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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Alchemy | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Pre-release | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Standard | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Malevolent Hermit
Creature — Human Wizard
, Sacrifice this: Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays .
Disturb (You may cast this from your graveyard transformed for this card's disturb cost.)
king-saproling on
i like draw card
2 weeks ago
Looks good. Personally I would make these swaps:
Kefnet the Mindful -> Apprentice Wizard
Teferi, Master of Time -> Vodalian Hexcatcher
Lorthos, the Tidemaker -> Ominous Seas
Stormtide Leviathan -> Atemsis, All-Seeing
Tidal Force -> Dramatic Reversal
Arcanis the Omnipotent -> Universal Automaton
solemn simulacrum -> Unstable Obelisk
burnished hart -> Relic of Legends
steel hellkite -> Martyr of Frost
Master of Winds -> Malevolent Hermit
Flip
cloudkin seer -> Voidmage Prodigy
Asder on
Colossal Conscription
1 year ago
I feel like a playset of Vedalken AEthermage is too much. Maybe cut a couple for some utility wizards that you can tutor up? Malevolent Hermit Flip, Venser, Shaper Savant and Gadwick, the Wizened could all be worth considering as toolbox options.
Its a bit janky but if you wanted you could also run Fool's Demise for an invincible Academy Researchers.
Batman18 on
Day's Recasting
1 year ago
Malevolent Hermit Flip? Draining Whelk? Voracious Greatshark? Snapcaster Mage? Spectral Adversary? Torrential Gearhulk?
Ardees on
Gates? Nine Fingers Keene Competitive
1 year ago
If you are aiming at 'competitive' in the technical sense of the term (as in 'cEDH' or 'competitive EDH'), like the title seems to suggest, I see many staples missing that unfortunately make the deck quite far from being competitive.
Artifacts: you should be running at least Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Mana Vault, Jeweled Lotus, maybe even Grim Monolith and Lion's Eye Diamond.,
Tutors: you are missing Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, and Worldly Tutor and Green Sun's Zenith if you run any combo, win, or strategy whatsoever based on creatures. You could also add Wishclaw Talisman and Solve the Equation, and, although not a tutor, Peer into the Abyss, which works quite nicely with Thought Vessel.
Lands: any competitive deck plays true duals, namely Underground Sea, Bayou, and Tropical Island. Same for shocklands and at least 6-7 fetchlands in a 3-color deck like this one. You could also consider lower the number of lands, depending on whether or not you want to keep the Gate strategy
Protection: any competitive deck that plays blue automatically plays top-end counterspells, namely Swan Song, Arcane Denial, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, Fierce Guardianship, Mental Misstep, An Offer You Can't Refuse, and Flusterstorm. You are also missing key cards like Cyclonic Rift or Chain of Vapor. Needless to say, ideally a competitive deck playing blue also plays Timetwister: not a counterspell but a must card (yeah, the price is another topic of conversation).
Creatures: I understand the Gate theme but you are missing some high-value creature cards in here, most notably Dauthi Voidwalker, Malevolent Hermit Flip, Lotus Cobra, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Ramunap Excavator, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Oracle of Mul Daya, Elvish Reclaimer - to name a few. Much depends on the strategy of your deck, although don't let keywords aligned with your strategy (e.g. 'Gate') fool you into thinking some cards are good for that.
Enchantments: a few staples in the current competitive meta: Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Sylvan Library, Burgeoning, Exploration, maybe Abundance and Necropotence
Removals: you could most definitely swap some of your removals for something better and more competitive, such as Force of Vigor, Nature's Claim, Abrupt Decay, Assassin's Trophy, and more.
Now, I totally understand there is a budget situation going on with upgrading to competitive MtG (spoiler alert: MtG is a pay-to-win type of game, research confirms), but generally the term 'competitive' sticks to decks that, to the very least, include most if not all cards mentioned above - without mentioning the fact that any competitive deck needs running at least one winning combo. At this stage, your level is more looking towards casual. This isn't to criticize you or anything of course, pretty interesting build, just not really a competitive deck in its strict sense.
If you want to try the competitive experience, my suggestion is to proxy cards by printing them online - this should cost around 10 bucks on colored and good quality paper, and effectively save you more than 7k worth of cards.
DreadKhan on
Zur The Enchanter - casual stax
1 year ago
I don't think you can use Vanishing to be unblockable, but I think you could wait until someone decides to block him, and if Zur would die, you can Phase him out and he's removed from combat, you'll still have gotten his attack trigger though.
You've got quite a few solid stax creatures (people often call them Hatebears) in here already, but I run Opposition Agent, Dauthi Voidwalker, Drannith Magistrate, Malevolent Hermit Flip, and Archon of Emeria, as well as Wandering Archaic Flip, which is very effective piece if people run lots of non-creature counters, such as more competitive playgroups.
Well, there are various ways you can win via Zur's ability, in my Zur deck my plan is to lock up the board and then win from a fairly safe position. To go with Spirit of the Labyrinth you could run Teferi's Puzzle Box and Necropotence to lock people out of having cards except you, who can draw via Necropotence. I also use Walking Ballista and Heliod, Sun-Crowned as a half-fetched combo. Because it only needed 1 card, I use Second Chance + Hall of Heliod's Generosity + Necropotence to get infinite extra turns, but you might need a way to get rid of Necropotence to let you draw cards normally, a thing Zur can also help with. Another option that people use (but is pricey) is Rest in Peace (or Voidwalker) and Helm of Obedience, which can help remove players by milling them out, if this seems bad keep in mind that with Mirrormade you can duplicate the Helm on the 2nd turn and eliminate up to 2 players that turn, which should close out a game. While it won't quite win you the game on the spot, there is (back of Hermit) Benevolent Geist and Dovescape so that only you can cast non-creatures. If you're worried about birds you can just use Detention Sphere to clear them out each turn via Estrid's Invocation, but if you've got the most birds, you can keep them around. I like my Zur decks to have a janky feel, so I also don't run Thassa's Oracle.
One of my favourite ways to win is All That Glitters with stuff like Copy Enchantment, Estrid's Invocation and Mirrormade to generate a Voltron win off of Zur's ability. For protection I just run Greater Auramancy, which helps both my Voltron and my general supply of enchantments I don't want targeted. The already mentioned Luminarch Ascension can be a solid win con once it's set up, 1W for a 4/4 flyer is really, really good value, even in cEDH people play the card in control decks.
Necramus on
1 year ago
Okay. So, I think you should really lean into the control/combo shell. This deck could use combos like Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood, with some added redundancy in the forms of Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and Marauding Blight-Priest, or Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion to close out the game. In order to accomplish this, I think you should cut a ton of the creatures and really lean into board wipes, control spells, and resource denial.
Things like:
You could also do cute stuff like Phyrexian Unlife + Solemnity, giving yourself time to wipe the board again or go for the win with Peer into the Abyss. You should also consider taking a look at your mana base.
I'd suggest going for some fetches, checks, and shocks like:
You also have way too many plains right now. Even before you get the lands I just named, you should cut 6 Plains for 4 Swamp and 2 Island.
I know I've given you a lot of suggestions. I think if you tried putting a list together with all the cards I named, plus some of the bangers from your current list and you'd have a badass deck! Don't worry about trying to do all that right now, though. See which look most appealing/are in your price range and add those first. A lot of these should be long term goals!
Don't tell Rett I gave you so many suggestions XD
-Blake
DreadKhan on
1 year ago
I play Zur in cEDH, I used to use Web of Inertia with Rest in Peace to make me immune to attacks, handy vs stuff like Eldrazi (or Najeela) where even a single swing can be a disaster, even if I don't take damage. There is also Energy Field that works with Rest in Peace fwiw. At the moment I use Solitary Confinement to be immune to a lot of stuff, and I give it Shroud via Greater Auramancy. Confinement is a bit more onerous than Island Sanctuary, but it's also a much bigger effect.
I also like using Dovescape and Malevolent Hermit Flip (well, Benevolent Geist) to turn off a lot of my opponent's spells while not affecting my own (other than giving me birds now), all of your 'tax on attack' effects make those birds feel very bad. Hermit by itself is a pretty handy card to have down, U to counter anything big, and it's an ability so it's hard to interact with. Dovescape is a really big deal if you can resolve it, even if you don't have Geist down. If you're worried about Zur getting blocked, there are some Unblockable auras you can run, or even Thassa, God of the Sea if you want to run something really weird.
I find the card War Tax is a surprisingly relevant effect to have around when a game is going badly for me, I can sink spare mana into it to make sure a player cannot swing, technically at anyone. You can use the card as a politics piece, taxing anyone who won't agree to attack who you choose, which is a very annoying ability to have. Duelist's Heritage and Michiko's Reign of Truth Flip are nice ways to help close a game out with Zur.
Grasp of Fate is a really funny card Zur has access to, it feels like one of the 'they made this card for Zur players, didn't they' cards. The Restoration of Eiganjo Flip is probably worth a look, at it's worst it's an enchantment that finds you a land drop, it's ability to recur anything small can be useful (and can be land ramp in white) as well, and the body it becomes is just big enough to matter.
Lokotor on
Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer
1 year ago
Malevolent Hermit Flip doesn't really fill the same role as Mari, the Killing Quill it's a control piece, rather than a card advantage piece. I considered Hermit for a time, but felt that Glen Elendra Archmage and Voidmage Prodigy fill that role better due to fewer restrictions/caveats and better synergy with the rest of the deck generally. It's not a bad card, but I think it's slightly outclassed in some ways. Depending on your meta it might be a good include over an alternative removal oriented card. Banewhip Punisher for example I like since it tends to create good board control and is useful in creature metas, but if you're more worried about non-creatures then it could be a good substitution.
I don't personally think Imperial Seal is all that worthwhile. It's much worse than Vampiric Tutor as the main advantage of being instant speed so you can cast it right before your turn is lost, and it's worse than Demonic Tutor since you need to wait to get it from the top of your library. If anything, I guess I'd cut Diabolic Intent. Even then, I value getting access to the card right away pretty highly. With Diabolic Intent you're trading the requirement of needing a creature in play for the need to either wait a turn or have a cheap card draw effect available. Depending on how much card draw you run it could be better for you, but in a vacuum I wouldn't make the substitution. If you're in a combo focused build then you want as many cheap tutors as you can get, so the analysis changes a lot, but in a more midrange-y, value based deck like I play it's just not as much of a priority.
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