I actually lost a few games. You wouldn't imagine how quickly a few permanent destruction spells early on, targeting your snow-covered islands, can really ruin your day haha.
I did have one game that I won out of nowhere. Vs Azusa. Had a ton of insect tokens in play, Kozilek, Thrun, Azusa, and a Duplicant on my Magus of the Future. Untapped, managed to use a Coldsteel heart to cast High Tide. Last island tapped to snap, untapped two to turnabout, untapped the rest and combo'd off haha. One of those forehead wipers. Phew!
The only real issue I experienced through the night was heavy land destruction. Ghost Council just got lucky with their draws
I don't really see anything I'd care to run from NPH. I guess that's good because the list is tight as it is!
I've been futzing around a bit, I threw in Jin Gitaxis for the lulz, and I've gotten him off twice.
I ALWAYS would prefer timestretch to him, but sometimes he works out.
Once our black player myojin'd with geth's grimoire on the field, and was poised to draw like 20 cards thanks to everyone but me having a huge hand (this was a bad game, I got t3 mindtwisted for 6 due to an early dark ritual, and I couldn't stick azami because EVERYONE else countered her when I'd play her. Even with counter backup, someone else would counter my counterspell.) so yeah, as Jin was my only card I flashed him in, and since black had tapped out to cast myojin, he had to dump them all EOT. That turn I stuck azami, drew 7 EOT, and won just like that.
But yeah, this decks biggest weakness seems to be Ashling the Pilgrimactually. If I don't have FOW opening hand, he just never taps out, always saving his mana to pump her in response to anything I do and blow out all my wizards. :S I mean, it gets to be a stalemate, but the fact that he can hit with a X/X every turn makes things get bad fast.
I can only win by capsizing early and then never letting her hit the board again.
That said Caged Sun performs better than gauntlet for me due to doubling: Tolaria West, Minamo, Lonely Sandbar, Oboro as well as all my islands.
And no benefit for opponents playing blue is HUGE.
Other thing to note, vedalken shackles wins games.
I stole seedborn muse with it... priceless. I was drawing 8 cards a turn, pumping out mad C/A, and they couldn't touch me.
Shadowboy, this deck, this thread, is devoted to building and playing a 1v1 Competitive Azami, Lady of Scrolls. It really sounds like you're doing group play. It seems completely fun, and I wish you the best, but I certainly hope you're not looking here for some help and suggestions on the format you're describing; it won't work out well
My two recent and well overdue losses were both to early land destruction. I don't think I have any way about it. The deck's landbase really isn't bad, neither are the amount of mana stones. I'm about to change the version of the deck and document it's recent change, as well as update on strong recommended cards. In a day or so take a new look at the OP. It will reflect all of the above.
I think I need to make room for Phyrexian Metamorph. I have a few cards in mind but I'm still mulling it over.
Also, no; I don't do online play. Not currently at least. I may consider it when some time free's up while I'm home, but with how life's been recently that may not occur.
Good luck! Take a tablet with you and try to get an accurate record of the results. I'm always eager to see more of the deck's various incarnations in action!
Shadowboy, this deck, this thread, is devoted to building and playing a 1v1 Competitive Azami, Lady of Scrolls. It really sounds like you're doing group play. It seems completely fun, and I wish you the best, but I certainly hope you're not looking here for some help and suggestions on the format you're describing; it won't work out well
I play 1v1 & group, so yeah, I guess I should optimize it for 1v1 instead of trying to balance so it will do good in both.
My 1v1 games are usually blowouts though, so thats why I've been discussing the group games more, cooler stuff happens in them. The majority of games I play are 1v1, so I'll just discuss those and focus on optimizing for it.
I've found metamorph to be amazing, the fact that it can become extraplanar lens or gauntlet as well as their general, or at worst another sage of epityr or something like that is so useful.
I'd recommend it strongly.
@mantxi: but you can steal it back immediately. 2 mana is no biggy when you're untapping everything. Especially since you can do it EOT to keep bluffs online.
@sailor:
I feel you, its really really hard to not make the deck into blue-goodstuff.
The thing that keeps me in tribal, and obviously what makes azami so good is the card draw.
I was playing my momir vig deck yesterday and just getting pissed that I couldn't draw as often as I did in azami - yet vig is known as one of the best generals for insane CA!
I mean, sage of epityr, etc, are all great just because they're archivists with your general. Plus forbid wall is amazing.
However:
I cut lighthouse chronologist and several other wizards. I'm down to about 16 now, since they just weren't useful enough. For example, sea gate oracle, hapless scholar, etc, have all been eliminated since they don't do too much IMO.
Chronologist is plain and simple win-more, and I've found his slot better used for... anything else, really.
Memnarch though? I'd use him in ANY blue deck.
Get infinite mana, instant win. He's like a capsize with a body... except theft is way better than bounce.
But yeah, thats just me. He's in the same house that time stretch is in my book.
Ohhh... more discussion. echo mage sigil tracer
I've decided to run one of them, since I don't have enough 3 drops. (I don't want to use sea-gate oracle due to his effect being IMO not beneficial enough.)
The tracer can copy stuff multiple times, which is nice, but requires many wizards, and makes it so you can't draw.
The echo mage is self-sufficient, but requires more initial investment.
I'm leaning toward the tracer, just because she lets you draw-go better since i bloody hate levelup.
Which do you all think is better and why?
Or are both unusable?
The big reason I like them is that the hoard of notions player I go against quite often runs 16 counterspells, so being able to copy my or his counter is so useful. We frequently have counterspell wars, and its pretty essential not to lose them (kikijiki pestermite combo will go off, for example)
Another thing I guess.
I finally cut solemn simulacrum. I was using him as a ramp card, but I realized that he just takes up a slot that I'd want for something else.
What are everyone's thoughts on coalition relic?
I really like it, compared to ramos it has several pros and cons.
+No sac.
-You have to wait a turn to make 2 mana with it, unlike ramos.
+Can make 3 mana in a turn with the help of tezzeret.
Well, the big thing is that you have to wait to get 2 mana out of it while with ramos you can get your 2nd whenever you want, at the cost of losing your rock forever. I really like the relic just because not saccing it is nice, and you can wait to decide whether to chargecounter or not till opponent's eot, so you can save it for countermana, and if it isn't used for that at least get a free +1 mana next mainphase.
I'm testing relic over ramos right now and I've liked it, I almost always have a spell i can play in main phase 1, and since I don't take combat steps ever, I play my wizards then with no drawback.
I choose Eye of Ramos over Coalition Relic because often times I'm combo'ing off with infinite colorless mana and I need UUU for finishing my opponent off. Turning 3 colorless into a Ramos, instantly giving me UU, then a mox for the third U is generally how that works. Relic is great, but waiting a turn could kill me
I run 11, yikes!
Ramp is REALLY important in my meta, everyone has at least 10 so I had to follow suit or get left in the dust.
Even in 1v1, being at 4 mana on t4 vs. their 9 mana is no bueno. Plus a lot of guys run heavy land destruction, so this slaps them in the FACE.
Used to run mana vault, replaced with sea scryer.
I don't run Eye or Relic, thinking of adding one (in place of either gilded lotus or sapphire medallion, hence why I asked for opinions.
Used to have thran dynamo, replaced with gilded lotus.
The difference between 4 and 5 mana in this deck is insignificant (due to all these rocks) and 3 blue is infinitely better than 3 colorless.
Lens and Sun are AMAZING, giving me 3 outs for palinchron along with high tide.
I tried running all them + gauntlet of power for a while, but I didn't need that much mana. Or that much redundancy, really, I usually hit Tez, sun, high tide (super easy due to merchant scroll/m-tutor) or lens every game, so having gauntlet isn't something necessary.
Justifications for specific rocks:
Sea Scryer: Is a wizard. That is all. Plus it filters to blue which is nice.
Coldsteel & diamond: in conjunction with sol ring or mana crypt, t2 azami/patron wizard. (patron wizard t2 is GG if you can hit a wizard every turn!)
Monoliths: Power artifact.
Medallion: Weakest one IMO, but paying 1 less per blue spell adds up to a heck of a lot of mana.
Moxen: Free, and easy to play. Especially when I can easily draw replacement lands in lategame, early game the diamond is kind of a risk, but it pays off more often than not. Chrome is just a beast.
Sol Ring/Mana Crypt: They should be in EVERY deck that can afford them. Mana crypt is IMO the best mana rock in EDH. Period. (But it is 80 bucks...) Still, both get you T3 azami, which due to my build using 3 free counterspells, is often very viable, and game winning to boot. I just can't sing crypt enough praises, its an ancient tomb that lets you drop an island too. It gets me t1 ertai like once every 15 games, very funny.
Gilded Lotus: 2nd weakest, but having forbid mana/hinder mana immediately after playing it makes it a totally solid card, plus ramping up by 3 is HUGE. Get it out t4, have 9+ mana t5. Not to shabby.
I want to run less, but its SO HARD to cut anything. T_T
On the other hand, I get time stretch off on t5 or 6 fairly often, so it does pay off.
Yeah, TBH gilded was probably going to be the next one I'd cut. Maybe the medallion too, since it doesn't help with any of my artifact stuff.
I still like how it leaves countermana open when cast, then lets me timestretch next turn, but as said there are far better uses for my mana on t4/5 than a lotus.
I'm thinking of possibly throwing in the helm of awakening sensei's divining top combo instead of either of those.
After tossing down magus, infinite free draw is sick.
I guess I'll add them and test it.
I was putting some thought into it, and I was wondering if I should add in another Competative, 1v1 list for Azami, Lady of Scrolls under my decklist on post 1. I know some people here run variants, and think the other big variant included taking infinite turns. If you all feel strongly about that, I'll gladly formulate the first post to accomidate both builds and expland on the spirit of each build. It could help readers decide on the route they want to take.
As an aside, I cut Gilded Lotus early on. It just didn't mesh with the feel of the deck. Helm of Awakening totally has my backing though! Hah
I finally got rid of lotus, like solemn its been a mainstay in all my decks and I was sad to see it go.
Is the infinite turns deck one using planar portal? Don't like the portal one bit.
Also, now that I run so many infinimana combos I've been seriously looking at diviner's wand
Free equip, draw into answers once you hit your infinite mana (4 colorless to draw!) and of course you can kill someone via general damage (LOL!) with it.
Plus it can tap to draw with azami on the field, or tap for patron wizard, which people forget about sometimes, so you might be able to sneakily counter something.
I don't know, but I'm going to test with it.
It seems really solid to me though. (I've had times where I go infinite mana but have no BSZ or other outlets, so this can stabilize that a bit)
I know the wand has already been discussed for your build but not put in, did it just not prove good enough?
I think when I considered it, I was looking at it from more of a general damage aspect. I never considered infinite colorless + this = draw your deck. I'll add it back to my main post and put more thought into it. Thanks for bringing it back up
Tested my new deck tonight.
Diviners Wand won me two games.
Simply put, palinchron infinite (or other infinite mana) then vedalken aethermage (in game two) into it, draw out deck, hit for 21 general damage.
Game 1 it was in opening. It was considered irrelevant so it sat there, equipped to azami for free when I cast her. Then I power artifacted my grim monolith.
Also, it isn't really dead. I mean, you can make a powerful blocker out of a wizard by drawing when someone attacks you. After my opponent realized that, he didn't bother trying to hit me again.
And yeah, 3 to play, draw with azami or tap for patron wizard, and instant GG with infinimana that can be vedalken aethermageed.
Thats the big deal IMO.
Its the only wizard that 100% wins the game with infinite mana as long as you have access to your general.
Beyond that, it equips for free and pumps with draw, that alone is relevant.
As for metamorph, I never once countered scion when he was cast (different opponent) instead I casted him, academy ruinsed and it was lulzy. I did take 20 general damage due to karrthus and hellkite overlord and charger, but he didn't have another hastey dragon
@handsome: lol! That is pretty funny. I figured it was something like that, cause just being a wizard makes it so relevant.
Although... without patron wizard or azami or infinite mana it does nothing... but then again, this deck can't win without an infinite combo (at least in my experience, either the opponent scoops to me having azami, extraplanar lens, and 8 cards in hand, or I infinimana/mind over matter to victory. I've never won just by say treachery beatdown or whatever. So simply being another wincon for when you go infinite, as well as a valuable support tool (if nothing else, you can draw at any time, so if your opponent didn't play anything worth countering, why not draw EOT?) as well as allowing you to block/kill early aggro makes it worth the slot IMO.
Also how many 3cmc spells do you guys run?
Even with wand, I'm still hit-or-miss on having something to do once I go infinite mana, I'm thinking of adding drift of phantasms as another way to tutor for the following:
sigil tracer (meh, may be taking this out next build)
**forbid
long term plans (why tutor this? Maybe you need power artifact or something?)
rings of brighthearth
**blue sun's zenith
**capsize
**diviner's wand
*basalt monolith (just noticed I accidentally removed this in my last update, gotta change that)
ertai
patron wizard
trinket mage
vedalken shackles
*extraplanar lens
*vendillion clique
eye of ramos/coalition relic (i run eye over relic after testing, personally)
hinder
dissipate
faerie trickery
Stuff with * is a good choice IMO, stuff with ** is OMG TUTORING THAT HECK YES!
So, if you infinimana it tutors out the colorless wincon (wand) and if you infiniblue it hits BSZ for you.
If you aren't ready for infinite, you can always get the pieces, IE rings or basalt.
I mean, transmute is slow, but also factoring in that I have tolaria west & muddle the mixture, I can hit basically half the deck and all my wincons with tutors.
On the flipside, I HATE transmute.
Sorcery & revealing sucks.
But I'm still going to test.
Because I really really hate having grim monolith and power artifact in opening hand and nothing to use them on.
FINAL NOTE:
Remember how I talked about ashling being such a bad matchup? I was wrong. I kicked his butt so badly last night.
Unfortunately no new testing tonight though, either sharuum or vig are going up to bat My friends hate azami so much they won't let me play her two nights in a row.
Tomorrow tho I may take her to a LGS tourney, so I should gather good data there.
Plan A is to use the opponent's best stuff against him. I found stealing and copying to be very effective against decks with consistent recursion and very high resilience to removal. Clone effects also become card advantage when used to copy generals with enchantments on them. What prevented me from upping the number of this kind of cards is the observation that such reactionary tactic don't work well versus decks that don't use that many creatures. In such cases, I use the clones to copy my own creatures that are relevant to the matchup like Patron Wizard, Fatesticher or Trinket Mage. I also use stealing and copying as a way to delay my opponent (kill/steal their general, remove their best attacker) as I assemble the pieces of my plan B:
I chose not to include Helm of Awakening only because I don't want other players to benefit from the cards I put down. Psychosis Crawler was added so I can win even if I didn't have extra mana (With Cloud Key/Etherium Sculptor in play, I can put Sol Ring/Mana Crypt/Mana Vault in the battlefield as I draw them, cast the Crawler and win by drawing more cards).
Ulamog has been Briberied from my deck a couple of times, but he was promptly stolen back/copied, haha. Anyway, I chose him over the butcher of truth because I feel I have enough card drawing via Azami, and the uncounterable destroy effect is neat, especially because it is colorless and therefore immune to Iona, Shield of Emeria's forbidding gaze.
The Infinite Gyre can also be used to generate infinite (arbitrarily large amount of) mana. With Mind Over Matter in play, tap and untap Azami to find Fallowsage. Play the sage, tap to draw two cards. Discard a card to untap the sage, lather rinse, repeat, until you have enough cards to untap all your permanents via MoM. Float some mana, and then discard Ulamog to reshuffle your graveyard into your library, then repeat the process. Mana, mana, mana! (The same can be achieved with an active Arcanis.) The mana can then be used to play Psychosis Crawler/Capsizex400/Blue Sun's Zenith for 5,000, etc.
Putting Cunning Wish in the list solved a lot of deck building problems for me. It allowed me to cut the situational instants (situational for my build) from the main deck, making the 100 a lot tighter. Cards in my wishboard include Hibernation, Brain Freeze, Blue Sun's Zenith and Sunder. I usually wish for Brain Freeze after combo 1, Blue Sun's Zenith after Combo 2, Sunder when I'm ahead in board position.
Also, I'm a fan of Scroll Rack. It can be frustrating when you're drawing a lot of cards and you're still not seeing what you need. Scroll rack addresses that frustration with tender loving care. "Scroll rack for twenty" almost always means "I'll get that Mind Over Matter this time and win."
There are days when the MtG Gods smile upon me and give me Patron Wizard, Surgespanner, Crucible of Worlds+Strip Mine, Opposition and Capsize in my opening hand and early draws. So this is my Plan C: make my opponent concede via pure blue magic awesomeness. Most days I just use these cards to support and protect my Plan A and B.
Mana and other Mandatory Inclusions Crucible of Worlds (Now that I think about it, this and Wasteland and Strip Mine should be in the Disruption Suite category)
Pithing Needle (For Generals and other cards with annoying activated abilities) Relic of Progenitus (For graveyard-dependent strategies and to ensure the Brain Freeze Win against opponents with Eldrazis in their decks) Oblivion Stone (For all-mana-no-business starts, Anti-Iona explosive device) Graceful Adept (I really don't want to discard the cards I'm drawing. I don't see her in the lists here. Any reason why?) Fatesticher (Extra mana when needed, extra defense against Dragons/Colossi/Eldrazi, Extra Color Hoser) Aphetto Alchemist (I use him mostly to untap Mana Vault) Stonybrook Banneret (Some kinda ramp) Sapphire Medallion (See Stonybrook Banneret)
I don't have Palinchron on my list, but I put these in so I can cast more of the cards I draw. The fragile men with pointy hats also appreciate the +1/+1. Maybe I'll reconsider adding the infi mana combo when I have acquired a copy of Extraplanar Lens and snow-covered islands.
I prefer lands over artifact ramp because I don't really have big spells to ramp into. I leave the ramping to my opponent so he can cast big creatures that I can steal or copy. Wait. No, not really. I like artifact ramp. I just don't know what cards to cut for Sky Diamond and the like.
I put deck tags for ya, makes it a bit easier to read, will post comments in a sec.
I'll be utterly frank, azami works best with a HUGE focus on combo. Combo is how you win, and the rest of the deck is there to draw you said combo.
As long as plan A is steal effects, you'll never be at the point where you win every game (Is that what you are going for?)
Basically, you need
time spiral is better than ulamog, yes it requires an initial investment, but its always a relevant play even without double mana. (tho you want to wait for a mana doubler before using it)
snap, etc all untap the lands so they help you ramp up/palinchron infinite.
I'd also recommend the power artifact basalt/grim monolith infinite, even though its colorless it still does wonders.
Less control magic, more long-term plans and counterspells is also what I'd recommend. the attitude should be that you won't let iona hit the field, not that you need an answer when she does.
Besides, you should win by the time they have the mana to get her online.
I'm sorry, I just really don't think relying on other people's stuff is a good way to go about it.
Getting a memnarch or capsize lock off of infinite mana is the best way to win, or blue sun's zenith for game, or MoM into time spiral into win. (specifically mom into high tide into time spiral)
Also, I recommend extra turns. Time Stretch is very easy to get to 10 mana here and is an instant win if it resolves.
(Thats just my opinion tho, I think most people don't run Time stretch, but I've found it too good to pass up.
i haven't played azami, but i have played against the deck a lot. i think that what mamiso intends to do with the balanced thievery and disruption package is to have some delay or distraction tactics for the opponent/s while waiting for mind over matter to hit the table. if you go straight out combo with heavy counter protection, it'll be really problematic if static effect cards that sabotage the deck manage to hit the table very early (something like an iona cheated into play by loyal retainers , or turn one pithing needle / phyrexian revoker, or even gaddock teeg). not to mention combination of these cards will result in a headache... yes, G/W can ramp and search insanely to get these cards out before turn 3.
what i think the deck really needs, is to ramp up mana early. it's a relatively slow starter and pretty much vulnerable the first 3 or 4 turns. but really formidable midgame when the resources have stabilized. to the more experienced azami players, any suggestions on how to ramp in blue? or more specifically, what to do the first few turns -- to be aggressive with mana stones and/or wizard permanents or leave mana open for counterspells?
Went to Sunday tourney and got second!
LGS is kinda casual, thats probably why. Didn't see any goblin type decks like mantxi had to deal with. Also almost every opponent made terrible play mistakes at some point that cost them the match. It was a small tourney with only 4 rounds, second place was 4 new phyrexia boosters :/ Got spellskiteand jank.
Anyway, I also forgot how most of the matches went since to celebrate my friends and I got super baked... I forgot most of yesterday actually.
Here is what I do remember though:
Match 1: Sharuum.
As I know sharuum inside out (my first general) this is pretty easy. He's doing the standard combo build as creature beatdown sharuum is stupid and fail.
G1: I win T5 via MoM. He has all his combo pieces in GY and would have gone off T6. I say "I know, thats why I won on my T5 "
G2: He starts in the lead, sol ring, t2 master transmuter into t3 magister sphinx.
I manage to treachery transmuter, turn a sky diamond into caged sun (before it kills me, I'm at 2 life lol) wash out the field, counter his recast transmuter, and stall with loads of counterspells till I hit palinchron and go infinite. I stay at 2 life till the end. As a funny note, I remember I let him land disciple of the vault (he had no way to sac artifacts so I was like whatevs) and swing with it, he tried to hatred it up to 2 power so I was forced to snap it . Very close match. He reveals that he didn't draw any counters all game despite running 8, and no tutors, but hey, he got t2 Mspinx so I think he kept a pretty good hand.
Match 2: Gaddock Teeg
He was running Khymera's build sans the stuff thats 100bucks+. I mull to 5, dumping all my cards. I stick 2 islands, coldsteel heart, sage of epityr, and stonybrook banneret.
He goes first, t1 steelshapers gift for fire and ice.
I sage, he hits a t2 stoneforge, pulls up greaves.
I pull mana crypt (moved from fourth from top to top via sage!), enabling me to drop banneret and coldsteel this turn.
T3, he drops Mother of Runes (well damn, do not like!). During my turn he puts soFI into play via stoneforge. I'm feeling down since I have an island as my draw. total mana: 6. Hand is empty. I have to toss down azami, draw 3, a wasteland vedalken shackles and a counterspell.
T4, he equips sofi to stoneforge, I notice he hasn't gotten green mana yet. hits, kills azami, misses his land drop.
I draw play wasteland, shackles,
T5, he gets a forest, casts greaves & teeg, equipping Teeg with them. Hits with stoneforge, I steal mother of runes and chump with her. He forgot about shackles.
I draw capsize, play land, bounce soFI and still have mana open for my counterspell.
He tries to recast sofi, I counter. He plays yavimaya hollow, hits with both since I don't have shackle mana.
I draw extraplanar lens, cast, end.
He pops quasali pridemage to kill shackles (shoulda hit lens, my friend) and then hits.
I recast azami, draw into an island.
He can't kill azami.
Draw MOM that turn, and he scoops. (without realizing I only have 3 cards in hand and am really low on mana XD)
G2: He gets a slow start with no lands after his 2nd till T6, and his hand was full of 3cmc stuff. I win easily by diviner's wand + ROB + basalt monolithing for 21 general damage.
M3: Zur
This is my friend, testing a new deck that is really good (its zur, duh!)
G1, he has more counterspells than I do, hinders azami for the GG.
G2, The opposite happens, I hinder zur, he doesn't draw any tutors before I set up total board control.
G3, neither of us draw any counters, but I got t1 sol ring, t2, surgespanner and keep him at 2 lands.
Final: lyzolda
Holy crap I did not expect this deck. I need to figure out a way to contain super-aggro.
T1 dark ritual (wtf who even runs this?) phyarena, T2 some other crap, t3 general, and she just blows me out, making more creatures, saccing them to blow up my creatures, and just has too much CA.
G2: Same ☺☺☺☺. except T1 lotus petal, chrome mox into general. Turns out this guy was undefeated for good reason. T3 he gets the rakdos discard land online, and since he can blow azami if I play her, Im stuck with a dwindling hand and no real resources.
So yeah, overall pretty good, i do have a problem with super quick aggro that I'll need to work out, that Lyzolda deck was really insane though.
EDIT:
As a note, my new build after this tourney will be running drift of phantasms and soothsaying.
Reason being, I find that many times I can get infinimana but have nothing to use it on.
Soothsaying + untapped azami on board with infinite mana is a 100% win, and drift turns into either the pieces for the infinimana combo, or if need be diviner's wand or other utility stuff.
So yeah, we'll see if it helps consistency a bit.
EDIT 2:
Just realized I think I got some of the stuff from Teeg & sharuum matches wrong, not too much, I mean the results were the same but if mana counts or stuff like that don't add up, its just cause i forgot, sorry.
V1.02 was posted. I added and removed some stuff. Take a look. I'll do some testing this week and next week and post results.
Also, I want posters here to remember that sometimes the optional sideboard rule is in effect. Since this thread is about competitive 1v1 environment, the sideboard is actually pretty nice. Use the 10 cards to help vs your bad matchups, that way you don't have to dilute your 99 with stuff that can be complete crap!
As an aside, I think for V1.03 I may lead off with replacing Mouth of Ronom for Ancient Tomb. Tomb would help me combo off faster, which is crucial for this deck.
*Edit*: Also, I had the pleasure of playtesting vs Arcum Dagsson tonight. Game 1 was very close. Arcum had a ton of artifacts in play by the time I hit land 6. I had 5 islands and a Riptide Laboratory. I just managed to combo off faster. Was pretty close.
Second game wasn't nearly as close. He got pretty mana screwed, with his Sensei's Divining Top revealing way too many islands. Poor guy. He'll get his revenge I'm sure.
@ Mantxi: too big to quote lol! Thanks, I was really happy too.
At your add/removes: I cut chronologist a while ago lol, good choice there! The wand is an amazing tool, I hope it serves you well.
I also removed mana vault, although I did it for the sake of mana crypt)
It can't go infinite, and it only makes colorless.
I never ran lightning greaves, but I'd recommend, 38 lands instead of 37, I rarely miss land drops T1-4 and don't have preordain or stuff like that.
I'm also of the opinion that rite is not needed with metamorph. We can kill generals with the metamorph, recast with academy ruins.
I mean, yeah rite is cool when you hit sower, but otherwise its kinda underwhelming and can't kill shrouded generals.
IMO, with all the control magic (shackles, treachery, sower) and bounce we don't need cloning spells as much for removal.
@Farchyld: YES! I love the tomb! Its far better than mouth IMO, and fits the 2 colorless required for azami perfectly! Also it + t1 coldsteel heart is sick!
*This space is reserved, I'm going to post my decklist here soon*
No deck will be perfect. If you alter the decklist too much to cater towards an aggro environment, you will either lose combo steam or become weak against something else. It's just a fact in this game. Think about including optional sideboard
I'm going to test it with Tomb > Ronom. I've never activated the snow land for 4 damage. Maybe I'll need it in the future, but certainly not now!
*edit*: Still looking to tweak the decklist for better synergy. I'm discovered I'm still running Temple Bell! This will likely be cut asap for something better. I'm debating Jace, the Mind Sculptor. There may be some better options though.
*edit edit*: Also I may be able to remove Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir from the sideboard in light of a better aggro/combo card. The easiest games with this deck are vs midrange. SB should be more devoted to either fighting aggro or combo.
I'd say fighting aggro should be the SB focus more than combo - in my experience combo is pretty easy as long as we do a draw-go playstyle.
I was curious as to why temple bell was still there, I felt it definitely was a weak link.
If you haven't before I'd actually suggest trying drift of phantasms over Jace. Free brainstorm is sick, so is unsummon, but tutoring a choice of about 13 of the best cards in the deck is even better IMO.
In my testing, drift has never disappointed, it makes getting infinimana/fetching a wincon so much easier. It hits BSZ and diviner's wand, hits rings and basalt, hits a few counterspells and even some wizards. Definitely cool.
The problem is that it essentially reads:
1UU
Sorcery
cannot be countered
search your library for a card with cmc 3 reveal, put in hand...
but then again, thats a pretty great card right there!
I've really gotta post my deck so you guys can critique it, I meant to before but it got dismantled (she sharuum and vig all share about 30 cards between eachother, including FOW, my best lands, and other good stuff). I'm rebuilding it like today though.
Mine has very few wizards now (15) and a ton more tutoring.
I mean, I still want to plop down azami and go crazy drawing, but I replaced the excess wizards (chronologist, sage of fables, etc) with drift, more counterspells, and some other goodies.
Has anyone tested library of alexandria?
It seems like we can get up to 7 hand fairly fast even lategame, and a free draw every turn is always amazing.
I have considered more transmute cards, but ultimately decided to skip them. Muddle is a cheap counterspell that picks out combo pieces from the deck. Drift is a 0/5 defender flying, but more importantly not a wizard. That's why I passed on it.
I have not tested Library of Alexandria because I do not own one, and they are expensive hehe. Someone else test this and let me know the results
Shadowboy, get a damn decklist here! I am always interested in seeing what others are running. This helps me in choosing what cards to add and cut from my own build! hehe.
I'm having one of those moments. I think there were some good cards i thought of before I went to the bar with a friend, but now that I'm home I don't recall.
Decklist will be up tonight! I'm finishing reconstruction right now and I'll post it...
May be a bit sub-optimal, i forgot to write it down last time (the build that got 2nd X_x) so I think I may have missed some stuff, can't recall exactly what though.
I know that forgetful feeling all too well man, not fun, not fun at all.
...I would proxy a library but my playgroup would hate me, we only allow proxys for cheap stuff or stuff you own.
Decklist to be posted below: for real!
EDIT: Look for the list in like 4 hours, I gotta clean my house real fast, just realized my mother is stopping by for a pre-finals wellwishing visit...
EDIT2:just got cockatrice, gonna start saving my decklists instead of dismantling and forgetting every time T_T
so far this list looks worse than my old 16 wizard build, but I can't remember what I did to make that one "click" so I'll just have to keep testing.
This is my current test. Gonna cut time stretch and beacon prolly, I just have never lost when they've hit the board.
Running a REALLY sick tutor package, long term plans, fabricate, tez, drift, muddle, tolaria, expedition map, merchant scroll, mystical tutor! I've found being aggressive with them works (as in, trying to hit combo pieces as fast as possible).
It helps to know what you are playing against, if its black or red I ALWAYS keep counters open for Land-D or discard effects. Blue, Green, White I don't worry as much (I'm talking t1-3 here btw) and multicolor it all depends on the general. Nothing sucks like tutoring up a basalt monolith with rings of brighthearth in play only to be instant speed discarded, or have them hit myojin of night next turn (black decks here have INSANE ramp). So yeah, I'll test this list tonight, tweak it, etc.
++I'll be running snow lands as soon as I can get them, probably cutting riptide lab for scrying sheets.
A few other things to note, about cuts mostly, but I gotta go so I'll post that later.
Decklist will be up tonight! I'm finishing reconstruction right now and I'll post it...
May be a bit sub-optimal, i forgot to write it down last time (the build that got 2nd X_x) so I think I may have missed some stuff, can't recall exactly what though.
I know that forgetful feeling all too well man, not fun, not fun at all.
...I would proxy a library but my playgroup would hate me, we only allow proxys for cheap stuff or stuff you own.
Decklist to be posted below: for real!
EDIT: Look for the list in like 4 hours, I gotta clean my house real fast, just realized my mother is stopping by for a pre-finals wellwishing visit...
EDIT2:just got cockatrice, gonna start saving my decklists instead of dismantling and forgetting every time T_T
so far this list looks worse than my old 16 wizard build, but I can't remember what I did to make that one "click" so I'll just have to keep testing.
This is my current test. Gonna cut time stretch and beacon prolly, I just have never lost when they've hit the board.
Running a REALLY sick tutor package, long term plans, fabricate, tez, drift, muddle, tolaria, expedition map, merchant scroll, mystical tutor! I've found being aggressive with them works (as in, trying to hit combo pieces as fast as possible).
It helps to know what you are playing against, if its black or red I ALWAYS keep counters open for Land-D or discard effects. Blue, Green, White I don't worry as much (I'm talking t1-3 here btw) and multicolor it all depends on the general. Nothing sucks like tutoring up a basalt monolith with rings of brighthearth in play only to be instant speed discarded, or have them hit myojin of night next turn (black decks here have INSANE ramp). So yeah, I'll test this list tonight, tweak it, etc.
++I'll be running snow lands as soon as I can get them, probably cutting riptide lab for scrying sheets.
A few other things to note, about cuts mostly, but I gotta go so I'll post that later.
Ultimately I cut Reliquary Tower. I found that by the time I had ample cards in hand to use the tower, I really wanted more Islands in play and was about to win before discarding.
There's a lot of stuff in your list that seems to be a staple across all Azami builds, and even more that seems interchangeable. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination; it just means we're all thinking alike with playtesting!
Post some match reports!!!
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What are your thoughts on the new set? Anything worth considering? This decklist is tight as it is, so it'd have to be exceptional.
Going to play tonight against some new blood, so I'll post results then!
I did have one game that I won out of nowhere. Vs Azusa. Had a ton of insect tokens in play, Kozilek, Thrun, Azusa, and a Duplicant on my Magus of the Future. Untapped, managed to use a Coldsteel heart to cast High Tide. Last island tapped to snap, untapped two to turnabout, untapped the rest and combo'd off haha. One of those forehead wipers. Phew!
The only real issue I experienced through the night was heavy land destruction. Ghost Council just got lucky with their draws
I don't really see anything I'd care to run from NPH. I guess that's good because the list is tight as it is!
I ALWAYS would prefer timestretch to him, but sometimes he works out.
Once our black player myojin'd with geth's grimoire on the field, and was poised to draw like 20 cards thanks to everyone but me having a huge hand (this was a bad game, I got t3 mindtwisted for 6 due to an early dark ritual, and I couldn't stick azami because EVERYONE else countered her when I'd play her. Even with counter backup, someone else would counter my counterspell.) so yeah, as Jin was my only card I flashed him in, and since black had tapped out to cast myojin, he had to dump them all EOT. That turn I stuck azami, drew 7 EOT, and won just like that.
But yeah, this decks biggest weakness seems to be Ashling the Pilgrimactually. If I don't have FOW opening hand, he just never taps out, always saving his mana to pump her in response to anything I do and blow out all my wizards. :S I mean, it gets to be a stalemate, but the fact that he can hit with a X/X every turn makes things get bad fast.
I can only win by capsizing early and then never letting her hit the board again.
That said Caged Sun performs better than gauntlet for me due to doubling: Tolaria West, Minamo, Lonely Sandbar, Oboro as well as all my islands.
And no benefit for opponents playing blue is HUGE.
Other thing to note, vedalken shackles wins games.
I stole seedborn muse with it... priceless. I was drawing 8 cards a turn, pumping out mad C/A, and they couldn't touch me.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
My two recent and well overdue losses were both to early land destruction. I don't think I have any way about it. The deck's landbase really isn't bad, neither are the amount of mana stones. I'm about to change the version of the deck and document it's recent change, as well as update on strong recommended cards. In a day or so take a new look at the OP. It will reflect all of the above.
I think I need to make room for Phyrexian Metamorph. I have a few cards in mind but I'm still mulling it over.
Also, no; I don't do online play. Not currently at least. I may consider it when some time free's up while I'm home, but with how life's been recently that may not occur.
I play 1v1 & group, so yeah, I guess I should optimize it for 1v1 instead of trying to balance so it will do good in both.
My 1v1 games are usually blowouts though, so thats why I've been discussing the group games more, cooler stuff happens in them. The majority of games I play are 1v1, so I'll just discuss those and focus on optimizing for it.
I've found metamorph to be amazing, the fact that it can become extraplanar lens or gauntlet as well as their general, or at worst another sage of epityr or something like that is so useful.
I'd recommend it strongly.
@mantxi: but you can steal it back immediately. 2 mana is no biggy when you're untapping everything. Especially since you can do it EOT to keep bluffs online.
@sailor:
I feel you, its really really hard to not make the deck into blue-goodstuff.
The thing that keeps me in tribal, and obviously what makes azami so good is the card draw.
I was playing my momir vig deck yesterday and just getting pissed that I couldn't draw as often as I did in azami - yet vig is known as one of the best generals for insane CA!
I mean, sage of epityr, etc, are all great just because they're archivists with your general. Plus forbid wall is amazing.
However:
I cut lighthouse chronologist and several other wizards. I'm down to about 16 now, since they just weren't useful enough. For example, sea gate oracle, hapless scholar, etc, have all been eliminated since they don't do too much IMO.
Chronologist is plain and simple win-more, and I've found his slot better used for... anything else, really.
Memnarch though? I'd use him in ANY blue deck.
Get infinite mana, instant win. He's like a capsize with a body... except theft is way better than bounce.
But yeah, thats just me. He's in the same house that time stretch is in my book.
Ohhh... more discussion.
echo mage
sigil tracer
I've decided to run one of them, since I don't have enough 3 drops. (I don't want to use sea-gate oracle due to his effect being IMO not beneficial enough.)
The tracer can copy stuff multiple times, which is nice, but requires many wizards, and makes it so you can't draw.
The echo mage is self-sufficient, but requires more initial investment.
I'm leaning toward the tracer, just because she lets you draw-go better since i bloody hate levelup.
Which do you all think is better and why?
Or are both unusable?
The big reason I like them is that the hoard of notions player I go against quite often runs 16 counterspells, so being able to copy my or his counter is so useful. We frequently have counterspell wars, and its pretty essential not to lose them (kikijiki pestermite combo will go off, for example)
Another thing I guess.
I finally cut solemn simulacrum. I was using him as a ramp card, but I realized that he just takes up a slot that I'd want for something else.
What are everyone's thoughts on coalition relic?
I really like it, compared to ramos it has several pros and cons.
+No sac.
-You have to wait a turn to make 2 mana with it, unlike ramos.
+Can make 3 mana in a turn with the help of tezzeret.
Well, the big thing is that you have to wait to get 2 mana out of it while with ramos you can get your 2nd whenever you want, at the cost of losing your rock forever. I really like the relic just because not saccing it is nice, and you can wait to decide whether to chargecounter or not till opponent's eot, so you can save it for countermana, and if it isn't used for that at least get a free +1 mana next mainphase.
I'm testing relic over ramos right now and I've liked it, I almost always have a spell i can play in main phase 1, and since I don't take combat steps ever, I play my wizards then with no drawback.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
I choose Eye of Ramos over Coalition Relic because often times I'm combo'ing off with infinite colorless mana and I need UUU for finishing my opponent off. Turning 3 colorless into a Ramos, instantly giving me UU, then a mox for the third U is generally how that works. Relic is great, but waiting a turn could kill me
Ramp is REALLY important in my meta, everyone has at least 10 so I had to follow suit or get left in the dust.
Even in 1v1, being at 4 mana on t4 vs. their 9 mana is no bueno. Plus a lot of guys run heavy land destruction, so this slaps them in the FACE.
Used to run mana vault, replaced with sea scryer.
I don't run Eye or Relic, thinking of adding one (in place of either gilded lotus or sapphire medallion, hence why I asked for opinions.
Used to have thran dynamo, replaced with gilded lotus.
The difference between 4 and 5 mana in this deck is insignificant (due to all these rocks) and 3 blue is infinitely better than 3 colorless.
Lens and Sun are AMAZING, giving me 3 outs for palinchron along with high tide.
I tried running all them + gauntlet of power for a while, but I didn't need that much mana. Or that much redundancy, really, I usually hit Tez, sun, high tide (super easy due to merchant scroll/m-tutor) or lens every game, so having gauntlet isn't something necessary.
Justifications for specific rocks:
Sea Scryer: Is a wizard. That is all. Plus it filters to blue which is nice.
Coldsteel & diamond: in conjunction with sol ring or mana crypt, t2 azami/patron wizard. (patron wizard t2 is GG if you can hit a wizard every turn!)
Monoliths: Power artifact.
Medallion: Weakest one IMO, but paying 1 less per blue spell adds up to a heck of a lot of mana.
Moxen: Free, and easy to play. Especially when I can easily draw replacement lands in lategame, early game the diamond is kind of a risk, but it pays off more often than not. Chrome is just a beast.
Sol Ring/Mana Crypt: They should be in EVERY deck that can afford them. Mana crypt is IMO the best mana rock in EDH. Period. (But it is 80 bucks...) Still, both get you T3 azami, which due to my build using 3 free counterspells, is often very viable, and game winning to boot. I just can't sing crypt enough praises, its an ancient tomb that lets you drop an island too. It gets me t1 ertai like once every 15 games, very funny.
Gilded Lotus: 2nd weakest, but having forbid mana/hinder mana immediately after playing it makes it a totally solid card, plus ramping up by 3 is HUGE. Get it out t4, have 9+ mana t5. Not to shabby.
I want to run less, but its SO HARD to cut anything. T_T
On the other hand, I get time stretch off on t5 or 6 fairly often, so it does pay off.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
I still like how it leaves countermana open when cast, then lets me timestretch next turn, but as said there are far better uses for my mana on t4/5 than a lotus.
I'm thinking of possibly throwing in the helm of awakening
sensei's divining top combo instead of either of those.
After tossing down magus, infinite free draw is sick.
I guess I'll add them and test it.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
As an aside, I cut Gilded Lotus early on. It just didn't mesh with the feel of the deck. Helm of Awakening totally has my backing though! Hah
Is the infinite turns deck one using planar portal? Don't like the portal one bit.
Also, now that I run so many infinimana combos I've been seriously looking at diviner's wand
Free equip, draw into answers once you hit your infinite mana (4 colorless to draw!) and of course you can kill someone via general damage (LOL!) with it.
Plus it can tap to draw with azami on the field, or tap for patron wizard, which people forget about sometimes, so you might be able to sneakily counter something.
I don't know, but I'm going to test with it.
It seems really solid to me though. (I've had times where I go infinite mana but have no BSZ or other outlets, so this can stabilize that a bit)
I know the wand has already been discussed for your build but not put in, did it just not prove good enough?
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
Diviners Wand won me two games.
Simply put, palinchron infinite (or other infinite mana) then vedalken aethermage (in game two) into it, draw out deck, hit for 21 general damage.
Game 1 it was in opening. It was considered irrelevant so it sat there, equipped to azami for free when I cast her. Then I power artifacted my grim monolith.
Also, it isn't really dead. I mean, you can make a powerful blocker out of a wizard by drawing when someone attacks you. After my opponent realized that, he didn't bother trying to hit me again.
And yeah, 3 to play, draw with azami or tap for patron wizard, and instant GG with infinimana that can be vedalken aethermageed.
Thats the big deal IMO.
Its the only wizard that 100% wins the game with infinite mana as long as you have access to your general.
Beyond that, it equips for free and pumps with draw, that alone is relevant.
As for metamorph, I never once countered scion when he was cast (different opponent) instead I casted him, academy ruinsed and it was lulzy. I did take 20 general damage due to karrthus and hellkite overlord and charger, but he didn't have another hastey dragon
So thats a positive review for both!
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
@handsome: lol! That is pretty funny. I figured it was something like that, cause just being a wizard makes it so relevant.
Although... without patron wizard or azami or infinite mana it does nothing... but then again, this deck can't win without an infinite combo (at least in my experience, either the opponent scoops to me having azami, extraplanar lens, and 8 cards in hand, or I infinimana/mind over matter to victory. I've never won just by say treachery beatdown or whatever. So simply being another wincon for when you go infinite, as well as a valuable support tool (if nothing else, you can draw at any time, so if your opponent didn't play anything worth countering, why not draw EOT?) as well as allowing you to block/kill early aggro makes it worth the slot IMO.
Also how many 3cmc spells do you guys run?
Even with wand, I'm still hit-or-miss on having something to do once I go infinite mana, I'm thinking of adding drift of phantasms as another way to tutor for the following:
sigil tracer (meh, may be taking this out next build)
**forbid
long term plans (why tutor this? Maybe you need power artifact or something?)
rings of brighthearth
**blue sun's zenith
**capsize
**diviner's wand
*basalt monolith (just noticed I accidentally removed this in my last update, gotta change that)
ertai
patron wizard
trinket mage
vedalken shackles
*extraplanar lens
*vendillion clique
eye of ramos/coalition relic (i run eye over relic after testing, personally)
hinder
dissipate
faerie trickery
Stuff with * is a good choice IMO, stuff with ** is OMG TUTORING THAT HECK YES!
So, if you infinimana it tutors out the colorless wincon (wand) and if you infiniblue it hits BSZ for you.
If you aren't ready for infinite, you can always get the pieces, IE rings or basalt.
I mean, transmute is slow, but also factoring in that I have tolaria west & muddle the mixture, I can hit basically half the deck and all my wincons with tutors.
On the flipside, I HATE transmute.
Sorcery & revealing sucks.
But I'm still going to test.
Because I really really hate having grim monolith and power artifact in opening hand and nothing to use them on.
FINAL NOTE:
Remember how I talked about ashling being such a bad matchup? I was wrong. I kicked his butt so badly last night.
Unfortunately no new testing tonight though, either sharuum or vig are going up to bat
Tomorrow tho I may take her to a LGS tourney, so I should gather good data there.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
Copy and Steal Effects
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Rite of Replication
Sakashima the Impostor
Phyrexian Metamorph
Clone
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Sigil Tracer
Control Magic
Bribery
Treachery
Gilded Drake
Sower of Temptation
Plan A is to use the opponent's best stuff against him. I found stealing and copying to be very effective against decks with consistent recursion and very high resilience to removal. Clone effects also become card advantage when used to copy generals with enchantments on them. What prevented me from upping the number of this kind of cards is the observation that such reactionary tactic don't work well versus decks that don't use that many creatures. In such cases, I use the clones to copy my own creatures that are relevant to the matchup like Patron Wizard, Fatesticher or Trinket Mage. I also use stealing and copying as a way to delay my opponent (kill/steal their general, remove their best attacker) as I assemble the pieces of my plan B:
Combo
1.
Magus of the Future
Future Sight
Cloud Key
Etherium Sculptor
Sense's Divining Top
Psychosis Crawler
I chose not to include Helm of Awakening only because I don't want other players to benefit from the cards I put down. Psychosis Crawler was added so I can win even if I didn't have extra mana (With Cloud Key/Etherium Sculptor in play, I can put Sol Ring/Mana Crypt/Mana Vault in the battlefield as I draw them, cast the Crawler and win by drawing more cards).
2.
Mind Over Matter
Fallowsage
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Ulamog the Infinite Gyre
Psychosis Crawler
Ulamog has been Briberied from my deck a couple of times, but he was promptly stolen back/copied, haha. Anyway, I chose him over the butcher of truth because I feel I have enough card drawing via Azami, and the uncounterable destroy effect is neat, especially because it is colorless and therefore immune to Iona, Shield of Emeria's forbidding gaze.
The Infinite Gyre can also be used to generate infinite (arbitrarily large amount of) mana. With Mind Over Matter in play, tap and untap Azami to find Fallowsage. Play the sage, tap to draw two cards. Discard a card to untap the sage, lather rinse, repeat, until you have enough cards to untap all your permanents via MoM. Float some mana, and then discard Ulamog to reshuffle your graveyard into your library, then repeat the process. Mana, mana, mana! (The same can be achieved with an active Arcanis.) The mana can then be used to play Psychosis Crawler/Capsizex400/Blue Sun's Zenith for 5,000, etc.
Tutors and Library Manipulation
Mystical Tutor
Vedalken Aethermage
Tezzeret the Seeker
Trinket Mage
Long-Term Plans
Scroll Rack
Cunning Wish
Putting Cunning Wish in the list solved a lot of deck building problems for me. It allowed me to cut the situational instants (situational for my build) from the main deck, making the 100 a lot tighter. Cards in my wishboard include Hibernation, Brain Freeze, Blue Sun's Zenith and Sunder. I usually wish for Brain Freeze after combo 1, Blue Sun's Zenith after Combo 2, Sunder when I'm ahead in board position.
Also, I'm a fan of Scroll Rack. It can be frustrating when you're drawing a lot of cards and you're still not seeing what you need. Scroll rack addresses that frustration with tender loving care. "Scroll rack for twenty" almost always means "I'll get that Mind Over Matter this time and win."
Disruption Suite
Pact of Negation
Counterspell
Forbid
Hinder
Cryptic Command
Patron Wizard
Glen-Elendra Archmage
Voidmage Prodigy
Opposition
Trickbind
Stifle
Voidmage Prodigy
Aether Adept
Capsize
Venser, Shaper Savant
Surgespanner
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Vendillion Clique
Willbender
Misdirection
There are days when the MtG Gods smile upon me and give me Patron Wizard, Surgespanner, Crucible of Worlds+Strip Mine, Opposition and Capsize in my opening hand and early draws. So this is my Plan C: make my opponent concede via pure blue magic awesomeness. Most days I just use these cards to support and protect my Plan A and B.
Mana and other Mandatory Inclusions
Crucible of Worlds (Now that I think about it, this and
Wasteland and
Strip Mine should be in the Disruption Suite category)
Pithing Needle (For Generals and other cards with annoying activated abilities)
Relic of Progenitus (For graveyard-dependent strategies and to ensure the Brain Freeze Win against opponents with Eldrazis in their decks)
Oblivion Stone (For all-mana-no-business starts, Anti-Iona explosive device)
Graceful Adept (I really don't want to discard the cards I'm drawing. I don't see her in the lists here. Any reason why?)
Fatesticher (Extra mana when needed, extra defense against Dragons/Colossi/Eldrazi, Extra Color Hoser)
Aphetto Alchemist (I use him mostly to untap Mana Vault)
Stonybrook Banneret (Some kinda ramp)
Sapphire Medallion (See Stonybrook Banneret)
Gauntlet of Might
Caged Sun
I don't have Palinchron on my list, but I put these in so I can cast more of the cards I draw. The fragile men with pointy hats also appreciate the +1/+1. Maybe I'll reconsider adding the infi mana combo when I have acquired a copy of Extraplanar Lens and snow-covered islands.
Mana Vault
Sol Ring
Mana Crypt
Ancient Tomb
I prefer lands over artifact ramp because I don't really have big spells to ramp into. I leave the ramping to my opponent so he can cast big creatures that I can steal or copy. Wait. No, not really. I like artifact ramp. I just don't know what cards to cut for Sky Diamond and the like.
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Academy Ruins (Thanks to those who shared the Academy Ruins+Phyrexian Metamorph tech!)
Riptide Laboratory (I have reused Venser with this. Once.)
Seat of the Synod (Combines well with Aphetto Alchemist)
Tolaria West
Soldevi Excavations (I used to have the Fatestitcher+Pemmin's Aura combo in the deck. Now I'm not sure why I kept this in)
Minamo, School at Water's Edge (Extra draw with Azami; extra tap with Opposition; extra Force Spike with Patron Wizard when combined with a legendary creature.)
Reliquary Tower
26 Island
and!
Azami, Lady of Scrolls
P.S.
I keep putting these cards in and out of the deck: Palinchron, Consecrated Sphinx, Equilibrium, Lightning Greaves, Temporal Adept, Fabricate, Pemmin's Aura, Sage of Fables.
P.P.S.
Thanks for reading my post (This is my first!). What do you think?
I'll be utterly frank, azami works best with a HUGE focus on combo. Combo is how you win, and the rest of the deck is there to draw you said combo.
As long as plan A is steal effects, you'll never be at the point where you win every game (Is that what you are going for?)
Basically, you need
time spiral is better than ulamog, yes it requires an initial investment, but its always a relevant play even without double mana. (tho you want to wait for a mana doubler before using it)
snap, etc all untap the lands so they help you ramp up/palinchron infinite.
I'd also recommend the power artifact basalt/grim monolith infinite, even though its colorless it still does wonders.
Less control magic, more long-term plans and counterspells is also what I'd recommend. the attitude should be that you won't let iona hit the field, not that you need an answer when she does.
Besides, you should win by the time they have the mana to get her online.
I'm sorry, I just really don't think relying on other people's stuff is a good way to go about it.
Getting a memnarch or capsize lock off of infinite mana is the best way to win, or blue sun's zenith for game, or MoM into time spiral into win. (specifically mom into high tide into time spiral)
Also, I recommend extra turns. Time Stretch is very easy to get to 10 mana here and is an instant win if it resolves.
(Thats just my opinion tho, I think most people don't run Time stretch, but I've found it too good to pass up.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
what i think the deck really needs, is to ramp up mana early. it's a relatively slow starter and pretty much vulnerable the first 3 or 4 turns. but really formidable midgame when the resources have stabilized. to the more experienced azami players, any suggestions on how to ramp in blue? or more specifically, what to do the first few turns -- to be aggressive with mana stones and/or wizard permanents or leave mana open for counterspells?
LGS is kinda casual, thats probably why. Didn't see any goblin type decks like mantxi had to deal with. Also almost every opponent made terrible play mistakes at some point that cost them the match. It was a small tourney with only 4 rounds, second place was 4 new phyrexia boosters :/ Got spellskiteand jank.
Anyway, I also forgot how most of the matches went since to celebrate my friends and I got super baked... I forgot most of yesterday actually.
Here is what I do remember though:
Match 1: Sharuum.
As I know sharuum inside out (my first general) this is pretty easy. He's doing the standard combo build as creature beatdown sharuum is stupid and fail.
G1: I win T5 via MoM. He has all his combo pieces in GY and would have gone off T6. I say "I know, thats why I won on my T5 "
G2: He starts in the lead, sol ring, t2 master transmuter into t3 magister sphinx.
I manage to treachery transmuter, turn a sky diamond into caged sun (before it kills me, I'm at 2 life lol) wash out the field, counter his recast transmuter, and stall with loads of counterspells till I hit palinchron and go infinite. I stay at 2 life till the end. As a funny note, I remember I let him land disciple of the vault (he had no way to sac artifacts so I was like whatevs) and swing with it, he tried to hatred it up to 2 power so I was forced to snap it . Very close match. He reveals that he didn't draw any counters all game despite running 8, and no tutors, but hey, he got t2 Mspinx so I think he kept a pretty good hand.
Match 2: Gaddock Teeg
He was running Khymera's build sans the stuff thats 100bucks+. I mull to 5, dumping all my cards. I stick 2 islands, coldsteel heart, sage of epityr, and stonybrook banneret.
He goes first, t1 steelshapers gift for fire and ice.
I sage, he hits a t2 stoneforge, pulls up greaves.
I pull mana crypt (moved from fourth from top to top via sage!), enabling me to drop banneret and coldsteel this turn.
T3, he drops Mother of Runes (well damn, do not like!). During my turn he puts soFI into play via stoneforge. I'm feeling down since I have an island as my draw. total mana: 6. Hand is empty. I have to toss down azami, draw 3, a wasteland vedalken shackles and a counterspell.
T4, he equips sofi to stoneforge, I notice he hasn't gotten green mana yet. hits, kills azami, misses his land drop.
I draw play wasteland, shackles,
T5, he gets a forest, casts greaves & teeg, equipping Teeg with them. Hits with stoneforge, I steal mother of runes and chump with her. He forgot about shackles.
I draw capsize, play land, bounce soFI and still have mana open for my counterspell.
He tries to recast sofi, I counter. He plays yavimaya hollow, hits with both since I don't have shackle mana.
I draw extraplanar lens, cast, end.
He pops quasali pridemage to kill shackles (shoulda hit lens, my friend) and then hits.
I recast azami, draw into an island.
He can't kill azami.
Draw MOM that turn, and he scoops. (without realizing I only have 3 cards in hand and am really low on mana XD)
G2: He gets a slow start with no lands after his 2nd till T6, and his hand was full of 3cmc stuff. I win easily by diviner's wand + ROB + basalt monolithing for 21 general damage.
M3: Zur
This is my friend, testing a new deck that is really good (its zur, duh!)
G1, he has more counterspells than I do, hinders azami for the GG.
G2, The opposite happens, I hinder zur, he doesn't draw any tutors before I set up total board control.
G3, neither of us draw any counters, but I got t1 sol ring, t2, surgespanner and keep him at 2 lands.
Final: lyzolda
Holy crap I did not expect this deck. I need to figure out a way to contain super-aggro.
T1 dark ritual (wtf who even runs this?) phyarena, T2 some other crap, t3 general, and she just blows me out, making more creatures, saccing them to blow up my creatures, and just has too much CA.
G2: Same ☺☺☺☺. except T1 lotus petal, chrome mox into general. Turns out this guy was undefeated for good reason. T3 he gets the rakdos discard land online, and since he can blow azami if I play her, Im stuck with a dwindling hand and no real resources.
So yeah, overall pretty good, i do have a problem with super quick aggro that I'll need to work out, that Lyzolda deck was really insane though.
EDIT:
As a note, my new build after this tourney will be running drift of phantasms and soothsaying.
Reason being, I find that many times I can get infinimana but have nothing to use it on.
Soothsaying + untapped azami on board with infinite mana is a 100% win, and drift turns into either the pieces for the infinimana combo, or if need be diviner's wand or other utility stuff.
So yeah, we'll see if it helps consistency a bit.
EDIT 2:
Just realized I think I got some of the stuff from Teeg & sharuum matches wrong, not too much, I mean the results were the same but if mana counts or stuff like that don't add up, its just cause i forgot, sorry.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
V1.02 was posted. I added and removed some stuff. Take a look. I'll do some testing this week and next week and post results.
Also, I want posters here to remember that sometimes the optional sideboard rule is in effect. Since this thread is about competitive 1v1 environment, the sideboard is actually pretty nice. Use the 10 cards to help vs your bad matchups, that way you don't have to dilute your 99 with stuff that can be complete crap!
As an aside, I think for V1.03 I may lead off with replacing Mouth of Ronom for Ancient Tomb. Tomb would help me combo off faster, which is crucial for this deck.
*Edit*: Also, I had the pleasure of playtesting vs Arcum Dagsson tonight. Game 1 was very close. Arcum had a ton of artifacts in play by the time I hit land 6. I had 5 islands and a Riptide Laboratory. I just managed to combo off faster. Was pretty close.
Second game wasn't nearly as close. He got pretty mana screwed, with his Sensei's Divining Top revealing way too many islands. Poor guy. He'll get his revenge I'm sure.
At your add/removes: I cut chronologist a while ago lol, good choice there! The wand is an amazing tool, I hope it serves you well.
I also removed mana vault, although I did it for the sake of mana crypt)
It can't go infinite, and it only makes colorless.
I never ran lightning greaves, but I'd recommend, 38 lands instead of 37, I rarely miss land drops T1-4 and don't have preordain or stuff like that.
I'm also of the opinion that rite is not needed with metamorph. We can kill generals with the metamorph, recast with academy ruins.
I mean, yeah rite is cool when you hit sower, but otherwise its kinda underwhelming and can't kill shrouded generals.
IMO, with all the control magic (shackles, treachery, sower) and bounce we don't need cloning spells as much for removal.
@Farchyld: YES! I love the tomb! Its far better than mouth IMO, and fits the 2 colorless required for azami perfectly! Also it + t1 coldsteel heart is sick!
*This space is reserved, I'm going to post my decklist here soon*
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
No deck will be perfect. If you alter the decklist too much to cater towards an aggro environment, you will either lose combo steam or become weak against something else. It's just a fact in this game. Think about including optional sideboard
I'm going to test it with Tomb > Ronom. I've never activated the snow land for 4 damage. Maybe I'll need it in the future, but certainly not now!
*edit*: Still looking to tweak the decklist for better synergy. I'm discovered I'm still running Temple Bell! This will likely be cut asap for something better. I'm debating Jace, the Mind Sculptor. There may be some better options though.
*edit edit*: Also I may be able to remove Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir from the sideboard in light of a better aggro/combo card. The easiest games with this deck are vs midrange. SB should be more devoted to either fighting aggro or combo.
I was curious as to why temple bell was still there, I felt it definitely was a weak link.
If you haven't before I'd actually suggest trying drift of phantasms over Jace. Free brainstorm is sick, so is unsummon, but tutoring a choice of about 13 of the best cards in the deck is even better IMO.
In my testing, drift has never disappointed, it makes getting infinimana/fetching a wincon so much easier. It hits BSZ and diviner's wand, hits rings and basalt, hits a few counterspells and even some wizards. Definitely cool.
The problem is that it essentially reads:
1UU
Sorcery
cannot be countered
search your library for a card with cmc 3 reveal, put in hand...
but then again, thats a pretty great card right there!
I've really gotta post my deck so you guys can critique it, I meant to before but it got dismantled (she sharuum and vig all share about 30 cards between eachother, including FOW, my best lands, and other good stuff). I'm rebuilding it like today though.
Mine has very few wizards now (15) and a ton more tutoring.
I mean, I still want to plop down azami and go crazy drawing, but I replaced the excess wizards (chronologist, sage of fables, etc) with drift, more counterspells, and some other goodies.
Has anyone tested library of alexandria?
It seems like we can get up to 7 hand fairly fast even lategame, and a free draw every turn is always amazing.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
I have not tested Library of Alexandria because I do not own one, and they are expensive hehe. Someone else test this and let me know the results
Shadowboy, get a damn decklist here! I am always interested in seeing what others are running. This helps me in choosing what cards to add and cut from my own build! hehe.
I'm having one of those moments. I think there were some good cards i thought of before I went to the bar with a friend, but now that I'm home I don't recall.
May be a bit sub-optimal, i forgot to write it down last time (the build that got 2nd X_x) so I think I may have missed some stuff, can't recall exactly what though.
I know that forgetful feeling all too well man, not fun, not fun at all.
...I would proxy a library but my playgroup would hate me, we only allow proxys for cheap stuff or stuff you own.
Decklist to be posted below: for real!
EDIT: Look for the list in like 4 hours, I gotta clean my house real fast, just realized my mother is stopping by for a pre-finals wellwishing visit...
EDIT2:just got cockatrice, gonna start saving my decklists instead of dismantling and forgetting every time T_T
so far this list looks worse than my old 16 wizard build, but I can't remember what I did to make that one "click" so I'll just have to keep testing.
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Spiral
1 Beacon of Tomorrows
1 Time Stretch
1 Fabricate
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Treachery
1 Mind Over Matter
1 Power Artifact
1 Mystical Tutor
1 High Tide
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Capsize
1 Force of Will
1 Muddle The Mixture
1 Pact of Negation
1 Hinder
1 Cryptic Command
1 Forbid
1 Dissipate
1 Dismiss
1 Time Stop
1 Foil
1 Rewind
1 Counterspell
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Trinket Mage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Palinchron
1 Ertai, Wizard Adept
1 Patron Wizard
1 Surgespanner
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Sea Scryer
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Stonybrook Banneret
1 Voidmage Prodigy
1 Sage of Epityr
1 Martyr of Frost
1 Expedition Map
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Diviner's Wand
1 Caged Sun
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Chrome Mox
1 Eye of Ramos
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Grim Monolith
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Sky Diamond
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Strip Mine
1 Academy Ruins
1 Wasteland
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Tolaria West
26 Island
This is my current test. Gonna cut time stretch and beacon prolly, I just have never lost when they've hit the board.
Running a REALLY sick tutor package, long term plans, fabricate, tez, drift, muddle, tolaria, expedition map, merchant scroll, mystical tutor! I've found being aggressive with them works (as in, trying to hit combo pieces as fast as possible).
It helps to know what you are playing against, if its black or red I ALWAYS keep counters open for Land-D or discard effects. Blue, Green, White I don't worry as much (I'm talking t1-3 here btw) and multicolor it all depends on the general. Nothing sucks like tutoring up a basalt monolith with rings of brighthearth in play only to be instant speed discarded, or have them hit myojin of night next turn (black decks here have INSANE ramp). So yeah, I'll test this list tonight, tweak it, etc.
++I'll be running snow lands as soon as I can get them, probably cutting riptide lab for scrying sheets.
A few other things to note, about cuts mostly, but I gotta go so I'll post that later.
UWBSharuum the HegemonBWU
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU
Why do you run fetch lands?
Also, yay for the snow-covered Island route. They're amazing.
Ultimately I cut Reliquary Tower. I found that by the time I had ample cards in hand to use the tower, I really wanted more Islands in play and was about to win before discarding.
Whats your experience with Minamo, School at Water's Edge so far?
There's a lot of stuff in your list that seems to be a staple across all Azami builds, and even more that seems interchangeable. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination; it just means we're all thinking alike with playtesting!
Post some match reports!!!