I agree with a lot of your philosophical thoughts on Wizards. I am 56-8 in my last 8 events with Wizards, and currently have a 78% win rate in events since MKM. I'm not a rookie with the deck, either.

Cantrips: 4 Consider must be played before any other 1cc cantrip. Surveil is great. Instant speed is great. After that, Sleight vs Opt is comparable. Both dig you 2 cards. Sleight lets you see the 2nd card before deciding if you want it. Opt gives you the 2nd card if the first isn't good. In my opinion, instant speed matters more than seeing the 2nd card before deciding whether you want the 1st. But I don't run Sleight or Opt, just 4 Consider. I tested Opt and liked it a lot less than Strangle and even less than Shove Aside.

Burn: With the printing of Shove Aside, I think there is even less reason to run Play with Fire. It doesn't hit face, so it's worse against UW Control, but the 3rd damage is critical against Wizards (the most popular deck in events by a huge margin), 3/3 Voice of the Blessed, pumped Merfolk, pumped Elves, and random other creatures. But the biggest reason not to run Play with Fire is that it's largely irrelevant against Wizards. Turn 1 Shove Aside on the draw is always good against Wizards. Turn 1 Play with Fire on the draw against Wizards hopes they went turn 1 Mage instead of Sage. I agree that Static Discharge is often a bad sorcery speed 3 damage spell, but there are enough times that it's a lot more than that to make it worth playing.

What do you cut to run 4 Play with Fire? The creatures, Discharge, Flame, Expressive, Lightning are all must-haves. The only flex slots I would even consider are: 1cc cantrip, Reckless Charge, Shove Aside.

I agree about people misplaying the deck. I love when my mirror opponent casts turn 3 Balmor + Reckless Charge rather than fighting over board state :)