I can imagine there emerging a synergy-based deck finding just the right combination of 1-drop, 2-drop and 3-drop to make this card perform well. A graveyard subtheme is a given with the existence of Golgari in the block.
Anyone else think the set symbol looks like a foteress's gate?
It's towers with walkways bridging the space in-between. From someone going underneath the bridge that's like a tunnel/gate. So, yeah. It's not quite Gatecrash, but thematically that is what the symbol is meant to invoke.
To make this better or on par with Jund then don't we have to change our philosophy of what Esper can offer? The primary reason to add black right now in a deck like this would be to add the trio of 1cc power: Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek.
What makes white blue, white black and blue black push it over the edge? Tidehollow Sculler and Geist of Saint Traft come to mind?
To make that work, we would need some disruption before that, or card advantage after that? I think a creature version would be good with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.
After all this, we need to come up with a plan to keep the momentum going or at least strike hard and fast? I was thinking Death's Shadow which makes Ranger of Eos better, but can we really justify it?
I hope I gave enough of a stepping stone to find a new path for Esper Midrange?
Towards your Gemstone Caverns Tron (or "Lucky Tron" as it comes to mind with those fancy luck counters), plus your Academy Ruins, I would like to mention the elder "SlaverTron" version of this deck. It usually ran the Mindslaver-Lock instead of Emrakul as it's finisher. So I could see enough reasons to try that out again nowadays, as your 4th Coil or maybe only in your SB as a 2-3-of.
This is what I've played this Saturday at a 44 player Modern event.
The sideboard was so bad, I feel so bad posting it. I thought I was being clever...
I ended up Top 16 with 4-2 (with bad tie breaks)
I have never played Tron in a tournament and I can honestly say that it was a great learning curve for me.
Here is how the matches went:
Round 1: Suicide Aggro
Game 1: I stabilize after Thoughtseized something that was not Wurmcoil Engine and I won after that.
Game 2: I should have won here, but like a total noob I Ancient Stirring'ed for a TKS instead of ANY 4th land and proceed to not draw a land or an out for 3 turns.
Game 3: He murders me quickly.
1-2
0-1
Round 2: Grixis Control
Game 1: Natural Tron on the play and I Karn his tapped Steam Vents and steam roll from there.
Game 2: Natural Tron again but no big plays. He resolves two Ancestral Visions but he cannot compete with Karn > Ugin > Ulamog drawn in that order.
2-0
1-1
Round 3: Infect
Game 1: I manage to stifle his board with Oblivion Stone into Inkmoth Nexus, but he drew a creature on the crucial turn and beat me.
Game 2: When he played the 3rd Inkmoth and I sat with a hand of 2 Pyroclasms I scooped.
0-2
1-2
Side Note: I'm bleak at this point... I am ready to drop and go, but coming top 16 gets your prize entrance back so I decided to carry on.
Round 4: Abzan Company (he was having terrible bad luck this event, and I was surprised to see him at 1-2)
Game 1: He goes Infinite Life with no Collected Company/Chord, but I manage to control his board and ride Ulamog to victory
Game 2: Pyroclasm into Kozilek's Return into Oblivion Stone into Karn makes him scoop.
2-0
2-2
Round 5: Naya Burn
Game 1: He makes a crucial mistake by attacking my Karn on 10 loyalty instead of me and I manage to win with two resolved Wurmcoils
Game 2: I stabilize with Wurmcoil Engine, but he proceeds to top deck the only three cards that could make him win. Path my Wurmcoil, Destructive Revelry my Oblivion Stone, Atarka's Command on a Swiftspear to deal 5 the turn before I would have dropped a Wurmcoil Engine and Spellskite.
Game 3: Thought-Knot Seers work on his hand and he loses steam and I eventually grind him out with Wurmcoil and Spellskite protecting it.
2-1
3-2
Round 6: Jund
Game 1: He drops my hand fairly quickly, but a Sea Gate Wreckage helps me draw a business spell every turn and I manage to grind him out.
Game 2: Same as Game 1 but since he is a slow player we get to time and I stall long enough to survive with 3 life left.
1-0
4-2
Made 16th and got my entrance cash back. I got happy as I learned the deck pretty fast and it is ALWAYS worth popping eggs in hopes to draw business. I have done that very effectively and people sigh when you draw a Karn/Threat,etc... off an egg. It's awesome.
I have concocted this sideboard for a diverse Meta: I'm running quite a standard RG Tron (4x TKS, 1x World Breaker build.)
Sideboard:
3x Nature's Claim In: Aggro, Affinity, Tron, Ad Nauseam, Unknown Artifact/Enchantments
3x Spellskite In: Aggro, Jund / Grixis, Infect, Bogles
2x Relic of Progenitus In: Abzan, Jund / Grixis, Living End, Unknown Graveyard Decks
3x Warping Wail In: Infect, Scapeshift, Living End, Land Desctruction, Unknown Sorceries/ */1s
2x Crumble to Dust In: Infect, Tron, Eldrazi, Unknown Lands
1x Slaughter Games In: Scapeshift, Through the Breach, Ad Nauseam, Unknown Combo Decks
1x Torpor Orb In: BW Processors, Abzan, KikiChord, Unknown EtB Based Decks
I've found 3x Relic to be decent due to both the 'yard control and the draw. Of course, now that we cannot so easily dig up our 'skites perhaps playing 3 is right minded. I SB Nature's Claim, but not against mirrors so I'm curious: what do you target?
In South Africa, the Tron majority think that UW Tron is superior so I go for their Signets. Also, in the Mirror, it forces an activation out of Oblivion Stone and then I can drop Karn/Threat etc...
I think 3x Relics are good too, but the amount of EtB deck in SA is too damn high and I need to consider Torpor Orb
This card has been in my Death Cloud Sideboard for 2 events, and I've sided in all but 1 matchup. I am maining this card now as it is one of my MVP cards and it hoses Abzan Company to the ground.
I will post a full report on my decklists tonight.
Honestly, Smallpox is amazing in that it slows the entire game down, leaving more time to set up a great Death Cloud.
The Bloodghast came into the deck because the guy that was going to lend me Liliana of the Veil didn't come with them. I didn't particularly like Bloodghast, but helped me win one game. I sided it out almost every match-up.
Since I started playing Death Cloud I felt that casting Death Cloud always resulted in a win or a very close game.
Death Cloud also makes a near unwinnable position into a decent level playing field. I have decided that playing 4x Death Cloud is the way to go ad build the deck around resolving the Death Cloud each and every game. I play it as a Combo deck first and then a Control deck.
I have played in two events with the new list/approach and lost one game due to being greedy with my hands against Colourless Eldrazi (before ban)
Here are my matches: Event 1 - 33 players - 5 Rounds
Match 1: Abzan Company, great player, was a Worlds contender in 2009/2010.
Game 1, resolve Death Cloud for 3 against a board of Melira, Seer, Blood Artist and 3 lands with 3 cards in hand. He had 2x Paths so he opted to Path his creatures for extra mana. He could not recover after I Eternal Witnessed a Land, returned Bloodghast and then played Garruk when I hit land drop 4.
Game 2, Resolve Death Cloud for 3 against a Kitchen Finks and Seer and he had 4 lands and 3 cards in hand. Brutal. I then follow up with STE and land drops to get Curse of Death's Hold online. He concedes after that.
Match 2: Mono Red 8 Whack
Game 1, I smallpoxed turn 2 and it turned out that he kept a dodgy two-lander and he could never recover after that.
Game 2, I side in Feed the Clans. He came out blazing but I had a kitchen finks into tasigur + Feed the clans. I won on 3 life. This was tight.
Match 3: GB Critical Mass Elves
Game 1, He churns out Elves so blistering fast but didn't have the combo turn 3 and I had a Signet into Damnation. Then later Death Cloud for two and he concedes.
Game 2, I kill key targets whilst building my mana up. Get to 5 and Curse of Death's Hold, twice. He concedes shortly after I cast Garruk.
Match 4: Colorless Eldrazi
Game 1, kept a one-lander with Search for Tomorrow, Damnation and Garruk. Didn't get land number 3 and until turn 5 and 6. The player had a slow start and had a Clutch Thought Knot Seer before I cast Damnation... :/
Game 2, kept another one-lander with 2x STE and 1x Golgari signet... didn't see the 2nd land until my turn 3. I thoughtseized my turn 2 and saw nothing relevant. He then topdecks a TKS to get my Smallpox which would have killed his one of his two Temples and Endless one for 4.
Match 5: 4c Kiki-Chord
Game 1, Ripped his hand apart with Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek and on the turn before would have searched for Kiki/Angel win I Death Cloud for 6 and he concedes.
Game 2, Used Smallpox, Abrupt Decay and IoK to stunt his board position and then Death Cloud for 3. He tried to recover but I cast 2x Curse of Death's Hold and he could not combo off with Kiki and was trying to beat me down with a 1/2 Restoration Angel.
Event 2: Local 10 player FNM
Match 1: UG Infect (kinda budget)
Game 1, I had two Abrupt Decays in hand and could stunt the poison, but I was left on one poison when I finally Death Clouded for 3 and got rid of everything.
Game 2, This wasn't even close. I curved out majestically and Death Clouded for 3 with a Garruk in Play.
Match 2: Living End
Game 1, Smallpox and Death Cloud for 3 did a number on his lands while I IoK'd his only cascade in hand.
Game 2, Sided in Scavenging Ooze, got two in my opening hand it was pretty easy from there.
Match 3: 8Rack
Game 1, I went to 0 cards fast but I drew like a champ. Garruk into Tasigur into Abrupt Decay to clear his bridge. Left on 3 life.
Game 2, He kept a poor hand and I dominated from the get-go
Match 4: White Black Tokens
Game 1, I managed to discard his token producers and then Death Cloud.
Game 2, this was close as he played an early Gideon, Intangible Virtue and Lingering Souls. I couldn't Death Cloud effectively. I had Garruk into Damnation and then Man-Lands to deal with Gideon. After the beautiful start he had, he ended up drawing badly from turn 4 onwards. I won with card advantage from the Death Cloud and Man lands.
Overall I have 8-1 with this deck
All my matches were 2-0 and the one game I lost I was 0-2
I will have to post two decklists if you need them. One for each event and my thought process.
I bought A Tournament Pack in Odyssey and pulled a Foil Delaying Shield, Aegis of Honor and Petrified Field (Can't remember the other rare if there was one outside the foil)
But in Judgment I opened my first actual booster pack and got Silver Seraph
The Precons I bought were BR / UG / RG and then the Mono G Judgment Precon with Thriss, so guess which colour I lacked most? heheh
I'm well aware that it is never getting printed in standard but a friend of mine said that "if it was reprinted in standard, it would only see some fringe play at best"
I'm highly skeptical. Thus I'm asking what kinda play would memory jar see in standard and would it be broken?
Bringer of the White Dawn and Mindslaver
What makes white blue, white black and blue black push it over the edge? Tidehollow Sculler and Geist of Saint Traft come to mind?
To make that work, we would need some disruption before that, or card advantage after that? I think a creature version would be good with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.
After all this, we need to come up with a plan to keep the momentum going or at least strike hard and fast? I was thinking Death's Shadow which makes Ranger of Eos better, but can we really justify it?
I hope I gave enough of a stepping stone to find a new path for Esper Midrange?
He is using Gemstone Mine and not Gemstone Caverns
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Sea-Gate Wreckage
1 Forest
1 Eldrazi Temple
1 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Thought-Knot Seer
1 World Breaker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Pyroclasm
1 Kozilek's Return
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Oblivion Stone
3 Spellskite
3 Nature's Claim
1 Sundering Titan
1 Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn
2 Dismember
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Void Winnower
1 Grafdigger's Cage
This is what I've played this Saturday at a 44 player Modern event.
The sideboard was so bad, I feel so bad posting it. I thought I was being clever...
I ended up Top 16 with 4-2 (with bad tie breaks)
I have never played Tron in a tournament and I can honestly say that it was a great learning curve for me.
Here is how the matches went:
Round 1: Suicide Aggro
Game 1: I stabilize after Thoughtseized something that was not Wurmcoil Engine and I won after that.
Game 2: I should have won here, but like a total noob I Ancient Stirring'ed for a TKS instead of ANY 4th land and proceed to not draw a land or an out for 3 turns.
Game 3: He murders me quickly.
1-2
0-1
Round 2: Grixis Control
Game 1: Natural Tron on the play and I Karn his tapped Steam Vents and steam roll from there.
Game 2: Natural Tron again but no big plays. He resolves two Ancestral Visions but he cannot compete with Karn > Ugin > Ulamog drawn in that order.
2-0
1-1
Round 3: Infect
Game 1: I manage to stifle his board with Oblivion Stone into Inkmoth Nexus, but he drew a creature on the crucial turn and beat me.
Game 2: When he played the 3rd Inkmoth and I sat with a hand of 2 Pyroclasms I scooped.
0-2
1-2
Side Note: I'm bleak at this point... I am ready to drop and go, but coming top 16 gets your prize entrance back so I decided to carry on.
Round 4: Abzan Company (he was having terrible bad luck this event, and I was surprised to see him at 1-2)
Game 1: He goes Infinite Life with no Collected Company/Chord, but I manage to control his board and ride Ulamog to victory
Game 2: Pyroclasm into Kozilek's Return into Oblivion Stone into Karn makes him scoop.
2-0
2-2
Round 5: Naya Burn
Game 1: He makes a crucial mistake by attacking my Karn on 10 loyalty instead of me and I manage to win with two resolved Wurmcoils
Game 2: I stabilize with Wurmcoil Engine, but he proceeds to top deck the only three cards that could make him win. Path my Wurmcoil, Destructive Revelry my Oblivion Stone, Atarka's Command on a Swiftspear to deal 5 the turn before I would have dropped a Wurmcoil Engine and Spellskite.
Game 3: Thought-Knot Seers work on his hand and he loses steam and I eventually grind him out with Wurmcoil and Spellskite protecting it.
2-1
3-2
Round 6: Jund
Game 1: He drops my hand fairly quickly, but a Sea Gate Wreckage helps me draw a business spell every turn and I manage to grind him out.
Game 2: Same as Game 1 but since he is a slow player we get to time and I stall long enough to survive with 3 life left.
1-0
4-2
Made 16th and got my entrance cash back. I got happy as I learned the deck pretty fast and it is ALWAYS worth popping eggs in hopes to draw business. I have done that very effectively and people sigh when you draw a Karn/Threat,etc... off an egg. It's awesome.
In South Africa, the Tron majority think that UW Tron is superior so I go for their Signets. Also, in the Mirror, it forces an activation out of Oblivion Stone and then I can drop Karn/Threat etc...
I think 3x Relics are good too, but the amount of EtB deck in SA is too damn high and I need to consider Torpor Orb
Sideboard:
3x Nature's Claim In: Aggro, Affinity, Tron, Ad Nauseam, Unknown Artifact/Enchantments
3x Spellskite In: Aggro, Jund / Grixis, Infect, Bogles
2x Relic of Progenitus In: Abzan, Jund / Grixis, Living End, Unknown Graveyard Decks
3x Warping Wail In: Infect, Scapeshift, Living End, Land Desctruction, Unknown Sorceries/ */1s
2x Crumble to Dust In: Infect, Tron, Eldrazi, Unknown Lands
1x Slaughter Games In: Scapeshift, Through the Breach, Ad Nauseam, Unknown Combo Decks
1x Torpor Orb In: BW Processors, Abzan, KikiChord, Unknown EtB Based Decks
Honestly, Smallpox is amazing in that it slows the entire game down, leaving more time to set up a great Death Cloud.
The Bloodghast came into the deck because the guy that was going to lend me Liliana of the Veil didn't come with them. I didn't particularly like Bloodghast, but helped me win one game. I sided it out almost every match-up.
Death Cloud also makes a near unwinnable position into a decent level playing field. I have decided that playing 4x Death Cloud is the way to go ad build the deck around resolving the Death Cloud each and every game. I play it as a Combo deck first and then a Control deck.
I have played in two events with the new list/approach and lost one game due to being greedy with my hands against Colourless Eldrazi (before ban)
Here are my matches: Event 1 - 33 players - 5 Rounds
Match 1: Abzan Company, great player, was a Worlds contender in 2009/2010.
Game 1, resolve Death Cloud for 3 against a board of Melira, Seer, Blood Artist and 3 lands with 3 cards in hand. He had 2x Paths so he opted to Path his creatures for extra mana. He could not recover after I Eternal Witnessed a Land, returned Bloodghast and then played Garruk when I hit land drop 4.
Game 2, Resolve Death Cloud for 3 against a Kitchen Finks and Seer and he had 4 lands and 3 cards in hand. Brutal. I then follow up with STE and land drops to get Curse of Death's Hold online. He concedes after that.
Match 2: Mono Red 8 Whack
Game 1, I smallpoxed turn 2 and it turned out that he kept a dodgy two-lander and he could never recover after that.
Game 2, I side in Feed the Clans. He came out blazing but I had a kitchen finks into tasigur + Feed the clans. I won on 3 life. This was tight.
Match 3: GB Critical Mass Elves
Game 1, He churns out Elves so blistering fast but didn't have the combo turn 3 and I had a Signet into Damnation. Then later Death Cloud for two and he concedes.
Game 2, I kill key targets whilst building my mana up. Get to 5 and Curse of Death's Hold, twice. He concedes shortly after I cast Garruk.
Match 4: Colorless Eldrazi
Game 1, kept a one-lander with Search for Tomorrow, Damnation and Garruk. Didn't get land number 3 and until turn 5 and 6. The player had a slow start and had a Clutch Thought Knot Seer before I cast Damnation... :/
Game 2, kept another one-lander with 2x STE and 1x Golgari signet... didn't see the 2nd land until my turn 3. I thoughtseized my turn 2 and saw nothing relevant. He then topdecks a TKS to get my Smallpox which would have killed his one of his two Temples and Endless one for 4.
Match 5: 4c Kiki-Chord
Game 1, Ripped his hand apart with Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek and on the turn before would have searched for Kiki/Angel win I Death Cloud for 6 and he concedes.
Game 2, Used Smallpox, Abrupt Decay and IoK to stunt his board position and then Death Cloud for 3. He tried to recover but I cast 2x Curse of Death's Hold and he could not combo off with Kiki and was trying to beat me down with a 1/2 Restoration Angel.
Event 2: Local 10 player FNM
Match 1: UG Infect (kinda budget)
Game 1, I had two Abrupt Decays in hand and could stunt the poison, but I was left on one poison when I finally Death Clouded for 3 and got rid of everything.
Game 2, This wasn't even close. I curved out majestically and Death Clouded for 3 with a Garruk in Play.
Match 2: Living End
Game 1, Smallpox and Death Cloud for 3 did a number on his lands while I IoK'd his only cascade in hand.
Game 2, Sided in Scavenging Ooze, got two in my opening hand it was pretty easy from there.
Match 3: 8Rack
Game 1, I went to 0 cards fast but I drew like a champ. Garruk into Tasigur into Abrupt Decay to clear his bridge. Left on 3 life.
Game 2, He kept a poor hand and I dominated from the get-go
Match 4: White Black Tokens
Game 1, I managed to discard his token producers and then Death Cloud.
Game 2, this was close as he played an early Gideon, Intangible Virtue and Lingering Souls. I couldn't Death Cloud effectively. I had Garruk into Damnation and then Man-Lands to deal with Gideon. After the beautiful start he had, he ended up drawing badly from turn 4 onwards. I won with card advantage from the Death Cloud and Man lands.
Overall I have 8-1 with this deck
All my matches were 2-0 and the one game I lost I was 0-2
I will have to post two decklists if you need them. One for each event and my thought process.
In South Africa, we have a monthly Premium Modern event and the only Scapeshift list of the day came 2nd, after a top 8.
But in Judgment I opened my first actual booster pack and got Silver Seraph
The Precons I bought were BR / UG / RG and then the Mono G Judgment Precon with Thriss, so guess which colour I lacked most? heheh
Steel Wall and either Viridian Longbow or Hankyu could go a long way.
My main tappers would be
Or we should just do the hard to kill creatures with equipment brews?
I know what you're trying to say - but you cannot re-print a card on condition to ban it in another format.
It will break Modern