Mainboard (60)
Creatures (22)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (1)
Artifacts (7)
Enchantments (4)
Izzet Lessons is a tempo-control deck that wins by accruing card advantage through Artist's Talent and Firebending Lesson while disrupting your game plan with countermagic and bounce effects like Three Steps Ahead. Duress comes in to strip their key interaction and Monument to Endurance before it resolves, and Intimidation Tactics gives you a threat to push damage through while generating card advantage when they try to block or stabilize. Glacial Dragonhunt provides reach and a way to close the game through their countermagic wall since it can target players directly. Bloodghast and Winternight Stories are too slow and low-impact in a matchup where you need to be pressuring them before Gran-Gran and Accumulate Wisdom pull them too far ahead on cards. Play your threats early and sequence Duress to clear the way before committing your key permanents.
Jeskai Control aims to answer your threats one-for-one with Lightning Helix, Get Lost, and No More Lies while building to sweepers like Day of Judgment and card advantage engines like Consult the Star Charts and Stock Up. Duress comes in to strip counterspells and sweepers before you commit to the board, giving your threats a clear path to connect. Intimidation Tactics helps push through the evasion-light control gameplan, letting your creatures attack past blockers like North Wind Avatar or Beza, the Bounding Spring. Bitter Triumph and Requiting Hex are reactive removal spells that are less impactful in a matchup where the opponent's threats are few and arrive late, making them the natural cut. Your aggressive curve of Flamewake Phoenix, Bloodthorn Flail, and Marauding Mako applies the pressure needed to close before their late-game card advantage takes over.
UR Aggro is a tempo-oriented deck that wants to ride early threats like Elusive Otter and Slickshot Show-Off to victory while protecting them with cantrips and the Stormchaser's Talent engine. Pyroclasm is your best answer, wiping their board of small creatures before they can snowball an advantage. Molten Collapse gives you flexible interaction against both their permanents and their hand disruption plans. Bloodghast and Winternight Stories are too slow for this matchup, and one copy of Monument to Endurance and Bitter Triumph come out as well since your priority is staying alive through early aggression rather than generating long-game value.