Updated for Vendetta

Azir

Emperor of the Sands

Calm

OrderAdvanced

Azir builds an army around Equipment that stays useful after its first Soldier dies. The important decision is how much of that army one battlefield actually needs.

Key Cards

Emperor of the Sands makes a Sand Soldier after you have played Equipment that turn, paying one Energy and exhausting the Legend. Arise! turns the Equipment already on your board into a much larger group, and Sovereign can bring your tokens into his attack even when they are exhausted. Sand Soldiers also get Weaponmaster, letting you attach Equipment when they enter. Keep the attachment payment in your plan: its discount does not remove a colored Equip cost.

Azir’s Field Guide

Azir can keep putting units into play without drawing a new unit card each turn. Play Equipment, spend one more Energy through the Legend, and you have a Sand Soldier that can carry it. The Equipment stays on the board when that Soldier dies, so the next token can pick it up. That makes a trade much easier to accept, but the first few turns still need care. A hand of expensive Equipment and Arise! can look powerful while doing very little to stop the opponent scoring. Start with a way to make a useful Soldier, then decide whether your next payment should make another unit, improve one already there, or protect a point.

How Azir wins

Build enough separate threats that the opponent cannot put everything in front of one attacker. Eye of the Herald adds a Recruit when its equipped unit moves, while Arise! can replace several lost Soldiers at once. Sovereign then gives those tokens a way into an important combat without needing each one to be ready. You do not have to gather all of them. Leaving a Soldier at the other battlefield may be worth more than another two Might in a fight you already win. Azir is strongest when the opponent has to clear a battlefield, then do it again after the Equipment is handed to the next unit.

Key interactions

Pay for the Soldier and the attachment

Emperor of the Sands · Doran's Shield · Brutalizer

A Shield costs one Energy to play, and the Legend asks for another Energy to make the Soldier. The new Soldier's Weaponmaster trigger can attach Shield, but its one-Calm-Power Equip cost still has to be paid. That gives you a 3-Might Soldier with Tank, which makes the opponent assign combat damage to it before your units without Tank. Brutalizer costs two Energy to play and also needs Calm Power to attach. On the turn it attaches, its total bonus is three Might; a fresh Soldier carrying it is 5 Might before other modifiers. On later turns the bonus falls back to one. Weaponmaster can take Equipment off another unit, so check what that unit loses before moving the attachment. You cannot pay for a new Soldier with the Legend during a Showdown; the ability has neither Action nor Reaction.

Bring the exhausted Soldiers into the attack

Arise! · Azir, Sovereign

Arise! makes one Soldier per Equipment you control and then readies up to two of those new Soldiers through a separate trigger. The rest can still join a ready Sovereign when he attacks an enemy-held battlefield. His ability moves tokens without asking them to exhaust, so being exhausted does not stop them joining or dealing combat damage. Moving Sovereign into an empty battlefield is not an attack and will not gather the tokens. He also needs to stay at a battlefield until his trigger resolves. If the opponent sends him to base or removes him first, there is no destination for the Soldiers. Keep a response available when that attack is carrying your whole turn.

Let the movement make another unit

Eye of the Herald · Azir, Sovereign · Deathgrip

Eye gives its bearer a trigger that makes a 1-Might Recruit when the bearer moves. Attaching Eye does not count as that move. Put it on a unit that is about to leave base, and the move can add another body at its destination. A Soldier moved by Sovereign can trigger Eye too. Recruits are token units, so Sovereign can bring them into a later attack, but they are not Sand Soldiers and do not get Weaponmaster from the Legend. Once a Recruit has done its job, Deathgrip can turn it into a card and a small Might boost for another friendly unit. Keep it instead when its presence is what lets you hold the second battlefield.

Strengths

Losing an equipped Soldier usually leaves the Equipment available for the next one. You can trade units without losing every resource spent building them.
Sovereign can turn exhausted tokens into attackers, so a newly made army does not always have to wait a turn to matter.
Separate Soldiers and Recruits let you threaten both battlefields before deciding how many bodies to commit to the important fight.

Weaknesses

Equipment does not defend a battlefield by itself. An opening that delays its first useful Soldier gives the opponent time to score.
Arise! needs Equipment to survive on the board, and a large token push can still be stopped by removing Sovereign before his attack trigger resolves.
Attachments and interaction compete for Power. Spending every available rune to make one enormous Soldier can leave the rest of the board and the next turn short.

Shadow's Pick

Azir tournament list by MICE Squirtle

3rd place · Riftbound Regional Qualifier - Barcelona - Final Standings, 2026-08-23

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Deck total $99.19

Legend (1)

1x$0.18 ea.

Runes (12)

7x$0.11 ea.
5x$0.10 ea.

Battlefields (3)

1x$0.16 ea.
1x$0.12 ea.
1x$0.24 ea.

Spells (22)

3x$17.18 ea.
Power
1
Energy
6
3x$0.19 ea.
Energy
3
2x$0.36 ea.
Energy
2
3x$3.42 ea.
Power
1
Energy
1
3x$2.24 ea.
Energy
2
2x$0.21 ea.
Energy
1
3x$0.06 ea.
Energy
3
3x$0.88 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2

Gear (16)

3x$0.28 ea.
Energy
4
3x$0.28 ea.
Energy
2
3x$0.07 ea.
Energy
1
3x$0.08 ea.
Energy
1
1x$0.11 ea.
Energy
2
3x$0.06 ea.
Energy
1

Units (2)

1xChosen$6.62 ea.
Might
4
Energy
4
1x$0.23 ea.
Might
2
Energy
3

Sideboard (10)

1x$1.00 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
5
2x$0.24 ea.
Energy
1
3x$0.23 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
2x$4.21 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
1x$0.10 ea.
Might
4
Energy
4
1x$4.21 ea.
Might
5
Power
1
Energy
5

Shadow's take

This is my Azir pick because the Equipment keeps giving you useful attackers after the first fight. Eye of the Herald turns a Soldier's movement into another body, and Sovereign can bring those Recruits along with the Soldiers when it is time to take a defended battlefield. Arise! gives you a way to rebuild that group without finding several more unit cards. I also like how Brutalizer and Deathgrip let you use a Soldier that was going to die anyway. Brutalizer makes it much larger on the turn it attaches, and Deathgrip can put that Might onto another friendly unit while drawing a card. The Equipment stays behind for the next Soldier. That does not make every sacrifice good: you still need units left in the right places, and every colored attachment costs Power. I would get a cheap Soldier established first, use Back Off or Discipline to make its fight worthwhile, and save the large Arise! turn for a board where those tokens can score. There is no prize for sending the whole army to a battlefield that only needed two units.

The Game Plan

Early gameLook for Doran's Shield, Soul Sword or Eye of the Herald with a useful follow-up. Each is a one-Energy Equipment that can unlock the Legend's Soldier for another Energy. Shield makes the Soldier a better combat body once attached; Eye is for the unit you expect to move and turn into another body. I would send back an opening full of B.F. Swords, Arise! and answers with nothing cheap to start from. You can play Equipment without attaching it immediately, so do not recycle a rune just to move a small Might bonus around before there is a fight. The Legend's Soldier enters exhausted and cannot make a standard move until it is readied. Think about where it will go next turn, and keep the Power for the attachment or response that will matter there. Once you own a battlefield, decide which Hidden card belongs there. You only get one hidden card at each battlefield, and it cannot be played from Hidden until a later turn.
MidgameStart taking points with the board you have. Back Off from hand costs three Energy, stuns a unit and draws a card; from Hidden it can react for no base cost, but you lose the draw. Hidden Blade removes a unit outright and gives its controller two cards, so use it when clearing that unit is worth giving them another hand. A hidden Guards! makes its Soldier at that battlefield. The token can defend while exhausted, so do not pay Order Power to ready it unless being ready actually helps your next action. Weaponmaster still needs the Equipment's colored attachment cost. Kennen can also come from Hidden, but his play-trigger stun costs two Energy; the cheap entrance does not pay that for you. En Garde is strongest on a lone friendly unit. Hand Hammer instead wants exactly two friendly units at its battlefield, and adding another Recruit can switch off its extra two Might. Count the board after your triggers, not just before you start the fight.
Late gameSet up the attack before spending six Energy and a Power on Arise!. Count how many Soldiers your Equipment will produce, whether Sovereign is ready to bring the exhausted ones into combat, and what you can afford to leave for protection. Accelerating Sovereign from the Champion Zone costs five Energy and one Order Power, so doing both in one turn is expensive. It is often better to play him earlier and protect him. Ready Arise!'s two Soldiers for the jobs that need a standard move, while Sovereign carries the others into his attack. Leave enough behind to keep the other battlefield. Deathgrip can transfer an equipped Soldier's current Might to another friendly unit for the turn and draw a card, but the Soldier is killed when the spell resolves, not when you announce it. If the opponent removes that target first, you do not get the Might. Defy protects against spells within both its four-Energy and one-Power limits; it does not stop every answer or a unit's triggered ability. Near the last point, save your protection for the unit or attack that actually wins.

Battlefields

Blind

Seat of Power

Seat rewards the part of Azir you should already be looking for: keeping a unit at one battlefield while taking the other. In a normal one-on-one game, conquering Seat while you control the other battlefield draws one card. Taking it first draws nothing, so decide the attack order before moving Sovereign and collecting your tokens. Leave a real defender behind; if the other battlefield is lost before Seat's trigger resolves, there is no card to draw. This is a useful blind pick when you expect to build a board that can split up, without giving an enemy unit a permanent Might bonus. The opponent gets the same draw opportunity, and a hold at Seat does not draw another card.

Going First

Hall of Legends

Use the first position to turn a conquest into another Soldier for the next fight. Hall asks for one Energy to ready the Legend. You then need a further Energy to make the Soldier, and you must have played Equipment that turn. The battlefield does not waive either payment or create the token for you. Plan those two Energy before spending everything on an attachment or combat trick. If your first Soldier already exhausted the Legend, winning Hall can let you make a second without finding another Guards!. That second unit enters exhausted at base, so treat it as follow-up unless Sovereign has another attack that can bring it in.

Going Second

Trifarian War Camp

War Camp helps a group of tokens retake the battlefield the opponent reached first. Each Soldier is 3 Might here before Equipment, and an Eye Recruit contributes two instead of one. Several bodies get several bonuses, which is useful when a single large defender is the problem. The opponent's units get the same bonus, including their attackers on the next turn. Do not send one unsupported Soldier into a larger unit and expect the battlefield to close the gap. Use Back Off to remove an enemy's combat damage or bring enough attackers to make the extra Might count, then leave a board that can survive the return attack.

Sideboard

Remove the Equipment that is winning their fights

Salvage · Tomb-Raider Barbara

Salvage is the immediate Gear answer. It costs two Energy and Order Power, works in an open Showdown, and draws a card whether or not you choose to kill a Gear. It is an Action, so it cannot answer a spell already waiting to resolve. Barbara adds a 4-Might body, but her Gear effect only works if you control at least seven runes when the play trigger checks. An empowered Gear is disempowered instead of killed. Do not spend down to six runes paying for attachments and then expect Barbara to destroy something. I would start by trimming Hidden Blade when the Equipment, rather than its current bearer, is the lasting problem. If you need both kinds of removal, an En Garde is easier to give up than the cheap Equipment that starts your own board.

Match the Decree to the actual target

Decree of Focus · Decree of Unity

Replace En Garde with Decree of Focus when your units are fighting Fury units or being chosen by Fury spells. Four Might for one Energy is a much bigger swing, but the target must meet that condition. More Might still does not stop an outright kill effect. Decree of Unity kills a Chaos unit or Gear and does not give its controller two cards, so it can replace Hidden Blade when the important targets are Chaos. Unity also reaches a unit at base. It has neither Action nor Reaction, however, so play it during your own open Main Phase rather than waiting for the opponent's attack. Keep some Hidden Blades when you need that later timing or when the opponent's important units are not Chaos. Their Legend's domains do not make every unit in their deck a legal Unity target.

Take the answer out of their hand before committing

Ashe, Focused

Ashe is for a game where one card in the opponent's hand can ruin the attack you spent turns preparing. Her play effect lets you see the hand and banish the card you choose. It comes back when that opponent holds, even if Ashe has already died, so you are buying a scoring window rather than removing the card permanently. Play her before committing the army and use what you saw to decide whether the attack is safe. At five Energy and Order Power, she also competes with your main turn. I would trim Kennen when stunning a unit is not solving the problem, or one expensive Equipment if you need room without cutting protection. Do not take out so much cheap Equipment that you no longer have an army worth protecting.

Add an attacker that can stop the blocker

Vi, Peacekeeper · Kennen, Keeper of Balance

Vi is useful when you need a substantial unit and a stun in the same combat. She can Ambush to a battlefield where you already have a unit, paying five Energy and one Order Power. If she joins your attack, her attack trigger can stun an enemy there. If she joins your defense, she is a 5-Might defender but does not get an attack trigger. That is the difference to remember before replacing Kennen, whose play trigger can stun while defending if you pay its extra Energy. I would make that swap when offensive pressure matters more, or trim one B.F. Sword if the board needs another actual unit. Keep the token production intact; Vi is a supporting attacker, not a reason to turn the deck into a hand full of expensive units.

Updated for Vendetta

Azir

Emperor of the Sands

Calm

OrderAdvanced

Azir builds an army around Equipment that stays useful after its first Soldier dies. The important decision is how much of that army one battlefield actually needs.

Key Cards