Glad to see this posted here, but I can't believe there aren't any comments yet...I hope after Pat's story hits Fox News and CNN later this will blow up.
This is my LGS and while I don't play much anymore aside from pre-releases, this is the only place I go as Pat, her husband and the rest of the staff are great people and have an obvious love for the game...my heart goes out to them.
I just wanted to provide some extra information awhile of what I remember seeing in her cases (I've played since Revised and oggling her collection was a favorite thing to do between rounds) so if any of you come across some of this, you can at least question it if it seems suspicious.
I know she had one of the 8 pieces of the huge promo Jace the Mindsculpter that was some promo back in Zend which is obviously one of a kind. I remember stacks of revised dual lands, a lot of rare promos (a lot of the full arts like Wrath / Damnation). In addition to the singles, however, I remember she had several old sealed Starter Decks from sets like Tempest, Urza's Saga, i believe a revised or 4th edition, which I doubt many people come across often.
Actually I just realized she's starting to post the full list, so I'll just link their page for ease: https://www.facebook.com/PatsGames
Anyhow, just wanted to bump this thread a bit and help get the word out since the Magic community has done great with helping track down counterfeiters and other scum bags in the past. Thanks for reading and help spread the word!
Hey all, its been a while, but I've gone back to tweaking with my old Izzet deck from last season to make it work with the loss of Guttersnipes, Young Pyros, etc. So far it's been testing well and its still a blast and a half to play, but I figured I could use some extra input.
I definitely miss Singing Bell Strike so I'm going to try and work that back in, and I'm not totally sold on Mindswipe, though I have won a few games with it. The strategy is pretty similar to the old version of the deck, kill small creatures, counter everything else, get massive card advantage (and more importantly quality) and win with Sarkhan or a massive Chimera. I've been finding that Taigam's Scheming is fantastic at pumping the Chimera out of nowhere for a win, and though it might seem counter-intuitive, Dig Through Time is amazing even with the drawback of making the Chimera smaller. Spite of Mogis takes care of bigger creatures, though I can't help but want to try out Stoke the Flames more. I'm also not sure if I want a number of Aether Spout or maybe Anger of the Gods in the main against quicker decks?
I haven't started on the sideboard really beyond Anger of the Gods and some Phyrexian Revokers, though I'm not really sure if those are even needed. Any help or discussion would be greatly appreciated...thanks in advance!
I've had this idea since Ashiok was spoiled...A different sort of mono-black control but splashing blue for a few key cards, namely Ashiok himself. My last iteration had a lot more blue, mostly because I didn't have the right manabase yet, but it still performed fairly well, Now that I have the lands, I figured I'd post my latest list for some ideas before FNM. Thanks in advance!
A bit on some of the card choices: Omenspeaker I feel is a great early card to get early knowledge and block early creatures to protect Ashiok. Late game, however he is not so great, which leads me to: Haunted Plate Mail...I feel this card is sorely overlooked. In a deck with very few creatures, a 4/4 for 4 that is a bit harder to kill, that can also double as +4/+4 on an early Omenspeaker, OR onto a creature Ashiok steals, and if the equipped creature dies, you're still left with a 4/4? Maybe I'm nuts, but it seems to be doing a great job here. Dispel I feel serves a pivotal function. It's a trick most people don't expect, and being able to protect Ashiok, a Demon or stolen creature, or even counter combat tricks or Sphinx Rev is icing. From what I've noticed playing iterations of this deck is that if Ashiok sticks for a while, it's incredibly had for the opponent to dig out of it, and when someone waits till 9 counters to Downfall it, being able to dispel that is key.
The sideboard needs a lot of work...I'm still not too sure of the current meta in my area as I've only played a few FNMs and haven't played the better decks, but Black seems to be a common thing, and Contaminated Ground in the board is there to hose Underworld Connections, which is a key part of MBC. Just not sure if I'd run Negate over it and add 3 new cards. I welcome any suggestions!
^ In no way will Searing Blood ever replace Anger. This deck doesn't crap out creatures to where a board wipe would hurt it. Anger is there for the boardwipe, which Blood isn't. Searing Blood works best in something like RDW where it can sacrifice a 2/2 to kill a 4/4 with it.
I must say, I'm quite disappointed with this set in relation to my Izzet deck...literally zero cards are relevant to me. I can count on 1 hand how many cards I even took a second look at, and none of them make the cut...
Satyr Firedancer is kinda cool and I have a feeling he might spawn some kind of deck that uses him to burn people out while still being able to control the board, but he just doesn't fit here imo. Yeah, he's kinda cool with a Boros Charm if you're splashing white, but I'm not a fan of cards that require other cards and situations to align before they are good.
Speaking of cards requiring certain conditions being met, Searing Blood is just a no. That card is likely going to love a spot in RDW, but not being able to fling it at your opponent unless you kill a creature is just too narrow for me. I like my cards to HAVE options, not limit them.
And then there's...oh wait, that's it. 2 whole cards even worth considering. That said, I still like this deck where it's at and I'm interested to see what new decks might pop up and how this will handle them...there aren't many new cards I'm worried about, as most can still be dealt with in the usual ways, though if more 3 toughness creatures become a problem I might have to up the Lightning Strike count...Fanatic of Xenagos seems like it might become a thing.
So far I'm loving the white splash as Boros Charm is a HUGE addition, and Glare of Heresy takes care of a massive chunk of problem cards in 1 cheap package, from Reckoner, Smiter, Voice, and Fiendslayer, to Spear of Heliod, Ajani, Elspeth, and D-sphere.
Overall, though I dig the set. The power level of the commons and uncommons seems higher than usual, and I think Inspired might turn out to be fairly good in the right deck. I'm looking forward to trying out the Minotaur thing for sure, and Mogis reminds me of my favorite card of all time, Braids Cabal Minion, so I'm definitely going to be trying out a new take on my old Braids deck that won me a bunch of top 4s back in the day!
Here's hoping JOU will give us a bunch of goodies!
All I've been saying was how good ratings from many sources makes a movie good. If a movie theoretically got 100% ratings across the board, but YOU didn't enjoy it, does that make it a bad movie? Of course not.
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read in my life...good ratings are what makes movies good?! whaaaa? So if someone hacked imdb, rottentomatoes, boxofficemojo, etc and changed the rating for something like 'gigli' (or whatever that terrible movie was called) or 'from justin to kelly' to a 9.8 across the board and you came across those ratings, then you would automatically start thinking that they were good movies or want to see them?
Look at all those terrible artsy movies with no plot that are essentially slice of life dramas following around mundane characters doing mundane things but for some reason the sundance circuit LOVES them and they get 8+ ratings or 4 1/2 stars. I don't care WHAT the ratings are for that trash, I'll never consider them good movies.
IMO, what makes a good movie are: writing, direction, cinematography, acting, and score. I couldn't care less what other people think about it, as long as I enjoyed it, and if I DIDN'T enjoy it, then yes, to me as an individual that makes it a bad movie.
On topic, like I said in the other thread (why 2 threads btw?) I'm hoping for either the Whispering Woods trilogy from the 90s, the Weatherlight Saga, or the Odyssey/Onslaught trilogies but unfortunately WotC loves their Jace and I'd be totally surprised if they didn't go that route.
How about:
Each player sacrifices X nonland permanents where X = devotion to black?
For some reason i just feel black will be getting some kind of super-sweeper this block...
EDIT: Second thought, Lands would likely have to be included in that scenario, and since Black has moved away from land destruction for the most part, I'll go with my first prediction over this one. Obviously each color is going to get at least 1 devotion-based non-creature spell, and and the only other things I can think of that they could do would be discard-based or something like return X cards from G/Y to hand...
Seeing the other spoiled cards that say 'this card does x where x is your devotion to COLOR' I have a feeling this won't be the only "sweeper" that black gets...
I'm betting on something like:
Mass Grave
2BB
Sorcery
All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn where X is equal to your devotion to black.
Whispering Woods was one of my favorite books growing up, and the third book featured the Keldon Warlord which was my favorite card and art back in the day. I'd love a movie series based on those Clayton Emery books, but I'm sure it's going to be a movie revolving around fillating Jace, so I'll pass. When is WotC going to stop pushing that <douchetard>?
Warning issued for Inappropriate Language.
—Lanxal
I wasn't going after anyone in particular, and don't get me wrong, some of those card choices are fine for what they do and if you feel they work for you, then fine, but some card choices are just simply not optimal. Thoughtflare over Steam Augury is one of those situations imo. Maybe I just love Augury too much, but I just can't grasp the thought process of Augury being anything but an auto 4-of in this deck.
This thread started off as an awesome, fun to play, and respectably competitive deck with a few slightly different deck styles revolving around the same concept (like the inclusion of Jace, which is fine and I'm sure works great, and some people still playing around with Hidden Strings which is fine on its own) But every time I check in on this thread it seems like the decklists are becoming more and more kitchen table decks than competitive, with 1- and 2- ofs of some of the key cards and I'm just trying to figure out where it's gone wrong.
This deck works well because of the options each person has to tweak it to their tastes, but when some people are pulling out 8-12 of the key cards for quirky situational nonsense and then they post their results of 1-4 and partly blame themselves for making bad plays during matches when a large part of the problem isn't the person's ability or plays, but the sub-optimal cards they are using, with noone else addressing this is only hurting the advancements all of us have made on the lists.
I apologize if I come off as arrogant, but I assure you my only intention is collectively making this deck as competitive as possible (and a lot of the time my off-color sense of humor and sarcasm just doesn't translate well to the internets :P) That said, I still think this deck has room for improvement, and I'm loving some of the newer lists using only 4-8 creatures, which I think might be just as effective, but there is a certain amount of base cards that I feel need to not be cut for potentially dead cards, especially in the quantities I'm seeing.
Things like Cutting a few counters and burns for 4 Quicken or Strings is fine on its own, I respect it, I've tried it myself, and if you like them then great, but when you start cutting some Izzet Charms, Steam Auguries, Turn/Burns, and hard counters like Dissolve for a bunch of cards that really don't help you win the game so much as they just help you hang on to the edge of the cliff for an extra 4 turns before you fall off is where my issues lie. I try to refrain from commenting all the time anymore for fear of seeming like I'm attacking people or looking like a total douche sack, but once in a while I just can't help it lol.
It seems people are going overboard on the "white splash" imo. Boros charm main and Glare of Heresy sideboard are all that really matter imo...adding Gods Willing, Warleaders Helix (this costs 4 mana, you DO realize?) and other cards is moving too far off course as far as I'm concerned. Why not just turn this into a R/W deck with a slight blue splash and make your own thread at this point?
Also, the "we" use mizzium skin for... should be changed to "I" use mizzium skin for...that card is very niche and I just don't think belongs here. It's fine in certain situations, but including all of us in that blanket statement is un-warrented. I'd rather have another few counters or burns instead of that card, and I've tested enough with it to justify my opinion. If you choose to run sub-optimal cute cards like that and Hidden strings, fine, but don't cover us all with the same quilt. There's a reason some of us have better fnm/sunday records than others. If you choose to ignore this and include things like those cards and Epic Experiment, then don't wonder why you don't win 80% of your matches. Sorry for being harsh, but sometimes the truth hurts.
Honestly moving to 3 colors I wouldn't mess with Mutavault, but that's just me. I haven't tested with white yet, but I'm planing on trading for the mana base if I can this weekend. For now, 8 White sources should be enough regardless of color combination as long as the red/blue mana stays the same (with the 2 guildgates coming out as the only exception) But once the rest of the scrys come out I'd probably do 4 Sacred Foundary and 4 U/W scry land since I'd rather have the option to put my red mana into play untapped for burn.
I'm definitely excited to try out the Boros Charms though, and I really think Glare of Heresy in the board will work out spectacularly, but I face a lot of white and control at my LGS.
Gee guys, why don't we throw Wild Ricochet in the main as well to get around removal! Maybe some Molten Birth for the 50% chance of retriggering Snipes if we win the flip and want to tap out 6 mana a turn!...it makes elementals too so it fits with Pyro!
I tried splashing Black which I believe I posted about long ago on this thread, mainly for Thoughtseize and Ultimate Price, but I felt that the 4 life investment for a T1 Thoughtseize just wasn't worth it.
Splashing for Boros Charm is a totally different concept and I'd probably take my list and do:
-2 Izzet Guildgate
-2 Mountain
-4 Island
-2 Inspiration
-1 Izzet Charm
-1 Lightning Strike
+4 Temple of Triumph
+4 Hallowed Fountain
+4 Boros Charm
I'd also do -2 Hammer of Puphoros, -1 Negate, +3 Glare of Heresy in the sideboard...and I forgot to add D-Sphere to the list of relevant targets...
It does pretty much double the budget of the deck, which is one of the reasons I haven't tried it yet, but I think it's worth considering as Boros Charm would be an awesome inclusion.
As for Mindsparker, its 3 mana cost including double red is too slow for my taste, and Firedrinker should be able to get in at least 3-5 damage at least before it's dealt with by turn 4, on top of eating a removal to clear the way for other guys is more relevant in my opinion.
Thanks for the kind words everyone...good to know I'm not completely out of my mind with my thought process
MagicMan, dude, its a shame you don't live closer, would love to test with you and run both of our decks at the same tourney to instill even more fear in the locals! Your line of thinking seems to mirror my own, and your videos prove you have a great grasp on the higher level things this deck can do (like casting Syncopate or Izzet Charm to force them to tap out if you can't counter the spell) I've won a few games from that type of play, and I believe that's one of the things that newer players of the deck can benefit from.
Basically this deck rewards knowledge of what your opponent can do just as much as your knowledge of playing the deck itself. Take for example this play against mono-black:
Their turn 4, they try to resolve a whip, you counter it.
Your turn, instead of draw-go with 4 mana for Steam Augury which is usually the correct play (given the cards are in your hand there mind you), What I usually do is, since I can expect them to likely not have another Whip, I'll either tap out for a creature or cast Steam Augury on my turn to 1) make my 5th land drop that turn if applicable, and more importantly 2) try to glean what's in their hand by what piles they give you. What this also does is send the message that I might not have counters in my hand if I'm tapping out, and invite them to either cast Blood Baron/Desecration Demon their next turn, or spend their turn killing my creature, effectively buying myself a free turn. If the creature was the play, I'll waste their next turn as well by Turning their Demon/Baron. Anticipating plays like this is what I find makes the deck so much fun (and is generally why I rarely have a problem with Mono-Black because I play a version of that myself and know exactly how it plays to effectively force my opponent into unfavorable situations)
Welcome to the boards, nme...glad to see another Izzet fan!
As for Portent of Betrayal/Act of Treason, to be honest I really haven't seen a large Green showing at my LGS to test much with them, but I would say that no, the scry isn't worth the extra mana for this type of card, because it's a trick that if you are siding in, you did it for a reason, and the scrying isn't it. If you happen to get mana screwed at 3 lands holding a Portent when you need it you are going to hate yourself I do feel I'd rather have Act over Ratchet Bomb against the Hydra though since it can be used more effectively on their other big creatures.
I do admit I may have gone overboard on Quicken hate, but I felt it necessary to get my point across. I just don't feel this deck can get away with using even a single card that doesn't directly have an impact on the game.
As for Hidden Strings, I really do love that card, its fantastic (and Ridleys idea with Mono-blue is sweet...My buddy actually made a deck with Nykthos and Strings to cast Enter the Infinite on like turn 5 and its gg. Its very much a kitchen table deck, but its hilarious as hell to see people's faces when it happens)
I've actually been considering trying to add Boros Charm lately...the mana base can easily support it (-2 Izzet Guildgate, -6 Mountain, +8 Shock/Scry land). All 3 modes are insane in this deck as has been covered before, and I'm starting to think it might be the answer we need against removal. It also allows the use of Glare of Heresy in the sideboard to deal with Elspeth, Fiendslayer, Fleecemain, Voice, Blood Baron, Ghost Dad, and a more recent problem card I've encountered, Spear of Heliod, which can take out Guttersnipe quicker than we can blink.
EDIT, Nev covered this as I was writing this, and I agree its a taste thing as is Quicken...he also included some Sorceries I forgot...I'd leave this in the "meta-dependant" category. Another note, I feel that since there are no heroic creatures in the deck that Dispel is superior to Mizzium Skin. The overload is almost always useless, and Dispel hits almost everything that Mizzium Skin does...the exceptions being Detention Sphere, Banisher Priest, and Mizzium Mortars. As a trade off though, Dispel hits Counters, Sphinx Rev, Advent of the Worm, all the Charms, Fog effects, etc. Just my .02
The Inspirations are there because I feel the deck needs a little more than Steam Augury, and I didn't like relying on getting to 5 mana to use Thoughtflare. Inspiration has done a lot of work in my games, but feel free to consider it my 'Quicken' I'm well aware there needs to be a better card in this spot, but I feel that spot really needs to be another draw spell and I like Inspiration over the other card draw options.
Firedrinker Satyr might seem like an odd sideboard card, but its there against Esper/American/UW Control exclusively. I also agree with Nafix about the creature count vs Control, and I believe the Satyr is the answer. I've explained its merits as another "creature that can single handedly win the game in a few turns" like our core three earlier, but its been testing well and I like the idea that I HATED that card when it was spoiled yet it turned out to be a relevant answer against my worst matchups...irony, gotta love it!
This is my LGS and while I don't play much anymore aside from pre-releases, this is the only place I go as Pat, her husband and the rest of the staff are great people and have an obvious love for the game...my heart goes out to them.
I just wanted to provide some extra information awhile of what I remember seeing in her cases (I've played since Revised and oggling her collection was a favorite thing to do between rounds) so if any of you come across some of this, you can at least question it if it seems suspicious.
I know she had one of the 8 pieces of the huge promo Jace the Mindsculpter that was some promo back in Zend which is obviously one of a kind. I remember stacks of revised dual lands, a lot of rare promos (a lot of the full arts like Wrath / Damnation). In addition to the singles, however, I remember she had several old sealed Starter Decks from sets like Tempest, Urza's Saga, i believe a revised or 4th edition, which I doubt many people come across often.
Actually I just realized she's starting to post the full list, so I'll just link their page for ease: https://www.facebook.com/PatsGames
Anyhow, just wanted to bump this thread a bit and help get the word out since the Magic community has done great with helping track down counterfeiters and other scum bags in the past. Thanks for reading and help spread the word!
4 Omenspeaker
4 Spellheart Chimera
WALKERS
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
SPELLS
(Counters)
2 Mindswipe
3 Disdainful Stroke
4 Dissolve
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Taigam's Scheming
3 Dig Through Time
4 Steam Augury
4 Temple of Epiphany
4 Shivan Reef
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Polluted Delta
5 Mountain
5 Island
I definitely miss Singing Bell Strike so I'm going to try and work that back in, and I'm not totally sold on Mindswipe, though I have won a few games with it. The strategy is pretty similar to the old version of the deck, kill small creatures, counter everything else, get massive card advantage (and more importantly quality) and win with Sarkhan or a massive Chimera. I've been finding that Taigam's Scheming is fantastic at pumping the Chimera out of nowhere for a win, and though it might seem counter-intuitive, Dig Through Time is amazing even with the drawback of making the Chimera smaller. Spite of Mogis takes care of bigger creatures, though I can't help but want to try out Stoke the Flames more. I'm also not sure if I want a number of Aether Spout or maybe Anger of the Gods in the main against quicker decks?
I haven't started on the sideboard really beyond Anger of the Gods and some Phyrexian Revokers, though I'm not really sure if those are even needed. Any help or discussion would be greatly appreciated...thanks in advance!
4 Desecration Demon
3 Omenspeaker
2 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
SPELLS
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
3 Ultimate Price
3 Dispel
2 Far // Away
4 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4 Haunted Plate Mail
3 Underworld Connections
LANDS
4 Watery Grave
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Dimir Guildgate
2 Mutavault
12 Swamp
3 Negate
3 Duress
3 Dark Betrayal
3 Contaminated Ground
2 Notion Thief
1 Drown in Sorrow
A bit on some of the card choices:
Omenspeaker I feel is a great early card to get early knowledge and block early creatures to protect Ashiok. Late game, however he is not so great, which leads me to:
Haunted Plate Mail...I feel this card is sorely overlooked. In a deck with very few creatures, a 4/4 for 4 that is a bit harder to kill, that can also double as +4/+4 on an early Omenspeaker, OR onto a creature Ashiok steals, and if the equipped creature dies, you're still left with a 4/4? Maybe I'm nuts, but it seems to be doing a great job here.
Dispel I feel serves a pivotal function. It's a trick most people don't expect, and being able to protect Ashiok, a Demon or stolen creature, or even counter combat tricks or Sphinx Rev is icing. From what I've noticed playing iterations of this deck is that if Ashiok sticks for a while, it's incredibly had for the opponent to dig out of it, and when someone waits till 9 counters to Downfall it, being able to dispel that is key.
The sideboard needs a lot of work...I'm still not too sure of the current meta in my area as I've only played a few FNMs and haven't played the better decks, but Black seems to be a common thing, and Contaminated Ground in the board is there to hose Underworld Connections, which is a key part of MBC. Just not sure if I'd run Negate over it and add 3 new cards. I welcome any suggestions!
Thanks again for any advice!
Satyr Firedancer is kinda cool and I have a feeling he might spawn some kind of deck that uses him to burn people out while still being able to control the board, but he just doesn't fit here imo. Yeah, he's kinda cool with a Boros Charm if you're splashing white, but I'm not a fan of cards that require other cards and situations to align before they are good.
Speaking of cards requiring certain conditions being met, Searing Blood is just a no. That card is likely going to love a spot in RDW, but not being able to fling it at your opponent unless you kill a creature is just too narrow for me. I like my cards to HAVE options, not limit them.
And then there's...oh wait, that's it. 2 whole cards even worth considering. That said, I still like this deck where it's at and I'm interested to see what new decks might pop up and how this will handle them...there aren't many new cards I'm worried about, as most can still be dealt with in the usual ways, though if more 3 toughness creatures become a problem I might have to up the Lightning Strike count...Fanatic of Xenagos seems like it might become a thing.
So far I'm loving the white splash as Boros Charm is a HUGE addition, and Glare of Heresy takes care of a massive chunk of problem cards in 1 cheap package, from Reckoner, Smiter, Voice, and Fiendslayer, to Spear of Heliod, Ajani, Elspeth, and D-sphere.
Overall, though I dig the set. The power level of the commons and uncommons seems higher than usual, and I think Inspired might turn out to be fairly good in the right deck. I'm looking forward to trying out the Minotaur thing for sure, and Mogis reminds me of my favorite card of all time, Braids Cabal Minion, so I'm definitely going to be trying out a new take on my old Braids deck that won me a bunch of top 4s back in the day!
Here's hoping JOU will give us a bunch of goodies!
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read in my life...good ratings are what makes movies good?! whaaaa? So if someone hacked imdb, rottentomatoes, boxofficemojo, etc and changed the rating for something like 'gigli' (or whatever that terrible movie was called) or 'from justin to kelly' to a 9.8 across the board and you came across those ratings, then you would automatically start thinking that they were good movies or want to see them?
Look at all those terrible artsy movies with no plot that are essentially slice of life dramas following around mundane characters doing mundane things but for some reason the sundance circuit LOVES them and they get 8+ ratings or 4 1/2 stars. I don't care WHAT the ratings are for that trash, I'll never consider them good movies.
IMO, what makes a good movie are: writing, direction, cinematography, acting, and score. I couldn't care less what other people think about it, as long as I enjoyed it, and if I DIDN'T enjoy it, then yes, to me as an individual that makes it a bad movie.
On topic, like I said in the other thread (why 2 threads btw?) I'm hoping for either the Whispering Woods trilogy from the 90s, the Weatherlight Saga, or the Odyssey/Onslaught trilogies but unfortunately WotC loves their Jace and I'd be totally surprised if they didn't go that route.
Each player sacrifices X nonland permanents where X = devotion to black?
For some reason i just feel black will be getting some kind of super-sweeper this block...
EDIT: Second thought, Lands would likely have to be included in that scenario, and since Black has moved away from land destruction for the most part, I'll go with my first prediction over this one. Obviously each color is going to get at least 1 devotion-based non-creature spell, and and the only other things I can think of that they could do would be discard-based or something like return X cards from G/Y to hand...
I'm betting on something like:
Mass Grave
2BB
Sorcery
All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn where X is equal to your devotion to black.
Warning issued for Inappropriate Language.
—Lanxal
This thread started off as an awesome, fun to play, and respectably competitive deck with a few slightly different deck styles revolving around the same concept (like the inclusion of Jace, which is fine and I'm sure works great, and some people still playing around with Hidden Strings which is fine on its own) But every time I check in on this thread it seems like the decklists are becoming more and more kitchen table decks than competitive, with 1- and 2- ofs of some of the key cards and I'm just trying to figure out where it's gone wrong.
This deck works well because of the options each person has to tweak it to their tastes, but when some people are pulling out 8-12 of the key cards for quirky situational nonsense and then they post their results of 1-4 and partly blame themselves for making bad plays during matches when a large part of the problem isn't the person's ability or plays, but the sub-optimal cards they are using, with noone else addressing this is only hurting the advancements all of us have made on the lists.
I apologize if I come off as arrogant, but I assure you my only intention is collectively making this deck as competitive as possible (and a lot of the time my off-color sense of humor and sarcasm just doesn't translate well to the internets :P) That said, I still think this deck has room for improvement, and I'm loving some of the newer lists using only 4-8 creatures, which I think might be just as effective, but there is a certain amount of base cards that I feel need to not be cut for potentially dead cards, especially in the quantities I'm seeing.
Things like Cutting a few counters and burns for 4 Quicken or Strings is fine on its own, I respect it, I've tried it myself, and if you like them then great, but when you start cutting some Izzet Charms, Steam Auguries, Turn/Burns, and hard counters like Dissolve for a bunch of cards that really don't help you win the game so much as they just help you hang on to the edge of the cliff for an extra 4 turns before you fall off is where my issues lie. I try to refrain from commenting all the time anymore for fear of seeming like I'm attacking people or looking like a total douche sack, but once in a while I just can't help it lol.
Also, the "we" use mizzium skin for... should be changed to "I" use mizzium skin for...that card is very niche and I just don't think belongs here. It's fine in certain situations, but including all of us in that blanket statement is un-warrented. I'd rather have another few counters or burns instead of that card, and I've tested enough with it to justify my opinion. If you choose to run sub-optimal cute cards like that and Hidden strings, fine, but don't cover us all with the same quilt. There's a reason some of us have better fnm/sunday records than others. If you choose to ignore this and include things like those cards and Epic Experiment, then don't wonder why you don't win 80% of your matches. Sorry for being harsh, but sometimes the truth hurts.
I'm definitely excited to try out the Boros Charms though, and I really think Glare of Heresy in the board will work out spectacularly, but I face a lot of white and control at my LGS.
Gee guys, why don't we throw Wild Ricochet in the main as well to get around removal! Maybe some Molten Birth for the 50% chance of retriggering Snipes if we win the flip and want to tap out 6 mana a turn!...it makes elementals too so it fits with Pyro!
Splashing for Boros Charm is a totally different concept and I'd probably take my list and do:
-2 Izzet Guildgate
-2 Mountain
-4 Island
-2 Inspiration
-1 Izzet Charm
-1 Lightning Strike
+4 Temple of Triumph
+4 Hallowed Fountain
+4 Boros Charm
I'd also do -2 Hammer of Puphoros, -1 Negate, +3 Glare of Heresy in the sideboard...and I forgot to add D-Sphere to the list of relevant targets...
It does pretty much double the budget of the deck, which is one of the reasons I haven't tried it yet, but I think it's worth considering as Boros Charm would be an awesome inclusion.
As for Mindsparker, its 3 mana cost including double red is too slow for my taste, and Firedrinker should be able to get in at least 3-5 damage at least before it's dealt with by turn 4, on top of eating a removal to clear the way for other guys is more relevant in my opinion.
MagicMan, dude, its a shame you don't live closer, would love to test with you and run both of our decks at the same tourney to instill even more fear in the locals! Your line of thinking seems to mirror my own, and your videos prove you have a great grasp on the higher level things this deck can do (like casting Syncopate or Izzet Charm to force them to tap out if you can't counter the spell) I've won a few games from that type of play, and I believe that's one of the things that newer players of the deck can benefit from.
Basically this deck rewards knowledge of what your opponent can do just as much as your knowledge of playing the deck itself. Take for example this play against mono-black:
Their turn 4, they try to resolve a whip, you counter it.
Your turn, instead of draw-go with 4 mana for Steam Augury which is usually the correct play (given the cards are in your hand there mind you), What I usually do is, since I can expect them to likely not have another Whip, I'll either tap out for a creature or cast Steam Augury on my turn to 1) make my 5th land drop that turn if applicable, and more importantly 2) try to glean what's in their hand by what piles they give you. What this also does is send the message that I might not have counters in my hand if I'm tapping out, and invite them to either cast Blood Baron/Desecration Demon their next turn, or spend their turn killing my creature, effectively buying myself a free turn. If the creature was the play, I'll waste their next turn as well by Turning their Demon/Baron. Anticipating plays like this is what I find makes the deck so much fun (and is generally why I rarely have a problem with Mono-Black because I play a version of that myself and know exactly how it plays to effectively force my opponent into unfavorable situations)
Welcome to the boards, nme...glad to see another Izzet fan!
As for Portent of Betrayal/Act of Treason, to be honest I really haven't seen a large Green showing at my LGS to test much with them, but I would say that no, the scry isn't worth the extra mana for this type of card, because it's a trick that if you are siding in, you did it for a reason, and the scrying isn't it. If you happen to get mana screwed at 3 lands holding a Portent when you need it you are going to hate yourself
I do admit I may have gone overboard on Quicken hate, but I felt it necessary to get my point across. I just don't feel this deck can get away with using even a single card that doesn't directly have an impact on the game.
As for Hidden Strings, I really do love that card, its fantastic (and Ridleys idea with Mono-blue is sweet...My buddy actually made a deck with Nykthos and Strings to cast Enter the Infinite on like turn 5 and its gg. Its very much a kitchen table deck, but its hilarious as hell to see people's faces when it happens)
I've actually been considering trying to add Boros Charm lately...the mana base can easily support it (-2 Izzet Guildgate, -6 Mountain, +8 Shock/Scry land). All 3 modes are insane in this deck as has been covered before, and I'm starting to think it might be the answer we need against removal. It also allows the use of Glare of Heresy in the sideboard to deal with Elspeth, Fiendslayer, Fleecemain, Voice, Blood Baron, Ghost Dad, and a more recent problem card I've encountered, Spear of Heliod, which can take out Guttersnipe quicker than we can blink.
EDIT, Nev covered this as I was writing this, and I agree its a taste thing as is Quicken...he also included some Sorceries I forgot...I'd leave this in the "meta-dependant" category. Another note, I feel that since there are no heroic creatures in the deck that Dispel is superior to Mizzium Skin. The overload is almost always useless, and Dispel hits almost everything that Mizzium Skin does...the exceptions being Detention Sphere, Banisher Priest, and Mizzium Mortars. As a trade off though, Dispel hits Counters, Sphinx Rev, Advent of the Worm, all the Charms, Fog effects, etc. Just my .02
As for my decklist, it is relatively unchanged:
4 Spellheart Chimera
4 Guttersnipe
3 Young Pyromancer
SPELLS
4 Steam Augury
4 Izzet Charm
4 Magma Jet
3 Lightning Strike
4 Turn//Burn
3 Dissolve
3 Syncopate
2 Inspiration
8 Island
8 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
2 Izzet Guildgate
4 Firedrinker Satyr
3 Negate
3 Essence Scatter
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Hammer of Purphoros
The Inspirations are there because I feel the deck needs a little more than Steam Augury, and I didn't like relying on getting to 5 mana to use Thoughtflare. Inspiration has done a lot of work in my games, but feel free to consider it my 'Quicken'
Firedrinker Satyr might seem like an odd sideboard card, but its there against Esper/American/UW Control exclusively. I also agree with Nafix about the creature count vs Control, and I believe the Satyr is the answer. I've explained its merits as another "creature that can single handedly win the game in a few turns" like our core three earlier, but its been testing well and I like the idea that I HATED that card when it was spoiled yet it turned out to be a relevant answer against my worst matchups...irony, gotta love it!