MTG Salvation

Azami, I'm so sorry I left you. Please forgive me.

Okay, so my Teferi deck initially started as an Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck. I wanted to travel slightly more off the beaten path of mono blue combo in EDH. However, when I played Teferi, I noticed that it was actually harder to assemble the lock than it was to go infinite with Azami. More importantly, I was having less fun locking the board for seven turns before everyone deciding to scoop. I missed the feeling I got from drawing my entire deck. Also, my meta seems to hate on Teferi much more than Azami. I don't mind playing archenemy, but I wasn't able to play the political "policeman" role that the deck was somewhat intended to fulfill. People would just start targeting me right away. A few days ago, I saw Azami sitting in my binder and I realized the mistake I had made. She's the only mono blue general for me. <3

I chose Azami for a couple of reasons. First, her power can't be denied. The fact that she combos so easily, interacts with herself and only gets more powerful with more wizards in play all easily place her among the top 10 most powerful generals in my book. In most circles, she's rather infamous, but the fact that she's a 0/2 still often makes her fly under the radar.

Second, I just have so much fun playing her. I like how strong she is, yet so many different kinds of decks can be built around her. The most common deck I've seen is Azami wizard tribal, but I chose to go for a bit more of a political, almost spellslinger role. Playing a slow long-term game of permission and attrition before going infinite.

Finally, I had a specific flavor in mind when designing this deck. I've always been fascinated with the concepts of transhumanism; people using machines and technology to transcend into greater beings. Ordinary people becoming gods. This is kind of what I see Azami doing when she interacts with Mind Over Matter: Azami's mind became flooded with all of the knowledge of the universe. From this, she was able to transcend the confines of her corporal form. In her AEtherial state, she existed outside of time, space and conventional physics. Suddenly, her battle against the other generals seemed less important, if they even existed at all. She couldn't remember...no. It was no longer important. She sat alone, a cosmic island in a sea of void. Anything that could have been called an opponent at one point had been reduced to particles. Azami was the master of this domain; everything and nothing.

In a lot of ways, this deck is pretty standard fare for Azami win conditions. Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Mind Over Matter makes her an infinite draw engine (she becomes the locus of all knowledge.) Laboratory Maniac (her research assistant) makes me win by drawing my deck.

Other threats for winning include Azami gaining Omniscience and chaining a bunch of spells together with impunity. One of the most satisfying combinations is resolving Omniscience and casting Time Stretch, taking two free extra turns. It's also a great way to tutor up and cast combo pieces.

Some other tertiary spells can secure victories. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Bribery, Desertion and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir have all won me games because of how they were timed.

Because of the cheap or value mana rocks and the copy effects, this deck can be lightning fast. I swear the following actually happened:

Turn 1: Island, Sol Ring, Mana Vault. Pass.
Turn 2: Island, Gilded Lotus, Sculpting Steel (Copying Gilded Lotus.) Pass.
Turn 3: -1 from Mana Vault, Omniscience, Recurring Insight (draw 5), Deep Analysis (Draw 2), Mulldrifter (draw 2), Mind Over Matter, discard two (untap both Guilded Lotuses,) Cast Azami, draw into Laboratory Maniac, cast Laboratory Maniac, draw deck.
GG

Granted, this was this deck's "Magical Christmas Land" of opening hands, but it does illustrate how quickly this deck can get absolutely out of control. Knowledge is power, as they say. However, typically, this deck cares about the long game, playing a slow game of politics and policing the table, only ever going infinite at opportune moments.