Honestly building a tron list is my goto standard answer whenever someone asks about building their first modern deck.
The core of the deck is super cheap to build and even building a full mono green list is cheap. The only expensive card are the Rings which you can still win games very easily without those.
I need to make a modern deck for my lgs (it rotates pioneer and modern). I have a silly janky Gates deck so I'd prefer something more competitive for modern.
But how viable/competitive is tron on a *very* small budget? What would I replace the Ulamogs, Ugins, Karns and Rings with?
My other thoughts to build were DnT or if nothing can fit the budget well, my janky choice is Star Reckoner lol. Thoughts?
The basics for g tron are the four cantrips and eight land search shits, eight chromatics, and tron lands, that shit isn’t gonna change. A lot else will probably change. Karntgc is going to be in the deck, I’d imagine. If either of ulamog ceaseless hunger or the 13 drop Emmy are cheap at the moment, I’d snag a few of those. I think those would be “the basics.” The shell.
The deck will change *massively* after mh3. Maybe it ends up being etron and not gtron that becomes the predominant tron. Who knows. G has *historically* been the safer bet, but we’ll see which is the right pick.
Land base, Karn, Karn board, various artifacts to dig/get lands, maybe the original 3 eldrazi. Technically one ring, but that ain't budget. The rest is playstyle, such as if you go gtron or etron.
The best eldrazi on the top end are probably Emrakul promised end or ceaseless hunger atm, but that's all about to change so I'm neutral on the big bois
The onenring isn't really replaceable sadly, but I just can't rationalise buying 4 of them lol. It's too much.
I think Ulamog will stay, the new Kozilek will at worst be a sideboard card vs control but honestly it's a house, I'd maindeck it.
So it's just the wincons really that are interchangeable?
Wouldnt recomend to buy any eldrazi Titans if u havent the rings. Top end is usally rly replacable in this decks why rings arent. Also the Titans will not be cheap. Rings are an staple of the Format why Titans are usally not.
That's actually a neat combo I like it!
I'm really tempted to cash out for some Wurmcoils, but I'll keep Thragtusk in mind (hold a place in my heart from old standard lol)
Myr Battlesphere is one hell of an attacker and Sundering Titan can win games by itself.
Platinum Angel could even be a consideration.
Sure you might not win as often but really besides ring $20 a week thrown at the deck is a new staple.
As far as I can gather if your just playing at your LGS and not RCq's you'll be fine.
I like those options (unsure of Angel since it can just get popped by most removal lol).
Yeah it would likely just be fnm's at my local (just had 2nd child so no shot of me going to events). My main opponents would be 2x GTron, Affinity/Artifact aggro and Zoo so not sure how good Myr would be. Sundering would be better in the sideboard vs Zoo but not great vs Tron right?
If I can make Tron viable on my sad budget I probably will, if not I'll be probably be going White DnT.
Hey there, just chiming in to say that regardless of whether E-Tron gets any significant upgrades with MH3 (which I believe it will), it is an incredibly fun deck to play. I’ve been “maining” the deck for close to six years now, and I’ve yet to lose the fun factor. Despite what people will always say about anything Tron-related, E-Tron requires a fair bit of skill and meta knowledge to make it work, and rewards a sense for intricate play given that the margins to victory are so small. What I mean is that it doesn’t do anything particularly well, but has a situational shot against a large part of the field, which you will have to squeeze out of it most of the time, which is super fun to me. Be aware though that different versions of the deck may emerge with MH3 before you jump in, if you do.
It'll certainly be one of the decks of all time.
With all modern horizons sets, the format is about to be dropped on its head. Well see how it shakes out by july.
former e-tron player, here. the recent additions are not going to make the deck nuts, they're just going to make it possibly playable for the first time in years lol
buy in if you want. deck is fun as hell. it would probably be wise to wait until after MH3 releases tho, to get a better picture of its position in the meta.
peep my comments @ the dude saying you should make it tempo eldrazi. we might not even be running it. kinda messes up our gameplan. who knows tho. im certainly gonna test it.
I've seen some ppl say that Eldrazi might have an identity outside of Tron post-MH3 because of "Sol lands" (Eldrazi Temple + Ugin's Labyrinth). With them around, Tron might not be needed as much or at all. Although Labyrinth does need a 7 drop.
An additional sol land being playable in Etron goes a long way to making it playable. Although it's still not a sure thing that it is playable unless we get some great 8 drops but that new Blue Enchantment makes me think that E-Tron might be going blue cuz that Enchantment is crazy.
why would you cut the tron lands when we need the mana to push out our threats on time? also, it is already a stompy deck. how would you build an eldrazi tempo deck?
Coming in two days late, but regarding your second question, you might want to check out Eldrazi and Taxes lists from some years ago. They pop up here and there. Sometimes splashing black.
First of all the actual Eldrazi Tron is not a Stompy Deck.
When you want to Play 4 Temple + 4 Ugins Labyrinth, You don’t need Tron Lands and don’t have the space. You can finally play good utility Lands. You want to have an advantage Playing cards in your Mana curve by abusing Soul Lands.
i dont get this logic. we don't have the critical mass of 7 mana spells to take advantage of the sol lands properly, as it stands right now. and if we jammed more, 7 mana fits our curve *even less* without the tron lands, as we cant cast them reliably. so cutting tron makes absolutely no sense at all.
cutting 12 lands for 4 lands also doesnt really mathematically make sense. if you look at recent lists, there are plenty of lands to cut without getting rid of tron. and that's *if* want to run the new sol land. how are we going to reliably cast the 7 mana spells that we are now saturating our deck with to accomodate the 2 mana land without tron? getting 3-4 sol lands in a row? thats not reliable at all.
the only 7 drop we generally want to run is All is dust. this is because 7 doesnt fit our curve well due to only having expedition map (and a couple urza's sagas to fetch them) as a way to get tron. we can only keep up with our opponents by powering out our 4 and 5 drops. 7 drop threats are and probably always will be a no go for our deck, in most circumstances. we are not mono-g tron.
i can see how you would think that the new sol land is good, but you're not examining the deck building cost properly, or what makes the deck itself work. i can see adding it, but cutting our fast way to get 7 mana while adding more 7 mana spells to the deck makes no sense.
Feel like you have pretty free 7 costs to add with nulldrifter and devourer, and if the only way we keep up is by powering out the 4 and 5 mana drops, surely u wanna increase ur sol land count so that you can get them more consistant and quicker in games? While sacrificing the tron lands u get access to actual colored mana and a lot better sb and utility cards
again, you're not answering how we can reliably power out 7 drops. and no, those are not free, and null drifter is likely not playable (at least in our deck). the "free" half of devourer is okay for *potentially* finding our first sol lands, but we have to cast it at some point, which is hard without tron. the only way you can cast those cards is by landing 3 sol lands in a row, then another land. there are also not many good colored eldrazi.
also, what would you be cutting for these new additions, anyway? hopefully not threats, and cutting our karn utility isnt much better.
there are no real reasons to get rid of tron in a deck that is colorless and also wants to power out big threats, especially if you're going to load up with 7 drops. there isnt a logistical one, as we can just cut other lands if we want to run the sol lands. and theres not a power level reason, because new sideboard cards are not a good tradeoff for making our curve and ramp worse.
at this point, i feel like youve just never played the deck lol.
Before you speculate. Wait for the complete spoilers, have a look what other emerge Eldrazis in the set, then you can choose a color and play better cards.
There is a reason why Eldrazi Tron is not a Tier 1 deck anymore, because the whole package is to weak. You need to try another approach to get this deck in the right direction.
Greetings from the guy who played long enough eldrazi Tron and also in the worst spot day 2 at legacy tour 😜
my brother in Christ, your whole "cut tron for 4 cards that dont ramp us to 7 because it will be better" is speculation. you still didnt explain how it makes sense to cut the 7 mana lands and load our deck with 7 mana cards. and you tried to back it up with what we know *currently* from the set, saying that the two we've seen are free includes (they are not, and we still would need tron to cast them). you've addressed exactly zero of the flaws in your claims, and now you're saying "oh well we dont know the whole set, just wait." because you clearly cant back up what youre claiming.
if youre just going to make claims, and not address when they are proven to not make sense, then why even continue commenting?
Watch the spoilers. There is enough prove you can go this direction. There is already so much ramp that you can play a potential UG Eldrazi stompy list
lol knew you would be back. you made your claim based on the cards that we saw at the time, and asserted it was correct based on that, then after multiple people pointed out that it made no sense, you said "uhhh, just wait." do you have an answer as to why we would cut tron while loading our deck with 7 drops to accommodate the new sol land? you know, the thing that originally started this conversation? I have a feeling you don't, because goal post moving seems to be your main thing. and no, the ramp they are providing still isn't better than tron for powering out our threats.
glad this little convo lived in your head rent free for almost a week lol.
look man, i've played bant eldrazi, eldrazi tron, and BW eldrazi/BW eldrazi and taxes. i love the archetype. so if any of those come back, imma be a reeeeeal happy camper. but how are you totally missing that they are clearly setting this up as tron toys? why would they put everything at directly 7 as a payoff? do you think that's a coincidence? your original point which you keep avoiding backing up, despite how many comments you make, still doesn't make sense. we need to ramp exactly to 7. cutting tron is dumb. the reason bant eldrazi worked is because it never had to get to seven to win. I wouldn't expect that you knew that though, because just like EldraTron, you probably never played that either. the payoffs in this set are 7 mana. specifically 7. and cutting our way to get to 7 reliably without fading multiple turns (which we would have to do more often if we cut threats and utility to throw ramp in) still doesn't make sense.
Spoilers start properly on Monday!
Honestly building a tron list is my goto standard answer whenever someone asks about building their first modern deck. The core of the deck is super cheap to build and even building a full mono green list is cheap. The only expensive card are the Rings which you can still win games very easily without those.
I need to make a modern deck for my lgs (it rotates pioneer and modern). I have a silly janky Gates deck so I'd prefer something more competitive for modern. But how viable/competitive is tron on a *very* small budget? What would I replace the Ulamogs, Ugins, Karns and Rings with? My other thoughts to build were DnT or if nothing can fit the budget well, my janky choice is Star Reckoner lol. Thoughts?
Karn great creator is a must imo. Your power level will suffer
Ignore Karn I just checked Cardmarket and he's around £3-5? I thought he was like 20 lol. What about the others though? (Ula/Ugin/Ring replacements)
Wait. Get the basics and wait for the rest
What would you say is the basics? Just the land base or? I'm very new to Modern lol
The basics for g tron are the four cantrips and eight land search shits, eight chromatics, and tron lands, that shit isn’t gonna change. A lot else will probably change. Karntgc is going to be in the deck, I’d imagine. If either of ulamog ceaseless hunger or the 13 drop Emmy are cheap at the moment, I’d snag a few of those. I think those would be “the basics.” The shell.
Thanks for this! I'm really tempted to pull the trigger on it, I feel I still need to wait for mh3 to be fully spoiled first though
The deck will change *massively* after mh3. Maybe it ends up being etron and not gtron that becomes the predominant tron. Who knows. G has *historically* been the safer bet, but we’ll see which is the right pick.
Only thing really stopping me from going with Gtron is there's at least 2 other Gtron players at my lgs lol, I like to see different decks
Land base, Karn, Karn board, various artifacts to dig/get lands, maybe the original 3 eldrazi. Technically one ring, but that ain't budget. The rest is playstyle, such as if you go gtron or etron. The best eldrazi on the top end are probably Emrakul promised end or ceaseless hunger atm, but that's all about to change so I'm neutral on the big bois
The onenring isn't really replaceable sadly, but I just can't rationalise buying 4 of them lol. It's too much. I think Ulamog will stay, the new Kozilek will at worst be a sideboard card vs control but honestly it's a house, I'd maindeck it. So it's just the wincons really that are interchangeable?
Wouldnt recomend to buy any eldrazi Titans if u havent the rings. Top end is usally rly replacable in this decks why rings arent. Also the Titans will not be cheap. Rings are an staple of the Format why Titans are usally not.
He was $25 before he got banned in pioneer and thankfully has dropped since.
Ahh I forgot Pioneer banned him, I guess that's a good thing for me hah
There's a budget version floating around that uses [[golos, tireless pilgrim]] , [[cascading cataracts]] , and [[thragtusks]]
[golos, tireless pilgrim](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1fa48620-4c3d-4f75-be1f-c12c4aa59f51.jpg?1631531828) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=golos%2C%20tireless%20pilgrim) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/226/golos-tireless-pilgrim?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1fa48620-4c3d-4f75-be1f-c12c4aa59f51?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [cascading cataracts](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2f3fbd9b-91ab-4691-a916-e20db8ebc513.jpg?1673305958) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=cascading%20cataracts) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/202/cascading-cataracts?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2f3fbd9b-91ab-4691-a916-e20db8ebc513?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [thragtusks](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/e/beda7acd-e970-4222-9577-5133765d6052.jpg?1673484842) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thragtusk) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/316/thragtusk?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/beda7acd-e970-4222-9577-5133765d6052?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That's actually a neat combo I like it! I'm really tempted to cash out for some Wurmcoils, but I'll keep Thragtusk in mind (hold a place in my heart from old standard lol)
Myr Battlesphere is one hell of an attacker and Sundering Titan can win games by itself. Platinum Angel could even be a consideration. Sure you might not win as often but really besides ring $20 a week thrown at the deck is a new staple. As far as I can gather if your just playing at your LGS and not RCq's you'll be fine.
I like those options (unsure of Angel since it can just get popped by most removal lol). Yeah it would likely just be fnm's at my local (just had 2nd child so no shot of me going to events). My main opponents would be 2x GTron, Affinity/Artifact aggro and Zoo so not sure how good Myr would be. Sundering would be better in the sideboard vs Zoo but not great vs Tron right? If I can make Tron viable on my sad budget I probably will, if not I'll be probably be going White DnT.
Sundering titan probably works really well with the leyline of the guildpacts floating around too lol
Prowess is a great budget option
I'm more of a control/midrangey player but thanks for the option :)
Maybe start with a burn deck? That seems to be the cheapest entry point and an easy way to learn the format.
I should've added that I suck *so* bad at burn/aggro decks. Apparently math is hard for me lmao
Haha, fair enough. I use this and prowess to keep my mental math fresh.
mate its still 800 bucks easy
Take out the rings sir
Hey there, just chiming in to say that regardless of whether E-Tron gets any significant upgrades with MH3 (which I believe it will), it is an incredibly fun deck to play. I’ve been “maining” the deck for close to six years now, and I’ve yet to lose the fun factor. Despite what people will always say about anything Tron-related, E-Tron requires a fair bit of skill and meta knowledge to make it work, and rewards a sense for intricate play given that the margins to victory are so small. What I mean is that it doesn’t do anything particularly well, but has a situational shot against a large part of the field, which you will have to squeeze out of it most of the time, which is super fun to me. Be aware though that different versions of the deck may emerge with MH3 before you jump in, if you do.
It'll certainly be one of the decks of all time. With all modern horizons sets, the format is about to be dropped on its head. Well see how it shakes out by july.
former e-tron player, here. the recent additions are not going to make the deck nuts, they're just going to make it possibly playable for the first time in years lol buy in if you want. deck is fun as hell. it would probably be wise to wait until after MH3 releases tho, to get a better picture of its position in the meta.
I have the whole deck except this new stuff. Not looking forward to paying like $50 each for that dumb land
peep my comments @ the dude saying you should make it tempo eldrazi. we might not even be running it. kinda messes up our gameplan. who knows tho. im certainly gonna test it.
Sol lands are good. I’m sure it will see some play.
Yeah, I think it might be dangerous
I've seen some ppl say that Eldrazi might have an identity outside of Tron post-MH3 because of "Sol lands" (Eldrazi Temple + Ugin's Labyrinth). With them around, Tron might not be needed as much or at all. Although Labyrinth does need a 7 drop.
An additional sol land being playable in Etron goes a long way to making it playable. Although it's still not a sure thing that it is playable unless we get some great 8 drops but that new Blue Enchantment makes me think that E-Tron might be going blue cuz that Enchantment is crazy.
It’s looking to be tier 1 or 2
Cut the Tron Lands and think about a Eldrazi Stompy/Tempo Deck.
why would you cut the tron lands when we need the mana to push out our threats on time? also, it is already a stompy deck. how would you build an eldrazi tempo deck?
Coming in two days late, but regarding your second question, you might want to check out Eldrazi and Taxes lists from some years ago. They pop up here and there. Sometimes splashing black.
Yeah, used to play that and a riff on it back in 2017. Fun deck.
First of all the actual Eldrazi Tron is not a Stompy Deck. When you want to Play 4 Temple + 4 Ugins Labyrinth, You don’t need Tron Lands and don’t have the space. You can finally play good utility Lands. You want to have an advantage Playing cards in your Mana curve by abusing Soul Lands.
i dont get this logic. we don't have the critical mass of 7 mana spells to take advantage of the sol lands properly, as it stands right now. and if we jammed more, 7 mana fits our curve *even less* without the tron lands, as we cant cast them reliably. so cutting tron makes absolutely no sense at all. cutting 12 lands for 4 lands also doesnt really mathematically make sense. if you look at recent lists, there are plenty of lands to cut without getting rid of tron. and that's *if* want to run the new sol land. how are we going to reliably cast the 7 mana spells that we are now saturating our deck with to accomodate the 2 mana land without tron? getting 3-4 sol lands in a row? thats not reliable at all. the only 7 drop we generally want to run is All is dust. this is because 7 doesnt fit our curve well due to only having expedition map (and a couple urza's sagas to fetch them) as a way to get tron. we can only keep up with our opponents by powering out our 4 and 5 drops. 7 drop threats are and probably always will be a no go for our deck, in most circumstances. we are not mono-g tron. i can see how you would think that the new sol land is good, but you're not examining the deck building cost properly, or what makes the deck itself work. i can see adding it, but cutting our fast way to get 7 mana while adding more 7 mana spells to the deck makes no sense.
Feel like you have pretty free 7 costs to add with nulldrifter and devourer, and if the only way we keep up is by powering out the 4 and 5 mana drops, surely u wanna increase ur sol land count so that you can get them more consistant and quicker in games? While sacrificing the tron lands u get access to actual colored mana and a lot better sb and utility cards
again, you're not answering how we can reliably power out 7 drops. and no, those are not free, and null drifter is likely not playable (at least in our deck). the "free" half of devourer is okay for *potentially* finding our first sol lands, but we have to cast it at some point, which is hard without tron. the only way you can cast those cards is by landing 3 sol lands in a row, then another land. there are also not many good colored eldrazi. also, what would you be cutting for these new additions, anyway? hopefully not threats, and cutting our karn utility isnt much better. there are no real reasons to get rid of tron in a deck that is colorless and also wants to power out big threats, especially if you're going to load up with 7 drops. there isnt a logistical one, as we can just cut other lands if we want to run the sol lands. and theres not a power level reason, because new sideboard cards are not a good tradeoff for making our curve and ramp worse. at this point, i feel like youve just never played the deck lol.
Before you speculate. Wait for the complete spoilers, have a look what other emerge Eldrazis in the set, then you can choose a color and play better cards. There is a reason why Eldrazi Tron is not a Tier 1 deck anymore, because the whole package is to weak. You need to try another approach to get this deck in the right direction. Greetings from the guy who played long enough eldrazi Tron and also in the worst spot day 2 at legacy tour 😜
my brother in Christ, your whole "cut tron for 4 cards that dont ramp us to 7 because it will be better" is speculation. you still didnt explain how it makes sense to cut the 7 mana lands and load our deck with 7 mana cards. and you tried to back it up with what we know *currently* from the set, saying that the two we've seen are free includes (they are not, and we still would need tron to cast them). you've addressed exactly zero of the flaws in your claims, and now you're saying "oh well we dont know the whole set, just wait." because you clearly cant back up what youre claiming. if youre just going to make claims, and not address when they are proven to not make sense, then why even continue commenting?
Watch the spoilers. There is enough prove you can go this direction. There is already so much ramp that you can play a potential UG Eldrazi stompy list
And come on… you think wotc printing a set only with 7 mana drops? How you want to play this in limited?!
lol knew you would be back. you made your claim based on the cards that we saw at the time, and asserted it was correct based on that, then after multiple people pointed out that it made no sense, you said "uhhh, just wait." do you have an answer as to why we would cut tron while loading our deck with 7 drops to accommodate the new sol land? you know, the thing that originally started this conversation? I have a feeling you don't, because goal post moving seems to be your main thing. and no, the ramp they are providing still isn't better than tron for powering out our threats. glad this little convo lived in your head rent free for almost a week lol. look man, i've played bant eldrazi, eldrazi tron, and BW eldrazi/BW eldrazi and taxes. i love the archetype. so if any of those come back, imma be a reeeeeal happy camper. but how are you totally missing that they are clearly setting this up as tron toys? why would they put everything at directly 7 as a payoff? do you think that's a coincidence? your original point which you keep avoiding backing up, despite how many comments you make, still doesn't make sense. we need to ramp exactly to 7. cutting tron is dumb. the reason bant eldrazi worked is because it never had to get to seven to win. I wouldn't expect that you knew that though, because just like EldraTron, you probably never played that either. the payoffs in this set are 7 mana. specifically 7. and cutting our way to get to 7 reliably without fading multiple turns (which we would have to do more often if we cut threats and utility to throw ramp in) still doesn't make sense.
> You want to have an advantage Playing cards in your Mana curve by abusing Soul Lands. You want to ramp to exactly 7.
I'd love if the stompy deck saying turn 1 Chalice would be playable again
Turn 1 chalice, turn 2 tks, turn 3 ring
Stop I can't take this much euphoria
The old Stompy deck could T1 TKS (on the draw) --> T2 Smasher --> swing for 9, and I've done that, and it was amazing.