Like so many others, I took one look at the 8th Edition spoiler and decided to make a Zur's Weirding deck... And like everyone else, I immediately assumed that U/W would be the archetype, playing on the synergy with Convalescent Care or perhaps Words of Worship. And so it was that I set out to make Zur's Weirding.dec.
After a good deal of playtesting against many archetypes, my U/W Zur's Weirding/Convalescent Care build had a dismal record. It went through many iterations, so posting a decklist would be pointless - especially considering the more interesting deck that I eventually settled upon. The main problem I was having was with aggro-control decks, and U/G Madness in particular. Any deck was giving me trouble just by meting out threats slowly and forcing my mass removal to be spot removal; this became especially problematic after sideboarding, when most decks could bring in enchantment hate to stop Convalescent Care. Mana Leak and Circular Logic just weren't cutting it as ways to stop this, and the threat-light deck had no way to prevent a deck like Wake from taking control of the game, with a resolved Compulsion meaning the end.
I didn't lose heart, though, since most decks have trouble with Wake and U/G (and R/G, when played well). In addition, I was trouncing monoblack with sideboarded Karmas and maindeck Story Circle. (Although who the deck is trying to make post-8th monoblack work these days? - The Ferrett) All I needed was a way to add spot removal, allowing me to save my mass removal for taking out many threats at once, and to also find a solution to the threats or counters my opponents were holding back. The clear answer was to add black to the deck. I needed access to Smother and Cabal Therapy, as well as Unburden and perhaps Undead Gladiator. Other cards I considered were Decree of Pain, Haunting Echoes, and Persecute. When I looked at how the deck was playing, it became clear to me that I only really wanted counters to stop counters most of the time, because I usually needed all my mana early in the game to stop the onrush from decks like U/G, Goblins, and R/G. I decided that U/G was the matchup to concentrate on, since it was a deck that had given me many problems with earlier builds, and also one that would likely be very popular. The U/G list I eventually settled on was the one that Mike Flores posted on the Sideboard Online. So here's the Zur's Weirding list I hammered out to beat U/G with:
4 Holy Day
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Smother
3 Convalescent Care
4 Wing Shards
3 Deep Analysis
2 Zur's Weirding
4 Wrath of God
2 Akroma's Vengeance
2 Decree of Justice
2 Eternal Dragon
10 Plains
8 Swamp
2 Coastal Tower
2 Salt Marsh
4 Grand Coliseum
Sideboard
4 Unburden
2 Defense Grid
2 Zur's Weirding
2 Intrepid Hero
2 Undead Gladiator
2 Decree of Justice
1 Convalescent Care
This list is very solid against U/G and R/G, but the maindeck is quite shaky against Wake. The sideboard has a lot of changes to help the Wake matchup, but it is still an iffy one - but there's more on that in the Wake section. Due to time constraints after flailing around for so long, I have not been able to test other matchups as thoroughly as I would have liked - but since those three provide a good spectrum of aggro, aggro-control and control, hopefully my analysis will be useful for other matchups as well.
A quick note on the matchup analysis: I felt it best to incorporate the card analysis of my build into the matchups where the card is important. Most of them are obvious, anyway. Also, giving specific number of games wonor lost is meaningless, since a) no one believes other people's results, b) the results are tainted by the relative skill of the players I tested against, and c) the deck was constantly changing and matchups were being explored in various ways. I kept track of how I did, but it is more important to know how the deck plays against the other decks, what cards are important, and thus what the long-term chances for success are than are how many games I won due to mana screw.
U/G Matchup
Here's the list, reposted from the Sideboard:
4 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
2 Phantom Centaur
4 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
3 Deep Analysis
4 Mana Leak
3 Unsummon
2 Wonder
2 City of Brass
9 Forest
11 Island
Sideboard
2 Phantom Centaur
2 Upheaval
2 Ray of Revelation
3 Quiet Speculation
2 Roar of the Wurm
2 Krosan Reclamation
2 Moment's Peace
Obviously, the sideboard for this deck is slapped together, but I figure the Quiet Spec engine has its uses, and the cards that are most relevant are the Upheavals and the Ray of Revelations - so I didn't lose too much sleep over the rest. Also, you may notice that I replaced two Phantom Centaurs with two Arrogant Wurms in the maindeck (as compared to Flores' build). I think that with eight maindeck counters and eight maindeck madness outlets, the U/G player is going to want to leave counter mana up most of the time, then madness out Arrogant Wurms at the end of the opponent's turn, instead of casting Phantom Centaurs that then get destroyed by Wrath of God.
In the Zur's Weirding matchup, the U/G player should be playing conservatively, keeping constant pressure on the Zur's Weirding player and reserving counters to stop mass removal and the problem of Convalescent Care. Before sideboarding, Zur's Weirding should also be countered at all costs, as it can end the game after or before any boardsweeper.
Knowing how the U/G player should be playing makes it fairly straightforward how to use the cards in the Zur's Weirding deck. Cabal Therapy is for setting up Wrath of God or Akroma's Vengeance; Holy Day and Wing Shards (which work well together, especially if he counters the Holy Day - which he usually shouldn't when you have 1WW up) along with Decree of Justice are to delay the rush, and Smother is to remove madness outlets.
One tricky aspect to this matchup, I found, was the importance of Eternal Dragon to your game plan. I was initially trying to simply outlast U/G by building up mana whenever possible, drawing cards when I could, and killing his creatures as quickly as possible. The idea was to eventually have so many more cards than my opponent that I could force a Zur's Weirding through, then shut him off until I got down Convalescent Care and had the lock. This is a great game plan against R/G or Goblins, where Zur's Weirding can come down fairly early after they've already been reduced to topdecking; unfortunately, that is a horrible game plan against U/G, which will use Careful Study and Deep Analysis to keep the threats coming and prevent you from relaxing.
This is where the Eternal Dragon comes in. Once it hits the table, U/G's only answer is to Unsummon it, and every time it is countered makes it that much easier to get a Wrath of God off. So the game plan against U/G is to get an Eternal Dragon down as quickly and as often as possible, while fending off his threats along the way.
After sideboarding, the matchup stays mostly the same, but there are some new considerations: First of all, it is important for the U/G player not to tip off an Upheaval by holding at four lands for a while, then suddenly laying a fifth. Secondly, it is vitally important that the Zur's Weirding player remove Upheaval from the U/G player's hand if possible. And the third important change is that Zur's Weirding itself is not really necessary and can probably be sideboarded out.
Sideboarding:
Zur's Weirding: -2 Zur's Weirding, -2 Akroma's Vengeance, +2 Intrepid Hero, +1 Decree of Justice, +1 Convalescent Care
U/G: -3 Unsummon, -1 Wonder, +2 Ray of Revelation, +2 Upheaval
The remaining Wonder gives the U/G player some ability to stop Eternal Dragon, and a way to get around a horde of Decree of Justice chump blockers. Upheaval is key, as I said above, and the U/G player's goal is to do some damage and then Upheaval before the Zur's Weirding player can take control with Convalescent Care or beat down with Eternal Dragon. Ray of Revelation is the main reason why Zur's Weirding itself gets sideboarded out, since the card is quite devastating to the lock, and achieving the lock is very difficult in the first place against a deck with as many counters, card drawing, and threats as U/G.
Overall, I think the U/G matchup is a favorable one. I'd expect to win 60-65% of the time game 1, and maybe 50-60% of the time games 2 and 3. Upheaval is very dangerous and is the reason why bringing in Intrepid Hero isn't more devastating - but it is also swingy, especially if the Zur's Weirding player is vigilant in attempting to remove the Upheavals. Also note that Decree of Justice tokens make great fodder for Cabal Therapy, use them.
R/G Matchup
The decklist for this is pretty standard, and has been difficult to modify ever since it was designed. I decided to test against a more classic build, since Elephant Guide should be very good against the Zur's Weirding deck:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Phantom Centaur
4 Call of the Herd
4 Firebolt
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Violent Eruption
4 Elephant Guide
2 Mossfire Valley
4 Wooded Foothills
8 Mountain
10 Forest
I went with twenty-four lands because I think the loss of Karplusan Forest is a big blow to the mana consistency, and I didn't want to be losing games to mana screw. Also, ten forests and eight mountains seemed best as a mana base, as most of the early plays are green... However, it did make casting Violent Eruption very difficult, especially against a deck that generally removes things like Wild Mongrel on a regular basis. You'll also notice the lack of a sideboard. I really had no idea what it would be, since there are so many options and the field is so wide open. I thought up a couple of sideboards, but I realized that ones that included four Naturalizes and four Caller of the Claws would be extremely bad for my deck, whereas ones that included Ensnaring Bridge and extra burn (like maybe Hammer of Bogardan) would not be as difficult. Rather than make guesses or present useless results, I decided to try the important cards and see how they felt, which is discussed below.
The matchup before sideboarding is usually a walk in the park. Convalescent Care is very tough on R/G's late game, and the rest of the deck is built to hammer a rush strategy. Like I said above, your plan against the R/G deck (which is presumably following its normal game plan of"early beats, late burn") is simply to outlast it. You want to beat off the attack enough to stay out of burn range, which means a more liberal use of Holy Day, rather than always saving it to combo with Wing Shards. Fortunately, R/G's lack of counters means that Wrath of God and Akroma's Vengeance are incredibly strong, so you don't need to rely as heavily on the storm aspect of Wing Shards. Eventually, you will be able to get out an Eternal Dragon or a bunch of Decree of Justice tokens, which will allow you to beat him down while riding Convalescent Care as a shield against his burn. It is important to make sure that your opponent can't burn you out, so don't mana burn for an extra card if he's got a Grim Lavamancer in play and four red mana available (Violent Eruption is his only instant burn). This means Grim Lavamancer is an important Smother target, and can even be worth a Wrath of God if you've already got the Convalescent Care going. In addition, Cabal Therapy allows you to remove cheap burn like Volcanic Hammer in order to prevent him from stockpiling it, and Zur's Weirding can be an absolute lock.
After sideboarding, things are tougher, because of the uncertainty about the opponent's sideboard. If you can figure out what he's bringing in, it will help a lot, since you will be able to target your Cabal Therapies better. You should sideboard in a Convalescent Care for an Eternal Dragon; the rest of the deck is already designed to win this matchup.
Against Caller of the Claw and Naturalize, you simply treat them as if they were counters, and lead a Wrath of God or Convalescent Care with a Cabal Therapy for the appropriate card. This means a heavier reliance on Cabal Therapy, and a slight weakening of Wrath of God and Akroma's Vengeance. That in turn means that you have a harder time removing Volcanic Hammer and Firebolt and a greater reliance on stormed Wing Shards... So basically, you get burned out more often. If your opponent brings in three or more cards, you will have to play around both Caller of the Claw and Naturalize unless you can tell which he has, which puts more of a strain on you. If you know he didn't bring in Caller of the Claw or Naturalize, you will have a better matchup because of more accurate Cabal Therapy.
Overall, game 1 is easy, with only the occasional loss to being burned out unexpectedly or the usual 12.5% stuff. I'd say 65-70%, being conservative, and allowing for possible improvements to the decklist I used. Games 2 and 3 can be much trickier, but you still have advantage. These are anywhere from 50% to 70% depending on what your opponent brings in and how much you know about what your opponent brought in.
Wake Matchup
The Wake matchup is very difficult, especially game 1, where your only answers to Mirari's Wake or Mirari are Cabal Therapy and Akroma's Vengeance (which you will never cast if your opponent realizes you might have it). Compulsion is also a house, and there is little you can do to stop it. I'm not going to post a Wake decklist, because I don't think the one I tested against was all that good, and I'm really only going to give a general impression of the matchup so that we can wrap this up.
Game 1, you are trying to get threats out as often as possible. Decree of Justice for a bunch of soldiers and swing with them; play an Eternal Dragon and bring it back if it's countered or killed. You can't let Wake get its combo pieces out and you can't stop it from playing them when it tries, so you have to prevent it from trying. This means Cabal Therapy to remove them, Zur's Weirding to stop them from being drawn, and as fast a kill as you can muster. The game will probably come down to whether or not you can get a Zur's Weirding in play with some way to kill your opponent and no Cunning Wishes in his hand. If the Wake player does have an Eternal Dragon, then even this can fail. If you manage to get out a Zur's Weirding before he gets to a Cunning Wish, though, all you have to stop him from drawing is the Cunning Wishes and perhaps a Decree of Justice or two, which makes it very powerful.
Sideboarding:
Zur's Weirding: -4 Wing Shards, -4 Smother, -2 Holy Day, -2 Wrath of God, +2 Zur's Weirding, +2 Undead Gladiator, +2 Defense Grid, +4 Unburden, +2 Decree of Justice
With more Zur's Weirdings, more threats, and more discard, along with the ability to force a Defense Grid and then use it to force an Akroma's Vengeance, the matchup becomes a lot more winnable. The plan is still the same - but now you have a chance to recover if things don't go well initially, and you have more ammo for your arsenal. Undead Gladiator can also be used, like Eternal Dragon, to draw out counters and to attempt to pressure your opponent. Of course, Wake has many answers to creatures, but your deck can be patient (as well as surprising) with Zur's Weirding, Akroma's Vengeance, and especially Decree of Justice.
The Wake matchup looks to be about 30-40% game 1 and 40-55% games 2 and 3. I can't be more accurate than that because I don't trust the Wake list that I tested against, but these percentages are just a guide anyway.
Conclusions
All in all, Wake is the worst matchup of the three. I think this has mainly to do with the presence of counter magic, which leads me to believe that Slide decks will be easier to face. Also, Zombie Bidding decks could be difficult, but Wrath of God is still a strong answer to them. I haven't tested any matchups with black in them, so I am uncertain of the impact of hand disruption. Whenever I play any deck, cards like Unburden seem to catch me at the worst possible time, but I probably play around them properly. There are very few essential cards in this deck, but at the same time, there are many situational cards, so Cabal Therapy may be a big problem. Goblins is fast, but it is also weak in the late game, so it should be a favorable matchup, while Goblin Bidding is considerably slower and still vulnerable to Wrath of God, which can be held back because of the abundance of spot removal and ways to slow the opponent down.
My final conclusion is that this deck or some variation on it is quite playable in the Standard environment with 8th Edition. I believe it adds more powerful card drawing and a more potent answer to many late-game strategies than a straight B/W deck would. I also believe that this build is much more capable of dealing with other decks that draw cards than a U/W Zur's Weirding deck. The deck does have the weakness to Wake, though, so metagames steeped in Wake should either avoid the deck, or make some heavy modifications.
Lenny Eusebi
Ravenight on MODO and every forum ever.
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