Inkmoth I have spent some time on this list and I think the author is a lost cause.

He also still isn't running a snow-covered land base for Mouth of Ronom removal in mono G, despite it costing him literally nothing to slot.

Card draw hate Spirit of the Labyrinth Alms Collector Notion Thief shut down this deck really fast. Tutor hate also allows for blowouts that this deck can do literally nothing about Aven Mindcensor

Even from a control standpoint, countering the first draw spell this deck puts down is going to massively impair it. Are you keeping hands with two draw spells? How does your ramp look in those hands? How about your ability to deal with a problematic board? What does your deck due about a Meddling Mage naming Azusa? Concede? Why are you running only a single creature based piece of board removal at 9 CMC despite running a whole suite of creature tutors? That makes no sense.

The high CMC average means tax and tap effects also delay the game plan basically forever. Trinisphere Sphere of Resistance etc. running ramp pieces at 3 CMC or greater is inviting yourself to get staxed out.

Discard effects break your hand due to low recursion and no value in the command zone. Turn 2 Dark Ritual into Entomb into Reanimate on a Mindslicer plus any 1 CMC sac effect is game over, especially if your opponent put down a turn 1 value engine. Chains of Mephistopheles Oppression Bottomless Pit all strip your hand and this deck runs absolutely nothing to combat it.

Any way you try to slice it, it isn't fast enough to compete against reliable monster combo decks like Gitrog or Godo or pretty much any Doomsday list. It doesn't run enough removal to handle stax or discard. It has no control or hate elements to beat out against other midrange decks. Pub stomping the kiddies table doesn't make this a competitive deck. What decks are you actually playing against? Saying you win against cEDH doesn't mean anything to anyone. What decks? How are only turn 1-2 decks beating you when your combo window doesn't happen until turns 4-6 while you literally aren't interacting with the board in the slightest?

Even if you removed all the massive CMC dead draws and fully optimized this list with removal and recursion and toolbox answers, there's still no way it can compete against a real competitive list due to lack of value in the command zone and the color identity. I'm not trying to say this is a bad list at all, certainly the best Azusa list I've seen, but it isn't a competitive EDH deck.

Also, yes you do need to defend your deck when you make that claim. People are pointing out specific cards and strategies that shut down your deck, and these cards and strategies not only see play but are rather common in optimized lists.

Yeah, I didn't want to be impolite, but there are so many glaring issues, that I am inclined to believe he hasn't actually played in a cEDH table.

I tinkered with Azusa for like a year and a half and one Gilded Drake or Phantasmal Image was usually enough to ruin the whole game for the table since blue player inturn gets Azusa in a deck better equipped to make use of 3 land drops a turn.

You're also missing: Carpet of Flowers (always in the main) Mox Diamond Chrome Mox Utopia Sprawl Wild Growth Gemstone Caverns Beast Within (why?...you're already neutered in this color)

One Root Maze and you're out of the game. Some deck can literally outpace you and the whole purpose of Azusa is to race... If you lose that race you always lose. How do you kill without combat? How do you remove anything?

I always enjoy playing the "what if" god hand answer scenario because it just seems so convenient. The thing I like best about this deck is it requires no god hand and I rarely have to mulligan.

I wouldn't say I am a lost cause, I was asked if I consider it cEDH and to me it is. I play against all the referenced decks and win at least 25% of the time. In an evenly matched table one would expect each person to win 1/4th of the time. Perhaps, call it pride? Sure, you would remove the Eldrazi and replace them with answers or graveyard recursion like you suggested.

I appreciate the detailed responses as I have listed to previous comments and took many suggestions during this deck's inception. I still continue to think about ways to optimize it.

Feel free to call it "high power" rather than cEDH but regarless of other's labels I will continue to Flex at a cEDH table.

p.s. Gitrog is not a hard match up

dingusdingo and Inkmoth, I really appreciate the hard criticism. I've updated the list with some of your suggestions and will play test them out. I wanted to make Eldrazi fit because I used to run with Spawnsire and that was the MOAB of all answers to end the game.

Now with the rules change, I had to let it go.

Thanks again.

Skillville: Sorry if I did come off as harsh and I hope the changes help your deck.

All good. I can be a bit stubborn at times but after my head clears I can think. I'll keep you posted after a few games.

Really one of my fav decks atm. I made a slight budget version of it to afford it finally. Considered to take Homeward Path in, to counter some control mechanics. Love your other too!

Glad your are enjoying it!

I really like your choices. I have just recently built my own Azusa deck and I'm happy to see you have so many of the cards that I also use. I completely forgot about Defense of the Heart . I recommend Karn Liberated , he is a beast

pkdan late reply but I used to rock Karn but after he exiles 1 thing he basically gets 1 shot or removed by a spell. I put Karn in my super-villains deck. Defense of the Heart is good but it gives opponents way too long to respond and I haven't gotten it to go off lately so I replaced it with Tempt of Discovery. I've tried practically every variant of Azusa you can think of and I think, as with any deck, it comes down to what plays the best according to your personality.

Can i ask why you traded 5 cards for 5 basic forest?

sinister1234 drunk edits. Making corrections soon.

alright, i really like azusa at the helm my problem is when i cant get to the draw cards on time. have you had the same problem?

Mulligans are important with Azusa, I'll almost never keep a hand where there isn't a draw card. Mind's Eye has been in and out of this deck more times than any other card. Most games, if not all, when I draw ME I never use it because I'm either spending mana to cast cards or I have another draw card in hand and don't need to use it. I've rarely gotten any valid use out of ME so I took it out.

I'll be main boarding anti-counter spells soon after this edit because in most high power games there is always blue. So the sideboard will be edited for situational events and specific decks. I'll be adding some graveyard hate in.

But no, short answer is I almost never run out of gas with Azusa with this current build and 13 draw options. Most games turn 4 I have twice the amount of perms than all 3 opponents combined. It's a really fun and fast deck, and I don't have many low CMC answers because I ramp so hard I out pace everyone else.

This is probably my most consistent deck. If I lose it's usually due to a play mistake rather than from opponent interaction.

Stay tuned for the updated list later tonight.

yeah blue tends to be a pain, hence why i always try to go for their lands first or make sure they cant counter me before i go ham on them, minds eye i use it for balan and it helps a ton but yeah when you got 3 or 4 draw cards on hand its very hard to give it value.

sinister1234 I have 16 decks and the only 2 decks I emphasize counter-counter measures is this one and walkers (people love countering walkers). I ALWAYS destroy blue lands, duals before basics, and let em know blue isn't the best color (as green is anti-blue).

I've updated the list and sideboard. LMK what you think.

Got the same problems with Mind's Eye and took it out recently. What did come in? A bit more ramp...

Cyb3rguerrill0 Most games I use all my mana so I never had any open to draw. I've reduced my draw to what I feel is the most impactful. She runs smooth.

looks very solid, but i wanted to ask have you thought about bane of bala ged? not a bad 7 drop that can potentially add more field removal also with just one nissa do you ever trigger nissa triaumph or is it just there for the 2 lands?

sinister1234 this deck doesn't need much removal because it outpaces the other 3 (I've tried a higher removal build with Krosan Grip, Beast Within, Song of the Dryads, etc and it slows it down drastically). The previous main win con used to be Spawnsire of Ulamog and I would cast 10 Eldrazi with haste for game. Since then I've had to restructure and kept the most impactful Eldrazi.

Bane of the Bela Ged doesn't bring much to the table outside of attack triggers. I like the titans because 2 of them remove on cast and 2 of them replenish your hand, on top of having pseudo mill, sac, and counter spells in mono green :)

Good question.