Karn and friends power Anderson LeClair to a fantastic finish at the SCG Modern Classic. Read how he got there in his latest recap.

After the latest ban of KCI and new cards from Ravnica Allegiance, the Modern meta game was unknown for SCG Baltimore in the Modern seat — which is where I sat — but a team conclusion was made that Humans, Dredge, Burn, Death’s Shadow, and Arclight Phoenix was going to be the five most popular decks going into the event.

Knowing this, both G/W and G/B Tron were tested rigorously through multiple leagues. Rest in Peace, Timely Reinforcements, and Collective Brutality were hay makers out of the sideboard, but they didn’t do enough to warrant the splash. In the end it all came back to the beginning, tried and true Mono Green and we went for it.

Mono-Green Tron | by Anderson LeClair

The list is pretty stock, but as we dig into the tank, there are intricate details to each selection.

Buried Ruin

Right now, Tron mana bases are pretty stock; Tron, four Forests, one Ghost Quarter, one Sanctum of Ugin, and then the 19th land is a flex slot. I go against the grain here and chose Buried Ruin as my flex land. At worst, it is an expensive Horizon Canopy, with an upside recycling Expedition Map, Relic of Progenitus, Wurmcoil Engine, Oblivion Stones, and Walking Ballista.

Relic of Progenitus

This is a mainstay in Tron, but the numbers in the main deck can waiver. Three is generally the correct number if you’re only going to have two pieces of graveyard hate in the sideboard.

Wurmcoil Engine

This was the one big change for the weekend. Never playing four before, Wurmcoil Engine is great against Burn, Dredge, and Phoenix.

All is Dust

With Humans on the rise, access to a sweeper that gets around Meddling Mage while being good in other creature match ups.

Emrakul the Promised End

Include one in the 75 is desired. The cast trigger catches you up against combo, and the body is a serious clock. The cast trigger also makes it an all-star against control, combined with the upside that if they don’t counter, it’s simply difficult to kill because it has protection from instants.

After an unfortunate miss on day-two with teammates Delray Canfield and MTGCorner.Com Dylan Hovey in Baltimore by just a game, the SCG Classic gave way to success with the Karnfather.

Round 1: 2-0 over B/W Tokens

Out: 3 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Wurmcoil Engine

In: All is Dust, 3 Nature’s Claims, 3 Thragtusk

This is an easy matchup for Tron. With little meaningful interaction and a slow clock, their struggle is large against sweeper. Relics come out because they are not a graveyard deck, and Wurmcoil Engine heads to the bench because of Path to Exile. All is Dust is a great sweeper, Nature’s Claim is a good hedge against white decks, and Thragtusk is a more resilient body in the face of removal.

Round 2: 2-0 Over Bant Spirits

Out: 3 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Wurmcoil Engine

In: 3 Nature’s Claim, 1 All is Dust, 2 Spatial Contortion, 1 Emrakul the Promised End

Once again, not a graveyard deck so Relic of Progenitus comes out and Wurmcoil Engine isn’t as good, as it gets flown over in combat. Nature’s Claim comes in against all white decks, All is Dust is a great sweeper, and Spatial Contrition can stop early pressure. Emrakul, the Promised End isn’t great, but it’s better than anything else as it’s a blocker that they can’t kill. This match up is favored for Tron in past experiences so long as the hand can set up a turn four sweeper, so aggressively mulligan to this and watch out for Selfless Spirit.

Sweeping the board a couple times game one before eventually landing a big threat and finishing the deal. Game two, my opponent opens on a turn-two Stony Silence, while one tron land in play along with a Expedition Map and another land in the hand. With Nature’s Claim in the hand, but no way to cast it. Land drops continued while my opponent applied pressure. The turn before the needed Forest off the top, I tried to bait out the Spell Queller he had been representing most of the game with a Spatial Contortion. He did not counter it, so I untapped and drew the forest and decided to go for it. I cast the Nature’s Claim, then assembled Tron, swept his board buying myself time to find a threat.

Round 3: 2-1 Over UR Breach

Out: 3 Relic of Progenitus, 2 Walking Ballista, 4 Wurmcoil Engine

In: 3 Thought-Knot Seer, 3 Nature’s Claim, 3 Thragtusk

This match up is very good for Tron because Blood Moon without pressure isn’t enough to win the game. Oblivion Stone is an all-star because it can answer Blood Moon, their Planeswalkers, and they can’t combo kill through an Oblivion Stone.

Round 4: 2-1 over Christian Baker on R/B Burn

Out: 4 Oblivion Stone, 2 Walking Ballista, 3 Relic of Progenitus, 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, 1 Karn, Liberated

In: 3 Nature’s Claim, 3 Thought-Knot Seer, 3 Thragtusk, 2 Spatial Contortion, 1 Emrakul the Promised End

This match up has gotten more polarized since the new cards from Ravnica Allegiance were added. Turn three Wurmcoil Engine is a clear route to victory, as they no longer have the Skullcrack to negate the life total. On the flip side, their deck is leaner and more explosive, which makes the match up hinge on life gain more.

Game one, everything went to schedule with a turn three Wurmcoil Engine on the play. Game two, turn three Wurmcoil Engine on the draw while my opponent had two goblin guides and was tapped out. I decided to play around a Skullcrack and Path to Exile by Natures Claiming my own Wurmcoil Engine to gain four life while producing two blockers. Unfortunately I didn’t find any more gas after the first Wurmcoil Engine and ended up getting burnt out. Game three played out similar to game one, turn three Wurmcoil on the play, while my opponent mulligan-ed to five was enough for the win.

Round 5: 2-0 Over Dredge

Out: 2 Walking Ballista, 1 Karn, Liberated, 1 Oblivion Stone

In: 2 Surgical Extraction, 2 Nature’s Claim

This is a great match up for Tron, and adding the fourth Wurmcoil only pushed it further in my favor. Game one Wurmcoil bridged the gap to Ugin, the Spirit Dragon which sealed the game. Game two, my opponent mulled to five, while my opener hand turn one Relic of Progenitus, Surgical Extraction, and turn-three Tron, to say the least, it was enough for the victory.

Round 6: 1-2 over UW

Out: 4 Oblivion Stone, 4 Wurmcoil Engine, 1 Walking Ballista, 1 Relic of Progenitus

In: 3 Nature’s Claim, 3 Thragtusk, 3 Thought-Knot Seer, 1 Emrakul, the Promised End

Everyone says Tron is heavily favored against Control, but in my experience the match up is closer than the popular opinion. Game one, my opponent Field of Ruin’ed me turn 3, 4, and 5 and topped it off with a Ghost Quarter. All this disruption gave my opponent the window to land a Teferi to win the game. Game two saw my opponent Surgically Extracting me on the way out to see my sideboard configuration to better inform them for game three as the home team of Tron took the win.

Game three, the opponent leaned on Field of Ruin and Surgical Extraction combo, and then resolved a quick Teferi, Hero of Dominaria to take over the game.

Round 7: 2-1 Over Jund

Out: 2 Walking Ballista, 3 Relic of Progenitus

In: 3 Thragtusk, 2 Nature’s Claim

The classic Jund vs. Tron match up. It was a pretty straight-forward situation. The opponent won the sideboard game when he drew Fulminator Mage and lost the game he didn’t.

Unable to safely draw into the top-8, the final round was Colorless Eldrazi. Not a match up with a ton of experience, but figuring the strength of Wurmcoil Engine matches up well against the smaller Eldrazi.

Round 8: Draw with Colorless Eldrazi

(We didn’t play sideboarded games, but this is how I would have)

Out: 3 Relic of Progenitus, 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, 1 Walking Ballista

In: 3 Thragtusk, 2 Spatial Contortion, 1 Emrakul, the Promised End

The first game consisted of my opponent having some early pressure that couldn’t be fended off with Wurmcoil Engine. My opponent attacks into it and ends up trading his creature and a Dismember for the Wurmcoil, then adds two more creatures to the battlefield. I untap, and realize I forgot my Wurm tokens! Ultimately was a mistake I couldn’t overcome. I was pretty upset with myself, and when my opponent offered the draw again after being down a game I took it. If anything good came of this match it’s that I’ll never make that mistake again.

After a bit of sweat, the mono-green list pushed itself into the top-8, finishing seventh and earned myself a quarter finals rematch from my round eight opponent from the open.

Quarter Finals: 2-0 Over Jonathan Sukenik on Jeskai Control

Out: 3 Wurmcoil Engine, 3 Oblivion Stone, 1 Walking Ballista

In: 3 Thragtusk, 3 Thought-Knot Seer, 1 Emrakul, the Promised End

He wasn’t playing any sideboard cards that warranted my addition of Nature’s Claim, which changed my sideboard plan. Sukenik is one of the most enjoyable opponents I have ever played against, his banter and play made for an awesome experience.

The first game played out as a grind fest, ending with an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger pushing me across the finish line. The second game also played out similar, after Sukenik countered the first few threats, luckily we dodged Surgical Extraction to couple with his land destruction to keep me off Tron. Once Emrakul, the Promised End was found, even through the countered creature, the trigger did enough damage to end the game.

Semi-Finals: 1-2 Against Kazu Negri on Jeskai Control

Out: 3 Wurmcoil Engine, 3 Oblivion Stone, 1 Walking Ballista

In: 3 Thragtusk, 3 Thought-Knot Seer, 1 Emrakul, the Promised End

A slow start in game one allowed Negri to counter my first few threats and eventually burn me out. The second game was another grindy affair, but Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger went over the top of his counter magic to steal the game. My hand for the last game was a little slow, and Negri snuck a Geist of Saint Traft into play. Geist backed up by counter magic was too much for me to overcome, ending my tournament.

Coming into the year, a goal to qualify for the Invitational was a big one, and to achieve that already is very satisfying. Even through some glaring mistakes in round eight, it’s hard to not be happy with the weekend. Tron is well positioned right now in a field Dredge, Humans, Death’s Shadow, Arclight Phoenix, and Control. As far as the decklist goes moving forward, cut the All is Dust. It’s too narrow to warrant a sideboard slot. The replacement would either be a card suited for the control match ups, or another piece of graveyard hate.

My next large tournament with Tron is a local team event at the end of February, and then we’re putting Tron down until the Invitational. Until then, thanks for reading, leave your reaction below in the comments and may you be blessed by the Karnfather.

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