MTG Salvation

Hello!

As a somewhat active contributor on this site, I have been requested by my friend to host these two threads of his so he can receive commentary and critique.

This is Azami Storm Combo. This is, in my opinion, my best friends's best deck. It's hella annoying when he goes off and has a resiliency that, well, I admire. His win condition is Laboratory Maniac and he gets there through a ridiculous Storm count with everyone's favorite Storm card Mind's Desire.

Here is his decklist:


Yup, he has a deliberate lack of Enter the Infinite and Mind Over Matter. Please don't ask me why he isn't playing them, as I have advocated this to him MANY times. Anyways, I will add a card selection section, deck strategy, my observations as an opponent, and card images, as this Azami list is one of the best. And so...annoying to play against.

The deliberate lack of Enter the Infinite and Mind Over Matter is because it's too easy to win with. I wanted to have to work for my wins by building up a storm count high enough to play the whole deck. Of course now there are a few infinite combos so maybe it's time to include them.

No one's interested in a Legacy High Tide Commander deck eh? Ah well, I thought it'd be interesting.

Lol eye of the storm an omniscience, but no mind over matter.

I'm very interested this deck, been thinking of building this hood rat myself.

Why ghostly flicker?

No treasure mage for Caged Sun? Would also let you play dudes like Mindslaver and Planar portal.

As would like to ask the purpose behind telling time and like cards, seems like 1 and 2 drop wizards word just be better. Yea they did more than 1 card deep, but the wizards are reusable and they chain into each other more efficiently. Also being cheap manawise, they'll build easy storm while chaining into more easy storm

Ghostly Flicker goes infinite with Archaeomancer and Candelabra of Tawnos (provided mana is doubled, or Nykthos, Shrine to Nix as long as my devotion to blue is 5 or greater and with Azami in play you can tap Archaeomancer to draw a card every time he comes in.

Treasure Mage only gets Caged Sun and that is the worst mana doubler in the deck. Mindslaver is too slow and only locks one player, and Planar Portal is too slow of a tutor engine for me. Our playgroup is too fast for cards like that.

What wizards specifically did you have in mind? It's hard to find wizards that dig at those CMCs and I can't increase the overall CMC of the deck cause I'm already running a risky 34 land deck. I'd like to hear what suggestions you have in mind.

So I've discovered that if I have a Storm Count of 10+ I win with mind's desire. I have yet to "wiff" with 10 or more storm.

Quote from Death Diamond »

Ghostly Flicker goes infinite with Archaeomancer and Candelabra of Tawnos (provided mana is doubled, or Nykthos, Shrine to Nix as long as my devotion to blue is 5 or greater and with Azami in play you can tap Archaeomancer to draw a card every time he comes in.

Treasure Mage only gets Caged Sun and that is the worst mana doubler in the deck. Mindslaver is too slow and only locks one player, and Planar Portal is too slow of a tutor engine for me. Our playgroup is too fast for cards like that.

What wizards specifically did you have in mind? It's hard to find wizards that dig at those CMCs and I can't increase the overall CMC of the deck cause I'm already running a risky 34 land deck. I'd like to hear what suggestions you have in mind.

Acutally, Mindslaver locks the entire table if inserted into your Archaeomancer combo. Once you've produced enough mana, you start untapping Academy Ruins and using the Archaeomancer to draw the Slaver you just put on top. Just another route to victory, encase you lab man or other stuff gets exiled. Also, sure, Caged Sun is you worst mana doubler (arguably Gauntlet of power is actually - since it works for your opponents too. If your play group hasn't started running snow lands against this deck yet... idk), but it's still a mana doubler. Treasure mage gives you more consistancy since you're not running black, and he taps for a card with your general. Low cost wizards off the top of my head would be Cursecatcher - great for combo turn, especially against the dude who thought he was slick tapping out with a force of will -
Martyr of Frost, Augur of Bolas - since you have 32 targets, Azure Mage - in case Azami gets retk - if you played more wizards Information Dealer would be nice. I'll look for more when I have time.

How smooth is the deck with only 14 wizards? With so few it seems like you wouldn't be using Azami to her full potential. At best I would guess you're drawing 1 to 3 cards with her unless you cast her during the Ghostly Flicker hax? Also, with a general like Azami, I feel cards like Long Term Plans are strictly better than Telling Time. The more I type the more I think of...

Phyrexian Metamorph - copies your mana doublers, candle, or your wizards
Magus if the Future - Future Sight that can cantrip is good I hear
Is retraced image just for the explore effect? If sow that's cute (I love it), but that'd be one of the first cards i'd seriously consider cutting for one of the cards I mentioned above.

Apologies for the wall of text Not as bad as I thought. I love storms decks and since I've been busy lately the more I typed the more excited I got lol.

On another note, how fast is your meta generally. What turns are you usually closing out games? And what turns are you usually Minds Desiring for 10+ ?

@Skulduggery
Those are great card suggestions. I'll let Death Diamond answer your points, but I think that the wizard density could indeed be increased by 2-3 cards. He swears by Retraced Image though, haha.

As his main opponent, I can say with confidence that games are closed out between T4-T6. I can't really remember a game that lasted more than 6 turns in recent memory unless an active control player (usually me) is doing a good job of controlling the table. Azami, if uninterrupted, can consistently close out a game with a Storm count of 10+ by T4 or T5. It's pretty annoying, actually, because I sometimes think it's safe to tap out for a tempo play that advances my board, not realizing that he has the correct combination of cards and unanticipated card draw (seriously, this is probably one of the luckiest decks I've ever seen. Ever.) to go ahead and just win on the turn I tapped out. And if Death Diamond isn't winning I usually am and I've designed my decks to consistently win the long game, so by T5 or T6 it's usually pretty decided.

Another plus side of running more Fugitive Wizard type cards (as in 1 drops and such) is that you can add Skullclamp to your Trinket Mage package. It will also help more in storming out. Being able to play a 1 to 2 mana wizard, add to storm count, then tap to draw a card and keep the good times rolling is very strong. Add Skullclamp to the mix and you're drawing 3 cards per wizard for 2 to 3 mana total

I'm a huge fan of merrow levitator. He does cost four mana but he's essentially a glimpse of nature for blue in this deck. Every time you cast a blue spell he untaps to draw a card. It drastically increases the power of mystical and personal tutor and adds a cantrip to every spell you play.
I also like alhammarets archive a lot as it churns through your deck incredibly fast

No Whispers of the Muse
No Deadeye Navigator
No Cyclonic Rift

Deadeye is top value with any of the CitP effects (Venser + infinite mana + GG, but even without the mana it's obnoxious. With Archaeomancer, Snapcaster, etc. he's pretty awesome.) Speaking of which, I think you have a severe shortage of good CitP abilities. I find Sage, Dreamscape Artist and Vedalken Aethermage pretty underwhelming. Mulldrifter, Simulacrum, Memnarch (another infinite mana combo win, and a Wizard too!), Peregrine Drake/Palinchron, Metamorph, Duplicant, Draining Whelk are all worth some thought.

You seem to go infinite hard core, so Whispers is just all around value. Draw your deck, find Maniac, win.

We could debate Cyclonic Rift versus Evacuation, but I run Both in mine. Plus Aetherspouts.

Personally, I've never been fond of the storm version, but I see your point about making thing more challenging. I tend to just go infinite mana, infinite draw, Maniac or Memnarch, but I do see the appeal of shuffling your deck over and over and seeing what you get off the top with Mind's Desire. When I used to play Trix and cast Demonic Consultation I used to set the top six aside face down and then refused to let my opponent look at them. Some people got pretty mad, but I liked the suspense of turning each card over looking for whatever I'd named.

I'm certain this deck plays Cyclonic Rift as all my blue decks do. If it's not on the list up top than its an oversight. Evacuation is actually to bounce my own wizards when I have omniscience in play so I can draw more cards. I'll comment on all the other suggestions when I get off work.

@Skulduggery
I never have any Issues with lab man getting exiled but if it does, I already have another road to victory in infinitely flickering Venser to bounce all permanents I don't control.
As for the other cards, I do like the idea of these low cost wizards as they remain on the field to possibly be tapped multiple times throughout a game thus making them more valuable in the long run. I was originally trying not to do that because I didn't want to rely too much on azami but I do feel the deck would run smoother. I'm gonna make some changes and then test it out. I also like the clamp idea. I'll try out Treasure Mage but I'm not sure what to cut at this current juncture. LTP (long-term plans) is an option that would require testing out. I should absolutely be playing Metamorph, not doing so was clearly a misplay. Magus of the Future is too highly costed which is also why I never play future sight itself. Retraced Image is early game ramp that I cant afford to be without.

@foiljunky
I absolutely love Merrow Levitator. Wow how did I miss that when I searched up wizards?!!! Will be finding a cut for this ASAP. Alhammaret's archive however is just too high costed in my opinion. 5CMC seems to be the cut-off for this deck unless I'm winning with it, it doubles mana, or untaps mana.

@M@lcontent
I purposefully omitted Deadeye Navigator and friends because it's too easy. I already have a deck that does that so I like to keep things fresh. Whispers of the Muse is unnecessary because if I have infinite mana then i also have infinite draw due to azami and all my mana combos give me extra wizard tappings to draw cards. the deck was build with that synergy in mind so I see no need to add a card that does something I can already do.

Mulldrifter, Simulacrum, Peragrine Drake, Palinchron, Duplicant, and Draining Whelk all have the disadvantage of not being wizards and thus are anti-synergistic with the deck at it's core. I already hate the fact that Dreamscape Artist isn't a wizard but it's proven it's worth a dozen times over..

Sage of Epityr is a one drop that digs 4 deep and with as land-light as this deck is, trust me I need the filter. before I added that guy and a lot of the other filter I would often find myself stuck at 4 lands and that feels really bad. Dreamscape artist is ramp and serves a secondary purpose of filtering lands out of the deck for when I'm storming mind's desire. Vedalken Aethermage finds one of the most important cards in the deck (Archaeomancer) and has added utility in turning into a really expensive counterspell with Snapcaster.

All in all, this deck was inspired by Legacy High Tide which is an awesome deck but is way too expensive for me and isn't very good in today's legacy meta anymore so I figured I could recreate it in commander with a few modifications and mix things up a bit making it a lot more interesting than just "find infinite mana and win" or "cast mind over matter and win". At least with this I have a chance of whiffing and passing with a much stronger boardstate than when I started.

I think the addition of several low CMC wizards would be a boon to the deck as it increases the effectiveness of Azami at any point in the game. I personally don't think that Merrow Levitator is good enough to make it here, but give it a whirl. In a vaccuum or in an instance where Azami isn't on the table (not terribly uncommon) it just...well, sucks. Its CMC is 4, doesn't immediately impact the board, and doesn't really increase board presence outside of another Wizard for Azami to tap.

I'll second the Dreamscape Artist inclusion. It's been very good to him and I think his reasoning is sound. It does come at a steep cost though and a Trickbind on its ability would just suck.

This deck is meant to be a more..."fun" deck for Death Diamond. If he wants to put on a serious face and win ruthlessly, he would pull out Damia or Animar. Azami has an element of risk, with Storm, that he finds to be "fair" and otherwise an enjoyable aspect to this particular list. I am personally a FIRM advocate who strongly tries to persuade Death Diamond to include [CARD}Mind Over Matter[/CARD] because it's a fantastic card even without Azami (in his list), but he is reticent to change his list to add spikier plays.

I tested the changes with the wizards in place of the cantrips and it wasn't anywhere near as consistent. i missed 10 land drops in three games and that never happens. I will be changing it back to the way it was.

What wizards did you put in and what did you take out, praytell?

I had cut Brainstorm, Telling Time, Impulse, Ponder, Preordain, Isochron Scepter (after removing three viable imprint targets it brought my count to 8 which isn't enough imo), and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage (which is a permanent cut).

I added Cursecatcher, Martyr of Frost, Augur of Bolas, Phyrexian Metamorph (a permanent addition), Skullclamp, Merrow Levitator, and Cyclonic Rift (no clue why I wasn't playing this card so it's staying and Information Dealer was cut for it).

The official changes to the op decklist are:
-Information Dealer
-Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
-Eye of the Storm

+Phyrexian Metamorph
+Cyclonic Rift
+Mind Over Matter

What was your thought process behind cutting those cantrips especially ponder and brainstorm I find those cards To be excellent pretty much everywhere I put them and brainstorm being instant makes it feel free even in decks passing on counter magic the only thing i could guess would be where I found myself cutting things like probe in vintage where it was a proportion issue and I couldn't get things like my counterspell suite the correct numbers without shaving but in commander I rarely find there are not less powerful cards toward the end of the 99 worth replacing with at least the more powerful cantrips interested to hear what your thought process was in cutting those cards. Was it something to do with the azami maybe?

Quote from Moxnix »

What was your thought process behind cutting those cantrips especially ponder and brainstorm I find those cards To be excellent pretty much everywhere I put them and brainstorm being instant makes it feel free even in decks passing on counter magic the only thing i could guess would be where I found myself cutting things like probe in vintage where it was a proportion issue and I couldn't get things like my counterspell suite the correct numbers without shaving but in commander I rarely find there are not less powerful cards toward the end of the 99 worth replacing with at least the more powerful cantrips interested to hear what your thought process was in cutting those cards. Was it something to do with the azami maybe?

I will try to fill in for Death Diamond since he's taken a little while to respond.

The low CMC wizards were added due to the Storm synergy that they bring in addition to being sources of card draw with Azami, Lady of Scrolls on the table. The counter dorks, like Cursecatcher and Martyr of Frost, were particularly of interest for the synergy described as well as being additional counter protection. He played three games with the new additions and each time, those low CMC wizards just didn't do enough. In the early turns, when Azami hasn't hit play yet, they're just...not as good as the cantrips. The cantrips still add to the Storm count while drawing cards. That was the real difference so far as I can see: trading in early game draw and smoothing capabilities for more mid and late game draw power. Turns out it wasn't the best iteration for Death Diamond and his current play-style.

The biggest win, though, is that he finally added Mind Over Matter! Celebration! He played against my newly tweaked artifact based Memnarch deck and decided that he needed to be faster, heh heh. He finally added the 1 card combo to Azami. Whew.

lol. Hey Moxnix, how's it going. Long time no see. As ben pointed out, someone on here suggested cutting the cantrips for faster wizards so that when azami comes down I could get the draw train rolling much faster. Unfortunately, this deck only runs 34 lands which is pretty light so it needs those cantrips to ensure consistent land drops in the early game otherwise there wont be a mid or late game for me. Our group plays a good bit of wrath effects also so landing those early game wizards is a sure fire way to draw a wrath before azami is played and kill all those wizards which feels really bad and they might as well have been cantrips cause they did nothing anyway. Our group is also control heavy and azami is a high priority target for counters and removal so building around her is not smart at all. so now the deck is back to where it should be with little reliance on azami and more built around the storm count on the turn in which it counts. What do you think of the deck Mox, any suggestions you can think of?

I cut Isochron Scepter again because even with 11 options (pact being the worst one) it's still been a dead card in hand. I added another wizard I didn't even know existed called Rimewind Taskmage. It's been really good thus far. Really good with Candelabra and Thawing Glaciers.

Hey comrade, any game reports from this past weekend? It sounds like you were able to test the new Taskmage and it performed well. I'll make the change in the OP shortly.

Actually tha Taskmage was tested in a goldfish game but I really like it. It fits the theme of the deck. Illusionists Bracers beak it in half.

Oh, yeah it does. It goes infinite with anything that taps for more than U, doesn't it? That's really good...even though you don't currently have much to do with infinite mana. Not that it matters, since you can just cast Azami with infinite mana, untap Azami a billion times to draw your deck, and then cast your deck to straight up win the game. Have you also considered Aphetto Alchemist? It's definitely more restricted in what it can tap/untap, so it might not be good enough.

It can go infinite with azami and illusionist bracers though.