Okay, so I’ve been getting back into Magic: The Gathering lately, and Commander is all the rage. I decided to pick up a preconstructed deck, and the Urza, Chief Artificer one caught my eye. It looked like a lot of fun, with all those artifact synergies. Here’s how it went down, from cracking the box to actually playing.
First thing I did was, obviously, open the box! Gotta love that new card smell. I carefully took out the deck, the little life counter wheel, and the foil-etched display commander (which is pretty sweet, by the way).
Next, I sleeved up the deck. This is a must for me. I don’t want these cards getting all dinged up. I just used some basic clear sleeves, nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.
Getting to Know the Deck
Then came the fun part – going through the cards one by one. I wanted to get a feel for what the deck was trying to do. I laid them all out on the table, grouping them by card type (creatures, artifacts, instants, etc.).
- Lots of artifact creatures, naturally. Some pretty big ones too!
- Some cool mana rocks to help ramp up.
- A few removal spells to deal with threats.
- Urza, of course, doing his thing, making those Karnstructs.
It seemed pretty straightforward: play artifacts, make tokens, and swing for the win. But I wanted to get a better sense of the individual cards and how they might work together.
The First Few Games
I took the deck to my local game store for some casual Commander games. I was a little nervous, playing a precon against who-knows-what, but I figured it was the best way to learn.
Game 1 was rough. I got mana screwed, meaning I didn’t draw enough lands to play my spells. I ended up just sitting there, watching everyone else do their thing. Not much I could do.
Game 2 was better. I got a decent start, played some early artifacts, and even got Urza out. I started making those Karnstruct tokens, and they got pretty big, pretty fast. I managed to knock out one player before getting taken out myself by a combo deck. Still, I felt like I was starting to understand the deck’s potential.
Game 3 was the best. I had a good mix of lands and spells, played some early mana rocks, and got Urza out on turn four. From there, it was all about building up my board state. I used some of the deck’s card draw to keep my hand full, and eventually overwhelmed my opponents with a giant army of artifact creatures.
My thoughts so far
It’s a good start for me.
The Urza precon is definitely fun to play. It’s got a clear game plan, and it can be surprisingly powerful right out of the box.
It’s not perfect, of course. It could use some upgrades, maybe some more efficient removal or card draw. But for a starting point, it’s solid.
I’m planning on tweaking the deck a bit, adding some cards I already own and maybe buying a few singles. But for now, I’m happy just playing it as is and getting more familiar with it. It’s been a blast so far!
