Urza's Sylex

Legendary Artifact

{2}{W}{W}, {T}, Exile Urza's Sylex: each player chooses six lands they control. Destroy all other permanents. Activate this ability only as a sorcery.

When Urza's Sylex is put into exile from the battlefield, you may pay {2}. If you do, search your library for a planeswalker card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.

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

Discussion (6)

Gleeock on Misery is waiting at the gates of Armageddon

1 year ago

Have you thought about maybe Urza's Sylex & a single synergistic planeswalker?

Gleeock on Plains Walkers

1 year ago

Birdlock has alot of usable stuff (1/2 of the deck is {W}). Another card that restricted (non-atraxa) superfriends can surprise with is Urza Assembles the Titans, it seems expensive, but when you think about the read ahead function you start to realize how good it can be - I've surprise ulted many walkers with that. Urza's Sylex is also very good

Niko9 on Tutorless Commander?

1 year ago

Vigilance is such an underrated mechanic in commander. I feel like just a single Serra Angel will average 12 damage or so per game, and that's really not bad at all : )

And yep, I hadn't seen Urza's Sylex but that looks pretty nice. If I still had my elf deck together that would absolutely annihilate the mass creature ramp strategy.

Gleeock on Tutorless Commander?

1 year ago

Niko9 to be fair I used quite a bit of board-wiping to get me there & the dream-scenario of punishing some amazing mono{G}-style overextension with Urza's Sylex. But that all felt very "right" for {W} weenie style to not be able to outstomp mono{G} without a little help from its' boardwipe friends.

It was one of those bizarre games where somehow Heliod & "poop tier" vigilance was proving near insurmountable.. Leaving everyone scratching their heads :) Kindof fun when the deck's majority composition is {WB} superfriends & you basically have to roll with going all in on goofy growing +1/+1/lifegainy agro. Also fun when you are just playing into whatever randomness you are drawing into without alot of option to just tutor into your "prime strategy"

Gleeock on Tutorless Commander?

1 year ago

My meta just naturally plays near 0 tutors... It is beautiful & glorious. In my meta it leads to alot more midrange impact moves, without the temptation to just move straight to the endgame.

I do enjoy limited "tutors" & they have to be able to do something else for me Urza's Sylex is an example of one where I use the tutor function but the primary purpose is boardwiping. That same deck uses Niko9's aforementioned Elspeth Resplendent - limited tutor with another effect.

I keep pulling them & seeing better gameplay consistency, particularly the midgame back-&-forth stuff.

I find myself pulling even my limited tutors & replacing them with lands. I am taking Enlightened Tutor out of my Naya enchantress deck, for example, because most the targets are midrangy & the tutor doesn't really do anything else.

So, I guess I am saying; that in my case removing the non-restricted tutors has just lead to more midrange-focused games. I don't even feel that the power level is all that impacted, just gameplay pattern.

wallisface on U/B control

1 year ago

Some thoughts:

• You're running a LOT of cards as 1-ofs and 2-ofs. This will lead to a really inconsistent (and overall weaker) deck. I'd suggest aiming for more playsets of the things that matter.

• You have a lot of nonbos here. For example, while Solemnity is out, The Birth of Meletis does nothing, and Wedding Announcement  ^Flip will never flip.

• Adding to the above, there's a bunch of cards here that don't make a lot of sense. I can't see what benefits you're getting from Solemnity (its application is very narrow and there will be lots of games its doing nothing), Wedding Announcement  ^Flip (its a bad card, and you have too few creatures to make any use of it), Urza's Sylex (games seldom go long enough for this to ever be able to do anything. The land destruction is irrelevant in a format where 99% the cards cost 0-3 mana).

• Your mana curve feels waay off. Generally speaking, Modern decks can't justify running more than 3-4 cards costing 4 mana, and run nothing above this. You've got a whopping 12 cards costing 4-or-more, but even worse is that most of those cards cost 6-8 mana... that's a really unrealistic cost to pay unless you have a LOT of dedicated control in your deck (which, you don't).

• This whole situation above becomes a lot worse by the comparably tiny quantity of 1 and 2 mana spells you're running... I think a lot of games you're not going to be doing anything until turn 3, which is effectively starting 2 full turns behind your opponent (a really dangerous place to be).

• Some of these cards seem really suboptimal. Borrowed Time and Minimus Containment feel awkward when Prismatic Ending exists. Authority of the Consuls probably hurts you more than helps you (in that its just giving yourself card disadvantage and while it may annoy the opponent, it's not buying you much time). All these 6 and 8 mana cards are just not castable. Melding Urza, Lord Protector  ^Meld needs a really strong plan to be viable, and you don't have anything to support that being successful. It feels like you're relying on Farewell to survive, but no game will go long enough to reach 6 lands - and there are just better options in Day of Judgment or Wrath of God. Even playing those more optimal board wipes, I don't think you can rely on them.

I think my general thought here is that the deck doesn't really have a plan of what it wants to do. I think you need a clearer vision for what you're wanting it to achieve, and then run a realistic (much lower) mana curve towards making that goal happen.