Community

Trying to get a handle on an Izzet deck- I want two casual standard decks that can go against each other. My Golgari deck is starting to get good, but the Izzet deck I put together is probably garbage and would get laughed out of FNM. My initial plan was weirds and teleportals, with instants and sorceries acting as tempo and control, but I don't have enough bombs to really make it work. For the most part I'm sticking to Return to Ravnica and core 2013. Someone suggested I splash some white, too. Makes sense, but that would mean I wait till the next expansion to take advantage of the white/red boros cards.

Any suggestions on a focus/theme for Izzet that works well in a two color deck? 

I am slowly working on an Izzet deck that uses Goblin Electromancer , Guttersnipe , Augur of Bolas , and counters/burn/draw spells. Seems like one of the more reliable ways to play that color combo.

My Izzet deck is creature heavy, with 4 Guttersnipe s, 4 Goblin Electromancer s, Talrand, Sky Summoner etc I have 20 creatures in my deck, but most Izzet decks seem very instant and sorcery heavy with works well with Guttersnipe and Epic Experiment you can look around online for some card ideas

So, four Goblin Electromancers, four Guttersnipes, then a bunch of counterspells and card advantage?  That's crazy, just might work, and ... would be absolutely no fun to play against.

At one point, a long time ago, I tried to design a "Zen Deck" where the only way for your opponent to win is to do nothing. I may try that again with these guys in the deck. "Go ahead, cast the spell. You'll only end up doing eight damage to yourself."

Glad To Help

If anyone ever discovers me walking into a card shop with the following deck, please kick me to the curb. As tempting as it is, I don't really want to play this deck.

Izzet Permitted? (No.)
Lands- 23
12x Island
7x Mountain
4x Steam Vents

Creatures- 12
4x Goblin Electromancer
4x Guttersnipe
4x Izzet Staticaster

Spells- 25
2x Dispel
2x Mizzium Skin
4x Syncopate
4x Inaction Injunction
3x Izzet Charm
4x Cancel
4x Izzet Keyrune
2x Inspiration

Get your guttersnipes on the table, and punish all attempts to remove them. If they try to counter your counter, counter it.

I'm sure it could be made even more high-powered, but if you substitute guildgates for shocklands, the whole deck is made entirely of commons and uncommons.

Ahh, well if you want something that embodies the Izzet a bit more, then give this a looksie. Didn't know you were going for "fun", so I built that one a little Spike-y.

"Curves are for Roads"
4 x Blistercoil Weird
4 x Delver of Secrets
4 x Nivmagus Elemental

4 x Thought Scour
4 x Unsummon
2 x Blustersquall
3 x Dispel
3 x Mizzium Skin
2 x Artful Dodge

4 x Pillar of Flame
3 x Geistflame
3 x Faithless Looting
2 x Dynacharge

4 x Steam Vents
4 x Sulfur Falls
7 x Island
3 x Mountain


It's my 1 cmc aggresive Weird deck.

Yep, its weird.

Somehow I missed "Unsummon" as an option. That would be just nasty. "That creature you cast? You can cast it again next turn if you want. Oh, and take four damage from my Guttersnipes."

Actually, I think with just a few more red burns to take full advantage of the Electromancers, plus those Blistercoil Weird and some teleportal , I could have a fairly solid deck that's hopefully not too annoying to play against.

depending on your creature count, Cackling counterpart could be cute. Electromancer makes it cheaper, and god help them if you end step a copy of a guttersnipe. "take 2, and now I have 2 snipes. My turn?" with 12-16 creatures, 1-2 would provide for some serious shenanigans.

Heavy permission Izzet is starting to make a legit appearance on the tour scene. Running 8 hard counters, and another 8-12 situational counters, backed up with burn, and some EE with X= <7 so you can hit TMastery and start taking extra turns. Gsnipe and delver to swing, niv as a 1 of to help finish.

I lul'ed at the idea of cackling the snipe. Very hilarious

Everyone was telling me not to use the Blistercoil Weirds. However, I've been thinking. With two weirds, a guttersnipe, and an electromancer on the battlefield, Overloaded Dynacharge + overloaded Teleportal = 26 damage.*

With that in mind...

Izzet Deddyet?
Land- 23 
Island x12
Mountain x8
Steam Vents or Izzet Guildgate x3

Creatures- 12
Blistercoil Weird x4
Goblin Electromancer x4
Guttersnipe x4

Spells- 25
Blustersquall x4
Dispel x3
Dynacharge x4
Syncopate x2
Unsummon x4
Teleportal x4
Divination x4

Never built a permission deck, so not sure on the best spells and allocation of them- really need advice on that. I know this thing needs card advantage too, hence the Divination. Wouldn't mind tagging draw a card effects onto things with cards like Inaction Injunction , but was looking for efficiency in this version.

Might be overdoing it on the Electromancers, since only one spell has an X in the casting cost, but they'll help with the overloads anyway. should probably also fit some direct damage in as a finisher, just in case- searing spear or flames of the firebrand would be nice if I could find the room. The Izzet Charm is a flat-out awesome card that can multitask. I'd love to put it in if I could fit it- might take the place of Syncopate or some other counters.

Epic Experiement - nice, potentially awesome. rules checking, though, shows it doesn't allow overload costs on the instants, and x is zero for any cards with x mana cost. Plus it's a mythic. Though it would work well with the guttersnipes. Time Warp isn't in Standard. Oh well.

-----
* two 6/3 Weirds, the goblins are both 5/2, plus 4 from casting instants via Guttersnipe.

PS- Splash green. Cackle the snipe. Then... POPULATE!

Think Twice over Divination .

TT over div for sure-u need the speed and EoT draw ability.

You cast EE to hit mega hitting spells without X or overload costs. It's only a 1 of anyways, and not right for a permission build.

If I was going the permission route...

4x ghost quarter -u have to kill cavern of souls
4x dissipate , cancel , syncopate , izzet charm with a 2/2 or 3/1 split essence scatter / negate .

Rest of you slots are draw spells and sweepers. No spot removal, it's what the counters are for. Any other room is critters, small and quick if you want to make a tempo deck, big and gnarly if you want to be a control shell.

probably want to cut down the number of electromancers.  Multiples early in the game do very little.  I think frostburn weird is better than blistercoil.  Realistically, how many instants/sorceries are you going to be casting before an attack phase?  Frostburn weird is a better wall, and cam be pumped when you need it much more realiably.  nivmagus elemental is more fun than either.

New decklist, heavy on card draw and control. Hoping this won't immediately get blown out of the water at the sunday tournaments, which have a ton of Spikes.

Lands
14 x Island
4 x Izzet Guildgate
5 x Mountain
1 x Steam Vents

Creatures
4 x Frostburn Weird
4 x Guttersnipe
3 x Izzet Staticaster
2 x Mercurial Chemister
1 x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius

Spells
2 x Dispel
2 x Syncopate
1 x Cyclonic Rift
2 x Essence Scatter
2 x Inaction Injunction
1 x Negate
4 x Think Twice
4 x Cancel
2 x Izzet Keyrune

Planeswalkers
2 x Jace, Architect of Thought


Looking for suggestions and sideboard advice. I can maybe afford a second Niv-Mizzet, and another Steam Vent or two, but I'm not able to plunk down the cash for additional Jaces. 

dissipate > cancel for sure

delver>frostburn 

And again, here we go. Played this version against a white/green tournament level aggro deck, and it won two out of four. I got talked out of entering it in my card shop's Sunday tournament, since the end-of-the-month competition is really stiff (the prize is a booster box.) Anyway, I've just about got a handle on playing it, though I'm still finalizing a sideboard and how to utilize it.

Izzet Allowed?

12 x Island
4 x Izzet Guildgate
6 x Mountain
2 x Steam Vents

Creatures
4 x Frostburn Weird
4 x Guttersnipe
2 x Mercurial Chemisters
1 x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius

Spells
4 x Syncopate
1 x Unsummon
1 x Cyclonic Rift
2 x Essence Scatter
3 x Inaction Injunction
4 x Izzet Charm
2 x Mizzium Mortars
4 x Think Twice
2 x Izzet Keyrune
2 x Jace, Architect of Thought

Sideboard so far
3 x Izzet Staticaster (vs. weenie decks)
4 x Cancel or Dissipate (vs. other control)
3 x Unsummons
3 x Pyroclasm ?
4 x Annihilating Fire ?


Guttersnipe is the primary damage dealer- when I've managed to get two on the table and have my opponent on the ropes, I'll gladly throw out a Syncopate for only 2 X (which they can pay) just to deal 4 damage- then finish them off on my turn with Think Twice from the graveyard. I think I need to add at least two more unsummons to deal with buffed creatures (my losses were due to double Rancor on a 2/2 knight token with Exhaulted from an Angel in play.) Cyclonic rift has not been cast overloaded yet- gotten it early game and found it more valuable for spot removal. I actually think this version will do pretty good versus a Zombies deck, maybe with the sideboarded Annihilating fire, since Syncopate removes the spell from game.

Still looking for suggestions and help with the side board. I want to play this in at least one constructed tournament before Gatecrash comes out and changes the field drastically.