With a large card pool and often expensive mana bases, Modern can be a difficult format for players on a budget to get into. The best decks in the format contain play sets of cards that would exceed many players' monetary restriction single-handedly. However, with a bit of ingenuity, you can build a deck strong enough to compete in your local Modern tournament without breaking the bank.

Zur's Weirding is a card that has been largely confined to the casual tables over the course of its lifetime. Although undeniably powerful, the fact that its effect is universal has prevented it from being seriously considered for tournament play. With Zur's Weirding on the battlefield, you can pay 2 life to stop your opponent from drawing a card, putting it into his graveyard instead. Normally, this would quickly drain away your life total, but old-school win condition Firemane Angel will effectively offset that, provided you have two copies. Since it works from the battlefield or from the graveyard, it doesn't matter if your opponent lets you draw it or not. You'll still be gaining the life, and thanks to Firemane Angel's admittedly pricey reanimation ability, you can put it back onto the battlefield to win the game once you've assembled enough lands. Here's the deck I put together to take advantage of this combination:

"Zur's Weirding"

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Firemane Angel

• Spells (32)
• 2 Dispel
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Thirst for Knowledge
• 4 Compulsive Research
• 4 Supreme Verdict
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 4 Recumbent Bliss
• 4 Zur's Weirding

• Lands (24)
• 2 Mountain
• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 2 Sejiri Refuge
• 2 Tectonic Edge
• 4 Adarkar Wastes
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Evolving Wilds

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 2 Ajani's Mantra
• 4 Relic of Progenitus
• 3 Sowing Salt
• 2 Dispel

Buy This Deck

The Combo

Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge help you dig for the cards you need and can be used to discard Firemane Angel to get your life-gain started. Although there are no artifacts to discard to Thirst for Knowledge, the fact that it's an instant goes a long way toward making up for having to discard two cards, and with a Firemane Angel or two in hand, you should be able to handle discarding two without too much trouble. Compulsive Research is a sorcery, but discarding a land isn't difficult at all, allowing you to keep more of your important cards.

Recumbent Bliss straddles the line between the combo and control aspects of the deck. On the one side, it lets you gain 1 life each upkeep, substituting for a Firemane Angel and allowing you to stop your opponent from drawing cards for a while even without the second half of the combo fully set up. On the other side, it permanently deals with a creature, no matter how large it is. Anything from a tiny Spirit token to a giant Tarmogoyf can be negated by Recumbent Bliss, buying you time to set up a Zur's Weirding.

The Control

Mana Leak is a nice catch-all counterspell that can both stall your opponent's game plan and protect your own. Once you have a Zur's Weirding on the board, a Mana Leak can be ready to stop whatever your opponent has in hand, and since you've locked down his draw step, you can ensure that he won't be able to draw the lands to pay the extra 3 mana.

Lightning Helix is a cheap and efficient removal spell that can deal with your opponent's early threats while giving you some extra life to keep you out of burn range. It can also be used to effectively buy you one-and-a-half Zur's Weirding lockouts once you've committed the enchantment.

Oblivion Ring doesn't give you extra life to work with like Recumbent Bliss and Lightning Helix, but it does deal with almost any permanent on the battlefield for just 3 mana, including troublesome planeswalkers. It can often deal with threats your other cards won't be capable of handling, from Batterskull to Liliana of the Veil.

The Sideboard

Ajani's Mantra gives you another way to gain life for Zur's Weirding against decks against which you might not be able to rely on Firemane Angel and Recumbent Bliss to do the job. Although it doesn't have any additional effect, it's cheap enough to dodge spells such as Mana Leak.

Relic of Progenitus gives you some teeth against graveyard-based decks. Although it makes establishing a Firemane Angel a bit harder, you'll often be able to just cast one rather than having to rely on reanimating it, and frequently, graveyard decks will necessitate the use of the Relic before you've started to set up for your combo.

Sowing Salt does massive damage to decks relying on the Urza's lands. It can also assist Tectonic Edge in dealing with the man-land problem. Since lands that turn into creatures can often dodge much of your removal, having a specific way to deal with them can often be important.

Extra copies of Dispel can help you deal with control decks, letting you protect your combo with just a single extra mana. Counterspells can cause problems for combo decks, but Dispel lets you rely on the ability to resolve your key spells.

Playtesting

Raka Tempo – Game 1

My opponent played an Arid Mesa and passed back. I drew Compulsive Research, played my Island, and passed. My opponent sacrificed Arid Mesa for a tapped Sacred Foundry during my end step.

On his turn, he played a Marsh Flats and passed. I drew Battlefield Forge, played it, and cast Compulsive Research. I drew Dispel, Zur's Weirding, and Firemane Angel, and discarded the two Angels. My opponent sacrificed Marsh Flats when I ended my turn, fetching Hallowed Fountain.

He exiled two lands from his graveyard to hit me for 2 with Grim Lavamancer, then untapped and passed the turn. I gained the 2 life back during my upkeep, then drew Supreme Verdict. I played my Plains and passed the turn. During my end step, my opponent hit me with a Lightning Helix and another Grim Lavamancer activation, and I cast Thirst for Knowledge. I drew Firemane Angel, Adarkar Wastes, and Thirst for Knowledge, then discarded my Tectonic Edge and the Angel.

He untapped and cast Serum Visions then Geist of Saint Traft. I cast Thirst for Knowledge, drawing Thirst for Knowledge, Supreme Verdict, and Evolving Wilds. I discarded Thirst for Knowledge and Oblivion Ring, and my opponent passed the turn. I gained 3 from the Angels before drawing an Island and clearing the board with Supreme Verdict. I played Evolving Wilds and passed the turn.

My opponent cast Snapcaster Mage, flashing back Serum Visions. He ended his turn, and I cracked Evolving Wilds for a Mountain. I gained 3 and drew a Supreme Verdict for my turn. I played my Island and cast Zur's Weirding. My opponent looked at my hand and conceded.

Sideboarding:

+2 Dispel

−2 Oblivion Ring

Game 2

My opponent played Marsh Flats, sacrificing it for a Sacred Foundry. He cast Steppe Lynx and passed the turn. I drew Battlefield Forge, played it, and hit the Lynx with Lightning Helix. I ended my turn.

My opponent passed the turn with no play. I drew Zur's Weirding, played my Plains, and passed the turn. My opponent cast Snapcaster Mage during my end step.

On his turn, he paid 2 life for a Steam Vents, then cast another Snapcaster. This one I countered with Mana Leak. He attacked for 2 and passed the turn. I drew Dispel, played my Island, and passed the turn.

My opponent hit me with a Lightning Bolt, then untapped, played a Mountain, and attacked for 2. He cast another Snapcaster, and flashed back Serum Visions. He then passed the turn. I drew Compulsive Research and cast it, drawing Zur's Weirding, Evolving Wilds, and a Mountain. I discarded the Evolving Wilds, played the Mountain, and passed the turn.

My opponent cast another Serum Visions, then dropped me to 12 with the Snapcasters, played a Scalding Tarn, and passed the turn. I drew Firemane Angel, played Tectonic Edge, and cast it.

I played the Wilds and passed, and my opponent repeated last turn's events, fetching a Steam Vents and Bolting my Angel again. I dropped to 5 from the Snapcasters, and my opponent cast Delver of Secrets before passing the turn. I sacrificed my Evolving Wilds for a Plains during his end step. I gained 2 life during my upkeep and drew another Dispel. I cast my third Firemane Angel and passed the turn.

My opponent aimed another Lightning Bolt at it, but I countered that with a Dispel. Delver failed to transform, and my opponent cast Geist of Saint Traft and passed the turn. I went up to 10 from the Angels, drew Battlefield Forge, played it, and passed the turn.

My opponent attacked with everything. Firemane Angel killed Geist of Saint Traft, and I dropped to 1 from the other creatures. He played Eiganjo Castle and passed the turn. I went up to 4, drew another Dispel, and passed the turn.

My opponent passed the turn with no play. I went up to 7, drew Adarkar Wastes, played it, and cast Zur's Weirding, revealing my opponent's hand of one Plains. I let him draw his Arid Mesa, and he conceded.

Wrap-Up

Although this deck often forces you to walk a fine line between life and death and plan your plays very carefully, the reward of defeating an opponent with Zur's Weirding is well worth it. If you're looking for a fun combo deck to try for Modern or if you miss the lockout control decks of old, give this list a shot.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @MTGCannon, or simply leave a comment below.