Modern Musings: Izzet Prowess Spotlight
Izzet Prowess: Aggro and Tempo, Together Again
Spellslinger decks have always been in the Modern meta, it usually comes down to which flavor you’re interested in. Want to continuously cast spells on a single combo turn while your opponent Twiddle their thumbs? Twiddlestorm would like to have a word. Want an army of Firebirds to incinerate your opponents for the low price of three spells? The once great Arclight Phoenix is your bird (Nowadays, they even have Ledger Shredders to keep them company!)
However, There is one list that loves to have aggressive starts and apply constant pressure, and that is Izzet Prowess. Sporting Multiple free spells and several creatures that benefit from them, Izzet Prowess attacks on a slightly different angle than traditional Burn lists, using Expressive Iteration and Manamorphose to find the final kill spell.
This list utilizes Stormwing Entitys and Sprite Dragons, but there are other lists that are lower to the ground, using only the 3 one-drops. However, those are vulnerable to Chalice decks, and once one is in play there is very little they can accomplish. The important cards to note in this deck are the Lava Darts, Manamorphoses, and Mutagenic Growths, as all three of these are particular to this type of deck. Lava Dart is a surprise instant-speed combat trick, lying in the graveyard for the perfect moment. Manamorphose always feels like it should be a sorcery with just how much it can accomplish, and it is perfectly at home in this deck, triggering prowess while setting up even more powerful plays. Mutagenic Growth, the once-staple of Infect, has found a new home in this deck, where pilots are happy to trade 2 life for 3 (or more).
Every attack can turn lethal, and leaving creatures unblocked quickly becomes untenable. Games that seem unwinnable can quickly turn as the deck sputters to life, and I’ve seen many games decided by an unblocked Swiftspear and 2 open mana. DRC can help with comboing into a great turn, dumping Lava Darts into the graveyard (and activating Delirium) while searching for higher damage threats, and then sacrificing your Mountains once they’ve been used.
When looking at the matchups of the deck, it is an tempo/aggro deck, and a particularly quick one, rushing down traditional control decks fairly easily with proper sequencing. Murktide is quite winnable, with multiple methods of removing their blockers, and pumping your creatures out of range of Unholy Heat. Omnath is surprisingly more difficult, as many of their removal is free, and multiple methods are extremely difficult to interact with. Cascade decks are much easier to deal with, as they need to survive to T3 to start pumping – something that this deck makes very difficult to do.
The deck does have its own troubles, of course. As a tempo deck, it has a few threats that must be protected at all costs. However, it has little in the way of interaction outside of pumping to avoid damage. Archmage’s Charm steals more than half of its creatures, and black removal rarely cares about how big your Sprite Dragon is. It is a list tuned for the metagame, getting stronger when red decks are popular, and weaker in control metas.
Sideboard
Amongst the graveyard hate and Blood Moons, there is a single card that stands out as a curiosity: Slip Out the Back. For the low price of U, you can save your creature from the hate coming at it from any direction, from Supreme Verdict to Fatal Push, to Edicts. Of course, it also takes your attacker out of the running for the turn, making it a risk. While there are other options, Slip Out the Back keeps your creature protected until the next turn, when you can proceed to unload the remainder of your hand during attacks.
Prowess is a deck that is always simmering in the Modern meta, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting decks. The worst thing your opponent can do is treat Prowess like Burn, and it’s always exciting to rush through those last few points because someone thought they could handle the heat.
Questions regarding Prowess decks? Spicy new tech ideas? Talk to me @Melitius!
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