i hate people

What are your thoughts on Imprisoned in the Moon?

its a interesting card but i cant imagine it seeing to much play unless really powerful planeswalkers are released in standard

@SimicBerserker0: Are you asking about the card in regards to it's uses in this deck? @hark: I agree that it is an interesting card however it may be used in some modern deck like Bant Eldrazi because it takes out Tron Lands and Eldrazi Temples.

What do you think of Delay as an additional/alternative Counterspell for this deck? I'm trying out a more counter heavy variant, and it has performed quite well during playtesting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

IzzetFanatic i entirely missed this was a question for modern as i only play casual and standard which is why i fought that it wasn't exactly great but i agree against tron its pretty good id honestly only sideboard it

have you tried running an ulamog the ceaseless hunger in the mainboard. I see it played a lot in other versions of the deck and i'm curious about your opinion. Love the deck by the way.

I am asking for the playability in the deck

Got 3rd at FNM w/ this deck

Hello IzzetFanatic! I"m not sure if you remember me commenting on this deck before, but I was the guy saying I was going to take it to GP charlotte and was asking for your opinion on my build. Unfortunately I made a last minute switch to my Skred Red deck because I did not believe I was comfortable enough with blue tron at the time. I believe I was wrong in hindsight. (to switch decks I mean)

Anyways, a couple questions for you as I have officially switched to blue tron as my go-to deck in modern. I noticed in one of your comments that you said you were purposefully avoiding Chalice of the Void for the mainboard as you believed there were two different types of blue tron decks. However, I see now that you have added it to the mainboard. I was just curious to your reasoning as I am also debating on whether room in the mainboard is truly worth it for the card. Sideboard absolutely, but I've already taken other measures for aggressive decks.

Have you looked at, or even tried, Trinisphere? I see that you have Bottle Gnomes in your sideboard for burn, however that is 3 mana you're giving up for them. Granted Academy Ruins can recur them, but wouldn't a more permanent solution be beneficial? Downsides to Trinisphere is that it does affect some of your spells, but once tron is alive that really doesn't matter nearly enough. Also with Sundering Titan destroying some of their lands later. I don't have it in my build, but I am trying to playtest it (when I get the chance). It is susceptible to artifact hate, but so is half of the deck. Good things is that it can definitely slow down a lot of decks in this meta right now if played on turn 3.

How has Epiphany at the Drownyard played? I have a friend who wants me to play 4 (don't think I have enough room even if I wanted to), but I wasn't sure of the card itself. It seems more of a midrange, late game card where we would already accel in most cases.

How has Mirrorpool played? Honestly I only see it copying any instant or sorcery in the form of Repeal, Cyclonic Rift, and/or Thirst for Knowledge. However the copy ability is definitely insane. I'm not sure how I feel about it entering tapped though.

Has Ghost Quarter played well for you? I usually hated seeing it. Even in tron matches (blue or red/green) it just didn't help often enough for it to matter. If I got it early I needed it for mana, other red/green tron matches they'd get tron early and can assemble it so fast I wanted all the mana I could get to counter, and only in one blue tron mirror did it actually slow him down enough (I was also countering his Expedition Maps and Repealing them).

Last time talking to you, I asked you to take a look at my deck. You noticed I played "big things" and you mentioned that you were specifically avoiding playing "big things" as you wanted to to stay on theme with your version of blue tron, a more "pure" version (please don't quote me it was a while ago and I could be completely wrong). What would you think of possibly adding in Karn Liberated and possibly Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger? The reason I add them together is they both exile things, and if you've taken measures to make sure you can get that far, then exiling whatever they have on the board by that point would definitely be beneficial. A friend pointed out to me that Sundering Titan was somewhat situational as he won't always destroy more than one land (I also play Skred, a mono red deck, and my friend plays Gifts Ungiven and has a lot of buddy lands in the deck), but Newlamog and Karn Liberated will always be able to exile permanents, whether lands or not. My argument back was over 70 percent of the meta (my guess) plays decks of three colors or more therefore he's useful a lot more than he's not. However I cannot deny the logic behind newlamog and Karn Liberated. Any thoughts?

Last question, what was the reason for taking out Fabricates and or Treasure Mages if you've added in more artifacts? Was it because of Epiphany at the Drownyard?

Onto some suggestions

One that I am playtesting on to try and solve the dilemma of fast and aggressive decks is 2 Spellskites in the mainboard. Not only does it avoid Lightning Bolt, but to get it against boggles or infect is almost a free win. Not to mention the strong blocking capability against most of the decks out there. By the time they can truly destroy it with something big, it should've already stalled long enough, and if they truly use their removal to get past it that is more beneficial for us as we can keep our Wurmcoil Engine, Sundering Titan or Platinum Angel out even longer. Also I have inserted 3 Fabricates and one Treasure Mage for my version of the deck just to make sure I get the artifact I need in any situation.

Another suggestion of cards that can help stall in this meta is Batterskull in the main. I am playtesting this one as well, however game one against burn doesn't always go our way, and a lot of creature heavy decks can, and will, second guess all of their movements if they can't get rid of Batterskull, just like they would with Wurmcoil Engine. My build has more creatures than yours, so the equiping part is also more relevant, but a thought.

For lands, since Sundering Titan is still apart of the deck, is to exchange one Island for Minamo, School at Water's Edge. I play legendary permanents in the form of creatures so it helps me a little more, but still a useful blue source that isn't destroy by Sundering Titan.

Also for lands I would suggest adding in one Wastes. Blood Moon is still a thing, and without a Wastes in the deck your Thought-Knot Seers and Spatial Contortions are turned off completely. I am still in playtesting for mine, and I truly haven't come up against Blood Moon enough to truly decide if it is worth the card slot or not. But a thought for you.

Hope any of these suggestions help, and thank you for answering any questions if you get the chance.

If you get the time I wouldn't mind any kind of criticism from you on my build, as I have also updated and adapted to the everchanging aggressive meta.

Counters, Wurmcoil, Titan, then Ugin. Beat that.

Do you think Torrential Gearhulk could have a place in this kind of deck?

Delta-117 Unfortunately Torrential Gearhulk probably wouldn't make it here. The only true targets are Fabricate, Cyclonic Rift, and possibly Thirst for Knowledge. Possibly Dismember (for his version) or Spatial Contortion, but if you are casting a 5/6 creature in order to destroy an opponents creature you're probably already losing. Personally I'd rather be casting my Wurmcoil Engine, Sundering Titan or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in place of it. Plus the two can sometimes be a problem with this deck. A lot of the other targets are counters which Torrential Gearhulk can't be cast with flash. Interesting idea overall, but the limit to only instants and sorceries make him not as productive in this type of deck. That's my personal opinion, but casting him to cast a Fabricate to search for a Wurmcoil Engine or Sundering Titan would be cool. Having only one truly viable target isn't worth the card slot.

Correction. Two *

Yeah I'm just trying to find a place for the card, as I got a Torrential Gearhulk as one of my foil promos at the earlier Kaladesh prereleases. I kind of wish it said instant or sorcery.

Those 3 prereleases were awesome, altogether from my 24 packs I got a Sword of Feast and Famine, Nissa, Vital Force, Noxious Gearhulk, Blooming Marsh, Spirebluff Canal, Fumigate and Metallurgic Summonings. I hope I can next get 1-2 Solemn Simulacrum Kaladesh inventions eventually. I wouldn't actually mind one for Wurmcoil Engine to be hopefully printed in Aether Revolt either.

wow this is literally mono-u sideboard: the deck. I love it.

this is some spicy tron

What is Squelch for in the SB? I find it difficult to know when to board them in.

@Delta-117, @bloodredChili @Pheardemons @DreadlightGaming @bogsbonnei @SimicBerserker0@ anyone else whose comment I have missed . :(.

Hey all i have just returned from an extended haetus on MTG as school had to occupy all of my time. Coming back into MTG is a difficult task to say the least. As I am coming back into modern makes this experience a little easier but I am still out of it. If you guys would mind helping me understand how decks have evolved and I in turn try to answer your missed questions I would be forever greatful. You guys have been the best audience for this deck that I could possible ask for and I would love to get back into the rythem of mtg again with your guys' help. I know a lot of you have probably forgotten that this deck and I exist but this is your call back. PS I will do my best to update the deck as well as answer all of your questions in the next couple days. This is your calling to help a fellow MTG player in need so I hope you can help me in any way you can. I might be Rusty but I still hold a stock pool of knowledge that I would like to expand upon and refine. Thanks. IzzetFanatic

For the most part, the meta has come back around to be a little more aggressive. 5-color humans is now a thing if you want to look into that. If you were here for the Death's Shadow movement, that is still going on, just a little on the outside now because the meta has adapted to it. Also, it is looking like Death's Shadow may be going an esper route to include Orzhov Charm and Leyline of Sanctity mainboard as a way of preventing hand disruption and straight to the face burn spells game one that was crippling their decks.

As far as cards go, the only one I can think of that you may want to look into is Supreme Will. I am playtesting it over Thirst for Knowledge, but I have seen multiple lists run both. I may end up going that route as well. I am also playtesting Endbringer for more draw power as well since I took out my Thirst for Knowledges. Not sure how I feel about it, but time will tell.

Counters, Wurmcoil, Titan, then Ugin. Beat that.

Here's my list that I've tried to keep "updated" through the times. I am debating on adding in All Is Dust or Cyclonic Rift mainboard to deal with the pesky aggressive meta, or possibly just upping Ugin, the Spirit Dragon to increase the chance of getting him to wipe the board. Not sure which route I want to go yet.

Lastly, I have had some EXTREME success with Platinum Emperion over Platinum Angel. The fact that Platinum Emperion can live through Dismember, double Lightning Bolt, ect is a huge advantage. Not to mention the fact that with Platinum Angel, people just keep ticking your life total down until they draw an answer. I'm not sure if you have considered it, but if you haven't, I'd say it is definitely worth playtesting.

This is all I can think of at the moment. If anything else comes to mind I'll let you know.

@Pheardemons: you my friend are the best. Glad the community hear is still strong. Thank you for the update. Your description tends to be what I have observed from my few games on trice. As to your suggestions... Platinum Emperion, while a stronger overall card, dilutes Platinum Angels purpose as a card. Often times that angel needs to be cast without Tron on turn 7. It stalls and if they kill it has hopefully stalled them a bit. The Emperion tends to fill a different role as a actually win condition but. The angle can be awin con itself if you have sufficient permission available but it's main purpose is to help you stabilize in order to really run off with the game. I will however take into account what you've suggested and test with the Emperion variation.

As to Supreme Will vs thirst... I think that some split between the cards could be optimal but that being said I can see arguments for not splitting them. I think that thirst tends to be better if you have a bunch of expendable artifacts ie. Talisman of Dominance. It also synergizes well with ruins but that being said it isn't enough of a synergy to warrant using it over the supreme will. The first ability of supreme will is not very useful I don't think especially against aggro decks and it's draw ability in general isn't super powerful. That's just my two cents. Let me know what you think about what I said.

I definitely think that Cyclonic Rift is rly good in the main as it scales well into the end game but still has relevance in the early stages of the game.

I love the idea of Endbringer but don't know where it can fit into the deck...

I think 2 ugins could be good (maybe get rid of an ostone for the second one) but more than that I'd wasted I think.

I think epiphany is more personal preference than anything else. It is more midrangy but it can have value in the early stages too. It's rly good at finding pieces of the slaver lock.

Bottle Gnomes is severely underrated. A 1/3 on turn three that can chump block and then sack for life is really really good value Imo.

I would suggest you use squelch over trickbind as the card draw is so good. That being said if I'm over looking an ability that trick bind would counter instead counter (grapeshot?) Then let me know.

How is it going using the spellskites main board?. I love the idea but am scared to actually change the list around that much.

Chalice of the Void just always has value now I think and I've started changing the deck over to be a more chalice Tron version but still thinking it over. If you can get your hands on a pair I'd try them out. 2-4 is the best number i believe.

Mirrorpool just gives really good utility I think. It makes colorless which is fine but gives you the flexibility to play around your opponent in the mid to late game. It is personal choice tho. I like ghost quarter a lot as it can get rid of quick Tron. Inkmoth Nexus... Or is it blinkmoth. I forget. And mutavault if you ever play merfolk. It can also target one of your own lands of you desperate need an island and you can't get your hands on one...

I'll do my best to update the primer eventually. Peace out bro. Thanks for helping you're the best.

Well you already got a pretty good summary above I will say.

Im just wanting to know your thoughts a bit more on Chalice of the Void, IzzetFanatic. Remember when I last mentioned a decklist of my own on June 25, 2016? Well I have since finished my own mono tron deck essentially minus a few sideboard cards :)

Pretty much built the thing entirely off of trades lol. Bought a friend 2 chalices several months back and gave him an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger also to get all the tron lands, the 2 Wurmcoils, playset of Remands, Expedition Maps, etc.

But yeah one more thing, I about 4 weeks ago was buying a pack of the newest set Ixalan, when I thought well its pay week afterall so why not give a try at a set with expeditions/masterpieces for fun?

And from a lone Aether Revolt pack I opened a Chalice of the Void invocation which was pretty awesome. I was quite tempted to keep it for tron, but modern fnm only happens around here at my lgs about once a month sadly and I havent bothered with going to any larger tournaments besides 1 local modern pptq, yet so I sold it for store credit with the store Face to Face Games (doubt you heard of this store Im guessing as its a Canadian one).I got enough credit with them anyways to now either buy 2 regular Chalice of the Voids for my tron deck or spend it largely on a ton of edh cards (I have 8 edh decks that could use upgrades lol). Im unsure whether I should buy more regular chalices, as I will be honest Im not a fan of the art of them in comparison to the gorgeous masterpieces (but they are so costly!) and even the regular are still a bit much. Im wondering if maybe I should hold off on either choice until maybe Masters 25 (an anniversary masters set that comes out in March) to see whether chalice gets a reprint. I would love to get these cheaper so I could then get a ton of edh staples too!

Such a long response, my bad about that!

I kind of forgot to get to my one of my original questions, how do you find Chalice of the Void performs anyways in the deck?

I know Eldrazi tron variants play generally 4 of these, but how do you find their slight inclusion here?

Oh and by the way thought I would point out that Iconic Masters releases soon, and it comes with new art for both a reprint of Oblivion Stone, and Condescend which I thought you might be interested in.

@Delta-117: Hey bro! It's good to hear from you and nevermind the long response as I am a big advocate for clarity even if it means a lengthy message. If you already have 2 chalices than I would say upgrade your EDH deck. But if not I think boarding 2 of them at least in the sideboard is really important. Additionally it is really cool to have a playset of chalices because you can do a lot of cool things with chalice blue tron

IzzetFanatic. I do understand that Platinum Angel serves a purpose that Platinum Emperion cannot fill. For the few decks that still try to run the Hive Mind and Pact combo (Slaughter Pact, Pact of Negation, and Summoner's Pact) Platinum Angel can stop those decks. However, 99% of the time, we are using it to stay alive through some sort of damage or life loss, which Platinum Emperion literately stops their deck entirely. This may be a personal preference, but it is definitely the route I have decided to go.

As for the Supreme Will argument, I disagree that the first ability isn't relevant. Mana Leak is a staple counterspell in modern for a reason. Granted, two mana vs three absolutely is something that changes the value of the card, but we can still consider it a hard counter in modern. Then, if it is something we feel we don't need (losing and trying to desperately find something, we have a lot of other counters in hand, or counters just don't seem to matter against the deck) we can filter. It has the same CMC of Thirst for Knowledge so holding up the same amount of mana to counter something we don't like or couldn't deal with, or Anticipate for four cards is great utility. I haven't done the split as I am trying the deck without the Talisman of Dominance, but I haven't been able to playtest the Supreme Wills enough to guarantee the slot. I feel optimistic based on how it has played thus far though.

Spellskites have been a huge improvement to the deck. I have stalled many an aggressive deck until I got what I needed. I would highly recommend this in the meta that we are in right now. Granted, somewhat better with Thirst for Knowledge as it can be pitched if not needed in the deck, but still relevant. My favorite interaction with it so far was equipping a Batterskull onto it against a burn matchup. I looked at him and said, "Do you really want to continue?" He tried, but after the second attack he couldn't get anywhere haha.

So I did try Epiphany at the Drownyard, and just didn't care for it. Maybe it is the way I built the deck, but I hated to see it, rarely gave me what I needed, and I usually had to choose between holding up mana to cast it, or one of my big things. In most cases, the big things won due to the situation. If you've had success, I may try it again.

As for Trickbind over Squelch I took it because of the triggered ability part, and the fact of my opponent not being able to play anything else. Not sure you know about the Vizier of Remedies and Devoted Druid combo yet (forgot to mention it above), but they make infinite mana, filter their deck with Duskwatch Recruiter, then cast an infinite Walking Ballista to ping you to death. Trickbind can stop any piece of that combo. It also does stop the storm mechanic. Your opponent will get the original cast, but not any of the copys. Not to mention, split second seriously comes in handy. I would recommend you playtesting it over Squelch. I do not play on making the switch anytime soon, or at all most likely. I'm even looking to add a third copy into my deck because of the success I've had with it.

You seem to like Epiphany at the Drownyard, but looking at your list that would be the card to look at replacing for Endbringer if that is something you really wanted to try. Endbringer helps you draw which Epiphany at the Drownyard essentially does as well. Obviously creatures are easier to get rid of, but if it was something you truly wanted to playtest I'd say try that. As for Spellskite, maybe try replacing Spatial Contortion. I took them out of my version as it seemed that I was constantly holding them. Occasionally, I would use it on a Wurmcoil Engine to gain some extra life, but that is nothing more than a cute interaction. Also, have you seen Filigree Familiar? Is the draw more worth only gaining one life less than Bottle Gnomes? Being Bottle Gnomes is your interaction against burn, I thought I'd bring this to your attention.