Zur, is he even fun?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on June 6, 2016, 7:23 p.m. by Calliber
I don't play competitive, we have a group of 6-8 people that play table top and we're getting into EDH games now. I was looking at doing an Esper color deck, and decided on Zur, so I started to theorize a deck around him on the deck builder and after a while I started to wonder if a Zur deck is even "fun" to play?
- Cast Zur the Enchanter
- Next turn Zur attacks and you bring out an Enchantment of 3 mana or less.
- Repeat.
The obvious problems, I'll almost always be bringing out the same Enchantments in the same order every time I play. First attack attach a Aura to Zur to make him Unblockable, my personal favorite being Unquestioned Authority for the card draw and partial protection from removal. 2nd attack bring out enchantment to deal with opponent's moves or add more protection (Totem armor). Turn 3 repeat or beef him up....continue until opponent has taken max damage from commander. Haven't planned much out yet but I see this being the typical strategy behind a Zur-EDH deck.
Other creatures that work well with him: Bruna, Light of Alabaster, Medomai the Ageless, Eidolon of Rhetoric. Use Artifacts to give him Hexproof or Indestructible.
The more I build this deck, the less fun it seems despite being a reliable and rather efficient way to play EDH. If I played competitive I'd definitely abuse him. I love Blue, Dimir, Azorius, Esper....but a Zur seems boring. Am I wrong to think this?
You don't need to make him unblockable. You need to make him survive. But yes, Zur is a very powerful commander.
June 6, 2016 7:32 p.m.
avrgeboy123 says... #4
Zur is the most brutal commander in 1v1. You play all the blue control spells, play Zur, attack with Zur, fetch Necropotence or Rest in Peace, draw all of the cards until you get Helm of Obedience. GG
June 6, 2016 7:39 p.m.
MindAblaze: Top tier huh? I guess I can see why. The biggest obstacle are cards that force me to sacrifice, aside from that you get rolling and there isn't much to really get in the way. Hit 4 mana (WBU+1) and have at it.
DrFunk27: Unblockable, Indestructible...basically keep him out and attacking each turn.
avrgeboy123: Interesting combo. I was thinking of Unquestioned Authority then Eidolon of Rhetoric if it isn't out, followed by a combo of Daybreak Coronet, Brave the Sands, Blessing of the Nephilim, Ethereal Armor, Sage's Reverie, Copy Enchantment.....shouldn't get to that point but basically commander beat-down. Maybe get a Totem aura in there just in case.
TreeCat: Ya, that's the impression I get. Great for competitive, boring for table top and rage inducer.
June 6, 2016 8:28 p.m.
KillDatBUG says... #7
No. Zur is incredibly boring because you're trying to lock your opponents out of the game, and it plays out the same way every time. You play Zur the Enchanter, then sit behind infinite removal spells and counterspells until you eventually win in 10 turns.
June 6, 2016 9:27 p.m. Edited.
As many people have said, Zur will be a very linear commander and you will eventually start getting hated on a lot once your deck gets to "that point".
Typically with most Zur decks though, the first enchantment that people get is Diplomatic Immunity on Zur. From there, he is really hard to remove. Another card that you will see in most Zur decks is Sun Titan, for obvious reasons.
June 6, 2016 9:43 p.m.
PookandPie says... #9
Play Ad Nauseam or Doomsday and then really have fun with Zur, since he's perfect for it.
Playing Zur and Arcum through hate is some of my most fun moments of Commander. Obviously if your playgroup can't handle a powerful Commander, Zur is going to be looked down upon in that meta. Attacking with Zur is the back up plan in some Zur decks.
June 7, 2016 8 a.m.
PookandPie says... #10
Quick note: "Attacking with Zur" should be understood as, "Winning with combat damage." Obviously you plan to attack with Zur if you make him your Commander over anyone else, it's just that you pull Necropotence to draw into Ad Nauseam, Doomsday, etc., rather than armoring up (though you can still pull protection auras if need be, it's not priority one).
I feel the need to make this second post because a lot of people on these forums tend to not use context cues during discussions.
June 7, 2016 8:05 a.m.
You can build Zur to do other things, but the problem is that anyone who knows standard Zur tactics will hate you off the board out of fear that that is how you built your deck.
I built Zur primarily for Pillow fort. Sure, I usually get Spirit Mantle first to protect Zur, but after that I mostly react to board state. If there are no threats on the board, I get Sleeper's Robe, Gravestorm, or Rhystic Study for card draw. If there are threats, Karmic Justice, Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Darksteel Mutation, Pillory of the Sleepless, Recumbent Bliss, Righteous War, or Blind Obedience are my choices. I can get Nevermore to prevent troublesome commanders or combo pieces from hitting the field.
My main offense is actually Zombies, for which Zur can get Spear of Heliod and Archetype of Courage.
But mostly I just die to people who think I am running 20 counterspells and 20 auras to pump Zur up. People in my meta don't seem to get a non-optimized Zur build.
June 7, 2016 11:52 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #12
That's the downside to random metas. People know what the commander is capable of and you die because of it, even if you're not making it do that. My buddy described our playgroup as an "inbred meta" that just durdles around killing off each other's commanders when they hit the board, because of what they've been known to do.
MindAblaze says... #2
I think the deck is high tiered for a reason. It's powerful and consistent, which inevitably leads to games playing out in similar ways if you don't find your commander getting killed.
June 6, 2016 7:29 p.m.