[EDH] Zur, the Enchanter. Ultra Competitive 1 vs 1

[ivanpei]

Anyway I pretty much felt like posting my recently completed Ultra Competitive 1 vs 1 Zur the Enchanter deck. I picked up a J-foil Zur, so I felt obliged to build the deck. This is as competitive as EDH gets IMO. No chaff at all, trimmed all the fat for as many counterspells/removal/draw spells as I could. Zur is superman, I don't need to run dudes. Blanking Bribery is awesome.

The deck is 100% foil (whatever that can be foil is foil).










Deck list:

36 lands-
Ancient Tomb
Wasteland
Stripmine
Winding Canyons
Reliquary Tower
Boseiju
Tolaria West
Minamo
Snow Covered Island
Island
Swamp
Plains
9 Fetches
Tundra
Underground Sea
Scrubland
Watery Grave
Hallowed Fountain
Godless Shrine
Underground River
Caves of Coilios
Adarkar Wastes
Sunken Ruins
Mystic Gate
Darkwater Catacombs
Skycloud Expanse
Glacial Fortress
Drowned Catacombs

Only tapped lands are Boseiju and Tolaria West. I don't think bandit lord is worth running. You need to win the counter war first. Resolving a huge draw spell with Boseiju= Game win. Other interesting ones are Reliquary Tower, Winding Canyons (this card is really good, try it, it comes into play untapped too), Stripmine and wasteland.

10 Mana rocks-
Azorius Signet
Dimir Signet
Talisman of Progress
Talisman of Dominance
Expedition Map
Wayfarer's Bauble
Coalition Relic
Darksteel Ingot
Sol Ring
Mana Crypt

Counters 24:

Free ones:

Force of Will
Pact of Negation
Undermine/ Misdirection- (Still undecided, one''s a hard counter and the other is better at winning counter wars/protecting Zur, I prefer Undermine right now because I want to be as flexible as possible and I'm not looking to rush out Zur)
Daze

Hard Counters:
Absorb
Droma's Charm
Mana Drain
Counterspell
Desertion
Cryptic Command
Dismiss
Negate
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Forbid
Muddle the Mixture

Soft counters:
Spell Pierce
Forcespike
Mana Leak
Remand
Miscalculation
Memory Lapse
Condescend

Answers 13:
Swords to Plowshares
Path to Exile
Spin into Myth
Condemn
Threachery
Hallowed Burial
Prison Term (Zur Target)
Seal of Doom (Zur Target)
Oblivion Righ (Zur Target)
Aura of Silence (Zur Target)
Dismantling Blow
Vindicate
Maze of Ith

Draw 13:
Fact or Fiction
Skeletal Scrying
Opportunity
Jace's Ingenuity
Esper Charm
Brainstorm
Sensei's Top
Phyrexian Arena (Zur Target, back up in case Necro gets killed before the draw effects resolve)
Necropotence (Best Card, Period)
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Imperial Seal (Enlightened isn't good enough, doesn't do much here, seal is much better).

Protection enchantments are useless. Once Necro lands, you have won. Necro is almost always the best 1st target, even if you are losing life from beats. I have yet to lose a game when Necro is resolved and drawing me cards. If your opponent can kill/counter Zur, they would have done it. If you draw the protection enchantment, you will get blown out to a removal spell in response to the enchantment targeting Zur. I have a different philosphy for competitive 1 on 1 Zur though.

First of, I am a competitive Legacy player who plays EDH on the side. So some of my concepts are ported from Legacy. The way I see most competitive builds are concentrating too much on Zur. Zur is awesome, definitely, but you guys are leaning too much on him. If he never resolves/gets killed all the time/ pacifism effect/ Hallowed burial effect, you get too many dead draws because you run too many Zur dependant enchantments.

If you are beating up on mono coloured casual decks, it doesn't really matter, but my definition of Competitive 1 on 1 is facing Super powered decks like Sharuum, Scion the Ur Dragon and especially Clique. 1 thing I have realised that against powerful blue decks with a million counters and CA, you have to win the counter/card advantage war first, then concentrate on resolving your General. You do not want to all in just for your general to be condemned/hallowed burialed/ spin into mythed or pacifismed/faith's fettered.

I play my Zur deck like how I play a 3 colour good cards deck. I play 24 counterspells, paired with 13 removal spells and 13 draw spells. I play 36 lands with 10 mana acceleration. This leaves 3 loose slots which are Lightning Greaves, Empyrial armor and Jace the MindSculptor (Alternative win condition, I play no dudes to dodge Bribery).

I do not play discard and acceleration that causes card disadvantage like moxes/petals. This is because I play the deck like a control deck, not a combo deck. Discard is bad because even if it helps force Zur through you must assume that your opponent is playing an equally broken deck. If say your opponent is on the play with Scion the Ur Dragon/Sharuum, discard does not stop generals. Counterspells are more flexible and better because it forces your opponent to invest tempo. Say you are playing against a strong deck and you see Jace/Fact or fiction. You take one of them but he can still cast the other. If you had a counterspell instead you have to force them to invest the mana so that you can take it out. Tempo is very important IMO when playing control. Also if you and the opponent are in top deck mode after a huge counter war (both generals cost too much mana after being dealt with multiple times/or in the deck after getting hallowed burialed) and both of you are naked, discard is a dead top deck.

The same applies to quick acceleration. Running out your Zur ASAP is not the best idea against a good player with answers. Sure it pawns casual noobs quickly, but IMO that is not my definition of competitive.

I'm playing this with alot of success. It's flexible, has gas, most of the spells are instants and my opponent never really sticks any threats. I only cast Zur when I have the game in control as my finisher or if I'm in trouble and use him as a hail mary (Zur has so much raw power that he is an awesome hail mary play). Zur is a bail me out general when I lose control or something slips through. His ability to fetch Gas or answers is just ridiculous. Notice there is only 1 card in the deck I wouldn't like to draw, that's Empyrial Armor. Everything else is fine to draw and castable/useful without Zur. Empyrial Armor is a neccessity because it ends games, fast. I don't play mistveil plains too, so if I lose my Empyrial Armor somehow, there's always Jace TMS to wrap up the game. I know I'll ruffle a few feathers with my style of play, but hey, it's effective, so I thought I'd share it.

Let me know what you think. Still haven't played against a max tuned Clique, but I'm pretty sure I can put up a good fight.

[Malchar]

What do you think about using something like standstill or mystic remora? I assume rhystic study is too weak to be included.

[ivanpei]

Ive always wondered why would you fetch still over necro? I did the math and couldn't really come up with a situation where standstill-> necro in 1 vs 1. I run arena over standstill because arena is a back up gas Card which is good to draw. If you are behind and getting beaten down, stills don't help. Also, on an empty board, I don't want to drop stills against another blue player. My deck is low cc, quick, nimble and efficient. If I let my bomby/ gassy opponent develop his mana, more likely than not I am on the losing side. I also don't run manlands to pressure the opponent into cracking.

Same thing applies to mystic remora, sitting and waiting actually benefits the opponent more. Let's put it this way, my zur deck is threshold and I expect to be facing heavy blue (ala landstill/ mono blue control) most of the time. Do I really want to let them develop their mana base? If I were swinging with zur, I'll be fetching necro 99% of the time. Besides even if they answer it, I would have already activated necro 20 times to be infinitely ahead.

Rhystic study is nuts in multiplayer. I've seen it happen. In 1 vs 1 it can be played around and near useless. Have you ever played around daze? Yup, same thing. Arena is just better to draw backup gas card (or in case the opponent embarrassingly names necro with needle).

[Malchar]

Now that I think about it, it makes sense to just get necro all the time. Standstill is pretty situational.

How about gifts ungiven? You have quite a lot of redundancy and tutors, so it seems reasonable. Then again, just drawing cards might be better since the deck has a high threat density anyway. I mostly ask because I'm thinking of making my own deck which might include gifts.

[Zach Tartell]

How about gifts ungiven? You have quite a lot of redundancy and tutors, so it seems reasonable. Then again, just drawing cards might be better since the deck has a high threat density anyway. I mostly ask because I'm thinking of making my own deck which might include gifts.

Super banned bro.

[Malchar]

Ooops, well that makes my decision a lot easier.

[menace13]

Nice deck.

Why aren't you playing Bribery and Acquire?
I always max out on the walkers; Sorrin, Vess, Elspeth and Gideon

Oh and about Necro;
Even if something happens to Necro before the put into hand Trigger resolves, you still get the Triggers for each card regardless of it being removed from play.

[ivanpei]

Thanks and Yup, you still get the cards even if necro bites the dust. Some decks can still recover from a huge necro (though unlikely) so arena is a good backup card, though not compulsory. I try to minimize high cc non-instant spells. If I were going to tapout to play something, it would be for zur. None of the cards other than Jace is more busted than casting zur. Also I want to have as many counterspells as possible because when you draw 20 cards of your first necro, I want to have the highest chance of drawing multiple counterspells.

[hyc8028]

Have you consider Mana Vortex?

[menace13]

Thanks and Yup, you still get the cards even if necro bites the dust. Some decks can still recover from a huge necro (though unlikely) so arena is a good backup card, though not compulsory. I try to minimize high cc non-instant spells. If I were going to tapout to play something, it would be for zur. None of the cards other than Jace is more busted than casting zur. Also I want to have as many counterspells as possible because when you draw 20 cards of your first necro, I want to have the highest chance of drawing multiple counterspells.

I'm not so sure that the other Walkers aren't board warping, while not as powerful as Jace and Zur, they can be bombs. Even Baby Jace acting as a personal Howling Mine is a fine play. But I am convinced Bribery should be banned. It is like a Tinker for 5 mana that grabs their best finisher.

My last 5 Bribery targets have been; Jin turn 4, Kozilek turn 6, Terastodon(helped me clear their Bombs), Blightsteel!!!! and Consecrated Sphinx. All of them helped me win the game in a few turns if not right away.

I like the 2cc artifact mana sources like Coldsteel Heart, Sky/Charcoal/Marble Diamond over Ingot, Map and Bauble. I also run Mind Twist anywhere I can.

[dsck]

My humble opinion:

Minus
Path to Exile - You dont want to accelerate your opponent in this format
Undermine and Absorb are a bit too costy counters
Signets
Coalition Relic
Darksteel Ingot
Painlands (these arent necessary)

Plus
Disrupt
Ancestral Vision
Back to Basics
Thirst for Knowledge
Crucible of Worlds (+ Bojuka Bog, manlands such as mishra's factory, faerie conclave, Creeping Tar Pit)
Tainted Pact (instant speed demonic tutor!)
Intuition (+ Flash of Insight, Deep Analysis, Mystical Teachings)
Misdirection
Rewind
Thwart
Legacy's Allure
Vedalken Shackless
Future Sight

[Malchar]

Future Sight is one of my personal favorite cards. However, it kind of sucks to have to tap 5 mana at sorcery speed to cast it. Also, having a counterspell sitting on top isn't exactly tricks. However, the card advantage that you get is insane, especially when you can cast card draw spells. I would actually suggest trying magus of the future since you could cast it at instant speed off winding canyons.

Legacy's allure seems too slow or too easy for the opponent to play around. Seems like ancestral vision would be good though.

[ivanpei]

Ancestral visions seems strong. Thanks for the suggestions. Back to basics really hurts myself though. I used to play Crucible but realized I need a quick ramp artifact more. Rewind and Thwart are interesting, will look into it. The 2cc CIPT artifacts are useful if you aim for a T3 Zur, which is not what I aim to do. Also, they make only 1 colour and that's less useful. Usually I don't cast my signets/talisman on T2 because I want to have counter mana up. I usually cast Them T3. As for my 3cc rocks, they come down on T4 and I still have 2 mana up for the counterspell. Ingot and Bauble are cuttable/replaceble but Relic is too good. It makes 2 mana on the Turn you are casting Zur or whenever you need it.

Bribery is a huge bomb, I think I may cut some removal for it as it is just that broken. Baby Jace is ok, but the other Walkers I'm not sure about. Mana Vortex seems a bit weak in 1vs1. Both sides lose out, why would you fetch it over Necro into a bunch of counters again?

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep em coming.

[dsck]

You dismissed Tainted Pact :(

[Malchar]

Mana vortex would be good if you were going to rush to zur and go for a quick lockdown. You lose land too, but you can still sneak things into play with zur. That said, I don't think it would work that well for a draw-go control deck.
Also, not sure if this is any good, but I was thinking of using unwinding clock in my multiplayer draw-go deck. Not sure if it would help much in your 1v1 deck though.

[Astrix]

Hello i wanted to ask the OP whats his winning plan.I mean after he draws a bunch of cards what he
wants to do most of the time.
Also can you tell me what is this deck compared to an Oona combo deck ?

[ivanpei]

Tainted pact might remove necro/empyrial armor/ tutorable enchantment, making the deck a sad panda. :(

@ Astrix. Bunch of cards in hand + zur with empyrial armor= very quick clock. The plan is to establish control, Drop zur, get necro, draw alot of cards, establishing a wall of counters and finally fetching empyrial armor for the beat down. If you hit a reliquary tower or a tutor for reliquary tower, empyrial armor kills even quicker.

This deck can afford to run alot of counters. That's the primary plan. I've tested against sharuum and it could never go off against my wall of counters and removal. That's the plan of the deck basically. Establish control/disrupt, drop zur, win. Zur is just insane when it fetches necro.

[Astrix]

Ok its a cool plan but aren't you kinda vulnerable against fast decks?have u thougt of adding wrath of god and generaly more removal?
Also i think u could play Library of the alexandria since u have no budget problems.Or its banned with the rules u play?

[ivanpei]

It's banned :( That would have been a great card. I play a 1 off hallowed burial to search for with my tutors. If someone tries to aggro me out, I just spit out a quick Zur and I should get there. I mean Zur fetches removal every turn. That's pretty hard to stop. I have Seal of Doom, Oring and Prison Term to lockdown my opponent's creatures. That's also another reason to run Zur, he's a broken answer as well.

These stuff are banned:

Balance
Biorhythm
Braids, Cabal Minion
Channel
Coalition Victory
Fastbond
Gifts Ungiven
Karakas
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Library of Alexandria
Lion's Eye Diamond
Limited Resources
Painter's Servant
Panoptic Mirror
Protean Hulk
Recurring Nightmare
Riftsweeper
Staff of Domination
Sway of the Stars
Upheaval
Time Vault
Tinker
Tolarian Academy
Worldgorger Dragon

Power is banned too, except Timetwister.

[phonics]

How effective do you find the soft counters like Force Spike, Spell Pierce and Daze? How often do people get caught, or do you often use it to force them to tap out some more? They seem like they would be weak when they aren't in your opening hand or drawn in the early game.