Izzet Polarizer embodies the principles of counterburn perfectly, and it's a card your opponents would rather see on the battlefield than dead
If that is you, however, then I would seriously consider the Brown over the more conventional Beast WhispererBeast Whisperer
The more value you can extract out of every instance of gaining life, the more powerful and commanding your deck is
Hopefully, this helps to make the concept of formats, in general, a little clearer
Gifts Ungiven on my mind as I type this
On the note of budget, each wildcard costs the same and is earned the same way in their given rarities, thus, if you spend a wildcard on a super expensive common or mythic, you can play with cards that would cost a fortune IRL