Standard: Izzet Vivi - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Vivi Ornitier is the most hyped card from Magic's collaboration with Final Fantasy. Its interaction with cheap spells and the possibility of generating extra mana expand the potential of several cards in various competitive formats, and Izzet Prowess, currently the best deck in Standard, is one of the strategies where the best Black Mage of all time can have a place to call home.

This is the list I've used in Magic Arena ranked play since Final Fantasy launched on the platform. It’s natural to question the absence of Cori-Steel Cutter and Monstrous Rage from this list, and to explain their absence, we need to look to the future: it’s possible, if not likely, that these two cards will be banned from Standard on June 30, and a deck based on Vivi Ornitier appeals to both the Magic player demographic and Final Fantasy fans who want to enjoy lists featuring their favorite characters—it’s counterproductive to build a list for these players that could be invalidated less than 20 days after the set’s release.

So I decided to “read ahead” and adapt the list to account for the possibility of these cards being banned. We swapped Cori-Steel Cutter for Astrologian’s Planisphere and added Might of the Meek to the slot that was previously held by Monstrous Rage. So if you want to use the 100% optimized list in the coming weeks, just make these changes — the Sideboard slots are essentially the same.

As Vivi Ornitier already indicates, this deck is a spellslinger: we sequence spells every turn and extract value from our cards' triggers. Vivi is especially powerful with Stormchaser's Talent — the extra mana it generates makes it easier to get to level 3 quickly, and we can also use it to pay costs like Thundertrap Trainer's Offspring earlier, while it turns every spell into an extra point of damage.

Since the key card in the list costs more, and we're considering potential bans, we're betting on the less aggressive take of Prowess, with Drake Hatcher instead of Slickshot Show-Off. Personally, I don't think the "full aggro" versions of Izzet want Vivi because tapping three mana to "do nothing" is far from the ideal sequence with more explosive creatures.

Maindeck

The threats.

Vivi Ornitier is potentially the strongest card in Final Fantasy for competitive formats. Any piece capable of generating mana quickly tends to have a considerable impact on the Metagame and, at times, completely break it. In Standard, he's currently a bit slow for the current Metagame and the legendary factor doesn't make him worthy of four copies, but the amount of range he offers with each cheap spell and the possibility of triggering more powerful sequences every turn he's in play makes him very efficient.

Stormchaser's Talent's turns become even more explosive with Vivi. In addition to the 1/1 token it creates at ETB, the enchantment is now a more efficient piece of recursion, and in a few turns we can level it up to the max to create snowballs of tokens for each spell we cast, making it the card that benefits most from Vivi's inclusion.

Drake Hatcher has gained more traction recently as a response to the mirror, and now with Astrologian's Planisphere it gains another way to deal a lot of damage and create many tokens. In addition, its body blocks Aggro well and dodges several removals with ease.

Astrologian’s Planisphere places a token when it enters and grows any creature on the board with each spell cast, in addition to benefiting from the various cantrips we run in the deck. It enables a dozen new interactions between draws and the ability to equip other creatures to make them grow. With Vivi, for example, the counters it places turn into more extra mana, while it also grants permanent power increases to Drake Hatcher, which can be converted later into more tokens in play.

Opt and Sleight of Hand are the package of cheap cantrips that help filter the top and find lands in the early game, or more efficient spells in longer games.

Might of the Meek was added as a way to guarantee evasion while also drawing more cards. Enter the Enigma might be the ideal play in this slot, but I like the option to force wrong blocks and/or play around instant-speed removal.

Stock Up is one of the best hand filtering to come out of Magic in years, and it provides card advantage to the list for a low cost, making it almost a mini-Dig Through Time most of the time.

Thundertrap Trainer provides another body for Astrologian’s Planisphere to equip while it digs for more spells. Its Offspring cost is now more easily paid via Vivi’s trigger.

The interaction.

Torch the Tower benefits from Stormchaser’s Talent and Astrologian's Planisphere to expand its damage output against many creatures in the current Metagame, and also helps filter the top and exile troublesome cards like Heartfire Hero.

Into the Flood Maw permanently deals with tokens, delaying opponents’ turns when they cast larger creatures, especially cards like Archfiend of the Dross or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. It also delays the combo of Yuna, Hope of Spira with Summon: Knights of Round if you know how to play around it.

This Town Ain’t Big Enough also delays some of the opponent’s key cards, but it has interactions with the ETB effects of our cards, being mainly relevant with Stormchaser’s Talent to perform some loops with the second chapter, or with Thundertrap Trainer to generate card advantage.

Spell Pierce protects against cheap removals, but also against several troublesome cards in the early game for cheap. It also deals with Abuelo’s Awakening, Day of Judgment, and Unholy Annex, or any card whose mana cost is more greedy.

We want the most untapped duals in the list, and Starting Town will likely replace Shivan Reef after rotation for this purpose. At the moment, it's still preferable to have a Reef set to find more untapped lands in long games.

Sideboard

Many players have been testing Yuna, Hope of Spira and Summon: Knights of Round on ladder, and supplementing this plan with the Overlords cycle. In this case, Disdainful Stroke is an efficient answer for both the combo and the alternative gameplan it offers.

Spell Pierce fits into any game where we need to answer troublesome spells for the lowest possible cost, or where we want to maximize mana efficiency to protect ourselves from sweepers and removal. Notable examples include Orzhov Bounce and Azorius Omniscience.

Abrade works in various games: from the new Boros Equipment to the Izzet Prowess mirror, to Golgari Midrange, Mono Red Aggro, and the recent Tifa Lockhart decks. Answering artifacts remains important in a Cori-Steel Cutter metagame, and Cloud, Midgar Mercenary has given us an extra reason to keep two copies in that slot.

Unable to Scream deals with creatures that we can't resolve any other way, that we don't want to bounce, and/or that we don't want to deal with damage spells, like Screaming Nemesis.

Lithomantic Barrage is mainly played against Jeskai Oculus and Jeskai Control, but Equipment decks are another potential target for them in the current Metagame.

Ghost Vacuum is our answer against the various archetypes that run the graveyard with key cards today: Jeskai Oculus, Azorius Omniscience and the recent Yuna Reanimator are good examples of matchups where this card matters.

Seifer Almasy is a testing slot, but I've been enjoying the results of it so far. Guaranteeing Double Strike when a creature attacks alone proves lethal in games where we can cast it, and it bypasses several removals in the current format as well. If it connects — even more possible in lists with Monstrous Rage — we can make small interactions to close the lethal damage, but even without them, the possibility of playing two Stock Up for free should not be overlooked.

Ral, Crackling Wit comes into games where we need a threat that doesn't die to Temporary Lockdown or other sweepers while pressuring the opponent every turn. The Planeswalker does a little bit of everything in these games, from putting pressure on the board with more tokens to drawing more cards per turn, culminating in an Ultimate that will usually win the game.

Izzet Prowess

IN

OUT

Mono-Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Jeskai Oculus

IN

OUT

Azorius Omniscience

IN

OUT

Orzhov Bounce

IN

OUT

Jeskai Control

IN

OUT

Yuna Reanimator

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!