I've enjoyed playing Historic over the last year, and one of the best decks lately has been one I particularly appreciate. UR Phoenix has a lot of tools to succeed in the format, including a card so powerful it's banned in Modern, Faithless Looting. Let's take a look at what Izzet Phoenix looks like today. Sandydogmtg is a notable Magic grinder and he's been grinding with Phoenix lately, so his list is the best place to be right now. I especially like the choice of one-ofs, though I ended up rebuilding the sideboard somewhat.

Cast a bunch of spells, draw a bunch of cards and attack with a flurry of Phoenixes and other spell-trigger creatures.

Phoenix is a resilient aggro deck that keeps up the pressure thanks to all of its card draw, and gets to play a ton of extra disruption as a result. In game one, it has a ton of ways to kill opposing creatures and get threats into play, but not as many to interact with combo decks, though that changes post-board.

This is the star of the show, and for good reason. Thanks to Faithless Looting, you can dump a bunch of these into your yard by turn three, and bringing them back isn't difficult at all. This deck's win percentage is highly correlated to how many birds it sees in its top 20 cards, and the games where you find two to three tend to be pretty easy.

The cantrips are the backbone of the deck, as they let you sculpt your hand into whatever it needs to be. Looting and Consider let you put Phoenix into the yard, so they are the best at enabling fast draws, with Iteration being the most powerful card draw tool. Hands with a ton of cantrips tend to do very well, as these are cheap and effective when it comes to getting you whatever you are looking for.

The rest of the creature base is a combination of threats that all work with spells. Dragon's Rage Channeler is as good as advertised, even if the lack of Mishra's Bauble makes delirium a tiny bit trickier. Sprite Dragon and Stormwing Entity both offer a lot of bang for your buck, and Ox of Agonas is a great card to mill in the midgame. Phoenix may be the best threat, but these are quite strong as well.

The removal suite is what makes Phoenix strong against other creature decks, with Unholy Heat playing an important role once you hit delirium. Lightning Axe is the worst from a card economy standpoint, but it's nice to have a way to discard Phoenix in a pinch.

I love playing one Finale of Promise. It's fantastic as a way to trigger Phoenix all by itself, and it can draw you a ton of cards for just three or four mana. It does get a lot worse after board, so playing one is perfect.

Delver is a potent threat, given a good flip, but I like the decision to play cards that work a little more reliably. If you do want to add Delver, you need to trim some creatures, as the spell count is good where it is.

Gaze is a way to speed the deck up, but it's a little too all-in for my tastes. It's card disadvantage in exchange for extra milling, which is a concession I don't think this deck needs to make. Post-board, the opponent will almost always have graveyard hate, so playing cards like this isn't the way I'd approach things.

• On the turn you expect to bring back Phoenixes, try to cast all your card draw before casting Faithless Looting. You want any Phoenixes drawn to be discarded via Lootings.
• Against creatureless decks, Pillar of Flame is good at going to the face if you need extra spell triggers.
• You almost always want to lead on Dragon's Rage Channeler, since the extra surveil triggers are worth a ton.
• If you suspect graveyard hate, one way to get Ox through is to discard it to something like Faithless Looting then immediately escape it without passing priority.

You don't want to mess with the core engine of the deck too much, but it is good to be able to bring in the right kind of disruption as needed.

Izzet Creativity

Izzet Creativity

+1 Negate+1 Aether Gust+2 Abrade+2 Mystical Dispute+1 Brazen Borrower  +1 Crackling Drake

-3 Unholy Heat-2 Pillar of Flame-1 Flame-Blessed Bolt-1 Lightning Axe-1 Fading Hope

The spot removal is basically worthless, so you just want a bunch of counters and Abrades (which can kill Crabs or Treasures/Clues). If they get Serra's Emissary into play, hopefully they have to name creature and you can bounce it with Borrower.

Golgari Food

Golgari Food

+2 Abrade+2 Pithing Needle+1 Crackling Drake

-1 Lightning Axe-3 Unholy Heat-1 Finale of Promise

They have a bunch of Soul-Guide Lanterns and Witch's Ovens to name with Needle or kill with Abrade, so that package is good. Drake is another big flyer that doesn't care about graveyard hate, and the spot removal is largely worth removing.

Mirror

Mirror

+3 Soul-Guide Lantern+1 Crackling Drake+2 Mystical Dispute

-3 Unholy Heat-1 Fading Hope-1 Lightning Axe-1 Finale of Promise

The mirror is a race to Phoenixtown in game one, but post-board becomes fairly grindy as both players have access to graveyard hate. Mystical Dispute I go back and forth on, but stopping Iteration and Crackling Drake is enough to make me want it for now.

Humans

Humans

+2 Abrade+2 Dual Shot+1 Crackling Drake

-1 Fading Hope-1 Opt-1 Finale of Promise-2 Dragon's Rage Channeler

I expect them to have Rest in Peace, so Crackling Drake is a nice addition, as well as all the cheap removal.

Rakdos Arcanist

Rakdos Arcanist

+3 Soul-Guide Lantern+1 Aether Gust+2 Abrade+1 Crackling Drake

-3 Unholy Heat-2 Pillar of Flame-1 Flame-Blessed Bolt-1 Lightning Axe

Against Arcanist, you want to take out the two damage spells for Aether Gust, Abrade and graveyard hate (plus the trusty Crackling Drake). If they have Leyline of the Void, you can also bring in Borrower.

Blue Control (Dimir, Azorius)

Blue Control

+1 Crackling Drake+1 Negate+1 Brazen Borrower+2 Mystical Dispute+2 Pithing Needle+1 Abrade

-3 Unholy Heat-2 Pillar of Flame-1 Fading Hope-1 Lightning Axe-1 Flame-Blessed Bolt

In general, blue control decks have Needle and Abrade targets, though you can leave some removal in if that isn't the case.

Phoenix isn't actually rising from the ashes, since it never went anywhere. This is still one of the best decks in Historic, and even if you don't plan on playing it, it's good to prepare to face it. Best of luck, and may all your Phoenixes live in the top third of your deck.