It’s a great outlet for folks who enjoy messing with magitek (which I love), or who want to spend their adventures learning about the world around them or answering big questions about the universe. Of all the Guilds out there, the Izzet League feels the most science fiction-y. You could just as easily be an Izzet researcher who is timid from one too many explosive reactions–or play a character who gets deep into the theories of Magic. The Izzet league are researchers first, certainly, but they still have to live with the consequences of their decisions. But it doesn’t have to be a repository for Kender-esque chaosmonkeys.
If you’re an instigator, want to let your curiosity guide you, or feel compelled to double down and say yes every time the DM asks you “Are you sure you wanna do that?” then the Izzet League will let you flourish. The Izzet League is a Guild for characters that want to stir the pot. This might make life dangerous at times, but this mindset is at the core of the great dragon Niv-Mizzet’s ideology and it filters down to the lesser members. Every experiment has value when you’re an Izzet researcher, even if it doesn’t teach you what you thought you’d learn. …but rather because the unknown is what leads them to discovery and order. Part of what drives them is a desire to embrace the unknown–but not as an “everything is chaos” Jeff Goldblum kinda way… They help build and maintain the city, while looking for ways to expand their knowledge. In addition to shooting lightning at crystals just to see what happens, they also are responsible for the growth of Ravnica. Naturally the Izzet League is interested in Knowledge, and they pursue their passion with gusto–but it turns out they do a lot for Ravnica. And it is the latter that makes them one of the most beloved in the city. But it’s not all explosions and reckless science, the Izzet League is sometimes responsible for unstable rifts in space/time, opening up arcane portals to other worlds, and on occasion discovering an advance in technology that improves the lot of Ravnicans throughout the Plane. And when you’re a Guild of Mad Scientists led by a Dragon, the list of things that fall under “coulda” is quite large indeed. The Izzet League is a Guild that is all about coulda, not shoulda. The Izzet League are a Guild of Innovators, Experimenters, and responsible for as much property damage as a fully trained Gruul Warband when their experiments go awry.