For years there have been several decks that have used mana acceleration to power their strategies. While Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves might be your first pick, many decks are opting for the Urzatron lands to fuel their mana needs. Urza’s Tower, Urza’s Powerplant, and Urza’s Mine are three cards that are making appearances in more and more decks because of their ability to pull seven mana from three cards. This ability is quite attractive to most gamers, whether they be of casual or tourney level play. But with the introduction of Time Spiral there came the possibility of a new type of land-based acceleration in both the Standard and Extended formats.

In the beginning, Vesuva was looked upon by many players as just another card thrown into the madness that was Time Spiral. It wouldn’t be long, however, for people to realize that Vesuva had more than just a Johnny flare. Thus began the war between Vesuva and Urzatron. Which was better? Who would win out? There are two decks that will be touched on that will sway the decision both directions and in the end we shall see which heavyweight will outlast the other!!!

The tale of the Tape:

The Urzatron has been around since the Antiquities expansion, giving players ample time to find ways to abuse the possible seven mana that it can produce. It has been used in several decks from the past all the way to the present, and is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Instantly recognizable, the Tron brings fear to its opponents from turn one.

***Any way to get a pair of boxing gloves in here?***

Vesuva, a promising rookie, has just recently touched the surface as one of the better utility cards in the Time Spiral Block. Allowing you to copy any land currently in play, it ups your chances for acceleration (with bounce lands) and smooths your mana curve by copying dual lands. Need a double white for your casting cost? No problem, smack down a Vesuva and you’re set. There are drawbacks to this card, however. Vesuva comes into play tapped. GASP! Tapped?! What good is that!? Allow me to tell you, young Planeswalker.

Time to go POSTal

In a recent article on Magicthegathering.com Ben Bleiweiss, author of Building on a Budget, came up with a deck that utilized Vesuva to its fullest extent.

By coupling the power of Vesuva and Cloudpost, you were able to produce ridiculous amounts of mana in very few cards. Although both Cloudpost and Vesuva come into play tapped, you are still able to gather heavy mana from them.

Think about this – One Cloudpost is not impressive at all. It taps for one colorless mana when it becomes untapped. However, grouped with Vesuva (copying Cloudpost) two Cloudpost becomes four mana, three Cloudpost become nine mana etc. If the game lasts that long, you could eventually reach sixty-four mana with the eight cards.

This particular deck consists of several cards that may abuse the mucho mana that Cloudpost / Vesuva can create. Let’s take a look at the deck list:

As you can see, this deck has many tricks up its sleeve. From ways to produce large creatures to complete lock down this deck gets mean quick. Using Sakura-Tribe Elder as an early blocker and a way to get your basic lands out, you instantly can use your tutor cards in Reap and Sow, and Sylvan Scrying. The key is to get out atleast three Vesuva / Cloudpost out as soon as possible so that you can go into recursion or Buy Back mode (which I will touch on in a bit). You do have a few creatures, but the goal is to hold off your opponent long enough to pull off one of several combos in the deck.

The inclusion of Wurmcalling is brilliant to say the least. You can create several small tokens using Buyback or a large beefy creature to intimidate your opponent. You can also get into a Spellburst lock down with the same Buyback ability. Is your match at a stalemate? Why not utilize the copious quantities of colorless mana, search out Dark Depths, and start removing counters. Being able to pop out a 20/20 flying indestructible creature tends to send people packing. My favorite combo in this deck is the recursion of arguably one of the best cards in the game - Mindslaver.

Revered by those who play it and loathed by those who don’t, Mindslaver takes control to a new plane. Not only do you get to control your opponents next turn, but…come closer. Shhhhh allow me to let you in on a little secret…Mindslaver is an….Artifact. You might be saying to yourself, “Why is that even relevant”? Well my apprentice Planeswalker, in conjunction with Academy Ruins, you can control the entire game and most likely your opponent will concede.

The combo is simple. Sacrifice Mindslaver so that its ability triggers, and goes to the graveyard. Using Academy Ruins, place Mindslaver back on top of your library so that you can rinse and repeat next turn. This effectively does two things. The first being that you will never deck yourself since you are drawing the same card over and over again. Second, it really pisses your opponent off! That opponent never gets to play a turn again, and from there on in, you just have to play the waiting game till he's dead.

Vesuva has definitely made a name for itself with this deck alone. But, there is one more drawback that I failed to mention. The worst part about the Post/Vesuva mana acceleration is that manaburn is always there. Yes, you can have TOO much mana.

Gin and TRONic

Seasoned veterans of Magic: the Gathering will atest to the power of the Urzatron. Since its conception in the Antiquities block, the “Tron” has had a love, hate relationship with almost every player. Either they love it, or they hate it. Taking a short hiatus between 5th and 8th Edition, the Tron is back and is in full force. How amazing is it to produce seven mana off of just three cards? How can someone NOT run this is their deck? Gabriel Nassif went 5-0-1 at the Paris Worlds Magic Tournament with the following deck utilizing the power of the Tron.

The first thing that might jump out to you is that this deck would be hell for aggro decks. The recursion of Martyr of Sands for ridiculous life gain puts several deck archetypes between a rock and a hard place.

The biggest reason that the Tron is in place is for the possibility of Spell Burst lockdown. You also have the option of creating assembly workers each turn once your Tron is in place to make your mini mechanical minions and allow them to overrun your opposition. With the inclusion of the single Dizzy Spell, you’re able to transmute for several cards that will help you, whether it be for the Weathered Wayfarer, a Martyr, or the dreaded Spell Burst, you have numerous outs with this one of.

Now as you can see, this deck has a few good things going for it. BUT... it lacks something. We have a boatload of counterspells, even more life gain, but what is it…what could possibly finish this deck. THAT’S IT! It lacks finishing power.

The deck is known to win by gaining so much life your opponent concedes, or you are able to ping them to death by recurring the Martyr and locking out their spells with Spell Burst. I’ve played against this deck and I honestly think that its main goal is to bore your opponent to death so that they will concede!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

There are several arguments for both Tron and Vesuva. However let us look at a quick break down.

• Both have the ability to produce large amounts of mana. In a long game, the Tron has the possiblity to produce 27 colorless mana. Vesuva and Cloudpost however, in a similar situation, can produce 64 mana, over twice the amount as the Tron pieces.
• Although not as likely with Tron, both have the downside of possible Manaburn. Having a single card tap for eight mana (cloudpost/vesuva) is very dangerous and unless played correctly, you will lose.
• Vesuva and Cloudpost both come into play tapped.

THE DECISION

So who takes it? Tron, Vesuva,…Vesuva, Tron…

Ladies And Gentlemen…

We have a DRAW!

I personally think that both Vesuva and Tron have their respectful place in decks. Its very difficult to choose which is better because they are both amazing. As one of my friends said, and later showed me, “Why not run both?” Copying your opponents Tron Pieces while running Tron yourself is very nasty. Also, being able to copy your own Tron pieces to give you that extra edge is equally mean.

It is obvious that both sets have their place in casual, and multi-player formats. However one of the major debates right now in the current Magic season is to run Vesuva/Cloudpost or run the Tron in extended. It is self-evident that only Tron can be run in the current Standard format (Cloudpost isn't Standard legal). Unless, of course, they bring back Cloudpost in 10th Edition!

Regardless of what deck runs which set of cards, the Tron and Vesuva are going to be staples in the Extended and Standard formats for quite some time. Expect to see lots of decks running variants of the Tron/Vesuva combo as well as the Vesuva/Post Combo.

Happy Gaming!

~FNG

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