“Izzet Spellementals is a tempo-combo deck that leverages spell-triggered synergies to grow its elemental creatures (primarily Hearth Elemental and Eddymurk Crab) while filtering through the deck with cantrips like Opt and Sleight of Hand. The deck uses a suite of cheap interaction and card selection to protect its threats and chain spells together, with payoffs like Sunderflock and Colorstorm Stallion closing out games once the engine is running. The core gameplan is to establish a threat early, then use each subsequent spell to both advance board state and trigger incremental advantages, overwhelming opponents who cannot answer multiple growing threats simultaneously.”
Missing sideboard cards? The full 15-card sideboard runs about $21.63.
Buy sideboard on ManapoolThis is the mirror, so the game is won by protecting your own Hearth Elemental and Eddymurk Crab while disrupting theirs with cheap countermagic. Disdainful Stroke stops their expensive payoffs like Sunderflock and Eddymurk Crab, since they have a high mana value no matter how cheaply they end up being cast. Spell Pierce can't hit creature spells, so it is there for their noncreature spells such as Prismari Charm, Flow State, Traumatic Critique and Burst Lightning, which often can't pay the extra {2} on the turn they are cast. Flashfreeze counters their red or green spells, hitting Burst Lightning, Impractical Joke and Hearth Elemental. Burst Lightning is weak here since neither deck has must-kill small creatures worth a 2-damage removal spell, and Impractical Joke's 3 damage doesn't kill any of the 4/5 or 5/5 creatures that matter in this matchup. Get Out stays in, because it counters their creature spells like Eddymurk Crab, Sunderflock and Hearth Elemental.
UR Aggro wants to race with cheap threats like Slickshot Show-Off, which has mana value 2, so an extra Spell Snare is a clean answer to it. Spell Snare only hits spells with mana value exactly 2, so it can't stop Elusive Otter (mana value 1). It can also catch their two-mana spells like Flow State and Vibrant Outburst. Colorstorm Stallion gives us a resilient clock that grows as we chain cheap instants and sorceries, matching their speed. Traumatic Critique is clunky and slow against an aggressive deck that wants to close the game quickly, so trim both copies. Impractical Joke's 3 damage is fine against their small creatures, but we have better rate plays coming in, so trim one copy in favor of more proactive threats and interaction.
Dimir Midrange wins with cheap creatures like Dream Beavers and Floodpits Drowner, plus Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and Enduring Curiosity for card advantage. Ghost Vacuum is a modest bring-in here. It can exile creature cards from their graveyard and later put them onto the battlefield under our control, which gives us a late-game plan. Flashfreeze stays in the sideboard because it only counters red or green spells and Dimir plays neither. Impractical Joke stays in the main deck. Its 3 damage kills Dream Beavers (1/1) and Floodpits Drowner (2/1) cleanly, and it can also hit Kaito or Enduring Curiosity. Enduring Curiosity will come back as a non-creature enchantment, so Joke only buys tempo against it. Multiversal Passage can come out for the Ghost Vacuum, since the rest of our mana base is sufficient.