Any reason for not running Riptide Laboratory? Seems like it has a solid upside in exchange for a few 0. percent of a less effective mana base.

Ahzrabus The deck usually wins before I'd be able to effectively use it. Also, a land not tapping for blue is a really big disadvantage. The only land that never taps for blue that I run is Ancient Tomb (yes I'm aware my fetches also don't tap for blue, but I don't count those because they essentially do). I think it's an okay land for a casual Azami list, but it currently doesn't have any place in competitive Azami. On average I go off turns 4 through 6 and using it to get value off of something like Snapcaster Mage or Trinket Mage is just too slow. Bouncing Azami for protection is an okay use of it, but I really don't like the idea of spending 3 mana to protect her and then having to recast her. I can just as easily use my protective counterspells and do the same job for 1 or 2 mana and not have to recast her.

Looks great! I've appreciated Pull from Tomorrow. Stroke of Genius is totally legit, but I've never regretted having to discard.

epajula The point of Stroke is to have an alternative wincon to Laboratory Maniac. I can target my opponents with Stroke while I have infinite mana and make them deck out. I cannot do that with Pull From Tomorrow. Also the reason I run Stroke over something like Blue Sun's Zenith is due to the fact that the triple blue isn't worth the shuffle effect and is much less difficult to cast if I intend on casting it on myself.

Thanks for the info

Hey wanted to ask if how the deck was doing without MOM. I've been wanting to playtest without it for a while but been to chicken haha.

Some suggestions. I think without MOM copy artifact could give a boost, it's at least worth playtesting. Hurkle's recall is a strong option because it can help you at times and slows down other decks. I'm still testing it but so far with success.

IronBlackZepp It has been doing quite decently, I'm still not entirely sure if I like what I've replaced it with (Fact or Fiction). I have considered copy artifact before and playtested it and I'm not entirely sold. Hurkyl's is a good card, but it's not really that amazing in my opinion. It fits so much better into a true storm build than combo control. So currently that one slot (currently occupied by FoF) has multiple cards being tested for it. As for the rest of the deck I'm quite happy with the results.

My salami is ready

3InchMeatMonster ;)

Hey Archwizard,

i'm currently brewing my own version of the beautiful Lady of Scrolls and stumbled over your list. I claim to be in a quite competitive playgroup with Tazri, Teferi, Dagson, Yisan and others, while still playin more or less on a budget (no Twister so far). I'd like to ask you some questions regarding cardchoices, that aren't explained in your description:

(0. Brewing without Timetwister and Candelabra)

1. Mind over Matter | Like IronBlackZepp i'm interested in how the deck does without it. Did it ever feel clunky in your hand? Would you suggest to play it if Candelabra isn't an option?

2. What about Treasure Cruise? F.e. instead of Fabricate.

3. Why did you put Back to Basics back in?

4. What about Remand? You mentioned it in the description but u don't play it.

5. I'm currently pondering about playing Scroll Rack as a replacement for Twister. I'm not sure about Day's Undoing because you wanna play on after the effect, dont u?...

My experience so far: most players ignore me until I cast Azami. Then I become the target from everyone at the table and better have counterbackup ready. So I basically need some wizards, counterspells and 6-7 Mana (=T4-5). Until then I lay down some cheap rocks and wizards and play a control style. I try to create value via my Commander, Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, JVP and Baral. If there are 3 fast combo decks at the table i usually lose in T3 because I can't Negate it all. If there is some Control / Stax beside me I'm in a good spot...

Well thanks for any responses, Archwizard and a happy new year to everyone reading ;-)

ToshiroU

I will preface this by saying the description I have here right now for the deck is very outdated and many of the questions you have asked will be answered in the primer I am currently working on for this deck.

0) Brewing without Twister and Candelabra:

Timetwister is one of those cards that is very difficult to replace for this deck. There are truly no replacements for it that will come close to its power level. You mentioned both Scroll Rack and Day's Undoing in part 5 as replacements. I really do not recommend playing scroll rack as it is very easy to get rack locked. The entire point of having Twister in the deck is to refill your hand and recur your yard while acting as disruption for other players. Day's Undoing is the closest you will get to this effect without buying Twister (while stilling including Time Spiral). Day's Undoing of course has the obvious downside you mentioned, but Time Twister tends to be most effective in this deck when you can blow your hand turn 1 or 2 and then refill it. In that regard Day's Undoing does almost the same job. You can also try other draw spells in place of Twister, however I still doubt they'll be as effective as running Day's Undoing. Candelabra on the other hand is a different story. It is a very powerful and useful card especially when it comes to the High Tide package of this deck, but it is not a necessary piece. I will go into more depth about it in my primer, but just know that it is replaceable.

1) Mind Over Matter:

I've been getting this question a lot and I will definitely answer it more in my primer. In short, I don't believe it's a terrible card and it would win me a decent amount of games when I could slam it on turn 4. I say turn 4 because this is the point where we'd have Azami and enough mana to cast MoM possibly even with a backup counterspell. It would certainly feel clunky in my hand at times and it is certainly viable if Candelabra isn't an option. Note that my list also opts out of playing Long-Term Plans because MoM is not in the deck. You may consider playing Long Term Plans if you go with Mind Over Matter although it's not necessary.

2) Treasure Cruise:

Treasure Cruise is a strong card, but most of the time running Dig is enough in terms of delve cards. I say this because the deck runs both Twister and Time Spiral. Hitting a delve card off either of them is bad news, but not the end of the world. However, since this is a Paradox Engine / Isochron deck I think Fabricate is generally a better choice than Cruise. I don't think Cruise is a bad card for this deck, but it implies that you are going to have to police the game for longer rather than getting a combo piece and winning. It really depends on how you're looking to play the deck. I'd test it out and see how you like it. I have tested it in the past and it proved to be mediocre, but there may come a time when I do play it in this deck.

3) Back to Basics:

Quite simply, it's amazing at dealing with the current fast combo meta. It tends to be a huge pain for various Hermit Druid combo decks and it's just good against 3+ color decks in cEDH by denying them resources.

4) Remand:

It's still in the description because as I stated it's outdated. It's not that good, I wouldn't play it.

5) I answered this question in part 0

Against fast combo I recommend looking for a hand with early counterspells and a Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study. It will generally be unsafe to cast Azami so you're gonna need a card engine you can get down quickly to deal with them and grind them out. You almost never need to keep an opening hand because it has wizards in it. The reason this deck only plays 10 wizards is because of the fact that many wizards are useless without Azami, however I still want to keep enough wizards in the deck so that Azami's ability isn't a 5 mana draw 1 each turn. Thanks for the comment, I will be releasing my primer hopefully soon after the new year.

Thinking of cutting my list of wizards down a bit in favor of more good cards, but wanted your opinion. What do you think? I'm thinking siren stormtamer is the only really good counter spell creature in the deck anymore, which I know is hard to hear but I think it's true.

Now I know that 8 (not including Azami) wizards is a low number, but those 8 are the absolute best of the best that we can play given the meta and card pool. They all are strong, and have great synergy with the deck in general.

I have not come up with what those slots should be yet but I'm always looking. The more good cards we can add, the better fit we will be to handle powerful threats like TosiroU was speaking of.

Thanks!!!

I've seen intuition go in and out of the deck. I think much better than fact or fiction, and one less to cast as 4 is a bit much in my opinion for an instant.

Manifold insights is an interesting card that makes your opponents think, but also net's you 3 cards for 3 mana. Thats huge early game.

IronBlackZepp I tend to disagree with the statement that Siren Stormtamer is the only good counter spell creature. In fact I'd go as far to say that it's probably the worst of the counterspell creatures that this deck plays in terms of cEDH. Cursecatcher and Martyr of Frost tend to be good at stopping early shenanigans, whereas Stormtamer's ability is generally most relevant when we have our commander. I also disagree with Intuition over Fact or Fiction. FoF is played in literally every other mono-blue deck. Intuition was at one point more playable in this list because I still played Mind Over Matter. Now that it has been cut there aren't really many good Intuition piles that are worth it. Other mono blue decks tend to play Intuition because they can recur things from their yard more easily like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip or they play more cards they can combo out with. I also don't know if Manifold Insights is worth it either, especially because of it's game by game variance. In a 3 player game it becomes a lot worse and I don't believe that wizards are worth cutting for it at this point in time. I don't think that your idea of cutting down to 8 wizards is bad necessarily, but you'll have to find replacements for them that will be efficient card draw or counter magic both of which aren't exactly abundant.

Yeah I guess fact or fiction is stronger than most options for blue draw. But giving opponents options is not so good, but Intuition does that too. Both are pretty strong and could have a place.

I guess all of the counter spell wizards are bad in their own way, except the for fact that they only cost 1 to play. We do need fuel for Azami like you said before. Perhaps I'll test it out with a lower count.

Hey, I'm thinking about building a control deck and can't decide which commander to pick since I'm actually waiting for Dominaria. But about your Azami deck, how do you feel about it when it comes to multiplayer games?

Hey, I'm thinking about building a control deck and can't decide which commander to pick since I'm actually waiting Dominaria. But about your Azami deck, how do you feel about it when it comes to multiplayer games?

Marvell I personally wouldn't classify Azami as "control" but rather as "midrange / adaptive combo". While we do look to control the game early on, we are usually looking to protect ourselves more than offensively counter and remove all of our opponents' threats. Decks that look to control the game, like Azami, aren't all that amazing in terms of competitive EDH. This is especially true when faced with a table of decks that combo off turns 2 and 3 consistently. So it really all depends what meta you're looking to play the deck in. If you have a meta with other midrange combo decks, control decks, and stax decks then Azami does pretty well in multiplayer. This is not to say that Azami will fold to any fast combo deck, but if you're at a table with several faster decks it will definitely be difficult to pull out a win. If you're looking for commanders that are more about controlling the game and out valuing your opponents you should take a look at the competitive Baral and Tasigur lists, because they are more about controlling the game than Azami is.

Thanks for your comment on Competitive Azami - Wizards and Losing Friends I think this is one of the decks I looked at while building my Azami list. Yeah I feel like I'm running too many wizards. I had noticed most lists run under 20. I just wasn't sure which ones to cut until recently after I did some play testing. How does Windfall do in your list? I was originally thinking about it but most of the decks I looked at it didn't run it. I was also wondering why no Mind Over Matter or Extraplanar Lens in your list?

I think I need to at least add Whir of Invention, and Reshape to my list. What are your thoughts on Treachery and Vedalken Shackles to steal problem creatures? I don't think my meta I play in calls for all the cheap counter spells effects you run though. What other cards would you recommend me add to my list?

LeonSpires

Windfall is quite excellent especially when you're dumping your hand early on. It's good hand disruption and allows us to cycle through our deck more quickly.

I don't run Mind Over Matter anymore simply because there are better cards that can be played in place of it. I don't think it is a terrible combo piece, but it tends to be unsafe or difficult to cast and rots in our hand. There are times where you can certainly just slam it down and win on turn 4, but overall I think it is secondary to Paradox Engine.

Whir of Invention and Reshape are certainly both great inclusions, personally I might cut Reshape because I have found that it tends to be overly redundant with the other 3 artifact tutors. However, I have not made up my mind yet.

I used to play Extraplanar Lens, but found it to be too slow most of the time.

I really don't like steal effects and find them to be unnecessary most of the time. If I were to run a card that steals creatures it'd probably be Gilded Drake because of its efficiency. Paying 5 for either Treachery or Vedalken Shackles is just too risky in my opinion.

A few questions:

A: what do you think the critical mass of required wizards is?

B: what is your opinion on cards like winter orb?

C: what would you change about your deck if you where to suit it for multiplayer

I have been watching the progress of this deck closely, and it has inspired me to pick the artifact route.thanks!

Mortiganil

A: That's kind of a difficult question because I believe it varies depending on how you want to play her. I currently have this list as a midrange combo deck, but I'm currently testing more cards to see if making her into draw / go control is worth it. If I do decide to make her more control based my wizard count will be greatly reduced. However, in terms of critical mass of wizards for my current build I'd say around 9 or 10 in deck. When actually playing the deck having 2 wizards on board (including Azami) is what I'd consider critical mass. Drawing 3 cards a turn generally keeps us ahead of the game.

B: I don't believe stax effects are necessary for Azami in any way. Yes, we run plenty of rocks, but ultimately other decks run more ways to get around Winter Orb type effects than we do. Overall, it would hurt us more than help us.

C: This deck is currently built for multiplayer games. So... nothing.

thanks for the quick awnser, as for my multiplayer question: i personally play mostly multiplayer and 1v1 here and there. people in my playgroup tend to recognize and hate azami, and that usually leads to a 1v3/4.i play stuff like extra turn spells to keep me ahead of the game, and am considering a few more global sweepers.as to rephrase my question: do you encounter a lot of hate in your playgroup, and if so, what would be your biggest tips on how to deal with it? (my playgroup consists of a lot of aggro, so i usually get attacked with everything)

Mortiganil

I do usually encounter quite a bit of hate in my group now, but I can usually just combo off before I get punched to death. In this deck's current state it goes off on between turns 4 and 6 usually. The deck's weakness isn't really aggro, it's other faster combo decks. I'd recommend cutting the extra turn spells and bulky wizards for more draw power that doesn't require Azami. Your list also currently doesn't have Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study which are huge in netting card advantage