Brewer's Guide to the Guilds: Azorius and Selesnya

Last time out, I took a look at Simic and Golgari, with Simic walking away with a better collective effort and Golgari walking away with the best individual performance ([card]Gaze of Granite[/card]). Today, we break through the red-tape and take a look at Azorius as well as the ever popular Selesnya (sorry, there’s a law that requires at least 1 horrible pun per preview article).

Disclaimer: Look, I’m just not going to review every card. I’m just not. I’ll leave that herculean task to the likes of Conley Woods, Chris Lansdell, and LSV, those that have been driven to insane levels of punnery just to make it through another set review without jumping off a high building at the thought of discovering relevance in another vanilla 5 drop. If you REALLY need me to affirm that [card]Armored Wolf Rider[/card] is either 1.) the most broken card since Jace started sculpting minds or 2.) not worth its weight in toilet paper (hint: most cards fall somewhere in this spectrum), then consider yourself affirmed. These are the cards that jumped up and violently assaulted my inner-brewer.

Azorius

[card]Ascended Lawmage[/card]: Evasion and hexproof are two extremely powerful abilities, especially on a creature with 3 power. While I don’t think this card will be warping the format anytime soon, we are approaching a annoying precipice with the number of hexproof creatures in standard. And, anyway, HEXPROOF SHOULD BE A GREEN ABILITY YOU RAT HUMPERS IN SEATTLE.

[card]Beck // Call[/card]: Apparently, some people say that they have seen a version of this card that sports Azorius affiliation. Don’t believe the lies. Like the encounters with the ever allusive Big Foot, sightings are usually attributed to inebriated backwoods hillbillies (it’s ok, I was once a backwoods hillbilly so I can make that joke).

[card]Council of the Absolute[/card]: Sure, you can name any card, but most of the time this is just going to read “make [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] cost 2 less, and if your opponent is playing [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] giggle maniacally like a demonic school girl.” I don’t think this card is strong enough for main decks, but it will be a fantastic sideboard card for mirror matches and general control-deck-douchebaggery.

[card]Deputy of Acquittals[/card]: I played this when it was called [card]Whitemane Lion[/card]. It was only marginally playable then. Sure, there are a lot more creatures with “enter the battlefield” effects now, but creatures are a lot better now too. Not good enough.

[card]Lavinia of the Tenth[/card]: The Azorius champion has a lot going for her. As far as the Maze Runners go, I’d put her in the top half, maybe even as high as second. Her detain ability is cute, and against some decks blinking or playing her multiple times will be enough to outright win (it has also earned her the nickname, “The Bully” in my book, since she picks on creatures smaller than she is). But, the biggest advantage that I see is the Protection from Red. I expect [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card] to see more play post Dragon’s Maze, and unless a card has a 5 in the rump or, like Lavinia, has some sort of built in protection, don’t expect it to stick around very long.

[card]Render Silent[/card]: As a card carrying Green Mage, I absolutely hate this card. Since the days of Alpha, one of the best ways to fight counterspells has always been the old bait-and-switch. You play a seemingly important spell, they tap out and BOOM! You sneak a relevant card onto the battlefield. Gone are those carefree days. Now, a blue mage can tap down to three mana and rest easy knowing they’re safe (barring Instant shenanigans). Right now, we have [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] to level the playing field, but once it rotates… those of us that hate counterspells are in for a wake up call.

[card]Restore the Peace[/card]: I point out this card for two reasons. First, it doesn’t say “damage to you,” and is thus much better in a dedicated wall deck (I know, there’s no such thing, but just roll with it). And two, the flavor text mentions someone called “Massacre Girl.” What an awesome name. Is she single?

Overall, Azorius left much to be desired. I am not impressed with their options, but their best spell, [card]Render Silent[/card] will be a headache post rotation and may be the best late game counterspell ever printed.

Selesnya

[card]Scion of Vitu-Ghazi[/card]: The latest in a long line of “pay 5 mana, get a dude and tokens” cards. Situationally, this could be the best on yet, but it will most likely be just another [card]Geist-Honored Monk[/card]. Were it not for the “from your hand” clasue, this would have serious combo potential with [card]Seance[/card].

[card]Wake the Reflections[/card]: A lot of potential power at 1 mana, depending on your board state. As an instant I would have no qualms about running this. As it stands, I could see testing a pair for the late game to double up on your 5/5 wurm tokens.

[card]Advent of the Wurm[/card]: I am amazed that this is a rare. If tokens decks are going to make a splash (and I was sure they would until I saw [card]Gaze of Granite[/card]) this card will be at the forefront. The protruding tip, so to speak. As a 5/5 trample for four this would have seen play, but the fact that it’s an instant gives you some built in protection from board sweepers. One of the most exciting cards in the set.

[card]Bronzebeak Moa[/card]: This card sets my Johnny sense a-tingling, but I haven’t seen any chatter about it at all. If you can find a way to give this thing trample (like, I don’t know, [card]Rancor)[/card] or [card]Selesnya Charm[/card], or [card]Unflinching Courage[/card], it’s not like a Selesnya deck would ever want to run any of those cards) it can win a game extremely fast. Image the Moa in a token deck. Suiting this thing up with a [card]Rancor[/card] and casting [card]Increasing Devotion[/card] is flat out crazy. That’s one big ass bird.

[card]Emmara Tandris[/card]: The Selesnya champion. Look, I’ve read Maro’s tumblr about why this thing was changed and I get it. Yet, this is by far the worst of the Maze Runners and is downright comical in its flavor. The art depicts this graceful, dainty elf. A beatified image, really. And then, you realize that this serene creature could hold off a Titan by herself and disembowel a [card]Craw Wurm[/card] without losing her smile. Hell hath no fury like Emmara Tandris scourned.

[card]Trostani’s Summoner[/card]: This might be the best non-Angel reanimation target in standard. Not only does she shat a fairly diverse army onto the table, but she’s [card]Restoration Angel[/card]-able! In this metagame full of long, hot, grindy “Thragtusk-on-Thragtusk-action” it wouldn’t be impractical to just cast the thing at 7 mana. And then, in Modern, you’ve always got the option of bringing a pair of these back via [card]Reveillark[/card].

[card]Unflinching Courage[/card]: The almost-[card]Armadillo Cloak[/card] should be good enough for occasional standard play. I’ve been experimenting with [card]Gift of Orzhova[/card] and it’s been working surprisingly well. Not, “automatic-4-of” well, but well enough to be the deiciding card in quite a few matches (flying, lifelinking [card]Thragtusk[/card]s are awesome). Flying is usually going to be better than Trample, but I could still see this being played in the main or (more likely) sideboard. It’s a shame that you can’t stack these like you could with [card]Armadillo Cloak[/card]. Guess we’ll just have to settle for more [card]Rhox Faithmender[/card].

[card]Voice of Resurgence[/card]: This card is a control deck’s worst nightmare, and will be the driving force for the reappearance of [card]Pillar of Flame[/card] in standard. It seems innocuous enough at first, but just think of this as a card with reverse Cascade. If it dies (or your opponent is stupid enough to cast spells on your turn) it cascades up into a three drop ([card]Scion of the Wild[/card]). I like Craig Wescoe’s idea of calling this guy the “Stagtusk”, and while I don’t think it will be nearly as ubiquitous as [card]Thragtusk[/card], it will not surprise me if this becomes one of the defining cards of standard. Be prepared to see a lot of this card, and it’s another candidate for the set’s top ten list.

While Azorius seemed weak and uninteresting, Selesnya more than made up for it. At this point, Selesnya is the deepest and most interesting guild I’ve examined, with cards impacting a variety of play styles and decks. Today’s decklists are token builds looking to maximize [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card]:

[deck title=Travis Hall – Days of Our Lives]
[Lands]
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Plains
3 Forest
2 Moorland Haunt
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Thragtusk
2 Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice
1 Armada Wurm
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Call of the Conclave
4 Parallel Lives
3 Advent of the Wurm
2 Beck // Call
3 Selesnya Charm
4 Midnight Haunting
1 Rootborn Defenses
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Garruk Relentless
4 Rho Faithmender
3 Centaur Healer
2 Scion of Vitu-Ghazi
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

I would prefer to swap [card]Midnight Haunting[/card] for [card]Lingering Souls[/card] but I don’t know if I can make the mana work (I suck at building mana bases, feel free to dismantle this one). If I ever get to Fuse [card]Beck // Call[/card] with a [card]Parallel Lives[/card] on the table I will take a picture and mail it to WOTC with a thank you card. This is a creature heavy version of the tokens deck, trying to get some bonus mileage out of Moorland Haunt. But, what if we were to use the fact that [card]Call of the Conclave[/card] and [card]Advent of the Wurm[/card] are spells and go with something more like this:

[deck title=Travis Hall – Men at Work]
[Lands]
4 Breeding Pool
1 Hinterland Harbor
3 Glacial Fortress
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Plains
3 Forest
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Call of the Conclave
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Advent of the Wurm
4 Selesnya Charm
4 Midnight Haunting
2 Rootborn Defenses
1 Increasing Devotion
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Garruk Relentless
4 Thragtusk
4 Rest in Peace
1 Rootborn Defenses
3 Druid’s Deliverance
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

If you like my suggestions, you can follow me on Twitter: @travishall456. I throw around random observations and deck ideas every day. You can also hear me on the Horde of Notions podcast each week, discussing deck ideas for FNM level events and the PTQ grinders.