This reminds me of Luminarch Ascension, mainly
in that it encourages similar play decisions.
Gaining back all the life you lose isn't enough,
you have to not lose it to keep the counters
piling up. And because it has a simple means by
which its counters can be removed-- all of
them-- proliferate isn't enough to get you up to
five on its own, and your opponents always have
a way to deal with it before you win.
But the Elocutors are a lot different than the
Ascension, simply by merit of being a creature.
On the one hand, you've already got at least one
way to stop damage from being dealt to you-- a
3/5 makes a formidable blocker. On the other,
while not everyone uses enchantment removal,
everyone has a way to deal with creatures and to
deal damage to the opponent, which means you
can't just drop it and hope the opponent fails
to find an answer.
I'm a man who enjoys a solid alternate win
condition, which is exactly what Azor's
Elocutors brings to the table. With the
abundance of ways in blue and white to slow down
games, it's quite plausible to set up a scenario
where you won't be damaged for five turns. It
amuses me that winning by attacking with the
Elocutors is almost as fast as the filibuster
victory route, but that way you don't get to say
"filibuster counter" - and I'm sure there are
readers out there who have been waiting years to
say that. Try this card with Tezzeret's Gambit!
Today's card of the day is Azor's Elocutors
which is a five mana Blue or White 3/5 that
gains a counter at the beginning of your upkeep
that allows you to win the game with five of
them on it, but will lose one whenever a source
deals damage to you. This is a card that
is a solid win condition for a Fog theme that
can protect it with Hexproof, Shroud, or
countermagic and stop damage from reaching your
life points. In that one theme this may
see play, almost exclusively a Casual concept,
as the cost and time involved will keep it from
being very viable in other Constructed formats
even with a stall build.
For Limited this has a surprisingly high
potential for winning games, particularly
stalemates, or whenever an opponent has less
creatures and no evasion. The hybrid mana
allows ease of play in seven of the ten guilds
(excluding Rakdos, Gruul, and Golgari) which
makes this a flexible first pick in Booster that
is difficult to destroy outside of direct
non-burn removal thanks to the five toughness.
In Sealed most decks can use this, though
Azorius is the most convenient, and the possible
alternate win makes it an easy choice whenever
one of the colors is used.
In Multiplayer this causing you to win instead
of one opponent to lose will make you an
immediate target for any and all removal or
damage possible. Using it will more than
likely not work and probably direct enough your
way to instead lose the game. While a
victory achieved in this manner would be
impressive it should only be attempted with a
great deal of counter doubling or addition
through other effects.
Welcome to Pojo.com's card of the day section.
Today, we bring you Azor's Elocutors from Return
to Ravnica. Azor's Elocutors is a rare blue and
white creature human advisor. Azor's Elocutors
costs three generic and then two hybrid
white/blue mana and is a 3/5. At the beginning
of your upkeep, put a filibuster counter on
Azor's Elocutors. Then if it has five or more
filibuster counters on it, you win the game.
Whenever a source deals damage to you, remove a
filibuster counter from Azor's Elocutors.
Fun cards are just that, fun. Hard to actually
get the win with this guy, but it does put your
opponent on notice, and kind of force their
hand. They either have to deal with this guy
fast, or risk losing the game.
In Limited formats, this guy really doesn't cut it. You'd
have to have such an amazing pool to protect
this guy. However, he does get some steam in
other formats. Especially if you are playing
older formats, and build around Azor's Elocutors.
Either extended turn decks, Cloning decks, or
Proliferate decks are what benefit and suit the
Azor's Elocutors best.
