NOTICE: THERE IS A NEW VERSION OF THIS DECK POST-ROTATION OF KALADESH AND AMONKHET. GO TO THIS LINK TO SEE IT: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/lazer-zap-turn-4-win-post-rotation/
A wizard tribal deck that uses many of the cards from the new Dominaria block. Aggro power and zapping with burn helps to finish the game early on.
Ideal plays:
Turn 1: Play a Mountain, cast Soul-Scar Mage.
Turn 2: Play a Sulfur Falls, cast Spellweaver Eternal, attack with Soul-Scar Mage for 1 damage.
1 damage total.
Turn 3: Play another Sulfur Falls, cast Adeliz, the Cinder Wind, attack for 5 damage with Soul-Scar Mage, Spellweaver Eternal, and Adeliz, the Cinder Wind. 5 damage done total.
Turn 4: Cast Opt, Wizard's Lightning, and another Wizard's Lightning - both targeting the opponent - however, if you use them for removal, that's fine too. Attack with Soul-Scar Mage and Spellweaver Eternal for 15 - with their Prowess ability they get +3/+3 and with Adeliz, the Cinder Wind in play they get another +3/+3. Also attack with Adeliz, the Cinder Wind to deal 5 more damage. 31 damage done total.
Note: Slight variations on the above plays also work to do a similar amount of damage in the same amount of time, and this deck most consistently wins by turn 5 - however, a turn 4 win is not extremely unlikely.
System:
Red text: Very good card
Blue text: Somewhat powerful card
White text: Please suggest something better
Spellweaver Eternal is another good creature with the prowess ability. It's afflict ability is somewhat helpful, but only allows for 2 points of damage if it is blocked - however, if it gets powerful because of multiple prowess triggers, the opponent will prioritize blocking a
Soul-Scar Mage over this one because of the afflict ability. This makes it helpful and close to red on this list. Many thanks to
Harros for the suggestion.
Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is one of the most important cards in the deck. Its ability to deal 2 to 3 damage immediately is helpful, its flying ability gets around green, black, and red decks - even blue and white have some trouble dealing with this - and finally, its ability to boost all of the other wizards on the battlefield - like
Soul-Scar Mage (who also has prowess) makes for a finishing fourth or fifth turn.
Merfolk Trickster is a good card on both the offense and the defense. Flashing it in on an opponent's end step is always great, and being able to provide a surprise blocker is also quite good. Using it to cancel out an opponent's attack also works well, but this card only functions very well when it enters the battlefield. However, its powerful ability makes up for that. Thanks to Snivy
for the suggestion!
Soul-Scar Mage is a card that works incredibly well in this deck, most decks will not try to respond to it immediately because it seems weak at first. However, its prowess ability helps to deal finisher damage, and its second ability lets burn damage able to kill something like
Hazoret the Fervent.
Although this card isn't always the best because of its two mana cost,
Baral, Chief of Compliance takes that cost down - and, when finishing the game with damage, this seriously helps to remove a blocker. It also allows me to scry two if it's my turn, which can be very good if the turn it's played doesn't finish off the opponent. However, there are some situations where I'll be forced to cast it on an opponent's turn, just to stop them from getting their creatures back anytime soon.
Opt is a good card that allows the deck to search for certain cards that might not normally be in your opening hand. It can even search out and find cards that should normally be in your opening hand. However, its ability is restricted because of the fact that it can restrict other turn one and turn two plays.
Shock would normally be a very good card in this deck; however, it is completely outclassed by
Wizard's Lightning, and therefore it will mostly work as removal early game, and maybe burn as a finisher.
Spell Pierce allows for early and late-game control. A one mana spell, it will stop annoying targeting spells that can kill the creatures on our side, and can also stop the opponent from helping themselves with some other spell. It can also stop non-creature artifacts and enchantments, which can be very helpful depending on what deck the opponent is playing.
Wizard's Lightning is incredibly powerful and fast-acting. It's very bad if you don't have a wizard in play, but honestly, it there isn't one in your opening hand you should have mulliganed. It is the new
Lightning Bolt of wizard decks.
Wizard's Retort is powerful - yet slower than the rest of the deck. It's the new
Counterspell of wizard decks. It beats out
Cancel by one mana and can counter any spell - which honestly is amazing regardless of what strategy your opponent plays. Counter the centerpiece of their deck and they'll flounder, unable to respond - most of the time. This is an integral part of the deck that helps immensely.
Search for Azcanta
is a search engine that can help to stabilize draws and at the same time accelerate the game in my favor. It's a powerful card that is very useful in most situations - although it isn't always the best draw in the endgame, when creatures can be more useful. Thanks to Snivy for the suggestion!
Abrade is a powerful card. It has options that make it useful: first of all, it can be alright creature removal that helps early game; and second of all, it can destroy an artifact. This is good against artifact decks and anything that uses
Scrapheap Scrounger.
Dive Down is a mediocre card that is effective at protecting my creatures. In the colors black and red (ahem
Fatal Push anyone) this deck's creatures are easily dealt with. Keeping at least 2
Dive Down in the sideboard can usually keep removal spells away long enough for the deck to beat the opponent.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance is a powerful card with a lot of uses. Both of her +1's are able to help out - however, the drawback is that she costs four mana, where three mana is usually the limit in this deck. Her first +1 can either activate a small burn, or draw a good instant. Her second helps with mana, and can easily allow a second play on turn 4 of a burn spell. Her -3 is mostly useless, but can be helpful with killing a creature at times. Finally, if you ever activate her ultimate, you've probably won. However, the main focus of this deck is winning quickly - her ultimate will take a while to activate.
Honestly, I've gone on and on about beating
Hazoret the Fervent and
The Scarab God - but, in the end, she's too good not to at least have in the sideboard. She allows for small burn if you have excess lands in your hand, and if you're able to cast her and have one card in hand, she can instantly attack.
Glorybringer is also powerful, but it has too high a mana cost for this deck.
Run Amok is in this sideboard thanks to both
buckeyetron and
LunaMirage. Both of them suggested it to me, and although at first I dismissed it, it does work well against a powerful creatures-aggro deck (mainly against dinosaurs). It also triggers Prowess and makes my creature more powerful, making this potentially more powerful than
Lightning Strike (at least in this deck). This may even replace
Lightning Strike in the main deck.
Rekindling Phoenix doesn't even fit into the theme of this deck. However, it's incredible value can make it an all star in mirror matches and in games that tend to go longer. It takes two removal spells to immediately take it out, unless the opponent is running something like
Vraska's Contempt - still, it's hard to stop, and it can be an all-star in a lot of matches.
Please give helpful comments, and I would also appreciate it if you gave this deck a +1. Thanks!
