Dear BMoor,
 

 There are lots of different ways to build decks.  More than you could imagine.  Many have the same theories driving them, but the room for variance (and improvement) is vast indeed.  Even within the same archetype, many different types of decks can be built.  To demonstrate this, today I’m going to fix four similar, yet different Izzet decks, paying close attention to what each one wants to do that the others may not care about.  Each deckbuilder may still want to borrow ideas from the other decks, though.  Mostly this is intended as a learning experience for you all, seeing the many facets of the Izzet Guild, and of Red and Blue in general.

Let’s get started!

 

“Hi my name is joshua and this is my counterfire deck, witch is all about countering or burning all threats that come my way and then finishing off my opponent whith wee dragonauts or the desperate combo (izzet guildmage, lava spike and desperate ritual). My deck looks a little something like this:

 

Creatures 14

 

2 Tibor and lumia

4 Glectrode

4 Wee dragonauts

4 Izzet guildmage

 

Spells 24

 

4 Lava spike

4 Desperate ritual

3 Volcanic hammer

2 Blaze

4 Mana leak

3 Telling time

4 Electrolyze

 

Lands 22

 

9 Island

9 Mountain

4 Izzet boilerworks

 

I would be very thankful if you could fix my deck.”

 

Well, first I want to say that this deck is already pretty well polished.  All the cards are working toward a common goal, and you don’t have single copies of a bunch of cards.  Now, as far as the cards you do have goes, I’m pretty sure there are a few better choices.  The two Blaze should become Student of Elements, which Tibor and Lumia can flip.  Once all your creatures have flying, red spells will never hurt your own creatures.  Just make sure your next spell after the Student is blue.  And the Volcanic Hammers should become Chars, for the instant-speed and extra point of damage.  The self-damage and extra mana should be worth it, but if you don’t think so, you can always switch back.  I just like that you can attack with the Dragonauts, then play Char to take out a blocker and make the Dragonauts big enough to take out another blocker.

Okay, who’s next?

 

“Hello, my name is Robert.  I have been playing magic for about 2 years now and still have the same problem that I had when I started, I can not make a decent deck.  I am trying to make this Izzet deck able to win and be able to go against most of the decks out now.  I would be grateful for your help.  I would like to keep the deck type 2.  I would like to keep the deck at or below 70 cards to keep control and the combo.

 

Izzet control/combo: 70 cards

 

Creatures:10

4x Izzet Guildmage

3x Tibor and Lumia

3x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

 

Other Spells:40

4x Remand

4x Train of Thought

4x Gelectrode

4x Electrolyze

4x Cerebral Vortex

4x Invoke the Firemind

4x Desprate Ritual

4x Lava Spike

4x Mana Leak

4x Shock

 

Lands:20

9x Mountains

8x Island

3x Izzet Boilerworks”

 

Well, Robert, you’re definitely on a good track.  First of all, take out Cerebral Vortex.  It just isn’t good enough without a combo built around it, and I’m not sure your deck has room.  Next, take out one copy of Niv-Mizzet, so you won’t get stuck with one in your hand as often if you already have one out (or don’t have the mana yet).  Also, this deck is not the place for Remand.  Remand is not a successful counter tool most times.  I was going to say replace it with either Mana Leak or Muddle the Mixture, but you’ve already got Mana Leak, so Muddle the Mixture it is.  This should work nicely, as you can transmute it into Izzet Guildmage or Desperate Ritual to help set up the combo if you don’t need it as a counterspell.  That brings us down to 65 cards, which should increase your chances of drawing the cards you need, especially with Train of Thought, Electrolyze, and the Firemind drawing cards for you.
 

One more thing: replace two copies of Invoke the Firemind with two copies of Mindmoil.  Mindmoil works surprisingly good as a card advantage engine, letting you take your pick of the best card out of each new hand you draw.  It also makes an amazing combo with Niv-Mizzet, allowing you to draw and draw, and deal massive damage.  Now, you’d think that Mindmoil would moil the Izzet/Spike/Ritual combo, but it still works.  You play the Spike/Ritual, Mindmoil’s trigger goes on the stack, and you respond to them both with the Desperate Ritual(and get another Mindmoil trigger).  After that, your just playing abilities and putting spells on the stack, so Mindmoil doesn’t interfere if you know what you’re doing.

That makes two decks looking to squeeze the Izzet/Spike/Ritual combo into an Izzet deck, but Izzet decks can run fine without them as well.  Blue and red is rife with combos.

 

 

“12 island

11 mountain

1 Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind

2 Izzet Boilerworks

2 Gelectrode

1 Tibor and Lumia

1 Izzet Guildmage

1 Electrolyze

1 Steamcore Weird

2 Convolute

1 Rain of Embers

2 Wee Dragonauts

2 Repeal

2 Pyromatics

2 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

1 Leyline of Lightning

3 Train of Thought

2 Peel from Reality

1 Runeboggle

2 Izzet Chronarch

2 Frazzle

1 Reroute

2 Telling Time

1 Hypervolt Grasp

1 Mark of Eviction

 

I think I have a good start to this deck, but are there any ways I could make it better?”

 

Yes, as a matter of fact, there are some ways you can make it better.  Don’t get me wrong, it looks good, but it makes one profound mistake that most new deckbuilders make when starting out (including myself), you’ve got lots of “one-ofs”, 1 Izzet Guildmage, 1 Electrolyze, 1 Hypervolt Grasp, etc.  If you only have one copy of a card, your odds of drawing it on any given draw are 1/60.  With four copies(the maximum), your odds are 4/60, or 1/15.  With these better odds, you’ll see the card in action more often, and learn about how it works best faster, not to mention if you get into a jam that only said card can get you out of, you’ll be more likely to draw the card and save yourself.  So, first of all, what in here isn’t really good enough?
 

Out:

1 Nivix, Areie of the Firemind

1 Reroute

1 Rain of Embers

1 Izzet Guildmage

1 Runeboggle

Also, you’ve got 59 cards in your deck.  The minimum is 60, so we’ll add an extra one.  Now, it seems you’re trying to set up the Izzet Chronarch/Peel from Reality combo, so we’ll add two more copies of each one.  Also, put in two more Steamcore Weird. 
 

Now, I’d say replace the Frazzle with another Convolute.  Replace the two Repeal with more Marks of Eviction.  And replace the Pyromatics with two more Electrolyze.  Now the decklist should look like:

12 island

11 mountain

2 Izzet Boilerworks

2 Gelectrode

1 Tibor and Lumia

3 Electrolyze

3 Steamcore Weird

4 Convolute

2 Wee Dragonauts

2 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

1 Leyline of Lightning

3 Train of Thought

4 Peel from Reality

4 Izzet Chronarch

2 Telling Time

1 Hypervolt Grasp

3 Mark of Eviction
 

I’m still only counting 59 cards; my math must’ve been off somewhere.  Add in another Hypervolt Grasp to compensate.  And you’ve got 25 land, so take out two Islands and a Mountain for three of my personal favorite from Guildpact: Schizmotivate.

Now, the objective of this deck will be to burn, counter, and bounce your opponents’ main threats, rendering him or her useless until you can get out something that can finish him or her off, like Niv-Mizzet or Wee Dragonauts.
 

You may also want to consider replacing Leyline of Lightning with Mindmoil, for reasons cited above.  Sometimes you just don’t want to spare that extra mana.

“I want to use Izzet Guildmage + Lavaspike + Desperate Ritual combo in T2 Tournyments. My strategy is to "tutor" for the combo pieces and go off in early-game with the help of Seething Song. I want to catch my opponent tapped out and not expecting it. I can usualy beat most aggro decks but if they have a jitte it realy slows me down. So i have Pyroclasm and Shattering Spree on the sideboard. Shattering Spree is also good against decks heavy with counters and pithing needle. Currently i'm having trouble playing against MUC, Domain, Cranial Extraction and Persecute. I want to keep the budget under  $50. Any ideas?

// Lands

    8 [RAV] Mountain (3)

    16 [RAV] Island (4)

// Creatures

    4 [GP] Izzet Guildmage

// Spells

    4 [RAV] Muddle the Mixture

    4 [CHK] Lava Spike

    4 [9E] Seething Song

    4 [CHK] Desperate Ritual

    3 [CHK] Peer Through Depths

    4 [9E] Sleight of Hand

    4 [GP] Izzet Signet

    4 [CHK] Eerie Procession

    1 [9E] Boomerang

// Sideboard

SB: 1 [9E] Boomerang

SB: 4 [RAV] Remand

SB: 3 [9E] Pyroclasm

SB: 3 [GP] Shattering Spree

SB: 4 [9E] Defense Grid”

 

 

Well, everything looks pretty fine at the moment.  You’re already using Muddle the Mixture and Eerie Procession to get the pieces for the Desperate combo, you’ve got plenty of good, cheap card drawing in Sleight of Hand and Peer Through Depths, and you even have Seething Song to get the combo going as soon as Turn 3.  This deck is different from the other Blue/Red decks I’ve reviewed today in that it is completely dedicated to the Desperate combo, whereas other decks used it as a backup plan.  you shouldn’t have too many problems, but a few things I want to point out:

First, it’s a bit strange that you have 8 Mountain and 16 Island, since the Desperate combo is completely dependant on red mana.  The Seething Songs will help with that, and the Blue instants will demand Blue mana, but I’d try a more even split, say 10 Mountain and 14 Island.  The Izzet Signets should help ensure a smooth mana base in any case.

Second, you listed Domain as one of the decks you have problems with.  For this, I recommend at least 5 slots in the sideboard be divided between Stone Rain and Annex, in order to hit Domain’s weak spot.  Incidentally, this also helps against MUC, since counterspells demand having extra mana to leave open.  Besides, any land you’d Annex from them would likely produce blue mana, which you can use.  As for Cranial Extraction and Persecute, all you can really do is counter those spells.  And maybe sideboard in a Dragon or an Invoke the Firemind as a backup win condition.

 

 

Well, there you go: four Izzet decks, four different paths to victory, four different fixes.  Red-blue decks are clearly a force to be reckoned with these days, and there’s plenty of ways to go about it.  Here are some other ideas you can build Red/Blue decks around:

Drake Familiar + Galvanic Arc

Viashino Fangtail or Niv-Mizzet + Tidewater Minion

Viashino Sandstalker + Schizmotivate + Spawnbroker

 

However you want to go about it, enjoy yourself!  Until next time, this is BMoor, welcoming any and all submissions even as he hopes he doesn’t have to fix any more Izzet decks for a while.