Archwizard says... #2
Okay, so I will preface my response with the fact that I have made my choices for a lot of these cards for hyper competitive metas that are going to be running tier 1 and tier 2 commanders just like how you said in your disclaimer. The way I see it is that you have to pack some silver bullets if you wanna shut down the best of the best commanders (which has influenced some of my decisions). I am also of the belief that the deck should run well independently of Azami if is going to be run at a high level of play. That is not to say that I won't cast her or run wizards, but rather come up with a fine balance between digging spells and wizards.
Impulse, Frantic Search, Brainstorm, etc: The dig spells are to increase the effectiveness of the deck while Azami is not present on board. I feel that since Azami is one of the higher drops at 5 mana she is sometimes difficult to cast and sometimes not safe to cast, therefore I have the dig spells to get me through the times where I don't have her.
Intuition: With Intuition you simply look for 3 cards that offer the same effects. Such as 3 tutors that could grab the same combo piece. Or perhaps 3 equally nasty spells in a certain situation. It is a situation dependent tutor you just need to know how to abuse it in the given scenario so that they cannot make a good decision off of it. The fact that it's instant speed and gets me something I'll want is appealing to me.
Memory Lapse: I like this counter a lot. I used it a lot in Temporal build and it worked really well. Having a spell countered for a turn is often long enough to be good. I haven't tested it a ton in the hard control build, but I think it's pretty solid no matter the build.
Misdirection: Misdirection is pretty great, but believe it or not I plan on cutting it for Flusterstorm soon.
Stifle: Stifle is one of those silver bullets I was referring to. Stops a lot of shit from happening that ordinary counters don't. It stops Storm combos which have now risen in popularity with Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder. It also stops Zur the enchanter, Narset, Enlightened Master and other nasty commanders for a turn, which can be enough for you or the rest of the table to get answers to their combos. Not to mention all the other stuff you can stop with it. The reason I prefer Stifle over Trickbind is simply mana cost. I want my deck to be as efficient as possible even if the difference is 1 mana.
Thirst for Knowledge: Is yet another card that contributes to consistency sans Azami. I like it cause it draws 3 for 3 at instant speed and most of the time you'll discard an artifact, which is fine by me if it means card advantage.
Extraplanar Lens: I think it's pretty awesome honestly and with Candelabra of Tawnos it just gets disgusting. I can see where you're coming from with optimization, there are some cases where it can be clunky, but I honestly find it really good.
Lotus Petal: Pretty awesome, gives you that extra unf when you need it. I'd recommend it.
Scroll Rack: I love this card for the flavor and for the fact that I think it's just overall really good for deck manipulation.
Ancient Tomb: I generally don't keep it in a control opening hand, but I think it's pretty good in a rampy / combo hand.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip: I think he's an absolute superstar in what I'm aiming for with trying to go for more dig spells and less reliance on Azami herself. Allows you to dig, becomes a sorcery speed snapcaster (not bad at all), and fuels my Dig Through Time. I generally don't like to flip him if I can, but yeah... overall really good.
Spellstutter Sprite: This is one of the cards I kinda wanted your opinion on. I haven't been able to test it too much, but I think it has the potential to be a great wizard in a hyper competitive meta where 30 to 40 percentish of peoples decks are 0 and 1 drops. Even without countering someone's spell I think it's a solid wizard overall because of the flash and flying. It can make for a useful blocker or you can just flash it in on your opponent's turn and build your boardstate of wizards.
Day's Undoing: Haha yeah, I mean.. I plan on eventually buying a Timetwister and removing this card, but it's a decent place holder.
Time Spiral: It offers more recursion for the deck and refunds itself so I like it. It is a bit expensive then again you also run high drops that I do not run like Docent of Perfection Flip and Magus of the Future which I personally do not like, but it's really a matter of preference.
Transmute Artifact: This thing is just nasty. Resolve it with a dramatic in hand and you've almost guaranteed yourself a win. I generally don't find the sacing to be much of a downside considering it comes directly into play and I'd rather run it over Tezzeret the Seeker because of cost.
Windfall: Great card advantage especially if you play it within your first few turns. Even if you don't play it within your first few turns it disrupts other peoples hands and feeds your yard while filling your own hand. It's banned in legacy and restricted in vintage for a reason.
Sea Scryer was actually replaced recently by Windfall and it's been working well. Thank you for your insight I'd love to talk more about our builds.
December 10, 2016 1:47 a.m.
ComboCrazy says... #3
OMG there's a silver myr!!! My life is complete! Lol if Memnarch had been in here too I'd have completely lost it
Seriously though, +1 from me, great deck!
December 17, 2016 10:41 p.m.
Archwizard says... #4
Haha yeah this deck had a Silver Myr back when it was still my Temporal Azami build. Thanks for the +1!
December 17, 2016 10:54 p.m.
Lilbrudder says... #5
I agree with most of your card choices but why no High Tide?
January 3, 2017 11:28 p.m.
Archwizard says... #6
Lilbrudder The reason I don't run High Tide is simply because Azami doesn't need it. It doesn't help out early game much at all (which is generally when Azami needs the most help). Azami's late game is already amazing as it is and doesn't need anything to boost it in any way. I also don't play any storm kill combos or Palinchron because I believe that Iso/Dramatic is just a far more efficient and fitting combo for Azami. Overall, it's an extraneous piece that just doesn't have a place. I'm aware that you build quite a bit of blue combo decks and High Tide is definitely fitting for them, but this is primarily control with a dash of combo to seal the win.
P.S. I love your Leovold, Emissary of Trest list. I am considering building him or Tasigur, the Golden Fang as my next list.
January 4, 2017 12:32 a.m.
Lilbrudder says... #7
AzamiLadyofScrolls: I see what your saying, but still believe that a Dark Ritual like effect that can be used in the midgame is worth having just on its own for that explosive turn 3-4 play. It also helps pay for the triple blue of Whir of Invention, which feels like a fantastic way to start going off with azami and Paradox Engine. Then again I pretty much autoinclude any playable ritual effect I can in all my decks so I may be a bit biased. I also know far less than you about mono blue.
I am glad you like my Leo list and I dig your list and primer as well :-) Leo is quite powerful, but I am at a crossroads with him. Tasigur is better as a storm general and I don't love DD in general and that is pretty much his only good way to win the game tbh. The type of deck I would like to run with him (paradox engine scepter storm) feels better suited to Thrasios so I am a bit stuck in how to get him to a happy place.
January 4, 2017 6:24 a.m.
Out of curiosity, is your temporal Azami list that you put the link too in your primer, is that the most updated version of your temporal Azami?
January 8, 2017 2:40 a.m.
Archwizard says... #10
Rolly1209 It is the most updated version of the list, but seeing as though I've been working on this one and trying to complete my primer for this list I haven't had much time to work much on the Temporal list. In my opinion this build is far better for competitive than the Temporal build ever was. Thank you for the +1!
Lilbrudder I've been testing High Tide more and more and it's starting to grow on me. Still not exactly sure what I'd like to cut for it, but time will tell.
January 8, 2017 3:02 a.m.
Madaraximundar says... #11
+1, great deck and even greater name haha.
Just one question: How did you get a page background?
January 11, 2017 10:41 p.m.
Archwizard says... #12
You do this by including HTML code in your description for you deck. Make sure it's a dark image so the text pops out.
link rel = "stylesheet" type = "text/css" href = "https://dl.dropbox.com/s/fqxpobte7n2g7wh/TappedOutProfileCustom.css?dl=0"
img src="insert image url here" style = "position: fixed; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; z-index: -1;" class ="img-responsive"
You must wrap each area of code in a paragraph tag and close the tags for each area of code as well.
January 11, 2017 10:51 p.m.
Madaraximundar says... #13
Thanks so much, I've been trying to figure this out for weeks but everyone else is tight-lipped for some reason. I appreciate it.
January 11, 2017 10:54 p.m.
Archwizard says... #14
Most people don't wanna give out code to people who are more inexperienced in code. Also if you do a quick inspect element on a page you can usually find out how the code is implemented and what code to use.
January 11, 2017 10:59 p.m.
Madaraximundar says... #15
Thanks for the tip. I'm not exactly an expert level coder myself but I do take courses in preparation for my future Software Engineering degree. I'm glad something like this exists here.
January 11, 2017 11:13 p.m.
Archwizard says... #16
Nice, software engineering is cool. I was debating on going into it, but chose computer security instead. Breaking things with code is just more fun to me than making things with code.
January 11, 2017 11:20 p.m.
You're missing Augur of Bolas, Time Spiral, Deranged Assistant, Helm of Awakening, Turnabout, Jeweled Amulet, and a few worthwhile storm finishers. You also have slightly too many lands. Other than that, looks perfect! Great list.
January 24, 2017 3:08 p.m.
Archwizard says... #21
NarejED I cut Time Spiral because it's unnecessary (I do believe it's strong, but there are other cards that are more worth). Helm and Turnabout are outdated for Azami. There are better things to play. Augur of Bolas is build dependent and I've decided to not include him. As for Deranged Assistant and Jeweled Amulet I have considered running both of them, they may find their way into my list at some point. It seems like a lot of the things you suggest are more tuned for a fast combo type of strategy. Azami isn't the best as a storm / fast combo type of general. I believe Tempo / Control with a dash of combos is the best way to build her. If you could convince me that more combo is the way to go then I'd probably thin out my landbase a bit and run more combos / ramp.
January 24, 2017 3:29 p.m.
The_Angry_Man says... #22
AzamiLadyofScrolls - I have been playing EDH for about three years now, and this is my first look at what a powerhouse Azami, Lady of Scrolls can be when built to her strengths. I also appreciate the detailed description to help explain some of the more nuanced pieces behind your work. +1 (and then some).
January 27, 2017 8:12 p.m.
Archwizard says... #23
The_Angry_Man Thank you very much, your comment means a lot! The description isn't quite done yet, but I'm working on completing it.
January 27, 2017 11:09 p.m.
I like your decklist a lot, it seems very focused and consistent, though I have a question - with the printing of Paradox Engine, which seems extremely OP in here aren't the tutors like Fabricate and especially Inventors' Fair worth a spot? The fair simply replaces an Island and it can easily tutor for either engine or isochron scepter (also a combo piece).
January 28, 2017 7:10 p.m.
@AzamiLadyofScrolls: Combo Azami has proven much more effective in the current meta than tempo, at least in my experience. The control-oriented builds are outdated and generally not very good against the decks being heavily played on Trice and other cEDH havens.
Roryrai says... #1
First off, I just got a new keyboard. I think I caught all of my typos but I might have missed something stupid.
Second, the deck. This definitely looks to be a more control focused build than what you had before. A lot of this is similar to my list so I'm going to go over my thoughts on some individual cards and then the list as a whole. All of this is just my first impretion of what's here (primarily what's different from my list) without looking too much in depth at it. I've had a long day and I'd also like your opinion on these things before digging too deep into the list.
DISCLAIMER: A fair amount of the list I have posted is theorycrafted based on a high-powered, optimized meta containing largely tier 1 and 2 commanders. My list attempts to optimize Azami for such a meta. The version I actually own is weaker, though I am actively working towards buying as much of my optimized list as I can. Of course it's still getting too strong for my LGS (and I want to keep it that way if I can). That said I have still piloted a combo-control build for several years so I like to think I have a good idea of how it wants to play.
Impulse, Frantic Search, Brainstorm, etc: You're running more dig spells than I am, which I think is honestly personal preference to an extent. You could probably convince me to run at least one or two of those, just because they offer a lot of draw value.
Intuition: I'm not personally a fan of Intuition in a deck without any real graveyard interaction. While it's a very good tutor, I prefer seeing it put opponents in a situation where they can't actually make a decision that doesn't benefit you in some way, and I don't see how Azami can pull that off. (Alternatively, I'm just really bad at using the card and don't know what I should be looking for with it.) So, I don't run one myself. How does it work out for you?
Memory Lapse: How well does this work out for you? I could see it being kinda rude but I haven't actually tried it.
Misdirection: Misdirection is a great card and I probably ought to be running one honestly. How much spot removal you see is meta dependent though.
Stifle: I don't currently run any anti-triggers or actives in my list but I was considering trying to find room for Trickbind just because of how much it stops. This is something that's probably pretty meta-dependent as well.
Thirst for Knowledge: Three mana for three cards is okay I guess? I feel like there are probably better options here.
Extraplanar Lens: So I dropped this from my list because it's theorycrafted around a fast, optimized meta, where there are generally better things to do with 3 mana. That said, Lens is a fantastic card for accelerating Azami to lategame, and she's already one of the best lategame generals out there. If it works in your meta then go for it.
Lotus Petal: It's a solid card and I've been meaning to do some testing with it, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Scroll Rack: This one is straight up personal poreference, I dropped mine from my list only because I got rack locked multiple games in a row one night and it was just really annoying and unfun to play and I didn't feel like dealing with that possibility.
Ancient Tomb: Another preference card, I like having blue mana over having 2 mana a lot of the time so I decided not to run one myself. Part of this is due to trying to optimize around 1-mana counterspells where possible.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip: He's decent, I never considered running him because of the price tag but I might look into it again as I try to fully optimize a list. How does it work for you?
Spellstutter Sprite: How useful is this in practice? I haven't really botherd testing it but I've seen plenty of people run it in various decks.
Day's Undoing: Holy crap it's a budget Timetwister why didn't I know about this now I don't have to drop $650 in order to have a chance of ever owning something that resembles my full list this is actually amazing.
Time Spiral: I still kinda need to form an opinion on this one. It's a way more expensive Timetwister but it refunds itself so I dunno. What are your thoughts on it?
Transmute Artifact: I'm assuming this is in to fetch Isochron Scepter for the combo. I don't run one because I didn't like the thought of having to sacrifice mana rocks to it.
Windfall: Another one I need to think more about before forming an opinion on it.
IN GENERAL:
Seems solid, it looks like you've gone for more dig spells over wizards, and a slightly different counterspell arsenal than what I've been thinking is good. This approach can definitely work, I think, since depending on the speed of your meta those cheap dig spells can be better than havbing a wizard out to draw off of every turn. The pitfall I've seen some people walk into is running nothing BUT dig spells, so that you aren't ever digging into anything that's actually useful. You look like you've avoided that trap so it should be solid. Some things I would recommend looking at (purely in terms of card utility) are Dispel/Flusterstorm as these two excel at winning counter wars, as well as Sea Scryer since it's a fantastic mana dork that we can take full advantage of with Azami.
December 9, 2016 10:39 p.m.