rhkrs1

Some decent choices. I really like the idea of having Eldrazi Monument in my back pocket. I should probably have a back-up plan on the side board for when someone shuffles in Scarab Feast for game 2. (An Amonkhet common, that's the text of a rare in Urza's Destiny, BTW).

I have a land-bounce deck I use in pauper format which uses Banishing Knack/Retraction Helix and Brass Man / Pili-Pala to run the wholesale bounce.

A card I sideboard is Fade Away, which helps against aggro decks by forcing them to sack all their creatures. It's easy to have 2 lands and 3 creatures out before you start turn 2, and you're gonna have to find a way to deal with that.

The main vulnerability in my deck, much like yours, is removal. Celaphid Constable is a cool card, but if your deck relies on a single card for victory, people are gonna find ways to make you sad.

lol. When playing tribal, there's always a wrath spell waiting to make you sad.

Google "Izzet Machine Gun" and "Izzet Blitz". You've got somewhat of a hodgepodge of the two decks right now. It'll give you some ideas on the cards.

Burn decks usually run less lands because they're reliant on the draw to win. 18 is common for a burn deck. But I suppose if you want to troll an MTG forum, that's some next level stuff, bro

You might consider creatures like Mnemonic Wall, Scribe of the Mindful, and/or Archaeomancer if your main focus is to mill in pauper format (all commons). Get more mileage out of cards like Mind Sculpt instead of trying to ping them for 1's and 2's.

Then you can get creative and unsummon them.

No sweat.

Portent is an underrated card. Force spike and Power Sink are some other counterspells. I like power sink because it has variable mana tax. There's some newer cards that play similar to it, but their names escape me.

Good luck in your tournament.

I used to run a control deck with Mishra's Helix in the 90's. It might work well with propaganda because you can lock out their lands pre-combat.

Negate is a better card than Flash Counter on your sideboard because it encompasses both instants, sorcery's, enchantments, and (non-creature) artifacts for the same casting cost. As you've mentioned, this is gonna be super vulnerable to burn/fireball decks. Cards like fatigue and portent can totally screw up their draw. Burn decks can't win with their opening hand, so they need draws to win. Forcing them to skip their draw or draw lands will kill their momentum.

Arcane Laboratory has a lock-out combo with Jace, Unraveler of Secrets. You'd have to draw the came out to like turn 10 to make it work, though.

You could drop to 18 lands and throw in some shocks to increase the number of 1 drops. Burn decks gamble on the draw; where, you don't want to draw a land.

Counterspells delay; they also protect. Path to exile and terminate are meaningless if they don't resolve. You are right that big creatures don't bluntly make decks better. Jace Memory Adept and thing in the ice are good choices, as you've mentioned.

My point is you want to play something that can wrap up the game while you have control of it and use your counterspells to protect it. The way to crack a counterspell deck is to take your time and overwhelm it. Countering first and second spells poses little threat against a lot of decks when swinging with 1's and 2's.

lol, where's the win condition? You're going to counter a bunch of spells and run out of cards.

Maybe take out some control spells and put in a big creature. Use counterspells to slow the pace of the game in order to get enough turns to play a big creature, while keeping the battlefield clear.

Cryptic Serpent is a 20 cent card, and would work super well given all the instant spells.

Thresher beast is something worth looking at. It's a 4/4 beast. If it gets chump-blocked, your opponent sacks a land.

Desert Cerodon is a common in Amonkhet.

I'm a huge fan of Portent as an alternative to Brain Storm. You can also use Portent to look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's library, re-order them, or force them to reshuffle if you don't like what you see.

What is the point of evolving wilds in a mono-colored deck?

If you can play Kiln Fiend turn 2.... Lightning Bolt, Artful Dodge and Assault Strobe make for a pretty fun turn 3. (but we're getting into two-color for that gorgeous combo). (And yes, that's 23 damage turn 3)

Mono red, you might use your burn spells as multipliers and cast Fling on Kiln Fiend. It'll let you double down on hitting your opponent for 2's and 3's.

The biggest problem with burn decks is you will run out of cards before you can ever win. Check out cards like Browbeat and Dangerous Wager for extra draws. Also, having a static creature in there is gonna be nice. Either for blocking or a more consistent source to deal damage.

Best case scenario for this deck is a hand full of one-drops off the play and that takes you to an empty hand and your opponent (unchallenged) at 2 life by turn 3. There's 30% chance the next card is a mountain.

Straight burn relies too much on the draw and it's super easy to screw up their tempo. It's best to work in a backup plan.

"Remove from game at end of turn OR if it would leave play."

This combo doesn't work because your zombie is removed from the game when it dies. Unearth is a one-time ability.

Heartstone + Reassembling Skeleton would do the trick. Ashen Ghoul, if you can find a way to dump 3 of them in your graveyard (e.g. Buried Alive) will also work.