Fire Lord AzulaFire Lord Azula | Art by Fahmi Fauzi

Hello fellow brewer and welcome back to Brew For Your Buck, where we swap out the top 10 most expensive cards in a deck with 10 budget cards that add a unique twist. It has been quite some time since I actually wrote a BFYB article, thanks in part to the endless amount of previews we got for the last few months of the year. I'm happy to be back, and with a good one.

I always like writing about the most popular commander from a new set, since obviously there are a lot of interested pilots and brewers. Our commander today is not only the most popular commander from Avatar: The Last Airbender but has recently cracked the top 100 most popular commanders on the entire EDHREC site.

It's not hard to understand why Fire Lord AzulaFire Lord Azula is popular. Grixis () decks have had Spellslinger twists before, but getting a huge bonus for casting spells during combat is not something we've seen too often. If I know one thing about Commander players, it's that we love our value, and copying spells is a pretty quick way to get some insane value.

Aside from that, Azula's a popular character from the show that evokes archenemy vibes for players looking to emulate that in their playstyle. As we'll see, there are many ways to build her, and flexibility can definitely help increase a commander's popularity.

The whopping 13,549 decks (at time of writing) have an average decklist price of a whopping $615.18, with these cards topping the list:

Total Value of Cuts: $287.75

Those are some pricey cards. Conveniently, we've pulled out all four Game Changers from the deck, making the list much more Bracket-flexible. Looking at the mana base, we have six lands costing $110.11 that would also make the list, bringing our total savings up to $397.86.

There are some easy budget options to replace some of the more powerful cards that we removed for Azula, so we can look at a few of those to really make the deck play similar to the average list. Otherwise, I'm interested in any other ways we can really abuse Azula's ability, since copying any spell cast while she's attacking has potential for some bonkers effects.

Additions for Azula

Sidegrade Replacements

Azula has four power, which is the key number needed for Bolt BendBolt Bend ($3.32) and Stubborn DenialStubborn Denial ($4.26) in order to replace Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat and Fierce GuardianshipFierce Guardianship, respectively. Snuff Out ($3.91) is our budget replacement for Deadly RollickDeadly Rollick, giving us a free removal spell that we can copy with Azula.

These are higher than what I usually list as budget friendly replacements, but considering what they're replacing, we'll give them a pass.

On the cheaper side, Double VisionDouble Vision ($0.49) does a decent impression of Twinning StaffTwinning Staff. If we think about it, exactly how many spells will we be casting and copying in a single turn? If it's only one, Twinning Staff and Double Vision are a lot closer in power level than their price suggests. We're missing out on copying non-instant or non-sorcery cards, but given that 33% of the nonland cards in the deck are instants and sorceries, it's not a huge loss for the sake of budget.

Spell Copy Payoffs

I was kind of surprised not to see Professor OnyxProfessor Onyx ($1.44) in here. Assuming we're doing our usual game plan with Azula, the planeswalker also tags on a drain four/gain four clause to each instant and sorcery, giving us a little more reach to win the game.

If we want to play at higher Brackets, we can throw in Chain of SmogChain of Smog to give us an infinite combo as well.

Deekah, Fractal TheoristDeekah, Fractal Theorist ($1.97) is another powerful Magecraft card that's worth a look. Deekah will pump out Fractals at lightning speed, and they'll be pretty large thanks to Azula's firebending helping us cast higher mana value spells. Then, Deekah can make those Fractals unblockable and therefore perfect targets for the power doubler spells in the list like Bulk UpBulk Up and Unleash FuryUnleash Fury.

Other Attackers

When reviewing the original list, I was a bit curious as to why Etali, Primal StormEtali, Primal Storm was here. Then it hit me: Azula just needs to be attacking to copy spells, so if we have other ways to cast spells on attacks, she'll copy those too. Dreadhorde ArcanistDreadhorde Arcanist immediately came to mind, but after some more research I found some similar cards that I'd rather add instead.

Smirking SpelljackerSmirking Spelljacker ($0.53) is a "counterspell" that literally jacks an opposing spell. If we do this, whenever the Spelljacker attacks later, we'll get that spell twice assuming Azula is also turned sideways.

Diviner of MistDiviner of Mist's ($0.11) ability can cast almost any instant or sorcery in our deck, and can be used to push the cost of the deck down if we want to remove the 11th most expensive card: Snapcaster MageSnapcaster Mage.

Finally, Wizards of ThayWizards of Thay ($0.93) won't cast something on its own, but when it attacks, all of a sudden our instants and sorceries are reduced by , and we can cast sorceries at instant speed. Along with Azula, now whatever instant or sorcery we want to cast is reduced by - pretty silly with something like Crackle with PowerCrackle with Power or ElectrodominanceElectrodominance.

A quick rules note: Azula is still considered attacking once combat damage is dealt, so we can also look for cards that have triggers on combat damage if we want more of these types of effects.

The Potential for Chaos

The last card I want to add is Zoyowa's JusticeZoyowa's Justice ($0.08). This card is a little silly, but kind of insane with Azula. It'll get copied, and we'll also copy each thing we discover as well. In fact, any cards with discover or cascade work well so long as we can cast them during combat. If I were building this deck for me, random chaos like that is exactly what I'd want to be doing.

Wrap Up & Savings

Let's see what we saved:

There are approximately one zillion ways to build Azula, from the finely tuned, Spellslinging monsters, to the silly, chaos-causing devils. I started my research for this list on EDHREC's Spell Copy theme page, and it seemed like a new idea sparked with each card I looked at.

So what do you think? How are you brewing up Azula? Did you like my choices or would you take it in a different direction? Let me know down in the comments and I'll see you next year when we brew for your buck!

Fire Lord Azula Commander Deck List

Please note: card prices listed in this article are accurate at the time of writing, but prices can vary over time and between locations.