Five-Color PauperTron

By Luis Scott-Vargas

Luis Scott-Vargas plays, writes, and makes videos about Magic. He has played on the Pro Tour for almost a decade, and between that and producing content for ChannelFireball, often has his hands full (of cards).

Today's list combines Pauper, Tron lands, and five colors of spells, which neatly explains why I chose to feature it. As much as I enjoyed playing Cloudpost, the format is better off without it, and assembling the set of Urza lands is hard enough that it won't be quite as oppressive to the format as a whole.

That being said, I like casting ridiculous things, and this list certainly delivers on that front. Despite being a five-color deck, there are only seventeen lands here, and none of them tap for colored mana save the lone Shimmering Grotto. That can be explained by the full sixteen color-filtering artifacts, with four Chromatic Stars, Chromatic Spheres, Prismatic Lenses, and Prophetic Prisms in attendance. By using all artifacts, the deck doesn't waste its time with more non-Tron lands than necessary, and many of its mana sources draw a card, smoothing out the games.

Expedition Map and Ancient Stirrings look for Tron pieces, and do so in a timely fashion, as we've seen in RG Tron in Modern. Once Tron is assembled, the fun starts, as Mulldrifters and Sea Gate Oracles let you tear through your deck. Fangren Marauder is an awesome way to stay alive, and works well with the twelve artifacts that sacrifice themselves (plus, sometimes you get to play against Affinity). Tron also flashes back Firebolt easily, letting the deck play a one-drop that has utility even when the mana is flowing.

The actual winning comes from two copies of Rolling Thunder and one Ulamog's Crusher, although winning is a formality in many of the games.

The sideboard is a work of art as well, and I can barely imagine a more eclectic mix of cards. How often do Doom Blade, Circle of Protection: Green, and Earth Rift fight side by side, much less with Pyroblast and Rest for the Weary?