Explanation About Tron After the Unbanning of Stoneforge Mystic

※This article is translated from Japanese to English by my friend, Vi(@1Zvolt).
I would like to thank her for her work.

Hello! My name is Otakkun.
This is my 3rd article I wrote about Green Tron Deck in Modern.

Playing Guide Pre-WAR(you will need to pay to view all) and Post WAR : About Karn, the Great Creator(Both written in Japanese), these are the previous articles I wrote. Since the environment of Modern changes, only part of them might be useful now, so feel free to read them if you have time.

I was The Finalist of “The Mythic Championship Qualifier” that was held in Hareruya Tournament Center (2019/09/01). Although I lose during the final, I was lucky enough to be able to win all the Single Eliminations without playing first. I’ve been participating in a lot of competitive tournament and being the finalist this time gives me courage.

PS.
I won and became The Champion of “God of Modern Trial” (2019/09/07) with the same deck list! The results were 5-0 + ID, I proceed to SE being 1st, then won all the SE. I was very satisfied with the result of this competition.

I hope to enjoy Magic from various angle. I stream Magic Online (link to my Twitch) and make some videos (link to my videos). I think I’m still inexperienced and want to improve, so I’ll be very happy and encouraged by your views.

Table of Contents
◯The Result of The Competition and Deck List Used in MCQ
◯Post Banned and Restricted Announcement Environment
◯Reasons Behind The Chosen and Unchosen Cards
◯Mulligan Guide
◯Sideboarding Guide (+ Movements + Mulligan Standard)
◯Closing

◯The Result of The Competition and Deck List Used in MCQ

The results of the competition was as below:

R1 Humans 2-0
R2 Esper(BWU) Reanimate(Woodfall Primus) 2-1
R3 Burn 2-1
R4 WU Stoneforge 2-0
R5 Eldrazi Tron 2-0
R6 Mono Green Tron 1-2
R7 Mono Red Eldrazi 2-1
R8 ID
Result 6-1-1, finished 8th
SE1 Urza Thopter 2-1
SE2 Mono Green Tron 2-0
SE3 RG Valakut 1-2

FINALIST!!

I used Green Tron deck. The reasons are, I am used to playing this deck. I’ve been using this deck in MTG Online and real cards for 4 years, and had played more than 2000 matches in total. I only use Green Tron in Modern Competitive matches because I am confident in using this deck. I think made the right choice of deck because I judged that Green Tron will be a strong deck in this new environment.

Since it was MCQ after Banned and Restricted Announcement, it was difficult to decide cards to be used in only 15 cards in sideboard. I decide to use cards that I think will be a waste if it’s not used.

◯Post Banned and Restricted Announcement Environment

First, lets review how the Banned and Restricted cards bring benefits and bad effects to Green Tron.

・Banned
<Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis>
<Faithless Looting>
・Unbanned
<Stoneforge Mystic>

Benefits to Tron Players:
・Fair decks that are being suppressed by Hogaak increased.
・Since Faithless Looting is banned, deck using graveyard decreased. (no longer need Surgical Extraction, so the choices of cards for sideboards becomes wider)
・The appearance of Clock Permission + Stoneforge Mystic. (Trons have advantage towards deck which are unable to use Stony Silence from their sideboard)

Bad Effects to Tron Players:
・Decks which have many card against graveyard-using deck in their sideboard will now use that sideboard slot for cards against land-combo deck. (such as Fulminator Mage, Daamping Sphere, etc…)

As you know, this announcement makes a big change in Modern environment. (this is irrelevant to the article, but by the way I love playing Karn Forge in MO, so this announcement was depressing for me)

This Banned and Restricted Announcement gives lots of benefits to Tron. But on the other side, I predict that it may makes Tron users difficult to win against fair deck. Keeping that in mind, I would like to explain what and why a card is used in my deck list.

◯Reasons Behind The Chosen and Unchosen Cards

Number of <Relic Progenitus> being used: 0

Being able to have cards against graveyard-using deck in mainboard is one of Trons` strong points. It`s the role of this card. Usually, 2~3 of them are used before Hogaak was banned and was really of good use against graveyard using deck.
However, when facing non-graveyard-using decks, it creates a lag of 2 manas before you can draw a card during early phase. I don`t think it is efficient, and I predict that there will be less now, so I use 0 Relic Progenitus in my deck this time.

The strong side of this card is: it can prevent fair decks` easy win by the combination of land-destruction cards (such as <Fulminator Mage> in Jund or BG, or 4<Field of Ruin> in WU Control) and <Surgical Extraction>. Now that Faithless Looting is banned, from now on the number of <Surgical Extraction> in fair decks` sideboard will decrease, so it will not be a top priority to be guarded against this move. This is also the reason I didn't put Relic Progenitus in my Tron deck.

However, it is important to be cautious to land-destruction cards, since you might lose to fair decks because of it. <Sorcerous Spyglass> will be the solution it this problem.

Number of <Sorcerous Spyglass> being used: 3

At first, I thought I was being too cautious to land-destruction cards. But, bringing this card from <Karn, the Great Creator> will be too late. The strong point of this card is, it can be casted during Turn-2 to prevent the activation of <Field of Ruin> or <Fulminator Mage>. Preventing land-destruction cards means it will not be a problem even if the opponent has <Surgical Extraction> in hand. Moreover, <Sorcerous Spyglass> can also be used to target Urza, Liliana of the Veil, Stoneforge Mystic, PW in mirror match. It can be of a good use against many cards in this environment.

With <Stoneforge Mystic> unbanned, Jund might increase the number of <Kolaghan's Command> used. It will not be much of a problem if you can cast Tron`s finisher cards while the opponent uses 3 manas on <Kolaghan's Command>.

Above are the reasons I that made me put 3 <Sorcerous Spyglass> in my deck. It was effective when I use them in the real competition, so I think I made the right choice.

I also thought of replacing some of the <Sorcerous Spyglass> with <Pithing Needle>, but being able to see the opponent`s hand help me make future plans which is important. This is why I use 3 of them. In this case, it depends how you want to adjust.

Does Green Tron need <Karn, the Great Creator>?

The Champion of MC Barcelona was Green Tron Deck user. At that time, the deck list used includes the existing only 7mana Karn, 4 <Wurmcoil Engine>, 3 <Walking Ballista>, and sideboard containing <Leyline of the Void>. This type of Green Tron is strong against Hogaak at that time.

Now that Hogaak is banned, I strongly believe that <Karn The Great Creator> will be need in Green Tron deck. (Ever since this Karn was printed, I never remove it from my deck) Static Ability are very powerful, because having these in the battlefield will greatly affect the game. Decks which use this ability exist. Examples of those decks are:
● Scales Affinity
● Urza Thopter
● Tron (mirror matches)
● Deck which keeps Aether Vial in opening hand
etc.
There are a lot of decks of this type which can be (almost) stopped with this Karn alone. When facing control deck, this Karn works as one of the must-counter cards. Too strong...

This time, I think carefully of the Silver Bullets that can be brought to hand by this Karn’s minus ability. In the previous article, I did a research on about 1300 types of artifact cards that can be used in Modern. (Feel free to have a look when you have time. I apologize in advance because the evaluation might change now in this new environment.)

Next, I will be explaining about those artifact one by one.

Number of <Sorcerous Spyglass>: 3
The reason was explained above.

Number of <Grafdigger’s Cage>: 1

Out of 75 cards in the deck, I only put this one card for graveyard-using decks. People might think of using Graveyard-using decks now since card against graveyard-using decks decreased. But I think it’s not really worth the slot in the deck, so I slightly expect just this one card to fight against graveyard-using decks. In the competition, There are actually matches which I fight a Reanimate deck and I won thanks to this card.

Number of <Ensnaring Bridge>: 1

Having Ensnaring Bridge in mainboard makes the deck strong. After casting Karn and Ensnaring Bridge in Turn-3, if the opponent is unable to destroy them, you can just cast <Mycosynth Lattice> and have an easy win.

Number of <Trinisphere>: 1

This card is strong against Burn deck and Storm deck. It is possible to cast this card on Turn-3, which might lead to victory against Burn(because Burn uses few lands). Be careful when making Trinisphere a creature and attacking with it, because the effect is gone when it is tapped.

Number of <Walking Ballista>: 1

First of all, it can get rid of creatures or PW. It is also a strong card because it can go pass through Ensnaring Bridge and deal damage.

Number of <Mycosynth Lattice>: 1

During early phase and both Karn and this card is on the field, if the opponent cannot get rid of Karn, opponent cannot get mana from their lands. Sounds unfair enough.

There are some points about <Mycosynth Lattice> that people might forget. With <Mycosynth Lattice> in the battlefield, all cards become colorless. This means:
● <Force of Vigor> cannot be casted by pitching the spell
● Ugin’s minus cannot exile cards
● Thragtusk can be added to hand by <Ancient Stirrings>
● Thragtusk can be added to hand by <Ugin’s Sanctum>’s ability
In real life and MO, I saw some people who failed to pitch spell in this situation. So please be careful.

The above are the artifacts I used. The artifact that will be explained below are possible choices for adjustment.

<Defense Grid>
The first card that should be brought to your hand if your opponent is WU Control.
Green Tron is advantageous to WU Control, so there is not much benefit having this card in the deck. This is the reason I didn’t use this card.

When facing WU Control, even if you successfully landed Karn to the battlefield, I suggest not to cast it and just hold it in your hand. This card acts as a 2 mana must-counter card, so during the next turn, casting this card before Mycosynth or 7 mana Karn will be effective. (4mana Karn enters the battle field → the opponent may have <Spell Pierce> in hand and counter it)

<Chalice of the Void>
Other than being used to stop Suspended spells by placing X=0 on battlefield, it can also be used to stop decks which use many 1 mana spells (more than you do, for example UR Phoenix) by placing X=1. But I think Trinisphere is enough, so this card is not really needed in modern environment now. This was the reason I didn`t put it in my deck.

There are more artifacts that might be used effectively, but I`ll just explain this 2 for the moment.

The need for <Ghost Quarter>