Zur, Lean and Mean

Commander / EDH Control Counterspell Enchant Island Stax Voltron WUB (Esper)

nivvius

Land (33)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 2x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Raffine's Tower
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath

Voltron (5)

• 1x All That Glitters
• 1x Battle Mastery
• 1x Empyrial Armor
• 1x Pemmin's Aura
• 1x Steel of the Godhead

Ramp (13)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Thought Vessel

Stax (10)

• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Arcane Laboratory
• 1x Archon of Emeria
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Harbinger of the Seas
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Moat

Draw (5)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Rhystic Study

Goodstuff (5)

• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Copy Enchantment
• 1x The Master of Keys
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Protection (3)

• 1x Vanishing
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Spellskite

Commander (1)

Countermagic (12)

• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Drown in the Loch
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Sink into Stupor  ^Flip

Removal (9)

• 1x Snuff Out
• 1x Final Showdown
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Damn
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vindicate
• 1x Supreme Verdict

Tutor (4)

• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Spellseeker

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Maybeboard

Countermagic (4)

• 1x Blue Elemental Blast
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Tishana's Tidebinder
• 1x Mindbreak Trap

Land (3)

• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x Horizon of Progress

Protection (2)

• 1x Diplomatic Immunity
• 1x Greater Auramancy

Stax (1)

• 1x Contamination

Goodstuff (4)

• 1x Copy Artifact
• 1x Orcish Bowmasters
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip
• 1x Lorien Revealed

Removal (3)

• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Void Rend
• 1x Deadly Rollick

Draw (1)

• 1x Brainsurge

Voltron (4)

• 1x Blessing
• 1x Staggering Insight
• 1x Timely Ward
• 1x Sovereigns of Lost Alara

Tutor (3)

• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Tribute Mage

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This is a rather modified iteration of my previous zur deck. It leans more into the voltron angle. The old list had a potentially stronger gameplan, but felt less focused overall. I cut the Helm of Obedience + Rest in Peace combo, as well; most of the supporting cards were removed for more Voltron pieces. I think the combo is occasionally a little clunky with how hard it can be to tutor Helm, and due to Rest in Peace disabling some cards in the deck completely.

The goal is much the same as previous: Ramp into a protected Zur, and win the game from there. A form of protection available or as the first Zur trigger should typically the first thing to grab, as he is a lightning rod for removal. You may need to use some triggers to help get the current board situation under control, but otherwise if you feel somewhat comfortable with your position, Necropotence is by far the post powerful enchantment to take; note that skipping your draw step is often a major barrier to controlling the board, you need to be able to start gaining some life with Zur to not die in a few turns. I typically Necro for 10 cards or so initially to sculpt my hand, depending on my current life total. Later on Arcane Laboratory and Solitary Confinement help completely lock down the late game, and can be quite difficult for your opponents to fight through after sculpting your hand with Necro.

I do occasionally make concessions to playing objectively better cards to simply ones cards I like, at times. Most (all?) of these are noted in the section breakdown below.

Countermagic

This should be self-explanatory. I don't have a 'target' for number of counterspells played, or anything like that. I simply try play the best available (You can consider An Offer You Can't Refuse over, say, Dispel or something, but I don't particularly like the former. This is a good place to start changing things for a lower-powered table, if you wish. Considering the 'maybeboard': Blue Elemental Blast is great if you happen to run into a lot of other red decks. Mindbreak Trap is great against Cavern of Souls enjoyers, but has quite a steep cost; I don't typically expect to be able to cast it for free.

Draw

It's quite important for Zur to have a means to draw an extra card each turn somehow, in case you need to pillow fort with Solitary Confinement. Phyrexian Arena has been an EDH staple forever, and fills this role nicely. Rhystic Study is another EDH staple, and Necropotence is probably the best card in the entire game that Zur can tutor, allowing for insane hand-sculpting capability. The rest I would consider very flexible, or not at all necessary, even. Impulse I simply happen to like, as it's instant and offers good selection despite costing an extra mana. Dark Confidant should be cut in more causal lists with higher CMC, the damage starts to add up if he sticks around, but in a really streamlined list like this one you scarcely take damage.

Goodstuff

More of a 'catch-all' for things I didn't really want to categorize. I like Mission Briefing more than Snapcaster Mage, since things like Force of Will can be cast with their alternative costs. It's got a rougher manacost, and worthless under Arcane Laboratory, though, unlike Snapcaster, so I may change my mind here at some point. Estrid's Invocation is potentially the best option for a copy enchantment effect, but Mirrormade is also an option. I will run Copy Enchantment despite being clearly the least flexible option, as I simply like the art most, particularly now that there's an old-border version.

Land

Not much to say here. Play whatever you want for your group's power level. I make some notable omissions, though: I don't like the artwork on the battlebond lands much: Morphic Pool and Deserted Beach are objectively better than Underground River and Adarkar Wastes in EDH, but I made this choice for aesthetics. I would also consider Glacial Chasm and Drowned Catacomb in this slot with the current loadout. The deck is quite blue-heavy, so most of the BW lands are not terribly desirable. I've considered cutting even Godless Shrine for another blue dual, or even a basic island. Reliquary Tower is probably the weakest land here, and Serra's Sanctum is not at all necessary.

Protection

Things that keep Zur from dying, simple as. Not terribly interesting stuff, frankly. Pemmin's Aura could also go here, that's part of its purpose in the deck (aside from turning Zur into Morphling being cool). Vanishing is the best available, and saves Zur and all his enchantments from anything, but the cost is quite steep. I'm not the biggest fan of things that directly give him shroud (see the maybeboard) as it completely blanks all auras you happen to draw. The deck plays a lot like draw go, so having UU up with Vanishing, for example, is often just as good as giving Zur shroud or indestructible anyway. Timely Ward, however, is potentially quite interesting despite this.

Ramp

I don't play any ramp at 3cmc or above. It's too clunky for a really streamlined meta, most of the time. Chromatic Lantern is quite interesting, though, since this deck is so blue-mana hungry. Otherwise, not much to say, I play pretty much the best available. Thought Vessel is currently the weakest slot here.

Removal

There are a decent number of options here. For targeted removal: I often only care about the biggest threats on the board, so cheap, single-target removal fills my niche for this. Deadly Rollick is probably better than Snuff Out, meta-depending. Void Rend is also probably better than Vindicate, I don't think I've ever hit a land with it, and instant/uncounterable is very good in comparison. I'd consider the wraths I have here the best available. Supreme Verdict's uncounterability is amazing, and Damn is tutorable by Spellseeker. Toxic Deluge Is probably the only thing here I'd potentially consider cutting here for something else. Final Showdown is quite flexible in Zur, as an instant speed wrath is quite good. I had always considered a slot for Rout, but it is mana-intensive. An instant speed wrath that doubles as Zur protection is good.

Stax

Arcane Laboratory is a late-game bomb. After sculpting your hand and buffing up Zur, it makes it extremely difficult for your opponents to stop you or advance their own gameplans. Solitary Confinement is a great option to have available via Zur to keep from dying against a go-wide deck. The rest is quite flexible, or probably able to be omitted entirely. Moat is not at all necessary: one could play Sphere of Safety or Propaganda in this slot instead. Each has advantages over the other (Sphere gets extremely difficult to pay later on, and Proaganda is Zur-tutorable).

Stasis is an interesting option here. I am hoping to find a slot for it and test it out, but it would likely warrant Forsaken City, and then probably Urza's Saga to grab Expedition Map to ensure we could keep it up. Makes Pemmin's Aura that much more interesting.

Tutor

Not too much to say, Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor are the best available. Transmute Artifact, specifically is quite build-specific; it tutors a lot of interesting utility artifacts currently. A similar role could be filled by Tribute Mage. Spellseeker is probably the best general blue tutor available in streamlined decks like this, particularly with the printing of Damn, as previously mentioned.

Recruiter of the Guard is looking for a slot, and has gotten better in recent iterations with several interesting things to search for. It also indirectly searches instants and sorceries via Spellseeker.

Voltron

Here, you can almost play whatever you want. I think Steel of the Godhead is proabably the one of the best auras Zur can get to enchant himself, and probably the only one I'd never really leave home without. All That Glitters has made it in over Ethereal Armor. I had previously thought that the extra points of damage wouldn't matter much, but with the artifact ramp this deck plays it's usually much better and helps get Zur to two-hit lethal quite quickly

ZUR

it's him!

Date added	11 months
Last updated	4 weeks
Key combos	Helm of Obedience + Rest in Peace
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 54 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.07
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C
Based on	ZUR CONTROL nivvius EDH