It seems to me that Wish Tron improves on most game one percentages slightly, with the biggest benefit vs. unfair decks and opposing artifact decks, which outraces Gx Tron. In return, we're giving up Surgical Extraction, spot removal, and some variety of threats vs. Ux Control postboard. I suspect there will be metagames where one is favored over the other, but both builds are probably viable.
Going to try testing this build. I ultimately couldn't agree on which way to lean in the mainboard, so I kept 2 each of Ulamog, Ballista, Relic, and O-Stone; am counting on KtGC to shore up the latter two with effectively extra copies so I can go with more threats vs. Ux Control. KtGC is bad vs. Control, right?
My next wish target if there is room would be Witchbane Orb.
4 Forest
1 Blast Zone
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
This is exactly what most Modern/Legacy/Commander players have been clamoring for, prices slashed by 20-50% for format staples. Who cares if you can't afford a sealed box of UMA, when the cards you need to play the game haven't been this affordable in years?
I'm going to take the opportunity next month to open 2-3 boxes, stash the a case for the future, and finish up playsets of Modern/Legacy cards. I like that WotC is careful to curate their reprints to maintain value of staples. I played casually and at LGS from '99 until '10, taking a long break before getting back in late '16. I had gotten my life in order during that break, and now have the disposable income when I didn't before. I might not have bothered if my old binder of cards hadn't appreciated in value during the interim. Whatever WotC is doing, it's enough to keep me invested in their game.
Rotation made it difficult for me and another buddy to Brawl. I dragged my feet for a month before building a new deck, and my buddy has not tried updating his. He and I were the only ones who consistently played.
Murmuring Mystic is a house vs. GB Midrange if it survives an untap step. It's either faster or cannot be answered at all by their planeswalkers and survives Finality, so you can bait out their Chupacabra, ATrophy, or Contempt with other threats, then unload with Mystic. I beat GB 2-0 at last night's FNM on the back of Mystics, specifically outracing Carnage Tyrant game 1.
This deck's weakness is that it plays 16 cantrip effects, so it has to give up some threats and answers mainboard to facilitate its game plan. That's why it's soft to a pure control deck MB, because it doesn't have a critical mass of threats while being burdened with red removal spells that are necessary for the rest of the format. You correct this by diversifying the SB threats with Niv-Mizzet and Firemind's Research, then play enough counterspells to answer Control's best threat (usually Teferi) or create a critical turn with Niv-Mizzet to overwhelm them.
I'm happy this deck is finding success, had figured it would be a fun flash-in-the-pan type deck that I would eventually change to Jeskai Control; now I'm probably sticking with it at least until RNA. Been grinding mostly on Arena and Standard Showdown events, so I gear it towards Mono-Red, Golgari, and U/x Control decks.
"Izzet Midrange" is how I play the deck. I've found it difficult to contain Mono-Red without playing enough removal, so I don't like the Enigma Drake, Maximize Velocity, and Dive Down game plans. Also, a lot of the deck is wheel-spinning with cantrips, so I like resilient threats that play into that plan, ergo maxing out on Crackling Drakes and Electromancers, with Murmuring Mystic as my backup threat. I've ground out Boros Angels with Mystic before.
This MB version is very weak to Jeskai Control now that they've transitioned to Seal Away and Settle the Wreckage, but I don't think any Phoenix version is favored into newer Jeskai Control these days.
My answer to Jeskai is Firemind's Research, as it plays well with all the cantrips MB. It's fast enough to duck countermagic on the play and turn 2 tap land on the draw. I can play Negate and Stroke to beat Settle if I get the Phoenix god-draws, or fall back to countering Teferi if I'm grinding with Firemind's Research. The Chemister's Insights keep the spell count high enough as I side out all the red removal besides 2 of the Beacon Bolt/Fight with Fire/Lava Coil (depends on Jeskai's post-board creature plan). I hate tapping out past turn 4 unless it's for Niv-Mizzet with counter backup; Teferi is too crippling to not contest.
Of course, this is just my way of playing Izzet + Arclight Phoenix. There are a lot of viable builds out there, this is just what I've found most success on.
EDIT: Slight update to decklist; -1 Shock +1 Beacon Bolt MB; -1 Beacon Bolt +1 Fiery Cannonade SB.
I've found this build to be the best https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1406386#paper, except I go -1 Mountain, +1 Island. You can get by the early game with only one red, but the deck is totally dead in water without double blue.
2 Beacon Bolt maindeck feels right in the current creature-heavy meta. The card is absurd but you can't play too many. The 2nd Chemister's Insight is the first up to maindeck if there's an open slot.
I think the counterspell suite is up for debate, as Disdainful Stroke, Ionize, and Negate all have their +/-'s. Currently leaning 1 Negate, 1 Disdainful Stroke to shave a mana. I often side out Electromancers for the counterspells.
I hope the next set gives a mono-red 3 damage sweeper like Sweltering Suns. Fiery Cannonade sucks balls.
Arclight Phoenix is very safe for Standard. Every deck can sideboard Sentinel Totem, and Spyglass to preempt Firemind's Research. Also every color besides blue has a legit maindeck answer to Phoenix.
Getting two colors in this deck, especially early, is not something I think we should strive for. The risks seem to really outweigh the benefits here, especially since Stony Silence and Blood Moon stuff our ability to generate the mana we need to begin with. With every (other) GBx deck set to jam playsets of AT, more basics than even four is going to become critically important, as the decks using it will be built to exploit this. Going into black at all will be more risky, even before attempting to add spells with more demanding colored mana costs. AT is certainly an amazing card, but for Tron, it just feels like bait to me.
I do not agree that more basics than 4 is critically important due to the GBx decks, because they will not be running any more copies of this effect (i.e. "get rid of land, then we get basic land") than we currently face from UWx Control decks or EldraziTron. In fact, unless they are Abzan, we will see fewer of those effects, due to the lack of Path to Exile.
I don't see how the existence of this card should have any effect on the number of basic lands we run compared to how many we ran before it, because the amount of such effects per deck in the decks that run them do not seem to have increased. Perhaps the number of decks running them have increased, but that does not matter within the games themselves.
I agree, unless AT becomes Field/Path 5-8, this won't make a huge difference from what we already face against UW Control. The GBx matchup will get much closer, and we can't mull as aggressively, but I would rather face these decks than Infect, Storm, and KCI, which hopefully the resurgent GBx will drive out of the meta. This might even be a blessing if Tron starts flying under the radar again.
Going with this list. I like 3 Ugin/3 O-Stone because the former is game over for Spirits while the latter is actively bad into 7-8 of their MB cards.
Modern is such a crapshoot, I'd rather default to the generalist 3/3/3/3/3 SB. Would flex 1 Surgical for 1 additional Claim if Hardened Scales Affinity moves up a tier.
I believe talks of bannings is against the forum rules. There is a dedicated forum for that.
I cut worldbreaker from the main to the side and put in a dismember. I still don't want to cut plat angel. Ended up shaving a wail from the side, and replaced loam for crucible, had a discussion with some buddies and loam is cute but crucible is better. I disagree because g2 they are bringing in artifact hate as well as land hate, and loam doesn't fall to artifact hate like crucible. But I will try it for Dallas.
And oppositions to cutting WB from the main?
Probably shouldn't cut World Breaker when UW Control is tier 1.
Hmm, I'm not sure that Spirits is a problem. It feels a lot like the Humans matchup to me - they have some draws that we just can't beat but overall we should be able to overpower them. My record so far is 7-2. O-Stone is a bit worse against them because they have Selfless Spirit and Queller, but if they don't have either it's still our best card. All is Dust is slightly better but can still get taxed by Mausoleum Wanderer making it tough to cast. I don't really like the idea of less than 4 O-Stone simply due to Damping Sphere existing but it's possible it's worth it. I actually had my 5-0 list published yesterday with an All is Dust in the main, but this was in addition to 4 Stone and 2 Ugin. I'm constantly tweaking the list right now as the meta feels very much in flux.
I've been off Warping Wail for a while now. It feels very medium in this meta.
Scapeshift - yeah it's weird. Before this month I was 50/50 against it (12/12), but just been getting crapped on recently. A bit of variance for sure.
The other decks I've been seeing a lot are the Vengevine Bridge deck and Infect, both of which are giving me a hard time. I've been on 4 Surgical in the side to fight Vengevine, but Infect is just not realistic to beat without warping the deck a ton.
You'd think there would be tons of Mardu around to fight all the Humans, Spirits and Infect but amazingly I haven't seen it once in the last 19(!) leagues. So my winrate is suffering a bit right now.
I played a few sets vs. Bant Spirits, and it's probably tougher than straight UW. Have you played the Spirits matchup with Supreme Phantom? Do you mull aggressively to turn 3 Tron? You just can't count on O-Stone, they have 8 great answers to it. I've auto-lost every time they resolve CoCo on the backswing, the new lord makes it so likely they have double pump after factoring in Image. Wanderer is also a beating, the extra pump when they play more spirits is so key in pushing the last few points before I stabilize.
Also came to the same conclusion All Is Dust doesn't markedly improve the matchup. I'm going up to 3 Ugins to combat the deck, it's just so good right now in my meta. Going to replace an O-Stone or a Relic MB, probably O-Stone since I don't see a lot of Affinity but there's a few graveyard/combo decks around.
I'm not sold on waiting for 5 mana to O-Stone away Blood Moon or Damping Sphere. Most decks these days aren't dumb, they back up these hate cards with a clock. The 3rd Nature's Claim feels necessary.
I think you're right with more Surgical Extraction. Going to replace the Emrakul or a TKS, probably Emrakul since I have yet to see it matter and don't want to weaken the Burn matchup.
Well it's funny, after praising World Breaker so much I've actually gone back down to 1 as the meta has shifted online. Humans is indeed very popular again and I've gone up to 3 Ballistas in response and they've been insane for me there, and against the Spirits decks which are seeing a lot of play as well. I'm also on 3 Surgical in the side now to try to combat the Stitcher's Supplier Vengevine deck which is out there in numbers. Also have had an All Is Dust in the 75, which is good against all the decks I've mentioned plus Elves which rises to fight Humans.
I think Spirits is definitely a problem, I haven't stood a chance unless it's fast Ugin. Is it time to -1 O-Stone MB, -1 Wail SB for AID in those slots?
Surprisingly, I haven't had problems vs. Scapeshift. They don't really interact against us, so it's a race that we sometimes just win.
This has been my pride and joy ever since discovering Brawl. The deck is well-balanced for Multiplayer and 1v1, has plenty of on-board card advantage engines and ample removal. It will struggle against Planeswalker control decks.
Hatchling is nice to blunt early aggro, and is a quick double trigger with Forerunner, but ultimately too cute. Ferocidon didn't play well with Sarkhan's Unsealing. Banefire is not as mana efficient as other options. By Force is too hit or miss, also a feel-bad off of Etali and Invocation. Manalith and Shard are good if you want to emphasize quick 5- and 6 drops, but I liked the higher power level of Pyramid and Lotus. Strider Harness should honestly be in the deck, but I'm currently trying the deck without it.
Going to try testing this build. I ultimately couldn't agree on which way to lean in the mainboard, so I kept 2 each of Ulamog, Ballista, Relic, and O-Stone; am counting on KtGC to shore up the latter two with effectively extra copies so I can go with more threats vs. Ux Control. KtGC is bad vs. Control, right?
My next wish target if there is room would be Witchbane Orb.
4 Forest
1 Blast Zone
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Walking Ballista
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Oblivion Stone
SB
3 Thragtusk
3 Nature's Claim
1 Spellskite
1 Walking Ballista
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Trinisphere
1 Mycosynth Lattice
EDIT: -1 Crucible, +1 Ballista SB
This is exactly what most Modern/Legacy/Commander players have been clamoring for, prices slashed by 20-50% for format staples. Who cares if you can't afford a sealed box of UMA, when the cards you need to play the game haven't been this affordable in years?
I'm going to take the opportunity next month to open 2-3 boxes, stash the a case for the future, and finish up playsets of Modern/Legacy cards. I like that WotC is careful to curate their reprints to maintain value of staples. I played casually and at LGS from '99 until '10, taking a long break before getting back in late '16. I had gotten my life in order during that break, and now have the disposable income when I didn't before. I might not have bothered if my old binder of cards hadn't appreciated in value during the interim. Whatever WotC is doing, it's enough to keep me invested in their game.
This deck's weakness is that it plays 16 cantrip effects, so it has to give up some threats and answers mainboard to facilitate its game plan. That's why it's soft to a pure control deck MB, because it doesn't have a critical mass of threats while being burdened with red removal spells that are necessary for the rest of the format. You correct this by diversifying the SB threats with Niv-Mizzet and Firemind's Research, then play enough counterspells to answer Control's best threat (usually Teferi) or create a critical turn with Niv-Mizzet to overwhelm them.
5 Mountain
1 Izzet Guildgate
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Goblin Electromancer
2 Murmuring Mystic
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Crackling Drake
4 Chart a Course
4 Radical Idea
3 Shock
4 Lava Coil
2 Beacon Bolt
4 Discovery // Dispersal
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Negate
2 Chemister's Insight
3 Fiery Cannonade
1 Fight with Fire
3 Firemind's Research
"Izzet Midrange" is how I play the deck. I've found it difficult to contain Mono-Red without playing enough removal, so I don't like the Enigma Drake, Maximize Velocity, and Dive Down game plans. Also, a lot of the deck is wheel-spinning with cantrips, so I like resilient threats that play into that plan, ergo maxing out on Crackling Drakes and Electromancers, with Murmuring Mystic as my backup threat. I've ground out Boros Angels with Mystic before.
This MB version is very weak to Jeskai Control now that they've transitioned to Seal Away and Settle the Wreckage, but I don't think any Phoenix version is favored into newer Jeskai Control these days.
My answer to Jeskai is Firemind's Research, as it plays well with all the cantrips MB. It's fast enough to duck countermagic on the play and turn 2 tap land on the draw. I can play Negate and Stroke to beat Settle if I get the Phoenix god-draws, or fall back to countering Teferi if I'm grinding with Firemind's Research. The Chemister's Insights keep the spell count high enough as I side out all the red removal besides 2 of the Beacon Bolt/Fight with Fire/Lava Coil (depends on Jeskai's post-board creature plan). I hate tapping out past turn 4 unless it's for Niv-Mizzet with counter backup; Teferi is too crippling to not contest.
Of course, this is just my way of playing Izzet + Arclight Phoenix. There are a lot of viable builds out there, this is just what I've found most success on.
EDIT: Slight update to decklist; -1 Shock +1 Beacon Bolt MB; -1 Beacon Bolt +1 Fiery Cannonade SB.
2 Beacon Bolt maindeck feels right in the current creature-heavy meta. The card is absurd but you can't play too many. The 2nd Chemister's Insight is the first up to maindeck if there's an open slot.
I think the counterspell suite is up for debate, as Disdainful Stroke, Ionize, and Negate all have their +/-'s. Currently leaning 1 Negate, 1 Disdainful Stroke to shave a mana. I often side out Electromancers for the counterspells.
I hope the next set gives a mono-red 3 damage sweeper like Sweltering Suns. Fiery Cannonade sucks balls.
Arclight Phoenix is very safe for Standard. Every deck can sideboard Sentinel Totem, and Spyglass to preempt Firemind's Research. Also every color besides blue has a legit maindeck answer to Phoenix.
I agree, unless AT becomes Field/Path 5-8, this won't make a huge difference from what we already face against UW Control. The GBx matchup will get much closer, and we can't mull as aggressively, but I would rather face these decks than Infect, Storm, and KCI, which hopefully the resurgent GBx will drive out of the meta. This might even be a blessing if Tron starts flying under the radar again.
Modern is such a crapshoot, I'd rather default to the generalist 3/3/3/3/3 SB. Would flex 1 Surgical for 1 additional Claim if Hardened Scales Affinity moves up a tier.
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Scavenger Grounds
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 World Breaker
3 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Walking Ballista
3 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Oblivion Stone
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Thragtusk
3 Spatial Contortion
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Nature's Claim
Probably shouldn't cut World Breaker when UW Control is tier 1.
I played a few sets vs. Bant Spirits, and it's probably tougher than straight UW. Have you played the Spirits matchup with Supreme Phantom? Do you mull aggressively to turn 3 Tron? You just can't count on O-Stone, they have 8 great answers to it. I've auto-lost every time they resolve CoCo on the backswing, the new lord makes it so likely they have double pump after factoring in Image. Wanderer is also a beating, the extra pump when they play more spirits is so key in pushing the last few points before I stabilize.
Also came to the same conclusion All Is Dust doesn't markedly improve the matchup. I'm going up to 3 Ugins to combat the deck, it's just so good right now in my meta. Going to replace an O-Stone or a Relic MB, probably O-Stone since I don't see a lot of Affinity but there's a few graveyard/combo decks around.
I'm not sold on waiting for 5 mana to O-Stone away Blood Moon or Damping Sphere. Most decks these days aren't dumb, they back up these hate cards with a clock. The 3rd Nature's Claim feels necessary.
I think you're right with more Surgical Extraction. Going to replace the Emrakul or a TKS, probably Emrakul since I have yet to see it matter and don't want to weaken the Burn matchup.
I think Spirits is definitely a problem, I haven't stood a chance unless it's fast Ugin. Is it time to -1 O-Stone MB, -1 Wail SB for AID in those slots?
Surprisingly, I haven't had problems vs. Scapeshift. They don't really interact against us, so it's a race that we sometimes just win.
Still *****, just slightly better than KLD/AER/AKH/HOU. Only Battlebond has actually improved on card quality, IMHO.
1 Etali, Primal Storm
Land (25)
17 Mountain
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Desert of the Fervent
1 Dunes of the Dead
1 Endless Sands
1 Field of Ruin
1 Grasping Dunes
1 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
Creature (13)
1 Otepec Huntmaster
1 Captivating Crew
1 Forerunner of the Empire
1 Needletooth Raptor
1 Rekindling Phoenix
1 Sand Strangler
1 Verix Bladewing
1 Charging Monstrosaur
1 Charging Tuskodon
1 Demanding Dragon
1 Glorybringer
1 Neheb, the Eternal
1 Burning Sun's Avatar
1 Abrade
1 Lightning Strike
1 Spit Flame
1 Deem Worthy
Planeswalker (2)
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
Sorcery (6)
1 Jaya's Immolating Inferno
1 Fight with Fire
1 Repeating Barrage
1 Sweltering Suns
1 Puncturing Blow
1 Hour of Devastation
Artifact (6)
1 Pyramid of the Pantheon
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Treasure Map
1 Cultivator's Caravan
1 Orazca Relic
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Sarkhan's Unsealing
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
1 Sunbird's Invocation
Here are the top cards worth consideration:
1 Rampaging Ferocidon
1 Banefire
1 By Force
1 Manalith
1 Powerstone Shard
1 Strider Harness
Hatchling is nice to blunt early aggro, and is a quick double trigger with Forerunner, but ultimately too cute. Ferocidon didn't play well with Sarkhan's Unsealing. Banefire is not as mana efficient as other options. By Force is too hit or miss, also a feel-bad off of Etali and Invocation. Manalith and Shard are good if you want to emphasize quick 5- and 6 drops, but I liked the higher power level of Pyramid and Lotus. Strider Harness should honestly be in the deck, but I'm currently trying the deck without it.