Five mana for a 4/4 with both trample and haste is powerful, but not absurd, and its exiling ability is almost always fantastic
Or make it very costly for someone to kill it, either in combat or with a kill spell
Do you have any sick Riku of Many Paths tech to share
Typically, a quicker turnaround means more money
Creatures (8) Lands (17) Spells (35) 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Serum Visions 4 Opt 4 Manamorphose 4 Pyromancer Ascension 3 Noxious Revival 4 Faithless Looting 4 Thought Scour Sideboard Even if Izzet Phoenix is ready to give up the mantle of best deck, its ability to continuously adapt shows that it will remain part of the format for a while
As for viability in the format, Standard is blazing fast these days, but if there is a way to pull this off consistently enough, it could definitely have a home in the format