Urza or Yawgmoth on a Budget
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Oct. 21, 2019, 10:40 a.m. by ShutUpMokuba
Hello everyone, I already own a copy of both Urza, Lord High Artificier and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and now i want to build around one of the a new deck. According to you with a budget around 250-300$ which one can perform better and which one would require an higher budget to work properly?
Urza plays better with high value colorless cards. Yawgmoth doesn't require as many. Urza being blue will give it an advantage as the budgets grows. Urza will be targeted early in more casual games. So depends on group you play with and how you play yawgmoth. But in that starting budget I'd say yawgmoth.
October 21, 2019 11:24 a.m. Edited.
ShutUpMokuba says... #4
My intention is to upgrade in the future the deck but i want it to be decent from the start. I probably agree that Yawgmoth would work better with that budget but in terms of playstyle i'm more into what Urza wants to do so that's why i asked for your advice.
October 21, 2019 11:28 a.m.
bushido_man96 says... #5
Have you checked out The Commanders Quarters channel on YouTube? Mitch has budget builds for both of these, and he does wonders on a $50 budget. You should check them out. Hell, you could build both for your $250 budget, and make modifications to taste as you play them.
October 21, 2019 12:24 p.m.
ShutUpMokuba says... #6
bushido_man96 I really like that channel and build a couple of them he suggested. The fact is that both Urza and Yawgmoth EDH require an higher budget to work so even if the list he posted on YT are really good for that budget i fear it's not sufficient as starting point in this case.
October 21, 2019 1:04 p.m.
bushido_man96 says... #7
And why is that? Is there something to prove at the local LGS? They are a good base to start from, and I would rather build both if I had both. The point is that you'd have two builds you could improve upon over time.
But it's your money, your call.
October 21, 2019 1:15 p.m.
ShutUpMokuba says... #8
bushido_man96 you probably misunderstood me. I wasn't trying to be arrogant by saying that. Commanders quarter's decks are overperforming considering their budget. But we are still talking about a 50$ commander deck. I'm not saying that a deck to work or be fun to play must have a budget of 500$ or so, in fact i've said i've already tried some of his decks myself and i admit they are pretty solid for their limited budget. But every deck has his own strategy which demands particular cards to work efficiently. You can still do it on a budget but you lose something. What i meant is that in the case of Yawgmoth and Urza EDH decks with ultra budget options you are a lot less effective than you want to be with that strategy. For example, in Yawgmoth's case he had to cut out Dictate of Erebos because otherwise he would have had 20% of the budget on 1 card. You can still play the deck efficently without cards like that but you are way less effective. Some commanders work better on a budget than Others. That's all and that's the Whole point of this thread.
October 21, 2019 1:32 p.m.
bushido_man96 says... #9
I understand what you're saying, I do. I think you're missing my approach. I'm just saying build on his initial budget approach, not necessarily verbatim. Hell, he includes reasonable upgrades, and you can build even further off those. Run Dictate if you have it. Or get it if you don't. I'm just saying you don't necessarily have to build one and forsake the other.
Like I said, just a suggestion. I'd do both if I had both.
October 21, 2019 2:44 p.m.
ShutUpMokuba says... #10
bushido_man96 at least for now my intention is to pick one and use my budget on it. I agree that building a bugdet version of both would help me decide which one i like the most but i would rather use my money just on one to build a better version from the get go. However i could change my mind and build both as you suggest
October 21, 2019 3:40 p.m.
I would recommend against building both as budget lists. Especailly given that you're wanting to upgrade later. Buying two copies of a bunch of buget cards is a much worse approace than getting a few more solid cards that will not only retain value better, but will be applicable across more decks (if you do want to mix it up later).
From your previous comments, you mentioned that you're leaning more towards what Urza does. If that's the case ,the I would recommend starting there. What I would say (and this is a bit of trap I notice a lot of players fall into) is that they pull an expensive card and so then try to make it work, just because it's expensive and they own it.
October 22, 2019 8:39 p.m.
ShutUpMokuba says... #12
enpc that's the reason i want to build one for now. The fact you say about expensive cards it's totally true and that's why i wanted to ask first if within the budget i can afford now i can still make the deck work properly. Because i don't want to spend all my budget and then realize i would have to spend other 100-150$ in cards i necessarily need otherwise my strategy would be inconsistent nonetheless.
October 23, 2019 4:07 a.m.
ShutUpMokuba: Yeah, not a fun situation to be in.
As for the deck itself, if you're going to build Urza, the base should be fairly cheap depending on what you're trying to do. If you're going full tilt, the main cards you're looking at needing would be Isochron Scepter , Dramatic Reversal , some sort of back up line (e.g. Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth - although that card is like 1/6 of your budget so you could go Grand Architect + Pili-Pala if needs be) and then some infinite mana outlet. Walking Ballista is an easy choice, so is Goblin Cannon (which is also a butt-load cheaper).
Then it's a bunch of mana rocks and good 1-2 drop artifacts ( Elixir of Immortality , Codex Shredder , Tormod's Crypt , Relic of Progenitus , etc.) and you should have a decent deck.
as for card advantage and interaction, you have Dig Through Time , Treasure Cruise , Impulse , Ponder , Preordain , Brainstorm , Gitaxian Probe , Anticipate , Mystic Confluence , Gush , Mystic Remora , Howling Mine , Counterspell , Delay , Disallow , Void Shatter , Negate , Dispel , Spell Pierce , Reality Shift (which works with elixir as a backup combo once you have infinite mana), Rapid Hybridization , Pongify , Cyclonic Rift , Back to Basics , etc which are for the most part <$5.
It's not going to be the most competitive Urza deck, but against other $300-400 decks it should do fine.
October 23, 2019 9:53 a.m.
ShutUpMokuba says... #14
enpc thanks for your advices. Honestly to begin with i wanted to follow the list the Professor of TCC posted on YT because it was around my budget.. However at my lgs the average cost of a EDH is around 300$ when there is some event so that would be my target.
October 23, 2019 10:03 a.m.
Go for it! I had a quick look at the list and it's not my scene - I think you could come up with something a lot more focused with the same budget, but the list will give you a rounded enough deck. Doesn't really combo out much though, which is a shame...
Dreamweav3r says... #2
Gut reaction is Urza would do more with a higher budget, but either would be fine with that budget. I think depending on what you're doing specifically Yawgmoth could be tuned higher than Urza could with that budget.
October 21, 2019 11:14 a.m.