Thursday, May 7th, 2015
Welcome to another edition of “This week in Magic.” This week we’re going to cover a deck that is not burn. However, depending on who you are, is probably on the same level as far as the totem pole is considered. This week we’re taking a look at one of my favorite decks, GR Tron. Now we may have talked about it in the past, but this time we’re going to go over some of the changes the deck has made since we last touched upon it.
I guess on one of the first things you’re asking yourself is why GR Tron? Why not Mono-U Tron? While part of me does enjoy the strong control aspect of Mono-U Tron, you are less likely to draw your combo pieces than you are when you play GR Tron. This is one of the great strengths of GR Tron. I mean, if you’re going to play a deck called Tron, you might as well play the Tron pieces.
I’m sure you’ve had enough of my blabbering. Here is a good look at what I’ve got.
GR Tron
Main board
4 Karn Liberated
4 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Emrakul, The Aeons Torn
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Pyroclasm
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Expedition Map
4 Oblivion Stone
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza’s Tower
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Mine
2 Forest
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Ghost Quarter
Side board
2 Spellskite
3 Rending Volley
4 Nature’s Claim
3 Boil
2 Vandalblast
1 Sundering Titan
Your main board is very self-explanatory. Our main objective here is to build up Tron as fast as we can. This is accomplished by digging through our deck as much as possible or being as direct as possible. Sylvan Scrying is our best direct approach at gathering Tron. Expedition Map is another great example of a direct approach to thing. The spell is a little bit slower, and if played improperly, can be destroyed or returned to your hand without ever being used.
Overall, the best spell in the deck has to be Ancient Stirrings. On turn two, it’s the best spell we can play. Imagine this scenario: Turn one, we play a tron land and cast one of our numerous one casting cost artifact cantrips that cans also generate a single color. In a deck where colored mana is so sparse, this added ability is very welcomed. This leads us to our second turn. On turn two, we draw our card for the turn, then we can activate and sacrifice the artifact to draw another card and generate us one Green mana. This mana is then used to cast Ancient Stirrings where we can look at another five cards deeper.
There is no greater feeling than casting a turn three Karn Liberated. I’ve played plenty of matches where my opponent has scooped at the sight of Karn. Not only that, but Wurmcoil Engine can be just as devastating to many of your opponents, especially the ones who decided to play burn that day.
Then, of course, there is always the chance where you can windmill slam an Emrakul around turn five or six with the help of an Eye of Ugin. For you beginners out there who may feel a little intimidated by this deck, don’t be. On paper it may look difficult to play, but in reality, it isn’t. Just like everything else in Magic, it takes a little bit of practice, but once you get rolling, it shouldn’t be difficult to pilot.
The deck is nicknamed “Tron” for reason. That’s because to play the deck you need to be able to play all three Urzatron pieces. Again, having play the deck plenty of times, I can tell you that, despite all of the cantrips and tutors, assembling Tron can still be difficult.
Also, let’s not forget the people who have a side board plan against you. As a Tron player, your worst nightmares will be Fulminator Mage and Blood Moon. Going from producing seven mana on turn 3 to producing only 3 mana hurts a lot – on the inside and outside.
Well, that’s it for this week. As you can see, I’ve played other decks besides Mono-R Burn, and am not as one sided as I seem to be. My advice is to try it out and give it a shot. Slam those those Tron pieces onto the battlefield and get ready to see some sad faces.
Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community forums!
Please don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: GR Tron, Modern, Simeon Cortezano, Tron
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Saturday, May 2nd, 2015
Join us TODAY for our Grand Prix Trial for Grand Prix Las Vegas! Here’s your opportunity for a chance to earn a 2-round Bye at what is expected to be the largest North American Grand Prix -EVER!
We look forward to seeing you at our Plainville, MA location on May 2nd!
Format: Modern
Date: May 2nd, 2015 a Saturday
Time: Doors at 10:00 am, Round 1 pairings at 12:00 pm
Entrance Fee: $25.00 per person
Address:
25 Taunton Street
Plainville MA 02762
Parking on site
This event is being run as a Grand Prix Trial for Las Vegas:
• Deck lists required
• Cut to top 8
Prizes:
Prizes will be paid to the top finishers in Store Credit usable in store or online!
Tags: Grand Prix Las Vegas 2015, Grand Prix Trial, Magic the Gathering, Modern, Modern Masters, Modern Masters 2, MTG, Tournament
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Magic: The Gathering, Store Related | No Comments »
Thursday, April 30th, 2015
Welcome back to another edition of “This week in Magic.” Last week we talked about the basics of Naya Burn and some expectations as I took it to a local GPT for Las Vegas. Sadly, I finished the day with a 3-2 record and just missed Top 8 by .5% point. I can’t be too upset considering how badly I felt I played all day. I felt that I played a little too loose and know I could have done better.
A prime example comes from my first match where I kept a hand of four lands and three spells. I was on the play, so I was already short action spells. My opponent was playing Esper and a turn one Kozilek and I was pretty much out of spells to cast by turn two. My best hands are anything with two lands and five spells or three lands and four spells. When I get the loose hands of four lands and three spells, I tend to mulligan them because there is not enough going on there. However, that first match had me keeping that exact hand. I knew I needed to play tighter if I wanted to have a chance.
My plays throughout the day is something we can save for another time. This week, I promised to tackle the options we have for side boarding. Once again, here is a quick rundown of my Naya Burn list.
Main board
4x Goblin Guide
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Eidolon of the Great Revel
2x Grim Lavamancer
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lava Spike
3x Rift Bolt
2x Skullcrack
4x Boros Charm
4x Atarka’s Command
2x Lightning Helix
2x Shard Volley
2x Searing Blaze
3x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Wooded Foothill
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Stomping Ground
3x Sacred Foundry
Side board:
3x Destructive Revelry
1x Lightning Helix
2x Path to Exile
2x Deflecting Palm
2x Skull Crack
3x Molten Rain
2x Kor Firewalker
-2 Searing Blaze, -2 Lightning Helix, -1 Shard Volley; +2 Path to Exile, +3 Destructive Revelry.
I’ve played against many twin matchups and I think this is a bit of a coin toss. Obviously during our first game, there is very little we can really do if our opponent has a Twin turn four. We either have enough burn in our hand to remove their Exarch or Mite, or we don’t. It’s as simple as that. Once we’ve boarded, the match stays a coin flip still. They tend to bring in a Spellskite or Batterskull, but the popular choice is to bring in more cheap counterspells such as Dispell or Spell Pierce.
In these situations, I like to bring in Destructive Revelry and Path to Exile. Destructive Revelry is our best defense against Batterskill and can conveniently destroy Spellskites. The one important thing they can destroy, though, are Splintertwins! There is almost no reason for a Twin player not to play Twin on turn four if they have the combo. It’s on us, the burn player to do something or lose.
Path to Exile is another great one-mana removal spell for us. More specifically, it’s there to remove the Exarch from play. One may think I’m over boarding a bit here because Destructive Revelry is good enough, but I like to have more options here. Path can also remove the insect token that Batterskull makes.
-2 Lightning Helix, -1 Shard Volley; +3 Destructive Revelry
Before I converted to Naya, this matchup was always in favor of Affinity. Some would argue it was more of a coin flip, but I tend to disagree. Since converting to Naya, we’ve gained more options and a bit more of a reach when it comes to fighting against the robot army.
One thing I’ve learned is that our creature package plays a big part in our match. Previous Mono Red builds relied more on their burn spells than anything else to do the damage. With no creatures in play, we allowed Affinity to run rampant all over us. However with almost a third of the deck being creatures, we have more defend ourselves with.
For our side board options we have the same choices we had with Twin. I like to bring in all of our copies of Destructive Revelry. If you read what the card does, then there is little explanation needed here, and we can get in two points of damage.
I also think Molten Rain is good option to run here as well. Their man-lands can do some serious damage to us if left unattended. Don’t forget, though, that Molten Rain can only hit their lands. As burn players we really need to be careful not to over board in these situations. If you feel Molten Rain is important, then go ahead and run them. Otherwise, you are still fine just running the Destructive Revelry.
-2 Shard Volley, -2 Lightning Helix; +2 Kor Firewalker, +2 Path to Exile
Kor Firewalker has become one of the most solid answers to anything Burn. So I like to assume that my opponent is going to be smart and bring in their copies of Kor Firewalkers. It’s because of this thinking process I like to bring in Path to Exile. The most important reason for this is because it’s our only way of dealing with the Pro Red creature.
So why did we take out the cards we took out? Out of the entire deck, I feel that Shard Volley is the weakest link. You can also see this because I’ve taken it out of every match, post-side board. As for the Lightning Helix. It’s actually one of the more “clunkier” spells in the deck. First of all, it’s one of only spells in the deck that requires us to pay two different colors in mana. Second of all, a lot of people get distracted by it’s life gaining abilities. I feel that this can cause people to be less aggressive with the spell. Playing a burn deck, you want to burn out your opponent before they can do it to you. Kor Firewalker on your side more than makes up for the fact you’re losing some life gaining abilities, but, in the end, are gaining stronger ones.
Well that’s it for now. Yes, your eyes are correct. We only covered three major opponents in this week’s article. However, if you have any questions regarding any other matchups, then feel free to leave a comment in the section below. Until next week…
Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community forums!
Please don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: GPT, Magic the Gathering, Modern, mono red burn, MTG, naya burn, Simeon Cortezano
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Featured Author, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts | 2 Comments »
Sunday, April 26th, 2015
Just ONE WEEK to go for up-coming Grand Prix Trial for Grand Prix Las Vegas! Here’s your opportunity for a chance to earn a 2-round Bye at what is expected to be the largest North American Grand Prix -EVER!
We look forward to seeing you at our Plainville, MA location on May 2nd!
Format: Modern
Date: May 2nd, 2015 a Saturday
Time: Doors at 10:00 am, Round 1 pairings at 12:00 pm
Entrance Fee: $25.00 per person
Address:
25 Taunton Street
Plainville MA 02762
Parking on site
This event is being run as a Grand Prix Trial for Las Vegas:
• Deck lists required
• Cut to top 8
Prizes:
Prizes will be paid to the top finishers in Store Credit usable in store or online!
Tags: Grand Prix Las Vegas 2015, Grand Prix Trial, Magic the Gathering, Modern, Modern Masters 2, MTG, Wizards of the Coast, WOTC
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Store Related | No Comments »
Saturday, April 25th, 2015
Join us TODAY at Battleground Games & Hobbies in Abington, MA for your chance to earn a 2-round Bye to Grand Prix Las Vegas!
Format: Modern
Date: April 25th, 2015 a Saturday
Time: Doors at 10:00am, Round 1 pairings at 12:00pm
Entrance Fee: $25.00 per person
Address:
1423 Bedford Street
Abington MA 02351
This event is being run as a Grand Prix Trial for Las Vegas:
• Decklists required
• Cut to top 8
Prizes:
Prizes will be paid to the top finishers in Store Credit usable in store or online!
Tags: Event, Friday Night Magic, Grand Prix Trial, Magic the Gathering, Modern, MTG, Tournament, Wizards of the Coast, WOTC
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Store Related | No Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2015
Wizards of the Coast announced yesterday, the promotional cards for the Friday Night Magic program for May, June and July; and they do not disappoint! Please make sure you join us at your local Battleground Games & Hobbies each and every Friday for a chance to earn one of these great promotional cards in addition to other great prizes.
Friday Night Magic is the heart and soul of the local Magic community. Open to all and running in all Battleground Games & Hobbies stores each Friday Night, “FNM” is a chance to catch up with your friends, make new ones and of course, play some Magic! We offer participants a variety of ways to enjoy Magic, including booster drafts, Standard-constructed, Modern-constructed and so much more. Please see our event calender for more details.
Tags: FNM, Friday Night Magic, MTG, Wizards of the Coast
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