Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Azula, Cunning Usurper
Azula, Cunning Usurper
Legendary Creature — Human Noble Rogue · {2}{U}{B}{B} · Black/Blue commander
Firebending 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, add {R}{R}. This mana lasts until end of combat.)
When Azula enters, target opponent exiles a nontoken creature they control, then they exile a nonland card from their graveyard.
During your turn, you may cast cards exiled with Azula and you may cast them as though they had flash. Mana of any type can be spent to cast those spells.
Build an Azula, Cunning Usurper deck →
What Azula, Cunning Usurper actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · etbWhen Azula enters, target opponent exiles a nontoken creature they control, then they exile a nonland card from their graveyard.
- Static ability · restrictionDuring your turn, you may cast cards exiled with Azula and you may cast them as though they had flash. Mana of any type can be spent to cast those spells.
- Keyword · firebendingfirebending
What an Azula, Cunning Usurper deck needs
Plays as ETB value. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- blink and recursion for the commander (each enter steals a creature and a card to cast)
The Azula, Cunning Usurper deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 12× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 16× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 7× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 4× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 9× Refill your hand
- 4× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Azula, Cunning Usurper
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Gossip's Talent2 mana
- Thassa, Deep-Dwelling4 mana
- Nephalia Smuggler1 mana
- Voyager Staff1 mana
- Jill, Shiva's Dominant // Shiva, Warden of Ice3 mana
- Deadeye Navigator6 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Baleful Strix2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Cauldron Familiar1 mana
- Thousand-Faced Shadow1 mana
- Fleshbag Marauder3 mana
- Plaguecrafter3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Mindbreak Trap4 mana
- Fierce Guardianship3 mana
- Force of Negation3 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Flare of Denial3 mana
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
- Arcane Denial2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- Desynchronization4 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lost in the Maze2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Dimir Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana