R/G Tron Takes Down Local PPTQ

 Ariel has taken over Tuesdays at Wizardden.com and I am kicking this off right with a tournament report on Auston Robertson's path to victory piloting Red Green Tron. This past weekend Tap Cut Games hosted a Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier which I had the honor of judging. It was a relatively small event with many of our regular modern players unable to make it for various reasons. Auston and Rogue T3ch member Will Lotz were the only ones able to represent Wizardden.com. I was impressed by the diverse meta with skill players who have learned and tuned there decks with great care. Here was his list.

Creatures (6)
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Spellskite
3 Wurmcoil Engine

Planeswalkers (5)
4 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Other Spells (29)
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
2 Explore
4 Oblivion Stone
3 Pyroclasm
4 Sylvan Scrying

Land (20)
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Llanowar Wastes
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower

Sideboard (15)
2 Back to Nature
2 Boil
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Nature's Claim
2 Slaughter Games
1 Spellskite
2 Sudden Shock
1 Sundering Titan
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Auston started off this event with a match up against a Zoo deck featuring Knight of the Reliquary. Unfortunately for his opponent, creature based strategies tend to crumble to R/G Tron. Three mainboard Pyroclasm, four Oblivion Stone, and most everything else in the deck favors him in these matches. Game one turn two Pyroclasm wiped up all the small creatures, and a turn three tron setting up a Stone tied up his opponent's ability to win. An Ugin killing the last threat finished up the first game.

Sideboard: -1 Karn, -1 Explore, +1 Ugin, +1 Sundering Titan
Ugin is better than Karn at dealing with multiple threats and closing the game. The Titan also closes the game so he removes Explore since it is mostly a filler anyways.

Game two a turn three Blood Moon locked up the game real quick, but as it often does it shut down both players. The now smaller Wild Nactl were not enough to kill Auston. An Oblivion Stone cleared up the board and opened the door for a tag team of Ugin and Karn to close out the game.

Round two was a bit harder. His opponent was piloting the ever dangerous Splinter Twin combo. Fortunately mainboard Spellskites and smart play with Oblivion Stones can mitigate this threat. Sure enough turn two Kite and turn three tron allowing for Stone and a fate counter on the Kite left his opponent no real way to win before Emrakul finally came down.

Sideboard: -3 Pyroclasm, - 2 Explore,-1 Ugin, +1 Nature's Claim, + 2 Boil, +2 Slaughter Games, +1 Spellskite
Ugin and Pyroclasm don't hit much of anything that matters and the Explore allow for the more relevant cards to come in. Boil will beat the Blood Moon play everytime since they will tap out for the Moon as soon as possible. Slaughter Games removes the threat of combo and the Kite helps slow them down enough to establish a winning board.

Game two went much like game one with a board stall into Emrakul for the win. Turn three Blood Moon did slow things down but the opponent did not have the combo before Auston had the Oblivion Stone ready.

Round three Will Lotz sat across from him with the ever threatening Boggles. Thanks to a Grove of the Burnwillows a turn two and three Pyroclasm kept Will from establishing a board state. A follow up assembling of Tron, Spellskite, and next turn Ugin rolling down cinched up the win.

Sideboard: -4 Karn Liberated, -2 Explore, -1 Oblivion Stone, +1 Spellskite, +1 Ugin, +3 Nature's Claim, +2 Back to Nature
Karn can't target much that matters, Stone is slow, and Explore consumes colored mana better spent on Nature's Claim, and Back to Nature. Boggles also can not beat a resolved Ugin.

Turn two Back to Nature and a Ugin on turn four took it down.

Round four Auston was completely undefeated allowing him to draw and get top seed. This was incredibly lucky since Infect is an incredibly poor match up between it's speed and Inkmoth Nexus being a land allowing it to dodge most of Trons removal. Had he had to sideboard this was his plan: -1 Emrakul, -2 Explore, -1 Karn, -1 Sylvan Scrying, -1 Stone, +2 Nature's Claim, +2 Sudden Shock, +1 Ugin, +1 Spellskite. The basic plan is to take out the slower plays and replace them ways to stay alive long enough to actually cast a threat.

The quarter finals kicked off with a match against Borosmancer Burn, a burn list featuring Young Pyromancer and Boros burn spells. Game one a Pyroclasm on turn three swept away a Pyromancer and a Swiftspear. Turn three Karn followed next turn by a Wurmcoil Engine.

Sideboard: -1 Explore, +1 Ugin
This matchup was already favored so an extra Ugin was the only change needed.

Game two was very similar, early Pyroclasm with a turn four Ugin to keep the board clear bought time for Emrakul to come down.

The semifinals pit Will Lotz against Auston all over again. Game one Will came out swinging but a Kite slowed it down a bit. Long enough for a turn four Ugin to remove any chance of victory for the boggles.

Sideboard: -4 Karn, -2 Explore, +1 Spellskite, +1 Ugin, +2 Nature's Claim, +2 Back to Nature
Remembering that his opponent has Suppression Field this time Auston brought one less Nature's Claim. He did this because trying to pop a Sphere or Star gets to expensive to commit a turn and card just to hitting the Field. Stone is more reliable under these circumstances thanks to tron lands.

Game two Auston kept a risky hand with: 2 Spellskite, 2 Nature's Claim, 1 Back to Nature, 1 Chromatic Star, and 1 Urza Land. He kept this only because it had the tools he needed and only required a single land draw. He got locked up on two Urza lands and an Eye of Ugin. The Star got burned on a Back to Nature which stemmed the bleeding at 8 life. At this point Auston was presented with choice; play a Map and a Sphere or play a Spellskite. He chose the Map play and Will slammed a Rancor and Daybreak onto the surviving Gladecover Scout, this was too much to deal with and Auston lost his first game of the day.

Game three kicked off with a Nature's Claim to slow down the Boggle onslaught. Turn three Auston had a Back to Nature and Expedition Map ready and was able to get the last piece of Tron. A turn four Ugin crushed the game.

The finals came down to Tron verses Grixis Twin. Game one Auston got turn three tron which allowed him to force a Spellskite through a remand and keep the Twin from going off. Karn ate a counter the next turn. His next Karn ate a Remand, but now a Stone was free to land and buy time for Eye of Ugin to find Emrakul.

Sideboard: -3 Pyroclasm, - 2 Explore,- Ugin, +1 Nature's Claim, + 2 Boil, +2 Slaughter Games, +1 Spellskite
Same plan as before.

Game two a turn two Kite and a turn three Stone stared down a Blood Moon. That Moon stalled both players long enough for Auston to fire off the Stone and Slaughter Games choosing Splinter Twin. A quick loot let the Twin player ditch the copy in his hand but that didn't fix the problem that he had too few ways to win. Eventually Emrakul took it down yet again.

This deck is extremely powerful in an unknown meta. It is easy to pick up and play but hard to master to the degree that Auston has. He shared a few bits of advise for those wanting to pick up Tron. Try to keep two land hands, in very few cases you can keep a one land hand. Karn Liberated always rolls up unless you will die without rolling down. Ugin rolls whichever way will remove all threats. When dealing with counter spells use your Wurmcoils as bait so your walkers and Stones can get through. Auston's biggest piece of advice is play your Stones wisely. Using your life as a resource lets you get the maximum value out of your Stones and mana. Lastly always use your last land search on an Eye of Ugin so that you can get a way to close the game out. I would like to thank Auston Robertson for giving Wizardden.com an inside look on this powerhouse in the format. Join us next Tuesday for another breakdown on a deck, this time one very special to me.