Zur's Perfection

Commander / EDH outofnothing0

SCORE: 307 | 431 COMMENTS | 152041 VIEWS | IN 151 FOLDERS


Land swap —Nov. 12, 2014

Serra's Sanctum out and replaced with Wasteland for more versatility

Sallucianious says... #1

I like many of the things you do have. I understand that every deck is shaped by it's playgroup. My own Zur has had many forms, but i think my latest iteration of Zur's God Complex is by far the most powerful version against my playgroup.

For a long time, as i've rocked Zur for over a year, i've been given the rolls eyes 'oh you're playing Zur" from some of the members of my playgroup. For most of this time he was aura based, fetching as many auras as he could to boost himself into whipping the competition. I've found that this method is not only detrimental to my own desires for the deck and was ended up leaving many of my best enchantments stuck in the yard with no Elixir of Immortality on the field or in my hand. This simply wasn't acceptable, i recently shifted Zur into an auraless form while still keeping many of the themes i wanted in Zur. From boosting himself with things like Day of Destiny + Homicidal Seclusion to keeping down my opponents ability to hit me and my single creature deck: Ghostly Prison + Propaganda .

For all the hate i got from fellow players, in the past Zur simply didn't run more of the meaner enchantments, with AEther Barrier + Overburden + Painful Quandary making players think more about the spells they play, Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond are in theme with Zur's desire for immortality above everyone and everything else and provide an interesting win condition after using a primed Archmage Ascension + Dictate of Kruphix to 'draw' them both.

Finally, my favorite card for Zur, Teferi's Veil fits both thematically (As for many years Zur disappeared from the happening of the world around him) and mechanically, removing him as a target on my opponents turns.

You've done what i've wanted to do, foil a whole deck. +1. :D

July 12, 2014 2:26 p.m.

outofnothing0 says... #2

@Sioum: I've been considering cutting Ethereal Armor for a while now but Battle Mastery seems like it may also be another potentially good cut. I'll give it some thought when I finally get around to working on deck building again...

I like running my lands a little lower when there is artifact ramp to back it up, lands are pretty much the worst thing I can have in my hand after turn 4 with this deck and I rarely get 'starved' due to mulligans.

I actually haven't seen that combo before with Helm of Obedience before; it seems pretty awesome so I'll keep it in mind but I almost rather like playing with locks versus auto wins. Something about slowly killing them when they can't do anything about it makes me all excited haha.

I had a look at your deck and it seems pretty solid. I left ya a comment. Thanks for the feedback and upvote!

July 23, 2014 1:20 a.m.

outofnothing0 says... #3

@Sallucianious: My deck was the opposite. I started out with static enchantment and then went more aura voltron based afterwards. Personally I find Overburden helps my opponents more than hinders them.

It sure wasn't easy foiling the whole thing and it's taken me a number of years. The hardest part is when I deckbuild and have to find foils of the new cards lol. Thanks for the upvote and I'll take a look at your deck now!

July 23, 2014 1:31 a.m.

enpc says... #4

out of curiosity, have you considered Tezzeret the Seeker ? Although he's a 5 drop, he kind of fits the theme of the deck :P but on an actual reason to run him, other than fetching your utility artifacts, his +1 lets you untap mana artifacts meaning that you can maintain Stasis , which really screws over everyone else.

July 23, 2014 2:02 a.m.

Xtkxl4rd4ss says... #5

How does your deck fair in multiplayer?

August 4, 2014 4:16 p.m.

outofnothing0 says... #6

@Xtkxl4rd4ss: It depends on how many players as well as game politics and whether or not I'm facing top tier decks or not. Generally if it's only one or two people explicitly trying to stop me I can manage, but numbers higher than that are extremely difficult to deter. If I can attack once I've usually got it unless someone uses Supreme Verdict as I normally don't go for Vanishing right away in multiplayer with my main strategy being Diplomatic Immunity , followed by Daybreak Coronet and then lastly on the third turn of swinging killing everyone systematically with Stasis starting with the largest threats (namely people playing blue). Anti-life gain cards like Erebos, God of the Dead are probably the biggest threat to the deck in multiplayer as I generally just take the early game damage with the intent of gaining it back later.

August 4, 2014 9:57 p.m.

PlatnumxStatuS says... #7

And I thought the Zur deck I went up against a couple months ago was a pain in the ass. Lol. This looks really, really solid. And brutal. And it's foiled out too!

Deff a +1 from me.

You seem to be really good with suggestions, so if you don't mind, could you check out my decks and leave suggestions? They're not Zur though but I would love some input.

Marchesa, the Pyrophiliac

Derevi Would Tap That

August 7, 2014 3:35 a.m.

outofnothing0 says... #8

@enpc: you had me at infinite stasis plus artifact fetch. I'm heavily considering him now. Thanks for the suggestion

@PlatnumxStatuS: Thanks for the support! I'll do my best to have a look at those decks as soon as possible but I've been really busy lately. Also, I don't think your +1 worked ;P

August 9, 2014 3:33 p.m.

+1 for an amazing deck. I too am dabbling in the awesome power of Zur. Might you have a budget replacement for Daybreak Coronet for a poor old man? I will be picking one up eventually as I know there is no true replacement. But I need a decent one that at least gives Vigilance so I can make Stasis work. I figure the Steel of the Godhead is enough to get Lifelink, but Stasis would be pointless without a Vigilant Zur.

September 9, 2014 1:19 p.m.

outofnothing0 says... #13

@ CrovaxTheCursed: Thanks for the upvote! Two pretty good budget replacements for Daybreak Coronet are:

1) Vow of Duty : Gives Zur +2/+2 in addition to the vigilance and makes it so if someone manages to take control of him they can't attack you.2) Triclopean Sight : Only gives +1/+1 in addition to the vigilance but makes up for it with having flash and auto-untap (which I personally think will be more useful).

September 9, 2014 10:52 p.m.

Ah yes, I believe I'll go with Triclopean Sight because of the untap like you mentioned. Now, I like what you said about Vow of Duty preventing a stolen Zur from attacking you... BUT if he was indeed stolen, wouldn't control then transfer to the opponent, effectively making it so now Zur can't attack THAT player? Or am I reading into that the wrong way? Cause I thought that when you take control of a creature, you also take control over the auras attached to that creature as well. Or is it that the auras are still "attached" to Zur, but indeed still under the "control" of the owner/original caster (i.e. you) and not the stealer of Zur? Sorry for all the questions lol, and sorry if they didn't make any sense either. :P In any case, I'm going with Sight over Vow until I get a Coronet, but I'm a little curious about Vow now...

September 10, 2014 12:18 p.m.

outofnothing0 says... #15

Auras remain under the control of whoever cast them until an effect specifically targets the aura (not the enchanted permanent). A great example of this is Pariah ; a card that is usually best when cast on an opponent's creature (or an indestructible/pro creature if possible). It'll basically fog for a turn and kill their biggest creature. You don't control the creature and they don't control the aura.

September 11, 2014 1:07 a.m.

I see. Ok, with that I may have to put both Sight and Vow and see how I like that. There's a dude at my shop who runs an EDH that's basically full of Act of Treason effects so that Vow might really help there. Thanks!

September 11, 2014 9:57 a.m.

Evee142 says... #17

I feel like Eldrazi Conscription would be amusing, but perhaps overkill?

Funny combo Energy Field + Rest in Peace make you immune from damage. You're already running Greater Auramancy , which will make you now virtually impenetrable, and keep your combo safe from harm. You run enough counters to protect the Auramancy itself.

September 18, 2014 1:19 p.m.

Evee142 says... #18

D: comment errored and ate half of my comment!

What missed: Eldrazi Conscription Works well in tandem with Sovereigns of Lost Alara , nice if Zur is being slowed down, but I know it's a little higher on the mana cost that most things you're running

September 18, 2014 1:38 p.m.

dereviman1190 says... #19

i would say run Helm of Obedience main deck and add Leyline of the Void make an opponent exile their entire deck

September 18, 2014 2:33 p.m.

outofnothing0 says... #20

@Evee142: I've already considered the Energy Field , Rest in Peace combo in the past and determined that it's too fragile. Energy Field is useless by itself due to the high number of instants in the deck and it would take too long to tutor for it. Solitary Confinement is doing just fine currently for taking care of pesky damage. In regards to Eldrazi Conscription it's definitely a game-ender but unfortunately it's hard to pull off and slows the deck down. I generally try and keep card CMC's as low as possible and have outright written off any enchantments over 3CMC (even Auramancer's Guise !). Sovereigns of Lost Alara were in one of the first versions of the deck but they proved too costly mana-wise and I couldn't reliable get them out when I needed them so they got cut. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll still keep these in the back of my mind if I ever decide to mix it up a bit (or even make a more friendly version? lol).

@dereviman1190: I already have Rest in Peace to work with Helm of Obedience and Leyline of the Void is not zur-tutorable so I have no reason to run it. The helm does have a chance at making main board but I've got to first get one, and then figure out if there's room for it, in addition to playtesting to see how it runs.

September 29, 2014 4:22 p.m.

You don't really need Umbra Mystic because all the auras on zur will trigger when he dies not just one. It may be helpful to add in Thassa, God of the Sea because the scry is really helpful and zur can get her when he attacks. Otherwise awesome deck +1s for days.

October 21, 2014 3:43 p.m.

No way Umbra Mystic works that way. She's totally useless if you have to sac all auras attached to that permanent. I was always told, even when Totem Armor was in Standard, that the sacrifice ability doesn't stack. They always said if you had two auras on a guy, and both auras had Totem Armor, that you only choose and sacrifice one of them when that guy is destroyed. If that's not the case, the judges at my shop are morons and let me, and many others, get away with murder for a very long time.

October 22, 2014 1:39 p.m.

I think the key is staring right at you, "and destroy an aura attached to it." I do not believe it gets any clearer than that, I've seen some jankily worded cards but Umbra Mystic is fairly straightforward. You choose and destroy one aura, not all auras attached to said creature. If it were all auras, umbra mystic would be nigh useless.

October 22, 2014 5:41 p.m.