Decklist

https://moxfield.com/decks/yaOqN-AwS0avOa6QMyMcLA

Credit: Hauntz

Primer

https://moxfield.com/decks/mNapLrgSiUaA17cl9XNCpw/primer

Intro

In the realm of cEDH Urza is in an odd spot. Urza, in its various forms, looks to grind out its wins as a midrange deck. It leverages fast artifact mana and stax pieces to push itself into an advantageous mid game position. This can be a tricky situation, however, since the meta has shifted into the popularity of turbo naus decks. In many cases these turbo naus decks are faster and take advantage of our own artifact density to power out extremely quick wins through Dockside Extortionist with Ad nauseam or Peer into the Abyss. Many turbo decks can usually attempt to win on turn 2 or 3. Going forward in this primer, keep in mind that many choices I have made deal with combating that meta.

So… you want to play Urza? Well, you have great taste, but I will admit I am a little biased. For a little background, I have played with Urza in cEDH for over a year as my main. I started playing when he was released in June of 2019 with the UPS build, featuring the now banned Paradox Engine (RIP; it was so fun while it lasted) and am now playing with a Poly Tyrant (Polymorph & Tidespout tyrant) version. I feel all the current best builds of Urza utilize the Poly Tyrant package for its explosive potential of winning off of Proteus staff and Polymorph.

It is also important to understand the window in which Urza is strong as a midrange cEDH deck. To make something absolutely clear, while we want to grind, in most cases we will not be the most grindy deck at the table. With access to only blue, we just don’t have the advantage pieces other decks do. What we do have, however, is Urza and the explosive power that is artifact ramp after he resolves. You are at your most powerful within the early stages of the midgame right after you have resolved Urza, and should look to lock the game down, and/or try to win as soon as possible in that window. Since so much of the game plan relies on Urza being on the board, we are looking to play him as soon as possible in turns 1, 2, or 3. Then, with his ability to turn all artifacts into mana sources, we want to use that big mana boost to quickly make powerful plays in the following turns.

Why Play Urza?

Do you love artifacts? Do you like commander based strategies? Do you like learning to play Stax correctly in cEDH? If you say yes to these questions, then Urza might be right for you. There are few sweeter things in life than resolving a Back to Basics against tapped out Tainted Pact land bases. In all seriousness, Urza is the premier mono blue commander in cEDH, and if you like a little bit of a challenge, with some of the meta against you, this might be the deck for you.

Combos

Refer to section on “Winning” for how to win with infinite mana

Tidespout Tyrant for infinite mana

• This combo requires two mana positive artifacts (or sometimes one neutral and one positive) and tidespout in play. With Urza out, using his ability, any 0 cost artifacts are mana positive. This also works with a 1 cmc artifact and a 0 cmc one. The idea is to tap the artifact for mana and then cast a spell. The bounce trigger from tidespount is then used to bounce the tapped artifact to your hand. You then repeat this by tapping an artifact for mana and casting the other artifact in your hand, bouncing the one you tapped. This alternating bouncing of the artifacts back and forth should be producing extra mana, and thus, repeating the loop makes infinite mana.

• EX: tap Mana Crypt in play producing 2 colorless mana and then cast Mox Opal using the bounce trigger to put Mana Crypt in your hand. Then tap the resolved Mox Opal for mana and cast Mana Crypt , bouncing the Mox Opal to your hand. Continue the loop for infinite mana.

Helpful Spike Feeders Video on the combo

Power Artifact & Grim Monolith for infinite colorless mana

• Together they make infinite colorless mana. Use Urza’s ability to cast the whole deck.

Isochron Scepter & Dramatic Reversal for infinite mana

• With mana artifacts in play producing at least 3 mana, this creates infinite mana. Use Urza’s ability to cast the whole deck.

Narset, Parter of Veils & any Wheel

• You get seven new cards; everyone else gets one.

Polymorph on Urza’s Construct (or another creature you control)

• Cast poly on the construct (or another creature) and reveal until you get to the one creature in your deck, Tidespout Tyrant.

Proteus Staff on Urza’s Construct (or another creature you control)

• Activate staff targeting the construct (or another creature) and reveal until you get to the one creature in your deck, Tidespout Tyrant. REMEMBER; you can order your revealed cards on the bottom. If no creatures are in the deck, you can order the whole deck like a doomsday effect. If you have no tyrant in your deck, you can also target Urza in play, putting it on the bottom, revealing the whole deck, and then get another construct when Urza comes back into play. You get to arrange the whole deck how you like and get a new construct.

Static Orb / Winter orb & Urza

• Tap them down in the endstep before your turn to not have them affect you.

Winning

Great explanation by Spleenface on “Winconless” Decks

Once you have infinite mana and infinite casts of your deck with Urza, we win the game without any of the “I win” cards. This is achieved in part by “twister looping” the deck.

TWISTER LOOPING

This is how we can “loop the deck” and play things over and over again without milling out. You can do this by using Narset’s Reversal on your own Timetwister cast, or getting it back from your graveyard with Codex Shredder. Thus, we keep shuffling in our graveyard and don’t lose Timetwister. We can now keep casting everything infinitely with Urza with infinite mana.

You can also cast Narset’s Reversal on Time Spiral to achieve the same effect as looping with Timetwister, as the original Time spiral will go back to your hand (thus get shuffled back into the deck not being exiled) and the Narset’s Reversal will shuffle back in from the graveyard.

Midnight Clock (NOT IN LIST CURRENTLY) can serve as another way to “twister loop” the deck by bouncing it to you hand before it exiles itself. You can replace Timetwister with this for obvious budget reasons if needed.

CODEX SHREDDING

Assemble Isochron Scepter & Dramatic Reversal if you haven’t already, and use infinite untaps with Codex Shredder to mill them out. (CURRENTLY NOT IN MAIN LIST BUT CAN BE ADDED IN FOR SECURITY)

DUAL SCEPTERS

If for some reason codex is not an option, you can also use Copy Artifact to make another Isochron Scepter imprinting Swan Song. You then counter your own spells as you loop the deck to make infinite swans. This wincon requires you to pass the turn, but you should be able to cast all your Stax, bounce their whole board, and craft a solid seven card hand on top of having infinite mana and casts of your deck with Urza. If you also resolved Narset, Parter of Veils before you looped, your opponents will have only one card. It should be noted that you can also do this by bouncing Urza over and over again to make infinite constructs.

SCEPTERS & DRAW

If you don’t have Urza but assemble the Isochron Scepter & Dramatic Reversal combo for infinite mana, Sensei’s Divining Top or Trail of Evidence can be used to draw your whole deck. From here you can perform twister loops without Urza (and find a spell to get him back).

WINDFALL THEM OUT

Another possible wincon with utilizing twister looping is to use Windfall in conjunction with Tormod’s Crypt over and over again to draw your opponents out until they lose. Make sure to exile their graveyard with Tormod’s Crypt each time before you perform another twister loop so they don’t reshuffle cards back in. To be safe, consider having multiple counter spells ready to go and maybe a Trinisphere , since they will be drawing through their deck.

TIDESPOUT THE POWERHOUSE

Tidespout Tyrant’s bounce effects can be used to win, even without twister looping the deck. Once you have established infinite mana with bouncing your artifacts back and forth, you can use Urza to cast from your deck and then use Tyrant triggers to bounce everything your opponents have on board. You then bounce and recast Urza to make enough constructs to kill the opponents on your next turn. It is advisable to cast most of your deck in this situation. You want to resolve stax and wheel away your opponents’ hands, hopefully with a Narset, Parter of Veils in play. Just do everything possible to make sure your opponents can’t do much of anything on their turn.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember that Tidespout Tyrant triggers can be used to bounce things that are hampering your combos, (EX: Collector Ouphe, Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study) so keep that in mind. When planning to go off, think about the number of bounce triggers you will need (spell casts).

What Hands to Keep

Do not be afraid to aggressively mulligan. We are looking for fast mana to play Urza as soon as possible to enable our gameplans. This means looking for hands that play him on turn two or earlier if possible. It is important to look at hands and understand your position in the turn order. Ask yourself how does this work out in my position? Will this Mystic Remora one lander work out when I go last? Does this Mana Crypt and one land have cantrips to get me to another land? You should even more aggressively mulligan for better hands the later you are in turn order. Keeping slower Urza hands should be considered when identifying strong draw engine plans. Seeing hands with Mystic Remora and/or Rhystic Study played early can definitely be worth a slower Urza resolution. If on Trinisphere, keeping hands that resolve it on turn one or two, while taking into consideration your turn order and meta, should be considered.

Overall, look to keep hands with fast mana for a fast Urza resolution, and with draw or relevant stax pieces. Hands with Poly or Proteus should be considered when they also fulfill the fast mana requirement. Above all, consider fast mana, with card engines being a close second. Interaction and tutors are a plus; look at your hand and try and identify your gameplan. Does this fast Urza have a follow up tutor to go for a win? Will it be good enough for your current pod?

Early Game

This is the point where we want to try and win. There can be a pivotal window where others are hampered by our stax and we are ahead on mana. Try and find your combo cards here (Proteus Staff or Polymorph) with tutors, or look to assemble other combos to get infinite mana and win. Combos that you go for should be based on what is easiest to assemble with your current hand. In lieu of killing everyone, look to advance your board state with stax and/or draw. Assess the board, and try to consider if you want to swing at someone on Ad Nauseam or whose life is a resource. Make sure to take into account if you want to have mana up for interaction, or to represent it as a bluff.

Late Game

At this stage Urza is usually not the grindiest deck at the table. You will most likely need a ton of cards to protect yourself when going for the win, or need to rely on others failing a win attempt and absorbing interaction. Focus on advantage; try to find ways to draw cards while representing interaction when appropriate. Tutor for relevant combo pieces, and identify cards that you can look for which hamper your opponents’ plans. If you have extra artifact tutors, try and find relevant stax pieces to continue to develop your board. Don’t be afraid to go for the win if it seems like other decks may start to pull too far ahead.

Pilot Plan

Urza Poly Tyrant is best understood as a tempo “early” midrange deck. You are not as fast as the turbo decks, and you are not as grindy as most midrange decks. But, we are really strong in that early midgame state, around turn 3-4 once we have Urza on the field. It is at that point we want to try and take a dominant position and/or push for a win. Many of the card choices made are with that state of the game in mind.

Always be mindful of how much interaction you are willing to use. Your main goal is to use your own interaction to protect your own win attempt. You do not want to become the table police and fall into a control based mindset. With 3 other players, this mindset has a high chance to doom your prospects of winning. Use as little interaction as possible. Try and look for players giving “tells” that they are holding onto interaction such as representing mana for counterspells, and pass priority to them to deal with your opponents’ spells when possible.

It may seem odd to hear, but do not be afraid to tap out on your own turn to advance your boardstate. Sometimes we need to get ahead, and “passing the buck” of interaction to another player while advancing our position can be the correct move.