Difference between Tron decks
Modern forum
Posted on March 2, 2015, 11:22 a.m. by Nemesis
So I've got a ton of pieces for Tron decks and right now I'm trying to decide which one I want to make. I'm really just curious what the difference between each tron variant is, from a competitive standpoint. I'm wondering what each version's matchups are like, what they fold to, what are their relative strengths, everything really. The versions I'm looking at are Mono U, Mono G, U/G, and Gifts tron.
Any help on giving me a rundown of each one would be much appreciated.
thegigibeast says... #5
BACON! At least I may give a (little) opinion as I have tried to make a tron deck recently, a mono-
. The core of the tron is very similiar in each variant:
If you go the mono-
route, you have a couple more creatures in the deck, like some Sundering Titan or other big artifact creatures to search with Treasure Mage, like Wurmcoil Engine. The idea is to drop as much artifact creatures in play to kill your opponent with them. You also have the obvious Academy Ruins
+
Mindslaver
combo to lock the game.
The 
tron is all about Karn Liberated. You want to cast it turn 3 to be able to disrupt your opponent hand early. It is really difficult to come back. The red is for Pyroclasm to be able to get rid of some creatures (manadorks mainly and Tarmogoyf with Pyroclasm
+
Relic of Progenitus
). A lot of people are playing 3x Wurmcoil Engine and 1x Spellskite, mainly to extend the game up to an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
+
Eye of Ugin
. I would say this version of the deck is the most constant, competitive and strong, as I have been playing the two.
For a mono-, take a look at mine to compare with my description of the 2 previous:
The Eldrazi Tron I Will Buy Playtest
Modern*
SCORE: 6 | 18 COMMENTS | 973 VIEWSMarch 2, 2015 11:45 a.m.
I play the classic U/R list of Tron and is a very auto pilot kind of deck.where you can have in turn three a Kharn Liberated a win against any other control deck, wurmcoil engine against creature o burn type decks or go for a long match and throw Emrakul. The weak point of this deck are burn, infect, robots (this two mostly for Inkmoth nexus) and fast combo decks, so you must build a strong sideboard for this kind of deck in your local meta.
March 2, 2015 12:17 p.m.
Really the reason I've been avoiding red green trim is because of the mandatory grove of the burwillows. Because that card is crazy expensive.
What does R\G offer that other colors don't?
March 2, 2015 12:34 p.m.
Dalektable says... #9
Mono Blue Tron is a control deck, RG Tron is a combo deck. If RG Tron doesn't go off or gets hated out, it just loses. IMO, mono blue tron is more reliable and can win easier from any game position. Where RG Tron wants to get tron online ASAP, Mono Blue tron could really care less. Don't get me wrong, getting tron online is important and a T3 Wurmcoil Engine is awesome. But I just as often hard cast my big dudes off of 6 or 7 islands and mismatched tron pieces as I do with a few tron pieces. The decks are fundamentally and hugely different, mono blue is a complete control deck and RG is a combo deck. Which do you prefer? It is widely accepted that RG Tron is the more competitive deck and catches more people off guard, but I think a well piloted blue tron deck can do very well. The latter is simply much harder to pilot.
March 2, 2015 12:39 p.m.
Dalektable says... #10
And UW Tron is weird...I wouldn't run it, but that's just me. It's a weaker version of the gifts ungiven deck, honestly.
March 2, 2015 12:40 p.m.
Tron is all a match up based deck. Many tron decks have 90% success against some decks and 10% success against others, so you play a tron deck to interact with your metagame. If you see lots of combo, U tron is better, whereas if your meta is more aggro or midrange decks, RG tron is better. Both are good against control, because you just stay alive until you can cast Emrakul. For a sample RG list, check out my deck: Tron: Legacy... just kidding, Modern
March 2, 2015 12:45 p.m.
Okay, so I think I've got a handle on R/G and mono U, so what's the deal with U/G and gifts?
March 2, 2015 1 p.m.
Gifts tron is something very different. It is essentially a combo deck with some control elements that U tron has that tries to take advantage of the abundant mana tron gives you. The Gifts will often fetch Unburial Rites and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/Iona, Shield of Emeria as an attempt to cheat out fatties and a win con. The backup plan for that deck is to assemble tron and hard cast them.
U/G tron is a little less common but essentially takes the parts of U tron and adds the Ancient Stirrings/Sylvan Scrying that green offers to the deck.
March 2, 2015 1:45 p.m.
And for the record, U tron may be more reliable but RG tron has a better match up against Azban and has much more raw power/speed. It's honestly the best option.
March 2, 2015 1:55 p.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #15
Mono is a control deck with beaters. They run Condescend, Remand, Repeal as well as the "Tron 16" (the Urza lands and 4 Expedition Map). They also run the Academy Ruins
+
Mindslaver
lock as well as Treasure Mage and Sundering Titan/Platinum Angel
Takes out the control and adds in Pyroclasm, Ancient Stirrings, Oblivion Stone, Karn Liberated and Sylvan Scrying.
I don't know what Gifts tron is but it isn't played much and UG is not as viable as the U and RG. There is also UW Tron which isn't very popular either :/
March 2, 2015 1:59 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #16
Meh, I go make bacon and come back and all the questions are answered. My bad. Glad you got your questions answered.
March 2, 2015 2:02 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #18
I will make one point.
U Tron just recently got a lot of good tools in KTK and FRF that R/G Tron didn't get. Namely Ugin. I'd argue that this addition brings U Tron at least to equal status when stacked up to R/G Tron. Both decks excel in different areas of the game and I believe that one is no "better" than the other.
vishnarg Abzan isn't really a terrible matchup for U Tron. Ugin can exile, and o-stone can destroy, their early game threats if you are able to get him out early, Academy Ruins makes Thoughtseize less effective, and the Mindslaver combo can seal the game away.
I'm not saying that it's a great matchup but it's not that bad.
March 2, 2015 3:38 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #20
RG Tron can but most won't since they can't reliably cast it turn 3.
U Tron doesn't really care about T3-T4 seeing as they are playing control.
I see your point though.
March 2, 2015 4:15 p.m.
TheGrayMerchant says... #21
IMHO, both U Tron and RG Tron are Equal and they both are tier 1 decks. RG Tron is faster but it relies heavily on urzatron. U Tron, while also focused on urzatron, is much more of a control deck than RG Tron. It really just depends on what you want to play.
I have never heard of mono green Tron.
Also, can someone explain to me RU Tron and dark tron?
March 2, 2015 9:31 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #22
RG Tron is far superior to U Tron.
TheGrayMerchant RG Tron is pretty reliable, and if you don't get a T3 Karn, you can have a T5 Emrakul. All the search effects and mana filters push it over the edge quite ahead of U Tron, which sits around doing nothing, waiting to maybe play a good card.
In this meta, you don't want to be doing nothing. Control is a good archetype, but playing control is different to playing U Tron.
Play RG Tron. Worth the money.
March 3, 2015 2:53 a.m.
Seen a few black Tron's with half a mono black control shell. viable?
March 3, 2015 12:48 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #24
JexInfinite as someone who has played both methinks you are a bit biased.
March 3, 2015 12:54 p.m.
tyforthevenom says... #26
This just in, green red tron needs only a single copy of Grove of the Burnwillows anything over that is optional based on your choice of board control (example my list runs 2 basics and 2 grove because I run 3 Pyroclasm and 2 basics because I rea want a chance against Blood Moon) 2 Sundering Titan 2 Spellskite are a big middle finger to twin and emrakul is not in my list because that extra 4 mana over Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre is not consistent
March 3, 2015 1:56 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #27
Ohthenoises I've played against quite a fair bit of Tron with a multitude of decks, and RG Tron just wins more. A deck like Splinter Twin will almost always win against U Tron. If Twin plays slowly, RG can gain the upper hand.
Sure, it's like the difference between Esper and Grixis control. Both have merits. Both have downfalls, and you can justify both, but one of the decks will just do better than the others.
VampireArmy says... #2
Ohthenoises knows
March 2, 2015 11:24 a.m.