Trying Genku, Future Shaper Out in Azorius Equinaut

Posted on June 25, 2024

Hello all! Happy Tuesday to each of you! This is my third deck led by a MH3 legend. Last week was Simic's Nadu, Winged Wisdom (here - Nadu for the Win-du in Commander | Article by Abe Sargent), and two weeks ago was a Mono-White Aura deck around Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor (here - Mono-White Auras with Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor in Commander | Article by Abe Sargent). Today, we're exploring Azorius, so that's still just Bant. Sorry Rakdos fans!

Arguably, my most signature 60-card deck is a Standard legal Invasion era deck in Bant colors called Equinaut, which I played in tournaments. The idea was to run Core set rare Blue enchantment Equilibrium with the flashing-self bouncer Fleetfoot Panther. The idea was to drop self-gaters, pay the tax, self-bounce, and then either bounce opposing stuff for tempo or save your own. The primer for this deck is here: CasualNation #57 - The Equinaut Primer | Article by Abe Sargent.

I built a real-life Commander deck around it, and it made WOTC's Deck of the Day back when they had it. Green is a key part of this since you need it for mana dorks like Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise, gold stuff like Fleetfoot Panther and Mystic Snake, and more, such as Aluren. This is not a Bant blink deck, although it does use some of the same cards, like Aura Shards. This is a self-bounce deck, designed to cast and recast your stuff, so it has cast triggers like Equilibrium, ETB stuff like Aura Shards, bounce stuff like Azorius Aethermage, and tap stuff for the limited time on arrival like Glare of Subdual. That's how the deck works. Now, a new dork just debuted in Modern Horizons 3 in Azorius, not Bant, that can be the lead of a Commander deck.

Let's turn to this Moonfolk:

Here she is! She costs four, has a blocking 2/5 body, and then a leaves-play trigger for your non-token stuff, up to three times a round, to make a free dork token to go wide and kill, or save your team! They are a 2/2 vigilance Fox, 1/2 flying Moonfolk, or a 1/1 lifelinking Rat. At instant speed, you can sink five mana to make your team permanently bigger with +1/+1 counters. Can I make Azorius work? Let's find out!

Mana, Ramp, Lands

Let's start by looking at mana, ramp, rocks, and lands! The White 3-drop above ETBs and tutors for two basic Plains, putting them in your hand. You can then ramp any land from your hand to the battlefield when an opponent drops a land and has more lands than you. The Blue mana rock taps for Blue, has flash, and can redirect an attacking dork elsewhere to save you or your planeswalker from damage. Bouncing these is great!

Now let's turn to dorks that cost three as well! The flyer has a 2/1 body and a leaves-play trigger, not an ETB one. You choose a player with more lands and ramp out a Plains (nonbasics too) tapped, and then put the rest in your hand. Great synergy with the Map to drop them and with gaters. The vigilance one has a 3/3 body and an ETB trigger. If an opponent has more lands, you ramp a nonbasic Plains tapped, and then again if they still have more.

Now let's turn to lands! Since Genku will trigger when anything bounces, lands too, I am tossing in the first legendary land that taps for blue, ETBs untapped, and can be bounced for one mana. I am also running the Karoo land Azorius Chancery and two colorless ones. Then, since my stuff can be small and killable, we'll need defense, like the Signpost above or the other legendary land, which can tap for colorless and stop attacking damage from a dork.

Now let's turn to land-based card draw! The white tapping legendary land will sometimes ETB untapped, and if you swung with two or more dorks, you can tap this to draw a card! The ascend one taps for colorless and with five mana, you can draw if you have ascended. I also tossed in War Room to swap two life for a card draw.

Now let's turn to bounce effects in land form! The legendary Blue tapper arrives untapped and can be discarded for no more than four mana to bounce a permanent, which can be aimed at you or an opponent to trigger bounces. The colorless one taps with two to bounce your Wizards to your hand. That's your leader and a few others too.

Let's finish with this triad of lands. This is not a token deck, but I did want to toss in some tokens here and there to help out. The one that taps for colorless, ETBs untapped, and taps with three to make a 1/1 artifact dork with toxic one that cannot block. The White tapper will often ETB tapped and taps with four to make a 1/1 dork, this time a Human. We need removal of nonbasic lands, and I want to keep opponents happy and ramped for our White ramping, so I am running the uncommon above that taps and ramps them as well as another land and the 2-drop Knight of the White Orchid.

Self-Bounce Saving Gaters

Now let's turn to bouncers! The Ravnica artifact works perfectly here since your non-artifacts will bounce anything with that type to your hand, from lands to dorks to enchantments, all of which will trigger Genku. It's a "may" effect so you can use it only when needed. The 4-drop has an upkeep trigger to bounce any permanent of that player's choice, or you'll lose two life, which many opponents may be fine with in a 40-life Commander format. You can recast a key ETB thing, trigger Equilibrium, or Genku too!

Now let's turn from artifacts to Blue! I am running "save me" from a sweeper in the form of the four-cost instant above! You can bounce any number of your nonland and non-token stuff and then draw cards too! Nasty good. The best blue gater is the 1-drop common above, just reprinted. Although he lacks flash, he's just 1 mana and can abuse your stuff or trigger Genku three times for three mana. It's awesome!

Now let's turn from Blue to White! The flashing gaters are best like Whitemane Lion or the uncommon defender Wall above! It costs two, self-bounces a dork, has an 0/4 size, and then a nice way to save stuff or just make a big blocker out of nowhere to save your team! The 3-drop flash uncommon has a 3/2 flying body. You'll also use this to hurt your opponent's graveyard by exiling one card at a time from it, so it's good there too.

Let's finish here! The uncommon five-cost 4/3 flyer will self-bounce two on arrival, triggering Genku twice! Then it has a bounce trigger to make a free 1/1 Soldier this time, no restrictions. The 4-drop rare artifact taps with one to bounce a dork to its owner's hand unless they spend a mana, so that's usually you, sure, but if your opponent taps out? Bounce that token or Commander now!

Synergies and Winning Conditions

Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization

Now let's turn to synergies and winning conditions. Since we are abusing ETB stuff, I am running both ETB doublers in Panharmonicon and the above legendary dork. She has a five-cost, 4/7 body for blocking. She also shuts down your opponent's ETB stuff too. The other legendary dork will be a tripler, not doubler, for your dork tokens that ETB, and they cost one more and have vigilance too, on a 6/6 body.

Teferi breaks this deck open, but I could never run him in my previous deck since is a rough ask in a three-color Bant deck, but giving your creature stuff flash, on a flashing 3/4 stick? That also shuts down your opponents from casting things? That's nasty good here! I needed a Glare of Subdual, enter the four-cost enchantment above where you can tap your untapped dorks to tap an opposing artifact, dork, or land. Nasty good with our tokens!

Now let's turn to backup win conditions in addition to just going wide with Genku. The enchantment costs five, your dorks' ETB will give your team a permanent boost of size with +1/+1 counters just like Genku's mana sink. Now you'll go tall and wide with just a few triggers. The mythic costs eight for a 6/6 flying that gives your team flying and size boosts equal to your dork count to win all up and down the block. The rare Blue dork costs two for a 1/3 body and has an ETB trigger to draw a card from your library equal to your devotion to Blue to dig, and is a backup win condition.

Now let's turn to a key dork and planeswalker! The 6-drop Mono-Blue 5/5 dork has soulbond with a two mana cost to self-exile and recur to the battlefield again, and you can loop it until you run out of mana or trigger Genku three times. The planeswalker costs five Azorius mana for a smaller three loyalty, but we can protect with tokens. His +2 can flicker and bring back a permanent of any sort, not just dorks. His -1 will make your team unblockable for a turn, so that's a go-wide backup win condition and synergy with the blinking in one card!

Let's finish with a pair. Remember, this is a self-bounce deck to reuse ETB, leaves-play, and cast triggers too! The mono-blue flashing 7-drop uncounterable 7/8 Kraken does that well, since it gives you a cast trigger to bounce an opposing nonland, like Equilibrium, or their spell. Nasty good there with your other bounce too. The Mono-White 5-drop flyer with vigilance and lifelink is next! It gives your team +1/+1, and it can make two Servo tokens or just serve and beat. It's replacing our Deranged Hermit.

Answers

Now let's turn to answers, and we'll start with answers to answers! I am running the sometimes free four-cost instant above to give my team both hexproof and indestructible for the turn. This works for all permanents, not just dorks. Key here! The 2-drop flyer has an on-curve 2/1 body and can be sacrificed to give your team indestructible for free. The flashing 3-drop vigilance with a 3/2 body can phase out your other dorks, including tokens, to save them, but not itself. I like leaning into dorks for answers since we can trigger stuff if not needed.

Now let's turn to emergency counters for answers to anything in spell form. The initial deck ran Mystic Snake and Absorb. Here we have Draining Whelk instead of the Snake for two more mana, and with flying, and what you counter grows him into a major threat. This is so nasty! Wanna counter and bounce too? How about this two-cost uncommon to do just that? I got you!

Now let's finish with targeted removal, like this pair. The modal dork // land costs four to drop a 2/2 that destroys an enchantment or artifact on arrival to the battlefield. Ditto Loran of the Third Path here too. The evoker costs five for a 3/2 flashing lifelink body. It's a Swords to Plowshares on an ETB stick. You can evoke it for free too. I am running Generous Gift as an emergency removal of anything, even a land, and then one mass removal spell in Time Wipe.

Card Draw

Now let's turn to card draw like the aforementioned Azorius Aethermage or this self-bounce duo. They each cost three mana and are Blue dorks and Wizards too. The former has a 2/2 body, ETBs and bounces another creature or planeswalker, and then in your end step if you bounced something in your hand, you draw. The latter has a 2/3 body with the trigger, once per turn, to draw when a non-dork was bounced. Then you can tap her with white mana and X to bounce a land to trigger her/Genku and then Zombify an artifact/enchantment back to the battlefield, which is a key way to replay killed engines.

Now let's turn to ETB stuff. The Soldier costs three and has a 2/2 Grey Ogre body. He turns the arrival of small powered stuff into a card if you spend a mana. I am also running Rumor Gatherer and Welcoming Vampire in this genre. The Scout costs two more, has the same size but flying, and then draws you two and gains you two life. Don't sleep on that. I am also running evoking Mulldrifter and Nevermaker to draw you loads of stuff.

Let's finish with this duo! The Azorius colored 4-drop is a God with indestructible, devotion to white and blue, and rocks a 6/5 body. When a turn begins, of anyone, you draw a card if a dork ETB'd on your side the previous turn. That's one on your opponent's turn, and then with flash or token makers, you could make a few here and there to draw tons. The 5-drop mono-blue is also hard to cast, and is a Wizard and gives your Wizards the ability to tap and draw a card. That's everything from Genku to Barrin to the Aethermage to Venser, Shaper Savant too. Draw a bunch just randomly!

There we go! Ready for my decklist? I got you!