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By: Arctic_Ghost, Arctic_Ghost
Jul 16 2018 12:00pm
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Welcome to the last part of my Urza Tron discussion. In this part of our series we will be looking at the more common and traditional versions of Tron being played in today's Pauper meta.

So far I have shown you the more controlling side of Urza Tron, but I haven't shown you the side of Urza Tron that ramps out big creatures and attacks for a ton of damage. Well today is the day I show you!

 

The first list we are going to look at is Fangren Tron, or as I like to call it, Rainbow Tron. This is deck is sort of a hybrid and tries to play all the best cards from different versions of Tron. It has removal, big creatures and a lot of card advantage. Let's take a look at it!

 

 

For the creatures we have the usual 4 copies of Mulldrifter because it is just amazing. We have 3 Self-Assembler, which I think is a sleeper card in the Pauper format against a lot of non blue decks. The fact that you pay 5 mana for a creature that does not outright die to bolt and continues to not only thin your deck, but get you more 4 power creatures is quite powerful when you consider most Pauper creatures are small. Against blue however, paying 5 mana is a lot and easily countered.

 

Next up we see Fangren Marauder and it is a power house. With so many copies of Chromatic Star and Sphere (not to mention 4 Expedition Map), you can gain tons of life against any aggro deck and make the game go super long. Against Affinity, if you land Fangren Marauder, it is almost lights out for them the second it resolves. Let's also mention that it hits for 5 damage a turn, which is a very quick clock against any deck. Next up we have a couple copies of Wretched Gryff and this guy is good because it is a big flying creature that draws a card just for being cast or it wins the game in the air easily. It can also be cast off of your Urza Lands because it is colorless. Finally we have 1 Ulamog's Crusher as your big threat. It can be easily hit with a Doom Blade, but if it lives it usually means game over.

 

For the spells we have to work with, we have Flame Slash and Lightning Bolt as removal and they do their job very well. Ancient Stirrings is just as good here as it is in Modern. In this deck you can find a Tron piece, one of your big colorless creatures or you can find a Chromatic effect so you can cast more spells or gain life with a Fangren Marauder in play.  You also see a couple of Crop Rotation because you want to be able to get Urza Tron into play as quickly as possible but you also have Haunted Fengraf to fetch with it as well for some utility. Finally we have a Rolling Thunder either to be a huge board wipe or just win the game by going to your opponent's head.

 

For the artifacts we have 4 Expedition Map to help us build Tron, you have 4 copies each of Chromatic Star and Chromatic Sphere to help you cast your spells and to dig deeper into your deck, not to mention gain life off of Marauder. Last but not least, we see good old Prophetic Prism make another appearance in another Tron deck.

 

The manabase is very simple. You have the full 4 copies of each Urza Land, we see a couple copies of Shimmering Grotto to help cast your spells and see Rugged Highlands for the same reason, although the 1 life gain could make a difference between having an extra turn to draw something and not having that extra turn. Finally you have some copies of Haunted Fengraf to return any creature from your graveyard to be cast again and luckily all of your creatures are a big impact on the game, which makes this land even better to have.

 

The Sideboard is quite spicy as we see a copy of Circle of Protection: Red and Circle of Protection: Green for their respective colors. A couple copies of Ray of Revelation to help against Mono White Heroic or Hexproof (it also does well against Curse of the Bloody Tome). 2 copies of Rest for the Weary to help against Burn and since you should be able to make land drops almost every turn, you should be able to gain 8 life almost all the time to effectively counter 2 and a half burn spells.

 

Arc Lightning helps against most aggro archetypes and Delver. Pulse of Murasa makes an appearance in the sideboard, though I will say except for combo matchups (such as Izzet Blitz or Hexproof where your creatures aren't going to die or be countered much and the games won't go all that long), I usually end up bringing this in against just about anything, it is just that good of a card. Coalition Honor Guard shows up once again to help against decks such as Hexproof, Stompy and other archetypes of that nature. Serrated Arrows helps against any aggro matchup you may come across and we find Faultgrinder against the Urza Tron mirror. Faultgrinder is an interesting card because not only does it destroy an Urza Piece but it is also a clock. I personally like the idea of it because with the added clock, the less time you give your opponent to draw what they need. Finally we find a second Ulmaog's Crusher just in case we may need it.

 

The next list we will take a look at is a personal favorite of Twitch.tv/Nega_Shane, we are going to look at Mono Green Turbo Tron.

 

 

The way that this version of Tron tries to play, is by getting Urza Tron in play as quickly as possible and it does this by any means necessary. This Tron deck does not want the game to go long, but instead wants to play big monsters and end the game as quickly as possible.

 

For the creature suite we have 4 copies of Fierce Empath to go and find whatever big monster you may need at the time. A good combo with this card is to go get a Wretched Gryff because then you can play it for a cheaper cost by using the Emerge ability and cast even more spells. Speaking of Wretched Gryff it is the next creature and it really shines in this deck because of how aggressive it is. It has flying, it draws you a card and it hits for 3 and let's also mention it takes 2 burn spells to kill it. Again we see Fangren Marauder as not only a big hitter but a way to survive against all the aggro decks of the format by using your artifacts to gain life.

 

In this version of Tron we see 2 copies of Accomplished Automaton and it is quite powerful for the mana cost. It can either be a 6/8 beat stick that can end the game quickly or it can be a good 5/7 beat stick that brings along a token to either protection your Automaton from an Edict effect or to add an additional blocker to the board so you can stabilize. Finally we see 3 copies of Ulamog's Crusher because it is your most powerful creature and in this deck, getting to 8 mana is quite easy. You should be able to regularly cast a turn 4 Ulamog's Crusher and against a lot of archetypes, that can just end the game right there and then.

 

For the spells we see 4 copies of Crop Rotation to fetch up Urza Tron lands because as I said, you want to hit Urza Tron on turn 3 every game. You do also have some utility lands that I will talk about a bit later, but something else I should mention is that when/if an opponent tries to blow up one of your lands, you can use Crop Rotation to keep your Urza Tron going and not lose tempo. Next we see Ancient Stirrings again and it is just as powerful in this version with extra copies of Ulamog's Crusher and the addition of Accomplished Automaton. The last colored spell we see is Pulse of Murasa which just does it all. It either gets back a powerful creature or a land you may need from the graveyard and you gain 6 life either way to buy you another turn or 2 against aggro archetypes.

 

For artifacts we see much of the same. 4 Expedition Map helps build Urza Tron or fetch up a land you need in general. Next we have 4 copies of each Chromatic Star and Chromatic Sphere to help cast your spells and to keep digging to whatever you may need to draw. They also combo with Fangren Marauder to gain tons of life as well. Finally we have Prophetic Prism and you should always expect this to be at least a 3 of in any Tron deck.

 

The manabase is fairly the same as well. You have 3 Forests to help cast your green spells and you have 12 Urza lands. In this version we do see some interesting lands as well. We see 2 copies of Tree of Tales because when it is sacrificed to Crop Rotation you gain life with a Fangren Marauder on the battlefield, which can help a ton in any situation. Haunted Fengraf helps return a creature from your graveyard and although it as at random, all of your creatures can win the game on their own so you should always get back something good. Last up we have a copy of Khalni Garden to fetch up and get a quick chump blocker or something to sacrifice to an Edict effect if need be.

 

One thing you don't see here is Mulldrifter and although I would love to fit in this deck, the bottom line is that you don't need it. Fierce Empath is better because it gets whatever creature you choose and the selection is much better than just drawing a couple of random cards.

 

The Sideboard is fairly basic as well. Reap and Sow is for the mirror matchups and it helps fetch up Tron lands as well. Penumbra Spider is a great blocker against Delver and aggro decks in general because it has 4 toughness and it makes a token of itself after it has already been dealt with. A couple more copies of Pulse of Murasa just in case you may need them.

 

Here we see 2 Relic of Progentius for any graveyard shenanigans. An interesting card we see is a copy of Tranquility to help with the Hexproof matchup but it is always good to have some enchantment removal in general. A 1 of Bojuka Bog because it can be fetched for with Expedition Map or Crop Rotation. Electrickery is your only need green card and it is still very much worth the small splash because it is just that good in the Pauper format. A couple copies of Naturalize to further help the destruction of enchantments but it also helps to destroy artifacts as well. Last up we have a copy of Moment's Peace to help against any aggro archetype to survive a couple of extra turns so you can win the game.

 

One last list I would like to bring to you is the most famous of the Urza Tron decks. This version is called Murasa Tron and it basically a mixture of everything, even more of a hybrid than Fangren Tron. I won't go into detail because I believe at this point you should understand why all card choices are there.

 

 

Verdict and Conclusion

I will always love Urza Tron decks in Pauper. No matter what version it is, I don't think you can really go wrong. Whether you want to ramp out huge creatures quickly, if you want to control the game and use the Urza Lands to play big spells that end the game quickly, or if you want to do a lot of fun combos, there is something for everyone.

 

 

So which of these decks would I play? I don't think you can go wrong with any one of them honestly. I don't have a favorite out of these lists and would happily walk into a league with anyone of them. I find they have enough ways to answer aggro with removal spells and Fangren Marauder gaining you tons of life, while your control matchups are good as well because of how hard your creatures hit and all the ways you have to get them back from the graveyard. That is the beauty of Urza Tron, you can never really go wrong with how you build your deck and be prepared for almost anything.

 

Out of all the Urza Tron lists I have showed, it is really night and day which one is the best because there are so many decks available in Pauper, you never really know what you are going to specifically run into, it is all a matter of personal preference. Let me know what your favorite Urza Tron deck is and I wish you all the best of luck in your tournaments!

 

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!

 

Thank you so much for reading. See you guys next time!