Thanks so much, Bruce!

Ravnica Allegiance is doing a really nice job of bringing us back to the original City of Guilds. Each guild has its own style while still allowing for easy crossover with shared colors. And while we still get the flavor of the original guilds, we can see how the plane (and the guilds with them) has changed.

As the plane devolves into chaos, with the Gruul rioting and the Rakdos carnivals creating spectacles, the White and Blue aligned Azorius attempt to maintain order throughout Ravnica. It's not easy, and they face challenges at every turn. Let's see what weapons our favorite controlling guild can bring to bear for our favorite multiplayer format. Without further ado, here is Convertible Commander's Top 10 Azorius cards from Ravnica Allegiance!

Honorable Mention # 3 - Unbreakable Formation

I play with a guy who runs a Fog effect in every deck he plays. Because fogging is normally either a theme (like Turbofog) or Fogs don't get played, it's always a surprise and more often than not the crackback leads to the death of a player at the table. This may not be Holy Day, but in a token-heavy Soldier or Thopter deck it's just about as good. Considering we can main phase it to buff our dudes makes it even better.

Honorable Mention # 2 - High Alert/Emergency Powers

These two cards are nothing like each other, but they get the nod because they're effects we don't normally get in Azorius. Ever wanted to play Doran, the Siege Tower in ? Now you can! Wall of Denial just became a 3-mana 8/8 with Flying and Shroud. Sphinxes tend to have high toughness as well. Meanwhile, Emergency Powers gives us a Wheel of Fortune effect in Azorius. Sometimes drawing a new hand is exactly what the doctor ordered, and while I'm not sure what the use is, I'm certain there is one.

Honorable Mention # 1 - Windstorm Drake/Spirit of the Spires

Having just written an article about fliers in these colors (well, plus ) and lamenting how many Glorious Anthem-style effects existed for fliers, it was nice to see these two appear. Both of these cards will be great in Breya, Etherium Sculptor, but they could also find a home in a more traditional Azorius deck which intends to win slowly with little tokens, speeding along the process.

10 - Azorius Locket/Tome of the Guildpact

I know the Lockets are old news, but honestly, they're great for Commander. Four mana is never a problem, and two cards for an outdated mana rock is a wonderful deal, especially when it taps for a color. Tome of the Guildpact, meanwhile, encourages us to play cards from our guild, and is at its very best when it's drawing a ton of cards. This makes using cards like the new Absorb a lot less painful, because while we're still one-for-one-ing an opponent, at least our counterspell replaces itself. Plus it never hurts to have access to more mana.

9 - Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

Lavinia is, let's face it, a hate card. Unless you play with a group of cheaty-faced cheaters who do completely degenerate things all the time (or just have a friend who always plays Maelstrom Wanderer), you probably don't want Lavinia as your commander. But in a deck designed to force players to ask for permission and play fairly, she's an auto-include. Certainly in a Captain Sisay deck, she's one of the bullets. And even in a random build, getting this lady out early will make the jerk who plans on using that Sol Ring to leap way ahead slow their roll and play at the same speed as everyone else. She's more annoying than exciting, but it's the kind of annoying that makes people build fairer, more fun decks.

8 - Deputy of Detention

After the hate comes the utility. Detention Sphere has been an auto-include in decks with White and Blue in them since its printing. Lots of Goblin tokens? Lose them. Too many Clues? Get rid of 'em. Deputy of Detention will certainly be used differently in heads-up Magic, but in Commander, we use this effect to get rid of oodles of tokens, and it will do that just as effectively as its enchantment counterpart. Again, not terribly exciting, but this is the kind of card you'll never be sad to see.

7 - Lumbering Battlement

There is a combo here. I haven't figured it out yet, and it's possible I won't be the one who does, but there is. Figure out a way to give the Beast Flash and you've got yourself Wrath of God protection - just hide everyone under the big guy. Or cast it when a bunch of your dudes have Enters-the-Battlefield effects and flicker it with Brago, King Eternal or something. Attach a Chariot of Victory to it and kill someone. I don't know for sure, but there's something here, and it's going to make the whole table cheer when it works - at least the first time.

6 - Angel of Grace

A number of years ago, right after I started writing for Cool Stuff Inc., I found myself at a 6-person free-for-all game with no one I knew. I looked at the commanders and determined from the banter that this table was going to be pretty darn cutthroat. I don't normally play that way, but fine, I thought... and I pulled out my newly-built in-real-life Hythonia, the Cruel deck. It was identical to the deck from the article. Everyone seemed to be about to play creatures in this game, so I thought a deck that could do a lot of Wrathing without spending cards to do it would be my best bet. 4 hours, 12 turns, three castings of Cyclonic Rift Overloaded (the same copy), and at least eight activations of Hythonia later, I very carefully played each part of the combo and killed everyone. Angel of Grace would probably have lost me that game.

5 - Precognitive Perception

Draw 3s are good. Draw 3s at instant speed are even better. Draw 3s where we can Scry 3 first? Yes please. Plus we're in a set of colors which can get it back. Digging six cards deep can be the difference between finding the answer you need or not.

4 - Smothering Tithe

This reminds me of Rhystic Study. That card has drawn us a lot of cards over the last several years, and Smothering Tithe is going to make us a lot of Treasure tokens. Who wants to pay just so you don't get another mana? It'll be quite the surprise when you play The Antiquities War, though. Or just sac them all to power a Sphinx's Revelation. A deck like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is absolutely going to want this effect, and we can even run Lavinia in this deck because she only shuts down opponents!

3 - Sphinx of Foresight

This is a very strong effect. Scry is really powerful; looking at multiple cards per turn can help dig us to lands or action, depending on what we're needing. It can help us find that blocker or send that useless mana rock away. Getting to Scry 3 at the very beginning is a cherry on top of this delicious sundae, but tacking it on to a four-mana 4/4 flier? That's absurd. This card will win games.

2 - Dovin, Grand Arbiter

Our new Grand Arbiter falls into a small group of planeswalkers which are three mana. It falls into another group of planeswalkers which protect themselves. The fact that he's as cheap as he is and can help keep himself alive makes him quite powerful. Azorius tends to run a lot of flying creatures, so making use of his +1 ability shouldn't be a problem, and often will allow for an ultimate activation on his second turn on the board. His -1 gives us that wonderful flying blocker, which, if left unmolested, can help build his loyalty back up next turn. His -7 won't break the game or anything, but digging 10 to draw three is a lot of cards, and considering it should be fairly easy to keep looping the ultimate by using it, attacking next turn with an air force, then ultimating again, he should draw us a lot of cards over the course of his life.

I'd also like to point out a personal observation. Planeswalkers - at least in my experience - make people go crazy a little bit in Commander. They tend to way overreact. Maybe it's because we have so few dedicated hate spells, maybe it's because people are remembering that one time someone played Nicol Bolas with Doubling Season and targeted them, but players get really distracted by Planeswalkers. This guy, and his ability to draw so many cards, will be no exception. If all he does is keep you from taking damage for a couple of turns, isn't that a worthwhile investment of 3 mana while you set up the rest of your fort?

1 - Mass Manipulation

Was this obvious? I'm not sure, but the fact it's officially a "Dimir" card doesn't really matter. Rise of the Dark Realms is a spell that wins games, and this is effectively that. We spend our time with our Windborn Muse and Propaganda effects, walling ourselves off while everyone else decides it's just not worth attacking us yet. Eventually the board is filled with a whole bunch of tasty things: Beasts and Dinosaurs of all sizes, Plant tokens the size of giant redwood trees, a Chandra and a Lord Windgrace ready to go off, plus a Sphinx of Foresight for good measure. Our Smothering Tithe has been quietly making Treasure tokens, so we untap, tap our Locket and Tome for good measure, cash in all our mana, and take everyone's stuff. For the rest of the game. Whenever possible, I recommend killing an opponent with only things they've given you.

So there you have it! What did I miss? How would you have ranked them? What are you most excited to jam once the set is released? Please let us know in the comments!

Make sure you check back tomorrow, when Jason Alt will be walking us through his Top Ten favorite Simic cards from the set!

Thanks for reading.