Cycling Zur (current)

Commander / EDH Combo Control Enchantment

bladeyeoman

Instant (16)

• 1x Akroma's Blessing
• 1x Ancient Excavation
• 1x Angelsong
• 1x Clear
• 1x Complicate
• 1x Expunge
• 1x Forsake the Worldly
• 1x Miscalculation
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Radiant's Judgment
• 1x Rapid Decay
• 1x Rescind
• 1x Scarab Feast
• 1x Shadow of the Grave
• 1x Shred Memory
• 1x Wipe Clean

Creature (14)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Auramancer
• 1x Cloudblazer
• 1x Curator of Mysteries
• 1x Dimir Infiltrator
• 1x Esper Sojourners
• 1x Horror of the Broken Lands
• 1x Jhessian Zombies
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Sanctum Plowbeast
• 1x Stoic Champion
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Vizier of Tumbling Sands

Enchantment (16)

• 1x Arcane Laboratory
• 1x Astral Slide
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Cast Out
• 1x Diplomatic Immunity
• 1x Drake Haven
• 1x Faith of the Devoted
• 1x Lay Claim
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x New Perspectives
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Rune of Protection: Black
• 1x Rune of Protection: Blue
• 1x Rune of Protection: Green
• 1x Rune of Protection: Red
• 1x Rune of Protection: White

Artifact (10)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Fluctuator
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Akroma's Vengeance
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Decree of Justice
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Dirge of Dread
• 1x Migratory Route
• 1x Treasure Cruise
• 1x Wander in Death
• 1x Winds of Rath

Commander (1)

Land (34)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 7x Island
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 7x Plains
• 1x Polluted Mire
• 1x Remote Isle
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

---

Maybeboard

Enchantment (19)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Copy Enchantment
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Decree of Silence
• 1x Ethereal Armor
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Greater Auramancy
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Karmic Justice
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Quarantine Field
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sphere of Safety
• 1x Starfield of Nyx
• 1x Stony Silence
• 1x Suppression Field

Artifact (3)

• 1x Crystal Chimes
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Instant (14)

• 1x Countervailing Winds
• 1x Cryptic Command
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Death Pulse
• 2x Gilded Light
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Into the Roil
• 1x Rebuild
• 1x Second Sunrise
• 1x Stifle
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Trickbind

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Hour of Revelation
• 1x Ichor Slick
• 1x Replenish
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Sadistic Sacrament
• 1x Stir the Sands
• 1x Sudden Disappearance
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Vindicate

Creature (13)

• 1x Aegis of the Gods
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Devoted Caretaker
• 1x Eternal Dragon
• 1x Flickerwisp
• 1x Hanna, Ship's Navigator
• 1x Oketra's Attendant
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Scion of Darkness
• 1x Street Wraith
• 1x Twisted Abomination
• 1x Undead Gladiator
• 1x Vile Manifestation

Land (6)

• 1x Desert of the Fervent
• 1x Desert of the Glorified
• 1x Desert of the Mindful
• 1x Desert of the True
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Reliquary Tower

---

What should I do to improve the fun levels of this deck?

Goal

This deck is still in development - I started with a budget Zur build, and have only tweaked it slightly. Definitely not sure about including some of the cards. I'm still pretty new to the EDH format, and while I'm loving it, I feel like I don't have a clear story on what this deck wants to be. Pretty control-y, but seems like I could take in a more control direction, focus more on enchantment protection and enchantment-based win conditions like Starfield of Nyx, try to get more cycling synergies like Vile Manifestation , or add more ETB synergies to work with Astral Slide.

I play with a group of friends who are not super competitive, so I'm tempted to avoid some of the awesome-but-frustrating combos like Solemnity + Decree of Silence. Although I might keep them at the ready and swap them in if ever I'm playing against more competitive decks/players.

This isn't aimed to be a super budget build, but I'm also trying not to break the bank. So at least for now I won't be adding Crucible of Worlds, and will probably try to avoid cards that run more than 5 or 10 dollars at most (but I'd love to hear which of the more expensive ones are worthwhile).

Gamplay

My game plan tends to follow the general pattern of:- Use ramp as appropriate, get Zur the Enchanter out- attack someone and get Astral Slide using Zur- follow this up with Drake Haven and Faith of the Devoted if I don't mind starting to look scary- cycle for the right cards, use zur to snag specific enchantments as needed, gain value from cycling and from bouncing my own creatures with astral slide. Hopefully get out Fluctuator and/or New Perspectives so cycling is free. - Win somehow. So far, this has involved some combination of cycling and hitting for a ton with Horror of the Broken Lands and/or generating drakes.

Refining processA lot of the cards are from the initial deck (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-commander-cycling-zur-53), and I'm not sure how important they are to my playgroup. For example, I feel like having five runes in my deck is a waste of space, as are some of the less-useful cycling cards (a lot of cycling graveyard hate, which isn't all that useful with my playgroup). At the same time, cycling -- especially when its for free -- means I'm getting value out of these cards. So perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on niche cards that cycle.

I've also found that Astral slide + cycling cost reduction is pretty crazy. Easy for me to (a) draw tons of cards with cloudblazer and mulldrifter, and (b) avoid board wipes of my few creatures, let alone targetted spells. So it feels like some of the creature protection cards are unnecessary (and anything attached to a creature, or anything that gives a creature shroud, is going to make it harder for me to astral slide my way out of a board wipe). That said, I haven't had anyone destroy my astral slide yet, and I might appreciate some redundancy if that were the case.

I'm looking to have a bit of a better plan, and maybe take advantage of some less-thematic-but-excellent cards like Cyclonic Rift. Cut out anything unnecessary, and add in things that synergize with what I have or fill important weak points.

The maybeboard is a long list of cards that seem potentially useful that I've run across when watching mtgo or youtube videos of live games, as well as cards that seem to synergize well with the game plan.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 11 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 42 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.24
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Bird 1/1 W, Drake 2/2 U, Soldier 1/1 W