Traditional Affinity is probably dead, at least as far as competitive play goes. The deck wasn't performing all that well before, and it just lost its best card.
Scales was less reliant on Opal so it might be salvageable, I'd keep an eye to see if any interesting lists pop up.
So, I don't think there is a dedicated U Tron Discord. But I found a Tron Discord that has a general chat section for U Tron. Or if you all would like I can make a discord for specifically U Tron.
I dont want to post an invite link to the normal tron discord because I can only get an invite link that lasts 24 hours and that won't do much good.
But if people would be up for a specific mono u tron discord I can get it started.
Just got back from GP São Paulo, started yesterday with a nice 7-1 at the Day 2 cutoff... then got trounced by Hardened Scales. Met it four times in the final stretch of the tournament, lost three of these. Still finished 10-5, which was not bad.
But it looks like I need to get more practice on this matchup, so I'd appreciate any pointers/experience you guys can share.
Quick question: Has anyone tested Spellskite recently? I've been looking at options for my SB and I'm thinking about running a few tests with this old friend.
I'm not sure we want this one, feels more like a card for our Mono-U cousins, but it's pretty neat.
Karn, the Great Creator (4)
Artifact abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated
+1 Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact become an artifact creature with power and toughness equal to it's converted mana cost
-2 You may choose an artifact card you own from outside the game or in exile, reveal that card and add it to your hand
(5)
I wonder if a different, more toolboxy build would be viable with this. I also like this being a one-sided Stony Silence, since that's a powerful hoser we didn't have access to before.
Engineered explosives also wasn't ever a major player in Tron decks because of the heavy colour requirements. If you came across it back in the day, that would have very much been an exception rather than the rule.
I played EE in my SB during the GDS and Eldrazi Tron meta, when Chalice of the Void was all over the place. It's good answer to Chalice that has reasonable uses in other matchups and can be found by Stirrings. I was also running GR at the time, so I could EE for 2 easily, making it even more flexible.
Different topic: Does anyone have experience with the Izzet Phoenix matchup? Is it good/bad?
Feels even to slightly unfavorable. Managing your life total is a lot harder than usual in this matchup.
Phoenixes are a pain for GDS, we're not good a dealing with recursive flyers, but we can take care of Thing in the Ice and Crackling Drake fairly easily thanks to Push and Dismember. If they start reanimating Phoenixes it's a race that is not favorable to us unless you have Shadow + TBR, otherwise our regular game plan works well.
Post-board Surgical or Anger can deal with the Phoenixes, if you do that then it's about who can get a big threat to stick, but we have better removal in general.
Yeah, I like Dismember right now. I had a pair of them in the side recently. Straight swap for Contortions though? Maybe. I do like that they're better against Phoenix and GDS, but I haven't seen GDS really becoming more popular in particular, and plus that's already a great matchup IME. You'd be losing Contortions against Burn, though that's not a huuge deal, and I'd rather have Contortion against Spirits which has actually been my most seen matchup this month. So there are pros and cons.
mtggoldfish at least puts GDS as #3 in the meta right now, below Spirits and Phoenix.
unrelated: so what is the deal with ral, izzet viceroy? is it like some exceptional 1-of? or is it just showing up consistently in lists because that is what people won with. he just looks like a generic 'kill dudes draw cards', so i must be missing something.
That's pretty much it, "kill dudes draw cards". But that kind of effect is powerful in grindy matchups.
I would probably play Shivan Reef before Sulfur Falls in this deck. With only 18 lands, and 4 more being Spirebluff Canal, you’re going to have to mulligan more hands where your only lands are Sulfur Falls/Spirebluff Canal. Shivan Reef might eat some of your life, but it will never come into play tapped.
Can confirm, played with Shivan Reef for a while, not that different from Scalding Tarns in overall performance. I kept track for some games, and in average it was +1/-1 life from what I would have lost with fetches+shocks, though I felt you had less *control* over the lifeloss.
Also, knowing that whatever you scry bottom will stay there can be interesting depending on your cantrip setup. Here's what I was using:
Scales was less reliant on Opal so it might be salvageable, I'd keep an eye to see if any interesting lists pop up.
https://discordapp.com/invite/xzd6Hd4
Plenty of live discussion for all Tron variants over there.
https://discordapp.com/invite/xzd6Hd4
Plenty of live discussion for all Tron variants over there.
Here's a link to the Tron Discord from reddit:
https://discordapp.com/invite/xzd6Hd4
Join us there!
But it looks like I need to get more practice on this matchup, so I'd appreciate any pointers/experience you guys can share.
Also, it looks like a fellow Tron player won the GP, list on the link below.
https://www.channelfireball.com/grand-prix-sao-paulo-top-8-decklists/
Other good CMC3 or less artifacts you may consider if you go with a Wishboard route.
If you're considering CMC4+ cards you can also include:
I added a * to the ones I find more interesting.
This is a one-sided Stony Silence, which is quite powerful against several decks.
And yes, the tutor aspect is very interesting. A lot of people like more toolbox builds of Mono-U, this lets you expand these toolboxes into the SB.
I wonder if a different, more toolboxy build would be viable with this. I also like this being a one-sided Stony Silence, since that's a powerful hoser we didn't have access to before.
I played EE in my SB during the GDS and Eldrazi Tron meta, when Chalice of the Void was all over the place. It's good answer to Chalice that has reasonable uses in other matchups and can be found by Stirrings. I was also running GR at the time, so I could EE for 2 easily, making it even more flexible.
We want this, right? At a first glance it looks at least as good as Rift Bolt, and almost certainly better than Skullcracks.
Feels even to slightly unfavorable. Managing your life total is a lot harder than usual in this matchup.
Phoenixes are a pain for GDS, we're not good a dealing with recursive flyers, but we can take care of Thing in the Ice and Crackling Drake fairly easily thanks to Push and Dismember. If they start reanimating Phoenixes it's a race that is not favorable to us unless you have Shadow + TBR, otherwise our regular game plan works well.
Post-board Surgical or Anger can deal with the Phoenixes, if you do that then it's about who can get a big threat to stick, but we have better removal in general.
mtggoldfish at least puts GDS as #3 in the meta right now, below Spirits and Phoenix.
That's pretty much it, "kill dudes draw cards". But that kind of effect is powerful in grindy matchups.
Can confirm, played with Shivan Reef for a while, not that different from Scalding Tarns in overall performance. I kept track for some games, and in average it was +1/-1 life from what I would have lost with fetches+shocks, though I felt you had less *control* over the lifeloss.
Also, knowing that whatever you scry bottom will stay there can be interesting depending on your cantrip setup. Here's what I was using:
2x Island
4x Mountain
4x Shivan Reef
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Steam Vents
You can adjust the split between the basics depending on your list composition.