Izzet control

In January a series of all common extended tournaments was about to start. Me and Lukas decided to build a deck for that as we are tired with competitive formats. Both of us had Izzet in mind as it can both counter and burn.
I also tried to figure out a UWR variant for extended (based from my T2 UWR deck) as I just can't play an aggro deck in a aggro way^^. I tested both decks at the same time...during the past few days so it's all in one post.
(keep in mind that I don't develop for competitive but for fun) and the outcome?

Mass Removal
I started testing my UWR deck trying to figure out if Day of Judgment is worth replacing with Firespout. I realized that this card works quite well but won't help me against Baneslayer Angel or creatures that get pumped (white soldiers). Especially mono white soldiers with Armorsmith and Honor of the Pure were killing me. And if I managed to counter/kill everything I had to deal with Baneslayer Angel. (not that I would encounter this at Extended).

In most of the other match ups I tried playing Firespout instead of Day of Judgment and it did not make a difference. I hardly play this card on turn 3 so I can wait till round 4 or more and with enough dual lands and fetch lands I don't problems having 2 white mana producing lands.

For mass removal in all common there is one card that stands out - Martyr of Ashes. One drop and pay 2, reveal x red cards, sac and deal x damage to non flying creatures? That's just perfect.^^

Counterspells
I also tried to focus on xU counterspells vs Mana Leak and Rune Snag vs Cancel/Remove Soul/Negate. In most of the games I played Mana Leak and Rune Snag became dead cards quite soon. Even though it's good to tap your opponents lands. Still it did not really help me much. Condescend and Broken Ambition did not work that well either (most probably because I don't usually start and don't have more lands and especially against Bant these cards are useless). Scry is a good thing but drawing the cards is still better. (or at least it seems so for the time being...even adding 3x ponder seemed as a better alternative. - not a good one for sure though^^)

I decided that the Cancel/Remove soul against mainly aggro decks is much better. People most probably disagree with me on this (few already were telling that it's a insanity but hell it works...). Ok well...Still I haven't played enough games to judge, but for me it works better.

Later I realized that there is Dissipate and Faerie Trickery that remove spells from the game. Dissipate is no longer Ext legal so I decided to try out Faerie trickery (it backfired only once for the time being - Vendilion Clique). Also Bant showed me Spellsnare which messes up with my Remove soul, but that would also mess up Mana Leak/Rune Snag. Path to Exile or enough burn kills even a baneslayer/goyf so I'm not that concerned about that.

Winning conditions
UWR still runs Ajani. Chandra is too slow and won't usually do those 10 dmg as the game at extended is much faster. Ajani can work wonders but still is pretty bad winning condition...He's just unreliable I have to think everything all over.

Creatures that can win the game are Sphinx of Jwar Isle supported by Kitchen Finks. Sphinx is good for obvious reasons and Kitchen Finks can block twice or die once and still block something (unless exiled or countered). I would fancy one more creature but can't decide what that should be. Usually Kitchen Finks + Sphinx are fine but sometimes I miss Wall of Denial. I need something to protect Ajani Vengeant but I should be able to take care of protecting him myself. So that Wall of Denial can be replaced with something else. (as the 'walker can easily die of other removal)

Izzet has also an obvious choice for a creature winning the game - Errant Ephemeron. 4/4 flyer with suspend 4. Suspending this card and then preparing for countering any removal is good (even though Meddling Mage managed to mess my plans! argh). Izzet deck also has Mulldrifters for drawing cards and mostly blocking. These creatures can't go for a damage race but blocking 4 damage is something the deck needs. I also added Shimmering Glasskite. Someone at some tournament played this against me and I had quite some hard time getting pass the first counter and opponents counters (till I managed to get my Jitte on the table). So I though that playing 2 of these could help me. It eats two cards, is a good blocker and even good attacker (at all common).

Card Advantage
In UWR instead of Jace I tried Mind Spring and it works more or less.

For Izzet I had troubles finding a card that would suit me. I found one when browsing my card pool - Train of Thought. I decided that in the worst case drawing 2 cards for 4 mana is still better than draw 3 and discard a land (or two cards). Train of Thought is really cool in late game. And Izzet Chronarch is something that can get this card back to me. I'm not really that excited about playing four of these so it's more of a late game card (play 2).

Spot Removal
UWR runs Lightning bolts and Path to Exile. On standard I actually replaced 2 paths with to Celestial Purges. It's good even in mirror. Exiling Ajani is always good and I don't usually need that much spot removal for non-red/black creatures. Anyway at Extended it's of no use as who the hell would play BR?

Izzet has Lightning Bolts and Burst Lightning. I put burst lightning there as this can deal more damage in late game and anyway there are hardly creatures with toughness 3 and if they are any they don't usually cost 2 mana. I was thinking about adding 1-2 Incinerates but I realized that this does not help much (in mirror it does but otherwise it messes the deck)

Izzet control (All Common)

Lands: 24
4x Izzet Boilerworks
3x Terramorphic Expanse
11x Islands
6x Mountains

Creatures: 13
4x Mulldrifter
2x Izzet Chronarch
2x Shimmering Glasskite
2x Martyr of Ashes
3x Errant Ephemeron

Non-creature Spells: 24
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Burst Lightning
4x Faerie Trickery
4x Remove Soul
1x Compulsive Research
2x Train of Thought
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Muddle the Mixture
1x Yamabushi's Storm
1x Mana Leak

Sideboard
4x Rune Snag
2x Martyr of Ashes
3x Smash to Smithereens
1x Errant Ephemeron
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Steamcore Weird
1x Echoing Truth