Pauper: The History of Tron

Tron is one of the most iconic archetypes in Pauper. For many years, it remained one of the best decks in the format. Even now that it has lost a lot of space to new strategies and techniques, it is still a potential threat.

In this article, we'll go over how this archetype came to be and how it developed throughout the years, between new versions and bans, all until we get to the current version!

Locus Lands

The name Tron comes from Voltron, which is a reference to a Japanese anime series. In this series, smaller robots band together to form a bigger, stronger robot.

That's precisely the idea behind this archetype: to combine lots of pieces to win the game. In this case, that's lands, and, before the lands we know today entered the scene, this deck used Locus lands, like Cloudpost.

You can use Cloudpost to create one mana for each Locus land in play. If you have a Cloudpost and a Glimmerpost, you'll create 3 mana, and, with 2 Cloudposts, you'll create 4 mana. This way, we could get a lot of mana quite fast and easily. In fact, Cloudpost was so powerful it was banned in the early days of the format.

Urza's Trio

Without Locus lands, Urza's trio became the main way to cheat out mana in Pauper. This was how Tron as we know it came to be: a toolbox full of cards in many colors that can deal with multiple situations.

Fog Tron, as it was known, was basically a control list that leaned on getting Urza's trio as fast as possible so you could take advantage of the extra mana they created to play expensive spells more easily.

Back then, Tron was nearly unstoppable. It gained life, controlled combat, easily got resources, and stalled the game until you could set up mini loops. These mini loops would then, in turn, lock down the opponent until all they could do was watch. And, on top of it all, it ended the game in rather unusual ways.

Some lists used Dinrova Horror to return all the opponent's permanents to their hand and then force them to discard them. Others used Rolling Thunder to win the game by dealing lethal damage directly.

However, this list's greatest strength was how it easily played all five colors. If you played this Tron, you could deal with any situation the opponent threw at you.

Bans

Of course that, after a long reign of terror, Tron became the most common topic of debate among players. We all wanted Wizards of the Coast to remove it from the format. More specifically, we wanted them to ban Urza's trio.

In July 2020, they finally nerfed it directly by banning Expedition Map. However, in that same year, it got right back to the top.

By adopting Crop Rotation as well as one of the most important cards it has ever played, Bonder's Ornament (an artifact that both fixed Tron's mana curve and acted as its very own card draw engine - like all Monarch decks had), Tron once again survived in Pauper.

However, between 2021 and 2022, Wizards of the Coast hit Tron hard as soon as MH2 came out. Storm and Affinity dominated the format and were too much for old Tron, which disappeared quickly. After Atog was banned, the Pauper Format Panel also banned Bonder's Ornament and Prophetic Prism. They suspected Fog Tron would once again become an issue, but that was not the end of the line for Tron.

Egg Tron

After that, many players got together and created a new Tron - Tron Eggs. It was supposed to be more of a combo and less of a toolbox. This version combined the power of Urza's lands with Foundry Inspector to cast artifacts like Chromatic Star, Ichor Wellspring, and Golem Foundry. It created a lot of value practically for free.

The combo in this version is casting your entire deck all at once and only keeping one Bauble in there and another in your hand. With Inspector, you can cast Bauble for free and sacrifice it to draw another Bauble and repeat this process infinitely without exhausting your entire deck. With this loop and a Golem Foundry in play, you'll have an infinite number of 3/3 tokens and will be able to attack for lethal.

Eggs is still an option nowadays. In fact, its current version is still popular with Tron fans.

Altar Tron

An even more extreme version of this combo came up with Altar Tron. The combo is using the Myr Retriever + Ashnod's Altar recursive loop to create the same effect with Golem Foundry. All you need is a Myr on the board and another on the graveyard, as well as both Altar and Foundry in play.

If you sacrifice Myr with the Altar, you'll create and will be able to get another Myr from the graveyard. Then, you'll use the mana you created to put it in play again and repeat this process infinitely. Finally, you'll put an infinite number of counters on Foundry to create a Golem army.

The most updated versions of this build started using Pactdoll Terror, which is a perfect fit. As such, this version is still incredibly strong in the meta even though Deadly Dispute is no longer with us.

Flicker Tron

In 2022, Expedition Map was unbanned. This gave old Fog Tron a new hope, this time with Energy Refractor instead of Prism.

In 2025, Prism was unbanned, and Tron can now use its old build. It can also play cards like Lórien Revealed and Murmuring Mystic, so a new Tron was born, this time a bit more contained but still powerful. It is still a consistent option in the meta.

Urza's lands offer us a variety of possibilities. A few less popular versions have come along the way, like Cascade Tron, Monster Tron, and even Mono-Red Tron, but, though they're all very fun, they're not nearly as successful as the Toolbox or Combo versions.

I believe that, as long as Urza's trio exists in Pauper, it will be popular. Tron decks still have a long way to go in Pauper!

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!