Uro, Titan who brings the Doomsday Aurora

[Rorseph]

I'm so happy to have stumbled across this thread. I recently traded for an Uro to put in my Tatyova deck to provide a value engine, but I got to thinking about using Uro as a commander and my first instinct was coming up with bounce/sac engines to abuse the hell out of the ETB. Mirror of Fate came into play when I realized that I could use exile to protect my stuff. After reading this thread, I realized there was so much more I could do!

Here's my current tentative list after reading this thread and darrenhabib's thread on Mystic Sanctuary:

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Instant

1 Arcane Denial

1 Beast Within

1 Brainstorm

1 Catalog

1 Counterspell

1 Crop Rotation

1 Curfew

1 Cyclonic Rift

1 Deprive

1 Dig Through Time

1 Frantic Search

1 Gush

1 Krosan Reclamation

1 Long-Term Plans

1 Muddle the Mixture

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Negate

1 Reality Shift

1 Return to Nature

1 Thirst for Meaning

1 Worldly Tutor

Sorcery

1 Devastation Tide

1 Fabricate

1 Flood of Tears

1 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Life from the Loam

1 Merchant Scroll

1 Mulch

1 Nylea's Intervention

1 Ponder

1 Road of Return

1 Sylvan Awakening

1 Sylvan Scrying

1 The Great Aurora

Artifact

1 Altar of Dementia

1 Crucible of Worlds

1 Crystal Shard

1 Erratic Portal

1 Mirror of Fate

1 Sculpting Steel

1 Sol Ring

Land

1 Academy Ruins

1 Buried Ruin

1 Cephalid Coliseum

1 Field of the Dead

1 Mystic Sanctuary

1 Sanctum of Eternity

Enchantment

1 Burgeoning

1 Copy Artifact

1 Exploration

1 Greater Good

1 Overburden

1 The Binding of the Titans

1 Trade Routes

1 Words of Wind

Creature

1 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

1 Elvish Reclaimer

1 Hermit Druid

1 Ramunap Excavator

1 Riftsweeper

1 Soratami Cloudskater

1 Temur Sabertooth

Approximate Total Cost:

That leaves 32 slots for appropriate lands and 5 slots free for other stuff. I'm not sure if it's better to maximize Uro for value, or go all in on Doomsday piles with Mirror.

[WolfWhoWanders]

@Rorseph
Glad you found it! Your list looks pretty solid, the curfew seems like a good add. I also like chain of vapor, if you feel ahead enough you can sac 2 lands and get another problem permanent. I might also recommend phyrexian metamorph over copy artifact... Hitting creatures can be useful and it also can be recurred with academy ruins. The moonfolk are something I've been considering too, namely the one that counters spells. Also been considering hermit druid. He would be a good way to go more in on mirror of fate. So far I tend to accrue value with Uro for a while before going for mirror. The mirror is just such a valuable tool in the late game it's almost a must include in this kind of deck. I've really enjoyed abusing archaeomancer and eternal witness with the mass bounce spells. Riptide lab with venser and archaeomancer gets gnarly too, my most recent list includes deserted temple and in one game I was able to double venser to avoid death and go for an Aurora the next turn. I look forward to hearing your experiences!

[Rorseph]

Chain of Vapor is on my short list. Along with Rescue, oddly enough. Metamorph is a no-brainer since we've got Fabricate and Academy Ruins. I've yet to play a game with it (still waiting on some of the cards to arrive), but I've been goldfishing this more complete list compulsively, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I want to find room for Sunder and Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar. Having so many potential avenues towards victory feels *really* good with this.

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander (1)

1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Land (41)

1 Academy Ruins

1 Bad River

1 Blighted Woodland

1 Botanical Sanctum

1 Breeding Pool

1 Castle Vantress

1 Cephalid Coliseum

1 Command Tower

1 Field of the Dead

1 Flood Plain

1 Flooded Strand

3 Forest

1 Glacial Chasm

3 Island

1 Lonely Sandbar

1 Mystic Sanctuary

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Reliquary Tower

1 Remote Isle

1 Sanctum of Eternity

1 Simic Growth Chamber

1 Slippery Karst

3 Snow-Covered Forest

3 Snow-Covered Island

1 Strip Mine

1 Temple of Enlightenment

1 Tolaria West

1 Tranquil Thicket

1 Undiscovered Paradise

1 Wasteland

1 Waterlogged Grove

1 Windswept Heath

1 Yavimaya Coast

Instant (21)

1 Beast Within

1 Brainstorm

1 Catalog

1 Constant Mists

1 Crop Rotation

1 Cryptic Command

1 Cyclonic Rift

1 Deprive

1 Dig Through Time

1 Disallow

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Frantic Search

1 Gush

1 Krosan Reclamation

1 Muddle the Mixture

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Negate

1 Reality Shift

1 Return to Nature

1 Swan Song

1 Worldly Tutor

Creature (9)

1 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

1 Elvish Reclaimer

1 Hermit Druid

1 Phyrexian Metamorph

1 Riftsweeper

1 Sakura-Tribe Scout

1 Skyshroud Ranger

1 Soratami Cloudskater

1 Temur Sabertooth

Enchantment (6)

1 Burgeoning

1 Exploration

1 Greater Good

1 The Binding of the Titans

1 Trade Routes

1 Words of Wind

Sorcery (14)

1 Crush of Tentacles

1 Devastation Tide

1 Fabricate

1 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Life from the Loam

1 Nylea's Intervention

1 Ponder

1 Preordain

1 Serum Visions

1 Splendid Reclamation

1 Sylvan Awakening

1 The Great Aurora

1 Time Warp

1 Traverse the Ulvenwald

Artifact (8)

1 Altar of Dementia

1 Crucible of Worlds

1 Crystal Shard

1 Erratic Portal

1 Mirror of Fate

1 Sculpting Steel

1 Sensei's Divining Top

1 Sol Ring

Approximate Total Cost:

[WolfWhoWanders]

@Rorseph
I love the list. Love that it is running a different control package than mine too, can't wait to hear how that works out for you. Not gonna lie, love archaeomancer with riptide lab. It has done so much with for me, just tonight it cinched a game by giving me 3 turns with flood of tears before being answered. I went on to win the game with Aurora. Missed my field of the dead but was able to get a finale of devastation for 10 with lethal on the last 2 players via Uro and an eternal witness after having concordant crossroads countered.

I have strongly considered multani and kind of want to find room for him. He helps abuse mystic sanctuary and is really hard to get rid of, provides good defense and offense. Just hard for me to find cuts right now lol. Sunder would be backbreaking after an Aurora. Imagine holding up mana, letting everybody drop and then cast sunder. Brutal. Might have to consider that too, had a lot of fun using it in patron of the moon. The way the deck works too it has been fairly well received despite the fact I feel invincible at times. I could have died today to brudiclad with 14 desolation twins and an opposing Gisela, but he chose to split it between me and the other threat. Had just enough zombies from field of the dead to block. I also felt horrible about demonstrating a loop with flood of tears earlier so played the previous couple turns kind of sloppy. Probably could've had an answer. The tutor package is quite versatile throughout the game even after finding loam. Still find myself not using it too much tho. Might be that is where some cuts are made. I'd like to know how gush works out for you too. I will end with another positive review of archaeomancer and eternal witness. Any good spells from dredging loam can be brought back, and they are great with the mass bounce spells. But also the reason I was able to loop flood of tears tonight, so maybe a bit more feelsbad.

[WolfWhoWanders]

Also, with that last game I was able to land a second turn exploration into an intuition that I opened with. Absolutely a great start, although I did lose loam eventually to a withered wretch with like 5 mana open, but at that point I was more than halfway through my deck and happy with its work

[Rorseph]

Yeah, I'm really wishing I hadn't traded away my Riptide Lab when Inalla was the new hotness now. That definitely sounds like a powerful interaction. I'm definitely taking Eternal Witness under advisement! I will keep you posted with my progress.,

[WolfWhoWanders]

Changed up the OP to more accurately reflect the current list and provide some more discussion of card selections and options.

[outtawack311]

So I decided to build this deck and I'm running into issues with early game mana and possibly too many exploration effects. What are your thoughts on standard ramp cards like rampant growth, cultivate/kodamas, explosive vegetation, khalni, or realms uncharted?

Also, what about courser of kruphix, oracle or mul daya, and elvish rejuvinator.

[Rorseph]

So I decided to build this deck and I'm running into issues with early game mana and possibly too many exploration effects. What are your thoughts on standard ramp cards like rampant growth, cultivate/kodamas, explosive vegetation, khalni, or realms uncharted?

Also, what about courser of kruphix, oracle or mul daya, and elvish rejuvinator.

Standard ramp spells are fine, IMO. However, if you're running 40+ lands the Explore effects should get you what you need most of the time. I mulligan fairly aggressively with this deck to make sure my opening hand has what I need. Bear in mind, this will be a draw-go deck most of the early game.

Courser of Krupix and Oracle of Mul Daya are certainly worthy of slots, but I don't think Elvish Rejuvenator is worth it, even with the land density this deck has, because for the same cost you can play Cultivate/Kodama's Reach and guarantee your ramp and get card advantage.

[WolfWhoWanders]

@outtawack311

I will second what @Rorseph has said. Traditional ramp would work, but aggressively mulliganing is the way to go. I've been playing this deck a fair amount on mtgo lately and you're not wrong about the early game. I've had a surprising amount of slow starts. Trying to get life from the loam online and an exploration effect tend to give me the best starts. I've considered adding in things like coiling oracle, growth spiral and explore or even elvish visionary. I've honestly considered adding a wayward swordtooth because the exploration effects can get real strong if life from the loam is doing what it's supposed to. Maybe more card draw is the real answer though. If you're looking for places to make cuts for things, I've been not as happy with the bounce effects like erratic portal and crystal shard. I ended up cutting the portal for a reclamation sage and haven't looked back yet. It is still a good effect, and surprisingly useful at keeping your opponents on their toes. I also find myself pretty much never going for words of wind, so that could be an easy cut. Maybe decide how you want the world to end...with a bang or a whimper (aurora/field or words) and commit to that strategy.

[Rorseph]

Maybe more card draw is the real answer though.

I've yet to be disappointed to draw Catalog or Frantic Search. I'm giving consideration to adding Careful Study and Thirst for Knowledge/Meaning as well.

[outtawack311]

I was leaning towards Khalni, farseek, rampant growth, realms uncharted, and scouting trek. I think sticking with two mana is the way to go since I typically want to drop Uro on 3. I'm really leaning towards scouting trek as being a sleeper since it guarantees the land draw to play Uro and the land on top for after you play him.

For card draw I'm looking at guardian project as another addition. For the new cards in C20, crystalline resonance and fierce guardianship both look like solid additions.

[WolfWhoWanders]

@Rorseph
Frantic search, careful study and catalog are strong potential inclusions that I keep forgetting about. I might be more inclined to try explore, growth spiral or coiling oracle first because it can further our plans of putting lands out. Are you running those? I need to double back and look at your list again. I've found that once we've hit 20 or so lands it is entirely possible to doomsday into a great aurora win.

@outtawack311
My version's pretty creature light for guardian project to be too much of an impact I think. I try to stay light on permanents I need in play because most of our wipes are bouncing non-land permanents. I've actually been strongly considering realms uncharted because it helps grab some cycling lands and field of the dead after already having life from the loam. Clear the land is fun with scouting trek too, and with all the tutoring and drawing going on maybe not too hard to pull off. Tatyova is really an all-star here, technically she may even be a stronger choice for commander but it wouldn't really suit the theme I'm going for here...all doomsday and zombies and stuff.

Just came off MTGO where I managed to copy a mirari's wake with mirage mirror and make a huge amount of mana and cast the great aurora with 12 cards in library and 8 zombies. Put all the lands out making 20something zombies and cast a Finale of Devastation for 43. It was the most damage I've done yet, my opponents unfortunately scooped before I could see just how much. Kederekt leviathan made a strong case for his inclusion by coming into play and allowing me to recast lifeline and keep the Uro value train going(he was the creature necessary). He's also shown his strength in conjunction with phyrexian metamorph by becoming a loop. Cephalid coliseum MVP'd a game too by stopping Thassa's oracle from going off. They had no cards in library and I just targeted them with the draw in response.

[WolfWhoWanders]

I've been thinking about splitting the doomsday packages up some more. On the one hand we have field of the dead which can win with finale of devastation or even just concordant crossroads. Then you've got words of wind which could get real silly with Uro and something like mana reflection or nybloom ancient. Both of these would follow the great aurora for maximum devastation. Mirror of fate can set the library up...take the missing pieces and make it your library somehow. Through double activations or having the missing pieces already in exile. If you don't have the great aurora in hand you will need a way to draw it. After casting the aurora you either swing with lots of hopefully massive zombies or use a massive amount of mana to words of wind your opponents lands back into their hands. The words of wind method might be safer if your opponents are running field of the dead or glacial chasm or something. Because of this I still keep words of wind in the list, but it gets harder and harder to justify it's spot because I never really use it. Maybe it's because it's a huge chore online and the deck is already kind of a chore to run online.

[Rorseph]

Frantic search, careful study and catalog are strong potential inclusions that I keep forgetting about. I might be more inclined to try explore, growth spiral or coiling oracle first because it can further our plans of putting lands out. Are you running those? I need to double back and look at your list again. I've found that once we've hit 20 or so lands it is entirely possible to doomsday into a great aurora win.

I'm running all of the spells, but I might be trading Explore for Coiling Oracle. My experience has been the same with regard to Field of the Dead. I'm finally starting to see the potential appeal of Finale of Devastation.

Let me help. My most up-to-date list is here.

I've been playing with Cockatrice instead of MODO, but this deck is certainly a workout when playing online!

[outtawack311]

So I decided to build this deck and I'm running into issues with early game mana and possibly too many exploration effects. What are your thoughts on standard ramp cards like rampant growth, cultivate/kodamas, explosive vegetation, khalni, or realms uncharted?

Also, what about courser of kruphix, oracle or mul daya, and elvish rejuvinator.

Standard ramp spells are fine, IMO. However, if you're running 40+ lands the Explore effects should get you what you need most of the time. I mulligan fairly aggressively with this deck to make sure my opening hand has what I need. Bear in mind, this will be a draw-go deck most of the early game.

Courser of Krupix and Oracle of Mul Daya are certainly worthy of slots, but I don't think Elvish Rejuvenator is worth it, even with the land density this deck has, because for the same cost you can play Cultivate/Kodama's Reach and guarantee your ramp and get card advantage.

I'm not sure why I said Elvish Rejuvenator when I meant Elvish Reclaimer. For cards I'm thinking of taking out, I'm looking at Drift of Phantasms Erratic Portal and Archaeomancer so far. I unfortunately can only play through google hangouts with friends or goldfishing and should probably test more before I make changes.

[Rorseph]

I'm not sure why I said Elvish Rejuvenator when I meant Elvish Reclaimer.

Hey, it happens! I heartily endorse Elvish Reclaimer. I run it and it does a lot of good work ensuring that I have enough Islands to use Mystic Sanctuary or getting Glacial Chasm when needed.

[WolfWhoWanders]

Reclaimer would be a great card, I'd endorse that too. I'm thinking about taking some of the transmute tutors out myself. Phantasm is nice for grabbing Azusa and intuition but that's about it. I do really like archaeomancer for getting back a loamed scapeshift or splendid reclamation, or a mass bounce spell. He's also a big reason I have riptide laboratory in there so if you cut him you might be able to just take that out for something else. I can't see myself cutting it personally. Portal I already cut but I do like the shard. I see myself cutting personal tutor and maybe Sylvan tutor, drift and I had a couple others earmarked. I'd like to get realms uncharted, coiling Oracle and reclaimer in there maybe a couple others.