My thought is that Banefire is unstoppable. They can always do something to stop a creature.

Well technically, Mindbreak Trap and Venser, Shaper Savant can counter any spell... but I digress.

Wurmcoil remains almost always better than Banefire, because it is colorless and therefore easy to drop turn 3, and nost importantly has lifelink which is huge in so many matchups. Many decks fold to a dropped Wurmcoil they can't deal with assuming they can't kill you the next turn. The main thing that can deal with Wurmcoil is Path, and maybe the occasional Nature's Claim/Wear & Tear, but it's worth the risk. The only time I can see banefire worth siding in would be against a really grindy control deck, but Tron wins that match up consistently anyway.

Have you thought about putting in Atarka's Command? It might be a useful way to get more ursa lands out on to the field faster.

Just a thought

In this deck, Explore would definitely beat out Atarka's Command as a way to play lands fast because it's less colored mana and cantrips. However, Explore doesn't make the cut because it is preferable to search up a land, using something such as Sylvan Scrying, than playing an extra for a turn.

I have been thinking about putting a RG Tron deck together for the last month, but the price tag...WOW! Could you tell me some of the decks weaknesses and where improvements could be made? My local meta runs a lot of burn at the moment so Leyline of Sanctity solves that, but I would love to try it out at a SCG event coming up in September. Granted Origins will be out so maybe time will tell. Thanks in advance.

Maybe more of Emrakul, the Aeons Torn because he gets an extra turn, and you can throw out another OP tron card during that turn.

@GoblinRabblemaster, This deck is very strong against midrange and control strategies, such as the usual Azban builds we see in modern very often. These decks are often too slow to kill you before you reach 7 or 8 mana, and are easily wiped out by a few Oblivion Stones or a turn 3 Wurmcoil. Azban lacks the proper removal to deal with Karn and Wurmcoil, where control decks will simply counter your Karns and Wurmcoils until you drop Emrakul and kill them.

This deck is weak against heavy aggro or devoted combo decks, such as Red Deck Wins and Splinter Twin. Burn and Affinity are often turn 4 kill decks, so even if you can Pyroclasm or Oblivion Stone away some threats, Affinity will often have the Blinkmoth Nexus to finish you (that only Karn can hit) and Red Deck Wins is even harder to beat because the only way you can gain life and stabilize in that matchup is a Turn 3 Wumcoil, which takes a lot of luck to drop. It struggles against combo because it is not very interactive - the only way you could remove a Deceiver Exarch/Splinter Twin from play would be an untapped Oblivion Stone, which is hard to resolve anyway.

To handle combo decks, Rending Volley or Combust in the sideboard can handle Splinter Twin, Amulet of Vigor + Summer Bloom combo is an interesting matchup that is usually a race to 7 mana (them dropping Primeval Titan/Hive Mind vs. you dropping Karn/Wurmcoil), against Scapeshift decks it's a race to Turn 7/8 (if you can land an Emrakul before they resolve Scapeshift and Valakut you). Sideboarding Slaughter Games works great against Twin and Scapeshift if your meta is heavy in that.

To handle aggro/burn, Leyline of Sanctity works really well but only in the opening hand. For affinity, sideboarding several Nature's Claims and Ancient Grudges usually does the trick. I was thinking about sideboarding some Feed the Clans for RDW because it's cheap and buys you time, and will win you the game if cast with a Wurmcoil in play, but I haven't tested that yet.

If you're looking to cut the cost, replacing Grove of the Burnwillows with Karplusan Forest saves $100+ dollars with minimal efficiency loss

Hope this helps you get ready for September!

@TheMTGartifact, Running multiple Emrakuls in this deck is a waste of deck space. A single Emrakul is all that is needed to win, and he is very easy to get using Eye of Ugin.

I guess

Cool, I prefer the w/u control gifts style though. Have you tried that one? Also, Combust can be replaced with Rending Volley or Roast. Maybe even both.

Roast is significantly worse than Combust because it can be countered and is not instant speed. Combusts role in the sideboard is not to come in and hit random threats at sorcery speed, it's meant to be played at instant speed to take out Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite and prevent Splinter Twin from destroying us. Yes, Rending Volley is generally a better card, but Combust offers more flexibility because of its ability to hit Siege Rhinos, which is kind of a big deal. I will test Rending Volley but for now I'm sticking with Combust because the 1 extra mana isn't too much a problem for this deck usually and it's worked in the past.

You shouldn't be boarding in combust against siege rhino decks anyway. The only good deck at the moment that plays rhino is abzan midrange and that's the only combust target in the deck so it's definitely not a card you want in that matchup. The only matchup where combust is better than rending volley is little kid abzan which fell off a lot and sees little play since it's just not good in the twin heavy meta.

I would run Rending Volley instead of Combust in the sideboard.

I was wondering on if running Nevinyrral's Disk over Oblivion Stone would work?

Nevinyrral's Disk is not modern legal

What are your thoughts on Ugin, the Spirit Dragon?

DankLink, I understand that Rending Volley is superior, yes. I simply haven't had the time or means to acquire any yet as I haven't played this deck competitively since early March. I will get them, trust me.

codayeed, as The-Xellos said, Nevinyrral's Disk is not modern legal. Even so, it would not be as good as Oblivion Stone because it cannot be activated the turn it is played, doesn't hit planeswalkers, and can't protect my stuff if needed.

benwah3000, Ugin is "meh" to me. If the meta weren't so Flooded with Twin, I would consider mainboarding it. I compare it to Oblivion Stone since both cost ~8 mana to use and do mostly one sided board wipes. However, the instant speed of Oblivion Stone's activation is crucial in so many matchups for Gruul Tron. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is decent sideboard material against aggro decks such as Zoo and maybe Azban, but it's uses are lackluster beyond that. If I had a copy, I would put it in the sideboard over All Is Dust, but since I don't it's not that much better than All Is Dust, so until I get one he will remain maybeboard.

Have you considered using one or two Firespouts instead of one or two Pyroclasms? The extra point of damage is quite relevant at some points, as is the ability to "aim" it.

I'm maindecking 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon because podless Birthing Pod / Collected Company decks are really popular right now. Being able to exile their creatures is a pretty dig deal in that matchup. Plus, having both Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is just awesome if you're playing against a Cryptic Command deck. I like playing 1 more Relic of Progenitus for the card draw + bonus against Tarmogoyf and Snapcaster Mage.

Love RG Tron though, check out my decklist if you can, I was pretty close to top 8ing a PPTQ with it and any help would be appreciated.

Quick question, how useful has Cavern of Souls been for you?

Been seeing people play 3x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and 1x Oblivion Stone, what are your thoughts on this?

I played my tron deck and destroyed that week mostly due to Oblivion Stone. I think if i had a Ugin, the Spirit Dragon I would have lost. Mana on those games were tight so had to Oblivion Stone the next turn instead of the same turn played and I wouldn't have been able to cast Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.

I've been running a Golgari Tron for about a year now. Falls more into the midrange of TRON decks. Not nearly as fast as yours. If you have a chance Id love any/all critique!Corrupted Tron B/G

gbinbg, Having been playing this deck for several years, I've found Cavern of Souls to be an interesting card that has been in and out of the deck constantly. It really depends on what the meta looks like; essentially, it's only purpose in the deck is to protect a Wurmcoil Engines resolving, mostly against Remand, which is particularly important much of the time that it sticks. However, this cannot even be done on Turn 3, which gives Cavern a disadvantage in it's playability in this deck. With all the Mutavaults in Merfolk, Treetop Village in Jund and Junk, and Inkmoth Nexus in Infect and Affinity, I feel that a second Ghost Quarter would do much better in this deck, but I'm just trying out the Cavern for the time being. I'll see if it ever comes up truly relevant and then decide what to do.

The-Xellos, This is interesting to me. I knew that Ugin, the Spirit Dragon would be a great fit for G/R Tron, but I never truly thought he could outplace Oblivion Stone. The superiority of Oblivion Stone is that it's a catch-all answer to, well, any non-land permanents, at instant speed, any time after Turn 3. To me, the fact that it can be cracked at instant speed and give fate counters to other permanents makes it better in this deck. Not to mention that it's 500% better against Affinity than Ugin is. So, to sum up, I think that the minimum this deck can play is 3 Oblivion Stones, but don't factor out Ugin either. I have made room for a total of 5 of them combined right now, but of course as the meta changes, the deck could play 6 or more combined copies.

currentuser, I'll take a look, thanks.

hi there, Vishnarg! thx for your primer.

I have a question about Fulminator Mage and cards that destroy lands. It can be an issue for us, Tron players. What do u think about running Life from the Loam in this situations? (I think its better than Crucible of Worlds(can be Abrupt Decayed) and Life from the Loam is immune to discards too).

and u can take a look on my GR Tron deck and feel free to make some suggestion.

PS: sorry, if my english is not so good :)

What do you think about putting this in?