Standard: Izzet Cutter - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Two cards have been gaining more prominence in the first weeks of Standard with Tarkir: Dragonstorm — Cori-Steel Cutter has played an important role in several red lists in the format, whether they are aggressive or new Bounce variants that reuse permanents to trigger the artifact, and also the new Tersa Lightshatter, an aggressive three-mana drop that filters its owner's hand and generates card advantage every turn it attacks, generating some comparisons with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.

One of the archetypes that has been making the most of both cards in Leagues is Izzet Prowess, a strategy that has grown in the weeks since Stock Up became a staple, combining the more aggressive lines of Slickshot Show-Off with the card advantage and filtering that the Aetherdrift card offers.

In this article, we delve into the new iteration of this deck using cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm!

This list follows the pattern of most of what we've seen in Magic Online ranked play or Leagues in recent weeks. Some variants prefer Opt in the maindeck, others bet on Spell Pierce and this one plays with a full set of Shore Up since it allows us to protect our creatures from targeted cheap removals, while it can also be used for proactive plays with Cori-Steel Cutter or Slickshot Show-Off.

Another slot that we can change is the Stock Up slot — some lists have opted for Tersa Lightshatter instead because it interacts more proactively with the game plan of a red Aggro. In this version, we put Tersa in the Sideboard and keep a full set of Stock Up in the maindeck, since both can complement each other in games where they are most needed, while the insertion of Cori-Steel Cutter increases the quality of the blue spell from the fourth turn onwards, when we can select a one-mana card from the top five to trigger the equipment.

Our plan isn’t too different from Gruul Prowess, but we trade explosive potential for a mix of flexibility and better topdecks. Our sideboard also improves with more stack interaction, but we lose some core cards like Pawpatch Recruit or Questing Druid — which we try to replace with Stock Up.

Maindeck

Our threats.

In the traditional sense, Monastery Swiftspear and Slickshot Show-Off are two classic Red Aggro staples, and they are fully utilized in spell-heavy variants in exchange for permanent power, with Slickshot Show-Off often providing sudden hit-kills as other threats clock out in the early game.

In addition to triggering creatures’ Prowess, Stormchaser’s Talent and Cori-Steel Cutter put tokens into play and reward our plan in other ways. The new equipment from Tarkir: Dragonstorm can create tokens every turn if we cast two spells, and with most of the list costing one mana, we’re likely to get the most value out of it every turn.

Stormchaser’s Talent, on the other hand, offers a resource in longer games by allowing us to reuse a spell from the graveyard. If there’s enough mana to activate its ability, you’re likely returning a Stock Up to your hand, or a Monstrous Rage / Boltwave to end the game.

The damage.

Boltwave is the closest thing to Lightning Bolt in Standard today and is a direct upgrade from Lava Spike, which was a staple of Burn decks in Modern for many years. In this list, its damage output is amplified by the many Prowess creatures it triggers.

The same goes for Burst Lightning, which also allows interacting with the board when necessary — and this is usually against Red Aggro and/or in response to a Sheltered by Ghosts — in addition to increasing its damage potential to the opponent in longer games.

Monstrous Rage is a Red Aggro staple in Standard, the main target of the ban debates in the format today, and its damage potential is considerably high in this list. Not unlike other decks, we want to use it to pass damage to blockers and take advantage of the opponent's math during blocking.

Shore Up is a more reactive spell which offers protection against spot removal, but we can also use it to pull more damage, create a token with Cori Steel Cutter, or even as a combat trick.

The draw.

Sleight of Hand tends to be more efficient than Opt as it gives you a choice between the top two cards. You can use both, split, or swap one for another to see what advantages each offers, but since this version with Cori-Steel Cutter usually wants to play two spells in the first main phase, the advantage of Opt being Instant is irrelevant.

Stock Up is the closest thing to Dig Through Time that we've had in the last decade, and has even become a Legacy staple due to the wide quality of top filtering and card advantage it offers. It's our engine for longer games, and one of the ways we have to survive the late-game is to reuse it with Stormchaser's Talent.

Our mana base is composed of the largest amount of untapped duals that we can have, in addition to six basic lands to activate Riverpyre Verge more consistently.

We also have two copies of Restless Spire as a complementary threat. Since it's a cheap manland to activate, having a 2/1 with First Strike that filters the top when it attacks can provide some extra damage, and it's also a great way to respond to a Sunfall if your opponent is low on life, since any Monstrous Rage or Boltwave already deals five damage for three mana.

Sideboard

One of the primary problems with Red Aggro, especially Prowess lists, is that it can easily run out of steam as the game goes on and that every bad topdeck is a "dead" turn. Cards like Count on Luck or Experimental Frenzy exist to try to mitigate this problem without generating too much advantage, and Tersa Lightshatter is above them in this category.

In addition to the 3/3 body with haste for that already means more proactive interaction than other cards, Tersa offers hand filtering and card advantage by reusing spells from your graveyard.

The fact that the spell is chosen randomly seems like a very heavy drawback, and it really becomes a drawback if you need a good selection and lands, proactive spells and higher cost effects in your list, but in the case of Prowess, where most spells cost between one and two mana and most can be used proactively, what Tersa does is guarantee one more draw, or three more damage, or one more token for Cori-Steel Cutter, among other options that make it a respectable threat.

As mentioned above, there are lists that run Tersa in the maindeck. I don't like this plan because the interaction between Stock Up and Stormchaser's Talent offers more breathing room in the long run and Tersa doesn't guarantee the same flexibility in topdeck wars, but there are games where having a card that filters your hand and reuses your spells while also being a clock on the board is much more important, since one more turn for the opponent can mean a defeat.

The board interaction.

Torch the Tower is useful against Red Aggro and also in any game where the opponent tries to establish a more aggressive clock than ours and/or where we need to be careful against certain interactions. You can swap a copy of it for Pyroclasm if you want to respect Convoke decks more, or want to prey on the Heartfire Hero line for Manifold Mouse in the early turns.

Witchstalker Frenzy mainly deals with Beza, the Bounding Spring and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, or any creature with a larger body that we need to get out of the way. Some interactions with it also involve dealing five damage to a demon token from Unholy Annex or Archfiend of the Dross and using Monstrous Rage on the blocked creature to pass the damage while we resolve the "wall" in the way.

Lithomantic Barrage is a great answer against Azorius Control, Zur, Eternal Schemer, deals with a white or blue creature enchanted with Sheltered by Ghosts — it usually happens against Bounce — and also kills Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.

Spell Pierce and Disdainful Stroke complement the stack interaction and work mostly against archetypes with greedy mana bases, such as Azorius Control or Domain Overlords. Pierce also comes in against the Leyline of Resonance Prowess lists and against Bounce to delay some turns.

Ghost Vacuum is the format's standard answer against graveyards, it comes in against Jeskai Oculus and Omniscience Combo and also triggers our cards since we use it proactively.

Esper Bounce

IN

OUT

Mono Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Golgari Midrange

IN

OUT

Domain Overlords

IN

OUT

Jeskai Oculus

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!