MtG: Vintage Izzet

"So you can cast a few spells? Am I supposed to be impressed?"
- Skyrim, guard dialogue

I got back into Magic: the Gathering a while ago with the Mind vs Might duel decks, which I thought were fun. So I figured that if I'm going to make some kind of deck for myself, I might as well base it on that. Therefore:

Izzet Mind 2.0

Creature (14)

Enigma Drake
Glorybringer
2 Goblin Electromancer
Jeskai Windscout
Jhessian Thief
Jori En, Ruin Diver
Monastery Swiftspear
Nivix Cyclops
Reef Pirates
Sanguinary Mage
Talrand, Sky Summoner
2 Young Pyromancer

Sorceries (12)

Beacon of Tomorrows
2 Empty the Warrens
Grapeshot
Pieces of the Puzzle
2 Pore Over the Pages
Pyroclasm
2 Rift Bolt
Rise from the Tides
Temporal Fissure

Instants (7)

Electrolyze
Magma Spray
Mystical Tutor
2 Savage Alliance
Snap
Thunderous Wrath

Artifacts (2)

Library of Leng
Primal Amulet

Enchantments (1)

Firemind's Research

Lands (24)

Desolate Lighthouse
2 Highland Lake
6 Island
6 Mountain
Mystic Monastery
Rogue's Passage
Sand Silos
Smoldering Spires
Snow-Covered Island
Snow-Covered Mountain
Soaring Seacliff
Temple of Epiphany
Temple of the False God

Sideboard

Electrostatic Field
Hypothesizzle
Ionize
Mission Briefing
Psychic Transfer

**

Somewhat to my surprise, this deck is only legal in Vintage, because it includes Mystical Tutor.

In general, I've tried to go for creatures with Prowess or some other ability linked to instants and sorceries; spells that are either cheap or come with untapping lands or card draw; and just generally what I consider beautiful cards that at least somewhat fit the theme. I also have a Snow-Covered Mountain, because, well, I have one from back in the day. Rogue's Passage and Glorybringer won me more games than I can easily count in Magic Duels, so how was I supposed to not bring them? So you see that this isn't exactly a ruthlessly efficient deck-building philosophy.

**



The first time, I couldn't find any lands, and ended up being seriously outnumbered. I did get to use Pyroclasm to wipe everyone out, but I lost in fairly short order. It's hard to claw back an early disadvantage!

Next time, I did better. I managed to get off enough spells for a horde of zombies with Rise from the Tides and to transform Primal Amulet, for an even bigger horde of goblins from Empty the Warrens, which did the trick in the end.

**

So, what have I learned? First, that I feel my deckbuilding kind of succeeded, because I managed to keep the key property of the Mind deck: it mostly just straight up loses, except when you can tee up a proper combo with your instants and sorceries. I'm unreasonably delighted by this. More importantly, it reminded me that playing Magic can be very good fun.