Folks, let's be honest with each other. The "Year of Izzet" has persisted a lot longer than any of us really expected. A majority of the current Standard banlist as of April 2026 is comprised of red and/or blue cards, yet Izzet has remained a dominant colour pair throughout these ban cycles. So...why is that?

Between access to perfect mana, a suite of interactive spells and card refinement options, and good creatures to boot, Izzet as a colour pair and format-defining archetype maintains an iron grip on the Standard metagame. Though it has fallen out of favour at times or fallen victim to other strong decks in the meta like Landfall and Reanimator, Izzet always manages to make it out on top in the end.

Today we're talking about what enables Izzet decks to remain in Tier 1, how the deck is resilient to bannings, and why S ...