Introduction
A couple weeks ago, I finished 12-3 at GP Columbus with my own take on Urza midrange in Modern. That record was good for 9th place on tiebreakers, which is always a bit disappointing. At the same time, I took my third loss early, in round 11, so it was fortunate that I was even in contention in the last round.
In this article, I’d like to discuss where and why I deviated from the decklist that Team Lotus Box has been dominating the SCG and PTQ circuits with, give a brief tournament report, and offer some sideboarding and play advice.
Decklist
This is the Urza list that Zan Syed, Jeremy Bertarioni, Collins Mullen, and Edgar Malgahaes piloted to the top 8 of SCG Atlanta 2019.
- Zan Syed
- – Urza Food
- SCG Atlanta 2019
- (Top 4)
4 《Snow-Covered Island》
1 《Snow-Covered Forest》
1 《Breeding Pool》
1 《Watery Grave》
2 《Mystic Sanctuary》
4 《Misty Rainforest》
2 《Flooded Strand》
2 《Polluted Delta》
2 《Scalding Tarn》
-Land (19)- 4 《Gilded Goose》
4 《Emry, Lurker of the Loch》
4 《Urza, Lord High Artificer》
-Creature (12)-
1 《Snow-Covered Forest》
1 《Breeding Pool》
1 《Watery Grave》
2 《Mystic Sanctuary》
4 《Misty Rainforest》
2 《Flooded Strand》
2 《Polluted Delta》
2 《Scalding Tarn》
-Land (19)- 4 《Gilded Goose》
4 《Emry, Lurker of the Loch》
4 《Urza, Lord High Artificer》
-Creature (12)-
2 《Metallic Rebuke》
2 《Whir of Invention》
3 《Cryptic Command》
4 《Mishra’s Bauble》
4 《Mox Opal》
3 《Engineered Explosives》
4 《Arcum’s Astrolabe》
1 《Aether Spellbomb》
1 《Sword of the Meek》
1 《Thopter Foundry》
4 《Oko, Thief of Crowns》
-Spell (29)-
2 《Whir of Invention》
3 《Cryptic Command》
4 《Mishra’s Bauble》
4 《Mox Opal》
3 《Engineered Explosives》
4 《Arcum’s Astrolabe》
1 《Aether Spellbomb》
1 《Sword of the Meek》
1 《Thopter Foundry》
4 《Oko, Thief of Crowns》
-Spell (29)-
3 《Fatal Push》
3 《Damping Sphere》
2 《Thoughtseize》
2 《Drown in the Loch》
1 《Assassin’s Trophy》
1 《Grafdigger’s Cage》
1 《Nihil Spellbomb》
1 《Pithing Needle》
1 《Ensnaring Bridge》
-Sideboard (15)-
3 《Damping Sphere》
2 《Thoughtseize》
2 《Drown in the Loch》
1 《Assassin’s Trophy》
1 《Grafdigger’s Cage》
1 《Nihil Spellbomb》
1 《Pithing Needle》
1 《Ensnaring Bridge》
-Sideboard (15)-
Watching the Urza deck on coverage, it was clear to me that it was the most powerful deck in the format. Because of 《Emry, Lurker of the Loch》, 《Gilded Goose》, and 《Arcum’s Astrolabe》, the Urza deck has most of the explosiveness of the traditional 《Mox Opal》 decks but none of the compromises. Instead of 《Ornithopter》s or 《Terrarion》s, it just plays good cards.
《Oko, Thief of Crowns》 and 《Mystic Sanctuary》 further shore up midrange decks’ traditional weaknesses in Modern. It’s hard to flood when your fifth land comes with a 《Mystical Tutor》, and Oko turns your extra 《Mox Opal》s into 3/3 hastes.
However, I felt like the deck didn’t fully take advantage of 《Mystic Sanctuary》. The only targets in Team Lotus Box’s list were 《Cryptic Command》 and 《Whir of Invention》, the latter of which only searches for the Thopter-Sword combo. While those targets are strong, 《Mystic Sanctuary》 gets a lot more powerful when you have access a diverse assortment of costs and effects. And despite all the fast mana in this deck, 3 《Cryptic Command》s is just an excessive number of 《Cryptic Command》s for Modern.
The Thopter-Sword combo also didn’t seem worth its vulnerability to both artifact and graveyard hate. The deck can get some natural mileage out of 《Thopter Foundry》 via 《Arcum’s Astrolabe》s and 《Mox Opal》s, but otherwise Whir, 《Thopter Foundry》, and 《Sword of the Meek》 are actively bad in isolation. And even the full combo is only okay without 《Urza, Lord High Artificer》 to make it infinite.
In all, I made the following changes:
Mainboard Changes:
-2 《Scalding Tarn》
-2 《Whir of Invention》
-1 《Emry, Lurker of the Loch》
-1 《Metallic Rebuke》
-1 《Cryptic Command》
-1 《Aether Spellbomb》
-1 《Sword of the Meek》
-1 《Thopter Foundry》
+2 《Fatal Push》
+2 《Thoughtseize》
+2 《Drown in the Loch》
+2 《Polluted Delta》
+1 《Snow-Covered Swamp》
+1 《Witching Well》
Sideboard Changes:
-2 《Thoughtseize》
-2 《Drown in the Loch》
-1 《Fatal Push》
-1 《Grafdigger’s Cage》
-1 《Pithing Needle》
-1 《Damping Sphere》
-1 《Ensnaring Bridge》
+2 《Veil of Summer》
+2 《Disdainful Stroke》
+2 《Mystical Dispute》
+1 《Assassin’s Trophy》
+1 《Tormod’s Crypt》
+1 《Nihil Spellbomb》
I wanted to slim the deck down and make it more interactive, with the aims of making the deck more resilient to hate cards and of improving the Grixis Shadow and creature combo matchups (eg. Infect, Burn, and 《Devoted Druid》).
I also added a land, as I pretty much always do. Although it’s bad with 《Mystic Sanctuary》, I felt like not playing with 《Snow-Covered Swamp》 was just too greedy. Having the 《Snow-Covered Swamp》 makes it much harder for decks with 《Field of Ruin》 to take the deck off of black mana and being able to fetch for black mana without taking additional damage can be invaluable against Burn and Shadow (Being able to fetch for both 《Snow-Covered Forest》 and 《Snow-Covered Swamp》 actually came up against Brandon Burton, alias sandydogmtg. He was on Burn, as always. I stabilized game 3 in my match against him at 1 life and would have certainly lost if I’d needed to fetch for 《Watery Grave》 or 《Breeding Pool》).
The change I was most uncertain of was cutting the 4th Emry. However, in this build of the deck, Emry is primarily a 2-card combo with 《Mishra’s Bauble》. And while a 1-mana 《Archivist》 is absurd, I didn’t feel like the upside was worth the downside of 《Norwood Ranger》.
Because I essentially moved the sideboard to the maindeck, these changes also opened up a bunch of sideboard space. I used it to get some additional percentage in the mirror and against Grixis Shadow (With incidental gains against control, Tron, and Dredge).
In the end, I submitted this decklist for GP Columbus.
- Allen Wu
- – Sultai Urza Midrange
- Grand Prix Columbus
- (9th Place)
4 《Snow-Covered Island》
1 《Snow-Covered Forest》
1 《Snow-Covered Swamp》
1 《Breeding Pool》
1 《Watery Grave》
2 《Mystic Sanctuary》
4 《Misty Rainforest》
4 《Polluted Delta》
2 《Flooded Strand》
-Land (20)- 4 《Gilded Goose》
3 《Emry, Lurker of the Loch》
4 《Urza, Lord High Artificer》
-Creature (11)-
1 《Snow-Covered Forest》
1 《Snow-Covered Swamp》
1 《Breeding Pool》
1 《Watery Grave》
2 《Mystic Sanctuary》
4 《Misty Rainforest》
4 《Polluted Delta》
2 《Flooded Strand》
-Land (20)- 4 《Gilded Goose》
3 《Emry, Lurker of the Loch》
4 《Urza, Lord High Artificer》
-Creature (11)-
2 《Fatal Push》
2 《Thoughtseize》
2 《Drown in the Loch》
1 《Metallic Rebuke》
2 《Cryptic Command》
4 《Mishra’s Bauble》
4 《Mox Opal》
3 《Engineered Explosives》
4 《Arcum’s Astrolabe》
1 《Witching Well》
4 《Oko, Thief of Crowns》
-Spell (29)-
2 《Thoughtseize》
2 《Drown in the Loch》
1 《Metallic Rebuke》
2 《Cryptic Command》
4 《Mishra’s Bauble》
4 《Mox Opal》
3 《Engineered Explosives》
4 《Arcum’s Astrolabe》
1 《Witching Well》
4 《Oko, Thief of Crowns》
-Spell (29)-
2 《Fatal Push》
2 《Veil of Summer》
2 《Assassin’s Trophy》
2 《Disdainful Stroke》
2 《Mystical Dispute》
2 《Nihil Spellbomb》
2 《Damping Sphere》
1 《Tormod’s Crypt》
-Sideboard (15)-
2 《Veil of Summer》
2 《Assassin’s Trophy》
2 《Disdainful Stroke》
2 《Mystical Dispute》
2 《Nihil Spellbomb》
2 《Damping Sphere》
1 《Tormod’s Crypt》
-Sideboard (15)-
Grand Prix Columbus
I mostly attended GP Columbus to hang out with my friend Jake Koenig, who’s doing his PhD at Ohio, so I wasn’t that invested in the tournament. That said, I still had a lot of fun.
My favorite memory from the weekend was playing Mental Magic with Ari Zax’s Grixis Death’s Shadow deck. If you haven’t tried the format, I highly recommend it. It’s the complete opposite of normal Mental Magic, where both players have access to all the card draw and interaction that’s ever been printed. Everything in Grixis Shadow costs 1 black or 1 blue, so you have to get real scrappy to answer permanents like 《Shrieking Affliction》, 《Graf Harvest》, and 《Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree》. We played with the Legacy cardpool and 《Yixlid Jailer》 in play.
If you find yourself in Columbus, I highly recommend The Eagle, Jenni’s Ice Cream, Hubert’s Polish Kitchen, and Jake’s scrambled eggs. I would not recommend Drunch.
As for the tournament itself, I played against the following matchups.
| Round | Against | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1-3 | Bye | – |
| Round 4 | Elves | 2-0 |
| Round 5 | Tron | 0-2 |
| Round 6 | Affinity | 2-0 |
| Round 7 | Mirror with Whir and 《Goblin Engineer》 | 2-0 |
| Round 8 | Burn | 2-0 |
| Round 9 | Grixis Shadow | 1-2 |
| Round 10 | Eldrazi Tron | 2-0 |
| Round 11 | Sultai Shadow | 1-2 |
| Round 12 | Burn | 2-1 |
| Round 13 | Azorius Control | 2-0 |
| Round 14 | 5C Niv with 《Utopia Sprawl》 | 2-0 |
| Round 15 | Bant Control | 2-1 |
I punted games in 2 of my 3 losses due to unfamiliarity with the deck, which was just desserts for trenches testing.
Against Tron, I found a line where I could fetch for 《Mystic Sanctuary》, put Cryptic back on top, cast Urza, crack Bauble, and draw the Cryptic on my opponent’s upkeep with exactly enough mana to cast it. But then I just forgot to put the Cryptic back on top before putting Urza on the stack, missing the trigger.
Against Sultai Shadow, I shaved an 《Engineered Explosives》 because that was my plan against Grixis Shadow, where Explosives and 《Fatal Push》 both only answer 《Death’s Shadow》. But against Sultai, Explosives answers literally everything. I left in 《Thoughtseize》 instead, which is much worse against Sultai since it plays fewer counterspells and doesn’t play 《Gurmag Angler》. And then I lost game 2 with a 《Thoughtseize》 in my hand when Explosives would have killed 2 Shadows and won me the game.
So it goes. Poo-tee-weet.
Sideboard Guide
Grixis Shadow
Against Grixis Shadow
Out
In
(Unsure on the best mix of 《Engineered Explosives》, 《Metallic Rebuke》, and 《Fatal Push》, but I don’t want too many answers to only 《Death’s Shadow》)
Sultai Shadow
Against Sultai Shadow
Out
In
Eldrazi Tron
Against Eldrazi Tron
Out
In
Mirror without Karn
Against Mirror without Karn
Out
In
Mirror with Karn
Against Mirror with Karn
Out
In
Burn
Against Burn (On the Play)
Out
In
Against Burn (On the Draw)
Out
In
(《Engineered Explosives》, 《Assassin’s Trophy》, and 《Mystical Dispute》 all suck, not sure what mix I want)
Amulet
Against Amulet (On the Play)
Out
In
Against Amulet (On the Draw)
Out
In
(Stock lists don’t have 《Veil of Summer》 for some reason? For sure 《Drown in the Loch》 > 《Fatal Push》 if they do)
Humans
Against Humans (On the Play)
Out
In
Against Humans (On the Draw)
Out
In
Tron
Against Tron
Out
In
(Drowns for 《Veil of Summer》, 《Ancient Stirrings》, nonsense like 《Thought-Knot Seer》; should maybe board in 《Mystical Dispute》s over fast mana but I think I like the fast mana better; Dispute > Drown if they don’t have Veils for some reason)
Vengevine
Against Vengevine (On the Play)
Out
In
Against Vengevine (On the Draw)
Out
In
(Maybe Veils are fine, depending on how they sideboard)
Dredge
Against Dredge
Out
In
Azorius/Bant Control
Against Azorius/Bant Control
Out
In
Azorius Stoneblade
Against Azorius Stoneblade
Out
In
Bant Stoneblade
Against Bant Stoneblade
Out
In
Jund
Against Jund (On the Play)
Out
In
Against Jund (On the Draw)
Out
In
(Not sure about Trophy vs. Explosives)
Infect
Against Infect
Out
In
(Unsure about cuts)
Storm
Against Storm
Out
In
(Actual no idea what to cut, depends a lot on how they sideboard too)
《Devoted Druid》 Combo
Against Devoted Druid Combo
Out
In
(Some Disputes are probably good if they have Oko and/or countermagic)
Titanshift
Against Titanshift
Out
In
Red Prowess
Against Red Prowess
Out
In
(Maybe Spellbomb > 2nd 《Cryptic Command》?)
5C 《Niv-Mizzet Reborn》
Against 5C Niv
Out
In
(Could see more Trophies or Strokes over the 《Witching Well》 or a 《Gilded Goose》, depending on their build)
Bogles
Against Bogles
Out
In
Simic Merfolk
Against Simic Merfolk
Out
In
(Maybe Veil if they have a ton of countermagic postboard)
《Hardened Scales》
Against Hardened Scales
Out
In
Tips and Tricks
Conclusion
This is the best Modern deck I’ve played in some time and also the most fun. I love flexible midrange decks like this one. If you’re a fan of Jund, this is the best Jund has ever been and will ever be in Modern, including the period where it had 《Deathrite Shaman》.
Thanks for reading, and best of luck.
Allen Wu (Twitter)
