Subject: More on Zur's Madness Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 12:24:09 +0100 From: Matt Williams The Zur's Madness deck now seems to have gone through every possible permutation (full on weenie onslaught, 5 color heavy control, heavy white mega life-gaining) until I hit upon what I think might be the winning formula last night. Good old Blue/Black. That mainstay of control (well, apart from blue/white but who like playing THAT eurcch!). For those of you actually interested in the ongoing development of this deck (2 people so far), I'll explain my reasoning behind going B/U. Creature control and life-gaining. Simple as that. Oh, and it makes Lobotomies and Breathstealers Crypt easier to use in the SB. Yeah, sure, Wrath of Gods and Gerrard's Wisdoms are probably superior all-round creature control and lifegaining but the deck just wasn't working with heavy white as the only counters I could use were Memory Lapses really and they only delay the inevitable in this deck. So, here's the latest (and I hope final) version Zur's Madness V2.1 (name suggestions are very welcome!) 4 Zur's Weirding 3 Teferi's Puzzle Box 2 Howling Mine 2 Library of Leng 1 Scroll Rack 4 Nekrataal 3 Man-O-War 2 Sibilant Spirit 4 Counterspell 4 Fountain of Youth/Drain Life/Essence Bottle (not sure which is the most effective mix yet) 4 Gaea's Blessing 3 Dark Banishing 2 Stupor 2 Coercion 1 Lobotomy 10 Swamp 9 Island 4 Skyshroud Forest 62 cards Sideboard: 3 Breathstealer's Crypt 3 Chill 3 Propaganda 2 Perish 2 Dismiss 2 Nevinyrral's Disk The Stupor and Coercion are the new additions really and have proved to be very effective. Reducing the opponent's hand to 1 or 2 cards makes the choice with Zur's a lot easier. I've dropped the Scroll Rack to just one as I found most people left them alone and it's not essential to the deck, but it's handy to have out when you are recycling with the Box. The added bonus is that it allows you put back cards you don't want to lose during your next draw phase with the box. The only thing I'm not sure about it the life-gaining side of things. I don't think there are enough swamps to warrant 4 Drain Lifes. So I'm thinking Fountain of Youth or Essence Bottles might be a better bet. Perhaps even Taste of Paradise with the G that I have available. Just not sure yet. I tested this version last night and once the Sibilant Spirit came out the beatdown was quick and ruthless (plus I denied every card he drew due to the Spirit's attack). It lost to White Weenie but only because I was a complete scrub and forgot to side in the Breathstealer's Crypts. I *really* want to play this against a Necrodeck :-) One quick question though. When I have Weirding and a Breathstealer's Crypt out I assume the APNAP ruling takes effect? I mean, if my opponent draws a creature I assume he can ask whether I pay 2 to discard it before he deals with the Crypt right? I mean, if not, that makes that whole combo very abusive. "Sure, you pay 3 life to keep that critter. I pay 2 life to make you discard it!". Feel free to play with this deck and let me know of any suggestions.... Matt