Deck Rating: 9 out of 10
Deck Strategy: Artifacts, Control, Combo
The deck to bring out when you're truly sick and tired of your opponents' crap. With none other than Urza, Lord High Artificer at the helm, this deck pulls zero punches from the get-go. We will transform the game through artifice, ramping harder than all our opponents and locking down the table with powerful control effects before they can even get off the ground. Let's look at Urza's abilities, and how they pave our way to victory.
A 1/4 body for is hardly impressive, but that's not all there is to this pre-walker incarnation of Dominaria's most famous hero...
- First of all, his ETB ability creates a Construct 0/0 C artifact creature token with power and toughness equal to the number of artifacts you control. A useful chump blocker that can grow into a potent attacker, and serves as a mana rock in a pinch (more on this in a bit).
- Second off is the real powerhouse ability: Urza can tap any untapped artifact you control to make . Because it is a cost for an activated ability printed on his card, it circumvents any summoning sickness on artifact creatures - now we're talking! This deck focuses primarily on creating tons of token artifacts, which we can then tap for tons of . Often this allows us to jump way ahead of our mana curve, getting huge threats out early.
- Urza's third ability is a nice 'gimme' and a decent mana sink, but its inherent unreliability make it less pivotal to the functioning of this deck. Though it can be done at instant speed, shuffling your deck and exiling the top card to be played for free is only relevant if you are actually allowed to play the card, restricting its primary use to your main phases. Nevertheless, there are ways to make this ability more attractive — see the Combos section below!
To come out on top, this deck has been constructed with three mechanical pillars at its disposal:
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Artifact Token Creation. Our commander's mana-generation capacity relies on us having many artifacts. While it is true that every non-token artifact card in this deck can serve towards this end, we may want to move a little faster. To that end, this deck is full of cards that make artifact tokens. Treasures, Clues, Foods and Thopter 1/1 Cs - we can't get enough of 'em. Because Urza lets us keep using the same artifacts instead of sacrificing them for value, this can snowball out of control really fast. In this mechanical pillar we find permanents like Sailor of Means, Whirler Rogue, Prosperous Pirates, Bucknard's Everfull Purse, Witch's Oven, Magnifying Glass and Tamiyo's Journal. Even our countermagic gets in on the fun: Access Denied, Confirm Suspicions and Spell Swindle deny our opponents and give us permanent value.
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High-Value Utility Artifacts. I went all-out with this one, digging up every single powerful artifact I owned, even pulling a few from older decks. The aim was to create a toolbox for tremendous value and responsiveness. For every action our opponents take, we take five. For every threat, we have the perfect answer. Lock your opponents down with Winter Orb and Crawlspace! Draw tons of cards from Mind's Eye and Skullclamp! Keep repeating your high-value effects with Mirrorworks, Lithoform Engine and Panharmonicon! Take every turn as one of your own with Shimmer Myr and Unwinding Clock! Possibilities abound.
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True Blue Interaction. Urza is the absolute lynchpin of this deck and must be kept safe at all costs. We have a number of permanent-based effects to keep him on the field just for this purpose, like Commander's Plate. Nevertheless, as redundancy we run some of the best interaction Blue has to offer. As ever, the classic Counterspell is here, as are its big brothers Cryptic Command and Force of Will. As previously mentioned, we also have a trio of counterspells that give us artifact tokens - very useful to make gains on opponents' turns! Removal we find in Reality Shift and Ravenform, while our Solve the Equation and Mystical Tutor can fetch us the answer we need, when we need it.
Running the deck is rather straightforward, though a thorough familiarity with its many utility artifacts is advisable. With this knowledge you can fetch what you need, when you need it. During play, the deck runs through these phases:
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Work Towards Urza. Keeping a hand where you can reliably get to Urza is our key objective; 3 or more lands/mana rocks is ideal. The reason for this is simple: once we play Urza, any mana woes are immediately resolved, and we can start Phase 2. If we can get some early-game value plays out like Sailor of Means, Academy Manufactor, Bucknard's Everfull Purse or Cloud Key, all the better.
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Leap Ahead. So now we have an Urza. What's next? Well, for one, using the mana we get from our artifacts to jump ahead of the mana curve! Bring big spells out early, and make sure that none of our mana goes to waste by putting it in Urza's ability. Bit by bit, we will begin to outvalue our opponents.
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Lock It Down. As your boardstate grows, you would do well to use the deck's tutoring effects to search out Darksteel Forge and Mycosynth Lattice, preferably in that order. This will turn the entire board into artifacts, while making yours indestructible. From here on out, you are fairly safe from reprisals. With your boardstate made safe, it's time to start wrecking. Fetching Nevinyrral's Disk allows you to blast your opponents' entire boards away in one fell swoop. Because we've made the Disk indestructible, we can keep doing it - your opponents are not getting back into the game. For a more direct approach, we can use Sakashima's Will or Masterful Replication to turn our entire board into copies of Blightsteel Colossus or Platinum Angel, swinging out big for the win. Also possible is an alt-win by Mechanized Production, or soft-locking your opponents into conceding through Winter Orb.
For the sake of reliability, the following support pillars have been included in the deck:
- Card Draw, from many sources. We can feed our Thopter tokens to Skullclamp or Sai, Master Thopterist! We can blink Coveted Jewel and Thought Monitor! Alternatively, we can use our passive effects that boost our card-draw, like The Immortal Sun, Mind's Eye and Cosmos Elixir. In a pinch, we can even sacrifice the Clue tokens we get from Tamiyo's Journal, Magnifying Glass and Academy Manufactor.
- Tutor Effects allow us to get exactly what we need, when we need it. Inventors' Fair, Treasure Mage, Arcum Dagsson, Kuldotha Forgemaster and Tamiyo's Journal all allow us to tutor up the artifact solution we need most at that particular time. We also run Mystical Tutor and Solve the Equation to fetch instant/sorcery answers and combo pieces.
- ETB effect permanents, made so much better here by having the resulting one-use artifacts become permanent bonuses. Sailor of Means, Prosperous Pirates, Whirler Rogue and even Urza, Lord High Artificer make us artifact tokens when they come in. Meanwhile, Solemn Simulacrum can be blinked for land ramp.
- Blinkers allow us to keep re-triggering our ETB stuff; Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, Deadeye Navigator and Conjurer's Closet all provide this reliably. Meanwhile, Panharmonicon and Lithoform Engine's ability allows us to multiply the value of our ETB effects with ease.
- Win Conditions are crucial in a deck that pulls zero punches. Perhaps our easiest one is Mechanized Production; slap it on a Treasure or a Thopter, and most likely you'll close out the game next upkeep. Alternatively, Clone Legion allows us to copy an opponent's huge boardstate, to overwhelm with numbers. Mnemonic Deluge then allows us to do so thrice more, or perhaps triple an even more potent spell in an opponent's graveyard. More reliably, Sakashima's Will or Masterful Replication can flash-forge our creature board into an army of dozens of Blightsteel Colossus.
Combos and Interactions
This deck runs a ton of value-enhancing combos, and many cards interact with each other in interesting ways. Let's take a look:
- Shimmer Myr and Mycosynth Lattice turns Urza's ability into an instant-speed answering machine. Caught in a tight spot? Roll the dice and see if you can dig up a solution! In a more productive sense, mana left up during your opponents' turns for interaction (or to create the illusion thereof) can now be put into value before it gets back to your turn. Never forget that with Mycosynth Lattice everything on your side is an artifact, and can thus fuel Urza's digging!
- In the same vein, adding Unwinding Clock to the combo above means a veritable flood of value from Urza's ability - during every single opponent's turn. Alternatively, a Horizon Stone will allow you to store the prodigious mana this deck generates, across turns.
- The dastardly interplay between Darksteel Forge, Mycosynth Lattice and Nevinyrral's Disk. A repeatable asymmetrical boardwipe that takes out all your opponents' permanents? Good lord.
- Normally, Winter Orb mana-screws you as hard as it does your opponents. However, Urza solves that problem in one fell swoop. By tapping it in your opponent's end step just before your untap step, you get access to all your lands while your foes get just one.
- Mirrorworks is an underrated gem of a card. Not only does it create redundancies for many of our combo pieces, sometimes it can even double their effects. Double Cloud Keys, double Cosmos Elixir, double Soul Foundry, double Panharmonicon, double Mind's Eye... If you want to get truly nuts, use Sculpting Steel or Lithoform Engine to make multiple Mirrorworks, then sit back and enjoy the chaos.
- Freed from the Real combined with Arcum Dagsson or Kuldotha Forgemaster is an excellent way to fetch multiple powerful artifacts from your deck in a single turn. Alternatively, you can put it on Hangarback Walker to very rapidly increase its counter growth. Your opponents will think twice before removing it - they know that every single Thopter you get from it will be another mana for your pool.
Pet Cards
To me, Commander is a format where fun is first, and competition second. As such, almost every deck I make will have some cards that are probably not the best choice for inclusion. They're there to stay, though, for no other reason that I like their art/flavor/design.
- Platinum Angel - I've always loved Platinum Angel, though she is less strong than her ability would suggest. However, considering this deck can get her out very quickly and also keep her safe, she is a solid addition. As an added bonus, she shuts down alternate win conditions hard.
- Clone Legion - Is it overcosted? Yes. Is it absolutely hilarious to carbon-copy an enemy's huge boardstate? You betcha.
- Bucknard's Everfull Purse - A decent card full of D&D flavor. It's also asymmetrical in this deck; while opponents have to sacrifice the Treasures they get from it, we can just tap them for mana through Urza.
- Crashing Drawbridge's ability is not essential in this deck, as we mainly use our artifacts for mana through Urza. However, with a Mycosynth Lattice out, anything you make (or copy with Clone Legion) can be immediately hasted to beat face, to the dismay of many an opponent.
Maybeboard Musings
As with all my decks, I've made a note of the cards that didn't make the grade or were unavailable to me. If you have them, you might consider swapping these in.
- Platinum Emperion. In the same vein as Platinum Angel, this can help you survive when all hope seems lost. Even better if you can copy it a few times for redundancy.
- Planar Bridge. Normally this one would be prohibitively expensive, but with our mana generation capabilities we can comfortably afford it. Add an Unwinding Clock for bonus bonkers.
- Alhammarret's Archive. Just an excellent value-doubler, but not much else. I haven't seen a real use case for it, as the deck is already very strong. Perhaps I might include it somewhere down the line in another iteration of the deck.
- Vedalken Orrery. We have its little brother in the form of Shimmer Myr, but this would truly make Urza's third ability shine. The card is very difficult to find, however, and I do not own a copy.
If you liked this deck, please leave an Upvote, or write a comment below! If you want to see more mechanically interesting decks with detailed write-ups, head to my user page. Here you can easily find all of my decks, listed by color combination, commander and mechanics!
