Was thinking about Sand Soldiers and that their Nexus strike effect seemed a bit out of place for me. First, I can't think of any thematic reason as to why they have this effect. Second, the only direct synergy a player could build around with this effect(dealing direct nexus damage on strike) I can think of is with Swain, but this is not synergistic enough to to want to him with Sand Soldiers. The other more nuanced effect this has, is incentivizing blocking the Sand Soldiers rather than letting them hit nexus, as the unit ends up taking one less damage than the nexus would. This could have meaningful synergizes with other cards but the only thing in the game currently that I can really think of where this matters significantly is with things that care about enemy units being in combat, such as Death Lotus, Tarkaz, Whirling Death, Judgment, Shadow Flare and Blade Surge. Death Lotus and Tarkaz will just kill the Sand Soldiers, so no sense using them. Maybe it was though that Azir could be run with Whirling Death or Judgment, where his attack is raised high, you attack with a full board and the enemy blocks all the Sand Soldiers, allowing you to get a juicy Judgement, but the reality is, you don't need Judgement, there are better ways to raise the Sand Solidier's attack high enough that the opponent is a losing their unit if the block anyways. Shadow Flare and Blade Surge is actually quite good with Sand Soldiers, and I think people may be sleeping on Shadow Flare in Azir-Arelia, but more on that later.

So the only thing left I can think of as to why the Sand Soldiers have this Nexus Strike effect, is for balance, as in, 1 attack was too low and 2 attack was too high, so they sometimes deal 1 damage, and they sometimes deal 2. This is a decent reasoning, except for the fact that 2 of the 7 cards from the initial Shurima release that summon Sand Solidiers had to be nerfed, and people still constantly call for Emporer's Dias to be nerfed. Could all of these balance issue been solved by removing the Sand Soldier's nexus strike effect?

A major issue with Azir right now is Azir-Arelia is too strong, so Azir has to be nerfed, making Mono Shurima too weak. Sure mono-Shurima doesn't mind the nexus strike on the Sand Soldiers, but the main purpose of the Sand Soldiers in mono-Shurima is to summon them to level up Azir. Azir-Arelia on the other hand really cares about that Nexus Strike, as it forces people to block at no value to themselves, allowing Azir-Arelia to gain board advantage. This is further strengthened by the fact that two Ionia cards really like it when block Sand Solidiers (Shadow Flare and Blade Surge). Would have removing the nexus strike on Sand Soldiers been a more apt nerf for Azir rather than the level up change? I feel like that nerf would have affected mono-Shurima far less, while still hampering Azir-Arelia.

What are people's thoughts on removing the nexus strike effect on Sand Solidiers (and possibly reverting nerfs to cards that summon them)?

Is there an interaction that you feel is important and I am missing with their nexus strike effect?