Urza, Lord High Artificer cEDH *Primer*

Commander / EDH KailDaemon

SCORE: 164 | 153 COMMENTS | 135100 VIEWS | IN 73 FOLDERS


Comments & Update V1.1 —May 27, 2019

After the 1st week of testing and many...many consults from both my LGS, other lists, and the commentors here on this list. I've made the 1st round of changes.

IN:

  • Power Artifact

  • Rings of Brighthearth

  • Aether SpellBomb

  • Winds of Rebuke

  • Mouth of Ronom (with a full swap from Islands to Snow Covered Islands)

  • Mishra's Workshop

  • Seat of the Synod

  • Darksteel Citadel

OUT:

  • Etherium Sculptor

  • Legacy's Allure

  • Future Sight

  • Preordain

  • 4 Islands

Also I'd like to remind everyone: be courteous to one another. There have been a few instances where people are being rude, whether they meant to be or not, and sparked responses that were also counter productive to a clean and healthy community. Whether a person suggest something optimal or suboptimal, it doesnt matter. Be nice. I've stated in my primer that my inclusion of the maybeboard would be for other ideas that would work within this shell for both competitive and casual play, meta dependent, alternative win cons, or just neat ideas. The main list is how my personal list will sit in paper. I appreciate all suggestions sent my way. Those I find to be reasonable will go through testing and if made prominent in my personal meta and win percentage itll make the main list and the cards I've removed will go to the maybe board. Again, think about the words you use and how you use them. I treat all forms of criticism with respect and I'd like for everyone, atleast on the comments in this list, to do the same thing. Thank you all and I hope to continue to hear feedback, good and bad. Just make sure we are nice to one another ok?

KailDaemon says... #1

n0bunga we back in it man...let's get this puppy rolling

May 21, 2019 5:06 p.m.

KailDaemon says... #2

Bro I know, I cant wait man

May 21, 2019 5:36 p.m.

KailDaemon says... #3

What are your primary thoughts/suggestions

May 21, 2019 5:36 p.m.

KailDaemon says... #4

Null rod hurts the scepter though, but I guess if you're already churning through the deck with his ability then the lab man/Jace line is still open, plus the twist loops. You just loose access to the swan scepter loop really...I can dig it

May 21, 2019 5:57 p.m.

SMASHER101 says... #5

I think it gets around winter orb? Because the artifact isn't given an ability tapping it is part of the cost of a creature's ability so unless for whatever reason someone is playing a Mycosynth Lattice then Null Rod shouldn't be a problem.

May 21, 2019 6:04 p.m.

KailDaemon says... #6

Yea, I'll be testing that out today and the following days to see if running bull rod hurts us more often or is fine with smart timing if we dont have Urza down

May 21, 2019 6:17 p.m.

LeonSpires says... #7

Definitely going to keep an eye on your list to get more ideas.

What do you think about the win con being Aetherflux Reservoir instead of Laboratory Maniac / Jace, Wielder of Mysteries it only gives you one dead card when you aren't going off and can tap it with Urza, Lord High Artificer's ability for . I'm already try to figure out how to turn my Arcum Dagsson cEDH deck into Urza. Really hoping that Urza, Lord High Artificer doesn't get banned... I also managed to snag a copy of Urza when he went up for pre order on Star City.

May 21, 2019 6:47 p.m.

KailDaemon says... #8

LeonSpires yes I have that in the maybe board for testing later. Itll definitely work and would open up a slot. Will be testing a null rod version at somepoint today and null rod hinders the reservoirs activated ability. But in a sans rod build I say go for it...also that's awesome you got a copy. Sold out for me when I went to go get mine

May 21, 2019 7:04 p.m.

DuskDeadman says... #9

Meekstone man

May 21, 2019 9:19 p.m.

Aethos528 says... #10

Hey, man. Have you tried playing your deck? It can't work with a mere thirty land.

May 22, 2019 1:01 a.m.

KailDaemon says... #11

Aethos528 youd be surprised. Most cEDH list run anywhere between 28-32 lands since your mana curve tends to be very low. Also with a plethora of cheap tutors we can grab pieces that give us infinite mana to try and win the game. Plus if you count the number of mana rocks with the lands here you'll see we actually have 41 sources of mana...so it's not hard at all to cast our cards with an average CMC of 2.07 all together

May 22, 2019 6:41 a.m.

DrkNinja says... #12

In my version of this deck I play Jace, and Reservoir, there's really no reason you can't play both ya know? I think it just boils down to which do you reach first when using Urza's last ability to draw cards, if I hit reservoir and a retract... then so be it... lol

Just in case your curious... [Primer] Urza's Mox Factory!

May 22, 2019 9:56 a.m.

KailDaemon says... #13

DrkNinja yes I have reservoir in the maybe board for different builds down the line. I'm opting to have the swan scepter combo plus the lab man lines for my finishers due to my meta

May 22, 2019 10:05 a.m.

DrkNinja says... #14

What are your thoughts on Tezzeret? Originally he was in the deck but I immediately cut him for CMC reasons

May 22, 2019 10:11 a.m.

KailDaemon says... #15

I think hes fine, I'm looking to find room for him actually

May 22, 2019 10:18 a.m.

LeonSpires says... #16

What about Metalworker ? He can definitely put in work especially if the game goes long and you need to attempt to cast Urza, Lord High Artificer multiple times. Also Basalt Monolith gives you another Power Artifact target and if your running Rings of Brighthearth gives a back up infinite mana combo other then Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal .

On a different note: I know this would be too slow for cEDH but I think it would be hilarious to get out Mycosynth Lattice use Power Artifact on Urza, Lord High Artificer and play Training Grounds to reduce Urza, Lord High Artificer 's activated ability to . Now if only Training Grounds was an artifact...

May 22, 2019 11:59 a.m.

DrkNinja says... #17

I actually run Lattice, but I run it for the Karn, the Great Creator lockdown.

May 22, 2019 12:02 p.m.

dingusdingo says... #18

Mishra's Workshop Seat of the Synod Hurkyl's Recall for sure.

Should consider Expedition Map for fetching and abusing Academy Ruins . If you lean heavier into stax, you should look at 1 cmc cantrip sac artifacts, it will help you grind value. Chromatic Star Chromatic Sphere . Also, Aether Spellbomb should replace Legacy's Allure .

Personally, I think leaning more into stax is a good idea with this deck. All sorts of great artifacts you could abuse Howling Mine Phyrexian Revoker Torpor Orb Pithing Needle Mana Web Orb of Dreams Tangle Wire

Sands of Time has a lot of potential here as well.

May 23, 2019 2:01 a.m.

nedwalker33 says... #19

Why The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale!!! I understand its good but its so expensive

May 23, 2019 4:45 a.m.

KailDaemon says... #20

@LeonSpires metalworker is just too slow, and we arent running that many artifacts that'll stay in our hand for long to use it consistently over the course of a few turns. More than likely he will be a one shot dump all our artifacts out then he just becomes a mox sapphire with legs. We are not running rings since itll mostly be a dead card unless we already have the monolith(s). This is 1st and foremost a combo list and tutors are dedicated to trying to find game winning pieces (which we already have a plethora of). And running training grounds would be nice but if you're making infinite mana quickly and consistently there is no need for it and it becomes more or less a dead draw. In a more stax oriented build I'd would say yes run it. But this version aims to be a little faster.

@dingusdingo no real need for either seat or workshop since we have only a slightly larger quantity of artifacts with mostly low mana cost, so the workshop becomes a dead land after a few turns. Seat I dont see a reason other than the fact it's an artifact so it pumps the Urza construct by 1? No really good enough here. Expedition map is cute but mostly it would be grabbing the tabernacle rather than the ruins. My current meta is more creature heavy so it hits a bit harder and pushes me further. So it's something to consider. And howling mine is bad anytime Urza isnt on the field, card advantage for my opponents is a strict no no. The other stack pieces you mentioned would be fine in a more stac oriented version but this isnt primarily a stax deck, leaning more towards combo with a small stac element just because a few pieces synergize with Urza so well that we can use them symmetrically. Yes the howling mine can be asymmetrical but I'd rather not run that risk of my opponents drawing into an out to our board. Also aether spellbomb is a good option but I find permanent thrift to commanders such as gitrog monster and thrasios to be devastating to an opponent rather than just bouncing to the hand for a turn. Harder to deal with a thief rather than a bounce. Also most stax creatures have low power so stealing them to use against opponents is the icing on the cake, which is why we also run gilded drake for theft.

@nedwalker33 tabernacle doesnt hurt us in the slightest outside of tapping 1 for Urza. It's mostly to deal with all the tymna decks and najeela decks running around the cedh metas. Yes it's expensive for paper magic but not so much for online.

May 23, 2019 8:07 a.m.

he would be great in Breya, Etherium Shaper

May 23, 2019 9:34 a.m.

OLucas says... #22

Depending on the metagame Tsabo's Web could fit in despite some nombos. Also consider Gush for card draw and Karn, the Great Creator as a "one" card hard lock.

May 23, 2019 11:08 a.m.

KailDaemon says... #23

Yea I've considered the web and ot seem decent in a more stac oriented build, the others rely in the meta group...gush is good with some doomsday builds but we cant run them here unless we get lucky with a narsets reversal on one, but that's too situational though its be sweet to pull off lol

May 23, 2019 11:16 a.m.

mznbzt says... #24

Minus the unreleased cads, Tabernacle and Timetwister, I have all these cards. Neat.

May 23, 2019 11:33 a.m.

KailDaemon says... #25

Yea I'm just missing the stuff from MH1, then itll be fully built..running proxies of Urza and the FoN for paper magic to test at my lgs.

May 23, 2019 11:51 a.m.