So after a while playing this deck, I've had taken different approaches. The deck started as a Spellslinger Izzet good stuff, using cards like Thousand-Year Storm.
Then switched to a more controlly combo deck with the likes of Curiosity, Ophidian Eye and Tandem Lookout, which all loop infinitely with the general. and some minor stax with cards like Torpor Orb.
Until recently, I've had a version of this Deck that ran Guttersnipe, Electrostatic Field, Thermo-Achemist and Firebrand Archer for their interaction with Curiosity/Tandem Lookout/Ophidian Eye; and while it was really fun, it was not the better way to run it.
So, I went for this build I'm currently using.
The Combos:
- Niv-Mizzet, Parun + Curiosity/Ophidian Eye/Tandem Lookout = Draw infinite cards from your Deck and deal damage equal to the amount drawn. This usually is able to kill up to 2 players by itself.
- Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal + 2 or more mana generated from Mana Rocks = Infinite casts. This lets us either draw our entire Deck with our Commander. Of course, when you have more than 2 mana worth of Mana Rocks, you can just make infinite mana. This combo wins the game by itself, since you can just make infinite mana to put down your general, draw your entire deck with all the castings, and use the infinite mana to play cards like Echo of Eons and redraw it over and over.
- Glint-Horn Buccaneer + Curiosity/Ophidian Eye/Tandem Lookout = Enough damage usually to win the game. This combo is a bit more convoluted:
- Attach any of the 3 combo cards to Glint-Horn, and once you discard a card either by attacking or any other effect, you'll deal 1 to each opponent and draw cards equal to the amount of opponents.
- To win with this, you need to find a way to get 8 or more cards in hand (again, with this, you'll draw several cards from 1 discard). Either Glint-Horn's ability or any other card that let's you discard. Windfall, Fateful Showdown, Tolarian Winds, Frantic Search or Pull from Tomorrow also help. I say this because Glint-Horn Buccaneer needs to survive until the end of your turn, where the combo really goes off, and attacking might not always be the best option.
- During the cleanup step, you'll have to discard down to 7 cards in hand, and this will trigger Glint-Horn, dealing 1 damage to each opponent for each card discarded, therefore triggering Curiosity/Ophidian Eye/Tandem Lookout, and you'll draw cards up to or equal to the number of opponents x the cards discarded. This new stack will resolve and the game will proceed to another cleanup step, where you'll discard down to 7 cards again, rinse and repeat.
- It is highly important to remember that the card draw from this combo is exponential. Everytime you discard, you'll draw 3 times the amount that you discarded, so on an so fourth. This isn't really a problem when Curiosity or Ophidian Eye is attached to Glint-Horn Buccaneer, since their draw effect is optional and you can manage those anyway you want. With Tandem Lookout, however, you have to make sure you have enough cards for the triggers and have a way to stop the draw. For this, you'd have to remove the Tandem Lookout somehow during the stack, before the damage triggers get Tandem Lookout drawing, but not before Glint-Horn does the damage. There's Pyroblast, Blink of an Eye, Into the Roil, Rapid Hybridization, Commit // Memory for that. I'm considering Submerge because 99.9% it is free in m playgroup.
- In what ways can I make this deck more consistent with keeping the control/combo theme online. What cards am I missing under de 100usd price?
- That said, I've been thinking about implementing other similar cards to Mana Geyser that generate Reset, Reality Spasm, and/or Turnabout, since they by themselves serve as play extenders by themselves but also go infinite with Reiterate (Buying back and copying the mana generators, copying them in the stack, generating infinite mana). Not sure if it's worth it given the big amount of initial mana you need.
- Adjusting proportions. I'm not sure if I should run more/better card draw, or more/better answers like Pyroblast.
- The playgroup consists of a Muldrotha, the Gravetide graveyard value deck with Torment of Hailfire as a wincon, a Marath, Will of the Wild Combo deck, Animar, Soul of Elements doing Animar things, but sometimes a Meren of Clan Nel Toth could be added in there. Makes me think of running things like Submerge (Also reason why I run Aether Gust.
- We avoid using individual cards with a cost above 100usd, except for fetchlands. Force of Will is a special case.
- Snapcaster Mage - It used to be in the Deck, but ultimately took it out for Mission Briefing. The body on the battlefield is nice, but Mission Briefing gives me the value of surveiling to filter the top and/or get other targets for it, is an Instant, which triggers some effects, can be imprinted into Isochron Scepter (not that you'd do it a lot but the option's there), and more importantly, it lets you use alternative costs of spells (like Overload on a Cyclonic Rift, Kicker on Into the Roil, etc, something Snappy can't do. That all said, recurring counters or card draw is never a bad thing.
- Primal Amulet - I'm not too big on the fact that this doesn't make any impact as it hits the board. When it gets to flip it's hilarious, but that's pretty much it. If anything, Ral, Storm Conduit does this job better.
- Reverberate/Expansion // Explosion - Until I find more good synergies with these outside of the one infinite Combo with Ral, Storm Conduit, I feel they are pretty underwhelming. It's sometimes funny to copy an opponent's spell, and Explosion providing a good kill option with enough mana sounds enticing, but I feel as though the Deck itself would have to change for this to be optimal.
- Exclude/Disallow/Dissipate/Red Elemental Blast/Overwhelming Denial - I'm not running them as of now either because of their inefficient cmcs (all above 3cmc) or because I simply do not possess a copy of the card. (Even when cheap, it takes me a while to get a card if I can't find it on my lgs).
- Thousand-Year Storm - I would absolutely love to run this card, but 6cmc do nothing enchantments are not really what this Deck is looking for.
- Submerge - It has the advantage of letting you trigger the Niv Mizzet + Curiosity Combo for no mana cost, saves you from dying if you happen to make the Glint-Horn Buccaneer + Tandem Lookout combo, and serves as decent removal, especially in the playgroup I'm where all Decks happen to run green. I just can't quite find a good place for it.
- Chain of Vapor - Literally forgot the card existed and will be adding it to the deck as soon as I acquire it.
-1 Disallow
-1 Fire Diamond
-1 Firebrand Archer
-1 Young Pyromancer
-1 Island
+1 Into the Roil
+1 Blink of an Eye
+1 Tale's End
+1 Narset's Reversal
+1 Commit // Memory
+1 Myriad Landscape
-1 Sky Diamond
-1 The Magic Mirror
-1 Electrostatic Field
-1 Guttersnipe
-1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
-1 Thermo-Alchemist
-1 Library of Leng
-1 Island
-1 Mountain
-1 Reliquary Tower
+1 Arcane Denial
+1 Delay
+1 Pyroblast
+1 Arcane Signet
+1 Captain Lannery Storm
+1 Game Plan
+1 Glint-Horn Buccaneer
+1 Ash Barrens
+1 Flooded Strand
+1 Mystic Sanctuary
+1 Wooded Foothills