Izzet a Winner? How to draft Izzet Draw-Go.

Everyone says that Rakdos and Selesnya are the best guilds to draft in triple Return to Ravnica. They are consistent, they are aggressive, and they get the job done. On the other hand, conventional wisdom states that the Izzet guild is to be avoided at all costs. Our UR friends are a desperate last resort when the sweet unleash cards or token generators just aren't floating down river to take you to the promised land. Even then, for Izzet to work you must draft the perfect aggro deck. Too bad all the cards you need for that archetype are being pilfered by the Rakdos and Azorius players at the table.

Aren't these cards sweet? Too bad your frenemies at the table will get them before you do.

Despite all this, Izzet is my favourite guild to draft, and although it's not 100%, you can definitely get 3-0 records in MTGO RTR draft 8-4 queues. Why? Two words (separated by one hyphen): Draw-Go.



Always Cheering for the Underdog 

Historically, counterspell variations have not performed well in draft. They are expensive (usually with cmc 3-5), and you give up too much tempo by leaving mana up every turn. If your opponent doesn't play a spell you want to counter, you effectively wasted your turn. Sit on counters for too long while your board state is inferior, and you'll quickly be scooping. What makes RTR different? Firstly, Izzet is undervalued. Secondly, the Izzet cards that we want for the Draw-Go archetype are really undervalued. Let's take a look at the basic framework of a good Izzet Draw-Go deck:

1. Walls
2. Counterspells
3. Instant-speed draw
4. Finishers and Removal

Like any good reactive control deck, the goal of this deck is to drop one or two early blockers that gum up the ground, and then never play a single spell at sorcery speed again until you drop a finisher. The beauty with this framework is that you can draft your bombs/finishers/removal early, as you normally would, and the walls/counters/instant card draw are often undesired by others and go very late.

In the land of the 3/Xs...

The plane of Ravnica is ruled by the 3/X creature, such as Centaur Healers, Centaur tokens, Splatter Thugs, and Dead Revelers to name a few key players. And in the land of 3/X creatures, the X/4 is king. 

Drop one of these early in the game, and you'll be blocking all day.  RTR has 4 common X/4 on colour, most of which can come down on turn 2-3. It also has a flash creature with a white splash, and a monolithic 0/6 flier. These guys are cheap and effective at holding back Rakdos or Selesnya aggression. This doesn't even include the Skyline Predator!

Let's say you play a turn 2 Doorkeeper (a relatively unimpressive play). You pass the turn, and your opponent drops a splatter thug turn 3. On your turn 3, you pass the turn with all your mana untapped. Unless your opponent has removal, he or she can't force damage through. Some of these creatures even have the added benefit of double-timing as a win condition. Yes, doorkeeper-ing out an opponent is both fun and possible.

Ok, so you've put up a stop sign. What now?

Once you go Backlash...

RTR has five very relevant permission spells, not to mention Fall of the Gavel for those of who are into life gain. Dispel is way more powerful than at first glance. There are a lot of instants in the format, and a timely dispel can definitely lead to a blowout. 

Oh, will that pump spell save your bomb? Oops, dispelled. Will that Launch Party get rid of my only win condition? Not today. Aren't you glad you binned a creature too? 

And don't get me started on Essence Backlash, my personal guilty pleasure favourite draft card of the set. Yes, it's a 4 cmc conditional counterspell. But trust me, the first time you Backlash a Risen Sanctuary you'll probably be so hard you'd rate a diamond on the Moh's Scale of Mineral Hardness. As they say, once you go Backlash, you never go back.

If you're not at least corundum right now, you're not human. You can watch this match here.

But sooner or later, if you counter all your opponents threats, you're going to run out of juice. And then when he or she windmill slams that Armada Wurm they've been slow-rolling, you're surely dead! Or not... You see, on turns when your opponent doesn't play a relevant threat, you can still efficiently use up your untapped mana on the end step.

At end of turn...

RTR has three great instant speed draw spells, a virtual panda bear in Magic these days. Inspiration is a poorly valued common that goes late. Izzet charm is not technically card draw, but also acts as a counterspell and removal! Thoughtflare is an uncommon bomb. Hell, even the Nivix Guildmage can loot away chaff when you aren't countering spells. When you've been given a moment's peace from the relentless assault of creatures from the other side of the table, why don't you draw four cards and discard those two lands you don't need? Sounds good to me!

 With friends like this, who needs sorceries?

Sorcery speed is for chumps

Rounding off the core three groups of cards, you always want some removal, and should take them at a premium. Besides the aforementioned Izzet Charm, cards like Explosive Impact and Annihilating Fire are great ways to use up untapped mana at instant speed. Street Spasm is ridiculous as a late game blowout card, as you will usually have 10+ mana to throw around by the end-game. Likewise, Skyline Predator and Hussar Patrol are pseudo-removal spells, walls, AND win conditions.

Basically, whenever you leave mana up but don't counter something, you want to be progressing your board, improving your hand quality, or forging closer to victory at the end step.

Finish Him!

Now that you've denied your opponent spells and he's brandishing an empty grip, you're going to want a win condition. Luckily, some of the walls (namely Doorkeeper and Lobber Crew) double as finishers, albeit slow ones. Therefore, you always can have more! Even though big bombs like Mercurial Chemister, Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, and Chaos Imps would be ideal, cards like Skyline Predator (flash!) and Isperia's Skywatch can get the job done.

 The top row is awesome, but the bottom row can get there if you're in a pinch.

Don't forget you can always splash another colour for your win conditions (or removal). Cards like Stab Wound do both!

BONUB!

Izzet really is the Johnny colour, and so if you can fit these combo pieces into the deck, more power to you! By the way, Goblin Electromancers are really key as a turn 2 drop, making both Cancel and Inspiration a possibility on turn 3.

 

Sample Deck Lists and Drafts

 Here are some decklists that have 3-0'ed on MTGO.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6y0B4zS4Zfhe6jN9Ad-6VUaqjaYf4wO4&feature=view_all

Admittedly, this may have more to do with Jace and Niv-Mizzet than the Draw-Go strategy, but it has the basic framerwork of the archetype.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6y0B4zS4ZfjIZF1DoSmKpSaowW-ZZzxk&feature=plcp

This deck felt more like a train-wreck when drafting it, without any power-bomb mythics. It still got the 3-0 I needed. This is also a good example of splashing another colour for win conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6y0B4zS4Zfib8q2YjOOoravfEZt26jgz&feature=plcp

This deck is the most "normal" looking one. It again splashes black, but gets the job done on the back of double Explosive Impacts and Chemister.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6y0B4zS4ZfgxDk5EyXne12Kx3hjwcKMN&feature=view_all

Now, here is an example of a deck that scrubs out in Round 2. Notice the lack of good removal and win conditions.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that Izzet Draw-Go uses underdrafted cards (instant speed card draw, counterspells) in an underdrafted guild. You can draft all the top tier commons first (frostburn weird, etc), and then snap up 7th pick Inspirations and 13th pick Cancels and Essence Backlashes. There is something really satisfying about playing a turn 2 wall, and then never tapping mana on your turn again until you drop your big bomb. The only downside to the deck that I have found is that when I play on Magic the Gathering Online, I cannot physically see the look of disgust on my opponent's face when I back-to-back counter his three best spells.

I hope this article will help you successfully draft the "worst" of the Return to Ravnica guilds in your next 8-4 or FNM. Even if you don't win it all, at least you'll have a lot of fun!

As always, see you on the other side.

-- FlamingSheep