Deep Tracks: Urza Tron

by John Messner // Sep 19, 2018

Hey folks, welcome back to another edition of Deep Tracks! After a bit of soul searching and some much appreciated inspiration from a close friend, I’ve decided to set aside all reservations and offer up a take on Urza Tron, Deep Tracks style! It’s time to assemble:

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Three lands, 7 mana. Urza Tron is a thing of beauty, and really speaks to the imagination of everyone involved with the formative years of Magic: the Gathering. The concept for these lands is brilliant on many fronts. What I find most fascinating is the way the idea of Urza Tron parallels to our real lives. Take for example going on a field trip to some kind of industrial museum; from start to finish, we absorb all of the information in a systematic way and then walk away with a certain feeling of enlightenment. Here we enter Three lands, 7 mana. Urza Tron is a thing of beauty, and really speaks to the imagination of everyone involved with the formative years of Magic: the Gathering. The concept for these lands is brilliant on many fronts. What I find most fascinating is the way the idea of Urza Tron parallels to our real lives. Take for example going on a field trip to some kind of industrial museum; from start to finish, we absorb all of the information in a systematic way and then walk away with a certain feeling of enlightenment. Here we enter Urza's Tower with very little knowledge, but rather an innocent thirst. While visiting Urza's Power Plant we begin to realize the awe-inspiring potential that’s found within. Finally, we descend into Urza's Mine and conclude the tour equipped with the insight needed to harness the power of Urza!



Since the release of Antiquities, many Magic players have completed the tour of Urza’s dwelling, and over the years we’ve seen the "big mana" strategy wielded in all sorts of interesting ways. And still to this day, the essence of Urza runs wild throughout the multiverse. We're going to visit the realms of Legacy, Pauper, and Modern, but first, let’s begin our exploration of Urza Tron with an ultra-janky Old School combo deck from the early days of Magic:

Old School 94/95

From the very first moment I heard my buddy Leonard utter the words “ Mudslide Combo”, my senses were peaked, and I simply needed to know more about this bizarre sounding deck. First things first; what the heck’s up with Mudslide

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Mudslide is an obscure gem from the set Ice Age. It’s seeded so deeply in that annals of Magic that most people probably never even knew it existed, myself included! Considering that the deck was named after Mudslide , it must have had some significance in the strategy, right? Indeed. Simply put, Mudslide was the key piece needed to create “infinite” mana, and thus enabling the primary way the deck wins. Beyond the Mudslide combo itself, the deck actually packed a good bit of versatility... remember, we're talking 1995 here! We have a couple oddball win-cons to work with, but first, what other cards make the infinite mana combo work?

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Now, you may have noticed that Mudslide 's text states that it can only be activated during our upkeep... so how do we actually make use of our unlimited mana? We can't cast spells like Fireball or Disintegrate during our upkeep because they are sorceries. Well, here's where the "magic" happens:

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... get that Serra Angel off my lawn!

Legacy

Over the years, I’ve contemplated the possibilities of using Tron as the basis for a competitive Legacy deck. However, they’ve mostly been passing thoughts that never really amounted to much. But still, I’ve always been curious as to why Tron wasn’t a thing in Legacy considering how prominent it is in other Magic formats. On this front, I found myself all the more intrigued after I decided to write a Deep Tracks article about Urza Tron. I hadn’t any solid brew ideas of my own, so I did some digging. My research didn’t provide too many ideas other than the occssional MUD style deck featuring the Tron lands. However, to my pleasant surprise, I did come across a sweet decklist that deserves some probing:

Jeff Hoogland is a well established deckbuilder and accomplished tournament player. Needless to say, the guy knows Magic! While the decklist above should be considered a fringe style brew for Legacy, I actually think it appears quite solid; on the surface, it just looks like a legit Legacy concoction. And what I really love about the deck is that Jeff didn't just throw a set a Tron lands into a pre-established MUD deck, but rather went the route of porting a shell similar to what we may find in Modern Tron decklists. For example, let’s take a glance at the creature suite from Jeff’s deck:

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As far as putting the Legacy stamp on the deck, I love the idea of Crop Rotation for added consistency and as a sneaky counter measure to opposing Wasteland decks. And in a pinch, I suppose Crop Rotation could be used to protect ourselves from being severely crippled by a Surgical Extraction targeting one of our Tron pieces. In addition to Crop Rotation , you’ll also notice some clever inclusions in the mana base:

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If you're interested in reading more about Legacy Tron, I’ve included a link in the Sources and related info section below which will take you to Jeff’s article for a full breakdown of the deck!

Pauper

For those of you that have been following along with my Pauper Spellbook articles, you know I have a soft spot for Urza Tron in the “Commons only” format. It’s actually kind of hard to believe these lands were ever even printed at Common rarity! Peruse this top-tier Pauper decklist built around the Tron lands:

Dinrova Tron (aka WUBRG) is currently the de facto best control deck in Pauper. As far as having access to and brewing with Urza Tron in Pauper, the bottom line is that it’s possible to start with nothing other than a playset of each Tron land and end up with a fully functional deck crafted to your own specifications! The decklist above is wonderfully complex and presents an entirely unique way to play Tron as an archetype. For a more in depth look at Dinrova Tron, check out my Pauper Spellbook: Ghostly Flicker entry in the links section!

As I've said time and again: Pauper is a great format and I highly recommend it to just about anyone who enjoys Magic. But when it comes to Tron, if we really want to embrace the true majesty that Urza has bestowed upon us, we need to head over to Modern!

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Modern

When I started formulating ideas for this Deep Tracks, I knew I wanted to present a valuable piece on Urza Tron for Modern. I know the strategy and have endured my fair share of battles against it, but truth be told, I don't have much experience operating the deck. So, I decided to enlist some help from a true master of the archetype; I found myself lucky enough to catch up with Magic tournament grinder and Modern Tron aficionado Anneliese Faustino! To her credit, Anneliese has 2 SCG Modern Open TOP 8s, 2 SCG Modern Classic TOP 8s, and 1 SCG Modern Classic TOP 16. Before we jump into our discussion, take a look at the deck Anneliese piloted to her TOP 8 finish at the recent SCG Modern Open in Baltimore:

Interview with Anneliese Faustino

I'd like to send a huge thanks to Anneliese for dropping her impressive knowledge of Modern Tron on us! I could tell right away that she knows... the ways of Urza. It's been a blast to watch her progression on the SCG circuit and I'm certain there will be more great things to come from her!

Conclusion

Urza Tron is one of the most polarizing archetypes in competitive Magic. I personally never really gave Tron a chance until I got involved with Pauper. But I must say, I'm glad I finally did! Here's my challenge to anyone who hasn't played a version of Urza Tron themselves: build it. proxy it up. run it. even if it ends up not being your thing, you can at least say you've harnessed the power of Urza's teachings! And who knows, maybe... just maybe, you'll end up loving it as much as I do.

Well, that’s a wrap for this installment of Deep Tracks. Let me know what you think! Do you have any wild takes on Urza Tron? How about that crazy Old School Mudslide combo deck? As always, all comments are welcome, thank you so much for reading, and have a great one!

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-John

Sources and related info: