Let's Do Fun Stuff with Zhur-Taa Ancient
Standard forum
Posted on May 19, 2013, 9:44 p.m. by brownkidd
I like fun cards with flavor, but I also like winning.
Enter Zhur-Taa Ancient .
I feel like the big guy is only suitable in casual and multiplayer formats, but not really meant for competitive play. Can we fix this problem? I'm sure if enough of us nerds put our heads together, we can make pretty much any card epic.
Here's some fun stuff to do with the big dummy.
--Flash it in with Yeva, Nature's Herald to get first dibs on that double mana.
--Back-to-back Frenzied Tilling s or Bramblecrush es in a single turn to keep your opponent's mana base in check
--Devil's Play or Clan Defiance for all the damage. These get especially stupid with multiple Zhur-Taa Ancient s.
--Bloodrush it with a Pyrewild Shaman , then buy the shaman back and bloodrush it again, then repeat the process all in the same turn. Extra fun whith some sort of trample.
--Pump Savageborn Hydra to retarded levels or cast an enormous Primordial Hydra .
--Combo Urban Burgeoning with Verdant Haven so you're always up at least 3 mana on your opponent's turn. Super useful in multiplayer, but probably isn't really worth setting up 1-on-1 unless you have some crazy instants or dudes to flash out. Could be useful with some sort of "whenever you cast an instant, draw a card" type of effect
What are some other shenanigans and fun creatures to pull early with this guy without letting your opponent abuse the extra mana to kill you? What are some good ways to ramp up to him/draw him out fast enough to gain the upper hand?
Non-competitive shenanigans are also welcome.
The bit of Pyrewild Shaman can't happen more than once a turn unless you get extra attack steps.
May 19, 2013 10:15 p.m.
detentionsphere says... #5
While all of these interactions are cool and fun, the deck is held back by two things:
What if your opponent has Sphinx's Revelation s in his or her deck? If you play an Ancient, they can just untap, Revelate, and kill it before you can use it.
What if your opponent has Sire Of Insanity or Rakdos's Return in his or her deck and they cast it? Then what will you use the mana for?
What if you don't draw Zhur-Taa Ancient , or it gets killed or countered? Then you are just holding a bunch of overcosted, underpowered cards.
May 19, 2013 11:59 p.m.
Xindlepete says... #6
@detentionsphere: You certainly are a "Negative Nancy"! Instead of telling people why things WON'T work, why not try thinking of ways or combos that CAN make them work? I've always held belief in the fact that half the fun of MTG is coming up with creative ideas in the deckbuilding process. Have you ever played a goofy/gimicky deck, just for the halibut? It might loosen up that overly competitive eye you have. :)
May 20, 2013 12:48 a.m.
@detentionsphere: OP never mentioned making a deck out of the thing - just looking at some fun casual interactions. No point raining on his/her parade.
Would be fun in late game to turn a Scavenging Ooze into at least 11/11 and gaining at least 10 life, wiping out all graveyards in the process. Ditto for the multiple ancients thing mentioned above.
May 20, 2013 2:08 a.m.
My mistake, OP does mention that. Regardless, X number of things could happen that would result in Zhur-Taa Ancient 's death, so my point still stands. Let's just have some fun with this.
May 20, 2013 2:10 a.m.
Alvn_isnt_Low says... #9
What about using Infernal Plunge to cast Zhur-Taa Ancient on turn 2?
T1: Land, Arbor Elf
T2: Land, Burning-Tree Emissary , then Infernal Plunge targeting the Emissary = 5 mana in your mana pool, (3 Red/2 Green)
Its sometimes is a lot to hope for on T2, but the plunge will aid in casting x spells without him on the battlefield, it will help get him onto the battlefield, and as well allow you to cast other spells in the deck a few turns ahead of schedule. I've got a few decks that utilize this combo, one a land destruction deck, the other that drops Thragtusk or Thundermaw Hellkite on turn 2. Most of the time that I've hit a Turn-2 Thundermaw my opponent's response was to scoop.
May 20, 2013 3:17 a.m.
GreatSword says... #10
Why not just cut to the chase with Clan Defiance and burn them out? Could also use Kessig Wolf Run to smash through any boardstate. If you have multiple creatures use Biomass Mutation .
If you want to go super-deep with colors, add Crypt Ghast and play Debt to the Deathless . Could also play the long-game with Pontiff of Blight .
May 20, 2013 10:30 a.m.
Alvn_isnt_Low Holy crap that's actually pretty amazing.
May 20, 2013 10:38 a.m.
detentionsphere says... #12
Actually, the OP specifically mentioned that he wanted competitive advice, but that non-competitive interactions were also welcome. I'm sorry if I'm negative, but this is simply not a competitive deck. I'm sorry if I am negative but if a post asks for competitive advice that is what I will give. Being casual is fine. Being competitive is something different.
If I did build a deck around the Ancient though, it would not be with stuff like Infernal Plunge - these cards are individually bad. I would probably build a RG-type midrange/ramp deck:
4x Farseek
4x Arbor Elf
4x Huntmaster of the Fells Flip
4x Thragtusk
You see, the above deck abuses Zhur-Taa Ancient , but the cards it uses are individually powerful - stuff like Bonfire and Tusk is good even without the Ancient. My point was that unless the interaction is powerful enough (Storm, Eggs, Twin, Scapeshift), you can not use individually weak cards to build around it.
But yeah, I probably should build more fun decks, it's just that I don't like getting stuck with a bunch of weak cards in hand without the combo enabler :)
May 21, 2013 12:25 a.m.
The more I think about this card the more I'm sad mana burn is out of the rule book. /sad-rant
May 21, 2013 8:17 a.m.
hiddengibbons says... #14
do Zhur-Taa Ancient s Stack? I got one in my booster box and I like the 7/5 for 5 mana, but I'm a little leary about how it might help my opponent. I guess it might make Worldspine Wurm more playable.
May 21, 2013 3:14 p.m.
Wolfinsteen says... #15
Turn 6, 12 Possible Mana? Gruul Fatplay. My Zhur-Taa deck.
May 21, 2013 11:25 p.m.
GreatSword says... #16
Multiple Zhur-Taa Ancient are additive, as each trigger will only generate 1 additional mana. So 2 ancients will allow a land to tap for 2 additional mana.
May 22, 2013 1:21 a.m.
It's Mana Flare in a beast and it's tough to take advantage of the extra mana without also helping out your opponent. One solution is to have a predominance of the high end CMC spells in your deck so you are dropping the biggest bombs that exist. The other solution is to make a deck such that you get to take advantage, but your opponent does not (a prison deck). For example, here is my best idea for a prison deck that takes full advantage of Mana Flare and Heartbeat of Spring while shutting down your opponents ability to capitalize on it: Flare, imprison, and burn.... Zhur-Taa Ancient would fit well into this deck.
May 23, 2013 11:24 a.m.
Play your Zhur-Taa Ancient like normal, play your huge creature, then -2 Liliana of the Veil on yourself. MANA DENIED
June 1, 2013 12:26 p.m.
warren.nightingale says... #19
Now Zhur-Taa Ancient is broken with Prophet of Kruphix .
October 27, 2013 8:12 a.m.
Ultimaodin says... #21
warren.nightingale Pretty much anything can be broken with Prophet of Kruphix . She still sits at $3 because so many people have yet to work out how best to use her. She helps me win games to the extreme. Of course 4x Nykthos is simply better than Zhur-Taa Ancient because the ammount of mana you can produce coupled with Voyaging Satyr is just ridiculous.
October 28, 2013 12:24 p.m.
lord_of_the_snakes says... #22
@Ultimaodin ya, nykthos is insane with Voyaging Satyr , one guy got a 64/64 Primordial Hydra at my game day
October 28, 2013 3:34 p.m.
IonImplant says... #23
I would think the biggest thing to do would be to have more cards since casting becomes cheaper. Obviously anything with Overload
Having said that there are lots of ways that you can get the benefit while limiting your opponents. Not a lot of thought into holding to a color scheme you could run in a deck.
Treachery or Reset to further multiply your own
Exhaustion to give you extra turns in the race
Debt to the Deathless burn and life.
Primeval Bounty could be fun
and to protect your creatures and selfMizzium Skin and Riot Control
Jimhawk says... #2
Deadeye Navigator and Acidic Slime enjoy the extra mana he produces.
May 19, 2013 10:10 p.m.