Em Writes Magic

Debut Standard article over at Card Kingdom is now live! Ahren (of TurnOneThoughtseize) and I look at new Standard and the sweet decks on offer. 

With GP Liverpool slowly looming over, I’ve picked up Eldrazi Tron once again in preparation for the event. It may seem an early consideration given the event is in December and deck choices may change, however, Modern is a format built on pet decks and Eldrazi Tron is one of mine. I feel Modern shouldn’t always boil down to which deck is the best, or which deck is the most powerful, but the deck you find fun and the most enjoyable. Although everyone has a different concept of fun and playing a top tier deck may be that to some, but I believe keeping to this ideology you will enjoy playing more Magic and have a positive mindset in return. In this two-part piece, I look at where Eldrazi Tron sits in current Modern meta, my current lists and what rogue additions could work out within the build. Overall, this is me theory-crafting about Eldrazi Tron, and a lot of what I am writing about is down to opinion which you may agree or disagree with, I'm merely opening this to the floor.

Since last year, Eldrazi Tron has fallen off the map somewhat given that Grixis Death’s Shadow is less prevalent than it once was, regardless of this, I feel there is life left the deck yet. Perhaps there’s some stubbornness on my part, but there could be a case that Eldrazi Tron may need to be figured out once again to be in line with the current Modern meta. With fewer people playing the deck means there is a lot less data to comb through, so I’m going back to the drawing board in rebuilding the deck to see if Eldrazi Tron can combat some of the top decks. In time, I will be looking to create sideboard guide for my version of Eldrazi Tron once I’ve had enough games against the myriad of decks that Modern offers. I don’t think Eldrazi Tron is the meta breaker or will resurge to be Tier 1 again, at least not yet as Modern is a lot different to what it was a year ago. Although I feel Eldrazi Tron could be better than people make it out to be, and it’s worth investing some time and effort to find out, especially leading up to GP Liverpool.

Firstly, we’ll look at what are the dominant decks in Modern currently and see where Eldrazi Tron lies amongst them. At the top is 5-colour Humans which is regarded to be the best deck in the format at present, given the consistency of the mana base and the disruption available for an aggressive deck, 5-colour Humans is a powerhouse in Modern. The deck can open the gates early by curving out into significant threats with the aid of Aether Vial, which from the perspective for an Eldrazi Tron pilot can be a concern given we have a few turns to set up Tron or deploy a threat. In my experience against 5-colour Humans, the matchup can be a little rough but isn’t a free win for the opponent. All is Dust is the best card against the deck if it’s well-timed. At present, I run two in my mainboard as a lot of the top decks are colour permanent heavy. Although Meddling Mage can be challenging to deal with if All is Dust is named, however, Spatial Contortion and Dismember are useful in removing Meddling Mage allowing you to wipe the board. If you want to think outside the box and it’s something I’ve considered myself, Oblivion Stone could be an excellent addition and isn’t as predictable compared to All is Dust, it does require more mana, but the payoff could be worth it. Coupling this, I think Walking Ballista (and some extent Endbringer) with Basilisk Collar are well positioned in Modern currently, so I’m running a one of Basilisk Collar in the mainboard to support this. Thus allowing you to control the board against these aggressive decks. When it comes to sideboarding against 5-colour Humans, Torpor Orb is fantastic at weakening the power that this build usually offers, especially if your opponent doesn't have an answer for it.

Now we go onto the ‘graveyard-matters’ decks of the format which are R/B Hollow One and R/B Vengevine. Both of these decks have exploded from Pro Tours this year and becoming increasingly popular. Going back to an original point I made earlier, Eldrazi Tron typically takes a few turns to set up unless we have a turn two Thought-Knot Seer, which is the most unfair we can do early on in the game. Meaning while we are setting up, there is a chance that a couple of Hollow Ones or Vengevines are on the field already. I found this match up to be difficult early on as the acceleration is tough to match. However, I’m shifting the mainboard in reaction to this by having two Relic of Progenitus and a Scavenger Grounds. I would go out to say Scavenger Grounds (or even Bojuka Bog) are a staple in the land base for Eldrazi Tron given how relevant the graveyard is at this moment in time. I am unsure which is better between Bojuka Bog and Scavenger Grounds as I would need to test thoroughly on both before having a substantial verdict.

Nonetheless, I feel having graveyard hate in your land base is a necessity in Eldrazi Tron if you want to have a fighting chance against these decks. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see myself run a second Scavenger Grounds removing the second Ghost Quarter as I’ll go into more detail why later on. With regards to Relic of Progenitus, I’m also looking to test Tormod’s Crypt instead as there isn’t an activation cost and costs zero mana. However, you lose the value which Relic of Progenitus offers but could allow you to catch up to speed which these graveyard decks are currently going. Coupling this, Scavenger Grounds and Relic of Progenitus are also ideal against Ironworks Combo which was my other reasoning to mainboard these; otherwise, we have no real way of interacting with the combo.

These decks have one thing in common; they’re unfair. Decks such as Hollow One, R/B Vengevine, Ironworks Combo and to some extent 5-colour Humans all abuse an element within Magic which makes them inherently powerful. R/B Vengevine abuses graveyard synergies, R/B Hollow One takes advantage of variance, Ironworks Combo abuses the rules, and 5-colour Humans takes advantage of its mana base. With that in mind, I feel Ghost Quarter isn’t as prevalent as it once was as these decks can cheat permanents into play. Besides, Ghost Quarter feels too fair in some cases, and Eldrazi Tron can’t force other decks to play fair, unlike U/W Control for example. However, the application is there in some instances against Mono-Green Tron and U/W Control, so with that, I feel running a one-off Ghost Quarter is acceptable as you can fetch it up with an Expedition Map. With that, U/W Control is another deck on the rise since the printing of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria which is inherently an unfair card in what it can accomplish. So much so it’s the premier planeswalker of choice in these control builds over Jace, the Mindsculptor which no one could have predicted back in February when Jace entered the format again. Even though both of these planeswalkers work well together within the build, coupled with the array of sweepers to choose from, U/W Control is a powerful deck. Many matches as an Eldrazi Tron pilot depends on having Cavern of Souls, and slow playing your Tron lands and/or Eldrazi Temple until you can obtain the most value from them. U/W Control runs a playset of Field of Ruin and sometimes a one-off Ghost Quarter as well, so it’s relevant to time your land drops well and follow up with a spell or two that matters as the opportunity can be narrow. With Field of Ruin in mind, the consensus in Eldrazi Tron is that two Wastes is enough. However, I don’t think playing three Wastes isn’t a terrible idea either. Especially if your meta is full of U/W Control or is Path to Exile heavy, again, if I was to consider this I would remove the second Ghost Quarter for it as you want to avoid becoming negative on lands in-game. 

Overall, it’s not as clear-cut whether Eldrazi Tron can be the top deck at present and feel in part this is due to Chalice of the Void not being as impactful as it was last year. However, this does not mean Chalice is awful, but many of the top spells in the format are at various converted mana costs compared to last year, where Chalice on one was a solid play across the format. Chalice is still prevalent against certain decks such as U/W Control, Storm and Grixis Death's Shadow for example. On the other hand, I don't think you can remove Chalice of the Void from the build as that what makes Eldrazi Tron resilient, and is an excellent form of disruption that binds the deck. Last year I tried out Eldrazi Mimic instead of Chalice of the Void to a reasonable amount of success. Being able to demote Chalice to the sideboard, allowing me to be a little more aggressive against combo decks such as Scapeshift and Ad Nauseum which were rampant my local meta. Although I would love to revert back to this now I feel Modern is too quick and aggressive, and Eldrazi Mimic doesn't trade well with the premier creatures of the format. With that, I think it’s worth delving into and finding out what’s best for this deck going forward in Modern.

So, a little catch up on what’s been happening, why I haven’t been posting on here and what’s changing.

Firstly, I’ve started writing for a site (MtGDeckTechs) which was initially going to be about Modern. However, the format is a little over-subscribed on the site in regards to content, so I decided to switch to Commander instead. My first Commander article will be up in a couple of weeks, which is exciting. If you are interested in reading any previous articles I’ve done, and for future Commander content, check this link; http://mtgdecktechs.com/author/emmzyne/

However, what about Modern you’re wondering? Well, I’m going to revive this space for Modern, and primarily Eldrazi Tron once more as I’m back on the deck after a stint with Mono-Green Tron. With GP Liverpool preparation in full swing, I look to take Eldrazi Tron to the event. I plan to use this space to theory-craft, practice and write up any experiences with the deck leading up to Liverpool. It's going to be fun and want to share the journey with you all.

Before I begin, this is a personal piece in reaction to the events that took place last night within the Magic Community. It’s a subject that’s close to my heart and something that I can relate to, albeit on a much smaller scale. It’s evoked a wanting to talk about it from myself, given it’s something I’ve experienced on a regular basis.

So late last night, Christine Sprankle, a renowned Cosplayer and arguably the face of the Magic Community has made the decision to walk away from Magic, due to being harassed by people within it. Sucks right..? When I initially read of the news, I was very sad but also not surprised.

Sad, because no one should ever be driven away from something they genuinely love doing and the good it brings. I mean, think about it… It’s legitimately heartbreaking. We’ve been brought up to chase the things we love and share it, it’s what makes us happy and human. Christine is a treasure to the Community and it’s those kind of characters that make the Community as great as it can be. However, in the same breath I am not surprised as it’s something I’ve unfortunately experienced, granted not to the scale of what Christine had to endure but it’s all relative. What is even more sad is that I (and other female players) will very likely experience this again, for as long as we choose to walk down this path.

Growing up with two older Brothers meant I took a lot of their ideals and hobbies as my own. I played D&D, board games and video games, something which was incredibly normal in our household, was my life and still is. Magic was something I’ve only been into recently, in within the last three or four years - but a hobby I love like the rest and wouldn’t want it any other way. In my very early teenage years, I remember female gamers not being commonplace and did honestly feel like an anomaly, a glitch in the system that shouldn’t be. Like someone like me shouldn’t exist, and that no one understood me even if I was noticed. Even from my male ‘peers’ who disregarded and belittled my interests and opinions, even though we had the same things in common, because of gender. Back then, I took it so personally and became withdrawn in sharing myself - as I felt it’s was something no one wanted and if they did, I’d only get harassed and abused for it. Safer to just hide away at this point.

Years later, I started to become more proud and confident in my interests and in how I composed myself - essentially not caring what strangers thought of me, as they didn’t know me personally so who were they to judge? This came about when I worked for Gamestation, a video games retailer, me being the only female who worked there for two of the three years I was there. Within in this time, I was noticed and became a lightning rod for all the narrow-minded and incorrect ideals of female gamers. Instead of admitting defeat and accepting it as it is. I rose to it - proving a point, I knew I deserved better and wanted to paint a more accurate and fairer image of female gamers, not just for me, but for my peers. I fought back.

This is why I have a thick skin and a tolerance for such things, and people wonder why. For example, at GP Liverpool I was playing in a Modern side event (with Eldrazi Tron of course…) and in my third round, my opponent made the sly comment of..

‘Sweet deck, did you borrow that off your Boyfriend by any chance?’

My response? 'I cast Reality Smasher, go to combat… Swing for 10..’

In retrospect, I should’ve called a Judge there and then - but was far too focused on the game, and thought if I just win he’d stop talking. Which worked but should have brought some kind of justice to it. It’s the flip side of being so thick skinned to it all, you become desensitised to the point you almost ignore it, and with that they are just going to continue. Something I will keep in mind for the future, for sure.

I always trace back to one thought whenever I get harassed or verbally abused over what I do and enjoy, is that - do I love what I do? Every time the answer has been yes and for me, I refuse to give up what I love doing for the incorrect opinion of my male 'peers’. I’m not appeasing to anyone. Granted it’s not okay to just take it and move on - but it should never force you out of something that you love doing. My stubbornness has always been my strength in this regard and just refuse to back down, it just burns a brighter flame for me. I live my life once and intend to have as much fun as possible with the people who care. I’m not saying Christine didn’t have the same mentality and support, clearly this has been mounted up to point she’s been pushed away. However, I do believe her actions will catalyse some sort of response which is ultimately needed in the Community right now, if anything it’s overdue.

So once again, I finish 2-1 tonight with a slightly different list than before but wanted to keep things Stompy still. Upon this I decided to cut a Ghost Quarter and added a Dismember, as I didn't feel I need the 24th land given how aggressive I can go. Back at Ivory Goat Games for more Modern and finished 9th out of 21 players tonight. Unfortunate not to make top 8 but we’ve all been there. Eldrazi Tron List (MB Mimic); 4x Urza’s Mine 4x Urza’s Tower 4x Urza’s Power Plant 4x Eldrazi Temple 3x Ghost Quarter 1x Sea-Gate Wreckage 1x Cavern of Souls 2x Wastes

4x Expedition Map 1x Basilisk Collar 2x Relic of Progenitus 2x Warping Wail

1x Karn Liberated 2x All Is Dust 3x Dismember

4x Matter Reshaper 4x Walking Ballista 4x Reality Smasher 4x Thought-Knot Seer 3x Eldrazi Mimic 3x Endbringer

Side; 4x Chalice of the Void 2x Hangarback Walker 2x Ratchet Bomb 2x Relic of Progenitus 1x Surgical Extraction 1x Graftdigger’s Cage 1x Pithing Needle 1x All Is Dust 1x Wurmcoil Engine So as mentioning in my previous post, I was considering putting Chalice of the Voids into the sideboard. I did this for a few reasons; - Warping Wail is a greatly underrated card, and wished I had it in my main board last FNM. - Relic of Progenitus is a great card to have in the main and at worst it draws you a card. Seemed fine. - It’s a FNM, it’s where we try these different builds out right...?

Round 1 - Elves (Won 2-0)

The deck was relatively budget and didn't run the tremendously busted Elves but did enough work to make me sweat. Elves is one of our worst match ups given how quick they can accelerate, while most traditional Eldrazi Tron decks durdle to get Tron online/Temples going in that time. Game 1 I managed to rip a All Is Dust off the top when he had lethal next turn, turned it around with Reality Smasher ft. Basilisk Collar. Couldn't come back from that.

Sided Out; -2 Relic of Progenitus  -‎1 Karn Liberated  -‎1 Endbringer  -1 Dismember

Sided in; +1 All Is Dust +‎1 Ratchet Bomb +‎1 Wurmcoil Engine +‎2 Hangarback Walker

Wanted more sweepers even though I was aware Reclamation Sage was coming in and it’s the reason I sided in Wurmcoil Engine and Hangarback Walker, allows me to potentially go wider than Elves and gain the optimal value. I trimmed a Dismember and Endbringer as a result.

Game 2 I mulled to 5 on the draw, managed to get Tron online naturally on Turn 4 with 2 All Is Dusts in hand, ripping 2 Smashers to finish the job late on. I really enjoy the attrition Eldrazi Tron has, it’s pretty great.

Round 2 - Vizier Company (Lost 2-0)

My opponent is a seasoned grinder and finished in the Top 100 at GP Birmingham just gone so he's a  very seasoned player and experienced with the deck. Although the match up is slightly favoured to me, the skill of the pilot can reduce that in these cases.

Game 1 I managed to control the board with Ballista killing Druids and Seers, but he Collected Company into the 2/3 of the Combo, and ripping the Vizier off the top when I Thought-Knot Seer'd the one in hand. Super tilt.

Sided Out; -2 Reality Smasher -‎1 Dismember -‎1 Karn Liberated Sided In; + 1 Surgical Extraction  + ‎1 All Is Dust  + ‎1 Ratchet Bomb  + ‎1 Grafdigger's Cage

Reality Smasher isn't great against Vizier Company as they can just soak the damage and refill their board for days, so went to rip the Combo and bring in more sweepers. I was expecting Kitchen Finks in the build hence me bringing in Grafdigger's Cage, this build didn't run it Finks in the end.

Game 2 was super unfortunate however I did Surgical targeting Devoted Druid to take him off the Combo. Kept a good 6 to only draw 4 Tron Lands and a Temple in the next 5 turns, all the mana but no payoff. Was just super unlucky and it happens to the best of us. He went wide with Linvala, Keeper of Silence (Shuts off Ballista big time..) and the usual suspects to close the win.

Round 3 - Dredge (Won 2-1)

This match was super interesting and grindy, as I've never played against Dredge before. So I had a lot to learn and understand from the match up. Game 1 I lost, he Conflagrate aggressively to remove my Mimics and Matter Reshapers, closing the game out with all 4 Prized Amalgams. He hit some insane Drege in this game. Didn't hit any of my 2 Relics to deal with any of the threats.

Sided Out; -3 Mimics -‎1 Karn Liberated -‎2 Warping Wail

Sided In; +2 Relic of Progenitus +‎1 Surgical Extraction +‎1 Grafdigger's Cage +‎2 Hangarback Walker

Sideboard was relatively straightforward however it was difficult to remove cards. So I ran the set of Relics in the main as I need to hose that graveyard hard and pick any targets with Surgical as I can. Unsure if I removed the correct cards but felt I could control the Graveyard long enough to seal it, durdle them out as it were. Longer Eldrazi Tron goes on usually the better it gets, so had that game plan in mind.

Game 2 I kept a hand of natural Tron and 2 Walking Ballistas, proceeded to Surgical Conflagrate and close out the game with 2 6/6 Ballistas, pinging Narcomebas and Bloodghasts as when. It helped greatly that I kept drawing into Tron to add counters, and he didn't draw his Ancient Grudge to deal with them.

So finished at FNM with a 2-1 with this list - 4th out of 18. Been wanting to try out Eldrazi Mimics in this deck as I genuinely feel it's great against Scapeshift, Ad Nauseum and Storm. It allows us to throw some early damage and race the opponent. I've always found that we're usually a turn away from winning against these kind of decks and through no fault of our own. Eldrazi Tron is a Tron deck in the loosest of ways, we’re not overly concerned about hitting Tron Turn 3 but we still want to cheat our Eldrazi out. Ivory Goat Games is usually combo heavy meta so it seemed ideal time to try. However, with Fatal Push being the Promo in the month of September there's been a lot more varied and rogue decks going around. With the field being potentially unknown, and the last time I piloted Eldrazi Tron was at GP Birmingham (11-13/08/17), it was going to be an interesting night.

Eldrazi Tron List (MB Mimic);

4x Urza’s Mine 4x Urza’s Tower 4x Urza’s Power Plant 4x Eldrazi Temple 4x Ghost Quarter 1x Sea-Gate Wreckage 1x Cavern of Souls 2x Wastes

4x Chalice of the Void 4x Expedition Map 1x Basilisk Collar 1x Relic of Progenitus

1x Karn Liberated 2x All Is Dust 2x Dismember

4x Matter Reshaper 4x Walking Ballista 4x Reality Smasher 4x Thought-Knot Seer 3x Eldrazi Mimic 2x Endbringer

Side; 2x Relic of Progenitus 2x Hangarback Walker 1x Surgical Extraction 3x Ratchet Bomb 2x Warping Wail 2x Grafdigger’s Cage 1x Pithing Needle 1x All Is Dust 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Round 1 : Vs. Seismic Swans - Won 2-0

Not a match up I've played against before, but it was an interesting match nonetheless. Basically raced the opponent out, Mimics did damage in this round. Turn 1 Mimic into Turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer (Which is super good given how land heavy the deck is, so the picks are easy). Closed out the game quickly, opponent didn't have enough lands or the Swans to pitch to win.

Sided Out   -1 Relic of Progenitus -1 Eldrazi Mimic -1 Karn Liberated -1 Chalice of the Void

Sided In +1 Pithing Needle +1 Wurmcoil Engine +2 Warping Wail Game 2; Unsure if I sided correctly, but really wanted to bring in Pithing Needle to name Seismic Assault or Molten Vortex, the Wails to stop Treasure Hunt and Wurmcoil to add some life-gain to make him work for his combo. Dismembers I kept in as it actually deals with the Swans. It's a big combo piece so felt necessary to keep in. Game 2 went, Turn 1 Pithing Needle (Naming Seismic Assault..) and then Turn 2 Chalice on 1. Locked him out of the game. Thought-Knot Seer turn 3 to remove the only card in hand, which was a Swans and pushed through to win.

Round 2 : Vs 4c Humans - Lost 2-1

This match up was tough for me, again, never played against the deck so this was an experience for me. Game 1 opponent managed to unload his hand of Humans turn 4, swung in for 11 but managed to All Is Dust then he ran of gas, closed out the game with double Reality Smasher.

Sided Out -1 Relic of Progenitus -1 Karn Liberated -4 Chalice of the Void

Sided In +1 All Is Dust +3 Ratchet Bomb +2 Warping Wail

Game 2 & 3; Felt like Chalice didn't do a great deal given Collected Company exists in the deck, and Karn felt too slow. So sided in more board-wipes and Warping Wail to deal with all the low power and toughness Humans.

Game 2 and 3 were super unfortunate, mulled to 5 both games and drew into my utility lands and got no real value out of what I played. Game 3 I Thought Knot Seer'd to remove a Path, for them to draw Coco and double Reflector Mage my two big threats away. Unfortunate, but that's the way the cookie crumbles at times. In hindsight I should’ve kept the Chalices in, took the Mimics out and force a Chalice on 1 or 2. With this I could’ve slowed him down a lot, but now we know this for next time.

Game 3 - Vs Mono Green Stompy - Won 2-0

Played against this deck a bunch of times, and is a really good match up for us. We go bigger quicker, it was easy to control the board with All Is Dust and Thought Knot Seer's. Eldrazi Mimic did work too, pushing through the extra damage, forcing favourable blocks.

Sided Out -1 Relic of Progenitus -1 Karn Liberated -4 Walking Ballista

Sided In +1 All Is Dust +2 Hangarback Walker +1 Wurmcoil Engine +2 Warping Wail

Game 2;

Wanted to get the best value out of my blocks, Hangarback and Wurmcoil are excellent against non-Path to Exile decks so felt like an auto include especially the deck also runs a lot of artifact removal in the sideboard. Although Walking Ballista seemed fine, I wanted to go wider than Mono Green Stompy could handle and this allowed that. Game 2 I Chaliced on 1, into Mimic, then into double Endbringer and controlled the board. Closed out the game super quick.

Conclusion;

Guess we better stop this Blog being devoid of content, right....? Right..? ....Okay, I'm leaving. So who am I..? Well, my name is Emma, I'm 29 and from a town called Ipswich, in England. I work for a networking application company, dealing with content and users. Relatively standard stuff. I visit two LGS's regularly one being Ivory Goat Games in Ipswich, the other being XtremeTrades in Colchester. But enough about me.... Why Eldrazi Tron?... You really (really) disliked Eldrazi when Eldritch Moon hit, what changed? So I've been playing Magic for the best part of 3 years now. The first set I fell into was Khans of Tarkir (Go Siege Rhino or go home, amirite?) so in this time I've played a tremendous amount of Standard and nothing else. Always felt apprehensive jumping to a more eternal format given the breadth of cards available, it's almost intimidating, you know? I’ve had some small experiences with Modern prior to building Eldrazi Tron, tried out a few different archetypes but struggled to commit to anything fully. Examples of these were W/G HateBears and Jund Burn. They just didn’t grab me, granted, they are opposites in what they wanted to achieve and perhaps in hindsight, didn’t give them the time they really deserved. Modern is a format where you can't pick it up overnight, like Legacy, it requires a lot of commitment, research and knowledge to fully understand the format as a whole. Back then I had some impatience and naivety thinking I could pick something up and run hot, which isn't true at all. I put off going into Modern a while because of it, because I didn't think I was good enough nor had the experience to do well. But that all changed very soon. So the New Year hits, I recall watching an MtGGoldfish stream of Saffron Olive playing deck called Eldrazi Tron, created by Todd Stevens. It intrigued me as it looked like a hybrid between Eldrazi Stompy and well, Tron, almost a distant memory of that 'Eldrazi Winter' that we all remember. So, I proceed to watch it, and instantly had the ephiphany of 'Yeah, I need to build this'. There was just something about it that looked fun, that I needed to build and play it. Tron always gets a hard time of being very linear and repetitive, whereas this version of Tron (and it's very loosely 'Tron' may I add) just seemed refreshing. Instead was of forcing the turn 3 Karn, you're forcing the Turn 2 Thought Knot Seer, or the Turn 3 Smasher equipped with a Basilisk Collar going face. It seemed aggressive and powerful, which are the sort of decks I enjoy to playing. So, I built whilst it was a Tier 2 deck and not looked back since. The deck has gone through many iterations over the following months. Modern is a big, ever-changing format and you have to react to any changes in the meta, which Eldrazi Tron has hence why it's now Tier 1. It's something I've proactively done in the last few months, to the point where I feel this version of Eldrazi Tron is my deck and it's, my build. It's a wonderful, gratifying feeling to have, given how easy it is to purely net-deck in this day of age.

So what's the purpose of this...?