[Community Discussion]: Modern Chat
Modern forum
Posted on April 25, 2015, 8:42 p.m. by Epochalyptik
This thread is dedicated entirely to Modern. Feel free to post your thoughts on the meta, ideas for your next decklist, and just chat generally about the format!
Of course, you can always start a new thread if you're interested in discussing one particular aspect of the format; this thread should be used for the quick thoughts and informal questions about the format.
This discussion will be ongoing; you are free to post here as long as you're on topic.
This is NOT a deck help thread. Please do not spam deck help requests.
JexInfinite says... #2
U Tron has never really been successful past FNM, and even then, RG Tron is just better. UW Gifts Tron is a bit better, but dies to mana issues all the time.
Is it going to be traditional GW Midrange, with efficiently costed creatures, and basically no spells?
April 26, 2015 8:38 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #3
U-Tron I consider positioned really nicely. Wurmcoil Engine completely destroys Abzan and RDW. U-Tron also has tonnes of wraths and nonconditional removal in the form of their planeswalkers, which make it a really tough contender against abzan.
Basically, build it with 4x engine, 3x O-stone, 2x karn and 1x ugin and you are good to go.
April 26, 2015 8:39 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #4
Well. GR-Tron definitely is better in this meta because you need those pyroclasms.
April 26, 2015 8:41 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #5
and it is more consistent at a turn 3 engine.
Man, I need to think my posts through before posting, I've always had more to say that could have been added to the last one.
April 26, 2015 8:42 a.m.
buildingadeck says... #6
Not quite. I'm running 4 of both Path and Selesnya Charm and 3 Journey to Nowhere, and I have a surprise T4 Garruk Relentless Flip. In many ways it's kind of aggro-control. The decklist is on my profile.
As for U-Tron, I know one guy was playing it at the Pro Tour, but I don't know where he finished. I just know I want to play a control shell in Modern, and it seems like the best one on a budget.
April 26, 2015 8:43 a.m.
buildingadeck says... #7
Femme_Fatale: Yes, I agree with Wurmcoil Engine and what you said about GR Tron. With that being said, GR Tron is generally $300-400 more expensive to build than U-Tron.
As far as Karn goes, I've considered him, but I've heard that he's simply not as efficient in U-Tron simply because the Tron lands are far less likely to be out by T3 than in GR Tron. This is my current decklist. The worst thing that can happen is Path to Exile. That card is terribly annoying against Engine.
April 26, 2015 8:48 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #8
If you're playing Karn, Wurmcoil and O-Stone in U Tron, I think it's time you started playing RG Tron. The main problem is that all your land just gets blown up by Fulminator Mage or Blood Moon, and you have unwinnable games. You win almost all G1s, though, except against Burn, which is an impossible matchup.
April 26, 2015 8:57 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #9
@buildingadeck U-Tron is pretty well positioned. I always loved the mixture of counterspells and giant fatties, you should be able to do fine at FNM and most local tournaments.
@Femme_Fatale Your command could only ever cost three if they drew one card. A instant speed Divination counterspell is waaaaaay too good.
@JexInfinite It really depends on your meta. I'd say 1 Rending Volley, 2-3 of Combust, and barely any Roast. You can normally race people without needing Roast
@NorthernRaven Mill needs another good mill card, like Glimpse the Unthinkable. Currently it's like Burn except your spells are like Lava Spikes in that they only hit players, and they have much more life than usual. Although another Archive Trap would also push the deck into a good place.
@Final_Origins Way too slow. That combo is best left to EDH
April 26, 2015 9:03 a.m.
buildingadeck says... #10
I don't think burn is that impossible if you have the right opening hand. Platinum Emperion ruins burn. As long as you can counter early on, it's doable. Just hard. The hardest decks to beat are decks with hand control.
If I were to move on to try to play in PPTQs and such, would the general consensus be to abandon U-Tron?
April 26, 2015 9:10 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #11
Holy crow you Bottle Gnomes were busy since I last posted! Elephant and Jeyfish tribal meets Tron could be interesting lol.
Mean, Almost Green, Not Weenies is the basis of my idea posted on page 1. I thought about running Courser or Finks main to help combat RDW and other Aggro. I also need to balance with disruption for other decks like Twin and Abzan.
On another note, I think that Tezz Esper control would be freaking amazing. I'd also like to see a mono 
Tron list do well.
April 26, 2015 9:43 a.m.
@aeonstoremyliver: Would it be cool if someone modernized Maverick?
It's a pretty cool deck, and you being the legacy player, what do you think?
Also, the name 'Maverick' is awesome.
April 26, 2015 9:47 a.m.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is Maverick? The name, it's so... Top Gun, it intrigues me.
April 26, 2015 9:53 a.m.
I went to a PPTQ yesterday. We were 69 players and I went 5-1 with Dark Confijund and lost in the semis of top8 against U/R Storm. I played against a very diverse meta, with clearly midrange dominating.
First round I play againt a BUG-delver brew and Olivia Voldaren just wins 2 games single-handedly.
Second round I face off against Norin Soul Sisters. G1 I can stick my 2nd Huntmaster of the Fells Flip and clear his board with cheap removal. He doesn't find an answer and get's beaten down in a few turns. G2 he keeps a 1-lander and doesn't find a 2nd land until the game is super far out of reach.
Third round my opponent plays BUG midrange (similar to the Fabiano-list). I win G1 pretty easily on the back of a Tarmogoyf that I bought back with Kolaghan's Command. G2 he outvalues me with Tasigur, the Golden Fang onto an empty board with Cryptic Command back-up in his hand. G3 Huntmaster of the Fells Flip is the all-star once again.
Fourth round. My only loss until the semis. I play against 4C-Gifts control. I lose G1 to a string of topdecks, I get my opponent down to 2 (through three Lingering Souls) and at his last possible draw-step he finds his Gifts Ungiven and the turn after that topdecks Thragtusk so my burn spells were no out anymore. I board incorrectly for G2 and have a bad draw with dead cards, and he Iona, Shield of Emeria + Unburial Rites me out of the game on T4.
My fifth round opponent is playing Abzan and he had some ridiculous draws. G1 he casts 2 Siege Rhinos and I don't find removal or a creature to deal with them. G2 he resolves 3 Siege Rhino he top-decked in a row while being hellbent. However he makes a crucial combat mistake, by miscounting the available creatures in all graveyards. He attacks with 1 Siege Rhino + Noble Hierarch-trigger and I just eat it with my Scavenging Ooze. We have a bit of a stall-mate but I draw my Chandra, Pyromaster and Liliana of the Veil and can break open the board-stall. There was a close moment when my opponent drew Path to Exile to get rid of my Scavenging Ooze but I in return drew Terminate, killed his Tasigur, the Golden Fang, made him sacrifice a Siege Rhino by cashing in my Liliana of the Veil and dinged his 2nd Siege Rhino that it couldn't block and swing for the win. G3 again he resolves 3 Siege Rhino but at that point I have a very stable board and I'm able to Maelstrom Pulse all 3 of them.
in my sixth round I play against Collected Company Abzan with the new Anafenza / Kitchen Finks combo. We go to a G3 and it's super close. I play a Dark Confidant already on 9 life but I get lucky and draw 4 lands or so in a row off of him and can convert the CA to a win. My opponent was a bit salty at the end - but that's understandable we were playing for Top8 of this PPTQ.
my quarterfinal opponent was playing mardu tokens with high-end threats like Butcher of the Horde. G1 I stick an Olivia Voldaren against his 2 left-over Young Pyromancer-tokens and take an easy win as he bricks 2 draw steps where he only found lands. G2 I have pretty good draws again and Huntmaster of the Fells Flip followed by a Kitchen Finks put the game out of reach for him. He was super salty after the match and told me I was only able to win, because I drew godlike and he only got bad draws. I teased him a bit more by answering: "My deck's designed to to that." He soon after stormed off - good riddance.
in the Semifinal I face off against U/R Ascension Storm. G1 I have him dead on board but he goes off on his T4 (I couldn't find an Abrupt Decay for his 2nd Pyromancer Ascension. G2 comes down to a crucial turn. He plays Goblin Electromancer on T2, I have only a tapped land for my 3rd land-drop and can cast either Inquisition of Kozilek or Abrupt Decay his Goblin Electromancer. I decide for the latter and he proceeds to topdeck a Blood Moon to lock me out of the game.
Overall I was pretty satisfied with the mainboard. I think there are some changes I would make to the sideboard: - 3 Fulminator Mage + 1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Thundermaw Hellkite, + 1 Jund Charm. Right now there is no need for Fulminator Mage, I haven't faced a single match-up where I'd like to have him. Especially with running Tectonic Edge in the mainboard. I really wished I had Anger of the Gods against the CC-Combo deck, also Thundermaw Hellkite can be a very big threat in grindy games. Also I want a 6th card to side in in grindy games like against all the B/G/x decks where I side out all my discard spells anyways. The Jund Charm is also mainly for mass removal but also for a versatile angle to attack graveyard based decks.
April 26, 2015 9:53 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #17
@Putrefy Very nice! Jund is really sweet right now. Still, I can't believe you fought through triple Siege Rhino, that's almost unbeatable in a midrange matchup.
@Skulloelegy Maverick is G/W Hatebears. Just that Legacy has much classier naming schemes.
April 26, 2015 10:04 a.m.
Ah, I see. Guessing since it's legacy it has far more game-breaking creatures too.
April 26, 2015 10:05 a.m.
@lemmingllama & @Skulloelegy:
Well, not exactly. It's pretty much Junk infused Hatebears+ A fuck-load of tutors.
And yea, it has the best deck name in Magic. Yep, better than Jund.
April 26, 2015 10:07 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #21
Skulloelegy it's kinda like GW Hatebears, but a more potent Legacy deck. It has some Stax/Tax effects like Thalia and Teeg, with tool box stuff like GSZ, KoTR, and Stoneforge. It's still a potent deck in Legacy. Here is an article on the subject.
Without GSZ, SFM, Top, and Library to help with card advantage, the next best thing is Hatebears. I still like the idea, and some of the cards are Modern legal...
April 26, 2015 10:07 a.m.
Ha, Scryb Ranger -- I ran those in a deck with Desecration Demon for a while as a rock combo.
Surprised it isn't used more, really.
April 26, 2015 10:10 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #23
I would go with CC bant bears if I were to go to a PPTQ. It just works so well. Try facing a field of Kira, Sylvan, Magus of the Moon, and Mirran all on the board on turn 4.
April 26, 2015 10:14 a.m.
That's actually not very hard to face...
April 26, 2015 10:16 a.m.
Femme_Fatale - Tron is a hard matchup for BG/x but now that we have Path to Exile it has got significantly easier. Though all in all, Tron is bad.
Though we are running a shit ton of Tectonic Edge / Maelstrom Pulse / Fulminator Mage / Thoughtseize / Path to Exile etc.
April 26, 2015 10:18 a.m.
@ChiefBell: Jund has a few problems with Tron, but as you said, it still isn't a bad match-up for us.
April 26, 2015 10:25 a.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #28
Speaking as a burn player, if you can stall me out long enough to get a Wurmcoil, I'm fucked.
Burn literally cannot deal with Wurmcoil.
April 26, 2015 10:25 a.m.
Burn cannot deal with Batterskull either usually - and it costs a bit less.
April 26, 2015 10:28 a.m.
April 26, 2015 10:30 a.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #32
Sideboard, yes.
Lol guys should I run Path in my Burn sideboard now that I have white cards
April 26, 2015 10:30 a.m.
@ThisIsBullshit: I've seemen a few lists do it. If you do, don't run more than two tough.
April 26, 2015 10:32 a.m.
Scorprix - destroying a Wurmcoil Engine does not do much.....
April 26, 2015 10:33 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #39
Boarding in 3-4 Chalice of the Voids against burn seems to be really fun. Because you just need 2 to shut down their entire deck. The first one for 2 and the second one for 1. You don't want to do it the other way around, otherwise they'll Destructive Revelry it.
It is if you are facing Abzan Scorprix. First, Kira requires two pieces of removal. Second, Blood moon on a stick makes their mana base cry in shame. Third, Mirran puts them on a very tight clock and stops any and all Liliana of the Veils.
April 26, 2015 10:34 a.m.
RG tron is great....at times. I think it's still a little too inconsistent to ever be in the top 4 decks of the format, but it is good and you can win a few free games just by playing a turn 3 karn.
April 26, 2015 10:36 a.m.
NoPantsParade says... #46
ThisIsBullshit, I go back and forth on running two/three Path to Exiles in my list, but it has been pretty handy at times. It takes out Worms, Kor Firewalkers, and friends. It's either the Paths or Volcanic Fallouts, and I haven't decided which one to run in the SB for GP Charlotte.
April 26, 2015 10:38 a.m.
Well. It's a very big tempo hit, losing two cards to get rid of a threat when you're playing a deck that has no card draw. It's better than straight up losing the game, but it's really less than ideal.
April 26, 2015 10:38 a.m.
ChiefBell: Definitely, I'm just saying it's not an instant Good game.
April 26, 2015 10:40 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #49
Burn isn't my main deck, I use it to test & make sure my decks can survive it. So there is always potential for pilot error. The deck I use consistently T4 wins ( on occasion T3) however I never pay attention to what the opponent plays. Straight burn, if I start trying to burn things on the board I'll loose.
buildingadeck says... #1
How do people think U-Tron is positioned right now in the meta? I'm also building a $180 budget GW midrange with Loxodon Smiter as one of the main players because screw Liliana.
April 26, 2015 8:35 a.m.