Well, well, well. It looks like, after four tries, I've finally found a cEDH deck I can successfully power down without losing the entire thread of how the cEDH deck works. (In case you're wondering, this is the last in a four-part series on cEDH decks being taken down a few brackets.)

This cEDH deck generates infinite mana through one of two primary means, then uses Urza's Activated Ability over and over again until it hits, and plays, Codex Shredder. It uses Codex Shredder over and over again to mill everyone out, then activates Faerie Mastermind to force everyone to draw a card and all your opponents lose when they can't.

We are going to keep the infinite mana and the combo, but we're going to drop down to somewhere in the Bracket 2-3 arena by skipping any tutors (sort of...), instead needing to keep ourselves alive via countermagic. We're also going to give ourselves a couple of other gameplans, like using a large Construct to beat people up (or make a bunch of Thopters to attack in the air). Let's take a look.

Urza, Lord High Artificer | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Urza, Lord High Artificer

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Hullbreaker Horror

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Tezzeret, Artifice Master
• 1 Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh
• 1 Karn, Living Legacy

• Instants (15)
• 1 Access Denied
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Dispel
• 1 Dramatic Reversal
• 1 Frantic Search
• 1 Muddle the Mixture
• 1 Negate
• 1 Opt
• 1 Paradoxical Outcome
• 1 Reality Shift
• 1 Stoic Rebuttal
• 1 Thirst for Knowledge
• 1 Urza's Command

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Call to Mind
• 1 Inspiration from Beyond
• 1 March of Progress
• 1 Polymorph
• 1 Thoughtcast
• 1 Unending Whisper

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Artificer Class
• 1 Efficient Construction
• 1 Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1 Mechanized Production
• 1 Mirrodin Besieged
• 1 Mystic Remora
• 1 The Antiquities War
• 1 Thopter Spy Network

• Artifacts (27)
• 1 Accorder's Shield
• 1 Aether Spellbomb
• 1 Cathar's Shield
• 1 Claws of Gix
• 1 Codex Shredder
• 1 Darksteel Relic
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Fountain of Youth
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
• 1 Ichor Wellspring
• 1 Isochron Scepter
• 1 Jeweled Amulet
• 1 Manifold Key
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Paradise Mantle
• 1 Proteus Staff
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Spellbook
• 1 Spidersilk Net
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Stone of Erech
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Urza's Bauble
• 1 Vexing Bauble
• 1 Voltaic Key
• 1 Welding Jar
• 1 Witching Well

• Lands (39)
• 25 Island
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Archway of Innovation
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Mystic Sanctuary
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Seat of the Synod
• 1 Tolaria West
• 1 Treasure Vault
• 1 Urza's Factory
• 1 Urza's Saga
• 1 War Room

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Let's not bury the lead. We have two ways of making infinite mana in this deck.

The first is Hullbreaker Horror and any two Artifacts with a combined Mana Value of or less. With the Horror and Urza on the 'field, we can cast a mana Artifact, tap it for mana while bouncing another (or mana Artifact. Then we can recast that, bouncing the first one and tapping it for mana. Either way, we net mana. We do that until we've made some absurdly high amount of mana, then stop.

The second is Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. With the Reversal on Isochron Scepter and at least three other Artifacts in play (along with Urza, of course), we tap all our Artifacts for mana, then activate the Scepter, casting a copy of Dramatic Reversal. That untaps all our stuff, including the Scepter, allowing us to repeat the process until we create however much mana we would like to create.

Once we've done that, we activate Urza until we find Codex Shredder. Then we use the same process we used to make mana to use Codex Shredder as many times as necessary to deck every player in the game but ourselves. (If it's the Horror, keep bouncing and replaying the Shredder with any other spell, tapping it each time. If it's the Scepter, just keep untapping it.)

We're not going to force the draw. We'll let people either concede (which is likely what would happen with my playgroup) or die on their own draw steps, which is kind of fun because it lets people have a chance to try to survive the process.

I mentioned we don't have any tutors. That's... mostly correct. We do have, however, Polymorph and Proteus Staff. We can use either of these in combination with the Construct Urza gives us and they will always find Hullbreaker Horror, because that's the only Creature we have in the deck aside from Urza. So while they're not tutors, they do function as extra copies of the Horror. If you'd like to move the deck solidly to Bracket 2 (despite the two-card combo, if you don't do anything to hunt for it I think the intent is clear) remove these two cards.

The big difference between us and the cEDH folks is we're skipping fast mana and tutors. Sure, we've got Sol Ring and Mind Stone. But we've also got 39 Lands (one fewer than normal, but the deck makes a lot of mana!), so we should get to four decently easily, and once we've cast Urza, every one of our Artifacts (several of which cost or mana) becomes a Sapphire Medallion. In play-testing, I never had trouble making mana.

We have a few ways to draw cards, but it's possible more are needed. Stuff like Brainstorm and Witching Well can help us dig. In addition, I found myself activating Urza a lot even when I wasn't going for a win, just to use the copious mana I had. This can lead to an awkward situation if you hit something you don't want to, but we'll get to that in a minute. Use that ability. Don't be afraid to kill the combo, because it's worth it to use your mana and play your stuff.

In addition to our combo win, our Construct can get... rather large rather quickly. We can use Mechanized Production to make copies of it or anything else we want (not to mention another possible win-con, in the right situation). Efficient Construction and Thopter Spy Network both dump out little Thopters, which can be surprisingly strong. Karn, Living Legacy can ultimate also, which can certainly function as a way to win in addition to great removal.

We have a number of removal spells and counters. We're pretty limited by being Mono-Blue, but Reality Shift and Muddle the Mixture are things. Be careful. It's probably a better idea to put on a show of durdling and not being a threat, using your removal very carefully, rather than just countering everything you see. You'll run out of counters!

I want to talk about Call to Mind and, more importantly, Inspiration from Beyond. These cards can get back, particularly, Dramatic Reversal if we happen to hit it with Urza... or we just need to cast it and want it back to put it on Isochron Scepter. Inspiration from Beyond is particularly important because it can be flashed back, so if we cast it and it's in the 'yard, then Dramatic Reversal ends up in the 'yard, we can still get it back. Not to mention, with a deck this spell-heavy, those spells can be useful; feel free to use them to get back something else, then go for the Thopter win or whatever. You don't have to combo!

Our two versions of Tezzeret are both helpful in an Artifact shell like this one. Tezzeret, Artifice Master makes Thopters and draws cards, then if we ultimate him we get to just drop stuff on our 'field from our Library. Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh makes some stuff cheaper, but mostly it draws us cards or turns our goofy free Artifacts into 4/4 Creatures, which isn't nothing. This ultimate is certainly worth it, since we tap Artifacts for mana all the time; drawing at the same time will win us the game very quickly.

As I've written this, I think this is solidly a bracket 3 deck - the intent is likely to combo, and if the combo happens, it will be fairly difficult to disrupt at a casual table and will probably win the game on the spot (once you've explained how it works). You're getting there fairly and will need to get lucky to pull it off, but even still, it's higher-powered than your average precon.

It's also fun! A deck like this is a challenge to pilot, and other players who don't know what's going on will be curious and (hopefully) delighted to see what you're going to do with a Jeweled Amulet, Darksteel Relic, Manifold Key, and Spidersilk Net. Having an angle other than combo means the deck can be adjusted - want to keep the game going? Don't go for the combo. Want to really power down? Drop the combo pieces entirely (giving you a few slots), throw in some more interaction, and win with Thopters or Constructs. The deck doesn't have to be nasty, and what you choose to do with it will be a big part of that.

Thanks for reading.