The #1 Standard deck on MTG Arena right now — Izzet Spells with a pile of cheap cantrips, a flashed-in Crab, and a Sunderflock that costs almost nothing.

Overview

Izzet Spellementals sits at the top of the Standard metagame this month at roughly 11% of the field, and it is easy to see why. The plan is simple: fill your graveyard with cheap instants and sorceries, then watch your big Elementals get absurdly cheap. Eddymurk Crab, Hearth Elemental and Sunderflock are all printed at six to nine mana, but each one discounts itself based on what is in your graveyard or on your board. The list here is Gage Speidel's 4-2 run from the October 11 SCG CON Los Angeles RCQ, and it costs about $186 in tabletop terms (around 21 tix on MTGO).

Full Decklist (60 cards)

Creatures (12)

4 Eddymurk Crab
4 Hearth Elemental
4 Sunderflock

Instants (22)

4 Burst Lightning
4 Opt
4 Prismari Charm
4 Traumatic Critique
2 Get Out
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Sear

Sorceries (6)

4 Sleight of Hand
2 Impractical Joke

Lands (20)

6 Island
4 Riverpyre Verge
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Steam Vents
1 Stormcarved Coast
1 Thundering Falls

Sideboard (15)

1 Annul
1 Broadside Barrage
4 Colorstorm Stallion
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Flashfreeze
1 Ghost Vacuum
1 Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Return the Favor
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare

MTG Arena Import

Deck
4 Eddymurk Crab
4 Hearth Elemental
4 Sunderflock
4 Burst Lightning
4 Opt
4 Prismari Charm
4 Traumatic Critique
2 Get Out
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Sear
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Impractical Joke
6 Island
4 Riverpyre Verge
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Steam Vents
1 Stormcarved Coast
1 Thundering Falls

Sideboard
1 Annul
1 Broadside Barrage
4 Colorstorm Stallion
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Flashfreeze
1 Ghost Vacuum
1 Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Return the Favor
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare

Strategy Guide: Early Game (Turns 1-3)

Your first three turns are about setting up the graveyard and holding up interaction. Opt and Sleight of Hand smooth your draws and drop spells into the yard, Burst Lightning and Impractical Joke clear early attackers, and Spell Snare and Spell Pierce tax the opponent's cheap plays. Keep hands with two lands plus cantrips, and always sequence your cantrips on your own turn when you do not need to hold up a counter. Every instant or sorcery you cast is progress toward a cheap Crab.

Strategy Guide: Midgame (Turns 4-6)

This is where Prismari Charm and Traumatic Critique shine. Charm is a flexible two-mana answer that surveils, pings, or bounces, and Critique is a scalable burn spell that also loots. Pass with mana up and flash in Eddymurk Crab at the end of the opponent's turn, tapping down two blockers or attackers. If the Crab entered on their turn it comes in tapped, but it untaps ready to swing back on yours. Hearth Elemental's Stoke Genius adventure (discard your hand, draw two) is a great refill once you are low on gas, and it still leaves a 4/5 to cast later.

Strategy Guide: Late Game (Turn 7+)

By now Crab and Hearth Elemental should be costing a few mana each. Sunderflock is the finisher: it costs less for each point of the greatest mana value among Elementals you control, so with a Crab or Hearth Elemental in play it is castable far earlier than its nine-mana sticker. When you cast it, every non-Elemental creature returns to its owner's hand, which is a one-sided sweep when your board is full of Elementals. A 5/5 flyer finishes the game fast.

Win Conditions and Key Interactions

Your main wins are 5/5 Eddymurk Crab beats, a 4/5 Hearth Elemental, and the Sunderflock mass-bounce into flying beats. Burn from Traumatic Critique and Sear can finish a game or clear a blocker. The big interaction to remember: Sunderflock bounces your own non-Elemental creatures too (Colorstorm Stallion out of the board, for example), so sequence it with that in mind. Get Out can also save your own Elemental from removal by returning it to hand, or counter a creature spell.

Sideboard Guide

Against creature-heavy aggro (Boros Dragons, Mono-Green Landfall), bring in Colorstorm Stallion for a hasty, ward threat that grows with spells, plus Broadside Barrage and extra removal like Into the Flood Maw. Against control and midrange (Azorius Control, Dimir Midrange), bring Disdainful Stroke, Annul and the extra Spell Pierce and Spell Snare to fight their key spells, and trim some of the burn that gets blanked. Flashfreeze is a clean answer to red and green spells in the matchups where you expect them. Ghost Vacuum and Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon are flexible one-of options in the board; check their text against your matchup before you side them in.

Budget Notes

The full list runs about $186 tabletop, and the mana base is where most of the money sits. Functional swaps if you want to trim: trade the single Thundering Falls for another Island or Stormcarved Coast; drop a Steam Vents or two for extra Stormcarved Coast and Island if you accept a slightly worse mana base; swap Spell Pierce for a second Get Out or extra Burst Lightning if you expect fewer noncreature decks; replace Sear with another Impractical Joke if you want cheaper removal; and trim Sleight of Hand to three if you want to fit more lands. Verify current prices before you buy, since they move week to week.

Final Thoughts

Want the full breakdown to take to the ladder? Copy the Arena import block above and give it a spin. A new Deck Tech Tuesday lands every week at manariotgames.com, so check back next Tuesday, and follow Mana Riot Games on social so the next list hits your feed.