The Gunbuster
The Izzet League, also known as the Magewrights' Guild, is Ravnica's main source of technological breakthroughs. Unfortunately, the Guild is full of unstable wizards whose passion for knowledge tends to take them a bit too far. Nevertheless, their services as pyromancers has been unparalleled and their ability to make the most out of each cantrip and sorcery is beyond expectations. Even the Dragon Lord Niv-Mizzet has pledged his services to me, and while he is not the most skilled warrior, he is definitely a terribly powerful wizard.
The Izzet League's main strength is their ability to get more mileage out of their spells. Each spell is pushed beyond its potential through Replication-- while some of its weirds (artificial elementals) and creatures benefit from the simple casting of sorceries.
However, their weakness is that they require vast amounts of energy to sustain their spells--and although their vast boilerworks systems are able to meet this demand, their mana tends to be spent very quickly.
Let's take a look at the stock Izzet Gizmometry theme deck, fresh out of the box:
As you can see, the stock theme deck has a good assortment of low-casting cost instants and sorceries that can be easily replicated by the Guildmage. (If you intend to follow the theme of any Guild deck, you should have at least two of that Guild's home turf magi.) Reroute, as novel as it may seem, is only a single piece and is not always useful. We make the following exchange:
-Reroute
+Izzet Guildmage
Let's look at the rares: Tibor and Lumia is a good, solid creature at 3/3 for 2UR. Its abilities, though uncontrollable, are very useful in mass removal as well as attacking. Each blue spell you cast gives a creature flying, while each red spell becomes more explosive, blasting every nonflying creature for 1 damage---a wacky ability in chaos games. It's best to give your weakest creatures (Gelectrode) flying before you resolve the shockwave ability. The only drawback to Tibor and Lumia is that most Izzet creatures can't take much damage. Apart from the Weirds, most Izzet creatures are a measly 2/2. The only creatures that don't really fear Lumia's nova buster ability are Wee Dragonauts and Niv-Mizzet himself. Use TnL with caution.
Leyline of Lightning is yet another example of a spell that adds more mileage to your damage. For an extra point of mana, any spell that you cast can poke your opponent for 1 damage. Furthermore, the Leyline can be played for free if you draw it in your opening hand. A very good card.
Both rares are very beneficial to the deck and should be kept. However, there are a number of noteworthy rares that belong to the Izzet:
-Cerebral Vortex
-Invoke the Firemind
-Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Invoke the Firemind, despite its steep cost, is very useful when you have Niv-Mizzet in play. You can simply use the "draw X cards" option, while the Dragon Lord will deal mass damage due to the amount of cards you draw. What's really good about this is that you get to split the damage at will. Apart from this, Invoke the Firemind is a good finishing spell even without Niv-Mizzet.
Speaking of the Dragon Lord, Niv-Mizzet is incredibly powerful. Although he isn't as good as other dragons when it comes to fighting (being only 4/4 instead of the average 5/5), his ability to burn your opponent (or anything, for that matter) whenever you draw a card is incredibly helpful. His effect is very similar to Underworld Dreams, only it triggers on your draw and can be dealt to any target. Furthermore, Niv-Mizzet himself has an ultra-cheap "T: Draw a card." Ability. Niv-Mizzet's only weakness, however, is that he is all too easy to dispose of. (Don't tell him I said that, you know what kind of temper he has.) The common weakness of all the Guildmasters of Ravnica is that they are hard to cast and easy to kill. (Save for Ghost Council of Orzhova, which is easy to cast and hard to kill). Best to make sure that you have a good way of finishing off your opponent once ol' Niv hits the board.
Now one has to decide what to do with the Izzet deck. It can go one of three ways (or a combination of two, but never all three)
-Aggro, utilizing creatures to attack
-Control, utilizing bounce spells to keep your opponent from being able to act
-Burn, self-explanatory.
I just felt that too many decks are Aggro-aligned, and that Control wasn't something the Izzet did really well. And so I went with the most obvious course of action: Burn.
To save time, here's the completed Izzet deck, which I call Gunbuster.
Creatures:
(12)
2x Gelectrode
3x Izzet Guildmage
4x Izzet Chronarch
1x Tibor and Lumia
1x Living Inferno
1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Spells (Sorcery):
(7)
1x Mimeofacture
1x Stitch in Time
2x Vacuumelt
2x Train of Thought
1x Invoke the Firemind
Spells (Instant):
(17)
2x Early Frost
3x Electrolyze
3x Incinerate
3x Shock
2x Pyromatics
2x Telling Time
2x Convolute
Spells (Enchantment):
1x Leyline of Lightning
Lands:
(23)
10x Island
10x Mountain
2x Izzet Boilerworks
1x Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
Total: 60 cards
Old favorites like Shock and Incinerate take their rightful places in this burn deck. They are easily replicable using the Izzet Guildmage, and aren't very difficult to cast. The old X-spells that were popular in ancient monored decks don't really have a place here, as they are not replicable by the Guildmage and need to be pumped full of mana to achieve their maximum effect. Electrolyze is an excellent card, taking its place among the Orzhov's Mortify and Golgari's Putrefy. It does what the guild does best, and while it is not replicable, it can easily benefit off both TnL and Niv-Mizzet.
Early Frost is rather out of place as it is a control spell, but it can be a good, replicable delaying tactic if you know your opponent's about to pull something big on you.
Four Izzet Chronarchs add even more mileage to your spells: They can even be bounced using Vacuumelt and played again to fish out more instants and sorceries from the graveyard. In future versions of this deck, I might replace the Vacuumelts with the cheaper (and easily replicable) Boomerang.
Gelectrodes are loads of fun. The large amount of instants and sorceries in this deck will allow you to recharge them continuously and spam your opponent with painful little shocks. Just make sure that you tap them first, then cast your instant or sorcery, then tap them again. The Gelectrode's only weakness is that they are far too easy to kill.
The Living Inferno is an oddity in this deck, but its ability is useful for cleaning out large swarms of opposing creatures, or otherwise incinerating beasts that are too big for your regular incineration spells (or Gelectrode).
One creature that deserves its place in Izzet heaven (and therefore, this deck) is the Djinn Illuminatus. Although it costs 5(UR)(UR) to play, it's a solid flying blocker and gives all of your instants and sorceries the Replicate ability. The Illuminatus is the ultimate replicator and should be the late-game replacement of choice for the Guildmage. Eventually, I'll take out the Convolutes for a pair of Djinni.
A novelty I was considering putting into the deck is Darksteel Colossus. Sure, it's a card from another plane, but if there was anyone in Ravnica who would be playing around with giant, indestructible mecha it would be the Izzet. Now if only I could get my hands on one. (The single Darksteel Colossus in this deck would be the deck's namesake: GUNBUSTER!)
That's all I have to say about the Izzet right now. More decks to come, including the updated ZEST SEVEN, Gate to Carnage (Gruul), and Serial Experiments (Simic). Now that Dissension is out, it's time to buy a box. :D
The Izzet League's main strength is their ability to get more mileage out of their spells. Each spell is pushed beyond its potential through Replication-- while some of its weirds (artificial elementals) and creatures benefit from the simple casting of sorceries.
However, their weakness is that they require vast amounts of energy to sustain their spells--and although their vast boilerworks systems are able to meet this demand, their mana tends to be spent very quickly.
Let's take a look at the stock Izzet Gizmometry theme deck, fresh out of the box:
| # | Name | Rarity | Cost |
| 1 | U | 1UR | |
| 2 | C | 1UR | |
| 1 | R | 2UR | |
| 2 | C | 3UR | |
| 1 | U | (U/R)(U/R) | |
| 2 | C | 3(U/R) | |
| 1 | U | U | |
| 2 | C | 1U | |
| 2 | U | 1U | |
| 3 | C | 1U (Replicate 1U) | |
| 2 | C | 2U | |
| 2 | C | 2U | |
| 2 | U | 2U (Replicate 2U) | |
| 1 | U | 2U (Replicate 2U) | |
| 2 | U | 3U | |
| 2 | C | XU | |
| 3 | C | 1R (Replicate 1R) | |
| 1 | C | 1R | |
| 1 | U | 1R | |
| 1 | R | 2RR | |
| 1 | U | 1uR | |
| 12 | | | |
| 10 | | | |
| 2 | C | | |
| 1 | U | |
As you can see, the stock theme deck has a good assortment of low-casting cost instants and sorceries that can be easily replicated by the Guildmage. (If you intend to follow the theme of any Guild deck, you should have at least two of that Guild's home turf magi.) Reroute, as novel as it may seem, is only a single piece and is not always useful. We make the following exchange:
-Reroute
+Izzet Guildmage
Let's look at the rares: Tibor and Lumia is a good, solid creature at 3/3 for 2UR. Its abilities, though uncontrollable, are very useful in mass removal as well as attacking. Each blue spell you cast gives a creature flying, while each red spell becomes more explosive, blasting every nonflying creature for 1 damage---a wacky ability in chaos games. It's best to give your weakest creatures (Gelectrode) flying before you resolve the shockwave ability. The only drawback to Tibor and Lumia is that most Izzet creatures can't take much damage. Apart from the Weirds, most Izzet creatures are a measly 2/2. The only creatures that don't really fear Lumia's nova buster ability are Wee Dragonauts and Niv-Mizzet himself. Use TnL with caution.
Leyline of Lightning is yet another example of a spell that adds more mileage to your damage. For an extra point of mana, any spell that you cast can poke your opponent for 1 damage. Furthermore, the Leyline can be played for free if you draw it in your opening hand. A very good card.
Both rares are very beneficial to the deck and should be kept. However, there are a number of noteworthy rares that belong to the Izzet:
-Cerebral Vortex
-Invoke the Firemind
-Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Invoke the Firemind, despite its steep cost, is very useful when you have Niv-Mizzet in play. You can simply use the "draw X cards" option, while the Dragon Lord will deal mass damage due to the amount of cards you draw. What's really good about this is that you get to split the damage at will. Apart from this, Invoke the Firemind is a good finishing spell even without Niv-Mizzet.
Speaking of the Dragon Lord, Niv-Mizzet is incredibly powerful. Although he isn't as good as other dragons when it comes to fighting (being only 4/4 instead of the average 5/5), his ability to burn your opponent (or anything, for that matter) whenever you draw a card is incredibly helpful. His effect is very similar to Underworld Dreams, only it triggers on your draw and can be dealt to any target. Furthermore, Niv-Mizzet himself has an ultra-cheap "T: Draw a card." Ability. Niv-Mizzet's only weakness, however, is that he is all too easy to dispose of. (Don't tell him I said that, you know what kind of temper he has.) The common weakness of all the Guildmasters of Ravnica is that they are hard to cast and easy to kill. (Save for Ghost Council of Orzhova, which is easy to cast and hard to kill). Best to make sure that you have a good way of finishing off your opponent once ol' Niv hits the board.
Now one has to decide what to do with the Izzet deck. It can go one of three ways (or a combination of two, but never all three)
-Aggro, utilizing creatures to attack
-Control, utilizing bounce spells to keep your opponent from being able to act
-Burn, self-explanatory.
I just felt that too many decks are Aggro-aligned, and that Control wasn't something the Izzet did really well. And so I went with the most obvious course of action: Burn.
To save time, here's the completed Izzet deck, which I call Gunbuster.
Creatures:
(12)
2x Gelectrode
3x Izzet Guildmage
4x Izzet Chronarch
1x Tibor and Lumia
1x Living Inferno
1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Spells (Sorcery):
(7)
1x Mimeofacture
1x Stitch in Time
2x Vacuumelt
2x Train of Thought
1x Invoke the Firemind
Spells (Instant):
(17)
2x Early Frost
3x Electrolyze
3x Incinerate
3x Shock
2x Pyromatics
2x Telling Time
2x Convolute
Spells (Enchantment):
1x Leyline of Lightning
Lands:
(23)
10x Island
10x Mountain
2x Izzet Boilerworks
1x Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
Total: 60 cards
Old favorites like Shock and Incinerate take their rightful places in this burn deck. They are easily replicable using the Izzet Guildmage, and aren't very difficult to cast. The old X-spells that were popular in ancient monored decks don't really have a place here, as they are not replicable by the Guildmage and need to be pumped full of mana to achieve their maximum effect. Electrolyze is an excellent card, taking its place among the Orzhov's Mortify and Golgari's Putrefy. It does what the guild does best, and while it is not replicable, it can easily benefit off both TnL and Niv-Mizzet.
Early Frost is rather out of place as it is a control spell, but it can be a good, replicable delaying tactic if you know your opponent's about to pull something big on you.
Four Izzet Chronarchs add even more mileage to your spells: They can even be bounced using Vacuumelt and played again to fish out more instants and sorceries from the graveyard. In future versions of this deck, I might replace the Vacuumelts with the cheaper (and easily replicable) Boomerang.
Gelectrodes are loads of fun. The large amount of instants and sorceries in this deck will allow you to recharge them continuously and spam your opponent with painful little shocks. Just make sure that you tap them first, then cast your instant or sorcery, then tap them again. The Gelectrode's only weakness is that they are far too easy to kill.
The Living Inferno is an oddity in this deck, but its ability is useful for cleaning out large swarms of opposing creatures, or otherwise incinerating beasts that are too big for your regular incineration spells (or Gelectrode).
One creature that deserves its place in Izzet heaven (and therefore, this deck) is the Djinn Illuminatus. Although it costs 5(UR)(UR) to play, it's a solid flying blocker and gives all of your instants and sorceries the Replicate ability. The Illuminatus is the ultimate replicator and should be the late-game replacement of choice for the Guildmage. Eventually, I'll take out the Convolutes for a pair of Djinni.
A novelty I was considering putting into the deck is Darksteel Colossus. Sure, it's a card from another plane, but if there was anyone in Ravnica who would be playing around with giant, indestructible mecha it would be the Izzet. Now if only I could get my hands on one. (The single Darksteel Colossus in this deck would be the deck's namesake: GUNBUSTER!)
That's all I have to say about the Izzet right now. More decks to come, including the updated ZEST SEVEN, Gate to Carnage (Gruul), and Serial Experiments (Simic). Now that Dissension is out, it's time to buy a box. :D
posted by Aslan Cross at 6:31 PM
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