USPS: Urza Stax Polymorph Scepter

Commander / EDH Competitive Mono-Blue

sTakkato

Instant (26)

• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Spell Snare
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Narset's Reversal *f-pre*
• 1x Negate
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Whir of Invention *f-pre*
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Misdirection
• 1x Submerge
• 1x Dig Through Time *f-pre*

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Creature (1)

• 1x Tidespout Tyrant

Artifact (22)

• 1x Chalice of the Void
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Jeweled Amulet
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Tormod's Crypt
• 1x Welding Jar
• 1x Aether Spellbomb
• 1x Codex Shredder
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Witching Well
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Winter Orb
• 1x Proteus Staff
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Vedalken Shackles

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Timetwister MP
• 1x Polymorph
• 1x Recurring Insight

Commander (1)

Land (30)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Castle Vantress *f-pre*
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Traitors
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 18x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Saprazzan Skerry
• 1x Scalding Tarn

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Legacy's Allure
• 1x Power Artifact
• 1x Steal Enchantment
• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Trail of Evidence
• 1x Future Sight

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Please keep in mind that the viability of certain cards/strategies may vary by the local metagame.

Why Polymorph?

Before I confuse anyone, although the deck is title as Polymorph deck. This deck wins through Dramatic Scepter combo just like traditional cEDH Urza decks as much as the Tidespoud Tyrantcombo.

Biggest difference compared to the traditional Urza is that the Polymorph variant cuts down the slot for Utility creatures such as Gilded Drake, Spellskite, and Trinket Mage, and use that slot for another set of Infinite mana combo, which is Polymorph, Proteus Staff, and Tidespout Trant.

The greatest thing about the Polymorph package is that it is a 1 card win-con(Assuming you have Urza and Construct token are already in play). Although polymorph package is not the fastest combo, because mono-blue decks lack in quality tutors, having 1 card combo is very nice.

Traditional Urza deck runs about 6-8 creatures, and Polymorph build requires 3 specific cards in the deck. So you will end up with extra 3-5 cards for extra interactions or stax pieces, which helps with the fact that polymorph is little bit slow.

Another great thing about Polymorph Build is that Tidesopout Tyrantcan bypass hate pieces such as Null Rod and Cursed Totem, which will stop Isochron Scepterand Urza.

There are many upsides of Polymorph build, but also downsides. Strengths and Weaknesses of Polymorph will be discussed in the next section.

Strength and Weakness of Polymorph Urza(or Urza in general)

Strength
In addition to what has been mentioned in "Why Polymorph?" section, there are some advantages playing Polymorph build.
- One-sided Stax Effect.
You can tap the stax artifacts such as Winter Orband Static Orbby Urza's mana producing ability to turn them off at your convenience.
Also, since being mono-blue requires your land base to be mostly basic Island, you have access to Back to Basics, which can be an extremely strong stax piece to the pod.
I believe this makes Urza strong and unique from any other commanders in competitive environment.

- As long as Urza is on the board, your mana-source does not get limited by Null Rod
Because you can still tap your artifact for mana through Urza, you can bypass Null Rodand Stony Silence.
Therefore, we have an option to run Null Rodin Urza deck.
However, Null Rodis not included in the current list.
It is an extremely oppressive one-sided stax piece as long as Urza is out. However, if you do not have Urza out, you will be set way behind, especially if there are any players with mana dorks.

Weakness
-The polymorph strategy is vulnerable to Grafdigger's Cage.
Keep in mind that if Grafdigger's Cageis out, you can use Polymorphand Proteus Staffas a creature removal.

-Due to the low creature count, you are a great target for Tymna the Weaver.
It's not like traditional Urza can consistently have blockers for Tymna, but having no real creatures besides the Commander makes you vulnerable to Tymna.
In order to mitigate the combat pressures, this list runs "steal creatures" effects such as Legacy's Allureand Vedalken Shackles, as well as Mishra's Factory which can be a decent blocker against Tymna.

-Tidespout Tyrant is almost a Dead Draw.
Yes, Urza can produce a lot of mana for you to play around with, and hard casting Tidespout Tyrantis possible but not the best option.

Infinite Combos

There are 3 ways to reach infinite mana.
1. Tidespout Tyrant+Combination of Artifacts (Sol Ring,Mana Crypt,Mana Vault, and etc)
2. Isochron Scepter+Dramatic Reversal+non-land permanents that can produce total of more than 2 mana
for these two methods, you can put the Commander, Urza, Lord High Artificer in the mix, to utilize any utility artifact to produce mana.
3. Power Artifact+Grim Monolith

Once infinite mana is achieved, there are several ways to close out the game.

1. Summon Tidespout Tyrant→Cast Codex Shredder and use its ability to mill an opponent→Cast any artifact and use Tyrant's Trigger to bounce Codex Shredder→Cast Codex Shredderagain and bounce any artifact→Repeat
(This method will be stopped by any Eldrazi Titan effects)
2. Twister Loop
Cast Timetwister holding priority cast Narset's Reversal targeting Timetwister, or use Codex Shredder to recurr Timetwister will allow you to loop your deck infinite times. By looping the entire deck, you will be bouncing all of the opponents' permanents via Tidespout Tyrant, Narset, Parter of Veils+Timetwisterto empty their hands, then bouncing and summoning Urza enough to lethal opponents with Construct tokens on next turn. Timetwister can be replaced with timespiral+Narset's Reversal.

Opening Hand/Mulligan

The rule for Keep or Mulligan is very simple.
If you can cast Urza by Turn 2 or 3, your hand is keepable, otherwise mulligan.
In addition to fast Urza, the following conditions are desired.

-Protections: Counterspell,Mana Drain

-Stax Piece: Winter Orb,Static Orb

-Tutors:Mystical Tutor,Personal Tutor,Transmute Artifact
-Creature Interactions: Rapid Hybridization,Blink of an Eye

Card Explanation

In this section, cards that appear less in cEDH will be explained.

Legacy's Allure
If you can get this card out early, this will limit a lot of creature strategies.
If you manage to slow down the game to have enough counter on Legacy's Allure, this will act as instant-speed Gilded Drake

Vedalken Shackles
Similar to Legacy's Allure, this will disrupt many creature strategies.
Compared to Legacy's Allure, this card costs a lot of mana, but Vedalken Shacklescan function without waiting for it to have counters.

Top Ranked	Achieved #71 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #56 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Mono-Blue 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.10
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Clue, Construct 0/0 C, Frog Lizard 3/3 G
Folders	Cool Decks