Urza's Iron Alliance precon upgrade guide

Twelve of this box's 36 lands always enter tapped, and its commander needs white, blue and black on the same turn.

Urza has affinity for artifact creatures, and affinity only takes away generic mana. His cost is {3}{W}{U}{B}, so three artifact creatures bring him down to {W}{U}{B} and a fourth saves nothing. The box has 21 artifact creatures among its 37, so the discount is rarely what goes wrong. What goes wrong is the mana, because he wants all three colours at once and 12 of the 36 lands always enter tapped.

The ten swaps cost $18.60 at the cheapest printings. Four lands replace four tapped ones, two instants exile any nonland permanent, and four artifact cards add bodies and a token engine. His discount counts artifact creatures and his Construct tokens count every artifact, so each of the four artifact cards feeds one or both.

What are the best Urza's Iron Alliance upgrades?

In the order they help this deck, with each price the lowest for a printing that's out today. The cut list pays for the slots.

1. Isolated Chapel, Drowned Catacomb, Glacial Fortress and Concealed Courtyard ($0.20, $0.42, $0.19 and $0.90): each makes two of Urza's three colours and enters untapped under a condition the deck usually meets.
2. Anguished Unmaking ($1.62): exiles any nonland permanent at instant speed for three mana and 3 life.
3. Walking Ballista ($5.51): a 1/1 artifact creature for two mana that grows for {4} and trades its counters for damage to any target.
4. Retrofitter Foundry ($0.32): one mana to cast, then a Servo, a Thopter and a 4/4 Construct in turn, and all three are artifact creatures.
5. Wurmcoil Engine ($9.01): deathtouch, lifelink, and two 3/3 artifact creatures when it dies.
6. Hangarback Walker ($0.25): two mana for a 1/1 that grows for {1} and a tap, and leaves a flying Thopter for every counter.
7. Utter End ($0.18): the same exile as Anguished Unmaking for a mana more and no life loss.

Three colours on one turn and 12 tapped lands

The twelve are Temple of Deceit, Temple of Silence, Temple of Enlightenment, Azorius Chancery, Dimir Aqueduct, Orzhov Basilica, Arcane Sanctum, Bojuka Bog, Path of Ancestry and the three Bridges. Prairie Stream and Sunken Hollow enter tapped as well until you control two basic lands. Meanwhile 17 of the box's nonland cards cost two mana, the largest bucket on the curve, and 14 cost three.

White has 22 sources, blue 24 and black 22. A one-pip white spell on turn two wants 24, so white sits at 87.7% and black at the same figure, while blue reaches 90.1%. The swaps barely move those counts, because each new land replaces one that made the same colours. White gains one source, because three of the new lands make it and only two of the lands leaving did, so it sits at 23 and 89.0%. Black stays at 22 and blue at 24. What changes is timing. Lands that always enter tapped fall from 12 to 8, and lands that enter untapped under a condition rise from 2 to 6.

Isolated Chapel enters untapped if you control a Plains or a Swamp, Drowned Catacomb if you control an Island or a Swamp, and Glacial Fortress if you control a Plains or an Island. Thirteen lands in the deck carry basic land types, the 11 basics plus Prairie Stream and Sunken Hollow, and a land with the right type is all each check needs. Concealed Courtyard comes in untapped as any of your first three lands, which are the turns the cheap spells get cast. The three Temples scry 1 as they arrive and that goes with them. In a deck with this many cheap plays I'd take four lands that mostly arrive untapped over three scry effects.

The eight that stay tapped earn it. The three Bridges are artifact lands, so each adds to every Construct Urza makes and to Bronze Guardian's power, and they're indestructible. Azorius Chancery, Dimir Aqueduct and Orzhov Basilica return a land and tap for two mana, Arcane Sanctum makes all three colours, and Path of Ancestry makes any colour in Urza's identity, which is all three.

Two instants that take anything off the table

The box has six ways to remove a single thing. Swords to Plowshares exiles a creature, Despark exiles a permanent with mana value 4 or greater, and Vindicate destroys any permanent at sorcery speed. Noxious Gearhulk destroys a creature when it enters, and Ethersworn Adjudicator destroys a creature or an enchantment for {1}{W}{B} and a tap. Angel of the Ruins exiles up to two artifacts and enchantments when it enters, but it costs seven. Swords hits only creatures and Despark only permanents with mana value 4 or more, so a cheap planeswalker has one answer in the box, and it's a sorcery.

Anguished Unmaking and Utter End exile any nonland permanent at instant speed. Unmaking is cheaper and costs 3 life, and Utter End costs a mana more and nothing else. Both need white and black, which is why Isolated Chapel and Concealed Courtyard are in the first slot of the list. Vindicate is still the only land answer in the deck.

The artifacts that go in

Walking Ballista and Hangarback Walker both cost twice X, so at two mana each is a 1/1 artifact creature that counts toward Urza's discount from the turn it lands. The two are not the same card in a long game. Ballista spends a counter to deal 1 damage to any target, which is the deck's answer to creatures with 1 toughness, and Hangarback Walker turns each counter into a flying Thopter when it dies.

Retrofitter Foundry turns mana into a ladder of bodies. {2} and a tap makes a Servo, {1}, a tap and a sacrificed Servo make a Thopter, and a tap and a sacrificed Thopter make a 4/4 Construct. Untapping it costs {3}, so a fast ladder is expensive. The first step adds an artifact creature to the table and the later steps trade a small token for a bigger one. It also feeds Marionette Master, which makes an opponent lose life equal to its power whenever an artifact you control goes to the graveyard, and a sacrificed token counts.

Wurmcoil Engine takes Hexavus's slot at the same cost. Hexavus is a 6/6 flier, which is a fine body, but it leaves nothing behind. Wurmcoil Engine leaves two artifact creatures, both of which Urza gives menace.

Three big bodies that stay

Three cards here are the sort of top end a deckbuilder trims. Myr Battlesphere costs seven, and it brings four 1/1 Myr artifact creature tokens with it, so one cast puts five artifact creatures on the table. Its attack trigger taps untapped Myr to add that much power and deal that much damage to the player it attacks. Marionette Master costs {4}{B}{B}, and Foundry sacrifices, a dying Hangarback Walker and a dying Wurmcoil Engine are all artifacts reaching the graveyard for it to punish. Bronze Guardian costs five, has double strike, and its power is the number of artifacts you control. It also gives the rest of your artifacts ward {2}, which matters in a deck that wants to keep its engine pieces.

Ten cards leave, and four of them are lands

• Bojuka Bog: a tapped land that makes only black, in a deck two sources short of the 24 that a turn-two black spell wants. Exiling a graveyard is a one-off that matters only against a table that recurs from it.
• Temple of Deceit, Temple of Silence and Temple of Enlightenment: tapped lands whose scry doesn't make up for the lost turn. Drowned Catacomb, Isolated Chapel and Glacial Fortress produce the same pair of colours each.
• Wreck Hunter: it costs {B}{B}, and no other spell in the box asks for two black pips before turn six. With 22 black sources, casting it on turn three is a 63.9% chance. Its payoff, a tapped Powerstone for each nonland card that went to a graveyard from the battlefield this turn, only pays out on a turn something died, and the mana can't pay for nonartifact spells.
• Cranial Plating: +1/+0 for each artifact you control on one creature. It is the closest call of the ten, because the deck has 42 artifacts. But the plan is many bodies, and Tempered Steel gives all of them +2/+2 while Bronze Guardian's power already counts the artifacts.
• Swiftfoot Boots: hexproof and haste for one creature, in a deck whose board is a crowd.
• Kayla's Music Box: it has two tapped abilities, so a turn stores a card or plays the stored ones, never both.
• Relic of Progenitus: its second ability exiles every graveyard, and Sharuum, Teshar and Wire Surgeons all work from your own.
• Hexavus: replaced by Wurmcoil Engine at the same cost.

The deck after ten swaps

Artifact creatures rise from 21 to 23 of 38 creatures counting Urza, and artifacts overall go from 42 to 41. Two-mana cards fall from 17 to 13, and two cards at mana value 0 (Hangarback Walker and Walking Ballista) enter the curve at its start. Average mana value goes from 3.52 to 3.51 and lands stay at 36. Neither list has a Game Changer, which keeps the floor at Bracket 1. At Scryfall market prices the box comes to $128.18 and the upgraded list to $130.64.

Two cards missed the list. Esper Sentinel is a one-mana white artifact creature at $56.32, which is the only reason it isn't here. Otherwise it would rank beside Hangarback Walker. Darkslick Shores ($1.70) is the fifth dual, and blue already has 24 sources, the best of the three colours, so the white and black lands came first. Thopter Foundry ($0.24) is the next card I'd look at, and I stopped because every further swap needs a cut I can't argue as well as these.

The upgraded decklist

Here is the hundred with all ten swaps made. Hovering a name shows the card and its prices.

Load into the deck builder Copy decklist Playtest the upgraded deck

“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

FAQ

Which of the box's sweepers can I cast while my own artifacts are on the table?

Urza's Ruinous Blast exiles every nonland permanent that isn't legendary and can only be cast if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker, which Urza is. He and the box's other legendary permanents stay, and your Constructs and most of your artifacts go. Austere Command lets you choose two modes, so pick the creature modes or the enchantment one and leave the artifact mode alone. Phyrexian Rebirth destroys every creature, yours included, and leaves you one artifact creature token, a Horror as big as the number destroyed.

Do tokens count towards Urza's discount?

Yes. Affinity for artifact creatures counts every artifact creature you control, tokens included, so Thopters, Servos and the Construct Urza makes at your end step all count. It only takes away generic mana, so three artifact creatures is the most that helps. The Construct tokens count themselves when they add up your artifacts, which makes each one at least a 1/1.

Is Wurmcoil Engine too slow for a deck with this many six-drops?

It takes Hexavus's slot, so apart from Urza the count of six-mana cards stays at ten before and after the swaps. Wurmcoil Engine has deathtouch and lifelink, and when it dies it leaves a 3/3 deathtouch Wurm and a 3/3 lifelink Wurm, both artifact creatures. Urza gives artifact creatures menace, so the Wurm tokens carry it too while he is on the battlefield.

Do Hangarback Walker and Walking Ballista get cheaper with Urza on the board?

No. Affinity is part of Urza's own cost and doesn't touch other spells. Both cards cost twice X, so a 1/1 is two mana and a 2/2 is four. What they offer Urza is an artifact creature that arrives cheaply and keeps growing, for {1} and a tap on Hangarback Walker and {4} on Walking Ballista.

Why isn't Esper Sentinel one of the adds?

Price. Its cheapest printing is $56.32, from Modern Horizons 2. It is a one-mana white artifact creature, so it would discount Urza, but Hangarback Walker and Walking Ballista do that job for $5.76 together. It isn't a Game Changer.

What do the ten swaps cost in total?

$18.60 at the cheapest printings out on 12 October 2026. Wurmcoil Engine is $9.01 of that and Walking Ballista $5.51, and the other eight cards come to $4.08. None of the ten is a Game Changer, and neither is any of the three cards the page names and skips.