Runeterra Deck: Azir Nidalee Patch 6.4

Azir with Shurima cards can spawn a lot of Sand Soldiers and buff them fast in the early rounds. Nidalee evolves whenever 4 units are spawned, so this is naturally a good synergy and maybe the fastest way of evolving Nidalee effectively. The deck also has some Shadow-Isle combos with Saplings and dmg-spells, because some cards buff all "Ephemeral" cards, so Sand Soldiers and Saplings both get buffed.
Tags: Combo, Early-Aggression

Meta:
For Meta-players it is not as consistent as Azir/Irelia, but it is much more fun, fair and versatile with more combos to react to the opponent. I always play strategic decks. To play only 1 combo and 30 support-cards is a bit like playing black-jack, either you get the combo or you don’t get it, but you don’t have anything else then, this is too boring for me, even if I would win more, to play against off-meta is often 5 times more fun, so I also hope that more people find good off-meta combos in general and play more awesome decks. Even when Azir/Nidalee is Off-meta in relation to Azir/Irelia, Azir is still a very strong meta-card, I have a high winrate in comparison to other decks because of Azir, and there was not a meta-deck where I had absolutely zero chance, I also sometimes use it to farm fast points in pvp, but sometimes I also think it's unfair and play other decks again.


Sand Soldier cards:
-Dunekeeper (1): Try not to waste the soldier in the first round if possible, you can buff it fast

-The Emperor’s army (2): Best starting card, always play it in your round if possible. You attack with 1 soldier, then use predict in the enemy round, and then in your turn again, you have to activate the buff before anything else, do not forget to activate it before spawning a unit to get the buff. This +2/0-buff gives the biggest early-aggro-spike if you can spam some units in this round, especially when you can play a second "The Emperor's Army", or a “Desert’s Wrath” to stack the units and the buffs.

-Desert’s Wrath (3): It buffs all Sand Soldiers, so it is good to play it early. It is very good to attack with it, when you have 3 mana, and you can survive until next round, and it is also good to defend with it, when you have 3 mana in the enemies turn. It would be much better than attacking with Dunekeeper (1) for example, even if you get some dmg or waste a Sand Soldier, the combos after that can be very explosive then.

-Azir (3): Good tank stats, spawns free soldiers, play him early to spawn as much free soldiers as possible, best 1 round after “The Emperor’s army” to profit from the buff, or after, or together with “Desert’s Wrath”.


“Ephemeral” Support cards:
-Blighted Caretaker (3): spawns two saplings (“Ephemeral”) with “challenger”, so you can kill any 2-life units with it, or maybe stronger ones when you buff the saplings with “The Emperor’s army” or “Moonlit Glenkeeper”.

-Moonlit Glenkeeper (3): Buffs all “Ephemeral” cards, so it is 3 times in the deck, because it buffs Sand Soldiers and also Saplings. You have to play it as the second card to get the Sapling (or 3rd, etc.). So when you plan your mana-costs in the enemy round, always check what you can play before you play this card. It’s also good without the sapling, but most other cards are stronger then.


Shadow Isles Unit Spam:
-Barkbeast (1): Evolves fast, but it’s not good to draw 2, so only 1 in the deck. A good trick is to let one unit die in battle, and place Barkbeast to the right of it, it evolves to 3/3 then in battle and can kill most early-game units.

-The Wings and The Wave (1)

-Fading Icon (2)

-Kharox (6): Best possible 5/6/7-mana card. Whenever a Sand Soldier, a Sapling or a Shadow-Isle-unit dies you get a 2/2-Tentacle-unit or buff it. This card alone can defend a whole army sometimes. You have to be careful where the tentacle is in the battle from left to right. when 2 units die, it gets a +4/4 buff and will most likely win the fight, if it is the most left card, it will not get a buff in the fight, but only after the fight. You can let it die, and plan the new tentacle you will get from the dying units.


Other good cards:
Treasure Seeker (1): Cost effective early-game card, you can but must not play the “Waking Sands” 5/2-unit, depending on the game-flow.

Soothsayer (2): Very cheap 1/4-tank-stats, you don't have to use the spell shield for it to be good. All tanks are good with Sand soldiers, because the Sand Soldiers attack and die, and then you have to defend with only 1-3 units.

Malefic Spear (3): It’s always effective to have at least 1 equipment, because once played, you get it back to the hand for the whole game every time the unit dies with it. You could also use “The Darkin Halberd” which gives +2/2 for 1 mana but you have to kill a unit. It’s easy to kill a unit, but you also need to kill the units for the dmg-spells. So it could be better in some situations, but I think “Malefic Spear” is in this deck more stable and always a good card.

Thresh (5): He evolves when 6 units die, which happens very fast. He will not use his ability, when he evolves in battle. You have to attack again, after he evolved, then you will either spawn Azir or Nidalee directly. Sometimes you don’t have enough space, then you have to leave some units in the back. He also has Tank-stats, which makes him perfect for Sand Soldiers.

Ancient Crocolith (4): Very cost effective 7/7-unit, only works with unit spam, so it is good with Sand Soldiers, or maybe with Kharox Tentacle-spawn effect later.

Fallen Sands General (7): Gets a +1-buff for every Sand Soldier/Sapling played in the game, best lategame-stats.


Nidalee:
You can evolve her with unit spam cards. “Desert Wrath’s”, “Blighted Caretaker” (3 units), or Azir/Dunekeeper. When Nidalee attacks the Nexus, you get a 0-mana 4-dmg spear and she transforms back, then you have to evolve her again with unit spam, to get a new spear.
Nidalee-tricks:
-You can play her with 3 mana and 1 spell mana. When you only have 3 mana, you can play her as a 2/2 brush for 2 mana and then use the 2-mana spell, which is unique to get a 4-mana-unit this early.
-Don’t attack with the 2/2 brush, this is possible but normally not good. You can play the 2/2 brush in the enemy round, and then as the first card, evolve her immediately with 2 mana in your round. It’s safest to play her directly, but the advantage is to plan the mana-costs.
-When you want to play Sand Soldiers or Activate “The Emperor’s army”, remember to play Nidalee first to stack her evolve if you have the mana.

Dmg-Spells:
Death’s grasp is the strongest dmg-card with 5 dmg, “Hate Spike” is the 2-mana-version with 3 dmg. You don’t need Crumble to kill units, it is not as good as the other cards, it is only good to kill 10/10-units or strong champions, it wouldn’t be efficient to draw it 2 times. “Thread the Needle” is for variety, to not draw 3 times “Hate Spike” in lategame for example. It becomes stronger in lategame, then you can do 5+dmg with killing a unit, and it is weaker in earlygame, but in earlygame it is often enough when it does only 2 dmg, if you have nothing else. These dmg-spells can be countered by enemy-dmg spells. If they kill the unit that you have to kill, the spell gets canceled, so you have to be prepared for everything and check the enemies mana in battle.

Draw Cards:
Glimpse Beyond (2): Used in every Shadow Isles deck. When the enemy attacks, it’s best to block with a cheap unit, and kill it in battle to have the block and the spell-effect at the same time. It is also always used to counter dmg-spells of the enemy, if the enemy kills Azir for example, you can just play it to kill him yourself when he would die anyway. I do not use “Grave Companion” (1/5) because it slows down the deck too much, it would be only good in other decks that have more stall-units and play for midgame or lategame. “The Emperor’s army” (2) is also part of the draw-card-system because you get prophecy, normally in the enemy round to plan your next attack. This makes it very efficient to play it early to ensure good cards for the midgame.