I finally fell in love with a Modern deck again. It’s been nearly three years since my relationship with Celestial Colonnade came to a tragic end. Since then I have had a hard time moving on. Over Modern tournaments with different decks, nothing has stuck long term. But now I may have found the one.
Izzet Phoenix has carried me to back to back Modern Open Top 8s at the end of Season One on the SCG Tour and shows no sign of letting up. Since making the finals in Louisville, I have had many people reach out asking an abundance of questions regarding my builds of Izzet Phoenix, what the deck will look like going forward with Modern Horizons, and how to sideboard. Today I plan to answer all of those questions with a complete guide to Izzet Phoenix!
Traditional Build vs. Combo Build
There are two different builds of Izzet Phoenix at the moment: traditional and combo. An example of each is shown below, using my Top 8 deck and Dan Jessup’s Top 8 list from the Season One Invitational.
Traditional Izzet Phoenix, by Drake Sasser
| Creatures (10) 4 Arclight Phoenix 4 Thing in the Ice 2 Crackling Drake Spells (32) 2 Pyromancer Ascension 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Faithless Looting 4 Thought Scour 4 Manamorphose 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Echoing Truth 1 Flame Slash 2 Gut Shot 2 Finale of Promise | Lands (18) 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Flooded Strand 1 Polluted Delta 4 Spirebluff Canal 3 Steam Vents 1 Sulfur Falls 3 Island 1 Mountain Sideboard (15) 3 Surgical Extraction 1 Anger of the Gods 2 Alpine Moon 2 Blood Moon 2 Spell Pierce 1 Dispel 1 Flame Slash 1 Beacon Bolt 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
Combo Izzet Phoenix, by Dan Jessup
| Creatures (8) 4 Arclight Phoenix 4 Thing in the Ice Spells (35) 4 Pyromancer Ascension 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Faithless Looting 4 Thought Scour 4 Manamorphose 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Opt 3 Noxious Revival | Lands (17) 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Misty Rainforest 4 Spirebluff Canal 3 Steam Vents 3 Island 1 Mountain Sideboard (15) 2 Ravenous Trap 2 Alpine Moon 2 Blood Moon 2 Abrade 2 Lightning Axe 1 Echoing Truth 2 Narset, Parter of Veils 2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer |
Of the two I much prefer the traditional builds. I have tried the combo builds only once, and I found the combo of active Pyromancer Ascension plus two Noxious Revival and two Manamorphose to be very corner-case and often win-more. There have been precious few games I have lost after casting only a singular Manamorphose under an active Ascension.
Furthermore, I find the redundant copies of Pyromancer Ascension to be awkward. Having as many cantrips as this deck has means it is much easier to find the two copies that are in the main deck of the traditional builds in the grindy matchups where they are good. You are rewarded for card diversity in a deck with cantrips, and Faithless Looting can get rid of dead cards.
The combo versions of Izzet Phoenix are also much weaker to graveyard hate. Being good against graveyard hate was one of the defining reasons why Izzet Phoenix rose to power in the Modern format to begin with. Having a powerful deck that was resilient to narrow graveyard hate cards meant that the format struggled to adapt, and Phoenix dominated every constructed event for a period of five to six months. If you sacrifice that resilience in an attempt to make your deck a little more powerful, you wind up with a worse “graveyard deck” than Dredge or Hogaak Bridgevine.
The Changes with Modern Horizons
Speaking of Hogaak, it is no secret that Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis in combination with Carrion Feeder and Altar of Dementia have breathed new life into the Bridgevine deck we saw nearly a year ago. The Hogaak Bridgevine deck has swept the Modern challenges repeatedly since the release of Modern Horizons, and there have already been calls to ban the deck by much of the Magic community. This new menace cannot be ignored and I believe Izzet Phoenix will have to adjust its graveyard hate package appropriately to handle this.
The Hogaak deck has proven it is adept at beating the less impactful, spell-based graveyard hate pieces such as Surgical Extraction and Ravenous Trap. So instead of loading up on high numbers of both of those cards and hoping to draw multiple pieces of hate, I believe it is correct to go straight to the fastest and most effective piece of hate available: Leyline of the Void.
Modern Horizons brings some weapons to the table for Izzet Phoenix as well. Fiery Islet, Force of Negation, Flusterstorm, Aria of Flame, and Magmatic Sinkhole all are worth considering in new builds of Izzet Phoenix. I believe many of these cards are powerful enough to be staples in the archetype and viable sideboard options for the rest of the deck’s existence in Modern.
On the other hand, I have seen many players talking about Lava Dart as a potential inclusion in Izzet Phoenix. I do not believe it is powerful enough to justify a spot in the deck as long as Gut Shot is legal. Both cards serve very similar roles, but Gut Shot is much more efficient and just as impactful.
Finding Room for Modern Horizons
Finally a replacement for that pesky Sulfur Falls! Phoenix is already very good at mitigating flood because of Faithless Looting and does not want to take high amounts of damage off of its already painful manabase. I expect Fiery Islet to be played as a singleton with a maximum of two in the deck. The land is very powerful, but worse at mitigating flood than Looting.
I see Force of Negation as a simple upgrade to the sideboard countermagic that Izzet Phoenix already plays. We are a critical mass deck, so the two-for-one mode of Force comes at a heavy cost; but it pays off to be able to play Thing in the Ice on turn two or cast cantrips looking for action without having to hold up Spell Pierce mana every turn.
Force of Negation also has a very reasonable “hard cast” rate at three mana. After a clock has been established, holding up three mana is a surprisingly low cost. Top it all off with the fact that Force of Negation doesn’t expire like Spell Pierce does later in the game, and Force is a great newcomer to the sideboard.
I don’t expect Flusterstorm to have a very high impact on Modern. It is simply a little too narrow to see play in most decks. In Izzet Phoenix though, I believe that Flusterstorm is a complete upgrade to Dispel and I plan to play one or two in the spots that Dispel previously occupied.
I have had trouble analyzing where exactly Aria of Flame fits into the traditional builds of Phoenix. Being three mana I believe makes it much worse than Pyromancer Ascension in the main deck, but being good against graveyard hate might make it better than Crackling Drake.
However I believe Aria of Flame kills slower than Crackling Drake and is much worse when low on resources. For now, I am trying the card in the sideboard over Saheeli, Sublime Artificer as a card that is good in the grindy matchups where I expect permanent-based graveyard hate such as Leyline of the Void or Rest in Peace.
Red now has a delve card! It is no secret that delve is a broken mechanic, and this card fits a pretty unique role in Izzet Phoenix. Magmatic Sinkhole is very good at cleaning up Narset, Parter of Veils even if it has not been activated. Narset has proven to be an effective tool at combating the Izzet Phoenix deck, and if the format adjusts to playing high numbers of Narset then I expect to reach for high numbers of this card. For now, Humans and Hogaak are all over Modern tournaments, and the card is not efficient enough against either of those decks to justify a spot in the deck.
The New Decklist
Taking all this into consideration, I would currently register this decklist:
Neo Izzet Phoenix
| Creatures (10) 4 Arclight Phoenix 4 Thing in the Ice 2 Crackling Drake Spells (32) 2 Pyromancer Ascension 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Faithless Looting 4 Thought Scour 4 Manamorphose 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Echoing Truth 1 Flame Slash 2 Gut Shot 2 Finale of Promise | Lands (18) 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Flooded Strand 1 Polluted Delta 4 Spirebluff Canal 3 Steam Vents 1 Fiery Islet 3 Island 1 Mountain Sideboard (15) 4 Leyline of the Void 2 Force of Negation 1 Anger of the Gods 1 Alpine Moon 2 Blood Moon 1 Aria of Flame 1 Flusterstorm 1 Flame Slash 1 Beacon Bolt 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
Overall, the deck has not changed drastically. Much of the core that made the deck one of the strongest contenders in the previous Modern format are still present, but the sideboard has seen a fair overhaul.
Without further ado, let’s discuss how to put this new sideboard into action!
Sideboard Guide
Hogaak Bridgevine: Favorable
In: +4 Leyline of the Void, +2 Force of Negation
Out: -2 Pyromancer Ascension, -1 Flame Slash, -1 Echoing Truth, -1 Lightning Bolt, -1 Crackling Drake
I think this matchup is favorable as long as you have four Leyline of the Void in your sideboard. Force of Negation is a nice upgrade to Spell Pierce in this matchup and adds to the critical mass of ways to interact with the Bridgevine deck before we even take our first turn.
Humans: Unfavorable
In: +1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Flame Slash, +1 Beacon Bolt
Out: -1 Echoing Truth, -2 Crackling Drake
This matchup is very close and is slightly unfavorable despite the main deck Gut Shots. They bring in a lot of answers to Thing in the Ice so I often take the control role in this matchup.
UW Control: Even
In: +2 Force of Negation, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Jace, The Mind Sculptor, +1 Aria of Flame
Out: -1 Echoing Truth, -1 Flame Slash, -1 Lightning Bolt, -2 Gut Shot
I believe this matchup to be very close. We have a lot of staying power when it comes to grinding out the control deck, but we are the aggressor in the matchup. After sideboarding we have to be prepared for Rest in Peace as well as the maximum number of Narset, Parter of Veils.
Izzet Phoenix: Even
In: +1 Beacon Bolt, +4 Leyline of the Void, +1 Jace, The Mind Sculptor, +1 Flame Slash, +2 Force of Negation
Out: -4 Lightning Bolt, -2 Gut Shot, -3 Thought Scour
The mirror is naturally an even matchup, but there is a lot of room to make mistakes on both sides. Overall your hands either end up playing the aggressive role or the control role based on context of the game. Playing Pyromancer Ascension on turn two is often the best thing you can do in the mirror.
Dredge: Favorable
In: +4 Leyline of the Void, +2 Force of Negation, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Anger of the Gods
Out: -1 Echoing Truth, -1 Flame Slash, -2 Pyromancer Ascension, -1 Crackling Drake, -2 Gut Shot,-1 Lightning Bolt
With access to four Leyline of the Void and the addition of Force of Negation to your deck, I believe the matchup to be now in our favor. This matchup is still fairly close overall, and you have a surprisingly good chance in the main deck game if you can flip a Thing in the Ice quickly. You are certainly the aggressor in game one though, without access to any main deck graveyard hate.
Tron: Unfavorable
In: +2 Force of Negation, +1 Alpine Moon, +2 Blood Moon
Out: -1 Echoing Truth, -1 Flame Slash, -2 Pyromancer Ascension, -1 Gut Shot
Traditional Tron has gotten less popular with the recent Modern changes, so we have cut back on Moon effects a little bit. The addition of Force of Negation is certainly a big upgrade, and I would Force the turn one Expedition Map every single time.
Amulet Titan: Favorable
In: +1 Alpine Moon, +2 Blood Moon, +2 Force of Negation
Out: -1 Flame Slash, -1 Echoing Truth, -1 Pyromancer Ascension, -1 Crackling Drake, -1 Gut Shot
This matchup predicates a lot on Blood Moon. Without Blood Moon in our deck, I think we are slower at killing our Amulet opponents than they are at killing us on average. On the play, you can keep the aggressive hands that present turn four kills, but on the draw you need to mulligan to interaction. Force of Negation again provides a significant upgrade to Spell Pierce by letting us enact our game plan while still having access to countermagic. Alpine Moon should almost always name bounce lands to serve as a psuedo-Strip Mine.
Burn: Unfavorable
In: +2 Force of Negation, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Flame Slash, +1 Anger of the Gods
Out: -1 Echoing Truth, -2 Gut Shot, -2 Pyromancer Ascension
This matchup depends a lot on whether the Burn deck has a creature draw or not. We can interact with the Burn deck fairly well if they draw multiple creatures and have a fair chance of tempoing them out of the game. If the Burn deck draws all spells however, it is much harder for us to win. I firmly believe this deck to be Izzet Phoenix’s hardest matchup in the top tier of Modern decks.
Mono Red Phoenix: Even
In: +2 Force of Negation, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Flame Slash
Out: -1 Echoing Truth, -2 Gut Shot, -2 Thought Scour
Mono Red Phoenix is designed to be break the asymmetry and fare better against Izzet Phoenix than if it was a traditional Izzet Phoenix mirror, but from my experience the matchup is still close because the Mono Red Phoenix deck is much less consistent. If you see Bedlam Reveler, consider finding room to bring in Leyline of the Void.
Eldrazi Tron: Unfavorable
In: +2 Force of Negation, +1 Beacon Bolt, +2 Blood Moon, +1 Aria of Flame, +1 Flame Slash
Out: -2 Finale of Promise, -1 Gut Shot, -3 Lightning Bolt, -1 Thought Scour
This matchup is a little easier than traditional Tron, but the addition of Chalice of the Void means that there are going to be some games where you don’t play Magic at all. Overall we are still the aggressor, and Thing in the Ice is by far the best card in your deck against them.
Scapeshift: Favorable
In: +2 Force of Negation, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Alpine Moon, +2 Blood Moon
Out: -1 Flame Slash, -1 Echoing Truth, -1 Crackling Drake, -1 Pyromancer Ascension, -1 Finale of Promise, -1 Gut Shot
We are very much the aggressor in this matchup, but I have found that we are a little faster at killing them than they are at killing us on average. Combine that with the fact that many of our sideboard cards are impactful enough to swing an entire game, and I find the matchup to be quite favorable.
I hope you find this guide helpful for preparing you for your next Modern tournament! If you have any further questions about Izzet Phoenix or just want to discuss what was said in this guide, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter! Until next time!