Since you're obviously not able to present a fast clock without Tez, are you just bringing in your LOTV/Egos/needle effects and keeping in the full KCI combo gameplan against Tron? Do you find that the split of 3-drops mentioned above + needle effects buys enough time to get to the resources/turns necessary to assemble a 3-card combo? Or did you feel like you got away with murder like I did last time I faced Tron? Lol
Well, tron is tough, but it no longer feels like getting away with murder to win. Unmoored Ego naming 0-Stone has made the biggest difference, in my opinion. If we take away their sweepers, suddenly thopter armies start to matter.
The only matchup I feel is completely hellish, is UB mill. Pretty much unwinnable.
So because of all the tourneys coming up, and because this deck looks and is super fun, non-forum people have been asking about it and how it's sideboarded and about its place in the meta. So here is my sideboarding guide for my most recent list (swapped the brutality main for a decay). Obviously, everyone here has their own list, and the deck is highly changeable, but this is what I've been doing for the common matchups:
The general idea is to get rid of whatever artifacts with activations you can, to cut down on stony's impact. Spellbomb gets double hit by stony and rip. I would say, however, if your game-1 went long and you won, and you think you can win by going to time, put in bridges and battles because they will go as aggro as they can with possible cards like baneslayer angel, and just play "defense."
Arclite decks: (lumping them all together)
+2 Sai, +2 Battle at the bridge, +1 Ensnaring Bridge +1 Brutality, +1 Push
-1 KCI, -2 Needle, -2 Muddle, -1 serum visions, -1 Bauble
You basically don't change your gameplan at all. An early sphere is your best tool. Basically trim on cantrips. I would say hollow one SB is pretty much the same, only put in a trophy because hollow one plays leyline. (Trophy, over another decay, is pretty much just for leyline).
I feel like the burn matchup is the most misunderstood sideboard matchup for thopter-sword pilots. For the most part, 3+ CMC spells just don't do anything, bridge in particular. If you cast a bridge with no cards in your hand, that means burn has already failed to win the game. 1 CMC artifacts aren't useless, because they come down before eidolon and help cast whir and are excellent sac fodder for foundry. ALWAYS wait to cast foundry when you have 1 mana open. Keeping mana open against burn is huge, because you make their destructive revelery do no damage. The best time to make thopters against burn? Their upkeep, so that they have to commit to that skullcrack or abrade or whatever, giving you their entire rest of the turn and/or your turn to gain life. Force them to use their limited mana in the worst possible situations, and gain a big advantage.
Jund and other BG:
+1 Push, +2 Sai. +2 Lili, +1 Bridge, +1 Trophy
-3 Opal, -1 KCI,, -2 spellbomb, -1 damping sphere
Drop opals because you don't need explosiveness. Needles stay in for scooze.
Use unmoored ego to strip their answers, not tron lands. Trust me! Unless you've seen their hand and know they have 2 threats like karn/ugin, and they are going to cast one next turn if they hit the last tron piece, always take 0-Stone. If they don't have 0-Stone, Ugin is their only sweeper, which means making thopter armies actually matters.
Dredge:
+2 Battle at the Bridge, +2 Sai, +3 Unmoored Ego, +1 bridge
-4 IoK, -1 needle (you can always name shriekhorn), -1 KCI, -1 damping sphere, -1 decay
Dredge is an easy matchup, typically. Post-board, battle is surprisingly useful because you've usually slowed them down and/or extracted prized amalgam or bloodghast, and the lifegain offsets some chills or a conflagrate. Naming ancient grudge or nature's claim is usually worse than just taking one of their recursive threats.
Naming KCI with ego isn't always lights out, because they usually bring in 3 Sai. Still, the matchup is comfy post-board. It's another one where assembling your own combo is secondary.
Awesome write up @the_nobodys, you nailed so many points right on the head! One thing I will say for everyone is that when you don't want mox (the decks where you need better top decks and don't need explosiveness), just cut all the mox and reduce the percentages of dead draws. Usually a suboptimal artifact is better than keeping a mox in those spots.
Inversely, when speed matters more than topdeck equity, trim the slow stuff and the cantrips, don't trim some and some unless you really feel like the list you're on doesn't have anything better to bring in.
Yeah, good points dustycrumz. Trimming cantrips is a good idea against quick decks, as you want to cut down on the durdling as much as possible. I don't usually cut all the moxen, because they do represent mana sources, but cutting 3 is probably always better than 2.
@TheNobodys: Thanks so much for posting your SB guide. I'd never even considered taking my Opals out in any match, but it makes a ton of sense! A few match-ups I have some questions about:
Storm: What do you name with Ego? I've found their endgame tends to be to storm into Echoing Truth/Wipe Away, and you can lose if you don't have a way to deal with them getting rid of your Damping Sphere. My solution has been a 2nd Sphere, but I suspect that's overkill?
KCI: What's your fundamental game plan? G2/3 I usually Pithing Needle E.E., then Inventor's Fair (if KCI/Spine is still a possibility). My next artifact is usually Damping Sphere to slow them down (do you get Phyrexian Revoker first G2/G3?) Then I generally just try to lock it down with Welding Jars and Spellskites. Eventually I find Tez or Grid for the win. It's very good when I get rid of KCI, but if I don't find a Revoker or Ego for KCI it feels really rough. Also, sometimes even when I have the Whir or Ego they have the counter. I consider this to be my worst MU by a lot, so I wonder what's your secret? (I board out my full Thopter-Sword to make room for SB cards by playing win-cons that are single cards). Maybe this is a place where your Inquisitions and Spellbombs shine and my choices are costing me here, but curious to see if maybe I'm doing/thinking about the MU wrong.
Control: What are your thoughts/plans vs. control?
Although this list is a bit outdated, I highly suggest people watch the video posted on page 1 titled: "Jon Goss MTGO Competitive League". No matter what iteration of the deck you're on, he pinpoints the way you should be focusing on each type of overarching strategy postboard. A lot of the things he talks about are fundamental approaches to sideboarding against various modern strategies overall, not just specifically tied to this deck (and the individual cards he has) vs others.
For example, one thing I back fully that he brings up is when playing against a deck like BGx that plays opposing discard spells, I do not advise bringing in your own discard spells. These matchups are all about CA, so focus less on playing 1-for-1's and focus more on overwhelming them with your own 2-for-1 type spells. Let them use up their own mana/resources to try to strip you of your gameplan, cuz if they have a line of multiple hand disruption spells and you manage to resolve a standalone threat amongst the flurry of disruption, not only are you now ahead on board, but you're most likely ahead on CA as well. We have the advantage of the fair deck combo killer - ThopterSword, however they have a much higher density of standalone threats that can win by themselves. Overwhelm their hand disruption by showing them a hand full of threats to make their TS/IOK decisions tougher. This matchup is favorable, but isn't a walk in the park, as they can certainly beat you in a topdeck war, so make your topdecks better by cutting these hand disruption spells against them postboard. Same reason you should be cutting Mox against them - increasing your density of impactful topdecks/reducing the percentages of dead draws after the dust settles is how you pull ahead rather than can fall behind. If you're going to be playing 1-for-1's, play the cards that are still fine top decks (ie board advantage spells for resolved threats).
Again, this is less of a lesson learned by playing this deck specifically and more of an approach translated over from playing these types of matchups with various other decks in Modern over the years, but is still certainly relevant.
Another example of this is say you're playing a Jund mirror. One player has a ton of discard spells, another has all threats. While the discard heavy hand has the potential to strip all of the threats depending on who went first, generally the player who manages to resolve a threat first is ahead. You want to be the player with the threat heavy hand to put the opponent behind (ie they IOK you and you have multiple 2-drops you'll be able to cast when you untap on turn 2). If the disruption heavy hand forces a flurry of 1-for-1 trades and both players are left with lands on the field/air in hand, whoever finds a threat off the top first will pull ahead. While things don't always line up exactly like this (sometimes one player has more disruption than the other has threats, or vice versa), the bottom line is that when you look at how this matchup shakes out, you give yourself an edge if you can manage to build a postboard 60-card config that can exploit being the threat dense deck more often than not.
I love talking about these fair matchups and have put a lot of thought into my own approach to beating these types of decks and how I like my 60-card config to look both pre- and post- board. Again, they're still favorable overall, but they're closer than you may think, especially when a deck like GB has a splash color for the impactful 2-for-1 spells like k command/grudge. Everyone has their own approach, this is just what I (and countless others) have found works best over the years of playing/studying black midrange mirrors, which I wanted to share as it's certainly applicable here.
Agree, discard and mana rocks are the first things that should be boarded out against GB/x type decks (shadow included). They have more threats than us, so eliminating dead draws in the mid-game is imperative.
I’d also argue G Tron is basically unwinnable if they’re a strong player. Like 15/85.
I’m a fan of keeping bridges in against UW to increase the value of needle effects potentially locking them out of the game. Especially if I win game 1.
@Trav34 I agree about Tron. While the later iterations with Ego, some number of Thoughtseize, and Trophy make it less devastating, it's still not better than 40/60 in their favor (and I think that's being generous). It's just the way the gameplans matchup fundamentally. Don't focus on this matchup, just know what your gameplan is with the 75 cards you have and hope for the best. It's mangeable but not worth aiming to beat. I truly don't mind losing percentage points against Tron by not having Trophy/Ego in my 75. I understand it's my worst matchup but we really don't have that many in the grand scheme of things. I'd rather shore up the close ones to give myself a better win percentage in postboard games against the overall meta over a lengthy tournament. There's a good chance you'll see Tron 0-1 times the wider the field gets. This weekend's open had a decent amount of Tron/KCI players, but I'm still not going out of my way to overreact to that. If I truly think the meta I'm about to enter has a larger than average density to warrant concern, I'm just going to default to a different deck.
I also agree with bridge vs UW. While I certainly trim on them, I usually keep at least 1, as it puts less pressure on your Needle effects and acts as a pseudo needle vs their handful of creatures/colonnades. It's not something I'm thrilled to have postboard, but it's definitely better than a lot of things in my 75 and I don't hate keeping at least 1.
You only need one sword. You sac the thopter to Krark-Clan Ironworks, getting two mana, then you use one mana to sac the sword and get another thopter, netting one mana.
I have preferred Time Sieve up until now, but I am testing ironworks because I have noticed there are some hands where I can easily whir for it with 3-4 mana sources and go infinite, whereas I might have to wait a few turns for Time Sieve to be online. So not as strong game closer, but it can be more immediately accessible, worth trying.
To each their own I suppose @Al_Z_Heimer. There are certainly two camps to this argument, but I'm a big advocate of not bringing these spells in postboard against BGx - that's not how I've liked to attack this matchup with this deck or any other similarly positioned archetype. Making a series of 1-for-1 trades vs them via hand disruption is a losing battle IMO. I've instead adjusted my list to have a postboard config that promotes the theory behind how I like to attack these decks and am comfortable with the postboard 60, but I'm not going to force anyone who feels better fighting fire with fire when it comes to a high density of black spells to go about things the other way. Just giving my 2 cents here!
But again, I advise everyone to go back and watch the video I referenced previously (found on page 1 of this thread). There's a lot of good insight that can be taken away from the video, despite the slightly outdated list/meta being played. I've crossed paths with Goss a handful of times as he's around my local region and I can tell you this - dude knows what he's doing when it comes to MTG.
I found a solution to the Tron match-up. My deck dedicates a lot of resources to do it, but they are good cards elsewhere, so it's not absurd. I lose around 70% of game 1s, and am not sure how many G2s I lose, but I'm 4-0 in post-board games so far with this plan and it feels very good. (I even won a game after massively punting twice.)
The key parts is that I have 4 Unmoored Ego, 4 Pithing Needle, 4 Spellskite, 4 Welding Jar, 1 Damping Sphere, and 4 Whir. With these cards I attack their gameplan:
1) Their deck is about unfair mana, so I make them play fair mana. I will Unmoored Ego for a tron piece not in play, or Whir for a Damping Sphere.
2) At 5 mana they can Oblivion Stone, at 7 they can Karn, and at 8 they can Ugin. I will (preferably) Pithing Needle or (if needed) Unmoored Ego them off of this threat before they can do it.
3) At this point the game becomes about them getting to Ulamog, and it is critical to have either two Spellskites in play or (better) Unmoored Ego them for Ulamog before they can cast the first one. (And this is where the plan falls apart G1. You lack the tools to lock them because of Ulamog, so you need to have won with Thopter-Sword by here.)
4) They probably have a Worldbreaker, but I find you probably have a Spellskite around for this.
Sometimes you do situational things. I've Unmoored Ego on Nature's Claim when they've played 0 so far and I don't have a Jar or Skite to protect my prison pieces. I've Pithing Needled map when I didn't have a Sphere, etc. But mostly this is the roadmap to victory.
I make room for all of this by cutting out Thopter-Sword, and KCI, and just bringing in Tezzeret, AoB as my win-condition. Tezzeret only takes two slots, and helps build your prison when he's not winning outright.
I usually leave in around 3 bridges. I believe they cut Wurmcoil after seeing all the Thopters and bridges, but you can't rely on that. I don't want to Whir for one, but I don't need one very early either.
Obviously, everyone else will have different tools, but I am glad to report on finding a solution that does not involve playing Chalice of the Void.
@Tolaria West yes this is certainly the way to do it if this is the deck you're specifically aiming to beat. I'm still not personally willing to dedicate this many slots to things like 4x Welding Jar, 4x Spellskite, 4x Pithing Needle, as I am fairly certain this gives you diminishing returns on your other matchups overall, and while 4-0 in postboard games is certainly impressive, I'm not certain that this small sample size is an accurate reflection of how this gameplan lines up to Tron postboard.
I once read an article a while back where a pro was talking about a new deck that had potential and Sam Black simply asked "so what does it look like when you're winning?" That phrase has always stuck with me when developing/tuning a new deck/postboard gameplan(s). While you answered these questions and have identified the correct gameplan (postboard is more about being a grixis whir deck with Tez and virtually no ThopterSword combo - a reason why that archetype doesn't Fear Tron nearly as much as we do as they also have Chalice instead of Ego which is good/bad for different reasons), the truth is that you still have to jump through so many hoops, in sequential order, while simultaneously hoping your opponent stumbles a tiny bit on the crucial turns, and even then while I think it's certainly more manageable, I really don't think you're necessarily favored post board. In order for them to get ahead of you, they need way fewer things to go right/get to way fewer resources than you do, which is one of the biggest advantages of Tron against decks trying to disrupt.
This is less about being strictly results oriented and more so about looking at how the archetypes line up postboard.
That being said, if you're playing a meta where you think you're likely to see Tron more than once, like a local FNM scene or something, I do think this is the way to go if you're not willing to move to a different deck altogether. When I've skewed towards Tron for a Modern Monday tournament, I've liked having at least 3x Tez for consistency of finding a clock. Anyway, I do commend the effort put into this recent testing, so great job TolariaWest! Keep testing and report back!
I once read an article a while back where a pro was talking about a new deck that had potential and Sam Black simply asked "so what does it look like when you're winning?"
After watching the twitch replay of your last stream, regarding Kolaghan's Command and Spellskite, one of the people in your chat gave you wrong information. Kolaghan's Command uses the word "target" twice, meaning it is legal for Spellskite to redirect both the shatter and damage modes to itself, even if it is already a target. In your case, the Spellskite should have been the target for both Shatter and the 2 damage, leaving Tezzeret untouched. So this may be a MTGO bug and I would report it to their support for compensation (or at least to get it fixed). There is even a Judge blog post detailing the exact scenario here. It also discusses Electrolyze and why it's different.
I once read an article a while back where a pro was talking about a new deck that had potential and Sam Black simply asked "so what does it look like when you're winning?"
@Jace: Sam is currently just a house guest, though I think he's about to stay for another month, so getting *more* like a room mate...
@Draftsquare: Thanks. I was *shocked* by not being able to retarget the Kholghan's Command. Sam and I talked about it, and he polled a bunch of players, and we've firmly established 1) it's a MODO bug, 2) lots of players think it works like electrolyze, 3) judges all agree you can retarget each instance of the word target.
@Al: Personally I've chosen to play all Spellskites main > Welding Jar. As everyone points out, Jar is a great SB answer to destroy effects, but there aren't much of that pre-board. Skite improves a ton of match-ups (and it blocks to buy you time!) Our builds are a little different, but this might be good for you too?
@Al_Z_Heimer - Sorry to hear the RPTQ didn't go so well. Losing to favorable mathchups because they just had their nutty starts happens every now and then, you'll get those dredge/hollow ones next time.
If I can drag a nugget out of your commentary regarding the KCI matchup, you said that 2 early discard spells wasn't enough against them. If 2 early discard spells aren't pulling their weight against combo, and you lost to (except spirits), hyper aggro decks that don't care much about your discard, then perhaps 7 discard spells main are too much. Having a Damping Sphere main is simply very nice in this meta - better, IMHO than a cage. Cage is better against a pretty much non-existent counters company deck, and dredge (which we're already heavily favored against). Sphere is better against Tron, KCI, Hollow One, Arclite decks, Storm, and Amulet Titan.
If I were to make any tweaks to your list, however, I would simply cut 2-3 Thoughtseize for a damping sphere main, 1 more land, and another spellbomb. I know you like the idea of stripping their stony in hand, however I would argue the likelihood of them just topdecking one is great, and plus, you have all that anti-stony SB tech going anyway. Discard is SO much better in lantern because they need to take the hate in hand - their gameplan is to never allow a dangerous topdeck. We function differently, and so our tools should be different as well.
In any event, all the luck to you for the GP this weekend!
I second what the_nobodys said about the discard spells. They are not as universally sound as you seem to think. While discard CAN be relevant in any matchup, there are so many decks where taking a card at the expense of using an early turn worth of mana is not what you want to be doing.
Though this may seem irrelevant to the first point, this is also why welding jar is a maindeckable card. Turning on early opals is certainly great, but the real strength is being able to get cards out of your hand by using the least amount of mana, which plays so well into your ensnaring bridge plan as well as setting up whir. It's less about the ability on jar and more about the play pattern that locks out so many decks that rely on winning through combat. Having to waste mana on turns 1-2 consistently to play discard spells, especially on consecutive turns, can lead to lines that actually put you behind. Rather, the lines that commit artifacts to the board to set up a solid turn 3 whir can force your opponents' hands into game losing states.
While I don't completely hate the idea of playing some discard spells in the main, they certainly have to come at the expense of spot removal spells (like push), and 7 seems like a bit overkill. The reason lantern was so successful with the discard suite was that the board state it consistently set up essentially limited the opponent to the top 10-15ish cards of their library each game. Discard stripped resources from those 10-15 cards. This deck is still a prison deck but the spells don't hold the same amount of weight that they do in lantern. It's fine to look at them as actions that clear a path for your future spells, but IMO the more non-artifact 1-for-1's your putting in the 75, especially the maindeck, the softer you're actually making the advantages this deck aims to exploit - to cut off whole percentages of the opponent's gameplan. Understanding the intricacies of the tempo positive/negative lines this deck has can really strengthen your in-game decisions, as well as sideboarding decisions.
This is something that I'm sure every single person here, including myself, is constantly continuing to get better at (whether or not you realize it). Al_Z_Heimer's result is further evidence at how hard this game is, especially this deck. Even though you could be a very experienced player facing a favorable matchup, many of the games will be tough to navigate.
Having missed last weekend's Baltimore Open for unrelated personal reasons, I sleeved up the list I had ready for that tournament for my RPTQ yesterday. Here's my most recent list and a tournament report:
I was testing a few things throughout my flex slots to give myself the highest amount of overall win percentage amongst what I perceived to be the most likely archetypes I'd see amongst the top local grinders in the region. Here's how my day played out:
R1) 1-1-1: Grixis Whir
Not thrilled to start my day off against this deck, but I was certain I knew 74 of the 75 cards he was playing, have played the matchup before, and figured my opponent had little/no experience against me and that may give me a slight edge in spots. Game 1 is easy for him to lock me due to being all-in on the ThopterSword plan, plus I had to mull to 5 on the draw. Game 2 I manage to strip his only payoff with a Thoughtseize (Whir) and left him with nothing. I proceeded to beat down with Tezzeret until bridge came down, but then managed to ultimate before he could find a Needle effect. Game 3 was drawn out and we each managed to lock nearly everything important between both of our decks. However, the time was posted incorrectly and were told we had about 17 mins left from a judge, but then the head judge called time shortly after. My opponent was a bit upset because to be fair, he was pulling ahead with the Crucible/Rivulet engine online but I had too many cards left in my deck. He asked for a concession but I explained that I was drawing to multiple outs (my last Needle to lock Rivulet, both Decays to unlock Tez and immediately win, Academy Ruins to prevent getting milled), plus he had all of his Needle effects already on board and EE was locked. It wasn't the most graceful end to a match, but I'll take a draw rather than a loss. I was just hoping it'd help more than hurt down the road.
R2) 2-0: Bant Spirits
I was hoping I'd find a window of opportunity to land a bridge by incentivizing my opponent to tap out on their turn. I baited a spell queller on a push in his last combat step, then slammed bridge the following turn, which bought me enough time to assemble the combo. In game 2, it was much of the same song/dance, but I knew he'd have about 2-3 non-creature counterspells coming in along with the enchantments/Knight of Autumn. A turn 3 Thoughtseize snagged CoCo and showed me he had no interaction. Bridge slowed him down, interactive spells picked off the Hierarchs/Image copying Hierarch, Torpor Orb took out his only way to get bridge off the board. I get fortunate and assembled the combo before he saw any of his 5-6 enchantments.
R3) 2-0: Affinity
This matchup can be a bit close for comfort but I have so many reps under my belt as the Affinity pilot, which I feel sometimes helps me navigate through some tough turns they can present. Anyway, Game 1 I manage to get Bridge, Needle the Plating, then assemble ThopterSword before he finds Ravager. Game 2 he gets me to 10 with a known Galv Blast in hand. I find a bridge and he hits me to 6 in response. I take a couple hits from Etched Champion before I find a Bridge. He slams a Karn but it's luckily a bit too slow to get to what he needs before I lock out the game with ThopterSword.
R4) 2-0: Grixis DS
This is another close matchup that I have a lot of experience with from both ends, but they've been playing less and less K commands in the main (and overall 75 for that matter) which helps our Game 1. Game 1 was very tough to navigate but I manage to strip Battle Rage from his hand and see 2x Gurmag and a Snap, keep my life total high enough to not die to a single swing of DS with Snap/Battle Rage, and force him into a spot where he felt the need to exile his yard to play a Gurmag and a snap. I can't find a Bridge/Whir/Sword but I have 3x Foundries and a couple artifacts that I sac to make thopters. I eventually out-tempo him in the air to win through the skin of my teeth. Game 2 I get a bridge online and find a Welding Jar before he finds a second shatter effect, then Whir for Spellskite to seal his hand, and combo for the win.
R5) 1-2: Burn
I win game 1 by getting early ThopterSword online, despite being on the draw. Game 2 we get into a spot where I have Witchbane Orb but my life total is low and he had Stony locking the combo since turn 2. I know his had is 2x Skullcrack and he topdecks/plays Swiftspear, but I take the line of getting a Spellskite instead of taking the hit and Whirring for my only postboard Bridge because I wasn't confident I could get hellbent before I die to a 1/x creature/only gets worse if he sees a shatter effect/Eidolon. I had been thinking about how some people here like to trim most/all Bridges for games 2-3 vs me who likes to keep 1-2, so I decided to try keeping just 1 but bumped back up to 2 in game 3 since I was on the play. Game 3 he topdecked a Stony for his turn 2 Play, which locked out my hand that had Foundry/Sword, and he proceeded to burn me out.
R6) 2-0: MartyrProc
Unfortunately me and my friend had to play each other for the win-and-in to top 8 (we joked that it'd come to this on the way down). Game 1 is super grindy as he slams double Ghostly Prison, but I get the ThopterSword + Time Sieve lock online right after he uses his last GQ on board. I proceed to tell him that I locked him out of turns and can pay the 4x mana to let a single thopter swing into his only 2x blockers (2x Hawks), but then will eventually get Academy Ruins so that I don't mill myself. He scoops and we proceed to game 2. He lands an early enchantment, I get a bridge lock online, he finds his singleton copy of Cleansing Nova and leaves me with 3x Land and a Tezzeret. I brutally rip another Bridge off the top and lock out combat. I rebuild my board, Revoker on Martyr, Needle on Hex Parasite, and get to a point where I can Ult Tez back to back for the win.
Top 8 (Top 4 Qualify):
2-0: Burn
I was nervous both being on the draw as the 7th seed, as well as knowing how close this matchup can be and that it was my only loss from earlier today. Game 1 I land a turn 2 Azcanta, turn 3 Sword into Push, then Azcanta filters me into Thopter Foundry on my turn 4 and I stabilize before he can get to enough mana to multi-spell me to death. Game 2 he mulls to 5 (Scry to bottom) and I keep a semi-risky hand that could pay off and has half of the combo. He passes with a Tarn. I decided to play a turn 1 Needle to see if I can catch him off guard (I almost did but he corrected himself quickly). He finds a guide and swings for 2. I Brutality with all 3x modes to kill his only guy, undo the attack, and strip a wear/tear to leave him with 3x uncastable spells (he's stuck on 1 land with 2x Eidolon and a Exquisite Firecraft, which also showed a lack of experience against us and was great). He remains stuck on 1 land, I slam sword and find Foundry and lock the win 3x turns later.
So I'm obviously incredibly stoked to be going to my first Pro Tour after years of grinding, but getting to accomplish this on the back of a deck that I've held near and dear to my heart since I was a casual-competitve player in my early days at my first LGS years ago makes this journey all the more rewarding. Again, I've said it before and I'll say it again - the community on this forum and the various testing that's gone on with this archetype has been an invaluable resource. Despite the many subtleties amongst our lists that play to the strengths of each pilot, we all know that the core of this archetype has legs and I'm hoping to be able to show the world that this deck is the real deal. I've already been locked on playing at GPNJ in January (limited), so I will be buckling down on the new limited format once it hits next month, as well as doing my best to keep up with the slight meta shifts/determining what the actual PT field is likely to look like. I've had quite the journey with this deck through the years and I'm so thrilled that it isn't over yet. While my expectations aren't high, I've already gotten so much farther than I ever thought I would with Tez when I look back at when this all started for me personally.
TezCommunity - many thanks again for all of your help!
Well, tron is tough, but it no longer feels like getting away with murder to win. Unmoored Ego naming 0-Stone has made the biggest difference, in my opinion. If we take away their sweepers, suddenly thopter armies start to matter.
The only matchup I feel is completely hellish, is UB mill. Pretty much unwinnable.
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Welding Jar
4 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
4 Thopter Foundry
4 Sword of the Meek
1 Damping Sphere
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Krak-Clan Ironworks
Instants:
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Muddle the Mixture
4 Whir of Invention
3 Serum Visions
4 Inquisiton of Kozilek
Land:
4 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Island
1 Swamp
4 Spire of Industry
1 Glimmervoid
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Unmoored Ego
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Fatal Push
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Collective Brutality
1 Assassin's Trophy
2 Battle at the Bridge
1 Phyrexian Revoker
UW control:
+2 Sai, +2 Lili, +1 CB, +1 decay, +1 trophy, +1 Revoker, +2 Ego
-3 opal, -1 jar, -1 KCI, -3 spellbomb, -1 sphere, -1 bridge
The general idea is to get rid of whatever artifacts with activations you can, to cut down on stony's impact. Spellbomb gets double hit by stony and rip. I would say, however, if your game-1 went long and you won, and you think you can win by going to time, put in bridges and battles because they will go as aggro as they can with possible cards like baneslayer angel, and just play "defense."
Arclite decks: (lumping them all together)
+2 Sai, +2 Battle at the bridge, +1 Ensnaring Bridge +1 Brutality, +1 Push
-1 KCI, -2 Needle, -2 Muddle, -1 serum visions, -1 Bauble
You basically don't change your gameplan at all. An early sphere is your best tool. Basically trim on cantrips. I would say hollow one SB is pretty much the same, only put in a trophy because hollow one plays leyline. (Trophy, over another decay, is pretty much just for leyline).
Burn:
+2 Battle at the Bridge, +1 push, +1 decay, +1 brutality
-1 KCI, -1 ensnaring bridge, -1 needle, -1 damping sphere, -1 serum visions
I feel like the burn matchup is the most misunderstood sideboard matchup for thopter-sword pilots. For the most part, 3+ CMC spells just don't do anything, bridge in particular. If you cast a bridge with no cards in your hand, that means burn has already failed to win the game. 1 CMC artifacts aren't useless, because they come down before eidolon and help cast whir and are excellent sac fodder for foundry. ALWAYS wait to cast foundry when you have 1 mana open. Keeping mana open against burn is huge, because you make their destructive revelery do no damage. The best time to make thopters against burn? Their upkeep, so that they have to commit to that skullcrack or abrade or whatever, giving you their entire rest of the turn and/or your turn to gain life. Force them to use their limited mana in the worst possible situations, and gain a big advantage.
Jund and other BG:
+1 Push, +2 Sai. +2 Lili, +1 Bridge, +1 Trophy
-3 Opal, -1 KCI,, -2 spellbomb, -1 damping sphere
Drop opals because you don't need explosiveness. Needles stay in for scooze.
Tron:
+3 Unmoored Ego, +1 Phyrexian Revoker, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +1 Trophy
-4 spellbomb, -1 bridge, -1 decay, -1 opal
Use unmoored ego to strip their answers, not tron lands. Trust me! Unless you've seen their hand and know they have 2 threats like karn/ugin, and they are going to cast one next turn if they hit the last tron piece, always take 0-Stone. If they don't have 0-Stone, Ugin is their only sweeper, which means making thopter armies actually matters.
Scapeshift:
+3 Unmoored Ego, +1 Brutality, +2 Lili, +1 trophy
-1 needle, -1 opal, -1 damping sphere, -3 spellbomb, -1 decay
Amulet Titan:
+3 Unmoored Ego, +2 Lili, +1 Trophy, +2 Battle
-4 spellbomb, -1 sword of the meek, -1 bauble, -2 opal
Needles are good for explosives and T-west, sphere is really good. Battles can bring down titans, and ruric thar.
Affnity, hardened and regular:
+1 phyrexian revoker, +1 bridge, +1 decay, +1 push, +1 trophy, +2 Sai
-1 KCI, -1 damping sphere, -4 spellbomb, -1 muddle
Humans:
+1 bridge, +2 sai, +2 battle, +1 push, +1 trophy, +1 brutality, +1 decay (you could also bring in lili on the play)
-1 KCI, -4 spellbomb, -1 damping sphere, -1 needle, -1 visions, -1 opal
This is sort of how to board vs stuff like GW value town and death and taxes, too, only lili is even better in those matchups.
Storm:
+3 Unmoored Ego, +2 Lili, +1 push, +1 brutality
-2 sword of the meek, -2 needle, -2 foundry, -1 bridge
Dredge:
+2 Battle at the Bridge, +2 Sai, +3 Unmoored Ego, +1 bridge
-4 IoK, -1 needle (you can always name shriekhorn), -1 KCI, -1 damping sphere, -1 decay
Dredge is an easy matchup, typically. Post-board, battle is surprisingly useful because you've usually slowed them down and/or extracted prized amalgam or bloodghast, and the lifegain offsets some chills or a conflagrate. Naming ancient grudge or nature's claim is usually worse than just taking one of their recursive threats.
Counters Company:
+1 Phyrexian Revoker, +1 Brutality, +1 Push, +2 Battle, +1 Bridge, +2 Lili, +1 Decay, +1 Trophy
-1 Damping Sphere, -2 Opal, -4 Spellbomb, -1 KCI, -1 muddle, -1 bauble
To be honest, not really sure about these sideboard selections, as I just haven't played the matchup too much. I'm bringing in all removal and bridge.
KCI:
+1 Phyrexian Revoker, +2 Lili, +3 Unmoored Ego, +1 Decay, +1 Push, +1 Trophy
-2 thopter foundry, -3 sword of the meek, -1 ensnaring bridge, -1 opal, -1 spellbomb, -1 bauble
Naming KCI with ego isn't always lights out, because they usually bring in 3 Sai. Still, the matchup is comfy post-board. It's another one where assembling your own combo is secondary.
Spirits:
+1 Bridge, +2 Sai, +1 Push, +1 Decay, +2 Lili
-1 damping sphere, -4 spellbomb, -1 KCI, -1 serum visions
Post board against spirits, bridge is usually the best card. Needle stays in for vial and mausoleum wanderer.
Grixis Death's Shadow:
+1 Bridge, +1 Brutality, +2 Liliana, +1 Push, +1 Decay, +1 trophy
-1 damping sphere, -1 kci, -2 needle, -2 opal, -1 bauble
Discard into surigical sucks, but at least they have fewer threats than jund
Mardu:
+2 Sai, +1 Bridge, +2 Lili, +2 Battle, +1 Decay, +1 Trophy
-2 needle, -1 KCI, -1 damping sphere, -3 opal, -1 brutality, -1 bauble
Inversely, when speed matters more than topdeck equity, trim the slow stuff and the cantrips, don't trim some and some unless you really feel like the list you're on doesn't have anything better to bring in.
Again, awesome job the_nobodys!
Storm: What do you name with Ego? I've found their endgame tends to be to storm into Echoing Truth/Wipe Away, and you can lose if you don't have a way to deal with them getting rid of your Damping Sphere. My solution has been a 2nd Sphere, but I suspect that's overkill?
KCI: What's your fundamental game plan? G2/3 I usually Pithing Needle E.E., then Inventor's Fair (if KCI/Spine is still a possibility). My next artifact is usually Damping Sphere to slow them down (do you get Phyrexian Revoker first G2/G3?) Then I generally just try to lock it down with Welding Jars and Spellskites. Eventually I find Tez or Grid for the win. It's very good when I get rid of KCI, but if I don't find a Revoker or Ego for KCI it feels really rough. Also, sometimes even when I have the Whir or Ego they have the counter. I consider this to be my worst MU by a lot, so I wonder what's your secret? (I board out my full Thopter-Sword to make room for SB cards by playing win-cons that are single cards). Maybe this is a place where your Inquisitions and Spellbombs shine and my choices are costing me here, but curious to see if maybe I'm doing/thinking about the MU wrong.
Control: What are your thoughts/plans vs. control?
For example, one thing I back fully that he brings up is when playing against a deck like BGx that plays opposing discard spells, I do not advise bringing in your own discard spells. These matchups are all about CA, so focus less on playing 1-for-1's and focus more on overwhelming them with your own 2-for-1 type spells. Let them use up their own mana/resources to try to strip you of your gameplan, cuz if they have a line of multiple hand disruption spells and you manage to resolve a standalone threat amongst the flurry of disruption, not only are you now ahead on board, but you're most likely ahead on CA as well. We have the advantage of the fair deck combo killer - ThopterSword, however they have a much higher density of standalone threats that can win by themselves. Overwhelm their hand disruption by showing them a hand full of threats to make their TS/IOK decisions tougher. This matchup is favorable, but isn't a walk in the park, as they can certainly beat you in a topdeck war, so make your topdecks better by cutting these hand disruption spells against them postboard. Same reason you should be cutting Mox against them - increasing your density of impactful topdecks/reducing the percentages of dead draws after the dust settles is how you pull ahead rather than can fall behind. If you're going to be playing 1-for-1's, play the cards that are still fine top decks (ie board advantage spells for resolved threats).
Again, this is less of a lesson learned by playing this deck specifically and more of an approach translated over from playing these types of matchups with various other decks in Modern over the years, but is still certainly relevant.
Another example of this is say you're playing a Jund mirror. One player has a ton of discard spells, another has all threats. While the discard heavy hand has the potential to strip all of the threats depending on who went first, generally the player who manages to resolve a threat first is ahead. You want to be the player with the threat heavy hand to put the opponent behind (ie they IOK you and you have multiple 2-drops you'll be able to cast when you untap on turn 2). If the disruption heavy hand forces a flurry of 1-for-1 trades and both players are left with lands on the field/air in hand, whoever finds a threat off the top first will pull ahead. While things don't always line up exactly like this (sometimes one player has more disruption than the other has threats, or vice versa), the bottom line is that when you look at how this matchup shakes out, you give yourself an edge if you can manage to build a postboard 60-card config that can exploit being the threat dense deck more often than not.
I love talking about these fair matchups and have put a lot of thought into my own approach to beating these types of decks and how I like my 60-card config to look both pre- and post- board. Again, they're still favorable overall, but they're closer than you may think, especially when a deck like GB has a splash color for the impactful 2-for-1 spells like k command/grudge. Everyone has their own approach, this is just what I (and countless others) have found works best over the years of playing/studying black midrange mirrors, which I wanted to share as it's certainly applicable here.
I’d also argue G Tron is basically unwinnable if they’re a strong player. Like 15/85.
I’m a fan of keeping bridges in against UW to increase the value of needle effects potentially locking them out of the game. Especially if I win game 1.
I also agree with bridge vs UW. While I certainly trim on them, I usually keep at least 1, as it puts less pressure on your Needle effects and acts as a pseudo needle vs their handful of creatures/colonnades. It's not something I'm thrilled to have postboard, but it's definitely better than a lot of things in my 75 and I don't hate keeping at least 1.
I have preferred Time Sieve up until now, but I am testing ironworks because I have noticed there are some hands where I can easily whir for it with 3-4 mana sources and go infinite, whereas I might have to wait a few turns for Time Sieve to be online. So not as strong game closer, but it can be more immediately accessible, worth trying.
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
But again, I advise everyone to go back and watch the video I referenced previously (found on page 1 of this thread). There's a lot of good insight that can be taken away from the video, despite the slightly outdated list/meta being played. I've crossed paths with Goss a handful of times as he's around my local region and I can tell you this - dude knows what he's doing when it comes to MTG.
The key parts is that I have 4 Unmoored Ego, 4 Pithing Needle, 4 Spellskite, 4 Welding Jar, 1 Damping Sphere, and 4 Whir. With these cards I attack their gameplan:
1) Their deck is about unfair mana, so I make them play fair mana. I will Unmoored Ego for a tron piece not in play, or Whir for a Damping Sphere.
2) At 5 mana they can Oblivion Stone, at 7 they can Karn, and at 8 they can Ugin. I will (preferably) Pithing Needle or (if needed) Unmoored Ego them off of this threat before they can do it.
3) At this point the game becomes about them getting to Ulamog, and it is critical to have either two Spellskites in play or (better) Unmoored Ego them for Ulamog before they can cast the first one. (And this is where the plan falls apart G1. You lack the tools to lock them because of Ulamog, so you need to have won with Thopter-Sword by here.)
4) They probably have a Worldbreaker, but I find you probably have a Spellskite around for this.
Sometimes you do situational things. I've Unmoored Ego on Nature's Claim when they've played 0 so far and I don't have a Jar or Skite to protect my prison pieces. I've Pithing Needled map when I didn't have a Sphere, etc. But mostly this is the roadmap to victory.
I make room for all of this by cutting out Thopter-Sword, and KCI, and just bringing in Tezzeret, AoB as my win-condition. Tezzeret only takes two slots, and helps build your prison when he's not winning outright.
I usually leave in around 3 bridges. I believe they cut Wurmcoil after seeing all the Thopters and bridges, but you can't rely on that. I don't want to Whir for one, but I don't need one very early either.
Obviously, everyone else will have different tools, but I am glad to report on finding a solution that does not involve playing Chalice of the Void.
I once read an article a while back where a pro was talking about a new deck that had potential and Sam Black simply asked "so what does it look like when you're winning?" That phrase has always stuck with me when developing/tuning a new deck/postboard gameplan(s). While you answered these questions and have identified the correct gameplan (postboard is more about being a grixis whir deck with Tez and virtually no ThopterSword combo - a reason why that archetype doesn't Fear Tron nearly as much as we do as they also have Chalice instead of Ego which is good/bad for different reasons), the truth is that you still have to jump through so many hoops, in sequential order, while simultaneously hoping your opponent stumbles a tiny bit on the crucial turns, and even then while I think it's certainly more manageable, I really don't think you're necessarily favored post board. In order for them to get ahead of you, they need way fewer things to go right/get to way fewer resources than you do, which is one of the biggest advantages of Tron against decks trying to disrupt.
This is less about being strictly results oriented and more so about looking at how the archetypes line up postboard.
That being said, if you're playing a meta where you think you're likely to see Tron more than once, like a local FNM scene or something, I do think this is the way to go if you're not willing to move to a different deck altogether. When I've skewed towards Tron for a Modern Monday tournament, I've liked having at least 3x Tez for consistency of finding a clock. Anyway, I do commend the effort put into this recent testing, so great job TolariaWest! Keep testing and report back!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/344146888?t=02h04m30s
TolariaWest and his roommate (Sam Black) played the deck together on stream on Monday if not everyone has seen it.
After watching the twitch replay of your last stream, regarding Kolaghan's Command and Spellskite, one of the people in your chat gave you wrong information. Kolaghan's Command uses the word "target" twice, meaning it is legal for Spellskite to redirect both the shatter and damage modes to itself, even if it is already a target. In your case, the Spellskite should have been the target for both Shatter and the 2 damage, leaving Tezzeret untouched. So this may be a MTGO bug and I would report it to their support for compensation (or at least to get it fixed). There is even a Judge blog post detailing the exact scenario here. It also discusses Electrolyze and why it's different.
https://blogs.magicjudges.org/articles/2013/09/26/modern-rules-problems-spellskite/
Hope this helps.
Small world, that's awesome!
@Draftsquare: Thanks. I was *shocked* by not being able to retarget the Kholghan's Command. Sam and I talked about it, and he polled a bunch of players, and we've firmly established 1) it's a MODO bug, 2) lots of players think it works like electrolyze, 3) judges all agree you can retarget each instance of the word target.
If I can drag a nugget out of your commentary regarding the KCI matchup, you said that 2 early discard spells wasn't enough against them. If 2 early discard spells aren't pulling their weight against combo, and you lost to (except spirits), hyper aggro decks that don't care much about your discard, then perhaps 7 discard spells main are too much. Having a Damping Sphere main is simply very nice in this meta - better, IMHO than a cage. Cage is better against a pretty much non-existent counters company deck, and dredge (which we're already heavily favored against). Sphere is better against Tron, KCI, Hollow One, Arclite decks, Storm, and Amulet Titan.
If I were to make any tweaks to your list, however, I would simply cut 2-3 Thoughtseize for a damping sphere main, 1 more land, and another spellbomb. I know you like the idea of stripping their stony in hand, however I would argue the likelihood of them just topdecking one is great, and plus, you have all that anti-stony SB tech going anyway. Discard is SO much better in lantern because they need to take the hate in hand - their gameplan is to never allow a dangerous topdeck. We function differently, and so our tools should be different as well.
In any event, all the luck to you for the GP this weekend!
Though this may seem irrelevant to the first point, this is also why welding jar is a maindeckable card. Turning on early opals is certainly great, but the real strength is being able to get cards out of your hand by using the least amount of mana, which plays so well into your ensnaring bridge plan as well as setting up whir. It's less about the ability on jar and more about the play pattern that locks out so many decks that rely on winning through combat. Having to waste mana on turns 1-2 consistently to play discard spells, especially on consecutive turns, can lead to lines that actually put you behind. Rather, the lines that commit artifacts to the board to set up a solid turn 3 whir can force your opponents' hands into game losing states.
While I don't completely hate the idea of playing some discard spells in the main, they certainly have to come at the expense of spot removal spells (like push), and 7 seems like a bit overkill. The reason lantern was so successful with the discard suite was that the board state it consistently set up essentially limited the opponent to the top 10-15ish cards of their library each game. Discard stripped resources from those 10-15 cards. This deck is still a prison deck but the spells don't hold the same amount of weight that they do in lantern. It's fine to look at them as actions that clear a path for your future spells, but IMO the more non-artifact 1-for-1's your putting in the 75, especially the maindeck, the softer you're actually making the advantages this deck aims to exploit - to cut off whole percentages of the opponent's gameplan. Understanding the intricacies of the tempo positive/negative lines this deck has can really strengthen your in-game decisions, as well as sideboarding decisions.
This is something that I'm sure every single person here, including myself, is constantly continuing to get better at (whether or not you realize it). Al_Z_Heimer's result is further evidence at how hard this game is, especially this deck. Even though you could be a very experienced player facing a favorable matchup, many of the games will be tough to navigate.
3 Serum Visions
3 Fatal Push
3 Collective Brutality
4 Whir of Invention
Enchantments
1 Search for Azcanta
Artifacts
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
2 Welding Jar
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damping Sphere
1 Time Sieve
3 Sword of the Meek
4 Thopter Foundry
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Bottled Cloister
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
2 Spire of Industry
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Academy Ruins
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Pithing Needle
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Spellskite
1x Torpor Orb
1x Witchbane Orb
2x Thoughtseize
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Damnation
1x Liliana of the Veil
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
I was testing a few things throughout my flex slots to give myself the highest amount of overall win percentage amongst what I perceived to be the most likely archetypes I'd see amongst the top local grinders in the region. Here's how my day played out:
R1) 1-1-1: Grixis Whir
Not thrilled to start my day off against this deck, but I was certain I knew 74 of the 75 cards he was playing, have played the matchup before, and figured my opponent had little/no experience against me and that may give me a slight edge in spots. Game 1 is easy for him to lock me due to being all-in on the ThopterSword plan, plus I had to mull to 5 on the draw. Game 2 I manage to strip his only payoff with a Thoughtseize (Whir) and left him with nothing. I proceeded to beat down with Tezzeret until bridge came down, but then managed to ultimate before he could find a Needle effect. Game 3 was drawn out and we each managed to lock nearly everything important between both of our decks. However, the time was posted incorrectly and were told we had about 17 mins left from a judge, but then the head judge called time shortly after. My opponent was a bit upset because to be fair, he was pulling ahead with the Crucible/Rivulet engine online but I had too many cards left in my deck. He asked for a concession but I explained that I was drawing to multiple outs (my last Needle to lock Rivulet, both Decays to unlock Tez and immediately win, Academy Ruins to prevent getting milled), plus he had all of his Needle effects already on board and EE was locked. It wasn't the most graceful end to a match, but I'll take a draw rather than a loss. I was just hoping it'd help more than hurt down the road.
R2) 2-0: Bant Spirits
I was hoping I'd find a window of opportunity to land a bridge by incentivizing my opponent to tap out on their turn. I baited a spell queller on a push in his last combat step, then slammed bridge the following turn, which bought me enough time to assemble the combo. In game 2, it was much of the same song/dance, but I knew he'd have about 2-3 non-creature counterspells coming in along with the enchantments/Knight of Autumn. A turn 3 Thoughtseize snagged CoCo and showed me he had no interaction. Bridge slowed him down, interactive spells picked off the Hierarchs/Image copying Hierarch, Torpor Orb took out his only way to get bridge off the board. I get fortunate and assembled the combo before he saw any of his 5-6 enchantments.
R3) 2-0: Affinity
This matchup can be a bit close for comfort but I have so many reps under my belt as the Affinity pilot, which I feel sometimes helps me navigate through some tough turns they can present. Anyway, Game 1 I manage to get Bridge, Needle the Plating, then assemble ThopterSword before he finds Ravager. Game 2 he gets me to 10 with a known Galv Blast in hand. I find a bridge and he hits me to 6 in response. I take a couple hits from Etched Champion before I find a Bridge. He slams a Karn but it's luckily a bit too slow to get to what he needs before I lock out the game with ThopterSword.
R4) 2-0: Grixis DS
This is another close matchup that I have a lot of experience with from both ends, but they've been playing less and less K commands in the main (and overall 75 for that matter) which helps our Game 1. Game 1 was very tough to navigate but I manage to strip Battle Rage from his hand and see 2x Gurmag and a Snap, keep my life total high enough to not die to a single swing of DS with Snap/Battle Rage, and force him into a spot where he felt the need to exile his yard to play a Gurmag and a snap. I can't find a Bridge/Whir/Sword but I have 3x Foundries and a couple artifacts that I sac to make thopters. I eventually out-tempo him in the air to win through the skin of my teeth. Game 2 I get a bridge online and find a Welding Jar before he finds a second shatter effect, then Whir for Spellskite to seal his hand, and combo for the win.
R5) 1-2: Burn
I win game 1 by getting early ThopterSword online, despite being on the draw. Game 2 we get into a spot where I have Witchbane Orb but my life total is low and he had Stony locking the combo since turn 2. I know his had is 2x Skullcrack and he topdecks/plays Swiftspear, but I take the line of getting a Spellskite instead of taking the hit and Whirring for my only postboard Bridge because I wasn't confident I could get hellbent before I die to a 1/x creature/only gets worse if he sees a shatter effect/Eidolon. I had been thinking about how some people here like to trim most/all Bridges for games 2-3 vs me who likes to keep 1-2, so I decided to try keeping just 1 but bumped back up to 2 in game 3 since I was on the play. Game 3 he topdecked a Stony for his turn 2 Play, which locked out my hand that had Foundry/Sword, and he proceeded to burn me out.
R6) 2-0: MartyrProc
Unfortunately me and my friend had to play each other for the win-and-in to top 8 (we joked that it'd come to this on the way down). Game 1 is super grindy as he slams double Ghostly Prison, but I get the ThopterSword + Time Sieve lock online right after he uses his last GQ on board. I proceed to tell him that I locked him out of turns and can pay the 4x mana to let a single thopter swing into his only 2x blockers (2x Hawks), but then will eventually get Academy Ruins so that I don't mill myself. He scoops and we proceed to game 2. He lands an early enchantment, I get a bridge lock online, he finds his singleton copy of Cleansing Nova and leaves me with 3x Land and a Tezzeret. I brutally rip another Bridge off the top and lock out combat. I rebuild my board, Revoker on Martyr, Needle on Hex Parasite, and get to a point where I can Ult Tez back to back for the win.
Top 8 (Top 4 Qualify):
2-0: Burn
I was nervous both being on the draw as the 7th seed, as well as knowing how close this matchup can be and that it was my only loss from earlier today. Game 1 I land a turn 2 Azcanta, turn 3 Sword into Push, then Azcanta filters me into Thopter Foundry on my turn 4 and I stabilize before he can get to enough mana to multi-spell me to death. Game 2 he mulls to 5 (Scry to bottom) and I keep a semi-risky hand that could pay off and has half of the combo. He passes with a Tarn. I decided to play a turn 1 Needle to see if I can catch him off guard (I almost did but he corrected himself quickly). He finds a guide and swings for 2. I Brutality with all 3x modes to kill his only guy, undo the attack, and strip a wear/tear to leave him with 3x uncastable spells (he's stuck on 1 land with 2x Eidolon and a Exquisite Firecraft, which also showed a lack of experience against us and was great). He remains stuck on 1 land, I slam sword and find Foundry and lock the win 3x turns later.
So I'm obviously incredibly stoked to be going to my first Pro Tour after years of grinding, but getting to accomplish this on the back of a deck that I've held near and dear to my heart since I was a casual-competitve player in my early days at my first LGS years ago makes this journey all the more rewarding. Again, I've said it before and I'll say it again - the community on this forum and the various testing that's gone on with this archetype has been an invaluable resource. Despite the many subtleties amongst our lists that play to the strengths of each pilot, we all know that the core of this archetype has legs and I'm hoping to be able to show the world that this deck is the real deal. I've already been locked on playing at GPNJ in January (limited), so I will be buckling down on the new limited format once it hits next month, as well as doing my best to keep up with the slight meta shifts/determining what the actual PT field is likely to look like. I've had quite the journey with this deck through the years and I'm so thrilled that it isn't over yet. While my expectations aren't high, I've already gotten so much farther than I ever thought I would with Tez when I look back at when this all started for me personally.
TezCommunity - many thanks again for all of your help!