(Competitive) Zur - Mana Denial

Commander / EDH* WUB (Esper)

Paramount-TC

Land (34)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Ancient TombGC
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x City of Traitors
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mishra's Workshop
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 1x Skycloud Expanse
• 1x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath

Instant (5)

• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Enlightened TutorGC
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mystical TutorGC
• 1x Vampiric TutorGC

Artifact (28)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Chalice of the Void
• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Chrome MoxGC
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Grim MonolithGC
• 1x Jeweled Amulet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lion's Eye DiamondGC
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana VaultGC
• 1x Marble Diamond
• 1x Mox DiamondGC
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Creature (8)

• 1x Benevolent Bodyguard
• 1x Chancellor of the Annex
• 1x Glowrider
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Standard Bearer
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Vryn Wingmare

Commander (1)

Enchantment (12)

• 1x Consulate Crackdown
• 1x Copy Enchantment
• 1x Estrid's Invocation
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x In the Eye of Chaos
• 1x Mana Vortex
• 1x Mirrormade
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Noxious Field
• 1x Oath of Liliana
• 1x Peace of Mind
• 1x Second Chance

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Death Cloud
• 1x Demonic TutorGC
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Imperial SealGC
• 1x Karn's Temporal Sundering
• 1x Pox
• 1x Ravages of War
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Transmute Artifact

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler

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Sideboard

Artifact (7)

• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Khalni Gem
• 1x Reito Lantern
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x TrinisphereGC

Instant (2)

• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Silence

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Aether Gale
• 1x Capture of Jingzhou
• 1x Catastrophe
• 1x Displacement Wave
• 1x Temporal Manipulation
• 1x Temporal Mastery
• 1x Urza's Ruinous Blast

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Dovin, Hand of Control

Creature (3)

• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Hushbringer
• 1x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Deafening Silence
• 1x Mystic Remora

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cEDH Multiplayer Primer: Competitive Zur - Land Destruction "Mana Denial"

Strategy: Basically this is a competitive multiplayer EDH land destruction deck. Its a different strategy from regular EDH Stax with a different focus. Archetype: Land Destruction. Strategy: Mana Denial - a specialized form of dedicated stax. The goal is to get rid of opponents ability to cast spells by denying them mana sources/lands. (NOT slowdown/delay opponents) Why Zur? Zur offers a consistent but complete mass land destruction strategy with both MLD, nonland removal, creature removal and even a finisher.

Step 1: Mulligans You want to keep hand with either: A) fast mana B) fast mana + land destruction spell C)fast mana + tutor

Step 2: Mana Denial (Two routes)

A) Fast Mana + Land Destruction spell in hand (Pox/Deathcloud/Armageddon) Follow up with Zur into Necropotence, rebuild, get eye of chaos, and win with: Approach+Necro or Repay+Unlife+Necro. Note: IF you did Armageddon you will have to still remove creatures and nonlands before Necropotence.

B) Turbo Zur, fetch Mana Vortex, Copy Enchantment copying Mana Vortex. The Grasp of Fate, Estrids Invocation copying Grasp of Fate. If theres a lot of mana dorks grab Noxious Fields, any big creatures you can get Oath. If there are no more mana sources or just 1 land, go for Aura of Silence (Acts like a Trinisphere), then get Necropotence.

Step 3: Post lock A) Grab Necropotence with Zur then draw 7-21 cards, rebuild board. B) Grab Peace of Mind with Zur to keep drawing cards and not die to life loss. C) Get In the Eye of Chaos with Zur to prevent counterspells from countering win condition then go to the final step.

Step 4: Ending the game

While they are locked out you're still required to actually end the game. So we use this finisher. Second Chance + Hall of Heliod's Generosity + Zur + Necropotence for infinite combat damage. First get Necropotence then get Peace of Mind so that you can dig for Hall then simply tutor for Second Chance and start looping.

Matchups:

Metagame:

Why don't you play:

Updates:

1. Currently testing out new tech: Extra Turn Spells + Serenity idea that I had, to make nonland removal more consistent and effective. The idea is for the first tutor to be serenity, then extra turn, blow it up, and then grab Vortex, so that you remove any mana sources that they have.
2. Testing out Stony Silence, as an alternative to Serenity/Extra Turn Spells)
3. Noticed that having access to Lim Dul/Mystical Tutor, is also great for getting Temporal Mastery, which is nasty with Zur.
4. Tested out Tabernacle, which hasn't tested out well. Also missing a land drop is pretty bad.
5. Now testing out a new finisher Second Chance + Hall of Heliod's Generosity as the new win condition. Since this only requires 3 lands including Heliod, this is a big deal as this means we can now play Stony Silence. Which gives us even stronger nonland removal to support the land destruction.

10-14-2019 (Update) Deck is now under 99 cards, and maybe cards include in a maybe board. Now players can just side cards into the maindeck. New win condition has been adopted "Second Chance + Hall of Heliod's Generosity + Zur for infinite combat damage and turns" Still have to draw into the land or search for it. (so Peace of Mind is still important with Necropotence) the new finisher no longer need's in the eye of chaos to make it uncounterable since the combo can't be countered by the usual counterspells. The deck is sticking to one-sided artifact hate and removal so that we are able to recast zur the enchanter to get back into games. Strionic Resonator and Transmute Artifact both are brand new to Zur - Mana Denial. For 4 mana total either option allows Zur to get a 2nd trigger on his attack for another enchantment which can be game ending. Deafening Silence has been very good, acting like a 2nd Trinisphere early game, and still allowing us to play our game. The deck has adopted a removal package which uses extra turn spells, one-sided wipes, and one-sided artifact/enchantment removal in order to allow zur more resiliency, and the ability to recast.

11-29-2019 Update: decklist is now a more solid 99 cards, sideboard includes cards for meta adjustments. Going more anti-counterspell, more anti-combo, and so on. Lavina/Land Equilibrium may eventually make their way back into the decklist until I can find a slot for one or both of them. Toxic Deludge, Cyclonic Rift, and Lim Dul's Vault and Mystical Tutor have been proving to be a crucial part of the deck by retaining access to mass removal when needed. Karn and Crackdown remain important in helping to curb early mana acceleration from mana rocks. Deafening Silence has been temporarily cut from the decklist until I can work a slot for it. Looking to make room for Deafening Silence, Lavina or permanently cut them. Cursed Totem has been a cut that I'm not worried about. Chalice of the Void is still however extremely strong at the 1 counter level, and is just so much more effective early game than a Totem at curbing early development and so is Deafening Silence but I need to find a slot for it. I've cut the extra turn spells down to just 3, karn's temporal sundering, capture, and temporal manipulation. Karn's Sundering offer's us an immediate out when we're behind because of an Aven or Stranglehold, and it gives us the extra momentum needed to catchup when we're behind by a turn. Karn's Temporal Sundering helps to deal with some anti-Zur effects.

Paramount_Elite

Top Ranked	Achieved #15 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #9 position in Commander / EDH 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH WUB (Esper) 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 4 Mythic Rares 60 - 11 Rares 17 - 6 Uncommons 8 - 2 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.26
Tokens	Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Ideas, cEDH, Zur, Deck ideas, Zur