Hello everyone. Last week, I wrote about some decks that you could use in the interim between now and when you've gotten the cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty that you need to create decks featuring those new cards. One of the decks I had written about was nullified due to the banning of Alrund's Epiphany and Divide by Zero. In order to make up for that, I've decided to give you three decks to replace the one that had the banned cards. Each of these decks is Izzet colored, but each of them has their own unique means of winning. Let's get started.

Izzet Mystic Reflection Combo

We get started with a combo deck that attempts to win via Dragons. Let's take a look at the deck.

Izzet Mystic Reflection Combo | VOW Standard | choppheaven, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (9)
• 2 Wandering Mind
• 3 Smoldering Egg // Ashmouth Dragon
• 4 Goldspan Dragon

• Instants (13)
• 2 Saw It Coming
• 3 Mystic Reflection
• 4 Dragon's Fire
• 4 Fading Hope

• Sorceries (13)
• 2 Inspired Idea
• 2 Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass
• 3 Burn Down the House
• 3 Expressive Iteration
• 3 Igneous Inspiration

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Wizard Class

• Lands (22)
• 4 Island
• 5 Mountain
• 1 Prismari Campus
• 2 Frostboil Snarl
• 2 Hall of Storm Giants
• 4 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
• 4 Stormcarved Coast

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Introduction to Annihilation
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 2 Teachings of the Archaics
• 3 Environmental Sciences

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Since casting both Mystic Reflection and Burn Down the House in the same turn requires a lot of mana, you'll need to make sure you can stay alive. You can do this by ensuring your opponent isn't able to mount a big enough threat to defeat you before you bring your fleet of Dragons into play. You can cast spells that will deal damage directly to your opponent's creatures, such as Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass, Igneous Inspiration, or Dragon's Fire. You can also counter your opponent's threats by casting Saw it Coming. If your opponent manages to get a threat into play that you later want to remove, but you don't have enough direct damage spells to destroy it, you still have an out. If you have Saw it Coming in your hand, you can cast Fading Hope to return that creature to your opponent's hand. Then, when they attempt to recast it, you can counter their creature spell.

Since this deck is a combo deck, you'll need things to come up in a certain order for the deck to run smoothly. In the event that you're unable to find a copy of either Mystic Reflection or Burn Down the House, you can get some assistance by casting Wandering Mind. While you're not guaranteed to find the card you need in the top six cards of your library, it at least offers you a chance. With nearly half of this deck being made up on noncreature, nonland cards, you'll likely find something you can use to buy yourself the additional time needed to find all of your combo pieces.

Izzet Giants

Next, I have a Giant tribal deck that can dish out the pain. Let's take a look at it.

Izzet Giants | VOW Standard | Arena_Hacks, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Aegar, the Freezing Flame
• 4 Calamity Bearer
• 4 Cyclone Summoner
• 4 Quakebringer

• Instants (10)
• 2 Cinderclasm
• 4 Flame-Blessed Bolt
• 4 Squash

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Glimpse the Cosmos

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Battle of Frost and Fire
• 4 Invasion of the Giants

• Lands (24)
• 5 Island
• 8 Mountain
• 2 Stormcarved Coast
• 2 Volatile Fjord
• 3 Hall of Storm Giants
• 4 Frostboil Snarl

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Both Invasion of the Giants and Battle of Frost and Fire are also very synergistic to the Giant theme of this deck. With Invasion of the Giants, you'll be able to cast a Giant creature with a two-mana discount once this saga reaches its final stage. Battle of Frost and Fire helps clear your opponent's side of the battlefield with its first stage. You'll deal four points of damage to each non-Giant creature and each planeswalker in play. Obviously, this will only affect your opponent, since this deck has no planeswalkers and no non-Giant creatures.

Lately, I've been playing a lot with a Selesnya Lifegain deck on Magic Arena. This deck has one creature in it that I hate to face. That creature is Quakebringer. Quakebringer's ability that doesn't allow your opponent to gain life is very frustrating to play against. There have been times that I've been facing an opponent's Quakebringer, and I've decided it is better to concede the game rather than to continue on. If you often find yourself up against decks that gain life, consider trying this deck.

Izzet Mill

The final deck this week features an alternative way to win, which I absolutely love. Let's check it out.

Izzet Mill | VOW Standard | Sonio, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned

• Instants (25)
• 1 Demon Bolt
• 1 Prismari Command
• 2 Cathartic Pyre
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 3 Fading Hope
• 3 Galvanic Iteration
• 3 Jwari Disruption
• 3 Memory Deluge
• 3 Spikefield Hazard
• 4 Unexpected Windfall

• Sorceries (11)
• 1 Crush the Weak
• 2 Burn Down the House
• 4 Expressive Iteration
• 4 Tasha's Hideous Laughter

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 The Celestus

• Lands (22)
• 5 Mountain
• 6 Island
• 3 Field of Ruin
• 4 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
• 4 Stormcarved Coast

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The primary spell this deck uses to mill its opponent is Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Normally, Tasha's Hideous Laughter will mill cards form an opponent's library until a total mana value of milled cards equals or exceeds 20. That means you'd likely have to cast this spell three times (or more) in order to completely mill your opponent's deck. However, by copying Tasha's Hideous Laughter with Galvanic Iteration, you will get more bang for your buck and mill twice as quickly. Alternatively, you can give Tasha's Hideous Laughter (along with all of your other instant and sorcery spells) flashback, allowing you to cast it an additional time. Lier also makes all of your spells unable to be countered, so you'll know that your attempt to mill will be successful.

In order to stay alive long enough to mill your opponent's deck out, you'll need to rely on your spells to keep your opponent's side of the battlefield free of major threats. Demon Bolt, Cathartic Pyre, and Burn Down the House can deal direct damage to deal with your opponent's larger creatures. Similarly, Prismari Command, Spikefield Hazard, and Crush the Weak will deal smaller amounts of direct damage to those lesser threats. You can also use Disdainful Stroke and Jwari Disruption // Jwari Ruins to counter an opponent's spells as they cast them, keeping you safe in the process.

Wrapping Up

Even though a couple of powerful Blue spells got banned last week, these decks prove that there's still a lot to like with the Izzet color pair. They serve as suitable replacements for last week's deck that is no longer playable. If you're a fan of control decks, one of these decks might be right up your alley. Give them a shot during those first few weeks after Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty releases.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

-Mike Likes