Pioneer: Izzet Prowess - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Izzet Prowess has become the dominant deck in Standard in recent weeks by mixing cheap cantrips, damage spells, and efficient threats to pressure the opponent while creating new tokens every turn with the equipment, giving more resilience to an archetype that has historically struggled to maintain momentum in longer games.

With an expanded pool like Pioneer's, it gains new tools: Consider increases the number of instant-speed cantrips, while Play with Fire doubles as a filtering deck and proactive damage spell.

In this article, we delve into Pioneer's version of Izzet Prowess, with a guide to the main matchups of the current Metagame!

This list, unlike the variants with Soul-Scar Mage and Wizard's Lightning, is closer to the traditional Prowess list in Standard.

It's possible to add cards like Stock Up, but the Pioneer Metagame is faster and has more efficient answers to our game plan, putting us in positions where paying high costs to generate card advantage can mean a loss the next turn — at the same time, cards like Treasure Cruise can be considered as two copies in the maindeck under the concession of making the list as proactive as possible with cantrips and Burn to quickly feed the graveyard.

Maindeck

Cori-Steel Cutter was the card that catapulted Prowess decks in competitive Magic in the last few months and has become the most important staple of Tarkir: Dragonstorm for the game. With so many cheap and proactive spells, we can easily take advantage of the artifact and trigger its ability every turn.

Our creatures with Prowess.

Monastery Swiftspear remains a classic for red Aggro, and the combination of cantrips and damage spells we have guarantees explosive turns with it from the second turn onwards, to the detriment of it being the worst topdeck we have in longer games.

Slickshot Show-Off explodes rapidly with the one-mana spells we run, and there are situations where using it for the Plot cost and casting two or three other spells is enough to close the game if we have pressured enough in the previous turns.

Stormchaser’s Talent offers another 1/1 creature with Prowess for one mana, and its second ability guarantees more breathing room in the late game to pull out the last points of damage with Burst Lightning.

Burst Lightning and Play with Fire deal with minor blockers while amplifying the damage output of our creatures. The 4-3 split is due to the likelihood of using Burst Lightning on the kicker cost compared to the likelihood of Play with Fire triggering Scry 1 when we deal damage to the opponent, which we can use, for example, at our upkeep to filter the top before drawing.

Monstrous Rage pulls damage for our creatures, interacts with Prowess, and is particularly lethal with Slickshot Show-Off. However, it is a common side-out in games with a lot of removal to reduce the amount of bad topdecks.

Into the Flood Maw and Spell Pierce are our Tempo plays, and their main function is to delay a few turns, or to punish our opponents for being too greedy with their mana values.

Remember that Into the Flood Maw can deal with any noncreature permanent in exchange for a future blocker — it's common to use it to remove Temporary Lockdown at the end of the opponent's turn to return our permanents to the board and attack the next turn for lethal, or to bounce Authority of the Consuls to return with Slickshot Show-Off the next turn.

Cantrips are our main means of triggering Cori-Steel Cutter every turn. We prioritize Opt and Consider to have more instant-speed interactions that allow the artifact to trigger on the opponent's turn, but a fourth Sleight of Hand can be included if we reduce the number of lands in a copy, or if we remove one of the flex slots between Into the Flood Maw and Spell Pierce.

With a list that is usually more aggressive than our opponents', we want to take advantage of as many untapped duals as we can, and we're betting on 14 copies of them, including Shivan Reef, which, despite hurting us in Aggro mirrors due to the high color requirements we have to play multiple spells, offers more consistency than Riverglide Pathway in generating or whenever necessary.

Den of the Bugbear and Otawara, Soaring City are our choices for utility lands. Their abilities work best in midrange and control games, while serving as efficient land drops against aggro. Bugbear also provides more threats later in the game if left unanswered.

Sideboard

Annul complements the extra copies of Spell Pierce and has become more necessary in a format that includes Cori-Steel Cutter, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Unholy Annex, Caretaker’s Talent, Artist's Talent and Monument to Endurance as part of the best decks.

Redcap Melee is our best answer against red Aggro decks, but it also handles Mayhem Devil and other red creatures when needed, or when we need more cheap interaction at instant speed that deals with Greasefang, Okiba Boss and the like.

Abrade also deals with a dozen creatures and is another clean answer against artifacts like Cori-Steel Cutter and Monument to Endurance.

The extra copy of Into the Flood Maw comes in for games where we need an interaction that slows down the opponent, or when we need to remove a card like Temporary Lockdown from the board to advance our game plan quickly.

Screaming Nemesis is the main answer we have against life gain, but it also works as a threat that Midranges are unlikely to want to block, as its damage potential is high when stopped by an Unholy Annex token. It also works in games where most of the opponent's removal is damage-based.

Unlicensed Hearse deals with the format's graveyard-based decks, while also being a body in longer games that can pressure the opponent's life when crewed.

Rakdos Demons

IN

OUT

Mono Black Midrange

IN

OUT

Mono Red Lynx

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Jund Sacrifice

IN

OUT

Mono White Tokens

IN

OUT

Mardu Greasefang

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!