Here at Master of Magics we like to bring you lots of fun and exciting content. From think pieces to home brews, we make it our mission to put out fun and engaging written content for all of you fine individuals. However, one of the other things we want to do with this site is to foster a supportive and engaged community. We love meeting up with you all at MagicFests and chatting to you all on social media. Magic the Gathering is a lot of things to a lot of people, but I love to see how it brings people together through our shared hobby.

Often when I’m engaging with the community, I get people talking about their own decks and brews. Sometimes this is because they are looking for advice (which I have to say greatly humbles me as a content creator). Other times it’s to show off their unique and creative builds, because when you find success with something you created, of course you want to show it off.

Today I thought it would be fun to look at one of these decks and share it with the community. I’ll put this article (possibly series) under the umbrella of ‘Home Brews’, and hopefully it will be the first of many such forays into the wonderful world of MTG brews.

Today’s submission comes from one Murry Langton, a fine gent and fellow MTG Dad, who has been having some success on MTG Arena with his own take on Red/Blue spells. This tempo-style Izzet deck has some interesting choices when it comes to card selection, but if it works who are we to judge? We start with the creature package, which, as you can imagine for a spellslinging build, is rather on the light side.

First of all we start with four copies of our dear old friend Pteramander. The power of this little one drop has already been proven time and time again, and it works as a great turn one threat that can really get out of control in the late game. Next up we have some cost reduction with a playset of Goblin Electromancer. A staple of Modern Storm decks, this 2/2 Goblin has long been the bane of players the world over for its ability to reduce the cost of Instants and Sorceries. And if worst comes to worst, it is still a decently-statted creature (as any fan of bears will tell you).

Rounding out the creatures we have two copies of both Crackling Drake and Niv-Mizzet, Parun. Either of these can be game ending threats in their own right, provided you have enough Instants and Sorceries to fuel them. Niv-Mizzet himself has crushed me in more than one game, and I’m surprised we don’t see more of him these days (especially since he is great fuel for both Red and Blue Devotion strategies).

Speaking of Instants and Sorceries, this deck runs twenty, all designed to disrupt and remove any and all threats you could face. Unsummon, Shock, Jaya’s Greeting, Beacon Bolt, and Hypothesizzle are all solid removal options fin our colours, and, additionally, Hypothesizzle and Expansion // Explosion can generate a decent amount of card advantage (which, when teamed up with Niv-Mizzet, Parun, can be almost game ending). To round out the spell package, four copies of Ionize gives the deck some solid counter magic that helps us chip away at the opponent’s life total.

The deck also runs a solid amount of Planeswalkers to supplement its game plan. Saheeli, Sublime Artificer will generate a ton of 1/1 Servos as the game goes on, which can then be turned into a Crackling Drakes to help finish off the game. You can also turn them into Pteramanders and adapt them, which lets them keep their +1/+1 counters once they transform back. We also have three different copies of Ral in the deck, with singular copies of Ral, Storm Conduit, Ral, Izzet Viceroy, and even Ral, Caller of Storms. That’s right, Planeswalker deck Ral is getting out there and doing things in Standard, and I say good for him.

The rest of the non-land cards are made up of two copies of Izzet Locket, providing ramp when needed and card draw when not. A singular copy of The Magic Mirror, which will often end up drawing you a ton of cards if left unchecked, and two copies of Leyline of Combustion to dissuade our opponent from targeting our permanents. As for the mana base, we have eight Islands and eight Mountains, three copies of Izzet Guildgate, a pair each of Steam Vents and Swiftwater Cliffs, and a playset of Temple of Epiphany.

Those eagled-eyed among you my have been crunching the numbers and realised that yes, this deck has sixty-nine cards in its mainboard. I double checked and sure enough that was an intentional choice from Murry. Apparently, The Magic Mirror can really get away from you and this was designed to stop him from self-milling into defeat, which, as someone that has lost a game or two to milling myself out, I can get behind.

The sideboard is as follows: two copies of Underworld Fires to handle token strategies. A couple of copies of Bonecrusher Giant for additional removal and threat. Storm’s Wrath for when you just have to wipe the board clean. A playset of Murmuring Mystic as an alternative win condition. Two copies of Meteor Golem to handle problematic threats. Gadwick, the Wizened for more tempo goodness, and Syr Elenora, the Discerning, because what’s funnier than a creature that is as big as your limitless handsize.

And there you have it, Murry Langton’s Izzet Spells. A huge thanks to Murry for sharing his deck with us, and we hope he continues to find success with it in the future. Let us know what you think of the deck in the comments below. While you’re there, you could like and subscribe to keep up to date with all we do here at Master of Magics.

We also have a Patreon, so if you want to support future content on the site, please consider becoming one of our Patrons. Just $1 a month would do so much to help us create more of the content you enjoy. If you have any ideas for new and exciting decks you want me to look at you can contact me directly @MTGTengu over on Twitter. But until next time, remember: no matter the game you play or where you play it, good luck and have fun

Liked it? Take a second to support Master of Magics on Patreon!