Aziza, Mage Tower CaptainAziza, Mage Tower Captain | Art By Aurore Folny 

With all the talk of the new mechanics from Secrets of Strixhaven and the new Elder Dragons taking up the top spots, a Boros legend rises in the ranks silently.

Aziza, Mage Tower CaptainAziza, Mage Tower Captain is a take on that immediately caught my eye. The deck does some familiar things and certainly plays cards that any Boros mage is used to. Inside the list lay cards that you'd never think to sleeve up in a million years. And what better way to make a Commander deck?

What Does Aziza, Mage Tower Captain Do?

My favorite thing about Aziza, Mage Tower CaptainAziza, Mage Tower Captain is the familiarity of its ability. While it takes a bit more to use, and isn't keyworded, the ability is a slight callback to the conspire mechanic found on cards such as Wort, the RaidmotherWort, the Raidmother. The decks also share the same bones and framework.

• Step One: Make tokens
• Step Two: Use tokens to copy spells
• Step Three: Profit

The upside that Aziza has is that they don't care about the color of the token that you make or the color of the spell you're casting.

So what are the best spells to copy, and how will we make enough tokens to do the copying? Well, keep reading to find out.

Making Copies

So what are we using to make copies? Besides a lineup of honestly boring but needed spells such as Gather the TownsfolkGather the Townsfolk, Cenn's EnlistmentCenn's Enlistment, and Secure the WastesSecure the Wastes, we have a few unique creatures at our disposal.

Monastery MentorMonastery Mentor is one of my favorite cards in the game, and a powerhouse in a deck wanting to sling spells and make tokens; it fits perfectly. The tokens the Mentor makes are a force to be reckoned with and can serve as a legit win-con thanks to prowess.

Prismari PianistPrismari Pianist is a new card from the aforementioned Secrets of Strixhaven. Making flying tokens to gum up the air helps us stay alive, and the added benefit of making three of those tokens if we cast a spell with mana value five or greater means an instant setup to copy another spell, all in one go.

Lastly, the Charismatic ConquerorCharismatic Conqueror comes with a "Do you pay the one?" style of downside. This card is a true powerhouse. A single time around the table is often going to net you three tokens minimum, or sometimes up to six or more, depending on the table. This card should be a kill on sight for the opposition, but most people tend to let it live far too long.

We also have a suite of token doublers to...well, double tokens.

Mondrak, Glory DominusMondrak, Glory Dominus, Exalted SunbornExalted Sunborn, and Elspeth, Storm SlayerElspeth, Storm Slayer all make the list to help us do one specific thing: make more tokens. Every game played with this deck, you'd better hope to see one of these or preferably an Anointed ProcessionAnointed Procession to kickstart token production.

Instants and Sorceries to Copy With Aziza

What are we copying with Aziza? Big spells that make a lot of creatures and payoffs for having those creatures.

Truly, my favorite card in the deck has to be Battle ScreechBattle Screech. At face value, like most of the token makers in the deck, the card is just okay. But with a flashback cost of tapping creatures, something we should be good at, we can pump out a lot of tokens fairly quickly.

Conqueror's PledgeConqueror's Pledge might be the opposite of Battle Screech. to get six 1/1 Kor Soldiers is a decent rate. And if we happen to have mana lying around, possibly from a copied Mana GeyserMana Geyser, 12 tokens might be coming our way. Or maybe, 24 Kor Soldiers thanks to a copy and a kicker.

Furygale FlockingFurygale Flocking comes from the Secrets of Strixhaven Commander decks. Many of the tokens this deck makes are on the smaller side, and they don't come with evasion. Furygale getting us 3/3 creatures that fly with haste until the end of the turn is a big swing from this deck. Yes, there's a downside that the tokens have to attack every turn if able. Luckily, in a world where we don't want to attack with them, we can just tap them to copy another spell.

How Does Aziza, Mage Tower CaptainAziza, Mage Tower Captain Win?

Now that we have all the tokens we could ever want, we need to turn those into a game-winning turn. The easiest way is to use a card like Song of TotentanzSong of Totentanz to give all our creatures haste for just a single . Or to pump a lot of mana into Forth Eorlingas!Forth Eorlingas! and get hasty tokens right from the jump.

I have found some other, more interesting ways to close out the game.

Sometimes, making a lot of creatures doesn't allow you to win the game through combat. When those moments occur, a good bout of Mob JusticeMob Justice is just what the doctor ordered. A single cast of Mob Justice might not close out a game, but copying it once, maybe twice, with FlashbackFlashback, or many times with Twinning StaffTwinning Staff, should close out a game.

In the same vein as Mob Justice, Price of ProgressPrice of Progress cuts most math in half when games need to end. With more and more examples of decks running fewer basics, the time to force your opponents to pay the price has never been better.

Moonshaker CavalryMoonshaker Cavalry cheats a bit with my stance of not being able to attack to close out a game. But when dealing with the "white Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth," cheating is allowed.

Spice Corner

I only have one real card to focus on in the spice corner this time, that being To Arms!To Arms!

While it shows up on Aziza's page, I haven't seen this card in enough of the Aziza lists I've looked over. Maybe people don't realize the synergy of copying this card and getting a second untap of all your creatures. Maybe people don't want to draw two cards? Most likely, it's because this is an uncommon card from Guildpact and isn't well-known to the masses.

Wrap Up

This is one of the most fun decks I have brewed up. So far, this has been a great set for individual decks and for cards to add to many of the decks in my roster. While token decks such as this do tend to fold to a wrath effect or two, this list is fun and will take a table by surprise as they underestimate Aziza, Mage Tower Captain.

There're also many different token creators that you could run that didn't make the cut in this list. Which ones do you think I should have added? What big payoff cards would you run in a deck like this to close out the game? Let me know here or anywhere online where @nicnax96 is found.

Aziza, Mage Tower Captain Commander Deck List