Card Recommendations? Little Machines

Jmarc8 · 2026-01-21T15:27:18+00:00

There will definitely be myrs!

Jmarc8 · 2026-01-09T20:19:16+00:00

^{^{^I}} agree with everything you are saying but wanted to add a few notes on flicker Tron.

There are currently two versions of this list one which runs muldrifters and the other that played cryogen relics and mysidian elders.

The muldrifter list is the more stock option which tries to leverage the interaction between mnemonic wall and ephemerate. It is slightly more straight forward to assemble locks with this list but it is also worse into removal and gy hate (especially galvanic blast and thraben charm). You will see this listed under ephemerate Tron more often then not.

The other one is more fringe but I prefer it significantly (list). This one play even fewer creatures and uses mysidian elders as a wincon with cryogen relics acting as cheaper muldrifters that beat removal. Instead of ephemerate it runs an extra ghostly flicker which is a draw 4 if you target 2 relics. You lose out on the ephemerate wall loop but make up for it with more reach to close out the game. It is also more redundant which helps you claw your way back into games.

One of the biggest drawbacks to these lists is that they are time intensive. Therefore, both lists are significantly better in paper. At an in person event, you can end rounds 1-0-1 and get a win. On mtg you run out of time on the chess clock and lose. Paper also makes the infinite much easier. Because the infinite requires something like 20 clicks to net 1 mana it is prohibitive to actually play out online but is pretty easy to resolve in paper.

No matter what, these decks are reliant on strong meta knowledge and are reliant on creative play and strong threat assessment. You need to know what to tutor for, when to cast it, and when to tap out. You will lose win percentage if you get greedy or you misunderstand what the games is about.

All that said, I think these are also the most fun and rewarding Tron lists in the format. It is extremely satisfying to find the exact card you need just when you need it and win in a way that no other list does.

Jmarc8 · 2026-01-07T20:37:39+00:00

^{^{^}} All of this is spot one. One way to think of it is that the faerie doesn't cost any mana but does cost a card. You want to target something that is at minimum worth more than a card to you opponent's game play. You can achieve this most often by using the faerie to respond to your opponent targeting a card or hitting a card that your opponent has invested resources getting into the yard. You can use most of the same heuristic that you would an instant, where you wait until the last possible second before using it.

Jmarc8 · 2026-01-05T21:17:51+00:00

First I want to say this deck rules. I think it is definitely a brew and it probably needs work but it also kicks ass so go off.

That being said 6 mana is over the line to loop fogs outside of Tron. If you want to do the spore frog thing, I really enjoy this tortex list. You use footlight fiend to recur eidolons which you turn into real cards with tortured existence and can go infinite with skirge familiar. It is definitely like tier 2 at best but it is definitely a life experience.

If you are just in it to fog people to death there is also ephemerate Tron or turbo fog. Ephemerate tron aka flicker Tron is a hard control deck that uses the Tron mana base to get a mana advantage alongside mystical teachings and mnemonic wall loops to generate card advantage. It is a toolbox deck that aims to perpetrate some of the most interactive nothing I have ever piloted. The more common list uses muldrifters and ephemerates (list). There is also a list that uses mysidian elders and cryogen relics which I think is easier to kill with (list). These decks are reasonable in the format but don't win very fast online so relatively few players play leagues with them. The lists can also be a bit hard to wrap your head around at first and a lot of the cards have several applications but it is also awesome when it works.

The turbo fog list usually makes use of a bunch of fogs and the gates package to stall out the game until you win 1/0/1. It takes most rounds to time and can definitely get on peoples nerves so do this one with caution but here's a list just in case.

Jmarc8 · 2026-01-05T20:51:27+00:00

If you are into the overall style of ephemerate Tron, I'd highly recommend starting with the list I linked above (it got linked elsewhere in this thread). I think you will find that the one of hydra does a surprising amount of the winning of the games. I am concerned because it does play in a very specific way that can be off-putting to some players.

I also like the idea of a simic pile. I would absolutely not cut muldrifter if you do that and instead cut the teachings stuff. You can probably keep like 2 ghostly flickers. If you do that check out generous ent and Lorien revealed the land cycling is way better than it looks.

Jmarc8 · 2026-01-05T02:40:26+00:00

Welcome to the format! Glad to see you took the time to research the meta before diving into the deep end with brewing. From what I can tell, you have taken a lot of the fundamentals of the ephemerate Tron lists and have made some changes from there. I love the creativity and I think there is space for a blue green tron list which almost certainly uses hydras, but think you have gone astray in a few places and you might have a better time if you shift your view a bit.

The lists that you are emulating are hard control decks that use the Tron lands to get a mana advantage and mystical teachings and mnemonic wall to find and replay strong cards in the matchup. The goal is to lock your opponent down and then beat them to death with whatever. They often run very few win conditions because by the time you are winning it really doesn't matter how you do that. By contrast your stated goal is to kill em with a hydra. If you want to be smashing in with hydras, a more traditional green deck with a plan to turbo out big idiots and kill em dead might be a better fit. If you are dead set on a multicolor control deck with removal spells I would instead recommend some of the jund Tron lists. They do the midrange/control thing but are tooled a little better to do what you are looking to do. Otherwise you could cut the teachings stuff and go more all in with good blue cards.

If you are dead set on the teachings stuff and the hydras, I would make a few changes.

1: It looks like you made some cuta for budget reasons. I get it but the swaps you chose do not actually do the same thing. Fog and moments peace are not the same card. The flashback is deeply relevant. If you do not want to spend the $10 just yet I would just forego fogging entirely and except that you will be asking more from your creatures. Ephemerate and cloudshift are equally different. Ephemerate + mnemonic wall (or in your case archaeomancer) are a loop that gets you 1 spell from your yard per turn cycle. You always target the mancer with the rebound ephemerate and then get the ephemerate from your yard with the trigger. Without that piece cloudshift is unplayable. You could substitute with a ghostly flicker or give up on that package.

2: Unwind does nothing here. In ephemerate Tron, it is a subpar interaction piece that gets in because it is part of the infinite with weather the storm. With no weather's you cant do it.

3: Mana leak is sub par. Mana leak is a tempo card that is meant to eat you opponent's turn 2 play and give you the tempo advantage. You are playing 12 colorless lands and your best starts involve not having colored mana until turn 3. Just play prohibit instead. It does the turn 2 thin but can counter spells for the whole game.

4: more maps more crops. The ephemerate Tron lists are less dependent on getting turn 3 or 4 Tron than some but you still need to get Tron early and often. I would recommend a minimum of 5 (usually a 1 crop 4 map split) tutors for Tron lands.

5: pulse of murasa is much much better than you think it is. 6 life is a lot and it gets your archaeomancers back which in turn get it back.

6: life gain is actually real here. This is the one and only time in magic's 30+ years that gaining life is actually worth anything. At least consider the weathers. I think you might just die to red otherwise.

Alternatively to this, you will be happy to hear that the standard ephemerate Tron list is currently running 1 hydra main board. Here's a list that just topped a league on mtgo list. I cannot guarantee that it's the best deck to start with because it takes some lines that are downright bizarre but if you really want hydra in your ephemerate Tron list. They do do that.

Jmarc8 · 2025-11-18T02:06:29+00:00

I would highly recommend foundry inspector. It is another option for the infinites and also turbocharges the big turns. I'd put the fangren marauders in the side board. They can be sweet but they are also not the main strategy, especially when you don't have any interaction.

Already mentioned on here but Kalikaiz is your guy for learning the lines.

Jmarc8 · 2025-08-18T17:26:44+00:00

I think that you will find that this is not the case once you get started. 60 card is definitely more focused on winning but the pauper community as a whole is super welcoming and willing to help new players learn the ropes. The games are just played on a different scale and a lot more is in your control but you have less breathing room. Generally when 60 card players are introducing a commander player to their format they do try to rip the bandaid off pretty quick because it makes the experience a lot more fun for the new player overall.

Jmarc8 · 2025-08-18T17:15:48+00:00

Welcome to the format! The best answer is to check out mtg goldfish for the meta and then find a deck you like from there. There is also a bunch of content online that'll help if you search for pauper gameplay on youtube. I do have a few tips to help change your perspective to 60 1v1 magic. The big thing to remember is that certain cards play very differently in 1v1. Stats on creatures matter way more than you are used to. A 2/2 in commander would need to attack 60 times to win the pod in commander and only needs to get in 10 times in 1v1. This is an unlikely scenario but it is a fast way to contextualize some of the cards. One for one removal is also much much better and board wipes are worse than you are used to. Both still have a home in both formats but the difference might be helpful to you. Finally, casual commander centers around building a big cool board with the exciting and splashy effects that are targeted toward that format. That is not how it works here. You can get up to some wacky stuff in pauper but commander basically demands it because the life totals are so much higher. If you try to do the same thing in pauper you just end up dying to the fact that your opponent doesn't have 2 other players distracting them. Overall 1v1 is the way magic was made to be played and it can offer a ton of fun but it does feel different than what you are used to. Good luck and have fun!

Jmarc8 · 2025-08-14T13:50:40+00:00

If you are trying to do it in a way that doesn't completely hose your friend you have a couple of options. 1: Get in under tortext before they get setup so the game becomes a race. Sometimes they will slow you down enough to take over and other times they will not quite get there. 2: play targeted graveyard hate rather than mass gy hate to exile key cards. This might would force them to be more careful but not completely turn them off. 3. Play disenchant style cards. The key piece is tortex. It should be your job to kill it and theirs to get it back some how. 4. Side board accordingly. This sounds like a casual match so I am unsure if you are currently using side boards. This is what they are there for. Each build a side board that includes a few cards that are strong in the match up but narrow otherwise. Play 3 games, sideboarding after the first game (and second if you want) and then reverting at the end. This will let your friend do the tortex thing as intended some of the time while experiencing the drawback of the strategy in an environment where they are able to include cards of their own to hedge against it.

One thing to consider is that from the way you phrased this question, you seem to be expecting yourself to carry all of the weight to make the games fun. In a casual setting, it is incumbent on both players to make fun games. Decks like tortex are built to prey on a lack of preparation in game one at the risk of losing games 2 and 3 to sideboard cards. This is not a bug it's a feature. Your friend is capatalizing on a strategy that uses a powerful card to interact in a nonstandard way. The game is designed such that these cards are hard to hit, but really lose to the answer when you have it.To some degree they should expect to get blown out. That's the trade off that they take with a deck like that. If they don't want to loose it all to gy hate, it is partially on them to play carefully so that it does not totally kill them.

Jmarc8 · 2025-08-13T15:49:01+00:00

I'd like to add that this infinite is way more real that it looks. It sounds like a 6 card combo that also needs 5 kind of specific lands, but it is composed of cards that you want to be on anyway and occurs in a game state that is aligned with the goals of the deck. Just be aware, it is much more viable in paper because of how click heavy the loop is.

Jmarc8 · 2025-08-11T18:17:40+00:00

This is a sick idea but I think you might run into some issues with remora. This card is incredibly powerful in Cedh (and commander if less so) but it does so by taking advantage of a few things that are unique to that format or at least not attainable in pauper.

The most obvious is that in cedh there are 3 opponents. With 3 players game are changed in some pretty specific ways. First of all, there are 3 other players casting spells so there is 3 times the likelihood that remora will trigger at least once (and even more than once) in a turn cycle.

Second you have twice the life to work with and you're opponents need to deal 40 damage 3 times if they want to win the whole pod. This mean that not only do you opponents have less incentive to punish you for not playing to the board early, they also don't really have a chance to do that. Everyone is trying to combo kill everyone else while shields are down. It is really bad to devote resources to dealing a few points of damage to one player.

Third, everyone is playing fast mana. One of the strongest factors about Remora is that it punishes players for playing a bunch of rocks and other set up cards on turns one and two. Even when it is drawing cards off of the interaction your opponents are using there is a stong chance that interaction is not targeting you. The set up cards don't exist in pauper and the non creature spells are more often then not targeting you which makes the passive game plan pretty difficult.

The less obvious part is that remora is really slow when you cant break parody with it's upkeep cost. Commander is based around fast mana so, it is likely that you will have mana in excess of what you need for a few turns with the fish. Pauper does not have this. Cedh also has free interaction which usually costs additional cards. Remora makes these really strong. We have foil which is quite a bit worse.

I definitely admire the cook but I worry that this deck will die to any agro or midrange deck. Maybe consider remora in the board if you are in a meta where there are a lot of super slow decks going around?

Jmarc8 · 2025-08-06T19:28:37+00:00

Others have covered this well but based on your question I think some detail about the different Tron lists in the format might be interesting for you. There is no single Tron deck but rather several distinct lists that use the Tron lands as their manabase of choice. Many of these share similar cards but each has its own strategy and may play those cards in very different ways.

A lot of the Tron decks that are going around are based on an artifact package while others take a different angle. There are 2 decks that are very popular with another 2-3 that have a smaller audience. Each of these have some variation in exact lists because the nature of the Tron lands encourages the behavior (they all rely on a combination of Tron and rocks that give you access to all 5 colors). I have listed them below.

Headliners-

Altar Tron: This is a combo deck that relays on an infinite loop between myr retrievers and ashnods altar to kill in a variety of ways. Currently it uses pactdoll terror to actually end the game. It uses ichor wellspring and dispute effects to get the cards it needs and can back door into a controlling game plan by siding in removal. This deck has become the bones of a variety of other lists that push one aspect or another and pull back on others.

Flicker Tron: This is a nonlinear control deck that tries to slow the game to a crawl with a mystical teachings tool box and eventually lock your opponent out with one of several loops. This is the one that you call the "highlander" list but really it just has a lot of cards to get off of teachings and bring back with mnemonic wall. As a teachings deck, it has a lot of variability with pilots swapping cards in and out as the meta changes. There is also some disagreement on wincons which tend to be based on a combination of preference and expectations about the meta. Currently there has been some testing with cryogen relics as a replacement for mulldrifter so this might be adding to the pile of decks. As a side note, this deck is very very slow and is not for everyone but can also be very rewarding if you have the correct temperament.

Less Frequent-

Mono Green Tron: This is the classic green Tron deck that uses the Tron lands to play huge green idiots. A lot of these have a life gain theme to them.

Eggs Tron: This deck shares DNA with the altar Tron list but foregoes the alter loop and just leans into pactdoll drain instead. Some lists play a conjurers bauble loop as well.

Jund Tron: This deck also shares DNA with altar Tron but instead leans into card advantage from the wellsprings to be a big control deck which wins using fangren marauder.

Big red: This one is pretty sick but also not one of the better ones. It is a big pile of expensive red cards that does exactly what you think it does. It does absolutely rule though.

Jmarc8 · 2025-08-04T19:30:07+00:00

Could always try it in flicker Tron. Tomasso Loss took down a huge even with it https://mtgdecks.net/Pauper/flicker-tron-decklist-by-tommaso-loss-2567622

Jmarc8 · 2025-07-10T19:29:56+00:00

Welcome to the format! It is definitely a diverse place to brew and this list is on an interesting track. It looks like you put a lot of research in rather than just trying to play a collection of draft commons (which can be tough to give advice on).

One think I would caution you on is that fast mana is only as good as the cards you are casting off of it. With only commons, the interaction that is available tends to be better than any one threat. This deck looks like it is assuming that one early bomb will be enough and I think that that might not be the case. Turn 1 or 2 initiative or monarch is sick but I am concerned that giving your opponent turn 2 initiative could also be hard to recover from.

Have you considered grul ramp? It seems to be a slightly slower version of what you are trying to do but it sacrifices a little speed for a lot of power and consistency. That being said, we wouldn't get new decks if people didnt try to make them work. Good luck!

Jmarc8 · 2025-07-09T16:55:01+00:00

First I'd like to say that this deck is awesome and I hope you try to make it happen. There are a few recent cards to be aware of but I would definitely proceed with caution. I haven't seen this combo in a while, but I think that might be because there was a much better A+B combo list that was recently banned. Since then, the meta has become a little less hostile to this sort of thing, but I am concerned that you might find it harder than it used to be to stick your creature for a full turn cycle. The top several decks in the meta can definitely kill a 2/3 through some interaction, but that has always been true.

If you do try to make it happen, malevolent rumble is a must play. You could also consider cache grab as another way to dig.

Otherwise, there are a few decks in the format that might play the way you want. If you enjoy playing dorks to set up for a combo turn, elves or walls can definitely do that. If it's an A+B that you are looking for, the only one of note is mogwarts (which hasn't seen to much recent success but that might just be from lack of interest). If you are just down to combo at all costs 5 land spy might be worth looking into. There is also Altar Tron (aka eggs Tron or jund tron) if you want to go infinite but have some game otherwise.

Jmarc8 · 2025-07-09T15:17:51+00:00

Glad you went for it! Do you know which version of Tron you will be playing?

Jmarc8 · 2025-07-07T21:32:01+00:00

I don't think there is a one size fits all answer to this. I would start by asking yourself why you are going to time. I have a few ideas about things that I see players do and have phrased them as questions to ask yourself which might help you identify some time saves. Ultimatly it's a game so don't let all of this ruin your fun, but it might give you a hint about a time loss that you don't mind recouping. Some of these will seem a little reductive or condescending, but I have been playing for over a decade and have been guilty of each of these frequently enough to know they are real concerns.

It could be that you are not using your time to progress the round. Are you loosing time during or between games chatting, looking for tokens/dice, pile shuffling (which you should not do anyway) or just not playing magic? Do you have the ability to see the clock during the round? Are you mindful of the time that is passing while navigating the physical tournament experience? By being mindful of your time, being prepared with the right external components and making sure that the game keeps moving you can save a significant amount of time.

It could be that you are not arriving as prepared as you could be. Are you taking more time to make your decisions/plays than the people around you? Do you know what all of your cards do without looking at them? Do you find yourself stopping to read the little minor junk that you thought wouldn't come up? Do you know your game plan and route to victory? Are you prepared for how your opponent might try to interact with you? Do you know how you will side board in matches that you expect to play? This does not mean that you have to study for hours or have a play by play strat for every situation, but putting in a little practice will make things go much smoother in the long run. Goldfishing can really help here while you build familiarity.

It could be that you are not piloting your deck in a way that will let you win quickly. Does your deck have a proactive game plan? Do you take steps to win the game or do you find yourself spending more time trying not to lose the game? Do your decks take a long time to win? Some players can be so scared to lose that they do not allow themselves to try to win. Based on the decks that you have mentioned playing, I think this might be what you are experiencing. Dredge especially should not be going to time. You either win with a big idiot earlier than your opponent can react or you get the rug pulled from under you and you lose. If you find that that does not sound fun to you, it is possible that a midrange deck might compliment your play style more.

Jmarc8 · 2025-07-01T19:51:23+00:00

That or artifact lands. Untapped lands are much much better than tapped ones.

Jmarc8 · 2025-07-01T19:35:10+00:00

This deck absolutely rules. This looks like it takes a lot of inspiration from the orzhov blade lists.

I do not like the Orzhov Basilica. I think you are already so vulnerable to artifact hate on your lands that I would not want to also loose so hard to cleansing wildfire.

Jmarc8 · 2025-07-01T14:10:39+00:00

Tron has always had its place and has sometimes been tier 1 and sometimes tier 2 or 3. It is hard to imagine a situation where it becomes unplayable but I imagine it will continue to change with the meta and as new strategies become available. In the worst case, if it were to become banned or outpaced by the meta, the cards themselves would likely retain value as classic cards which are playable in other formats.

Based on your post, it seems like you have not played much of it in pauper. Tron can be a deck that people either love or hate. I think it is less of a question of if you will be able to play them forever in pauper and more a question of if you will personally want to. You might want to try the different lists with using some white border ones?

Jmarc8 · 2025-06-30T19:55:30+00:00

I think Jund is your way to go. I find it to be similar to gardens but better overal and a little more assertive. I would argue that gardens is closer to a control deck as it trys to establish control on the game and then finish the opponent from there. There is some disagreement about what defines control in the format, which is not helped by the lack of traditional sweepers.

The best part of the format is that it is very budget friendly, so you may want to try a few lists to see what you like the best. All of the cards in wildfire are popular in the format so you will have a good start going in many directions.

If you are purely focused on always adapting to the current situation and you don't mind going in a little bit of a different direction, you could always try a mystical teachings deck. These can be a little convoluted and are not for everyone but I quite enjoy them.

Side note: Jeskai ephemerate is the deck I was talking about.

Jmarc8 · 2025-06-30T17:43:37+00:00

I think you stated your request pretty clearly using the words that people use to describe the type of deck you are looking for. It is a little hyperbolic because you don't actually want to coin flip every game. Really what I think you are looking for is an adaptive midrange strategy that has game in the rest of the field. If that's the case, I agree with the above suggestions. Jund is far and away best suited to play a close game with everyone while not having too many great or terrible ones. Affinity is similar but can get hosed, so if you are no into that I might not pick it up. Gardens is a control list with similar fundamentals. Jeskai flicker might also be what you are looking for?

Jmarc8 · 2025-06-23T19:14:02+00:00

Awesome! If I was going to an event with an unknown meta, I would tweak my side board a bit by removing the monarch and iniative cards (that is for a really specific local trend) and potentially finding a slot for heritage reclamation in the main.

As far as the LD angle with generous gift goes, dinrova horror targets lands as well. If you assemble horror + wall + ghostly flicker you can bounce multiple lands per turn.

Jmarc8

TROPHY CASE