I love EDH... so I'm bringing it to modern! Honestly, I have no idea what this deck is supposed to be... Just tempo?
In all seriousness, the goal is to get zur out and start swinging as early as possible. Mana dorks and lightning greaves help with this. Spellskite, greaves, inquisition, and duress help make sure Zur doesn't get beat up when he hits the field. The main wincon is just beatdown. We defend in the early game with our blockers, and either go for the win assault formation and Doran, or win the grind with enchanments.
As for Zur targets: Assault Formation is there to win the game quickly, Ghostly prison and Detention Sphere are also there obviously to protect you. Pillory of the sleepless seems kinda weird, so it's between that and another detention sphere, but the life drain is better than you think and it contributes more to athreos. Counterbalance and Phyrexian Arena amazing in grindier games. Brain Maggot is for whenever you need a peek, but again this spot is kinda weird and you might as well add another inquisition.
Ultimately, the deck is designed to do fine even if you don't have Zur. If you need to win quickly, formation and Doran are there, facilitated with treefolk harbinger, and the greaves keep Doran on the board. Spellskite and hand disruption are good against burn and control decks. The deck can itself go on the color side: although we have negligeable removal, we can always find the right spells with Zur and our creatures are gret blockers. Sideboard is meant to fuel Zur also. If I can improve the card choices, this deck could be amazing.
What I need help with is just good targets for Zur, and just good utility cards. Should I have serum visions so I can find the right cards and make counterbalance even stronger?
