I had to pick Valakut because it's the only card that had enough of an impact on the format.
Sword, Nacatl, Ancestral, and Bitterblossom all did absolutely nothing. Sword, Ancestral, and Bitterblossom all started on the banlist because they were scared from other formats. Nacatl got on there after they had one tournament with Zoo painfully dominant while nobody prepped Modern, and the offender (Punishing Fire) got banned at the same time. All of these cards came off and did absolutely nothing.
Jace and BBE both came off to revitalize archetypes, but haven't had a significant enough long-term impact. Jace just isn't seeing the play some people thought (it was never going to break the format), and sees play in some UWx control builds typically alongside Teferi. Recently Jund players have gone over to BG anyway, so they're perfectly fine without BBE. Both of them are fine cards seeing regular play, but not altering the landscape of the format in any significant way.
Valakut creates archetypes, and whether they're tier 1 or not, they're still recognizable decks that people respect. And to top that, Valakut has basically always been in something since it's been around, whether it's RUG Scapeshift, RG Scapeshift, or Titanshift. It's also a fairly different archetype than a lot of other things so it adds another dimension to the format.
I think this is a pretty niche card, but I think it has some small amount of potential in the sideboard. Modern has a surprising number of 1 CMC cards, especially things you normally can't interact with like Aether Vial and Map. I would need to do a full breakdown of the format to see if this is worth playing, but my inclination is that it's worth considering.
The first ability isn't fantastic, it just sort of slows down your opponent a little bit. Good against Burn or BGx types of decks with Thoughtseize and Liliana. But what I'm more concerned about is the secondary effect. Neutering tokens can be good, and I've played cards in other decks that do it. I'm not saying this is a slam dunk of a card, but in the right environment, this card might appear in a sideboard.
Particularly good against Collected Company decks. The fact it costs 1 means you can fit it on the board at any time, and since those decks are typically very light on removal, you don't care that much. Merfolk would probably like this card for sideboards, us probably not as much. Even still, I could see CoCo going on a rise and wanting to play this. There's a similar creature that I'm not remembering, a white flier from a couple years back. I haven't ever wanted to play that, but I'm not sure if 1cmc changes my opinion.
This is definitely the highlight card of the set. Basically paying 1 more for a modal wrath that offers the ability to kill artifacts/enchantments on the second mode. My gut reaction is to not want to play this in the main, but sideboard one copy.
With this card, you're effectively asking whether slowing wrath by a turn is made up for the fact that in some cases, it does what wrath cannot. Instinctively, Wrath often needs to be cast as soon as you can. I have lost games where if I had cast wrath a turn earlier, I would have been fine. Turn 5 on the draw seems really slow, and I feel like I want to have the 4cmc wrath effects main. I do like the idea of this in the sideboard. I like more expensive wraths there, especially since you can optionally board it in when you see an opponent with a deck where the second mode is good.
I think there just aren't enough decks where this is good enough. It's fine against Lantern, KCI, Bogles, Affinity (though regular wrath is fine). These decks just aren't popular enough to support this card the way some people might think. Sometimes it will be good, but on average, it will probably just be a slightly worse wrath.
I agree the deck seems a little top heavy. It just has so many late game cards and I think it might have one or two too many. He shaved on Signets and Maps, plus went to the 10 Tron count to afford the manabase. Honestly, not sure how clunky it is, because Maps and Signets themselves are often as clunky.
Champion of Wits is really the only interesting card. I'm still not sure what I think about it, but it doesn't seem like the worst idea I've ever seen. The merit of it blocking has potential to offset the extra card. It is a bit awkward that you're trading card advantage for a small creature on board. On one hand, it does block, but it also does give your opponent opportunities to use otherwise dead removal spells. Eternalize is a nice mechanic though. I'm not convinced it is better, but it could end up like Wall of Omens, where it's better than Remand in some metas because it blocks. My gut tells me that the small size on this doesn't make it enough better than Thirst, but I've been wrong before.
I have warmed up a lot to Teferi having played with it/against it in various formats. The card untapping lands makes it so easy to play on 5 and leave up Remand / Path.
If you like to interact with your opponent, then you want the opposite of a combo deck. Combo decks are basically always trying to interact as little as possible. As the combo player, you're happiest when you get to completely ignore your opponent. And like FCG said, the decks that are good against Tron are decks that ignore the opponent. As it turns out, the best interactive spells are typically bad against Tron. Cards like Bolt and Fatal Push stack up poorly against their creatures, Inquisition doesn't solve any threats, and they tend to go over top of you too quickly.
If you want a deck that has interaction, you're typically looking at control, midrange, or tempo. These are the types of decks playing some mix of discard, removal, and counters. GDS is a decent matchup vs Tron, you have some powerful hitters that can get in under them, as well as some good counters. It's also a very interactive deck, playing a great mix of creatures and interactive spells. Another is UW Control. It doesn't seem like the best on the surface, but as it turns out, 4 Spreading Seas + 4 Field of Ruins makes the matchup pretty decent (don't know the exact number, but I'd say it's no more than 40-60 in either direction). It's a little less interactive being a control deck, but still something to consider.
Unfortunately, the idea of a deck with hand disruption/kill spells and also a combo win condition are rare. When playing combo, you tend to play more of a "ignore my opponent" strategy. So essentially, the two things you like are on opposite sides of the spectrum.
That all being said, maybe 4c Gifts Control might work for you. It's a control deck but it sometimes has the Gifts Combo win condition (it's explained in depth in the UW Tron primer linked in my signature). So even though you're trying to play a normal control game, you just randomly have this combo that wins games much sooner. It mitigates a lot of the drain on playing control when games sometimes end on turn 4. I have no idea if the deck is good against Tron, my inclination is to think it isn't great. The Crucible/Loam + Ghost Quarter plan is solid against them, I just don't know how viable that is in actual games.
I think probably everything you want in one deck isn't going to exist. 4c Gifts seems like the closest thing. If I had a better idea of your priority among the different things you want, then we can go find the best deck.
Blue green decks exist, but generally not the kind that you're hoping for. Green tends to be good at ramping, being aggressive, or putting pressure from big creatures, which limits the types of decks you can expect. You can get ramp out of green, but what kind of ramp deck wants blue (the controlling colour)?
As it turns out, when you've got more mana than your opponent you can just instantly win the game with Scapeshift. The most common UGx deck has always been Scapeshift because that's what that colour combination can do.
There's UGr decks that play a tempo style game, akin to the Eternal Command or RUG Delver decks of old. They're not popular right now but they're certainly something using UG. There's also some Sultai midrange flavours that people are trying to make work now.
I guess maybe 4c Gifts Control is closest to what you want. It's every colour except red, but it's a grindy control deck. It has a bit of a combo aspect to it, and doesn't have a ramp aspect, but it's a control deck for sure.
I can't think of any UG decks that are playing things like Rampant Growth and then not abusing the mana. You basically need to combo finish them if you're going far enough into the ramp plan as the control player.
You won't ever see this in mainboards so there won't be a need for Rejection in the main. As far as an answer, not sure if it's any better than Blood Moon. It acts similar on the first clause while hosing many other decks. Tron decks tend to play very few spells per turn so the second clause doesn't really do much against them. Maybe you'll see it from non-red decks that want a Tron answer, but it dying to artifact removal instead of enchantment removal is big.
I think it'll see some play, but probably not as much as you think. Don't forget that while we are a Tron deck, it's not super critical for us to have Tron. Even if that card is good against us, how good is still up for debate.
The thing with Hollowed One is that the deck has enough ways to make everything work. Sure, you can have bad hands, but that applies to every deck. It looks like there's a lot of ways for it to mess up but it's surprisingly consistent. I've lost games against it by having Burning Inquiry make me discard lands.
The problem is you often don't have a choice. Take Raging Ravine, for instance. The BBE unban meant that there would be a huge influx of people wanting to play Jund. Most people were smart enough to wait on buying Ravines to see what happened with A25. As soon as they announced filter lands, Ravines went up. The recent price increase is a lot, it more than doubled. You just have to play the market.
Magic prices work on two primary factors at it's core: supply and demand. When you reprint a card in low supply (say Imperial Recruiter), the price drops immediately. Give it a while that everyone has their copy and isn't opening boxes and the price will go back up. It's because the increased supply gets consumed, and then suddenly they're harder to find. Other cards in the decks that play Recruiter are going to go up because their demand increased (hey we can build that deck now) but we can't find the cards any easier: increased demand, constant supply. People aren't dumb, this is just basic economics.
This product won't do well and everyone knows it. Wizards, I think, is going to make the next product a lot better to compensate. I don't ever see the price of A25 ever being justifiable, cards are going to tank. I'm just going to grab IMA stuff I missed and grab A25 stuff in April after cards have gone down.
I'm getting into Mono-U Tron as we speak, and this primer is pretty helpful for that as well. Elevating my Mindslaver game to the next level. Now I need to build UW Tron. Fantastic primer. 10/10 would berry.
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Sword, Nacatl, Ancestral, and Bitterblossom all did absolutely nothing. Sword, Ancestral, and Bitterblossom all started on the banlist because they were scared from other formats. Nacatl got on there after they had one tournament with Zoo painfully dominant while nobody prepped Modern, and the offender (Punishing Fire) got banned at the same time. All of these cards came off and did absolutely nothing.
Jace and BBE both came off to revitalize archetypes, but haven't had a significant enough long-term impact. Jace just isn't seeing the play some people thought (it was never going to break the format), and sees play in some UWx control builds typically alongside Teferi. Recently Jund players have gone over to BG anyway, so they're perfectly fine without BBE. Both of them are fine cards seeing regular play, but not altering the landscape of the format in any significant way.
Valakut creates archetypes, and whether they're tier 1 or not, they're still recognizable decks that people respect. And to top that, Valakut has basically always been in something since it's been around, whether it's RUG Scapeshift, RG Scapeshift, or Titanshift. It's also a fairly different archetype than a lot of other things so it adds another dimension to the format.
2
I think this is a pretty niche card, but I think it has some small amount of potential in the sideboard. Modern has a surprising number of 1 CMC cards, especially things you normally can't interact with like Aether Vial and Map. I would need to do a full breakdown of the format to see if this is worth playing, but my inclination is that it's worth considering.
The first ability isn't fantastic, it just sort of slows down your opponent a little bit. Good against Burn or BGx types of decks with Thoughtseize and Liliana. But what I'm more concerned about is the secondary effect. Neutering tokens can be good, and I've played cards in other decks that do it. I'm not saying this is a slam dunk of a card, but in the right environment, this card might appear in a sideboard.
Particularly good against Collected Company decks. The fact it costs 1 means you can fit it on the board at any time, and since those decks are typically very light on removal, you don't care that much. Merfolk would probably like this card for sideboards, us probably not as much. Even still, I could see CoCo going on a rise and wanting to play this. There's a similar creature that I'm not remembering, a white flier from a couple years back. I haven't ever wanted to play that, but I'm not sure if 1cmc changes my opinion.
This is definitely the highlight card of the set. Basically paying 1 more for a modal wrath that offers the ability to kill artifacts/enchantments on the second mode. My gut reaction is to not want to play this in the main, but sideboard one copy.
With this card, you're effectively asking whether slowing wrath by a turn is made up for the fact that in some cases, it does what wrath cannot. Instinctively, Wrath often needs to be cast as soon as you can. I have lost games where if I had cast wrath a turn earlier, I would have been fine. Turn 5 on the draw seems really slow, and I feel like I want to have the 4cmc wrath effects main. I do like the idea of this in the sideboard. I like more expensive wraths there, especially since you can optionally board it in when you see an opponent with a deck where the second mode is good.
I think there just aren't enough decks where this is good enough. It's fine against Lantern, KCI, Bogles, Affinity (though regular wrath is fine). These decks just aren't popular enough to support this card the way some people might think. Sometimes it will be good, but on average, it will probably just be a slightly worse wrath.
1
Champion of Wits is really the only interesting card. I'm still not sure what I think about it, but it doesn't seem like the worst idea I've ever seen. The merit of it blocking has potential to offset the extra card. It is a bit awkward that you're trading card advantage for a small creature on board. On one hand, it does block, but it also does give your opponent opportunities to use otherwise dead removal spells. Eternalize is a nice mechanic though. I'm not convinced it is better, but it could end up like Wall of Omens, where it's better than Remand in some metas because it blocks. My gut tells me that the small size on this doesn't make it enough better than Thirst, but I've been wrong before.
I have warmed up a lot to Teferi having played with it/against it in various formats. The card untapping lands makes it so easy to play on 5 and leave up Remand / Path.
1
If you want a deck that has interaction, you're typically looking at control, midrange, or tempo. These are the types of decks playing some mix of discard, removal, and counters. GDS is a decent matchup vs Tron, you have some powerful hitters that can get in under them, as well as some good counters. It's also a very interactive deck, playing a great mix of creatures and interactive spells. Another is UW Control. It doesn't seem like the best on the surface, but as it turns out, 4 Spreading Seas + 4 Field of Ruins makes the matchup pretty decent (don't know the exact number, but I'd say it's no more than 40-60 in either direction). It's a little less interactive being a control deck, but still something to consider.
1
That all being said, maybe 4c Gifts Control might work for you. It's a control deck but it sometimes has the Gifts Combo win condition (it's explained in depth in the UW Tron primer linked in my signature). So even though you're trying to play a normal control game, you just randomly have this combo that wins games much sooner. It mitigates a lot of the drain on playing control when games sometimes end on turn 4. I have no idea if the deck is good against Tron, my inclination is to think it isn't great. The Crucible/Loam + Ghost Quarter plan is solid against them, I just don't know how viable that is in actual games.
I think probably everything you want in one deck isn't going to exist. 4c Gifts seems like the closest thing. If I had a better idea of your priority among the different things you want, then we can go find the best deck.
1
As it turns out, when you've got more mana than your opponent you can just instantly win the game with Scapeshift. The most common UGx deck has always been Scapeshift because that's what that colour combination can do.
There's UGr decks that play a tempo style game, akin to the Eternal Command or RUG Delver decks of old. They're not popular right now but they're certainly something using UG. There's also some Sultai midrange flavours that people are trying to make work now.
I guess maybe 4c Gifts Control is closest to what you want. It's every colour except red, but it's a grindy control deck. It has a bit of a combo aspect to it, and doesn't have a ramp aspect, but it's a control deck for sure.
I can't think of any UG decks that are playing things like Rampant Growth and then not abusing the mana. You basically need to combo finish them if you're going far enough into the ramp plan as the control player.
1
I think it'll see some play, but probably not as much as you think. Don't forget that while we are a Tron deck, it's not super critical for us to have Tron. Even if that card is good against us, how good is still up for debate.
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This product won't do well and everyone knows it. Wizards, I think, is going to make the next product a lot better to compensate. I don't ever see the price of A25 ever being justifiable, cards are going to tank. I'm just going to grab IMA stuff I missed and grab A25 stuff in April after cards have gone down.