I like your list. I‘d probably cut Solemn, although ramping with Talisman into Solemn on T3 can be quite strong (enabling Wurmcoil on T4). I don‘t run Talismans in my build however, as I don‘t like to tap out on T2/T3 and rather keep up mana for Condescend, Remand, Repeal or Dismember.
Alternatively, you could shove 1 Mindslaver to your sideboard, replacing either 1 Spreading Seas or the Wurmcoil Engine. 2 Wurmcoil mainboard along 2 Ballistas should be enough.
If you decide to board in the 3rd Chalice for game 2, you can still board out 1-2 Maps. Map can also be discarded to Thirst, should you have played Chalice first.
I think my main gripe with Gemstone Caverns is that you basically always need to sacrifice going first just encase you do get that 1 in 5 chance. I have tried Gemstone Caverns before and I still don't think UTron is consistent enough to be really worth it.
I think a really powerful -1 turn play would involve a spell pierce but I can't think of many non-creature 1 drops that would be mandatory nip in the bud right away. but the chances just get smaller and smaller the more cards you want in your opening hand.
Additionally, Gemstone is a legendary land meaning the second gemstone will 99.99% be a dead draw.
I'm testing out a few things and I'll throw the two copies back in now for online testing. I took SwissRoll's advice simply because I've been using remand and repeal more for draw power than useful countering, I think I undervalued the scry 2. I'm also experimenting not having platinum angel since it seems to die to path to exile quite often.
Not sure if I understood that the way you mean it, but you don‘t need to sacrifice anything. You never choose to be on the draw, but Caverns gives you a small chance to be „on the play“ (technically just a turn ahead) even though you lost the die roll. As it‘s only one land, the opportunity cost is quite low if you play 25 lands.
I only play 1 Caverns MB and add another from the side if I manage to win game 1 (given that the speed boost is necessary like in aggro matchups). If I lose the first game, Caverns just comes out and I play with 24 lands game 2.
Maybe you could put up a list of what you‘ve got so far and we could then make comments on what to improve. Due to different variations, people around here probably won‘t be able to agree on ‚the one u-tron list (tm)‘ that you might be looking for.
Regarding blue sources, there‘s mainly 2 approaches if I‘m not mistaken:
1. Play 24-25 lands, among those you should play ~10 Islands. Then, there‘s also utility lands like Tolaria West and River of Tears, so the Island count may vary. Field of Ruin will also fetch you an Island but Gemstone Caverns should not be relied on to produce blue (unless you‘re really lucky). Oboro, Palace in the Clouds deserves an honorable mention for producing UU at the cost of 1 and that turn’s land drop.
2. Play 23 lands (not sure about Island count here) and compensate with 2-3 Talisman of Dominance. They can ramp you from 2 to 4 mana on turn 3 and provide discard fodder for Thirst for Knowledge depending on the situation. I myself never played using Talismans, so maybe someone else could lend you a hand here.
You‘re right however, that blue mana is scarce and casting Snapcaster Mage + flashbacked blue spell can be problematic sometimes. For that reason you should usually prioritise fetching your first Island over completing tron, unless there’s a big payoff on your following turn.
Hi All - I'm a fairly new Blue Tron Player and am learning a lot from discussions in this forum.
I'm sorry if I missed this somewhere, but I just needed to ask - have blue tron players consider using platinum emperion over angel?
Welcome to mtgsalvation!
Platinum Emperion is worse than Platinum Angel as it neither prevents you from getting milled or dying through infect damage (angel is one of your few outs in the infect matchup). Emperion also has 1 more cmc, which makes the difference between casting on turn 3 or turn 4 - given that you assembled tron, of course.
Emperion is sturdier against burn damage or Dismember, but the usual artifact hate (coming from sideboard) or Path to Exile do not differ. And you preferably do not want to attack or block with the angel either but rather stall for time or use it as a lightning rod. Angel gets boarded out often for game 2 because of artifact removal and people around here debate, if it even still deserves it‘s spot without infect being around as much and Merfolk having received better tools.
Despite all that, I am still playing good ol‘ Plat Angel and it has saved my ass several times but you could easily replace it with another Wurmcoil Engine for example. Important points in my opinion are to not go too low on artifact count and keeping an eye on threat density.
I don‘t want to keep anyone from trying splashes for cheap sweepers. Just bear in mind that sometimes getting to even UU is tough enough. Finding BB for Damnation or WW for Wrath of God probably requires a manabase on a entirely different level, where I wonder if that can be achieved along 12 Tron lands and still be consistent through the land hate. If anyone finds time to give it a try, please prove me wrong but I can‘t see this work.
I‘ve never experienced the troubles Jitte caused and can only try to imagine what it must have been like.
One thing I‘d like to point out however @FoodChainGoblins, is that „this card is going to be in every XYZ deck“, „requires an answer immediately“, „see what it did in Legacy“ and „every deck cares about [...]“ were used when discussing the JTMS unban just recently. Modern still seems to be doing fine so far. Maybe there’s a possibility that not every deck cares about Jitte - the same way as not every blue deck runs an auto 4-of JTMS?
Many decks will try to run it, certainly. But this doesn‘t mean it suits them best.
I'd be very interesting in seeing how consistent the deck is at 1) getting Engineered Explosives, 2) getting the black source to set it to two, while getting hit by those Merfolk lords. I could see it being decent against decks with lots of 1-drops and tokens/0-drops, but that's basically all I see it being consistently good for. I understand that we have tools for setting it up, and we can imagine ourselves doing so, and maybe even pulled it off a few times. But how many times have any of us actually done it consistently? I'd love to see some real, hard numbers, personally.
I didn‘t get to play for the last month, but I included a package of 3 fetchlands and a Watery Grave along with the 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptors that I still want to give a try.
Without having any testing performed myself - doesn‘t slamming Jace T4 beg for a Bolt to his face? My approach would be to not play Jace before T6 without any protection backing him up. Else it‘s just a 4 mana Brainstorm?
EDIT: I overlooked the 4 Chalices MB. Still, going for T4 I‘d probably pack Disrupting Shoals?
I've been playing the deck for a few months now and, for whatever reason, seem to consistently have an issue against Traverse Shadow. The problem I seem to have is, I can stall the game out for a fair number of turns, but their deck is quite good at drawing and has a very low curve, allowing them to eventually flood the stack / board against me.
Is there specific sideboard deck or a plan against this deck?
Obviously, I would think, my core list is the same as everyone else's, with the typical 5-7 slots of flex that may be different in the MB. My SB is a mash between Pierakor's and Shok's.
So, I'm just looking for any first hand experience that folks have had against this deck. What worked? What didn't? Etc.
I’ve had Chalice of the Void work overtime against both versions of DS. Relic of Progenitus should also help vs Goyf‘s, Traverse and their K-Commands recurring creatures.
I wasn‘t sure because of decks that might want to go below Jace. Pierce could also provide cheap protection for our own Jace (triple U feels difficult however). Completely missed Chalice though - I play 4 in the 75 myself. 2 Jaces replace both Solemns in my deck, I‘m curious if it will work out. Maybe I‘ll find some time tomorrow to post my decklist.
What do you guys think, could Sundering Titan be worth playing again? Looks quite good to me vs 3-colored midrange and U-based decks. Bouncing it with Jace also feels pretty bad.
Some people like to search for Crucible of Worlds, Buried Ruin, Academy Ruins and Mindslaver to assemble Mindslaver lock. Feels somewhat clunky though...
I like your list. I‘d probably cut Solemn, although ramping with Talisman into Solemn on T3 can be quite strong (enabling Wurmcoil on T4). I don‘t run Talismans in my build however, as I don‘t like to tap out on T2/T3 and rather keep up mana for Condescend, Remand, Repeal or Dismember.
Alternatively, you could shove 1 Mindslaver to your sideboard, replacing either 1 Spreading Seas or the Wurmcoil Engine. 2 Wurmcoil mainboard along 2 Ballistas should be enough.
If you decide to board in the 3rd Chalice for game 2, you can still board out 1-2 Maps. Map can also be discarded to Thirst, should you have played Chalice first.
All in all, the list looks solid to me.
Not sure if I understood that the way you mean it, but you don‘t need to sacrifice anything. You never choose to be on the draw, but Caverns gives you a small chance to be „on the play“ (technically just a turn ahead) even though you lost the die roll. As it‘s only one land, the opportunity cost is quite low if you play 25 lands.
I only play 1 Caverns MB and add another from the side if I manage to win game 1 (given that the speed boost is necessary like in aggro matchups). If I lose the first game, Caverns just comes out and I play with 24 lands game 2.
Regarding blue sources, there‘s mainly 2 approaches if I‘m not mistaken:
1. Play 24-25 lands, among those you should play ~10 Islands. Then, there‘s also utility lands like Tolaria West and River of Tears, so the Island count may vary. Field of Ruin will also fetch you an Island but Gemstone Caverns should not be relied on to produce blue (unless you‘re really lucky). Oboro, Palace in the Clouds deserves an honorable mention for producing UU at the cost of 1 and that turn’s land drop.
2. Play 23 lands (not sure about Island count here) and compensate with 2-3 Talisman of Dominance. They can ramp you from 2 to 4 mana on turn 3 and provide discard fodder for Thirst for Knowledge depending on the situation. I myself never played using Talismans, so maybe someone else could lend you a hand here.
You‘re right however, that blue mana is scarce and casting Snapcaster Mage + flashbacked blue spell can be problematic sometimes. For that reason you should usually prioritise fetching your first Island over completing tron, unless there’s a big payoff on your following turn.
Welcome to mtgsalvation!
Platinum Emperion is worse than Platinum Angel as it neither prevents you from getting milled or dying through infect damage (angel is one of your few outs in the infect matchup). Emperion also has 1 more cmc, which makes the difference between casting on turn 3 or turn 4 - given that you assembled tron, of course.
Emperion is sturdier against burn damage or Dismember, but the usual artifact hate (coming from sideboard) or Path to Exile do not differ. And you preferably do not want to attack or block with the angel either but rather stall for time or use it as a lightning rod. Angel gets boarded out often for game 2 because of artifact removal and people around here debate, if it even still deserves it‘s spot without infect being around as much and Merfolk having received better tools.
Despite all that, I am still playing good ol‘ Plat Angel and it has saved my ass several times but you could easily replace it with another Wurmcoil Engine for example. Important points in my opinion are to not go too low on artifact count and keeping an eye on threat density.
One thing I‘d like to point out however @FoodChainGoblins, is that „this card is going to be in every XYZ deck“, „requires an answer immediately“, „see what it did in Legacy“ and „every deck cares about [...]“ were used when discussing the JTMS unban just recently. Modern still seems to be doing fine so far. Maybe there’s a possibility that not every deck cares about Jitte - the same way as not every blue deck runs an auto 4-of JTMS?
Many decks will try to run it, certainly. But this doesn‘t mean it suits them best.
If the Elves player has a fortunate hand, you should be dead on the next turn. I feel like Mindslaver lock is still too far and Wurmcoil Engine might not be enough against a Heritage Druid > 2x Nettle Sentinel > Craterhoof Behemoth or Chord of Calling.
He might perhaps also need some fodder inbetween to pull it off and I can’t tell from experience how likely all that is.
So I‘d play it safe.
I didn‘t get to play for the last month, but I included a package of 3 fetchlands and a Watery Grave along with the 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptors that I still want to give a try.
Not sure about it, though.
I‘m on my mobile right now, so I‘ll refrain from trying to format the decklist:
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/02-02-16-mono-u-tron/
Would Benevolent Bodyguard be played in Modern?
Kor Kindergardener
W
Kor Cleric
First strike, Deathtouch
“Hands off my children.“
0/2
EDIT: I overlooked the 4 Chalices MB. Still, going for T4 I‘d probably pack Disrupting Shoals?
I’ve had Chalice of the Void work overtime against both versions of DS. Relic of Progenitus should also help vs Goyf‘s, Traverse and their K-Commands recurring creatures.
@prdgychild007: Since the banning of Eye of Ugin I‘m not fond of Eldrazi in U-Tron anymore. Mindslaver does the job better by simply being an artifact (tutorable and can be recurred or pitched to Thirst for Knowledge). In my opinion, there’s also not much space for additional wincons left besides Wurmcoil Engine, Mindslaver, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Walking Ballista, Sundering Titan and Platinum Angel as the deck relies on a decent amount of card draw, counters and the 2 sweepers. Where would you cut?