Ever since the unbanning of
Preordain
Preordain
Scry 2, then draw a card. (To scry 2, look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.)
in Modern, we’ve seen a lot of different decks try to implement the powerful cantrip. Various archetypes such as Jeskai Prowess and Izzet
Murktide Regent
Murktide Regent
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Flying
This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it for each instant and sorcery card exiled with it.
Whenever an instant or sorcery card leaves your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
improved thanks to the added consistency from the cantrip as well as having access to another powerful Sorcery besides
Expressive Iteration
Expressive Iteration
Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand, put one of them on the bottom of your library, and exile one of them. You may play the exiled card this turn.
. While Preordain is certainly a good card, perhaps this unbanning showcases that Wizards of the Coast can afford to be a little less cautious with their unbanning approach. After all, non-blue decks like Rakdos Scam and mono-green Tron are still as dominant as ever.
If anything, this shows that the format does have a lot of different decks to offer. While many of these archetypes have been well-established and long-lasting, there are still some unique and relatively new decks to choose from. Today, we will be highlighting one of the more interesting decks in the format. This deck has popped up here and there for years, but never quite had what it takes to break out onto the big stage. Well, that is at least until the printing of
The One Ring
The One Ring
Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring.
.
As it turns out, mono-green Tron isn’t the only Tron variant to have greatly improved thanks to the strong card draw engine. Another version dedicated to utilizing lots of permanents with Charge counters has been putting up more and more results and makes use of a powerful Artifact that’s banned in Commander!
Charging to Victory
What makes this deck so unique is that it features both mana rocks that enter the battlefield with charge counters as well as ways to add charge counters to those permanents. Both
Astral Cornucopia
Astral Cornucopia
This artifact enters with X charge counters on it.
{T}: Choose a color. Add one mana of that color for each charge counter on this artifact.
and
Everflowing Chalice
Everflowing Chalice
Multikicker {2} (You may pay an additional {2} any number of times as you cast this spell.)
This artifact enters with a charge counter on it for each time it was kicked.
{T}: Add {C} for each charge counter on this artifact.
serve as decent mana rocks that help bridge the gap until you can make use of your top end. These mana rocks also make the deck less reliant on assembling all three Tron Lands,
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.
, in order to cast your spells.
While neither of these mana rocks are super efficient for the amount of mana they provide initially, there are plenty of ways to add charge counters to them to make them tap for more mana. One of the best ways to do so is with the use of
Coretapper
Coretapper
{T}: Put a charge counter on target artifact.
Sacrifice this creature: Put two charge counters on target artifact.
. Coretapper can tap to add charge counters to your Artifacts, but it can also be sacrificed at any point to put two charge counters on an Artifact, making it less vulnerable to removal. Beyond Coretapper, this deck also plays
Surge Node
Surge Node
This artifact enters with six charge counters on it.
{1}, {T}, Remove a charge counter from this artifact: Put a charge counter on target artifact.
, which enters with a bunch of charge counters with the ability to transfer them elsewhere.
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The Engine Itself
While it may seem a little strange to go through all this work just to get mana rocks that can tap for a bunch of mana, this deck can use all of the mana it can get. First and foremost, the deck uses four copies of
Mystic Forge
Mystic Forge
You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may cast artifact spells and colorless spells from the top of your library.
{T}, Pay 1 life: Exile the top card of your library.
, which allows you to chain together colorless and Artifact spells off the top of your library, so long as you can cast them. Mystic Forge even has the ability to tap and remove the top card of your library, allowing you to get rid of excess Lands and hopefully keep casting spells. Notably, you can cast Cornucopia or Chalice for zero mana off the top just to keep your engine online.
Speaking of engines, what makes the whole deck function as well as it does is none other than
Paradox Engine
Paradox Engine
Whenever you cast a spell, untap all nonland permanents you control.
. Paradox Engine lets you untap all of your non-Land permanents every time you cast a spell. With Mystic Forge in play, this allows you to untap Forge to remove more Lands from the top of your deck and keep casting spells. Your mana rocks also untap, giving you extra mana every time you cast a spell. Even further, you get to untap Coretappers and Surge Nodes to keep charging up your Cornucopias and Chalices even more.
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The One Ring Element
In this sense, as long as you can keep casting spells, you can actually generate lots of extra mana in the process. You just need mana rocks, Paradox Engine, and a reliable way to keep casting spells. Obviously, this includes Mystic Forge, but this deck also abuses The One Ring like no other. Much like how blue decks with The One Ring often play
Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
{T}: Add {U}.
{U}, {T}: Untap target legendary permanent.
to untap The One Ring and draw more cards, this deck can use Paradox Engine to untap The One Ring.
The difference is that The One Ring will untap every time you play a spell, and because The One Ring draws you more spells, it’s quite easy to draw most of your deck in one turn. Once you’ve generated enough mana and card advantage, you can simply play
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.
, grab
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.
and end the game.
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Strengths and Consistency
Part of what makes this deck stronger than it appears on the surface is its ability to function without full Tron assembled early. None of the cards in this deck cost a ton of mana, and casting a turn three copy of The One Ring off of Everflowing Chalice is a strong play. Additionally, this deck makes great use of
Urza’s Saga
Urza’s Saga
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — This Saga gains "{T}: Add {C}."
II — This Saga gains "{2}, {T}: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'"
III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0} or {1}, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
both as a win condition and as a tutor for cards like
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.
,
Manifold Key
Manifold Key
{1}, {T}: Untap another target artifact.
{3}, {T}: Target creature can't be blocked this turn.
,
Surge Node
Surge Node
This artifact enters with six charge counters on it.
{1}, {T}, Remove a charge counter from this artifact: Put a charge counter on target artifact.
, and even Chalice if you have a Coretapper or Surge Node already online.
Of course, having access to Tron allows this deck to go a bit crazy rather quickly. All of your mana rocks as well as your powerful four-drops get a lot better, and it becomes easy to cast multiple spells on the same turn. One of the glaring weaknesses this deck has had in the past is that, without Mystic Forge, it can still be difficult to chain lots of spell together and actually win the game. After all, a lot of the cards in this deck are mana rocks and Charge counter enablers, which do very little on their own. However, having access to The One Ring now is a huge boon for this deck, adding a lot more consistency.
Speaking of consistency, this deck also gets to show off the strength of
Serum Powder
Serum Powder
{T}: Add {C}.
Any time you could mulligan and this card is in your hand, you may exile all the cards from your hand, then draw that many cards. (You can do this in addition to taking mulligans.)
. Serum Powder can act as a weak mana rock in a pinch, but its best feature is that it allows you to exile your hand of cards containing Powder and draw a fresh hand instead of mulliganing. For a deck reliant on assembling a lot of resources together, Powder really pulls its weight.
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Weaknesses
Even still, though, this deck can struggle closing the game, especially against opposing hate cards. This deck is more susceptible to Artifact hate than mono-green Tron, and unlike mono-green Tron, this deck doesn’t get to run
Boseiju, Who Endures
Boseiju, Who Endures
{T}: Add {G}.
Channel — {1}{G}, Discard this card: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land an opponent controls. That player may search their library for a land card with a basic land type, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control.
and
Haywire Mite
Haywire Mite
When this creature dies, you gain 2 life.
{G}, Sacrifice this creature: Exile target noncreature artifact or noncreature enchantment.
to answer
Blood Moon
Blood Moon
Nonbasic lands are Mountains.
effects. Blood Moon can be a bit of a nightmare for this deck, as it not only prevents Tron from being assembled, but also renders Urza’s Saga completely useless. On the other hand, this deck doesn’t necessarily need to blow up a Blood Moon to win the game.
This deck naturally runs a lot of cards that fill different roles, from mana rocks to win conditions to Charge Counter enablers that require other cards to be useful. This means that even cards like Counterspells can be quite effective, as the number of payoffs this deck has is rather limited, even with The One Ring in the picture.
Still, The One Ring helped a lot of the issues with this deck. It provides a stream of resources, helping to find missing Tron pieces, mana rocks, and Paradox Engine to keep the resources flowing. Cards like Karn and
Inventor’s Fair
Inventor’s Fair
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control three or more artifacts, you gain 1 life.
{T}: Add {C}.
{4}, {T}, Sacrifice Inventors' Fair: Search your library for an artifact card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. Activate only if you control three or more artifacts.
can help find missing pieces as well, and Karn can even grab cards exiled with Serum Powder when necessary! This deck has its weaknesses, but it also has a lot going for it. If you enjoy crazy combo decks, definitely consider giving this deck a shot.