Azor, the Lawbringer deck types

Commander (EDH) forum

Posted on July 3, 2019, 11:49 p.m. by Sid_the_sloth

As the title says. I see a list here and there for him. Some focus on using him as a win con plus the chance of several enchantments thats say if you have 50+ life you win. Other deck uses him with a few fatties and control to win. Now disclaimer I'm not a control player ive always hated playing against control mainly because the people at my local places just counter everything just because they can and not using the right spell for the right occasion. That and ive wanted to learn the play style. I was thinking is this general good to play a white blue control/ enchantment/ superfriends?? ? Or is that too much for one deck? And by control/enchantment/superfriends I mean a deck that obviously utilizes control for what it is. Blue for draw as well. Enchantments. Like ghostly prison rest in peace luminarch ascension . basically other enchantments to help protect your self or remove items and "super friends" for a secondary win con. As in assuming the few creatures in the deck if they don't "get there" there's gideon to beat face elspeth to make an army. Jace and vencer etc etc . Any thoughts sorry its a cluster of typing lol

enpc says... #2

In general it's a good habit to link cards you're talking about:

Azor, the Lawbringer

A good basis for him might be to look at some Grand Arbiter Augustin IV , I feel like they are going to be quite similar.

If you wanted to play him as a control deck, my thoughts would be that you want to leverage his draw ability, so he would form your primary win conditon as voltron. However you would want to use equipment rather than auras (and a few really good ones rather than lots) with cards like Brass Squire to reattach the one or two beats cards, so you can take advantage of Azor's ETB with cards like Conjurer's Closet .

The main equipment I would look at running would be:

Sword of Feast and Famine and Runechanter's Pike with cards like Thassa, God of the Sea to help him connect.

Then you can just run a bunch of control cards. You might want ot put something like Eldrazi Displacer + Peregrine Drake / Palinchron in the deck (since displacer works with your commander already) to get infintie mana which you can sink into something like a Stroke of Genius , first drawing your deck with it and then playing a card like Archaeomancer to keep returning it and then drawing out each of your opponents.

You could include cards like Venser, the Sojourner and Elspeth, Sun's Champion however I wouldn't focus the whole deck on them.

Also, you will need a lot of ramp. Like a lot of ramp. Think ~15 cards, preferably all costing 2 or less.

That's personally how I would play it.

July 4, 2019 1:15 a.m. Edited.

Sid_the_sloth says... #3

Yeah sorry with the lack of linking cards... Are you saying use the cards that have draw abilities to deck your opponent? Also I wasnt going with enchantments like a voltron but more or less protection like Ghostly Prison and the blue version (sorry cant think of the name)

Cards like that and typical control and board wipes. Inwas thinking could you get a way with either General beating face and winning Or the combination of the 3 good gideons to become creatures and beat face with a clear field. Until of the two elspeths. Etc

July 4, 2019 1:24 a.m.

enpc says... #4

I like combo myself, so that's what I would do. Cards like Ghostly Prison and Propaganda are good if your meta is creature heavy, but I don't think they're auto includes.

The reason I personally wouldn't just go lots of beats effects is that you will end up running out of space in your deck - control generally tends to be rathe slot hungry. You will need card advantage outside of your commander (like an additional 10-15 card slots), control will be a good 25 cards, ramp will be ~15 and we're already at 50-55 cards. That only leaves 10-15 for your win condition. And if you have to assemble multiple bign beats effects to get through your opponent's lines, then that will take even longer than sticking a Runechanter's Pike and turning sideways.

That's my reasoning at least. Don't get me wrong, I would probably include an Elspeth, Sun's Champion and potentially Venser, the Sojourner too, however I wouldn't flood the deck with planeswalkers unless they achieved something outside of just being planeswalkers.

July 4, 2019 1:37 a.m. Edited.

enpc says... #5

I forgot to mention (was thinking but didn't type it) that if you can leverage "non win condition" cards to form a win condition then you are reducing the dead space in the deck (as well as freeing up slots). For example, Stroke of Genius is both a card advantage spell, but given infinite mana it also forms a win condition on its own.

Same thing goes for a card like Reality Shift . It's removal in its own right, however when looped (you keep exiling the new manifet creature) you can exile an opponent's library.

July 4, 2019 1:43 a.m. Edited.

Sid_the_sloth says... #6

I "flood" the deck with planes walkers ...by that I mean a 5 of ...becuase they have the ability to protect AND do damage. As for the win cons beaides the combo loops as you propose I would assume a few cards that are "fatties" but also contribute to the board state if not instant effects.?? Like (sorry if I dont link the card if only I knew the name) One card is a sphinx that when a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you may draw a card. Or Frost titan Or The blue white dragon that has hexproof as long as its untapped and you ponder when ever it attacks. Cards like that.. On top of "pillow fort" AND control aspects ??

July 4, 2019 2:43 a.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #7

Honestly my problem is ...is that i have an affinity for cards like Elspeth, Sun's Champion , Elspeth, Knight-Errant , and the 3 good gideons that can protect and beat face.... I just assumed blue was the way to go ....??with white...that or I can make a mono white deck??

July 4, 2019 2:46 a.m.

enpc says... #8

At the end of the day, you have to build a deck that you enjoy playing. If that's the route that you want to go down, by all means go for it. These were just some suggestions about how I would build the deck.

But my biggest piece of advice, make sure that you focus on one strategy rather than trying to run 4 or 5. Also, ramp is your friend, you're better having too much than too little.

July 4, 2019 3:29 a.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #9

Ramp as in mana rocks??? Or what ?

July 4, 2019 4:01 a.m.

enpc says... #10

Mana rocks will be your main source. It also comes down to budget. The more you have to spend, the more you will use mana rocks. But if you're on a budget, you might rely on cards like Wayfarer's Bauble , Solemn Simulacrum (who takes advantage of any flicker effects you might have for your commander), Burnished Hart , etc. But either way, Fellwar Stone , Azorius Signet , Talisman of Progress , Mind Stone , Sol Ring , Thought Vessel , Everflowing Chalice should probably make it in.

July 4, 2019 4:11 a.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #11

Oh yeah I agree with those cards. Just wondring besides the draw cards and countermagic....what cards to include for win cons other than the few i mentioned and you meantioned. And enchantments

July 4, 2019 4:20 p.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #12

And to answer your question about my meta. There's usually about 8 of us that commonly play together and every now and then a friend of a friend joins in. So ita usually 80% of the time the same people and yeah they have multiple decks. But on average most of them are creature based wether its aggro or mid range type. They do have a control deck or combo deck in their inventory to play so its not to say theyre isnt a control or combo deck in mt meta its just odds are they are creature based. One plays green elves" another favors his junk reanimator grave yard deck. Another plays big dumb green, as well as green white tokens. Etc etc . thats my general local friendly meta. Oh and one plays mono red artifacts too. So thats my meta I assumed cards like Ghostly Prison and enchantments that make creatures ETB tappes etc also there's a few life gain win cons that ive seen . certain enchantments that if you have over 50 life you win etc?.. Are those fantasy win cons or actually reasonable.

July 4, 2019 5:34 p.m.

multimedia says... #13

Consider Azor, the Lawbringer with Brago, King Eternal ?

To repeatedly blink Azor to abuse his ETB Sphinx’s Decree and blink mana rocks to abuse his repeatable Sphinx's Revelation . When Azor attacks tap all your mana rocks for mana. Use that mana to activate Azor's ability; draw cards and gain life. When combat damage step is done and you did damage to an opponent trigger Brago. Untap all your mana rocks by blinking them; able to use them again for mana during your second main phase or leave them to use to cast instant spells during your opponents' turns.

If you like white and/or blue Planeswalkers and already have them they're also good with Brago and blink.

July 4, 2019 11:01 p.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #14

I just assumed the general I listed with the help of a few good planes walkers JTMS Little jace Elspeth suns champion (Sorry I dont know the two names) 3 cmc Gideon The newest Gideon And gideon jura Sense they all turn to creatures. On top of venser for blink assist. Would make a decent lidt of win cons and also support each other. Along with a few typical blue and or white creature bombs. Eith enchant protection, counter magic, amd card draw to round up the deck....

July 4, 2019 11:51 p.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #15

I also noticed a few people taking advantage of the life gain off of the general to run effects that say if you have 50 or more life you win the game. Is that a thing or just a thing that if it works once in a while that they play or is it a viable strat. ??

July 4, 2019 11:53 p.m.

enpc says... #16

It can be viable, but again, you're spreading your deck too thin if you try to do all of that.

July 4, 2019 11:57 p.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #17

Whats two thin the life gain as a secondary/tertiary win con? Or the walkers being the main win con ?? With a few bombs as back up

July 5, 2019 1:20 a.m.

enpc says... #18

So to have an effective number of bombs, you're talking say 6 or 7 big creatures, 2-3 life gain efects + say 7 walkers and 3 walker support cards. That's 20 cards already, leaving you with only ~45 for ramp, draw, control and utility. I personally don't think you need them and as someone who has played control before, you want to make sure you're not skimping in the areas that matter.

Again, just my thoughts on it but I would say focus more on overlapping your existing win conditions.

July 5, 2019 1:26 a.m.

Sid_the_sloth says... #19

Trust me I'm trying to listen I'm just talking out loud when I ask something and yes I have yet to be a control player so coming from you I'm all ears just asking something when it comes to mind thats all.... Also if I cut back on a walker or two and their support what is you thoughts on a FEW miracle cards sense theres so many ways to set up top deck the two cards I think of instantly are Entreat the Angels and Terminus again I'm not trying to go in several directions its just I'm remembering cards that where awsome in standard at the time etc.

July 5, 2019 1:44 a.m.

enpc says... #20

It's all good. Unfortunately tone doesn't transmit super well through text.

Again with the miracle cards, unless they're already on theme I personally wouldn't look to include them.

I threw together an example list:


Example Azor

Commander / EDH* enpc

1 VIEW | IN 1 FOLDER


Which might help to give you some ideas. This is personally how I would play it with a few of your preferences also included. As you can see, you run out of card slots pretty quickly. By the time you've included the ramp/comtrol/draw you want, you don't have a huge amount of space to play.

July 5, 2019 2:30 a.m.

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