Ladies, gentlemen, and variations thereupon, I'd like to introduce my first foray into brewing for standard! I drafted Izzet aggro for my first GRN draft and was hugely impressed with how much the damage would spike every time I threw a few instants out, and Wee Dragonauts would end up hitting for 7 in the air. To this end, I wanted to build into wizard tribal! I have a huge thing for tribal synergies in Magic, and wizards to my playtesting experience on platforms like MtGO and Arena has been fun, and while not strictly top tier, surprisingly powerful and definitely has potential as a fringe deck IMHO.
Creatures
Ghitu Lavarunner - a great little beater that also works quite nicely as a blocker in the early game, as a 1/2 with the added bonus of going to a 2/2 with haste if you have two sorceries/instants in the graveyard.
Viashino Pyromancer - a decent little turn two drop with the bonus of pinging for two points of damage as an ETB effect. Dies easily, but can cause a fair bit of damage if left unmonitored
Goblin Electromancer - Lovely little two drop that helps to bring sorcery and instant costs down to almost trivial levels, and can also work nicely as a beater in a pinch
Wee Dragonauts - One of the heavy hitters in this deck, and one of my favourite flavourful cards. Every time a sorcery or instant is cast it adds +2 to the power, which can get brutal when effects such as Maximize Velocity and the additional stacks from Adeliz trigger. Speaking of which...
Adeliz, the Cinder Wind - The absolute star of the deck, Adeliz is a flying 3-drop with haste and, every time a sorcery/instant is cast, she and all other wizards gain +1/+1. This can get VERY out of hand, and barring mass removal with spells like Ritual of Soot, Settle the Wreckage and Cleansing Nova, will hurt.
Sorceries/Instants
Crash Through - A way to get some early game card draw, as well as a nice little trigger for the tribal effects that Adeliz and Wee Dragonauts bring. Feel free to replace with Warlord's Fury, since they offer very similar effects.
Maximize Velocity - A card that I rather like, and for good reason! For a single red mana you give a creature +1/+1 and haste, and if you have cards in hand, can do it again at the cost of discarding some possibly dead cards. On Wee Dragonauts, this is damn near lethal, and if Adeliz is out too, then pain shall truly follow
Radical Idea - Some more, slightly more expensive card draw (but with Goblin Electromancer, it's moot) with the jump-start mechanic making it even better, for the same reasons I gave for Maximize Velocity.
Shock - You know what this is; cheap, cheerful burn, that can eke out the last bits of damage needed on a creature/opponent, or remove some early game threats
Lightning Strike/Wizard's Lightning - I put these both together since they are almost identical, and with this deck, they pretty much are. 3 damage burn spells, where one costs 1 and a red (but cost can be brought down), and the other costs 2 less if you have a wizard in play; for all intents and purposes, it's two playsets of Lightning Bolt, and that makes them a must-include.
Manabase
Manabase is pretty standard Izzet fare, a playset of both Sulfur Falls and Steam Vents for fast and effecient dual lands, and 8 Mountains with 6 Islands to round it out.
Sideboard
Negate - A hard counter to decks heavy in non-creature spells which can be cast for as little as a single blue mana. Feel free to replace with Spell Pierce, though I prefer Negate as a hard counter instead of conditional
Wizard's Retort - A hard, all-purpose counter with a tribal bonus (costing 1 less if a Wizard is in play), I prefer this over other forms of removal such as Sinister Sabotage and Cancel
Lava Coil - A card I have a lot of fun with, it can remove some rather large threats from the game entirely, and as I've discovered on Arena against Nicol Bolas Grixis decks, can be VERY irritating for your oppononent
Risk Factor - The hot-button card at the moment, it can be effective as burn and as card draw, proccing the effects of Adeliz and Wee Dragonauts regardless if the opponent counters it, takes the damage, or lets you draw cards. The card draw and burn is fantastic, and can be cast for as little as a single red mana.
Banefire - When you absolutely, positively, have to kill a very large beater or finish an opponent, make no exceptions. Tick it up to 5, make sure it cannot be countered, and celebrate... unless Dive Down is cast, in which case cry like a baby.
Plan of Action
Burn away early threats, start to go wide with the varying wizards in your arsenal, then when Adeliz and/or Wee Dragonauts are out, go tall by throwing out buffs, card draw and burn until you're standing on the shoulders of giants then elbow dropping the enemy like Randy Savage.
I'll gladly take any and all feedback you lovely people give me, and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading through this description of what is turning into a pet project for Standard, at least until DOM rotates, in which case I'll end up converting it to Modern! Hope to hear feedback from you all soon, and I hope you have a lovely day!
