Tweaked it a bit more by cutting Sheoldred, Whispering One in favor of Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Admittedly, neither are used to their fullest potential in this deck, but I really wanted to use at least one of the Praetors, and Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is just too pricey in terms of mana cost. Still looking for advice on cards to cut from the deck (or cards to add, although that would just make slightly more work), as I'm currently sitting at 105/100 cards. Any and all suggestions are more than welcome.

Ah, I miss Diplomatic Immunity. Zur was a lot of fun to play.

Yeah, although I've heard he's not fun to play against, especially when I dive for the same combo of turn 2-3 Zur into Diplomatic Immunity into Steel of the Godhead into either Necropotence, Greater Auramancy, or Solitary Confinement, depending on on the situation. Luckily, this deck is solid enough that I can afford not to play him out most of the time. It lacks any synergy outside of Zur himself though, other than a few obvious small combos like Arcane Denial and Consecrated Sphinx. Any advice on improving it?

For some reason this deck seems to really want to have 105 cards in it.

Currently testing Isochron Scepter in the deck. I certainly have plenty of instants and removal coming it at under 2 mana, just not sure how often I'll actually need/want it at hand.

I quite like your variant! Any particular reason Liliana of the Veil is included? Sure she's solid utility but there's better removal at instant speed.

I've been considering Snapcaster Mage and Yawgmoth's Will for Zur's Perfection lately. How has the snapcaster done in playtesting? Awesome I imagine lol

Basically Lili is in there for that very rare case where I'm playing a mirror-type match and can't tutor for Council's Judgement. Her -2 trumps hexproof and indestructibility. She's perfect for shutting down well-made enemy Tron decks for a few turns.

Snappy isn't pulling his weight that much. Most of the time I find I can outrace opponents just by getting Zur out turn 2-3. I don't usually leave the four mana needed to play him and flashback and counter spell open. Caster sometimes ends up sitting in my hand, either without a tasty target in the graveyard or simply being unusable for the final push for victory. Still, he's a nice addition.

I saw you were testing Isochron in Zur's Perfection and wanted to see it in action myself. How is it working out for you? It seems to hit a similar wall to Snappy for me a lot of the time: Useful in really hard match ups, but often ending up irrelevant.

Isochron Scepter has been pretty good to me whenever I get it. Having powerful instants on a stick like Swords to Plowshares, Vampiric Tutor and Mana Drain just make my day. The number of actual targets it can hit in my deck make it fairly relevant the majority of the time so I personally plan on keeping it in the deck list.

To be honest I kind of hope I decide against the snapcaster cause I'm not looking forward to having to get a foil one haha.

outofnothing0 Yeah, he's an expensive little bugger thanks to last round of modern bans. How is Umbra Mystic working out for you? When I used her in my deck, I only ever had one instance when she was useful, and even then she only saved me UU, because I already had Vanishing on Zur. I know she can be an extra layer of defense against board wipes, but it seems like between Vanishing and the boatload of counterspells, she rarely seems necessary. I'm actually testing Timetwister in her spot right now to see how it holds up. The early game hand refresh is useful if I can't hit that 4th mana, and it's a cheap, highly effective shutdown to those very rare non-combo mill decks you occasionally run into. Not sure if it will make the cut either though. Might go with Swan Song or Spell Pierce in its place.

I haven't really had to use Umbra Mystic a whole lot either; Like you said she's a second layer of defense acting as a backup Vanishing in case it gets removed.

Timetwister seems like an interesting idea, especially with Snapcaster Mage being able to trigger it again if you're desperate for cards.

How is Spell Pierce doing so far?

Spell Pierce is working pretty good. Since Zur matches rarely last more than a handful of turn, opponents don't leave enough mana to undo the counter at least 2/3 of the time. It's great because it can hit any non-creature spells, including Planeswalkers. I played one match where I managed to get Zur down on turn 3 with Tundra still untapped. An opponent tapped out to play a Liliana of the Veil while I had Pierce in hand. I wore a smug smile for the rest of the match.

I was actually wondering why you decided to run Flusterstorm over Pierce. Most of the time they'll require the same cost to overcome, but Pierce has a slightly wider net of effect.

I ended up cutting Timetwister and reinstated Umbra Mystic after a friend pointed out the bad interaction between Stasis and Vanishing that would keep Zur phased out until Stasis was removed. Still a great card, especially when you're struggling to find that 4th mana source. It might one day be added back.

I allow this in the league, but be warned, you will be hated.

SirFowler. That's precisely what this deck is for, my friend. Cackles wickedly while holding his fingers together in a villain-like manner.

+1 nice Zur build

i really love the deck but was wondering if there was a way to get this deck to budget say some where around $1000 or cheaper if you could let me know that would be great

Yeah, you could for sure knock a huge chunk of the deck's price off with a few non-critical cuts. The alpha dual lands, Timetwister, Ravages of War, Force of Will, Grim Tutor, Imperial Seal, and Mana Drain, while all extremely powerful, are not by themselves critical to the deck's performance. Some even have immediately apparent, like Lim-Dul's Vault in place of one of the overcosted tutors, or a cheaper counter like Spell Snare or Dispel over Mana Drain. The true key cards, the enchantments, Strionic Resonator, and Helm of Obedience, are all relatively cheap individually. A good chunk of the remaining list can be replaced with weaker alternatives without too badly harming the deck's resiliency.

Is this deck finished being updated so I can steal it? :D

I like the deck overall much like my appreciation for the deck you were inspired by. That said, I think my deck will have some slight variation.

Since I discovered the EDH format I thought of Zur and desired to make a deck with him. I have created countless decks since that time yet I have not been able to complete Zur. I have done things I am proud of like Kaalia of the Vast for just under $700, foiled out Sliver tribal, etc. I really want to complete Zur but there are too many good options!! He is always the next deck I'm going to complete. ;)

Alas, the updating process is never finished. I'm always testing different cards to see if there's room for improvement, and each new set has the potential to turn the deck on its head. You're more than welcome to steal it though!

Okay a couple questions for you, cards I was planning on running.

What about Phyresis? What don't you like about it? Is it just too easy to get Zur to 21? What about against opponents that may make you discard from your hand? Or control cards making a cap on hand size?

Divine Reckoning?

I suppose I may be going a different direction but I was thinking more control with Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir.

Ethereal Armor just not good enough? Perhaps if you were going a little more enchantment heavy like I'm planning?

Phyresis: It's certainly powerful, but in testing I rarely, if ever, tutored for it. I've found that Necropotence + Empyrial Armor + Thought Vessel or Reliquary Tower is consistent enough to not need additional voltron tools. Phyresis ended up being a sub-par "win more" card that had the downside of actually setting me back if I didn't quite deal 10 infect damage and they managed to remove it or Zur between on turn and the next.

Divine Reckoning: Absolutely. I actually have a copy in sideboard for creature builds that like to go wide like Animar, Krenko, etc. It's an awesome card. Same for Tragic Arrogance, which I've recently been playing around with in various builds. I ended up using Toxic Deluge in its place mainboard because there's a Derevi Prison deck in my meta, and often it's capable of locking out the game before I get to (2)WW mana potential. The extra speed of TD makes it worthwhile for me, but Divine Reckoning is a perfectly amazing alternative.

Pillow fort tools can be fine. They're more of a meta thing though. That, and the deck already runs one of the strongest pillow fort setups in the game with Solitary Confinement into Necropotence.

Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Depends on what you're trying to do. It's been my experience that he's only useful in slow combo builds like Damia Tooth and Nail or, to a lesser extent, Esper Ad Nauseam. If you're not trying to protect a specific game-winning combo, I would say no.

Ethereal Armor: It only just barely didn't make the cut. If you're running a larger enchantment package, I'd say it could absolutely be worth running.

So do you actually own all these cards altered? If so, who did them?

I own physical prints of all but a handful of the extended border cards. I personally made them using windows decal sheets and blanked MtG foils with an inkjet printer. Most of the alters already existed online (special credit to their creators). I did make a handful myself using existing stock images, MTG Cardmith, and Gimp. My personal work includes the alters of Diplomatic Immunity, Solitary Confinement, Skycloud Expanse, and a handful of others.

TL:DR, I'm a cheap asshole who printed a bunch of high quality proxies.

Re: Ad Nauseam. I agree, it is so many dead cards... I think post-Vancouver mulligan, you want a greater proportion of strong early plays, to maximize the number of impactful hands you can keep. I think the strongest early play is probably Mystic Remora.

I'm testing three win-cons at the moment:

Zur + empyrial armor + daybreak coronet,Helm + Rest in Peace,Exsanguinate + Power Artifact + Grim monolith.

The last one is 2 slots since you play grim monolith anyway; which is better than dreams + ad naus + angel's grace + soul echo, being essentially 4 slots.

If you drop the ad naus combo, I suggest bringing in Mystic Remora, Grafdigger's Cage, and Chains of Mephistopheles. Chains + Twister + Necro is awesome. Even if mystic remora and chains interfere with one another, it gives you two great ways to go.

Thanks for the input!

I have tested builds that use Power Artifact + Grim Monolith / Basalt Monolith (namely Zur the Cutthroat with an upgraded land base). The problem with it is that it's essentially a two-card combo, whereas Ad Nauseam is a one-card combo.

Power artifact combo requires both Monolith and Exsanguinate to be drawn / tutored into, whereas Ad Nauseam only requires its namesake card to be in hand thanks to Soul Echo. It ends up being a much less consistent combo as a result, even with backup combo pieces like the aforementioned Basalt Monolith and Blue Sun's Zenith.

Yeah, I'm not in love with power artifact + exsanguinate either. :/ Dunno if I'll find the four slots for Ad Naus combo, tho.

Mostly just wanted to suggest mystic remora and grafdigger's cage. They both shut down about 90% of the format (ironically only bad against ad nauseam) and remora at least is a reason to keep a 7-card hand in a vancouver mulligan.