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Salt Miner (Rule of Law cEDH)

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Enchantment Hatebears Shroud Stax Tokens Transmute Voltron WUB (Esper)

DreadKhan

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Lands (39)

Counters (8)

Tutor (8)

Recursion (2)

Removal (14)

Protection (10)

Hatebears (8)

Stax (7)

Emergency Sac (1)

Draw (1)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Zur the Enchanter

Ramp (12)

Wincon (10)

Voltron Backup (4)

Haste (2)

Alternative Backup (1)

Maybeboard

Stax (8)

Tutor (3)

WipeCombo (2)

Removal (2)

Clone (1)

Creature Hate (1)

Sacrifice (1)

Counter (7)

Draw (3)

Creature Lock (2)

Beater (2)

Card Lock (1)

Recursion (1)

Protection (7)

Land (3)

StasisCombo (2)

Ramp (2)

Other (1)

The Wise Man Will Bow Down Before the Throne // And At His Feet They'll Cast Their Golden Crowns // When the Mage Flies Around

Welcome to my music-themed Turbo Rule deck, a heavily adaptive deck that wins by rushing to get a Rule of Law effect out, possibly a Greater Auramancy to protect it, and then play according to the table's vulnerabilities. The deck is good at forcing people to play out cards in order to advance their game plan, an openly bad plan vs a deck that can then remove things at it's leisure. If you've put out Auramancy, Grasp of Fate is backbreaking. The deck's biggest issue at the moment is probably it's minimalist interaction package, but this is followed closely by the absence of key mana rocks. The deck is unlikely to be interacting much turns 1 and 2, but should have an uncounterable Rule effect out turn 3 or 4, with the possibility to cast one earlier, possibly turn 2.

This deck has combo based wincons, but it also has the option of using Angels or All That Glitters to win if we have a lock going. In general, you probably want to play out your stax elements that you draw that will help you, but if you’ve drawn nothing relevant, just casting Zur will get the ball rolling quickly. While Zur is a juicy removal target, he is less so if you don't know the deck is pretty much all in on his ability. The other hatebears in the deck can soak up removal/counters, some are pretty hostile. Once Zur is out, he usually goes for Rule of Law, to block anyone else from winning before I'm ready. Rule of Law effects are pretty nasty in cEDH, and Zur’s fetch is pretty hard to disrupt, making it a great first choice. You can remove troublesome permanents as needed, but for most Stax effects, Zur can play around them better than other decks. Still, if you can Oubliette a Commander early, it can be quite backbreaking, and we’ve got 2 such effects.

They Say That They Winners Okay Well Let's See

The Primer

Getting Zur Out

Casting Zur is pretty consistent, despite it running so many basic lands due to expecting to pull Back to Basics with Zur. The deck can sneak him out early, but expected is usually on or before turn 4, so he's counterable and removable. The deck can’t really fit cards like Force of Will in here I think, so I can’t really protect Zur from counters, but I can recast him soon usually. The deck runs a lot of lands, and decent amounts of ramp, so if you flub your first Zur, just keep playing Hatebears and removal until Zur can come out. The deck can certainly find a combo without him, though they tend to be far more fragile/open to interaction. Multiple dedicated counter users will be a problem, but that isn’t a normal match up, and hopefully none of them will be letting each other do anything either.

But! Some Math! Show

Yes the Very Beginning, of Woman and Man

While the early game can be a wondrous garden where anything can happen, it may be necessary to immediately protect yourself, either via stax, hatebears or protection pieces. Be very aware of the fact that our Nemisis has been printed… the dreaded Opposition Agent, a card that just ruins our day if it is out. We can’t fetch with Zur or use tutors with that out, and since it isn’t a Planeswalker we can't attack it, so we need instant speed removal or counters, because we can’t leave the Agent out when Zur’s ability is resolving. It’s not a big deal to not cast your spells before you attack usually, but I suppose it might stink if you need to fetch Rule of Law and will be limited to one spell after, but keeping that mana open to kill an Opposition Agent is probably paramount if our deck wants to avoid a blowout (like giving another deck your Necropotence).

Or Not Dying Horribly

If Zur isn’t out, obviously cast whatever Stax will protect you, or try to combo off. Hatebears are probably your safest bet. Removal is rarely a useless thing to do, even if it isn’t usually the best use of resources, and this deck brims with removal of many sorts.

If Zur comes out late due to interference, you might need Solitary Confinement to protect your butt ASAP, as people expect Zur to try to use life for cards, and opponents often try to chip in for damage if they can. Still, even then, Rule of Law is worth considering.

Turn 2 or 3 Zur

Early Zur is always nice, especially if he has Haste somehow, enabling us to lock down early, via Rule of Law or Back to Basics/Energy Flux to put the hurt on enemy strategies. If all three are out, most decks are not going to do much of anything. There is rarely anything as good as getting Rule of Law out, but in some match ups you might just try to combo off, if you think nobody has interaction and you've got the part you need in hand.

Ella Ella

What is the first thing you've got to do when you're stuck out in the rain? Get out your umbrella of course! No matter how many cards they draw (or how good they are), playing them 1 per turn turns the torrent into a trickle. One of the best things about running Zur is you have rapid and easy access to one of the best Stax effects in Rule of Law. With Rule out, it doesn't matter as much if people can draw or have fast mana, their play will slow to a crawl, and it's very easy for Zur to keep up with removing combo pieces while Rule is out. Rule of Law is like having a huge and fairly sturdy umbrella, but you do want to watch out for gusts of wind, AKA removal/bounce. At least this deck has access to 2 fetchable Rules, as well as Greater Auramancy, which is a reasonable next target for Zur after Rule.

Combo Off Wayward Son

In this case, tutor if needed, then just set up your combo, and prepare to start a new game if all goes well. If all doesn't go well with the combo, it's back to survival mode, until you either have a Stax heap on the board making life impossible, or have the means to set up another combo. If Zur can't attack, and you've run out of combos, you've still got removal to fall back on to enable attacking.

In an interaction heavy meta rushing to combo is usually not going to work, so probably let someone else go first, but don’t hesitate to take advantage of the deck running lots of win cons to risk one. Be aware that Rest in Peace really removes any hope of recurring a combo piece, something that isn’t likely but can happen otherwise, so hopefully you can try for Teferi's Puzzle Box first instead.

How Likely is Super-Happy-Fun-Time? Show

Black Card Draw, Bound to Drive You Wild

Necropotence is a pretty good card in here I guess? Other than copying a Rhystic Study or something with Copy Enchantment, I'm not going to be drawing lots of cards in this deck, but Necropotence is usually good enough. I like to wait until I have already fetched Rule of Law and Greater Auramancy before I go for this, as it is worth removing if anyone is able to, and we're in some trouble then. In the event we're stuck in top deck mode, at least the deck is heavy on wincons, tutors, and removal/interaction, so while we're also very heavy on lands, we can still threaten a win off of 1 card per turn, crazy as it sounds. Still, if we can get Necro out, we are in very, very good shape usually, often able to choose between what we want to keep. I don't usually Necro too hard, but with the deck's high land/ramp count, you can expect a lot of dead cards in a bigger Necro, so either works.

It's worth mentioning that a decent Necro gives you reasonable odds of finding one of your 'protection' pieces as well as countermagic, so it's often possible to combo off safely after Necropotence is out, one more reason to not rush things early in some metas!

Zur used to win almost always by damage of some sort or another after getting a lock, but the deck has Helm of Obedience to end a player at will without damage if necessary.

Listen to the Helm, it's Billy Zane!

I think this is a pretty good card, since I was already running the other card of it's combo as a solution card. Nice to be able to nuke a player at will, but it's probably slower than the Ballista, but harder to screw up. I hear now that the Rest in Peace combo doesn't end in a draw if you mill a Darksteel Colossus, so it's a pretty solid win vs 1 player a turn. The nicest thing about this combo is that I can Mirrormade this on the 2nd turn to eliminate the other 2 players in one turn, a nice perk.

Go Play With a Rubik’s Cube While I Win

Spirit of the Labyrinth and Teferi's Puzzle Box, then usually I fetch Grasp of Fate to clear the board or Luminarch Ascension to try to win. This is perhaps my cheapest win-con, requiring Zur to be out and able to attack and only 4 mana to lock everyone out of having a hand.

Note, with Necropotence or Solitary Confinement I can keep my hand, and with the former, I can add to it as much as I want, while nobody else has cards. Thus, I can even sit on a counterspell potentially and protect this somewhat fragile lock.

I Need You Near To The Ground

Well, just in case, we've got our reserve, emergyency back-up fetchable win con in Luminarch Ascension a token generator that synergizes nicely with Rule of Law to soak up extra mana to produce 4/4s. In some games, getting this out early can actually be pretty useful, as most decks will not be hitting you early, turning it on quite quickly. It shines brightest when you are otherwise holding up interaction, and this serves as an enchantment based mana-sink. It's not as good as Voltron, but it's fine for what it is. Silly as it sounds, if you've got another Stax playing in the same pod, you should probably look hard at this, because if people aren't progressing their boards much, 4/4s are a heck of a good deal at 1W each.

Big Bad Zur

If you can attack safely and feel like flexing your miner muscles, it can be straightforward to just fetch up voltron enchantments and swing away (maybe take a minute to hold up a collapsing mine? maybe get exiled for one-shotting a Ravnican man over a Golgari Queen?). All That Glitters is the only one I have in now, but usually by the 3rd voltron enchantment (I use my copy effects on them to speed things up) Zur is a 1 hit kill. This isn't a bad way to win, and it often is less expected. People can make it hard to attack, so this isn't always viable. This isn't exactly fast, but once you hit 21 power, he's a real house. Works well with removal, something this deck likes to do.

Take My Pings and I'll Win It I Swear

Walking Ballista and Heliod, Sun-Crowned are a pretty fast win-con, but it's pretty vulnerable, so it's usually a better idea to play the Ballista once you're set to win right away, so that's 6 mana, meaning likely no sooner than turn 4. If you're really confident nobody will be able to fiddle with your Ballista, you can go off sooner, possibly turn 3. Still, it's not usually the earliest combo I can set up, so I'm more likely to use the Puzzle Lock.

Of interest, if I only cast the Ballista, this combo dodges any counter that cannot counter a creature spell, including getting Zur out, and you do see some cEDH decks that run all or mostly counters for spells, or that otherwise ignore creatures.

This is What it Sounds Like, When Doves Cry

Yeah, it’s out there, but very few decks are going to win if I can get this to resolve. Playing this will likely soak up a counterspell, and as it comes out late, opponent's may have run out of counters. cEDH decks tend to run very low CMC spells in general, so along with Rule of Law, Dovescape will never amount to many Doves. Estrid's Invocation + Detention Sphere really solve those doves for me, and Luminarch Ascension makes bigger dorks. Meanwhile, Zur is unaffected, and I can still cast Walking Ballista as normal if I need to, so I'm not really locked out of winning by it.

Now, better late than never, but Benevolent Geist   plays very nicely with a Dovescape, and can come out first and make it impossible to counter Dovescape, which would be a nice coincidence.

And Time Is Running

This deck has Hall of Heliod's Generosity + Necropotence + Second Chance to take infinite turns. It's not very easy to interact with, and it's an almost perfect win if I can hit each opponent with Zur, at which point I can just let Necropotence stand to never draw again and slowly whittle everyone away.Second Chance is immune to countermagic if it is fetched by Zur, as is Necropotence, and Hall of Heliod's Generosity is always proof, so it's not easy to stop this if I have time to set it up. It also is almost fully fetched/is a land drop, so I can hold up interaction to protect this if I've got it in hand, so it's a sturdier win con, if a slower one.

The deck has 2 good removal enchantments, because these offer versatile removal. In particular, Detention Sphere can euchre a token strategy, and Grasp of Fate is pretty hateful to the board in general. These can also be copied if necessary. If they end up having shroud from Greater Auramancy, they can be hard to deal with. The deck has a fetchable disenchant effect in Aura of Silence, and several creature specific solutions. Imprisoned in the Moon is useful when you need to lock down a commander (even Planeswalkers) indefinitely, and make it so they can't readily sac it to allow a recast (...may be salty!). The newly available Oubliette is a real back-breaker vs some decks, taking out a key card, and being impossible to sac, as it (and it's gear) are phased out. There is a mess of instant speed removal in the deck now, designed to keep Opposition Agent at bay, because that card is scary to this deck. If we can, we always want to have an instant speed removal spell (and mana) when attacking with Zur, incase. The deck runs a nice range of Hatebears, though I wouldn't mind sneaking some more in, it's hard to find ones that offer enough 'oomph', like poor old Hullbreacher used to.

I Like a Staple Now and Then, But I Love These Cards....

But It Might Not Be a Counterspell I'm Looking For

The deck is very short of counters atm, but I feel like I enjoy playing Zur more as a tool-box deck, and while counters would probably be consistently better than removal, I prefer to try to find a way to build without them. I use some, and holding them up is sometimes very important. An obvious issue with the discard based free counters is needing to pitch blue cards, something my deck is pretty bad at, so that would rule out a few of the best counterspells.

I've added two decent 1 MV counters, way less than most, but it's probably enough to help make this more competitive.

Your Creatures Go Ka-Boom!

Yeah, I like removal, and Zur can allow this deck to advance it's board state without spending more mana, leaving me open to spend it on other effects, like removal. After the printing of Opposition Agent (and to a lesser extent Hullbreacher I suppose), I clearly need a lot of a specific type of removal, instant speed, to avoid losing my Necropotence every game and just scooping out of frustration. Is this enough? I'm not actually sure, but it's hard to fit more in without taking away something else key.

And There's No End in Sight

Why does this deck run 39 lands, with 18 of them being Basic Lands? It is because this deck also runs Back to Basics with the intention of using it vs pods that are running greedy mana bases, a very common thing in higher power games. It's a bad card vs mono-coloured decks, but it is usually the case that I have many times as many basic lands as any opponent, and quite possibly more than everyone put together. They are bad cards for sure, but they do add a powerful strategy, just lock down lands and use Energy Flux to lock people out of artifact mana, so even if they remove Zur, I will eventually get to recast him (I also run a high land count, which further helps). You still want Rule of Law out, but this can make it impossible for some decks to function.

Or Is Voltron Just Stupid in cEDH

Some people might argue that trying to win off of a possibly defenseless Zur who just happens to be really big is a bad plan. It'll almost certainly require 5 or more swings in total with Zur, how much work is Rule of Law supposed to be doing here? My biggest counter argument is that it's a 1 card sacrifice to have this option, and with the deck's removal, it's possible nobody else will be able to block. It's slower than Jeska/Ishai, but more rugged, and like that deck, this isn't anywhere near the only way to win, it's just a nice 'always there' option I can fetch up.

Of a Reflection

This deck uses 3 Copy Enchantment effects, originally because it became harder and harder to justify including more than 1 card to enable Voltron as a back up. Copying All That Glitters is usually better than other options other than Double Strike, and if you haven't buffed Zur, Double Strike is garbage. Anyways, we can do a lot of things with these Copy effects, they can be removal, another Greater Auramancy to stabilize my Rule, another ramp rock in Mirrormade, while Estrid's Invocation lets me blink itself, enabling it to do some weird things with removal sometimes, and I can switch it from doing something other than Voltron into Voltron during my upkeep. This lets me close faster if I no longer need it to act as removal (IE what it removed either no longer matters, or the player it affected is out). Mirrormade can also copy Helm of Obedience obviously, letting me close out faster with that if I'm stuck using it.

Main Combos

A Fast, Effective Lockdown

Back to Basics + Energy Flux is a game stalling combo in many situations (locking players out of both mana rocks and non-basics), one that doesn't bother me as long as Zur can attack. If you are playing against less serious players, I would fetch up more friendly things. Order fetched can vary, depending which is more ripe, and sometimes only 1 half is relevant! Of interest to this combo, Archon of Emeria isn't just a Rule of Law, it's also Big Thalia, so it plays really, really well with Back to Basics.

Are You Sure You Don't Want The Extra Salty Soy Sauce?

Spirit of the Labyrinth + Teferi's Puzzle Box is used when I want a pretty hard lock on the board. This is not very friendly, tending to end most players game. Expect counters or prepare to open a salt mine with the tears of your enemies! Then again, it comes out 'late', and can be countered, so what could the big deal be? TBH, Hullbreacher is even better, but the odds of actually getting that set up is pretty low. Now that I reread Necropotence again, I realized that it skips my draw step altogether, meaning if I have Puzzle Box out, I don't get to/have to dump my hand, and that's pretty nice sometimes. Having to pay life to draw isn't a big deal either, so this looks better than I realized.

Stop Milling Yourself! Stop Milling Yourself!

Helm of Obedience + Rest in Peace can be a quick win, or a nice Sword of Damocles hanging over the game. It's not the best win-con, but it can get through some types of protection for a win. Incidentally, I can use Mirrormade to duplicate the Helm, meaning the game ends in 2 turns, and I need to threat assess who is the first player to remove, then get the other two on my next turn. Not always relevant, but good as an option to close a game faster.

Ping! You're Dead!

Annoying but good,Heliod, Sun-Crowned + Walking Ballista rely on targeting and direct damage, so it's not the most reliable win con, but if it sets up early it's a good combo.

Hopefully Obvious?

Yeah, just double up on this if you're concerned about targeted enchantment or creature removal vs Zur. Targeted removal isn't common, but it can ruin your day when it does show up. Even just the Auramancy can be enough to get by, forcing them to waste removal on that first, and some colors struggle vs enchantments. 2 requires a wipe, since removing Shroud I think is much harder than Hexproof.

A Sturdy Solution to Not Dying

Go-to choice for when I'm behind the 8-ball, I can usually afford to have Solitary Confinement around for a bit until I really need a card draw enchantment. Necropotence is obviously the card to run here, even if I'm just putting cards into hand to discard them.

Deals With Any 1 Token Type Per Turn

A handy solution to deal with token decks I noticed, can be done every turn if needed. You can also target other things that might suck to have bounced, such as Isochron Scepter, since you can keep doing this once per turn. I suppose this would also come in handy if someone was stockpiling treasures, but that seems pretty corner case.

Infinite Turns

Great win con potential in this combo, with the caveat that it's slow and Necropotence can interfere with drawing cards, meaning you have to Zur out Second Chance after Hall of Heliod's Generosity does it's thing. It's not impossible to draw into removal for Necropotence if you've Necro'd for 30 or so to trigger Chance, so this is probably less risky than it looks.

When Doves Cry "Look! A Geist!"

Not the fastest thing to do, but if you get out Malevolent Hermit   early, you can Disturb it later to make Dovescape uncounterable, at which Benevolent Geist + Dovescape will automatically counter anyone else's non-creature spells. Not a bad situation to find yourself in I suspect, especially if you can wipe the birds with the above combo.

Suggestions

Updates Add

In Absurd News... — June 30, 2022
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So yeah, did someone not remember Stasis existed when they printed Black Market Connections? Seriously people? This seemed like a good time? Anyways, Zur can find both and protect them with Greater Auramancy, which he can copy that turn or the next. Black Market Connections + Stasis are going to be pretty good I suspect, it also means people can't play any ramp that isn't mana positive, Stasis definitely matters, even in cEDH, I'm just saying it's bloody convenient that Zur can just fetch Rule of Law first (or even hard cast it, because that's what most decks do and they resolve somehow, apparently most people just haven't run into decks built around it?) anyways. Just theorizing, but I figure you'd fetch Rule, then Connections, then Reconnaissance, then Stasis, then Auramancy, then All That Glitters, finally a source of Lifelink, it takes awhile but people are 90% dead in the water after Rule is out, and you might cast it early if you're lucky, you should run several versions. Connections is independently good, such that you don't need to worry about losing Zur as much since he's easier to recast, Recon is a dead card mostly but necessary, while Stasis and Rule are pretty much game over for everyone else. Might be good with a Power Artifact type build, where you can generate a pile of mana to supplement your own production, but you mostly want mana to play interaction to protect your combo until it's secure, and then to protect it from wipes (very few exist). I will say that in most situations my existing Puzzle Lock is stronger, but this is way easier to set up, and it's base line is very good, good enough to consider making some changes, maybe even building around it somewhat. That said, if I DO use it, I'll have to find a good reference for Stasis/Connections!

If I did add this in, I'd probably want more counters. Ugh. And I'd have to completely reexamine my mana base if I pull out all but 3 basics (I might leave 6, who knows, but I suspect 3 if I can cut out Back to Basics). Oh, and I could throw in a Smothering Tithe again! That card was the bomb with Stasis, you just can't fetch it with Zur.

Anyways, I'll probably have to re-add Stasis if this isn't banned, which will let me cut Back to Basics, because I surely am not running both. I don't know that this is 'better' than Consultation, but it's extraordinarily good for a fully fetchable combo, making Derevi look deeply clunky IMHO, it's a hyper consistent turn 4/5 soft-lock AFAIK, which is brutal, and if you don't bother with Rule first, you're even better off provided nobody can win in your face off of new lands. Archon of Emeria and Thalia, Heretic Cathar are both able to hose opponent's non-basic lands at least, and in cEDH that means everyone not playing a mono-coloured deck (and some mono-coloured decks run a TON of non-basics too, basics are really rare in cEDH), so it'd be worth tossing both of them in probably, though I'm already on Archon at least.

Edit: So, swapped out Aura of Silence for An Offer You Can't Refuse, U to counter almost anything that matters is sweet. Finally under 20 Enchantments!

Edit: Also, Brave the Sands is probably even better than Reconnaissance here, because it'll play nice with Greater Auramancy and the Shroud it gives Zur. There is a lot to be said about using anthems over auras. If I do a big rework, I'll probably remove my two 4 MV artifact win cons to make space for other stuff, meaning I'll also pull the two 4 MV Transmute effects. The deck always needs more counters, so maybe I'll look at those or Smothering Tithe, I also might toss in another removal spell, maybe Void Rend, maybe Path to Exile if I pull Back to Basics.

The Restoration of Combo Pieces? — March 31, 2022
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Benevolent Dovescape?? — March 13, 2022
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Big Adjustment? — Dec. 29, 2021
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Too Many Win Cons? — Dec. 23, 2021
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Malevolent Hermit? — Oct. 12, 2021
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A New Challenger — Sept. 3, 2021
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Hullbreacher Ban — July 12, 2021
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Moderation in All Things, Except Good Cards in MH2 — June 10, 2021
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Urza's Saga and Second Chance — May 30, 2021
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Fairly Pleased With Progress — Feb. 16, 2021
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Gah, Lands? — Nov. 22, 2020
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Opposition Agent? More like Opposition Jerkface! — Oct. 29, 2020
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More Tweaks — Oct. 20, 2020
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Lands? — Oct. 7, 2020
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Oh Well — July 22, 2020
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Casual

99% Competitive

Date added 4 years
Last updated 1 year
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

4 - 0 Mythic Rares

57 - 0 Rares

14 - 0 Uncommons

7 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.56
Tokens 1/1 WU Token Creature Bird, Angel 4/4 W, Bird 2/2 U, Clue, Construct 0/0 C, Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Treasure
Folders EDH, Zur the Enchanter EDH decks, Commander, Esper WUB
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