Introduction: Boulder vs. AstrolabeGreetings, Legacy community. Today, we'll explore another deck from the post-The Hobbit meta. While Bilbo, Thief in the Night has undeniably been the most popular card from this set, Giant’s Boulder has been a close second. We can't help but compare it to Arcum’s Astrolabe (now banned), but Boulder has found its home in a very different deck.While Astrolabe allowed Control decks with Oko, Thief of Crowns to play 27 colors and Blood Moon, Giant’s Boulder’s main role in the format is to create colored mana for a deck that is used to handling a truckload of colorless mana: Giant’s Boulder has made blue Tron decks a lot more playable.Building Dimir Boulder TronToday, we’ll start with a Dimir Tron list that showed up in the hands of a player called Stefan Gussenhoven in the Netherlands and performed quite well. The list below won a 27-player tournament and gives us a good idea of how it is different from the old Trini Tron, which struggled with the Candelabra of Tawnos ban.The new Legacy meta, shaped by The Hobbit and the absence of The Fantasticar, has welcomed two Tron variants: colorless and blue.The colorless version is far more redundant, as it uses Grim Monolith alongside Tezzeret, Cruel Captain and Manifold Key a bit better and plays more threats. The blue version (both Monoblue and Dimir) gave up some explosiveness and redundancy for the protection Force of Will and Force of Negation offer, the card selection and draw from Stock Up and Thundertrap Trainer, and more sideboard options, especially Barrowgoyf in the Dimir version.Let’s take a look at the list above. The core is the same in every version: Planar Nexus, which gives you an explosive amount of mana alongside the Urza lands, The One Ring and Karn, the Great Creator, the best ways to apply pressure with the excess mana you get from Nexus early on, and Ugin, Eye of the Storms, which is devastating when it enters play ahead of schedule. Kozilek’s Command is incredibly versatile, as it plays multiple roles: removal, ramp, card draw, and occasionally a way to hit something relevant in an enemy graveyard.One card that has gained traction in this archetype is Petrified Hamlet, which protects your game plan from Wasteland.The blue side, besides offering counterspells with alternative costs (Force of Will and Force of Negation), gives this deck access to Stock Up and Thundertrap Trainer. You can conveniently cast this blue sorcery with a combination of Planar Nexus and Urza’s Tower, or with Ancient Tomb and a blue land. It has proven to be critical in this format and actually fits this list perfectly. Thundertrap Trainer will both buy you some time by defending early on and allow you to use your excess mana later on to get more cards through Offspring. This list also plays Cyclonic Rift and Sink Into Stupor, which act as generic answers to anything that gets past your defenses. They also fuel your Forces.To finish it up, you'll see Eldrazi Confluence, a way to deal with several creatures at once, and the glue that holds it all together: Giant’s Boulder.Why Play This DeckBefore The Fantasticar pushed this archetype out of the meta, Trini Tron was one of the most popular decks in the format. Now that Legacy has opened up again, many Big Mana fans have popped up, and this archetype has been performing well.The best thing about playing blue is that you can use more tools against other Combo decks and against the colorless version.MulliganUnlike earlier versions, Dimir Tron can manipulate its draws through Giant’s Boulder and Thundertrap Trainer, so you can keep more opening hands with it. Another card that makes a big difference when you have it in your opening hand is Planar Nexus. This deck is absurdly efficient once it is in play.Let's see a few hands.This hand has a lot of lands and no way to play Force of Will, but it can cast Karn on turn 2 and still has Kozilek's Command as backup for up to 7 mana on turn 3. Verdict: you should keep it.Because of the 2 Planar Nexus and Force of Negation, this hand is tempting. However, it does nothing until turn 3 if you don't draw anything relevant, and even then you can only cast Thundertrap Trainer for 3 mana. It's just too risky. Verdict: you should mulligan it.This one is very similar to the first hand we saw. You'll keep it because it can cast The One Ring on turn 2. Verdict: you should keep it.This hand can also cast Karn on turn 2, but not very easily. It has Force of Will as backup as well. Verdict: you should keep it.Building the SideboardAs usual, decks with Karn, the Great Creator need to use a significant portion of their sideboard for his toolbox. The choices in this case are Mycosynth Lattice, a combo that usually ends the game on the spot with Karn, Tormod’s Crypt for graveyard strategies, and Ensnaring Bridge, which holds back creature-heavy boards.The One Ring can be somewhat controversial for this sideboard, considering it reduces your total number in the main deck, but it gives Karn a way to win games that center around hoarding resources. Invasion Submersible and Engineered Explosives give Karn ways to handle board states, and the Submersible is also blue (you may need it to fuel your Forces).The main non-Karn target in this sideboard are the 4 Barrowgoyfs. It’s common for opponents to remove or play less creature removals post-side. Then, you can just overwhelm them with this powerful Lhurgoyf.The rest of the sideboard consists of Consign to Memory, which is still one of the best answers to many decks in the format, as well as Hullbreacher and Opposition Agent. The idea is to bring in creatures that disrupt decks with Brainstorm and fetch lands when they choose to side out their creature removals.Other sideboard options include Dismember, Disruptor Flute, Extinguisher Battleship, Faerie Macabre, Hydroblast, and Summon: Bahamut.Sideboard GuideDimir TempoThis opponent can give you a lot of trouble because they play counters for your key spells as well as Thoughtseize and Wasteland. To top it off, they also have Bilbo, Thief in the Night and Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, which create a lot of value. Your goal in this matchup is to resolve one of your threats and win the war for resources. That’s why you'll take out your Forces: to get cards that are more efficient in this battle of attrition.In:Out:Azorius PupOn one hand, you don’t have to worry about Thoughtseize or Orcish Bowmasters. On the other, they play Consign to Memory in the main deck. These decks are different in concept, but your approach against Azorius is very similar: fight over resources.In:Out:Boros EnergyIf they come at you too fast, you won't be able to deal with them without Eldrazi Confluence. Petrified Hamlet can be the difference between having enough time to develop your board and simply being run over by Cats as they attack your mana base with Wasteland.In:Out:ReanimatorThese two decks will basically play solitaire and try to ignore each other. They’ll try to put a huge monster on the battlefield quickly and discard your threats at the same time. If you can get enough mana, Karn, the Great Creator into Tormod’s Crypt effectively gives you all the time in the world, and Kozilek’s Command is always an answer to reanimation spells. If you suspect they’re on the Stronghold Gambit plan, you can always keep your Thundertrap Trainers in hand.In:Out:TronThe most important card in this matchup is Karn, the Great Creator: basically, whoever resolves their Karn first gets so far ahead that messing it up will be difficult. That’s why you should let other spells resolve, even when you’re short on counters, rather than see the opponent put a Karn in play because you didn't save any answers for it.In:Out:ConclusionThe Trini Tron we all knew disappeared with the Candelabra of Tawnos ban, but Planar Nexus is still broken and allows you to take control of the game with The One Ring and Karn, the Great Creator very early on. The blue versions have been performing very well and seem quite promising, and Giant’s Boulder has lived up to our expectations.Thank you for reading, and see you next time!
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