Azorius Aggro Guide - Arena Mythic Top 100

Scoreboard

I picked up Azorius Aggro at Platinum 4, after getting sick of battling Grixis nonsense with Sultai and only winning 55% of my matches.

I haven’t kept exact stats, but I’ve won 70-80% of my matches with Azorius Aggro since then. I know I lost around 8 matches from Plat 4 to Mythic, and at most the same number since hitting Mythic. I probably even padded my numbers by switching to Sultai and spewing off some ranks early on only to win them back with Venerated Loxodon.

The Loxodon Rule

Venerated Loxodon is the best card in Azorius Aggro. Benalish Marshal and Legion’s Landing are in the top five. Two drops are horrible at maximizing those cards.

It’s way harder to turn three transform Legion’s Landing or cast Venerated Loxodon if you played a single creature on turn two. You also want to cast a three drop on turn three and don’t really care about a two drop on turn four. If you draw multiple two drops your hand starts with a bad card.

If there were more playable one drops I might play no two drops, but three Hunted Witness is my limit on creatures barely worth the cardboard they are printed on. Three Adanto Vanguard is a necessary evil, and I almost never configure my deck to have more than four two drops.

The List and Quick Notes

(Deck image via MTGGoldfish)


4 Skymarcher Aspirant (RIX) 21
4 Snubhorn Sentry (RIX) 23
4 Dauntless Bodyguard (DAR) 14
4 Legion's Landing (XLN) 22
3 Hunted Witness (GRN) 15
3 Adanto Vanguard (XLN) 1
4 Benalish Marshal (DAR) 6
4 History of Benalia (DAR) 21
4 Venerated Loxodon (GRN) 30
1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants (M19) 3
3 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
2 Baffling End (RIX) 1
12 Plains (RIX) 192
4 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
4 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255

3 Tocatli Honor Guard (XLN) 42
1 Adanto Vanguard (XLN) 1
2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants (M19) 3
1 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
2 Baffling End (RIX) 1
1 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81
2 Disdainful Stroke (GRN) 37
2 Negate (RIX) 44
1 Island (RIX) 193

Don’t mess with the mana curve. See the Loxodon rule. This is my only big deviation from Marcio Carvalho’s Mythic Championshiop Top 8 list.

Don’t keep most four land hands. Almost all of the exceptions are double History of Benalia hands.

Don’t play one drops that get free rolled by Kraul Harpooner, people will sideboard it in just to block. Healer's Hawk is still a stupid 1/1, it's not actually better than Hunted Witness.

Five removal has been decent. Multiple Conclave Tribunal is clunky, hence the 3-2 split.

Unbreakable Formation is horrible. The power-to-cost rate is not the insane six or seven for one like your pump creatures. Most decks beat you by killing your creatures, which makes Formation blank. People are playing Cry of the Carnarium over Kaya’s Wrath. The only matchup Formation is good for is white mirrors, where both the indestructible and vigilance come into play. Ajani at least has redeeming qualities as your 9th pump, like saving sideboard slots.

I haven’t tested Tithe Taker in a while, it may be better than Adanto Vanguard or a 2-1 split in either direction might be right. Full disclosure, I didn’t have Tithe Takers or rare wild cards on Arena when I started my run with this deck and I kept winning too much to mess with it. Overall Tithe Taker is better against Red, White, and Blue aggro decks, it’s debatable against Wilderness Reclamation's counter magic and Esper Control, and Adanto Vanguard is way better against Grixis or Sultai Midrange and Izzet. Tithe Taker only massively better against Mono-Blue which is already a good matchup, whereas Adanto Vanguard has lots of spots it just can’t die and wins the game.

The sideboard Spell Pierce could be a third copy of either other counter, I haven’t done the math on the Island, and the third Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants also isn’t a requirement. If you have good ideas to use those slots on instead feel free to try them.

I’m not going to bother too much with matchup favorability. It isn’t worth it. You have “rough” matchups, but basically all of those can be solved by a good Loxodon draw. Your good matchups just mean your more middling draws are also good. If you want to read between the lines, me saying you really need a pump effect draw means the matchup is unfavorable.

 Also, given my win rate clearly my plan for "bad matchups" has been just crush them anyways.

Matchup - Sultai Midrange

I wrote about this from the other side on StarCityGames a couple weeks ago. They have four ways to win. From least to most beatable: They can cast Finality, they can trigger Wildgrowth Walker, they can resolve Hostage Taker and recast things, and they can play idiots into a Hydroid Krasis for six. Your one drops into pump draws crush their Krasis draws, compete with Hostage Taker, and can struggle against Wildgrowth Walker. The plan against Finality is hope they die first or they don't draw it. Sometimes you win if they don’t keep a creature through it and you draw really well or have Adanto, the First Fort.

If you get lucky and can make a 5/5 that survives Finality, do that. Remember that Benalish Marshal usually dies to Finality and makes this fall apart.

Sideboard:

-3 Adanto Vanguard
-1 Conclave Tribunal
-3 Hunted Witness

+3 Tocatli Honor Guard
+2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
+2 Baffling End

I don’t mess with counter magic against Sultai. No matter which one you choose half their plans just win through it regardless, and your best plan against both Finality and Hydroid Krasis is just kill them first. Once you start bogging your deck down with reactive cards you are playing into their game of cast one spell a turn, Sultai’s punch harder. This is also why you have to trim on a Conclave Tribunal, too many answers is a fast way to lose.

Your sideboard focuses on stopping their second best plan of Wildgrowth Walker, as all their other plans require time and land drops that Wildgrowth Walker often helps bridge to. Tocatli Honor Guard also shuts off Hostage Taker. Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants layers Tocatli Honor Guard through removal and gives you threats that survive Finality. The creatures you cut are just the worst ones in the deck, with the two drop cap still applying. Adanto Vanguard isn't bad, it's just worse than Tocatli Honor Guard and worse than curving out.

On the play I often trim a Baffling End for any one of the cards I take out, but you can’t Conclave Tribunal a turn two Wildgrowth Walker on the draw and need the extra two mana answer.

Yes, Tocatli Honor Guard is a nonbo with Venerated Loxodon. I don’t care, because you usually win if Honor Guard lives and you usually win if you cast Venerated Loxodon and trigger it. If you draw both just figure out if you need to shut off explore and Hostage Taker now or can just play the 1/3 after making seven power for two mana.

Matchup - Goblin Chainwhirler (Gruul Midrange, Red Aggro, Jund Deathwhirler, etc)

This matchup has two key issues: Goblin Chainwhirler, and the fact that all of these decks have more threats you have to kill than you can have removal. Runaway Steam-Kin, Goblin Chainwhirler (first strike sucks), Experimental Frenzy, Rekindling Phoenix, Growth-Chamber Guardian, Skarrgan Hellkite, Gruul Spellbreaker, etc.

So step one is figuring out how to not lose all your things to a one damage sweeper, and step two is figuring out how to navigate a bunch of threats. The answer is usually just play a mass pump effect and kill them. If you don’t do that, you probably die. If you have an early Venerated Loxodon you are a massive favorite, if you don’t you are solidly behind.

If you see a basic Mountain early and have options on casting one drops, see if you can leave yourself only losing one thing to a Chainwhirler trigger. Hunted Witness and Snubhorn Sentry survive, and if you cast Dauntless Bodyguard after other one drops you can save something.

Sideboard:

-3 Adanto Vanguard
-4 Skymarcher Aspirant

+2 Baffling End
+1 Conclave Tribunal
+3 Tocatli Honor Guard
+1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

Creatures that die to Chainwhirler with no hope of leaving value around are gone. More removal and answer to Chainwhirler trigger are in. Jam hard, good luck. The matchup isn’t as bleak as I’m making it sound, but it’s real easy for mediocre hands to die horrible deaths.

Matchup - Esper Control

I don’t have a generalized plan for this matchup as too much changes based on how they play, revealing what cards they do or don’t have. The quick tips:

-You usually shouldn’t play around Cry of the Carnarium. You should play around Kaya’s Wrath a bit, then as soon as they don’t cast it on an obvious turn play as if they don’t have it.

-Casting a History of Benalia into a possible Kaya’s Wrath with other stuff is less of an over extension than it sounds because the second Knight shows up after.

-Transforming Legion’s Landing is strongly correlated to a win. On the draw against Watery Grave I will default to casting it on turn one to avoid Thought Erasure taking it.

-There can be later game spots where they are low on life, struggling to find an answer to a couple idiots or an Adanto, the First Fort. If you get them in one of these probably no removal, clock ticking down spots where you are low on resources you often just don’t want to cast spells into Absorb mana. If they don’t gain three life, they die.

-Attacking a fresh Teferi from 5 to 3 loyalty with a Knight token is often a solid option so it can’t freely -3 to kill your token. This comes up when your opponent is in the 8 life range against a couple small attackers, where you clearly don’t want to waste a ton of damage on Teferi but they also could stabilize with two one-for-one answers.

Sideboard:

-4 Venerated Loxodon
-4 Snubhorn Sentry
-2 Baffling End
-1 Hunted Witness

+1 Island
+2 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Negate
+1 Spell Pierce
+1 Adanto Vanguard
+2 Tocatli Honor Guard
+1 Conclave Tribunal
+1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

Out go the cards that require you to play into Kaya’s Wrath and aren’t great after. In come a bunch of ways to steal the game by countering Kaya’s Wrath.

Now that you don’t have Venerated Loxodon more two drops are acceptable, and Tocatli Honor Guard stops Hostage Taker. The fourth Conclave Tribunal versus the third Tocatli Honor Guard is a close choice, but too many people have brought in Thief of Sanity on top of Lyra Dawnbringer and Hostage Taker lately.

Update: As pointed out in the comments, I bring in 1 more Ajani over a lower impact card. Having a unique threat is great, but Ajani is a bit on the slow side and runs the risk of giving them something really good to Teferi -3 on so two is about the max.

Matchup - Wilderness Reclamation (Simic Nexus, Temur Explosion, etc)

If they don’t have Root Snare in their deck (Temur), you just gun for a goldfish kill. The one interactive piece to consider is Syncopate, but there’s rare spots you actually play around it that are largely “cast Venerated Loxodon with a mana open over History of Benalia on turn three”. Remember if you have multiple History of Benalia that you want to resolve the +2/+1 ultimate first to force Fiery Cannonade before your Knight token trigger resolves.

If they do have Root Snare (Simic), it’s similar but your goal is to force them to cast their Root Snares as soon as possible as that cuts down their mana to dig with and can run them out of Snares. If given the choice of Benalish Marshal or Venerated Loxodon, I do the math. If Benalish Marshal gives me an out of drawing another Marshal to force lethal next turn, that’s the play.

Sideboard:

-3 Hunted Witness
-1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
-2 Baffling End

+1 Island
+2 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Negate
+1 Spell Pierce

I like having the fourth Conclave Tribunal against Temur Reclamation’s Rekindling Phoenix and Niv-Mizzet, Parun. Simic Nexus is less likely to pass the turn, and Conclave Tribunal for half a Biogenic Ooze is a worse rate.

Matchup - Mono-Blue Aggro

This is a good matchup, but as always they can do weird stuff. This is another matchup where I just have tips and you have to read their options based on plays and Arena priority.

-If you can resolve Venerated Loxodon, you usually win.

-Dive Down is a combat trick, but usually that exchange is fine.

-If they have Siren Stormtamer, Conclave Tribunal can target Curious Obsession. If they have Obsession on a Stormtamer or Mist-Cloaked Herald you can play around Dive Down this way, but Pteramander is often worth the risk to just gun for.

-Not casting spells into counters can come up in tight races versus Pteramander. It's not common like versus Esper, keep an eye on that math.

-If they pass with two mana up doing nothing, don’t lose a 1/1 to Merfolk Trickster. Adanto Vanguard even loses indestructible.

-Conclave Tribunal convoking to leave up two mana for Spell Pierce is a common play.

Sideboard:

-3 Adanto Vanguard
-1 Hunted Witness
-1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

+2 Tocatli Honor Guard
+2 Baffling End
+1 Conclave Tribunal

If you had Tithe Taker, it would be better than Tocatli Honor Guard. Guard used to be much better when Exclusion Mage and Faerie Duelist were typical.

Don’t cut History of Benalia. If they want to have Spell Pierce in their deck let them draw it and leave it open and not counter removal. If they don’t have it, History kills them.

Matchup - Izzet Spells (Phoenix, Drakes)

This matchup is basically the same as the Mono-Blue Aggro matchup, but you get to jam harder and not worry about counters on your threats.

Sideboard:

-3 Hunted Witness
-1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

+2 Baffling End
+1 Conclave Tribunal
+1 Adanto Vanguard

Kill their stuff and kill them. Adanto Vanguard sizing up from a 3/1 to a 4/2 with one pump makes it really important for attacking into x/4 Drakes.

The exact number of Baffling Ends you want depends on how many good targets they have. You want all of them against Izzet Drakes with Pteramander and Enigma Drake, and only two or three if they are a Niv-Mizzet deck that only has Enigma Drake or an Arclight Phoenix deck that only has Goblin Electromancer. In the lighter cases keep in some Hunted Witness.

Matchup - White Aggro Mirrors

Being on the play is a huge edge here. The ways to flip that advantage are multiple History of Benalia or having more pump effects. Occasionally you can reach parity and a flying Skymarch Aspirant ends it but that isn’t typical.

On turn one and two, figure out if you want to trade or are building up to something bigger. Determine your first attacks and blocks entirely based off that.

You might have to use removal in other ways, like holding off History of Benalia, but saving it for a Benalish Marshal is the best case scenario. Try not to Conclave Tribunal their enchantments as they can Conclave Tribunal back and retrigger Landing or History.

Sideboard:

-3 Adanto Vanguard

+2 Baffling End
+1 Conclave Tribunal

Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants is fine as a one of, but more is too slow.

Matchup - Selesnya Tokens

It’s like a mirror, but they have more of the army in a can and pump effects that break things open. Your goal is to land multiple early pumps and force them to start chump blocking as fast as possible. Save removal for Trostani Discordant if possible, but also don’t let them run away with a game.

They can also recover games that would be traditionally unrecoverable in Azorius Aggro mirrors with multiple March of the Multitudes. This is why getting to forced chump range quickly is key. The less resources they keep off using March as a Root Snare, the less the second one snowballs the game.

Sideboard:

-3 Adanto Vanguard
-1 Hunted Witness
-1 Conclave Tribunal
-2 Baffling End

+2 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Negate
+2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
+1 Island

Counterspells are great, as all of their cards that break parity are expensive. If you have the third Disdainful Stroke this is where it really shines. Negate also covers you against random sideboard sweepers they might have, like Settle the Wreckage.

Tocatli Honor Guard would shut down their Venerated Loxodon, but I think your Venerated Loxodons are more important on balance and they are happier fighting 1/1s versus 1/1s. It shuts down half of Trostani Discordant, but not the pump half. It shuts down Knight of Autumn, but you are trimming removal already. I’m not interested in a low impact, two cost, awkward timing creature.