Azorius () is one of the most versatile color combinations in EDH. Boasting a wide range of archetypes, Azorius has strategies ranging from Vehicles and Artifact combos to Creature-based decks like spirits and wizards. With these archetypes comes a variety of different Dual Lands and Utility Lands you can play in a Blue-White deck.

As opposed to playing a one or three-color EDH deck, one of the key benefits to playing a color combination like Azorius is the amount of playable Dual Lands and Utility Lands you have access to. Since you have so many two-colored Dual Lands at your disposal you can build a pretty balanced mix of Lands that can help cast your spells in addition to Lands that can further your specific Azorius Commander's goal.

The Best Azorius Lands for Commander Decks

Let's now take a look at the best Azorius Lands for Commander. For the sake of this argument, I'll be skipping over cards like Command Tower and Exotic Orchard to focus more on the top Dual and Utility Lands Blue-White has to offer.

The Azorius Staples

When it comes to "must-haves" in Blue-White Commander decks, the top three Lands you should consider playing are Hallowed Fountain, Flooded Strand, and Tundra. These three lands are probably the most "pure" Azorius Lands, as Tundra and Hallowed Fountain are Island Plains that can come into play untapped, while Flooded Strand can find (or fetch) both of these Lands, in addition to any basic Island or Plains, or any Land that shares those Land types.

While Hallowed Fountain and Flooded Strand are certainly cheaper than a Tundra, which can fetch several hundreds of dollars, fret not - there are a variety of budget options you can rely on. Hallowed Fountain, in particular, is probably one of the most important Azorius Lands you play, not only due to the fact it comes into play untapped, but because it helps smooth out your mana with Lands like Glacial Fortress, Floodfarm Verge, and Port Town.

Solid Azorius Dual Lands

Next up are what I'd call the next set up staples, after the three listed above. Meticulous Archive, Prairie Stream, and Irrigated Farmland all share the Island and Plains Land type, meaning you can fetch them with cards like Flooded Strand. Meticulous Archive and Irrigated Farmland have the bonus effect of a surveil and a cycling ability, respectively, giving them a little added bonus utility in addition to them being Dual Lands.

If playing multiplayer Commander, Sea of Clouds is another "must-have" due to it coming into play untapped. In a similar vein, Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway, is another solid inclusion for any Azorius deck, due to it coming into play untapped (although you'll have to pick whether you want to tap for Blue or White with it).

As mentioned above, Glacial Fortress, Floodfarm Verge, and Port Town are all solid inclusions due to the fact they synergize with your Lands that have the Island and Plains type associated with them. If you want to cast your Azorius spells on time, like Supreme Verdict or Riptide Gearhulk, you'll want to sequence your Dual Lands in a way that can help cast these spells without issue.

The next best Azorius Lands for Commander are those that also come into play untapped at a minor cost. Lands like Deserted Beach, Nimbus Maze, Mystic Gate, and Skycloud Expanse all add Blue or White mana (sometimes both!) at the cost of either having another Land to filter, or another clause for entering untapped.

Tapped Lands like Azorius Chancery and Temple of Enlightenment aren't all that powerful, but Chancery can be combined with ways to untap your Lands like Peregrine Drake for more mana. Seachrome Coast is another solid Dual Land option, but if you don't have it in your opening hand it has diminishing returns since it'll enter tapped later on in the game.

Lastly, Restless Anchorage and Celestial Colonnade are the two Azorius Creature Lands you have access to. Despite their popularity in Commander, these Lands aren't as powerful there as they were in their respective Standard formats. This is mainly due to the fact that 40 starting life is much harder to whittle down than 20. However, I do like Restless Anchorage if you have ways to make use of tokens.

Azorius Utility Lands

One of the benefits to playing a two-color strategy like Blue-White, as mentioned above, is the fact that you can play a variety of utility Lands based on your deck's inherent strategy. In a two-color Azorius deck, with enough basics and Dual Lands, you can include Land slots for colorless Lands or Utility Lands that only tap for Blue or White, that give you a desired bonus effect.

For example, Otawara, Soaring City and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, are two Lands that only tap for Blue and White respectively, but have powerful channel abilities. You can use Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire to nullify an incoming attack from a Commander, while Otawara, Soaring City can save a powerful Creature from a wrath effect or bounce one of your opponents' Commanders at Instant-speed.

Shorikai, Genesis Engine, one of the most popular Azorius Commanders, utilizes a variety of Vehicle cards, like Imposter Mech and Parhelion II. To make pilot tokens in a pinch, this Commander can play Lands like Country Roads and Reef Roads, two uncommon Lands that probably wouldn't have a home in any other non-Vehicle centric archetype.

Kykar, Zephyr Awakener is a powerful wizard Azorius Commander that you can pair with new cards from Secrets of Strixhaven, like Emeritus of Ideation. Riptide Laboratory is a solid inclusion in any Kykar deck due to the fact you can reset your wizards, especially ones with the prepared mechanic. You can also just save Kykar in a pinch from targeted removal or a sweeper.

If you're playing a more aggressive Creature-centric deck, like spirits with the Commander Millicent, Restless Revenant, you might include utility Lands that buff up your Creatures. Lands like Abandoned Air Temple when played with token generators like Moorland Haunt can amass a small army out of nothing. Millicent, Restless Revenant also gives you access to more niche Utility Lands, like Accursed Duneyard.

A Kastral, the Windcrested bird-centric Azorius Commander deck gives you access to another set of niche Lands. While you can play Lands like Minas Tirith and Abandoned Air Temple here, you also get the option to play Lilypad Village and Lupinflower Village as well as Animal Sanctuary and Seaside Haven.

Monumental Henge, Castle Ardenvale, and Castle Vantress are some of the more global utility Lands that can be put into basically any Azorius EDH deck. In Commander, there is no shortage of Historic cards, giving you lots of targets to find with Monumental Henge. Whether or not you're a token based strategy, Castle Ardenvale can slowly accumulate a small army, while Castle Vantress can help scry you to your more powerful spells.

Similarly, Rivendell and Minas Tirith are easy to trigger by having your Commander in play, with Minas Tirith having more of an affinity for Creature-based or Creature token strategies. These are both fairly easy to slot into any Azorius deck.

Some of the more versatile Utility Lands that come from Modern Horizons III and Zendikar Rising are the "flip" Lands. These Lands are actually spells that can be played as Lands on their back side (Modal Double-Faced Cards). Some of my favorites, for Azorius EDH decks, include Sejiri Shelter, Silundi Vision, and Glasspool Mimic. Sejiri Shelter and Glasspool Mimic in particular seem best in decks like Kykar, Zephyr Awakener, or any deck that features Creatures with powerful enter-the-battlefield effects that you want to protect.

Some of the best Utility Lands might not add Blue or White mana at all, depending on how they support your Commander. For example, a Hope Estheim deck can utilize Adventurer's Inn and Blighted Steppe to get a little extra mill value from Lands. A Kwain, Itinerant Meddler deck that focuses on milling or decking itself might utilize Geier Reach Sanitarium or Mikokoro, Center of the Sea.

Budget Azorius EDH Lands

Another benefit to playing a color combination like Azorius in EDH is that you won't need multiple fetch and shocklands to have an ideal mana base. A lot of the Azorius Dual Lands are pretty inexpensive, with multiple staples being under a couple of dollars.

If you're playing CEDH or want access to better colorless mana sources, like Ancient Tomb, you enter into a higher price range. Specific Utility Lands like Cavern of Souls, Three Tree City, and Minamo, School at Water's Edge are all in the $20+ price range, so if your deck can get away without cards like these you'll have a much better time obtaining a variety of suitable options.

Overall, I think the top budget Azorius Lands under $3 are as follows:

1. Prairie Stream
2. Glacial Fortress
3. Adarkar Wastes
4. Skycloud Expanse
5. Mystic Gate
6. Irrigated Farmland
7. Restless Anchorage
8. Port Town
9. Seachrome Coast
10. Celestial Colonnade

The top five budget Utility Lands under $3 for Azorius are:

1. Moorland Haunt
2. Windbrisk Heights
3. Monumental Henge
4. Castle Vantress
5. Archway of Innovation

At the end of the day, you can also get away with Lands like Tranquil Cove and Idyllic Beachfront, depending on what you have access to. Common or uncommon tapped Dual Lands like Idyllic Beachfront and Glacial Floodplain at least have the added bonus of the Island and Plains Land types stapled to them, so you have more ways to maximize Glacial Fortress and Floodfarm Verge.

Conclusion

Overall, while Azorius boasts a slew of different Commanders, the core Dual Land package is the key to any Blue-White EDH deck. While there are a lot of different Dual Lands to choose from, ultimately you want Dual Lands that don't hinder you from casting your spells. This is why Lands like Hallowed Fountain, Flooded Strand, and Glacial Fortress are so important to each Azorius deck's mana base, regardless of their Commander's theme.

Lands like Hengegate Pathway, Floodfarm Verge, and Deserted Beach are vital since they add both Blue or White mana, while also coming into play untapped the majority of the time. Similarly, Lands like Meticulous Archive and Irrigated Farmland, while coming into play tapped, add some bonus value for being Dual Lands with the Island and Plains land types.

Ultimately, your mana base is the core function of your deck. It's what helps you cast your spells on time so you can keep pace with your opponent's game actions. While you should have a solid number of dual Lands, your mana base should serve the purpose of your Commander's identity.

Whether you're utilizing Artifact synergies with Academy Ruins or using Jidoor, Aristocratic Capital to mill out your opponents, it's vital to understand what Utility Lands best further your Commander's ultimate gameplan.

Azorius EDH decks come in many shapes and sizes, but I hope this guide helps you figure out what dual Lands are best not only to help cast your spells but to help your deck pop off in style!