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Main » Articles » Azorius in Standard

Azorius in Standard

Darwin Kastle
Posted on November 5, 2012
 Reddit

I attended a local Friday Night Magic recently and I went 1–1 before dropping and starting the hour-long drive back to my house. I didn’t win anything, of course, but I did accomplish my goal. This store has a default FNM entry fee of free, which I happily paid in full. I was there purely to test out my deck and see about how good it was. Two rounds were enough for me to determine that while it was fine deck and even reasonably competitive amid the field I was up against, it just wasn’t the kind of sick deck I really want to be playing in Constructed.

This was the deck I played:

"G/W Aggression"

My first-round opponent was playing a G/W/U deck designed to create a super creature by combining a small creature such as Invisible Stalker with various Auras such as Curiosity and Rancor. Unfortunately for him, he usually had to wait a while for his third color, and I drew a good balance of threats and Oblivion Rings.

Riders of Gavony
My second-round opponent was much tougher. He was playing a G/W/U Humans deck. Among the cards I saw were Champion of the Parish, Precinct Captain, Elite Inquisitor, Restoration Angel, Riders of Gavony, Essence Scatter, Rancor, Selesnya Charm, and Detention Sphere. The match went to three games, and all three felt pretty close, but he got there in the end.

Given that his deck didn’t seem totally amazing and my draws were at least okay, I concluded that my deck probably wasn’t all that great either. Frankly, I wasn’t even all that impressed with my deck while I was winning my first round 2–0 with it. Part of the problem was that even with four Gavony Townships to use as mana sinks, I had too much mana. I always had the right colors of mana, and thanks to mana creatures, Visionaries, and Rangers, I had enough mana, but once I made it past turn four or so, I just didn’t have either enough stuff to do with my mana or powerful enough stuff to do with it. So, it was back to the drawing board.

Upon reflection, I realized that I hadn’t played blue in Standard in way too long. I had avoided playing Delver decks, in part because I came to that party way too late. I didn’t want to play a deck that everyone else was playing—and more importantly, had been playing for much longer than I had and so would probably be better prepared to play the mirror match than I.

Standard has changed now, of course, and so have my options. So, I decided it was time for me to look at W/U decks. I like W/U decks for the flying, card-draw, card advantage, removal, and permission. Azorius is actually quite versatile. With the current environment still in flux, there are a lot of interesting possibilities. I started with the stereotypical W/U archetype: W/U control:

"W/U Control"

Stylistically, it’s pretty basic W/U control: counter things, draw cards, play mass removal, play powerful creatures, repeat . . . 

Augur of Bolas
Augur of Bolas – With twenty targets, Augurs should hit most of the time, but even if they don’t, they’re a decent turn-two blocker and a great target for Restoration Angel.

Snapcaster Mage – A card that’s typically powerful enough to be a four-of, I’m only running three because I don’t have any targets cheaper than 2 mana. It is nice to be able to reuse permission and even Verdict, and it can also be an extreme-late-game target for Angels.

Restoration Angel – I’m probably lacking enough targets for Angels to be a definite four-of, though even without using its ability, it’s still pretty darn good.

Sphinx of Uthuun – Every W/U control deck needs a big flyer to finish people with. While it’s big and shiny, I can win without it, and it does cost 7, so I’m only running one copy.

Detention Sphere – One of the big reasons to play W/U: It’s Oblivion ring, only better!

W/U in the new Standard also lends itself to a lot of other interesting and powerful possibilities. I found myself particularly taken with a couple W/U token builds. The most obvious type of W/U token deck is Spirits:

"W/U Token Spirits"

Doomed Traveler – Here’s a 1-drop that synergizes with Favorable Winds, Intangible Virtue, and Drogskol Captain. It makes an amazing chump-blocker in the late game because it comes back as a flying threat that’s potentially quite large.

Niblis of the Urn
Niblis of the Urn – It’s a decent 2-drop that goes with Winds and Captain and helps you finish off opponents by taking big, flying blockers out of the way.

Drogskol Captain – Both threat and pump in one card, I’m only playing two just because the other things that cost 3 are all more important.

Lingering Souls – With so much pump to go with it, it’s good enough to play even if you can’t flash it back. The flashback is good enough to be worth playing some black mana of course.

This deck is largely about making the best use of my pump: Favorable Winds, Intangible Virtue, and Drogskol Captain. So, cards like Midnight Haunting and Lingering Souls are the bread and butter of this deck. Thanks to the pump enchantments, Talrand's Invocation also makes a great high-end token spell.

While less obvious, Human tokens also makes for a solid W/U deck:

"W/U Humans"

The advantages of Spirits over Humans is obvious: flying and more pump. This Humans deck has its own advantages, though: It has a faster, lower curve and a better mana base. It even has card-draw.

Mass Appeal
Champion of the Parish – Champion of the Parish was already an MVP in Human decks, but it seems pretty amazing with Captain's Call.

Mass Appeal – Mass Appeal seems like an underused card in the format right now. Once I drop a bunch of Humans and/or generate a bunch of Human tokens, it seems like a great way to reload.

Precinct Captain – It’s a 2-drop Human to pump your Champion, and it can also provide you with tokens to go with Intangible Virtue.

Captain's Call – Like most of the cards in this deck, it’s about the synergy with Champion of the Parish, Intangible Virtue, and Mikaeus, the Lunarch, and this card is fantastic with all three of them.

Fiend Hunter – While significantly less powerful than Detention Sphere, this card does give you another Human to go with Champion of the Parish and Mikaeus. I’m only playing two because I don’t want to draw multiple copies of them against decks with either few targets or a lot of creature removal, but most of the time, they will function much like a fifth and sixth Detention Sphere.



While I’m pretty excited about these decks, they aren’t even the only good options for W/U. Planeswalkers such as Jace, Architect of Thought and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage and Ajani, Caller of the Pride are powerful options. Miracle cards such as Terminus, Entreat the Angels, and Temporal Mastery can be the focus for a good deck or strong complimentary pieces. Even many of the pieces from Delver decks are still available: Invisible Stalker, Geist of Saint Traft, and even the actual Delver of Secrets. I don’t know what deck I’m going to play next time I go to FNM, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be an Azorius deck since I’m pleased and impressed with the possibilities. Try one; perhaps you will be, too!

TAGS articles, standard, control, strategy, constructed, deck lists, darwin kastle, return to ravnica, brew

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