Azorius Ascendant

The “Azorius Ascendant” deck can come out of the gates in two different ways. You might spend the early part of the game setting up your defense. Once you’re safe from harm, you’ll draw extra cards in clever ways and finally play out a fleet of fliers for the win. Alternatively, you can start by playing lots of cheap, aggressive fliers, such as Azorius First-Wing and Mistral Charger. Bombard your opponent while taking damage in return, and then tangle up the ground with your defenders. Your opponent’s creatures will face some serious blocking, while your creatures can hardly be blocked at all.

You’ll have access to cards that can tap creatures, such as Minister of Impediments, Plumes of Peace, and Azorius Guildmage. Not only are these effective, but they’ll also stifle your opponent’s strategy! If a creature is too big for you to block safely, tap it during your opponent’s turn. If a creature can block your fliers, tap it to prevent it from blocking.

While the deck’s tap effects are sneaky, its untap effects are downright devious, as seen on Beacon Hawk, Tidewater Minion, and Sky Hussar. Each time you untap one of your creatures enchanted by Ocular Halo, you can tap that creature to draw an extra card. Untap Minister of Impediments so you can tap troublesome opposing creatures, or untap your Benevolent Ancestor to prevent extra damage. You’ll be tapping and untapping so often, your opponent’s head will spin!

Once you’ve played the deck a few times, customize it. If you want more large fliers, try the Ninth Edition core set’s Serra Angel or Mahamoti Djinn. Puppeteer and Archivist, also from the core set, add even more tapping and untapping tricks. Cheap spells that keep your opponent off-balance, such as Remand from the Ravnica: City of Guilds set, work wonders for this deck’s aggressive air assault. Lay down the law! ^[1]