Choosing your Commander - Azorius

Next, we will look at commanders that are both blue and white.  Blue/white is a traditional color-pairing for control decks, using blue to counter spells and white to deal with problematic artifacts, creatures and enchantments.  It is interesting to see that most of the blue/white generals don't really lend themselves to being an outright control general, except for the mighty (and mighty annoying, depending on who you ask) Grand Arbiter Augustus IV. 

Ayesha Tanaka:  When you run a particular general, you don't want one who's ability can be nullified by paying a single white mana.  The ability is too narrow on top of that, and a 2/2 Banding creature isn't scaring anyone.

Bruna, Light of Alabaster:  Bruna is a perfect type of 'build-around-me' commander, in that her ability is powerful yet not totally abusive.  There are all sorts of good Auras that you can run with Bruna, from Eldrazi Conscription to Celestial Mantle to Righteous Authority.  Since Bruna is greedy in that she grabs Auras not only from play (including your opponent's Auras), but also from your graveyard or hand, its not too difficult to manipulate Bruna into a position where she is able to start eliminating players right out of the gate.









Geist of Saint Traft:  While certainly a powerful creature in 60-card decks, I question as to whether Geist of Saint Traft is good enough to be a commander in this format.  But I will say that he definitely sees some play and that for decks that come out slow he can really punish your slow start.  I thknk that if you play Geist of Saint Traft, you need to inlcude Auras and/or Equipment to give him protection and/or evasion, otherwise his 2/2 body gets quickly outclassed.  For a creature that absolutley has to attack to be useful, that is not a good postion to be in.  I personally would run him in a Bruna deck, but not as my commander.

Gosta Dirk:  Essentially unplayable when compared to other options.

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV:  When you are looking for a way to slow the game down to allow you for the time you need to deploy your forces and install your gameplan, GAA IV is definitely your man.  White and blue are both very good at "taxing" effects, and having a commander that taxes every spell your opponents want to play can be very good.  Hook him up with other cost increasing effects such as Suppression Field, Glowrider, Thalia, and Invoke Prejudice (among many others), and you can create a very hostile environment for your opponents all the while sitting behind the protection of your own General's cost reduction measures (of which, there are many more that affect only you).  Overall, you can dictate a lot about how the game plays out, but you have to be careful not to make it too hard for your opponents to do anything else they will direct all their energies and rousources to eliminating you.

Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer:  This is one of those commanders that on the surface looks totally useless, but could seemingly be a really good commander if you can build your deck around him.  I personally don't see an attraction to playing what is essentially a bad creature control card, but if you are trying to make opponents draw cards for some reason then perhaps he is worth looking into.

Hanna, Ship's Navigator:  When the crew of the Weatherlight started being printed as Legendary creatures, some were disappointing and others were actually pretty good for casual or multiplayer play.  Hanna is one of the latter, and in a format like Commander she can actually shine.  There are some evil uses for Hanna, such as recurring Mindslaver, but there can be some more benign uses that are still powerful and are much more fun.

Hunding Gjornersen:  Getting a 5/4 with Rampage:1 is actually not that bad by Legends standards, but it just doesn't cut it now.

Isperia the Inscrutable:  The original Isperia is actually not that bad, but its just a lot of work to get a benefit that you can get in other ways and without the need of knowing what is in the opponent's hand.




Isperia, Supreme Judge:  The new Isperia on the other hand is pretty good at saying to opponents "attack elsewhere please".  Of course, if you throw in a Bullwhip effect or two then your opponents have little choice in the matter, and I think Isperia would approve of that (Note that Bullwhip doesn't require that they attack you, just that the creature attacks).  Its a win/win situation in that they are either killing your opponents or not killing you, either of which puts you in a good position.

Ith, High Arcanist:  Although his Maze is a format staple, Ith himself is often overlooked.  Since you cannot suspend him from the Command zone, his playability is severely lessened.

Jedit Ojanen:  Vanilla is as vanilla does...

Kangee, Aerie Keeper:  Kangee has promise, but for a tribe that could really use a good UW commander at the helm they really sold Birds short.  Needing to pay 7 mana for him to come into play with just one feather counter is pretty ridiculous.

Kasimir, the Lone Wolf:  He is alone for a reason...

Rasputin, Dreamweaver:  Rasputin is a very unique card.  First, he is a mana creature in UW, which is very rare.  Second, he is a mana creature thta can take you from 6 mana to 13 mana on the next turn.  Access to that much mana makes playing Eldrazi or other huge artifacts a reasonable goal, weaving dreams of victory for you and causing nightmares for your opponents.












Sygg, River Guide:
Merfolk have traditionally been almost exclusively blue, but Lorwyn block introduced some white ones, including Sygg, River Guide.  I think that even if you didn't want to include those in your deck, you would play Sygg as your Merfolk tribal commander for two reasons.  One, he is the only legendary Merfolk that actually helps other merfolk, and two, he gives you access to powerful white cards in addition to what blue already offers you.

Tobias Andrion:  Reviewing some of these Legends from their namesake set is actually quite painful.


Top 5 Blue/White (Azorius) Commanders
1. Bruna, Light of Alabaster
2. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
3. Hanna, Ship's Navigator
4. Rasputin Dreamweaver
5. Sygg, River Guide