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BMoor's Magic The
Gathering
Deck Garage
Why
is
it
that
I
don't
fix
top
tournament-level
decks?
Quite
simply,
because
nobody
ever
sends
me
any.
Nearly
all
Pojo
E-mail
is
casual
deck
lists
looking
for
a
few
tweaks.
From
that, I
deduce
that
my
demographic
is
chiefly
casual
players,
and
so I
don't
bother
to
talk
about
what's
going
on
in
the
uppermost
echelon
of
professional
Magic.
Today's
E-mail
is,
as
per
usual,
a
casual
deck.
It
seems
simple
enough
on
the
surface....
.....but upon further inspection, I realized it bore striking similarities to a deck that won highly at Pro Tour: Honolulu. Namely, "Izzetron" piloted by Osyp Lebedowicz. I won't re-post his exact decklist here, since it isn't necessary and I'm sure a percentage of you aren't that interested, but his strategy was to be the control deck, hold off threats with burn and counter, use card draw from Electrolyze and Compulsive Research to make all his land drops and hopefully assemble the Urzatron (Mine, Tower, and Power Plant) so that he could win with a Keiga, Meloku, Invoke the Firemind, or Blaze. This deck works in a similar vein; using counterspells and bounce to stave off the opponent until a Dragon can enter and seal the game. Osyp used 4 Keiga and 4 Meloku as his only creatures, while Izzy here has 8 assorted Dragons, plus ten smaller support creatures. Where Osyp used a mix of counter and burn, Izzy uses counters and bounce. I think burn would likely be the better option, since bounce just puts a problem back in the hand to be recast. And Osyp used the Urzatron, Steam Vents, and Shivan Reef with no basic lands at all. That might not serve Izzy here too well, especially since Steam Vents are going for $20 a card, but I'll do what I can.
First, we can pull Echoing Truth and Convolute. Bounce isn't what's called for here, and Convolute will never live up to the legacy of Counterspell and Mana Leak. Aether Spellbomb can stay, if only as an extra card draw outlet and attack discouragement. I want to pull Curiosity too, since one copy of that and one of Niv-Mizzet suggests that you won't draw both halves of the combo often enough to make it happen. But you did say you liked that combo, so leave it in if it pleases you. I'm not quarreling about the "one-ofs" that make up your Dragon roost here, mainly because each Dagon in this deck serves the same purpose-- flying beatstick to rain death and misery on your opponent's dome. The Dragons here are practically interchangeable, so it's almost like having 8 copies of one card. You will on occasion wish you had one when drawing another, but if so, you can determine for yourself which Dragons serves you the best and switch ou
 t lesser Dragons for more copies of the superior ones.
That brings me to Dragonspeaker Shaman. When the Shaman hits the table, everybody knows you're playing Dragons. This is not strategically sound, since you're basically warning all your opponents ahead of time. There are two solutions to this. One is to play the Shaman in the same turn as the first Dragon you play, and the other is to hold back a counterspell when you play the Dragon so that you can stop a timely counter or point removal spell. Either way, you're not getting the Dragons out any faster. Either your reducing this cost by 2 by paying 1RR the same turn, or you're saving two mana that you need to leave open for a counterspell. Either way, the Shamans aren't doing their job well. You could of course do neither of these things, but will you ever really use the Shaman in combat? I don't see the Shaman doing anything an Izzet Signet wouldn't do just as well. Besides, creatures are easier to kill than artifacts most times.
Now, we've still got some slots open. 4 Electrolyze would be a great help. As would
4 Compulsive Research. On this I'm really just cheating-- reading Osyp's decklist. I considered replacing Rewind with Remand, but then I thought Rewind might be better in this deck if you used a playset of Izzet Boilerworks. Otherwise, Remand probably would be better since it draws you a card. Maybe even abandoning counterspells 9 and 10 in favor of straight card draw, or Invoke the Firemind or something. Eight counterspells is usually enough. That's all Osyp used, too.
Well, that's all for today. Class dismissed. Your extracurricular reading assignment is to go look up Osyp's Izzetron decklist for yourself and compare it to Izzy's original decklist. I'll see you all next time!
~BMoor
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