Rough Draft of Philosophy Homework

[Taysby]

Give me your criticisms please.
The Pro-Tour is the epitimy of Magic: The Gathering (MTG) tournaments.  The best players in the world play the best decks there.  The competition is fierce and the weak have gotten eliminated a long time before the Pro-Tour.  Rarely can a new deck make it big in the Pro-Tour, but there are exceptions.  Such as Eggs, and Blue Moon.  Tron has what it takes to make it big.  The current meta is perfect for this deck.  There is minimal aggressive decks, and most decks push the game to the mid-game to long range game which is where Tron absolutely shines.  It has everything it needs to beat all the major decks in game 1, then after sideboarding gets even stronger to absolutely demolish them. 

A quick introduction to MTG is this.  Lands are used to play spells like creatures, creatures are used to attack and block, and get the opponents life down to 0.  Each player starts with 20 life and a starting hand of 7 cards.  Each turn the player draws 1 card, plays his spells, attacks, plays some more spells if he desires, then it's his opponent's turn.  Where things get really crazy, is almost every single card changes how the game is played.  For example, one card lets the player draw an additional card each turn, another restricts how many spells the opponent can cast.

The most popular decks (that make up at least 4% of the meta) are called Affinity, RDW, Junk/Jund, Storm, UWx Control, Birthing Pod, Splinter Twin, and Scapeshift.  My deck is a different version of Tron that hasn't really been seen.  It was changed up to have more big creatures and work to destroy the opponent's resources and keep them from doing anything.  If interested, my list is below. 

Affinity is the hardest matchup for Tron.  Affinity's gameplan is to play as many dudes as fast as possible, put that up against Tron's gameplan, to keep it slow and play my big dudes later in the game, and Tron has problems.  Tron is able to win, it just has to be on it's A-Game.  Tron's plan against Affinity is to use spells like Pyroclasm which deals 2 damage to each creature and Oblivion Stone which is harder to play but destroys almost everything to keep the board clear, and thus, not take damage.  If Tron can stall until the 4th turn or so, then they can follow up with a creature that gives them life (Wurmcoil Engine) and they're in the clear. 

RDW is a deck that uses spells that uses direct damage to take their opponent down to 0 life.  RDW is Tron's 2nd hardest matchup.  It's easy for Tron to keep the board clear, but RDW doesn't use very many creatures.  If RDW is having a good game, Tron has to throw down their Wurmcoil Engine on the third turn or their dead.  If RDW is having a slow game then Tron can afford to throw down their Wurmcoil on turn 4 or 5.  The advantage Tron has is during games 2 and 3.  In the sideboard they have a card that makes it so RDW can't use their spells on him.  Without the ability to use their spells, they aren't able to do anything and Tron easily takes the win. 

The next deck is Splinter Twin.  Their goal is to use a combo to make an infinite number of creatures and attack for infinite damage.  Tron can easily win however.  They can use Karn Liberated and Sundering Titan to keep their resources under control and keep them from doing anything.  Once an Oblivion Stone hits the battlefield, Splinter Twin's gameplan gets thrown out the window and their only option is to attack with small pathetic creatures.  Tron just laughs at that effort.  Also, in the sideboard, Pithing Needle shuts off their combo from turn 1. 

Scapeshift uses their lands for a combo to deal 20 odd damage in one single turn.  That doesn't happen until at least turn 6.  Any lifegain from Wurmcoil Engine shuts them down.  Any resource control like Karn or Sundering Titan slows them down a lot to give Tron the time to gain some life, or just kill them.  The same sideboard tech Tron uses for RDW also gives them a huge advantage because it shuts off their combo. 

Junk/Jund are pretty much the same deck.  They have the same gameplan, there are just a couple cards different between the two.  They use cards that give them the most value for their cost.  Their cards also use the graveyard (where used spells/dead creatures go) for additional benefit.  Tron can use Relic Of Progenitous to get rid of their graveyard and that makes them sad.  One of Jund's all star cards lets them draw more cards, but it costs them life.  Tron lets them take that damage then wipes their board and laughs.  That is Tron's easiest matchup. 

Birthing Pod is the most popular deck in the format.  It's what's called a toolbox deck.  It has a bunch of different cards to attempt to have an answer for every situation.  It also has two different infinite combos.  One gives them infinite life, and the other deals infinite damage.  Both use the graveyard, so Relic of Progenitous takes care of that problem.  Also, the creatures they use for that combo can all be killed with Pyroclasm.  If they do manage to gain infinite life, Karn Liberated can restart the game.  Tron isn't in danger of their creatures attacking because Wurmcoil Engine can give them life while picking off dudes one at a time.  Almost all of Tron's sideboard tech fights against pod. 

UWx attempts to control the game through the use of counterspells and board wipes.  They push the game into the long game which is exactly what Tron wants.  If they have problems with the counterspells they search for their Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.  He cannot be countered, so he will hit the board.  He is huge, he deals 15 damage every time he attacks, with a bunch of other perks.  Tron isn't fazed at all by control.  Control walks right into Tron's trap. 

Storm uses their whole deck to cast a lot of spells, draw a bunch of cards, then deal 20 damage to their opponent or make a lot of creatures.  The first game isn't the easiest to win, but after sideboarding, Tron shuts them down.  They can't use their graveyard as a resource, they can't target Tron with their spells, and Tron gets a free counterspell to just shut them down.  There isn't much Storm can do to pull off a win.  It would take a really bad starting hand for storm to pull off a win.

For all of the major decks, Tron has a way out.  A lot of decks are just an easy win for Tron.  The non aggro meta is the perfect fit for tron.  The additional advantage Tron has, is that no one would be expecting it in the Pro-Tour, thus giving it an even higher chance to win.  All of that makes it so Tron has a very high chance of winning the Pro-Tour.  The only real challenge is getting someone to play it.

[Kaworu, the Fifth Child]

I'd like to point out that much of your reasoning is based on the other deck doing nothing. I agree tron is probably T2, T1.5 but not T1.

[Dudecore]

"epitimy" is not a word. It's epitome. Need to break it up into more paragraphs and maybe explain what Tron is? How is it reliable?

[DrainCleaner]

Explain what is tron. What is affinity? Don't use the word dudes for creatures lol

[rarehuntertay]

The title should be "The Philosophy of Tron"...
I can imagine your teacher's face when they think that they are going to be reading about the movie and not a magic deck...

[InfinitiveDivinity]

A lot of it is very repetitive (as in word choice), and as such makes for a difficult read. I stand by what pretty much everyone else has mentioned: tell your reader what Tron is. Your selling point is this thing, whatever the hell it is. The entire paper revolves around this entity and it's mystery, and it's lack of explanation will make your reader very uninterested. Dig deep into your verbal palette and make better decisions with word choice, make the descriptions colorful and vivid. Possibly describe what you imagine Emrakul does when it hits the field, when it swings, when you have your opponent cowering in fear under your heel. Use more layman's terms to help people relate better to what this game is; what your deck is. To people outside the world of Magic, this looks like it's written halfway in Japanese. It's a good start though. The passion that you express for this deck tells me that you have a much better paper in you for your beloved Tron than this though. Expand.

[Spikepit]

The Glowack Attack is super effective! Man you're speaking my language in this thread! I mark 100s of papers a Semester and he took the words right outta my head on this one, Taysby.

Good read otherwise, though. I'd love to get an essay about MtG!

[Gorzo]

Doesn't matter - Two classes, two subjects, two separate papers. You're actually trying, and making effort to do less work and get the same paper to fit for both classes, which is a silly, paradoxical thing to do   If you're going to put in effort, put it in on work you'll be proud if, and like Glowack and Spikepit are saying, earn two deserved A's instead of sliding in on two B's or C's. You'll be glad you did!

Edit: Also, I feel like I should note that a Philosophy essay is very different from a comparative English essay. The philosophy one should be focused on the debate and thought. In English, there's a much higher focus on grammar, sentence/paragraph structure, and writing technique. The subject matter is important, but the focus is going to be more on your writing itself.

[particle]

Doesn't matter - Two classes, two subjects, two separate papers. You're actually trying, and making effort to do less work and get the same paper to fit for both classes, which is a silly, paradoxical thing to do   If you're going to put in effort, put it in on work you'll be proud if, and like Glowack and Spikepit are saying, earn two deserved A's instead of sliding in on two B's or C's. You'll be glad you did!

Edit: Also, I feel like I should note that a Philosophy essay is very different from a comparative English essay. The philosophy one should be focused on the debate and thought. In English, there's a much higher focus on grammar, sentence/paragraph structure, and writing technique. The subject matter is important, but the focus is going to be more on your writing itself.

agree strongly, especially with edit.

[Cender]

Most points have already been made, but I'd also add that in either case, your first paragraph truly needs a hook, something that grabs the reader's attention and makes them want to read further.

You could use the PT discussion as a basis for this but in a different way.

"A large part of the American Dream is the ability to enjoy what you do for a living while being financially stable. A select few dedicated individuals have achieved this lofty goal I share with them in the form of the pro tour of MtG. For those unfamiliar with MtG... Blah blah blah"

Hope that helps.

[MuggyWuggy]

Your paper made no sense other than you discussing how your pokemon pikachu is better than all other pokemon despite the odds.

If you want a reader to dig into your paper, then invite them; don't just create this wall of "my deck will beat blasttoise due to being an electric pokemon", "unfortunately onyx proves difficult for white"

Your audience has no idea what the duck you're talking about. Unless you're a magic geek type X fanatic, you won't get it.

If you wish to write about magic for your homework, then actually do your homework. Don't write a half assed paper because you wanna play magic instead.