Zurcane adaptation *primer*

Commander / EDH Casual Combo Enchantment Primer Wizards WUB (Esper)

Limo

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• 1x Godless Shrine
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• 1x Hengegate Pathway  ^Flip
• 5x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
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• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 3x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
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• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Seachrome Coast
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Vault of Champions
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• 1x Didgeridoo
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• 1x Stormscape Familiar
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Arcane Adaptation
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Call the Coppercoats
• 1x Copy Enchantment
• 1x Estrid's Invocation
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Knight Exemplar
• 1x Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
• 1x Mirrormade
• 1x Preeminent Captain
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Scion of Oona
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Urza's Incubator
• 1x Void Rend
• 1x Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
• 1x Archon of Sun's Grace
• 1x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip
• 1x Call to the Kindred
• 1x Maskwood Nexus
• 1x Necroduality
• 1x Rick, Steadfast Leader
• 1x Seahunter
• 1x Shifting Sliver
• 1x Whelming Wave
• 1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
• 1x Crux of Fate
• 1x Higure, the Still Wind
• 1x Kindred Discovery
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Rooftop Storm
• 1x Spawning Kraken
• 1x Galecaster Colossus
• 1x Realm-Cloaked Giant
• 1x Astral Dragon
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Sphinx of the Second Sun

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

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• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Giada, Font of Hope
• 1x Worthy Knight
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• 1x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Deeproot Waters
• 1x History of Benalia
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Knights' Charge
• 1x Mari, the Killing Quill
• 1x Mass Appeal
• 1x Merrow Reejerey
• 1x Minn, Wily Illusionist
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• 1x Clutch of the Undercity
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Peer Pressure
• 1x Cryptic Gateway
• 1x Increasing Devotion
• 1x Marrow-Gnawer
• 1x Myr Turbine
• 1x Nomads' Assembly
• 1x Wanderwine Prophets

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Welcome to my newest deck and project I’ve been working on for the last 5 months. I played a competitive, combo centered Zur the Enchanter deck for a while (Decklist for that: Zur the Puzzle Solver |primer?|), and decided while it was strong, that it was not fun enough to have a long term place in my deck roster. It was too consistent and too common. Everyone knew what it did and nobody liked playing against it. The goal of this deck to change that.

This deck is unpredictable, exciting and I have never seen a deck quite like it! You would like this deck if you can handle fragile commander-focused strategies in a casual setting. You won’t like this deck if you play in an extremely removal-heavy playgroup or want to always win. But with that let’s get into it:

Overview

The goal of the deck is to Arcane Adaptation and all of the obscure tribal lords in BUW with the help of cards that copy enchantments.

So Zur is the commander of a deck for two reasons.

1. Zur on attack searches for any enchantment card that costs 3 or less CMC. And in this deck, it will always be Arcane Adaptation. So basically arcane adaptation is in the command zone.
2. After AA is on the battlefield Zur can then fetch any of the other four 3 mana blue enchantments that enter as a copy of AA. On enter, you may declare a different creature type than the one selected earlier.

So the goal is to create an army of zombie, Merfolk, sliver, clerics that can stack abilities and buffs to swing for the win.

Game Plan

Early turn strategy (set up)

Like many decks with a 4 mana general, the basic strategy is to get him out turn three. Turn one land; turn two land and mana rock; turn three land and Zur the Enchanter.

Now turn 4 is where the fun starts. Often you won’t have a turn one play so now is the time to look at your hand and decide which tribe you’re going to declare with Arcane Adaptation. The way I usually go about this is I simply decide which tribal creature to play this turn. Swing with Zur, grab AA and declare that type, then play that creature. That’s a normal turn 4.

Strategy after set up

With the established board state above it’s time to have some fun! On turn five you attack with zur and access the strongest enchantment in the deck: Estrid's Invocation. Holy frijole is this card good for this deck. When it enters, have it enter as a copy of arcane adaptation and declare a second creature type for your entire deck to become. Decide this as above by simply seeing what you have in hand. What’s so good about this card is that it will leave the battlefield and come back at the beginning of your upkeep. This allows you to choose a new type in the case that the creature you chose the type for initially gets destroyed. Also, you can declare a niche type for one-turn cards like Whelming Wave or Crux of Fate. Then the next turn switch to a more prominent creature type.

In the turns following this use Mirrormade, Copy Enchantment, etc. to become a copy of Estrid (not AA, so they have the flicker effect too). And keep adding new types to your creatures as needed until the combined power of each creature on your field simply overwhelms your opponents.

Explanation of custom categories

Combo

This is all of the cards that manipulate creature types and make copies of Arcane Adaptation. An alternative line of play to the set-up detailed above is turn three Fabricate (or Clutch of the Undercity or Dimir House Guard) to tutor for Maskwood Nexus, then play it on turn four. This isn't my favorite way to play the deck, but it can be very nice when creatures get out of hand.

Dorks

These are enablers for early game that are super super powerful. Stonybrook Banneret is awesome because zur is a wizard, it can be played turn two in place of a mana rock.

Urza's Incubator and Starnheim Aspirant are both 2-mana cost reducers, and are great when there are creature heavy hands.

Keywords and Stats

This is a very important category of cards. They provide protection and win conditions.

Scion of Oona, Crystalline Sliver, and Lord of the Unreal give hexproof/shroud.

Knight Exemplar and Avacyn, Angel of Hope give indestructible.

Galerider Sliver and Master of the Pearl Trident make the creatures harder to block.

Radiant Destiny and Rick, Steadfast Leader give vigilance which is super super good for cards like:

Captivating Vampire, Galecaster Colossus, Cryptic Gateway, and Azami, Lady of Scrolls.

Coat of Arms is Coat of Arms.

Tokens

The list of cards at the end of the keywords panel come alive with tokens. The more wizard zombie merfolk you have the better. All these cards create tokens, but Spawning Kraken and Lord of Lineage   can easily be win-cons as well.

Card Draw

Whoooo card draw yeah. There are lots of tribal cards draw options, but I picked my favorites. Every single one of these cards gets out of hand. One of these creatures will give you enough fuel to win a game. Prioritize keeping these guys alive.

Tutors (Card Draw but Better)

This is one of the reasons I decided to build this deck. Turning every creature in your deck into a certain type leads to so much abuse.

Higure, the Still Wind, is the least exciting, but often I find puts in the most work. This repeatable tutor can keep finding you answers.

Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero is super cool. I love using her to fetch Lord of the Unreal or a small creature that puts in a lot of work.

Seahunter is actually the best card in the deck. Cateran Summons literally tutors only for Seahunter. So use AA to make your whole deck Merfolk. The pay three for Sphinx of the Second Sun. The move to combat, have another beginning phase because of him, and get Avacyn, Angel of Hope. This is juts one example, but imagine on turn 4-5 having that board state. Consecrated Sphinx is another great grab.

Cheat creature into play

Great so we've drawn a ton of cards and tutored then into our hand now what? This is where this category of card shines. It is hard to explain the feeling of playing an Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur on turn 4 with Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord (This actually happened and would've been awesome if one of my opponent didn't make a copy of him).

These cards are all cracked, but do rely on having good cards to play in hand.

Removal

This deck has very little removal. It is not a competitive edh deck, but enjoy four one sided board wipes for five or less mana.

Galecaster Colossus also is removal and wins games.

So the goal of this deck is to be a permanent deck of mine that I use and update for years to come. I think that unlike most competitive Zur decks this deck will produce unique individual games and still wow your opponents and friends.

I would really appreciate any advice. Suggestions for cards to add and especially cards to cut from the maybe or mainboard would be incredibly appreciated. I’ll be updating this deck often and keeping a close eye on it. If you like this deck a +1 is appreciated!

Top Ranked	Achieved #14 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #11 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Casual 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Enchant 2 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 61 - 0 Rares 11 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.30
Tokens	Copy Clone, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Kraken 9/9 U, Pegasus 2/2 W, Shapeshifter 2/2 U, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure, Vampire 2/2 B
Folders	Decks i like, Idée, New deck imaginations, Possible Decks, WUB, Edh, Zur, Esper WUB, Starred Decks, deck