Slow down, Turbo! (Azami Control)

Commander / EDH Competitive Control Mono-Blue

Smokethulhu

Instant (27)

• 1x Blink of an Eye
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Remand
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Whir of Invention

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Mind Over Matter
• 1x Mystic Remora

Artifact (19)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sky Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Voltaic Key

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Time Spiral
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Windfall

Commander (1)

Creature (11)

• 1x Aphetto Alchemist
• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Cursecatcher
• 1x Etherium Sculptor
• 1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Snapcaster Mage
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Walking Ballista

Land (29)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 21x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Strip Mine

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A few years ago I built a semi competitive, sub $750 Azami deck as an attempt to take down our local group’s biggest threat, a Narset turns build that was very consistent.

Long story short, it was awesome, and my friend was happy to finally have a deck in our meta that could stand up to his deck. I played that deck for about 2 years and worked on it almost constantly. Unfortunately, life happens and I had to sell my entire collection last year to try and stay afloat.

Recently having positioned myself a bit better, and giving in to the idea of using proxies for some of the mor pricey pieces, I have decided to go back and try to finish what I started. This is what I’ve come up with based on my current meta. I will continue to test and update this list as I keep trying to bring back this classic cEDH General.

Azami is for anyone who wants to stop the opponents from winning at any chance they get, and play the slow control game until they can grind out a win.

We can consistently threaten a win on turn 4-5, but usually we are met with interaction on those turns and are often unable to hold up our own interaction to back it up that early. As such, this is not our primary strategy. We are looking to hold off opponents win attempts and threaten a win with interaction to back it up on turns 5-7.

How to win: Our primary game plan to win is to draw or cycle our entire deck +1 with Laboratory Maniac on the board.

There are several ways to do this, and we are going to use whichever one becomes the most convenient throughout the course of the game.

Mind Over Matter is a great option for this, allowing us to discard a card to untap Azami and infinitely draw. The only downside here is that you have to craft your hand perfectly if you don’t have Lab Maniac on board. This takes some practice, but it’s ultimately the easiest combo.

Unfortunately Mind Over Matter is difficult to tutor up in mono blue as we don’t have many enchantment tutors.

This brings us to Paradox Engine. Paradox Engine is similar in how it operates for us, and is very tutorable in blue. With Paradox Engine and a few mana rocks, we are able to net mana with every spell we cast. Combine that with Azami and friends, and we are now drawing cards with every spell we cast as well. This accelerates very quickly and usually results in finding another combo that will flip the deck.

Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal is our cheapest playable combo. With a few mana rocks, it generates infinite mana, and with Azami and friends on the board, we are able to draw our deck.

Sensei’s Top + Voltaic Key + Paradox Engine This one is pretty interesting. You need at least one mana rock to pull it off. You tap the top, then activate the key before the top resolves, then tap the top again before the first activation resolves. This activation will draw a card, place the top on top of the library, then the original activation resolves and draws the top back to your hand. Cast the top again, trigger paradox Engine to untap the key and mana rock, then continue the process to draw your library.

If you happen to lose Lab Maniac, your next step is to attempt to generate enough mana use Walking Ballista to blow everyone up. Much more reliable than the BSZ outlet I was using previously, as it doesn’t give everyone 40-80 cards in hand to find a way out of it.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.96
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	jesus christ