You're running Brainstorm without many ways to shuffle your deck, that seems really bad.

You are right! Changed it for Ponder

In my opinion, Mox Diamond is better than Chrome Mox because you only need to discard a land, as opposed to exiling a spell.

Yeah, but it also is on the expensive side :(

Changed Apprentice Wizard for Master of Waves

you're not going to run the Sage of Fables + Glen Elendra Archmage combo? Janky to be sure but its pretty brutal and they're both good cards on their own. Not to mention then you can sac Archmage to Voidmage Prodigy for a 2 mana recurable counter.

I would also recommend Misdirection and Isochron Scepter.

Those are great suggestions enpc! What cards you think I should take out?

I come from the world of regular commander, so its a hard call on what is good value in duel, but I would say that you have too many lands, especially for a draw card general. I also don't like the idea of Chrome Mox. I know that its the only ramp in the deck, however as a once off, i think you could happily replace it with a High Tide and get so much more value from it or put a Sapphire Medallion in the deck to get so much more vlaue. I would also look at cutting your lands down to 39/40, 42 seems really high, especially with your curve peaking at 2/3. Also, things like Hapless Researcher are nice, but hes a catch 22 card - you can only use him once unless your don't use him at all until yo ucast your general. Things like that can easily be replaced by cards with the "loot" effect (though its not called that). See Merfolk Looter for an example.

Came in first today at my local FNM! Yei!

Lands you might be interested in are Reliquary Tower and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Unlimited hand size with all this draw is perfect and Nykthos is great since Azami alone gives you enough devotion start using it.

Some changes:

Out:

1x Void Snare

1x Isochron Scepter

1x Hapless Researcher

1x Stern Proctor

1x Cancel

1x Logic Knot

1x Mindbreak Trap

1x Nullify

1x Rewind

1x Thassa's Rebuff

1x Omenspeaker

1x Sage of Epityr

1x Peek

1x Negate

1x Syncopate

In:

1x True-Name Nemesis

1x Spell Snare

1x Rune Snag

1x Thought Courier

1x Force Spike

1x Exclude

1x Patron Wizard

1x Forbid

1x Complicate

1x Condescend

1x Remand

1x Martyr of Frost

1x Wipe Away

1x Snapcaster Mage

1x Commandeer

Hey there. I have gone through your main board and I have the feeling that it lacks action in the early game. I do not know your meta, but when playing against commanders such as Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, Doran, the Siege Tower, Anafenza, the Foremost or Geist of Saint Traft that can be fast and explosive, you are lacking ways how to answer their threats. I am a Geist player myself and when I tested my deck against yours, all I needed to do was to put Geist into play, which was not problematic as you had nothing to stop it and then just control the situation.

I would definitely add counter spells like Force Spike, Delay, Daze and Misdirection, possibly Flusterstorm and Force of Will, but those two might be out of the budget. Daze and Misdirection are super good as you can afford to tap out (possibly when casting Azami) and still have an answer to some threats. (Though Misdirection is not a counter spell, it can act as it - in counter wars, you can change the target of opponent's counter spell to misdirection and when the misdirection resolves, the original counter spell will lose its target and will fizzle.)

I would also add some draw spells, namely Ponder, Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time. I know that Azami is producing a card advantage, but you might find her still waiting in the commander zone and be unable to cast her. Ponder will help you filter your draws, Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time are often cast just for U and UU as the graveyard is soon full of used spells.

Sensei's Divining Top is another great card as it will constantly filter your draw and when needed it might draw you an additional card. With that one, I am getting to Pithing Needle and Relic of Progenitus - these ones are not necessary, but I sometimes find myself in need of their effects. If you decide to run these cards, then definitely add Trinket Mage - it is a wizard, so he has synergy with Azami and he can tutor you any of the artifacts mentioned above + the Expedition Map you already have in your list. You may also decide to run Seat of the Synod as it can be tutored by the Trinket Mage as well.

Through the Expedition Map I am getting to lands. Why not Riptide Laboratory? It can save you your wizards from board wipes, together with the Trinket Mage, Augur of Bolas, Sea Gate Oracle, Snapcaster Mage you are getting a significant card advantage and with Venser, Shaper Savant you can make a tough counter lock.

Another land to look for is Maze of Ith - that one is very effective against almost every aggro deck you face and it can decide many games just by itself. If it is out of your budget, you may consider adding Mystifying Maze instead. Arcane Lighthouse is yet another land that should have its place in your list. When facing the above mentioned Geist of Saint Traft, you might want to be able to get rid of its hexproof ability (maybe to return it to hand with a Boomerang?).

Do not hesitate to add more nonbasic lands. Namely lands that can be animated are generally useful as they can serve as blockers or finishers. Faerie Conclave and Mishra's Factory are great for these purposes.

Try to fit in a Psionic Blast, it can serve as a precious removal spell and as a finisher.

Lastly, I would consider adding Gitaxian Probe and Peek - it is good to know what might come next and to know on what you should save your counter magic. Plus, these are additional cards in the graveyard that will make the Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time duo cheaper.

I would cut the lands down to 39 or 40, I am running 35 + Maze of Ith and thanks to all the draw effects I have in Preordain, Ponder and so on I almost never suffer from mana screw. Consider cutting Jace, the Living Guildpact. For its cost, it does not do enough. You might replace it with Jace, Architect of Thought as his + ability will hepl against aggro decks and the mini-Fact or Fiction is also a great ability.

Another cards to cut are Hinder and Spell Crumple. If you are playing the duel French commander, then these cards are not that good. As a counter with CMC 3, Dissolve is better.

Enclave Cryptologist is good against control, but against aggro where you want to have ready as many counter magic as possible he is not any good.

Hope this helps.

Hi! Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I realize my mana curve is a little bit tilted to high CMC spells, now that I finally have a Vendilion Clique I think I might have some more early game. I'm absolutely thinking of adding Daze, Misdirection, Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time. The thing is the deck seems to work pretty well until now.

From the Origins set I'm thinking of trying out Mizzium Meddler, he is a wizard, has flash, a big butt, low CMC and can help me to protect Azami, Lady of Scrolls.

Harbinger of the Tides can also work on this deck.

Hi guys,I was pretty into Duel Commander (French) until my LGS stopped making events for the format. Now that they decided to make a league I'm thinking of updating my deck.

Checking the mtgtop8 I realized that the best performing deck are either using Candelabra of Tawnos (I think that the purpose is to make mana enogh for taking infinite turn, correct me if I'm wrong) or using a lot of mana rocks to cast Ulamog.

Is the first option viable without the Candelabra? What changes would you suggest to my deck?

I strongly suggest adding a Strip Mine, having only 1 solution against Cavern and such cards may not be enough. That would also bring your total lands to 35, which also is not a bad thing I think.

But still, great deck, +1 from me

edit: "That would also bring your total lands to 35" , I meant : "I would also..."

Come to think of it 36/37 is perhaps better than my previous suggestion, I do see you need a lot of mana.

Strip Mine is banned in duel commander :(

Silumgar Sorcerer too limited for you?

I considered him, the problem is that he only counters creatures spells, and usually I don't have creatures to exploit.

I assumed your strategy was (with 21 creatures) to go fairly wide, per your description "My main win condition is too draw a lot of cards with Azami, Lady of Scrolls's ability and a bunch of wizards (that also give control over the board)", but I agree that it's a bit limited except for knowing your opponents will eventually want to cast their commander. Although, not having creatures -as you say- seems like another problem with a couple dozen in the deck.

Dig Through Time got banned :(, replaced with Psionic Blast