Modern is a broad and diverse format, but often we see staple archetypes that become the backbone of the format. One of those is Mono-Green Tron which often stirs plenty of discourse amongst players as it’s frustrating to play against but becomes a delight if you decide to pilot it.
If you want to get good in Modern, knowing what you are playing against gives you a better understanding of how to beat those decks. With Modern being so vast, having that format knowledge allows you to use cards optimally, as well as finding different tools against certain archetypes. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools to deal with Mono-Green Tron.
What is Mono-Green Tron?
Hailing from the days of Extended, Tron uses
Urza’s Mine
Urza’s Mine
{T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Power-Plant and an Urza's Tower, add {C}{C} instead.
,
Urza’s Power Plant
Urza’s Power Plant
{T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Mine and an Urza's Tower, add {C}{C} instead.
, and
Urza’s Tower
Urza’s Tower
{T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Mine and an Urza's Power-Plant, add {C}{C}{C} instead.
to power out powerful threats. When having one of each of these Urza lands out, you have the option to cast a seven mana spell as early as turn three. Usually, you see
Karn Liberated
Karn Liberated
+4: Target player exiles a card from their hand.
−3: Exile target permanent.
−14: Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn. Then put those cards onto the battlefield under your control.
as the ideal turn-three play. It goes further, this is ideally followed up with
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
When you cast this spell, exile two target permanents.
Indestructible
Whenever Ulamog attacks, defending player exiles the top twenty cards of their library.
which is enough for you to concede. It’s not just Karn and Ulamog that are issues,
Wurmcoil Engine
Wurmcoil Engine
Deathtouch, lifelink
When this creature dies, create a 3/3 colorless Phyrexian Wurm artifact creature token with deathtouch and a 3/3 colorless Phyrexian Wurm artifact creature token with lifelink.
can be backbreaking against aggressive decks, and
Walking Ballista
Walking Ballista
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target.
can pick off small creatures.
Since Extended is no more, Tron is a mainstay of Modern and has remained a strong option since the introduction of the format ten years ago. Admittedly, it can be quite frustrating to play against since their gameplan is not only resilient but very straightforward at the same time. There’s nothing more frustrating than your Tron opponent drawing into ‘Natural Tron’, or being able to find what they need at the right moment. Since War of the Spark,
Karn, the Great Creator
Karn, the Great Creator
Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand.
allows a better game one since your opponent can find an artifact card they need to shore up against your deck. Whether it be an
Ensnaring Bridge
Ensnaring Bridge
Creatures with power greater than the number of cards in your hand can't attack.
to stop you from attacking, or a
Trinisphere
Trinisphere
As long as this artifact is untapped, each spell that would cost less than three mana to cast costs three mana to cast. (Additional mana in the cost may be paid with any color of mana or colorless mana. For example, a spell that would cost {1}{B} to cast costs {2}{B} to cast instead.)
to prevent you from comboing off, Tron is prepared to deal with whatever comes their way.
Read More: 10 Best Modern Cards from MTG’s Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
The Goal of Mono-Green Tron
If you ever encounter Mono-Green Tron in Modern, the opponent’s decklist will be something similar to this.
Sometimes, you may see a
Jegantha, the Wellspring
Jegantha, the Wellspring
Companion — No card in your starting deck has more than one of the same mana symbol in its mana cost. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
{T}: Add {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}. This mana can't be spent to pay generic mana costs.
as a companion as it’s free within the list, but don’t expect to see a
Walking Ballista
Walking Ballista
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target.
in the mainboard if so. The goal for Tron is to deploy these Urza lands through using
Expedition Map
Expedition Map
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
,
Ancient Stirrings
Ancient Stirrings
Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a colorless card from among them and put it into your hand. Then put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
or
Sylvan Scrying
Sylvan Scrying
Search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
to find these, then cast haymaker threats to get on the board. It may seem a simple approach, but it’s one that’s powerful and can get through a lot of hate if needed.
On occasion, you’ll see different variations on Tron with Gruul, Selesnya, and Mono-Blue being the other options. But for consistency, Mono-Green Tron is the preferred option as players want a clean mana base since the Green is for your tutors. It’s the cleanest, most consistent, and most successful variant of Tron – so expect Mono-Green when jamming games of Modern.
Read More: Is Lurrus of the Dream-Den Too Good for MTG’s Modern Format?
How to Beat Mono-Green Tron?
Now you know what to expect and their game plan, how do you go about beating the menace of Modern?
As Tron cares about using their lands for maximum value, attacking their land base is a surefire way to slow things down. Spells such as
Pillage
Pillage
Destroy target artifact or land. It can't be regenerated.
are great at removing an Urza land, allowing you to get ahead while the Tron player has to recalibrate their turn. Often you want to attack
Urza’s Tower
Urza’s Tower
{T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Mine and an Urza's Power-Plant, add {C}{C}{C} instead.
since this land generates the most mana, but could depend on any other information such as what they revealed off an
Ancient Stirrings
Ancient Stirrings
Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a colorless card from among them and put it into your hand. Then put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
for example. Other options include
Ghost Quarter
Ghost Quarter
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target land. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
and
Field of Ruin
Field of Ruin
{T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. Each player searches their library for a basic land card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles.
if you want to run some hate in your land base. You can also follow this up with
Surgical Extraction
Surgical Extraction
({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land card. Search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles.
to permanently all the copies of an Urza land of your choice, but be careful, your opponent can grab one of these exiled lands off
Karn, the Great Creator
Karn, the Great Creator
Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand.
‘s minus ability.
While it’s all well and good taking them off Tron, you need to follow it up with pressure to close out the game. Mono-Green Tron’s topdecks are very powerful, and them casting an
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
+2: Ugin deals 3 damage to any target.
−X: Exile each permanent with mana value X or less that's one or more colors.
−10: You gain 7 life, draw seven cards, then put up to seven permanent cards from your hand onto the battlefield.
on turn eight may be enough. They can still play the fair game even without cheating ahead on mana, and that’s where Obsidian Charmaw comes into the fold. From Modern Horizons 2, Obsidian Charmaw is the ideal card for the Mono-Green Tron match-up. It’s evasive, destroys a land, and is a win condition all rolled into one. In terms of favorable matchups against Tron, Red-based decks often have a great history against the archetype.
Read More: Ten Most Expensive MTG Cards From Modern Horizons 2
Best Archetypes To Beat Mono-Green Tron
There are a handful of archetypes that can put Mono-Green Tron in its place, such as:
- Mono-Red or Izzet Prowess
- Gruul Ponza (or Gruul Midrange)
- Infect
- Storm
- Ad Nauseam
- Mono-Green Tron (if you are on the draw)
As it usually takes a handful of turns for Mono-Green Tron to assemble their ‘combo’, being aggressive as possible is a great way to leverage this. Swinging in with a Monestary Swiftspear or casting multiple
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
s is more than enough to close out the game. It would put the Tron player on the back foot, forcing them to cast a
Wurmcoil Engine
Wurmcoil Engine
Deathtouch, lifelink
When this creature dies, create a 3/3 colorless Phyrexian Wurm artifact creature token with deathtouch and a 3/3 colorless Phyrexian Wurm artifact creature token with lifelink.
, or using
Karn, the Great Creator
Karn, the Great Creator
Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand.
to grab a Chalice of the Void to stay in the game.
Any strategy that is quick out of the gates such a Prowess or Infect, would be an easy win for you. Going further, Mono-Green Tron can struggle against dedicated Combo strategies such as Storm and Ad Nauseam because they have little in the way of interaction. Mono-Green Tron runs a handful of sideboard slots to counter these archetypes, but not enough to keep the Combo at bay. Mono-Green Tron will remain a permanent fixture of Modern for as long as the format exists, but there are plenty of cards to keep it at bay.
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