Haven't posted on these forums in a very long time. Played sicsmoo's list/SB card for card at a local 2K in preparation for GP Portland.
R1 Blue Moon 2-1
G1 - He won with turn 3 Blood Moon.
G2 - We both went to 4 and I had a turn 4 Karn.
G3 - He missed land 3 for two turns and I punished it with Thragtusks.
R2 Jund 2-0
G1 - Felt some pressure from Goyf / BBE but managed to get there with Ugin.
G2 - Pressured with Fulminator/Trophy but Thragtusk got there.
R3 Mono Red Phoenix 2-0
G1 - Dropped to 1 from Phoenix / Adept. He went everything at face with Bolt/Needle. Had a needle in yard but I got him off lands with World Breaker into Ulamog and dodged one top deck.
G2 - Dropped to 1 life from a fast double Adept start but managed to use Claim on Sphere and Thragtusk to stabilize.
R4 Jeskai Control 2-0
G1 - He started Bolt / Snap Bolt at my face once he realized I'm Tron. Won at 3 after dodging a top deck Helix/Bolt.
G2 - He chained Cryptic on my lands but I managed to get Tron into Wurmcoil after two of these.
R5 UW Control 2-0
G1 - Natural Tron on 3.
G2 - He was actually up after Teferi tuck on my Ugin. I had all green spells in hand without a green source and misstepped by not mapping for one. He then misstepped by Cliquing my hand and instinctively taking my Stirrings before realizing there's no green source. Won after that since he had been leaving up Negate for the Ugin that was tucked.
R6 Hollow One 2-1
G1 - Tight game after a reasonable Adept/Hollow One start but World Breaker saves me here.
G2 - He rolls me on turn 3 with double Adept / Goblin Lore.
G3 - Another tight game that sees me chaining Thragtusks to stabilize.
R7 Infect ID
Convinced him that since I'm the only undefeated player, we should draw in. Did not know his deck at the time.
Ro8 Humans 2-0
G1 - Fairly straight forward. Resolved an Ugin.
G2 - He's up with Meddling on O-Stone, Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, and Damping Sphere. Contortion the Meddling into resolving a Thragtusk into playing a Stone saved me.
Ro4 Infect 0-2
G1 - He had turn 4 lethal with two creatures. I had turn 4 Tron but could only answer one.
G2 - He had turn 3.
Overall, I'm fairly happy with the list. Couple of notes. I really like the 4 Thragtusks out of the sideboard. Didn't know how to board for Phoenix since it wasn't on the guide but I went with boarding a cross between Hollow One / Burn which seemed to work. Couple of potential changes I've seen recently that I'm curious about: Horizon Canopy in for Forest - This keeps all your late game Map/Scrying draws into a filter without too much drawback. Life is relevant vs Burn and some aggro lists but turning 8 cards into less dead cards against everything else seems worthwhile to me. Adding B for Thoughtseize/Brutality - I've thrown this idea around mostly to get some interaction going for Infect/Storm/TitanShift while also not giving up things like burn with Bruality. Not sure if I want to make the switch this close to Portland though. Helps the mirror as well. Gaea's Revenge / Carnage Tyrant - I think Gaea's Revenge is the better card here. For Blood Moon/Alpine Moon/Damping Sphere/Cryptic Command/mirror, I actually like this more than Emrakul. Still not sure it deserves a slot. Crucible - Haven't played much recently but every time I run this card out of the board, it doesn't do anything for me. I think I've had below average experiences but not sure I want this in. Emrakul - I actually think I like Thragtusk #4 over this versus UW and Jeskai. In the mirror, turn 3 Karn is really the key. Not sure if this is necessary otherwise. Against unfair MUs, I've had less success with this card than I maybe should. 3 Relic MB - I ran this 2 years ago in G/R Tron and now it's back and I don't think I'd drop down in this meta. Surgical Extraction - This might be the card I like the least out of the SB. With 3 Relics and a Cage, I find this card to be less powerful than most other players. The idea of GQ + Surgical vs Tron/Shift is amazing but less opportune in most circumstances. Against Dredge/Hollow One/Phoenix, the card I really want to find is usually Conflag out of Dredge and not much else in Hollow One/Phoenix. Phoenix decks generally can win through this and the 2 life is non trivial. I want to try some number of Dismember/Contortion if I stay with this list.
Actually yeah, now that I'm looking at it again this morning World Breaker is probably solid to keep in.
And yeah Warping Wail is reasonable right now as well.
EDIT: Ninja'd, thanks for the report yoona. Yeah, I think Surgical has a bit less value currently now that Dredge isn't so widespread, but if you cut them there's not much hope of beating KCI if you run into it.
Yeah, you make some good points. It's possible I'm underrating Cage in these matchups but I'm still not a fan of Claim vs UR when they have 0-2 targets that we can win through anyway. I can respect that angle but I tend to be more conservative with that card. I did manage to beat the mono-red version twice today with the basic configuration that I posted. That one seems a bit more straightforward. In any event, it'll all become clear as I get more reps in.
I've been down to 2 TKS online for a while which feels right. The decks you reaally want it against like Ad Naus and Titan Shift just aren't around right now but it's still a solid enough card in a lot of common matchups (Burn, Storm, Mirror, UW) that I still want the pair. Frees up a slot for a Dismember or something, still playing basically the same list as in the guide.
The only maindeck difference is that I started testing the 4 Forest/1 Canopy configuration and so far, so good. Drawing the extra card helped me in a couple games and the life loss hasn't been a factor. Gonna run with it until it loses me a game and reevaluate at that point.
I dont want any copies of Karn or Ballista becauee they dont do much if they resolve, and Karn is a pretty big liability in a matchup that is fast and has ceremonious rejection and spell pierce in the side. Trim 1 ugin over 1 ulamog because as a creature ulamog will resolve more often, and because of rejection the cast trigger is better. I like 1 surgical here because this deck is more about grinding with looting and recurring birds or flipping TiTi early. If they are doing the former and we hit looting, their grind potential goes way down. Same if you hit a bird. I have a decent time stopping an early TiTi flip thanks to warping wail. I don't think surgical is amazing, but I do think it's better than the second copy of ugin or the third claim.
More aggressive and more likely to be on blood moon so I want the third claim. Ugin is a bit worse here than UR because of reveled being CMC 8. I don't want surgical or warping wail so I keep a ballista for sanctum triggering. I did not include spatial because it only hits one creature (I don't include Phoenix because it recurs), and if I take out a ballista and an o-stone or ulamog to make room for spatials, the deck is looking absurdly low on threats and might have issues putting pressure on the opponent. As sicsmoo said, I do like ulamog in these matchups because we need threat that threatens to end the game very fast.
This deck is more creature based so I want more ballistas and spatials. Needed to cut a claim to make room. Cutting more off the top end because it feels like the most explosive of the three decks. Not a fan of warping wail because they can easily pump their dudes out of range of it, even tapped out with a gut shot.
I wouldn't mind spatials against mono r bird but it's hard to find the room. UR is the only one I like surgical in because the others are more aggro attacking our life total.
I dont want any copies of Karn or Ballista becauee they dont do much if they resolve, and Karn is a pretty big liability in a matchup that is fast and has ceremonious rejection and spell pierce in the side. Trim 1 ugin over 1 ulamog because as a creature ulamog will resolve more often, and because of rejection the cast trigger is better. I like 1 surgical here because this deck is more about grinding with looting and recurring birds or flipping TiTi early. If they are doing the former and we hit looting, their grind potential goes way down. Same if you hit a bird. I have a decent time stopping an early TiTi flip thanks to warping wail. I don't think surgical is amazing, but I do think it's better than the second copy of ugin or the third claim.
I think Karn is actually one of the better cards against UR - how do you figure it doesn't do much? It's our best answer to Crackling Drake which is often enormous in the mid-late game, such that it can outrace a Wurmcoil. It answers Thing In the Ice cleanly as well. It's not like they have explosive starts every game, and certainly if we're on the play, turn 3 Karn is the best thing we can do. Sure, they can have Rejection, but it's only a 2-of.
I feel like the opponent usually opens up with 1+ Phoenix attacking by turn 3, a flipped TiTi by turn 3/4, or a blood/alpine moon to attack our mana. These decks look at so many cards so fast that I don't believe there is much opportunity to invest 7 mana into a might resolve Karn on turn 3. They only have 2 rejections and 2 moons, but they dig much deeper than the average modern deck and will see them more often early in the game. And if a Karn resolves they can remove it so easily with a bolt or bird attack. My sideboard plan is an attempt to maximize my interaction with them in the first 3 turns of the game and set up a turn 4 o-stone board wipe or stick a wurmcoil and stabilize with lifegain.
Against aggressive blue decks I've never been a fan of tapping 7 mana and spending my whole turn on a card that might not resolve, I've only just started using Karn more against storm because they have decreased their remand count in the 75.
Ended up going 3-1-1 for a top 4 finish this week. Still love the deck, it’s been a blast to play. I beat G/B Tron, Dredge and Tooth and Nail. I drew with a B/U planeswalker deck. I have a question though, although I defeated dredge, I was wondering if it was correct for me to surgical his discarded cathartic reunion? The dredge player thought it was wrong, but I kept him off of drawing what he was looking for long enough to win. What are your thoughts?
I just finished my RPTQ by using exactly sicsmoo’s deck except an Emrakul to replace a Thragtusk. There were 49 players and the most played deck is Bant Spirit. Not many graveyard-based deck (maybe a 3rd ballista is better than a relic). Top 8 players are playing different decks, I was crushed by Amulet Titan at Top8 (game 1 down to 4 and game 2 down to 5) and miss the PT.
Thanks sicsmoo’s sharing on playing the deck. Very professional.
@PlainsAngels Surgical on Cathartic seems loose to me. Assuming he had no dredge cards in the graveyard? Even if so I can't imagine that being right. He could just draw Looting or Shriekhorn and then you look pretty silly. Obviously it varies from game to game but as a general rule Bloodghast is the most important card to Surgical, followed by Amalgam then Loam. Bloodghast first because it's the main threat that recurs itself and Amalgam and it can be very pesky in general with haste, which is one of their only outs to a resolved Ugin. Without it, the opponent has only random Narcomeba hits to put Amalgam into play. Sometimes though they dredge into multiple Amalgams early and you have to snipe those so you don't just die. If you can control their pressure in other ways and are at risk of being burned out, hitting Loam or Conflagrate itself can be the play. Sometimes you even want to hit their Ancient Grudges if you have a fast Wurmcoil they can't really answer otherwise. But I can't really imagine any scenarios where hitting Cathartic would be the right play.
@Sum congrats on the top 8. I think I'll be trying out Emrakul again now that KCI is becoming more popular.
I'm back, got my pc fixed up and have been jamming again. Went 3-2 the other night and played against 2 archlight variants. The UR I feel like we are favored (in my regionals top 8, I beat that version) World Breaker shines quite a bit here. I do remember top decking a wurmcoil when I was 1 turn away from being dead, but those are just tron luxuries.
The Mono red version is a nightmare, straight up nightmare. (steam kin varaint feels like we aren't supposed win that often, I assume more Ballistas can help but once Kin gets going it's over quickly)
Mono red no steam kin, feels beatable. But they can also 15 you out of no where so...yeah. I'm heading to GP Oakland and pretty much settled on tron. How do we feel about 4 Basics and another utility land? With UW on the decline, I can see myself running 4 forest and 1 Scavenger Grounds.
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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
Don't have a detailed report, but i played a bunch of large side events at GP Liverpool and exclusively played Tron. Here's a rough summary:
Met some lovely people. Did rather well overall. And say what you want about Tron, the games were *really* enjoyable and full of complex decisions. It was a good time and the more I play Tron at high levels, the clearer it becomes that the deck isn't as dumb or hateworthy as first blanche would have people believe. Genuinely some of the most fun magic I've had the pleasure of playing.
First tournament (warming up):
1-2-0 record. Lost the first two from first-round jitters which quickly dissipated. By the end of the third round and my first match win, I was relaxed, humming along nicely.
Second tournament:
3-0-0
Good enough for more than a booster box in prizes, calmly did Tron things through some tricky spots and chose my lines carefully and methodically. Won two games on a mull to four. Lost one game on what seemed like a keepable 7 one-lander on the draw with three stars and a scrying, but never saw a second land. Happens. Either way, I beat through variance and made some quality plays.
Tournament three:
2-0-1
Drew the final round as we didn't have time to play it out. He was on affinity, so who knows. 4x ballista is good against them? Could have gone either way but I was happy to remain undefeated.
Tournament four:
1-1-1 (2-1-0, see below)
Weird tournament. End of the weekend and exhausted. Did Tron things, made a blunder in the third game of the second match which left me 1-1 and then my opponent and I chose to draw the last round. We played it out and I stomped that particular third match (UW control). I've practiced that one to death so I have the matchup on lock. I consider it a win in terms of my record in matches, but for prizes we ID'd
Overall record in matches (including the just mentioned third match)
8-3-1 which is OK. I need to get those first-round jitters in order but there's something about travelling for half a day to a tournament that seems to place a lot of weight on my performance. After the first couple of rounds I always relax into it and my record improves by a ridiculous percentage.
Tron has been kind to me recently. I'm gonna keep at it.
(I also did plenty of trading and now most of my deck is japanese/Chinese and many cards are signed)
Round 1:
2-0 Against Burn
Game 1 won with a turn 3 Wurmcoil on the play
Game 2 had another turn 3 Wurmcoil and he had no path. GG.
Round 2:
0-2 Against Mono-Red Pheonix
Game 1: Died on turn 3 on the draw. He curved double Swiftspear into double phoenix from the yard.
Game 2: Game lasted a little longer but I couldnt find a lifegaining threat in Wurmcoil and Thragtusk. Just got burned out with Fiery Temper and Bolt. GG.
Round 3:
2-1 Against "Tron" Mirror
Game 1: won with turn 3 karn on the play
Game 2: died to turn 4 Emrakul the Aeons Torn off of Aetherworks Marvel. Weird tron deck but I got-got
Game 3: Another turn 3 karn on the play. GG.
Round 4:
2-1 Against Bant Spirits
Game 1: Won with curving Wurmcoil into Ugin on turn 5, opponent's clock wasnt fast enough
Game 2: Opponent had a great mix of disruption and clock, I didnt draw a sweeper, the perfect recipe to beat tron. Side note: Remember that Phantasmal Image CANNOT copy a creature that it enters with off of Collected Company. My opponent tried this and I called a judge, the first judge said that he could do it so I asked for the head judge and the head judge confirmed that Phantasmal Image must copy a creature that was on the battlefield prior to the collected company since it is an "as it enters" effect in which there is no time to respond. Dont be fooled people.
Game 3: My opponent kept a 1 lander with vial and got screwed. GG.
Round 5:
1-2 Againt Burn
Game 1: Had turn 4 Wurmcoil on the draw but it was too slow.
Game 2: Quick thragtusk with no Skullcrack effect, GG.
Game 3: Made a misplay, cracked my sphere when i had a nature's claim in hand when i should of waited to hit it with claim. He had the 4 creature draw and I played thragtusk but he won through it. GG.
Round 6:
2-0 Against UR Pheonix
Game 1: My opponent kinda just durdled with a bunch of faithless lootings. Surprising that i won when my opponent casts 3 brainstorms haha. I had trn 4 tron with endless threats.
Game 2: Opponents hand was a bit better but still kinda durdly. I had turn 4 ulamog exiling 2 lands which he countered with ceremonious rejection. He couldnt counter all my threats and I overwhelmed him. GG.
Overall with the limited experience i have in the new pheonix matchups i can agree that mono red is unfavorable and the UR version is favorable. The mono red version is just much faster and has plenty of reach. Tron is a great deck people, keep up the good work and beat the haters!!
Round 1:
2-0 Against Burn
Game 1 won with a turn 3 Wurmcoil on the play
Game 2 had another turn 3 Wurmcoil and he had no path. GG.
Round 2:
0-2 Against Mono-Red Pheonix
Game 1: Died on turn 3 on the draw. He curved double Swiftspear into double phoenix from the yard.
Game 2: Game lasted a little longer but I couldnt find a lifegaining threat in Wurmcoil and Thragtusk. Just got burned out with Fiery Temper and Bolt. GG.
Round 3:
2-1 Against "Tron" Mirror
Game 1: won with turn 3 karn on the play
Game 2: died to turn 4 Emrakul the Aeons Torn off of Aetherworks Marvel. Weird tron deck but I got-got
Game 3: Another turn 3 karn on the play. GG.
Round 4:
2-1 Against Bant Spirits
Game 1: Won with curving Wurmcoil into Ugin on turn 5, opponent's clock wasnt fast enough
Game 2: Opponent had a great mix of disruption and clock, I didnt draw a sweeper, the perfect recipe to beat tron. Side note: Remember that Phantasmal Image CANNOT copy a creature that it enters with off of Collected Company. My opponent tried this and I called a judge, the first judge said that he could do it so I asked for the head judge and the head judge confirmed that Phantasmal Image must copy a creature that was on the battlefield prior to the collected company since it is an "as it enters" effect in which there is no time to respond. Dont be fooled people.
Game 3: My opponent kept a 1 lander with vial and got screwed. GG.
Round 5:
1-2 Againt Burn
Game 1: Had turn 4 Wurmcoil on the draw but it was too slow.
Game 2: Quick thragtusk with no Skullcrack effect, GG.
Game 3: Made a misplay, cracked my sphere when i had a nature's claim in hand when i should of waited to hit it with claim. He had the 4 creature draw and I played thragtusk but he won through it. GG.
Round 6:
2-0 Against UR Pheonix
Game 1: My opponent kinda just durdled with a bunch of faithless lootings. Surprising that i won when my opponent casts 3 brainstorms haha. I had trn 4 tron with endless threats.
Game 2: Opponents hand was a bit better but still kinda durdly. I had turn 4 ulamog exiling 2 lands which he countered with ceremonious rejection. He couldnt counter all my threats and I overwhelmed him. GG.
Overall with the limited experience i have in the new pheonix matchups i can agree that mono red is unfavorable and the UR version is favorable. The mono red version is just much faster and has plenty of reach. Tron is a great deck people, keep up the good work and beat the haters!!
I’d be interested in how you sideboarded for the Phoenix matches. Good job on the results!
Well it looks like after the results this weekend, UR Phoenix has become "the" version of the deck, which I think is good for us. Also, it appears the general consensus is to run 2 Alpine Moon in the side, with only a few exceptions, so this being the case I do think it's correct to bring in Claims. Some versions are also playing Pyromancer Ascension as well so all the more reason in that case. After playing the matchup a decent amount more, my current plan is something like this:
+2 Cage
+3 Claim
-2 Ballista
-1 Ugin
-1 O-Stone
-1 Sphere
I think Foxantes had it pretty close to right. I think our plan A is pretty good and Thragtusk is not that great.
List I've been jamming recently is attached below. Been playing the 4 Forest/1 Canopy split for the whole month so far and I can't say that it's definitively lost me any games, and the ability to draw the extra card has been beneficial, so I'm gonna keep running with it. If UW and/or Burn got really popular I would probably go back to 5 Forest.
Cut the Surgicals - they don't feel super strong right now. Dredge has fallen into the pack and Surgical is the worst grave-hate card against them anyway - they have several different things we need to worry about and the 2 life can actually matter especially now that they have Chill. It can be good against against KCI but recently I played 2 matches in a row where I had it in hand and died anyway so meh.
Is it possibly time to swap the spatials in the board for dismembers? With GDS climbing tier 1, and UR Phoenix having both TiTi and drakes which are out of spatial range, it might be time to swap to the spot removal that hits more creatures. I've also seen a sizeable uptick in infect in paper tournaments locally, where the 1 mana interaction means a whole lot. It's very hard to interact with infect on 2 mana spells. I know there's this new card coming that makes a T1 or T2 dismember uncastable, but until that gets play in modern I'm thinking dismember might have some value at the moment. Im not sure if I'd maindeck it, but right now I'm looking at a board config like this:
I like 2 wails to help interact with storm, ur bird decks, hollow one, and primetime decks. There's a lot of primetime in my area as well which makes me want extra wail copies.
Yeah, I like Dismember right now. I had a pair of them in the side recently. Straight swap for Contortions though? Maybe. I do like that they're better against Phoenix and GDS, but I haven't seen GDS really becoming more popular in particular, and plus that's already a great matchup IME. You'd be losing Contortions against Burn, though that's not a huuge deal, and I'd rather have Contortion against Spirits which has actually been my most seen matchup this month. So there are pros and cons.
Yeah, I like Dismember right now. I had a pair of them in the side recently. Straight swap for Contortions though? Maybe. I do like that they're better against Phoenix and GDS, but I haven't seen GDS really becoming more popular in particular, and plus that's already a great matchup IME. You'd be losing Contortions against Burn, though that's not a huuge deal, and I'd rather have Contortion against Spirits which has actually been my most seen matchup this month. So there are pros and cons.
mtggoldfish at least puts GDS as #3 in the meta right now, below Spirits and Phoenix.
Yeah, that's true, but we should always take those stats with a grain of salt due to how the data is reported. I'm personally still seeing it only around 2-2.5% of the time. In November I saw it 0 times.
@Eternaldragon09 - What exactly are you worried about regarding Lavinia? It's basically just Gaddock Teeg against us. I don't think we need to change our plans whatsoever.
EDIT: To expand on that a bit, the main decks that are likely to play the card are Humans and Spirits, which we already expect Teeg from. Karn is also one of the weaker cards in those matchups, and I think it's correct to cut 2-4 of them. So that effect actually hits very few cards in our deck - just the 2 Ugins with whatever small number of Karns are remaining. I laugh when Humans plays Teeg against me and Lavinia will be no different.
@sicsmoo that makes sense, I guess I was just thinking of how hot it will be in legacy or vitage, but modern maybe a sideboard card like teeg in humans or Spirits. Besides we board out karns against them anyway. So that makes sense. Expanding on that on an unrelated note, I'm planning on attending the team open in indy. I'm obviously on the green giants and my main board is pretty standard, but my board is decently looking something like:
4 claim
1 cage
2 contortion
4 Thragtusk
2 TKS
2 Tarmogoyf
Obviously the goyfs are relatively the flex spots. But my thoughts are burn/ storm or cheesy aggro decks might be in high showing at an event as such. Any thoughts?
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R1 Blue Moon 2-1
G1 - He won with turn 3 Blood Moon.
G2 - We both went to 4 and I had a turn 4 Karn.
G3 - He missed land 3 for two turns and I punished it with Thragtusks.
R2 Jund 2-0
G1 - Felt some pressure from Goyf / BBE but managed to get there with Ugin.
G2 - Pressured with Fulminator/Trophy but Thragtusk got there.
R3 Mono Red Phoenix 2-0
G1 - Dropped to 1 from Phoenix / Adept. He went everything at face with Bolt/Needle. Had a needle in yard but I got him off lands with World Breaker into Ulamog and dodged one top deck.
G2 - Dropped to 1 life from a fast double Adept start but managed to use Claim on Sphere and Thragtusk to stabilize.
R4 Jeskai Control 2-0
G1 - He started Bolt / Snap Bolt at my face once he realized I'm Tron. Won at 3 after dodging a top deck Helix/Bolt.
G2 - He chained Cryptic on my lands but I managed to get Tron into Wurmcoil after two of these.
R5 UW Control 2-0
G1 - Natural Tron on 3.
G2 - He was actually up after Teferi tuck on my Ugin. I had all green spells in hand without a green source and misstepped by not mapping for one. He then misstepped by Cliquing my hand and instinctively taking my Stirrings before realizing there's no green source. Won after that since he had been leaving up Negate for the Ugin that was tucked.
R6 Hollow One 2-1
G1 - Tight game after a reasonable Adept/Hollow One start but World Breaker saves me here.
G2 - He rolls me on turn 3 with double Adept / Goblin Lore.
G3 - Another tight game that sees me chaining Thragtusks to stabilize.
R7 Infect ID
Convinced him that since I'm the only undefeated player, we should draw in. Did not know his deck at the time.
Ro8 Humans 2-0
G1 - Fairly straight forward. Resolved an Ugin.
G2 - He's up with Meddling on O-Stone, Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, and Damping Sphere. Contortion the Meddling into resolving a Thragtusk into playing a Stone saved me.
Ro4 Infect 0-2
G1 - He had turn 4 lethal with two creatures. I had turn 4 Tron but could only answer one.
G2 - He had turn 3.
Overall, I'm fairly happy with the list. Couple of notes. I really like the 4 Thragtusks out of the sideboard. Didn't know how to board for Phoenix since it wasn't on the guide but I went with boarding a cross between Hollow One / Burn which seemed to work. Couple of potential changes I've seen recently that I'm curious about:
Horizon Canopy in for Forest - This keeps all your late game Map/Scrying draws into a filter without too much drawback. Life is relevant vs Burn and some aggro lists but turning 8 cards into less dead cards against everything else seems worthwhile to me.
Adding B for Thoughtseize/Brutality - I've thrown this idea around mostly to get some interaction going for Infect/Storm/TitanShift while also not giving up things like burn with Bruality. Not sure if I want to make the switch this close to Portland though. Helps the mirror as well.
Gaea's Revenge / Carnage Tyrant - I think Gaea's Revenge is the better card here. For Blood Moon/Alpine Moon/Damping Sphere/Cryptic Command/mirror, I actually like this more than Emrakul. Still not sure it deserves a slot.
Crucible - Haven't played much recently but every time I run this card out of the board, it doesn't do anything for me. I think I've had below average experiences but not sure I want this in.
Emrakul - I actually think I like Thragtusk #4 over this versus UW and Jeskai. In the mirror, turn 3 Karn is really the key. Not sure if this is necessary otherwise. Against unfair MUs, I've had less success with this card than I maybe should.
3 Relic MB - I ran this 2 years ago in G/R Tron and now it's back and I don't think I'd drop down in this meta.
Surgical Extraction - This might be the card I like the least out of the SB. With 3 Relics and a Cage, I find this card to be less powerful than most other players. The idea of GQ + Surgical vs Tron/Shift is amazing but less opportune in most circumstances. Against Dredge/Hollow One/Phoenix, the card I really want to find is usually Conflag out of Dredge and not much else in Hollow One/Phoenix. Phoenix decks generally can win through this and the 2 life is non trivial. I want to try some number of Dismember/Contortion if I stay with this list.
And yeah Warping Wail is reasonable right now as well.
EDIT: Ninja'd, thanks for the report yoona. Yeah, I think Surgical has a bit less value currently now that Dredge isn't so widespread, but if you cut them there's not much hope of beating KCI if you run into it.
I've been down to 2 TKS online for a while which feels right. The decks you reaally want it against like Ad Naus and Titan Shift just aren't around right now but it's still a solid enough card in a lot of common matchups (Burn, Storm, Mirror, UW) that I still want the pair. Frees up a slot for a Dismember or something, still playing basically the same list as in the guide.
The only maindeck difference is that I started testing the 4 Forest/1 Canopy configuration and so far, so good. Drawing the extra card helped me in a couple games and the life loss hasn't been a factor. Gonna run with it until it loses me a game and reevaluate at that point.
UR Phoenix/TiTi:
IN: 3xThrag, 1xCage, 1xWail, 2xClaim, 1xSurg
OUT: 3xBall, 4xKarn, 1xUgin
I dont want any copies of Karn or Ballista becauee they dont do much if they resolve, and Karn is a pretty big liability in a matchup that is fast and has ceremonious rejection and spell pierce in the side. Trim 1 ugin over 1 ulamog because as a creature ulamog will resolve more often, and because of rejection the cast trigger is better. I like 1 surgical here because this deck is more about grinding with looting and recurring birds or flipping TiTi early. If they are doing the former and we hit looting, their grind potential goes way down. Same if you hit a bird. I have a decent time stopping an early TiTi flip thanks to warping wail. I don't think surgical is amazing, but I do think it's better than the second copy of ugin or the third claim.
Mono Red Phoenix:
IN: 3xClaim, 3xThrag, 1xCage
OUT: 4xKarn, 2xBall, 1xUgin
More aggressive and more likely to be on blood moon so I want the third claim. Ugin is a bit worse here than UR because of reveled being CMC 8. I don't want surgical or warping wail so I keep a ballista for sanctum triggering. I did not include spatial because it only hits one creature (I don't include Phoenix because it recurs), and if I take out a ballista and an o-stone or ulamog to make room for spatials, the deck is looking absurdly low on threats and might have issues putting pressure on the opponent. As sicsmoo said, I do like ulamog in these matchups because we need threat that threatens to end the game very fast.
Mono Red Runaway Steamkin:
IN: 3xThrag, 2xSpatial, 2xClaim, 1xCage
OUT: 4xKarn, 2xUgin, 1xUlamog, 1xBall
This deck is more creature based so I want more ballistas and spatials. Needed to cut a claim to make room. Cutting more off the top end because it feels like the most explosive of the three decks. Not a fan of warping wail because they can easily pump their dudes out of range of it, even tapped out with a gut shot.
I wouldn't mind spatials against mono r bird but it's hard to find the room. UR is the only one I like surgical in because the others are more aggro attacking our life total.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
Against aggressive blue decks I've never been a fan of tapping 7 mana and spending my whole turn on a card that might not resolve, I've only just started using Karn more against storm because they have decreased their remand count in the 75.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
Thanks sicsmoo’s sharing on playing the deck. Very professional.
@Sum congrats on the top 8. I think I'll be trying out Emrakul again now that KCI is becoming more popular.
The Mono red version is a nightmare, straight up nightmare. (steam kin varaint feels like we aren't supposed win that often, I assume more Ballistas can help but once Kin gets going it's over quickly)
Mono red no steam kin, feels beatable. But they can also 15 you out of no where so...yeah. I'm heading to GP Oakland and pretty much settled on tron. How do we feel about 4 Basics and another utility land? With UW on the decline, I can see myself running 4 forest and 1 Scavenger Grounds.
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
Met some lovely people. Did rather well overall. And say what you want about Tron, the games were *really* enjoyable and full of complex decisions. It was a good time and the more I play Tron at high levels, the clearer it becomes that the deck isn't as dumb or hateworthy as first blanche would have people believe. Genuinely some of the most fun magic I've had the pleasure of playing.
First tournament (warming up):
1-2-0 record. Lost the first two from first-round jitters which quickly dissipated. By the end of the third round and my first match win, I was relaxed, humming along nicely.
Second tournament:
3-0-0
Good enough for more than a booster box in prizes, calmly did Tron things through some tricky spots and chose my lines carefully and methodically. Won two games on a mull to four. Lost one game on what seemed like a keepable 7 one-lander on the draw with three stars and a scrying, but never saw a second land. Happens. Either way, I beat through variance and made some quality plays.
Tournament three:
2-0-1
Drew the final round as we didn't have time to play it out. He was on affinity, so who knows. 4x ballista is good against them? Could have gone either way but I was happy to remain undefeated.
Tournament four:
1-1-1 (2-1-0, see below)
Weird tournament. End of the weekend and exhausted. Did Tron things, made a blunder in the third game of the second match which left me 1-1 and then my opponent and I chose to draw the last round. We played it out and I stomped that particular third match (UW control). I've practiced that one to death so I have the matchup on lock. I consider it a win in terms of my record in matches, but for prizes we ID'd
Overall record in matches (including the just mentioned third match)
8-3-1 which is OK. I need to get those first-round jitters in order but there's something about travelling for half a day to a tournament that seems to place a lot of weight on my performance. After the first couple of rounds I always relax into it and my record improves by a ridiculous percentage.
Tron has been kind to me recently. I'm gonna keep at it.
(I also did plenty of trading and now most of my deck is japanese/Chinese and many cards are signed)
Decklist:
2x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Walking Ballista
1x World Breaker
4x Karn Liberated
2x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4x Expedition Map
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Chromatic Star
4x Oblivion Stone
4x Sylvan Scrying
4x Ancient Stirrings
3x Relic of Progenitus
4x Forest
1x Horizon Canopy
4x Urza's Mine
4x Urza's Power Plant
4x Urza's Tower
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Sanctum of Ugin
Sideboard:
1x Emrakul, the Promised End
3x Thragtusk
3x Thought-Knot Seer
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Nature's Claim
2x Spatial Contortion
Record 4-2
Round 1:
2-0 Against Burn
Game 1 won with a turn 3 Wurmcoil on the play
Game 2 had another turn 3 Wurmcoil and he had no path. GG.
Round 2:
0-2 Against Mono-Red Pheonix
Game 1: Died on turn 3 on the draw. He curved double Swiftspear into double phoenix from the yard.
Game 2: Game lasted a little longer but I couldnt find a lifegaining threat in Wurmcoil and Thragtusk. Just got burned out with Fiery Temper and Bolt. GG.
Round 3:
2-1 Against "Tron" Mirror
Game 1: won with turn 3 karn on the play
Game 2: died to turn 4 Emrakul the Aeons Torn off of Aetherworks Marvel. Weird tron deck but I got-got
Game 3: Another turn 3 karn on the play. GG.
Round 4:
2-1 Against Bant Spirits
Game 1: Won with curving Wurmcoil into Ugin on turn 5, opponent's clock wasnt fast enough
Game 2: Opponent had a great mix of disruption and clock, I didnt draw a sweeper, the perfect recipe to beat tron. Side note: Remember that Phantasmal Image CANNOT copy a creature that it enters with off of Collected Company. My opponent tried this and I called a judge, the first judge said that he could do it so I asked for the head judge and the head judge confirmed that Phantasmal Image must copy a creature that was on the battlefield prior to the collected company since it is an "as it enters" effect in which there is no time to respond. Dont be fooled people.
Game 3: My opponent kept a 1 lander with vial and got screwed. GG.
Round 5:
1-2 Againt Burn
Game 1: Had turn 4 Wurmcoil on the draw but it was too slow.
Game 2: Quick thragtusk with no Skullcrack effect, GG.
Game 3: Made a misplay, cracked my sphere when i had a nature's claim in hand when i should of waited to hit it with claim. He had the 4 creature draw and I played thragtusk but he won through it. GG.
Round 6:
2-0 Against UR Pheonix
Game 1: My opponent kinda just durdled with a bunch of faithless lootings. Surprising that i won when my opponent casts 3 brainstorms haha. I had trn 4 tron with endless threats.
Game 2: Opponents hand was a bit better but still kinda durdly. I had turn 4 ulamog exiling 2 lands which he countered with ceremonious rejection. He couldnt counter all my threats and I overwhelmed him. GG.
Overall with the limited experience i have in the new pheonix matchups i can agree that mono red is unfavorable and the UR version is favorable. The mono red version is just much faster and has plenty of reach. Tron is a great deck people, keep up the good work and beat the haters!!
I’d be interested in how you sideboarded for the Phoenix matches. Good job on the results!
+2 Cage
+3 Claim
-2 Ballista
-1 Ugin
-1 O-Stone
-1 Sphere
I think Foxantes had it pretty close to right. I think our plan A is pretty good and Thragtusk is not that great.
List I've been jamming recently is attached below. Been playing the 4 Forest/1 Canopy split for the whole month so far and I can't say that it's definitively lost me any games, and the ability to draw the extra card has been beneficial, so I'm gonna keep running with it. If UW and/or Burn got really popular I would probably go back to 5 Forest.
Cut the Surgicals - they don't feel super strong right now. Dredge has fallen into the pack and Surgical is the worst grave-hate card against them anyway - they have several different things we need to worry about and the 2 life can actually matter especially now that they have Chill. It can be good against against KCI but recently I played 2 matches in a row where I had it in hand and died anyway so meh.
3x Thrag
2x TKS
3x Claim
1x Emmy
1x Cage
1x Crucible
2x Wail
2x Dismember
I like 2 wails to help interact with storm, ur bird decks, hollow one, and primetime decks. There's a lot of primetime in my area as well which makes me want extra wail copies.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
So this guy? Are we just going on the premises of more contortion in the board?
mtggoldfish at least puts GDS as #3 in the meta right now, below Spirits and Phoenix.
@Eternaldragon09 - What exactly are you worried about regarding Lavinia? It's basically just Gaddock Teeg against us. I don't think we need to change our plans whatsoever.
EDIT: To expand on that a bit, the main decks that are likely to play the card are Humans and Spirits, which we already expect Teeg from. Karn is also one of the weaker cards in those matchups, and I think it's correct to cut 2-4 of them. So that effect actually hits very few cards in our deck - just the 2 Ugins with whatever small number of Karns are remaining. I laugh when Humans plays Teeg against me and Lavinia will be no different.
4 claim
1 cage
2 contortion
4 Thragtusk
2 TKS
2 Tarmogoyf
Obviously the goyfs are relatively the flex spots. But my thoughts are burn/ storm or cheesy aggro decks might be in high showing at an event as such. Any thoughts?