I would get rid of amulet for inspiration or Bident of thassa.

@daninja. I would chuck burning iquiry for one of the take control of opponents creature spells to combo with fling, or skull crack

That is a fine idea, Act of Treason could work here, although the mana cost would make it the most expensive noncreature spell...but I already have a deck that's focused around steal 'n fling/cloudshift so I don't want to include it here. And do not underestimate Inquiry, it may see like not much, but this is the deck for it to shine, you can always make it hurt you less or even benefit you with flashback spells/Skulker and the effects for your opponent might be devastating, more so if he's setting his combo or the turn after he used Rune-Scarred. You can also use it to fix your hand, when you're getting manascrewed/flooded

Okay. While it could be interesting I still think it doesn't advance your decks burn as well as other cards could. And there's always the chance that could help your opponent more via their flashbacks and possible giving them the card they want

After some more testing I am loving this Izzet build. I went 10-0 before finally losing 2 games in a row but still finished 13-2. The 2 losses were barely losses. The first one was basically a mirror match where I got out-burned and kept drawing everything except my burn, lol (which is pretty uncommon). The 2nd was against a late-game fatty deck. I made a couple mistakes and could have won this one if I played better (lol, it happens). Still, the opponent played well and won with 2 life left.

Other than those 2 losses I generally creamed my opponents and was left with the AI the majority of the games, lol. I'm sure a couple cards could be edited but as the saying goes "If it aint broke don't fix it."

Inspiration might be an option, since if I have a Charmbreaker out it could recycle. In practice though the Amulet has worked fairly well for me. Consistently getting to draw an extra card turn after turn is really nice. Inspiration relies on something like the Charmbreaker to bounce back up into my hand, at which point I have to spend the 4 mana to re-cast it. My gut says I'm better off spending the mana up front to get the Amulet running, then enjoy one extra card every turn. I do have a full compliment of Think Twice if I need a quick draw that recycles. I may try switching the Amulets out to see how it plays, though. Thanks for the suggestion!

As for the Bident, I'm not sure that's a good fit for my deck. It only lets me draw when I have a creature deal combat damage to my opponent. In this deck, I can't rely on that happening consistently enough. My foundation creatures are either for defense or to trigger abilities, they aren't for offensive combat. It got to the point where I started holding back from attacking with the Charmbreakers even when they get pumped and it looks like I have a clear shot. Between the black removal that goes after tapped creatures(Assassinate?) and the white one that goes after attacking/blocking creatures, I've been surprised a few times. Now I only risk it if it's for a kill shot. Therefore, my primary source of combat damage are the tokens generated by Talrand. The rest of the damage I do is via Guttersnipes, the Wand, or burn to the face.

OK so I played some more and faced some difficult opponents and I did realize this deck would prosper from some more burn cards. Unfortunately, besides Shock, the burn spells in the meta suck a lot...so currently I'm trying -2 Voyage's End -2 Burning Inquiry +2 Volcanic Geyser +2 Bolt of Keranos.

While those burn spells are not great, they do get the job done and having 6 bounce spells is probably too many here. So far I'm satisfied with more burn, although I had to include one more Mountain and drop one Island, to be able to cast those red heavy spells more consistently. But many times I just wish I could run more Shocks, or better yet, lightning bolts!

any card that procs of guttersnipe and token flying dude in decks that include them are better that those that dont, and just like with think twice it nice to let your oppents turn go and drop it at the end and have 2 cards right now. i sorta like amulet in decks that include trample and/or double strike and no access to blue draw power.

as for bident, it does the same thing to all your creatures. most of the tho time its a really good threat so the opponent gives pause to atking. "if you atk im gunna have more cards than you."

I've got 5 different creatures in the deck:

Kraken Hatchling - 0 power, won't be triggering the Bident
Guard Gomazoa - has Defender, won't be triggering the Bident
Guttersnipe, Charmbreaker Devils, Talrand, Sky Summoner - capable of attack, but are important for their other effects, and I'm leery about using them for combat unless I can be sure of a clear field. Besides, I don't want to threaten more cards, I want to *have* more cards.

I'll definitely give Inspiration a trial run sometime, see how it works compared to the Avarice Amulet. I gotta say though, the Amulet's been working out pretty decent so far.

my bad, i mistook the amulet affect to having to atk. no bident then. still ispiration

if theres a similar list srry the thread is to long to read the whole thing.
[card]22 lands 12 islands 6 mountains 4 izzet guildgates
x3 shock
x2 Triton Shorestalker
x4 vapor snag
x4 Think Twice
x4 Negate
x3 Voyage's End
x4 Krenko's Command
x3 Skullcrack
x2 Chasm Skulker
x2 Rockslide Elemental
x3 Guttersnipe
x2 Talrand, Sky Summoner
x2 Bident of Thassa[/card]
a little risky on the land but it commits to damage the opponent cant do jack about. triton is inexhaustible burn. krenko combos with bident and rockslide. negates and bounce to cover my guttersnipe(hes just not going to die period) and skull for pesky black/white decks

My most successful deck thus far:



Lands (21):
9x Island
8x Mountain
4x Izzet Guildgate

Creatures (13):
4x Goblin Arsonist
4x Kiln Fiend
3x Guttersnipe
2x Talrand, Sky Summoner

Spells (26):
4x Artful Dodge
4x Vapor Snag
4x Shock
2x Coordinated Assault
4x Voyage's End
4x Think Twice
4x Krenko's Command

Kiln Fiend is your friend. Along with Artful Dodge, the damage can add up in no time, especially with a Guttersnipe in play as well. Creature removal, especially Anger, have been the biggest weakness.

hows the coordinated assults work for ya? never played and it never seems to workout for my opponents.

I like Quicken in these decks. Even if you have no Sorcery to play off it, it is still a great cantrip for decks like these.

I haven't posted here in a while. I thought I would post a deck I have been having a lot of fun with online. It doesn't win all the time but I get more wins than losses.

Military Raid

7 x Island
10 x Mountain
4 x Izzet Guildgate
4 x Cloudfin Raptor
4 x Triton Shorestalker
4 x Vapor Snag
3 x Military Intelligence
4 x Goblin Arsonist
4 x Goblin Bushwhacker
4 x Shock
4 x Goblin Shortcutter
2 x Skullcrack
2 x Goblin Rabblemaster
4 x Raid Bombardment


I wanted Raid Bombardment to be good and I wanted a deck that would make it shine. I feel like this deck does that. I debated using Think Twice over Military Intelligence but I found that Intelligence just performs better. I played with different creature mixes and settled on what I have.

I win a majority of my matches with this deck but it does suffer if the game goes too long. Mid-range decks with any amount of life gain are a real problem.

Curious about opinions on the build and possible tweaks.

EDIT - I dropped two Islands and added two Skullcrack. It has helped finish off a few games when I would have stalled otherwise. I think I am going to keep them in.

If life gain is a problem, Skullcrack could be the answer. It also gets around protection and Fog. I'd possibly remove 3 land to fit them in, with only a handful of cards over 2 converted mana cost you don't really need to run 23 land.

I will give that a shot. Thanks for the feedback. I was getting flooded at times but on occasion I was coming up short on land so I debated how much land to run. I will see how it goes and report back.

i've said it before and i'll keep saying it: i really don't think you need more than 3 Gates in dual-color decks. getting stalled for a turn can be problematic in this meta. other than that, looks very good.

edit: and yeah, i would go to 22 or even 21 lands with such a low curve. replace a couple lands with Void Snare or Voyage's End

I don't think you can just paint a broad picture and say "If dual never more than 3 gates". I will base it off of how many 3 or under drops I have that need the same color (or dual colors). If I am running a deck and a lot of my cards are and in the costs then more gates will make the build more reliable, even with them coming in tapped. Which brings another point, if I am running a very fast deck (such as my aggro Simic deck with 21 lands where I have 0 gates) I will run a lot less gates, sometimes none at all. If I am running a slower control deck I will probably have all 4 gates. It also depends on how many of a color I have. If I just have a splash of with no double costs then I might only run a couple gates. It all depends on the build.

I dropped two Islands for two Skullcrack. I have not noticed too much stall due to the Gates but I haven't really been focused on that either. I will pay attention for the next few matches and see if it really slows me down with the 4th Gate. If it does I would probably drop one for a Mountain. I really only need two sources of blue to be able to roll with this deck.

Thanks again for the feedback everyone.