Hi guys,

Yesterday I attended a local RCQ with 23 participants, 5 swiss rounds into top 8. I´d like to share my experience playing Izzet Prowess, as I haven´t seen too many people playing the deck in paper.

My list was this one: https://moxfield.com/decks/_T7qDbqZVUCxor4m6p4pzg

R1 vs Dimir Kaito, on the play, 2-0 W

Matchup is good for prowess imo, shore up is very good here.

R2 vs Rakdos Lizards, on the draw, 2-1 W

Lost first game because i got burnt really fast on curve and didn´t find multiple removal, but the matchup is fine to play as well, althought it´s favored to the deck that is on the play. Luckily, I spell snared a Stinging Vitriol G3 turn 2 (which was kind of a gamble tbh, if he had cavern of souls and dropped a creature instead my hand was doomed) and then steamrolled him.

R3 vs Dimir Kaito, on the draw, 1-2 L

Lost this matchup because this guy was playing a different version that I hadn´t seen yet, with [[Spectral Sailor]] and [[Loch Mare]], and others cards as well. He played really well around my outs so really props to him.

R4 vs Azorius Momo, on the draw, 0-2 L

This matchup seems like hell to me. T2 Riddler, T3 Springleaf Drum -> Momo -> Sage of the skies feels almost impossible to answer. Wondering how to improve my gameplay and sideboard plan in this specific matchup after the event.

R5 vs Jund Sac, on the play, 2-1 W

This matchup can be very explosive for either side. Positive point is that they usually lose some points of life (lands, [[Obsessive pursuit]] and [[Callous inspector]]). I won G1 and G3 the same way, leaving him on 1hp and him dying on his upkeep trigger to the enchantment. First one was with an attack for 13 with slickshot and pompous, hitting burst and vibrant to face, and the other one was a 6 damage ETB from sunspine lynx.

Placed top 8 while being 3-2, because the guys I lost to were 1st and 3rd.

QF vs Azorius Momo, on the draw, 0-2 L

Almost got the first game now, but he survived on a few hp and hit 3 removals in a row. G2 I got rolled.

Overall I´m happy with the performance of the deck. I will now make some adjustments on the 75.

Some interesting facts:

• I got deck-checked G3. It lasted 25 minutes because the judge had some technical issues. Finally, everything was correct, no problems found in any of both decks. Just after being handed it back, I noticed 1 card in my sideboard had a white sleeve, the other 74 cards had black ones. Freaked out hahaha, probably messed up the night before. Had to buy new ones and resleeve the whole deck between rounds.
• Didn´t match vs any spellmentals, even thought there were some of them. I´m curious about how is this matchup post side, if i had to guess i´d say its slightly favoured for them.
• There was 1 guy playing the sultai reanimator arena deck
• Dimir Kaito was probably the most played deck, saw at least 5 people playing it.
• 1 Boros Dragons, 1 Jeskai Artifacts and 1 Azorius Control. Didn´t see any 4c control.

Thanks for reading!!!

Hello, looking for some advice/tips/etc.

I have been playing standard competitively for about 4-5 months. Played some prowess before stormchaser ban and have been on Spellementals before and since the bans. I practice on MOTO/Arena and twice a week in paper at LGS. I have been 4-1 multiple times this week on MOTO league with the deck and even trophied last week with it. I’m usually consistent with 2-1 record at LGS 3/4th place most weeks with 10-15 players.

I’ve been to 4 RCQ’s now this season and lost in semi-finals of a top 4 cut, went 0-3 at the next, went 3-2 and 2-3 at the others but didn’t make top 8 with 3-2 record. I’m looking for advice on how to improve better on paper, or get better practice in. Our local meta is a little heavier on bad matchups for Spellementals and I see others on the deck do bad at RCQ’s too with mostly landfall and control decks making top cut. I don’t feel like I’m playing worse from nerves, or anything like that but I feel super good going into the tournament and then feel like I make 1/2 mistakes a game that just cause me to get steamrolled in early rounds. Also attending events alone when I see others that have already Q’d conceding to their friends or ID etc. is a little frustrating.

I’ve considering changing decks to play into local meta a little more? But again do super good on MOTO and when practicing so not sure if that’s really the answer.

Any advice is welcome, TIA!