugin which gives tron some lategame inevitability while being easy enough to handle since it's an artifact and not tutorable outside of Stirrings.
About the Cast triggers: I think if you go EOT: Big M there is not much any deck can do about that and it should be good enough. Even going EOT Thragtusk against burn would be pretty great.
Edit: I think 1 or maximum 2 will be in our lists. Running fewer threats or sacrificing one of our flex slots for it seems like the way to go.
BRGJundGRB
GCTronCG
WBRMardu PyromancerRBW
Legacy:
GElvesG
I think it's too early to say anything, but I'm excited waiting to see it playing on our deck in the near future, let's wait for the tests