+1!

Love the build, I would only recommend Flusterstorm over Spell Pierce! Good luck!

Spell pierce counters mana rocks, which is basically what the counterspells are most often used for - early game resource denial. Sometimes it's for protection but mostly the counters are going along with the taxes and hit ramp.

I understand, however, the Flusterstorm is still very powerful, I would still suggest Annul if countering artifact ramp is your goal.

Saw you updated your list with M19, but no Isolate . Also, personally find the 3xU Future Sight as too demanding in the competitive meta I play in, but Blood Pod/Food Chain/Flash Hulk are prevalent, so it may not be relevant to you.

Relative to the Flusterstorm or Annul vs. Spell Pierce , I tend to agree with Winterblast .... Fluster won't eat rocks and avoiding early ramp is goal #1 for Augustin (I've taken a fair share of people out of the game by eating turn 1 Sol Rings/Mana Crypts), Annul is a little too situational in target to give the consistency that Spell Pierce can, (though still a phenomenal card, I prefer running Steel Sabotage as it can be used defensively OR for ramping), and IMO would be a very "low-priority" draw after turn 2 (I'd take almost any other of my counterspells, including Steel Sabotage, after a 2 turn draw, and would place lesser value with this in an opening hand than Spell Pierce, because rocks AND protecting your boardstate from disruption).

Well, yes, Steel Sabotage is much better than Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm, and Annul against mana rocks, no argument here, however I'd argue that Flusterstorm or Annul being a much higher-priority draw after turn 2 than Spell Pierce, as you have either dealt with their mana supply enough to stop them from casting spell, or haven't and they have an excess of mana, and can pay for it. They might be able to pay for Flusterstorm as well in the latter case, but not when storming off, so it is a hard save then, over nearly any other counterspell, with a couple exceptions like Mindbreak Trap.

I'd say the much better use after turn two matters slightly more than a bit less use before turn three, however it is certainly meta dependent.

Nietzsky it wasn't exactly a m19 update since I haven't considered any m19 cards...do you think the effect of isolate is good enough? How many relevant cmc 1 PERMANENTS are there that wouldn't just be killed by a simple Disenchant if I felt I needed another removal?

@ Winterblast : I find isolate as a great tool in the arsenal to slow sultai speed....I'll respond to a deathrite after I made a Mox D turn 1 play, eat a Serra Ascendant against a white, eat Elves and BoP all day, etc. It can also stop a Flash Hulk sac outlet combo, which is pretty damned prevalent in the cEDH scene, whereas disenchant can't (I don't see Hermit piles as commonly as I see sac piles like Ballista/Mike, an if it's a Hermit pile, back to basics will give you an overall higher consistency against that particular deck anyway), and timing it right can take Viscera seer off the board before the Ballista hits).

I value the card personally much higher than disenchant

@SynergyBuild - I'm of the opinion that eating mana rocks/dorks is the MOST important objective of Augustin, both of which Flusterstorm can't prevent. Augustin is an Archenemy commander for starters.... in my experience in mutliple cEDH metas, the game is lost if someone outpaces your prison, and even when I'm at the table with Kess, Tezri and Teferi PW, EVERYONE is looking in my direction from the start of the game. In most of my instances, I know by the end of turn 3 whether I have won or lost the game, but I play in a very cut-throat meta (Kess disrupt/combo, Food chain Tezri, Thrasios/Tymna flash hulk, Narset Turns, and an experimental Muldrotha stax / flash hulk (Still not sure where this would rank in terms of tier in the cEDH scene, but it certainly has speed and can blank me out pretty hard with a t2 Void Winnower reanimate. Against Kess I've seen quite some value out of Fluster, but in most instances Flusterstorm is redundant when Augustin and 1 other piece of taxation is out, ineffective except in extreme circumstances where I could stop the flash, and the opponent's game completely collapses because their hand was nothing outside of their combo. If this was Mono U Teferi control, I'd think not including Flusterstorm was foolish, but in Azorius I just don't think you have the room for it.

"I'd say the much better use after turn two matters slightly more than a bit less use before turn three"

The meta I play in usually pulls turn 2-5 wins, between the two hulkers, Tezri, the Land Equilibrium lock and blanking, Kess with a ritual.....if you're in a slower meta, I'd take my advice with a grain of salt, for it isn't as applicable (Back to Basics is usually a waste of a slot even at a 75% table, but incredibly clutch at a cEDH table).

^ Edit: Disregard mention of Viscera seer, the pilot of one of the decks didn't play enough legacy, and didn't realize you can still finish the chain in response to the Isolate or Swords. Still hold high priority on the card, but the aforementioned instance actually doesn't apply.

Winterblast - Feel in love with your build, played it for a while and made a few tweeks to have it be more of my play style & fit the meta I'm in a little better.

Would love your feedback on: Tired of Combo? Never! Turn 1 Win :)

toffmcsoft I've left a comment on your deck...some weird exchanges imo because they will most likely have a bigger impact on the stax quality of the deck. Maybe you can explain the choices in cetail over there.

Looks like you have double Cataclysm

JaysonSunshine it appears in two categories just like other cards that have multiple important functions (mana/Combo for example), sort the list by type or cmc and you see it's only there once.

I see; I didn't realize that. Thank you. :)

Just wanted to say, brilliant include on Inspiring Statuary , completely overlooked pseudo-rock that I immediately felt the need to make room for as well (wondering if you feel it would justify running an X draw spell somewhere in this list to try to max value it). Don't quite have the $$ to play your land list or timetwister in paper, but your list has definitely forced a few changes in my deck. You've earned your upvote from me sir.

Nietzsky sry for the late reply. Statuary has helped me a lot indeed, enables paying for the global taxes as well as generally more expensive stuff. I wouldn't play more cards to have payoff for big mana but I'm rather looking at how to prevent bricking on mediocre threats after having established a first lock. Some of the cmc 1 and 2 spells might also need a 2nd look but to be honest I haven't played with the deck as much recently as I had when writing the primer. Karn, Scion of Urza (also castable with Statuary) might be a great planeswalker for this deck and Narset Transcendent might go in again too. Basically everything that draws constantly in the mid game is rather good. The early game can focus completely on ramp and preventing ramp then.

I find myself not only breaking static/winter orb parity more in games, but it makes tax-stacking where I can't break parity completely negligible (went more the glowrider/thalia/thorn of amythest/sphere of resistance route myself....even considering throwing Mishra's Bauble in, has quite an increased nominal value). I've had a blast running it with Leyline of Anticipation personally, being able to fairly consistently end-step Augustin, or sneak out an end step drake.

Ended up swapping out my Narset for Teferi, Hero of Dominaria once it dropped.... found myself choosing land untpaping/tuck versatility over rebounding cantrips. I just can't find space for Karn, he'd be a blast though.

Winterblast, Thoughts on whether Augustin has been dethroned as the #1 Azor control/stax commander? The new Lavinia is too insane for cEDH IMO not to slot as commander, moving him to the 99.

Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
WU
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Each opponent can't cast noncreature spells with converted mana cost greater than the number of lands that player controls.

Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast it, counter that spell.

Nietzsky I have thought about this already and wanted to test exchanging commanders but the more I think about it, the less I want to switch them. Maybe in testing this turns out to be different but these are the points to consider:

Lavinia is cheaper, which means she will be out on t1/2, while I usually cast GAAIV between t1 and 3. She shuts down anything that is more expensive than the number of lands, which means that land destruction will effectively disable remaining nonland mana sources too. The 2nd ability is a potential lock with Knowledge Pool, which is rather easy to assemble. The 2nd ability also counters a few popular free spells in the format along with cmc 0 spells.

But there's more to think about. While being easier to cast than GAAIV, the effect of Lavinia isn't as broad. She prevents ramping into bigger stuff too early in the game but at the same time she doesn't prevent using ramp for casting multiple cheaper spells - which GAAIV does very well. A simple +1 tax hurts the setup, Lavinia aims at preventing the payoff. This can easily be solved by adding taxes to the boardstate as well but at the same time taxes turn off her 2nd ability. If played in the 99 of GAAIV this isn't an issue but if she is the commander, any taxes (also on an opponent's side) turn off the 2nd ability and the locks you probably want to include especially for her 2nd ability. This in turn makes a lock with her a lot more fragile and harder to establish than it seems at first. In general, focusing too much on the 2nd ability feels like a trap imo. What is really good is the 1st one, especially when you consider land destruction and additional taxes, but having her as a commander would suggest a lock that folds to ANY taxes, not just your own. That's a bit of a discrepancy and therefore I'm leaning towards keeping the broader effect (let's not forget the discount GAAIV offers) in the command zone and playing Lavinia as a cheap and really strong stax piece in the 99.

GAAIV is out so fast that it often will be a difference of 0-1 turns compared to when Lavinia will be cast...if I get him out on t1/2 it's definitely more game warping though because he lets me follow up with bigger spells as well and he prevents opponents from even building up. And we're not even talking about Lavinia only hitting noncreature spells yet...for example ramping into a Zur is still possible, basically casting all commanders that provide some sort of card advantage and/or solutions to her is still possible.

I will try exchanging the commander for sure at some point, but the thoughts above lead me to the conclusion that GAAIV will probably stay. In the command zone I'd rather like to have an allrounder for stax with lots of strong special effects stored in the deck, not the other way round.

Haven't playtested your iteration, few thoughts though...

1) I think it's fair to call Lavinia a 1 turn faster commander than Augustin in cEDH. Turn 1 is the dream, and even I pull it off enough times to make it worthy of mention, but I cannot rely on a t1 Augustin in my iteration. I feel I could make claim that Lavinia is generally a t1 play.

2) I don't view the second ability as a trap at all..... I blank out my opponent's moxen / mana crypt / lotus petals/ force of will, my Sol Ring / Top doesn't get mental misstep'd in the process. No cheeky Pact of Negations to cover flash hulks anymore. Of the aforementioned cards, usually 1 rears its ugly head in every one of the games I'm playing somewhere. Your iteration seems to be more together than mine, but I find that Augustin wins more than he loses if he hits the table before ramp.

3) Yeah, you can ramp into Zur still.... but there are a few avenues that are no longer available. If you've dropped Lavinia, Zur isn't going to turn 1 Land => Sol => Signet into a t2 Zur, so you've just slowed it down a turn. Zur can no longer play his 3 drop rocks until turn 3, and he loses a good portion of his early game counter package. Augustin is going to be better against Storm hands down, but I don't really see many people bringing storm to the table these days (outside of that one guy who just loves his Kess)

Nietzsky yes she will be a turn faster on average because of the 2 generic mana less, but for a t1 play - which is when the 2nd ability actually hurts cmc 0 rocks most and only if you are playing before the opponents - you need the same two coloured mana as for GAAIV. Easy setups for a t2 GAAIV like for example Ancient Tomb into Azorius Signet on t1 won't result in a t1 Lavinia either. For a t1 Lavinia you need a mox or a larger amount of ramp (for example land, crypt, talisman...) and both situations would usually mean a sure t2 GAAIV as well. So the question is how much would a t1 Lavinia be preferable over a t2 GAAIV and how much impact has a t2 Lavinia compared to a t3 GAAIV?

As for 2) that's all true but the 1st ability suggest playing a deck with heavy taxes and land destruction, which in turn weakens her 2nd ability. If you focus on that ability with possibly winning locks, you have to build a weaker stax deck overall it seems. If you don't care too much about the 2nd ability, it's great in the early game when you might not have taxes out yet, but it's later replaced and overwritten by more taxes, leading to the same final result - just the actual 2 card locks with her 2nd ability aren't good then. If she is in the CZ you want these locks as win con, but the deck you want her to lead works against it. This is one reason why I rather view her as one effect among others instead of THE stax effect of the deck.

As for 3) the point was that people can still ramp into casting their commanders as long as they are creatures and often these provide a lot of value you don't want them to have when playing stax. A +1 on commander creatures like Zur, Jhoira (she will still get the cast triggers through Lavinia), Godo, Tymna and others along with every other spell will have a negative impact on how these deck can defend themselves. With only Lavinia you won't block any ramp after the 2nd land has been played and all the commander creatures can easily be cast and used. GAAIV attacks that by not caring at all if a Humility is in play or not but with Lavinia as your always available build around piece you don't ever want her disabled in such a way.

Lavinia seems better IMO for permission control though, an issue in permission, not stax, I mean the combo with Pool is nice, but that is just a means to an end. The rest of the deck can be good removal and countermagic, card draw and ramp, while the opponents have issues pulling that off without their 0 mana reliant cards, Delay is amazingly funny in that deck, exiling target spell for isn't bad.

Anyway, we'll see how Lavinia works when it comes out, trying to warp a meta before we even see the set a new card is coming into is useless chatter.

I still like GAAIV more than Lavinia overall, but Lavinia definently seems more able to be broken.

SynergyBuild the thing with such a type of deck is that you don't really want mass LD in there, which is what her first ability would want you to use.

Maybe you are interested in my latest overservations in a game or two. I have made some changes before going to our edh night yesterday and wanted to test some cards on my maybe list, some of which I already had in the deck earlier. I went about exchanges rigorously, even trying to replace cards that I hadn't touched in a while just to see how important they really are if they are missing:

IN: Narset Transcendent, Karn, Scion of Urza, Preordain, Impulse, Disenchant, Muddle the Mixture, Serra Ascendant
OUT: Metalworker, Staff of Domination, Cataclysm, Chalice of the Void, Land Tax, Scroll Rack, Steel Sabotage

This was quite a lot but it's easier to see how the deck performs when several flex slots are tuned in a different direction.

My first observation was that I would not have wanted Lavinia in the command zone instead in the game(s) I've played. I was able to cast GAAIV on t2 and he was countered by a FoW, after that player mulled to 6, so his options were rather exploited afterwards. I had GAAIV out 2 turns later with casting additional ramp and a Disenchant in the turn between, and then it was absolutely clear that the +/- 1 tax was a lot more useful overall than the abilities of Lavinia would have been. I specifically looked at how the game would have been influenced if I had her instead of GAAIV and there would have been a lot more going through unchecked than with GAAIV. The FoW on the commander would have been possible anyway and everything afterwards wasn't that expensive overall. It was pretty clear that GAAIV hindered the setup of whatever everyone wanted to do for quite a while. I had a Back to Basics and Sphere of Resistance later, and the cost increase did a lot to make the game unplayable for at least two players. What I was looking for was Armageddon/Ravages of War then, to shut down the opponent with the most basic lands. In this case Lavinia would have been a nice addition but finding the MLD spells was the issue in the first place.

It felt like the cheaper cantrips and the additional draw engines Narset/Karn would have done a lot if I had drawn them. Karn would even have made a solid win con because his tokens would have gone unblocked and undisrupted for several turns and would have been big enough to do serious damage. Getting Narset to ultimate would also have been possible. I did see a Preordain and used it and it helped me skip 2 turns of bad draws...good job. I am not so sure if removing Scroll Rack was a good idea, because I had a few situations in which looking ahead and exchanging multiple cards might have made a difference, especially with fetchlands inbetween. Not including the Land Tax/Scroll Rack draw engine did feel awkward for me in the past but actually getting them both into play in the way "parfait" used it isn't that realistic here.

Removing the Metalworker/Staff of Domination combo didn't hurt that much yesterday because I didn't see any combo pieces at all but the whole package of engine/top/key/monolith/rings/staff/metalworker makes it rather easy to complete ANY possible combo with single tutors. Not playing Chalice of the Void makes it easier to rely on the combos using Sensei's Divining Top as well, when before I could also go for Staff as an outlet for Metalworker or Monolith/Rings. There's still Helm/RIP anyway because that's so simple to play.

As for Serra Ascendant, I thought it would be interesting to try again how much a blocker/beater/lifegain source would influence how the game goes on staxed out tables (which we often see here) but I was again so quickly below 30 life because of various effects (not combat) that drawing the creature wouldn't have helped. Being able to play it very early in the game with GAAIV or another taxing effect afterwards, maybe then MLD as a follow up might still be a reason to keep it, but overall it feels a bit random.

Eventually I'd say Narset Transcendent, Karn, Scion of Urza, Preordain, Muddle the Mixture are fine to play while Serra Ascendant is not that convincing. Disenchant seems to be fine instead of Steel Sabotage because a straightforward "destroy" on two card types makes up for not being able to counter artifacts. Impulse is ok, could be Scroll Rack as well in several situations...or maybe even another bigger draw spell, such as Time Spiral, Braingeyser, Stroke of Genius, Sphinx's Revelation...Not really a fan of the X spells though in my current build.

Another card I might have a closer look at is Spellseeker. I think it's often a tutor for removal or another tutor that can get a different card type (for example Transmute Artifact). Have to check how often it's really worth to invest mana in that, even when the cost is reduced by GAAIV. I need to find a slot for Lavinia anyway and maybe we will get another card in the new set that has to be included.

It has been long until I actually reconsidered my current card choices, so please excuse the wall of text. I would appreciate input from your side if you have some time to spare!

@Winter-

A few comments on some of your alterations...

Narset- Narset lost her spot in my build to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria , rebounded cantrips were nice situationally, but always being able to hold up countermagic/ a problematic commander tuck I found more to my liking (Helps me fight against other Stax decks better). Do you think your instant/sorcery package is sizable enough to warrant Narset over Teferi?

Metalworker/Staff - I took these out fairly early in my iteration as well... with the abundance of tutor for my preexisting wincons, I didn't really feel the need to have too many avenues outside of hard control, Iso shenanigans, or Rip/Helm.

Chalice - Probably what is coming out in place of Lavinia once she drops

Spellseeker- Merchant Scroll for 1 more with a body I don't really need, but it's a tutor. Can never fault someone for including more tutors in EDH, it's slot worthy.

Serra Ascendant- I will always run this card, but I view it as a 1 mana piece of removal bait that will overwhelmingly net me mana advantage. Doing something stupid like throwing a feast and famine on it and using it as a parity breaker for winter orb is just icing on the cake.

Disenchant - I hate 1-for-1s over 1 mana in the format, but to each their own.... at that point I'd rather just slot Counterspell if I'm not already.

Land Destruction Package- If you're thinking about trying the deck with more of a LD theme, adding Catastrophe and Personal Tutor might help you reduce variance. I personally love using Long-Term Plans , which I don't see in your list... but as we've mentioned previous, I try to run a little heavier in LD myself (personal preference).

Relative to removing Scroll Rack/ Land Tax, I could see the justifications for dropping Land Tax if we're building for the early game (though personally I can never bring myself to drop this card), but IMO a scroll rack drop is sacrilege and would play scroll rack over impulse in a heartbeat.