Most Magic the Gathering players are well aware that Tron has been a viable deck in Modern since the format’s inception. What many people are unaware of is that Modern is not the only format in that you can create vast amounts of mana by turn three. Of course, there is 12 Post in Legacy and Mono Green Devotion in Pioneer, but neither uses the infamous Tron lands.
However, there is one format that gets to use the Tron lands and has a very similar game plan as Modern Tron; Pauper! Luckily, a lot of the cards that make Modern Tron so popular, such as Ancient Stirrings, Chromatic Star, and Expedition Map, are all commons! This makes it very easy to put together the deck.
For those of you who have never heard of Tron, I’ll give you a quick synopsis. There are three lands that are pivotal to this deck; Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Powerplant, and Urza’s Tower. The plan is to get them all into play as quickly as possible, allowing you to generate a lot of mana. You then spend this mana on powerful spells and creatures and use them to dominate the game. As many Magic players know, Tron is as easy as one, two, seven!
There are two different Tron builds in Pauper, the Ephemerate version and the ‘Go Big’ version. Today I will focus on the Go Big version, but make sure to tune into my next Pauper article, where I will review the Ephemerate version!
What are the payoffs?
In Modern, we have access to very powerful colorless spells such as Karn Liberated, Wurmcoil Engine, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, that all can single-handedly dominate the game. However, these cards are all mythics and cannot be used in Pauper. So what are our go-to big spells?
First, let’s focus on the game-enders. These cards are the powerhouses of the deck and whose sole purpose is just to end the game. The first one we’ll look at is Ulamog’s Crusher, an 8/8 for eight with Annihilator 2.
This card may not be Ulamog himself, but considering it’s a common, it’s pretty close. Once this card is in play, your opponent will certainly have a tough time defeating it while taking eight damage a turn and sacrificing two permanents every combat. Usually we only have access to seven mana on turn three with Tron, but luckily Lotus Petal is legal in Pauper, so it is possible to get this out on time.
The next card similar to the Crusher is Maelstrom Colossus, a new card out of Commander Legends. This card is also a little harder to cast on turn three, but it’s worth the effort. Getting a 7/7 that lets you cast another payoff is a big hit, and while sometimes your opponent can deal with one large threat, now there are two of them!
There are two payoffs in Pauper Tron that may not be as big as the Colossus but still generate value while putting raw power on the board. The first of these two is Self-Assembler. While it may only be a 4/4, it also gets you another 4/4, which can get you another 4/4, which can also get you another 4/4. That’s a lot of 4/4s! Even if your opponent has a removal-heavy deck, by the third Self-Assembler, your opponent will wish that Wrath of God was legal in Pauper.
The other value-generating creature in Pauper Tron is Wretched Gryff. While the Gryff may not generate as much value as Self-Assembler, Gryff has a crucial keyword that is sometimes the difference between life and death: flying.
A 3/4 with flying that draws you a card is no joke, and there will be some games where your opponent can clog up the ground enough that you can’t attack with your Self-Assemblers, and you have to rely on your Gryff to get the job done.
One of the biggest problems that Tron has had historically is that it is very soft to Burn. While Tron is playing lands for the first three turns, Burn is actively eating away at your life total, and even if you get out a giant creature on turn three, they can usually just bolt your face until your dead.
To combat this, Tron plays a whopping seven creatures in the maindeck that are all there to help your Burn matchup. The first of these creatures is Fangren Marauder, which has seen play in Pauper Tron forever. It may only be a 5/5, but you gain five life every time you crack an Expedition Map, Chromatic Star, or Lotus Petal.
This can be an absolute life-saver in certain matchups, and it can be very easy to go from five life to 20 life in a single turn, which may just end the game on the spot. The only downside to the Marauder is that it requires a green mana to cast, so if you get Tron on turn three, you will need a Lotus Petal or Chromatic Sphere or Star to cast it, which you won’t get to gain life with.
The second card is a new card from The Brothers’ War; Boulderbranch Golem. While the Marauder can be a little tough to cast, Boulderbranch Golem requires a clean seven mana, meaning that if you assemble Tron on turn three you immediately get a 6/5 that gains you six life.
Before this card was added to the deck, Tron had to find one of their Marauders against Burn and have artifacts to sacrifice afterward, or else the game would quickly be over. Now with the Golem, Tron has double the chances of finding a card that gains them life and can deploy it early and gain immediate life without any other requirements.
Final Thoughts
I know Tron is a very divisive deck; you are usually either a Tron player or hate Tron. Despite your opinion, Tron is a deck that must be respected, and the scoreboard shows it. The deck has been around since the beginning of time, and it continues to put up results every now and again.
The addition of Boulderbranch Golem has really made this deck stand out recently because Burn has been such a dominating deck in the meta. Tron still has a problem if aggressive decks can get underneath it in the first couple of turns, but it has ways that it can crawl back into contention.
While the threats in Pauper Tron may not be as powerful as those in Modern, it’s all relative. You might have Karn and Ugin in Modern, but you’re also fighting against better creatures, counterspells, and decks. In Pauper, you’re playing against only common creatures, worse removal spells, and slower decks.
While the Ephemerate version of this deck is very powerful, if you’re looking for the closest thing to Modern mono-green Tron, this is it. The game plan is straightforward; make a lot of mana and play big creatures. The complexity of Pauper Tron is also the same as Modern, which comes with keeping the right hands.
Every game, you want to ensure you get Tron as quickly as possible. Just as with Modern Tron, you can mulligan aggressively until you find a hand that either has all of the Urza lands or can find them. Whatever you do, try not to start turn one by playing a Forest.
You can also find the decklist here.
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