Taking a Seat With The Azorius Senate
This week we look at the last of the Return to Ravnica guilds: the Azorius Senate.
Detain. (Until your next turn, that permanent can’t attack or block and its activated abilities can’t be activated.)
As an aggro player, I really like detain. Part of me finds it odd for it to be the Azorius mechanic; Blue-White classically being ‘control colours’. I suspect Detain might be too good in Boros. Thematically, it lives quite happily in Blue-White, being part Pacifism, part Sleep. It’s no secret that I am a fan of aggressive blue decks and while Inaction Injunction may not be quite as powerful as Crippling Chill (as you don’t get a second free attack step) being only two mana counts for a lot. When Detain gets put onto creatures, especially ones with a good cost:power ratio like Lyev Skyknight, you can start to get a lot of mileage out of it. Although Detain can be sometimes used to target any non-land permanent, it is most often restricted to creatures, with the common cards being exclusively creature-only.
I couldn’t decide between this and Azorius Arrester to be the featured card as there is a lot of crossover in what you can say about them. Ultimately I went with the Justicar because detaining two creatures is better than detaining one; and there are a lot more quality white two drops than there are four drops for a weenie deck. In a rush strategy you want to be able to cast your two drops on turn two without regret, even if they have no creatures you could detain. Azorius Justicar shows up later, when they are more likely to have blockers, and can absolutely destroy your opponent. Being the top of the curve in a well built white weenie deck, Azorius Justicar can outright kill your opponent when they think they have stabalised.
It also works fantastically with flicker effects.
In a non-cube draft the fact Judge’s Familiar can only target instants and sorceries would make it a lower pick, as those formats are often very creature based. In Peasant Cube there is a higher volume of powerful non-creature spells than your normal block draft, making this card stronger. Most notably, there are often more sweepers in cube, which moves the Familiar into a more aggressive deck rather than a controlling one. The fact this can be cast for white mana means that it will often be played in white weenie decks, rather than a slower blue deck, and can buy them a turn against sweepers.
There is a lot of crossover with Cursecatcher and while not being a merfolk may be a weakness in the majority of constructed formats, it is less important in most cubes, making this flier the better card.
Anyone who has got caught in a Capsize lock can tell you how demoralising it is to replay a spell only to have it, yet again, returned to your hand. Skymark Roc isn’t as soul destroying as Capsize but I can see it getting into some similarly annoying situations. Whoever gets on the wrong side of one of these should that their lucky stars it can’t bounce lands.
A 3/3 with Flying for four mana is a decent body to start with, and the ability to break through their blockers gives it extra utility. It may not be the most exciting four drop creature, but it will often get the job done.
At first glance, Azorius Charm doesn’t look hugely exciting. The lifelink mode doesn’t seem all that useful most of the time, and while drawing a card is nice, you really want more from a charm. However when you look at it as a removal spell with cycling that can sometimes gain you a whole bunch of life, it becomes a lot more exciting. Sometimes putting a creature on top of the opponent’s library, and thereby effectively denying them a draw step, is better than killing that creature outright. Æthertow was always premium in Shadowmoor draft and is often objectively better (Conspire aside) than a Neck Snap. And Azorius Charm costs half as much.
Everything about New Prahv Guildmage screams ‘BREAKTHROUGH!’. Granting one or more creatures flying in a board stalemate can be game winning. Likewise, Detaining a creature can let your whole army through and stop them from cracking back on their turn. While you’re unlikely to be able to activate the second ability more than once a turn, in long games it is conceivable that you can Detain their flier and then have your biggest guy Jump over unblocked.
This is possibly the best of the Keyrunes. A 2/2 flier may not be as board affecting as a 3/1 first striker, or even a 1/4 lifelinker, but blue white control decks are likely to be one of the decks that benefit from the mana acceleration the most. That coupled with an evasive attack to win the game with once they’ve stabilized is what makes this probably the best Keyrune to add to cube.
A common theme amongst Azorius is taking a common effect and adding lifegain. Search Warrant lets you peek at your opponent’s hand. Dramatic Rescue is Unsummon that gains you two, and Fall of the Gavel is a Counterspell which gives you a quarter of your starting life. The tradeoff for this lifegain is an increase cost which may or may not be worth it; countering a spell of five mana will likely take your whole turn and prevent you from developing your own board. However maybe you want your Blue-White decks to have less powerful counter magic while still having some longevity? As a cube designer that is your decision to make.
-Lennox
@mtg_lennox
The Peasant Cube 