"Pauper Kings:Izzet Onslaught"

"Pauper Kings:Izzet Onslaught"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I have been drawn to a lot of the weird enemy color combinations lately. After creating several Simic decks(Blue/Green) I now find myseld a bit fascinated by the Izzet League( Blue/Red). While a a lot has gotten into the color mix because of Reds offensive power that is normally balanced by Blues control, I think I am mainly here to cast cheap spells and just to hurt with the Nivix Cyclops. And so the Izzet Onslaught begins. Here is my Standard Pauper Decklist:

4 X Izeet Guildgate

8 X island

8 X Mountain

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22 Lands

4 X Bolt of Keranos

4 X Lightning Strike

4 X Shock

4 X Disperse

4 X Inaction Injunction

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20 Spells

4 X Nivix Cyclops

4 X Frostburn weird

4 X Goblin Electromancer

4 X Stealer of Secrets

2 X Archeomancer

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18 creatures

Sideboard:

4 X Fall of the Hammer

4 X Electrickery

4 X Essence Backlash

2 X Archeomancer

Izzet Fireworks:

My friend Mark told me that at a recent Accenture Standard Pauper Magic tournament an Izzet deck managed to defeat everyone. I was not there to witness it but it did get me into thinking what kind of deck would survive through the Ethereal Armors. I was browsing through Born of the Gods cards when I realized that a lot of Red spells has made red more powerful. Aside from Shock and Lightning Strike ,I have found the 3 to cast Bolt of Keranos to be quite deadly. 3 damage and a Scry 1? Not bad for 3 mana right? 

Of course these red spells are great taking out opposing creatures and just burning someone to death when their life totals are low however for the big nasty critters that could withstand a 3 damage burning there is always delay. Simply Bounce back with Disperse or Detain with an Inaction Injunction. The latter even nets you one card draw in the process.

Izzet Assaulters:

Nivix Cyclops and Frostburn weird are really great defensive creatures....wait scratch that....they are assault creatures...wait...Ok they are are both. These guys could hold off any early aSSaults from your opponent especially if they manage to get a Hopeful Eidolon with Ethereal armor on it on turn 2. The delay in the damage department would later allow you to live so that you could repay all the hurt.

I mean the Nivix cyclops is a particular favorite of mine.A tougher Kiln Fiend that dishes out 4 damage for each Sorcery or Instant you cast. Defender to Banger. I like that. He pays your opponent every each point of damage they gave you in the early turns.

Frostburn weird is pretty much the same. He will be happy to defend in the early turns and then act all Aetherling Jr. because you could make him a 4/1 attacker with 3 mana. Yup these guys are willing to take a beating and then give some back in the latter parts of the game.

The Goblin Eletromancer fits in this deck because there are tons of Burn and Control spells.He simply makes each spell easier to cast, 1 colorless mana less to be exact. This means more activations for the Nivix Cyclops whenever you need him to be a Defender Killer or Just plain old Basher.

The stealer of Secrets though a bit on the heavy mana side cost at 3 is something that I cannot live without. I mean she gives me card draw and with a lot of spells to clear away any defender she refills my hand with more burn spells and creatures that I could use. 

"Let's get us some burn spells..."

The Archeomancer in this deck is for those times that you simply cannot draw any burn spell and your opponents life has been standing at 2 for almost 3 turns. You draw land and creatures but not a single Shock to put them out of their misery. You longingly look at your graveyard for that Shock you just used. Almost there but unreachable. Well the Archeomancers just says. Go ahead and grab it.Then Burn someone.

Living the Izzet Assault dream:

The Dream play for this particular deck is to burn an opponents Defender to be able to get a pumped up Nivix Cyclops to deal maximum damage.

It could even be better if your opponent doesn't have any creatures in play and you have a full hand of Burn Spells. 

Let us say on turn 5 you have 2 Lightning Strikes and a Shock. Send them all toward your enemy for 8 damage. Then command the 2 Nivix Cyclops that you have ( which are now a 10/4 creatures) to attack. 28 points of damage on turn 5. Massive.

Well this is all for today. Keep on Burning. Keep on playing. Keep on brewing. 

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Writers Note:

I actually wrote this before Journey into Nyx spoilers so sorry if there are no cards from that set here. Please feel free to leave a comment on which JOU card would fit in this Izzet Assault deck. Thanks and Keep on reading.