Artful Dodge is useless with 4 Invisible Stalker . Replace them with Curiosity . Also, replace the defenders with Goblin Electromancer , that way you'll have an ever faster mana curve and you'll be able to cast multiple triggers for Guttersnipe . I'd also add to the sideboard Nivmagus Elemental so you can outrage your opponents when they try to counter your spells.

The Artful Dodge isn't usless with Guttersnipe and the defenders. It's a low cost card that I can easily enough double cast to get either a nice boost or 4 damage instantly. If I had to remove a creature from the deck I'd remove the Invisible Stalker but he's my only creature that does not die to targeted removal.

Put in 4x Mizzium Skin and 4x Izzet Charm and that will take care of target removal, both are easy to cast and both can be used for exile fodder if you throw in Nivmagus Elemental if your opponent has no removal.

I'm just saying, you'll get to play your wombo combos faster with electromancers and curiosities (remember that anything that spells that cost 1U or 1R now costs you just U or R, and if you have even more, well, do the math, you can even add Epic Experiment as a finisher).

+1 for witty intro my friend. and the Deck looks pretty fun to play as well

[Infernal plunge] might do some good here, use [augur of bolas] to find [brimstone volley] or even [mizzium mortars] then sac augur for infernal plunge then brimstone with guttersnipe out, 7 damage for three CMC? Fuck yeah. Also maybe take out talrand for [Thundermaw hellkite] ? its a great game ender.

Maybe run that ring of evos isle from m13 to protect talrand or Mask of Avacyn could be another answer.

Without Snapcaster Mage , Thought Scour won't work as well in this deck as Artful Dodge would in it's place, since you are presumably just casting it to trigger your creatures. If you're really leaning on those pikes than maybe thought scour is doing some good work for you, I'd rather have two turns of unblockable 4/4 action myself (or one turn of 7/4!).

Yeah, I was also thinking Nivix Cyclops and no Artful Dodge ? It even triggers Guttersnipe twice for 2 mana!

I'd probably remove the pikes and Thought Scour s (at least partially) in favor of one more Cyclops and a full set of Artful Dodge s. I'm not sure how much work the pike does for you, but having only two seems unreliable at best and if you don't get one, the Thought Scour is basically only a cycling + trigger for Guttersnipe (which isn't to say, that this is super bad, but it could be better).

I made a similar deck that focuses more on the Nivix Cyclops . I think one of the best cards for this deck is Armed / Dangerous that with Artful Dodge is usually a 4th turn win.

Here is my deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rug-cyclops-05-05-13-1/

Have you considered Nivmagus Elemental ? For Izzetdecks like this with a lot of spells it can be really nice to always use your spells, even if the enemy would use counterspells...

I love the interaction between Izzet Staticaster and Turn / Burn for the aggro board. Have you playtested with Goblin Electromancer ? Seems like he might work particularly well with flashback spells.

Bonfire of the Damned

Bonfire of the Damned for more burn and board wipe against those pesky decks. Seems to fit well as a finisher

Run Melek, Izzet Paragon instead of Talrand. The only problem with Melek is that he costs more than Talrand.

If you're having trouble with counter spell based control why not run some Dispel ? 1 mana is usually easy enough to keep open and will help you keep units on the ground.

If you're running into issues with board wipes like Supreme Verdict then your best bet is to try and "sense" when it is coming and not over extend. Keep a few creatures back in your hand and wait for them to blow it all up. I have done this before, then laid out 3 creatures the next turn and they cast Supreme Verdict again on their next turn. Not much I could do in that situation but that's about the best advice I can give.

Can we get a Dual Casting + Blistercoil Weird combo?

They work great on their own, Blistercoil Weird pumping greatly for a 1-drop and the lack of need for an untapped Augur or Guttersnipe, but together they are kind of crazy, allowing you to cast 2 copies of a spell for only 2 extra red mana - pumping Cyclops and Talrand's abilities in the process.

Have you thought about using Fling as another win con? Play a few low CMC burn spells and then stack the +3/+0 trigger so you get more bang for your buck when you sac it

I would cut couple Brimstone Volley and one Mizzium Mortars . Adding Artful Dodge , cause of low cost and flashback ability. Actually for UU it (deals 4 demage making Guttersnipe unblockable, makes Nivix Cyclops 7/4 with unblockable, puts 4 2/2 flyer tokens and making Talrand unblockable). So i see good itteraction of this card with you type of deck

@Robber: Malek's high cost is reason enough not to run him.

@Psycho Za: I'll look into adding dispels where I can take out cards. I do usually keep creatures in hand it's just the counterspells and burn that keep them down and out.

@Murchlochieftain: Two card combo that be shut down easily won't help me that much. My problem is keeping creatures on the field

@Alexsmith21: That's also a good idea. I hadn't thought of using it but the thing is it wouldn't trigger Cyclops if I targeted the creature with it because it's "as an additional cost" meaning fling would be a way out of they try to kill or return the cyclops to my deck/hand.

@Kiim11 Having 1 Mizzium Mortars is pointless. I've run artful dodge and yes it's won me maybe a game or two but the cheap flashback doesn't help that much except against aggro and even then I have enough burn/counter to keep their field clear a bit if they're running reanimator or b/w aggro. I actually removed artful dodge from the deck

You can use Fling as a 2 CMC finisher after attacking with a pumped Nivix Cyclops - E.g.: You pump with 2 Artful Dodge (the cast and the flashback) and use a Thought Scour for +9/+0 and swing for 10, right after that you fling the pumped Cyclops for another 10 and win the game for UUU1R (5 CMC). Seems legit.

Hi there! Nice list you have there! I myself also am an Izzet enthusiast;

So far, i have built a lot of izzet variations based on cyclops, including a turn 4 combo with Artful Dodge , Hidden Strings and Fling almost indisruptable.

But after a lot of lists, i think i finally made it to an ultimate killer izzet deck.the main board completely owns aggro deck and with the sideboard on, it gets prettysafe against control.

you should take a look at my izzet list: Izzet Domination

and just correcting some of the coments i see here, copied spells are created on the stack,they are not "cast". therefore, they don't trigger Guttersnipe , Nivix Cyclops or Talrand, Sky Summoner

If repeated board wipes are your concern, AEtherling laughs in the face of wipes. Back from the Brink and Unsummon can also help mitigate Supreme Verdict .

Planeswalkers are also resilient to most board wipes. Chandra, the Firebrand is reasonably priced and can bring wipe resistant tech to your board.