TnT a Primer

[Jamino]

Ok, this is an attempt at a primer by me,

What is TnT?

   TnT is another term for dynamite in the real world, and in the magic world it means large fat fast.
What you want to try and do with the deck is put out a threat in the first turn, follow it up with one on the second, and another on the third…if there is a third. Or even second for that matter…
 
   The format is faster and faster, and there are more and more people working at it. From da great Smmenen to the legendary Rakso people spend numerous hours trying to break the format, to the point where a card that seemed crappy at a time was restricted a few months back because of a combo deck which would abuse the extra mana by it so much the disadvantage was not even noticeable, it simply acted as a set of Black Lotuses.

   That however, is beside the point. Mishra’s Workshop had long been on the restricted list for a variety of reasons, no one would ever have thought it would become unrestricted, however it did and following that came outcries of angry people or mobs (not sure how to say that in the English language) and the happy people who owned a set. Almost immediately people started thinking of ways to abuse it and to no avail, until one day an extended deck which used fat creatures like Juggernaut to smash in for the win was tried in our beloved vintage format. And what better way to abuse this new land?! That combined with one of the 5 moxes would lead to a first turn 5/3, not bad at all!  However, soon the deck became hated out, and another kind of deck, which abused the Shop as well where focused on, and TnT was left on its own except for the few hard core fanatics.

   Well, it came back and it came back in force. Some people will undoubtedly still not agree with this, but TnT is more then viable in today’s environment. Sure, turn one Juggernauts aren’t as impressive as turn 2 kills, but hey, you can get everything and with the plethora (heh I like big words) of cards available in T1, it cant be to hard to find a way to properly hate out a deck.

   This being said, there is no correct way to build TnT and it is a very metagamable deck so this list may by no means be optimal in a certain metagame.

// Tools And Tubbies.
// Mana base - 28
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Grim Monolith
// Engine - 10
4 Survival Of The Fittest
4 Goblin Welder
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Anger
// Guys and Utility - 14
4 Juggernaut
4 Su-Chi
1 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Triskelion / Masticore
1 Duplicant
1 Platinium Angel
// Great Fun
3 Blood Moon
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
1 Wheel of Fortune / Memory Jar
   
   The deck works by laying fat guys in the first few turns following that up with a Survival and/or Welder and just keep the beats going on. However, against certain decks a fat dude isn’t enough of a threat by himself so we need to help the fat dude go all the way with some tools. Pyrostatic Pillar is great because it stops all sorts of decks and at the same time it is not slowing down your beating process, on the contrary it is accelerating it. This deck is like a finally tuned machine, it has one purpose and everything in the deck will bring it closer to that goal.

                         Card by card analysis
The Manabase.

   Not really in need of an explanation, it’s a mix of basic lands and non basic’s so you are not to vulnerable to wastelands and can still operate your survival under a blood moon or back to basics.
The artifact mana is nothing exceptional, the moxes help churn out big creatures as do the other ones. Mana Crypt could be included but I have found the life loss to be too much of a problem for to little to guarantee its inclusion, however this is definitely debatable and there is no right or wrong answer.

Survival of the fittest

This exceptional card gets you a creature every turn when paired up with MR. Squee, Goblin Nabob, but it also allows you to get a welder in play and soon once you do have one you can start pitching fat to survival and reanimating it with the Welder. Not only that, but you can also easily get Anger from your deck and make all your creatures beat for more and faster. You can often finish the game with a few lands and a welder or two in play thanks to this gem.

Goblin Welder

Not much explanation needed. It is now in every good workshop deck and rightfully so. It trades your “extra” moxen for something more needed at the time, and if you are able to slip one through the opponents counter wall, you basically snuck through a whole army of lil guys. If you can manage to draw your memory jar things get even crazier and it’s basically a draw seven just for you every turn! This little guy is a lot more dangerous then any of those other goblins…

Squee, Goblin nabob

This is what makes survival so good. With this and survival you have a nice little card advantage engine that lets you go through your whole deck every turn. He is most definitely needed and often games I find my self casting it to buy me a turn or two against a big fatty while I wait for a threat of my own. Not only that but he even deals damage!!!! It only takes a few hits from this guy to demoralize your opponent into conceding.

Anger

As I explained above in the survival this makes your clock that much faster, and thanks to this and survival you potentially have a one turn kill, Su-chi are allot more scary then most other fish when they have haste.

Juggernaut

No explanation needed, this is a four turn clock and not playing four is like not playing 4 well wishers in an elf deck.

Su-chi

How can you not like fish? It is so good, and this lil bugger is no exception. A 4 casting cost artifact with a large body is nothing to sneer at, and granted he may be a turn slower then Juggsy but this guy takes two bolts to kill and trades a lot harder. Not only that but he can be used for some cool welder tricks in which you can use his mana to power out an even bigger creature, GO COMBAT TRICKS!

Solemn Simulacrum

This may be where there is the most debate, but I think not playing him is absolutely crazy. Sure, he may not be as well as a Su-chi but he sure makes up for it with his ability to get another land to abuse survival with. Combine this with a Welder and you have a cute little card advantage/deck thinning engine thang going.

Triskelion

He pings, and he’s big, combine him with a welder and you got a 3 direct damage or one sided Wrath of God kind of thing. He could potentially be a masticore, although I have killed a many with the direct damage this guy provides, it may be just me thought.

Duplicant

Spot removal is great in TnT. Spot removal which can be recurred with welder is even greater. (This is somewhere from Toad’s article) Duplicant gives your opponents something to worry about when they cast their welders hoping to win a welder war. Sure it doesn’t copy the ability’s of its prey, but hey, removing it is good enough, your creatures should be beating your opponent anyways, not his own.

Platinum Angel

About to die? Need that one little extra something to push through the damage? Well wait no more he will give you all the time in the world.
Seriously though there are so many ways to use him is crazy and if you have an artifact out as well as a welder dragon can not win by decking you.

Blood Moon

With so many multi/infy. colour decks out there having something that will limit them to one is some good…on top of that it stops that other broken lands. Bazaar..something of Baghdad? You get the point.

Pyrostatic Pillar

He not only accelerates the inevitable death of the opponent, but against some of this new combo like Draw7.Dec and others that use storm count to win it slows them down so much your fat dudes generally have enough time to go in for the win. Let them try to cast 10 spells for there Tendrils another one of these. Vs, control it is generally going to give them 6-8 spells before they can get rid of it, and by that time with that much extra damage they should be on there knees.

Memory jar

Draw 7’s are good. Draw 7’s for you only are even better. Draw 7’s that can be recurred via a creatures are unbeatable. This piece of cardboard does just this and most of the time cracking this is game.

Well that’s all for this part, more to come including match up analysis and where it stands in the gauntlet.
Pardon my English,
                                 Justin

[firebird365]

This is OK... it has some noticeable problems, like the other primer that was recently posted.

1: Spelling is REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT. I realize that English isn't your first language, but the presentation of a primer is very important. I'm pretty sure that most of the Vintage Adepts would be willing to assist you with correcting (or editing) your primer.

2: You say that TnT is a very metagame-able deck. It would be very helpful to give the list you play, and the reasons you play it. If I play in a very control heavy environment, with little to no combo, what changes should I make? Or, if the situation's opposite? Try to accomodate more metagames than your own, and it'll be useful to a wider range of people who are interested in playing the deck.

3: The card by card analysis is very good, but you have some errors that might be misleading (in my opinion):

Su-chi

How can you not like fish? It is so good, and this lil bugger is no exception. A 4 casting cost artifact with a large body is nothing to sneer at, and granted he may be a turn slower then Juggsy but this guy takes two bolts to kill and trades a lot harder. Not only that but he can be used for some cool welder tricks in which you can use his mana to power out an even bigger creature, GO COMBAT TRICKS!

From my experience (however limited) with TnT, Su-Chi has, at times, been a liability, especially in the situations that you describe. Combat tricks are horrible with Su-Chi, since you'd probably end up taking 4 mana burn if you try any. Also, he's not a turn slower than Juggernaut.

Also, when talking about cards, try to talk about more general situations so that the players can get a feel of what the card does in a broad scope.



That's all the advice I have, hopefully that helps.

[Lord_Drazinus]

everythign with your build is fine and dandy...but you are running 2 simulacrums and only 4 basic lands...good read, though, I wouldn't call it a primer, maybe an article, mini-primer at best, I'm sorry I come off being too much of a jerk, but primiers usually include a matchup analysis along iwht a few other things,

[-Draz-]

[Mathman07]

4 Damage per turn = 5 turns to kill
5 Damage per turn = 4 turns to kill

Juggernaut kills the opponent 1 turn faster

The main problem that I have with solemns is that the whole point of TnT is to beat down, not to thin deck / draw cards.  I prefer having an extra Trike and a mana source to further the beats.  Fetching a 4 power or 5 power hasted creature every turn > drawing some cards and fetching lands.

[firebird365]

Ah, I thought you were refering to CC.

[Jamino]

This is OK... it has some noticeable problems, like the other primer that was recently posted.

1: Spelling is REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT. I realize that English isn't your first language, but the presentation of a primer is very important. I'm pretty sure that most of the Vintage Adepts would be willing to assist you with correcting (or editing) your primer.

2: You say that TnT is a very metagame-able deck. It would be very helpful to give the list you play, and the reasons you play it. If I play in a very control heavy environment, with little to no combo, what changes should I make? Or, if the situation's opposite? Try to accomodate more metagames than your own, and it'll be useful to a wider range of people who are interested in playing the deck.

3: The card by card analysis is very good, but you have some errors that might be misleading (in my opinion):

Quote:
Su-chi

How can you not like fish? It is so good, and this lil bugger is no exception. A 4 casting cost artifact with a large body is nothing to sneer at, and granted he may be a turn slower then Juggsy but this guy takes two bolts to kill and trades a lot harder. Not only that but he can be used for some cool welder tricks in which you can use his mana to power out an even bigger creature, GO COMBAT TRICKS!


From my experience (however limited) with TnT, Su-Chi has, at times, been a liability, especially in the situations that you describe. Combat tricks are horrible with Su-Chi, since you'd probably end up taking 4 mana burn if you try any. Also, he's not a turn slower than Juggernaut.

Also, when talking about cards, try to talk about more general situations so that the players can get a feel of what the card does in a broad scope.

First of all:
I did get someone to read this for me and corrected alot of them. Sorry of some are left.

Second:
It is not my job (actually I have no job) to make a deck for someone for there specific metagame. If they are going to play TnT or Magic in the first place they should be able to metagame there own deck, not have someone else do it for the, if this is not what you meant/I misunderstood please correct me.

Third:
I am sorry if I did not make my self clear there, but what I mean by Su-chi being a turn slower then Juggernaut is it will take a Juggernaut 4 turns to deal 20 points of damage compared to a Su-Chis 5. To me that is a turn slower.

Thank you for your adivce, and I will be sure to edit as well as in my next article use most of your adivce,
                           Justin

[Jacob Orlove]

everythign with your build is fine and dandy...but you are running 2 simulacrums and only 4 basic lands

Actually, 4 is fine. At that point, you can keep hardcasting fat under a B2B, and that's pretty much your worst-case scenario, in terms of NBLH. Anything more than 4 is just superfluous.

Not running Trinisphere + Sundering Titan, though, is a more serious issue. Seriously, those two cards together will win the game in a way that Pyrostatic Pillar will not.

[Smash]

Su-Chis are fat turds that like to make mana burn. Whenever possible I weld them out into something else and use the mana to cast more fat. But, they are a necessity if you want a reasonable chance for turn 1 fat. Personally I run 4 jugs and 3 Su-chis, but that isn't always the best.

[defector]

I don't play TNT, so please excuse me if thsi is off base, but i have observed TNT kick ass(mine included), isn't Sundering Titan worth inclusion, it adds major beef+control.  Against the mirror or control/combo the LD can destroy them buy acting as a Timealk of sorts.  Sorry if not applicable as I'm not a TNT player
defector

[Wollblad]

In my oppinion, Wheel of Fortune is superior to Memory Jar. The reason is that the deck includes creatures that does not want to be in play, like Anger, Genesis, if played and Sundering Titan which should be played. Wheel is yet another way to get them into your graveyard which Jar cannot achieve. Memory Jar can of course be retrieved, but one is often enough to win the game the same turn. Wheel deals your opponent a lot of cards too, but as Trinisphere is an obvious inclusion in the deck, it slows them down so much that it doesn't matter much. If it's Pillar or Moon that should be cut for Trinisphere, I don't know. Pillar tends to deal as much damage to me as to my opponent, which might kill me if playing against aggro. On the other hand, Blood Moon is loosing some of it's power due to more basic lands in the format.

[Kowal]

Jar makes you discard end of turn, and you can weld it, and you can play it off workshops/off color moxen.

What were you saying?

[Wollblad]

Jar makes you discard end of turn, and you can weld it, and you can play it off workshops/off color moxen.

What were you saying?

It is mostly against control you migh have a hard time to force a Survival through. Then it happends that you'll be stuck with cards in hand that you want to get into your graveyard. Jar won't help you there.

[Smash]

Jar makes you discard end of turn, and you can weld it, and you can play it off workshops/off color moxen.

What were you saying?

It is mostly against control you migh have a hard time to force a Survival through. Then it happends that you'll be stuck with cards in hand that you want to get into your graveyard. Jar won't help you there.

Jar + welder gives your 7 cards every single turn.

+, if your opponent has an empoty hand, wheel refills THEM. With jar, they lose their hand at end of turn anyway.

In a deck with workshops, jar >>> wheel

In a combo deck without tinker, you would rather wheel as it is 2 mana cheaper. But this is an aggro-(control) deck. You don't want to give your opponent cards. I haven't run wheel in TnT in like forever. Some people like it, I never did.

[firebird365]

Well, when I look at a primer, it's because I don't have any experience with the deck. I might be able to metagame TnT, but I won't be able to do it optimally without assistance- I would miss too many things, and make mistakes that others have already made due to trial and error. While it's true that you shouldn't be expected to make a different decklist to accomodate each available metagame, it would be a good idea (and helpful to your reader) if you suggested useful cards for metagames, like Sundering Titan for controllish metas, etc.

[Smash]

Well, when I look at a primer, it's because I don't have any experience with the deck. I might be able to metagame TnT, but I won't be able to do it optimally without assistance- I would miss too many things, and make mistakes that others have already made due to trial and error. While it's true that you shouldn't be expected to make a different decklist to accomodate each available metagame, it would be a good idea (and helpful to your reader) if you suggested useful cards for metagames, like Sundering Titan for controllish metas, etc.

I consider titan an auto-include. However, I wouldn't put in painlands like
goat does, but that is for another topic.

You have a few things to metagame, but they aren't THAT hard to figure out.

1) Exact utility creatures. Sometimes you want maindeck artifact/enchantment bullets, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you want a plat, sometime's you don't. You have a few slots to mess around with, but the general idea is the same.

2) Exact disruption to run. You normally have 6-8 slots "left over" at the end of your engine + fat + utility + mana. These can be moons, COTV, trinisphere, pillar, tangle wire, etc. etc. This really is metagame dependant, you are basically "pre-sideboarding" to help you win certain matchups. Most of these are very similar to sideboard cards

[Lord of the Goats]

ok, i'll start this by saying i'm not trying to be a dick. i'm very tired right now so anything that seems like i'm being a prick, thart's not my intention.

arguably you should include solem simulacrum under your mana base because essentailly it's just a mana accelerator that you can fetch w/ survival and has great synergy with titan/anger.  also,  pointing out the correlation between 4 basic lands a 4 cc fat would be good. otherwise people will add more because it's "safer" or less because they want a 4th taiga.  also.... please talk about wasteland. it's probably the most contraversial point in the mana base and is most likely to change depending on the matagame.  in addition mention weakness caused by adding additional colors  under your mana base section.

mention that survival allows you to use silver bullet creatures. that also effects your sb because you can run single creatures. however also note that survival is weaker now than it was 8 months ago. there's more combo now and survival isn't exactly a fast card.

on welder, don't forget about combat tricks. stuff like welding out su chi other fat and useing the mana to cast stuff. pinging off your own trisk to weld it back to sneak in a couple extra points. running platinum angel vs dragon makes it so an opening of welder, artifact means they need to kill the welder before they go off.  there's all sorts of stuff here that you're missing. primers need to adress the basics

i'd lump all your utility creatures into a subsection under survival.

note that if su chi dies during combat you will take mana burn because you can't  cast fat durin your attack phase

you need to address tnt's strong and weak matchups as well as a general guideline as to how to play them (bloodmoon is important against 4 color tog, but comes out against 3 color tog, simulacrums are key against deed and disk, etc).  a sb and rough sb stategy would also help. finally you need to address other card choices such as chalices, trinispheres, wheel vs jar, shaman vs karn, 2 color vs 3 color. make sure you get both pro's and cons of everything. the best primers are the unbiased ones.