I'm not going to be able to develop something better unless I have reasons why this card would be better or that card is complete jank in here. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a 5 color deck featuring Zur's Weirding and Megrim. Unfortunately, not only was the idea ill-received, I also found out that the Zur/Megrim combo no longer works. However, I had several great suggestions brought up in that thread, especially Matt's idea that I utilize Zur's in a more aggressive deck. This is what I came up with.
//NAME: Zur's Tech (modified)
Blue (10):
2 Zur's Weirding
2 Psionic Blast
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Serendib Efreet
Blue/White (4)
4 Meddling Mage
Red/White (1):
1 Goblin Trenches
White (8):
4 Savannah Lions
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Balance
1 Swords To Plowshares
Black (8):
4 Duress
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Diabolic Edict
Artifacts (4):
1 Masticore
3 Cursed Scroll
Lands/Mana Sources (25):
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 City of Brass
3 Scrubland
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
Sideboard:
3 Phyrexian Negators
1 Masticore
3 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Samite Ministrations
1 Aura Fracture
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Circle of Protection: Red
Basically the creatures are the negative life engine, and if the deck stalls a Zur's/Scroll soft lock is placed, with Duress making sure the coast is clear. I threw in the Goblin Trenches as something interesting to test, and basically the rest of the deck is a U/W/B Zoo without the twister. There hasn't been heavy thought put into the SB and it is also open for suggestions.
here's a non powered version that one of my friend used to play.
Michaël Imbeault's deck :
MAIN DECK
3 - Dromar's Cavern
4 - Peace of Mind
3 - Squee, Goblin Nobob
1 - Demonic Tutor
6 - Swamp
4 - Mishra's Factory
4 - City of Brass
1 - Strip Mine
4 - Scrubland
1 - Vindicate
1 - Balance
1 - Vampiric Tutor
1 - Enlightened Tutor
1 - Cursed Scroll
3 - Zur's Weirding
4 - Hymn to Tourach
4 - Diabolic Edict
4 - Swords to Plowshares
1 - Cursed Scroll
3 - Nether Spirit
4 - The Rack
3 - Gerrard's Verdict
First of all when i saw his deck i tought: how in hell is this gonna win ???
but after facing it a few times i found that his deck had a certain potential. It is sure that modifications must be made but i think that will help you trough your building.
mordraid
Hmmm...thanks for the decklist, but it really doesn't tell me why my deck is good and/or bad I'm not going to be able to develop something better unless I have reasons why this card would be better or that card is complete jank in here.
The problem with Zur's Weirding is that its really a "win more" card-if you're already winning, great, you don't really need it, but if not, it sits in your hand and laughs at you.
I would cut it for more good stuff that helps you move towards a winning position, not stay there.
The other cards in your main deck I dislike are the masticore and goblin trenches. these seem a little too mana+card intensive for this deck (but maybe the work for you).
On the SB, I'd cut the CoPs for more direct, offensive answers-this deck doesn't really want to just sit there and rely on CoP, it wants to win, with creature beats.
Finally, there is one thread on the best colors to use in 3+ color aggro decks, and, as I said there, I don't think black is what you want. Green has sylva, call of the herd, river boa, possibly land grant and rancor, while red has burn, wheel, pup, and that new spell from Judgement that's either an ancestral or 5 damage. Both of these seem to compliment the deck more than duress and late game brokenness, but again, I could be wrong. I would at least try the other colors, though.
If, however, you want to continue to run black, I'd give shadowmage infiltrators a try.
The deck is also screaming for a merchant scroll. it gets you ancestral for 3 extra cards, or psi blast (to kill stuff) It definitely looks like a good idea.
Why no mox emerald?
Hey mordraid ;)
The version you posted is the old black-based one... it was pretty good but i had trouble getting enough white mana for peace of mind, trouble getting squee's etc...
It would win by getting zur's on the table either with peace of mind (wait for a nether spirit to get in the graveyard), mishra factory or the rack in play with opponent having less than 3 cards.
It was pretty good, but not consistent enough... so i changed all this to a UW version with a splash of black :
4x Peace of Mind
3x Zur's Weirding
3x Squee, Goblin Nabob
1x Krovikan Horror
3x Zombie Infestation
1x Masticore
1x Demonic tutor
1x Vampiric tutor
1x Wrath of God
1x Humility
1x Balance
4x Swords to plowshares
2x Story circle
3x Forbid
2x Vindicate
2x Gaea's Blessing
3x Intuition
4x Mishra's Factory
4x Scrubland
4x Tundra
4x Flood Plain
1x Treva's Ruins
4x City of Brass
3x Plains
The addition of Intuition to fetch 2x Squee and 1x Krovikan Horror is a big one... it can fetch other spells under weirding if needed too. Forbid provide a kind of semi-card advantage engine with squee's... peace of mind to keep you alive and lock with weirding.
Im still not sure if gaeas blessing is such a good idea, but i don't have that many kill condititions, so right now it's my safety net cantrip ;) Don't forget that you get to reshuffle the whole graveyard if it get discarded under weirding... Also Zombie infestation >> other kill conditions, early in the game it helps to block and when you get 2x Squee + 1 Krovikan with intuition, it's a zombie on your turn, a zombie on my turn so it builds up fast.
It's obviously geared vs a creature heavy environment, but it do pretty well vs control cause almost everything is a must counter for them... even peace of mind! 15 life a turn (3x squee and 1 krovikan) is though even for morphling... Only trouble the deck have is lack of a true card advantage engine (Bazaar just dont cut it) and extreme vulnerability to Crypt and Furnace (sideboard null rods and disenchants for that).
As a side note, i may change the 2x Blessings to 1x Serra Avatar and 1x Compulsion... that way the mana base will not be so shaky. The purpose of the avatar is a backup-win condition with peace of mind / zur weirding is somehow you dont got a victory condition on the table AND they took care of krovikan horror somehow AND you got no red mana to cast squee, which is improbable but possible. Discarding him via peace of mind allow decking of opponent... and he can always be cast, i guess. Compulsion is a very good card advantage engine once you have squee's and mana to power it...
Any suggestions appreciated, especially on the card advantage point ;) And zombie tokens / foils crap zombies are appreciated too :P
P.S : Note that this is an unpowered version. Obviously power would be added if i had it ;)
Tell me if I'm way off here... it looks like you're trying to play a sort of aggro-control deck that beats with fast creatures, then plays Zur's Weirding to stall the control deck from finding answers. A four mana sorcery-speed tempo card like Weirding seems weak. I'd suggest more traditional tempo cards like Counterspell (Memory Lapse if you wanted to cut the commitment to blue mana). Temporal Spring isn't terrible either, in my opinion, but it is green. Weirding has the advantage of winning outright if it resolves, but it's more difficult to play because of the mana cost, and considering that you'll have to fight through counters anyway you're probably better off playing some yourself.
That's what I think anyway.
Yeah, Zur's is for when my deck begins to stall and I need to keep the control player from...well, gaining control. I have the 4 Duress in there to try to force through the Zur, but I don't know myself whether that will be enough protection until i further playtest it. The goblin trenches is there for when I completely stall. It is also good if the other player allows to resolve and I'm able to force through a Zur. I would like Zur a lot better if it was 3 mana though
That's a good idea about the CoP's in the sideboard, I'll see if i can think of better things to put in there. I also might end up changing black to another color, although it will probably be harder to get Zur out without Duress.
Quixzlizx : The trouble wiht an aggro oriented version of Zur's weirding is that they can hold a solution to all your threats (read : Abyss) and just wait for you to commit in playing the weirding. This is why i prefer my controlish version, which as at least ways to prevent that situation from happening (krovikan horror, among others). Also, zur weirding is just a soft lock in your version : you can deny only 9 (relevent) cards to your opponent. If he have a solution to your threats, you are screwed :/ Peace of mind & squee provide a hard lock... it's funny cause often the opponent doesn't realise this and have the 'just hope ill draw that disenchant' attitude... i always have to remind them that they WONT draw anything usefull for the rest of the game while mishra beats on them ;)
Duress is a nice way to complement weirding, but then you need 5 mana to duress, make sure your opponent doesnt have an answer to your threats, then cast weirding. Anyway, an aggro deck facing an opponent which doesnt have answers is often in a winning position... this 'win more' strategy is not as good as the 'control the game till we both topdeck THEN cast weirding' attitude.
Good luck with your furthur efforts trying to break the card