"Hands to the Sky: Azorius Ascension Pauper 2013"

"Hands to the Sky: Azorius Ascension Pauper 2013"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Some of you who have read the title must be thinking that this deck involves a lot of flying creatures. Well , not really , it involves a lot of creatures that actually have a different jump altogether.

 Here is the deck list:

8  X Islands

10 X Plains

4  X Azorius Guildgate

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22 Lands

4 X Azorius Arrester

4 X Leonin Snare Caster

4 X Court Street Denizen

4 X Deputy of Acquittal

4 X Omen Speaker

3 X Archeomancer 

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23 Creatures

4 X Dramatic Rescue

3 X Essence Scatter

4 X Voyage's End

4 X Celestial Flare

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15 Spells

Sideboard:

4 X Inaction Injunction

Yup , the theme of this deck is Tap and Bounce. Sounds pretty scandalous but I like a good tap and a much needed bounce now and then. Especially if I am charging in for the win.

Now this is actually a modification of my I'd tap that Mono White pauper. The deck came about after to talking to Beast Romanes about it during a successful Pauper Tournament where I placed 2nd and he placed 3rd.

The main combination of this deck involves one of my favorite creatures , The Court Street Denizen. And to keep up with the Azorius theme of the deck there is a set of Deputy of Acquittal. Now because this latter creature could be cast as an instant there would be a lot of combat step shenanigans that would be going on. 

On the defense the deck just needs 4 mana , One Deputy of Acquittal and a Court Street Denizen in play. As well as a Deputy of Acquittal in your hand. If one creature attacks , even if it is a souped up Glade cover Scout with 3 Ethereal armors and a bestowed Hopeful Eiodolon. (A life linking , 13/13 elf!) you could just block with the Deputy of Acquittal and play the other Deputy of Acquittal from your hand before any damage is dealt and bounce the blocking Deputy of Acquittal. 

(If you have read Deputy of Acquittal more than five times in this article it is because I love the fact that this awesome card is in pauper.)

Now the combo gets even more interesting with 2 creatures attacking. The trick is to cancel out the attack even before it starts, Once your opponent starts to declare their attack you could cast a Deputy of Acquittal  from your hand. This will trigger the Court Street Denizen , tapping one creature , since this action also returns a Deputy of Acquittal  to your hand you could recast that to trigger the denizen one more time and you could actually go stop all of your attackers unless they number in the thousands or have hexproof. If push comes to shove you could just let one creature through , block and then bounce a Deputy of Acquittal.
 Repeat the cycle. It is a never ending lock down , with no amount of damage going your way. 

Azorius Arrester and Leonin Snare Caster are part of my regular crew and are here as possible targets for the Deputy of Acquittal as well. Making sure that their come into play abilities could be used more than once.

Omen Speaker was a late addition because she coud Scry for 2 and set up your future attack and defenses. 

This deck was really made to bounce things around so Dramatic Rescue and Voyage's End were a shoo in. The latter also providing a single Scry. So even if the Deputy does not show up in your hand the combo could still work. 

Essence Scatter and Celestial Flare are security blankets. The counter spell is for massive creatures that could not be contained and the much celebrated sacrificer of White is good for offense and defence. Especially for decks that run Hexproof elves.The Archeomancer makes sure that there are spell recursion , especially those that the deck needs.

On offense the deck could chip away at any opponent if it chooses to because of the bounce and tap. Detain and Tap. It is a perfect version of Blue/White Sligh. With all the bouncing and tapping no creature would be able to block at all while you just waltz your way into their backyard and cause massive damage or in these weenies case 2/1 or 2/2 damage.

So the next time you play someone with this deck before to point to the sky , that is where their creatures are going , one way or another.