adventfaith says... #2
Doorkeeper and Tome Scour , not sure milling yourself is a good option, you could mill that card you need out.
Consider card draw/scry as an alternative
All Standard Scry mechanic cards:
-Magma Jet (scry/burn)
Draw card a
-Divination ?
Maybe a Jace, Architect of Thought
And if you need some destruction and controlling cards:
February 20, 2014 12:07 p.m.
Tossing my own cards in to my grave is part of what makes it work, so any draw cards would need to be similar to Wild Guess and Izzet Charm . I like scry and almost went there, but I need as many instants/sorceries in the grave for the deck to work.
You could theoretically mill them too, but that's a bit of a stretch.
That said, Magma Jet is in the sideboard to replace Tome Scour when necessary, and may become main deck over time. I still need to test this deck thoroughly.
February 20, 2014 12:14 p.m.
Keeping with the self-mill theme, Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer ? They function as tutors in a self-mill deck. Your instants and sorceries get 2x their worth; drop them on second main phase if that +1 / 0 on your chimera is that valuable.
Chronic Flooding could be an interesting replacement for Doorkeeper .
Evanescent Intellect gives a cheaper and more reliable Doorkeeper ability to wall of frost, at the cost of card advantage. It also can disrupt scry-dependent decks.
And other options are:
Glimpse the Future gives you the option of what to mill and what to draw.
Jace, Memory Adept I'd imagine you can figure this out.
Thassa's Bounty fatter glimpse the future with less control over what you draw. I personally wouldn't run it, too expensive, but it's there.
As someone who ran Izzet for a very long time, you need very strong card draw. This deck needs a lot less creatures and more instants/spells if you're going to depend on them to pump your chimera, and especially some board control. Maybe consider 2x Curse of the Swine and put those Magma Jet s and maybe some Lightning Strike s or Shock s into your mainboard, so when you mill yourself you're sure that you end up milling instants/sorceries. Magma Jet is very, very, very, good and should not be underestimated.
February 20, 2014 5:54 p.m.
Hmm... Mnemonic Wall is something I had already considered for just that purpose. Archeomancer would double that ability, but doesn't have the big butt that the wall does. Trading a 3 drop wall for a 4 or 5 drop may be a bit tricky, but I could probably get away with it if it gives me the counterspell or nuke I need to finish off the game. I doubt I can fit both of them in.
Chronic Flooding was something I didn't look at when I was looking for the support I wanted. It's cool, but I'm not sure which would be more efficient in the deck. If I end up with a lot of defenders, I can always use Doorkeeper 's ability offensively, but it does taper in usefulness the more defenders I have. so perhaps I should trade him out.
I do like Evanescent Intellect , I may run that if I cut back on creatures a bit. I normally go with a max of 12 creatures in my Izzet decks as a whole.
My limited funds drastically restricts me picking up Jace, Memory Adept , as I need to get more Steam Vents first. I was also looking at Ral Zarek eventually, though mostly for the tap effects. I do like Glimpse the Future , and it fits more solidly with the original approach (which you can see from Thoughtflare , Wild Guess , and Izzet Charm .
I won't use Thassa's Bounty , it's far too expensive imo. I was looking for a way to get Magma Jet in there, but I wanted to test and see if Tome Scour was too much before I replaced them with each other.
I have 2 Curse of the Swine now, and it could certainly replace Search the City if nothing else, with Jace filling the other one's slot once I finally get him. A lot of possibilities still. Only started playing again a few months ago, and I had a long 12 year break in playing as is anyway, so I'm a bit out of shape. I just love Izzet, and love making decks that surprise people. More direct damage could certainly be nice, but most will probably be more relegated to the sideboard with the sweeping changes your suggestions already. I will definitely take these into consideration.
Aviose says... #1
The sideboard is VERY tentative and will likely get Hover Barrier 's added to it, if nothing else.
February 20, 2014 11:59 a.m.