I do love Bob, but it still appears that he is better placed in Jund right now. Painful Truths is, as I'm told, the actual truth, and with Rhino in the deck we can easily make up the slight loss in life. Even still, Bob generally hurts you more if he sticks for a couple turns, as one 3-drop flip and you're already in the hole deeper.
Anyway, the only change I will make to Craig Krempels list will be swapping in a Slaughter PAct for the maindeck Disfigure, and probably adding a 25th land (Westvale Abbey!) for a discard slot. His board looks good, though I will likely tweak it as well.
Looking forward to getting back into this archetype.
Choke CAN be good, but only if U/R decks are uber popular. When Twin was a thing, Choke was fine if you wanted to crush them, but didn't span much past a few archetypes. It's much worse against decks like Thopters that have nonIslands out the wazzoo and plenty to do with less than 4 mana. Twin needed their late lands, and still could often function around a Choke.
Anyway, Here I am, back into BG/x Souls. My friend convinced me this is better than Ancestral Vision decks right now, and it's where I've made my biggest marks anyway. Time to sleeve up Discard into Goyf into Lili into Siege you again. This deck is still one of the filthiest powerhouses in the wrong (correct) hands!
You need to read the article more carefully. What they said was, relatively few pro players chose to play Eldrazi at the pro tour, which is a reasonable indication they didn't identify the deck beforehand as too strong or they would have played it.
...At the Pro Tour. Before the very same Pro Tour top 32 shed light on the power of Eldrazi. And before 3 GPs in a weekend confirmed this power. And then there was all the subsequent tournaments and MODO results. At the time of the banning, it was clear to everyone. Or should have been.
remand was really good in the twin shell but it's sort of not so great in other builds... gaining tempo is only so great if you can capitalize on it and the card you get is only good if that's getting you closer to a win... in other words.. remand is only as good as the cards around it...
in post twin control builds... the getting to the win part is so much worse that you're better off trading with something like mana leak...
2 Things:
1) While Twin was certainly the poster child for Remand before OGW came out, it was far from the only deck that played it to success. Any Snapcaster deck is likely interested in Remand, and the only reason decks like Grixis Delver didn't have too many copies was because they were actually trying to play attrition in the early game and didn't have enough mana or late game staying power to really enjoy a proper Remand into Cryptic loop.
2) AV is very similar to Twin in that it asks you to survive until turn 5ish to get a big payoff. Remand plays really well with that plan. It's not like you can't also have Mana Leaks and Crypics in that deck too. Cut the Twin package and you end up with a lot of room for other spells. The whole point of an AV shell is too delay your opponent until you draw 3 cards and bury them with more counters and removal.
You guys can go ahead and overlook Remand while you're testing your U/R/x decks, but I'll be happily jamming 4 of them alongside the 4 Ancestral Vision until new information comes to light.
by being bad against burn/affinity/infect/merfolk/elves mostly, it always was, except it was such a great fit into Twin it didn't matter
Remand also happened to be really good against all the rest of the decks, and even when it's "bad" against something like affinity etc., it's still never dead.
I don't see how a format that is likely to slow down a bit (thanks to Sword Combo), as well as host a triumphant return to blue-based decks being playable again (thanks to both Eye ban and AV unban) will somehow be hostile for Remand, one of the best blue spells in the format. Even if it's not a 4-of, it's going to be played. And especially if AV mirrors become a thing, Remand's stock will rise even higher. Not only because of Remand, but for all the same old reasons: Snapcaster, Cryptic, Planeswalkers, etc.
Point is, REmand just went up a peg again, not down.
AV is not a 'symmetric' nor a consistent card, it can range anywhere from autowin to dead
against other midrange and control whoever resolves AV first wins,plain and simple, that's what the control mirrors are from now,there will be tension as people will want to play more remands but they will be bad against the rest of the field, we might even see funny one offs in the sb like Counterflux
it's decent against the slower aggro that are prone to interaction, like Merfolks/elves for instance and could even be ok vs affinity, on the play at least, personally i'd keep it on the play and side it out on the draw
it obviously sucks against burn,infect,boggles, all linear combo, while it's unimpressive against Tron
it's also good vs control/combo hybrids like scapeshift
there is a good chance that AV will cause a linear 'backlash' as adapting your BGx to beat AV decks is not really a wise choice and people will drop such decks in favor of decks that don't really care about AV... affinity is the best meta call by far atm, but everyone knows it and is prepared for it, could be a chance for burn to steal the show? who knows...
if AV leads people to playing stuff like burn to avoid dealing with the CA, the unban is a fail, if the meta is just as we were with more control it's a success we'll see, i'm leaning towards success
sotm is the wild card, it can be anything from just another T2 (or less) deck to an ensnaring T1 nightmare, it's probably safe, but the risk wasn't worth it imo, if this card makes Ensnaring Bridge find a T1 home, this unban will be an utter fail, with fun as the first casualty
[Bolded for Emphasis] This tautology is one of the most idiotic lines of argument when it concerns cards on the B&R list + potential bans. If this was a serious line of argument we could pretty much ban a whole host of cards for placing "constraints" on decks. Snapcaster puts an instant/sorcery constraint on a deck. If you want to play the best creature in the format (Tarmogoyf) you have a green mana constraint. If you want to play Abbot of Keral Keep you're going to put a low CMC constraint on the deck. The same with Dark Confidant. If you want to play with Countermagic you're going to place an instant speed constraint on the deck to minimize counterspells weakness (timing). I mean I could go on and on with cards that "place constraints" on deck construction. It's a really stupid argument imho.
As for AV incentivizing blue decks to do...blue things...woah, so broken! The fact that AV only goes into U based control decks is a bonus to the card - it means that it's a relatively safe unban. U based control decks have been historically weak in the format, and only lately with a 50% meta-game that is weak to Supreme Verdict + Planeswalkers like Elspeth has made it competitively playable. When this 50% deck gets banned (Eldrazi) we're going back to a world where U based control is pretty *****ty. The reason why it is so weak comes down to 1) It lacks general answers 2) All of its good CA engines and deck manipulation spells are banned. Unbanning AV at least fixes #2. After WoTC addresses one of these (AV seems the safest to come off) then we can see how much of a boost it gave. If U based control decks are still *****, then hopefully WoTC can continue to address that issue.
Modern has been a joke of a format for a while with control decks historically making up <10% of the meta. That has to change for the betterment of the format. When a pillar of what makes Magic, Magic is limited to such low numbers it's not a surprise that the format has been broken/crap for a while now. Magic needs rock/paper/scissors to have a healthy meta-game. When one leg of the trifecta is <10% you get Modern. Let's change that.
The broken part is that AV essentially buries your opponent once it resolves. The problem with that is that every blue deck now either needs to play AV or lose to it in the mirror. There is nothing idiotic about this logic, it's been used before. See: Deathrite, First Wild Nacatl Ban, Green Sun's Zenith, etc.
The real issue though isn't whether it places constraints or not, it's whether AV is too powerful in general. And I honestly think that could go either way. But reducing the card to "oh you have to wait, so it's bad" doesn't really do it justice. Waiting to draw 3 for an investment you made on turn 1/2 isn't a big deal when you can easily trade resources up until turn 5/6, which is exactly when an extra 3 cards is going to take over the game.
Complaining that blue doesn't have any good CA or deck manipulation spells is equally idiotic. (spoiler: Serum Visions is actually good despite not being as good as it's broken banned siblings, and Snapcaster Mage, Jace flipwalker, and Cryptic Command are some of the best card advantage spells in the format.)
Burn didn't really benefit that much from Treasure Cruise. The problem Treasure Cruise had in Burn is that instead of being a burn spell, it's a card that could hopefully get you more burn spells. So while you have the potential to end up with more Burn spells, you're adding an extra layer into the thing and opening yourself up to more disruption. Remand is laughable against a regular Burn spell, but it's a killer against Treasure Cruise. I saw quite a few games where if a Burn player's Treasure Cruise had been any burn spell, they would have won, but because it wasn't, they lost.
I mean, not even all of the Burn decks were playing it. It was like Bump in the Night; it's great to have another 1-mana three-damage spell, but you have to ask yourself if going into that color is worth it. Some people thought it was, some people thought it wasn't, and there wasn't really a right answer. So while Burn could play it, it didn't really benefit much from it. Monastery Swiftspear was a significantly bigger boost to Burn than Treasure Cruise ever was.
The real issue with Treasure Cruise was Delver. That deck benefitted from the card way more than Burn ever did. For Burn, Treasure Cruise is just a roll of the dice that hopefully will cause you to have an extra Burn spell. In Delver, you'd get benefits just from the card being in your deck or being cast, i.e. flipping your Delver or getting a token from Young Pyromancer, plus it was more adept at chaining them together.
Did you actually play Burn with Cruise? Because it was absolutely dirty.
Yes, it increased variance for the deck and it was fine without the draw 3, seeing as one of the best decks was Delver, an A+ matchup, and even Pod was winnable. But still, drawing 3 cards in that deck was almost always digging you deep enough to break through land gluts and overcome some measly lifegain. The only time it was bad was when you drew multiples in your opener.
ANYWAY, the point is really that Cruise was ridiculously good, and it wasn't particularly close.
Ancestral Vision is definitely not as broken as Treasure Cruise, but it promotes a similar constraint on blue decks. Instead of building for a lot of cheap cantrips and burn spells, Blue decks will instead build towards the long game with lots of interaction and countermagic. They might not be able to stop everyone in the early game, but if you let them get to turn 5+ it will be a serious issue to try and overcome the Card Advantage.
I highly doubt we'll see AV come off next week, though I could see it being reasonable at some point down the road, once they stabilize the metagame again. They aren't going to play with fire coming off of the Eldrazi winter though.
I'd have to agree with Pokken, sideboarding out CoCos against Jund or any grindy deck seems dead wrong. I might shave a Chord or two, but even then it's a card that can get you card advantage by finding a Voice or Finks or EWitness. Recurring CoCo with Ewitness is one of the best ways to outgrind a Jund deck.
Not sure I'm sold on Evolutionary leap. I guess if you have it active early, it can help outclass removal and provide value for chump blockers. But if you draw it late, it's not doing very much, and it also seems a little slow, as you have to constantly leave up green mana, as well as cast the creature you "Draw" for it to matter. This deck is pretty mana hungry. But mostly, what are you drawing into that can actually brickwall Jund well?
I'll have to test out Leap for myself, but I think I'll wait until Jund becomes a bigger meta share again. For now I think I can outplay those decks. But honestly, I'm more excited about something like Sigarda, which actually kills them over a clogged board and doesn't die to any spell in their deck really. She can also still be found with Chords, and synergizes better with your counter-production creatures.
Also I'm personally much more comfortable with 23 lands than 22, and Stomping Ground is essentially a Forest that costs you 2 life, so it still comes at a cost.
If it's worth it for you it's worth it. I'm just pointing out that there are drawbacks.
It's not extra because you would replace land. Siding into it seem to make our deck clunkier, but there are plenty of things to swap out in that match up. I was more skeptical at first, but I had good results with 3 in my sideboard. I haven't lost to Tron yet if they didn't have Tron, but I understand that is just me. It was far better for me than Fulminator was. Also, finding Stomping Ground is not that difficult when you look through your deck for it. You are right about GQ that has happened, but I still won that game by having more time to combo with redcap bc they had played and used a GQ.
Ok, so stomping ground is in your main deck. That saves a SB slot but makes your mana base more awkward against everything that's not Tron. So you are still making some sacrifices. But if Tron is that big of an issue in your local scene, maybe it's with it.
In my case, I'm unwilling to skew my maindeck that much for one matchup. Once in awhile I might just to "get" people, but most of the time I like my lists to be tuned for the widest possible meta. I played Tron twice yesterday, but I might go a few weeks without seeing it again during the local events. Hence, id rather take the risk with something like Fulminator Mage.
I had success crumble aside from nut draws. Didn't need any extra land to play it, just a stomping ground. I never really got Fulminator to work for me with my play style. I'm still doubting Eye of Ugin get's banned. Those were bad hands though, though the list of good hands is kinda short against them anyway.
Stomping Ground IS the extra land, that's the point. And the problem. You are taking up valuable SB space just to cast a 1-of. Siding into it makes your deck clunkier, and you must find the ground or a bird to cast crumble, Both of which are vulnerable to removal (GQ hits your ground if they sniff out your shenanigans, which they should). It's an option in extreme circumstances but I don't love the idea. Even if you do exile their lands, they can still stabilize and interact and eventually drop wurm, karn, or Ugin for the deathknell.
Ugin seems like a pretty logical ban to me. It's 50/50 with temple for hitting eldrazi , but taking away the lategame ridiculousness from both decks seems like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I could be wrong, but it's essentially flip a coin for which one they ban. Either way though, Tron is still bad for us.
@gkourou, I assume fiend hunter stays, at least in the board. It's not good against bolt decks, but it's still an important tutor target for low interaction creature decks and opposing hate bears. Voice probably moves to the maindeck if Grixis and Jund return to the limelight, which I assume they will.
Yeah, I guess the banning will really do a number there although Im envisiong that there is a decent replacement out there, maybe summoners pact or something? I like the idea of lili since she can dodge creature removal by transforming and can do some good hand control work
Not sure about Summoner's Pact, as they will rarely have GG to pay for it the next turn, and it only finds green creatures. I think they will just have to lose some inevitability and play more copies of stuff like Ulamog if they really want to draw it. Losing Eye is huge for them, as it's a land that takes up only 1 slot and gets found with all their tutors. They probably can't do much to replace it, but that's kind of the point. Tron crushes a lot of decks in the early game, and then has this redundancy in the late game too, which is pretty powerful. I don't think it's busted or anything, but I do think WOTC will probably look to keep that style of deck in check after the Eldrazi Winter. And Tron will be fine without Eye, just not quite as resilient against other long game decks.
So Tron will probably still be a problem for us post-bans, depending on how popular it remains. Eye of Ugin isn't really our problem, as we've generally lost or won by the time that card comes online. There isn't much we can do to shore up the matchup without overdosing on Sideboard cards. Liliana maindeck seems interesting and worth trying, but she definitely pulls us away from the combo a bit, which I still think is the best way to beat Tron. Going grindy is just asking to draw out the game longer which won't end well for us generally. Still, she can rebuy old combo pieces if they haven't been exiled, and in a grindier meta she probably is worth a 2-of or so for other matchups like Jund and Grixis.
If Tron is our only bad matchup, I'm not too worried about it at the moment. I still need to optimize my sideboard plan against them and get some more testing in, but as always with that deck I generally just hope to outplay or outdraw them and take my losses when that doesn't happen. Everything else is close to 50/50 or a positive matchup for us, so I think we're in good shape.
I'll be testing a lot more next month once my soccer night switches off of the Modern night at the LGS. Also, SOI is going to be a great set looks like, and I have a hunch it will effect Modern in a lot of (hopefully) good ways.
Yeah, I mean I think I would have had a better shot against both Tron decks if I didn't mull 3 times and punt once, so there's that. My 6 card hand against G/R was 5 lands and a Path, my 5 card hand was Birds, Chord, Chord, 2 land. Not much I could do with those hands.
I guess I could see the value in an extra Redcap, but I think it would be wasted sideboard space. Crumble to Dust is interesting, but again, requiring a fourth color and extra land in the board is rough. Fulminator seems like it would be fine at at least buying a turn or two, but unfortunately I cut my copy for a Linvala today. And obviously, you still only want maybe 2 copies of Fulminator before it starts getting clunky, and it doesn't do enough to swing the matchup.
I'm not that worried about Tron though. There's a good chance Eye of Ugin is the card they ban from Eldrazi, and if that's the case, Tron will take a pretty good size hit and won't be quite as popular. At that point though, I will make a more concerted effort to defeat them if they remain a strong pillar. At the moment, I think I'd just be happy with some better draws next time.
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=12130&d=269582&f=MO
I do love Bob, but it still appears that he is better placed in Jund right now. Painful Truths is, as I'm told, the actual truth, and with Rhino in the deck we can easily make up the slight loss in life. Even still, Bob generally hurts you more if he sticks for a couple turns, as one 3-drop flip and you're already in the hole deeper.
Anyway, the only change I will make to Craig Krempels list will be swapping in a Slaughter PAct for the maindeck Disfigure, and probably adding a 25th land (Westvale Abbey!) for a discard slot. His board looks good, though I will likely tweak it as well.
Looking forward to getting back into this archetype.
Anyway, Here I am, back into BG/x Souls. My friend convinced me this is better than Ancestral Vision decks right now, and it's where I've made my biggest marks anyway. Time to sleeve up Discard into Goyf into Lili into Siege you again. This deck is still one of the filthiest powerhouses in the wrong (correct) hands!
Hell yeah Junk.
...At the Pro Tour. Before the very same Pro Tour top 32 shed light on the power of Eldrazi. And before 3 GPs in a weekend confirmed this power. And then there was all the subsequent tournaments and MODO results. At the time of the banning, it was clear to everyone. Or should have been.
2 Things:
1) While Twin was certainly the poster child for Remand before OGW came out, it was far from the only deck that played it to success. Any Snapcaster deck is likely interested in Remand, and the only reason decks like Grixis Delver didn't have too many copies was because they were actually trying to play attrition in the early game and didn't have enough mana or late game staying power to really enjoy a proper Remand into Cryptic loop.
2) AV is very similar to Twin in that it asks you to survive until turn 5ish to get a big payoff. Remand plays really well with that plan. It's not like you can't also have Mana Leaks and Crypics in that deck too. Cut the Twin package and you end up with a lot of room for other spells. The whole point of an AV shell is too delay your opponent until you draw 3 cards and bury them with more counters and removal.
You guys can go ahead and overlook Remand while you're testing your U/R/x decks, but I'll be happily jamming 4 of them alongside the 4 Ancestral Vision until new information comes to light.
Remand also happened to be really good against all the rest of the decks, and even when it's "bad" against something like affinity etc., it's still never dead.
I don't see how a format that is likely to slow down a bit (thanks to Sword Combo), as well as host a triumphant return to blue-based decks being playable again (thanks to both Eye ban and AV unban) will somehow be hostile for Remand, one of the best blue spells in the format. Even if it's not a 4-of, it's going to be played. And especially if AV mirrors become a thing, Remand's stock will rise even higher. Not only because of Remand, but for all the same old reasons: Snapcaster, Cryptic, Planeswalkers, etc.
Point is, REmand just went up a peg again, not down.
How is remand bad? It's still one of the best counterspells in the format.
The broken part is that AV essentially buries your opponent once it resolves. The problem with that is that every blue deck now either needs to play AV or lose to it in the mirror. There is nothing idiotic about this logic, it's been used before. See: Deathrite, First Wild Nacatl Ban, Green Sun's Zenith, etc.
The real issue though isn't whether it places constraints or not, it's whether AV is too powerful in general. And I honestly think that could go either way. But reducing the card to "oh you have to wait, so it's bad" doesn't really do it justice. Waiting to draw 3 for an investment you made on turn 1/2 isn't a big deal when you can easily trade resources up until turn 5/6, which is exactly when an extra 3 cards is going to take over the game.
Complaining that blue doesn't have any good CA or deck manipulation spells is equally idiotic. (spoiler: Serum Visions is actually good despite not being as good as it's broken banned siblings, and Snapcaster Mage, Jace flipwalker, and Cryptic Command are some of the best card advantage spells in the format.)
Did you actually play Burn with Cruise? Because it was absolutely dirty.
Yes, it increased variance for the deck and it was fine without the draw 3, seeing as one of the best decks was Delver, an A+ matchup, and even Pod was winnable. But still, drawing 3 cards in that deck was almost always digging you deep enough to break through land gluts and overcome some measly lifegain. The only time it was bad was when you drew multiples in your opener.
ANYWAY, the point is really that Cruise was ridiculously good, and it wasn't particularly close.
Ancestral Vision is definitely not as broken as Treasure Cruise, but it promotes a similar constraint on blue decks. Instead of building for a lot of cheap cantrips and burn spells, Blue decks will instead build towards the long game with lots of interaction and countermagic. They might not be able to stop everyone in the early game, but if you let them get to turn 5+ it will be a serious issue to try and overcome the Card Advantage.
I highly doubt we'll see AV come off next week, though I could see it being reasonable at some point down the road, once they stabilize the metagame again. They aren't going to play with fire coming off of the Eldrazi winter though.
Not sure I'm sold on Evolutionary leap. I guess if you have it active early, it can help outclass removal and provide value for chump blockers. But if you draw it late, it's not doing very much, and it also seems a little slow, as you have to constantly leave up green mana, as well as cast the creature you "Draw" for it to matter. This deck is pretty mana hungry. But mostly, what are you drawing into that can actually brickwall Jund well?
I'll have to test out Leap for myself, but I think I'll wait until Jund becomes a bigger meta share again. For now I think I can outplay those decks. But honestly, I'm more excited about something like Sigarda, which actually kills them over a clogged board and doesn't die to any spell in their deck really. She can also still be found with Chords, and synergizes better with your counter-production creatures.
Also I'm personally much more comfortable with 23 lands than 22, and Stomping Ground is essentially a Forest that costs you 2 life, so it still comes at a cost.
If it's worth it for you it's worth it. I'm just pointing out that there are drawbacks.
Ok, so stomping ground is in your main deck. That saves a SB slot but makes your mana base more awkward against everything that's not Tron. So you are still making some sacrifices. But if Tron is that big of an issue in your local scene, maybe it's with it.
In my case, I'm unwilling to skew my maindeck that much for one matchup. Once in awhile I might just to "get" people, but most of the time I like my lists to be tuned for the widest possible meta. I played Tron twice yesterday, but I might go a few weeks without seeing it again during the local events. Hence, id rather take the risk with something like Fulminator Mage.
Stomping Ground IS the extra land, that's the point. And the problem. You are taking up valuable SB space just to cast a 1-of. Siding into it makes your deck clunkier, and you must find the ground or a bird to cast crumble, Both of which are vulnerable to removal (GQ hits your ground if they sniff out your shenanigans, which they should). It's an option in extreme circumstances but I don't love the idea. Even if you do exile their lands, they can still stabilize and interact and eventually drop wurm, karn, or Ugin for the deathknell.
Ugin seems like a pretty logical ban to me. It's 50/50 with temple for hitting eldrazi , but taking away the lategame ridiculousness from both decks seems like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I could be wrong, but it's essentially flip a coin for which one they ban. Either way though, Tron is still bad for us.
@gkourou, I assume fiend hunter stays, at least in the board. It's not good against bolt decks, but it's still an important tutor target for low interaction creature decks and opposing hate bears. Voice probably moves to the maindeck if Grixis and Jund return to the limelight, which I assume they will.
ABZAN COMPANY
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Eternal Witness
1 Fiend Hunter
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Viscera Seer
2 Wall of Roots
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Spike Feeder
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Horizon canopy
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Linvala
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
2 voice of resurgence
3 Path to Exile
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Phyrexian revoker
Not sure about Summoner's Pact, as they will rarely have GG to pay for it the next turn, and it only finds green creatures. I think they will just have to lose some inevitability and play more copies of stuff like Ulamog if they really want to draw it. Losing Eye is huge for them, as it's a land that takes up only 1 slot and gets found with all their tutors. They probably can't do much to replace it, but that's kind of the point. Tron crushes a lot of decks in the early game, and then has this redundancy in the late game too, which is pretty powerful. I don't think it's busted or anything, but I do think WOTC will probably look to keep that style of deck in check after the Eldrazi Winter. And Tron will be fine without Eye, just not quite as resilient against other long game decks.
So Tron will probably still be a problem for us post-bans, depending on how popular it remains. Eye of Ugin isn't really our problem, as we've generally lost or won by the time that card comes online. There isn't much we can do to shore up the matchup without overdosing on Sideboard cards. Liliana maindeck seems interesting and worth trying, but she definitely pulls us away from the combo a bit, which I still think is the best way to beat Tron. Going grindy is just asking to draw out the game longer which won't end well for us generally. Still, she can rebuy old combo pieces if they haven't been exiled, and in a grindier meta she probably is worth a 2-of or so for other matchups like Jund and Grixis.
If Tron is our only bad matchup, I'm not too worried about it at the moment. I still need to optimize my sideboard plan against them and get some more testing in, but as always with that deck I generally just hope to outplay or outdraw them and take my losses when that doesn't happen. Everything else is close to 50/50 or a positive matchup for us, so I think we're in good shape.
I'll be testing a lot more next month once my soccer night switches off of the Modern night at the LGS. Also, SOI is going to be a great set looks like, and I have a hunch it will effect Modern in a lot of (hopefully) good ways.
I guess I could see the value in an extra Redcap, but I think it would be wasted sideboard space. Crumble to Dust is interesting, but again, requiring a fourth color and extra land in the board is rough. Fulminator seems like it would be fine at at least buying a turn or two, but unfortunately I cut my copy for a Linvala today. And obviously, you still only want maybe 2 copies of Fulminator before it starts getting clunky, and it doesn't do enough to swing the matchup.
I'm not that worried about Tron though. There's a good chance Eye of Ugin is the card they ban from Eldrazi, and if that's the case, Tron will take a pretty good size hit and won't be quite as popular. At that point though, I will make a more concerted effort to defeat them if they remain a strong pillar. At the moment, I think I'd just be happy with some better draws next time.