The Power of Pauper: A Tron of a Different Color
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of The Power of Pauper! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be taking a look at a very interesting take on the Tron builds in Mono Red Tron. In addition to that we've got two Challenges from this past weekend to take a look at.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Tron, Red Tron
While too often the Tron decks of the format are often filled with a bunch of different artifacts and either using cards like Energy Refractor to filter mana or combo kills like Myr Retriever to win the game. But recently we've seen a build that is much more aggressive than a controlling build of Tron.
Mono Red Tron! This deck is doing some really cool things. One of the big reasons that this deck can work as well as it does is primarily rooted in the fact that cards like Oliphaunt exists now in the format.
Oliphaunt allows you to play a Tron land on Turn 1 and still be able to access red mana by pitching the Oliphaunt to pick up a Mountain. This is really important to allowing the deck access to that red mana as early as Turn 2 for cards like Volcanic Spite. This deck plays a very aggressive game overall with its Tron mana advantage, casting big spells like Boarding Party to put creatures onto the board and then winning the game with big flashy spells like Rolling Thunder to close out.
It's so very cool to see some new takes on staple decks of the format. Unique takes on old decks are always fun to see, and this Tron deck is showing up quite a bit across the MTGO events, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it more.
Pauper Challenge 1/13
The first Challenge event of the weekend was the Saturday event. This event had 39 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Burn and Mono Blue Terror were the popular decks in the event, with Terror having a super strong win rate and Burn having a solidly above 50% win rate. Azorius Affinity didn't do so hot despite having a Top 8 finish. Elves did the best of all of the decks above the cutoff here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Elves | 1st | arturcosta |
| Grixis Affinity | 2nd | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
| Elves | 3rd | QueMario |
| Mono Blue Terror | 4th | Oceansoul92 |
| Golgari Gardens | 5th | jmarken13 |
| Burn | 6th | LikeAFerro |
| Azorius Gates | 7th | carrot_eater |
| Azorius Affinity | 8th | LasVegasChaos |
An interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event, it was Elves that won.
Super fun looking list here. Gleeful Sabotage is a super sweet card overall, as is the inclusion of Valakut Invoker as a way to repeatedly damage players or creatures with reach.
In Second Place we had Grixis Affinity.
This is a nice-looking list. Somber Hoverguard as a strong Affinity threat is solid.
Also in this Top 8 we had Golgari Gardens.
This deck is just incredibly strong right now. It's showcasing how much strong removal exists in the format in addition to being able to draw so many cards.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Azorius Gates.
Very straightforward and clean list here. This deck is really strong right now and well worth taking a look at if you want to win an event.
Pauper Challenge 1/14
The second Challenge event of the weekend was the Sunday event. This event had 75 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Burn was the most played deck, and despite a top finish it's win rate was less than 50%. Dimir Terror did very well here as did Jeskai Affinity. Azorius Gates did poorly here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Terror | 1st | Mogged |
| Dimir Faeries | 2nd | Beicodegeia |
| Burn | 3rd | Arkany1 |
| Golgari Gardens | 4th | Aster17 |
| Azorius Familiars | 5th | Gn42 |
| Boros Ephemerate | 6th | PieGonti |
| Golgari Gardens | 7th | LeeMajorsJedi |
| Grixis Affinity | 8th | Patxi |
Pretty varied Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Dimir Terror that won.
Crawl from the Cellar is a super cool card, given that you remember that Gurmag Angler is a Zombie Fish.
In Second Place we had Dimir Faeries.
I dig these Faeries decks, they look like they're so much fun. The amount of board control here is quite a bit.
Further down the Top 8 we had Azorius Familiars.
Circle of Protection: Blue is some real energy here. Being able to prevent Mono Blue Terror from damaging is pretty sweet.
Also in this Top 8 we had Boros Ephemerate.
This is a solid-looking list. While also boasting some strong board control, it also has some cool cards like Late to Dinner as a way to rebuy threats late-game.
Around the Web
- Our good friend Paige Smith has an article on Pauper Bogles in 2024! Check it out here.
- kalikaiz has a video on Kuldotha + All That Glitters. Check it out here.
- Pauperganda has a video on BIRD STORM. Check it out here.
- Alex Ullman has a solid article on the cards that Pauper is missing. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
As League results are now spread out across the week, let's dig in and find something spicy!
Orzhov Affinity is always pretty cool.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Pauper!
As always you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition, I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGPauper Discord Server.
Until next time!
