Table of Contents
Aggressive strategies are always a good choice when there are format shake-ups, since lists are still being tuned and optimised and the interactive strategies have no idea who to adapt to. This is where pure aggression is highly rewarded and can punished all those untuned lists.
Prowess has got a very powerful convoke spell in Stoke the Flames and a new two-drop threat in Khenra Spellspear. Both are excellent additions that bump the deck up a tier. Let’s see how this deck can cruise through ladder in fastest games you’ve played.
Izzet Prowess
by Skura
Historic
best of 3
0 mythic
10 rare
25 uncommon
25 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (17)
Instants (19)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$89.88
Sideboard
15 Cards
$31.21
Deck Tech
Threats
One of the most aggressive creatures of all time. Monastery Swiftspear is a mainstay in Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, and it’s no different in Standard. It’s a hasty threat that chips in damage, but can always grow to a sizable proportions. Haste is very much relevant in late turns as you can deploy it and then unleash a flurry of spells. It can be a surprising source of damage from the opponent’s perspective.
Prowess is of course a key advantage that this card has over other one-mana creatures like Phoenix Chick. It allows you to use your spells as removal to get rid of blockers whilst growing your threat. On top of that, it changes the damage output very profitably. If you hit with Swiftspear having cast Play with Fire, it’s as if you’d cast Lightning Bolt. Lighting Strike becomes Boros Charm. With so many cheap spells in the deck, it’s not uncommon for this one-drop to hit for 3-5 damage in a single combat step.
I am still on the fence when it comes to the number of Delver of Secrets. It could be four, but it could also be zero. It’s a high variance card that can win games on its own when it flips one turn after it’s played or can be a total stinker as a 1/1 doing nothing. Thankfully, there is a way to manipulate the library and increase the likelihood of it flipping – Play with Fire. You can target the opponent’s face, scry 1 and hopefully set up the top so that Delver flips.
When it does, it’s an evasive 3/2 threat that closes the game *very* fast when coupled with other threats and burn spells. It’s a must-answer creature when it’s in its Insect form.
Remember that you can always cast Play with Fire on your own upkeep in response to the Delver’s trigger to get that scry effect and increase the chance that it flips.
I have written a fair bunch about this card already and I am still a huge fan. It’s a two-drop that can flip the game around all on its own. Getting an army of 1/1s makes it very tough for the opponent to keep blocking, especially if their strategy revolves around big blockers such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Serra Paragon.
It dies very easily so I usually deploy it later than turn two unless it’s a matchup that I know it’ll live like Soldiers or Toxic. You can deploy it on, say, turn four having a few spells backup already to ensure that you get some value from it if it gets removed. If it does not get removed though, it will create continuous advantage on the board, putting constant pressure on the opponent.
It also diversifies the number of angles of attack that we present. We can go tall with our big prowess creatures but also wide thanks to the tokens.
A new addition to the deck. What separates this creature from any other prowess threat we’ve seen is the addition of trample. These two abilities work so beautifully together – you get to grow the creature and are rewarded by always pushing excess damage through. It also makes it impossible for the opponent to try to chump their way into the mid-game with some random 1/1 or 2/2 creatures.
In addition to the aforementioned, it has a flip ability for, practically speaking, three mana. It becomes a 3/3, retaining prowess and trample. However, it gets an additional instance of prowess! They both stack and trigger separately, so a single spell will grow it by +2/+2 (or technically speaking by +1/+1 and +1/+1). There might be games where you will flip it on turn three but it can also act as a sort of anti-flood insurance to always have something to do with redundant mana. In this case, it’d be upgrading your threats. It also gets ward 2 making it that much tougher to remove. Even if the opponent can pay the tax, it makes all the exchanges tempo-negative, as they’d have to spend 2 + the cost of the spell to remove it. A commonly played Go for the Throat suddenly costs four mana which might be the opponent’s entire turn.
Bear in mind though that the opponent can respond to the flip with removal. Be careful when you choose to do so because you might end up with your creature dead and three mana sunk into no benefit.
Balmor, Battlemage Captain is the best thing that happened to Third Path Iconoclast since sliced convoke. Balmor has semi-prowess that buffs power only, but also gives trample and it applies to *all* the creatures, not only to the Bird Wizard himself. It makes is so that your entire board can grow by absurd amounts, especially when any spell triggers creatures’ native triggers and you put Balmor’s effect on top of that. Iconoclast tokens also get a buff and trample which makes those previously meager 1/1s into real threats.
Balmor shines at breaking board stalls and flipping the combat dynamic on its head. Sometimes I will hold it in hand and deploy it on the penultimate turn alongside a couple of spells to unleash a sort of combo-esque kill out of nowhere. Even if the opponent has a removal spell for Balmor, I can play more spells in response, ensuring that triggers happen, regardless of whether Captain survives or not.
It also has flying which is convenient early game and helps push some damage through thanks to being largely unblockable.
Interaction
The current best Shock variant for aggressive decks. I’ve already spoken a bit about the benefits of the scry ability in relation to Delver of Secrets. In addition to those, it provides generic help in smoothing out the draw and making sure you find the missing pieces to your plan.
As this deck gets most of its damage output in the form of creatures, spells can be more liberally used to tag opposing threats. Don’t feel bad about Shocking Bloodtithe Harvester that stands in your way.
Another piece of burn which can go face or remove blockers. Three damage is relevant against a multitude of creatures in the format such as Corpse Appraiser, Graveyard Trespasser, or Dennick, Pious Apprentice. It can also team up with Play with Fire to get rid of a bigger body such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Serra Paragon.
The new burn addition to the shell. Stoke the Flames was a shining star in aggressive shells when it was legal in Standard a few years back and I think it’ll be no different now. Four damage is a lot, especially in a deck that already has Play with Fire and Lightning Strike. Burn alone can decrease the opponent’s life total *very* fast and seemingly out of nowhere. Crucially, it only goes through the stack so other than countermagic there is no way to stop it.
Convoke might seem like a counter synergy, as your creatures will be mostly attacking. However, there are four main cases where convoke comes up.
- You’re not attacking with everything because has blockers.
- You’ve just deployed a creature and it wouldn’t attack anyways.
- You’re keeping creatures back to block.
- Third Path Iconoclast tokens are great at convoking
Don’t discount Stoke the Flames. It’s a deadly burn spell.
This is our protection spell. I could see this slot being Spell Pierce but Shore Up has been exceptional. Making sure that Third Path Iconoclast or Balmor, Battlemage Captain survive, untapping your creatures to block, or ensuring a safe flip of Khenra Spellspear are just some of its applications. Some opponents will try to remove a creature in combat which will just result in them taking overall more damage that they’d accounted for.
Shore Up is one of the reasons this deck works and I’d wait on your key threats if you can deploy them later with protection up.
Card Draw and Card Selection
An excellent cantrip that fits perfectly with the overall plan of the deck. It’s super cheap and triggers all the prowess effects instant speed. It also works with Iconoclast and Balmor. On top of triggering everything, you get to filter through the draw a bit to smooth everything out. Always play four Consider.
Reckless Impulse is pure card advantage. Sometimes we can run out of cards when faced with a wall of removal and this is how we can pull ahead. Two cards extra is a lot, especially if you get to chain Impulses together. Generating card advantage whilst growing your entire board is something that few aggro decks can accomplish and this shell does it very well. The opponent will have to deal with that’s presented (and already bigger and better) and be mindful of more threats coming.
Reckless Impulse has been treating me very well as a turn 4+ card once I’ve already emptied my tank,
Best of One
Izzet Prowess Best of One
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
0 mythic
10 rare
25 uncommon
25 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (17)
Instants (19)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$89.88
The Best of One version aligns with the main deck of the Best of Three version.
Budget
Izzet Prowess Budget
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
0 mythic
0 rare
25 uncommon
35 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (17)
Instants (19)
Sorceries (4)
60 Cards
$43.68
This shell is surprisingly easy to budgetify. The only loss are the lands. It does make things more difficult as you have spells costing a single red or blue but it’s a fine starting point. Once you decide you want to put more wildcards into the deck, start with Shivan Reefs.
Matchups and Sideboard Guide
Grixis Midrange
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +2 Chandra, Dressed to Kill | -1 Consider |
| +1 | -2 Delver of Secrets |
Their deck is relatively slow so we need to get out of the gates fast, capitalising on our lower curve. Draws including multiple Cut Down might be a bit tough but if we make them have to have an answer at every juncture at some point their spells will not align well with our threats. Getting them low early is especially relevant as we can burn them down from 10 life even in a removal-proof way.
Mono White Midrange
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Spell Pierce | -4 Play with Fire |
| +1 | -3 Lightning Strike |
| +3 Disdainful Stroke |
In this matchup I want to play a more tempo game rather than a burn game. I want to make sure my threats survive and their expensive Planeswalkers or mass removal spells don’t. Their early creatures will always be outclassed and outsized by ours so we just have to avoid getting Depopulated.
Esper Legends
Contrary to the matchup presented above, here we very much need to be on the removal side of things. The board can get clogged up between all the tokens that both decks creature so Balmor, Battlemage Captain is going to pull a lot of weight. You will have more removal than they do, so you can relatively safely play to the board.
Selesnya Toxic
Another creature-oriented matchup. Here I expect very small amounts of removal and mainly them trying to kill us and they won’t grind as well as Legends would either. You can either take a more controlly role or try to straight up outrace them. It’s possible to win such a race, as our creatures hit harder whilst interacting.
Izzet Prowess Mirror
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Strangle | -2 Delver of Secrets |
| +1 | -4 Play with Fire |
| +2 Chandra, Dressed to Kill |
Due to the tricky nature of prowess creatures growing out of range, I don’t want Play with Fire in my deck at all. My plan is to go bigger with more removal and card advantage in the form of Planeswalkers. The games might be pure race scenarios or could devolve into two Izzet decks grinding it out, killing everything on sight. In the latter case, try to squeeze all the value you can from each spell you play e.g. don’t just run out Third Path Iconoclast to get it killed.
Tips and Tricks
- You can blank opposing Cut Down by growing your prowess creatures in response.
- You *may* not want to reveal an instant or sorcery to Delver of Secrets even if you can. It could be useful if you need to pull off some mind game tricks.
- You can kill your own tapped Soldier token just to trigger Third Path Iconoclast and get an untapped Soldier. This trick is useful when you need to block but your piece of removal does not kill the attacking creature.
- As far as convoke goes, one-mana spells are ‘free’ with Third Path Iconoclast on the field, as you’re getting a token that can be tapped for convoke.
- One of the most common play patterns is to declare blockers in combat and then convoke a spell off of those creatures.
- Planeswalkers trigger prowess but they don’t flip Delver of Secrets or trigger Balmor, Battlemage Captain
- You can use Shore Up as a mini-pump spell if you need the last 1-2 points of damage for lethal.
Premium >
Enjoy our content? Wish to support our work? Join our Premium community, get access to exclusive content, remove all advertisements, and more!
- No ads: Browse the entire website ad-free, both display and video.
- Exclusive Content: Instant access to all exclusive articles only for Premium members, at your fingertips.
- Support: All your contributions get directly reinvested into the website to increase your viewing experience!
- Discord: Join our Discord server, claim your Premium role and gain access to exclusive channels where you can learn in real time!
- Special offer: For a limited time, use coupon code L95WR9JOWV to get 50% off the Annual plan!
Skura
Articles: 132More Articles
Bo3 Standard Metagame Tier List and Rankings
Bo1 Standard Metagame Tier List and Rankings
New Brews for Outlaws of Thunder Junction Standard and Alchemy
New Outlaws of Thunder Junction Standard Decks for Day 1
Best Outlaws of Thunder Junction Cards for Standard and Alchemy
B/W Control Standard Bo1 Deck Guide
Standard Meta Report – Best Decks April 2024 Week 1
Timeless Mono Black Necro Vampires Deck and Sideboard Guide
Alchemy Golgari Midrange Deck Guide
Bo1 Alchemy Mono-Green Aggro Deck Guide
Standard Metagame Challenge: Top 5 Decks for the 7-0
Standard Metagame Challenge 7 Win Decklists
MTG Standard Rotation Guide
Timeless #5 Mythic Naya Natural Order Winota Deck and Sideboard Guide
Standard Metagame Report and Top Decks: February Week 3
