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).

I've been enjoying Modern lately, and more specifically, playing very sweet decks in Modern. Between the printing of Bring to Light and the realization that Mono-Blue Tron gets to play four copies of Repeal, I've been as happy as a Prickleboar in a Bojuka Bog (as a flavor judge, I can assure you that the comparison works perfectly).

The recent addition of Modern Leagues to Magic Online has given me the perfect opportunity to play all of these sweet decks at my convenience, and today I want to go over the two I liked best. All these decks are powerful, though the level of consistency varies.

Mono-Blue Tron

I'd like the rebut the notion that Red-Green Tron is the only way to play Urza's Tower, as this deck offers a very different approach.

LSV's Mono-Blue Tron

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (2)

2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Creature (7)

1 Sundering Titan 2 Solemn Simulacrum 2 Treasure Mage 1 Wurmcoil Engine 1 Platinum Angel

Instant (18)

4 Repeal 4 Remand 2 Anticipate 4 Condescend 4 Thirst for Knowledge

Artifact (9)

2 Talisman of Dominance 4 Expedition Map 2 Mindslaver 1 Oblivion Stone

Land (24)

4 Urza's Tower 4 Urza's Power Plant 4 Urza's Mine 1 Academy Ruins 2 Ghost Quarter 9 Island

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

2 Ghost Quarter 3 Hurkyl's Recall 2 Crucible of Worlds 1 Spellskite 3 Dismember 2 Negate 2 Chalice of the Void

Deal Another Hand

Despite the four copies of Expedition Map, the goal of this deck isn't necessarily to just play all three Urza lands (Tron) on turn three. You often want to play an Island on turn two, even if you have all three, as keeping up Condescend and Remand is very important. That speaks to this deck's role as a control deck that can have explosive turns, rather than the pure combo feel of Red-Green Tron.

The counterspells help you interact with the opponent while drawing cards and scrying, and Thirst for Knowledge and Anticipate reward you for keeping mana up on the opponent's turn. All of these cards together provide a ton of digging, which means that assembling Tron by turn four or five is not hard to do. Even without Tron, Talisman of Dominance and Solemn Simulacrum can get you to six mana the hard way, at which point you can start casting Mindslaver or Wurmcoil Engine if you so desire.

I might be a bigger fan of Repeal than most, but it does exactly what this deck wants. It slows the opponent down while drawing cards, and is yet another card you can leave mana up for and cast at instant speed. It can even bounce giant things with the additional mana from the Urza lands, and overall it fits very nicely into this deck. The fact that I get to play a deck with so many Repeals is just a bonus, but I'm not even the person who put four Repeals into the deck to begin with (is my justification).

Treasure Mage offers additional copies of all four big artifacts, and is why you can get away with only playing one of most of them. Mindslaver is of particular note, because it's one of the two best win conditions. The easiest way to win the game is just cast a fast Sundering Titan, because it provides a clock and a means to stop the opponent from casting any spells. Plus, I've been able to Repeal Sundering Titan for value, and that's where the real payoff is.

The harder way of winning the game (at least online) is to lock the opponent out with Academy Ruins plus Mindslaver. Once you have thirteen mana, which is easier than it seems, you get to take every turn, both yours and theirs. It isn't impossible to set up, as you essentially have four copies of Mindslaver and five copies of Academy Ruins thanks to Treasure Mage and Expedition Map. The first Mindslaver activation often buys a couple turns at the very least, which lets you get to the point where the opponent is forced to do your bidding.

I played this deck to a 5-0 in a League on a recent stream, and it was a ton of fun. It can have trouble with extremely fast decks (like Burn, for example), but crushes any sort of midrange, and all the instant-speed interaction makes it substantially better against Splinter Twin than Red-Green Tron. There are metagames where Mono-Blue Tron is awesome, and as long as you aren't facing down too many Wild Nacatls or Goblin Guides, it can do some sick stuff.

Bring to Light Version 2.5

My fascination with Bring to Light is well-documented, and I wrote the first article on the subject right after Battle for Zendikar came out. I've played a lot since then and the list has evolved, so I wanted to give an update.

Here's where the list is currently at:

LSV's Bringing Gifts

Decklist Stats Sample Hand