My all-time favorite archetype in Magic is big mana control decks. I’ve played U/R Cloudpost in Pauper, Mono-Green Twelve Post in Legacy, and, more pertinently, U/W Tron in Modern. In fact, U/W Tron may well be my all-time favorite deck. Consequently, I could barely contain my excitement when I saw McWinSauce had taken an updated build to a 12th place finish in this weekend’s MOCS:

U/W Tron ? Modern | McWinSauce, 12th Magic Online Championship Series

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
• 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
• 1 Wurmcoil Engine

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

• Spells (29)
• 1 Repeal
• 1 Sphinx's Revelation
• 2 Remand
• 4 Gifts Ungiven
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Thirst for Knowledge
• 1 Compulsive Research
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Timely Reinforcements
• 1 Unburial Rites
• 1 Wrath of God
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 2 Expedition Map
• 4 Azorius Signet

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Tectonic Edge
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Seachrome Coast
• 3 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Urza's Mine
• 4 Urza's Power Plant
• 4 Urza's Tower

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Timely Reinforcements
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 2 Condemn
• 1 Disenchant
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Faith's Fetters
• 2 Favor of the Mighty
• 1 Negate
• 1 Terastodon

Buy This Deck

The core of this deck hasn’t changed since the early days of Modern. The core is 2-mana accelerants plus Gifts Ungiven and powerful suites of cards to tutor for. In particular, this deck is better set up to take advantage of Gifts-ing for just Unburial Rites and a giant monster than many other Gifts decks, because Thirst for Knowledge gives you an awesome discard outlet for monsters you draw and the Tron engine gives you the ability to just cast something like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Iona, Shield of Emeria.

Part of the reason this deck may be primed for a comeback is because of the power of sweepers in the current Modern format. Eldrazi, Elves, Affinity, and Merfolk are four of the better decks, and all of them are just dead to Supreme Verdict. This deck even has the ability to Gifts for Day of Judgment, Wrath of God, and Supreme Verdict to guarantee access to a board wipe.

What’s most interesting to me about this deck is it has eschewed much of the early interaction older builds played. There are no copies of Condescend and fewer copies of Remand. Instead, the deck is playing additional copies of Compulsive Research and more top end in the form of Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Sphinx's Revelation. Compulsive Research helps ensure you hit Tron and find the powerful sweepers and curve-toppers you need to go over the top of the Eldrazi deck. It’s a little surprising not to see something like Elspeth, Sun's Champion in this deck, which could be a fourth sweeper to Gifts for against Eldrazi as well as a win condition, but it may just not be necessary with Snapcaster Mage there to buy back sweepers. All told, the deck seems powerful in the current format. Besides, even if it has weaknesses, who can say no to Sphinx's Revelation for upward of seven cards?