{"ops":[{"insert":"Zur's House of Horrors"},{"attributes":{"header":1},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Prelude"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Of the four monthly deckbuilding challenges I've done, this has definitely been the hardest to come up with an idea for. In my opinion, most creature types don't actually have a cohesive theme, being printed across thirty plus years of Magic and many many sets, leaving only a select few that can really work well together. Even the most synergistic creature types struggle to hold up to a 100-card singleton format: there are only so many functional reprints of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Elvish Archdruid"}},{"insert":", and they can only get you so far. If you look at the top commanders for any given creature type, you're going to see fewer commanders that work within the type's theme, and more that simply reward you for having cards of that type. You could exchange their text box with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Morophon, the Boundless"}},{"insert":", change the creature type to \"choose a creature type,\" and none would be the wiser.\n\nThis all goes to say that making a deck built around a creature type without the commander explicitly rewarding you for having those creatures is very tough. With that all aside, here's my attempt at it.\n\nOverview"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The deck is built primarily around "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ancient Cellarspawn"}},{"insert":", a neat creature from Duskmourn's Commander supplement. It provides a 1-mana discount to Horrors, Nightmares, and Demons, as well as pinging opponents whenever you cast a spell for less than its mana value. It's a solid effect but nothing too special on its own. It is, however, a 3-mana enchantment, making it a potential build-around for a Zur deck. In fact, there are quite a few enchantment creatures (mostly from Duskmourn) (okay, all of them are from Duskmourn) that support or augment this plan in interesting ways (listed below), resulting in this Human Wizard being a pretty good fit for this cocktail of evil creature types.\n\nThe deck's ideal first few turns are as follows: ramp on 2, Zur on 3, tutor Ancient Cellarspawn on 4 with Zur. This leaves you with four untapped lands, a mana rock, and Ancient Cellarspawn's discount of 1, allowing for a 6-mana Demon/Horror/Nightmare on turn 4.\n\nIt's very important to ramp on turn 2 and execute this plan a turn earlier than the standard curve, because the deck doesn’t have the protection that most Zur decks use to keep him around as one of the more kill-on-sight commanders in the format. I have made a gamble as a deck builder that casting Zur on turn 3 will allow for at least one attack in most games, as opponents won't yet have the ability to remove him without slowing themselves significantly. \n\nRamping to 6 by turn 4 isn't earthshattering by any means but 6 is an important mana value when looking at Demons in particular, which ended up as the primary creature type in the deck. There are a lot of 6-mana Demons that pack a punch, being either strong removal or sources of card advantage, and the deck is filled with them.\n\nWhile Ancient Cellarspawn is pretty much always the first grab with Zur, the next tutor isn't set in stone. I've made a section below on some of my favorites, when to get them, and why they're in the deck.\n\nThe \"House\" (Zur Targets)"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Having Zur as a commander has a strange effect on a deck. Usually, if I want to have access to any specific \"thing\" near the early stages of every game, I'm hoping to add roughly 10 to 15 pieces of that \"thing\" for each of those \"things\" I want to have. In this deck it can be seen in the 2-mana ramp slot, necessary to get Zur out by turn 3 as mentioned above, but after Zur is on the battlefield, redundancy and math take on a very different role.\n\nIf the deck doesn't require access to a specific thing before Zur hits the field, it can afford to significantly reduce the redundancy in those effects, because the commander can go fetch whatever is needed most in those moments. This frees up slots to increase odds of drawing other, non-fetchable components or to include niche one-off cards for specific game states. The cards all fall into rough \"packages\".\n\nCopy Package"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This package exists primarily to maximize the value of Cellarspawn.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Endless Evil"}},{"insert":": The most common secondary fetch with Zur. Ancient Cellarspawn is a card that really likes being copied- even one copy makes each spell deal 4 damage, and a second copy is 9. It also happens to be a Horror, making the Evil itself more difficult to remove from play permanently. What it lacks in immediate value, it makes up for in inevitability.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Estrid's Invocation"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mirrormade"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Copy Enchantment"}},{"insert":": General enchantment-copiers, all fetchable by Zur. There are multiples because we never really mind drawing one of them as long as we have another in the deck, and because sometimes we'll get them multiple turns in a row.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Paradox Haze"}},{"insert":": Really only in the deck for Endless Evil purposes. Once there's two Evils on the field, it's more valuable to get Haze than a third Evil (mime + baron, anyone?)\n\nReanimation Package"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This package exists to either get back Cellarspawn or another important piece, or to pivot if Cellarspawn is exiled.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Master of Keys"}},{"insert":": Another enchantment Horror, Master allows us to recur enchantments (the most important cards in the deck) from graveyard relatively cheaply. Turns out "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Underworld Breach"}},{"insert":" is really good even when used \"fairly\".\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Necromancy"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Animate Dead"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dance of the Dead"}},{"insert":": General reanimation enchantments, all fetchable by Zur. They're insurance for Cellarspawn, but also every now and then something lands in a graveyard that would be pretty insane to get back out of nowhere off an attack trigger.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Mindskinner"}},{"insert":": Yet another enchantment Horror! Convert damage to mill mid-combat. Mindskimmer allows the reanimation package to pivot to opponents' graveyards with essentially no warning.\n\nLate-Game Engine Package"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This package is included to grind out a longer game and convert it into a win. It is an engine that Zur builds one turn at a time, starting good and getting better.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kozilek's Unsealing"}},{"insert":": Frankly awesome card for this deck. Largely removes the need for redundant card draw effects. With Cellarspawn's cost reduction, many of the deck's cards start producing more (colorless) mana than they cost, and the 7+ mana creatures start drawing three cards each.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Carnival of Souls"}},{"insert":": After Unsealing hits the field, doubles and filters the mana generated by Eldrazi Spawns. Risky because opponents' creatures entering gives us mana we can't use but still costs us life.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Daxos, Blessed by the Sun"}},{"insert":": With Unsealing and Carnival, makes Eldrazi Spawns life-positive overall.\n"}]}