Deck Skeleton – Uril the Miststalker – Auras

Miststalker? I hardly know her...

In “Deck Skeleton,” we take a look at what would be a good start to build a deck around a certain General. Now with some Generals it will be more obvious then others to build around a deck around, but this is just one way to do it. Please remember that EDH decks are your creation; there is no Pro Tour where you have to practice for where you have to follow the decklist exactly. If you don’t like the card choices, change what fits to your play style.

Now, on to the deck. I’ve got a Uril, the Miststalker deck that I want to remake, so this is a great opportunity. The deck was acting fine but it wasn’t running amazingly well. People on twitter were saying that they love their EDH deck to be built around the General (quick rules primer if you don’t know what I’m talking about) and Uril is one of the better ones to do this with. If you’re starting out or looking for a fun yet powerful General, take a look at Uril; he’s cheap (money-wise) and it’s easy enough to get started with him. Since we want to work with Uril let’s see what he does:

Uril, the Miststalker can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponent’s control
Uril gets +2/+2 for each aura attached to it.

Two things, both powerful. The first is “Troll-shroud” named after “Troll Ascetic.” One of the most common ways people control generals is by casting spells such as Condemn, Dupilcant, and bouncing effects but luckily they won’t be able to be used on this guy. Second, you won’t get card disadvantage when you play auras so feel free to play them on him. We’ve now got our theme: play auras and swing with Uril. (Thumbs up)

Following the rules of EDH, we can only put Red, Green, and/or White auras on Uril, so let’s see which ones there are. Here’s the search I did on Magiccards.info (note: I searched Auras, so there are “enchant lands” in there). When looking at auras to play on Uril, there are a few things to remember: 1, you’ll have access to Uril and almost any time so you’re not waiting to draw into him; 2, every aura already has +2/+2 hidden on the text because of Uril’s ability; 3, don’t focus on what you have in your collection just yet, look at what’s out there then build the deck. If you don’t have it, put something else in at the time being and try and buy/trade for it.

First, some cards that just missed the cut (Again, this is from a Johnny/Spike angle. You might like some of these auras more then me, which is great. Make your deck your own). Each one is separated in it’s own category:

Not powerful enough for the cost:
Asha’s Flavor, Battle Mastery, Blessing, Blessing of the Nephilim, Daily Regimen, Frog Tongue, Indestructibility, Serra’s Embrace

EDH fun but not in this deck:
Epic Proportions, Mark of Sakiko, Mantle of Leadership, Mythic Proportions, Pollenbright Wings, Shape of the Wiitigo, Verdant Embrace

Doesn’t work:
Armored Ascension/Blanchwood Armor/Granite Grip (Not enough basic lands to warrant these), Coalition Flag (Can’t target Uril so flag doesn’t matter), Dragon Breath/Fangs/Scales (Uril costs 5, not 6), Giantform (Makes Uril and 8/8, not +8/+8)

Multiplayer politics:
Celestial Mantle, Exoskeletal Armor, Unquestioned Authority

Other:
Moldervine Cloak/Pattern of Rebirth (Hopefully you shouldn’t need to to use this, though Pattern might be good to tell people “Don’t Wrath me”), Instill Energy (Might make it in next version of the deck), Predatory Urge (Just hits creatures and they hit you back), Tahngarth’s Rage (Not an Aggro build), Squee’s Embrace (Metagame choice)

Whew. Using different Auras means you go different ways with the deck. If you put in Pollenbright Wings, you can go more of a swarm route (which works well with Sigil of the Nayan Gods). Another route which would be interesting would be to go the Beast Route (I’ve got some pieces around in the deck) which Predatory Urge works great with that. I have chosen to build a deck to swing with Uril with and my auras reflect that. Let’s take a look at my final 12:

Ancestral Mask – 2G        +2/+2 for each Enchantment in play
Armadillo Cloak – 1GW        +2/+2, Trample, Lifelink
Daybreak Coronet – WW        +3/+3, First Strike, Vigilance, Lifelink
Elemental Mastery – 3R        T: Put X 1/1 tokens where X is power.
Empyrial Armor – 1WW        +1/+1 for each card you have in your hand
Flickerform – 1W        2WW: Flicker creature
Rancor – G            +2/+0 and Trample
Runes of the Deus – 4R/G    +2/+2 Double strike, Trample
Scourge of the Nobilis – 2R/w    +2/+2, Lifelink, Firebreathing
Shield of the Oversoul – 2G/W    +2/+2, Flying, Indestructable
Sigil of the Nayan Gods – 1GW    +1/+1 for each creature
Wurmweaver Coil – 4GG        +6/+6, GGG, Sac Coil, make 6/6 token

Most of these are self-explanatory (Flickerform for mass removal/Evauation/Sac effects). The hybrid enchantments from the Shadowmoor block are an obvious fit and if you’ve ever going to play Wurmweaver Coil, this is the deck. The one card that may get some eyebrows is Elemental Mastery. If you mix that with Sigil of the Nayan Gods or an untapper (say Instill Energy or Scryb Ranger) you make a ton of tokens to swing in with (or great tech versus Warp World).

Since we’re running aruas, which are enchantments, I’ve decided to go more of an enchantress based deck to play around with. Let’s see what else we can do with enchantments? Looking at what cards effect enchantments (that don’t destroy them) here’s a  look at a possible enchantress spine:

When you cast an enchantment:

Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress’s Presence, Mesa Enchantress, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Verduran Enchantress

Tutor for an Enchantment:

Academy Rector, Auratouched Mage, Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Sterling Grove, Tallowisp, Three Dreams

Enchantments in play/graveyard:

Crown of Ages, Nomad Mythmaker, Rabid Wombat, Replenish, Retether, Serra’s Sanctum, Yavimaya Enchantress

And if you’re running an enchantress build, it might help to play some more enchantments anyway. Here’s a list I suggest you take a look at first:

Armistice, Aura of Silence, Aura Shards, Concerted Effort, Defense of the Heart, Exploration, Journey to Nowhere, Khalni Heart Expedition, Kismet, Mayeal’s Aria, Oblivion Ring, Privileged Position, Pursuit of Knowledge, Pyrohemia, Rites of Flourishing, Seal of Cleansing/Primordium, Searing Meditation, Sigil of the New Dawn, Solitary Confinement, Spirit Mirror, Squirrel Nest, Survival of the Fittest, Sylvan Library, Test of Endurance, Upwelling, Vicious Shadows, Wild Growth, Wild Pair, Words of Wilding, Words of Worship

And one card that should be in your Uril deck: Winds of Rath. While it’s not easy to find sometimes (it’s from Tempest), killing all but Uril could be a huge boost in the game. Since most of the time people might be gunning for you anyway since they can’t target your General, it’s always good to make ’em pay for going after you. But, we’ll cover multiplayer tactics another time.

My old version of this deck had more life gain. With all the lifelink auras and Mayeal’s Aria, I slid in two enchantments that worked out alright: Searing Meditation and Cradle of Vitality. With the +1/+1 counters being put on Uril, I figured that was too much of a target to go after me (again with the multiplayer politics) and I left them out. Is it good? Oh yes (Throw a Bramblewood Paragon for more fun times). One card I’ve messed with an moved out is Greater Auramancy; after you’ve thrown an aura on Uril, you can’t target it for more, and more people were running mass enchantment removal then targeted ones. Fun note: That’s how Nomad Mythmaker came into this deck; if you target an aura (in any graveyard) and attach it to a creature, it doesn’t target the creature (but it has to be a legal target).

This deck can be done a number of ways. Currently my build (that’s missing a few cards of what I would like) runs 24 enchantments (or 24% of the deck for those of you keeping score at home) and 40 land. I am thinking about cutting down the number of land, but since it relies on Uril getting into play kind of early into the game (Before turn 8ish), I run some “enters the battlefield tapped” duel lands to help propel it forward. By no means is this the “perfect” build but it’s let me kind of sneak in there and take out a player or two before people figure out what I’m totally doing. I don’t have enough cards to let me just get through, but a 15/15 untargetable flying trample General is scary enough.

Current Deck Skeleton – Uril, The Miststalker

General
Uril, the Miststalker

Enchantments
Armadillo Cloak
Aura Shards
Daybreak Coronet
Elemental Mastery
Empyrial Armor
Enchantress’s Presence
Faith’s Fetters
Flickerform
Khalni Heart Expedition
Kismet
Lush Growth
Mayael’s Aria
Oblivion Ring
Pyrohemia
Rancor
Runes of Deus
Scourge of the Nobilis
Shield of the Oversoul
Sigil of the Empty Throne
Sigil of the Nayan Gods
Sterling Grove
Trace of Abundance
Vicious Shadows
Wurmweaver Coil

Creatures
Academy Rector
Auratouched Mage
Argothian Enchantress
Mesa Enchantress
Nomad Mythmaker
Verduran Enchantress
Yavimaya Enchantress

Sorceries
Idyllic Tutor
Three Dreams
(Winds of Rath)

Instants
Enlightened Tutor

This is just a rough guide for the deck. If you’ve built an Uril EDH deck, feel free to leave you comments down below about what you’ve done. Or if you want to throw your two cents in, feel free. Here is the complete decklist.