Enough To Pay The Bills *PRIMER*

Commander / EDH Aggro Casual Multiplayer UR (Izzet)

NV_1980

Land (34)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Highland Lake
• 6x Island
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Primal Amulet  ^Flip
• 1x Pyromancer's Goggles
• 1x Ruby Medallion
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Seance Board
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Twinning Staff

Instant (21)

• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Electrodominance
• 1x Fall of the Titans
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Firemind's Foresight
• 1x Increasing Vengeance
• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Pyretic Ritual
• 1x Reiterate
• 1x Seething Song
• 1x Spell Burst
• 1x Storm King's Thunder
• 1x Turnabout

Creature (12)

• 1x Archmage Emeritus
• 1x Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch
• 1x Goblin Electromancer
• 1x Guttersnipe
• 1x Harmonic Prodigy
• 1x Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
• 1x Magnus the Red
• 1x Ovika, Enigma Goliath
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Storm-Kiln Artist
• 1x Veyran, Voice of Duality
• 1x Wizards of Thay

Commander (1)

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Clone Legion
• 1x Crackle with Power
• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Expropriate
• 1x Insurrection
• 1x Jaya's Immolating Inferno
• 1x Jeska's Will
• 1x Past in Flames
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Time Spiral
• 1x Vandalblast

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Inexorable Tide
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Rite of the Dragoncaller
• 1x Swarm Intelligence
• 1x Thousand-Year Storm

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Welcome to Enough To Pay The Bills! {U}{R}!

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of this Izzet spell-slinging deck; commanded by Mizzix of the Izmagnus. The best galvanic Blastseeker in the Izzet League has an issue with you. She wields and controls the arcane tools devised by the chemisters and they are all pointed at you. Orbs of elemental energy floating in mutual orbits, crackling concentric disks of power and streams of lava-bubbling water can be summoned at her call. Her Vedalken assistants are standing by to provide her with yet more instruments and artifacts to aid in your destruction. Get ready for some spell-slinging madness to come your way in no time flat! This deck is meant to be played casually. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; hope you will enjoy it!

Why Mizzix?

Anyone who likes to cast massive spells at a huge discount, likes this beautiful goblin! Every instant/sorcery cast that’s slightly more expensive than a previous one, wins her an experience point, which translates to an ability to cast yet more expensive spells. At CMC4 she’s also not expensive to (re)cast. Her only downside is that she’s relatively easy to take out, but in a game featuring THE counterspell color, there are measures one can take to prevent that from happening.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The following parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck.

• Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
• Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
• Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
• Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
• Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
• Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
• Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
• Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
• Resilience: indicates the measure in which the deck can prevent and take punches.
• Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

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Mana: 5

Mizzix’s ability cheapens about two-thirds of this deck’s spells. However, as mentioned before, she’s also not difficult to erase (at least, temporarily). Therefore, some redundancy has been built in. This comes in the form of six other cheapeners, along with eleven sources for some additional mana (of which eight are rocks).

Ramp: 1

There’s no ramp in this deck.

Card Advantage: 5

To keep things moving along, this deck needs to have plenty of card-advantage avenues available. What’s great about Izzet, is its very decent spell-recursion options, which really helps a deck that wants to keep spell-slinging again and again. In all, six direct draw, three conditional draw, three (spell-)tutors, one filter and three (spell-)recursion options are featured.

Overall speed: 5

This deck needs to be fast, but not perse because it has to be quick on the offense. Actually, it just needs to be ready to react on time appropriately to stuff the playgroup’s doing. All the elements in here allow for this; lots of mana and draw combined with a low-overall mana curve.

Combo: 4

With the potential Mizzix can bring in terms of ‘free’ instant/sorcery mana, there’s some ground for a few funny infinite combos. This potential also translates to lots of synergy overall, which for instance is helped out loads by the deck’s many permanents/spells that can copy other spells.

Army: 2

Not exactly mind-boggling. None of the creatures in here have been added because of their combat-damage potential. A few options have been added to (temporarily) steal opposing forces, but it’s by no means focused on.

Commander: 3

There’s no denying it; without our esteemed commander around the player in charge of this deck is in a significant amount of trouble. Mizzix makes spells much, much cheaper to cast under the right circumstances, which is something this deck really tries to bank on. This is why as much redundancy has been built in to cheapen- and copy spells, without sacrificing its overall spell-casting capabilities.

Interaction: 5

Plenty of ways in here that influence opposing states. Most of it comes down to an excellent inventory of non-combat damage purveyors (nine cards), counterspells (five cards) and several strong bounce- and destructive spells.

Resilience: 5

The Izzet guild is filled with options to counter the opponents’ spells. To protect Mizzix and some other key permanents, seven of such spells have been added. In order to get rid of opposing permanents, thirteen removal options have been included as well (mostly against opposing creatures).

Spellpower: 5

If there’s one thing this deck does well, it’s casting high-yield spells around the place. Removal, damage-dealing, capture and counters; not to mention a great deal of opportunities to copy or even retrieve spells from the graveyard.

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Total power score: 40

Though this deck only really shines when Mizzix is alive and kicking (casting), it can still be considered a very powerful deck that won’t let itself be screwed around with. There’s plenty of truly horrific damage- and combo-potential to be found and the controller of her spells can flick through most of the deck’s content quickly in order to find the best spells at the most opportune moments. All-in-all, a force to be reckoned with at all times.

General strategy

By casting slightly more expensive spells each time, Mizzix gains experience points, which in turn reduces the cost of every successive spell by one colorless per XP-point. This allows for some truly amazing casts; especially with ‘X’-spells. Mizzix’s ability also empowers some very interesting combos that can obtain infinite amount of colorless/colored mana, which can be pretty awesome fuel for the real kickers amongst my spell-arsenal.

The idea is to start out play in a reactive manner and build up experience counters with Mizzix; to let the opposition come at the deck and destroy/counter/bounce what they deploy against it. Once enough counters have been obtained (four or anything over that amount is great), it’s time to go on the offensive a bit more and allow others a good view of the deck’s sharp teeth. The game can be finished with a combo, but in most cases this is not necessary. A well-timed destructive spell, especially when copied, will have some serious ending-power as well.

Starting hand

At least three cards in the starting hand ought to be lands (or two lands and a cheap-to-cast rock like Arcane Signet, Izzet Signet, Ruby Medallion, Sapphire Medallion or Sol Ring. It is highly recommended not to start a game without this hand (even if one has to mulligan down to three cards). The ideal hand could also contain an additional cheapening card like Goblin Electromancer. An early Sensei's Divining Top can also prove very helpful.

Early game

Start by focusing on three things: make resources available, summon Mizzix and gather some early XP as soon as possible. Aside from the resources mentioned in the previous section, some great cards to start games with are Seance Board, Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study. Once a few basics have been played, Mizzix should be brought on. Now it’s time to gain experience by casting a bunch of cheap spells. Some great first ones would be draw-enablers like Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain. Other great candidates are counterspells that protect permanents from harm or disrupt opponents’ game plans. Examples of these would be Arcane Denial, Fierce Guardianship, Mana Drain and Spell Burst.

Mid-game

Now that some experience points have been gained, let’s use the discount they give. The best way to do so, is by also ensuring that whatever is cast can be copied. Favorites amongst such options would be Primal Amulet  , Pyromancer's Goggles, Thousand-Year Storm, Twinning Staff and if possible, Swarm Intelligence. Damage can be done with some truly wonderful X-spells. Mizzix’s presence can ensure that by determining how much mana is used in such spells, the XP she gathers is increased. Unleashing Comet Storm, Curse of the Swine, Electrodominance, Fall of the Titans and Jaya's Immolating Inferno usually feels rather cathartic at this point, as it will be the first truly offensive action undertaken during a game. Should it prove impossible to run said options in short order, they can be sought for with some more draw/tutor spells like Blue Sun's Zenith, Firemind's Foresight, Mystical Tutor and Spellseeker. Spells that have been cast earlier can be retrieved by using stuff like Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch, Mystic Retrieval and Past in Flames. While working on all the above, don’t forget to make use of cards like Harmonic Prodigy and Veyran, Voice of Duality to double benefits on casting instants/sorceries.

End-game

As mentioned before, games can be ended by combos (listed below) but some other game-ending methods can be found in simple spell-casting that unbalances the current board-state in the deck’s favor. The most used examples would be spells like Clone Legion, Crackle with Power, Cyclonic Rift, Expropriate, Insurrection and Rite of Replication. Again, all of these are especially deadly if they’re copied when cast.

Combos

The following combos can be found within this deck:

• Mizzix of the Izmagnus + Turnabout + Reiterate: this combo starts with Mizzix on the table, enough lands to tap {U}{U}{R}{R} mana, the player has three experience experience counters and both spells are in hand. Start by casting Turn. This triggers Mizzix to create an XP. Hold priority and cast Reiterate with buyback. Resolve Reiterate (which puts it back in hand) and copy Turn. The copied Turn resolves, untapping all lands. Now cast Reiterate again and copy the original Turn again. Rinse and repeat.
• Narset's Reversal + Turnabout + Thousand-Year Storm: this combo starts with Storm on the table, the other spells in your hand and enough mana available to cast both in a single turn. First, cast Turn and target yourself. Follow it by Reversal (which targets Turn). This triggers Storm to produce a copy of Reversal. The copy of Reversal targets the original Reversal. The copy of Reversal resolves, return the original Reversal to hand. The original Reversal resolves, return Turn to hand. Turn resolves and untaps all the deck’s permanents. Repeat for infinite mana and storm.
• Thousand-Year Storm + Increasing Vengeance/Reiterate: this combo starts with Storm on the battlefield, Vengeance/Reiterate and at least one other spell in your hand that you can cast and enough mana to cast both (without buyback cost). Cast the other spell. Before the other spell resolves, cast Reiterate/Vengeance and target the other spell. Storm triggers. A copy of Reiterate/Vengeance may be cast. Target the original Reiterate/Vengeance. Repeat ad infinitum for infinite magecraft triggers (which helps out cards like
• Storm-Kiln Artist + Thousand-Year Storm + Narset's Reversal + one other spell: this combo starts with Artist and Storm on the battlefield, with Reversal and the other spell in hand AND you have already cast at least one spell before this combo starts. Cast the other spell. This triggers Artist and Storm. Use Storm to copy the spell. This triggers Artist again. Resolve the copied spell. Hold priority and cast Reversal and target the original spell, this triggers Storm and Artist. Resolve Storm and copy Reversal, targeting the original Reversal (this all leads to even more Artist triggers). Resolve the copied Reversal (another Artist trigger), which copies the original Reversal and sends it back to hand. Resolve the original reversal (another Artist trigger) and send the original spell to hand. Now resolve the copy of the spell that was sent to hand. From this point on, you can use the mana obtained from treasure to cast the original spell again and repeat the entire cycle. In the end, this yields infinite colored mana (through treasures), infinite copies of instants/sorceries on the stack and an infinitely powerful Artist.
• Reiterate + Turnabout + eleven untapped lands (two of which can produce red mana and two of which can produce blue mana): first, tap all untapped lands to add 7{U}{U}{R}{R} mana to your mana pool. Next, cast Turnabout and immediately cast Reiterate, including its buyback cost, to copy Turnabout. The copy of Turnabout resolves, choose to untap all lands. Immediately tap the lands again to add eleven mana to your mana pool (which by now should consist of twelve mana). Cast Reiterate (including its buyback cost) again and copy Turnabout. This can be repeated forever, creating infinite blue/red mana. Note that with Mizzix and a few experience counters obtained, the mana requirements for this combo are massively reduced.
• Mizzix of the Izmagnus + Reiterate + Electrodominance: this combo requires Mizzix on the battlefield with 3 XP and at least {R}{R}{R}{R} in your mana pool. First, cast Electro with X is 3 (this increases Mizzix’s XP to 4). Cast Reiterate with buyback (target Electro). Resolve Electro’s copy and deal 3 damage to something. This allows for a CMC 3 spell to be cast for free. Cast Reiterate again to copy Electro (use Mizzix’s discount to account for the buyback costs). Repeat for infinite damage and infinite storm.
• Mizzix of the Izmagnus + Reiterate + Pyretic Ritual/card:Seething Son: this combo requires Mizzix on the battlefield with 3 XP and one untapped land that can produce {R}. First, cast Ritual/Song to add at least {R}{R}{R} to your mana pool. Hold priority and cast Reiterate, including its buyback cost, to copy Ritual/Song. This triggers Mizzix, granting an additional XP counter. The copy of Ritual/Song resolves, adding again at least {R}{R}{R} to your mana to your mana pool. Use two of that mana to cast Reiterate (including its buyback costs) again. This can be repeated forever, creating infinite red mana.
• Reiterate + Pyretic Ritual/Seething Song + Lightning Bolt/Fall of the Titans: this combo adds Lightning Bolt to the previous combo. Once we have attained infinite red mana, we can also cast Lightning Bolt/Fall of the Titans and copy that an infinite amount of times with Reiterate. All of the cards required for this combo, can be gathered in one go by casting Firemind's Foresight.

Card Choices

Lands

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

• Arid Mesa/Bloodstained Mire/Flooded Strand/Marsh Flats/Polluted Delta/Verdant Catacombs/Windswept Heath: the lands used to filter through the deck, which aids in finding cards that matter to the deck’s strategy quicker.
• Boseiju, Who Shelters All: especially useful when casting combos that mustn’t be countered.
• Command Tower/Exotic Orchard/Mana Confluence/Reflecting Pool: great all-color mana lands that have very few disadvantages in their use.
• Cascade Bluffs, Highland Lake/Izzet Guildgate/Steam Vents/Sulfur Falls/Swiftwater Cliffs/Temple of Epiphany/Training Center: lands that provide Izzet mana, that depending in circumstances enter the battlefield tapped or untapped. The best MTG has to offer has been incorporated on this front, except for the original dual lands which are outside most players’ price-range.
• Karn's Bastion: great mana sink for more xp counters.
• Reliquary Tower: because discarding sucks.

Mana and Ramp

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

• Arcane Signet: cheap-to-cast, doesn’t come into play tapped and grants any Izzet mana whenever tapped.
• Fellwar Stone: great mana-rock in a 4-player commander game, that’s almost guaranteed to include someone with the same mana needs.
• Goblin Electromancer: cheap spells is what this deck craves, this Goblin helps to fulfil this need.
• Izzet Signet: can’t have two Arcane Signets, so let’s include this instead.
• Jeska's Will: both a mana source and some card-advantage.
• Magnus the Red: a very special kind of cheapener; becomes truly terrifying when synergizing with Ovika.
• Primal Amulet  : first it cheapens my instants/sorceries, then it transforms into a land and actually copies spells; even better!
• Pyretic Ritual/Seething Song: insta-red mana in bulk, and most red spells are mana-hungry bastards!
• Ruby Medallion/Sapphire Medallion: Mizzet cheapens spells and these add to the discount.
• Seance Board: this is an insane artifact in this deck; creatures tend to die a lot in commander games and this thing provides colored mana based on that!
• Sol Ring: are there EDH decks without this card?
• Storm-Kiln Artist: holy smokes, in a deck like this the treasure coming from him is going to be flowing hard!
• Talisman of Creativity: excellent mana rock that can provide colored mana at the cost of life if there’s an urgent need for it.
• Wizards of Thay: become absolutely brutal during combat in larger playgroups, as every non-permanent just becomes vastly cheaper to cast AND sorceries suddenly act as instants!

Card Advantage

The mechanisms that provide card advantage:

• Archmage Emeritus: superbly suited for this deck, as in the latter phases of games this deck casts AND copies on a regular basis, meaning this card easily grants two additional cards a turn.
• Blue Sun's Zenith: an X-draw spell that’s reusable after every use!
• Brainstorm: sort of a one-shot Sylvan Library; unfortunately without the option to immediately draw additional cards. Still, a superb card resource at any point in a game.
• Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch: returns non-permanents to hand at every upkeep AND deals damage to opponents whenever these are being cast; ouch!
• Expropriate: whatever advantage opponents choose, it’s going to be good!
• Firemind's Foresight: love this tutor, as it can find all the cards within certain combos.
• Lier, Disciple of the Drowned: usually makes an appearance during the mid-game, as countering during early game stages is often game-determining. Once he’s on, all the deck’s instants/sorceries can be cast twice!
• Mystical Tutor: nice, cheap spell-tutor that can find anything I need during a game.
• Past in Flames: sort of a Yawgmoth's Will for instants/sorceries only.
• Ponder/Preordain: draw with lots of pre-filtering up front for next to nothing costs.
• Rhystic Study: very few people will pay taxes to prevent draws.
• Sensei's Divining Top: awesome filter- and draw mechanisms for hardly any cost.
• Spellseeker: helps to find several useful instants/sorceries in this deck.
• Time Spiral: eventually one will run out of spells to cast; well that’s what this is for!

Counters, Destruction and Disruption

Opposing spells and permanents end here.

• Capsize: with Mizzix around, this spell can almost certainly be used with its buyback functionality included, which makes it a perfect spell for interesting combos.
• Chain Reaction: hits everything with a force equal to the strongest creature out there; nice, it won’t bother this deck all that much because … well … creatures schmeatures.
• Comet Storm: sending this spell over to hit multiple targets is a real kicker (pun intended!)
• Crackle with Power: an absurdly strong spell, especially with Mizzix’s experience counters around.
• Curse of the Swine: yay, exile! Have some boars!
• Cyclonic Rift: one of the best bounce spells ever; from the mid-game onwards it becomes truly devastating as it inherently wipes out so many permanents for good; especially tokens.
• Deflecting Swat: a potentially free redirection spell.
• Electrodominance: a damage-spell with free-casting potential.
• Fall of the Titans: turns with this deck are often comprised of casting multiple spells, thus it’s efficient to have a destruction spell with surge in it.
• Fierce Guardianship: a potentially free counterspell against non-creature spells.
• Insurrection: the number of times this spell has ended games in the deck’s favor, is perverse.
• Jaya's Immolating Inferno: excellent anti-opponent spell that becomes insane when the deck offers means to copy it at least once.
• Lightning Bolt: felt that this had to be included, because it’s Izzet-spell slinging.
• Mana Drain: the perfect counterspell that generates mana for the next spell!
• Spell Burst: perfect counterspell when combined with Mizzix’s experience points.
• Vandalblast: vaporizing opposing artifacts is fun!

Copies

Why just cast one spell?

• Clone Legion: those creatures you have? They just looked in the wroooong mirror.
• Increasing Vengeance: copy a spell, cast it later from the graveyard and then copy another spell twice!
• Narset's Reversal: copy a spell and return it to hand; perfect!
• Pyromancer's Goggles: great source of mana, but an even greater resource to copy red instants/sorceries.
• Reiterate: in most cases, Mizzix’s experience allows to use buyback at no extra costs.
• Rite of Replication: copying a powerful creature five times easily balances games in the deck’s favor.
• Storm King's Thunder: many copies are much more fun!
• Swarm Intelligence: copying just about everything will really solidify the craziness of this deck.
• Thousand-Year Storm: ow yes, the storm comes to life permanently!

Utility

All that other lovely stuff that shouldn’t be forgotten.

• Guttersnipe/Kessig Flamebreather: damage whenever non-permanents/non-creatures are cast, becomes lethal in a storm.
• Harmonic Prodigy: synergizes incredibly well with a lot of the deck’s creatures; especially its commander.
• Inexorable Tide: this is so crazy powerful when Mizzix is out; every casting increases Mizzix’s XP-count, which leads to more cheap castings; which leads to more counters, which leads to … well … huzzah!
• Ovika, Enigma Goliath: just a great token generator with so many spells flying around, not to mention an excellent synergizer for Magnus.
• Turnabout: love to use this as a political tool to help temporary allies, but can be great fun in combos as well.
• Propaganda: just some nice taxation to counter over-aggressive combat opponents.
• Rite of the Dragoncaller: unholy dragon-fire will be added to non-permanent casting!

Notable exclusions

• Fact or Fiction/Steam Augury: not included because it yields too much control to opponents.
• Mizzix's Mastery: decided against this one (even though it has great flavor in here) maybe it ought to be in here for flavor, but I decided to remove it for the time being because it wasn’t performing all that well (mostly because of the deck’s many ‘X’-spells).
• Sphinx-Bone Wand: used to be in here, but was discarded for more chances at a storm-effect to begin with.

Thank you for reading!

Appreciate the time you took to read this primer. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

Date added	6 years
Last updated	3 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	17 - 0 Mythic Rares 45 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.26
Tokens	Boar 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Dragon 5/5 R, Experience Token, Phyrexian Goblin 1/1 R, Spawn 3/3 R, Treasure
Folders	This could be fun