Throne of Eldraine is right around the corner and I personally can't wait for it to get here. I'm ready for a Standard shake up and this time we're not only getting a new set but also a rotation. It's important to revaluate cards that ask you to build around them from older sets and from Throne of Eldraine as they have the potential to build completely new archetypes and decks. I have the pleasure of revealing Coolstuff's preview card, courtesy of Wizards of the Coast, and it's most definitely a build around me card.

World, meet Irencrag Pyromancer.

This Pyromancer asks you to heavily build around it as it is not going to do any damage by attacking and you can't just jam here in your Mono-Red aggressive deck. It definitely fits better in a shell where you can draw multiple cards, probably alongside Arclight Phoenix. Having four toughness is big game as it dodges a lot of cheap removal outside of Lava Coil. However, the most important part is that three damage she deals and it is to any target. Imagine casting Opt to kill your opponent's creature on your turn or to kill a planeswalker. You can then cast Chemister's Insight on your opponent's turn and get another free Lightning Bolt. I can promise you it is not going to take many free Lightning Bolts to take over the game.

The one drawback is going to be an opposing Narset as that will shut off your draw engine completely, so make sure to be packing some Shocks or some ways to deal with Narset, Parter of Veils.

I'm not going to build a deck just yet with Irencrag Pyromancer as we are missing a good number of cards from the set. So, instead I want to discuss cards that are potential inclusions for a deck with Irencrag Pyromancer.

Bag of Holding, Chemister's Insight, Radical Idea, Opt, The Royal Scions, Crackling Drake, Spectral Sailor, Discovery // Dispersal, Expansion // Explosion, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Fblthp, the Lost, Growth Spiral, Honor the God-Pharaoh, Teferi, Time Raveler, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Gadwick, the Wizened, and Commence the Endgame are all just a few that are only in Izzet colors. We can also combine it with Torbran, Thane of Red Fell so she pings for 5 damage at a time if you want to get spicy.

The Magic Mirror is a card we could run a singleton of, but just like Firemind's Research, it gets shut down hard by Teferi, Time Raveler.

Final Thoughts

This card has potential, especially in an Arclight Phoenix deck. We just need a Tormenting Voice replacement and Merchant of the Vale isn't a bad one. The popularity of Narset will determine if this card sees play as Narset will just completely shut down drawing extra cards. I'll be brewing around this once we get all the cards for Throne of Eldraine, since it allows me to durdle and kill my opponent at the same time. What's better than that?

Remember, preordering a box of Throne of Eldraine at coolstuffinc.com gets you an Ali Aintrazi Wolf tolken, aka the best token in the world. Grab your boxes early and use code Ali5 to get 5% off your order!

As Always, thanks for reading!

Ali Aintrazi

Follow me @AliEldrazi

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