Good evening folks, Shdorsh here again. Today I decided to do a guild that I usually dread to play: Azorius. The only thing about this Azorius is that it doesn't follow the typical Azorius gameplay at all. No really. No annoying control, no annoying living card-by-card, 10 minutes of 500 IQ bigthink. Nah, this feels more like the goblins of Azorius, and it is pretty nasty with a turn 3 win. It is also extremely cheap when it comes to wildcards (yes, we're back to the ultra-cheap starter-friendly decks), using only 15 uncommons, 11 rares and 3 mythics. You might have seen it being played by other streamers, since I didn't have the cards to make and test it and I needed test subje- I mean friends to get some feedback. I present to you:

Azorius Warriors a.k.a. Hammertime!

So how does it play?

Yes, this is the big heartpiece of the deck. The idea is as retarded as efficient (if the shuffler lets you): Play an unblockable Mist-Cloaked Herald on first turn, turn it into a 13/13 engine of destruction on turn 2 using Colossus Hammer and Resolute Strike to equip it while hoping the enemy doesn't destroy it.

Maybe while spasming incontrollably from traumatic flashbacks of recent encounters with this deck. This means turn 2 you deal 13 damage. Moreover, this also means that turn 3 you will deal either an additional 11 damage or more, depending on the other cards in the game. Sweet!

What choices do we have for creatures?

So, there aren't many azorius unblockable warriors in the whole MTG game. Our options are pretty limited, but thankfully, they are all in Arena. It's only 3 creatures, and the lack of them leaves us with little choice when it comes to picking which one gets into the deck than to put them all in.

The best is of course Mist-Cloaked Herald, due to his extremely low cost. No special effects, just unblockable 1/1, which is exactly what we need!

River Sneak is another unblockable merfolk warrior with a little extra that will serve us extremely little, gaining 1 power each time a merfolk enters play for that turn. At least the cost is still kinda low, with only 2 mana.

On the far end of the spectrum, there is Phantom Warrior, which feels slow and clunky with its 3 mana cost. It also requires 2 blue, further annoying the hell out of you. At least it's a 2/2, so that it becomes one of the options you have in case the opponent uses that pesky -1/-1 enchantment.

Another thing that I added is Halvar, God of Battle: It allows you to circle around enchantments like Pacifism by concentrating them all on a single creature that you might not find useful. There are 2 other nice features, one of them being that it recycles your creature in case where the enemy tries to get rid of them too quickly. The other one is it also gives any creature double strike, which helps dealing more damage and drawing more cards.

Wait... drawing cards?

Yes, drawing cards. Since this combo seems to be a bit difficult to pull off with 3 different cards which you all got 4 times in your deck, a big part of your deck is about drawing cards and trying to survive until you can pull off that one trick. So basically, all the cards that make you draw also have a nice effect of giving you some good life back.

Staggering Insight is nice, as it gives your creature lifelink and makes you draw each time your unblockable attacks. If you use it the turn after you put out your unblockable, it is a guaranteed 1 draw, 2 lifepoints back.

Rune of Sustenance might seem worse, as it is a one time draw, but if you put it on an equipment, you'll find that it can stay in the game for quite long, making sure you keep getting those hitpoints and survive a bit longer.

Search for Glory is a nice way to get 3 lifepoints back real quickly and draw either a land or Halvar, God of Battle/Sword of Realms. Either way, it condenses your deck, helps you recycle your creatures and draws a nice 4/4 when in a pinch all the while condensing your deck.

What else is there in this deck?

Now from time to time, just getting a Resolute Strike can be a bit difficult. In these cases, why not mana ramp? Now, this isn't a green deck, but Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale and unblockables jive pretty well together. It is a guaranteed 3 lands condensed into one if the opponent can't stop you from equipping and giving it a go. Moreover, it gives more damage, which is always nice!

So what should I not play against?

With this little creatures, it would be best to avoid anything that deals damage too much, which in the Strixhaven meta can be hard, but isn't impossible. Even still, it doesn't mean that this deck can't hold up against it, it just will have an uphill battle.

Handhate can be a problem, as is with every combo deck, dismantling your most important pieces before you can play them.

Other than that, this deck pretty much swoops everything off their feet, provided your draw is good, which is the main problem. I am not quite sure Mark will feel like releasing more cheap Azorius unblockable warriors after this deck, but at least I'll be proud to have crafted this cancer of a deck.

My verdict

It can be a very fun and quick deck to play, outgoblining goblin decks. It has become one of my favorites real quickly, for a good reason and the best part is that it is actually pretty cheap with 3 mythics and 11 rares. Really a good way to get a good historic deck real quick.
Anyway, that's it from me for today. As usualy, stay cool, stay fresh and I'll see you next time!