[DECK] Urza Titans

[Khell]

Hi All,

I've been searching for a deck using the capability of Urza lands when it's set-up along with the Eldrazi Titans that had been released. Here's my take.

Creatures: (10)
2 x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
2 x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
4 x Metalworker

Lands: (22)
4 x Ancient Tomb
4 x City of Traitors or Crystal Vein
2 x Eye of Ugin
4 x Urza's Mine
4 x Urza's Power Plant
4 x Urza's Tower

Artifacts: (28)
4 x Chalice of the Void
2 x Crucible of Worlds
4 x Expedition Map
4 x Trinisphere
4 x Powder Keg
4 x All is Dust
4 x Grim Monolith
2 x Staff of Domination

Basically, the idea is to set-up Urza lands as soon as possible but in the event that we do not have it set-up, we still have other mana accelerators and lands that produces 2 mana to help us bring the titans out. You have Chalices to protect your Titans once they're out or if you can cast Emrakul out, he doesn't need any protection once he touches the board. Staff of Domination is there to take advantage of the large amount of mana to get generated either to gain life or card draw.

On a good draw, you will be able to cast Kozilek by turn 2. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of Annihilator 4 on a turn 3 as it will wipe your opponent's board. Even a third turn Emrakul is possible on a god draw.

Against most decks (Merfolk, Vial Goblins, Countertop, TES, ANT, Zoo, Vengevine Survival), a well-placed Chalice of the Void and/or Trinisphere will wreck their plans. Powder Keg as well as All is Dust should solve our problems with creatures.

Now, take note that these are all theoretically speaking. I would be glad to hear the comments, suggestions and ideas on how to move this deck forward for improvements.

Cheers. :cool:

[Al-ucard]

You need 4 Wurmcoil engine to gain some life with a slow deck than this. Try it!

[Squirrel]

I think you should take a look at the MUD Stompy thread here on the source for some ideas, even if you want to cast bigger creatures.

[Nonex]

A friend of mine developed a similar list with the same purpose, but he splashed blue for various things, including some tutors, card draw and such. I don't know if you prefer the deck totally colorless, though.

[Khell]

Al-ucard - Will try to playtest with some Wurmcoil Engines. I was hoping Powder Keg, All is Dust would handle the weenies while Staff of Domination would serve as my life gain / card draw.

Squirrel - MUD Stompy uses the Grim Monolith and/or Thran Dynamo for mana acceleration in combination with Voltaic Key. I like the selection of creatures like Platinum Emperion and Steel Hellkite but a set of Urza by the 3rd turn (with the help of Expedition Map) would produce a steady amount of mana in addition to Metalworker. Not sure if you've thought about adding Metalworker to the deck as they're all artifacts.

Nonex - Which tutor and card draw might that be? I'm open to all suggestions. :cool:

[Red]

I would play Blue for card draw and such. Thirst For Knowledge might be nice in this kind of deck, Brainstorm is an auto 4-of, maybe a Fact Or Fiction or Ponder.

Also,i f you're going to play Blue, put some islands in there. Doesn't this pretty much die to any nonbasic hate?

P.S: Why Expedition Map?
-Red

[Media314r8]

I played a 12-post deck with a similar plan at a 21 man event recently going 4-0-1 (and played it for fun against enchantress in the finals, crushed him 2-0)


// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
4 [MR] Cloudpost
4 [SOM] Glimmerpost
4 [TSP] Vesuva
1 [WWK] Eye of Ugin
3 [M11] Mystifying Maze
8 [B] Forest (3)
4 [TE] Wasteland

// Creatures
1 [ROE] Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 [UD] Masticore
3 [SOM] Wurmcoil Engine

// Spells
4 [SH] Mox Diamond
4 [FUT] Coalition Relic
4 [ZEN] Expedition Map
3 [DS] Reap and Sow
4 [10E] Sylvan Scrying
4 [ROE] All Is Dust
4 [SOM] Ratchet Bomb

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [ROE] Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
SB: 1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 [MR] Duplicant
SB: 1 [DS] Sundering Titan
SB: 4 [DS] Thunderstaff
SB: 4 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 [FD] Crucible of Worlds

I'm unsure of why you're playing the tron-lands over posts, as a single wasteland wrecks your seven mana down to two, with only three lands left in the deck that will ever get your lands to tap for more than a single colorless. Same scenario, a waste takes post mana from (6-9) to (3-4) and any of nine remaining lands will get you back to at least 6 mana with just a third land drop.

You are assuredly playing too many eldrazi, especially with metalworker, wurmcoil should be a four-of in your deck before I played a second (much less six) eldrazi MD. You should focus on stabalizing early game so that when you do resolve a sylvan scrying/map/reap and sow, you immediatly fetch an eldrazi with eye and likely win the next turn. Having more land fetchers is superior to having more finishers, as land fetchers improve the consistency of your opening hands, where an opener with two eldrazi is likely a mulligan, and late-game serve the same roll, innocently (people are less likely to force a map than an ulamog) tutoring up an uncounterable way of repeatedly fetching them should they have the force.

I would also recomend testing masticore, as he destroys tribal decks, and lands much earlier to stall the ground should you not have a draw with tons of mana. Ratchet bomb>powder keg unless you have a TON of affinity in your metagame. More colorless answers to exploration, enchantress' presence, planeswalkers, ect > occasionally blowing up artifact lands.

Also, I found 3sphere to be abolutely godawful in testing if I was on the draw or had a slow hand. It doesn't single-handidly beat combo - they usually bounce and win through it before we can stop them (especially without wastelands), you are also unable to play it turn one without a double and and a monolith. Have you considered giving up g1 vs combo and just running something in that slot to have a shot against aggro?

PS: Glimmerpost's 'gain life' effect can be very relevant in multiples against aggro and burn.

[Media314r8]

I would play Blue for card draw and such. Thirst For Knowledge might be nice in this kind of deck, Brainstorm is an auto 4-of, maybe a Fact Or Fiction or Ponder.

Also,i f you're going to play Blue, put some islands in there. Doesn't this pretty much die to any nonbasic hate?

P.S: Why Expedition Map?
-Red

Try playing the deck or having played against it before contributing. Cantrips would almost never hit turn one with a deck with 12 necessary colorless lands, and brainstorm is almost strictly worse than preordain without a means of shuffling. (save 7 mana activation of eye of ugin or 3 mana to play and activate map) Did you even notice metalworker + staff? Seems like much better draw power than hoping to have one of few blue sources to spend your turn for a menial effect.

tldr; same reason stax and MUD don't play blue. The manabase doesn't jive, and you often have useless islands or unplayable blue spells stuck in hand. High power and redundancy> deck manipulation in this kind of deck.

[Mattie]

I've created a mono brown list a while ago, perhaps it's useful to you. Here it is:


4 Cloudpost
4 Vesuva
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
1 Eye of Ugin

4 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

4 All is Dust

4 Candelabra of Tawnos
4 Expedition Map

4 Grim Monolith
3 Basalt Monolith
4 Voltaic Key
4 Thran Dynamo

Sideboard:
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Pithing Needle
3 Chalice of the Void


It includes both the Cloudpost and the Urza's engine. The Cloudpost engine is the most powerful by far: having three Cloudposts/Vesuva's is much stronger than Urzatron. Expedition Map can find either lands to complete the Urzatron, or additional Cloudposts, or gas in Eye of Ugin.

The Monoliths are quite powerful acceleration. For example, Monolith can accelerate into Thran Dynamo which can untap the Monolith the same turn, so you'll have plenty of mana the next turn. The Monoliths justify Voltaic Key (which can be used with Candelabra as well).

I did not include Metalworker because this turns on opponents removal. All of the creatures have strong abilities on the stack which makes opponents creature removal pointless. Playing Kozilek into Swords to Plowshares to draw 4 cards and gain 10 life is fine.

The deck preys on blue control and blue aggro-control decks (i.e. landstill and Counterbalance are easy matchups). However, often the deck is one turn too slow to keep up with dedicated aggro decks.

[Nonex]

@Khell: This is the list my friend was playing:

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 City of Traitors
1 Eye of Ugin
10 Island

3 Emrakul
3 Kozilek
1 Ulamog

4 Grim Monolith
4 Basalt Monolith
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Staff of Domination
4 Simic Signet
2 Voltaic Key
4 All Is Dust
4 Power Artifact
4 Fact or Fiction
2 Fabricate
1 Stroke of Genius

SB:

3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
2 Pithing Needle
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Propaganda
3 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 In the Eye of Chaos

As you see, he didn't go the Stax route. Also, nothing that new with blue additions. He used any Monolith with Power Artifact or Rings of Brighthearth with Basalt Monolith to generate infinite mana. Win conditions then are Stroke of Genius, Staff of Domination or the Eldrazi themselves (but in fact he seldom targeted his opponents with Stroke, drawing like 20 cards instead and going the Eldrazi route for safety or lulz, depending on the deck he was facing).

[Media314r8]

someone should really justify running more than just 1 copy of emrakul (or should there be a lot of moat/humility in your meta, a one-of ulamog to accompany mr. spaghetti monster.) in these lists. You're all running eye and at least 4 expedition maps... Why cause an already inconsistent deck to mulligan more? Have you ever noticed how stax decks wincons don't look like:

4 baneslayer
4 exalted angel
4 decree of justice

but instead

4 magus of the tabernacle
gargoyle castle/manlands + crucible
0-2 BSA

Protip: it's because when you aren't living in magical christmas land and drawing the nut-high hand with perfect mana and no disruption, you need to F'ing STAY ALIVE. If you mange to stabilize in a stax-style control deck, you will win, especially with the inevitability of a fetchable land that tutors for recurable wincons.

[dahcmai]

I'd run the blue not only for the tutors, but that little card called Show and Tell. It's a good back up to the main plan when you run into a lot of non-basic hate.

[Meekrab]

All is Dust isn't an artifact, fyi. It's just an Eldrazi Sorcery.

[Khell]

Red - Expedition Map is there to assist in finding the set of lands faster whether it be Urza lands or Eye of Ugin for the quick search.

Media314r8 - Thanks for pointing that out. I've been away from the scene far too long (stopped at Mirage then picked-up only during Zendikar) to know that there's other lands (Locus) that produces more mana than the Urza lands with less dependency.

You're right in including Ratchet Bomb rather than Powder Keg. I was thinking of that after I posted the deck. Glad someone mentioned it.

Question though ... Why no Grim Monoliths although you have Mox Diamond for 0cc acceleration? I understand that you don't have Metalworker for acceleration since it wasn't purely an artifact deck.

If I would like this deck to remain colorless though, is there any artifact that would allow me to drop 2 lands? I thought of Storm Cauldron to allow me to re-play Glimmerpost for life gain although it would be harsh for Cloudpost since it gives off mana depending on how many Locus lands are in play. Or would Storm Cauldron also be a way to avoid Wasteland by bouncing the land, getting its mana in response to a Wasteland?

Mattie - Nice deck. I omitted Candelabra in mine coz it costs an arm and a leg to get one much less a set although I would say it would be very nice indeed.

I'm not so much a fan of Voltaic Key though as you still have to combo with mana artifact to be able to fully utilize it.

[Media314r8]

Question though ... Why no Grim Monoliths although you have Mox Diamond for 0cc acceleration? I understand that you don't have Metalworker for acceleration since it wasn't purely an artifact deck.

I usually nearly tap out every turn, and play green for ramp/land-finding, so a one-time use accel piece is less useful to me than mox, which gives me the green I need and can be used every turn instead of accel'ing once and then storing mana for use every other turn.

[zabuza]

Media314r8:

I suggest you playing Steel Hellkite instead of Masticore. THis dude can do almost the same, has evasion, is colorless too and doesn´t require any kind of upkeep cost. A mix between Wurmcoil and this one could be the right choice.

Oh, what are the Thunderstaff for??? You are playing 4 so I think they must be used for something nice.

Can you make a little report about your games and what did you play against?

[Media314r8]

Media314r8:

I suggest you playing Steel Hellkite instead of Masticore. THis dude can do almost the same, has evasion, is colorless too and doesn´t require any kind of upkeep cost. A mix between Wurmcoil and this one could be the right choice.

Oh, what are the Thunderstaff for??? You are playing 4 so I think they must be used for something nice.

Can you make a little report about your games and what did you play against?

Wednesday Legacy at Columbus, OH Comic Town (21 attendance, 5 rounds of swiss, no cut for time reasons-people have to work in the morning)

R1 vs Trix (yes, illusions + donate)

He illusions + donates turns three and four, but I have 3 cloudposts in play, I pay for illusions and smash him with spaghetti monster.

-4 all is dust
+3 crux (he's red splash, and has volcs), +1 ulamog

Game two he donates just as fast, but I have cloudposts as well as glimmerposts and a swing from a wurmcoil to go to 29 before I let it die and win from there. Hurrah for relevant lifegain.

R2 vs RB goblins
I lose the die roll and he leads with a lackey... sigh. He only has a warchief to put in and a mogg war marshal (and stingscourger sits dead in his hand) to go with it. I all is dust before he can find matron->piledriver. I make wurmcoil, he bounces, plays matron for scourger. Ugh. I eventually make a wurmcoil and have bomb at two as to avoid immediately dying to a warcheif + driver. He runs out of stall, and a second wurmcoil joins the party. Goblins don't deal with huge lifelinkers well, and by the time my life total is in the 50s and he is running low on chump-blockers, he concedes.

-4 ratchet bomb (too varied a curve)
-1 reap and sow
+4 thunderstaff
+1 tabernacle

He leads with turn one.... vial. (whew)
I make a turn two staff, which he reads, and sadly only has warchief + marshal + a poor ringleader. (found him another warchief and a stingscourger) I have fast mana and make a masticore, which rips his warchiefs apart while he sits on only 1 red source. A few turns later a wurmcoil joins the party with 'core still having mana up to regen, and he concedes.

R3 vs W/B pikula

I don't remember much about G1 other than ratchet bomb 2-for-1ing his sculler and bob, and then me all is dusting two more guys. I think Spaghetti monster brought this one home.

-3 reap and sow
+3 crucible (he is playing both wastes and vindicates, I'm not too confidant I will have green mana, never saw sinkhole in g2)

He gets a t2 bob out, and I land a ratchet bomb to slowly answer it. He hymns away a map and a post, but doesn't want to play more guys as his deck's curve is -2-. I take six from bob before he goes boom, but find a crux and start the big mana undisrupted. I waste him while i send wurmcoils off to pasture. (he had two swords) Tentacle rape man doesn't afraid of swords, and brings it home late in the game.

R4 vs Affinity

I get lucky here, as I lent my friend my affinity deck for this tournament with the knowledge that I'm pretty much cold to it, as I'm playing bombs instead of powder kegs. (fast guys with a varied curve and dead all is dusts don't bode well) He doesn't feel like dream crushing me with my own deck and allows me to play something else in a 'funsies' game, after which one of us may feel the urge to concede to the other in the sanctioned match. (this wouldn't fly at a GP obviously, but no one at the local tournament had any problem with it) I offer burn or ichorid and he chooses ichorid. I know he has a 2/2 split of relics/exitrpates SB as well as a fast, airbourne clock in thopter/nexus + plating, so it's pretty even games two and three.

Game one I t1 Pimp t2 LED + breakthrough + coleseum +deep anaylsis to make an iona and 16 zombies while therapying two platings and two MoEs away. Got that one.

Game two I bring in needles, and t1 needle relic. He makes two fast froggies, I make a pimp, discard troll, careful study well into a narc, make an ichorid next upkeep, dredge into bridge, iona, dread return. Make zombies (no 'pate, whew) naming plating, miss, make Iona naming blue (being more afraid of MoE/thoughcast into platings) than 'pate here. He doesn't topdeck the plating in the three turn Iona gives him.

R5 vs Enchantress. We ID for 1st and 2nd as the enchantress player is Arcboundravager, my roommate, and play it out for fun with full knoledge that he loses HARD to all is dust, especially with relics in the SB to keep replenish dead.

I crush him like bug. Emrakul, then all is dust to eat-um-ups his lands.

-3 wurmcoil -1 masticore, -1 bomb +1 ulamog, +4 relic

Fist-in-ass rapage.

tl;dr: the thunderstaffs are for slowing down the onslaught of triba decks.l (and zoo, to some extent) Swarms are not this deck's friend, and staff buys you time while being immune to creature removal. (why it's not silent arbiter)

Ratchet bomb is the nuts, and with 11 land-searchers to find eye, I never found myself wanting an eldrai but not having access to one.

I think I used my store credit from the winnings and some I had banked for a foil Swords to Plowshares and a foil SoLS, wither that or this was the week I picked up a gaea's cradle for elf survival.

[largebrandon]

I've been toying around with this build:

// Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
4 Vesuva
2 Eldrazi Temple
2 Mystifying Maze
4 Wasteland

// Artifacts
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Tangle Wire
4 Trinisphere
4 Lotus Petal

// Creatures
4 Metalworker
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Sundering Titan
3 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

// Sorceries
4 All is Dust

// Sideboard
4 Ratchet Bomb
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Crucible of Worlds
2 Smokestack
2 Artisan of Kozilek

A few differences than other people's builds:

Trinisphere, Chalice of the Void, Tanglewire package - This really helps with aggro, especially since you have no colours for Moment's Peace, etc
Wasteland - helps with the above package whilst you build your Posts
Metalworker - I first thought that this guy wouldn't help much bc of all the eldrazi in the deck, but he does help a ton! If played on turn one, he can create an average of 6 mana on turn 2, which helps a ton. Plus, as the deck solely relies upon drawing cloudposts, he can alleviate some bad luck that you can sometimes get.
Creatures - Sundering Titan is great against Controlish decks whilst Wurmcoil is amazing against aggro decks

I really want to build this deck on MTGO, but it would cost upwards of about $300, so I just play it on MWS. It is one of the most fun decks to play, but I don't think it is quite yet up to scratch against some tier 1 decks, but I could be wrong.