Izzet EDH Staple cards
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Jan. 21, 2014, 6:29 p.m. by Enlightened_Jedi
Most Commonly used piece of advice I've gotten from everyone when building a deck: "Pick a General, and go from there."
Well considering I think your EDH deck should be fun, for yourself and your pod, and somewhat of a representation of who you are as a magic player, I've decided that I want to run Melek, Izzet Paragon as my general.
Izzet really to me has always been one of my favorite, if not THE top guild. It has Blue, the color of my choice, and you can do some really fun and creative things with it.
Just wondering to what my approach should be in slowly forming this deck? Which will be somewhat budget at first. I don't plan on buying all the expensive stuff first, yet more of the get everything cheap first and then slowly get the expensive things (looking at you Cryptic Command & Time Spiral )
Also it's good to note for anyone giving card selection advice that I want the deck to be fun & good, but not so wild that it just sucks all the fun out of the game when I play MP or 1v1. Because I know a few people who folks just simply dont want to play due to their EDH decks just being annoying or taking the fun out of the game.
So I'm down to have a few combo's within the deck, but I want it to fun for everyone, if that makes sense? just more fun/spell-slinging for me than the others lol
Some staples/cards I have gathered for izzet so far:Darksteel Ingot Melek, Izzet Paragon (duh) Epic Experiment , Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius , Firemind's Foresight , Sol Ring , Cyclonic Rift Ponder , Rewind , Mana Leak
Just curious to what are some staples spells and cards I should include from all the other izzet players. Also what burn spells should definitely make the deck to have some fun with the copying abilities of the izzet pile of potential cards?
FaustHarbinger says... #3
It really depends how you want to put the deck together. feel free to check out my Melek deck for ideas. Kill it with Fire and LIGHTNING!!!
January 21, 2014 11:33 p.m.
SharuumNyan says... #4
Will your group let you use proxies to try the deck out before you buy pricey cards?
FYI: Melek, Izzet Paragon is one of the most hated-on generals.
January 22, 2014 11:34 a.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #5
I've seen a lot of people liking Prophetic Bolt for Melek EDH (besides those already named), but I haven't seen any Melek EDH decks that were particularly effective locally, either. Most of them were trying to go for themes like copy effects or heavy amounts of direct damage, rather than trying to get huge amounts of extra turns or playing permanents that benefit from large numbers of nonpermanents being cast/put into your graveyard.
I thought Future Sight (to let you play non-instant/sorcery cards like lands) and Galvanoth (play your crazy stuff for free) suited Melek, Izzet Paragon though. Also, scry or similar effects like Brainstorm or Crystal Ball (or Sensei's Divining Top if you want to get serious) so you can stack the top card to benefit you as much as possible. Note that nothing I said means you can't have an effect Melek deck, I just have not witnessed one.
January 22, 2014 12:20 p.m.
Enlightened_Jedi says... #6
nobu_the_bard so are you suggesting that Izzet deck's usually just suck? lol i know the deck probably won't go undefeated, but I mean surely there is a way to build the deck where it just doesn't get stomped every. single. time.
i want to really focus the deck on card draw/playing big spells for big plays or finishers (example: Banefire ) and perhaps taking a few extra turns would also be awesome. And I feel like one of izzets strong points is the common ability to copy spells and pretty much play numerous copies of strong or tricky spells.
honestly above all I just want to have fun, and just have some enjoyment of using awesome spells.
SharuumNyan actually I have a friend who is open to using proxies, we use them all the time in our standard builds. Good idea!
January 22, 2014 7:09 p.m.
Enlightened_Jedi says... #7
FaustHarbinger do you usually have fun playing izzet? Any things you feel suck playing those colors?
January 22, 2014 7:11 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
@Enlightened_Jedi: Izzet definitely doesn't suck. You do, however, need to build carefully to sidestep some of the issued that come with playing UR.
For example, you have little in the way of effective wipes or removal spells. Once a permanent resolves, it's going to be annoying to handle.
Your ramp is going to come largely from artifacts, since UR doesn't have any universally good instant or sorcery ramp.
You should first choose the direction of the deck. You mentioned wanting to use Melek, Izzet Paragon , so I assume you're going to be going instant/sorcery heavy. The easy route would be to go control, but your friends will probably get tired of you double-countering everything with your topdeck.
As for staples, Sensei's Divining Top is indispensable as a utility card. Future Sight is a little redundant, but it allows you to filter non-instant, non-sorcery cards off your topdeck.
Scroll Rack is a strong utility card as well because you can dump useless cards and a useful instant/sorcery, pick up some other cards, and then cast your good spell off your topdeck (twice, even).
January 22, 2014 7:19 p.m.
FaustHarbinger says... #9
@Enlightened_Jedi- I love playing izzet. I have a Standard, EDH, and Casual Izzet deck. and I have the izzet guild symbol tattooed haha. I find it to be very fun and perplexing. Im constantly reworking my izzet decks in hopes to make them better and better. the only thing I run into is that I wish I had more mana lol. Only thing is in EDH Red and Blue dont have alot of board wipes. and in my meta I find the need for them to be alot. I even threw in a Jokulhaups jsut for giggles haha.
January 22, 2014 11:43 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #10
@Enlightened_Jedi No I didn't mean they suck, I'd have said that :)
I just mean, it seems hard to do well. EDH favors permanents and long-term plans (creatures, repeatable abilities, etc). Favoring instants or sorceries in your strategy makes it hard to keep pace; there's a lot of ways to mess with it: Grand Abolisher , Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir , Rhystic Study , Voice of Resurgence ... Also, since your threats are transient, you may need a lot of graveyard recursion, and there's lots of ways to mess with that, that many people will bring: Planar Void , Rest in Peace , Grafdigger's Cage ...
If you play with a lot of spells like Banefire or Fanning the Flames as win conditions you will need serious mana for those X values, which means your manabase will be heavy with artifacts, because UR doesn't have a lot of great mana accelerators.
I'm sure if you look around you'll find a way to make it work though. Where there's a will there's a way!
Epochalyptik says... #2
I've got a ton of EDH resources, including regular and budget staple lists and a deckbuilding guide, on my profile page. Check those out.
January 21, 2014 6:34 p.m.