Azir Nerfs; possible impacts and alternatives

I started playing Azir immediately after release and have played 200+ games with him. Before I address how the most recent nerf on the PBE might impact his play style I'd like to go over what I believe some of his strength and weaknesses are. Skip to (Nerf Comments) bellow for the just of it.

Early Game: He has the capacity to be a lane bully with the proper use of q and soldier positioning. If he uses his mana to push and harass this will leave him open to ganks. Azir is a very vulnerable champion who is unlikely to survive a proper gank. After level 3 Azir must rely on mana management in order to keep his soldier escape open. Azir used to have trouble getting kills early game before his soldiers' auto attacks at max range where fixed so that they no longer miss.

Mid Game: The wall provides Azir with more survive-ability although the delay when ulting will often leave Azir dead with a wall in his place. At this stage of the game he is relatively safe. With clever and or risky plays Azir can use his ulti for kills but usually has less kill potential than his opponent. He stands to gain most by ganking bottom lane with ulti if the opportunity "arises" but he moves slower than other roaming mid laners. His greatest strength at this stage of the game is controlling objectives with team. No explanation required.

Late Game: Try and survive! If u live through the team fights ur team wins, if u die first then its all for naught. Azir will be a priority focus along side of or even over the Marksman (adc). His impact on the team fight will be immense but he requires coordinated peel and initiates from his team. Because of the level of focus Azir gets at the end of the game and with his innate tissue paper like constitution Azir has a high chance of getting picked off. This helps counterbalance his hefty damage and zone control.

In conclusion the current Azir is very strong in full team fights and solo laning but presents weakness in his susceptibility to ganks and to assassination.

The most resent PBE changes to his soldiers' auto attack range raise a few concerns. Before it was fixed Azir often missed his soldiers final auto attack at max range, and this made securing kills with Azir very difficult. This final auto attack on a great number of occasions will determine whether or not Azir's play results in a kill. After the missing auto attacks were fixed azir's plays became more reliable and he could take risks (like moving up the lane and spending all his mana) without fear of coming away with nothing knowing that his attack will damage if the range is adequate. This was the biggest fix for azir because he can't get kills like normal mages, he has to capitalize on an opposing laner who has overstayed in lane, and fails to dodge soldier q and autos.

Nerf Comments: Finally I am concerned that this range reduction on soldier autos in the PBE will effectively stunt his in lane outplay and kill potential by making soldiers easier to avoid and by punishing missed q with less follow up attacks. This also impacts the additive bonus on attacks from multiple soldiers making it more difficult to cover a large zone while also stacking autos from multiple soldiers.

I understand that azir is a frustrating champion to lane against and can be abused during the lane phase. While I think this range change can improve enemy counter play it also lowers his ability to make plays and get kills. Maybe in order to compensate for his reduced kill potential he could get an hp or mana regen buff in order to augment the increased penalty Azir now suffers for using his spells or exposing himself to ganks.

Sorry for the long drawn out comment please excuse my spelling and grammar errors. Please leave some feedback, I'd love to discus Azir's play style in detail as well as whether or not he is actually op and needs nerfs, considering the skill demanded to use him properly.