It only took me half of a year to sit down and write the list out. That being said, I am happy to present what I think is my favorite list as it's a bit unique to my style of U Tron it has been performing smoothly and admirably. It can be difficult when fiddling with U Tron to maintain the balance of the card draw/filter engine, counterspells, and threats, but besides that, it has a decent amount of flex to adapt to the style of the Pilot and the Meta. Anyways, here is some basic info on my favorite deck and some of the card choices behind it.
What is U Tron?
U Tron is a big mana control deck that utilizes the three Urza's lands to give itself an inevitable endgame. Unlike it's Gx cousins, which aim to assemble Tron as fast as possible and utilize it to drop big threats early game, U Tron treats Tron as a secondary objective. Your primary goal is just keeping your opponent from sticking threats or advancing their board states while you try to leverage an angle in which you can stabilize. Instead of playing tron land, tron land, tron land, you are aiming for tron land, blue source, then work on assembling tron.
The indisputable core of U Tron, the spots that (in my opinion) should absolutely not be messed with is the 4 Thirst for Knowledge, Condescend, and Expedition Map. Thirst is the most important of these cards. It is a three mana, 'draw three, discard two unless you discard an artifact' at Instant speed that allows us to keep up mana through our opponents turn for counterspells, combat tricks, Snapcaster, and Gearhulk. Like 80% of the deck (I am not going to do the math) plays at Instant speed so it is imperative to have instant speed draw over Sorcery Speed draw that doesn't have a discard clause.
Expedition Map allows us to tutor for Singular Tron Pieces, but also is discardable to Thirst, giving it additional flexibility. Sometimes you will thirst two tron pieces and get to discard a map instead of casting it.
Condescend is the counterspell that only Tron could love. Condescend is weaker on the draw, in terms of counter ability, but still I have found it useful many, many times, to Condescend a Spell for 0 in order to just Scry 2. Once you get big mana up, you have a hard counterspell that goes north of most mana production (screw Elves) that also allows you to Scry 2. This card is nuts.
(ex: Condescend on the play means that they are a land behind in terms of available mana, giving you harder control over their spells. On the draw, they start one land drop ahead in terms of when you get counter magic up, giving them one more available resource to play around Condescend. I will commonly cut one post board if on the draw, however, don't cut two because it gets much better if they miss one land drop, if you hit Gemstone Caverns, or once you get Tron online.
Remand, I have more recently fallen in love with. I was running Mana leak through last summer and fall when the meta was much more fast aggro, because remanding bolts and Monostary Swiftspears is not the most effective. Now that the meta is more midrange, this spell has done work for me. It is a tempo card commonly mistaken as a control card. At worst, remand is a two mana cantrip that denies an opponent the ability to cast a second spell that turn. At it's best, it is a two mana Time Walk that draws you a card. Notably, this lets you draw through your deck while your opponent is stuck a turn or two behind depending on how many you are running and draw. Remand can also be used against opposing control decks to put Spells that have been countered back into your hand. For example: If I were casting Thirst at an opponents end step and they Negated it, I could cast Remand, targeting my own Thirst for Knowledge to return it to my hand, causing the Negate to fizzle and me to draw a card. Also, it isn't too uncommon to Remand an opponent's Remand to deny them a card draw and force out your Big Critter or Spell.
Anticipate and Epiphany at the Drownyard are the same slot. In faster metas, I run two Anticipate (oh god, filtering three cards for two mana at instant speed feels so good). With things a bit slower, I am doing a 1/1 split as you can cast Epiphany with stupid X values to dig for win conditions or cast it for a small X value early game to dig for things, but with the disadvantage that your opponent chooses between the piles you make. However, this gets waaaaay better if you have Academy Ruins on the field as you can pick back threats and utility artifacts.
Chalice of the Void: Counterspell in a cup. Really Pilot Dependent on strength. If you know what to set X at, you can obliterate certain decks. Baral storm just scoops to Chalice on 2, and Chalice on 1 and 2 will also generally net scoops from Burn if the board is under control. I wish I had gotten two more of these before the price spikes, especially considering I have known about this card since it was a 5$ card that hosed my entire Mono Green Infect back in 2013. Also, Chalice on 1 and 3 against Lantern is brutal. I have beat Lantern so many times because they had already blown Seals or Abrupt Decay/ Didn't have them in Game 1. If they don't have Ensnaring Bridge down yet, then they never will and your creatures are free to beat face. Should be noted, because of X values, Chalice is weaker on the draw. That being said, there are certain decks where I will never board out Chalice because even on the draw it's so good. In Burn for instance, an early Chalice on 2 stops 18-20 cards in the deck depending on the burn deck. Boros Charm, Eidolon of the Geat Revel, Skullcrack, Lightning Helix, Destructive Revelry, Searing Blaze, and Deflecting Palm are common 3-4 of's that this card eats alive.
Wurmcoil Engine, smasher of fools. Seriously, this card is your most reliable win condition. You are essentially trying to survive to windmill slam this thing and start beating face fast enough to regain the life that you have probably lost. I don't think I really need to explain much here, just look at Wurmcoil, then at Academy Ruins, then back at Wurmcoil. As long as he doesn't get exiled, he just comes back again and again and again. Don't get too caught up using him like a wall, this card was built to pressure opponents. Also searchable off of Fabricate and Treasure Mage.
Platinum Angel has a huge split in popularity. U Tron pilots personally love or hate her. Me personally, I have found her to be gold in certain situations that U Tron struggles with. I have stuck Platinum and won games with negative health and more poison counters than I started life. Yesterday I almost got to win with no library, but still had two cards when I did win. In general, play her with counterspell back up unless you need to prevent yourself from immediately losing. Also makes a good flying beater every now and again. Sets a five turn clock, searchable with Fabricate and Treasure Mage.
Thought-Knot Seer was out of my list for a bit because he doesn't recur with Academy Ruins and the card draw when he leaves felt bad against burn and jund, which were more present in my meta last year. Taking a bolt when they draw any other bolt effect was just meh and I ran Filagree Familiar instead, whom I could recur for life gain with Academy Ruins while still drawing the card under him. Anyways, he can be cast without blue sources and provides another five turn clock if you are above parity. Below parity, his big butt buys your some turns.
Treasure Mage is just a tutor that poops a body in my book, as opposed to the other way around. Grabs Wurmcoil, Angel, and Mindslaver.
Spatial Contortion is great versus utility creatures and anything not running pump. Be careful against green, they can pump out of it. Not the best card in the world, but it packs a whallop for having no color identity and gives you spot removal sans black and white. You can also cast it on a Wurmcoil in a pinch if the three life upswing is worth it, or to pull off lethal. For what it is, I love it.
Repeal is one of my favorite cards in the deck. Against tokens it is a single U death sentence that draws you a card. It can bounce an ensnaring bridge versus prison decks to swing through, it can get rid of a pesky eidolon that made it to the board so that you can counter it on the way back down and play spells without getting shocked. Hell, you can use a Snapcaster on field to block an incoming attacker, Repeal the Snapcaster, then flash him back in not blocking to flashback a removal spell. The spellbased equivalent is Repealing a Snapcaster in response to a nasty spell in order to flash back Snaps, giving a mana leak or negate in the graveyard flashback so that you counter without a counterspell in hand. You can also repeal Chalice of the Void to reset counters if you need to change your game plan or repeal Wurmcoil to save from a Path to Exile. The list goes on and on. I wish I could run more copies of this card, honestly.
Cyclonic Rift is great versus aggro, go wide decks. Cyclonic rift rifts. I'm not going to go too in depth to this, I think everyone knows how good this card is. Useful early and late game.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is the most powerful Modern legal Planeswalker in my opinion. I don't think I have ever lost a game where I was able to resolve an Ugin against any sort of colored deck. Seriously, this dude board wipes anything colored (only really misses Affinity and Eldrazi stuff, where he is mostly totally dead) when he comes down and then can bolt the straggler creatures that your opponent draws or just bolt your opponent. This guy is so broken. Yesterday I board wiped 8 Tokens from Goblins for -0.
Torrential Gearhulk is amazing. He is usually a 2 for 1 when flashed in response to an attack. You get to either flashback removal or draw cards. A flashed gearhulk eating an attacker and flashbacking Thirst for Knowledge is a handy 3 for 1 if you have an artifact to discard. The best part is that he can be recurred with Academy Ruins. At first I was skeptical because double blue can be a bit hard to come up with sometimes, but he's the real deal after testing.
Padeem and Solemn Simulacrum I will cover together. They are more utility and support cards. Solemn is great for color fixing, can eat an attacker, and replaces himself when he dies, which is his fate. He can also be recurred with Academy Ruins to buy time by replaying him while still getting land drops and drawing cards underneath of him. You stack him on top with Ruins, draw him, replay him, get your land, and then draw a card upon death, at which point you can recur again. Not ideal, but it gets you there. Padeem looks weak at first glance, but she accomplishes a couple of important things: At her weakest, she forces the opponent to have two pieces of removal, and to have to target her first. Even if they have two pieces of removal, if you have a counter, you can eat one of those, saving your Wurm, and allowing it to pressure for the kill or stabilization. If your opponent doesn't have both pieces of removal in hand, then they can only attempt her, and if you are able to counter that, you can pretty much run away with the game. Drawing two cards per turn while protecting your threats is not bad for Blue Bob. Against opposing control decks she really shines in a role as a mirror breaker. If you can just manage to 1 for 1 counter wars, she represents an incredibly oppressive amount of advantage, and U Tron almost always has the highest CMC artifacts. Against lantern she is also incredibly handy, effectively negating a Codex Shredder and giving you more space to draw cards in response with Remands, repeals, and the like. If I wind up taking her out, it will be to open a slot for Baral, whom I am excited to begin playtesting.
Oblivion Stone is a repeatable board wipe with Academy Ruins. Really good versus decks you have the hardest time against. Can be played and blown same turn for 8 mana, or broken across two turns. If you get one down early with a threat, and can use the fate counters, it is ludicrous.
Mana Leak is a mana leak. Good early game counter spell, even relevant in mid and late game although more selectively.
Gemstone Caverns is a premier piece of tech that I love. Some people prefer only running one copy as not to accidentally wind up with two in the opening hand, but I am 100% happy to take that risk in exchange for the advantage this card gives when you are on the draw. It feels so good to Spell Pierce a Goblin Guide/ Wild Nacatyl/ Glistener Elf/ Delver/ Ponder/ Expedition Map/ etc. This also makes Chalice twice as good and puts Condescend back into full power mode. You can miss a land drop and still be on curve. Also, the looks on opponents faces when they hae never heard of this card and it comes into play Turn 0 is priceless. Always worth exiling a card. (You get to draw 1 anyways, putting you at parity for the effect).
Minamo and Oboro: Pretty straightforward, these are blue sources that are Choke and Boil proof and do not get destroyed by Sundering Titan. Oboro can be used to convert colorless mana into blue mana if you haven't played land for turn by tapping Oboro for blue, floating colorless, using that colorless to bounce Oboro to hand, then replay and retap Oboro for another Blue. Minamo has accidental synergy with one or two cards like being able to Academy Ruins twice, but I have never used it and it isn't there for that.
Which brings us to the last two mainboard cards, and the flagship win condition of U Tron. Mindslaver and Academy Ruins. Academy Ruins, as mentioned twenty times earlier, allows you to put artifacts from the Graveyard onto the top of the Library. This allows you to cast anything killed or milled by opponents and also allows you to discard artifacts to Thirst and then still play them, netting insane card advantage. Mindslaver allows you to take someones turn. Anyone who has ever been Mindslavered can tell you it is devastating to a board. With most decks you can absolutely wreck their hand and board.
More notably, with 12 mana and a blue source (past a certain point this is inevitable for U Tron) you can infinitely play Mindslaver, crack it, then return it to the top of your library, allowing you to take all of their turns, forever. What is generally done is you just say that you take all of their turns and don't play any of their cards, causing them to draw out and lose by having no cards in the library. Since it is a demonstrable loop, it is an accepted shortcut, and you win on the spot. This combo is really hard to interact with because there aren't many things that exile artifacts, and most of them have to done after Slaver is in the yard, like Surgical Extraction. Most decks just don't have that ability, especially pre-board. Karn is a notable exception.
Anyways, the combo is incredibly difficult to disrupt which is why it is the most inevitable endgame. We win more often through Wurmcoil beats and Ugin ults or bolts, but there are certain decks where this is your bread and butter. Since Academy Ruins grabs from the Yard, it doesn't matter where Mindslaver is in the game, as long as it isn't exiled. If it makes it on the field you have the mana to crack, it's GG because there is no ability to disrupt it beyond that, meaning that counter magic is the only effective defense at that point. If they Ancient Grudge, you blow in response. If you blow, it doesn't matter if they Ancient Grudge in Response, it is just too late. It can also be grabbed with Treasure Mage and Fabricate and chucked to Thirst in the early game, giving this card crazy flexibility. Even if you don't have the mana and the Academy ruins, playing one and taking an opponents turn without the combo is still often enough to win the game either by dumping their hand, ruining the board, or just tempoing them out. Yesterday, versus lantern, I mindslavered them to take their turn, sacrificed their lantern of insight and codex shredder, cast Hurkyll's Recall from Tron to send everything else in Lantern's board back to it's hand, then replayed Pithing Needle targeting Ghoulcallers bell, before finally ghost quartering glimmervoid and denying the basic land search trigger. Then I passed back to myself, where I played Chalice on 3 to prevent Ensnaring Bridge from coming back out.
Well, that's about the gist of the main deck, which takes us to our sideboard. I will try to be more brief here.
Spellskite is less relevant without infect. Still good at protecting threats for cheap, discards to Thirst, and scrapes one damage off of bolt effects while holding Goblin Guide at bay.
Pithing Needle is a great surgical tool, very broad. Hits walkers, fetch lands, manlands, and creatures with pesky activated abilities. Note that mana ability only means tapping for mana, not things that cost mana. For example, it can stop Inkmoth Nexus from becoming a creature, but not from tapping for mana.
Spell Snare is cheap, effective, and hits a shit load. I wont bother listing, just google Spell Snare targets.
Spreading Seas hits manlands like Inkmoth and Wandering Fumerole that can't be countered, replaces itself a card, and also punishes greedy mana bases.
Swan Song I was testing to see how it rates against combo decks like Storm, Through the Breach, Scapeshift, CoCo, and some Elves builds. I think I will go back to using Spell pierce for the flexibility. I will keep trying this though as it's only 1 mana and can't be played around. Haven't made up my mind.
Sundering Titan fucks up three color decks like no other. Just a giant abusable artifact creature bomb that can 3 for 1 or 6 for 2 an opponent.
Ratchet Bomb is great for killing tokens, boardwiping affinity and Elves, and for destroying Lantern's board if not picked from the hand with Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize. There are better cards for doing specific things, but this card is super flexible and good at what it does.
Fabricate is great for finding silver bullet sideboard cards. Grabs things like Chalice and Crypt when you need need them. Great against decks with singular weaknesses.
Hurkyll's recall can be used to save my own artifacts from destruction, to bounce an opponents artifacts (crazy vs affinity and lantern) and to reset Chalice to a more ideal setting if needed. Great card, has bailed me out of many tough spots.
Honorable Mentions:
Spell Pierce and Squelch are dope. Usually keep one or two on main or side, just testing some stuff. Squelch can counter planeswalker's abilities, and while I haven't yet squelched an ultimate, it can and has been done. Also can be used for a two mana Stone Rain + draw card in response to a fetchland crack. Squelch counters the ability, their land dies, and you draw a card. Spell Pierce is just an incredible value engine against decks that want to cast efficiently and on curve. Spell Piercing Liliana of the Veil feels great. I do prefer them in the side though since they risk being dead game 1.
Tormod's Crypt is great anti graveyard tech as is Relic of Progenitus. One is fetchable off of Tolaria West.
Tolaria West, I will probably put back in the main board at the cost of a Gemstone Caverns being sideboard game 1. Can be transmuted into Chalice, Tormod's Crypt, or any land. Decent for silver bullets, choke and boil proof, but comes in tapped, which is why I had it out for a while. Recently I decided that being able to effectively have a slower copy of Chalice was probably worth it in certain matchups. Will test more.
Talisman of X is available for Mana ramp, extra blue sources that discard to Thirst, and.... I don't know, some people swear by Talismans, I find that they're not for me.
Silent Arbiter: Tits amazing versus certain decks, underwhelming in other matchups. He is very meta dependent and right now I feel like the meta isn't ripe for him although I was running two main board at one point with a third on the side. He slows tokens to a crawl and makes Elves way more manageable. Even fine versus Jund where he slows pressure down to one attacker, usually a fat Tarmagoyf.
Aetherize: Great tempo card that I cut for Cyclonic Rift. It easily has a spot on the mainboard, but this just isn't he meta for it.
Batterskull- Can't be tutored like Wurmcoil but is more resilient. Can be bounced back to the hand defensively and also keeps a wall up. Some people run a 1-1 split of Wurmcoil and Batterskull, some run a 2-1 Wurmcoil B. Skull. Right now he is off of my main and side for meta reasons.
Steel Wall- Ah, my buddy. One of my favorite cards because it is so innocuous that it usually escapes attention until too late. This little dude is just a wall, for one mana, that can hold back Tarmogoyfs for a couple of turns, Snapcasters, Monastary Swiftspears, Goblin Guides, et cetera. And no one ever removes it because they hold up Paths for Wurmcoil and friends. Saves you enough time to hit your stride. Love this card, got a laugh at the shop until people started regularly losing to it.
Warping Wail- Good versus certain decks. Counters sorceries (notably Crumble to Dust), exiles Glistener Elves and Inkmoth Nexi that are creatures, along with mana dorks and problem utility creatures. Also can be used for ramp. I have dropped these without as much Infect. Kind of the theme of the honorable mentions honestly, cards that have amazing use in the right meta game and just aren't in right now.
Filagree Familiar- Slows burn to a crawl. If you have academy ruins you can loop Robo Pup over and over and over and he trades with Guides and Swiftspears.
Jester's Cap- Haven't used this one as much. It works against combo decks to rip the heart our of their combo. Can take Past in Flames from Baral Storm and Ad Nauseum from..... Ad Nauseum. After that, they are left with little to no way to win. Can be used against Lantern to take all of their Ensnaring Bridges and leave you wide open to attack with whatever the hell you can stick.
Disallow I haven't tested. Would only consider it as a one of because of flexibility. Double blue on a 3 CMC card doesn't seem too great though. I think this card would be much better in a U Tron shell with 2-3 Baral and the full four Talisman of Dominance. That is my next project, finding out if that U Tron exists/ works.
Baral, Chief of Compliance looks insane. I have yet to test him, I am waiting on him to arrive in the mail. I intend to try and create a radically different Blue Tron shell that utilizes significantly more counterspells and Baral as a 3, maybe even 4 of to start cantripping through the deck. I haven't heard or read anything about him in U Tron yet, but I have a weird feeling that he is waiting to be broken. Will investigate.
Well, I might come back and trim this, add stuff, or not. At any rate, it has been fun explaining a bit of how my favorite deck works. The best thing is that while I tried to have a lot of detail, I feel like I just scratched the surface. The interactions that come up with this deck are crazy, and there are an incredible amount of lines of play, making the deck incredibly skill testing and fun. It plays at Instant speed and is the only deck that I really enjoy playing, even when I am losing. Victories are exhilarating and people generally love seeing it go. It attracts a fandom as an underdog, and it is powerful enough to perform very well in the right hands.
U Tron Best Tron
