Zur Doomsday

Commander / EDH WUB (Esper)

AlwaysSleepy

Instant (31)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Delay
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Gush
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Silence
• 1x Snap
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Creature (4)

• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Thassa's Oracle

Land (28)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 8x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Sleight of Hand
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Commander (1)

Artifact (16)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Copy Artifact
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Rhystic Study

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

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Hi guys. I saw that this list is linked in the Laboratory Maniacs decklist conglomerate, but a lot of people wanted to have access to the old list, which is Skuloth's Zur. There are also other resources and lists I would like to share here, including an in-depth discussion on how to play Doomsday, as well as a more storm-like Zur build:

Resources

Doomsday Primer

Notable Decklists

Here is Skuloth's Zur. It includes the comment section, which is a valuable resource, and links to his write-ups on the deck:

Skuloth's Zur

For another really neat build of Zur with more storm-like finishers, here is Vik's Shimmer Zur:

Shimmer Myr Zur

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Feel free to ask any questions, I'll answer each of them in the comment section. As a general note, I think it's better to think of this list as a core that you can modify as you see fit. This list is pretty constantly in some state of flux as I am trying out new things or testing new suggestions. Please let me know if you have had success with new choices or unique cards, more the merrier! But, I don't really want this list to be thought of as cut and dry, since it's always being tuned in some way.

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The ways to win with this deck are as follows:

1. Ad Nauseam into Angel's Grace and recasting Ad Nauseam to draw the deck and win with Laboratory Maniac

2. Casting Doomsday and winning with Laboratory Maniac

3. Demonic Consultation with Laboratory Maniac on the field

4. The Windfall line

I have detailed the Windfall line here:

Zur Windfall Line

The other way to win involves Ad Nauseam and Angel's Grace, or AG+AN. This combo allows us to draw our deck and then play Maniac and draw to win in a similar way to Doomsday, it's just much easier since playing with your deck in hand makes life really good.

There is a way to win post-AG+AN using Windfall if you have Maniac exiled and Pull from Eternity is also useless. This happens when Maniac is hit by Praetor's Grasp. The line is as follows:

1. Draw deck

2. Cast Brainstorm to put Yawgmoth's Will and maybe Pact of Negation on top of your library (ideally though, lead with Silence before any of this)

3. Cast Windfall

4. Everyone else draws 80+ cards, you draw the two on top

5. Cast Yawgmoth's Will

6. Cast Windfall, everyone will draw, again, 80+ cards, and you win since Angel's Grace prevents you from losing when you draw into an empty library

This line is also very resilient, and believe it or not, will win right through graveyard shuffle effects like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth! When sequenced in the order above (and leading with Silence), no amount of hate or deck construction will actually prevent you from winning. If graveyard hate is on the table, after Silence, bounce it with Chain of Vapor. If the hate is real and everywhere, feel free to put Cyclonic Rift in your list to just clear out the board post-AG+AN.

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I understand some of my card choices are unique. I have made notes for any cards which I consider flex slots so it's easier to pick out things I think are non-issue swaps in case you want to change the deck quickly.

Unique Card Choices

1. Demonic Consultation: A quick combo with Laboratory Maniac which fights stax well. Also good when you flip LabMan off Ad Nauseam. Currently a flex spot.

2. Enlightened Tutor: Probably one of the weaker tutors in the deck overall, it still grabs Necropotence earlier than Zur the Enchanter does, as well as grab an early Mystic Remora or Mana Crypt. Considering that it is a duplicate copy of 3 very powerful cards, after testing it earned its spot in the list for the time being. In Shimmer Myr builds it gets even better.

3. Intuition: A very powerful tutor which fetches 3 cards. Notable lines include 3 tutors to get Yawgmoth's Will and convert a single tutor into at least 4 more, opening Doomsday piles (if being cute), fetching gas, setting up Yawgmoth's Will turns, and more similar to these lines.

4. Sleight of Hand: Simply the 4th cantrip. Does its job decently well while not being a part of the big 3.

5. Mystic Remora: Likely one of the most broken multiplayer draw spells printed. The card is insane and generates obscene amounts of card advantage. Plus, it can be fetched by Zur to protect your Doomsday pile as a convenient but powerful 2nd target after the Necropotence fetch.

6. Imperial Seal: 1 CMC tutor.

7. Copy Artifact: Zur target which nets mana and also gives you the best rock/artifact on the field. Remarkably powerful card. Flex spot in the list.

Exlcusions

1. Time Spiral: The CMC is just too high for a card with moderate pay-off. It plays really well with High Tide, but I never felt a need for those lines, plus they were risky. It's not a bad choice, I just prefer other cards.

2. Power Artifact: Likely the weakest of the playable Zur targets. I cut it fairly quickly and did not have a need to go back. Generally Grasp of Fate gets the job done.

3. Thirst for Knowledge: I feel like 3 CMC is too steep. Sleight fills this role.

4. Snapcaster Mage: This was a card which is playable in Zur, however I felt that this card was mostly an overcosted cantrip or an overcosted protection spell. Granted, the power is that it can be both. However, considering that Snap's power comes from reusing things, it puts stress on our curve during a game where often I wanted to be doing other things. Holding up Snap + Protection felt difficult. I ended up cutting Snapcaster Mage in order to free up slots for more countermagic.

5. Grim Tutor: Bad card. :p

6. Candelabra of Tawnos: Yup. It's not here anymore. The reason is the card is not terribly impactful in Zur unless you are in situations where you are probably winning. It's better in other decks, no doubt. But here it's felt very lukewarm. For now, it's out.

Other Viable Choices

This is just a small section on cards I think are strong in Zur and 100% viable should you want to run them. I don't run them for personal/meta reasons, so test and adjust your list to what you like playing!

1. Phyrexian Unlife - Excellent choice in Blood Pod/Hatebears heavy metas. It keeps you alive, can be found with Zur, and combos with Ad Nauseam just like Angel's Grace. It's also a very strong second Zur fetch post Necropotence if you find Ad Nauseam after your big dig.

2. Oblivion Ring: Very playable, I do not choose to run it in addition to Grasp of Fate. If you need another Grasp of Fate effect, this is an excellent choice.

3. Stifle: One of the more odd countermagic choices, it actually attacks from numerous angles to provide unique blowouts or ways to interact with opponents by avenues not normally available. Some examples include stifling storm triggers, Aetherflux Reservoir triggers, Protean Hulk triggers, EtB tutor triggers like that of Imperial Recruiter, hitting your own Pact of Negation trigger, and more. It's shown to be a really valuable, cheap piece of interaction.

4. Snap - Plays well with High Tide, and is good removal. Can recommend.

5. Winds of Rebuke - Viable removal which screws with top-deck tutors. If you prefer this card to Into the Roil, then it's a perfectly okay swap to make.

6. Mind's Desire: Plays extremely well with Doomsday, and also is one of a very small handful of cards which can pull you back from the trench to win a game. Overall, it is not too difficult to turn on Mind's Desire for 10+ storm if that line presents itself. Also, Mind's Desire lines with Doomsday are virtually unbeatable.

7. Hurkyl's Recall: Removal/protection into stax, etc. which also doubles as a storm card. I just have Dramatic Reversal, if you want more, this is a good addition.

8. Detention Sphere: See Oblivion Ring.

9. Pull from Eternity: Sure. It's insurance. I've never cast it. So I took it out. Play it if you want.

10. Rhystic Study: A fine long term grind card with Zur. Pairs well with Mystic Remora for quite the powerful board state in long games.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope this list and some of my discussion helps a bit.

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Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH WUB (Esper) 4 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 14 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.85
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Folders	Commander, EDH, Other, Competitive EDH, cEDH, Zur decks, An assortment of cEDH decks, cEDH, Commander-Decks, cEDH