Boros vs Azorius

I'm going to cut to the chase with this blog post. While I feel that I am best represented by the Boros Legion, I acknowledge that I would be better off as a member of the Azorius Senate.

The Boros are basically the military of Ravnica. They deal with massive threats, like riots, rampaging monsters, and open attacks by the guilds who want to bring about the end of the world as we know it.

Meanwhile, the Azorius are more like Ravnica's law-makers and police. As law-makers, the Azorius set the rules, and as the police, the Azorius respond when those rules are broken.

In terms of their goals, the Boros and Azorius are similar. They both want to maintain order and stability within Ravnican society by working against those who would undermine that society and/or tear it down. However, their methods are worlds apart.

Usually, the Boros answer violence with violence, believing that the best defense society has going for it is a good counter-offense. In theory, this method could work. If the Boros managed to eliminate the Rakdos cultists (and the raiding Gruul Clans, and the infectious Golgari Swarm, and the subversive House Dimir, and the monster-making Simic Combine and Izzet League), peace in Ravnica could easily be maintained in the absence of those who would disturb that peace. However, there are many huge problems with this idea.

For starters, it is literally impossible for the Boros to win this way. The magical Guildpact that binds all the guilds of Ranvica prevent any of them from utterly destroying any other. Even if the Boros could destroy one of those guilds, even their vast military power would be insufficient to destroy them all. Despite the Boros's best efforts, there would always be those who threaten society. And tying in vain to destroy those who sow conflict merely creates more conflict. The violence of the Boros is a necessary tool to use in response to massive, immediate threats to Ravnica, but it will not, by itself, solve the problem of violence in Ravnica.

But the Azorius just might. Some members of the Azorius Senate (mainly its arresters and enforcers) are capable of engaging in a fight, when a fight is unavoidable, but the Azorius would rather avoid those fights with preventative measures and resolve them as nonviolently as possible with defensive measures that subdue their opponents instead of offensive measures that destroy their opponents.

The Boros fight fire with fire. The Azorius dowse the fires and make efforts to stop people from starting fires in the first place.

Ultimately, I think that the Azorius are more effective at fighting evil than the Boros are. The Azorius have their shortcomings, but their disciplined, defensive approach to evil is, in many ways, far superior to the Boros's combative response to evil.

Relating these fictional guilds' strategies to my real-life battle against evil, the Azorius have a lot to offer me. Their strict adherence to (divine) rules can inspire me to greater diligence, which is normally a weak point for me. The Azorius also have a stronger emphasis on detection and prevention than the Boros, and though the Boros often manage a swifter response than the Azorius, the Azorius' response may be more effective. I would do well to alter my sin-combating strategies to incorporate more Azorius methods. I may still prefer Boros to Azorius decks when it comes to playing the card game, but when it comes to all-too-real spiritual conflicts, I would rather be Azorius than Boros.