So I've been playing this deck for a year now, and I've been having SO MUCH FUN with it that I wanted to share it.
The main goal is to play my man Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker or Cruel Ultimatum around turn 8 to Obliterate your opponent. So you'll need to survive 'till late game.
Early turns ( Turn 1 / 2 ) We'll need cheap removals and control cards such as : Lightning Strike ,
Searing Blood
,
Ultimate Price
, Dreadbore ( For those Nasty Planeswalkers ) and
Terror
Izzet's finest cards around Turn 3 : Electrolyze with it's HUGE value, and Izzet Charm
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver on Turn 3 is savage. Stealing your opponent's Fatties is glorious; mostly against Aggro Deck.
Around turn 4 and 5, Crux of Fate is here to gain total board control. Pia and Kiran Nalaar in a Non-Artifact deck is wierd. But they provide Flying Blockers and Situational Blast.
Chandra, the Firebrand can copy our spells:
Copying Crater's Claws will double it's damage. Copying Cruel Ultimatum --> Your Opponent sacrifices two creatures, discards six cards and loses 10 Lifes. You return two creatures card from your graveyard ( Looking at you Platinum Angel ) Draw 6 cards, then gain 10 life. G G
Past turn 6, it's GG. Let's play our biggest finisher.
Cruel Ultimatum. This card gave his name to an archetype : Cruel Control. If this card would be more powerful, it'll make you a coffee and finish the game for you. It's very unlikely that an Opponent would come back from such Life, Card and Board advantage.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Half of the time, my opponent would rather conceide than playing against our lord and savior Nicol Bolas. +3 : Destroy anything beside creatures and Indestructibility. You can destroy your opponent's lands for Full-douchery.-2 : Take control of target creatures. Even when Bolas left the battlefield, the creature remain yours. -9 : No no no no, the text should be : Destroy Target Opponent. He can't be regenerated.I love this guys. He is what makes me want to play Magic when I woke up in the morning.
Platinum Angel : You can't lose and your opponents can't win the game. 7 Mana is expensive, I know. But this guy save me many MANY times. Best Case Scenario : Your opponent doesn't have any removals leff --> Never ever EVER Block with Platinum Angel --> You're now immortal --> Wait for Damages or Cruel Ultimatum --> Well Played.Worst Case Scenario : Platinum Angel can buy you some time to pull out your Nukes.
Akroma, Angel of Fury here is strange. But I love her so much, it's hard to put her aside. Basically, you can switch with any fatties that you love, really. ( + Most of the time I end up playing here for her Morph Cost. )But the idea is to play a creature so busted, it can finish off your opponent all by itself : Akroma does that pretty well --> Can't be counter, Flying, Trample, 6/6 that can be upgrade AND, MOST OF ALL Protection from White and Blue.
COMBO
Here's some combos I realised. Most of them includes a Planeswalker ( Mostly Chandra ).
- Chandra, the Firebrand's -2 Copy Ability + ANY BURST = If you managed to secure Chandra, and next turn copy a huge spell, ( Crater's Claws or Cruel Ultimatum Mostly ) you'll deal insane Damages.
- Liliana Vess -2 Tutor Ability + Jace, Memory Adept +1 Draw Ability + Chandra, the Firebrand -2 Copy Ability = You fetch a card from your deck with Liliana( Once again, Cruel Ultimatum is your best choice ) you draw it with Jace and you Copy it from your Hand with Chandra. EXTREMELY difficult to pull out, because you'll need all three of them, but it's awesome as hell.
- Izzet Charm + Cruel Ultimatum = Early game, in your starting hand having Akroma, Angel of Fury or Platinum Angel will lock your hand for a while. Don't hesitate to dish thoses cards in the graveyards with Izzet Charm Ability ( Draw two, discards two. ) You'll get them back later with Cruel Ultimatum ability.
- Ral Zarek +1 Tap / Untap Ability + Dimir Aqueduc AND/OR Izzet Boilerworks = Ral can untap/tap permanents for you. Your best bet is to Untap those two-mana lands for that Extra-mana. Ex: Turn 6, Tap all for 6 Mana, Use Ral Zarek +1, Tap again for 2 extra-mana. OR, Untap Dimir Aqueduc to use an
Ultimate Price
on ennemy's turn.
MATCH UP
AGGRO
Against aggro, you'll have to survive during Turn 1 to 4.
Kill your opponent minor treats with Lightning Strike ,
Searing Blood
and Izzet Charm. For heavy treats or Combo-Based / Combo-Heavy creatures, go for One-Shot such as
Ultimate Price
,
Terror
and Dreadbore.
Finally, against Token-Deck, bet on Electrolyze to wipe two 1/1 Spirit/Warrior tokens at once, and keep your precious Crux of Fate for 4-5 creatures whipe.Once you've managed to exhaust all treats from an Aggro deck --> PlanesWalkers, Crater's Claws and Finishers. GGWP
CONTROL
Control against Control is a very tricky Match-up.
Early turns, don't hesitate to face your opponent with Lightning Strike and Electrolyze to gain Life Advantage. And keep Hard Removals for Late-Game fatties. ( Always keep one Removals in hand, or else you'll encounter bad times around 6-7 Mana. ) Note : Control Deck doesn't have many creatures. ( Less than 10 ) Don't hesitate to Crux of Fate One or Two creatures. Really.
Be careful of CounterSpells. If your Ultimatum or Nicol get countered, you'll have a bad time finishing off your opponent. ( That's where Akroma comes handy )
Don't forget to always have at least 3-4 cards in hand; don't rush into Damages unless you have ressources behind.
I had great times against Control deck, I love ressources management and behind smarter than your opponent's strategy.
FINAL NOTE
Here's the deck I've been playing for a year with my buddies. I always manage to have fun or enjoy myself with all the possibilities this deck offers. I hope you'll like it, and leave a comment if you want to discuss some points with me !If you guys got any ideas to improve this baby, I'm open to all suggestions !
Thanks for reading !!
