Today, I'll be knocking out a fun Izzet brew, in the most recent plane we visited with SOS, Arcavios.

Secrets of Strixhaven is a nostalgic set that centers on a magical school, much like A Wizard of Earthsea or even the Harry Potter series. It also brought some interesting new abilities, new cards like Lessons, and brought back the spells-matter theme from the first Strixhaven release.

The most interesting facet of the set is its use of enemy color pairs.

Normally, my least favorite school would be the Quandrix College, relying on Simic mana to power their spells; I don't like the ramp and counter strategy. Boros , or White and Red, is my absolute favorite with Witherbloom's Golgari a close second.

Izzet is one of my least favorite color pairs but I'm excited to see what it can do. In SOS, Prismari College is the school of the arts.

The Inspiration for This Deck

I became a huge fan of fantasy as a kid reading things like the Lone Wolf series by Joe Dever before quickly graduating to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Immediately, I was captivated by the genre and felt it matured me as a reader. Next, I read Anne McCaffrey's Pern trilogy. These science fantasy books were some of the first I read with a female protagonist, which was really exciting; they follow her story of becoming a music scholar. These books helped really solidify the 'magical school' trope as a mainstay in YA literature.

Even though the series is from the 70s, be warned there are spoilers ahead.

Our main character is Menolly. She comes from a far-off Sea Hold. She leans Blue because loves the ocean and spends her days working with fish. But that's not all. She also loves music and is driven. That passion pulls in Red. That's why she fits Izzet so well.

Her story really starts when she's told she can't be a Harper just because she's a woman. So, she leaves to forge her own path. Along the way, she psionically bonds with a group of fire lizards to find her own family.

From there, she heads to the school. She shows up ready to break the door down and earn her place.

Her teacher is Masterharper Robinton. He is more than just a teacher, he has presence. He has a deep, rich voice that fills a room and really commands attention. He doesn't just stay at the school either. He travels from Hold to Hold, helping where he can. He supports the world, not just his students. That's why he feels like our leader here.

The world itself is harsh. There's a constant threat called Threadfall that falls from the sky and destroys anything it touches. The only way to stop the threat is Dragons. In this world, they can jump across space to where they are needed. They live in places called Weyrs.

The Harper Hall story centers on a young woman learning in a school like Strixhaven. That lines up well with this build. It gives us a strong theme to work with, and it fits the plane we're building around.

Meet Our Commander

Let's talk about Zaffai and the Tempests.

This is a seven drop, sitting as a 5/7 body. It is slow to land, but once it does, it changes the pace of every turn. You can cast your first spell (Instant or Sorcery) for free. That alone is already nasty in a spell heavy build. There is also the pressure that comes with a body this size. A 5/7 does not sit around doing nothing, it blocks well.

The name, flavor, and design all fit the same idea. It fits the "art and performance" angle of the deck without needing extra explanation.

Nasty, in the best way. It does not just support the plan. It sets the rhythm for it.

Mana Matters

Resonating Lute is a perfectly on-theme Artifact, same with Springleaf Drum.

Resonating Lute will cost us to play and lets all our Lands tap for two of any color if we're using it towards Instants and Sorceries.

Dragondrums is one of the Pern books so Springleaf Drum is a perfect callback to that. In the world of the books, drums are how the Holds would warn inhabitants of an impending Threadfall. This card lets us turn the equipped Creature into a mana dork.

Blazing Firesinger, a 2/3 Dwarf Bard for three is next. She arrives prepared and lets us cast Seething Song, a massive boon to our mana pool if we need it.

Rousing Refrain is a Sorcery that will give us one Red mana for each card in our of our foe's hands. We get to keep that mana through our whole turn, and this card even has Suspend -- giving us a means to cast it for free later on if we want. I love the flavor this brings, because 'refrain' means 'chorus' and serves as a reminder to the people of Pern to rise up and fight the Threadfall.

I finished off my mana fixing with this last duo.

For , we have Molten-Core Maestro which is a 2/2 Goblin Bard with both Menace and Opus.

Opus is a new mechanic from SOS that has us put a +1/+1 on the Creature for every spell. Once we rack up enough, we can use it to add a minimum of seven mana. The name and concept are awesome for my purposes, along with the effect.

Victory Chimes are perfect here. Imagine them ringing after a victory against the Thread, celebrating the resilience of Pern in the face of crisis. Once it's on the board for , it untaps on everybody's turn and gives us colorless mana.

The rest of my mana sources fit my theme, of course, like Sea Gate.

Synergies and Win-Cons

Now, let's turn to synergies.

Another Artifact, this time for , I included Citanul Flute. This card lets us pay whatever mana cost we need, tap, and search for a card of that cost or less from our library. Not only is this a solid engine for the deck, but also the flavor is on point. A flute is a great way to rally the people of Pern.

Thunderdrum Soloist is a 1/3 Dwarf bard with Reach and Opus again. This time, whenever we cast an Instant or Sorcery, we get to ping an opponent for one life. If the spell's expensive, we can ping them for three instead.

Zaffai, Thunder Conductor is a four-drop version of our Commander. This one is a 1/4 with another new SOS mechanic -- Magecraft. This lets us scry one when we cast any Instant or Sorcery; if the spell's mana value is more than five, then we also get a 4/4 Elemental token that's Blue and Red.

Then, this two-drop Harmonic Prodigy is a perfect callback to our protagonist. Just like Menolly, this 1/3 Human Wizard has Prowess. Along with that, whenever any of our Wizards or Shamans use their abilities, it triggers an additional time. I also decided to throw in Panharmonicon here, too.

Next up, I included these two things.

The five-drop, Radiant Performer is a 2/2 with Flash and a handy enters (ETB) trigger. When we put her on the board, we can copy a spell that would usually only have one target and send it to anything that it could hit.

Leyline of Resonance is a special card; if it's in our opening hand, we can play it for free, otherwise it'll cost us . This Enchantment lets us make one copy of every Instant or Sorcery we cast as long as its on the board.

Menolly is a radiant performer, and obviously resonance has its own instrumental flare.

Bohn, Beguiling Balladeer is three-drop 3/3 in Izzet colors, and as a Bard, he's a perfect representation of a Harper. He makes it so our nonland permanents all have Foretell, which lets us camp them out in exile and cast them for later.

Then I've got Song of Totentanz, an X-cost Sorcery. This spell makes us X amount of 1/1 Rat tokens. None of them can block, but the whole team gets Haste for the turn. Obviously, I love that it's a song and even though the Rats are small, they can be strong in numbers, perfect for the story.

Next, I included these two Creatures, with flavorful names, along with a couple Instruments.

The Resonance Technician is a 4/4 for five, and we can pay for it with Blue or Red. He comes with Flying and a useful ETB trigger that lets us choose to discard and make two Clue tokens. He'll also give us the ability to tap Artifacts to duplicate spells and send them to other foes.

For , Veyran, Voice of Duality is a 2/2 Legendary Wizard with Magecraft. While on the board, Veyran has an effect that doubles our triggered abilities any time we cast or copy an Instant or Sorcery.

Another really flavorful card I found to put in is Prismari Pianist. This 2/1 Djinn Bard has a great name and even the flavor text is on theme for the story. As long as he's on the board, we can get one 1/1 Elemental token for every low-cost spell we cast.

If we spend more than five mana on an Instant or Sorcery, we get to make three of the tokens instead.

Visionary's Dance is a pricey Sorcery at but worth it. It creates two 3/3 Elementals with Flying and we can pay and discard to peek at the top two cards in our library and put one in our hand.

Next, I wanted to include some Dragons as a representation of Menolly's bond with the Fire Lizards on her way to school.

The Sprite Dragon is a two-drop 1/1 with Flying and Haste. She is small but mighty and gains a +1/+1 counter every time we cast a noncreature spell. Dragonmaster Outcast is a great representation of Menolly's first few years at school.

She's outcast for her desire to be a singer and has to run away, which is where she really connects with the Fire Lizards. As long as this Outcast is on the board, and we have at least six Lands in play, we'll get a 5/5 Dragon with Flying every turn.

Galazeth Prismari is an Elder Dragon, so for my purposes, she's a great representation of a Weyrleader in Pern.

She is a 3/4 with Flying and her abilities make her rate really fair. When Galazeth enters the battlefield, we'll get to create a Treasure. After that, all our Artifacts can work as mana rocks for our spells. This is cool because we can use it to make our instruments more powerful.

Then, for , we have Goldspan Dragon. This Dragon comes in at 4/4 with Flying and Haste. Any time we swing or Goldspan is the target of a spell, we get to create a Treasure. To me, she represents Menolly's closest Fire Lizard, known as Queenie.

Rootha, Mercurial Artist is the perfect card to represent Menolly. She's a three-drop 1/4 Legendary Shaman with a two-cost ability to self-bounce and copy a spell. Menolly has tons of pressure as the first female Journeyman Harper, as does Rootha too. You can double our Songs and other spells here, but have to bounce her to do so, showing that pressure in action.

Then, Elemental Masterpiece is a seven-cost Sorcery that will make us two 4/4 Elemental tokens. We can also pay in Blue or Red to use this card to create a Treasure. With the Masterpiece name, this reminds me of the final performance at Harper Hall, too.

Let's finish out this section with these two Dragon-making spells.

The Death by Dragons perfectly simulates a Weyr hatching. This Sorcery lets us pay to give everybody but one player a 5/5 Dragon token with Flying.

Elemental Eruption also costs , and it will create us a 4/4 Red Dragon Elemental with Flying and Prowess. The real kicker here is that this card has Storm, giving us a chance to really exploit those copy abilities.

This also represents a key moment in the story where Menolly fires up the great chorus to win for Pern.

Answers

And now let's look at what I have for answers.

For with Flash and Flying, and a perfect name for my theme, is Threnody Singer. She's a 1/3 and when she enters, we can drop the toughness of a single target by our devotion to Blue.

Since Menolly is a singer from the Sea Hold, I had to include Seasinger. This three-drop is a 0/1 Summon. We can tap this to steal an opponent's dork as long as they have an Island.

I also included these two Instants.

Magma Opus, a pricey Instant in Izzet colors will cost us eight to play. It deals four damage, divided up however we want and then it lets us tap two Creatures, no matter whose board they're on. It also gives us a 4/4 Elemental token and draws two cards. As you can see, it's a powerful one.

For six but with Convoke, I included Artistic Refusal. We can either counter a spell, draw two cards and discard one, or both.

The X-cost Blue Sorcery is next, Entrancing Melody. Whatever we pay into it, we can steal control of a Creature with that mana value.

Magus of the Scroll is weaker, but in Harper Hall, there are tons of scrolls so I included it for flavor. It's a 1/1 for one, but we can use it to grab us a card or ping an opponent for two if we need to.

I also tossed in Scroll Rack and Scroll of the Masters for flavor here.

Descent of the Dragons for is a Sorcery we can use to destroy any number of targets. This is a perfect representation of a Weyr preparing to fight the Threadfall.

Every Creature destroyed this way will net us a 4/4 Red Dragon with Flying.

Card Draw

I'll wrap things up with some boring card draw pieces.

Harmonized Trio is a flavorful one drop that also gives us access to Brainstorm thanks to the Prepared mechanic. We can use it to tap two Creatures on our board but then, we can cast the Brainstorm for just .

Then, for six in Blue, I threw in Abstract Performance. This has us exile the top four cards of our library twice, in two piles. Our opponent sends one stack of four to our graveyard, and then we keep the other stack. Three go in our hand and one can go on the board for free.

The two-drop Muse Seeker is a 1/2 with a great Opus effect that lets us draw and discard cards any time we cast an Instant or Sorcery.

Then the three-drop 2/2, Leitmotif Composer has a combat damage trigger to draw us cards. Then as we cast spells, we can make a copy if they have a mana cost over five. If we'd like, we can spend three to make them unblockable for a turn, too.

Artist's Talent is perfectly on theme, it's a class and a perfect reference to Menolly's and the other Harpers' talent. We can play it for , and each level will cost another .

This is a powerful Enchantment that we can use for card draw, lowering our Creature costs, and eventually boosting the damage we can deal outside of combat.

Horn of Plenty is a simple six-drop Artifact that will let us pay to draw an extra card any time we cast a spell. But, it's a horn.

How the Deck Turned out

I also tossed in Finale of Inspiration to represent our protagonist at her peak performance. Temple Bell is here to have everyone draw, which shows the political side of Masterharper Robinton, while digging for goods.

Let's look at it all together.

Abe's Izzet Brew Inspired by Pern | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zaffai and the Tempests

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Blazing Firesinger
• 1 Bohn, Beguiling Balladeer
• 1 Campus Composer
• 1 Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1 Firbolg Flutist
• 1 Harmonic Prodigy
• 1 Harmonized Trio
• 1 Galazeth Prismari
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Leitmotif Composer
• 1 Magus of the Scroll
• 1 Moku, Meandering Drummer
• 1 Molten-Core Maestro
• 1 Muse Seeker
• 1 Musician
• 1 Prismari Pianist
• 1 Radiant Performer
• 1 Resonance Technician
• 1 Rootha, Mercurial Artist
• 1 Seasinger
• 1 Sprite Dragon
• 1 Stirring Bard
• 1 Threnody Singer
• 1 Thunderdrum Soloist
• 1 Veyran, Voice of Duality
• 1 Zaffai, Thunder Conductor

• Instants (7)
• 1 Artistic Refusal
• 1 Expansion // Explosion
• 1 Homesickness
• 1 Inspiring Refrain
• 1 Magma Opus
• 1 Reiterate
• 1 Swan Song

• Sorceries (15)
• 1 Abstract Performance
• 1 Artistic Process
• 1 Creative Technique
• 1 Death by Dragons
• 1 Descent of the Dragons
• 1 Distant Melody
• 1 Elemental Eruption
• 1 Elemental Masterpiece
• 1 Entrancing Melody
• 1 Finale of Revelation
• 1 Rapturous Moment
• 1 Rousing Refrain
• 1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn
• 1 Song of Totentanz
• 1 Visionary's Dance

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Artist's Talent
• 1 Leyline of Resonance
• 1 Goblin War Drums
• 1 Singing Bell Strike
• 1 Torch Song

• Artifacts (12)
• 1 Conch Horn
• 1 Entrancing Lyre
• 1 Horn of Deafening
• 1 Horn of Plenty
• 1 Panharmonicon
• 1 Resonating Lute
• 1 Scroll of the Masters
• 1 Scroll Rack
• 1 Siren Song Lyre
• 1 Springleaf Drum
• 1 Temple Bell
• 1 Victory Chimes

• Lands (33)
• 11 Island
• 10 Mountain
• 1 Great Hall of the Biblioplex
• 1 Hall of Oracles
• 1 Plaza of Harmony
• 1 Prismari Campus
• 1 Sand Silos
• 1 Sea Gate
• 1 Sea Gate Wreckage
• 1 Seafloor Debris
• 1 Spectacle Summit
• 1 Study Hall
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Training Center

Buy This Deck Export text

Musician is one of my favorite additions here, the cumulative upkeep of adding music counters is perfect flavor.

I've included some great, on-theme Lands like Study Hall, Great Hall, and Temple of Epiphany; more instruments like Siren Song Lyre to protect us from a surprise attack which feels very Menolly. Conch Horn could also be a great fit.

Conclusion

Putting this deck together was an awesome journey because Magic has so many musical cards that really took me back to the planet of Pern right alongside Menolly and the musical spirit of the school. Overall, I love this deck and this concept as it is, and there is still room to upgrade with things like scrolls and other music-themed cards.

Hope you enjoy!