Izzet Four or Greater? Nope

by tangey on 21 August 2014

Main Deck (60 cards)

Sideboard (17 cards)

Sorceries (2)


Planeswalkers (3)


Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards.


Deck Description

This is a budget deck designed to help the rookie players try a new and slightly crazy taste on the game. If you want to throw in a few more bucks, throw in the cards on the sideboard. Note that these cards raise the price substantially, but provide massive support for consistency.

Regardless, this is a combo deck that revolves around card interactions with Satyr Firedancer and Battlefield Thaumaturge. Hope you enjoy!

Edit 1: WOW I am really surprised how fast this deck took off! I really appreciate all of the love guys, I will be sure to build more decks and share ideas with you in the future! THANK YOU :D

Edit #2: So I just got this deck, and I immediately realized that there was to much land! I replaced 3 of the islands with some Triton Tactics so that we can defend ourselves against early aggro.

How to Play

The main core of the deck are the Firedancer and the Thaumaturge, however, they are not necessary to win the game. With this deck you want to swing hard with your flying creatures while also blowing things up with burn spells. If they try to throw a wrench in your way, counter it! If you run out of steam, use Steam Augury or Divination to draw more cards to beat them up with. And of course, who could play Izzet without turning things into frogs (or bacon :D)!!!

Combos:
1. Thaumaturge + Curse of the Swine = FREE BACON :D :D :D :D :D

2. Thaumaturge + most spells = cheaper spells

3. Firedancer + Burn spells to your opponent's face =creatures burn to. Pretty good.

Remember, these are not necessary, they are just awesome. Use your flying dudes to beat them down, and remember that Master of Predicaments is the funnest card ever, and you will love the fun you can do with him! (Try to bring in Illusory Angel, it should work :D)

Hope you have fun with the deck! Feel free to make it better/suggest stuff!

*Note-before you guys get on me about not putting in Polymorphist's Jest, I put in Turn to Frog due to the interaction with Thaumaturge. I agree that Jest is amazing, but Curse of the Swine is better.

Deck Tags

  • Cheap
  • Budget
  • Izzet
  • Standard

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

62
Likes

This deck has been viewed 8,968 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

0400160

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Izzet Four or Greater? Nope

I should really get myself an Izzet deck.
That will probably be my next one, Izzet control/burn, this one's a good inspiration.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:22

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What about Gorgon's Head? Giving the Satyr Firedrinker deathtouch would be nice.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:24

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I like the thought of Dragonshift + Battefield Thaumaturge, cost RRUU and all of your creatures become 4/4 flying dragons at the right time. However, the strength of your flyers are equal or greater so it wouldn't do much in this deck, but maybe another izzet style.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:35

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It's the same reason why I left out Hour of Need, just not enough value gained.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 19:28

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Steam Augury is 4 mana..............

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:39

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Always has been.....

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:41

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The title is a play on Master of Predicaments.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:42

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oh lmao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 21:33

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your title should be Izzet Five or Greater? Nope, or Izzet Greater then Four? Nope

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:47

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but it is a solid deck

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:48

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I agree. Looks like a fun deck.

The only thing is that no matter what dissolve will cost 1UU, it counters target spell. Battlefield Thaumaturge effect will only activate if targeted a creature on the battlefield, not a spell yet to be summoned.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:51

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You're right, no counterspells will be effected by Thaumaturge, but hopefully we can get something funner in the next set :D

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 19:27

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This looks like a pretty fun deck. I love the description, And the theme. Even though they aren't in standard, I love to put fireball with thaumaturge. :)

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 16:57

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we can dream <3

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 19:23

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Incredibly good deck.
...and you better believe me. I know pretty much everything about budget decks.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 18:15

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Thanks man, I appreciate it!

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 19:23

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The only card you have that is greater than 4 converted mana is the Master of Predicaments, perhaps try to splash a few surprises in there that are > 4? Otherwise, its a pretty easy guess.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 18:48

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I'd say thats the best thing for him, if you think about it steam augury costs 4, so they are gonna think everything in the deck after it plays for awhile is 3 or less, then get surprised by a steam augury. If I would add anything for surprise it would be an epic experiment.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 19:19

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Would 1 Stormtide Leviathan be good?

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 19:22

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That would definitely be a surprise to put in to play for free.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 20:27

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Steam Augury costs 4, isn't greater than 4, it is still a easy guess like said before by Jackbwolf

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Posted 22 August 2014 at 13:05

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I don't think anyone will answer 4 or greater. -_- You wont get any free spells on game 2 and 3 if ever you win in game one. What do you think? Nice idea though.

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 21:41

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The reason why I said this is because of Mana Curve. Most decks needs to have 3 or lower Average CMC. So most probably, even if your opponent does not know your cards, he'll know that, most likely, your card's CMC is less than 4. :)

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Posted 21 August 2014 at 21:43

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Master of Predicaments in this deck is made to do 2 things specifically; He is there to hit hard and he is there to knock your opponent off their guard. Most people will pick 4 or greater because if they are wrong and I drop a small dude, it is sorta irrelevant. However, if they follow your logic on game 2 or 3, they will be in even more trouble if I drop a huge kraken or something when they just expected a lightning strike.

It is not that I have those big dudes, it is the fear that I might.

Regardless, there are only 2 Master of Predicaments in the deck. He is supposed to be a fun card that may come out and help, but he is completely unreliable when using his ability. If there was a card to replace him, it would be Stormbreath Dragon.

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Posted 22 August 2014 at 00:04

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Well explained. You got me on the Kraken part. It's not on the main or the side so I was not able to add that concept to the main idea of the deck. It will really be a good strategy. Nonetheless, I stand corrected. :)

Hmm. Don't add the Stormbreath Dragon. It stinks. I hate it. -_-

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Posted 23 August 2014 at 13:18

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Nice deck, might I recommend Stoke the Flames as an additional burn spell as well as Prescience Chimera in place of Master of Predicaments, since it adds a lot more value.

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Posted 22 August 2014 at 06:43

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I feel as though adding a sideboard to take out the Master of Predicaments past game 1 if you play it would be helpful, since i't not going to be terribly effective once your opponent plays against it. Keranos is great in this deck, especially if you decided to ramp into it on turn 3 with a generator servant. I also think you could use a touch more card draw. Steam Augury is pretty cool, though.

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Posted 22 August 2014 at 12:21

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Young Pyromancer would be silly in this deck

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Posted 23 August 2014 at 08:51

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I'm sticking with post rotation cards for now. Good idea though!

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Posted 23 August 2014 at 09:06

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Why not go U/R Heroic with Akroan Crusader, Aquaform, Titan's Strength, Dragonmantle, and some other strive Cards like Hour of Need, Aerial Formation, Rouse the Mob? Just some other cheap budget cards that make U/R Heroic a silly thing

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Posted 23 August 2014 at 21:00

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It's not my playstyle :3

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Posted 23 August 2014 at 22:47

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I do not get the name of this deck.
I read "Izzet Four or Greater? Nope"

So...i am assuming when I look at the deck, I will not see any cards that cost more than 3 mana.
But you have cards that cost 4 mana and more.
So...really confused.

If "Four or Greater" isn't returning to the cost of the mana in your cards...I am missing something.

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Posted 23 August 2014 at 22:22

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It is referring to mana costs. I named it based off of the Master of Predicaments trigger, when your opponent asks "is it four or greater?", to which you reply "nope", and play the card that is 3 or less cmc. However, there are cards that are 4 or higher cmc in this deck, namely 1 other Master of predicaments and 2 Steam augeries. These 3 cards are a necessary due to consistent card draw and using Master of Predicaments effectively.

In most cases, you would pick cards like Magma Jet or Illusory Angel to cast with Master of Predicaments based on the idea that your opponent will likely say >4 to save themselves from a 5/5 dragon or something similar. However, after the first game they will see through this guise, and it would probably be wise to sideboard in some larger monsters like Stormtide Leviathan or Shivan Dragon. These will keep your opponent guessing throughout the game, and will likely win you the round based on what you sideboarded in.

I hope this clears things up!

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Posted 23 August 2014 at 22:45

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Ahh, yes. I see.

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Posted 24 August 2014 at 01:41

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Do you think you could make a casual or modern version of this deck? I really, really like it!

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Posted 24 August 2014 at 04:38

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I'll look into it!

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Posted 24 August 2014 at 09:17

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Great deck, does it play any good, made this one http://www.mtgvault.com/dragon77/decks/budget-fly-high-in-the-sky-2/

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Posted 25 August 2014 at 14:31

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Very nice deck! +1 and a thumbs up! How do you feel about mana leaks? I've always preferred those over the "noncreature" or "instant or sorcery" specific counterspells.

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Posted 26 August 2014 at 17:35

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I would use them if they were in standard.

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Posted 26 August 2014 at 19:19

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oops my bad, I thought they were standard legal since they are so common.

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Posted 26 August 2014 at 19:52

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Awesome deck man, I've seen a few similar izzet decks on here, but yours was the one I liked the most. I played with an exact copy of it when you originally posted it a week ago. Played a few casual rounds as well as a few games at FNM. It worked great in it's current form against all kinds of aggro and midrange decks, but I found I struggled with some types of heavy control decks... U/B and U/B/G specifically. There were a lot of those being played at the shop I frequent. So I changed it up a bit, dropping a few creatures for more control, and a couple planeswalkers. Here's what I ended up with: http://www.mtgvault.com/cdngrep/decks/counterburn-chimera/

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Posted 27 August 2014 at 15:17

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Thank you for playtesting it! I have been trying to get this deck built, but I have had no time to really do it (college and stuff). I really like the build that you have, and I appreciate the help!

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Posted 27 August 2014 at 21:29

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The next thing I noticed after continuing to play test, is that as much as Satyr Firedancer seems like one of the best cards to put in, I really don't get to get much use of it's trigger with only 4 player-targeted burn spells.... I know it seems like total blasphemy, but I'm really considering dropping mine to work in some other win-con other than the Chimera... In my iteration, I already dropped Illusory Angel to make room for more control, so I'm thinking of dropping the Firedancers to take the Angels back, which I believe will really speed up the deck. Goblin Rabblemaster might fit nicely as well... Maybe if Shock gets printed in KTK, and we can drop 4 x Magma Jet for 4x Shocks, the Firedancer would suddnely become extremely good again, but right now, I'm just not feeling it.

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Posted 29 August 2014 at 15:04

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I built this deck around the premise of having 8 burn spells, 8 counterspells, 8 flying dudes, and 4 disrupt/ 4 draw, and then tweaked the numbers to fit a build that I liked. I build this way because it creates a consistent powerful deck that allows you to narrow your card pool down to exactly what you need. Feel free to modify to your heart's content, but know the more that you modify the less and less consistent it will become. Stick to the fundamentals and not the cards that you like, and you will create strong decks.

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Posted 29 August 2014 at 20:15

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julian123 has deleted this comment.

Posted 28 August 2014 at 03:11

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Great Deck! For standard I like it just the way it is. I do echo the idea of sideboarding a couple absurdly big spells in for games 2 and 3.
Like +1

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Posted 06 September 2014 at 20:01

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