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Untapping is Over Rated

Commander / EDH* Competitive Control Mono-Blue Stax

anvildust

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Instant (25)

Enchantment (6)

Planeswalker (3)

Artifact (23)

Creature (8)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Urza, Lord High Artificer

Land (26)

Sorcery (8)

Welcome

This is my version of cEDH Urza. Before he was rendered obsolete, I played TCV as my competitive list. Ever since I have been in love with the idea of stax. I find it to be more engaging and rewarding to pilot than traditional control. If that makes me a bad person I guess that's just the way things are. Anyway, Urza has provided an alternative, more efficient version of mono-U stax. Something greatly needed to keep up with the ever present threat of power creep. I encourage discussion, and comments. Let's all work together to create the best Mono-U stax deck ever!

Praise whatever almighty deity you either do, or don't, believe in!! Flash has finally been banned. I have been going through my list and thinking about updates and changes that can be made to adjust for a meta that is no longer- Thrasios and Tymna Hulk. With the toxicity of "in response I cast Flash" gone, there is a whole new world of possibilities, and I think top tier stax is back on the table as a competitively viable deck. As such I have created this primer for those thinking about picking up the strongest Mono-U general around.

It is my belief that card advantage is what wins games. As such, controlling multiple opponents using traditional methods, i.e. counter magic and removal, is challenging and inefficient. Why take the time to hold up a counterspell every turn, when instead we can hold it for one turn, jam a piece that stops our opponents from playing the game, and then being able to use that counter spell to prevent said piece being removed? This does two things: first, it makes it much easier for us to play our wincons and other things that advance our game-plan; and second, it means that we are much more free to take actions on our opponents turns (such as countering their plays). This is the beauty of stax. It essentially allows you to control multiple opponents using a single card, rather than trying to one-for-one them with classic control shenanigans.

As I mentioned before, Urza is very efficient compared to previous stax commanders, and this is for one reason- he allows us to play extra lands, and those lands also stop our enemies from winning. Not only that, but he also offers an outlet for our infinite mana (the easiest type of combo to create in mono-U), and creates an extra blocker (that scales I might add), which also kills other control players. Oh, and did I mention that he also only costs three mana?

The below drop downs talk about card selections in detail, as well as discussions about potential alternatives.

Snow-Covered Island- These are the best basic lands, you know why? Because they tap for blue.

Flooded Strand/ Misty Rainforest/ Polluted Delta/ Scalding Tarn/ Prismatic Vista/ Fabled Passage- I grouped all these together because they are all fetch lands. These are very good. They thin your deck, allow you to shuffle your library, and offer delve fodder.

Academy Ruins- Since about 50% of our deck is artifacts this card can give us a lot of value. Mostly it allows us to play stax pieces after someone inevitable kills them.

Ancient Tomb- This really helps stick a turn two Urza.

Castle Vantress- This card is a little jank, but in my experience being able to scry two right before your turn card really help if games start going long or you find yourself trying to dig through a deadzone.

Inventors' Fair- The lifegain is incidental, but what really matters is that this is an uncounterable artifact tutor.

Mystic Sanctuary- This card is amazing. Spell recursion is very important for us because we are so light on removal. This allows us to get extra uses out of Cyclonic Rift specifically, but also our tutors.

WARNING: This section is pretty shallow.

Arcane Signet- This slot used to be fellwar or MindStone but this is just better.

Chrome Mox- This can ramp us to Urza, or if he is already out it's just a copy of Mox Sapphire.

Everflowing Chalice- More ramp, or a Mox.

Grim Monolith- This is both ramp and part of one of our infinite mana combos. More on this later.

Jeweled Amulet- This is a great turn one play, as it can be charged at endstep and then used to ramp to Urza. After that we get another Mox.

Lotus Petal- Basically just a Mox.

Mana Crypt- This gets us turn one or two Urza very reliably.

Mana Vault- This time it isn't a Mox. Just great ramp.

Mox Diamond- Literally a Mox.

Mox Opal- Also literally a Mox.

Sol Ring- Would we really be playing EDH if this wasn't in our deck?

Arcane Denial- While this card is often seen as a budget replacement, I would offer that it is perfectly viable in cEDH. Not only does it hard counter anything for two mana, but it also replaces itself. So what if your opponent draws two cards. They shouldn't be able to play anything anyway.

Counterspell- This seems pretty straight forward.

Delay- Another two drop counterspell, this is probably the weakest card in our arsenal as it only hard counters counter magic. However, it does really slow down our opponents, and can be used to hose turn specific plays. We can also counter our own things in response to our opponent's decisions in order to save them.

Fierce Guardianship- This slot was previously Negate but seeing as it is only more, and almost always less, this seemed like a no-brainer replacement.

Flusterstorm- A fantastic cad for defending your combos. Flusterstorm is even better when played in response to an opponent's. Exceptionally helpful during our combo turns or for forcing Urza through.

Force of Negation- Another Negate effect. I almost cut this in favor of Fierce Guardianship, however, at least for now I'm testing both. Free counter magic is pretty strong after all.

Force of Will- As we all know, life is a resource. The only real drawback about this and Force of Negation is that they require you to pitch cards.

Mana Drain- Basically the best counterspell in Magic.

Mental Misstep- Useful for turn zeroing an opponents first few plays, and also comes in clutch against Swan Song.

Muddle the Mixture- This card, while technically a counterspell, could also go in the tutor slot. Most of the time this card will be used to tutor up one half of our Monolith or Dramatic-Scepter combo.

Pact of Negation- Another free counter. Just don't play it before turn 5. Probably...

Stoic Rebuttal- This card took some convincing to get me to use, but I have been trying it out for a while, and so far it feels good. It is basically just another copy of Counterspell after all.

Swan Song- While limited in scope, it hits the more important card types in cEDH. It can also be used in Twister loops to generate a flying army. Plus, saying "turn-to-bird" is just fun.

Dig Through Time- At instant speed, and the ability to cast it for two mana, this card digs so deep it's basically another tutor. However, it doesn't say "search your library" so it goes here.

Echo of Eons- In reality this card should be Timetwister, and I hope that some day it will be. However, at this time it is not, and I feel that I should be honest with you about what I have been playing in my deck. While Twister is certainly better. This card honestly isn't that much worse, and it is definitely the best version of this type of effect that has been printed which the lay person can afford. It still allows us to combo using the same loops as Twister, it just costs a bit more to cast. Thankfully Urza doesn't have a problem generating mana.

Gitaxian Probe- There's a reason this card is banned in just about every format out there. It is significantly worse because of the multiplayer nature of Commander, however, getting to cycle it for free and see what another control player is packing makes this card a solid cantrip.

Howling Mine- This card is challenging. It could be considered a stax piece too I guess, but it doesn't really set opponents back, it just pushes you really far ahead. Just think of it as a Mind Stone that give you a free card draw every turn. And never forget to tap it before your opponent's draw step, unless you're using it politically I suppose.

Mystic Remora- Unlike Howling Mine this card would be considered a stax piece because of its requirement that your opponents pay mana to stop you from drawing cards, thereby setting them back. At leas that would be the case if anyone ever payed for it. This isn't Rhystic Study after all.

Ponder- This and Preordain are auto includes in any deck that plays blue. Preordain- This and Ponder are auto includes in any deck that plays blue.

Stroke of Genius- If for some reason we can't access Urza's ability this can draw us our deck. We can also loop it with Echo of Eons to deck our opponents.

Time Spiral- This is another Twister type effect, but because it exiles itself we can't loop with it. What it does provide, however, is a way to refill our hand for free, as well as strip out the hands of our enemies if we use it with Narset, Parter of Veils

Back to Basics- Though less important because Flash is now banned, this card still puts in work against a number of high tiered decks.

Ensnaring Bridge- This was a meta call. This slot could change depending on the deck one is facing, but it really puts in work to keep us alive. One of this deck's biggest weaknesses is that we don't have a lot of blockers, as such turning off combat can be helpful, especially when we are low on responses.

Karn, the Great Creator- One sided Stony Silence feels pretty good. He also serves as recursion for combo pieces should they be exiled.

Narset, Parter of Veils- This card is insane. I cannot count the number of times that other players have burned counterspells that could have stopped a combo to keep this card from hitting the table. In addition to being a powerhouse on its own, Narset can be paired with any Wheel effect to leave all opponents with only one card in hand and no graveyard. While you haven't technically at that point, don't be surprised if your opponents lose interest in the game afterwards.

Pithing Needle- This card is really good for stopping well known combos that many decks play. Kiki, Mike, and Ballista combos are all excellent targets. However, it can also be used for more niche plays that are more specific to each match. The most important thing to keep in mind when playing this card is that you should never go into a game intending to Pithing Needle something. Also keep in mind that you name the card after Needle resolves. And don't be afraid to name cards in your own deck if it keeps someone else for winning. The longer games go the better your deck gets, and the easier it will be for you to win through it.

Relic of Progenitus- This card was much more relevant when Flash was a problem, however it's still very strong, and doesn't hose our own deck like graffdiggers cage does.

Rhystic Study= Now this is a stax piece. Sure you can draw some cards, but a lot of times people will pay . That's okay though, it's one less mana they can use to do other things with.

Soul-Guide Lantern- Another graveyard hate piece. This is a little better for us on activation because it means we get to keep our yard. It can also hit a key target when we cast it, and can draw us a card.

Sphere of Resistance= While a nonbo with much of our deck we generate enough mana to play through it. It can also be used to play through an opponent's Lavinia, Azorius Renegade.

Static Orb- One of our four direct stax pieces. This piece can be turned off using Urza, allowing us to completely play through it and shooting us miles ahead of the competition.

Storage Matrix- Another one of the four. This piece is absolutely back breaking against decks that try to split their mana bases between permanent types, or decks that require their creatures to attack, but still want to cast spells.

Tangle Wire- Resolving this on turns two or three can effectively timewalk games. It can also be recurred using Emry, or Academy Ruins to continue and deplete your opponent's resources.

Trinisphere- This often just stops interaction. It can also be turned off after we exile our deck to Urza or when we want to respond.

Winter Orb- A classic stax piece. Resolve it early or late game, but never in between.

Fabricate- A standard tutor. Finds combo pieces.

Mystical Tutor- Grabs our other tutors at end of turn.

Reshape- Puts combo pieces straight into play, thereby protecting them from counterspells.

Spellseeker- This grabs either Dramatic Reversal or Transmute Artifact/Reshape.

Tezzeret the Seeker- Another "into play" tutor. He also provides some utility with his +1.

Transmute Artifact- Basically reshape but better. We don't have to reveal the mana cost we're searching for which allows us to play some mind games with it on the stack.

Tribute Mage- This is typically used for Grim Monolith, Isochron Scepter, or Winter Orb.

Whir of Invention- Just another Transmute Artifact but at instant speed. We also don't have to sacrifice anything.

Chain of Vapor- Excellent removal spell. This card hits everything but lands, including pur own mana positive rocks, which can be used to jumpstart combos or other big mana plays. It's also useful for bousicing our stax pieces right before the turn passes. Also, opponents never saw ac lands unless they see the win or you have them locked, so use that your advantage.

Codex Shredder- I'm covering this card twice. Once here, and once in the combo section. The utility of the card is that it can be used as a rock, like everything else, but can also be used to hate out lazy topdeck tutors and filter out own bad draws. Ignore the recursion abilities for now, we'll cover that later.

Commit / Memory- This card can be pretty controversial, but I have found it to be a life saver in some pretty sticky scenarios. Mono-U is pretty light on spot removal to begin with so adding another piece seems advisable. Now while many lists opt for the more traditional Rapid Hybridization I believe that the versatility offered by being able to hit non-land permanent, and "counter" spells is worth more to us. Additionally, the card allows us an extra wheel effect to refill our hand and strip away opponent's with Narset.

Copy Artifact- This could be considered a mana rock, and often that's exactly what it does- copy the best rock on the table. However, I have chosen to list it in utility because it can also be used to clone stax and combo pieces. I have even used it to make a second Howling Mine before when I was really desperate. There's just a lot of value in this card. More so than a simple rock.

Cyclonic Rift- The best removal spell in our color. Typically this is just a one-sided board wipe at instant speed, but sometimes the correct play is to use it as spot removal for an opponent's threat; usually Linvala, Keeper of Silence or Collector Ouphe.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch- For all intents and purposes this is just a second copy of Academy Ruins. Unfortunatley, it doesn't go infinite with anything in our list after the Paradox Engine ban. Sometime we flip some juicy things into the yard though, and then she was also a draw spell.

Mission Briefing- The was used to replace Snapcaster Mage after extensive testing. The advantages of Mission Briefing over Snap are that it both sets up our next draw, -and- also allows us to cast Cyclonic Rift for its alternative cost. It can even be used on the Forces/Fierce Guardianship if we're desperate, effectively turning them into Counterspell.

Spellskite- This card was include after a few rough runs in my meta, where opponents kept enchanting Urza with Stupefying Touch (thanks Brago), and because it can also serve to deflect removal from stax pieces during key interactions. An important thing to note about this card is that it can be used on any spell or ability that would be legal to target Spellskite. So that means our enemies' game winning plays, can be yoinked over to our side. A lot of players don't see such interference coming, because after all, who wants to Power Artifact a Spellskite?

Witching Well- On the one hand this is a bit of a pet card, so I won't try to defend it too much from critics, but I do think it has a lot of potential. As an early game play this card is pretty good because it sets up our draw and then turns into a mana rock with Urza. However, what I think truly makes this card special is its second ability. Since the ability does not require it to tap, this card essentially says pay and sacrifice it to draw two cards, which is very good later on when our resources are getting thin and we need to gas up. Additionally, the fact that we can repeat this process- sending away cards we don't want and then drawing- with Emry and Academy Ruins is a way to generate a lot of value and dig deep very quickly.

Mystic Forge+Etherium Sculptor/Sai, Master Thopterist&Urza, Lord High Artificer+Sensei's Divining Top- This is an adaptation of the historical Future Sight+Helm of Awakening+Sensei's Divining Top combo. It works by activating the Top to draw a card, and then uses the Forge's static ability to cast the Top for free because of Etherium Sculptor. This allows us to draw our deck and win by using an infinite mana combo (see below). Because Sai creates artifact creatures, as long as Urza is out, the Top, while not "free" creates the mana to cast itself upon each loop. In this deck I have replaced Future Sight entirely, because Mystic Forge is tutorable. While the drawback of not being able to play our counter magic and draw spells directly off the top is unfortunate, from experience, I have found that being able to go and find the one card that doesn't have a replacement is with the trade. The other thing that I really like about this line, is that each piece is good on its own. Even when not going infinite, Sai, who is the weakest link in this combo, still creates flying blockers/mana rocks, draws cards, and can sacrifice stax pieces when we need them to go away.

Isochron Scepter+Dramatic Reversal- As this is a very well known combo in cEDH I will not dedicate a lot of time to explaining it, but basically you slap down the Scepter, imprint it with Dramatic Reversal, and as long as you can make three mana off of non-land sources you win.

Grim Monolith+Power Artifact- Another classic combo, this is typically how I personally amass infinite mana. There is no real reason for this. It is technically a little more challenging to assemble than the Scepter combo, I just enjoy this one. Things of note: if it were to ever become relevant, be aware that after creating infinite colorless mana, the Monolith can then be used to activate Urza's mana ability and create blue mana. Then you can go untap it with the colorless previously generated.

Thassa's Oracle- The printing of this card really increased the safety of our main wincon. Before we were playing either Laboratory Maniac or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, but the weakness was that an opponent could remove them after we had already gone to draw a card, thereby killing us. Now, all we have to do is generate infinite mana, activate Urza to exile our library, and cast the Oracle for free. Much safer. Much cleaner. And if for some reason the ability does get countered, just see bounce it and play it again!

Codex Shredder+Echo of Eons+Stroke of Genius- This loop requires infinite mana, but you should be aware of it in cae the main wincon of Thassa's Oracle doesn't pan out. Essentially, you can deck out all your opponents using Stroke, it you cast it for 101 (or whatever arbitrarily large number you desire) targeting an enemy. This kills one player. Then you cast Echo (not for its flashback cost), ensuring that you have at least seven cards total across your library, hand, and graveyard. This places Stroke back in your hand and allows you to kill another player. The reason you run Codex Shredder is for its second ability. By activating the recursion ability of the Shredder, you can then return Echo of Eons from your graveyard to your hand and repeat the process. This also inherently grants you access to a recycled Shredder, and therefore to kill even more players, if you have need.

Don't Limit Yourself

One of the greatest strengths about this deck is its flexibility. While the line listed above are the most efficient way to win, there are certainly others. Often once you establish infinite mana, there is always a winning line, even if an opponent has every kill spell and counter in the book. Just look around and I'm sure you can find a way to triumph.

This section is bound to expand in the future. So if you're interested, keep looking to see what's new.

Capsize- This card sees play in just about every Urza list I have seen, and while I constantly flip back-and-forth between whether or not my list should be playing it I consistently find myself cutting it. The two great things about this card are that it can bounce lands, and it can be bought back. The problem I have with it is that the other removal spells in the list all serve multiple purposes, and are wither cheaper, or more versatile. If this card were to make it in the list, it would likely be replacing Commit / Memory, but because Commit can also counter spells, and Memory allows for hand refills Capsize still lacks a place. Definitely feel free to persuade me that this little guy belongs though. It's a powerhouse of a card.

Paradoxical Outcome- In the same camp as Capsize. I think this card has serious potential, but after the Paradox Engine ban I just could find room to keep it. Please convince me that this card belongs in the list.

Unwinding Clock- This is another really popular card that many see as an auto include. While very strong, I don't think it shouldn't be played in a highly competitive Urza deck. At base this card allows us to tap out on our turn and still be able to respond to our opponents on their's. The problem that I have with this card is twofold. First, I think that generally if we tap out on any turn other than the one we play Urza, it is just begging our opponent's to slap us with a CycRift, Disenchant, or some other spell that kills our game plan. The second, is directly counter to the main reason many players I have talked to say they play Clock. "It allows for extra Urza activations." Sure, it does, but at least in this deck, a great many of our cards are permanents because artifacts generate both value, and mana. And last I checked you can cast permanents on another players turn with out jumping through several hoops. Hoops I believe take up precious card slots and cost too much mana. So while Unwinding Clock is an amazing card, I just don't think it belongs in Urza.

Trail of Evidence- Ok, this one I tried. I really tried to make it work, but 50% of the time I kept running into the same problem. Too many permanents. Then of course there was the other 50% of the time when I played, everyone laughed- because who is playing this janky little card in cEDH, and then half a turn later they realize what was happening and it was dead. Still quite possibly a very good card, but my personal experience has conditioned me to dislike it.

Walking Ballista- This is both an artifact and a win condition. However, my thoughts on it are: why play five or six wincons, when I can play 2 and then use the other slots to stop my opponents from winning first.

Nexus of Fate- This card was actually in the deck for a while, and was part of a loop with Swan Song or a bounced Urza to make a bunch of tokens and then attack. Alas, it too fell victim to my philosophy of efficiency, and was sacrificed for more interaction and stax pieces.

Gilded Drake- This one actually should be in the deck. I'll cop to that, I just haven't gotten around to picking one up, and as soon as I do it will likely replace Back to Basics, Ensnaring Bridge, or Tribute Mage.

Suggestions

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July 4, 2020
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Just wasn't a fan of Trail of Evidence so I replaced it with Capsize and I have been having a lot of success with it.

June 7, 2020
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May 14, 2020
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Casual

91% Competitive