MIT#10 Top 8: Izzet Prowess

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

1. Introduction

Hi everyone, I’m ZengZengZeng, a Taipei player who mainly hangs out at 遊戲平方 and ALG.
This time I made the MIT#10 Modern Top 8 with Izzet Prowess.
Past results: MIT#4 Pioneer Top 8 with Izzet Phoenix.
Both of my MIT Top 8s were with Izzet decks.

2. The Deck

The most-watched tournament before the MIT was the EOE PT, where Blue Cannon dominated. But when I looked at the standings, Justin’s Izzet Prowess, the Swiss round first-place deck, caught my eye first. I was already quite interested in tempo decks, and 台灣黑熊, the idol of the 遊戲平方 group chat (fan page: 標準玩家碎碎念), also chose this deck and immediately bought Justin’s Sideboard Guide, so I settled on the same deck, thinking we could exchange ideas and practice together. In the end, because of other commitments, I didn’t keep up with buying the Guide, which I feel is quite a pity.

So I started looking for some free guides to read, and saw EthanMTG’s 5-0 video with a free Guide included. Once I saw it, I knew this was what I wanted! Three double strike spells in the main deck! Compared with Justin’s 2 main and 1 sideboard, it’s more aggressive and fully fits my needs.

Video link: MODERN IZZET PROWESS | 5-0 League! 🏆 | MTGO Gameplay & Sideboard Guide | MTG Modern

While practicing, I found that many decks were nearly unbeatable (Affinity, Titan, Zoo). At first, to counter these decks I mixed in white and turned it into Jeskai, adding three Wear//Tear to deal with things red-blue has trouble answering such as Urza’s Saga, Amulet of Vigor, and Leyline Binding. The win rate in sideboarded games did go up, but only a little. The day before the tournament, after practicing with cephille (fan page) and T1BloodMoon (fan page: 炸地．血月．組合技), I found that if the sideboard plan slows down the deck’s game plan just to answer cards, it’s really not worth it, so at the last minute I switched back to the original Izzet Prowess.

The difference from EthanMTG’s list is that instead of three Violent Urge, I changed one to the sorcery Assault Strobe. The reason is that in matchups where you need to win quickly (Tron, Blue Cannon, Titan), you’ll side out Cori-Steel Cutter and Expressive Iteration entirely, which makes it very likely you’ll be one card type short of delirium for Violent Urge’s double strike, so I chose this card with a guaranteed double strike. Then I swapped one sideboard Into the Flood Maw for Spell Pierce, because in practice Into the Flood Maw really had no targets. And that completed this Izzet Prowess list.

Decklist link: Modern Izzet Aggro deck by TsengZhengZeng • MTG DECKS

3. Main Rounds with Excellent Dodging

R1. Sam Combo (lost the die roll, 2-1)

Opponent: 尚峰 (fan page: 紅的喜氣). 紅的喜氣 didn’t play red, which surprised me a bit XD

• G1: My early offense was blocked by Young Wolf, I didn’t draw a single burn spell, and got taken out by 2 Marionette Apprentice plus a sacrifice outlet.
• G2: I had Cori-Steel Cutter and drew 2 Lava Dart, clearing the board while pushing damage through.
• G3: I had DRC and Unholy Heat, clearing the board while pushing damage through.
• A favorable matchup, but if I draw too few removal spells, I can still easily get blocked and then counterattacked.

R2. Colorless Tron (lost the die roll, 2-0)

• G1: The opponent didn’t assemble Tron, but one Dismember and one Kozilek’s Command blocked my early offense, and at the crucial moment I won with double strike.
• G2: The opponent played Ugin with 7 mana on turn 3. I played DRC on turn 1 and passed turn 2 to counter everything with Consign to Memory. The next turn Kozilek’s Command was hit by Spell Pierce, and since they drew nothing else, I slowly beat them down.
• A favorable matchup. Three double strike spells are strong! For the sideboard plan, just play steadily against what shows up.

R3. Mono-Green Lizard Blade (lost the die roll, 2-1)

Opponent: T1BloodMoon (fan page: 炸地．血月．組合技)

• G1: I got greedy with a turn-1 DRC + Mishra’s Bauble one-land opening hand, and then drew 6 straight non-lands and was punished and died.
• G2: I was on the play. On turn 1 I played Preordain, and on turn 2, with 2 lands, Cutter + Mishra’s Bauble made a Token to attack for 2, with a land, an artifact, and a sorcery in the graveyard. On turn 2 the opponent played two Eldrazi Temple into Thought-Knot Seer, and looked at my hand of 1 land, 1 Violent Urge, 2 Dart, and 1 DRC. They made the wrong choice and took DRC. The next turn I played a land and 2 Dart to hit Thought-Knot Seer, gave Violent Urge to the Token I made, sacrificed 2 lands and shot Thought-Knot Seer dead with 2 more Dart, and a 6/6 with prowess 5 plus a 6/5 double striker with trample carrying the Cutter at prowess 3 simply hit for 18 to end it. This was lethal from the cards in hand alone, and I should have calculated it.
• G3: I had DRC and Unholy, clearing the board while pushing damage through.
• A favorable matchup. For the sideboard plan, just play steadily against what shows up.

R4. Izzet Prowess (lost the die roll, 2-1)

Opponent: 竑宇

• G1: At the crucial moment, I didn’t use Dart + flashback on my own turn, losing a land, to kill Slickshot Show-Off directly. I only killed it the next turn, after it was saved by a self-drawn +2/+2, and after that it was hopeless.
• G2: On the play, a turn-1 DRC with three Mishra’s Bauble hit delirium immediately. The opponent misplayed Unholy without delirium, so I had to blow up extra lands with flashback Dart to recover, but couldn’t catch up.
• G3: On the draw, I drew Spell Pierce and countered Cutter, and Spell Snare countered Iteration, after which the opponent had no resources and I slowly killed them.
• A mirror match, winner take all: the side that draws worse loses.

R5. Sam Combo (won the die roll, 2-1, first time on the play!)

Opponent: 志懋

• G1: My early offense was blocked by Young Wolf, they played Birthing Ritual to generate resources, and in the end 2 Marionette Apprentice plus a sacrifice outlet took me out.
• G2: I had Cutter and enough burn, clearing the board while pushing damage through.
• G3: The opponent played Gilded Goose on the play. On the draw, I used Unholy to kill it, stalling them on one land, and steadily beat them down.
• A favorable matchup, same as R1. With great dodging, I reached 5-0!!!

R6 & R7. ID

At the end it was 5-0-2, a sure Top 8. In the Swiss rounds, my dodging was truly excellent, and apart from one mirror match, all my matchups were favorable, which is how I went straight 5-0 to earn a ticket to the finals. Normally, the top 4 would get to be on the play in the first Top 8 match, but because of the temptation of Aerith, the three 5-1 tables behind all had one player concede to push a 6-1 up. I didn’t expect that many 6-1s to come up, otherwise I should have played the last round after 5-0-1, since winning would give me the play, while losing or drawing would leave me on the draw, same as just making Top 8.

I finished fifth. After four straight times on the draw, I was on the draw in the finals too, and I ran into Titan, which had a win rate below 30 percent…

R8. Top 8: Amulet Titan (on the draw, 0-2)

Opponent: 承翰

• G1: A very bad game. My opening hand was 2 lands, 1 Violent Urge, 1 Preordain, 1 Mishra’s Bauble, 1 Slickshot, and 1 growth +2/+2. That is a hand that can kill on turn 3! Preordain even showed me Lightning Bolt and a second growth +2/+2, giving me hope. But the opponent played Arboreal Grazer on turn 1 to ramp into Crumbling Vestige for mana to play Amulet of Vigor, played a land on turn 2, and on turn 3 played a land with four lands for a Scapeshift kill…
• G2: I kept an opening hand of 1 Preordain, 1 Consign, 2 Mishra’s Bauble, 1 Violent Urge, and 2 lands. Preordain looked at two lands and I still drew a land, the 2 Mishra’s Bauble drew 1 land and 1 DRC, and then I drew two more lands… The opponent drew two Arboreal Grazer and also used Green Sun’s Zenith to find a third Arboreal Grazer to build a defensive line, while I had only one DRC on the battlefield without delirium…

4. Conclusion

This time the turnout set a record high, making the championship at 微風廣場 especially lively. I hope Wizards hears the players’ voices and works to improve things. In addition, many of the teammates I usually practice with made Top 8, which shows that the team’s practice is truly fruitful and effective, and I look forward to continuing to improve together with this group.