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Mono Green Tron Deck & Sideboard Guide
Winning the MTGO Challenge with Tron
In my last article about Modern, I discussed why I believed Rakdos Scam was still a good option, even after the banning of Fury. However, my latest results have not been the best, partly because Murders of Karlov Manor introduced Leyline of the Guildpact, which had a huge impact on the format.
It acted as a bonus for a match that was already not very favorable: Temur Rhinos, which ended up turning into Rainbow Rhinos, with Leyline and Scion of Draco combo. I decided to go back to an old friend that is a natural predator of these "colorful" decks with greedy mana bases: Mono-Green Tron.
Today, I'm going to talk about the list that led me to victory in the MTGO Challenge, including tips and tricks on how to play the deck, as well as an updated sideboard guide for the key archetypes of the Modern metagame.
The Decklist
The list was created by xyzprincipe, who also won the previous Friday's Modern Challenge.
(8 - 1)
88% in MTGO Modern Challenge 32 #12613722 [45 Players] — 19-Feb-2024
$740/272.65 Tix
Maindeck (60)
| Creature [6] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Sundering Titan | $0.69 | |
| 2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger | $29.99 | |
| 3 Wurmcoil Engine | $17.99 | |
| Artifact [20] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Chromatic Sphere | $0.69 | |
| 4 The One Ring | $79.99 | |
| 2 Relic of Progenitus | $6.49 | |
| 3 Oblivion Stone | $0.69 | |
| 4 Expedition Map | $2.99 | |
| 3 Chromatic Star | $0.35 | |
| Instant [3] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3 Dismember | $5.99 | |
| Sorcery [8] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Sylvan Scrying | $0.59 | |
| 4 Ancient Stirrings | $0.35 | |
| Enchantment [1] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Urza's Saga | $39.99 | |
| Planeswalker [6] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Karn, the Great Creator | $7.49 | |
| 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | $34.99 | |
| Land [16] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Boseiju, Who Endures | $49.99 | |
| 3 Snow-Covered Forest | $0.99 | |
| 4 Urza's Mine | $0.79 | |
| 4 Urza's Power Plant | $0.79 | |
| 4 Urza's Tower | $0.69 | |
| Sideboard [15] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Wurmcoil Engine | $17.99 | |
| 1 Sundering Titan | $0.69 | |
| 1 Cursed Totem | $2.79 | |
| 1 Pithing Needle | $0.59 | |
| 1 Ensnaring Bridge | $15.99 | |
| 2 Haywire Mite | $3.49 | |
| 1 Liquimetal Coating | $0.35 | |
| 1 Phyrexian Metamorph | $4.99 | |
| 1 Engineered Explosives | $12.99 | |
| 1 Cityscape Leveler | $14.99 | |
| 1 The Stone Brain | $1.99 | |
| 1 Tormod's Crypt | $0.59 | |
| 1 Walking Ballista | $19.99 | |
| 1 Chalice of the Void | $54.99 | |
$267.09 Tix @cardhoarder
$6.68 / Week @cardhoarder
$637.91 @tcgplayer
$845.03 @cardkingdom
Visual View
Similar Decks
Proxies
Archetype Analysis
Magic online format
Apprentice and MWS .dec
Tailored for a more specific metagame, some of the card choices also rewarded me in certain expected matchups during the tournament, such as against Rhinos and Living End. This is also one of the virtues of the deck: you can change some of the cards to adapt it to the meta without losing its ability to consistently play one powerful card after another.
Card Choices
Sundering Titan
It remains an excellent card to include in the main deck, particularly in a meta that tends to be very greedy regarding mana bases. It has always been one of my favorite targets to fetch with Karn, the Great Creator.
Having it in the main deck is quite surprising, and it's one of the cards that most frequently leads to victory when played. Against decks like Rhinos, Living End, and 4C Money Pile, it becomes very challenging for the opponent to recover after losing 3-4 lands and still having to deal with a gigantic creature.
Dismember
Tron often struggles in the early game, so it's necessary to have some form of interaction to deal with cards like Ragavan and Dragon's Rage Channeler, which can win many games if they're not answered promptly. However, it possesses efficient removal that can handle the majority of creatures in the format. The drawback tends to be insignificant in a deck that has access to three Wurmcoil Engines to recoup the lost life. It's one of the best removal options available, and I would almost certainly include it in a deck like this, which lacks early interaction.
Urza’s Saga
It is one of the best cards in the format, with several decks using four copies. However, in this specific deck, it serves more as support—a Plan B—because our Plan A, assembling Tron lands, is much better. Having multiple copies of this card in play ends up being more of a hindrance than a help. I believe that one to two copies is the ideal number for this specific deck.
Playing the Deck
Without much secrecy, ideal hands should have at least two pieces and another card that can be used to search for or dig for the third piece. Additionally, you need to have a source of green mana to cast color-specific cards, such as Ancient Stirrings and Sylvan Scrying. One thing to keep in mind is that this deck mulligans very well; you can win games even when mulliganing down to five, or in my experience during this tournament, even down to four. It's one of those decks where you need to mulligan for hands that give you the highest chance of assembling all three Tron pieces as early as possible.
Example Hand #1
In my opinion, this is one of those hands that seems good but ends up being a trap. Having two of the same lands means we have effectively mulliganed to six, and there's no guarantee that we will have the necessary pieces available. If one of the spheres or one of the pieces were a Stirrings or another Scrying, I would be inclined to take the risk. However, drawing another Power Plant, although unlikely, would be a tragedy.
Example Hand #2
Despite having cards to interact with at the beginning of the game, once again having two of the same lands puts us far from completing the Tron. Without the pieces, casting Sundering Titan becomes even more unlikely, especially since we have no way to search for the pieces and can only hope that they come off the top of the deck. It's time to mulligan.
Example Hand #3
Two tron pieces and a draw with Chromatic Star may seem better than other hands, but in my opinion, it's more of a trap. Yes, we can draw a Scrying or even an Expedition Map; however, the chances are not in our favor. Moreover, popping the map on the next turn means that we essentially have only that turn to draw one of the green tutors because, from the next turn, we won't have that source of mana anymore. With a 10-drop in hand, we can see that we are technically mulliganed to 6. Everything can be beautiful and wonderful if we draw the Power Plant or even Scrying on the draw with Chromatic Star, but I prefer to play a safer game. Knowing that this deck mulligans well, I believe I would mulligan this hand.
Tips and Tricks
Sundering Titan
Pay attention when casting Sundering Titan. If you have a Forest in play and your opponent does not have any land of that type, you will be forced to sacrifice your own land, because the Titan's trigger requires that all types be chosen if they are on the field.
Avoiding Bowmasters
Against decks with black, except for situations where you need the colored mana to cast something specific, it is better to sacrifice Chromatic Star and Sphere when the opponent has no open mana, so you don't take unnecessary damage from an Orcish Bowmasters.
Exiling Trick
You can use the ability of Relic of Progenitus if you want to fetch something with Karn, the Great Creator that isn't in your sideboard. A good example is if your The One Ring was discarded at the start of the match: you exile it with the relic, and as Karn's ability says to fetch something from exile, you can use it to retrieve the ring.
Blue Decks
Against blue decks, prefer to activate Oblivion Stone when they have their mana tapped out, to avoid being severely punished by a counterspell such as Tishana Tidebinder.
Matchups & Sideboard Guide
UR Murktide
It's not one of the best matchups, but the good news is that the deck is not very well-positioned in the meta, which is one of the reasons to play Tron. Dragon's Rage Channeler and Ragavan can be a nightmare for this deck when they're played on turn 1, so it's good to have some form of interaction. Options include Dismember to remove them or even Relic of Progenitus to prevent delirium and avoid a gigantic Murktide Regent. Post-sideboard, we need to have additional tools against Blood Moon and Alpine Moon, and Haywire Mite does a good job, even if it's just by blocking Ragavan.
Temur Rhinos
The matchup is tough. Despite having a very intense pace with Rhinos, they don't have many ways to interact with our lands, at least in game one. However, they can interact in other ways, with Force of Negation and Subtlety being the main cards. Wurmcoil Engine is one of the best cards to resolve, but they also have answers like Flame Slash and Dead // Gone. Post-sideboard, we bring in some hate pieces and good matchup cards, such as Chalice of the Void and Wurmcoil Engine, because we don’t have much time to search with Karn. Therefore, it’s better to have the chance of starting with them in hand. They might have Blood Moon, but in this matchup, I don't like to rely on too many Haywire Mites. This is also because the hate cards vary, and they can use either that or Magus of the Moon.
Living End
A good match, but it's dangerous. Grief has the potential to ruin our plans of filling the board with our best creatures. In this match, if you start the game with Urza's Saga in hand, we should definitely start with it, because it allows us to search for Relic of Progenitus, making us more comfortable in the game. Boseiju has made the match a bit worse by interfering with our Tron and giving our opponent time to better plan their turns. Post-sideboard, just like with Rhinos, Blood Moon is one of the best cards. Here, it is even more likely to be the chosen hate card, since using a creature that will be destroyed by Living End doesn't make much sense. We can also bring in Chalice, since our main target for Karn is Tormod's Crypt.
Amulet Titan
It's one of the worst matchups, as he combos with the help of Amulet very quickly and the presence of 4 Boseiju means he has many ways to delay our tron. Still, the best we can do is go after the tron to try to resolve our best cards. Sundering Titan can be very good if you have a Dryad of Ilysian Grove in play, as we can destroy 5 of the opponent's lands thanks to its ability. Post sideboard, Haywire Mite is one of the best cards to have at the beginning of the game, as it deals with both Amulet of Vigor and Urza’s Saga.
BG Yawgmoth
It was a very good match until Agatha’s Soul Cauldron appeared and that changed things up a bit. Before, it was just about answering Yawgmoth and playing a much safer game, but now that all creatures are Yawgmoths and Grists, the situation got a bit more complicated. Even Karn, the Great Creator, can be pressured and destroyed by Grist himself. However, playing Karn and searching for Cursed Totem is a move that can almost shut down the deck and make victory much simpler.
Post sideboard the match becomes even more dangerous, because the lists have been using Fulminator Mage, which in combination with Cauldron, turns all creatures into Stone Rains, so it's good to have something to be able to get rid of that, Pithing Needle in combination with Relic of Progenitus helps a lot against it.
Rakdos Scam
Rakdos Scam has been fading out of the scene a bit, and that's great news for our deck. The few lists that still show up are no longer using Blood Moon in the main deck, so except for Ragavan and Grief on turn 1, which don't give us much time to develop our game plan well, we shouldn't worry too much. Post-sideboard, Haywire Mite shines once again, stopping the monkey's attacks and also getting rid of Blood Moon. We should also remove Ulamog because it is too slow, and we risk being targeted by discard effects and Dauthi Voidwalker, which can severely punish us by turning the Eldrazi against us.
Burn
It is a challenging match, but still winnable, particularly with the support of the main deck's Wurmcoil Engines. Using Dismember is a necessary evil; it's preferable to lose 4 life to remove a Goblin Guide or a Monastery Swiftspear than to suffer even more damage from them both. After sideboarding, Haywire Mite makes a reappearance, this time as a source of life gain, which can be extremely beneficial against this type of deck. Additionally, we side in some of the cards we would search for with Karn, since he can be quite slow in this matchup. We also lower our curve to better combat the opponent's quick pace.
Final words
Even though it's an old-guard deck, Mono-Green Tron seems to have made a strong comeback, especially now that Murktide and Rakdos Scam are on the decline. With decks featuring greedy mana bases and aiming to play a longer game, they become perfect prey for the midrange predator. This is coupled with the fact that specific hate cards like Damping Sphere and Void Mirror no longer appear as frequently in sideboards. It's my new choice for Modern tournaments, at least until the deck starts to be more hated in the meta.
Until next time!