Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Zurgo Bellstriker!

Zurgo is a one mana 2/2 that can’t block creatures with power 2 or greater and can Dash in for one and a red, which means we can cast him for his Dash cost to give him haste, but he returns to our hand at the beginning of the end step.

While at the time this was a massive downgrade from the original Zurgo, and has now come back in several forms, this Zurgo brings up a potentially really interesting playstyle that isn’t too often seen, and that is what I like to call a hit and run Commander.

The plan is to take some Voltron elements into account, some specific Equipment and anthem effects work best, and have them be at the ready for Zurgo to Dash in to deal a good bit of damage, while also taking advantage of his low stat line in order to sneak his way in to guarantee some damage goes through.

The first thing we need to do is get the battlefield set up for Zurgo in order for him to deal as much damage as possible when he comes in.

Sai of the Shinobi is a one mana artifact that gives +1/+1 and an Equip 2, but also has the ability to attach itself to a creature we control when that creature enters the battlefield, which means at the very least Zurgo becomes a 3/3 when attacking.

There are several other Equipment that have a very similar effect like Obsidian Battle-Axe which gives +2/+1 and haste and auto attaches whenever a Warrior enters the battlefield, Ronin Warclub which gives +2/+1 and auto attaches whenever a creture we control enters, and Hero’s Blade which gives +3/+2 and auto attaches whenever a legendary creature we control enters.

While it doesn’t auto attach, Grafted Wargear does Equip 0 and gives +3/+2 and while normally the downside of whenever Grafted Wargear is unattached from a permanent that permanent is sacrificed doesn’t matter since Zurgo bounces right back to our hand.

Tenza, Godo’s Maul is a great artifact, especially as we head towards the end game since it normally gives a +1/+1, it also gives an additional +2/+2 if it is attached to a legendary creature and trample if it is attached to a red creature with a cheap Equip 1 to make it easy to attach to Zurgo.

We can then combine all those Equipment with effects like Blood Mist which gives target creature we control double strike at the beginning of the combat on our turn or In the Web of War which gives creature we control that enter +2/+0 and haste until end of turn can really help damage stack up in our favor.

The next thing we need is to make sure that we can get Zurgo to get damage through, which require a bit of timing trickery.

Goblin Tunneler can tap to make a target creature we control with power 2 or less unable to be blocked this turn, and since all of the auto attach abilities as well as the abilities of the previously mentioned cards are triggered abilities that go on the stack, we have a window of time where Zurgo’s power is still 2 and can be targeted by Goblin Tunneler to make him unblockable, even when his power becomes greater than 2.

We can use this bit of trickery with cards like Break Through the Line which does the same for one red mana and is on an enchantment, Escape Tunnel which can fetch us a basic if we absolutely need it or we can sacrifice it to make it so a creature with power 2 or less can’t be blocked, or Hearth Charm to have a modal way to make a creature with power 2 or less unblockable or destroy an artifact creature or give all attacking creatures +1/+0 until end of turn.

If we don’t have any of these cards in play, we can use something like Anger of the Gods to help us clear the battlefield of smaller creature by dealing 3 damage to each creature, exiling them if they would die to also prevent death triggers right before we Dash Zurgo in.

Blasphemous Act dealing 13 damage to each creature while also being able to reduce its own casting cost by one for each creature in play is also a great way to deal with go wide strategies, Seismic Stomp to make it so creatures without flying can’t block this turn, and Monstrous Rage to give +2/+0 and a Monster Role token (which gives +1/+1 and trample) to a creature can help in getting Zurgo through depending on what we need at the time.

The last thing we need is to make sure we can take out our opponents as soon as possible.

Seize the Day is a way for us to get an extra combat phase after untapping a creature as well as gaining an additional main phase, and not only that but it also has Flashback for three mana, which means that in the late game it can be a way for us to close out and win the game.

Generally I don’t speak on how decks should be constructed, i.e. things like card draw, ramp, etc. but if you happen to be playing cheap card draw spells that also discard cards that red likes to do, like say a Cathartic Reunion or Faithless Looting, if you manage to get enough cards in your graveyard and can make a ton of mana with a Mana Geyser then we may have potential to win with Underworld Breach.

What Underworld Breach does is that it gives nonland cards in our graveyard escape for the mana cost of the card as well as exiling three cards in our graveyard, then Underworld Breach sacrifices itself at the beginning of the end step.

We can forgo casting Seize the Day with its Flashback cost and so long as we can generate the mana, we can cast it over and over again to keep getting extra combat steps, while also untapping Zurgo to attack. We can even ensure that we keep a ton of red mana handy by using Electro, Assaulting Battery to make it so that we don’t lose unspent red mana as steps and phases end and whenever we cast an instant or sorcery we add a red mana.

Now if you don’t want to include Underworld Breach in your deck that is perfectly understandable. Instead you can rely on damage multipliers like Fiery Emancipation and other extra combat spells like Full Throttle to get a similar effect without adding a Game Changer to your deck list.

Zurgo is an interesting way to play an aggro Commander, being able to protect himself by coming back to our hand at the end of the turn is great, especially since we can also avoid paying the Commander Tax that way as well, and the fact that he can do a decent bit of damage with auto attaching Equipment and other power boosting cards is great.

What isn’t great is that while we can get a few lucky hits in the early game in decently reliably, where we struggle is in the late game where removal will likely be more common, especially when we start ticking up a lot of Commander Damage, and we don’t have as many other ways to keep Zurgo safe, barring say a Lightning Greaves which gives haste and shroud and has Equip 0, but we have to attach it last in order to get the other bonuses that we want on Zurgo.

We can also have our Equipment removed by mass artifact removal, which can be really detrimental if we don’t have other ways to boost Zurgo up to be a serious threat quickly. There are plenty of one time use combat tricks, but that may be able to deal with one player, dealing with the remaining players is where it can get tricky.

Still, Zurgo’s hit and run tactics make it much more interesting as an aggro Commander that can surprisingly do well as a Voltron Commander based on very specific Equipment, some enchantments, a bit of timing trickery, and potentially an Underworld Breach combo if you want.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual