Brilliant! - Melek, Izzet Paragon EDH

(Magic by The World According To Marty, licensed under Creative Commons)

I love copying things. I mean, who doesn't? You took the effort of doing whatever you did (cast a massive spell, set off a wicked combo, alpha strike with a horde of monsters) once - why not twice? Cards like Twincast, Rite of Replication and Waves of Aggression have always been close to my heart. They're also (conveniently) incredibly strong cards in EDH, where their generally high cost and strict conditions matter less.

Blue and red have always been the best at copying things, be it spells, turns, steps, creatures... the list goes on. You're sure to get a little extra bang for your buck when playing the two colors, especially with a general like Melek, Izzet Paragon. At first glance an innocent little bubble of diametrically opposed energies (which is what Weirds apparently are), Melek can get out of hand fast with cards that were never meant to be copied: take two extra turns instead of one ? Sure!

So a deck for the plasmodermic powerhouse is in order. We want our deck to gravitate around powerful instants and sorceries that Melek can cast off the top of your library, preferably in quick succession. I decided against infinite turn combos and such degeneracy, since it makes the deck a one-trick pony that gets shot down fast in all games after the first one. Let's stick with X=20 Banefires, shall we?

Brilliant! - Melek, Izzet Paragon EDH

ARTIFACT (3)


• Cloud Key
• Mirari
• Sol Ring

INSTANT (19)


• Blue Sun's Zenith
• Capsize
• Comet Storm
• Counterflux
• Counterspell
• Dissipate
• Dissolve
• Essence Backlash
• Evacuation
• Fact or Fiction
• Faerie Trickery
• Hinder
• Increasing Vengeance
• Izzet Charm
• Mystical Tutor
• Reiterate
• Spell Crumple
• Suffocating Blast
• Twincast
• Wild Ricochet

SORCERY (21)


• Banefire
• Bonfire of the Damned
• Bribery
• Call to Mind
• Demonfire
• Devil's Play
• Epic Experiment
• Invoke the Firemind
• Merchant Scroll
• Mystic Retrieval
• Past in Flames
• Personal Tutor
• Pull from the Deep
• Red Sun's Zenith
• Rite of Replication
• Spelltwine
• Temporal Manipulation
• Temporal Mastery
• Time Warp
• Uncovered Clues
• Walk the Aeons

CREATURE (13)


• Archaeomancer
• Charmbreaker Devils
• Echo Mage
• Fire Servant
• Galvanoth
• Goblin Electromancer
• Guttersnipe
• Hypersonic Dragon
• Nivix Guildmage
• Nucklavee
• Satyr Firedancer
• Snapcaster Mage
• Solemn Simulacrum
• Talrand, Sky Summoner
• Young Pyromancer

ENCHANTMENT (3)


• Arcane Melee
• Eyes of the Watcher
• Spellweaver Volute

LAND (37)


• Ancient Tomb
• Command Tower
• Desolate Lighthouse
• Forgotten Cave
• Halimar Depths
• Homeward Path
• 12 Island
• Izzet Boilerworks
• Lonely Sandbar
• 6 Mountain
• Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• Opal Palace
• Riptide Laboratory
• Scalding Tarn
• Steam Vents
• Sulfur Falls
• Temple of Epiphany
• Temple of the False God
• Tolaria West
• Winding Canyons

There are a ton of different angles a deck like this can approach a game from. Basically what you want to do is to stockpile resources, get a good manabase going, save your spells and play diplomatically. The fact is that without degenerate combos a deck like this doesn't start off fast: the early game will be dominated by faster decks.

Don't let yourself become a target. Counter game-ending spells and try to rack up positive attitudes for your "teamwork efforts". If you manage to make yourself look useless, you can occasionally even completely avert people's eyes from the horrible things your deck will do down the line.

Your best bets of winning the game is a massive X-damage spell, especially Banefire, which is incredibly hard to avert. Remember that when you copy a spell, it also copies the spells X-value (some people don't believe this - be ready to explain it to them while burning them out of the game). Thus, a top-of-library Banefire is often a game-ender. The rest of the deck is draw, counter and recursion, to make sure you never run out of steam (remember that extra turn spells also draw you a card - nifty!)

The problem is, yet again, the deck's cost: what with all the expensive instant and sorcery spells, the deck goes up to almost three hundred dollars. Admittedly, Melek EDH is one of those decks that really, really likes its spells big and strong; thus, we can't cut out some of the best tricks. Instead, we'll replace those that are negotiable, and play up the diplomatic streak of the deck. Aaand...

Spells for a Penny - Melek, Izzet Paragon EDH

ARTIFACT (3)


• Crawlspace
• Crystal Ball
• Mirari
• Runechanter's Pike
• Sol Ring
• Sphinx-Bone Wand

INSTANT (17)


• Ætherize
• Blue Sun's Zenith
• Brainstorm
• Capsize
• Comet Storm
• Counterflux
• Counterspell
• Dissipate
• Dissolve
• Essence Backlash
• Fact or Fiction
• Faerie Trickery
• Increasing Vengeance
• Izzet Charm
• Suffocating Blast
• Volcanic Geyser
• Wild Ricochet

SORCERY (15)


• Call to Mind
• Demonfire
• Devil's Play
• Dream Cache
• Epic Experiment
• Foresee
• Invoke the Firemind
• Merchant Scroll
• Mystic Retrieval
• Preordain
• Pull from the Deep
• Red Sun's Zenith
• Spelltwine
• Titan's Revenge
• Uncovered Clues

CREATURE (13)


• Archaeomancer
• Augur of Bolas
• Charmbreaker Devils
• Echo Mage
• Fire Servant
• Galvanoth
• Goblin Electromancer
• Guttersnipe
• Hypersonic Dragon
• Izzet Guildmage
• Lunar Mystic
• Meletis Charlatan
• Nivix Guildmage
• Nucklavee
• Prescient Chimera
• Satyr Firedancer
• Solemn Simulacrum
• Spellheart Chimera
• Talrand, Sky Summoner
• Young Pyromancer

ENCHANTMENT (3)


• Arcane Melee
• Eyes of the Watcher
• Propaganda
• Spellweaver Volute

LAND (37)


• Command Tower
• Desolate Lighthouse
• Forgotten Cave
• Halimar Depths
• 15 Island
• Izzet Boilerworks
• Lonely Sandbar
• 10 Mountain
• Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
• Opal Palace
• Swiftwater Cliffs
• Temple of the False God
• Vivid Crag
• Vivid Creek

...voilá! With surprisingly little fidgeting, we've dropped the deck from three hundred dollars to just around fifty. We've sacrificed raw power for durability in the form of extra creatures (Izzet Guildmage, Prescient Chimera etc.) and effects that throw your enemies off your scent (Crawlspace, Propaganda etc.) You still need to pay attention to the diplomacy of the game, and you won't be winning with as big of a blast as with the previous deck, but Melek is certainly playable, even on a tight budget.

Remember to abuse all the little synergies and minicombos that the deck sports: all scry effects, as well as any card that puts something on the top of your library (Dream Cache, Brainstorm etc.) allows you to set up spells for Melek to cast. As a side note, always include Vivid lands into your budget decks: they're cheap and powerful, even if they're not as fast as more expensive multicolor lands.

What are you still reading this for? Off you go, to buy the cards and build your very own Melek deck - the sky is the limit for the various ways you could go about building the Weird Wizard's deck. Artifact mana ramp into X spells, library stacking ad infinitum, endless combos. Keep experimenting, and return on Sunday, when I tell you which cards (in my opinion) are worthy of spending your big bucks on.