"Azorius EDH: The Azorius Stand"

"Azorius EDH: The Azorius Stand"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Most of the time in a game of Magic the game ends when a players life total goes below 1 life point. Losing  20 life in the normal formats or 40 life in EDH. This usually involves winning with creatures to bring your life totals down by means aggressive attacks. It never gets old for people who keep winning with this strategy but others are always on the look out for alternate win conditions.

Today , I would love to focus on a card that is total opposite of the above mentioned winning strategy. This card actually lets you win when no damage has been done to you after 5 turns and that card is Azor's Elocutors. 

The Human advisor is easy (in an EDH setting) to cast with 3 Generic Mana , and hybrid mana cost of 2 either of which can be white or blue mana. It is also tough with a 3/5 body. It can block opposing creatures as well as stick around long enough for you to gain victory with its win condition.

"Stand in the place where you live..."

Azor's Elocutors allows you to put a Filibuster counter on it during your upkeep.If it has 5 or more then you win the game. No more of that sweaty and tiring attacking to whittle away at your opponents life. In EDH where you face multiple opponents at the same time this card makes everybody's life total irrelevant.It doesn't matter who is dying or winning. 5 Filibuster counters and that is it.End of story.

The catch though is that whenever a source damages you a Filibuster counter is taken away. Prolonging your road to victory. I like this win condition because 1 it is out of the ordinary and 2 it is challenging to pull off. 

It is going to be a nightmare for example if you go up against a deck that has a whole slew of unblockable creatures and one of them is the hexproof Invisible Stalker too! Then again there would be ways to deal with that guy. or if you face a deck with a lot of creatures and a lot of burn too , there are also ways of dealing with them too like Ivory Mask. 

"Making attacking such a pain..."

Well if you do not like creatures attacking you then it is actually best to freeze them in their tracks. The Azorius mechanic of Detain lets you do this while the enchantments Propaganda , Ghostly prison only allows creatures to be able to attack for a fee.  The same goes for the Artifact Norns Annex. In EDH paying 4 life for each attacking creature is such a high toll that players just wait for a way to deal with the annoying Artifact. Moat only lets flying creatures attack miring your opponents ground troops.

Ith would be a perfect commander in this deck as he bounces creatures around a whole lot. Mystifyng Maze is also a good addition as it prevents creatures from damaging you by exiling them.Hopefully the creatures you exile do not have come into play effects. 

"Mass Detain coming right up!!!"

Lavinia of the Tenth could also be a great commander here which has a Mass Detain effect for creatures with converted Mana Cost 4 or less. It basically guarantees that you would go unmolested for one round as well as pissing your opponents who would not get to finish one dying player with his full implement of creatures.

An Alternate win condition for this Deck as well is by having Luminarch Ascension in Play. It is faster to cast at 2 mana and offers an aggressive component in this otherwise pacifist deck. With the Detain Mechanic and creatures that could block

in the early turns you would be putting enough counters on this 2 to cast enchantment and producing 4/4 Angels in no time at all. Sigil of the Empty Throne can also help you in making those 4/4 angels since there will be a lot of Enchantments in this deck.

"One creature at a time..."

The 4 to cast enchantment Martial Law allows you to detain your opponents biggest threats every upkeep so this would increase the chances of getting Filibuster chargers on Azor's Elocutors.

If you are not able to set up your Azor's Elocutors early then board sweepers like DOJ , Wrath of god and the uncounterable Supreme Verdict will give you a hand for the set up.

"A little crowd control goes a long way..."

Detention Sphere , Oblivion Ring, Cage of Hands and Pacifism also help out in controlling a lone creature from becoming an unruly crowd in the early games. 

Curse of Exhaustion and Rule of Law also limit a lot of opponents ability to cast creatures or anything that produces creature tokens so that they could not swarm you.Nevermore forbids them from ever playing a particular card.Commanders are usually the targets but it can be anything that annoys you or affects your approach to the game. You could also include Council of the Absolute for more control. 

Azor's Elocutors might not be an EDH deck for everyone but it fits control players who are looking for more creative ways to win. With the amount of control in this deck it is easy to make a stand. The Azorius Stand.

Happy are those who could brew and play. Keep on doing so.Till Next time.