Preamble
Tron in Pauper has long been one of the format’s most versatile archetypes: a mana engine that turns a pile of lands into a mid-to-late game fortress.
Built around assembling Urza’s Tower, Power Plant, and Mine, Tron is able to power out massive value turns and often lock down the game from multiple angles.
Known for its value-centric control builds (think Mnemonic Wall loops and Fangren Marauder stalling) Tron has worn many faces over the years. But the current flavor, Altar Tron, has pushed the deck into true combo territory.
While it’s not the fastest deck in the format by any means, the inevitability it represents once Tron is online forces opponents to race or disrupt perfectly or risk getting buried in card advantage, combo loops, or both.
I pilot Altar Tron, navigating a meta that’s increasingly aware of the deck’s presence, especially after Paupergeddon, but still struggles to contain its sheer flexibility.
Why Altar Tron?
Plain and simple, generating lots of mana and drawing cards is what Tron does best in Pauper, and drawing cards is what I love to do most in Magic. The deck’s ability to be able to adjust to any gameplan and have a fighting chance with its tools is also a big factor as to why I mainly play this deck.
A rather uncommon tech is me switching out the Pactdoll Terrors for the new Rook Turret from the Final Fantasy set. It has more weaknesses than the Pactdoll Terror but draws a great amount of cards … which is what I love doing. It’s rather a fun inclusion than it is a competitive one but still performs really well I think.
Shoutout to Valentin here, creator of the Paper Pauper Magic Discord and organizer of the Spirit of Pauper tournament in Berlin, for introducing me to this lovely deck.
Match 1 vs Mono U Fae
One of the worst matchups. I always dread and pray not to face as it is extremely favorable for them.
Game 1 on the play, Mull to 6
My opponent plays some fairies and has some counterspells in their opening hand to disrupt my early development.
They deploy their Ninjas later into the game. With Tron eventually online I manage to find a window and resolve Makeshift Munitions with a Retriever Loop on top of that to shoot down anything they play and a Rook Turret to support and filter my hand for anything I need for the current situation. Opponent scoops since I can immediately remove anything that hits their board.
Game 2 on the draw, Mull to 5
I struggle to find lands with a greedy one land-candy trail opener as I dont want to mulligan down to 4 (it’s a matchup about resources after all).
The Ninjas beat me down turn after turn and I lose.
Game 3 on the play, Mull to 6
My opponent struggles to find a 2nd land drop after a Faerie seer + Ninja opener as I just play my game and eventually win with my opponent stuck on one land most of the game.
2-1
Match 2 vs Mono U Fae
Game 1 on the draw, Mull to 5
My opponent starts with tons of countereffects in hand and a follow up Ninja, being able to answer anything I am trying to resolve and I lose to the Ninja value train.
Game 2 on the play, mull to 3
They got the same opening hand and sequence of plays, countering all my spells with a few Ninjas on board but I manage to boardwipe thanks to a Scattershot.
My opponent rebuilds a small board but I am fortunate to find a 2nd Scattershot to refresh the boardstate once again as we‘re both hellbent after that exchange.
I win the topdecking game, refiling my hand and eventually have a Myr Retriever loop with Makeshift Munitions online and take game 2.
Game 3 on the draw, Mull to 5
My opponent once again has all the counterspells in hand and beats me down with Ninjas.
I am allowed to resolve a Rook Turret and a Munitions but dont have any artifacts to sacrifice and an army of faeries ultimately overwhelms me.
1-2
Match 3 vs Mono Red Burn
I have a decent fighting chance in this matchup, especially post-sideboard and hope that my deck decisions help me take this one.
Game 1 on the play, Mull to 5
I find early Tron, as they bolt me with a variety of cards down to 5 life on turn 3.
I find a big weather on the following turn to stabilize and find my Combo to win, as my opponent doesn’tdoesnt find any tools to put the pressure back on again.
Game 2 on the draw, Mull to 6
I keep a greedy hand with a Candy Trail and am able to find some Swamps and more Candy Trails to keep me alive.
My opponent manages to stick 2 Kessig Flamebreathers as every spell of his turns into a 1mana deal 5, pretty scary.
I topdeck a Tower and already have a Crop Rotation in hand to find Tron and wipe the board with a Krark and eventually chain spells to cast a big Weather to lock them out of the game.
2-0
Match 4 vs Jund Dredge
Dredge has always been a matchup with an interesting dynamic in my experience. With my lifegain my opponent is forced to dig deeper through their deck to get off a double Dread Return on me or have an insane hand with several Scrapwork Mutts and an Imp to dredge through half of their deck by turn 4, though I always have the threat of looping a Spellbomb with my Retrievers.
Game 1 on the play, First 7-hand
I find natural Tron as my opponent fills their graveyard and applies pressure with their creatures, threatening lethal on the following turn with an exhumed Troll on board and a Lotleth Giant in their graveyard.
I manage to find my Altar-Retriever loop and Weather for an insurmountable amount of life and he scoops.
Game 2 on the draw, Mull to 6
I have early Tron again as my opponent fills their graveyard and applies pressure with their creatures yet again as I struggle to draw my mana fixers and die to their Dread Return - Lotleth Giant.
Game 3 on the play
Once again I am lucky enough to have natural Tron and dig through my deck with my overabundance of draw spells. My opponent fills their graveyard and disrupts me several times by destroying my mana fixers as I find myself with the Altar-Retriever loop, resolving a Weather the Storm with a ginormous storm count but no outlet to win with.
A Prophetic Prism on my board helps me dig through my deck for 3 more turns and eventually close the game with a Golem Foundry.
2-1
Final Match vs Caw Gates
Caw Gates has an adequate selection of tools to deal with my gameplan, particularly post-sideboard.
The cheap creatures they play do add up to a decent clock that are backed up by cheap interaction and can swing for crazy amounts of damage later into the game. It’s not an easy matchup by any means.
Game 1 on the play, Mull to 6
I find early Tron and generate tons of value, finding my combo with great help of a Rook Turret as my opponent can’t output enough pressure to finish me or find their counters to answer my key pieces
Game 2 on the draw, Mull to 6
I find early Tron again with help of a Crop Rotation, resolving it at a crucial moment to dodge any possible counterspells. My opponent finds many gates and puts up a good clock.
In the meantime I managed to deploy two of my Golem Foundries that are promptly exiled with Dust to Dust sadly.
I resolve 2 Weather the Storms to buy time for their big swings and dig through my deck to find all my Myr Retrievers as I need to win in a single turn, needing to resolve my combo and overwhelm my opponent in one fell swoop so my opponent can’t answer everything all at once.
I attempt to start the loop as my graveyard gets exiled with a Thraben Charm though I have 2 more backup Retrievers in hand to jumpstart my combo a second time, winning with my final Golem Foundry, making infinite Golems and my opponent gives me the concession.
2-0
Final Thoughts
A huge thanks to the Orga for setting up such a great event! I had to mulligan lots of hands today but managed to make the best out of it. As always Pauper is so much fun to play and the meta is very versatile with a great community including everyone coming from all over Germany to participate and play in the Lega.