Monday, February 14, 2011

A kinder, gentler Zur...

General:
Zur the Enchanter

White Creatures:
Sunblast Angel
Sun Titan
Yosei, the Morning Star
Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Blue Creatures:
Mulldrifter
Body Double
Vesuvan Doppleganger
Keiga, the Tide Star
Consecrated Sphinx

Black Creatures:
Fleshbag Marauder
Dimir House Guard
Shriekmaw
Puppeteer Clique
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Grave Titan
Massacre Wurm

Multicolor Creatures:
Shadowmage Infiltrator
Angel of Despair

Robots:
Solemn Simulacrum
Duplicant

Zur-chantments:
Seal of Cleansing
Luminarch Ascension
Oblivion Ring
Ghostly Prison
Battle Mastery
Rhystic Study
Copy Enchantment
Archmage Ascension
Propaganda
Phyresis
Seal of Doom
Necromancy
Steel of the Godhead

Planeswalkers:
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Venser, the Sojourner

Artifacts:
Sol Ring
Azorius Signet
Dimir Signet
Orzhov Signet
Coalition Relic
Obelisk of Esper
Mimic Vat
Skullclamp
Lightning Greaves
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Light and Shadow

Other Spells:
Path to Exile
Swords to Plowshares
Wrath of God
Phyrexian Rebirth
Deep Analysis
Foresee
Bribery
Rite of Replication
Time Spiral
Demonic Tutor
Barter in Blood
Damnation
Profane Command
Black Sun's Zenith
Vindicate

Land:
36 assorted lands, including the holy trinity of Kor Haven, Volrath's Stronghold and Academy Ruins...

This is a Zur deck that is trying to subvert the stereotypical image that Zur decks usually have. Which is that they are unfair, dick-ish and unfun to play against. To that end I'm not running many of the ubiquitous staples of the archetype, namely Necropotence and anything to do with locking players out of the game (i.e. Stasis prisons, etc...).

I have also built the rest of the deck in the manner of a "Good Stuff" deck with lots of powerful tempting spells to provide alternatives to the rather linear strategy of "attack with Zur, get echantments".

Sometimes I might not even attack with Zur, if something in my hand is more relevant or powerful than any particular Enchantment I could fetch up... I also have to be careful with piling a bunch of Aura's onto Zur because spot-removal is very prevelant in my metagame.

In a 1v1 game, I can probably afford to go aggro as fast as possible, often going through my buff auras first to get an early lead on general damage, but in a multi-player game, it's going to be wiser to wait until late game, when everyone seems to be running out of steam before I try to piling on auras.

One thing I'm seriously considering for this deck is to add the Sovereigns of Lost Alara + Eldrazi Conscription. I realize that seems like a bit douche-baggy, but really it would be more like a mercy killing.. instead of dying a slow, painful death 1 point of General Damage at a time, it's more like a 1-shot kill (using Sovereigns to get Conscription, and Zur himself to get Battle Mastery) putting them to a swift and merciful end.

In the one game I played so far, I was able to effectively gain the upper hand and take control of the board, but once in control I had trouble putting the game away. It took forever to actually kill anyone, and that made it seem like the game was dragging out a bit too long for all of us. With a well-timed Conscription, I can end the game much quicker, which if it seems to my opponents like I'm assured to win anyway, that would be a mercy, would it not?

On the other hand, it's a powerful enough combo that it might even let me steal a win when I'm actually losing... while that seems like a great reason to do it to ME, my opponents might not feel the same way.

It's something I'll have to consider, but I'm going to play at least a couple more games before making any changes...

1 comment:

  1. i love Zur for my 1st EDH deck...superb..

    plus Mox Diamond, vampiric tutor, propaganda n some stuff from Commander build deck.

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