A couple of things, this first is that you have no way of dealing with any targeted discard, such as Duress or Thoughtseize. You have no way of protecting your combo once you get the mana to go off. For an example you resolve your Heartbeat of Spring and begin to cast your Early Harvest, it get's countered by my Cryptic Command and now you are not going to have enough mana to do anything and you just lost your only fuel for the "combo". Lastly relying on Magus of the Future for the combo might not be the best idea because he doesn't pass the Bolt test. Why not just play Future sight?
I have tried out Staff of Nin in the deck, and found it to be more of a win-more kind of card. The deck has enough draw and card replacement through Repeal, Remand, and Thirst for Knowledge as well as basically every other card in the deck that the second card each turn didn't really have an impact for me. I would rather be searching up Sundering Titan's and Wurmcoil Engine's with my tutors than the Staff. Remember, in a format as quick as this, you need something that has a higher board impact or causes an immediate threat to consider playing it. The ping ability isn't that relevant to most of the format, although it can pick off some random creatures here an there in most decks, and we already see enough cards with the stock list that it shouldn't really matter too much.
This is my first post on this forum so bare with me if some of the card or decktags aren't working properly...
Anyways, I played in a 17-man tournament last night going 3-2-0. It wasn't the best finish, but the losses only came from my deck bricking hard and an extreamily close game against Jund. The meta at this store is full of Melira and KikiPod, Affinity, and Merfolk for the most part, so I figured that GR Tron could have a good chance. Because of the lack of combo (Twin and Scapeshift) that used to be at this store I decided to swap my sideboard around a bit before the event.
The regular sideboard that I use for a more unknown meta would be close to:
In game 1 I controlled the board pretty easily. Got a turn 1 map down with a tower, then after a turn two mine fetched up a powerplant. My Karn was able to dodge his turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek and then I dropped it on turn 3 to exile his Tarmogoyf. After that I played a grove that was in my opening hand, and topdecked a Pyroclasm to deal with his Dark Confidant and Kitchen Finks. Then I drew into a Sundering Titan and he scooped shortly after. Boarded in +1 Pithing Needle +1 Chalice of the Void +1 Relic of Progenitus +1 Dismember -2 Pyroclasm -1 Oblivion Stone -1 Chromatic Sphere
Game two I mulled to 6 and had a pretty sub-optimal hand with two map's, a sphere, Sylvan Scrying, Ancient Stirrings and one land. He took my sphere turn 1, and from there proceeded to Ancient Grudge my two map's. I lost a couple turns after not getting any more lands. Boarded +1 Dismember -1 Chalice of the Void
The third game was extremely close. He went through two Bob's before the third one stuck, and from there it slowly brought him down to 5 life. I was at 6 when he drew a Lily off of Bob putting him to 2 life, and then topdecked a Lightning Bolt which hit my Karn that had just exiled his Liliana of the Veil. After that I had nothing to deal with his Bob, Goyf (which was now a 2/3), and Finks (that was a 2/1) as he swung for exactly lethal.
0-1
Game 1 I got flooded with land. He missed using a Shadow of Doubt in response to my Sylvan Scrying. He used it on my end step instead to draw a card which confused me? I think it won me the game, because then I began to get flooded with mana, and used a map to grab Eye of Ugin. I Played a Wurmcoil which got pathed, but then resolved Ulamog the next turn and won after he had no ways to deal with it. Boarded +1 Emrakul +1 Pithing Needle +2 Combust -4 Pyroclasm
Game 2 I fought my way through two tech edges to eventually cast Emrakul for the win. He didn't have much to contest my land searching, and it seemed to me like he was playing way too much removal compared to counters. Allstars of this game was the turn 2 Pithing Needle after his turn 1 Celestial Colonnade (He had 3 out by the end of it), and my Chalice on 4 stopping all of his Cryptic Command's. Not much else, but I do think Tron has a worse matchup against control so this was a pretty nice win to get.
1-1
This guy was playing with Primeval Titan instead of Cryptic Command's. It didn't matter much though, because I wasn't able to keep him off of his lands at all. He went turn 2 Sakura-Tribe Elder, then on turn 3 Explore into Cultivate and Dropped a Titan on turn 4. I tapped out for Karn and exiled the titan, but he dropped a Scapeshift for the win the next turn. +1 Chalice of the Void +2 Torpor Orb +1 Relic of Progenitus +1 Pithing Needle -1 All Is Dust -4 Pyroclasm
Game two I mulled to 4 after three hands of one or no lands. I kept a one land hand and proceeded to topdeck two Karns, Ulamog, and a O-stone before he combo'd out on turn 5 hitting me with double Valakut triggers for 30 .
1-2
Round 4 was against Deathcloud. I stomped him in the first game after getting over some early targeteddiscard. Game two I had another brilliant mull to 4, and lost. Game 3 I was able to stomp him again, always seeming to have the right answer at the right time.
2-2
The last round was against a tribal shaman deck who was also 2-X. It was pretty budget and it's 2 toughness theme wasn't able to compete with my Pyroclasm's that well. The low land count of the deck got demolished by Karn and Ulamog. I was free to assemble Tron each game and do pretty much whatever I wanted. Won with an easy 2-0
3-2
So for those who of you who take the time to read the match summaries, do you have any suggestions for side boarding in the future? Should I be tweaking anything in my board to help with the combo/control matchups more? I had taken out the two Slaughter Games which would have been good against Scapeshift, so they may find a spot back in the deck. I did like the Pithing Needle as it was good every time I drew it, and as well as the second Chalice of the Void, which helped a lot but seemed as more of a winmore card. I am also thinking of keeping the Sundering Titan mainboard as it swings games much more than I expected and is more accessible at 8 mana. I did like Ulamog instead of the mainboard Emrakul that I am used to because of the lower mana cost, and the vindicate was very relevant every time he was cast. Any advice is welcome.
Anyways, I played in a 17-man tournament last night going 3-2-0. It wasn't the best finish, but the losses only came from my deck bricking hard and an extreamily close game against Jund. The meta at this store is full of Melira and Kiki Pod, Affinity, and Merfolk for the most part, so I figured that GR Tron could have a good chance. Because of the lack of combo (Twin and Scapeshift) that used to be at this store I decided to swap my sideboard around a bit before the event.
The regular sideboard that I use for a more unknown meta would be close to:
4x Nature's Claim
2x Combust
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Life from the Loam
2x Slaughter Games
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Torpor Orb
1x Ghost Quarter
3x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Sundering Titan
1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
4x Karn Liberated
Dig
4x Expedition Map
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Chromatic Star
4x Ancient Stirrings
3x Sylvan Scrying
3x Relic of Progenitus
4x Pyroclasm
3x Oblivion Stone
1x Chalice of the Void
1x All Is Dust
Lands
1x Eye of Ugin
2x Ghost Quarter
3x Grove of the Burnwillows
4x Urza's Tower
4x Urza's Power Plant
4x Urza's Mine
2x Forest
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Nature's Claim
2x Combust
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Dismember
1x Pithing Needle
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Torpor Orb
1x Chalice of the Void
Game two I mulled to 6 and had a pretty sub-optimal hand with two map's, a sphere, Sylvan Scrying, Ancient Stirrings and one land. He took my sphere turn 1, and from there proceeded to Ancient Grudge my two map's. I lost a couple turns after not getting any more lands. Boarded +1 Dismember -1 Chalice of the Void
The third game was extremely close. He went through two Bob's before the third one stuck, and from there it slowly brought him down to 5 life. I was at 6 when he drew a Lily off of Bob putting him to 2 life, and then topdecked a Lightning Bolt which hit my Karn that had just exiled his Liliana of the Veil. After that I had nothing to deal with his Bob, Goyf (which was now a 2/3), and Finks (that was a 2/1) as he swung for exactly lethal.
0-1
Game 2 I fought my way through two tech edges to eventually cast Emrakul for the win. He didn't have much to contest my land searching, and it seemed to me like he was playing way too much removal compared to counters. Allstars of this game was the turn 2 Pithing Needle after his turn 1 Celestial Colonnade (He had 3 out by the end of it), and my Chalice on 4 stopping all of his Cryptic Command's. Not much else, but I do think Tron has a worse matchup against control so this was a pretty nice win to get.
1-1
Game two I mulled to 4 after three hands of one or no lands. I kept a one land hand and proceeded to topdeck two Karns, Ulamog, and a O-stone before he combo'd out on turn 5 hitting me with double Valakut triggers for 30
1-2
2-2
The last round was against a tribal shaman deck who was also 2-X. It was pretty budget and it's 2 toughness theme wasn't able to compete with my Pyroclasm's that well. The low land count of the deck got demolished by Karn and Ulamog. I was free to assemble Tron each game and do pretty much whatever I wanted. Won with an easy 2-0
3-2
So for those who of you who take the time to read the match summaries, do you have any suggestions for side boarding in the future? Should I be tweaking anything in my board to help with the combo/control matchups more? I had taken out the two Slaughter Games which would have been good against Scapeshift, so they may find a spot back in the deck. I did like the Pithing Needle as it was good every time I drew it, and as well as the second Chalice of the Void, which helped a lot but seemed as more of a winmore card. I am also thinking of keeping the Sundering Titan mainboard as it swings games much more than I expected and is more accessible at 8 mana. I did like Ulamog instead of the mainboard Emrakul that I am used to because of the lower mana cost, and the vindicate was very relevant every time he was cast. Any advice is welcome.