Hmmm Riot I feel as though you may have cheated Azir

Xerath shooting from a distance

laughing his ass off

Azir be like: "Back! Get back you savages!"

WHERE IS THE SHIPPPPPPPP oh wait

you're shipping azir with renekton and suasan.

It was an ult option for Azir at one point, but didn't fit thematically with his minion-mancer gameplay.

Both Nasus and Rene get into the fight, so an AoE sandstorm makes sense. Azir plays differently and would not benefit

If you want something from lore, both Nasus and Rene ascended at the same time (an earlier time) when ascension was more powerful. Thus, it makes some sense that they share some similar powers. Azir ascended later, and clearly the ritual affected him differently.

To be completely honest. Seth, the Sand Mage, AKA prototype Azir looked way cooler than the Pro-play whore we got in his current iteration.

Especially his Oasis spells and him becoming a big bird

they actually thhought about doing this when azir was being made, going to do an ascension style ability that makes him stupid big and strong, but they felt it was either to hard to do (it required a ritual to work, and many steps at that) or it was too boring, and was basically the same as nasus/renekton.