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Understanding How To Draft Azorius In Zendikar Rising Limited

Many players are down on Azorius in Zendikar Rising Draft, but not Ryan Saxe. He shows you how to make the most of the color combination.

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Shepherd of Heroes, illustrated by Livia Prima

In case you didn’t get the memo from my article earlier this week: Azorius is incredibly underrated at the moment. It’s easy to miss how powerful and flexible this archetype is. The commons look like they interact poorly and it’s unclear if the deck is aggressive or controlling. And how much does it even care about party?

Well, it depends.

Earlier on Twitter I had a discussion with AlphaPhrog, a well-known Magic Online Limited grinder who has a strong bias to Azorius. I brought up a controversial take that Seafloor Stalker can be better than Shepherd of Heroes. In AlphaPhrog’s experience, Seafloor Stalker is mediocre, but then I looked at his decks. It became apparent that there are multiple versions of Azorius. My Azorius decks tend to be very grindy and focus on using Shepherd of Heroes to stabilize and Seafloor Stalker to turn the corner quickly. AlphaPhrog’s decks are lower to the ground and play tempo-focused cards like Glacial Grasp, and hence are not particularly enticed by Seafloor Stalker.

This piqued my interest and my take piqued his.

I think Azorius has a lot going for it right now. It’s very easy to pick up each card type, as Seafloor Stalker, Kabira Outrider, Farsight Adept, Cleric of Chill Depths, Cascada Seer, and Cliffhaven Sell-Sword all reliably wheel. This makes cards like Practiced Tactics, Seafloor Stalker, and Shepherd of Heroes significantly overperform.

Most importantly, the archetype appears to exist at difference cadences. Aggressive, midrange, and controlling variants are all supported, and can all be good. When the bread-and-butter commons of an archetype consistently wheel, and there is flexibility within that archetype, it’s a recipe for success. Finally, since Azorius likely comes with a variety of tribal synergies, it’s easy to pivot towards Rogues, Clerics, Warriors, or Wizards should those decks be open.

I still have much to explore, but I really think Azorius is underrated right now. I’ve seen many bias away from it, and I think that’s a mistake. If you currently bias away from Azorius, you may disagree with some of my picks, but I think that’s why explaining my logic in the following draft is so important, especially with an early Vine Gecko creating a bias towards Simic Kicker. Let’s dive in!

Pack 1, Pick 3

The Picks So Far:

Umara Wizard Vine Gecko

The Pack:

Nissa's Zendikon Nimana Skitter-Sneak Adventure Awaits Tuktuk Rubblefort Expedition Champion Blood Price Chilling Trap Nimana Skydancer Smite the Monstrous Risen Riptide Kabira Takedown Springmantle Cleric Forest

The Pick:

My take!

Early in the format, I always took Kabira Takedown here. DFCs are incredibly premium and the removal-spell and creature DFCs are the cream of the crop. Recently I have experimented with lowering my prioritization of early DFCs and I already regret it.

I know that a lot of players currently focus on synergy. Having Umara Wizard and Vine Gecko in the pool strongly biases me towards Simic Kicker, which would prefer Risen Riptide. However, there’s no reason I can’t draft a great Azorius or Selesnya deck from this standpoint, and hence I would rather just take the more powerful card over the synergy piece. If you think of Risen Riptide as a weak gold card, it’s too early to take that kind of card.

Now, I do think this pick is very close if this pack had an Into the Roil or Vine Gecko, as those are extremely valuable cards that can push synergistically in the same direction. But Risen Riptide is significantly behind those.

Pack 1, Pick 4

The Picks So Far:

Umara Wizard Vine Gecko Kabira Takedown

The Pack:

Tormenting Voice Cliffhaven Sell-Sword Hagra Constrictor Nimana Skydancer Tazeem Roilmage Canopy Baloth Subtle Strike Spare Supplies Ardent Electromancer Might of Murasa Spoils of Adventure Swamp

The Pick:

My take!

I think many players bias away from Azorius, and as I described at the beginning of the article, I believe that’s a mistake. Tazeem Roilmage and Canopy Baloth are great commons that go well with the current pool. But they’re nowhere close to the power level of Spoils of Adventure. Add in the fact that Spoils is an easy splash in any green deck and I think it becomes the clear pick. In fact, that splashing option makes the following pick quite interesting.

Pack 1, Pick 7

The Picks So Far:

Umara Wizard Vine Gecko Kabira Takedown Spoils of Adventure Bubble Snare Cunning Geysermage

The Pack:

Ardent Electromancer Tuktuk Rubblefort Shepherd of Heroes Reclaim the Wastes Dreadwurm Deliberate Sea Gate Colossus Lithoform Blight Island

The Pick:

My take!

Shepherd of Heroes is a key card for Azorius, but Reclaim the Wastes is a key card for Simic when it wants to splash something like Spoils of Adventure. I think most players take Reclaim the Wastes here and I understand the pick, but I disagree with it for two reasons:

  1. Azorius is not as bad as many make it out to be, and I dislike strongly biasing away from it and towards other strategies.
  2. Observe that I haven’t taken a green card since Vine Gecko at Pack 1, Pick 2. There really haven’t been many green cards. Shepherd could be a signal that white party is the best place to be, where Reclaim doesn’t mean anything for the openness of green.

When you take this pick within the context of the observations from reading the table, I think Shepherd of Heroes comes out on top. And I ended up in a really solid Azorius deck!

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