So uh, I played a lot of Tron last night with lots of Mindslaver, Counterspells, Thopter Sword, Academy Ruins, and Wurmcoil and Karn and Ulamog and Kozilek.

2-0 vs. Esper Thopter Sword

1-0-1 vs. Mono-U Tron

0-2 vs. UW Gifts Tron

2-0 vs. UW Gifts Tron

0-2 vs. RG Tron

I saw so much opposing Thought-Knot Seer. Weird experience, hope not to repeat it.

3-1 in a field of 30 tonight.

0-2 vs. Infect--learned my lesson, ALWAYS keep chumps up against Infect.

2-1 vs. Grixis Goodstuff

2-1 vs. Grishoalbrand (graveyard hate and hand disruption FTW!)

2-0 vs. Grixis Control

2-1-2 last night:

2-0 vs. Mono-U Tron

0-2 vs. Affinity

1-1-1 vs. Infect

2-0 vs. Jeskai Control

1-1-1 vs. WB Death and Taxes

Thinking about trying 2x Mind Stone in the place of the mainboard Extraction and one Inquisition. Also debating the merits of Blood Baron of Vizkopa vs. Batterskull. Always tinkering.

I feel you on the tinkering aspect. I keep thinking to myself every little change could make all the difference. I have added an eldrazi displacer to my list, I think the utility of recurring strangler triggers, soft removing opponents creatures, and dodging spot removal is worth a slot.

Went 3-3 at TCG States on Sunday, losing twice to control decks and once to Abzan CoCo. Not too pleased with my performance, though it is true that this is only my second-ever tourney above an FNM level of play.

Two losses were due to variance--double mull to 5 vs. Control and god-draws by my opponent and too many lands for me vs. CoCo--but the other was due to my inability to push spells through a blizzard of counters.

Because of this I swapped the basic Wastes for Cavern of Souls. I felt able to do this because I also added two Mind Stones, which can provide under a Blood Moon. However I weakened myself to Path and Ghost Quarter by dropping a basic, but there's always a tradeoff in a tight list.

Additionally, I went to 4x Thoughtseize over a IoK/TS split due to lifegain options balancing the life loss, and the imperative of being able to hit Scapeshift, Ad Nauseam, Karn etc. (also Elspeth, Sun's Champion which closed G2 of my second control match loss after I was unable to take her with IoK).

Today I played in a LGS $1000 Modern Open, went 5-2, and came in 10th of 78 players.

1-2 vs. Merfolk

2-1 vs. Esper Death's Shadow/Angel's Grace/Spoils of the Vault brew

2-0 vs. RW Prison

0-2 vs. Merfolk

2-0 vs. American Control

2-0 vs. Merfolk

2-0 vs. BW Death and Taxes

Landing a turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer, which happened several times today, is an amazing play and can make it very hard for opponents to win, especially if followed up by a T3 Smasher into swing for 9. However when the lands are light and the big guys are in-hand it can be an auto-lose type situation. The deck is great but variance, as always, can be a real bear.

Cool deck! +1

Went 4-0 and won a 30 player FNM event.

2-0 vs. UB Homebrew

2-0 vs. Jeskai Control

2-0 vs. RG Burn

2-1 vs. Kiki Chord

So I am considering a blasphemy; I am thinking about trying 2x Duress and 1x Aven Mindcensor in place of my SB Extractions. The main thing I am wanting those slots for, really, is Tron and RG Primetime/Scapeshift-type builds, and also combo pieces, which I have traditionally had to get from the yard. But Extraction is conditional; maybe these would be a little easier to get value out of those slots in those matches.

Warping Wail could also be good.

Interested in others' thoughts, if you got 'em.

A slightly more mana costly option is Memoricide. Overall I think sneaking in a mind censor is better, really ought to throw your opponent off.

Haven't made any changes lately but am also thinking about -1 Damnation and -1 Ratchet Bomb for +1 Flaying Tendrils and +1 Engineered Explosives to speed up my fast-aggro sweeper hate style.

BTW, if you like this enough to put it in a folder, maybe ya like it enough to give it the ole upvote? Just sayin'.

Changes:

Main: lowered the curve with -1 Blight Herder for +1 Matter Reshaper, sped it up a little more with -1 Shambling Vent for +1 Isolated Chapel.

Side: -3 Surgical Extraction and -1 Ratchet Bomb for +1 Ghostly Prison, +1 Flaying Tendrils, +1 Rest in Peace, and +1 Grafdigger's Cage.

The changes should strengthen the aggro and Evo-Kiki matchups at the cost of weakening the Tron match. I'll take that trade in this meta.

-2 more Herders for +2 Reshapers, much faster now. Mindcensor for Rest in the side, since Rest is much worse with Reshapers.

Post-AER updates noted, and matchup analysis expanded and improved.

Nice build! +1

Out of curiosity, how are your matchups against the current Grixis builds (Control, Delver, and Shadow)?

Thanks Tethys. I've out a lot of time into balancing this deck and I think it's pretty good.

The deck is very good against Grixis builds in general, because it is attacking from a bunch of tough angles for them. Strangler is extremely good against a suspended Ancestral Vision, and while Fatal Push doesn't hit Tasigur or Anglers, it's great against Delvers, Shadows, and Tar Pits. And Path (or Blessed Alliance from the side) can get the big guys.

Relic is great, slowing down T2 Tasigur drops easily and often turning Snapcaster Mage into a crappy Ambush Viper. Lingering Souls chumps for days, and taxes counterspells and removal heavily. And Shadow decks need to watch out for late-game Smasher topdecks that could finish them off, so they often find they need to leave a blocker behind when going into the red zone. (They'll need two cards in hand to remove a Smasher with a spell, of course.)

We need to watch out for Fulminator Mage out of the side from most players--Pithing Needle can be a good pre-emptive play against Fulmie, though it's unlikely to survive all game because of Kolaghan's Command. Some players are beginning to run Spreading Seas too, which is even better against us than Fulminator is, tbh.

Hey obliteratious, you owe me a fucking apology, jackass. Leave it here if you have any integrity at all.