Urza-Land ban?
Modern forum
Posted on Sept. 7, 2016, 5:47 p.m. by lonker
There's this Budget Mono-Blue UrzaTron deck I've been looking at, and I really like it. The problem is that I don't want to spend $130 on something that might get banned soon because of R/G Urza-Tron dominating modern right now.
ducttapedeckbox says... #4
Yeah, GR Tron is not doing so hot right now. Even if it was, I doubt that an Urza land would be the piece to go.
September 7, 2016 6:21 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #5
Yeah tron is no where near dominating. It's still a thing, but no where near where it used to be.
September 7, 2016 6:21 p.m.
Obligatory bashing of Tron post. That deck sucks and is barely Tier2.
September 7, 2016 6:51 p.m.
Did something change to downgrade Tron? I know a lot of people who play/played it and it seemed like t had a lot of steam.
September 7, 2016 6:53 p.m.
capriom85 The meta shifted towards nearly almost all aggro and midrange, which are terrible matchups for Tron.
September 7, 2016 6:58 p.m.
DrFunk27, thanks. That will definitely do a deck like Tron in.
September 7, 2016 7:01 p.m.
I wouldn't necessarily say Tron is undoubtedly down to Tier 2, but at the very least it's definitely seeing less play in favor of faster decks right now. It's still a pretty potent deck, the meta is just currently in a position where it's less profitable. Kinda like how OmniTell and Grishoalbrand decks rotate with each other in Legacy. Both are still top decks, but their effectiveness swaps depending on the rest of the meta.
September 7, 2016 7:33 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #11
plus the whole Eye of Ugin getting banned thing...
September 7, 2016 8:25 p.m.
DrFunk27 What are you talking about, Tron eats midrange alive.
September 7, 2016 8:31 p.m.
Mortem It has a favorable matchup yes, but it's not a guaranteed. Bottom line is that aggro, especially burn and infect, have pushed Tron out of the light as a viable option. Losing Eye of Ugin also hurts a lot.
September 7, 2016 8:35 p.m.
DrFunk27 True. Infect and burn, and even dredge, almost have a buy in a Tron matchup.
September 7, 2016 9:27 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #15
So I play tron, and would have to both laugh at the idea that midrange decks are a bad matchup and disagree that dredge or burn are a 100% loss. Infect, yeah, there's like nothing we can do about, but there's plenty of play against dredge because they're a turn 4 earliest deck. Burn and infect are turn 3 earliest, which makes them much more favored, but burn doesn't even have a guaranteed win. I've played against burn plenty and if they have anything toward the end of a turn 4 or 5 hand then tron is still in that game. Dredge is a go-wide creature deck which means they get struck by ugin, which means that on the play tron is capable of stealing wins. In order from least to most winnable, it'd go Infect, Burn, Dredge, ~ Control decks, ~ Midrange decks. And as much as I appreciate theorycrafting, please don't speak it like it's proven fact. Makes you a lot less credible when you do actually know what you're talking about.
Anyway, Tron lands aren't going anywhere OP, and please build a tron deck if that's something that you want to play. The deck is a blast and unless you're going to be grinding a bunch of GPs, there's no reason to be worried about "the meta". Just play the deck you love, become a competent pilot, and you'll win games.
September 8, 2016 12:11 a.m.
Why do people type things without checking?
Tron is borderline tier 1 / tier 2 right now. It's just skipping around that kind of area, but by and large is only a few percentage points off being as prevalent as the top aggro decks in the meta. Because Modern is diverse the difference between the top of tier 1 and the top of tier 2 might be 1.5%, which as you know means 1.5 more showings of the deck per 100 decks measured..... which is basically nothing at all. There's very little difference percentage wise between the top 10 decks at all, barring Jund which is comfortably ahead right now.
Also Tron is like 70-30 favoured against any fair midrange deck. Like... it eats midrange for breakfast because the heart and soul of Abzan, Jund, and Grixis is creature removal...... which doesn't hit Karn so like a good 8 or so cards from each of these decks are just completely dead. Also in the late game they have Sanctum of Ugin which replaced Eye of Ugin, giving them amazing inevitability.
Tron has more game against aggro than many people think. It's definitely unfavoured but Wurmcoil Engine still exists as an option, as does Pyroclasm and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon EXILES creatures which is huge. Aggro decks are going to win against Tron quite a lot of course but Tron can exist in an aggressive metagame.... it's not like it has no options. Also Emrakul, the Promised End has given Tron a lot more game against tricky decks like infect because you can do neat things like suicide Inkmoth Nexus and Glistener Elf into her when you control the opponent, and waste all their pump spells. Very unfavoured matchup but Tron has been slowly accruing tools to deal with it.
Tl;Dr - Tron won't be banned because it's not format warping but it's not doing too badly either. It's skirting the boundary between tier 1 and tier 2, and is only around 1 to 2% off tier 1 decks, which in the grand scheme of things means you're going to see it only very marginally less than them. It has an almost free win against the top deck in the format and 1 or 2 others besides. It really struggles with aggro but does have answers to those matchups too. Underestimate Tron at your peril.
September 8, 2016 5:35 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #17
Guys, keep in mind that the tier system is largely subjective. It's not particularly useful to throw around Tier 1/1.5/2, since everyone has a different perception of what that means and people usually don't know what it even means. The tier system is a way of measuring deck popularity, not power level. I highly recommend avoiding using it if you can.
That said, Tron is not a ban-worthy deck. It's not particularly dominant in Modern currently, and hasn't been for a very long time. That may change, but for now you're safe.
September 8, 2016 9:14 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #18
@ChiefBell as of right now tron only represents 1% of the of the meta for the last two weeks. If we bump the time to the last two months it's only 4%.
I wouldn't consider that "doing well" OR tier 1.
Jund on the other hand IS in the lead at 11% for 2 weeks and 9% for 2 months. That's not a separation of 1.5%
10% separation for 2 weeks and 5% separation for 2 months.
Maybe next time don't do the whole "would you guys check what you're saying", it makes you look kinda not nice.
September 8, 2016 9:15 a.m. Edited.
Servo_Token says... #20
So "the meta", similarly to "tier 1/2" can mean a handful of things. You're using it as decks that have top 8/64'd in the last two weeks and as the thread has been over, aggro decks are making it hard for tron to get up there. That doesn't mean however that people just aren't playing the deck. Modern is a format where people usually find a deck and stock with it. Regardless of what the top charts say, there are people playing every deck. You could go to a gp with Jund sleeved up because affinity is 67% of "the meta" right now and face tron and use control 9 rounds in a row because that's what people happen to be playing. In the grand scheme of things, very very few people who go to tournaments do or can afford to, even, switch the deck they are taking based on mtgtop8.com. while the site is useful for both finding a new deck to play and getting a feel for what you could face and how you should construct your sideboard, it's not the be all end all of what will or will not be at a given tournament.
September 8, 2016 9:42 a.m.
Servo_Token says... #22
...Of the decks that have top 8'd a tournament in the last two weeks and that's it. There's almost no influence provided from it in regards to what will or won't be at a tournament. You say you're aware of that, but also use the site to preach that a deck will not be at a tournament because it "only represents 1% of the of the meta for the last two weeks". I feel like before you call others out on not checking what they're saying you should figure out your own stance on things first.
September 8, 2016 9:56 a.m.
Goldfish and nexus have tron as one of the top decks.
September 8, 2016 9:59 a.m.
Not that theres anything wrong with mtgtop8 though. I just didnt check that one.
September 8, 2016 10 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #25
I was simply calling out bell for not checking himself as well
I'm not preaching anything, I'm simply talking about what's winning, what wins tends to drive tier status, that's all
September 8, 2016 10:06 a.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #27
LOL and we're the Tron players. :)
There's no point in belaboring the facts here. The OP was concerned about an Urzaland ban due to Tron's "dominance" within the Modern meta. That would be a mistaken analysis. Tron is not currently dominating the Modern meta.
September 8, 2016 12:01 p.m.
OP_Magikarp says... #28
If Tron ever did get out of hand, my guess would be that they would ban Ancient Stirrings. It is an insanely strong card in the deck but the deck is still viable without it. But like everyone said before, Tron is not in danger of having anything banned anytime soon.
UrbanAnathema says... #2
LOL. Tron got downgraded to Tier 2...its hardly dominating Modern. Also, Tron lands aren't going to be banned.
September 7, 2016 6:01 p.m.