Not a bad looking list, I think some of the the creatures you have in here, while they add to your strategy you generally want enchantments that can do similar things. I would personally take out Imposing Sovereign and Magus of the Moat. Gaseous Form also seems a bit clunky in here, I would personally replace that one with Gift of Immortality. That gives you additional enchantment ETB's and protects Zur just as well.

I'd run Estrid's Invocation over Copy Enchantment, but I run both in my Zur deck. Either close things quicker or double down on a nasty Stax piece like Mana Breach.

Drannith Magistrate is a fun control piece I've been enjoying, just says sry every body no commander for you right now lol

Also you get a +1 Cuz I saw no one else has...like it's really that hard, I dont like when people comment then dont +1....kinda rude, but maybe I'm crazy, also you can +1 as well :), good luck cool deck

Also Heads up your mana base could use some adjusting, Your blue is good but 50% of your deck is white and only 35% of your mana sources produce white.

+1, if only for the name alone.

One lockdown card you're missing is Sphere of Safety. It costs too much to fetch it with Zur, but with all the tutoring you'll be doing it will continuously raise the percentage that you draw it.

Furthermore, this looks like a quasi-voltron deck, with Zur playing the lead. As such, the most underrated card for voltron, in my opinion, is Silent Arbiter. Especially if you pair that with Maze of Ith.

And finally, there's no mention of Alela, Artful Provocateur. Not sure if she fits the scheme, or how so, but maybe alt wincon? I don't know, I just feel like she's always at least worth bringing up in any Esper enchantment deck, even if just to explain why she was omitted.

Have fun!

Oh, oh, I haven't ever thought of this before, but what about Stasis?

So when a turn comes around that your opponents are tapped out (or at least close to it), you fetch the Stasis, then get basically a few free turns to drop a spell or two and build resources, before eventually you run out of mana for upkeep.

Furthermore, if you were to have Pemmin's Aura, or something similar, on Zur when you drop the Stasis, for as many turns as you have enough mana to pay for the untap cost of the former and the upkeep of the latter, you can keep fetching enchantments for those few turns that your opponents are completely locked down.

That's just an experimental thought. I seriously had never thought of it before. Might not actually work, but worth putting into words here.

shwanerz88 - It's funny, I've gone back and forth removing creatures for enchantments and adding a few more back in. I can't seem to make up your mind. Your not wrong on Gaseous Form, though I do end up playing that more on my opponents biggest bad damage dealer than on my side. Finding room for Gift of Immortality does make sense for recursion. Thanks for the suggestions! Also, on the mana base, you are absolutely right! I recently slotted out and in over 10 cards and I have adjusted the mana yet.

DreadKhan I completely forgot about Estrid's Invocation. You are absolutely right. Running one of them, I should run that over Copy Enchantment.

Vash13 Thank for the +1 help. You are also right, Drannith Magistrate would be a good add in place of one of the other creatures I am already running.

Epicurus You are right. I've had version of the list with Sphere of Safety and I've also slotted it out to keep all enchantments 3 and under. Your point is well made that I'll be more and more likely to get it in hand. My recent build has more creatures in it then before and it might be that I reverse course on that and return to have only one or two, making room for things like Sphere of Safety and possibly Silent Arbiter. The only problem with Alela, Artful Provocateur is that we only cast 25% of the enchantments that end up on the board as Zur the Enchanter doesn't actually cast them, just places them on the battlefield. I'll have to think about that one. I think you could be onto something with Stasis and Pemmin's Aura...or Freed from the Real would do the same. The really nice thing about Stasis is that it is not a cumulative upkeep. You only need two blue open for as many turns you can make it work. I do agree, it is likely to be no more than a couple turns, though if you really wanted to build it this way, you up your mana rocks and run Unwinding Clock (and enough tutors to fetch it) to keep your opponents locked down until they can remove the Stasis or Unwinding Clock. It's definitely a way you could do a complete build-around. It would require quite a bit of changes to my current build, so I may not do that just yet, but I can see the fun :).

Thanks all for the comments. Always appreciated!

If you like Stasis, you might like Smothering Tithe, not fully fetchable, but pretty nasty if you can set it up. It is 4 mana though, which is annoying. I more or less bit the bullet and am trying to fit in a few 4 mana combo pieces to justify a Dimir House Guard, solely to tutor them up. I think voltron is way more fun to play against than combo, so I'm not saying you should go down the dark path of instant win combos, you do you, but I didn't want to mention a card like Tithe without mentioning a way to actually find it more reliably, something very irritating in a Zur deck.

Gah, just remembered, also relevant for Stasis is Reconnaissance, which can untap your Zur. IIRC, your creatures are technically still attacking after they have dealt damage, and you could untap Zur as needed. It's also rugged, as it isn't an aura.

Well now that I'm thinking about it Starfield of Nyx is one of my favorite enchantment deck cards, not really important that zur cant grab it cause when you cast it it turns all your enchantments to recursion pieces, its makes Stasis way nastier, Rising Waters is also good for this since it allows you that one blue, while you swing with zur or go for an alternate wincon like Azor's Elocutors, many an option here in these colors, especially since your running Necropotence you can add a Venser's Journal or a Reliquary Tower and draw up half your deck and filter for a winning hand

All great suggestions. I also completely forgot I am already running Minamo, School at Water's Edge which is just another way to manage Stasis. Zur gets a lot of a hate, but there are some really fun (for everyone) ways to build him. I am still focused on voltron because there's just too much Timmy in me :). I've thought about trying to group hug him as well.

Mana base is also updated, though it probably still needs tweaking. Not sure if I should go 9 plains, 7 islands just due to the number of dual white pips I have versus blue. This is keeping in mind that Minamo, School at Water's Edge is also tapping for blue as a mono mana source. I thought about dropping the last swamp and just rely on the shocks, any mana, and mana rocks, but I don't know.

Yeah group hug might be the way to go and could potentially be MORE vicious since people will get lulled into false security, muwahahaha lol

I think I need two Zur decks now, lol

First enchantment I pull to put on him is Triclopean Sight

Stasis might be my second pull.

:)

No, these are not "friendly games", these are games intended to obliterate your opponent. "You want to go home and rethink your whole life".

I think there is a place for all out winning, but in some groups that isn't considered fun, and people aren't in a rush to win. They would like to see the game go to 8 or so turns of actual play before things close. I have a deck for competitive play, which is no holds barred (I run Zur, since he looked affordable for 'serious' play), and I have less competitive ones too, for playgroups that aren't looking to close the game by turn 3 or 4.

I am becoming more and more pleased with myself for opening up this can of worms :3

And DreadKhan, I agree with you. The "no fun zone" decks make for rather boring game nights in my group as well. For that matter, we generally even frown upon infinite combos. But all of us have at least one of those decks that nobody wants to play against, just 'cause we can. Mine are Klothys Hates Your Lands for EDH, and What Tiggers Do Best for 60-card format. 15 years ago I had a turn-two-win Guilty Doll deck that went 20-0 before I sold it because it was even less fun for me to play than it was for others to play against.

Sorry sub780lime for hijacking your deck thread for this mini rant.

Yeah, I'd argue most people aren't huge fans of non-fun strategies, especially if they win very quickly or very slowly, both are obnoxious in their own way. At the same time, other players actively enjoy working out the best deck they can/want to build, and these people would feel insulted to play against a deck that isn't as serious as theirs, that doesn't offer a real 'challenge'.

Zur, Salt Miner is my 'play to win' deck, combining two of people's favorite strategies to play against, fast + reliable combo supported by very hostile Stax. It's very much a work in progress, but it's coming together I think. I think it qualifies as actively unpleasant to play against, despite only running 3 counters.

Back on topic, Pariah is pretty funny on the fetchable Heliod, Sun-Crowned, if you find he ends up a creature often anyways. I think this is less obnoxious than using the Ballista combo, but some people might find it lame.

Hey, I agree, there are "social games" and "I'm here to win" games.

My Edgar Markov or my Arcades, the Strategist are in list 1.

Zur the Enchanter loaded up with Stax enchantments to negate the opposing commander, shut down untapping Stasis for everyone except you Triclopean Sight are for those infrequent fixes to your ego.

Boy this turned from deck suggestions to a convo thread lol

I'm rather enjoying it, lol

MajordomoTom that does make for a solid strategy and removes the untap shenanigans. I think my group would disown me :). I actually should just consider adding Triclopean Sight. Once Zur the Enchanter is indestructible, it would be very nice to have.

DreadKhan adding Pariah to Heliod, Sun-Crowned would be super fun. He is often a creature as long as Zur the Enchanter sticks around. Some games, that just doesn't happen, but I still think it is worth considering.

yes, he needs three things:

• indestructible
• unblockable
• vigilence

Then your friends will unfriend you.

he's still exposed to you needing to sac a creature, so he'll need to Tutor out a friend for sac bait.

Coalition Flag is another fun thing to add to Heliod, Sun-Crowned, or any other Indestructibles. It doesn't stop bounce or exile, but it completely ends targeted destruction or direct damage, and at the very least is a hate-sponge for other removal.