Jace, The Wallet Sculptor

now obviously this deck isn't aggressive, but you don't have much of an attack only rather than a counter, unless your just gonna keep on copying skull crack until your opponent is dead, maybe a lightning bolt!!!

Or a kiln fiend =).

You know those Izzet creatures ...

I moved some things around. How does it look?

I moved some cards around.

I think this deck qualifys as aggressive now.

You just made my day! I totally forgot about Mizzium Mortars. You are right - it's so much better than magma jet it's not even funny. Thank you so much for reminding me!

Yeah, once you get a creature out it doesn't really matter, but the extra one damage sometimes is the difference between clearing a major obstacle or making you wish you had a lightning bolt. I only know because I took out lightning strike for searing blood in a standard deck and got beat because of 3/3's (herald of torment). I've since made room for burn spells of all kinds haha.

Those pesky 3/3's are precisely why Nivix Cyclops is so awesome.

Question; is bonfire of the Damned even better than Mizzium Mortars, and would not need Electrikery if I had it? Thoughts?

I love cards like bonfire of the damned and disintegrate. The only thing I don't like about them is once someone knows it's in your deck, they'll save a counter or a card like fog for it. Then you've wasted a turn. So it really depends on if you feel the risk is worth it.

Alright, check this out:

Vampire Nighthawk + Thornbite Staff

I think that this is great. But here are a few things I think could be useful, if you have the money for them. Force spike could be swapped for either flusterstorm or daze. Daze I'd good because you can play it got free. Of course you could also be a REAL scum and run FoW. BUT that probably isn't the kind of feedback you were looking for... Hmm... I think that mindbreak trap would go very well here. And yeah, this deck could certainly make people rage. Particularly if you can pull off Jace's Ultimate. :). Too funny.

Out of curiosity, do you own the deck?

Heck no ... but I own all of the instants and creatures. The artifacts and Jace I do not =(.

Well ... 8 own 2 Scepters and a Jace Beleren.

I'm saving money up for those Mind Sculptors ... got a big MTG Warehouse where I live.

Lucky!!! A MTG warehouse!?

Yup .. Seattle, Washington has one. It's so big, I know of a UW student who is working on an automated sorting system.

That's why I suck at playing Izzet. I'm use to playing traditional red and going all out every turn. Turn 5 or bust haha.

Just bring Chandra along!

Washingtonians unite!!!

Lol, worst possible state for Chandra.

In Oklahoma most people can't read the cards much less understand them. I take my business to eBay.

That's why I see so many entries on Ebay from the Plains Region.

Guys, you have to check this Vampire deck out.

http://www.mtgvault.com/lycandros/decks/blood-for-blood/

Fork is pretty sweet... Oh and it looks like you have 8 mortars in the deck right now...

I like fork, you could use it until you get all the artifacts?

Lol, just put it on Isochron Scepter.

Whoops! I fixed the number of Mizzium Mortars.

Fork for the win!!!!!

Darn fork doubled the number of Mizzium Mortars in my deck!

LOL... Too funny. :)

Other than remaining red isn't Fork just an older Reverberate/Twincast?

You sir have made my day. Nice job finding those spells!

Blue/red instant-sorceries are so numerous, suggestions like yours are REALLY helpful. I don't want to search through 20 paged to find the spell I want!

Nice one man! But ... it can't target creature spells, which is the point of force spike. I will replace Dispell with it, though!

I think that either Daze or flusterstorm would be better.

Lol ... except I expect Chandra to say that.

Jace would say, something along the lines of, "Well, at least all of that arm-waving and arcane babbling you did was impressive." (Remand).

Yeah...
But don't expect any wise comments from me. I'm not the most smartest one.

Hello Garruk! How's hunting Liliana going?

Hahaha...
: )
I actually used to have Garruk as my avatar around here...
Maybe my favourite planeswalker...

Gideon Jura all the way!

Gideon Jura is another badass. I like him now much more after I found out that there is Storm Crow (the best and the most OP card in the MtG) in his card picture.

Nice avatar! You are right: this deck is purely for fun.

In a competitive environment, I would focus more on creatures and red burn. I would use the blue counter magic to back it up. Heck, I might even run the blue as land lockdown (chronic flooding) or mana drain (drain power, mana chains, etc.).

oh.... the mighty mana drain... well... the question is though, how useful is the extra colorless mana?

It can pay overload on Mizzium Mortars and Cyclonic Rift. More importantly, that mana can be used to imprint the overloaded spell on panoptic mirror.

Okay, I replaced Redirect with Mana Drain. I took away one island so there could be 4 of them. Redirect took Snap's place in the sideboard.

yeah, I was going to say redirect as well, because it seemed a bit out of place other than as makeshift defense. speaking of which... spellskite could be an interesting SB card I think. super good defensive card.

oh, and you still have a mana drain in the sideboard. :)

Thanks for letting me know.

oh, and daze doesn't make you sac a land, but returns it to your hand. hence you can still play it even if you are all tapped out. but if you are going to go that route, you should just run Force of Will instead.

Ah, THAT'S what FoW stands for. I thought it meant field of dreams.

Hmm, ... I like it enough to sideboard it, but what should I take out? Force spike seems like it can take care of business for the first few turns, and later if you have a good poker face.

spell pierce perhaps? that would be my suggestion. swap a counter for a counter.

It's alternate ... erm, it's main cost is a little too high for me. Sorry.

JACE WALLETSCULPTOR, WITH MONEY TROLL ALL

:)

because spell pierce can only hit non creatures. I think that Daze is better than both. or perhaps rune snag.

I think the counter order (based purely on power and CMC) goes mana drain, force spike, Counterflux, Redirect, Counterspell, Rune snag, and mana leak.

Why is force spike so good? It can singlehandedly prevent anything from happening the 1st 3 turns of the game. The only

Thing that comes close is mana leak with goblin Electromancer.

Sorry did not see the noncreature

well, you could also add in a few others like force of will or daze. they are great. although I still think that flusterstorm is better than force spike OR daze.

Why do you think so? It can only target instants and sorceries.

true, but what else do you actually need to counter in this deck?

Creature spells.

yeah... time warp is a bit expensive... but true I guess. completely broken. :)

Sweet combo!

Nyx cards not n system yet

That must be it, because I checked everything here.

And I like the idea of fetchlands!

Umm ... sorry about the price of the volcanic islands. I have 4, and well ... that's a LOT of dough! I could build all of Northern's budget decks for that!

Maybe I don't understand? You can afford a $200 counterspell but not good lands for the deck?

I put good lands in ... but volcanic island costs $300 dollars a card. That's pure insanity. I have 3 mana drains, but only one volcanic island.

Oh well, that's what this deck is about.

4 Volcanic Islands, incoming!

I'd cut two filer lands and one of each basic for four fetch lands. After brainstorming with jace fetch lands are nice sometimes as well as thinning the deck.

But yeah if you budget is big enough for 3 jtms and 4 mana drain why not have the mana base to go with it. You can get volcanic islands for like $225 a pop though

Why do I need fetch lands? My current combination of lands ensures that I have the proper amount of mana. There aren't any cards with landfall, so there is nothing to be gained there.

If it makes you happy, I will add several Thawing Glaciers and Izzet Boilerworks, while cutting down the number of other lands to gain more "filler" lands.

The fetch lands shuffle your library after you pitch cards you don't want in your hand from brainstorming as well as helping you not draw lands. Just my thoughts obviously do as you'd like. Your right though you have no one drops so filter lands and buddy lands turn one aren't too big of a deal.

*sorry just force spike as a one drop

Yeah, but read Thawing Glacier carefully. Now imagine playing an Izzet Boilerworks on it, after its sbility is useful. Yay, Mana Ramp!

it is legal in vintage.

It's because of mana drain. Pretty sure it's only legal in vintage

Yes, you are right. If you are wondering, 3/4 of the cost is from Volanic.Island and Mana Drain.

A combo with it is ...
Isochron Scepter, Imprint Mana Drain
Counter spell, play Panoptic Mirror.
Counter spell, Imprint an overloaded Cyclonic Rift.

XD!

You can't imprint overload, it's an alternate cost it doesn't work like kicker. Also your land was better before as bounce lands just slow you down and thawing glaziers really isn't needed as a 4 of.

Right on both counts. I will fix the issue.

I just added it, because it can actually ramp if Izzet Boilerworks is in your hand, AND it ensures that a basic land is in play. I think that between Volcanic Island, Cascade Bluff, and this combo my land base is very solid. Plus ... no vulnerable legendary lands are used.

Thanks for the info.

Teach me oh wise one =). I am willing to learn.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?25742-Drain-Gush-Control

It's an unfair deck.

Agreed. Time walk is in =).

Not to rain on anybodies parade but Time Walk is restricted. You can only have 1 in your deck. http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Resources.aspx?x=judge/resources/sfrvintage

And it costs 735$, which is way too overpriced for 1 card in my opinion.

yeah... way too pricey, particularly for a restricted card. :) but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't mind owning a few of them...

I wouldn't mind either, for casual play.

Drat ... oh well, this is obviously not going to be considered for a competitive setting, even if you had enough $ to build it. The young pyromancer - delver of secrets - Snapcaster Mage engine is a good deal more practical.

Lol, I just took it out for time walk. Which one do you think is better?

Time walk by far

Hmmm .... I concur, once I put more overload in here.

Thank you for your advice. I think I will use flusterstorm instead of time walk, thanks to you suggestion.

As for the fetchlands ... I really don't need them with the lands I am running.

I think I have found as many incredibly expensive counterspells as possible - please suggest any others!

You missed mana drain

no, mana drain has been mentioned multiple times actually. :) such an absurd card...

It is....
Now, if it were unrestricted in vintage....
I don't want to even think of what that'd do to the meta.

Also, Ancestral Recall and Remand make awesome isochron scepter targets.
I think Jace would also approve of True-Name Nemesis, if you want to increase the cost of this deck.
Having snapcasters in the mainboard would also make the deck more expensive on "estimated value."

Hmm ... I will find a way to add mana drain in here once more. Remand is pretty awesome, even if you don't put it on Isochron Scepter.

And I think that I need some advice on creatures. Guttersnipe and Kiln Fiend are good, but I want more punch. Is young pyromancer more powerful than Kiln Fiend in most circumstances? Should I include Nivmagus elemental or Drlver of Secrets?

I personally think your only creature should be snapcaster, then add a manland. That way you have more room for card draw and counter spells.

On the topic of remand... my friend was playing Scapeshift against UWR control in the GP. He tried to cast scapeshift, the opponent cryptic commanded his scapeshift, my friend cryptic commanded the cryptic command, the opponent remanded the cryptic command, my friend remanded his scapeshift. He had mana open to re cast cryptic command and the opponent had a mana leak in hand as well as 4 mana open to recast a cryptic command if it was remanded. He won that match. Sadly, he went 5-3-1 (I believe, but it may have been 6-3 or 5-4).

Cool story man. I love instant speed fights!

Snapcaster is in. Though Guttersnipe will be his buddy. Mana drain 8 will fit in here somehow.

Hmm. I may have said it in a confusing manner without clarifying who did what as well... I'll just assume that you understand and move on :-P

Most of my suggestions I'm getting from playing against UWR control in modern, BUG in legacy, URx Delver in legacy, and UW miracles in legacy. I don't play vintage at all. But if you get all the incredibly expensive restricted cards, there's no way you can lose, right? ;-)

I'm loving the stifle with split second. Just make sure you destroy your opponent's voidmage apprentice. Morph does not use the stack, and void mage apprentice's ability is a state based ability, so it can counter your trickbind. I don't know when it comes up, but I recently learned that and I thought it was cool.

Oh neat! So delver of secrets is not a problem.

Here's a neat trick I learned. A dimir doppelganger (or any clone) keeps it's states when it copies a new card. So if it copied delver of secrets, and flipped, when it became Young Pyromancer it would still be flipped. Then when it became Initiate of Blood, it would already be flipped! This trick works for level counters and any state.