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By: Arctic_Ghost, Arctic_Ghost
Apr 17 2017 1:00pm
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I know you all remember Peregrine Drake and the Tron decks that played them (I know I miss them very much because I am an evil person). That card might be gone, but the idea of an infinite combo with Ghostly Flicker lives on with the new addition of Dinrova Horror added to the Pauper format. 

You will find that this deck is all about burying your opponent in card advantage, stalling a ton of turns thanks to Moment's Peace and then eventually winning by bouncing all of your opponent's permanents and making them discard cards with Mnemonic Wall, Ghostly Flicker and Dinrova Horror. You also get to play cards like Mystical Teachings to play the control game and with Prophetic Prism and Shimmering Grotto, you have access to whatever sideboard cards your heart desires. Let's break the deck down and see what makes it whole.


The Creatures

Mulldrifter – No Urza Tron playing the color blue is ever complete without this card, especially when you play Ghostly Flicker to draw more cards than you know what to do with.

Mnemonic Wall – While also being a combo with Ghostly Flicker, you play so many powerful spells, why wouldn't you want to get them back from the graveyard to use them again? 

Dinrova Horror – Not only is this said by many people to be the best common in MM3, but it is also a very powerful creature in the format. It can't be killed easily because it can't be hit by Doom Blade or Ghastly Demise and it takes 2 removal spells to kill when using cards like Lightning Bolt or Echoing Decay. It also not only bounces a creature, but also makes your opponent discard a card in the process and it is a big creature that can win the game quickly. All around, it is a very solid creature. 

Fierce Empath – This is good to block with early and to go tutor for your Dinrova Horror or create a tutor package in your sideboard for big threats. It can also chump and save life which can be very good.

The Spells

Condescend – I am normally not a huge fan of this card because it is easily played around, but the Scry effect is very good and it does counter more things these days because some decks are playing less land and/or more expensive spells. 

Prohibit – This will counter just about anything you need it to and it only costs 1 blue to cast, making it the perfect counter spell for this archetype. 

Mystical Teachings – You play a lot of good cards that this can search for, so why not play it and take advantage of it? Plus you will end up needing certain spells at specific times and this is perfect at helping that. It is almost like playing extra copies of cards like Moment's Peace because you can search for them. 

Forbidden Alchemy – A good way of digging for Urza Tron pieces or putting cards you don't need into your graveyard to get back later and finding the right spell at the right time. It also has flashback so you can use it later in the game. 

Ghostly Flicker – I shouldn't have to explain why this is here, so I won't bore you and will move on. One thing to note though, it helps against land destruction because you can Flicker your own lands to protect them. 

Probe – For those of you who played Pauper in the very beginning, there was a deck called MBCu (Mono Black splash Blue control) and this is one of the cards it splashed for. It may be a worse Compulsive research, but for a little extra mana, you get to Mind Rot your opponents for almost free. 

Echoing Truth – It is always a good thing to have a spell that bounces permanents for a cheap cost and this is the best one because it can help clear a board state in certain situations. 

Moment's Peace – This is your big way to stall against any aggro strategy and it helps just to buy time in general. I'd say this is one of the best cards in the deck. 

Pulse of Murasa – This is used more to get back Tron lands or creatures that your opponent has dealt with, but a big help is that it also gives you back 6 life and that can buy you a lot of time. Also since it is an instant, it can be found with Mystical Teachings

Crop Rotation – I find this card to be much better than Expedition Map because it can be found with Mystical Teachings, it can find you an Urza Tron piece and it can tutor for a special land like Bojuka Bog or it can help give you more color sources. All in all, it is a great card to have. 

Prophetic Prism – If you are playing a Tron deck, do not play less than 4 of this card. 

Simic Signet and Dimir Signet – I like these for the mana acceleration and for the fixing of colors on their own. I have been very happy with them. 

Expedition Map – It is nice to have a colorless way of getting your land pieces together.

The Manabase

Urza's Mine, Urza's Tower and Urza's Power Plant – You have seen these lands and what they can do, I won't bore you with why they are here.

Thornwood Falls – You need a good amount of Blue and Green, so having the dual land helps a lot. It also gains a life when it enters the battlefield, allowing you to gain infinite life with Mnemonic Wall and Ghostly Flicker

2 Island and Shimmering Grotto – You need to get color somehow and these are the best ways to do it because they come into play untapped. 

Bojuka Bog – The graveyard is a big part of Magic these days and Pauper is no exception. With Ghostly Flicker combos, Mystical Teachings decks and plenty of other graveyard strategies, its a good idea to have some graveyard hate in your deck. With Crop Rotation, you can get it at instant speed and you can keep using it with Ghostly Flicker

Mortuary Mire – I personally like this card because it can keep getting your creatures back when you keep using it with Ghostly Flicker and it can be tutored at instant speed with Crop Rotation

The Videos

 

 

 

Conclusion and Verdict

I really love this deck and think that you will as well. It has a lot of strengths and few weaknesses and plays a lot of powerful cards while also doing a lot of powerful things. It has counter magic, good combos, gets Urza Tron online fast and can overwhelm any opponent very quickly and once it gets ahead, it is very hard to fall behind, so long as you play correctly. 

Do I think you should play this deck? I very much do think that you should. You will have to be careful however because it is very easy to timeout with this archetype. Your combo takes time to get together and takes a lot of clicks to win, but once you get the hang of it, it should be easy to master. The deck does come with its faults like any Urza Tron deck, as you can easily lose to not having the right color of mana or not getting Tron quickly and being stranded with big spells in your hand. Do let me know if you play the deck and what changes you would make! 

Would you like to compete in a free Pauper tournament with some great prizes! Head on over to Gatherling.com on Tuesday nights at 8pm EDT and play in our weekly Pauper Classic Tuesday's event! Join the chat #PCT to chat with us and feel free to find most of the competitors on Discord! 

Thanks for reading and watching and I will see you next time!

 

3 Comments

Game 1 by MichelleWong at Tue, 04/18/2017 - 02:10
MichelleWong's picture
5

Hi,

In Game 1 of your matches, were you satisfied with how the Fierce Empaths functioned? (It seems risky to me to have only 1 card to find, yet two tutors for it).

I actually hated the card by Arctic_Ghost at Tue, 04/18/2017 - 12:05
Arctic_Ghost's picture

I actually hated the card every time heh. I will be cutting it when I get some time to work on the deck.

Dinrova Horror can bounce by Fragoel2 at Mon, 04/24/2017 - 11:06
Fragoel2's picture

Dinrova Horror can bounce every permanent, not only creatures. That's actually (IMHO) the main selling point of the card, since its makes it useful in matchups (Bogles, Tron Mirror) where standard removal spell are generally useless.