Dear Azami: Zurg Rush!

Welcome back to regularly formatted Dear Azami columns! In the wake of all the Commander 2014 decks dropping I’d almost forgotten what it feels like to tinker with a more colorful Commander deck.

(Almost. To keep my hand in things, I turned my Pharika, God of Affliction deck into an Anafenza, the Foremost and Living Death deck.)

Anyway, let’s throw ourselves back into the fray with this week’s submission. It promises to be exciting!

My immediate reaction to this deck is that it’s not a good take on Zur the Enchanter for an introductory Commander player like your wife. The deck has a
ton of red flags, nay, alarm klaxons, that are going to draw the attention of the rest of the table. It’s bad enough that the commander is Zur, a cool card
that’s been completely ruined by the Spikes who have turned him into an unstoppable combo/control engine; at some tables her commander choice is going to
get her snap killed before she gets a chance to do anything fun.

In general, I would advise people who are new to Commander to skip being the control deck until you have a better sense of the flow of the format. Control
decks are all about pissing people off when all’s said and done. Someone’s trying to do something they think will be really cool, and control’s the one who
has to step in, wag its finger, and ruin the proactive player’s game. It’s very hard to manage your threat profile when you’re only making enemies at the
table.

That’s one of the reasons I think newer players should start with something a little closer to a Hugs deck. Until a player has a better understanding of
how to carefully manage their threat generation, one of the most complicated aspects of multiplayer Magic, you have to make friends.

Plus, it’s easy to make a brutal Zur the Enchanter deck. Just do

this Gatherer Search

, i.e. Esper enchantments CMC 3 or less, and choose the most broken options available. Spoiler alert: there are a ton of vicious and unpleasant
enchantments you can play. Cards like Contamination, which basically ruins nonblack decks due to Commander color identity rules. It’s a little harder to
take all those options and distill them down into something that’s a bit more pleasant for everyone to play.

Of course, no one is going to give a Zur deck the true benefit of the doubt, so it’s going to require some power. But! Whereas much of the power currently
in the deck is focused on aggressive control options (like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite), I think the deck needs to focus a bit more on its defensive options
and creature support. The end result has more threats but still manages to be less threatening, which is a fine line to walk.

Rocks and Soil

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First off, the deck had too many lands. I counted 40 of them, plus six mana rocks. Normally I’m all for running 38 lands, but new players want to have fun,
and there’s no fun in flooding out. Since Zur the Enchanter is a four-drop, I decided to keep the Signets, which allow for a turn 3 Zur, but cut the Sol
Ring, Gilded Lotus, and three lands. The end result, when you add in Chromatic Lantern (a great card for Commander newbies since it makes your mana a lot
easier), is 37 lands and four mana rocks, for a grand total of 41 mana sources. That should almost certainly be fine until you get your first Zur the
Enchanter activation, after which you’ll have a draw engine or Land Tax to help hit your land drops.

I don’t quite get the inclusion of manlands in a Zur the Enchanter deck. They can’t be reliably enchanted and they’re rarely able to close out the game on
their own. The only one that might be able to do that is Creeping Tar Pit, and you don’t have that on your list. Celestial Colonnade and Mutavault are a
bad plan B. Instead, I brought in Homeward Path. It’s good when they steal your Zur, since he’s key to the deck, and it’s even better with one of the
additions you’ll be seeing in a bit.

Seachrome Coast was cut both because it bothers me that’s an incomplete cycle, and even if there were an Orzhov fastland, I don’t particularly like them
for most Commander decks. Perhaps if you’re playing in the French 1v1 Commander league thing, where the curves are low and the decks are aggro, but in more
social games they’re almost worse than the gates in a three-color deck. At least you can run Maze’s End if you’re running gates!

Cards Against Hellbent-ity

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The problem with Zur the Enchanter is that there are too many broken things to do with him. As a result, his ability usually is seen either enabling some
grotesque combo or hugely buffing him to win via commander damage. But that’s boring! Zur’s ability makes him the perfect commander for a toolbox deck, and
there are enchantments out there that meet every need. And the most obvious need is drawing cards.

Let’s face it, on that first Zur the Enchanter activation is anyone going to search up Ordeal of Thassa or Dark Tutelage? No, people are going to search up
Rhystic Study, aka the most irritating card legal in Commander. I don’t mean irritating in the same way that Prophet of Kruphix is irritating, to echo something my counterpart said last week; I mean
irritating in that it creates an extra triggered ability after literally every spell your opponents cast, and you have to stay on top of it if you want to
get any value from the card. That’s a nightmare for the most devoted Commander players, and the extra time it adds to a game only wins its player the ill
will of the rest of the table. Instead, just tutor up Phyrexian Arena. It’s a powerful card that’s going to keep you double drawing without incurring the
wrath of every other player. Or, if you’re feeling particularly generous, get Dictate of Kruphix! Most other people leave the player with the Howling Mine
alone, and it helps reassure everyone else at the table that this is a Zur the Enchanter deck that you don’t have to snap-kill.

Consecrated Sphinx has no synergies with the rest of the deck, and it causes a distressing amount of aggro, so it should be cut. Dark Tutelage is terrible
in a deck without the perfect (low) curve. And the Demonic Tutor and the Diabolic Tutor are both excessive; you’re running a toolbox deck with a commander
who searches things up as part of his ability, I don’t think you need more tutors just in case you want to get a spell instead!

In most Commander decks, Brainstorm is terrible. I know of people who will Brainstorm without access to shuffle effects, and in those cases it is not a
good use of mana. Obviously, that is not what this deck intends, what with its fetching manabase and a commander who tutors. But I still think Brainstorm
is going to draw too much attention. “But Jess,” one might ask, “what happens if you draw the card you want to Zur onto the battlefield?” Fascinating
question! The simple answer is that you cast the darn thing. Zur’s restricted to CMC 3 or less, you should be able to cast those cards 95% of the time,
particularly with the sweet manabase this deck has going for it.

In place of these cards, I brought in Hanna, Ship’s Navigator, who is a relatively powerful recursion engine for Zur’s choice of permanent, and Greed,
which is basically my favorite draw engine. It might seem duplicative running both Greed and Erebos, God of the Dead, but I think the deck has room for
both, particularly after I cut some of the “one and done” draw engines.

Finally, I cut Kor Spiritdancer in favor of Mesa Enchantress. They’re both handicapped by their requirement that the spell in question be cast, but the
pump ability and lower casting cost of Kor Spiritdancer don’t make up for the triggering condition being auras, and not enchantments. The deck doesn’t have
a ton of auras, and the ones you’re going to get are usually going to be snuck in as a defense for Zur. Mesa Enchantress will almost certainly draw you
more cards.

Killing People, Places, and Things

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Did I mention you had a low aura count? That’s why I took out Winds of Rath and Porphyry Nodes. Winds of Rath is a decent wrath, but one of the main
reasons to run Wrath of God effects in a proactive deck is to give you some game against Voltron strategies and token strategies alike. Winds of Rath is
useless against aura Voltron, although it’s usually solid against tokens. Perhaps it would be worth playing in a dedicated aura deck, but those tend to
embrace the Voltron, and I think ending up that type of deck would be bad for your wife’s enjoyment. Because you have to kill Voltron decks before they get
out of control. If you don’t, they kill you. It’s basically their entire strategy.

Oh, and without a ton of power-boosting effects, Porphyry Nodes is probably going to hurt you worse than your opponents. Zur the Enchanter has only one
power. Even if he isn’t the first thing killed by that spell, the nodes interfere with your ability to rebuild.

I’ve made arguments against Cyclonic Rift before; this cut is
basically one of those things where either you get why I am making that choice or you don’t. It’s an annoying card though, and no one is going to be happy
with you after you cast it. Aura of Silence and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite are out for similar reasons. Those are cards that prevent people from putting up
their own shields, which in turn draws aggro from the people who need one of your permanents to die in order to continue developing their gameplan.

Mortify, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Utter End, and Vindicate were all cut for the same reason, namely that they’re not particularly good in
Commander. I mean, sure, these are still some of the most powerful one-for-one removal spells available in the Orzhov colors, but they’re still just
one-for-ones. Commander is a format of card advantage, and that’s particularly important for players without the experience to know which threats are worth
losing card advantage over and which aren’t. Without that experience, you’re at the mercy of other peoples’ political persuasions, because it gets to be
harder to tell the good advice from the bad.

The deck seemed light on creatures, so I brought in some relevant creatures for the removal suite. No, I’m not talking about Nekrataal, Dark Hatchling,
Shriekmaw, and friends; I’m talking about cards like Agent of Erebos, which is constellation graveyard removal; Brain Maggot, which is Zur-able hand
distruption; and Doomwake Giant, which turns every enchantment you play into a less threatening version of Elesh Norn. It’s weird, but there’s a major
difference between playing against Elesh Norn and Doomwake Giant. Ellie crushes hope, but Doomwake lets your opponents rebuild during their own turn. It’s
interesting, because Doomwake can kill plenty of things that Ellie can’t touch, but it’s still going to draw less aggro from the rest of the board.

Oh, and if you’re up against a creature or commander that’s shutting you down, Darksteel Mutation is a good answer. It nerfs commanders without letting
them be recast, and can stop Blightsteel Colossus, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and other problematic creatures.

I added in a couple of mass removal spells, to make up for taking out Supreme Verdict. Supreme Verdict is good in more competitive formats, because in
those formats people will try to counter your wrath effects. In Commander though, that’s a more rare occurrence. It’s going to happen from time to time,
but usually the blue decks are happy to see someone trying to clear the board. Austere Command is great for Commander and may be my favorite wrath in the
whole format. Merciless Eviction isn’t as powerful, but it makes up for it by exiling an entire permanent type. It’s good against creature decks, good
against Superfriends, and good against Machine decks. It’s less good against other enchantment decks, but only because it’s so thorough that it’ll exile
most of your board as well. Luckily, we added in Cleansing Meditation, and that will hose other enchantment decks. The card brings back all your destroyed
artifacts so long as you have threshold, so with the fetch manabase you should be solid unless you’ve dropped Rest in Peace.

Incidentally, I hate Rest in Peace in Commander. There are just so many relevant death triggers and graveyard interactions it completely shuts down, and
the decks it’s good against tend to have minimal enchantment removal. It’s good, sure, but it’s not a fun card. Still, it’s tutorable graveyard removal
with Zur, so it seemed like it would be wrong to cut it.

Shields Up!

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Most of these cuts were good cards that weren’t great fits for your deck. Athreos, God of Passage is great with a ton of creatures, and that’s not your
deck. Pariah and Umbra Mystic are both better in aura-themed decks, and you just didn’t have the critical mass to support it. Greater Auramancy is a bad
card, even if you’re slipping under your own targeting restrictions through Zur’s ability. And again, not a ton of auras.

Side note: I should probably give you a metric for sufficient auras to support aura-only cards. I have a Bruna, Light of Alabaster heroic deck. I had to
make it a heroic deck, because it kept killing people when it was a pure Voltron. The deck is running eighteen auras and six creatures with bestow, and I
still feel like it’s a little lighter than I’d like. And, for reasons that should be clear, I don’t play Greater Auramancy in the deck that’s focused on
casting beneficial auras on my creatures. Umbra Mystic, on the other hand, is great in a deck that supports it.

Oh, and Avacyn, Angel of Hope is just boring. Its way above the curve in terms of its power level, and it has a completely dominating ability once it hits
the board. But that ability doesn’t end the game! Things keep dragging on, only now you’re the big target, and those decks that can’t dig for exile or
bounce are now focused on killing you because that’s the only way to make the effect end. It’s a lot of hate for a new player to draw, particularly someone
who has to watch their threat profile a lot more carefully anyway due to their choice of commanders. I’d strongly advise cutting it.

I added in five cards that protect Zur the Enchanter instead. A lot of people like to defend Zur from combat by making him unblockable, but it turns out
your opponents are going to get super antsy if you’re making your commander impossible to block. (I did include Steel of the Godhead, but that’s more
because it’s a classic Zur card.) Instead, I like to find other ways to protect Zur, and my favorite cute little trick is to tutor up Harvestguard Alseids.
It protects Zur from damage when it comes into play, and then every Zur trigger repeats the effect.

If that’s not your style, or if you have Doomwake Giant on the board, you can tutor up Flickering Ward. Don’t be afraid to choose white as the color
though, as it’s been errata’d to include the “this card doesn’t kill itself” clause. I like Flickering Ward also when you need to clear enchantments off
another creature, so remember to keep your options open.

Gift of Immortality basically makes Zur, you guessed it, immortal. Inner Sanctum prevents any of the creatures you control from getting killed in combat,
although that cumulative upkeep of two life may get out of hand. Reconnaissance is amazing, because you can use it after combat damage has been dealt; it
basically gives your team vigilance, and makes combat into a pain in the butt for your opponents without drawing a ton of attention.

To defend yourself we have Sphere of Safety, War Tax, and Story Circle. Sphere of Safety and War Tax are just more Propaganda effects, but Story Circle is
a tutorable Circle of Protection of any color you choose. It’s a strong card in a Zur deck.

Finally, there’s Perplexing Chimera, the reason to run Homeward Path. That card doesn’t get nearly enough credit. It complicates the boardstate, but in a
way that is fairly intuitive to most players. I have a thing, and I can trade the thing I have if something better comes along. In one
versus one it’s not amazing, but when politics enter into it things get a lot more interesting.

Danger, Will Robinson!

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Let’s compare Aqueous Form and Invisibility to Steel of the Godhead and Whitewater Naiads. Aqueous Form and Invisibility both turn Zur the Enchanter into
an unblockable threat while adding minimal additional effects. That’s okay if you’ve got an active Zur, but not the best top deck, particularly in the
lategame. Steel of the Godhead is similarly weak off the top of the deck, but it makes up for it by adding lifelink and a power boost. Whitewater Naiads
also makes Zur unblockable for as long as it’s attacking, but the bonus can jump around as needed, and it comes equipped with a body that, if not amazing,
can certainly battle.

I tend to like jujitsu shenanigans in Commander, particularly when facing the unknown. Copy effects mean you’ll always have the best cards on the board,
even if your opponents still have their own versions of them. That’s why I added in a little bit of everything, tutorable by Zur. Oh, your opponent has a
cool artifact? Copy Artifact. Oh, now it’s an enchantment? Copy Enchantment. They’ve got a fun creature? Dance of Many. There’s something neat in their
graveyard? Animate Dead. Now that’s a toolbox!

Ajani’s Chosen is arguably better in a Zur deck than Sigil of the Empty Throne, because Ajani’s Chosen triggers when things enter the battlefield; the
Sigil is tied to a cast trigger, and you’re not always going to be casting your enchantments. Dreadbringer Lampads forces through damage, although it’s not
nearly as good at it as Whitewater Naiads. Grim Guardian turns every Zur trigger into a group ping, while Herald of Torment is a tutorable body that
manages to hold down the skies reasonably well. Nighthowler is tutorable beef, and it’s particularly strong off the top of your deck when you can get the
bestow as well.

Finally, there’s Leyline of Anticipation, which is good at turning your enchantments into instant speed threats; Open the Vaults, which is basically a more
socially acceptable Replenish (if not necessarily symmetrical, given Agent of Erebos); and Heliod, God of the Sun both allows you to spend mana to buy
constellation triggers and gives Zur the most relevant ability in Commander: vigilance. Zur the Enchanter wants to attack, after all, but you really don’t
want to be shields down in a deck like this. With Heliod, you don’t have to.

The List!

Zur the Enchanter

Jess Stirba

Test deck on 01-06-2015

Commander

Creatures (21)

• 1 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
• 1 Auramancer
• 1 Zur the Enchanter
• 1 Mesa Enchantress
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Ajani's Chosen
• 1 Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
• 1 Nighthowler
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1 Herald of Torment
• 1 Perplexing Chimera
• 1 Whitewater Naiads
• 1 Doomwake Giant
• 1 Aegis of the Gods
• 1 Agent of Erebos
• 1 Dreadbringer Lampads
• 1 Grim Guardian
• 1 Harvestguard Alseids
• 1 Brain Maggot
• 1 Underworld Coinsmith

Lands (37)

• 4 Plains
• 4 Swamp
• 4 Island
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Sunken Ruins
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Esper Panorama
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Homeward Path
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Temple of Enlightenment

Spells (42)

• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Replenish
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Land Tax
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Copy Artifact
• 1 Greed
• 1 Flickering Ward
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Story Circle
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Dance of Many
• 1 Telepathy
• 1 Inner Sanctum
• 1 Reconnaissance
• 1 War Tax
• 1 Cleansing Meditation
• 1 Copy Enchantment
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Prison Term
• 1 Steel of the Godhead
• 1 Esper Charm
• 1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
• 1 Open the Vaults
• 1 Leyline of Anticipation
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Underworld Connections
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 1 Rest in Peace
• 1 Sphere of Safety
• 1 Ethereal Armor
• 1 Blind Obedience
• 1 Merciless Eviction
• 1 Gift of Immortality
• 1 Darksteel Mutation
• 1 Extinguish All Hope
• 1 Dictate of Kruphix

As you can see, I upped the creature count to a more reasonable twenty bodies, the majority of which are also enchantments so as to be on theme. Your total
enchantment count now is up to 44, which seems like a reasonably high percentage of the whole. I kept the Enlightened Tutor and the Esper Charm, because
sometimes it’s nice to have options, but in general this should play more like a toolbox deck. I think that’s more fun for new players, since there are all
sorts of different things to do, and your wife can test out to find what parts of the Commander meta speak to her.

A couple of kudos are in order before I get to the cost breakdown: I love the inclusion of Telepathy! I think that card is great for table politics, since
it gives people even more information about what the real threats are at any give point in time. Also, Prison Term often gets overlooked, but I’m glad to
see it in your deck. It seems like a strong addition to Zur.

Anyway, here’s the price breakdown, which was mostly reasonable:

As you can see, Austere Command has been creeping up in price over the years, so maybe us Commander players can keep our fingers crossed for a reprinting
in Modern Masters 2. Apparently, being reprinted in the Commander 2011 precons isn’t enough to keep that price tethered. Still, considering the manabase
you’re running, I’d be shocked if $55 proved out of your price range… particularly after the $20 Star City Games store credit we offer to any submitters
whose decks are chosen for use!

(What a great deal! You should totally submit!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed what we did with your deck, Nicholas, and I hope your wife finds Commander to be an enjoyable format.

Commander: It Brings People Together!

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? We’re always accepting deck submissions to consider for use in a future article. Only one deck
submission will be chosen per article, but being selected for the next edition of Dear Azami includes not just deck advice but also a $20 coupon to
StarCityGames.com!

Email us a deck submission using [email protected]?subject=Dear Azami Deck Submission”>this link here!

Like what you’ve seen? Feel free to explore more of Dear Azami here, in the Article Archives!
And feel free to check Jess’s own Command of Etiquette
column on Hipsters of the Coast, for more Commander and casual content.