- Allanon
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Member for 9 years, 1 month, and 7 days
Last active Tue, Nov, 21 2017 18:12:08
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Muspellsheimr posted a message on Dealing with Glacial ChasmPosted in: Commander (EDH) -
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arrogantAxolotl posted a message on Looking to make the most annoying deck possiblePosted in: Commander (EDH)
I just wanted to let you know that it's because of threads like this that I refuse to participate in any of the other threads you create.Quote from Gashnaw »I am not looking to win with this deck, i want it to just crap all over other player;s games. -
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3drinks posted a message on Looking to make the most annoying deck possibleAnything with Rhystic Study and Grip of Chaos then.Posted in: Commander (EDH)
Nothing is more annoying than "Did you pay the 1?" after every single spell, and redirecting any single target effect randomly in the mid to late game........... -
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Rollo Lee posted a message on What is a casual deck and what is a competitive deck?I think it's all relative.Posted in: Commander (EDH)
If I beat my opponent they say my deck is very competitive. If I don't they say it's casual.
Unless someone makes a point scale or we start tracking games I'm afraid it's all about how the looser of the game feels.
I play at two shops and the same deck is viewed very differently in those two environments.
I'd suggest balancing your power against your group(s) or have several decks.
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Avatar_of_Doh posted a message on Cards that create mana and Commander IdentityI clearly need to learn how to read.Posted in: Commander (EDH) -
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FunkyDragon posted a message on Commander 2017 PricesPosted in: Commander (EDH)
You are talking about Teferi's Protection, right? I wasn't aware that Fog saved my lands from MLD, my creatures and other permanents from wraths, me from targeted abilities (Mindslaver, etc) and sac, etc.Quote from Bolas, the Mindsculptor »I dunno who is the ass that jacked up a glorified Fog (unless there's some crazy tourney combo), I do not see its price sustaining as it stands. Those who are paying for the current price, you are probably helping the LGS shave off their cost of stocking SEALED CMDR products. Well done.
If you're looking for an actual Fog, Arachnogenesis looks better.
If you're actually going for a combo, Angel's Grace seems a lot more efficient.
Best (by best I mean Spiky, tourney-level) is probably Kess. Spiky cards tend to have the highest ceilings price-wise.
I agree that Teferi's Protection may be priced a bit high right now, but comparing it to Fog isn't even an oranges to apples comparison. -
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ElevatorBugs posted a message on Teferi's ProtectionI see this card as a big inhale before the big swing.Posted in: Commander (EDH) -
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Posted in: Commander Rules Discussion ForumQuote from Bolas, the Mindsculptor »Lol so true when we've people who can't tell if it's a chicken or an egg.
See, you're doing it again. It sounds like you're referring to someone specifically. Are you intentionally vaugeposting?
I believe I was one of the early guys to term the word archenemy (not the format). That said, I still can't believe many people think fast mana isn't the problem here. It makes me feel that us anti-fast mana guys are in some kind of cult in the entire EDH section.
Well if you choose to identify yourself as a small minority of players who know better than the RC and know for a fact that fast mana is ruining the format, then yeah you probably are treated like a cult. Just like you guys think that your polar opposite drank the EDH kool-aid.
Fast mana bannings are always the first to go in any given format. History has backed that up, data has proven formats do better without them. And it doesn't matter if you're competitive or casual.
Sure. Every other format says "we don't want games to end before turn X" and uses data to reach that goal. And fast mana is always the first to go because the primary objective is to win faster than your opponent. That is the mentality players have in those formats. EDH doesn't have that mentality, and if you want data to back it up, go look in the decklist forum and tell me how many decks run Sol Ring AND Mana Crypt AND Mana Vault and whatever other rocks you consider broken. Heck, just look at the primers which are supposed to be some of the most developed lists.
So if you want to argue that a card like Sol Ring doesn't add to the format and has the potential to ruin a game here and there, I've got your back. But you seem to be taking this to an extreme and I have to disagree with your overall stance. -
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darkeshrine posted a message on What is the difference among Highlander, Canadian Highlander, EDH and Commander?I'm not familiar with Canadian Highlander, but EDH(Elder Dragon Highlander) and Commander are the same format. Highlander, if I remember correctly, is just 100-card singleton with no color restrictions or Legendary creature to serve as commander.Posted in: Commander (EDH)
As far as rules differences, I'm not too sure. Commander has a rules page, but there is an article on Wizards' mtg site for Canadian Highlander. I can't find an article for traditional Highlander, mostly because their search function is not specific enough.
Canadian Highlander article.
Edit: There's also Tiny Leaders, if you haven't seen that: Article - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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This whole thing gets more difficult in a group full of strangers, but I guess I view that as a great way to meet new people and talk about activities you enjoy beyond magic. When people do this, turns that take forever like an "eggs" combo really don't seem to take that long at all.
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Welcome to my decklist for Azami, Lady of Scrolls. It has been tuned down for a slower, multiplayer group setting that would be a bit more casual for my friends and stand up a little better in the event that Azami is removed continuously throughout the game. It contains more of a tribal theme and added utility cards rather than an accelerated combo engine (even though it still has some of the combos in there). There are many ways to build a commander deck, even one considered to be as linear as Azami is, and this just happens to be my particular style. Hopefully you enjoy the list and I would love to read any comments and/or suggestions you might have. Thanks for taking the time to stop by
Azami, Lady of Scrolls was my second commander deck that I built back in the early months of 2010. Back then I was just starting to get into the EDH format and I knew I wanted to build something that was more simple and straight forward, but still powerful enough to compete with the more tuned decks that were running around at my local game store. I heard that mono blue was considered to be relatively competitive at the time and began looking up legendary creatures to build around. There are many powerful mono blue commanders that work with a number of varying strategies, however it was Azami that caught my eye due to her powerful built in card advantage engine and her obvious focus on a tribal theme which I've always been a fan of.
For about 3 years I played Azami as a tuned combo machine designed to play and win consistently against the local meta that mainly consisted of 5 color "good stuff"/control decks and other dedicated combo engines. Later many of the more competitive and cut-throat players began to fall out of the game or take their games elsewhere to other games stores in my area. Because of this my meta began a gradual transformation into a slower, more relaxed playgroup of regulars that were mainly a few of my immediate friends with some new comers showing up to our games every once in a while.
These days the deck usually sees play in games hosted in our friend's basement and occasionally greets newer players at our local game store to show them the glory that is mono blue wizard tribal. It has undergone many alterations both before and after I eventually uploaded it to MTGSalvation and I obsessively test new cards and old favorites in the list to find out how they function in the deck or if they're a correct fit for both my play style and the current state of my meta. It remains my favorite deck that I've ever made and has become a staple in our local group as one of the iconic combo/control archetypes among us.
Azami can be an incredibly potent and frustrating commander to play against, but she is not without her weaknesses. Here I'll go over some of the strategic pros and cons as well as some reasons for and against playing her as the commander of your deck based on thematic elements and/or personal play style.
Pros
- Tribal Theme
- Wizards, at least in the EDH format, can be considered blue's most powerful tribe (sorry merfolk ) in terms of the myriad of abilities they provide. If you enjoy strong synergies that reward you for playing a specific tribe, then you will probably enjoy Azami as your commander. Aside from the commander herself, a couple examples of interesting tribal options are Riptide Director and Supreme Inquisitor.
- Permission
- One of the most capable tools available almost exclusively to blue is the use of counter magic. Azami is exceptional at employing this type of control over a game due to her built in card advantage engine which allows her to seemingly never run dry on the answers she needs. If being able to deny threats before they can affect the board state sounds as amazing to you as it did to me then you may want to consider Azami as your commander.
- Card Draw
- Three words define Azami as a powerhouse commander - "Draw a card". Her ability also allows her to make use of that draw engine immediately after entering the battlefield ensuring that she'll always net a non-zero amount of value if she resolves. Alone she is comparable to a Phyrexian Arena but combined with just one or two more wizards the amount of control and power cards can quickly overwhelm the table. If you enjoy drawing cards Azami is one of the premier commanders for the effect even when compared to other color identities outside of mono blue.
- Combo Finish
- Because of her capacity to draw through so much of her deck, and her capability to defend her spells with counter magic, Azami makes great use of combo wins. If you enjoy having win conditions that allow you to ignore most board states and opponent's life totals, then you may enjoy playing Azami.
ConsFor me Azami, Lady of Scrolls strikes a great balance of power, reliability, and versatility that I look for in many of the decks I build. She is not the commander for everyone, however, and many who try her find her overall game play to be boring and repetitive over a long enough period of time. I find this is a common critique of most combo decks, but here I'll go over some of the other commanders that I find at least comparable to Azami in one way or another. I'll try my best to give other options to those that are looking for either a mono blue commander or one to lead their wizard tribal deck, but just can't seem to enjoy playing with the leading lady.
Arcanis the Omnipotent - Probably the most similar commander in the bunch is Arcanis. His ability is essentially a triple powered Azami activation that doesn't require other creatures in play, but does require you to either have haste or wait a round before you can activate it. Having played against a very powerful Arcanis deck it's hard to say if either of these two are strictly better than one another. Arcanis allows for a more free form deck design that doesn't force you along a tribal theme, but Azami is one less mana to cast which gives her the speed advantage and gives you the card draw immediately without the need for haste. Arcanis works well with many of the same effects that Azami does such as extra turns and even combos more efficiently with Azami's main combo piece - Mind Over Matter. I would say that if you're looking for a mono blue commander that offers as close to what Azami does as they can, but don't want the added headache of playing with a tribe, then give Arcanis a shot.
Talrand, Sky Summoner - Talrand is the token permission commander, pun intended. A lot of the key control cards that work well in Azami or any other mono blue commander work even more so in Talrand because of the added value of board presence that he offers. Most lists I've played against are typically more or less creatureless and contain enough bounce, counter magic, and control effects to delay their opponents indefinitely as they're slowly beat to death with the ever growing evasive army. In my opinion, Talrand is significantly more effective in a 1v1 strategy rather than multiplayer commander, but that does not mean he cannot compete if he needs to. Like Arcanis, Talrand does not need a foundation of creatures to help with his game plan and delivers a much bigger payoff for low cost, efficient spells that many mono blue commanders already run in their decks. If you enjoy the instant speed control that blue brings and prefer to have far more spells than creatures, then try Talrand.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - Teferi has always struck me as the anti-blue blue commander, but his effect is beneficial against any strategy. Combined with his own multitude of counter magic and other answers, his effect creates a shield that denies interaction on the behalf of your opponents and makes assembling and executing any number of combos quick and easy. One of the characteristics that separates Teferi from the previous additions on this list is that he grants flash to your other creatures and thus benefits you for playing a more creature heavy strategy than you would normally see in many mono blue combo/control decks. That's not to say that you have to play more creatures with Teferi as your commander, but I feel a list that leans too far away from a creature package isn't taking full effect of Teferi's abilities. If you are still looking for mono blue combo commander that uses some amount of creatures, but want to be able to combo out with much more certainty than what Azami provides, give Teferi a chance. Bonus points for being a commander that makes Knowledge Pool a competitive option
Barrin, Master Wizard - Now, we couldn't possibly have a thread discussing a wizard tribal deck without including Barrin somewhere in here; he's the "master wizard" for goodness sake. Barrin and Azami don't have too much in common other than their mono blue nature and their assumed affinity for leading a wizard deck, but I had to include him just to throw a little spotlight on another one of my favorite wizards in magic. Barrin plays a more grindy, board controlling strategy that squeezes value from 'enter the battlefield' and 'enter the graveyard' effects which makes great use of both parts of his ability. Of all the commanders we've looked at here he is by far the most obscure which means he doesn't necessarily have a core deck foundation like the rest of them do. When you encounter a Barrin deck it will probably follow a strategy similar to what I listed above, but it could also very well be anything, it could even be wizard tribal If you enjoy the concept of playing a mono blue wizard deck, but don't want to conform and play Azami like everyone who builds the deck seems to do, go try out Barrin. There just so happens to be a primer on this beautiful, bearded man as well. You can check out that list HERE
Marchesa, the Black Rose - Generally not built as a full wizard tribal deck, many Marchesa lists still contain a strong sub-theme of wizards due to their impressive 'enter the battlefield' triggers. Creatures such as Puppeteer Clique, Sower of Temptation, Disciple of Bolas, and Archaeomancer provide powerful effects each time they're returned to play with Marchesa's ability and some are so powerful that we run them in our own list even without the added strength of reanimation. Sage of Fables protects Marchesa and each other wizard immediately with the needed +1/+1 counters and begins the cyclical combos the deck is usually designed around. There are also plenty of wizards that put themselves in the graveyard when they're used which adds even more synergy with a Marchesa deck's graveyard focused strategy. Some of these include Glen Elendra Archmage and Magus of the Wheel just to name a couple. With a little more dedication to the composition of the deck, Machesa can easily lead a formidable wizard tribal deck with access to far more spells and creatures then our own. If you're looking for a wizard tribal commander that also focuses on a graveyard theme then I would definitely recommend Marchesa.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - Our next contender for wizard tribal approaches the deck construction a little differently. Many wizards, and creatures in general, in Magic have strong activated abilities that require them to tap to use them. Most of these skills aren't meant to be used repeatedly in a turn because of how powerful they can be in multiples, but Derevi helps break those rules. Her strength of entering from the command zone at instant speed, cheaply, and nearly uncounterable means you can make use of her built in Twiddle effect very reliably. Wizard creatures like Beguiler of Wills, Echo Mage, Mangara of Corondor, Skyward Eye Prophets, and the aforementioned Arcanis the Omnipotent and Riptide Director all have unique and meaningful effects that can be further empowered by their great bird commander. There are also quite a few wizards that can fly, including the mac daddy of them all Archetype of Imagination, that let you get the combat damage triggers to untap those creatures all over again. If what you enjoy about wizards is their interesting activated abilities and want to make as much use of them as possible, then test a list with Derevi.
Memnarch - Finally we have Memnarch, the mind-bending artificer. Confiscate effects are extremely potent in EDH due to the "Battlecruiser" mentality of everyone wanting to play expensive, large scale spells and this commander capitalizes on that trend very well. Why not let one of your opponents do all of the work to get out that Worldspine Wurm and then just steal it from them? These types of 2 for 1's are the backbone of Memnarch's strategy and the main allure to playing him as your commander. He generally finds himself commanding decks with large amounts of artifacts, specifically mana rocks, that can help balance out his high CMC and also those that create a lot of powerful synergy with his abilities such as Mycosynth Lattice. Wizard tribal is also not outside the realm of possibility when considering Memnarch as your commander should you want to go that route (he is a wizard himself after all). If you're looking for a commander that provides a large measure of board control while also doubling as a win condition himself, or if you just like taking other peoples stuff, then I'd highly recommend Memnarch. If you'd like to learn more about this metal mastermind there is also a very well written primer on him as well. You can find that list HERE
5 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Wizards (20)
1 Martyr of Frost
2 Baral, Chief of Compliance
2 Deranged Assistant
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Omenspeaker
2 Sea Scryer
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Stonybrook Banneret
2 Vedalken Aethermage
2 Vedalken Mastermind
2 Voidmage Prodigy
3 Laboratory Maniac
3 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Sigil Tracer
3 Trinket Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Archaeomancer
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
Enchantment (2)
5 Treachery
6 Mind Over Matter
Other Creatures (5)
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Clever Impersonator
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Solemn Simulacrum
7 Palinchron
0 Pact of Negation
1 Stifle
1 Swan Song
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Delay
2 Mana Drain
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Negate
2 Trickbind
3 Disallow
4 Cryptic Command
5 Force of Will
5 Mystic Confluence
Other Instants (9)
1 High Tide
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pongify
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Reality Shift
2 Twincast
4 Turnabout
5 Misdirection
8 Dig Through Time
Artifact (6)
0 Chrome Mox
0 Mana Crypt
0 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
2 Sapphire Medallion
3 Extraplanar Lens
4 Rite of Replication
5 Bribery
5 Temporal Manipulation
5 Time Warp
6 Time Spiral
7 Knowledge Exploitation
Non-Basic Land (8)
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Cavern of Souls
0 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
0 Mutavault
0 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Riptide Laboratory
0 Tolaria West
Basic Land (29)
29x Island
Martyr of Frost - You'll notice that all of the wizards in the list follow the pattern of being a cheaper cost than Azami. This is so that we have the benefit of potentially curving into her and gaining the most advantage we can from having more creatures on the battlefield. Martyr of Frost fills an important role in the 1 cmc slot of our curve allowing us another option to cast turn one while still having a relevant ability especially in the early game. Being mono blue, his ability is often more potent than a Mana Leak and can be closely compared to a hard counter if used at the correct time.
Baral, Chief of Compliance - An early drop wizard with good blocking stats that both acts as a pseudo Sapphire Medallion for our instants and sorceries, and rewards us for using our permission spells with card filtering. Sure he can let us cast a Temporal Manipulation for one less mana, but the real fun is when Arcane Denial and Delay become 1 mana hard counters that also loot 1 card. Feels bad for our opponents.
Deranged Assistant - Many new players aren't aware that blue does in fact have mana dorks, and the few we run happen to be wizards. Deranged Assistant, although the worst of our mana creatures, provides much needed acceleration that lets us keep up with the rest of the table and puts Azami onto the battlefield a turn earlier. After his job is done he turns into another cog in the card draw machine. Just pray you don't mill a combo piece when you use him
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy - Joining Azami in the "0/2's with insane abilities" bracket is Jace. He may not look like much more than a simple loot effect, but this card provides exactly what the deck needs from it's early drops. He helps filter away the chaff in our hand, acts as another early drop wizard for our commander, and if/when he flips he grants an enormous amount of value in a "free" flashback of one of our key spells. Your opponents will learn early on to kill this guy before too long.
Omenspeaker - Fulfills the role of smoothing out our draws and letting us look deeper into our deck for answers or win conditions while also playing defense with a 1/3 body. Her effect also gives us the option to place the worse choices on the bottom of the deck which is particularly useful when we're light on lands to play or if we're flooding out.
Sea Scryer - The second mana wizard in the deck is, for all intents and purposes, a strictly better version of our Deranged Assistant. Besides not having to mill for producing colorless mana, the other upside is her ability to filter blue mana from a surplus of colorless mana. Even though we are a mono colored deck, the deck can be quite hungry for blue mana with spells like Cryptic Command and Mind Over Matter taking up slots in the list. This makes her second ability come up far more often than one might think it would.
Snapcaster Mage - Most could assume that Mr. Tiago Chan would make it into the list. Arguably the most powerful wizard ever printed, Snapcaster offers so many possibilities based on multiple variables each game. The short of it is we get to double up on one of the spells in our graveyard while populating our board with another wizard for Azami to make use of to draw cards. If you've ever played Modern or Legacy then you already know how absurd this creature can be.
Stonybrook Banneret - The best of our mana wizards doesn't actually produce mana at all. Our list runs 20 other wizards along with our commander so she functions as a weaker Sapphire Medallion that draws us an extra card each turn with Azami in play. The fun of the card is that she doesn't have to tap to make mana which would force us to decide between producing mana or drawing a card when we do have Azami in play, we just get to do both.
Vedalken Aethermage - She has a strange and cool ability, but this wizard is most of the time just a tutor that is very hard to counter. Every once in a while though you can save yourself from a Chameleon Colossus with style.
Vedalken Mastermind - Helps us double up on our ETB effects or saves a vital permanent from spot removal and/or board wipes. He's often such a nuisance that our opponents will just kill him off first so that they don't have to worry about his tricks later in the game. Quite the lightning rod that has definitely proven his worth since his addition to the list.
Voidmage Prodigy - First we showcased Tiago Chan, now we welcome Mr. Kai Budde. Although the very oppressive Patron Wizard is currently not in the list, the prodigy fills a similar role of hard control against problem opponents. His ability gives us more value from our tiny wizards on the board and is much more difficult to counter than a traditional Counterspell which makes him exceptionally effective at fighting against other permission based strategies. Bonus points if you announce him as the "German Juggernaut" when you cast him
Laboratory Maniac - Simultaneously the most important and worst wizard in the deck is the Lab Maniac. He's the piece the lets the main combos in the deck function and acts as our primary win condition. He is also, however, the only wizard in the deck that has no relevant abilities outside of the turn that we are trying to win. If you draw him when you don't need him you will always feel a little sad, but he's a necessary evil that makes the deck end games a lot more smoothly then it used to.
Sea Gate Oracle - Easily comparable to the Omenspeaker, one more mana lets us draw the best card of the two on top and then "scry" the other to the bottom. A solid wizard that replaces itself and blocks 2/2's on the ground.
Sigil Tracer - Lets us copy ramp, removal, card draw, and, my favorite, extra turns. Her ability also, like Azami's, does not care about summoning sickness when tapping for the cost.
Trinket Mage - Grabs one of three targets in the deck - Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, and Wayfarer's Bauble. There may only be three targets, but Sol Ring and Crypt alone are powerful enough to warrant the addition of this wizard.
Vendilion Clique - One of the more tricky creatures in the deck with a multitude of uses. Flash means we can hold mana up for permission, but then increase our board presence if nothing threatening is cast. Once in play we get the option of taking a peek at one of our opponents hands and removing the most threatening card. In the event that we find nothing threatening, the ability is a 'may' which means we can just choose to let them keep their terrible hand if we feel like. Alternatively we can use their ability to take a poor card from our hand for the potential to draw something better as long as the card we want to get rid of isn't a land. Superb versatility on a fairly threatening, evasive body.
Archaeomancer - Similar to Snapcaster Mage but with a few alterations. It costs 2 more mana and does not have flash, but it also doesn't force us to cast the spell that turn or remove it from the game when we do so. She allows us to be flexible with how we want to interact with our opponents and can make for some pretty crazy combos with cards like Evacuation and Temporal Manipulation creating loops that either stall very effectively or just win the game.
Glen Elendra Archmage - Another powerful control wizard that stops other combo decks very well and who's ability is quite difficult to interact with on the stack. The cool factor is that with Azami we can tap the Archmage to draw a card, use her ability, and when she persists she enters the battlefield untapped and we can tap her again for another card; THE VALUE!
Sower of Temptation - Takes the best creature we can target from our opponents and attacks planeswalkers in the air. A very good tempo card that can be backbreaking against certain decks that rely heavily on their commander's abilities, like our own.
Venser, Shaper Savant - A flash creature that either Boomerang's or Remand's something and then tries to do it all over again with cards like Vedalken Mastermind and Riptide Laboratory. Something to note is that Venser's ability doesn't actually counter a spell on the stack, it just returns the spell to its owner's hand. This means it can be used to still effectively "counter" an opponent's spell that could not normally be countered such as Surrak Dragonclaw or Thrun, the Last Troll.
Phantasmal Image - We run 4 clone effects in the deck and 3 of them are actual creatures. Phantasmal Image is my favorite by far simply because of how efficient it is. Many times games have been decided by a player just being one or two mana off from winning the game, or having an answer that would stop someone else from winning the game. For only two mana we get a copy of the best creature in play without having to target the creature. We get the bonuses of any ETB effects or LTB effects that come with that creature and the downside, as I'll explain, is often negligible. Being forced to sacrifice the Image when it's targeted isn't actually that bad. Most removal in EDH is true removal, that is to say that whether or not the Image had to be sacrificed doesn't actually matter, it would have been removed anyway. Swords to Plowshares, Chaos Warp, Beast Within, Slaughter pact, and many others would just kill the clone even if it didn't have the downside. There are always exceptions such as Marath, Will of the Wild to ruin our day, but I believe that the lower cost far outweighs the harm of it being more fragile than normal. Phantasmal Image is also one of our enablers that makes Palinchron create infinite mana making him a combo piece as well.
Clever Impersonator - The most adaptable and expensive to cast of our creature clones, the Impersonator allows us to copy things for our deck that we normally wouldn't be able to get while still allowing us to use it for the traditional use of just cloning a creature. Most of the time he is a normal Clone, but every once in a while we get something exciting like a Mirari's Wake or Grave Betrayal. It's really the choices that make this card great and fun to play with.
Phyrexian Metamorph - A clone effect for either a creature or an artifact that can be cast for less mana, and only generic mana, if we choose to pay 2 life when we cast it. The fact that, like the Impersonator, we get more choices for what to copy as well as being able to not eat into our colored mana makes the Metamorph a contender for best clone effect in the deck. The copy always being an artifact in addition to its type doesn't come up too often, just be aware that effects like Vandalblast can still get him.
Solemn Simulacrum - Blue needs all the help it can get when it comes to mana acceleration. Solemn provides a permanent land in play as well as replacing itself later when it inevitably chump blocks a larger threat. Sometimes it acts as a fairly effective rattlesnake that incentivizes our opponents to attack elsewhere, knowing that we'll draw an extra card if they come our way. Either way we win out.
Palinchron - A powerful combo piece that enables a lot of 'come from behind' wins in our favor. This is the creature that allows for an empty board except for some lands to become a winning turn without any warning. Because of that this card gets a large amount of hate and it alone can cause opponents at the table to single you out for elimination early on even without playing Azami as the commander. Like Laboratory Maniac, Palinchron is not a truly exceptional card on its own. It's only there as a win condition and does not perform well under most other circumstances. This all being said, bonus points if you kill an opponent by beating them to death with a Palinchron combat damage He does fly!
Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond - Colored mana acceleration with no initial mana investment. The downside of having to remove a particular type of card in our hand is mostly dulled by the fact that our commander will easily replace those cards once we get her into play. They are a high risk versus high reward card that rewards that type of play style and if used correctly can be instrumental in getting the upper hand over the rest of the game.
Mana Crypt - The better and far, far more expensive Sol Ring. The damage isn't consistent at all and since we start at 40 life even when we do take the 3 damage it's not very threatening early on. Yes I have lost to my own Crypt triggers, but that's the game you play when you want to run the most impressive mana rock in the format. A free Sol Ring effect is incredibly powerful and some might even say oppressive in certain play groups. If you have the money or happen to have one lying around then I highly recommend running this card.
Sol Ring - Format staple and the most powerful mana rock next to Mana Crypt. Due to its recent reprints it can be found for very cheap if you don't mind the commander set versions. Very few decks can find a reason not to run this card and the ones that do mainly do it out of principle because its so omnipresent in EDH.
Wayfarer's Bauble - Gives us another option for a turn one play and provides us the ramp we desperately need to keep up in certain games. Another upside, like some of the other card choices, is that we can hold back mana for our instant speed answers and then ramp if nothing too threatening presents itself.
Sapphire Medallion - Takes one mana off of the majority of cards in our deck including our commander. If you're running a mono colored deck that isn't green then you should probably be running the appropriate medallion for your color.
Extraplanar Lens - Our colorless, artifact High Tide. We mainly want to cast this to power up a big turn with extra turn spells or maybe a Time Spiral to draw a fresh hand and net a large amount of mana. I value it's cheap cost over the fact that we will most likely lose a land if we cast it prematurely and I rarely cast it other than to win the game or to put myself clearly ahead.
Treachery - It's Mind Control that's free if it resolves and can sometimes net us extra mana when combined with High Tide, Extraplanar Lens, or even Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. A very strong 2 for 1 card that can swing an entire game in our favor if we manage to steal the right thing at the right time. I'm looking at you Vorinclex.
Mind Over Matter - The quintessential combo card for many decks and absolutely for Azami. This is the card that will end the game more often than any other in the deck simply because we only need it, our commander, and a couple cards in hand to dig to our Laboratory Maniac and then to the bottom to win. But be sure to watch out for Krosan Grip's.
Pact of Negation - A free counter spell that is usually cast as defense on our turn when we want to combo off and win the game. In a pinch it can surprise an opponent who thought they were free to try and win themselves, but the upkeep cost is very steep and sometimes means giving up our entire next turn just to use it.
Stifle - Doesn't actually counter a spell, but can render many spells ineffective by stopping their triggers. Powerful artifact activations and ETB creatures are my main targets when I cast the spell, but many will find that the targets are just about endless throughout the length of a Commander game.
Swan Song - A very cheap counterspell with fairly wide range of targets that it can counter. The 2/2 bird is nearly inconsequential.
Arcane Denial - We have a suite of 2 CMC counter spells and Arcane Denial is the most friendly of the bunch. It gives our opponent two cards, but replaces itself for us. It should also be noted that it is a hard counter meaning that it has no stipulations as to what it can target unlike some of the counter spells in our deck. It also isn't color intensive, not requiring us to invest double blue mana like many other counter spells in the game.
Counterspell - The spell that gave a whole category of spells it's name. Short, sweet, and efficient.
Delay - Another hard counter that's easy on the mana like Arcane Denial, except this one gives our opponent their spell three turns later. People have asked me for a while why I run this card and I can't praise it enough. Used against ramp makes it so the ramping is not nearly as impressive in the later turns of the game. Against other counter magic it might as well be a traditional Counterspell because they have to cast it during their upkeep with presumably no targets. And against something threatening like a Tooth and Nail, it announces to the entire table that this player is a threat and will get their extremely powerful spell in just a few turns. There have been games where I've made a whole table kill another player just by suspending that player's Insurrection. If you haven't tried the spell out give it a shot.
Mana Drain - The strictly better Counterspell. The mana it gives us during our main phase is colorless mana so we have to use it creatively in our blue hungry deck, but free mana still very good. It costs a pretty penny so use it if you have it
Muddle the Mixture - A more narrow counter spell that also functions as a tutor for any 2 CMC card in our deck. Usually if I use the transmute I'm grabbing Cyclonic Rift with it, but Phantasmal Image and Snapcaster Mage are also very strong options when you want them.
Negate - Targets anything except creatures for a less strict cost than other counter magic. Another addition to the 2 CMC counter spells.
Trickbind - A more expensive Stifle that cannot be responded to by conventional means. The second half of the spell can be very useful for stopping an activation driven commander for a turn like Marath, Will of the Wild or Memnarch.
Disallow - Three CMC counterspells have never really sat well with the way I like to play permission strategies, but this card makes it worth it. I always lamented the fact that I would never get to pay with Voidslime in my mono blue deck, but here we are! A Cancel or Stifle all rolled into one means this card will always find something to do. It is the ultimate monkey wrench to throw into your opponents plans.
Cryptic Command - Perhaps the most versatile counter spell in all of Magic. There are six possible options when picking the modes to this card and that doesn't take into account any of the other variables that can arise in a given game, in a given turn during that game when choosing from those options. I think there is definitely a lot of skill to knowing when to play this card and how to play it correctly when you do. This spell kind of does it all.
Force of Will - Legacy staple and a great spell to have when defending our turn while we try to win. Just like Pact of Negation we can surprise our opponent with our free counter spell, but unlike Pact we don't have to miss out on a whole turn afterward if we do. We also have the added option of casting the Force for its base CMC as a five mana Counterspell although we're probably in a bad position if we're casting it that way.
Mystic Confluence - Like Cryptic this card does so much more than just countering spells. Unlike Cryptic we can choose to use the same options multiple times. Again we have a card with a lot of choices involved and a lot of skill to play optimally.
High Tide- Combo enabler for Palinchron or just an accelerator to create an explosive turn. Also helps to recast our commander if we're behind and she's been removed a few times.
Mystical Tutor - With our commander in play the card we search for ends up going to our hand rather than on top of our library. Finds our sweepers, counter spells, extra turn effects, and power house cards like Bribery depending on what we're looking for at any given time. A lot of options involved just like with most tutors.
Pongify - Sometimes called blue's Swords to Plowshares, Pongify is an extremely efficient removal spell that was first printed in a set designed to disregard the color pie just one time. Knowing that, blue should probably never have gotten this card or its functional reprint in Rapid Hybridization but we're going to run it and benefit from Wizards of the Coast's mistakes The 3/3 it makes is a moderately sized body, but isn't too much of a threat in most cases.
Cyclonic Rift - Speaking of things that blue shouldn't have, how about a one sided, instant speed board wipe. This card's power level is insane and can either set up a win on its own, or set our opponent's back to the stone age in terms of board presence. If someone in your group plays blue then you've most likely already seen how crazy this card is first hand.
Reality Shift - For one more mana we get a much better Pongify. It exiles instead of destroys, gives our opponent a 2/2 instead of a 3/3, and the creature they get might be an enchantment or other non-creature spell they wanted to cast but now cant. Even if they do manifest a creature card they still have to spend mana to flip it face up and also get none of the ETB effects it might have. Very powerful and, like the previous two entries, probably shouldn't have been given to blue
Twincast - Can copy some of the more powerful spells cast by either us or our opponents. Generally I enjoy using Twincast to copy a spell that blue wouldn't normally have access too, like ramp effects. Copying a Boundless Realms is the real dream, but I have yet to live it.
Turnabout - Use it to untap and draw with all of our wizards again at the end of an opponent's turn, drawing upwards of 7 cards for 4 mana. Untap our lands with a mana doubling effect to net a large surplus of mana for a big turn of extra turn spells and kicked Rite of Replication's. Tap down an opponent's creatures before they declare attackers to stop a lethal swing that could win them the game. Maybe try to tap an opponent's lands right before our turn to ensure that they have to respond now with a spell or not at all. This card has so many uses at any given time that it's really all in how you choose to play it, and I love cards that give me choices.
Misdirection - Often considered a form of counter magic to those that have played with it, Misdirection can act as a second Force of Will against other counter magic if need be. It can also be a nice 2 for 1 or 2 for 2 if cast for it's alternate cost to point an opponent's removal spell at their own creature. And you can have those wonderful moments when someone tries to target you with something like Amnesia and you get to throw it back at them instead.
Dig Through Time - Aside from a few cards, our deck doesn't make much use of our graveyard with the majority of our spells. Dig lets us use those spent spells and discarded lands for extra value to search the top seven for as little as two mana at instant speed. And we don't just get one card from our search, but two instead. It's an incredibly powerful spell that was banned in Modern and Legacy for a reason.
Rite of Replication - A utility clone spell that can double as a game finisher when its cast with kicker. Another spell that gives us options in the early and later parts of the game. You'll notice I really do love spells that give us decisions to make and different lines of play to follow. Sometimes winning with a Rite is as easy as an opponent giving us a Gray Merchant of Asphodel to target.
Bribery - Yet another spell that gives us choices to make. Even with all of the other powerful spells in the deck, this one may be our most broken one for this format. With things like Sol Ring or one of our mana dorks this can be cast pretty early on, but we do run into the problem of having our opponents still holding all of their removal spells that early in the game. Because of that I usually sandbag this card to cast after a few removal spells have already been thrown out either at Azami or somewhere else. Or I grab a card that I don't care if it's destroyed right a way. Nothing quite like a turn 4 or 5 Worldspine Wurm.
Temporal Manipulation/Time Warp - I know they're slightly different, mainly in that Time Warp can be redirected in our opponent's favor, but I'm going to group these two together. No matter how casual the list may be I believe there should always be ways to compete when need arises. The extra turn effects are probably the most offensive to the casual nature of my playgroup, but they are spells I can rely on when playing against more competitive strategies that happen to join our games. And every once in a while we can use Time Warp to help a player that fell behind catch up a little if we feel like it. We can also go infinite with one of these affects, Archaeomancer, one of either Vedalken Mastermind or Riptide Laboratory, and at least 9 mana available on the turn we start.
Time Spiral - Helps restock our hand if we fall behind, untaps lands which either makes it free or gains us mana with a doubler active, and can shuffle back discarded or destroyed win conditions from the graveyard. It can also be a strange form of graveyard hate against strategies that rely heavily on their graveyard such as Karador, Ghost Chieftain.
Knowledge Exploitation - 7 CMC is a lot, a whole lot, but the options and types of effects that this card can give us in mono-blue is enormous. Boundless Realms, Decree of Pain, Disrupt Decorum, even another blue player's Expropriate. So many powerful and interesting choices can be made with this dependent on what we want/need in the moment and what decks are at the table. I am truly in love with this card.
Ancient Tomb - The land Sol Ring. Another effect that grants us large amounts of mana acceleration for a small price. The good part about this one rather than something like Mana Crypt is that we get to choose when we want to take the damage in exchange for the mana. If we get too low we can just choose not to use it and by then it's probably already done it's job.
Cavern of Souls - We are a tribal deck and there will inevitably be people in games that want to play our own game against us and counter our wizards, especially Azami. This provides protection against those other permission decks while also supplying us with needed blue mana for the color heavy mana costs of our wizards.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge - Another non-basic that gives us blue mana, comes into play untapped, and has a relavant ability. This land is also one of 3 in the deck that enable the infinite Palinchron combo finish, but we'll talk about all of the combo's later on.
Mutavault - The second land that enables Palinchron like Minamo, and also like Minamo has an ability that can draw us extra cards with Azami in play. Can also be a surprise blocker/attacker when our opponents think the board is clear.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - In our particular deck this land is even more powerful than the banned and broken Tolarian Academy. Like I have said before, this deck is hungry for blue mana and has many creatures that have 2 blue mana symbols for our devotion. Our commander alone adds 3 which means Nykthos breaks even with its activtion. Any other creatures other than our commander in play just add to the value. Combine this with some of our 'untap X lands' effects and we can end up producing an immense amount of mana. Enough devotion and this land alone can create infinite mana with Palinchron.
Reliquary Tower - A land that appears in a majority of commander decks and happens to be exceptional in ours. We have the potential to draw a lot of cards during a game, but often only enough mana to do a few actions a round. Now, discarding down to hand size isn't really that big of a deal, but why bother when you could just keep them all?
Riptide Laboratory - The third land that helps execute the combo with Palinchron and also enables another combo with Archaeomancer. This land lets us grind out value from our ETB effects and with cards like Venser, Shaper Savant can nearly lock one player completely out of the game if we choose. It can also save one of our wizards from spot removal or a board wipe if we leave the mana open to activate.
Tolaria West - All of those awesome lands we've just discussed? This one goes and tutors for any of them as a sorcery speed, activated ability. Whatever land you need to either complete a combo or enable a synergy, this lets you find what you want. The bonus is that it can also find any other CMC 0 card in the deck, the only two targets being Pact of Negation and Mana Crypt. If we're ready to win the game, but need protection, we can tutor up our Pact and have a free counter waiting in the wings. Can also be played to produce blue mana in pinch.
There are many options for what to run in a commander deck and I could go on forever if I were to list every card I've ever tested or changed in my list. Instead this portion is just a look at some of the more frequently commented on cards that people bring up when playing against or talking about the deck, and to show some reasoning as to why I choose to leave them out in it's current form. There's always a chance that these cards will make their way back in at some time or another based on how I rework the deck or how my meta evolves with it, but for now they remain on the sidelines and wait.
Intruder Alarm - Intruder Alarm is an incredibly powerful enabler to many combo decks and, as expected, worked very well alongside Azami and her legion of tiny wizards. The major problems I had with the card are the same ones I had with cards such as Long-Term Plans or the still included Mind Over Matter. The ceiling and floor to all of these cards are dramatically distant. When it's working then we're probably winning the game, but when it's not then its another dead card with few generically good traits. This realization, the fact that the deck was moving further away from a pure combo strategy, and that it if I didn't win with it on board then it became yet another reason to attack me for the rest of the table made me eventually remove it from the deck. It still sits in my little "sideboard box" where I keep the cards I may bring back in one day should the need for more and faster combo interactions ever arise in my meta again.
Patron Wizard - I brought this one up in a comment below already, but I thought it was another one that I should touch on. The short answer is that I removed him for the sake of my friends. I love counter magic (it's one of the main allures to playing a commander like Azami), but the locks that this wizard could put on the game were a bit much for the decks I was up against. Actually, I may have been fine with leaving him in if he had an ability that locked the whole board more evenly. The problem is I just used him each game to lock down the player that threatened me most and that player didn't get to play their new or favorite deck just because my favorite deck said so. Without the Patron my counter magic feels more impactful. I have to choose when to use a card in hand or sacrifice a wizard and what spells warrant that use of those resources rather than simply kicking one player out of the game with little difficulty or thought involved. I had to trade the overall power of the deck for the health of my meta and I'll make that choice every time.
Psychosis Crawler - This one is all about the style I enjoy for the deck. In this particular deck I've always relished the fact that my primary win conditions didn't necessarily care what my opponents were doing. Whether they were at 100 billion life, had hexproof, couldn't be attacked or dealt damage, none of that mattered to me as long as I got the pieces I needed to simply say, "I win anyway". Psychosis Crawler's ability and potentially massive body can end the game quickly, but this isn't the deck that I play to aggressively put pressure on my opponent's life totals. I have different commanders that can help with slamming the table and bringing everyone down to 0 or attack with all of the fatties for huge trample swings. No, this is the deck that will never threaten to "kill" the table, instead it will threaten to simply win the game.
Magus of the Future - This guy comes in and out of the deck for testing so much that I'm skeptical of even grouping him in this list at all. I think, again, this is a matter of personal taste. I don't enjoy effects that allow my opponents to know what tricks I have. They can guess and assume all they want, and sometimes they're correct. But what I love is that dynamic interaction between players. When my opponents accept that I have to be holding something in my hand to mess with them, but they just can't know if that's true or what exactly it might be. And for all of you out there wondering - yes, I do get the classic "blue player smirk" when I happen to be holding the perfect answer at the right time. I just can't help it
Our core game strategy and the defining piece that the foundation of our deck relies upon is our commander. Her ability is the reason that a fifth of our deck is made up of a single tribe, the majority of which die to something as simple as Pyroclasm. With all of that in mind, we generally want to play in such a way that we minimize the risk of losing her to removal or even worse a theft effect. At the very least we want to cast her only when we're relatively sure we can gain enough card advantage to deem it worth her extra cost should she die, or when we can reliably defend her with our egregious amount of counter magic.
Cards like Force of Will and Misdirection, which usually bring card disadvantage, are exceptional with Azami because the amount of cards she draws usually creates a net gain in card advantage or at the very least brings us to parity so as not to lose resources. Commonly they should be used when possible to defend our commander or one of our combos that's set to win us the game. Often these two situations tend to be one and the same.
Our 'free' counter magic isn't the only defense we have in terms of permission. The list runs 7 counterspells that can deal with removal at 2 CMC and one of them at 1 CMC in the form of Swan Song as well as a number of creatures with built in permission like Glen Elendra Archmage. If your meta is removal heavy and you feel concerned that if you play Azami too quickly she'll only die, don't be afraid to simply wait until you have a response to shield her. Our deck is very good at playing the long game. The more mana we have, the more time we have to draw answers and win conditions, the more potent our deck becomes. This is true of many commander decks, but especially one such as ours whose main routes to victory require little setup and whose commander can put us so far ahead in the arms race that is 'who can draw the most cards'.
In short, the games played with Azami can be roughly summed up in one of two overall circumstances. Either A: Our opponents, through whatever means they can, manage to stall Azami and remove her at least a couple times thereby allowing them to put us on the defensive, or B: Our opponents do not find a way to remove/disrupt her and we essentially now have control over the game once we untap with her. That is how radically different the games can play out depending on how effectively we make use of Azami.
The first thing we have to do before the game even begins is to determine which particular mulligan rules the group we're playing with has agreed to use. Whether the group chooses to use the new 'Vancouver Mulligan' or the old 'Partial Paris Mulligan' affects our decisions and how we analyze our opening hand. Generally for synergistic combo decks like ours the Partial Paris is a much more powerful mulligan and allows our strategy to keep a more wide array of openers. My local meta is split on which rule is the "better" one, but most of the time my friends and I use the newly adopted Vancouver Mulligan. So, for the purposes of this thread, we are going to assume that most groups will be playing with the new rule. If you find yourself playing in a group that still uses the Partial Paris then you'll quickly find our opening hands are much easier to keep when we can pick and choose what cards to hold onto without a real downside.
Deciding what opening hands to keep can be a skill intensive process in and of itself. The cards and commanders that our opponent's are playing against us are just as important to keep in mind as which cards we will be using. For example, Pongify has much more value when we see that we're versing a Rafiq of the Many, but is not as valuable against a commander such as Thrun, the Last Troll because his built in protection makes his strategy far less susceptible to it. Opening cards will lose or gain power depending on what our opponent's play meaning that if we are familiar with the decks we will be facing then we'll be better prepared to understand what cards we need in our first seven. Alternatively, choosing an opening hand against decks we have never played against before will make it more likely we keep cards that are not as effective.
As stated previously, Azami is our linchpin. An opening hand against most decks should value any cards that accelerate our mana as well as 3-5 lands so as not to miss one in the early turns and fall behind. An efficient permission spell such as Counterspell or Swan Song is also generically good against many threatening spells our opponents may cast early on. I'm going to show you 4 hands, drawn at random, and we'll discuss which ones I would keep, which ones I would mulligan, and a brief discussion on why. We're going to be evaluating these opening hands as they are in a vacuum and for the moment try not to assume anything about what we might be playing against.
This was just a look at how one might go about gauging certain elements of the decks opening hands. Obviously there are going to be openers that are much less cut and dry such as ones that have no mana acceleration but does have a couple cheap removal spells to answer threats. It will become easier with time and practice to know what the deck really needs against what strategies and you'll be better able to assess the worth of some cards over others. Keep in mind that in this format, even more than the others, variance is a major factor. Don't be afraid to keep a decent or even mediocre hand just to see how it plays out; Not every hand has to be the greatest in order to win.
The early turns of the game should be used to weigh the threats at the table and develop our board. Our counter magic is actually pretty terrible compared to other formats due to the multiplayer nature of EDH. We're going to want to conserve our permission for meaningful interactions in the mid to late game unless pressured hard into doing otherwise. Few spells should warrant a response from us between turns 1-4 and we should use this time to cast whatever cheap wizards we have, especially the ones that net us mana, and to put down our mana rocks and accelerants such as Wayfarer's Bauble and/or Solemn Simulacrum.
Situations will occur sometimes where our life total is pressured early on by a highly aggressive strategy, perhaps even a few. Don't panic in these scenarios. We are a combo deck at heart and our life total should be used as a resource. It doesn't matter how low we are, as long as we're not dead we can win the game from seemingly nowhere. This isn't to say that chump blocking isn't sometimes necessary or even correct, but for the most part we want enough wizards in play when Azami enters the battlefield to immediately start gaining a dominant advantage in cards over our opponents. Conserve your permission when possible, use your removal spells like Pongify and Reality Shift as needed, and try to keep at least 2 wizards in play for the first time you cast Azami.
This is where the game actually begins. Most players have set up their boards by ramping and playing early threats, now the spells actually become impactful. From turns 5-7 we have to be vigilant about what players are casting and what implications they have. A removal spell might not be coming at anything we control, but if it hits another player's Child of Alara for instance it could take out our entire board. This is also where most players will be casting their commanders, and that includes us. We want to get Azami in play as soon as we feel confident in the value we're gaining and when we can defend her at least slightly. Unless we had an explosive start this is where our deck either gets stalled or we begin to take control of the game. We can't allow ourselves to be baited into wasting our answers and we can't be too greedy about tapping out without reason.
The mid game is also the phase where we begin to set up our combos and plan ahead to execute them in the late game. Be aware of key cards either in your hand or graveyard like High Tide or Temporal Manipulation. These are the kinds of cards that enable our explosive finishes and infinite loops to take place. Also mentally note what pieces you don't yet have access to and need to dig for and what cards may have been removed early to removal, mill, or effects like Jester's Cap. This is where critical thinking and predicting turns in advance will become a valuable skill in piloting the deck to a winning finish. Using our sweepers in this phase of the game is usually a good stall tactic to ensure we can make it to the later turns. Cyclonic Rift, when cast at the appropriate time, usually means our opponents don't get a chance to catch back up before we're already moving in for the win.
Its the moment we've been preparing for all game and by now we should have enough mana and have drawn enough cards to either win or be killed for our hubris relatively soon. From turns 8 and up the game should be reaching its climactic finish in one way or another. Everyone at the table should, for the most part, be considered a legitimate threat and we should be prepared for our opponents to cast game ending spells like Insurrection and Tooth and Nail or to attack another player (probably us) every turn until somebody eventually wins. We also have similar game ending effects and should have been bringing them together thanks to the enormous card advantage gifted to us by our commander. If you weren't forced to use them earlier, the free counter spells become very important in these late turns. They allow us to expend all of our mana for the potential of a win without being defenseless against responses from the other players. Additionally, spells like Mystical Tutor, Dig Through Time, and Turnabout can give us that extra push to get the spells we need or to extract more mileage out of our resources.
Try not to be overzealous and rush headlong into an opponent's answer. When its this late in the game we'll only get one chance to combo out and, if we're playing with a moderately skilled group, at least one of our opponents will most likely be holding something to fizzle our turn. We should be leading with an extra turn spell if we have one, that way we have more mana up for permission if they try to answer it. If they choose not to then we can use our remaining mana to develop our board more as we set up to win on the following turn we gave ourselves. Always another fine option to lead with is Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Preferably we want to cast him at the end of the turn before ours if we weren't forced to respond to a lethal attack step or other game ender thanks to his flash ability. Once he resolves the game should in all likelihood be over that turn.
I know you were probably wondering when and where I was going to list the actual combos in the deck. This appears as good a place as any considering this is the phase of the game they'll be coming into play and being used. So, without further adieu, here are the deck's predominant win conditions.
It should be noted that these are just the main infinite loops the deck uses to win most games, but they are far from the only ways the deck can win. I have won by Briberying out a Craterhoof Behemoth and then casting Rite of Replication kicked to kill the whole table. I have won by using Treachery on an opponent's Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, causing the rest of the table to concede immediately. I have even, much to the misery of others playing, fought a control deck to the bitter end until eventually killing him some 30 turns later with enough attacks from a Vendilion Clique. The small amount of clone and theft effects in the deck, combined with a generous permission package, can allow us to win even from some of the most inconvenient circumstances. Remember - the game isn't over until we're dead. We almost always have outs that we can play to.
My Azami deck is my favorite one to play and test new card choices for, and I have spent quite a lot of time and money acquiring the cards I wanted as well as foiling those cards out over the years. I am aware though that, like their tastes in deck design and play style, people have different budgets to work with and not everyone can easily purchase some of the more expensive pieces of this list. Because of that we're going to discuss some budget alternatives for a portion of the cards I use that I believe exceed the expected price tag for an EDH deck. The cards I'll be reviewing are those in the deck that have a market price of $50 or more based on pricing from TCGPlayer.com. I will not be covering non-basic lands because I believe that the important ones in relation to our combos are near irreplaceable and a budget switch to a basic Island is pretty straight forward should you really need to do so. I will be attempting to suggest different cards that still fill the same general role as their more pricey counterparts so that the overall strategy of the deck stays relatively the same. This section of the thread will be updated each time the 'Set Reviews' or 'The Change Log' sections are updated in case the prices of certain cards either climb or fall in the market. Last Updated: 07/08/2016
Snapcaster Mage ---> Scrivener, Mnemonic Wall, Call to Mind, Vexing Scuttler
Snapcaster Mage will be a difficult card to replace. His mana cost combined with flash are what give his recursion ability it's unique timing and versatility. We're not going to find many other wizards (or any types of cards for that matter) that even remotely compare to his power level, but we can try to recreate the effect as best as we can. Scrivener, which has been changed to be a wizard creature type, is a more costly and less powerful Archaeomancer. He is within our core tribe, however, and is incredibly cheap to buy if you're looking for something very budget friendly. He still allows us to double up on one of our instants and benefits from our effects that abuse ETB triggers which means spells that work well with Snapcaster such as Familiar's Ruse and Vedalken Mastermind will also work well with him in the list. Mnemonic Wall fits the same mold. It lacks the relevant creature type, but it can also grab sorceries back to our hand. Call to Mind is a one shot return effect with a low enough cmc so as to be at least comparable to Snapcaster in a way. The eldrazi crab is interesting since it's a cast trigger and will, most of the time, still get us our spell back to hand even if they want to counter him. It also presents a larger body than the others which isn't super relevant in our deck but should still be noted as a point in it's favor. This is definitely the most challenging card swap among them and I think further cements the fact that Snapcaster Mage badly needs a reprint in an attempt to bring his price down a bit.
Mana Drain ---> Deprive, Disdainful Stroke, Memory Lapse, Remand
Mana Drain is one of the easier cards to replace from a strategic standpoint. It's broken secondary effect to give us mana is far less important to us than the fact that it is a hard counter for only 2 cmc. There are many spells that have that desired trait including the ones listed above and it really comes down to personal preference on which one you feel fits your style of game play the best. I recommend testing with a large variety and taking the time to learn about the strengths and weaknesses each one brings to the deck.
Force of Will ---> Foil, Thwart, Disrupting Shoal
Another easy budget fix. Force of Will may be the most powerful version of a "free" counter spell, but there are plenty of options that function in a similar fashion that we can use. Again it really depends on personal taste which replacement you want to use, but I'd recommend Foil for Azami simply because it's the closest mechanically to Force of Will and benefits from our strength to draw large amounts of cards in the same way. Like with Mana Drain before I would say to test all of your available options to find the one you enjoy the most.
Mana Crypt ---> Sky Diamond, Mind Stone
The power of Mana Crypt is certainly plain to see and most other mana rocks won't match up exactly when compared to it. That doesn't mean we have no options though and in most play groups I would venture to say that having or not having a Crypt makes little difference in how you play the deck. We want to replace it with other mana sources that are cheap and reliable, able to be dropped in the early turns of the game to accelerate us into our commander so that we can begin doing what our deck does faster. Sky Diamond used to be in the list after I first posted the thread to the site but was later cut for Wayfarer's Bauble for reasons found in 'The Change Log'. Still, it was a fine mana rock that did it's job well enough for mono blue. The deck doesn't usually have a problem drawing cards so Mind Stone's secondary ability is a little less valuable to our strategy then most others. It can tap for mana the turn we play it, however, so I guess there is some value in that. Frankly any of these choices would make a decent replacement for Mana Crypt as we're really just looking for a cheap mana source.
Mox Diamond ---> Darksteel Ingot, Coldsteel Heart, Commander's Sphere
In terms of speed, there is probably no true contender with the moxen when it comes to mana rocks. However, there are mana rocks that come down a little later and still provide us with the ever important colored mana for our intensely colored spells like Cryptic Command. They wont help you race against incredibly aggressive aggro/combo strategies as well, but they get the job done in the other departments and have a much lower risk involved if someone destroys them.
Temporal Manipulation ---> Temporal Trespass, Temporal Mastery, Time Stretch, Walk the Aeons
Something that Wizards of the Coast has realized over the years is that recurring and reusing extra turn spells is extremely powerful, degenerate, and leads to "unfun" game states. Because of all that, WotC has made the newer spells that let you take an extra turn exile themselves as part of the spell resolving which makes them impossible to use with our Archaeomancer loop combo. Time Stretch and Walk the Aeons still work in the combo but require a larger initial mana investment. This changes the math and can mean we die before we can resolve the spell with the appropriate pieces on the board or in our hand. Personally I would run Walk the Aeons as the replacement if I had to make a switch because I prefer efficiency over splashiness in this deck, but I can see the debate for just wanting a huge bomb like Time Stretch to end games with or one of the other extra turn spells with a different twist regardless of whether they can or cannot go infinite. I find Temporal Mastery especially cool because of it's synergy with Mystical Tutor and the fact that we can try to draw one card on each of our opponent's turns with our wizards and gamble for that miracle trigger the fair way.
This is the basic shell of what the deck used to look like before I tried to scale it back a bit with a couple notable new additions in the form of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Capture of Jingzhou. One because he came out fairly recently and I never really gave him a chance (until now!), and the other because lord knows if I had owned one back then I would have played it (and might still play it now).
I was going to do a whole write up on why I exclude certain combo's because I believe them to be clunky or how the fetch lands are there only for minor percentage draw gains and to really fuel only one card, but decided against it. Essentially take the existing list, trim some of the fat, add some more tutors and early acceleration, and add one more infinite mana combo and you have the deck sort of how it used to be. Pretty much a cookie cutter image of a traditional Azami list. Personally I find the deck as it is now much more entertaining to play with and against, but if you want more speed and efficiency then this one might be the way to go. If you have any questions and/or comments I would love to read them. I'm always updating and testing and, even though I no longer play this version of the deck, I am open to a discussion on it's construction.
5 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Wizards (18)
1 Cursecatcher
1 Martyr of Frost
1 Sage of Epityr
2 Deranged Assistant
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Omenspeaker
2 Sea Scryer
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Stonybrook Banneret
2 Voidmage Prodigy
3 Laboratory Maniac
3 Patron Wizard
3 Trinket Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Archaeomancer
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
5 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Enchantments (4)
2 Power Artifact
3 Intruder Alarm
5 Treachery
6 Mind Over Matter
Other Creatures (2)
2 Phantasmal Image
7 Palinchron
Counter Magic (12)
0 Pact of Negation
1 Dispel
1 Stifle
1 Swan Song
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Delay
2 Mana Drain
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Trickbind
4 Cryptic Command
5 Force of Will
1 High Tide
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pongify
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Reality Shift
3 Blue Sun's Zenith
3 Long-Term Plans
4 Turnabout
5 Misdirection
8 Dig Through Time
Artifact (8)
0 Chrome Mox
0 Mana Crypt
0 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
2 Grim Monolith
2 Sapphire Medallion
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Extraplanar Lens
Sorcery (8)
1 Personal Tutor
2 Merchant Scroll
3 Fabricate
5 Bribery
5 Capture of Jingzhou
5 Temporal Manipulation
5 Time Warp
6 Time Spiral
0 Academy Ruins
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Cavern of Souls
0 Flooded Strand
0 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Mutavault
0 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
0 Polluted Delta
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Riptide Laboratory
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Strip Mine
0 Tolaria West
Basic Land (23)
23x Snow-covered Island
The Change Log
All original posts can be found in the comments below, but for the sake of organization they're going to be copy-pasted here so that they're easy to find.
All Is Dust ---> Temporal Manipulation
Sky Diamond ---> Wayfarer's Bauble
Caged Sun ---> Acquire
I've been messing around with Azami for years now and over the last few weeks I really tried to lay the list out and figure out what style of deck I want this to be. It still is an Azami deck, so the core of the list will most likely remain very similar to the majority of other card choices for others that pilot Azami. What I found I really enjoyed, especially when the games didn't go my way and Azami was killed off early, was using other peoples tools against them. I was also tired of trying to be too much of a generic control deck when Azami really favors the synergy/combo stategy over one that packs a bunch of board wipes. With those things in mind I made the above changes opting for a more explosive card in Temporal Manipulation over a control sweeper like All Is Dust. Caged Sun came out because its very expensive in terms of converted mana cost and is mostly used as a mana doubler to go infinite with Palinchron, being replaced with Acquire for added variety and "take your tools" flavor. I liked Sky Diamond, but it was just a little slow and inevitably died at some point throughout the game. Wayfarer's Bauble adds to the things we can do on turn one and also ramps us with a permanent land drop rather than a mana rock.
10/16/2015
Surgespanner ---> Reality Shift
Dispel ---> Muddle the Mixture
Dream Fracture ---> Sage of Epityr
Myriad Landscape ---> Solemn Simulacrum
Back again for another update on cards I've been testing out for a couple months (to the great regret of my play group since I have been playing Azami whenever I get the chance). Surgespanner is out for Reality Shift because the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was mainly removing creatures on board. I lose the versatility to bounce other permanent types, but I gain value and synergy with cards like Snapcaster Mage, Archaeomancer, and Sigil Tracer. Dispel leaves the list for Muddle the Mixture as the deck continues to become a more "casual" grindy deck and less of a fast and furious combo machine that requires me to have the cheapest counterspells I can to combo off. Also tutoring for Cyclonic Rift when you need it is pretty good I hear. Dream Fracture finally kicks the bucket this time. Friends have been telling me not to run it forever now and I finally decided to cut a counterspell this time around to somewhat ease the pain of my playgroup. In its place we get another cheap utility wizard in Sage of Epityr. Azami can always use more wizards that come down early and fix our beginning draws before she hits the field and puts them to work. Finally, I ended up cutting a land. After looking at the decks curve and seeing how it wasn't exactly high I decided that 38 was a little too many and that 37 would free up a slot without too much impact on actually hitting my land drops on time to play relevant spells. Myriad Landscape got voted off the island (pun intended) and in its place we have what appears to be a staple for most mono blue decks, Solemn Simulacrum. I feel Solemn will do what I was hoping Myriad Landscape was going to do all along but never quite did. So far over the last couple months these changes have shown pretty good improvements to the games I've played. The deck is potent and formidable, but not oppressive.
1/16/2016
Diviner's Wand ---> Turnabout
Arcanis the Omnipotent ---> Mystic Confluence
The theme of this round of changes is, like many other changes I've made, versatility. Commander is a format of many different players, play styles, card options, and board states that can require you to act or react in a unique way each time. The more cards you have that can be used in more situations, the better off you'll be more often than not. With that in mind I've removed a couple cards that weren't performing super well and added two cards that have a lot of options in a multitude of scenarios. Diviner's Wand gets cut mainly because it was just being used as a wizard that would survive board wipes and other forms of creature removal. It technically added another win condition to the deck, but if I was drawing enough cards each turn to commander damage someone to death with Azami, Lady of Scrolls then I've probably already got the game locked up pretty well for anything else to clean up. My hardest cut I've had to make to the deck yet was Arcanis the Omnipotent. Besides Azami he is my absolute favorite wizard in Magic, but he just can't seem to stick around to get any advantage out of him. Unlike Azami he needs a turn around the table in this deck before he can really start impacting anything. Because of this he usually ends up wasting my whole turn as I spend six mana to a creature that, for good reason, must die. I picked up a sweet replacement from the new commander products however. Mystic Confluence really is one of the best blue cards printed for the format in a long time. After testing it out for a while, my opinion is that the card is ABSURDLY good. It will always do something for you, even if that something is being a lowly Jace's Ingenuity and thats still not too shabby. My second addition is a card I've tested before and had mixed feelings about - Turnabout. The last few months I've been playing with this one have gone a lot smoother than previous tests. I found that having a card like this that can be used on offense or defense makes me feel more prepared to handle the myriad amount of commanders in our playgroup. You can tap down a players mana before your turn to bait a counterspell/removal. You can tap a board of creatures ready to alpha strike you just like a cryptic command. You can use it to untap all your lands when you have double mana from a High Tide or Gauntlet of Power, floating a massive amount for a big turn. You can untap all your wizards to draw even more cards. My point is the card is good, especially for this deck, and I'm glad I came back and gave it another chance.
3/18/2016
Gilded Drake ---> Pongify
Forbid ---> Trickbind
Temporal Adept ---> Vedalken Mastermind
Back again for some more edits and insights into my meta. Ever since I added Stifle a while back I've been looking for a slot to drag in Trickbind. It seemed appropriate to remove Forbid for a number of reasons, chief among them being that I just don't personally like 3 cmc counterspells. Dissipate being the exception to this rule as a way to remove a threat "permanently" and give a slightly larger edge against graveyard decks. I know many people believe Forbid to be a staple in any Azami list but I always felt that in any game state where I have drawn enough cards to pseudo-lock the game with Forbid that I am either locking it anyway without the need of that particular card, or I'm winning that turn. Gilded Drake performed it's role perfectly so the cut here wasn't a matter of performance so much as it was a change of opinion and a shift in my meta. Having an efficient way to gain control of an opponent's creature (commanders in particular) was nice and I found it came very much in handy when I was matched up against commanders that demanded that kind of response. But over the last couple month's I've seen more "casual" lists being piloted where it wasn't needed to cripple the deck by denying them their commander forever. As it was stated in the opening lines above for this deck list, this is an Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck with a more casual mind set. I often do play to win, but some cards bring too many more bad feels then they do sweet plays. Because of this we bring in the very efficient Pongify as another removal piece instead. This was actually a card in the list when it was first thrown together but then taken out when my meta was more control heavy. I imagine it will be just as good as it always has been being arguably blue's best creature removal spell next to Reality Shift. The last change in this round of edits came from straight from other Azami lists on the mtg salvation and tappedout. For quite a while I've seen Azami decks include Vedalken Mastermind but never understood why they'd run it over Temporal Adept. The adept gives you the option to bounce your permanents with the added utility of attacking your opponent's board, so why the mastermind? Turns out a wizard with a lower casting cost that allows you to return your permanents that really matter like Archaeomancer, Sower of Temptation, or either of our two clone effects we can target with less mana investment makes a big difference in how smooth the deck operates. Its also a sly way to defend Azami from spot removal or board wipes for a single blue mana. I used to be adamantly opposed to this creature over the adept, but after testing it for a bit I've been converted. That's the last of the updates this time. I'm pretty passionate about this deck and always working on finding the balance between a list that can win effectively, but isn't really hyper competitive. It's been difficult, because Azami is generally a safe target to kill first whether its casual or not, but I think its getting there slowly. Getting on my soap box for a bit I would have to say that its not what deck you play but how you play that makes a game competitive or casual, but that's a whole different debate forum haha.
4/17/2016
Long-Term Plans ---> Dig Through Time
Gauntlet of Power ---> Extraplanar Lens
Acquire ---> Time Spiral
Yet another set of changes, although this one comes a bit sooner since my last round of them. I've been slowly working on a rough draft of my card choices along with other sections of importance to potentially turn this deck list into a primer at some point in the future. Because of this, as well as it still just being my favorite deck to play, Azami has been on my mind a lot lately. Testing out new cards in my deck lists is one of the most enjoyable experiences for me in commander, however I really want to solidify the list so that I can have a foundation from which to start the major portion of the strategy section. All of this is just a long winded explanation to say that I've been playing this list and scrutinizing it even more than I normally do. So lets get down to this latest round of cuts and additions to the deck. Acquire is the first major flop I think I've ever added to the deck. I thought it was going to be a worse Bribery and I was correct, I just didn't realize how much worse that was going to be. I'm pretty much the only one who truly enjoys playing mono color decks in our meta (aside from a certain Lovisa Coldeyes deck which we shall not speak of) so pulling out mana doublers never seemed to work. My meta also isn't big on artifact themed decks so my pickings were slim. Often times when casting Acquire I would be lucky to break even with a Gilded Lotus, but more likely it was just a 5 cmc Solemn Simulacrum. I'm sad the card wasn't as effective as I had hoped, but you never know until you actually run the cards to see how good or bad they really are. Time Spiral makes it's way into the deck for the second time. Like Turnabout before it, Time Spiral has proven to be more effective and versatile then I first realized when I tested it out before. Obviously it combos with mana doublers like High Tide, but it also grants protection against mill effects that can cause us to lose our combo pieces, it refills our hand when we're behind, and it acts as a soft counter to graveyard strategies like the newly popular The Gitrog Monster. I've always been critical of cards that give advantage to my opponents, but so far I've been happy with the results and enjoy the "untap" clause that Time Spiral offers which allows us to make first use of our new hand before our opponents. Lately I've been noticing that I wish Gauntlet of Power was just another copy of High Tide. Sadly we can't get another exact copy that mirrors High Tide, but we can use the cheapest casting doubler to act as an approximate substitute. Most people don't enjoy playing with Extraplanar Lens because losing a land is never fun, especially when mana doublers are removed so quickly from the board. But when you're trying get your value from it the turn you play it, the cheaper the effect the better. The lens is essentially a 3 cmc, colorless High Tide that we can use to take advantage of one turn to either win or put ourselves clearly ahead. If it the game doesn't end when we cast it, and it lives longer than one turn, that's fantastic but we won't plan on it. Again, symmetrical effects that give things to our opponents aren't great in my opinion, but in a mono color deck we should be able to make more use of the double blue then the rest of the table. The last change is more for personal play style then an upgrade to the strategy. Simply put, Long-Term Plans is an instant speed Demonic Tutor for the deck when things are going well, and a sad, slow delay of the inevitable when it's behind. I understand it's potency and how well it works in particular with our commander, but I prefer cards that remain relevant regardless of how well or poor the game is going. If the deck were become more aggressively combo driven again then I would certainly add it back as another tutor option. Luckily for me I don't care too much about being hyper efficient or winning games very quickly so I get to add a splashier "tutor" effect with Dig Through Time. Aside from Archaeomancer, Snapcaster Mage, and the newly added Time Spiral, we don't have much interaction with our graveyard. Dig allows us to squeeze even more advantage out of our used up spells and creatures that we won't be using in any other way. Never mind the fact that it gets 2 cards to hand for 2 mana at instant speed. Yes there is the potential to miss and get nothing exciting, but at that point I think it becomes a problem of the deck in its entirety and not a problem with Dig Through Time.
5/27/2016
Dissipate ---> Familiar's Ruse
A very small change to a card I was never really too impressed with anyway. To really explain why Dissipate came out of the deck I would like to take a moment to talk about how I view counter magic. In my experience I've always found that when it comes to counterspells I prefer the cheaper CMC variants to their splashier alternatives. When I build with permission in mind I will always choose a Swan Song over a Desertion or Overwhelming Intellect because I enjoy using them actively on my turn after casting other spells or, more specifically, to defend my combos. Mana efficiency is a vital attribute that I look for in most of the spells in this list and that carries over even more so to the counter magic. All of the 3 CMC counterspells that I've had in and out of the deck have toed the middle line between being "good enough" and disappointing me at key moments in a game. The first to go was Dream Fracture, then it was Forbid, and now finally we get to Dissipate. While it will always be a strong option against decks that value a strategy focused around recursion, I'm simply inclined to value 2 CMC counter magic more highly. In it's place I've brought in a 2 CMC counterspell that also gives us added value from our ETB effects. Familiar's Ruse may have the additional cost of returning a creature, but when that creature provides a powerful ability like Sower of Temptation or Snapcaster Mage then it becomes a boon rather than a detriment. I've tested it for about 3 weeks now and it's performing quite well. I will admit that it is more difficult to decide when to use this over the other counterspells in the deck, but more choices just adds depth to the play style and to the games when we play the deck.
8/22/2016
Sage of Epityr ---> Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
The newest change isn't too much of a surprise for those that read some of the comments on this thread, but it still is a change so I'm going to log it. I never really had the opportunity to test out Jace, Vryn's Prodigy until the last couple of months what with his price becoming absurd for a while (especially for a card I was only thinking of adding to the deck). I'm all aboard the hype train now though and can say with confidence that he's an extraordinarily good card. He does everything Sage of Epityr did but better. He comes out early and digs through the top of our deck. He provides another wizard body for Azami to make use of when she hits the field. And on top of all of that he provides another Snapcaster effect when you can/want to flip him, gifting us yet another way to abuse things like Time Warp, Bribery, or Rite of Replication. He's been a big success in almost every game I've played with the deck since adding him and I don't believe he'll be leaving anytime soon.
8/14/2017
Wayfarer's Bauble ---> Chrome Mox
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir ---> Mox Diamond
Daring Apprentice ---> Baral, Chief of Compliance
Evacuation ---> Knowledge Exploitation
I want to start off this round of changes by saying that I think I've reached the point in this deck where I have too many favorite cards to choose from. Every round of changes means that cards I love playing with, and that are usually also very powerful, are getting cut somewhere in the list. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is the main casualty this time around. He is absurdly powerful, and works very well with the general wants of the deck. However, I have noticed lately that I have never "needed" him to win. He solidified my victory like he does for a lot of other combo strategies, but never did I think it was vital that he be in play before I started my shenanigans. He has become sort of win more as crazy as it is to say. He also competes with other 5 drops in the deck and, even though he has flash, always appears to be my last choice of things to cast in a given turn. This may be partly because of how my meta is shifting to very fast paced tactics both combo and aggro oriented. So it looks like it's time to start turning up the dials a little bit on Azami and adding a couple cards back in that haven't been in here since before I made this thread - Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond. Wayfarer's Bauble also gets the axe to make room for the more risky, but much faster mana accelerators. I still don't want to necessarily win more quickly, but I want the chance to get out of the gates and set up for the game before I'm overrun by decks like Karlov and Saskia.
Daring Apprentice served it's purpose well as a 'layaway' counterspell for protecting Azami, but I've come to prefer the medallion like effect of Baral. He blocks very well as a 1/3 body early in the game, reduces the cost of many cards in our deck, and lets us loot when we use our large amount of permission spells. He's very strong and I cut what I perceived as the weakest link among my wizards to make room for him.
Finally we get to Evacuation. I know it seems counterintuitive that I both talked about the rise of fast, aggressive strategies in my meta and am cutting one of my best answers to such a threat, and you are absolutely correct. I makes no sense at all! I revert back to the beginning where I talked about how ever cut I make is always going to be a good card that does good things for the deck. Still, I have to cut something in order to play the cards I truly want to play. I also believe, in my defense, that Knowledge Exploitation can functionally act as a more traditional board wipe if we need it to. Chances are someone in the game will have a Wrath of God, Damnation, or Akroma's Vengeance lying around in their library. The downside is it's a sorcery. The upside is it's almost exactly like Bribery and, just like Bribery, there are so many options and decisions to be made when you use this card.
Set Reviews
Although technically you could run many cards in this deck, I will not be discussing every mono blue card, colorless card, or land card in a set. Set reviews will only be analyzing cards I believe to be valuable to the list in some way or another. Generally we'll be examining options that already fit well into the deck's core strategy of low cmc interaction, wizard tribal theme, and strong synergy with our commander as well as just simply powerful effects (for example - Bribery).
Vexing Scuttler - We talked before about how Snapcaster Mage may be a little too expensive for your average EDH player to want to acquire. His ability to help us get extra value from our instants and sorceries is valuable however, and the new crab could make a suitable substitution for a cheap dollar price. Because we run so many creatures in the deck we can make better use of it's 'Emerge' cost than many other mono blue lists. A fine budget alternative although Mnemonic Wall is still probably a better pick.
Displace - Because of the power of some of our ETB triggers, including our clones, cards that allow us to abuse them have always caught my eye. This new one is cheap, at instant speed, and blinks two of our creatures. It can be used to blank removal and allows us to do even more shenanigans with Archaeomancer and her ilk. It's not the splashiest card, but it's on my radar.
Docent of Perfection/Final Iteration - Now this is the spoiler that has every Azami player jumping out of their seats to play with it. There are not many "good" ways to create wizard tokens for an Azami list (I'm still SUPER salty that Stonybrook Schoolmaster is a white card. AAAAARRRRG!) and this guy, bug, thing makes it fairly easy and natural for what the deck already does. We run a hefty suit of permission spells as well as several other value instant and sorcery spells to trigger his effect with. With Azami in play every one of those spells essentially becomes a cantrip that draws us a card that turn while also sticking around for any subsequent turns. I imagine if this creature sticks around for more than a couple turns the game is basically over from the exponential card advantage he generates with our commander. On top of all of that it's an evasive 5/4 body that transforms into an evasive 6/5 body that that pumps and gives flying to the rest of our wizards. All of that while still continuously pumping out a wizard for each instant and sorcery we manage to cast. It's 5 CMC makes me shy away a little bit, but that would never stop me from playing with this card relentlessly to see how good it really is. I'm hoping it's absolutely absurd
Imprisoned in the Moon - What an interesting card for blue. Blue now gets it's very own Song of the Dryads. This card seems like a great way to deal with commanders that want to go back to the command zone for value like Maelstrom Wanderer, Marath, Will of the Wild, and Prossh, Skyraider of Kher. Thanks for the new toy Wizards
Unsubstantiate - Another super interesting card in my opinion. We finally get access to another ability like Venser, Shaper Savant to deal with spells that can't be countered by conventional means. It also has the added bonus of being an Unsummon if we need it to bounce a creature like Linvala, Keeper of Silence, a larger attacker, or make more use of our ETB effects. This card gives the player using it a lot of choices and I love that.
Nephalia Academy - This card is more of a meta call, but if you often face off against severe hand disruption then it might come in "handy" (I hate myself for that pun). Seriously though, it doesn't take much to slide this into your deck and probably does wonders from saving key pieces from things like Hymn to Tourach and Wheel of Fortune. A very cool design on a land.
Conspiracy 2 (11/24/2016)
Expropriate - I'm a big fan of extra turn effects so this card just speaks to me. What it tells me to do is pay 9 CMC for one extra turn and a Blatant Thievery, but that's still pretty sweet in my book. For my personal play group I feel it would be a tad too slow. Maybe in a more casual, grindy meta that allows you to durdle into the late game more often. I'll still test this one just because it looks like fun to resolve.
Stunt Double - Strictly better Clone! Just taking a look at my list you should be able to tell I'm a sucker for copying/"borrowing" my opponent's permanents. This clone has flash which plays perfectly into our best defense that is to simply hold up mana for counter magic and wait for something scary to happen. Might try him out instead of Rite of Replication for a little bit to see if flash is better than sometimes winning the game with kicker. We will find out.
Kaladesh (11/24/2016)
Dramatic Reversal - Kind of a less powerful Turnabout. Costs less, but can't do our broken or infinite shenanigans with lands. Could be interesting as a strange draw spell with a bunch of wizards in play, but more than likely its just a "win more" card. Still thought I'd throw the idea out there.
Insidious Will - Cryptic Command is that you? No, no its not. That being said this card does do a lot of my favorite things about blue and gives the power of choice which should never be underestimated. I'll test it in place of Twincast and see if the extra mana to cast it is worth it or if it just sits dead in my hand forever
Paradoxical Outcome - Super cool toy. Not as good in our deck as some others, but could still help dodge some board wipes while getting more value from our ETB effecs and drawing us cards on top of it. This is a spicy one and I'd be interested to see who's been trying it out in any deck since its release.
Saheeli's Artistry - A Clone and/or a Sculpting Steel with, again, options to choose from. The 6 CMC makes me sad, but not all of Blue's toys get to be broken. Solid value for a powerful ability in Commander. I've already seen it a few times recently (I'm looking at you Breya!).
Torrential Gearhulk - Its no Diluvian Primordial but not a lot of things can be really. Still the one less CMC and the addition of flash makes it tempting to at least test him a little. Could make a fun combat trick. This particular wizard deck doesn't usually drop 5/6's out of nowhere so I might be able to catch a few people until they catch on.
Commander 2016 (11/24/2016)
Coastal Breach - Blue doesn't get too many board wipes that make themselves worth including. The new 'Undaunted' mechanic means this one might be worth the time to find out if it is good enough. A normal 4 player game means it only costs 4 CMC which seems like pretty good value to me. Sorcery speed brings it down a notch for me. However, thats probably just because I've been spoiled by Cyclonic Rift for too long now.
Faerie Artisans - This card is super strange to me, and I think with the density of ETB creatures that populate Commander it could be incredibly powerful. I wonder how much of a "kill on sight" creature this one will be in the future with things like the new Gearhulks being printed. It's value can only go up as more sets are printed. If only it was a wizard!
Manifold Insights - So I heard you guys like Fact of Fiction. Seriously though I think this card, while suffering from the age old problem of letting our opponents choose, is insane value. It also, like good old FoF, opens the doors for some political choices. Maybe certain players give you good spells hoping you'll deal with someone else. Maybe you're given something like a Time Warp just to make you the threat so people try and kill you. I like a card that works on multiple angles within the game and this one does it pretty well by letting every player get involved in the effect.
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I recommend Reiterate to combo with Mana Geyser for infinite mana as a combo kill. That's just my playstyle though
Sweet brew!
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In my opinion it comes down to two things - 1. Abilities 2. Flavor
I think the new commanders have many more interesting effects than the majority of five color commanders as well as having been worked on specifically by WotC design to try and represent a magic card devoid of one color. Some are better at it than others, but I think there was definitely an effort towards making the flavor of the cards matter in this edition of the Commander product.
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Behold my Ishkanah, Grafwidow list! I threw this thing together as a rough draft because we now have a legendary spider for our mediocre tribe. I'm trying to go for a true spider tribal list with as many actual "spider" cards as I could fit in the deck while still keeping it mildly playable in casual circles. With this commander I feel we want to turn on 'Delirium' while not losing our more valuable cards to those effects so there's quite a bit of graveyard interaction. As always I'm open to comments and/or suggestions about the deck. Thanks for taking a peek and have a great day
5 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
Spiders (19)
2 Deadly Recluse
3 Adaptive Automaton
3 Hitchclaw Recluse
3 Nyx Weaver
3 Oran-Rief Recluse
3 Rib Cage Spider
3 Sporecap Spider
4 Blightwidow
4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Giant Spider
4 Kessig Recluse
4 Penumbra Spider
5 Acid Web Spider
5 Sentinel Spider
5 Silklash Spider
5 Stingerfling Spider
5 Watcher in the Web
6 Arachnus Spinner
6 Skysnare Spider
Other Creatures (7)
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Eternal Witness
4 Nullmage Shepherd
5 Ant Queen
6 Greenwarden of Murasa
7 Hornet Queen
7 Sheoldred, Whispering One
2 Animate Dead
2 Assault Formation
2 Seal of Primordium
3 Arachnus Web
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Parallel Lives
5 Doubling Season
6 Deadbridge Chant
Artifact (4)
1 Expedition Map
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
4 Door of Destinies
5 Conjurer's Closet
Planeswalker (1)
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Instant (8)
1 Crop Rotation
1 Entomb
2 Grisly Salvage
2 Moment's Peace
3 Arachnogenesis
3 Harrow
4 Sudden Reclamation
5 Wretched Confluence
Sorcery (15)
1 Reanimate
2 Gather the Pack
2 Mulch
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
4 Dread Return
4 Explosive Vegetation
4 Jarad's Orders
4 Skyshroud Claim
5 Beacon of Unrest
5 Creeping Renaissance
5 Increasing Ambition
5 Spider Spawning
6 Seasons Past
7 All Is Dust
0 Blighted Woodland
0 Command Tower
0 Evolving Wilds
0 Geier Reach Sanitarium
0 High Market
0 Hissing Quagmire
0 Llanowar Wastes
0 Miren, the Moaning Well
0 Overgrown Tomb
0 Swarmyard
0 Temple of Malady
0 Terramorphic Expanse
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Woodland Cemetery
Basic Land (23)
7x Swamp
16x Forest
1
If your meta isn't super quick and games tend to go a little slower, then this card is absurd value. I'd keep at least one.
1
I reiterate, I would be in favor of more unbannings. Gifts Ungiven, Painter's Servant, Sundering Titan, Prophet of Kruphix - I don't see these things as a problem and think they could (in my opinion should) come off of the banned list.
From what I've seen regarding the way people repeatedly harp on card's they find unfun I could very well see the next sub-forum created to be any number of cards that lock resources like Back to Basics. You may not find it the same as Iona, but that doesn't mean there aren't people who find that card any less "fun" to play against.
And on that note, saying Iona is an "inherently UNFUN" card like an objective fact is not endearing to your argument. There are a lot of ways to have fun in this game and there are those who find Iona both exciting and entertaining. Though I may be locked out of the game and not get to cast my spells I will never tell someone "Your fun is wrong".
I am not looking for a line in the sand on format philosophy or consistency in the banned list, the RC is going to do what it wants. I am pointing out openly, however, that claiming a card should be banned on the basis of fun/unfun is a spiral we could ride for a very long time. I'm dubious whether a ban on Iona would actually stop this debate on lock pieces or if it would merely continue ad infinitum.
If she is merely a bump in this metaphorical road, and not pervasive enough to be affecting enough playgroups to get a majority response from the player base, then it may be she's just a terror that must be dealt with on a group to group basis. I am fallible like anyone else and can always be persuaded to a differing opinion. These are just my thoughts on the subject.
2
It's been brought up before on many of these sub-forums, but if you're looking for consistency in the ban list then you're in for a rough time. The RC doesn't really plan to continue these chain bannings of "well if this card is banned then this other one should be too" and vice versa.
I think I agree with what Osieorb18 brought up in that since we have no general consensus we'll just have to wait and see if the RC thinks this is worthy of a ban or not. You may VERY much agree she does, but there are some like myself who find her a rather soft target. I personally just wouldn't like to see many more bans even of cards I dislike, because there is someone out there who probably does. I'm indifferent to Iona getting banned, but I don't think it's my place to try and limit people from playing with their cards. I feel that's the same position the RC puts itself in whenever they think of banning a card like this.