Welcome Magic lovers!
With Modern Horizons 3 spoilers in full swing, many Magic: the Gathering players the world over are excitedly buzzing about overpowered artifacts like Kappa Cannoneer resurrecting strategies like Affinity, and bringing them back into the mainstream Modern meta game. While there are plenty of powerful artifacts in those older formats, many with the Affinity keyword printed directly on them, smaller formats like Standard don't often give players the luxury of going all in on a niche, synergy-based archetype like artifact aggro.
However, that doesn't mean artifacts in Standard are dead! In fact, at the last Standard Pro Tour, two enterprising players brought an artifact-based, Azorius control deck with them and, while they failed to reach the top 8 of the tournament, their list inspired this author, among others, to delve deeper into this unexplored archetype to see if it can be honed into something fearsome.
Playing a control deck based around artifact synergies has several distinct advangates which make it appealing. The first is that, in the current Standard meta game, very few top decks are playing much, if any, artifact removal. While powerful artifact destruction cards like Abrade and Brotherhood's End do exist in the format, they languish, unutilized, as they interact unfavorably with the four-toughness staples of the format, such as Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Preacher of the Schism. Go for the Throat and Cut Down are the most played removal spells in black, while Get Lost and Destroy Evil tend to get the nod in the white-based decks. As our sharp-eyed readers will surely notice, none of these commonly played removal spells can hit artifacts, meaning the primary engine with which the Azorius Artifact Control deck wins the game is left relatively unscathed in most matchups.
And, as most players should know by know, an opponent who leaves a Simulacrum Synthesizer untouched and operational is an opponent with not many turns left to live.
The second reason this control deck has some unique appeal is that, once it stabilizes, it can shift gears extremely quickly, going from playing defence with one or two small 3/3 or 4/4 constructs, to suddenly putting the opponent on the back foot as it starts smashing with two 7/7 or 8/8's a turn later. In fact, with a Simulacrum Synthesizer or two in play, its trivially easy to recover from the sweepers cast by the Domain Ramp or traditional Azorius Control decks, regularly putting another forty or fifty power worth of creatures on the battlefield the turn after a Sunfall has resolved.
Without further ado, here is the current Azorius Artifact Control list:
The deck's best opening draws include a Fabrication Foundry on turn two, into a Thran Spider or Simulacrum Synthesizer on turn three. This sets the deck up to completely take over the mid-game, either by setting up a turn four Unstable Glyphbridge to sweep any aggressive starts from the opponent, or by playing any three-mana artifact in the deck in order to start the chain of superpowered constructs flowing from the Synthesizer.
A control deck is only as good as its removal and card draw, and this deck definitely has both bases covered. Spring-Loaded Sawblades and Glass Casket help shore up the early game against the low-to-the-ground aggro decks like Boros, Gruul, Mono-Red and Bant Toxic. In addition, while a card like Sawblades would typically be a dead draw against a creature-less control deck like Azorius, its ability to craft into a threat allows it to still be relevant later in the game in that matchup]
Sweeping the battlefield of creatures is a must-have feature for a control deck, especially in the current Standard format where a deck like Boros Convoke can put a massive wave of creatures on the board by turn three or four. This deck has that angle covered with a playset of Unstable Glyphbridge and a single Depopulate. While the Glyphbridge may seem subpar at first glance, as it leaves the opponent with one (albeit small), creature, this also allows it to keep a Thran Spider around after the dust settles. Crafting into a five-power flyer also provides the deck with another way to quickly close a long game, while also being a great artifact to exile to Fabrication Foundry in order to bring The Mightstone and Weakstone back into play to draw some cards. In addition, with Simulacrum Synthesizer in play, an Unstable Glyphbridge will not only sweep the board, but will also leave its pilot with a large construct in play in one fell swoop. Just be sure to stack your triggers correctly!
Assimilation Aegis is another removal spell that not only triggers the Simulacrum Synthesizer, but can also provide value by equipping to a construct token or Thran Spider, transforming it into whatever was exiled with Aegis, be it a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse to drain the opponent out or Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor to draw cards later on in the game.
Speaking of drawing cards, Braided Net often does an excellent impression of Stroke of Genius here, often drawing four-to-seven cards later on in the game while also providing an excellent way to control the opponents most powerful threats, be they creatures or planeswalkers. Remember, tapping an opposing planeswalker on the opponent's upkeep renders it unable to be used on their turn, as Braided Net shuts off all activated abilities of the permanent it taps. This comes up often in Standard, so don't forget to take advantage of it! The icing on the cake is that this powerful artifact also costs three, triggering any Synthesizers one may have in play.
Additional card advantage can be turned on using the activated ability of the excellent Thran Spider, which is capable of digging up spot removal, a sweeper, more card-draw, or the engine piece itself. The Mightstone and Weakstone is another card that's often used to keep the gas flowing alongside control deck staple, Three Steps Ahead, and the incredible land, Fomori Vault. Its not uncommon to look at the top seven or eight cards with this incredible land, turning a bad top-deck into any card you want, as the Vault isn't restricted to only finding artifacts the way Thran Spider is.
Three Steps Ahead is an incredible new, blue tool in the control deck's arsenal that needs no introduction, but in this deck it really shines. Having a hard counter for an opposing haymaker like Farewell is paramount, while drawing cards and putting an artifact in the graveyard to be recurred later with a Fabrication Foundry is a nice little perk. However, in this shell, the most powerful aspect of Three Steps Ahead is the oft underutilized second mode, as creating a copy of a Simulacrum Synthesizer at instant speed on the opponent's end step, or mid-combat, is often a game-ending play.
One last card to mention here is Steel Seraph, a criminally underplayed card in Standard that dodges all of the most commonly played removal in the format, while also making the construct tokens this deck produces impossible to race against. When confronting aggressive decks, giving a 7/7 token lifelink is lights out for them, while sending one soaring over the opponent's blockers by giving it flying will also end the game in short order again the midrange decks.
Being just two colors, the mana base is rock-solid, allowing the deck to run several utility lands including the aforementioned, incredible Fomori Vault, as well as a pair of Demolition Field. One may wonder, why not play the clearly superior Field of Ruin instead? The answer is that, because this deck is often manipulating the top of its library with the scry from Simulacrum Synthesizer scrying, or the Braided Net tucking itself three cards from the top, there are many situations where one wants to destroy an opposing creature land or Mirrex while also not shuffling away the cards on top of one's deck. Demolition Field being a 'may' trigger means that we can have the best of both worlds. Being down a land isn't a huge downside, as the deck often generates more than enough mana with its powerstones and Fabrication Foundries.
The sideboard has the usual suspects one might find in a typical Azorius Control deck, with Kutzil's Flanker making an appearance to deal with graveyard-based strategies like 4-color Legends and Temur Analyst, as well as Tishana's Tidebinder and Get Lost to manage Domain Ramp and Esper Midrange.
A trio of Negate helps fight the late-game counter-magic wars against traditional Azorius, while Akal Pakal, First Among Equals is a cute little card-advantage engine that comes in once the control deck has sided out all of their removal.
Steel Seraph comes in against the aggressive decks, making it impossible for them to win the damage race if one has a large construct in play.
Finally, a single Pithing Needle rounds out the sideboard as another flexible answer to any problematic permanents, from Mirrex to creature lands or planewalkers. If an opponent deals with it, it's a simple matter to recur it later with a Fabrication Foundry.
With a distinct dearth of artifact removal spells being played in Standard right now, this deck may be in a great position to steal a tournament. Its matchup spread against the field is actually pretty positive, with the one outlier being traditional Azorius Control, as they will often play devastating cards like Farewell, which can cause this deck to fold on the spot if they resolve. Knowing the matchup and sequencing things correctly is the key to victory against them, but it isn't easy.
If you want to try something very powerful, yet mostly underplayed, in order to catch people off-guard, take the Azorius Artifact Control deck for a spin!