For those of you who were playing back in Theros block, you may remember a little card by the name of Spellheart Chimera. This guy was a card that made all Blue /Red player very, giving players a finisher for their heavy spell strategies. It wasn’t a surprise when it began to see play in those same U/R spell decks. So, it will be of little surprise to anyone that Izzet players everywhere got very excited when Wizards printed its spiritual successor, in the form of Enigma Drake. For the same converted mana cost, you get the same power level increace for every Instant and Sorcery in your graveyard, and an increase in toughness. You do lose trample, but the add resilience to burn spells is not a bad trade off.
I immediately began to search for a home for this little drake, and before long, settled on an old favourite of mine, U/R Prowess. I played this Izzet aggro deck, way back during the first few weeks of the Oath of the Gatewatch standard session. Although my success with the deck was pretty good, I sadly had to shelve it when Monastery Swiftspear rotated out of standard. The deck has a got many new toys since then however, and it may be time for it to terrorise standard once more.
The deck will of course run a playset of Enigma Drake, as well as playsets of Stormchaser Mage and Thing in the Ice/Awoken Horror. The stormchaser is a flying verson of the Swiftspear, allow us to put on early pressure. The Thing in the ice however, works to protect our own life total, all the time ticking down the clock until it flips into a win con by itself. The only other creature we include the mainboard is a couple of Bedlam Revelers, which not only provides a midrange beat stick, but also help refill our hand when we play it
In terms of our spell package, we have two types we want to look at, cantrips and removal. For the cantrips we run Expedite, Renegade Tactics and Slip Through Space. All of these help us get in damage, as well as churning through our deck and filling our graveyard. Our removal package consists of Magma Spray, Incendiary Flow and Collective Defiance. Magma Spray can handle creatures like Scrapheap Scrounger, removing them from the game before they can be an issue. Incendiary Flow and Collective Defiance may be sorcery speed, be they also have the benefit of been able to dome our opponent, and the latter can help us draw into gas in a pitch. The last spell we will include is a playset of Rush of Adrenaline. If our opponent is able to block our Enigma Drake or other threat, then at lest we will be able to trample over for more damage.
The mana base is fairly standard for a two-colour mana base deck, thou we are heavier into red than blue. A playset of Spirebluff Canal and Wandering Fumarole, ten Mountains and two Islands, and there you have it. The sideboard has more removal and some counter spells, as well as a playset of Soul-Scar Mage. The mage is a strong card, able to turn our burn spells into wither effects, which is great to nerf our opponent’s threats, and mess up combat math. The only reason it didn’t make the cut in the mainboard, is that it works better in a tempo plan, rather than an aggro strategy.
Creatures (14)
4 Thing in the Ice/Awoken Horror
Spells (26)
4 Expedite
Lands (20)
10 Mountain
2 Island
Sideboard (15)
2 Dispel
2 Shock
2 By Force
1 Negate
And there you have it, Izzet aggro for Amonkhet standard. Like the look of the deck? Are you going to run something similar for the Game Day? Or have you got your own special brew lined up? Why not get in touch with us and tell us your ideas for standard. Until next time Good Luck, and Have Fun.
