Draw. Go.

React decisively as you keep opponents guessing.

*Sphinx's Revelation* illustrated by Slawomir Maniak

Sketch had a three-week winning streak in August with their Azorius Control list. Today, we’ll take a deep dive into how the deck aims to slow the opponent’s gameplan long enough for it to resolve a key threat and protect it until victory.

Decklist

Counterspells

Most iconic of the blue mage is Counterspell. It is a powerful catch-all answer, but requires holding mana open to be used at all. To lessen the downside of potentially wasting mana, Azorius Control can cast other instant-speed effects on turns where counterspells weren’t needed. Having the power to pass the turn with untapped mana can be menacing enough for the opponent to play around a counterspell that isn’t even there.

There are many counterspell options to choose from, but Azorius Control wants to make sure that they work throughout the entirety of a long game. Mana Leak and Syncopate do little to hinder the opponent once they have many lands in play. Similarly, Memory Lapse only delays problematic spells that Azorius Control can’t let resolve. This is why Counterspell and Disallow are favored as “hard counters” worth their restrictive costs.

Disallow has shored up a few weaknesses Azorius Control used to have, including planeswalkers. If it can’t counter the planeswalker on its way down, Disallow can still counter their “ultimate” activated ability. Sometimes, even disrupting a smaller downtick can buy enough time for Azorius Control to outvalue the planeswalker. Secondly, Disallow strengthens Detention Sphere against Abrupt Decay. While Abrupt Decay can’t be countered, Detention Sphere’s triggered ability to return permanents exiled by it can. This interaction not only effectively negates Abrupt Decay, but means that Azorius Control doesn’t need to defend the Detention Sphere anymore.

Board Wipes

These keep Azorius Control healthy while providing card advantage.

If the opponent plays too quickly to the board, they can often overwhelm and “go under” counter-magic. Azorius Control needs removal to deal with anything that slips by, and board wipes are perfect for it. If the opponent plays out many creatures to play around counterspells, board wipes punish them, but if they space out their threats, counterspells regain their power. With just the right timing, not only will a board wipe provide card advantage by dealing with multiple creatures, but the tempo swing gives Azorius Control multiple turns of safety to gather resources.

Finding the perfect turn to play a board wipe can be tricky. You want to greed for as many creatures as possible but don’t want to take too much damage— having too low of a life total forces you into poor options. Also, you’ll be a sitting duck if you pull the trigger without a follow-up plan— the opponent may redeploy several threats that you can’t yet answer. Often, playing a sweeper with mana up to counter the opponent’s next play is backbreaking for them. If that’s not possible, a sweeper on one turn into a removal and a counter on the next turn is a strong sequence.

Some of the most powerful sequences in Azorius Control are ones that force your opponent into playing more to the board. A savvy opponent will try not to overextend into a board wipe, but they might play out additional creatures to deal with an upticking Jace, Architect of Thought or chaining Sphinx’s Revelations. That’s when the Wrath of God feels most devastating.

The deck runs a full playset of Wrath of God, but only two Supreme Verdict. This is because opposing counterspells haven’t seen much play while regenerative effects have.

Point Removal

These flexible spells clean up opposing threats for cheap.

Azorius Control’s removal suite aims to hit as much as possible. Azorius Charm throws any attacking creature on top of the opponent’s library without restriction— it ignores toughness, persist and indestructibility. Azorius Charm is at its worst against hasty creatures or those with enters or cast triggers, but the tempo gain still saves a lot of life. In fact, the tempo gain can be massive when the opponent really needs to draw a land, as Azorius Charm guarantees the opponent’s next draw will be a nonland.

While Azorius Charm doesn’t get rid of creatures for good alone, it can when combined with other cards. Codex Shredder and Oona, Queen of the Fae, can mill the card away. Otherwise, Azorius Control can counter the creature on the stack.

Outside of counterspells, Azorius Control’s only real interaction for noncreature permanents is Detention Sphere. The enchantment allows the deck to tap out for a board wipe or Jace, then clean up opposing noncreature permanents on a later turn. While it can only be played at sorcery speed and can be disenchanted, having a cheap catch-all answer lets Azorius Control be prepared for anything.

Card Draw

Azorius Control finds what it needs by drawing many cards.

Magic players like drawing cards, but those who play Azorius Control love to. It’s critical they continuously hit land drops and still have cards to delay the opponent, and draw spells help it do both. Card draw also makes sure that Azorius Control finds the cards that it needs for each matchup. This becomes increasingly valuable in sideboarded games, where there are extremely impactful cards that you want to see as often as possible. Eventually, Azorius Control amasses so many relevant cards that they essentially lock their opponent out of the game with a hand full of permission.

To get to that point, Azorius Control needs to hit its first four land drops. Hitting four lands is critical, as it unlocks board wipes against aggressive starts and Jace, Architect of Thought to stall or draw more. If the deck starts with their average three lands in the opening hand, there is an 81% and 89% chance to draw land number four by turn four on the play and draw, respectively. These numbers change to 89% and 94% with a single draw from Azorius Charm, drastically improving consistency. While it may be tempting to use Azorius Charm as a removal spell when faced with fast aggression, it is almost always right to cycle it early to hit land four and begin entering the mid-game.

Once four lands have hit the battlefield, Jace, Architect of Thought can draw even more cards. Ideally, he will downtick twice and draw you four cards, but this requires a clear board on the opponent’s side. If the board isn’t clear, a common line is to play Jace, Architect of Thought on turn four and uptick him. The opponent usually can’t remove him in one combat step, and may add creatures to try ensuring the planeswalker’s doom. That’s when Azorius Control plays a board wipe to clear the board for Jace to draw multiple times. In fact, Jace’s primary function in the deck is to draw cards, so much so that it is often correct to aggressively downtick him into the graveyard-- Azorius Control needs to hit its land drops and dig through its deck.

As a heuristic, you should downtick Jace, Architect of Thought as the first action on your turn if he isn’t going to die to creatures. Not only does this give you the most information on how Azorius Control should spend their mana, but it also gives the opponent the least information on how they should split the piles, often creating splits in Azorius Control’s favor. When Jace, Architect of Thought downticks, which pile should you pick? In general, Azorius Control should ensure is has at least a removal spell or two at the ready for safety. Otherwise, they should favor lands that produce mana or draw spells that will get more lands. Azorius Control should generally ignore picking wincons like Psychic Spiral and Oona, Queen of the Fae until the very end of the game when these cards can be protected and provide the most impact.

Getting more specific, your picks depend on the stage of the game. You’ll want to favor board wipes and lands in the early game. Choose board wipes because: 1) the opponent has likely developed a threatening board by now; and 2) the opponent still has many cards available to them, and Azorius Control can punish them if they overextend while it’s still possible to. You need lands as well, as you want to get to the point where you can make a powerful double-spell play. In the mid-game, cheap single-target removal and counterspells become more valuable picks as the opponent starts running out of gas. Their slower deployment of threats means that Azorius Control can take the cheaper interaction to reliably double-spell when needed. Being able to answer threats on the opponent’s turn let’s Azorius Control pass their next turn with all their mana untapped. If the opponent passes that turn without playing anything, it’s the perfect moment for Azorius Control to resolve their first Sphinx’s Revelation. This brings Azorius Control towards the end game, where card-draw and counterspells become the most important picks from Jace, Architect of Thought. At this point, Azorius Control just needs to draw enough lands to be able to play Oona, Queen of the Fae and protect it, or chain enough draw spells together to get a full graveyard and mill the opponent with Psychic Spiral.

The third draw-spell in Azorius Control is Sphinx’s Revelation, and it’s the main reason to be playing the deck. The sheer card advantage out-grinds everything else, allowing Azorius Control to answer everything from their opponent before refilling to a full grip. In scenarios where Azorius Control draws above the hand limit, they can sculpt their hand to be only relevant spells. Life-gain goes a long way to letting Azorius Control use their life as a resource, falling behind in tempo to set up their future turns.

When looking to cast Sphinx’s Revelation, here are some tips. 1) Unless you need to dig for a particular answer to a problematic card from the opponent, don’t cast Sphinx’s Revelation until you have played all of the lands in your hand. Not only does this mean that you’ll end up drawing more cards and gaining more life when you finally cast it, but you’ll also discard fewer lands when going to cleanup because you effectively stored those lands on the battlefield. 2) If you need an instant-speed answer but don’t have one in hand, you may be able to draw into it with Sphinx’s Revelation. 3) If you are about to miss your land drop and don’t anticipate needing to interact with your opponent for a turn, you can cast Sphinx’s Revelation on your main phase.

Win Conditions

These resilient threats provide value beyond finishing the opponent.

Azorius Control’s objective isn’t to win the game. The objective is to delay and whittle down the opponent enough to where victory is the only outcome. Because so many slots are dedicated to preventing the opponent’s strategy, there are only a few resilient win conditions.

Azorius Control has inevitability through its primary wincon: a mill loop created by Psychic Spiral and Codex Shredder. Psychic Spiral shuffles Azorius Control’s graveyard into its library, preventing them from ever running out of cards, and Codex Shredder sacrifices itself to return Psychic Spiral to hand. The next Spiral will return the Shredder to the library for the loop to continue. Eventually, the opponent will run out of cards to draw and will lose the game.

The deck used to run Flash and Worldspine Wurm, though Oona, Queen of the Fae has since replaced them. While Azorius Control could stumble into the powerful combo early and be massively advantaged, it would often run into the opponent’s previously stranded removal. On the other hand, Oona, Queen of the Fae dodges many of the most popular removal options, keeping them stranded, and she doesn’t require Flash to be playable. Oona supplements the primary mill gameplan without risking the opponent gaining graveyard value, creating 1/1 tokens to block and stall along the way. Sometimes, Oona and her faeries can finish the opponent with combat damage. Though it isn’t the goal, it helps to complete a best-of-3 match before time is called.

The most unassuming wincon is Jace, Architect of Thought. In a pinch, he acts as extra copies of any card in your deck, including Oona and Psychic Spiral. If Oona and Psychic Spiral have already been exhausted or rendered ineffective, Jace can eventually ultimate and turn the opponent’s strongest threat against them.

Manabase

Azorius Control plays the safest lands it can while still getting snow value.

The mana for the deck was carefully constructed to be consistent while minimizing self-damage and minimizing susceptibility to Ruination and Fulminator Mage. It was then altered slightly to maximize Scrying Sheets. While Azorius Control could throw in every dual land for its colors, it isn’t necessary. Once the deck reaches the requisite numbers necessary to cast its spells on-curve per Frank Karsten’s article, it can be selective with the lands it chooses.

Azorius Control cannot run many pain lands, especially City of Brass. Because it often taps all of its mana over a long game, the repeated damage adds up quickly. This is the same reason why Adarkar Wastes isn’t a full four copies. The deck runs some so that it can Counterspell or Azorius Charm on turn 2 if needed, but doesn’t want to take damage from them otherwise.

Tapped lands provide perfect mana without pain, but too many tapped lands can prevent the deck from adequately slowing their opponent down. Their sequencing can also reveal information to your opponent, as playing a tapped land on turn 2 might tell your opponent that you don’t have a two drop while the same play on turn 3 signals interaction at two mana and not three. Hallowed Fountain is the premier tapped land because of flexibility to come in untapped when you really need it. Boreal Shelf is chosen over Azorius Guildgate because it improves the consistency of Scrying Sheets.

With so many double-pipped and triple-pipped spells, Mystic Gate puts in work. The mana-fixing ability is more impressive than simply allowing you to cast Counterspell with a Plains. It sometimes fixes the mana so that you don’t have to ping yourself with Adarkar Wastes or shock yourself with Hallowed Fountain. Reflecting Pool fills a similar role, acting as an untapped dual any turn beyond the first that doesn’t deal you damage. The deck doesn’t run all four copies because Reflecting Pool is vulnerable to targeted land destruction, where it can’t tap for mana if the opponent removes all color-producing lands around it.

It is because of nonbasic land destruction spells that Azorius Control runs as many basic lands as possible. With an adequate number of basics, making them snow and adding Scrying Sheets for a little extra value is easy. The land has the added benefit of masking interaction. If control holds up two blue and Scrying Sheets, the opponent might think Azorius Control will just activate the land when control actually has a Counterspell too. This also works the other way, where a cunning opponent might play “suboptimally” to lessen the effect of a counterspell that isn’t there.

One-ofs

The right card at the right time can be devastating.

Why run one-ofs? These are cards that have such a high impact at the right moment, but have some sort of cost that prevents Azorius Control from wanting to play multiple copies of them. Change of Heart can lock down a small-to-medium sized board, forcing the opponent to either commit more to the board or kill their own creature to fizzle the spell. Azorius Control never wants a second copy because the spell has buyback and is very mana-intense to use over and over. Cyclonic Rift slows down any problematic permanent that the opponent has invested in, and the tempo gain from overloading it is often game-winning. However, the card is mana-intense to overload and is card-negative in a deck that wants as many resources as possible. Mystical Tutor acts as an extra copy of most effects in Azorius Control, searching out the best response to whatever the opponent plays, including other one-ofs. Even if it wasn’t restricted, Mystical Tutor would remain a one-of since it is card negative and slow. The downside of not having the card immediately in hand can be reduced by combining it with an Azorius Charm to draw what you searched for right away. Finally, Runed Halo can completely shut off some strategies that go all in on a single threat, but can backfire if the opponent removes it unexpectedly.

Sphinx’s Revelation

"Main phase: Sphinx's Rev for 10-- draw 10, gain 10. Play a land. Go to cleanup-- discard 2 lands, 2 Verdicts, a Counterspell, and a Jace. Pass."

After watching Ivan Floch win Pro Tour Magic 2015, Sketch was heavy inspired by the champion’s Azorius Control list and built a deck of their own. Sketch studied Floch’s play patterns, learning to prioritize early land drops with Azorius Charm, downtick Jace, Architect of Thought to death, and to hold Sphinx’s Revelation for as long as possible. Floch took Azorius Control to its extreme, having his only win condition be a single copy of Elixir of Immortality. His deck’s only goal is to draw cards and gain life, and Sphinx’s Revelation does just that.

Nothing quite explains Azorius Control better than, “it wants to cast as many large Sphinx’s Revelations as possible.” The deck not only wants to answer its opponent’s cards, but it wants to be able to answer anything and everything the opponent could play and it wants to choose how it goes about doing so. Sphinx’s Revelation gives Azorius Control the cards it needs to answer the opponent, enough of them for it to plan which to use, and the life necessary to deploy the answers when they choose to. Best of all, it does everything at instant speed, allowing Azorius Control to always keep their guard up, because what’s better to a blue mage than drawing cards and countering spells at the same time?