Arena Standard - Azorius Control (No Yorion)

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10 24 0 26
Control

Introduction

I've been sick of only seeing Yorion Azorius Control decks so this is my take on the archetype sans the Sky Noodle.  The gameplan is to delay until you can cast a protected Dream Trawlerimage.  As such, don't be afraid to 'waste' spells early on if it gives you one more turn to live.  I tried a few different brews, but kept finding I was just making bad dimir control decks.  A lot of the removal that white offers felt too slow, too expensive, or too heavily dependent upon having access to Yorion to ensure you don't fall behind in value.  After testing a number of matches with [[Elite Spellbinder], I decided to pivot to a focus on tempo and winning through action economy instead of efficient 1-for-1 threat/removal trades.  The general idea being, if I can do more per round than my opponent then I have a higher chance of winning.  After a number of games, I'm happy with the results so far and feel that this version offers a nice departure from your usual removal pile control deck.

 

Creatures

Fae of Wishesimage has been an auto-include for me when playing Best-of-One as I enjoy having access to a wishboard.  Went with two instead of one so I'd be more comfortable playing it as an early blocker.

I've found Brazen Borrowerimage rather good against most of the meta decks.  It works well at slowing down early aggression and has also provided a late game closer.  Bit surprised I don't see more Azorius decks running it.

Switched out Skyclave Apparitionimage for Elite Spellbinderimage and have been enjoying the switch.  The Spellbinder also made it easier for me to switch from Saw It Comingimage to Lofty Denialimage.

Dream Trawlerimage is one of the best finishers in Standard.  Stick it and ride it to victory.  With Azorius Control being so rare (fewer people running board wipes), most decks are unable to deal with it and will usually concede the moment it resolves.

 

Counter Magic

After a number of iterations, I determined that I wanted to be able to cast as many spells I can as fast as I can.  As such, I decided on using only 2 mana counter spells.  I also found that UW lacked good efficient removal so I instead focused on tempo plays.  Thus the focus is now to get your opponent to spend as much mana while doing as little as possible.  Thus the inclusion of Unsubstantiateimage.  It offers a lot of options and fills a lot of holes I was having previously.

All of my creatures have flying so I went with Lofty Denialimage as my hard counter spell of choice.  Had initially ran Saw It Comingimage, but I found the higher cost limiting.  The UU also became a problem if I'm hunting for WW to cast a board wipe.

 

Card Draw

With the shift towards maximizing my action economy, I moved away from high cost efficient draw spells like Graven Loreimage so that my turns aren't limited to a single draw action (this has also opened up more options with regard to the mana base). I ended up with Omen of the Seaimage, Mazemind Tomeimage, and Behold the Multiverseimage as a mix of value and efficiency because they can all function on only two mana a turn leaving the rest for interaction.

 

Board Wipes

A mix of Doomskarimage and Shatter the Skyimage is done to provide some flexiblity in mana cost to keep with the theme of multiple actions per round.

 

Lands

After dropping Graven Loreimage, I feel like there is some room for improvement in this area.

Initially I found I was auto-conceding to a supported Crawling Barrensimage as UW lacks good interaction against these sorts of threats so I ran two Field of Ruins as a solution.  Unsubstantiateimage has made this less of a concern so I've swapped out one for my own Crawling Barrensimage to serve as a mana sink until I figure out a better setup.

Raugrin Triomeimage vs. Temple of Enlightenmentimage

Having to play a tapped land beyond turn one is usually a significant hit to my win percentage, but my current theory is that the color fixing is worth it.  I went with Raugrin Triomeimage as I'd rather draw it over a Temple while in top-deck mode.  It also opens up some red options for the wishboard if so desired.

In Best-of-One, the game generates a number of sample hands and then chooses one that closely reflects the deck's land-to-spell ratio.  For this deck, I wanted to guarantee a three land hand so we need a number of lands that is at least a 3/7 ratio or 26 lands for a 60 card deck.  This ensures that we will always have enough land to power all of our early game spells.

 

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LostInThought
Last Updated: 19 Jun 2021
Created: 28 May 2021
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Mainboard - 60 cards (23 distinct)

Creature (10)
$6.558.43
$0.48€0.360.02
$0.300.02
$0.35€0.360.03
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (24)
$0.40€0.210.02
$6.36€7.471.12
$1.49
$0.25€0.160.03
$0.39€0.380.12
$0.25€0.320.03
$0.23€0.140.03
$0.25€0.120.03
$0.25€0.090.03
Land (26)
$7.46
$15.28€12.761.01
$6.26€4.660.14
$0.32€0.270.03
$0.150.03
$0.150.03
$0.40€0.340.02
$0.62€0.870.02
$1.34€0.900.02

Sideboard - 7 cards (7 distinct)

$0.39€0.400.04
$0.64€0.330.02
$6.36€7.471.12
$28.344.45
$0.25€0.320.03
$1.25
$28.98

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