Baseline for this deck is Travis Woo's Izzet Blitz deck from around June 2013. I've adapted it to Modern to fit my taste and I find it very fun to play.
The deck can operate different game plans.
You can play around Delver of Secrets protecting it with Gods Willing, Spell Snare or Boros Charm. It's also a wonderful removal magnet helping you to move safely to the next plan.
You can play for Kiln Fiend with Serum Visions, Gitaxian Probe and Peek helping you find the cards you need to setup the Artful Dodge
+
Boros Charm
combo. Sometimes I can win with cantrips and a Boros Charm. Gitaxian Probe and Peek are essential here to help you decide if you can commit to the combo.
And last but not least Geist of Saint Traft is a beast on its own. Backed up by Artful Dodge or Gods Willing we can get some decent damage through.
Lightning Bolt and Boros Charm can help us finish off wounded opponents. Lightning Bolt can also take out blockers and Path to Exile helps us deal with more dangerous bodies like Wurmcoil Engine or Tarmogoyf.
I'm playing MD Spell Snare since there so many relevant targets in almost any deck: Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Mana Leak, Remand, Snapcaster Mage, Pyroclasm, you name it.
I like how most of the spells serve multiple purposes. This makes the deck more difficult to play but also more interesting (in my opinion).
Examples are:
Serum Visions to setup Delver of Secrets or Peek and Gitaxian Probe draws or activate Kiln Fiend.
Lightning Bolt to a blocker or to the face activating Kiln Fiend or allowing Geist of Saint Traft to get through.
Boros Charm on its own since all 3 modes are helpful here.
Gods Willing protecting our creatures even from Abrupt Decay, Pyroclasm and the likes of it. We can also cast it on our upkeep step to Scry 1 and move a bad draw to the bottom while also helping our target creature to get through in combat.
The fact that Serum Visions, Peek and Gitaxian Probes replace themselves is crucial to the Kiln Fiend plan as we can make it bigger without sacrificing cards in our hands to sub-optimal plays.
Peek being an instant allows us to cast it both at the opponent's End Step, revealing whatever they left in store for us or mid-combat helping us make the right decisions.
The sideboard plan is where I'm not yet sure of what I would like to do. I like the idea of changing the game plan instead of trying to react directly to the opponent's deck. We can take out Kiln Fiend, Peek and Gitaxian Probe and bring Lightning Helix, Snapcaster Mage and Ajani Vengeant to attack from a burn plan. I've included Stony Silence here since it's so great against a few decks. The extra Gods Willing and Path to Exile I'm also not so sure about.
I've seen many deck lists featuring Kiln Fiend. Most of them run other "free" spells like Mutagenic Growth and also feature a Assault Strobe followed by Tainted Strike plan. This is essentially two mana cheaper than Artful Dodge
+
Boros Charm
but I believe the UWR plan described here is more versatile.
I'm sure the mana base can be tweaked a little. It's composed of what I currently own IRL.
Please comment!
