This is my guild, my most favorite place in the Multiverse. It was said that: "The Izzet are obsessive experimenters, the epitome of keen creative intellect combined with an unfortunately short attention span. The original mandate of the Izzet guild was to provide solutions for public works projects (sewers, boilers, roadways), but their experiments often produce mana geysers, spatial rifts, or arcane portals instead.". When I discovered this, I was immediately hooked. Not to mention that I consistently ended up in the League after taking the guild quiz.

Blue and Red are the colors of this guild. Calm thinking with obsessive curiosity. Explosive actions with anticipated results. That is my style of Magic: control with blue, burn with red. Fire and lightning, ice and wind: for me, the most delicious combo. 

Here is one of my most favorite examples of Izzet aggression, with three of some of my favorite cards:

Djinn Illuminatus:

Which reads: 

Flying

Each instant and sorcery spell you cast has replicate. The replicate cost is equal to its mana cost. (When you cast it, copy it for each time you paid its replicate cost. You may choose new targets for the copies.)

Which means it gives all instants and sorceries you control the power to duplicate itself. Imagine doing this to a lightning bolt, for example.

Wee Dragonauts

Which reads:

   Flying

Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Wee Dragonauts gets +2/+0 until end of turn.

Which means its get powered-up every time you cast an instant or sorcery. But remember: replicated spells do not count as an instance on the stack, so replicating a bolt three times would still only give the Dragonauts +2/+0.

Screaming Fury

Which reads:

 Target creature gets +5/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.

The basic pump spell.

                                 

 

I'm pretty sure by now you see the combo, right? By the turn you cast the Illuminatus, you will have had seven or so mana available on the board, that's for a minimum of three replicates for the Screaming Fury. You cast the Fury on the Dragonauts, replicating it three times. By the order on the stack, the +15/+0 comes in first, making the Dragonauts a devastating 16/3 flyer. Then its ability resolves, and it becomes an 18/3 flyer. If you're opponent is unprepared, he's in for a real whopper.

NIV-MIZZET, THE FIREMIND

DRAGON, GENIUS, GUILDMASTER

Niv-Mizzet is the bomb. He is easily one of the if not the most favorite dragon, for me, in the entire game of Magic. When I encountered the Firemind, I knew that I've found my guild. But what excites me the most every time I see Niv has something to do when I first saw the card in the first place. 

When I started out with Magic seven years ago, I think that was two years after the first Ravnica block came out, I was heavily intrigued by the game's art. From Magic's artwork alone I was able to discern it from the other TCGs. This interest in artwork made me search the web for Magic wallpapers and full card art, which luckily for me, was readily available. Out of the first pictures I was able to acquire, one particular piece caught my attention: it was (if I am right) the first version of the Firemind, as seen in here. By that point, I wasn't really aware of the vast multiverse of cards that existed beyond my collection: for all I know they were just art for the story-line. Boy was I glad when I discovered the card. But more so when I found out his name. Up to this day the words still ring with a peculiar nostalgia: fire-mind.

During the next few years, after sharpening my skills in-game and enhancing my knowledge lore-wise, I've decided to "join" one of the ten guilds in Ravnica. I actually didn't know all ten by the time I got my first Guildpact deck, as all that was available was the Izzet and Orzhov decks. If it hadn't been for Niv, I would have taken a very, very different path. So I got the Guildpact Izzet deck, which introduced me to heavy-flavor cards like the Izzet Guildmage and Tibor and Lumia. Just visiting that deck's page on Wizard's unleashes a flood of nostalgia upon me.

But enough about that. Let's look at the card:

This aspect of Niv ( the other being the 5/5 Dracogenius) is my favorite. There's synergy with the main focus of both colors, card advantage for blue and burning for red, not to mention the ability to draw a card at instant speed. I mean, just imagine, cards like Divination and Counsel of the Soratami, or heck even Skyscribing can produce a very huge damage output, just with two cards! Not to mention the card-advantage. Also imagine this guy with the Djinn Illuminatus. Niv plus the Djinn plus a cheap draw spell would be utterly devastating for the opponent!