Being renovated
WE'RE BACK!
After years of not updating this list, I've finally returned to reshape Urza for the modern (2025, as of this writing) setting. Much has changed since the original list, with the core staying the same - a midrange-control shell, with Dramatic-Scepter as the primary combo, and a secondary Basalt Monolith fallback. The deck is evolving as I'm able to acquire cards for it, so the core of it remains the same - as Urza as a whole, by this point, has been explored fairly thoroughly across all sorts of play levels - from <50$ budget to high-end cEDH - there's little need to go into the description extremely thoroughly, as there are plenty of guides, breakdowns, and discord servers dedicated to diving deep into the mechanics of the card and variants of the deck. Thus, instead, here is my personal irl decklist, updated as I go! I'll list the key combos and rationale for certain cards in it, as well as adivce and alternatives in the sideboard - do enoy, and I hope it could be of help!
Key Combinations:
Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal - the bread and butter, make infinite mana and pop off with Urza. Use with Codex Shredder for infinite mill, cast your library and thoracle,
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth/Forensic Gadgeteer - infinite colorless mana, with a bit of redundancy as security
These are the main combo lines to shoot for! There are equally some alternatives for upgrades for the deck, such as...
Other substitutions:
Grim MonolithGC - cheaper mana cost than BM, but 50x the $$$
Power Artifact - cheaper than Rings/Gadgeteer, but also 20x the $$$
Transmute Artifact - An alternative to Reshape, or redundancy - but, also very high pricetag
Timetwister or Time Spiral - one is a car down payment, but very powerful; the other is substantially cheaper, but for that, running Echo of Eons is similar and easier on the wallet. Granted, it does NOT untap lands like Spiral does, so that is also something to consider for efficiency
Gilded Drake - the OG alternative to Stormdrake, more powerful, but ALSO 20x more expensive. Sheesh, there's like, a theme here or something lol.
Mana VaultGC - high quality ramp artifact, working on getting another copy for the deck myself. Funnily, if you manage to get a Gadgeteer and a Rings on the battlefield at the same time, you could go infinite! As unlikely as that might be, always worth noting
Mox Opal/Mox Amber/Chrome MoxGC/Mox DiamondGC - If you have the spare cash, or have a couple laying around, go for it! Otherwise, stick to proxying, trading, or using alternative cheap 0-drop artifacts, Such as...
Urza's Bauble/Mishra's Bauble/Jeweled Amulet - all equally cheap, can net a card, and can be used as free rocks for Urza. Working on grabbing a couple, but may just leave them in the maybeboard as alternatives.
Spellseeker - Great spell tutor, especially for artifact tutors like Reshape, or any much needed counterspell or Cyc Rift. Very flexible, and honestly a good include too!
Options that didn't make the cut
Karn, the Great Creator - A nice lockdown PW, and he was originally in the deck proper, but was too clunky to keep around. Where Narset and Tezz can get value before eating removal, Karn really doesn't do much before getting zapped.
Mycosynth Lattice - Karn's best friend in crime, and useful for making everything on board tap for U with Urza. Sadly, a 6 drop that doesn't do much isn't the best, so I dropped it from the original list.
Peregrine Drake / Palinchron + Deadeye Navigator - The classic infinite mana combo, it was far too expensive to set up, and was one of the first combos to drop.
Heartstone - The very first combo I found with Urza and Deadeye that netted infinite constructs, it was a personal gem - but, sadly, couldn't last, for the same reason as the above combo line.
Pili-Pala + Grand Architect - Same rationale as the former two combos, but nice in lower power/budget decks
Foundry Inspector/Etherium Sculptor + Mystic Forge + sensei's divning top - drawing out your deck, but a 3 card combo is too clunky for the deck in a control shell
Emry, Lurker of the Loch - She was originally in the deck, and can still act as a good recursion resource in lower power and budget decks, as well as hitting anb infinite combo with Lotus Petal and Mirran Spy, but it's too clunky for the deck like the others. We're all-in on Urza here!
Winter Moon - I heavily debated on this before deciding on Back to Basics, because even though it could tap for mana, allowing even one untap of a nonbasic can be risky. What if that single nonbasic happened to be a Gaea's CradleGC or something adjacent? Not worth the risk as much as forcing an opponent to remove a BtB.
Mistrise Village - Unless someone played a Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, there's no way this card is coming in untapped. Considering there's a psuedo-storm list going on, making a single spell uncounterable doesn't do much overall. Spending a little life to make an important tutor uncounterable with Boseiju is much more reliable.
Displacer Kitten - Now THIs was a tough one. I still might try and squeeze in the kitty in a future iteration, but it's hard seeing how it's another lightningrod for removal, and really doesn't get to do much unless you cast another spell...which is hard to do if someone tries to kill it on sight. However, the amount of nonsense combos the cat allows are undeniable, so for a glass-cannon strategy, it still might be worth running.
Mind Over Matter - thought about this as a funny alt wincon with The One RingGC, but it's still a 5 mana enchantment with little capacity on its own.
An Offer You Can't Refuse - Somehow giving people 2 treasures is potentially worse than a 2/2 flier; Strix Serenade and Swan Song are leagues better in place of it, and a bit more flexible
Howling Mine - If at any point Urza is killed, this becomes an easy way for opps to make the most of your deck. Don't let them!
Insert cheap clone spell here - I narrowed down the list of clone cards to the four that are in the list for how reliable they can be in the deck consistently. PI is the most risky clone, but even that can still come down for a turn or two, for only 2 mana. Metamorph can tap for mana, and Mech can both do that AND avoid creature-kill spells while keeping the abilities of anything cloned. And Mockingbird is just very flexible as an all-star card.
This is still an evolving list, so I'll have some more updates as I go along! Thank you for taking the time to skim through!
