Urza, Lord High Saltmaster

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Infinite Combo Mono-Blue

ryan_johnstone

Instant (20)

• 1x Archmage's Charm
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Counterspell HP
• 1x Daze
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Logic Knot MP
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Mystical Dispute
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Opt
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Spell Snare
• 1x Spell Swindle
• 1x Teferi's Time Twist
• 1x Whir of Invention

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Ancestral Vision
• 1x Beacon of Tomorrows
• 1x Devastation Tide
• 1x Echo of Eons
• 1x Finale of Revelation
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Preordain
• 1x River's Rebuke
• 1x Sleight of Hand
• 1x Treasure Cruise

Artifact (19)

• 1x Arcum's Astrolabe
• 1x Bag of Holding
• 1x Basalt Monolith HP
• 1x Chromatic Sphere SL
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Codex Shredder
• 1x Conjurer's Bauble SL
• 1x Darksteel Relic MP
• 1x Fractured Powerstone MP
• 1x Glasses of Urza MP
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Ichor Wellspring
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mishra's Bauble
• 1x Mystic Forge
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Winter Orb

Land (30)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Lonely Sandbar SL
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Seat of the Synod MP
• 23x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

Planeswalker (4)

• 1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Tezzeret, Artifice Master

Commander (1)

Creature (11)

• 1x Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 1x Etherium Sculptor
• 1x Jhoira's Familiar
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Myr Battlesphere MP
• 1x Ornithopter SL
• 1x Sai, Master Thopterist
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Efficient Construction
• 1x Future Sight
• 1x Mirrodin Besieged
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip
• 1x Thopter Spy Network

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Maybeboard

Artifact (5)

• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Mycosynth Wellspring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Umbral Mantle

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Temporal Mastery
• 1x Thoughtcast

Creature (4)

• 1x Foundry Inspector
• 1x Leveler MP
• 1x Memnite
• 1x Myr Welder

Enchantment (1)

• 1x The Mirari Conjecture

Instant (3)

• 1x Delay
• 1x Peek
• 1x Rebuild

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Based off of the proper cEDH Urza Powered Scepter decks.

Win Conditions

Steps to Win:

1. Get Urza and Laboratory Maniac or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries into play.

2. Generate infinite mana (see below).

3. Mill your own deck using Urza’s activated ability.

4. Draw into an empty library with the creatures from 1. in play to win.

Alternatively, you could avoid the combo and use Mirrodin Besieged choosing Phyrexian with artifacts in your bin, making one target opponent lose the game on each upkeep.

Infinite Mana Sources:

-Simple, no stack:

—a. Basalt Monolith or Grim Monolith plus Power Artifact: Net gain of 1 colourless per iteration.

—b. Isochron Scepter imprinting Dramatic Reversal with at least 3 mana-producing artifacts on the board. Urza makes your artifacts tap for mana, remember. Net gain of 1 + N colourless per iteration, where N is the number of artifacts over three you control that meet criteria.

—c. Pili-Pala plus Training Grounds and Urza in play: Tap Pili-Pala to generate U. Untap Pili-Pala using the U to generate 1 of any colour. Net gain of 1 mana of any colour per iteration.

-Less Straightforward:

—a. Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith plus 2 extra “seed” mana: Tap Basalt Monolith for 3. Untap Basalt Monolith using the 3 from the Monolith, then copy that untap activation using Rings of Brighthearth. Let the first untap trigger resolve, then tap the Monolith in response to the second untap trigger. Net gain of 4 mana per iteration. With Grim Monolith, you can infinitely tap and untap it, but you net zero mana per iteration unless you have a cost-reduction effect in play (Power Artifact, Training Grounds, etc.)

Tutor Targets

Trinket Mage Targets (Artifacts with CMC 1 or less)

Trinket Mage*

If you're playing with Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Mana Crypt, Mox Opal, or Lion's Eye Diamond, those are probably your choices.

CMC Zero:

CMC zero artifacts are equivalent to a Mox Sapphire once Urza is on the board, so these will be pretty good hits even if they're not great.

Darksteel Relic: This little thing does absolutely nothing and I love it. Indestructible too.

Ornithopter: Does nothing most of the time, might act as a flying blocker.

Tormod's Crypt*: For when that Gitrog Dredge deck has you really down.

Walking Ballista*: X in a CMC, even twice, still counts as zero. If you've gone infinite without the ability to do a traditional Lab Man win, this'll do in a pinch.

Welding Jar*: Protection for your Dramatic Scepter? Sure, why not. Still taps for U and you can crack it even while it's tapped.

Seat of the Synod and Darksteel Citadel: They are artifacts and lands have zero CMC, so they're legal targets.

CMC One:

Codex Shredder: Once you assemble the Dramatic Scepter, you can activate this an infinite amount of times, milling everyone out. Or milling yourself out with a Lab Man effect on board.

Grafdigger's Cage: Not as good as Tormod's, but it hits everyone and it's continuous. "It's symmetrical."

Relic of Progenitus*: Nice to hold over that Gitrog player's head. Also note that threats are symmetrical.

Sensei's Divining Top*: Sure you can't abuse it with Urza's activated ability, but you can mill yourself with this and Mystic Forge assuming infinite mana.

Sol Ring: Sure, whatever man. Trinket Mage still costs 3 to cast so chances are it's not the best target, but whatever floats your boat.

You can also get Arcum's Astrolabe, a Bag of Holding, a Chromatic Sphere, or a Conjurer's Bauble off of this mage, but the real best thing to get is the Glasses of Urza. It may be a competitive deck but we can still slot in something dumb and fun.

Tribute Mage Targets (Artifacts with CMC 2)

Tribute Mage

If you're running it, Grim Monolith* is hard to beat, especially with a spicy Heartstone, Power Artifact, or a Rings of Brightearth ready to attach to it.

Definitely get these:

Isochron Scepter: Typically your no. 1 pick when you feel ready to close the game out.

Spellskite: When you're about to combo off and want the extra protection.

If a game starts to go long and others can combo off soon:

Howling Mine

Winter Orb

If you really need these:

Damping Sphere

Etherium Sculptor

Fractured Powerstone

Mind Stone

Mycosynth Wellspring

Ichor Wellspring

Just don't tutor for these

Fractured Powerstone

Finally, the target that's always the best play you can make:

Hovermyr

Trophy Mage Targets (Artifacts with CMC 3)

Trophy Mage*

If you're running them, Heartstone, Rings of Brighthearth, and Metalworker would tend to be the premiere targets given your objective to go infinite.

Basalt Monolith: With the aforementioned cards (or a Grim Monolith), it's infinite mana! Without them, it's still nice but not quite as titillating.

Foundry Inspector: Your two-drop artifacts become one-drops, your one-drops become Moxen, just generally okay.

Shimmer Myr*: Can give your artifacts flash, so you can flash out Leveler on your draw with a Lab Man or Jace, Wielder on the field to get a sneaky win.

Then stax pieces like Static Orb, Storage Matrix, Torpor Orb, and Trinisphere all clock in at 3 mana.

Treasure Mage Targets (Artifacts with CMC greater than 6)

Treasure Mage*

To be honest, I haven't seen anyone run this in their builds, but if you insist on keeping him and not trying to free-roll your high-CMC artifacts off of Urza...

Mycosynth Lattice*: With Karn, the Great Creator, it locks your opponents out of the game. But without it, a simple overloaded Vandalblast that mono-goblins player is running resets the game entirely.

Myr Battlesphere: Hey, it works?

Myr Enforcer: CMC of seven, frequently cast for zero. I guess if you free-rolled the Treasure Mage off of Urza and wanted to tutor for something, it works?

After a quick Scryfall search to find valid targets:

Darksteel Forge: Gives your artifacts an extra level of protection? Sure.

Memnarch, Mindslaver? Sure, I guess. Unless you're abusing them why keep these in your deck?

• If you can reduce the cost of Memnarch you can steal everyone else's artifacts, but it's easier to get a win through other means.

Planar Bridge: Sure it's a tutor, but at what cost? (hint: it's a pretty high cost)

• I guess if you have Rings and Heartstone out after equipping it with a Power Artifact you reduce the cost by four, then if you're already doing Dramatic Scepter shenanigans, it can work, but why not just use Urza as your infinite mana output?

Platinum Angel: Okay, whatever.

Wurmcoil Engine: Wrong type of EDH.

Urza's Science Fair Project: It does have CMC 6 but it's from UGL and also just doesn't make sense. We already found his glasses, do we need to help Urza find his lost Urza's Blueprints or Urza's Armor too?

Muddle the Mixture Targets (Anything with CMC 2)

Muddle the Mixture*

Note: Anything that Tribute Mage can get, Muddle the Mixture can get too.

Also if you have it, Power Artifact is seldom not the right choice. Infinite mana off of Basalt Monolith(net gain of 1 colourless per cycle) or Pili-Pala(net gain of 1 U or 1 of any colour per cycle) is hard to beat.

Neat Plays:

Cyclonic Rift*: Even though you're probably going to want to cast it for its overload cost, it's still CMC 2.

Dramatic Reversal: Muddle the Mixture can tutor for both halves of the Dramatic Scepter infinite mana combo while Trinket Mage can only get the Scepter.

Finale of Revelation: X in a CMC is counted as zero, so you can tutor for this.

Narset's Reversal: Have you ever countered your own "Take an extra turn" spell and gotten to cast it twice? Now you can.

Search for Azcanta  : Somewhat spicy, but compared to the rest a bit bland.

Thassa's Oracle: Good way to tutor for your game-ender.

Countermagic:

Counterspell: Duh

Daze: You can return your own Mystic Sanctuary to your hand to counter something, then get something like a failed Finale of Revelation, a Dramatic Reversal that got hand-attacked out, a Whir of Invention to get another use out of it, or your "fixed" versions of Ancestral Recall; Ancestral Vision or Treasure Cruise. It's never the first Recall that kills you, it's the second or the third. The fourth puts the nail in the coffin.

Delay*: Still soft-countering a spell, only your opponent has to spend four turns instead of one mana to cast it.

Logic Knot: X in a CMC is still zero.

Mana Leak: Okay, it's a worse choice than Logic Knot but it's still CMC 2.

Okay, it's CMC 2 but why tutor for this?

Impulse: Yeah you can dig four deep, which is good, but tutoring for this isn't the right choice in more situations than not.

Negate: Yes it's countermagic, but you can get OG Counterspell or Logic Knot instead. Even a Narset's Reversal if it's something you want to cast before they do.

Snap: The best situations when this can be used are if you need to crack your Blast Zone or your Inventors' Fair.

Teferi's Time Twist: Your best targets are those in immediate danger (not great since you're transmuting at sorcery speed), Mystic Sanctuary (you can cast your Recall even more times....), or your Myr Battlesphere (mo myr mo problems?). Still not the best target though.

Also hits:

Reshape*: Plot twist, my Darksteel Relic was actually a Myr Battlesphere all along!

Merchant Scroll*: Inefficient, but if you have a Muddle and you really just need your Time Spiral or Windfall, I guess it works?

*Note: Bugger, it looks like the scroll hits instants and not sorceries like I thought. In that case it hits literally all of your countermagic, get a Force of Will or a Force of Negation to counter your opponent's Elvish Mystic on turn, like, ten? Idk man.

Snapcaster Mage*: It's never the first Ancestral Recall, er, Treasure Cruise, that kills you...

I hope you enjoyed my quick and easy tutor guide, come back next week for my feature of "One Hundred and One Dalmatians, or Oops I accidentally put an extra card into my hound tribal commander deck"

Cards denoted with an asterisk * in the tutor target notes are not in this build yet.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 23 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.58
Tokens	Construct 0/0 C, Emblem Tezzeret, Artifice Master, Myr 1/1 C, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure
Folders	cEDH