by Kate Donnelly
When I first started playing modern all I had access to was a terrible blue/black mill deck. It was a long, miserable introduction to the format. I did not enjoy the deck at all and seriously questioned if I was going to enjoy modern. I’d already decided I wasn’t a fan of standard and starting wondering if Legacy was the only format I’d ever enjoy. Fortunately for me someone eventually handed me Mono Green Tron and it wasn’t long before I realized what an amazing format that Modern is.
The Mono Green list varies immensely from the more common red/green List. It doesn’t run any mana rocks but thanks to ancient stirrings and explore the deck ramps quickly and consistently. I enjoy how effective the deck is at quickly casting large creatures; I’ve cast Emrakul and Ulamog in the same turn with this deck more than once and it is a beautiful feeling.
Mono-G Tron
| Lands (25) 2 Cavern of Souls 1 Eye of Ugin 10 Forest 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower Creatures (12) 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 4 Primeval Titan 3 Tarmogoyf 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre 3 Wurmcoil Engine Spells (23) 4 Ancient Stirrings 2 Beast Within 4 Expedition Map 4 Explore 1 Oblivion Stone 4 Reap and Sow 2 See the Unwritten 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | Sideboard (15) 1 All Is Dust 3 Creeping Corrosion 3 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Oblivion Stone 2 Obstinate Baloth 2 Pithing Needle 1 Platinum Emperion 2 Witchbane Orb |
You will notice this list is much more creature heavy than the R/G Tron list and doesn’t run Karn. Having 8 mana on turn 3 is as easy as having 7 thanks to explore and I prefer Ugin in the format. Ugin removes your opponents board instead of one item at a time to protect himself, then bolts your opponent until you draw 7, gain 7 and drop 7 permanents. That feels beyond broken in any format and often is an instant-win.
Since the deck doesn’t need any mana fixing colorwise there are ramp and dig spells in place of mana rocks. Ancient Stirrings feels extra powerful since early games it finds you the lands you need and late games it can find you Ugin or Emrakul.
A major downside of the deck is it does fairly poorly against fast decks such as affinity. They can easily win turn 3 and Creeping Corrosion doesn’t hit until Turn 4. In addition many of Tron’s mainboard hate cards, such as Ugin, are dead against colorless creatures. As you can see though a majority of the deck’s responses are too slow or just aren’t strong enough against Affinity so I added in goys to help with the deck’s early game in quicker match ups. Your yard can easily have artifact (Map), sorcery (explore or Ancient Stirrings) and more likely than not your opponent has cast at least an instant by turn 2 and they’ve probably fetched. Goyf is consistently a good beater and defender in Modern and is extremely good at protecting Tron against fast decks.
I’ve found when playing against other Tron decks Mono Green is the fastest and most consistent. Instead of depending on mana rocks it utilizes solid ramp spells that double as card draw, card selection and land destruction in the late game. Prime Time allows you to beat your opponent while ramping into the lands you need to cast Emrakul. Also since it is mono-green it is very good at fighting through a Blood Moon which I’ve found rarely slows me down enough to matter.
Overall Mono-Green Tron is a great deck that does well against many blue decks and Jund decks and is worth trying in this current meta.