Historic: Izzet Wizards - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Izzet Wizards is one of the most popular and widely played decks in Magic Arena's Historic format today. The archetype runs various cheap Wizards like A-Symmetry Sage and Soul-Scar Mage, combined with tribal interactions through Flame of Anor and Wizard's Lightning, to create a consistently aggressive strategy. This approach blends an efficient clock with card selection and card advantage packages to control the pace of the game.

Maindeck

A-Symmetry Sage might be the most important piece in this list. The card received an upgrade in Alchemy, now granting +3/+0 to any creature whenever we cast an instant or sorcery. This turns it into a more consistent Delver of Secrets, capable of speeding up the clock of all our creatures with the right sequence of spells.

Soul-Scar Mage provides early pressure and turns our Burn spells into ways to weaken the opponent's creatures, while Prowess keeps its body relevant for longer.

Slickshot Show-Off is key for explosive potential. We can use its Plot cost to set up a turn with multiple spells, enabling surprise kill turns if the opponent doesn't play around it.

Dreadhorde Arcanist is our card advantage engine. Most of our spells cost one mana, and even Flame of Anor can be easily cast with a combination of A-Symmetry Sage and the Arcanist.

Chain Lightning and Wizard's Lightning form our Burn shell. Both do a good job replicating Lightning Bolt — which is banned in the format — offering flexibility in cost and enough reach to handle the opponent's board or close out games.

Reckless Charge provides burst damage and speed, turning any creature into a powerful threat the turn it comes down. It's especially strong with Dreadhorde Arcanist and Slickshot Show-Off, but also works well with A-Symmetry Sage.

Flame of Anor elevates our resilience and response flexibility. Despite its higher cost, it deals with larger creatures and problematic artifacts in the same slot, while also offering extra card draw at instant speed.

Ponder is the best cantrip in the format — it's almost surprising it isn't banned while Preordain and Brainstorm are, given the amount of consistency it offers to blue decks.

Expressive Iteration is a card advantage powerhouse for a very low cost, offering a "two-for-one" plus consistent top-deck filtering that makes sequencing spells and finding answers easier as the game goes long.

Swiftspear's Teachings, exclusive to Alchemy, turns any creature into a half-Monastery Swiftspear while drawing a card. We can use it alongside Reckless Charge for more explosive attacks or with Dreadhorde Arcanist to expand our spell suite without relying solely on A-Symmetry Sage.

We're an aggressive deck and therefore need as many untapped lands as possible, with a full set of sixteen duals that includes Fiery Islet as an extra source of card draw.

For utility lands, we have Otawara, Soaring City and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance for the late game, while Den of the Bugbear provides a threat that dodges sweepers and sorcery-speed removal.

Sideboard

The Izzet Wizards sideboard is, in part, a kind of "transformative": often, we need to give up our more proactive lines in favor of more stack interaction, making us less aggressive and more responsive to what the opponent is doing.

There aren't many deckbuilding concessions to run Jegantha, the Wellspring as a Companion, and having a "late-game bomb" always available provides more staying power in grindy matches.

The package of Counterspells we use aims to maintain our mana efficiency, so we focus on one-mana cards to answer the opponent.

Stern Scolding is a hyper-efficient answer against one-mana creature decks and combos. Ideal against Boros Energy, in the mirror, and against Yawgmoth Combo.

Spell Pierce protects against Control and combo in the early game and helps play around removal in the mirror.

Spell Snare cleanly answers various problematic two-drops on the draw, like Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, Chalice of the Void, Dreadhorde Arcanist, among others.

Consign to Memory handles Eldrazi while also being useful against archetypes with specific triggered abilities or against the toolbox of Karn, the Great Creator.

Pyroclasm clears the board against go-wide decks like Boros Energy while preserving our own battlefield.

Snapcaster Mage serves as a value tool in long games where we can't rely on more explosive plays, commonly coming in when we need to take out aggressive threats.

Pithing Needle deals with troublesome permanents that have activated abilities, buying us a few "extra turns" until the opponent can take care of it. Ideal against Goblin Charbelcher and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

Izzet Wizards

IN

OUT

This isn't an easy match. Our best option is often to focus on efficient trades and try to assert dominance and pressure with our cantrips. Chain Lightning becomes too risky when our opponent has easy access to , while Reckless Charge can lose targets, and Slickshot Show-Off becomes less useful when we have more reactive spells.

Flame of Anor and Expressive Iteration are your best cards, so focus on using Spell Pierce and Spell Snare when the opponent tries to resolve theirs or when you need to protect your own.

Boros Energy

IN

OUT

Attacking in the air while answering the opponent is our best route. Pyroclasm easily deals with the tokens from Ocelot Pride and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, but it's preferable not to let them resolve in the first place. Slickshot Show-Off is best used with a Plot setup in this game, especially if we have ways to avoid Galvanic Discharge.

Eldrazi Ramp

IN

OUT

This match comes down to trying to race as quickly as possible and using Consign to Memory to avoid the two-for-one value from the Eldrazi. Chalice of the Void is your biggest enemy, so try to play around it in your opening hand, whether with two-drops, one of the sideboard counters, or with Flame of Anor.

Boros Auras

IN

OUT

This is one of the worst matchups we can face. If we're too proactive, the opponent's clock will be faster; if we're too reactive, our spells start losing value, and any creature the opponent leaves on the board can dominate the game. As with Boros Energy, our best route involves delaying the opponent's turns while using our proactive spells to advance our clock in the air.

Nykthos Ramp

IN

OUT

Our route in this match is to win before the opponent takes over the game with Storm the Festival or Karn, the Great Creator. Stern Scolding has many important targets here, like Badgermole Cub, Fanatic of Rhonas, and Outcaster Trailblazer, so don't waste it on a mana dork. Karn, the Great Creator is the primary target for Pithing Needle, but there are situations where naming Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner might steal a win.

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!