More Modern talk with Jay, Tron time!
Modern forum
Posted on Oct. 3, 2019, 8:57 p.m. by jaymc1130
So I've been brewing and testing Modern decks ever since the Faithless Looting ban and return of SFM and it's been quite a bit of fun catching up on the format and playing the various decks that are now running around in it. Many of my ideas turn out pretty poorly in practice, but maybe every one in ten is an actual competitive concept. Grixis control is one that I pretty immediately realized had some actual merit in the meta as it now stands and I'll be working on that deck for a while to come, tweaking and changing things to get it tuned the best I can.
But I've had some time to play another concept I worked up a bit later as well and the results from some initial play testing of it have been even more promising. It all started when I began playing some of the Tron variants that are oh so present in the format and realized these decks tended to have some fatal flaws that made consistent winning performances more difficult than they could be against some of the meta staples as well as some of my own brews. They tended to be very linear and vulnerable to disruptive elements without a ton of flexibility in their typical play patterns. I tooled around a bit with some ideas based around a Tron set up and eventually wound up with this: Troll Tron.
It's Tron, but with a control slant to it rather than a pure aggro bent and the concept features a main deck strategy that has a lot of inherent advantages against the meta staples making game 1s quite favorable for Troll Tron. It's a lot more flexible in it's play patterns than typical Tron brews and abuses some of the most abusable aspects remaining unbanned in Modern (looking at you Karn+Mycosynth combo) as primary elements.
I've actually gotten in about a dozen matches against Eldrazi Tron, G Tron, Stoneblade, Jund, Burn, Whirza, and Neoform each. That's still a pretty small sample size for each matchup, and I have yet to play any post sideboard games, but the only deck to perform so far at a level that didn't dramatically favor Troll Tron was Whirza.
It's another interesting concept that I feel has actual merit in the meta as it stands at the moment and I'd love to hear from the community in terms of comments, concerns, questions, and potential tweaks as this is another of my works in progress for Modern.
I'm honestly surprised to find I even enjoy playing this level of cheese, but when I moved a bit away from "cheese or lose" it actually did feel quite satisfying. Toolbox style decks always give me a good vibe and the way Karn utilizes the sideboard in that manner feels super rewarding to me.
October 3, 2019 11:16 p.m.
I'm putting together a red tron deck right now, with the jank win condition being Worldfire and then suspended Rift Bolt or Arc Blade . Prismite will be in to filter colorless into red. I can use ritual spells for it too, and i'm thinking about Zada, Hedron Grinder , since i can target her with damage to board wipe. I could make it a weird tempo burn thing, though, and include red x damage spells with bolts as a backup win-con with arc blade, other rift bolts if we draw more than one. maybe Cinder Wall and Electrostatic Field especially too.
What are your thoughts on the viability of a deck like this in modern right now? I was on a hiatus from the game from 2016 to early 2019, and I understand a lot of tron hate has been printed in that time.
October 4, 2019 12:09 a.m.
@ Wuzibo I haven't a clue how effective such a Tron concept might work out in the current meta. My guess would be that it's less than ideal as Tron style decks ideally want to operate on a colorless spells theme to abuse the Tron lands and running a lot of spells that require colored mana to win won't be the most effective thing in the world. There are probably some work arounds to that issue, but I doubt they'd be as efficient as they'd need to be to be truly competitive.
About Zada, I believe she specifies that she targets your creatures exclusively so unless you want to self board wipe for some reason it might not be a thing you want to be doing.
I feel like if you want to just bolt people to death then the meta Burn deck is definitely for you. It's competitive, it's inexpensive compared to most of the rest of the meta, and it's very consistent at being able to effectively play that kind of aggressive tempo based combat/spell slinger style. It's a deck that is vulnerable as an extremely linear strategy, but these vulnerabilities haven't prevented it from being one of the most common decks in the format.
October 4, 2019 12:20 a.m.
right i missed that on zada. she's really only good if i have goblins and a red x that gives +x/+o or similar. not for this deck unless i make tron goblins, which i don't feel should even be spoken of.
@jaymc1130 i figured that it being monored would make the colored spells not an issue, even though it is tron. I could also run Iron Myr and Palladium Myr , and make it more tron burn. Myr Battlesphere may also be good because of how cheap it is and how it's 7 colorless mana, and have the worldfire thing in as a jank wincon
October 4, 2019 12:57 a.m.
Scarlet2009 says... #8
i personally feel that not including green for Ancient Stirrings and Sylvan Scrying is a mistake. they're just too good at getting your lands and whatever else you need. a 2nd color might not be a bad idea, but never a 3rd.
October 5, 2019 2:31 p.m.
Ancient Stirrings and Sylvan Scrying aren't really required for a Tron strategy to be successful, it depends on what your goals are when it comes to utilizing all the manas and how linear a fashion you pursue those goals. Eldrazi Tron, for example, is a more successful and better performing deck in the meta than Mono Green Tron. It's strategy is similar, but less linear and more robust in terms of alternative play patterns that can be successful as disrupting it's Tron assembly shenanigans is less effective at preventing it from achieving it's goals. Running a dozen cards that all cost more mana to cast than a single Tron 3 pack of lands can even produce is ultimately not a very reliable concept due to the ease of disrupting that play pattern and tends to require the additional support cards. Without that dependence a Tron strategy can be much more flexible in its approach and this will typically lead to a wider range of successful situations.
Icbrgr says... #2
Other than the fact that I hate Tron/Edrazi I think your list looks pretty solid imo. +1
October 3, 2019 11:06 p.m.