Magic The Gathering The Azorious Senate Guild Explained

Magic: The Gathering – The Azorious Senate Guild, Explained

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Magic: The Gathering’s Azorius Senate is Ravnica’s legal arm, employing judges, knights and wizards alike to uphold the law and keep the streets safe.

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Magic The Gathering The Azorious Senate Guild Explained

In Magic: The Gathering, the plane of Ravnica is home to ten unique guilds, and it’s the Azorius Senate that laws down the law.

Each guild is made up of two colors, and the Azorius guild is based on the law and justice of white mana, augmented by blue man’s love of progress and knowledge. Together, these colors can meticulously and wisely create a maze of rules, ideas and codes that can keep society running smoothly and safely, if a bit slowly. The Azorius Senate has a reputation for bureaucratic sluggishness, but its beat cops are the best of the best.

We Make The Rules

Magic The Gathering The Azorious Senate Guild Explained

On Ravnica, each guild serves a purpose to keep the plane-wide city running smoothly for its countless inhabitants, and many of these guilds are in charge of particular public works or civil services. The Orzhov Syndicate is the (somewhat shady) bank, the Izzet League and Simic Combine are the R&D department, the Boros Legion is the military and the Azorius Senate is the judicial and legislative branches of the city. The Azorius guild won’t let anarchy or chaos to bring the city to ruin, and their first line of defense is the law.

Thus, the Azorius Senate controls the courts, prisons and police forces of Ravnica, sharing the latter duty with the Boros Legion. But while the Boros Legion is more like a SWAT team, the Azorius Senate is more akin to ordinary police officers, tracking and capturing criminals who break the law or disrupt the peace. The Boros deliver justice by swordpoint on the battlefield; the Azorius deliver justice in court and through their lawyers and sphinxes. Any lawbreaker or rogue will find themselves in an Azorius courtroom sooner or later, and they had better read the fine print carefully.

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Magic The Gathering The Azorious Senate Guild Explained

All of this makes the Azorius guild a loose ally of the Orzhov, Boros and Selesnya guilds, while the chaotic Rakdos and Gruul guilds despise the law-slinging, stifling ways of the Azorius. To them, the Azorius guild is putting an arrogant, unnecessary stranglehold on personal freedoms and the natural way of the world. At the same time, other Ravnican citizens see the Azorius as righteous defenders of the weak and innocent. If Gruul or Rakdos thugs are breaking into shops or massacring people on the streets, the citizens count on the Azorius and Boros enforcers to save the day.

To do this, the Azorius guild fields plenty of front-line fighters who are fierce, but also law-abiding. The Azorius guild’s members want to win clean and fair, or not fight at all. Human knights, law-mages and soldiers are common, and this guild employs many vedalken as well, making use of their affinity for blue mana. Many of the Senate’s elite ride atop powerful, majestic griffins, allowing them to navigate the city sprawl with ease and handle aerial threats from other guilds. Benevolent spirits are also a part of this guild, using their ethereal bodies to slip into areas of interest and keep lawbreakers busy until reinforcements can arrive. Mages of this guild excel in blue and white magic that can block enemy attacks, heal wounds and capture criminals without injuring them. Metal handcuffs are not enough; Azorius mages use enchantments to bind the wrists and ankles of cornered lawbreakers, even mighty giants.

This guild has drawn some merited criticism, however. Its judicial system, while robust, is notoriously slow. This guild has passed so many laws and codes that ordinary citizens are nearly always breaking some obscure law or other without even realizing it, and arresting all of those lawbreakers would be wildly impractical. This guild is also known to draft contradicting or confusing laws, making it rather difficult for most citizens to toe the line. So far, the Senate hasn’t made any significant effort to streamline or overhaul its judicial system.

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The Azorius Senate In The Game

This guild first appeared in the Dissension set, featuring the Forecast ability. A creature with Forecast may be revealed on the upkeep if its Forecast cost is paid, and an effect will take place. Often, these creatures’ Forecast abilities tie into their ETB triggers, allowing them to synergize with themselves. This ability is flavorful, but, in practice, was not particularly memorable or beloved.

The Azorius had a place in 2012’s Return to Ravnica, with the lean and mean mechanic of Detain. Once a permanent with Detain enters the battlefield, another target creature cannot attack, block or use activated abilities until the end of the Azorius player’s next turn. This effectively represents Azorius officers detaining suspects and interrogating them while the battle rages on elsewhere.

Finally, the Azorius appeared in Ravnica Allegiance, with the Addendum mechanic. Appearing only on instants, Addendum grants the caster a unique bonus if that spell is cast during their main phase. In some cases, casting these at other times is best, but if the Azorius player is patient and has a dominant board state, they can reap the Addendum benefits by casting the spell at sorcery speed.

Otherwise, Azorius decks are slow, like Orzhov decks, and gain advantage through lifegain (to outlast the opponent), countering the most threatening enemy spells, tapping down enemy creatures and attacking with efficient flying threats to close out games.

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