Magic: The Gathering - Zur, Eternal Schemer Commander Deck Guide

Zur, Eternal Schemer is one of the many commanders available in Magic: The Gathering. This Esper (white/blue/black) commander is one that's focused on enchantment and enchantment creatures. Esper colors have access to all sorts of useful enchantments and enchantment support cards, making Zur, Eternal Schemer the perfect commander to lead an enchantment-focused deck.

Magic: The Gathering - Aminatou, Veil Piercer Commander Deck Guide

See your future Magic Commander victories with Aminatou, Veil Piercer.

Zur's ability to turn non-Aura enchantments into creatures has a lot of utility and makes for a more aggressive strategy compared to other enchantment decks which often veer towards a more defensive side. If you like using decks that make the most out of every permanent you control, a Zur, Eternal Schemer deck is perfect for you.

Decklist

Commander: Zur, Eternal Schemer

Invasion of Theros

Alela, Artful Provacateur

Aminatou, Veil Piercer

Archetype of Courage

Archetype of Imagination

Archon of Sun's Grace

Demon of Fate's Design

Enduring Curiosity

Enduring Innocence

Enduring Tenacity

Entity Tracker

Fear of Sleep Paralysis

Ghostly Dancers

Hanna, Ship's Navigator

Heliod, God of the Sun

Inquisitive Glimmer

Mesa Enchantress

Ondu Spiritdancer

Overlord of the Balemurk

Overlord of the Floodpits

Overlord of the Mistmoors

Spirited Companion

Starfield Mystic

Starnheim Courser

Zur the Enchanter

Dance of the Manse

Extinguish All Hope

Farewell

Gift of Estates

Quasiduplicate

Resurgent Belief

Supreme Verdict

Toxic Deluge

Wrath of God

An Offer You Can't Refuse

Arcane Denial

Counterspell

Dovin's Veto

Generous Gift

Negate

No More Lies

Path to Exile

Swords to Plowshares

Void Rend

Arcane Signet

Bident of Thassa

Fellwar Stone

Helm of the Gods

Sol Ring

Talisman of Dominance

Talisman of Hierarchy

Talisman of Progress

Boon of the Spirit Realm

Copy Enchantment

Court of Vantress

Enchanted Evening

Extravagant Replication

Ghostly Prison

Hallowed Haunting

Mirrormade

Propaganda

Secret Arcade // Dusty Parlor

Sigil of the Empty Throne

Sphere of Safety

Starfield of Nyx

Adarkar Wastes

Caves of Koilos

Command Tower

Deserted Beach

Drowned Catacomb

Exotic Orchard

Glacial Fortress

Hall of Heliod's Generosity

x7 Island

Isolated Chapel

x8 Plains

Prairie Stream

Reliquary Tower

Shipwreck Marsh

Sunken Hallow

x5 Swamp

Underground River

The decklist consists of one battle, 24 creatures, nine sorceries, ten instants, eight artifacts, 13 enchantments, and 34 lands. Most of the creatures are enchantment creatures or cards that help to discount the cost of enchantments.

Key Cards

Zur, Eternal Schemer

Zur, Eternal Schemer is the main attraction of the deck, giving all of your enchantment creatures a ton of keywords to make them threats in combat. Its ability to turn enchantments into creatures for just two mana is great and can be done multiple times a turn in the late-game once you have a ton of mana to work with.

There is no restriction on when you can use Zur's ability to turn an enchantment into a creature, so it's best to activate it during the end step before your turn starts so you'll have all your mana to work with on your turn.

You generally want to use Zur's effect on enchantments with high mana values since its stats as a creature are whatever its mana values are (so for example an enchantment with a mana value of four would be a 4/4).

Overlord Cycle

The Overlord cycle are creatures that normally cost a lot of mana, but can be cast for a discount with their impending ability (but enter as an enchantment as opposed to an enchantment creature). They have effects when they enter or attack, all of which are very useful in building up your board state.

Normally, you have to wait multiple turns to remove time counters from them before they become a creature. However, with Zur's ability, you can turn them into creatures right away so you can get their effects right away and attack with them for more triggers.

Starfield Of Nyx

Starfield of Nyx essentially acts as a second copy of your commander. While it doesn't grant abilities like Zur does, it does turn your enchantments into creatures with stats equal to their mana value. You do need at least five enchantments for this to happen, but since your deck primarily consists of enchantments, this is trivial to amass.

Starfield of Nyx is also one of your main sources of recursion. For every one of your upkeeps you can return an enchantment to the battlefield directly; this makes it less scary to use them to block a creature when Zur is on the battlefield, as trading with deathtouch is fine when you can get the enchantment back on your turn.

Enduring Cycle

The Enduring cycleare enchantment creatures with various effects that when they die, they return to the battlefield as an enchantment (losing their creature typing). All three of the available cards in the Enduring cycle are fantastic and help push your advantage forward.

The Enduring cycle essentially forces your opponents to use two removal spells on them to get rid of them (excluding getting exiled). However, their effects proc so long as they die when they were a creature, meaning if Zur turns them into a creature after they used their effects, if they die again they'll go back to being an enchantment.

Ondu Spiritdancer

Ondu Spiritdancer is a way to double up on your enchantments. When one enters, it comes with a token copy (albeit only once a turn). Since the effect only triggers once per turn, you want to make sure to cast your best enchantments first to make sure you get two copies of them.

One of the benefits of Ondu Spiritdancer is that it is a prime target for removal. The effect is very powerful and can get out of hand, meaning your opponents will need to take care of it and have to ignore your other enchantment creatures in order to do so.

Magic: The Gathering - Rendmaw, Creaking Nest Commander Deck Guide

Scare off your Magic: The Gathering opponents with a Rendmaw, Creaking Nest Commander deck.

How To Play The Deck

A Zur, Eternal Schemer deck is all about building your defenses while turning your enchantments into creatures to start getting aggressive. Stall calls like Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, and Sphere of Safety all help to keep your opponents from attacking you with many creatures by forcing them to pay mana to do so.

Your battlefield can be a bit light on creatures at times, so cards that create creature tokens are very useful; these are often created when enchantments enter the battlefield, and include Archon of Sun's Grace, Sigil of the Empty Throne, and Hallowed Haunting. A lot of your enchantments can be expensive, so cards that give a discounted cost are very important to get on the battlefield as quickly as possible. Cards such as Inquisitive Glimmer, Starfield Mystic, and Starnheim Courser all fit this bill.

The primary win condition of a Zur, Eternal Schemer deck is winning through combat. You want to turn your enchantments into creatures as quickly as you can so you can start getting in for damage. In addition, token generators help to amass more of a board state so that you can overpower your opponents and keep your defenses up.

The biggest downside of a Zur, Eternal Schemeer Commander deck is that it takes a while to setup. You need enchantments on the battlefield for your deck to function how it wants to. If you're not drawing enchantments, you're not going to be winning. Luckily, there is enough draw engines in the decklist to easily get to the cards you need to start pushing your advantage forward.

Magic: The Gathering - The Lord Of Pain Commander Deck Guide

Do you smell something burning?