The aim of the deck is to reduce your life total to 0 and then use Repay in Kind to win. We will use Zur over two combat phases to tutor for Solemnity and Phyrexian Unlife. This combo will ensure we stay alive when out life total is reduced to 0. To reduce our life total, we can use one of the life loss cards, perhaps the best method is to use Zur to tutor for Unspeakable Symbol.
The stages of the deck begins like most, with a ramp step. Once youve ramped to a point where you can cast zur, cast him, but only do this when anyone who could counter him is tapped out. Therefore, the ramp step is important, because control players will be tapped out more often in the earlier stages of a game. The next step is to protect Zur. If youre lucky and have a protection card in your hand, you could cast that, or tutor for one with Zur, once hes able to attack. My favourites protection cards are Diplomatic Immunity and Steel of the Godhead after that, the next few turns should be spent to deal with any threats. For example, using an Aegis of the Gods against burn, or when
Ashes of the Abhorrent
is released, it could be used against re-animator decks. You can also use these turns to fill in the weaknesses in your hand, for example tutor for Phyrexian Arena if your low on cards to cast, or tutor for a life gain card, if youve been dealt a bunch of damage prior to making things safe.
Theres a bunch of tutors in the deck, theyre used to find the game winning spells, but they can also be used to find a re-animator card, if you need one. With that being said, if one of your combo pieces has been destroyed at the wrong time, then rip.
If you cannot use Repay in Kind for some reason, then you could use one of the other life swap cards, then when you use Unspeakable Symbol to lose your life, target Zur, once the first player is dead youll now have a massive Zur, and another players life total. You could then use Unspeakable Symbol again, with your new life total to make Zur even bigger, and at this point, he will more than likely, be able to one shot your opponents with commander damage. This is secondary win-condition if things just dont go your way.
If youre wanting to remove a few cards, here are some suggestions. the planeswalkers of the deck are the mostly expendable cards, if youre looking to make some cut.
Liliana Vess just acts as another tutor,
Dovin Baan is one of my favourites, so I included him without much justification. But,
Ob Nixilis Reignited is a solid card in the deck. Some other expendable cards could be
Hatred and
Plague of Vermin, because theyre way too expensive to cast on the same turn as you swap your life total with someone, leaving you more vulnerable for longer, however you can pay any amount of life with these cards, resulting in you reaching 0 life even if your life total isnt at a multiple of 3, which is the case for
Unspeakable Symbol.
Some area of improvement of the deck could be the tutors, I tried to keep the deck budget friendly, so most of the tutors arent awesome. More couterspells would be nice, to ensure Zur gets onto the battlefield and has the opportunities to attack with no problem. Perhaps the biggest alteration you could add is an extra combat phase/ extra turn element to the deck, allowing you to reach the combo quicker. I didnt add this because it can be un-fun to play against, and I wanted this deck to be fun to play against and to pilot, in addition to it not being very budget friendly to pull off effectively.
Overall, the deck will either wins, or completely wiffs... there's not much middle ground. generally, I think its a fun jankey deck, and If you have any suggestions at all, Id love to here them!
