Modern Bible of RG Tron Update: Winning without Eye of Ugin

As you may know, Eye of Ugin is now banned in Modern: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/banned-and-restricted-announcement-2016-04-04

Sword of the Meek is unbanned, as is Ancestral Visions. 

As a RG Tron player, we have now lost our tool to achieve the greatest inevitability in Modern; The Emrakul win through Eye of Ugin. Fetch Eye, get Emrakul, win against anything in the mid and late game.

How badly hurt is RG Tron?

Remember the ways we lose the game: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/07/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-chapter-23.html

#1: You don't get to Tron. This has not changed. We are still as capable to play a turn 3 Karn Liberated as we ever were.

#2: You play against a combo deck that is just faster than you are. I have no idea how fast Sword of the Meek decks can be but surely that can be a problem.

#3: You get to Tron but not to Emrakul, run out of gas and lose. This is the problem.

Emrakul has to go. A one-off 15-mana card does prove inevitability but there is a very realistic chance you never draw her in a game now. Earlier you had 12+ search cards that could find Eye of Ugin to search for Emrakul. Now you have nothing. That does not work.

The problem is that there may now be decks that have better lategames than us. Take Mono Blue Tron as an example - already equipped with a super powerful lategame (but not as good as Emrakul) they now get four Ancestral Visions as well. In fact, a whole new generation of control decks can pop up now.

Can they deal with us? We are already weak to aggro and combo and we are probably still very good against midrange. But how good is the control match now? Well, we still have potent threats. Their counterspells are still weak lategame. And we still have Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.

Changes to RG Tron

Eye of Ugin is gone. It was never a land. It almost never gave us mana. It was a way to find Ulamog or Emrakul. I think replacing Eye of Ugin with a land is a mistake and shows a luck of fundamental understanding of what our deck is trying to do.

If we are going to rely on Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, we better draw him. We have to up the count of the great Eldrazi lord.

Could the solution be as simple as to replace Eye of Ugin and Emrakul with two copies of Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger? 

This breaks the principle of the 2-of that I wrote about here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/12/2-ofs_23.html

Looking at that article, Ulamog is certainly a 2-of. We want to be sure we can draw one copy of the card in the lategame and drawing two copies is not the end of the world (they do stack quite well - after they deal with Ulamog #1, Ulamog #2 breaks their back). 

Playing three copies of the card seems excessive but Ulamog is so critical to us that I want to try it anyways. The correct solution is probably some other card, unless the whole deck should be reconstructed to be a bigger Eldrazi deck. 

Having said all this, I will try this simple swap and see how it does.

An alternative solution - the big Eldrazi deck

I just saw this on mtgsalvation. Credit goes to user Dizdo for trying this.

4 Urza's Mine

4 Urza's Power Plant

4 Urza's Tower

4 Eldrazi Temple

4 Forest

4 Chromatic Sphere

4 Chromatic Star

4 Expedition Map

4 Ancient Stirrings

4 Sylvan Scrying

2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

4 Thought-Knot Seer

3 Conduit of Ruin

1 Ruin Processor

3 Oblivion Sower

3 World Breaker

4 Karn Liberated

Sideboard

3 All Is Dust

2 Creeping Corrosion

2 Dragon's Claw

3 Nature's Claim

2 Ruin Processor

3 Spellskite

That is quite different from the pre-ban RG Tron decks. Its more like the love child of Eldrazi and RG Tron. I will be following Dizdo's result closely.

Next week I will publish the first tests with my new RG Tron build with the simple swap on https://www.youtube.com/user/magicgatheringstrat  One video on Tuesday, one of Friday. Check them out if you are interested. 

My new RG Tron sideboard plan

As you may know, my deck of choice in Modern is RG Tron. In fact, I like the deck so much that I wrote a 36-part series on the deck on this blog. For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

The Modern Bible also contains a lot of specific matchup info, for example against Scapeshift.

My new RG Tron deck list after the bannings
Last week I talked about my updates to the deck, resulting in this deck list after the banning of Summer Bloom and Splinter Twin.

1 Eye of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower

1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

4 Oblivion Stone
4 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyroclasm

Sideboard
4 Nature's Claim

1 Ancient Grudge

1 Feed the Clan

1 mass removal spell

1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
1 Boil
1 Pyroclasm

1 Thragtusk

The Pro Tour is this weekend and I am sure it will prove that I got some of this wrong. Having said that, here is my updated sideboard plan.

My new sideboard plan for RG Tron
8-Rack:   -3 Pyroclasm, , -1 Spellskite, -2 Relic ,+4 Claim, +1 Thragtusk, +1 Ancient Grudge  (Not sure about spellskite/relic)
Abzan: +3 Claim, +1 Wurmcoil Engine, +1 Thragtusk, -3 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic, -1 Spellskite   
Ad Nauseam: +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Ancient Grudge,  -3 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite, -1 Ugin    (Theory: Mulligan to Nature's Claim)
SET STOP IN UPKEEP TO DEAL WITH LOTUS BLOSSOM!!! (With Oblivion Stone)  (Spellskite is worthless because he can draw his deck) What does Relic do in this matchup?
Affinity: +4 Claim, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Coil, +2 Spellskite, +1 Ancient Grudge, +1 Mass Removal, -2 Relic, -1 Ulamog, -4 Karn Liberated, -1 Ugin, -1 Eye of Ugin, -1 Emrakul    (Ulamog and Eye of Ugin sure could be useful against slow Inkmoth death) (Is Spellskite useful enough?) (Is Thragtusk strong enough?)
Amulet Bloom:   +4 Nature's claim. +1 Ancient Grudge +2 Spellskite
                 - 3 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic, -1 Ugin, -1 ??  (Hopefully this beast is dead)
BW Tokens: +2 Claim, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Mass Removal
            -2 Relic, -1 Karn/Spellskite, -1 something    (It hardly matters what you do, they are SO dead)           
Bogles: +4 Nature's Claim, +2 Spellskite, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Mass Removal 
-2 Relic, -2 Scrying, -1 Karn Liberated, -1 Ulamog, -1 Emrakul, -1 Chromatic Sphere
Burn:  +4 Nature's Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm, +2 Spellskite, +1 Thragtusk, +1 Mass Removal, +1 Feed the Clan, -2 Karn, -4 Stone, -2 Relic, - 1 Ulamog, -1 Emrakul, -1 Ugin  (wow, 11 cards)
Coco: +3 Claim, + 1 Pyroclasm, +1 Mass Removal, -1 Spellskite, -1 Wurmcoil, - 2 Relic, -1 ??? 
Delver:   +2 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Thragtusk, +1 Mass Removal,  -2 Relic, -1 Emrakul, -1 Spellskite, -2 Karn/Eye of Ugin/Ulamog (slow things)                
Dredge/Bridge/GY: +2 Relic, -1 Spellskite, -1 Sylvan Scrying 
Faeries: +1 Boil, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Mass Removal, -2 Relic of Progenitus, -1 Emrakul
Green Ramp: +1 Emrakul, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm, -2 Spellskite, -2 Relic of Progenitus
Grixis Control: : +1 Boil, +2 Relic, -3 Pyroclasm
Hatebears: +2 Nature's Claim, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Mass Removal  (+2 Nature's Claim), -1 Eye of Ugin, -1 Eldrazi (you will not have mana), -2 Relic, -1 Spellskite (-1 Ugin, -1 Eldrazi)    
Infect:   +4 Nature's Claim, +2 Spellskite, +1 Pyroclasm,  +1 Mass Removal, -2 Eldrazi, -1 Eye of Ugin, -2 Relic, -1 Karn, -2 Sylvan Scrying (no time)
          (Keep Wurmcoil over Eye of Ugin)
Living End:     +2 Relic, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Thragtusk, -3 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite
Jeskai Control; +4 Claim, +1 Boil, +1 Thragtusk, +1 Wurmcoil, -3 Pyroclasm, -4 Oblivion Stone   (4 claims because he has to burn us out, less if he has less bolts) 
Jund   +2 Claim,  +1 Thragtusk (I will try Thragtusk over Wurmcoil #4), - 1 Spellskite, -2 Relic   (Put in Wurmcoil if no Claim targets)
Merfolk:    +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Pyrolasm, +1 Mass Removal, -2 Relic, -1 Emrakul, -1 Eye of Ugin, -1 Karn, - 1 Ugin (We want 4 Claim because of Spreading Seas + vial)
             (Wurmcoil #4 is probably not needed, Ulamog stays in)
Scapeshift:    +2 Spellskite, +1 Boil, +1 Wurmcoil Engine, +1 Thragtusk, +1 Feed the Clan, +1 Relic (maybe Nature's Claim), -3 Pyroclasm, -4 Oblivion Stone   (Keep Ugin in)                
  REMEMBER THE trick against Scapeshift with Ghost Quarter  (See below)  
  This is now a matchup where we just need to get rid of pointless cards and have less to bring in now that we have cut Slaughter Games. Having a 2nd Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger would be useful here.
Soul Sisters: +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Mass Removal
              -2 Relic  (This matchup is almost an auto-win)
Storm:   -1 Spellskite, -4 Oblivion Stone, -1 Ugin, -1 Emrakul,   (I am really not sure here)
         +4 Nature's Claim, +2 Relic, +1 Pyroclasm (for Electromancer)  (we will miss Slaughter Games here)
Tron, Blue: -3 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite, -1 Ugin, (Spellskite is DEATH against Mindslaver) +1 Boil, +2 Relic, +2 Claim  Never forget to TAKE OUT SPELLSKITE!
Tron, RG:  -3 Pyroclasm, -1 Ugin, - 1 Relic, +2 Spellskite (to redirect Karn), +2 Claim, +1 Ancient Grudge 
Zoo: +3 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Thragtusk, +2 Spellskite, +1 Mass Removal, +1 Pyroclasm, -2 Relics, -4 Karn, -1 Scrying, -1 Emrakul, -1 Eye of Ugin,     

         (What about Pyroclasm? What about Eye of Ugin? Keep Ugin and Ulamog in)   



I am very happy to discuss these changes. Please add your thoughts in the comments below.

Updates to the RG Tron deck and sideboard

As you may know, my deck of choice in Modern is RG Tron. In fact, I like the deck so much that I wrote a 36-part series on the deck on this blog. For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

The reasons to change the RG Tron deck list
As of January 27th, Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom are banned in Modern. That changes everything. It is a major boost for RG Tron.

Two major combo decks are gone. RG Tron does not like combo. RG Tron happy now! RG Tron smash! Oh... excuse me. Back to writing.

Something else has changed as well - Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger has proved to be extremely good at taking down another combo enemy of ours - Scapeshift.

This means that we can move out of the Slaughter Games package and get some free slots in the sideboard.

For reference this is my latest RG Tron build that I was using before the bannings:

1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower

1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

4 Oblivion Stone
4 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyroclasm

Sideboard
4 Nature's Claim
3 Slaughter Games
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
1 Boil
1 Pyroclasm
1 Rending Volley
1 Thragtusk

The changes
Removing the Slaughter Games package means that we no longer need to play Tendo Ice Bridge in the main deck. Thus we get a free land slot. This land slot should be used for Ghost Quarter or a Forest. As the 2nd Ghost Quarter is much less useful than the first (as has been proved by one of the geniuses on the mtgsalvation forums) and Newlamog is pathable I feel that the Forest is more useful.

+1 Forest, -1 Tendo Ice Bridge (MD)

I see no reason to make any other main deck change. I have seen builds with multiple Newlamogs but I feel very reluctant to add more bombs to the deck and I am not cutting Emrakul anytime soon. The single Ugin could possibly be replaced by a Newlamog if you feel like doing that.

I think there is sufficient reason to keep two Spellskites in the SB. They are still very efficient in a lot of matchups even if Twin is gone.

I do not think Rending Volley deserves a spot in the SB now. It does work against Celestial Colonnade and Merfolk but we still win easily against Control decks and Merfolk does not show up enough to merit a slot IMHO.

-3 Slaughter Games, -1 Rending Volley (SB)

My two biggest problem matchups right now are Burn (still trying out Thragtusk) and Affinity. I would like to add something against them. I was thinking of a second Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger might in the sideboard against Scapeshift but Scapeshift does not seem big enough right now in the online metagame. That might change if the Twin players decide to go for Scapeshift instead.

I am going to add one card for Burn and one for Affinity. My choice will be Feed the Clan (or a second Thragtusk) and Ancient Grudge. I will also put in another mass removal spell (probably the new one from Oath). My last candidate for the sideboard is the 4th Relic or the 2nd Boil. For now, the Relic seems like the safe choice.

+1 Ancient Grudge, +1 Feed the Clan, +1 mass removal, +1 Relic

The new deck list post Jan 27 2016
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower

1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

4 Oblivion Stone
4 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyroclasm

Sideboard
4 Nature's Claim

1 Ancient Grudge

1 Feed the Clan

1 mass removal spell

1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
1 Boil
1 Pyroclasm

1 Thragtusk

Now I will start to work on updating the sideboard plan. 

I am very happy to discuss these changes and I am sure the Pro Tour will prove that I got some of this wrong. Please add your thoughts in the comments below.

The Modern Bible chapter 36 - The end and where do we go from here

We sat out to try to learn as much as possible about RG Tron. I started this series on Feb 22 this year. At this moment the chapter one article has 6311 views. That is far more than any MTG thing I have ever written, even more than the original Pauper Gauntlet announcement which was the old record holder. I hope you have appreciated the series. The quest to master RG Tron is neverending and will go on from here. If you want to follow that quest please subscribe to my YouTube channel MagicGatheringStrat. That is also the best place to ask me questions regarding the deck - just comment on any RG Tron video on the channel (there are 100+ Tron videos).

So these are my closing words on the Tron subject for this time.


Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
I still think it is wrong to replace a cheap spell such as Spellskite or Relic of Progenitus with an 8-drop. However, the power level of Ugin is just too high not to include him. I am currently playing two and will probably go down to one if I test Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.


My current Tron list
Right now I am playing the Modern League with RG Tron on Magic Online.

This is the list I am currently using. 

1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite

4 Oblivion Stone
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyroclasm

Sideboard
4 Nature's Claim
3 Slaughter Games
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
1 Boil
1 Pyroclasm
1 Rending Volley
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

As you can see it is basically the list from chapter 5 of the Bible adjusted for Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and with some metagame dependent sideboard changes.

Mono Blue Tron
I get a lot of questions about Mono Blue Tron. I don't have any experience with the deck but from what I have been able to gather the two decks are extremely different. RG Tron is the ultimate midrange deck, defending itself against the aggro decks and having a better endgame than the control decks. Mono Blue Tron is more of a pure control deck - perhaps the closest Modern comes to such a deck.

Fortunately I know exactly the guy to ask about Mono Blue Tron: Pierakor! Pierakos is a frequent player of Mono Blue Tron who streams on twitch.com/magicgatheringstrat and who has been kind enough to put together a Bible (!) for Mono Blue Tron here: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2015/09/mono-u-tron-faq/

The very last closing thought
RG Tron is a metagame dependent deck. I do think that every Tron player should have a secondary deck that has different strengths and weaknesses from Tron. If combo, affinity and burn are out in great numbers you should probably play that other deck. If I do a second Modern Bible (nothing has been decided yet) I will be looking for such a deck.


For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

The Modern Bible of RG Tron chapter 34 - Problem Matchup Videos

Only two weeks left, my friends.

Next week we will discuss how to beat RG Tron when we turn traitors and play other decks.

In the final week I will talk about playing Mono Blue Tron, my current list of RG Tron and anything else that I need to wrap up. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them.

Problem matchup videos
Today we will illustrate some of the points we have been discussing recently.

Here we go!

You can find many more RG Tron videos on youtube.com/Magicgatheringstrat (my community youtube channel)

RG Tron vs Splinter Twin




RG Tron vs Scapeshift


RG Tron vs Storm  (I wish we could have talked more about this matchup)


RG Tron vs Infect


RG Tron vs Burn


RG Tron vs Amulet Bloom


For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

Modern Bible of RG Tron chapter 31 - RG Tron vs Scapeshift

Combo is death for RG Tron. We fear combo decks above everything else. The worst are the quick combo decks that win on turn 3 or turn 4 that we simply have no answers for in game 1 (unless you are joining the maindecking-Nature's Claim-clique). 

Fortunately for us, Scapeshift is not a turn 3 or 4 combo deck most of the time, giving us at least some hope to win.

Is this a bad matchup for RG Tron?
Yes, it is. Scapeshift does not care about our removal and we are not presenting a significant clock to them. 

There is hope that Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger can change this. See last week's blog post here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/09/modern-bible-of-rg-tron-chapter-31.html

Things to consider when playing RG Tron vs Scapeshift
One of the difficulties of playing against Scapeshift is that they can stop your significant threats with countermagic while still threatening a medium quick combo kill.

I now take the liberty of quoting MagicGatheringStrat viewer Mike Pawliuk who has fair insight into this matchup. This comes from a YouTube comment. Full credit to Mike for these tips.

Playing against Scapeshift: THRESHOLDS: 6 or fewer lands: They can't do anything. 7 lands: (Find Valakut + 6 mountains) is 18 damage (usually not enough to kill us) 8 lands: (find 2 Valakut + 6 mountains) is 36 damage. LAND NUMBERS: 2 Valkut 10 Mountain (4 Steam Vent, 4 Stomping Ground, 2 Basic Mountain) Sometimes risky players will only use 1 basic mountain and 9 total mountains. SPELLSKITE: 7 lands: (Valakut + 6 mountains) is 12 damage. 8 lands: (2 Valakut + 6 mountains) is 24 damage. 9 lands: (2 Valakut + 7 mountains) is 28 damage. WURMCOIL: An early wurmcoil can put us out of range of them. Especially if we have Spellskite and Nature's Claim. Be careful if they have Sakura Tribe Elder; they will block and sacrifice, so we won't gain life. THE TRICK: They only have 2 basics, so after Scapeshift resolves (1) if both basics are represented (either pre or post scapeshift) and (2) they only fetched 6 mountains, THEN GQ a mountain will stop the Valakut triggers from resolving (when the triggers check to see if there are 5 other mountains, they will not find them). Notice that Boil also can do "the Trick"; it's much more powerful, but can be countered. After Scapeshift resolves, if Boil Resolves and kills enough Steam Vents to get them to 5 or fewer mountains, then Valakut won't trigger. (You can also try to Boil before Scapeshift, and this will keep them from finding enough lands). Be aware of counterspells though! IF THEY PLAY VALAKUT: This is a very bad sign for them. GQ it in response to Scapeshift. They will need to fetch 8 lands (Valakut + 7 mountains) to deal 21 to you. A single wurmcoil hit will almost certainly get you out of range.

Useful and less useful sideboard cards
Boil: See above.

Firespout: Pyroclasm 5-8 would be very useful here. This matchup (and Zoo) are my main reasons for wanting Firespout in my sideboard.

Oblivion Stone: Does nothing. Sideboard out.

Slaughter Games: Take Scapeshift. This is one of the big reasons to play Slaughter Games in your sideboard.

Spellskite: See above

Less useful main deck cards
Oblivion Stone: Does nothing. Sideboard out.

Pyroclasm: Does nothing. Sideboard out.

Relic of Progenitus: Relic does very little here but at least it does cycle.

Ugin: A very expensive way to do 3 damage a turn. 

Wurmcoil Engine: He is a route to victory but he is very slow and easily counterable. Ulamog or Sundering Titan does a lot more work, especially supported by Boil.This is one of the strongest matchups for Sundering Titan (especially if you have Cavern of Souls)

What do they bring in?
If Scapeshift sideboard against us they are probably just dilluting their combo. Their best route to victory is to just combo off and watch us cry.

If there is a chance they are bringing in sideboard cards (like Chalice of the Void) you have to consider bringing in Nature's Claims.

Some Scapeshift decks have an alternate sideboard plan that can protect them against being totally rendered helpless by Slaughter Games. Be aware of this!

Sample video
In this video I take on Scapeshift with one of my RG Tron builds.



Next week we will take a look at one or more other matchups.

For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/0

Modern Bible of RG Tron chapter 30 - Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

I am a pessimist at heart and I did not expect any good cards to come out of Battle for Zendikar. I was wrong. Of the cards spoiled so far (I am writing this on September 10th) some have given rise to an interesting discussion about the future of RG Tron in Modern.

First among these is Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, obviously competing for the Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre/Sundering Titan spot in the deck. 

Emrakul and Kozilek left Zendikar and trusted Ulamog to be in charge of the place. Can he handle it?

I think we have to look at the card and not just the pretty picture in this case.

OK, maybe we even have to look at the old Ulamog as well.

How does New Ulamog compare to Old Ulamog?
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger costs 1 mana less.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger exiles two permanents instead of just destroying one.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger can be reanimated
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre has Annihalator 4 which seems better than Mill 20 (at least it wins the game quicker)
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre has inevitability as he always comes back and can be fetched again and again with Eye of Ugin.


For the record, I think this is brilliant card design. Actually, the two Ulamogs serve two entirely different purposes. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, wrecks aggro decks, killing their biggest threat and then annihilating their board. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger exiles two lands for combo decks, giving himself enough time to finish the game.

I could even see you playing both. But things get even more complicated.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger has a friend
This card is yet unconfirmed so please have that in mind while reading on.

The big thing here is of course T3: Conduit of Ruin  T4: Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger removing two lands. Goodnight, combo.

It is a risky plan. A lot can go wrong. Even though both Conduit of Ruin and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger has cast triggers the plan does not work if Conduit of Ruin is not on the battlefield on turn 4. Path to Exile, Thought Scour, bounce .... a lot of stuff just wrecks this plan. It is still an extremely strong, game-winning play.

So what do you cut for Conduit of Ruin? I have heard different opinions. People seem to be fine cutting Relics (apparently they are not good in this meta - I am not sure I agree with that) for expensive cards (hey, it worked with Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, did it not?) but there is another very clear target for cutting; Wurmcoil Engine. While that might seem insane at first, Wurmcoil Engine's main job against combo is to be the clock and that can be accomplished with a 5/5.

So, once again, the new card is good against combo and the old card (Wurmcoil Engine) is good against aggro. Do we see a sideboard switch plan here? Maybe we can cut all our matchup specific cards (Slaughter Games, Torpor Orb etc) and just switch between Wurmcoil +Infinite Gyre team and the Conduit of Ruin + Ceaseless Hunger team?

Other interesting cards in Battle for Zendikar
There are none. Moving on.

OK, I will mention the one perhaps worth mentioning:

Desolation Twin: While 20 power for 10 mana seems like a fantastic deal (10 of it uncounterable) Desolation Twin really does not help us significantly in any matchup. 

As a sidenote I have seen some lists playing Alchemist's Vial. It cantrips and provides a critical single-creature-fog effect, but is that really better than Relic of Progenitus?

I should also mention that people are considering cutting Red and playing Hangarback Walker in the Pyroclasm spot. I will address that again if that actually becomes a thing. People try all kind of crazy stuff in RG Tron.


Next week we will cover some more matchups, unless there is another big spoiler we need to talk about.

For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-o

Modern Bible of RG Tron chapter 26 - RG Tron vs Splinter Twin

(co-written with David Musick)

This week we will talk about the deck that is perhaps the #1 reason to choose another deck than RG Tron for your next Modern tournament. Before we go any further I want to stress that. If Splinter Twin is strong in your meta (say 20% or more) you should try to play another deck if you can. Actually, the BGx decks we discussed last week would be excellent choices in such a meta. 

Right now Splinter Twin is 7.5% of the MTGO Meta. 

Why is this such a bad matchup for RG Tron?
The premier combo deck in Modern is Splinter Twin and it has been a tier 1 deck since forever. The deck has won several Pro Tours.

RG Tron is weak to combo. Combo decks don't care as much about you sweeping the board with Pyroclasm or Oblivion Stone. They don't care that Wurmcoil Engine is in the way. They just win.

This is a losing matchup for RG Tron which means that if Splinter Twin is a big presence in the meta (and if often is) and you still elect to play RG Tron you have to be prepared to use many of your sideboard slots to combat it. 

To further my ability to help you win this matchup I enlisted the help of David Musick, a Tron player with a winning record against Splinter Twin. We had a long discussion about the matchup and he even wrote a tournament report and shared his deck list (see below). Thank you, David.

Things to consider when playing RG Tron vs Splinter Twin
Game 1 is a nightmare. All you can do is do your thing. If you maindeck Spellskite(s) you are slightly better off. Try to get a Spellskite or Oblivion Stone active before they combo off. If you manage to do this and keep mana open you can just durdle until you have a ton of mana. If they combo on turn 4 you are just dead. Their tempo control plan is weak against your Pyroclasm but will work better against you in game 2 and 3.

The match becomes more interesting after sideboarding. 

David recommends keeping any combination of Rending Volley, Grove of the Burnwillows, Spellskite and Nature's Claim. You need to forget about getting to Tron. Getting to Tron is not your priority. If you can answer the combo they are just a bad aggro deck and we have no problems handling bad aggro decks even if our Pyroclasms are sideboarded out.

Maindeck Dismember may be a consideration (replacing Pyroclasm) in a Tron-heavy meta.
.
If you destroy their combo you always win. 

Consider getting a colored source with your Sylvan Scrying and Expedition Maps instead of trying to complete your Tron. Remember, you have to disrupt their combo to win.

Remember if you have something to break up there combo, ALWAYS keep the mana open to cast it. There are no exceptions to this. If you tap out you are doomed. That is one of the big strengths of Splinter Twin. Why we care about their combo they can just win with their tempo aggro plan. However, Wurmcoil Engine makes us less vulnerable to this than many other decks. 

Use Karn to get rid of their 2nd red source or their 4th mana.

Consider replacing your Torpor Orbs with Spellskites (see below).

Useful and less useful sideboard cards
Any Twin hate card must be useful even if they have boarded out their combo.

Boil: Boil is used against counterspell decks to cast at the end of their turn, then it gets countered and you are able to resolve a bomb on your own turn. That is not the way games against Splinter Twin goes. Boiling in response to a Deceiver Exarch at the end of your turn is pretty sweet though (see tournament report below)

Nature's Claim: Our catch-all answer comes in here as well. Deceiver Exarch taps our green source of mana at the end of our turn so it is definitely less useful than Rending Volley but if you can keep a green mana available and not get countered Nature's Claim will save you. Just use Nature's Claim on the creatures targeted by Splinter Twin AFTER they activate it to create a copy for the first time and you will disrupt their combo.

Rending Volley: This replaces Combust in all RG Tron sideboards. Just having to keep one mana open instead of two helps a lot. Even if they play Exarch to tap your mana, you just destroy the Exarch in response to the Exarch trigger going on the stack.

Slaughter Games: Surprisingly this card is not good enough against Twin. Some Twin decks sideboard out the combo and cluttering your deck with this card might leave you vulnerable to their tempo control plan. Other Twin decks have Kiki-Jikis as backup and can still combo off after you take their Splinter Twin. Slaughter Games is our #1 tool against combo decks but strangely enough the Games are not the solution here. You could make this argument for Nature's Claim as well if they board out Splinter Twins but at least Nature's Claim can still be used to kill a Blood Moon or get yourselves 4 life which might help against their aggro plan.

Spellskite: This little guy can steal their Splinter Twin but note that he can not stop the Deceiver Exarch trigger as it only targets creatures your opponent controls and thus Spellskite is not a valid target. If they are playing Tarmo Twin Spellskite is your best bet as an early blocker for the Tarmogoyfs. Spellskite also has the advantage of being uncounterable once it is on the table. 

Torpor Orb: The standard SB card against Twin. However, David argues that Torpor Orb is too obvious. We both agree that there are few other relevant matchups where you bring in Torpor Orb. If you replace it will Spellskite you get a card that is useful in many other matchups as well.

Less useful main deck cards
Karn Liberated: While Karn is super powerful you can hardly afford to tap out and he does nothing to disrupt the combo.

Emrakul: The big girl is tempting to take out as she will not disrupt the combo but it can be nice to have inevitability against a deck that can essentially turn into a bad tempo control deck. Games against Twin can go long. I have seen good Tron players both keeping Emrakul and sideboarding her out. 

Pyroclasm: 2 damage at sorcery speed does not do enough against Splinter Twin. Killing a Pestermite or a Snapcaster Mage on your turn will not save you.

Relic of Progenitus: The Relic can disrupt a Snapcaster Mage but that is not good enough.

Wurmcoil Engine: The big snake is not at his best here but you need to have something left in your deck to win with. I would consider sideboarding out one copy but I am reluctant to go down to less than two Wurmcoil Engines in my deck against Splinter Twin.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: If Karn is too slow, Ugin is ever worse. To the sideboard with him.

As you are not as focused on getting to your Tron this is one of the few matchups where you can consider taking out a single compy of Chromatic Sphere or Sylvan Scrying. Try to avoid it, though, if at all possible.

What do they bring in?

Ancient Grudge: Turns out that killing our artifacts can wreck us in the early game, allowing them time to set up. They are also pretty good against Oblivion Stone.

Blood Moon is a favorite staple in Splinter Twin decks (especially the Izzet versions). As you are not too concerned about finding your own Tron and only intent on disrupting their combo their Blood Moon can actually help you find enough red mana for Rending Volley. Some Twin decks main deck Blood Moon so always keep the card in mind when playing against Twin.

Echoing Truth can come in to counter your Torpor Orbs. Sadly, this card works great against your Spellskites as well.

Molten Rain/Stone Rain: This will delay our Emrakul kill but as we are not focused on getting to Tron quickly it simply delays us.

The rare Splinter Twin deck splashing white can be a nightmare for you. If they board in Stony Silence your Spellskite plan (and most of your other plans) go out the window. Nature's Claim and Oblivion Stone are your only hopes here.

Here is a Pro Tour player talking about how easy this matchup is for Twin: http://blog.mtgmadness.com/index.php/putting-tempo-twin-to-the-test/patrick-dickmann

Here is one disheartening quote from Dickmann's article: "The common kill will be an early combo in game 1 and a slightly delayed one in game 2 although it is, as always, possible to win by beatdown."

Dickmann's article is a tournament report and he finishes his RG Tron matchup with reporting the following:  "Everything went as said above with the nice bonus of leaving my opponent without a single permanent in game 2 as multiple Molten Rains, Snapcaster Mage and Ancient Grudge did their dirty work."

This is the kind of soul crushing defeat we risk in this matchup. You have been warned. Never think that any sideboard card of yours can make this an easy matchup. It never is.


Further notes on maindeck Dismember
Please note that I do not recommend playing Dismember in the main deck. However, David does and he is the one who is beating Splinter Twin decks all the time.

David: Dismember gives us another resource against other decks. It's a battletrick, they don't expect it. Every player usually is confortable playing against tron because you only think in your turn. Tron doesn't know about the instant speed

Destroy an infect creature, they usually keep only 1 against us

Destroy the lethal damage of an affinity cranial plating


It's a battletrick, it's risky. But it makes the difference so many times against the fast aggro decks.

Dan: I suppose Dismembering a Siege Rhino could also be useful but then we are talking about a lot of damage.

Sample video
In this video I take on Splinter Twin with one of my RG Tron builds.



David reports from a PPTQ playing RG Tron against Splinter Twin twice
Well I finished the PPTQ in 9th place! Unfortunately just outside top 8. There were 42 people and 6 rounds. I played twin round one and won 2-0. I played burn round two and after a mull to 3 in game two I went 1-2. Then 2-0 against grixis delver round three. The best part of the tourney came round four. I was up against twin again, he comboed me game one, game two I delayed until I could Emrakul for the win. Game three my opponent played a blood moon turn three. Turn four he plays his land and has steam vents and 3 islands. I play my fourth land and say go. He taps all his islands for pestermite and in response I boil his whole mana base. Highlight of the night. He looked at the card looked at his lands and said "Is that legal?" You could just tell that I rocked him. He didn't know what to do with himself. It was just a matter of a few karns taking every land he played before he conceded. So I'm 3-1 going into round four and I get paired up against the only undefeated player in the room. He asked to draw but I had natural tron karn and spellskite in hand and he mulled to 5 on Boggles. I easily take game one. Game two was a blow out. Game three I kept two spellskites and he had path of exile for both of them. 1-2 and it turns out the draw would've changed the final round pairings. Unfortunately everyone 4-1 going into the final round was able to draw into top 8 so I barely missed it. I played abzan in the final round just for fun, it didn't effect the standings. It was fun, I was pretty happy with the deck. The twin match up was straight locked up. 

Here's the deck list I'm running

Main:

4 Ancient Stirrings

4 Chromatic Sphere

4 Chromatic Star

4 Expedition Map

4 Sylvan Scrying

3 Pyroclasm

4 Oblivion Stone

4 Karn Liberated

2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

2 Spellskite

3 Wurmcoil Engine

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

4 Urza's Mine

4 Urza's Power Plant

4 Urza's Tower

4 Grove of the Burnwillows

2 Forest

1 Eye of Ugin

1 Cavern of Souls

Side:

3 Rending Volley

1 Boil

3 Nature's Claim

1 Spellskite

1 Wurmcoil Engine

1 Sundering Titan

3 Relic of Progenitus

1 Feed the Clan

1 Ghost Quarter

So basically what I've learned is game one you can't really interact. We have no idea they are on twin which means you can't really justify keeping any hand with a Spellskite and two lands. That being said we just try to do our thing and hope we don't lose to a tapper on three and twin on four. Assuming we have made it to tron and aren't stone dead, we are on the hunt for an immediate oblivion stone or Spellskite. If we get the stone we literally play "land go" being sure  we have 5 mana for our stone. From that point on we really just try to get a ton of mana and lock them out. The cavern of souls naming "horror" is pretty sweet interaction too. Spellskite is the bain of twins existence. Never block with it. I cannot tell you how many times I've had a Spellskite sitting there half the game until they just go crazy and double bolt it. Game one really just comes down to if your opponent has the combo early or not and finding a fast answer if they don't. We eventually win if the game drags on due to more impactful cards.

When boarding I bring in:

3 Rending Volley

1 Boil (or 4th claim)

3 Nature's Claim

1 Spellskite

I take out:

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

1 Karn Liberated

1 Chromatic Sphere

2 Pyroclasm

1 Sylvan Scrying

The Sundering Titan and Boil in the side have been flip flopping in and out for me. Usually for another natures claim. I'm not 100% convinced on any of the three.

After board I feel a TON better. I tend to keep any hands with some combination of rending volley, spellskites, nature's claim and grove/forest. I would say the grove is probably the most important thing to have post board. It turns on all of our best hate. We do not care at all about tron post board. If we can stop the combo, we win. Stopping the combo will drag the game out long enough for us to just naturally draw or cantrip into tron, then we get Emrakul and it's over. This strat also plays around blood moon. If you don't care about your tron pieces what good is the blood moon? They usually wind up slowing themselves down just as much as us and that's exactly the game we want to play. We can O-Stone or claim the moon when we are ready to go off. A lot of times they will also bring in ghost quarters against us. Again, if we ignore tron, what good does a ghost quarter do? Give us a basic forest? Sweet. Now we can play our claims, stirrings and scryings at will.

I'm not trying to sound like an expert or anything, I've only been playing the deck a month and I never even played modern before that. However, I did my homework. I do feel like I have a solid understanding of the deck (mostly thanks to you) and have been performing very well and consistently with the deck so far. Like I said, I went 5-0 last night at the Modern Monday event I attend every week (usually 20+ people). I played Twin 3 times and only lost game 1 to my opponent in the last round. It's not the first time I won the tourney with tron and it won't be the last. Looking forward to trying out the build at a PPTQ this weekend!

Until next week -  may you please not die to 1,000,000 Deceiver Exarch copies.

Next week we take on the most played deck in Modern right now: Burn.

If you have any tips on winning this most dreaded matchup, share them in the comments below.

For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.