Against All Odds from M19 is definitely going in.

Actually, it's fake. Nvm. I got excited.

Daybreak Coronet is useful as "the lifelink slot" if you wish to run Stasis, then the vigilance becomes important.

But that's a different kind of stax Zur list.

Hey Hey. So much stuff.

Yeah, I don't know what else to say about Cartouche of Ambition. It's very good in a competitive metagame. I don't know too much about playing this deck against non-competitive lists, but I'm pretty sure you'd have to change a bunch of things, since some stuff just gets way worse (like Counterbalance).

Re: Battlebond. @chowkaze, I think if Inner Demon had been 3CMC we'd have had something. But otherwise, I haven't seen anything that's really good. There's some kind of warrior that's a bad Dark Confidant, right? I don't think it's good enough.

@crstisalie: Well, amulet of safekeeping is like the bad part of Solitary Confinement. I'm sometimes happy to have the "untargetable" clause of solitary confinement, but it doesn't do that much. It sometimes stops a discard spell or an edict effect (which aren't even good); the most likely thing is to stop someone from targetting you with Carpet of Flowers. But that's not worth a card on its own.

@Nicolascolau: Yeah, metamorphic alteration is a strong card, but it's probably not as good as Imprisoned in the Moon. There's probably some trickery that can go on tho, so like Copy Enchantment or Copy Artifact it might be sort of a fringe card that you could flex in.

It stops Mike and Trike/Walking Ballista, too, as well as Blasting Station loops, and Altar of Dementia loops, and more. It has some utility depending on what decks you're facing.

So, I've been thinking about Sapphire Medallion lately, and how good it could be in this deck. It's ramp, and given the amount of blue spells the deck runs, and how we rely heavily on counter-magic that would benefit from the reduction, I think it's a good fit.

@chowkaze, Actually the best cards in battlebond are the lands. Morphic Pool and Sea of Clouds are both excellent. I'm not sure if I'd slot them in over any of the current lands (maybe city of brass?) but they're absolutely excellent budget replacements.

@crstisalie yes.... but, Mike + Trike isn't a good wincon, and I'm not sure it's even the best win con in the decks that it's good in. I don't think Sapphire Medallion does what you want since it's usually the AMOUNT of blue you can produce that's limiting. You can try Sky Diamond (but, you know, don't). Or Grand Arbiter Augustin IV which is similar but stronger. Grant Arbiter is actually great in this deck, its just sometimes I feel the meta is really anti-creature, or sometimes the meta is too fast to tap out for another 4-CMC sorcery-speed spell (in addition to Zur himself), and you know, you tend to play GAAIV and then immediately lose before you untap again.

I wouldn't even think about running Sky Diamond (if it came into play untapped, then perhaps, but no).

My reasons for considering Sapphire Medallion was because it has a cmc of 2, as opposed to 4 for GAA. Yeah, GAA is great, but as you mentioned, it is a 4 cost, and @ 4, we should be trying to get Zur into play. @2, S. Medallion can potentially come down turn 1 or 2 relatively easily, and makes some of our key blue spells easier to cast, including Zur himself (consistently helping with the commander tax is useful too, in metas where there's a lot of removal).

And, as far as I see it, blue is the only color we really care about having cost reduction for. S. Medallion just doesn't seem all that bad. I do understand, though, that producing blue sometimes can be an issue, but I don't know if that alone is a solid reason not to play the medallion. Besides, having an extra artifact in the deck does make Mox Opal a little better, lol.

Hmm...

ok guys with the C18 spoilers we got Estrid's Invocation... i really like this card for its versatility..

what you think? we can find a spot for it?

@Nicolascolau I'm not super impressed with Estrid's Invocation. There's only a few of the enchants we have that you'd want 2 of: probably grasp of fate, rhystic study, and aura of silence. But, VelvetVendetta really liked Copy Enchantment, but mostly because it copied other people's stuff, like Sylvan Library and Carpet of Flowers and if someone else lands a Rhystic Study before you do. It might also have been that he played in a reanimator-dominated metagame, so there was the possibility of copying an Animate Dead and snagging a huge bomb. Maybe VelvetVendetta can elaborate on this.

For C18, I think the most likely card is Ever-Watching Threshold. I think it's probably not good enough, but if it comes down before Zur, then it should discourage attacks or draw you cards - both great in a tymna-dominated metagame. I can't imagine it ever being strong enough to tutor into play with Zur. But worth testing.

I would only use Estrid's Invocation on a reanimator variant as the reanimate enchantments were good enough targets to copy most of the time, meaning you could use it instead of a third reanimate enchantment, to improve slot efficiency.

Still, it got cut on my last reanimator build (likely to fit Counterbalance)

It's a very versatile slot tho, so if your meta has powerful enchantments and you feel like you always wish you had a second grasp of fate, then this is a good choice.

Bless you for typing this up. Any reason why you aren't using Intuition or YagWill?

@Zeitloup, re: yawgmoth's will and intuition. Well, this is a control deck. Yawgmoth's will is better in decks that want to do a lot in a single turn, and really only great in decks that can replay a lot of mana from their graveyard - stuff like Dark Ritual or Lion's Eye Diamond. This deck isn't that deck. We could use Yawg Will and then... cast three counterspells from the yard? :)

A bigger reason for no graveyard-reliant spells is that one of our main weapons is Rest in Peace which shuts those off. Intuition isn't very good if two of the three cards you get are exiled - then it's basically just a tutor for things you have three of; counterspells in this case.

@mmcgeach, thanks for the response. I'm just so used to slapping Will in every black deck i play i forget to think whether or not its actually worth it sometimes, and sometimes i just wanna go, i spent $70 on this card, i kinda want to play it. I'm also used to using it in Food Chain, but again thats another combo deck, and Tasigur, but that actually can combo off it late game with a scepter win. Haha, i'm just used to having a grave to work with recently in my cEDH life.

But again, thanks and great primer. I've always wanted to Zur as a commander, and i don't exactly think Doomsday stacks are particularly fun.

mmcgeach - I wanted to get your opinion of Luminarch Ascension. I was considering adding it as a tertiary win-con behind R.I.P/Helm and commander damage. I was figuring with the high density of board wipes (Toxic Deluge, Massacre, Supreme Verdict and Cyclonic Rift) and Solitary Confinement you could easily protect it.

My meta currently consists of Food Chain Prossh, Paradox Sisay, Blood Pod and Tasigur Control. I was also considering adding Illness in the Ranks to keep the Food Chain Prossh and Blood Pod decks in check. If only I picked up The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale twenty years ago. Oh well, highsight is 20/20.

@AquaticAce26, yeah, Luminarch Ascension is a fine win con - it definitely has synergy with the deck and the plan. The win cons in the deck can be a little fragile - like if you have Rest in Peace and someone destroys your Helm of Obedience, you have to shift to the other win. So in that sense, a third one-card win con is ok. On the other hand, having a very few dead cards for combo slots or wincons is one of the strengths of the deck. You could drop the voltron cards (Empyrial Armor and Cartouche of Ambition) and add Luminarch Ascension and maybe Replenish, if you want to stay at 2 wincons. Or you can just add it and go up to 3.

I'd probably try another board wipe against those decks instead of Illness in the Ranks. Massacre or Yahenni's Expertise. They're both vulnerable from their creature mana. I'd probably want to play another GY hoser, maybe leyline or Planar Void, which should help against blood pod and tasigur. Yeah.

I hear you on card prices... even 2 years ago Tabernacle was 400$. Should have bought a playset then. :/

Any consideration for Voltaic Key and Copy Artifact to get mutiple activations out of Helm?

Is there any possibility for Energy Field in this deck? I understand it's the same slot as Solitary Confinement, and you kinda need Rest in Peace to get the most value out of it but having a plan b for this slot seems good given we're already running and relying on Rest in Peace sitting on the battlefield.

@EasyPeezy, hmm. Copy Artifact is just a good card. Could play it over orzhov signet. Usually you're just going to copy somebody's Sol ring or Mana crypt. Getting multiple activations of Helm isn't necessary. Usually you're winning well before you actually go for the win, you know? Voltaic key is better in decks that use big Mana better, since you're typically untapping Mana vault or grim monolith. A deck like thrasios. Untapping sensei's top isn't that great. 2 Mana draw 1 and cast a spell isn't efficient enough in combo matches and gets hurt by every stax piece in stax matchups. Although, it's not nothing.

If you have two Skip Your Draw Step cards out at the same time, the second effect overrides the first, so you can't use Solitary Confinement and Necropotence at the same time, I don't know if you know that already

lol ^

FelixMortem: Umm, not sure if you're just trolling for the lulz, or if you were just given very poor information, but no, what you're saying is definitely not true, lmfao!

I was given bad information

I'm just curious what your thoughts are on Humility since it's such an oppressive effect that you have immediate access to with Zur. You wouldn't necessarily lose your Voltron win con either if you drop a Humility before Empyrial Armor and Cartouche of Ambition because the earlier timestamp of Humility would allow Zur to retain the effects from Empyrial and Cartouche, but it would remove these effects if it came out afterward instead for example.

Something to think about. I think your deck can work around a timely Humility really well and cause most decks in the current cEDH metagame to struggle until they can find an answer. It feels incredibly viable and seems like your deck isn't even hit as hard as HEMAN lists that are constructed around the card.

Scratch that I'm dumb. Humility isn't 3 CMC so it's not tutorable with Zur, but still a darn good card you can grab with Necropotence early on.