Introduction
In the current Standard metagame, Izzet Prowess has surged ahead of the competition as not only the most-played deck, but the most successful one as well. It recently posted the highest win rate at the European Regional Championships and continued its dominance by taking up more than 30% of the field at both the Japanese and the U.S. Regionals, solidifying its status as the deck to beat. If you’re looking to crush the opposition with the most powerful deck in Standard, then this is it.
The secret to Izzet Prowess’s success is a combination of fast threats and late game resilience, backed up by a smooth mana base. While Standard mana bases are often clunky – especially in three-color decks – Izzet Prowess gets to play 12 dual lands that come into play untapped in the early game. Even if 《Riverpyre Verge》 occasionally leads to awkward opening hands, the overall consistency of the deck is a cut above the rest of the field.
The most defining card of the deck is 《Cori-Steel Cutter》, arguably the strongest card in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, if not the entire Standard. While other decks, like Mono-Red and Gruul, struggle to reliably maximize its potential, Izzet Prowess is tailor-made to do so. Thanks to cheap cantrips and card draw, the deck can keep making tokens and making the tokens big turn after turn.
When testing for the European Regionals in Bologna, I focused almost exclusively on the Prowess deck and worked on it a lot with other local players who were qualified for the tournament. Even though I didn’t finish near the top of the standings, I really liked the list we came up with, so in today’s article I’m going to share what I’ve learned.
Tuning the Deck
Here’s the list that I played at the Regionals:
Most of the Prowess lists are fairly close to each other so I won’t go too deep on the core cards like 《Stormchaser’s Talent》, 《Monstrous Rage》 and 《Monastery Swiftspear》. Almost everybody plays them and for good reason. Instead I’ll focus on the cards that are not universally agreed upon, why the ones we played are important, and why the ones we were not playing are not.
《Wrenn’s Resolve》 and 《Stock Up》
Most lists I’ve seen have either only 《Wrenn’s Resolve》 or only 《Stock Up》, but we ended up playing a split of them. Since 《Wrenn’s Resolve》 is cheaper, we found it to be better against other Red decks, but worse in long games and grindy matchups. While 《Stock Up》 was stronger on raw power level, it could also be clunky when drawn early or in multiples. Therefore, a split made sense in the main deck, as the game 1s in most matchups were more about speed than about grinding.
However, the postboard games are more grindy in basically every matchup, so we played another 《Stock Up》 in the sideboard. Depending on the matchup we either boarded out a 《Wrenn’s Resolve》 to make room for the additional 《Stock Up》, or simply wanted all the card advantage effects we could get our hands on.
Later in this article you’ll find an updated decklist, and that one has a 4th copy of 《Stock Up》 in the sideboard as well.
《Into the Flood Maw》
I think everyone agrees that this belongs in the deck, but it’s still easy to underestimate just how important of a role player it is.
The most obvious role it fills is dealing with big creatures. Things like 《Sheoldred, the Apocalypse》 or a 《Heartfire Hero》 with multiple counters on it would otherwise be impossible for the deck to deal with, but thanks to the aggressive potential of the deck a temporary answer like 《Into the Flood Maw》 is often enough to win the game.
However, I would say that the more important role for the card is answering enchantments. Some of the most common ways in which other decks try to beat you are 《Temporary Lockdown》, 《Authority of the Consuls》 and 《High Noon》. Against all of them, the basic play pattern is very similar: you want to bounce the annoying enchantment at the end of their turn and then kill them in one swing on yours. This often includes haste creatures too: either 《Slickshot Show-Off》 released from the plot zone or 《Monastery Swiftspear》 from your hand.
All of these enchantments are hard to beat otherwise, but the 《Into the Flood Maw》 gives you a great plan against them. Notably the enchantments also either slow the game down, are played by slow decks, or both, meaning that in those matchups you often have plenty of time to set up your combo turn, and 《Stock Up》 is extremely good at helping you find the missing pieces.
《Scorching Shot》
One of the vulnerabilities of the Prowess deck is that the removal spells are quite small, and thus it’s only natural that a lot of other decks are trying to take advantage of that by playing creatures like 《Preacher of the Schism》, 《Beza, the Bounding Spring》, 《Shiko, Paragon of the Way》 and 《Sheoldred, the Apocalypse》. 《Scorching Shot》 is a clean, efficient answer for all of these, and it has done its job so well that I’ve gone up to 3 copies after the Regionals.
《Scorching Shot》 isn’t quite versatile or efficient enough to be played in the main deck, so you have to rely on 《Into the Flood Maw》 to deal with those issues in game 1s. However, the bounce spell gets a lot worse in the postboard games as things slow down due to both sides having more interaction. In long, low resource games I strongly prefer permanent answers to temporary ones.
《Drake Hatcher》
One of the better cards against other Red decks for precisely the same reasons why we wanted to have 《Scorching Shot》 in the sideboard. It’s hard to kill with 《Burst Lightning》 and 《Torch the Tower》, and works particularly well in tandem with 《Monstrous Rage》. As an added bonus it’s also a card you can bring in against Pixie, as it’s harder for them to deal with than 《Slickshot Show-Off》.
《Ral, Crackling Wit》
A classic sideboard card for the grindy matchups. Pixie in particular has a hard time removing planeswalkers if you can keep their fliers in check. We found 《Ral, Crackling Wit》 to be a strong addition that was capable of winning games on its own in the low resource scrambles.
This deck is truly excellent at using all aspects of the card. The Monk tokens are very threatening, you don’t mind looting away extra lands in the late game, and cantrips usually help you reach the ultimate ability in a couple of turns.
《Spell Pierce》
《Spell Pierce》 is kind of a bad card and it doesn’t really synergize with the 《Cori-Steel Cutter》 very well. However, it is also one of the few ways to get a profitable exchange on the draw in the mirror match, and it’s important to have some kind of stack interaction against Control, Domain and Omniscience.
Especially with open decklists I think it’s important to have at least 1 copy to keep the opponents on their toes instead of letting them have the freedom to cast all of their noncreature spells on curve without having to fear getting blown out by the 《Spell Pierce》.
《Disdainful Stroke》
While 《Disdainful Stroke》 has similar issues as 《Spell Pierce》, having access to an actual hard counter is very valuable against Jeskai Control and Omniscience (and against Domain too, but to a lesser extent).
Both of those decks are built with 《Spell Pierce》 in mind and their top end especially in postboard games consists of creatures that you would very much like to counter, such as 《Beza, the Bounding Spring》, 《Shiko, Paragon of the Way》 and 《Marang River Regent》, so 《Disdainful Stroke》 complements the 《Spell Pierce》 much better than 《Negate》.
Because the games go long, even a single copy of the counterspell has a significant impact on the matchup, as you can find it with cantrips and 《Stock Up》, and recur it with 《Stormchaser’s Talent》.
《Abrade》
I’ve seen many people play 《Abrade》 for the mirror match, but trying to kill the 《Cori-Steel Cutter》 is a losing fight. Even if you get to kill it, you’re trading even on mana but they still get a Monk token in the exchange. It has some flexibility as it can also help against a 《Slickshot Show-Off》 with a Monster Role, but overall I found it to be too low impact.
That said, 《Abrade》 can be good if your plan is to go full control with 《Pyroclasm》 too, but that is hard to do without significantly altering the structure of the deck. There are some slower versions of Izzet out there that try to gain an edge in the mirror match, and in those 《Abrade》 makes sense, but those versions have other issues, like having a slow clock against Omniscience and Domain.
《Sunspine Lynx》
The 《Sunspine Lynx》 is a common sight in decklists, but I don’t think it fits the deck very well. You have a lot of non-basic lands yourself so it’s awkward to bring in against Pixie, whereas a deck like Mono-Red would do that happily. You’re also a land-light, low-curve deck, so 4 drops have a high cost both literally and figuratively.
Currently I prefer 《Ral, Crackling Wit》 as the 4 drop of choice, but if Domain becomes more popular and Pixie starts trending down, then 《Sunspine Lynx》 is a reasonable option.
《Screaming Nemesis》
While 《Screaming Nemesis》 is a great card, it doesn’t fit the deck very well either. I haven’t even found it to be particularly good in the mirrors, as it often gets bounced, trampled over or ignored completely by an opponent flying over it with 《Slickshot Show-Off》.
In the fast matchups I want my deck to be a lean mean kill machine, and I want to start double spelling as early and often as possible. A three drop doesn’t contribute to that plan effectively.
《Lithomantic Barrage》
Used to be played for 《Abhorrent Oculus》, but even against the Oculus deck it’s often extremely important to be able to kill Red creatures with counters on them. In my experience, 《Scorching Shot》 is just a better use of sideboard slots.
《Hearth Elemental》
I like it against Pixie, as they help you get empty-handed and then the Elemental shines. Outside of that matchup I’ve found it to be a bit too clunky a bit too often. This one I’m less confident about than the others though, and I could definitely be wrong here.
Updated List
Here’s what I’ve been playing after the Regionals:
Matchup Guide
Mirror
vs. Mirror (On the Play)
Out
In
vs. Mirror (On the Draw)
Out
In
Being on the play is a huge advantage, and lets you focus on your proactive game plan. On the draw trying to race them is a losing battle, so the plan I’ve had the most success with is cutting all the 《Slickshot Show-Off》 for more cheap removal.
Most people’s first instinct is that 《Pyroclasm》 only makes sense on the draw, but in practice it plays out well on the play too. Thanks to prowess you can almost always make your own creatures big enough to survive while still killing most of the opponent’s. It also pairs well with the 《Shock》 effects against opposing 《Drake Hatcher》.
Mono-Red
vs. Mono-Red (On the Play)
Out
In
vs. Mono-Red (On the Draw)
Out
In
Very similar to the mirror match, except less interactive and more about racing. That makes 《Into the Flood Maw》 better here, as it’s nice to have a way to reset big 《Heartfire Hero》 and swing races against 《Monstrous Rage》.
Jeskai Oculus
vs. Jeskai Oculus
Out
In
Sideboarding here is pretty simple, you’re just switching mediocre cards for good ones. Post-board you have a good amount of removal spells and it’s important to have the freedom to cast them whenever you want, which makes 《Wrenn’s Resolve》 and it’s timing restrictions much more awkward, making this is the clearest example of a matchup where you want to swap them for 《Stock Up》. Pre-board your spells are more proactive so this is less of an issue.
《Into the Flood Maw》 is probably your best card in the matchup, so if you’re expecting lots of Oculus, you might want to add a 3rd copy to your sideboard, and if I could play a 16th card in the sideboard that would be it.
Not only is it great against 《Abhorrent Oculus》 itself, but it buys a lot of time against creatures buffed up with 《Proft’s Eidetic Memory》. Bouncing their creature in response to 《Sheltered by Ghosts》 can also be a blowout, and that’s one of their most popular sideboard cards against you.
Esper Pixie
vs. Esper Pixie
Out
In
The lists vary quite a lot so it’s hard to give a one-plan-fits-all sideboarding guide for the matchup. As a general principle though you’re trying to become much more of a control deck in the post-board games, and you’re trying to win games by grinding them out with card draw, 《Cori-Steel Cutter》 and 《Ral, Crackling Wit》.
Even though 《Spell Pierce》 can be really effective in the early game, the games tend to go really long and it’s crucial to have as many good topdecks as possible, so I prefer boarding it out even on the play unless they have lots of 《Stock Up》. On the draw it’s just too bad always.
One of the trends in Pixie lists is that they’ve started playing 《Preacher of the Schism》 and sometimes 《Sheoldred, the Apocalypse》, making 《Scorching Shot》 a nice addition here. 《Fear of Isolation》 and 《Entity Tracker》 are also important targets.
Jeskai Control
vs. Jeskai Control
Out
In
I think the sideboarding here is mostly quite straightforward, but you can always switch things up based on the specifics of the opponents list and how they play.
For example, sometimes I’ve had opponents who never play spells into 《Spell Pierce》 and board in 《Tishana’s Tidebinder》 and 《Kutzil’s Flanker》, in which case I’ve left in a couple of 《Burst Lightning》 and cut the 《Spell Pierce》 altogether. 《Burst Lightning》 isn’t too bad anyway, since at the end of the day you’re the aggro deck trying to kill them with damage to the face.
Azorius Omniscience
vs. Azorius Omniscience
Out
In
Mostly quite similar to the Jeskai Control matchup, except they have the possibility of a combo kill, so you want 《Ghost Vacuum》 to disrupt it.
Both decks are primarily 《Temporary Lockdown》 control decks against you though. 《Ral, Crackling Wit》 isn’t as exciting here as it is against some of the other decks, but the games go long and having a threat that dodges 《Temporary Lockdown》 is valuable. They usually shave some of their combo package and become closer to a true control anyway, so you’re less likely to get punished by tapping out for a 4 mana card.
One common mistake I’ve seen players make is valuing 《Ghost Vacuum》 too highly in the matchup. They’re not in a hurry to combo you out or nearly as soft to graveyard hate as most traditional combo decks. It’s also vulnerable to 《Temporary Lockdown》 which makes it hard to pressure them without overextending, playing right into their control plan. Often I like to slow roll the 《Ghost Vacuum》 and only play it after they have an 《Omniscience》 in the graveyard, rather than play it preemptively as protection.
Some Omni players even sideboard out the whole combo package, making 《Ghost Vacuum》 a liability. Therefore I think it’s more of a necessary evil that forces them to veer away from their primary game plan, than a true hate piece such as 《Rest in Peace》 against Dredge.
Domain
vs. Domain
Out
In
They almost always have some combination of 《Temporary Lockdown》, 《Authority of the Consuls》 and 《High Noon》, so everything that was said above about how to beat those cards applies here too. While all of those cards are good against you, they are also bad in multiples and with each other, and they share the same weakness, so I wouldn’t be scared of facing them.
The 3rd 《Into the Flood Maw》 would be nice here as well, so if you expect a lot of Domain then finding room for it is probably worth it.
Dimir Midrange
vs. Dimir Midrange
Out
In
Somewhat similar to the Pixie matchup, except they don’t have 《Temporary Lockdown》 in their 75s so 《Cori-Steel Cutter》 tends to be even more effective, and the games are not quite as grindy. They usually have 《Preacher of the Schism》 and 《Sheoldred, the Apocalypse》, so 《Scorching Shot》 shine here. 《Stock Up》 and 《Ral, Crackling Wit》 are both really nice tools as well.
Conclusions
Izzet Prowess is undeniably the most powerful deck in Standard right now, and everybody knows that. It is the public enemy #1 and players of other archetypes are constantly trying to figure out how to beat it – or how not to lose to it too much. However, the deck has proven its resilience and has excellent tools to adapt and thrive even in a hostile environment.
Hopefully this guide has given you what you need to pick up the deck and successfully navigate through the hate. Good luck, and may your 《Monastery Swiftspear》 always swing for lethal!
Matti Kuisma (X)
