Pauper: Mono Red Tron - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Murders at Karlov Manor is here. But before it was released, players were still brewing some spicy and wild decks!

This deck looks very strange on paper when you initially see it. Having inconsistent numbers or Urza’s land isn’t something we are used to seeing. However, when you actually play the deck it just feels right.

A card I am glad is back to seeing play is Rolling Thunder. Nothing more satisfying than doming a player from full to 0 with it.

This deck is crazy!

It is a Midrange Control deck that utilizes removal spells you will expect, Lightning Bolt and Fiery Cannonade, and ones that you wouldn’t: Fire Prophecy or Volcanic Spite.

This deck essentially wants to remove all of your opponents' threats with these spells, then control the board with large Tron-like threats. To finally finish them off or control the board with Rolling Thunder.

This deck is a blast to play and has a feel of the old school Temur Tron deck, just with more efficient threats.

Let’s take a look and see how this strategy plays out.

The Lands

Firstly, let's address the elephant in the room. As you can see, we are not playing the full four copies of Urza’s Power Plant and Urza’s Mine. This is because Tron is nice to have and not completely necessary. We intend to assemble tron as we are making land drops with Candy Trail and Expedition Map whilst also killing early game plays with Lightning Bolt.

Secondly, the deck is just too red heavy. We aren’t running cards like Energy Refractor as it is not needed in the play style of the deck and seems to slow the deck down. I have found myself many times without tron assembled and still mapping for a Mountain.

Smoldering Crater is not a usual suspect in tron but the cycle it belongs too is.

This is similar to Remote Isle and Polluted Mire out of the other tron decks. It is no different here. A Red source when you need to make land drops, but if you find needing a card, you can simply exchange your Expedition Map for a card.

The rest of the deck is just simply Mountains, it helps with Oliphaunt and allows a clean manabase that minimises risk and all of them except the Crater entering untapped really helps you set up in the early game.

The Spells

Candy Trail is the glue and the MVP that holds this deck together. The Scry 2 really helps you set up your initial turns, finding land drops amassing your removal. Whatever your hand and gameplan needs, it helps you find it. In the Mid-game you get to cash that in for 3 life and a card, what more can you want.

Expedition Map shouldn’t need too much introduction, the once banned card is essentially a staple in all Tron decks, and even though we only have 10 copies of Tron we are still a Tron deck at heart. We have one other land in this deck to use if we find maps late and that is Smoldering Crater to help us get that little bit deeper into the deck when we need it.

Lembas is just a worse Candy Trail. However, a worse Candy Trail can still be a good card. It does a lot of similar things to what Candy Trail does. Helps you find what you need, Lands, Removal & Threats. Costing two is worse than costing one, unfortunately. Finally, you can’t manipulate the top of your deck with Lembas to get maximum value for Boarding Party like you can with Candy Trail. Lembas is a great card but doesn’t work as well as Candy Trail in this particular build of tron.

Firebolt is a classic hidden Gem of modern day Pauper. Used to be a fantastic card and utilized all over different pauper archetypes. Nowadays, two damage doesn’t kill as much now Mulldrifter isn’t in every deck. However, you may have seen Seal of Fire see more play not only due to the way you can interact at instant speed, but Two Damage goes a lot further at the moment with all the Glitters decks about. Especially being a Tron deck, it gives you access to Flashback and chaining spells together to kill bigger creatures like Tolarian Terror.

Does Lightning Bolt really need explaining? Its efficient and versatile, and it can go to the face to kill your opponent and kills a vast majority of problematic creatures in the current metagame.

Volcanic Spite or Fire Prophecy are the same card for Paupers sake, and it is a way to be able to kill a creature and give you card selection.

A great tip is if you have drawn excess Self-Assemblers you can bottom one and use the ability to find it again, giving you some form of Card Advantage. It may not be much, but in Red it is all you have.

Runaway Boulder may be a weird inclusion here, but I really think the card shines. We don’t have anything fancy like Mystical Teachings or Ghostly Flicker to get value. Essentially, I think this card answers a lot of issues the deck has. It is an answer for Myr Enforcer, Tolarian Terror and Guardian of the Guildpact - all in one!

Fiery Cannonade is a clean removal spell that clears basically everything you care about and doesn’t damage your Crimson Fleet Commodore or Boarding Party. The only issue is Goblin Tomb Raider. You can run Dragon Breath instead, but ultimately keeping Commodore alive is much better as you have unlimited answers for the Goblin Guide Wannabe.

Rolling Thunder is the catch-all. Final boss lethal blow to the opponent for 20 to chipping away for 3-5 whilst wiping their board. The card is versatile and useful in basically every match up. There are some midrange matchups where you are effectively looking for as many as you can get and others where one will be enough to end the game. However, for the most part, this card will be useful in basically every Match up.

The Threats

Self-Assembler is a great threat combined with tron mana. It allows you to put two large threats on the field from effectively just one card. This deck really wants to control the board with its removal spells, so getting two threats on the table will go a long way. It can be quite weak post-sideboard games as your opponents tend to board in artifact hate for it.

Oliphaunt is really a land. We will all be used to the power of these land cyclers from Lord of the Rings. Oliphaunt however doesn’t see too much play because there isn’t many Red Midrange strategies. However, it is similar to Troll of Khazad-dum and Generous Ent. A great card to ensure you get your land drop and your colored sources, but in the late game you have access to a giant threat that also gives your other creatures trample. If you are a Midrange deck, it is most likely correct to fit a few of the land cyclers in, as they are a strong inclusion.

Boarding Party is just a strong red threat especially when mana is no issue. Being able to cascade is a powerful ability, especially when you can essentially get Eleven mana for Six mana.

What is also good about this is that Candy Trail allows you to get some agency out of your Cascade which makes the card even stronger. If you intend to kill quickly and force your opponent to have lots of answers, Boarding Party shines there. Essentially putting your opponent on a Three or Four turn clock single-handedly is nothing to scoff at, especially if you are already controlling the board with Bolts and Volcanic Spite.

Essentially, this hand really paints a picture of what this deck is trying to do. Firstly, it is a Midrange-Control deck so setting up land drops is crucial, having removal spells is the next important thing. Finally, a way to gather tron in map and Candy Trail. This is the sort of hand you are looking for and mulliganning towards removal, card selection and land drops you can’t go wrong.

Relic of Progenitus is a card that is very useful at the moment, as it deals with Dredge which has gained in popularity. Additionally, it also helps with one of the worst matchups for this deck, Terror.

Ghostfire has replaced the inclusion of Pyrite Spellbomb in early versions of the deck. This is because it is more removal for when you will need it, that still kills Crimson Acolyte but can also deal with Guardian of the Guildpact.

Runaway Boulder in the board is due to Terror matchup, think it is a nice clean answer to Tolarian Terror which similar to Journey to Nowhere they have to commit to countering it before the ward triggers.

Red elemental Blast is a fairly obvious inclusion -it is there to deal with Counter magic and push spells through. Also a great way to deal with Tolarian Terror whilst on the stack.

Cast into the Fire is a great card against All that Glitters decks, as it can deal with almost any threat and allows you to kill multiple Gingerbrutes in one swing.

Additional copy of Fiery Cannonade for the aggressive matchups where cleaning and resetting the board is key.

Flaring Pain is here as a miser copy for decks like Caw-Gate where you need to be able to ensure your Rolling Thunder doesn’t get prevented from Prismatic Strands.

Vs Golgari Gardens

In

Out

Essentially, this Matchup is very favored for the Mono Red tron from my experience. The main reason to take out the Cannonades is because they are essentially dead and at least Relic of Progenitus hinders some of their cards like Spinning Darkness and Blood Fountain worse case it cycles.

Vs Azorius Glitters

In

Out

Monarch is a liability in the Glitters Match up, and ensuring you can answer the flood of small annoying creatures is essential so you don’t get caught out.

Vs Caw Gate

In

Out

This is a tough Match up and ensuring you keep the board clear is crucial. I don’t tend to bring in the 4th Fiery Cannonade because I don’t want to get flooded with them, especially when they can play in such a way where they deploy one threat at a time and still threaten lethal due to Basilisk Gate.

I am unsure if I am supposed to go heavier on the Red elemental Blast mainly to fight Hydroblast as I haven’t versed this match up a ton overall.

Vs Kuldotha Red

In

Out

Just cutting the weak cards here for essentially more removal to keep the board clear. Candy Trail and Lembas should eventually keep your life total high, as long as you control the board with Cannonade and all the additional removal spells.

Vs Mono Blue Terror

In

Out

This is probably one of your worst pre-board matchups. Just because nothing lines up. All your Three damage removal doesn’t work well against Tolarian Terror. Post-board, however, it gets slightly better with the Red Elemental Blast and Runaway Boulder. Along with Relic of Progenitus to slow them down.

Demand Answers is a great new addition from Murders of Karlov Manor, which gives access to powerful card draw in conjunction with Lembas. To support this, however, you will likely need more Lembas to make this work.

Kaervek’s Torch is an interesting addition as it is great at going to the face for that final blow.

This is because it is harder to interact with than Rolling Thunder. This is a great consideration as it is likely to just surprise your opponent. I’d consider a 2 -1 split of Rolling Thunder and Torch just to keep your opponent guessing.

Flame Slash seems to be a great consideration over the Firebolt. The deck struggles with Myr Enforcer so having a clean access to an answer could be a key.

Breath Weapon is an interesting one as it is incredibly similar to Fiery Cannonade. However, if you would prefer to deal with Goblin Tomb Raider especially if there is a lot of these in your metagame.

Deck is a fun and very old school way to play Pauper, it is a breath of fresh air on the format but still highly competitive. If you like a different way to play control decks, I recommend giving this deck a try.

Happy Paupering!