Niv-Mizzet Reborn - Astral-Living-Genesis

User avatar
MeowZeDung
Posts: 1117
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by MeowZeDung » 4 years ago

It is super sweet, no doubt.
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

Tags:

User avatar
lvg
Posts: 18
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by lvg » 4 years ago

Actually, I might have a suggestion. Didn't see it mentioned but have you ever tried Expansion // Explosion as a 2 man counter against counterspells? Or are counterspells not a big issue?

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

lvg wrote:
4 years ago
Actually, I might have a suggestion. Didn't see it mentioned but have you ever tried Expansion // Explosion as a 2 man counter against counterspells? Or are counterspells not a big issue?
Thanks for the previous posts compliment.

Interestingly I was thinking last night that Rhythm of the Wild is perfect for the deck because people do counter Niv-Mizzet Reborn if given the opportunity because he just such an unknown as far as value.
If you don't resolve Niv at least once then you just can't get any traction on the deck.
Plus the haste (riot) from Rhythm of the Wild is perfect as well.

As far as counterspells, I should really be playing more for sure. Its just a color management issue.
The options of 3 cmc (or more) bi-colored counterspells are; Absorb, Counterflux, Double Negative, Ionize, Plasm Capture, Psychic Strike, Render Silent, Silumgar's Command, Suffocating Blast, Swift Silence, Undermine, Voidslime.

I've never thought about the fact Expansion // Explosion can be used to counter counterspells. I feel its unlikely that I'd cast the Explosion side of the card, like I'd literally need Cadaverous Bloom in play to try anything there.

I should be playing more counterspells, resolving the Living End/Hypergenesis is really the whole game plan, and I do find myself being super patient to make sure they resolve in games, but obviously counterspell backup is always going to be good.

Azorius, Dimir and Simic already have 6 cards.
Whats really annoying is that the Golgari has the least productive cards in the deck. Literally only 4 of them and they are all fillers and hardly effect the game.
So I'm just going to resign myself to the fact that my distribution is going to be skewed a little and go down to 3 Golgari cards.

I've found Protean Raider is a little hard to get the raid trigger at times.
I've found the way games play out is that I don't really need tutors all that much in the deck, as you are quite happy to keep triggering Niv as many times to fill up your hand (and then graveyard), so "waiting" for a cascade card or whatever isn't really needed.
So I end up never using Insidious Dreams.
Also Goblin Dark-Dwellers was often a backup plan to if a Living End/Hypergenesis did get countered. I feel if I play a few counterspells then its not quite as necessary as a backup plan.

So this is the configuration I'm going to try.


User avatar
lvg
Posts: 18
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by lvg » 4 years ago

Expansion can also just nab an early game ramp or draw spell if needed. Or double up on someone else's removal etc.

As for golgari, wouldn't Vraska and or Pernicious deed be decent options? Not that I think you really need to max on guild distribution.

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

lvg wrote:
4 years ago
Expansion can also just nab an early game ramp or draw spell if needed. Or double up on someone else's removal etc.

As for golgari, wouldn't Vraska and or Pernicious deed be decent options? Not that I think you really need to max on guild distribution.
I mean Golgari does have some good removal cards, but nothing specifically that makes the concepts of the deck any stronger.
Casualties of War, Gaze of Granite, Maelstrom Pulse, Pernicious Deed, Putrefy, Windgrace's Judgment.


As far as Golgari cards that do have a nudges towards what the deck is trying to do, these are what I've identified.
Deadbridge Chant
Hag Hedge-Mage
Journey to Eternity
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Nyx Weaver
Pharika, God of Affliction
Storrev, Devkarin Lich

I think Journey to Eternity is better than expected as its a pseudo way of trigger Niv-Mizzet again and it is actually a powerful land on its own.
Deadbridge Chant also is just a way to punch out an instant graveyard which definitely has merit in this deck.

I think I should probably add Journey to Eternity and Deadbridge Chant and then remove the Klothys, God of Destiny I've been wanting to try to actually make the distributions better.

sweetwaterbob
Posts: 36
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by sweetwaterbob » 4 years ago

Threw together this deck on cockatrice and it is extremely fun for 75% commander. I don't even care if I win. I just like seeing how many times I can get niv-mizzet reborn to etb!

So far I haven't cascaded into living end yet. I have won games with living death tutored out with bring to light.

Thoughts on:
rielle, the everwise

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

sweetwaterbob wrote:
4 years ago
Threw together this deck on cockatrice and it is extremely fun for 75% commander. I don't even care if I win. I just like seeing how many times I can get niv-mizzet reborn to etb!

So far I haven't cascaded into living end yet. I have won games with living death tutored out with bring to light.

Thoughts on:
rielle, the everwise
Oh keep playing until you get a cascade :)

I mean Rielle, the Everwise is so broke in general! Like Faithless Looting is r draw 4 discard 2.
She has a good chance of being a top tier commander.

I used to play Leave // Chance, Heartwarming Redemption, Whispering Madness, but ended up that I would hardly ever cast them because I had other things to do, and discarding at end of turn seemed to always be good enough for stacking the graveyard.

However Rielle, the Everwise does make cards like that even better and then there is Channeled Force as a new card like this.
I think I want to give her a try, being able to draw an additional card off cycling a card is good, and obviously you get to double up on draw and discard during the cleanup step of your turn.
Will find a slot for her.

There are lots of cycling cards in Ikori, so I'm hoping for a good bi-colored one as possibility.

sweetwaterbob
Posts: 36
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by sweetwaterbob » 4 years ago

Alright quick recap!

Highlights from finally getting to cascade!

1. Hypergenesis on turn 3 for fun. Caused the game to fast forward to turn 8.
2. Living death and becoming the archenemy by turn 5. The three players wiped out my board though.
3. Ashiok - mill self and exile all graveyards to a lot of table moans. Chainer on the battlefield. Discard a card and cast Shardless and cascade into Living End and alpha strike the table.

So yeah. Cascade is super fun and I thought I was out of options until I reread Chainer and was like "o yeah CAST the creature!"

This is probably my new favorite deck to play and I have about 85% of it in paper currently. Even if I don't win with the deck, just seeing Niv-Reborn etb triggers is so exciting.

Really hoping for some bi-color treats from Ikoria. Looking forward to seeing what cycling cards get spoiled!

User avatar
MeowZeDung
Posts: 1117
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by MeowZeDung » 4 years ago

Hello Evasion Protocol! Cycling decks everywhere rejoice. Niv will draw so much off this thing...
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6281
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 4 years ago

MeowZeDung wrote:
4 years ago
Hello Evasion Protocol! Cycling decks everywhere rejoice. Niv will draw so much off this thing...
I think this probably sets up a near-infinite combo with Niv and new perspectives :P (where you can blink niv = the number of mana you have).

I know I am gonna be rigging up some kinda jank Ephara cycling deck with that pairing.

User avatar
MeowZeDung
Posts: 1117
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by MeowZeDung » 4 years ago

pokken wrote:
4 years ago
MeowZeDung wrote:
4 years ago
Hello Evasion Protocol! Cycling decks everywhere rejoice. Niv will draw so much off this thing...
I think this probably sets up a near-infinite combo with Niv and new perspectives :P (where you can blink niv = the number of mana you have).
Yup. My bruse/kraum list runs perspectives and fluctuator/slide/drift and is happy about protocol. But with niv it's a whole other level.
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

MeowZeDung wrote:
4 years ago
Hello Escape Protocoll! Cycling decks everywhere rejoice. Niv will draw so much off this thing...
Oh man, its 2 cmc, meaning its a cascade target. Honestly I think that might be fine, I mean I'm always looking to go even bigger sometimes, I play this deck for trying to get the most out of over-the-top play.

A lot of games you have a cascade card in hand during the early game. With Escape Protocol in the deck, its possible to fire it off to try for the 1/3 chance of getting it. The downside of course is hitting either/both the Hypergenesis or Living End.
I used to play Goblin Dark-Dwellers as a way to cast the suspend cards from graveyard.
Now what got me thinking is that Vadrok, Apex of Thunder is also a way to cast from graveyard.
Obviously none of these are bi-colored, but if I was to play Evasion Protocol then I want some backup ways to cast them later on in the game if I went for the early cascade attempt.

Having ways to shuffle cards back into your library will also help this plan. The only bi-colored cards I could find are Struggle // Survive and Emergency Powers.
Non bi-colored cards could be things like Loaming Shaman, Commit // Memory, Timetwister, etc.

Also its possible to use Mystic Sanctuary as way to get them back on top and with the Island cycling cards Jhessian Zombies and Sanctum Plowbeast that gives you more access to it. But the mana base would need to be reconfigured towards more Islands in general and some number of Island fetchlands.

Another card that can help is Grazing Kelpie. This is simply a card I've overlooked in the past and SHOULD be in the deck anyway.
Other non bi-colored cards that could help are Bow of Nylea, Canal Dredger, Epitaph Golem, Junktroller, Reito Lantern, Vessel of Endless Rest.
Mistveil Plains is another card that could be used.

Lore Drakkis is another new bi-colored card and this would allow returning the Living End/Hypergenesis back to hand. Tamiyo, Collector of Tales and Izzet Chronarch are other ones.
But you'd want more cards like Rishkar's Expertise, Baral's Expertise, Kari Zev's Expertise, Sram's Expertise, Maelstrom Archangel, Omnispell Adept, Wildfire Eternal, As Foretold.

Also if I keep cascading to hit the Escape Protocol then that does give me access to more ETB effects in general.
This means that I could use Izzet Chronarch to more effect, but then Eternal Witness or Goblin Dark-Dwellers do become better if needing to play more non bi-colored cards.

Anyway as you can see its not quite as simple as "insert here", but I'm still excited about this card, and its a case of configuring the deck in a new way. Too be honest I like these sorts of challenges.
Last edited by darrenhabib 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

pokken wrote:
4 years ago
MeowZeDung wrote:
4 years ago
Hello Evasion Protocol! Cycling decks everywhere rejoice. Niv will draw so much off this thing...
I think this probably sets up a near-infinite combo with Niv and new perspectives :P (where you can blink niv = the number of mana you have).

I know I am gonna be rigging up some kinda jank Ephara cycling deck with that pairing.
The fact that it returns the creature immediately to play rather than end of turn, means that for a lot of other cycling decks you can look to go infinite with Peregrine Drake, Palinchron, Great Whale and even just targeting a Gilded Lotus.

With Gavi, Nest Warden you could probably even go infinite with Cloud of Faeries.

sweetwaterbob
Posts: 36
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by sweetwaterbob » 4 years ago

New cards

lore drakkis seems good. Spell recursion seems good.
Parcel Beast might be a little slow, but might help in the early game. Like a slow motion Thrasios.

Questions:

How come you don't run time wipe? As of right now there isn't a ton of interaction when board states get a little out of control on our opponents end. This also "blinks" Niv.

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

sweetwaterbob wrote:
4 years ago
New cards

lore drakkis seems good. Spell recursion seems good.
Parcelbeast might be a little slow, but might help in the early game. Like a slow motion Thrasios.

Questions:

How come you don't run time wipe? As of right now there isn't a ton of interaction when board states get a little out of control on our opponents end. This also "blinks" Niv.
Both those are good for sure. Having "two mana" plays in a deck that doesn't have two mana plays is nice :)

I use Living End and Living Death as the ways to control the board. There are all sorts of good stuff bi-colored control cards, but most of the time you let your opponents go ham and dump their hands and then use the "Livings" to wipe them up.
I even cast Hypergenesis (cascade) sometimes to purposefully let opponents empty their hands when I have another cascade card, because then I know it'll hit the Living End to clear it all up.

sweetwaterbob
Posts: 36
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by sweetwaterbob » 4 years ago

That is a good point on using the living spells as board control. I did use them defensively in my last game played with the deck. Thanks for answering my questions. Been having a blast with this deck!

Sirlancelots
Posts: 5
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Sirlancelots » 4 years ago

New wedge cycling lands? :)

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Sirlancelots wrote:
4 years ago
New wedge cycling lands? :)
Image


miehen
Posts: 10
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by miehen » 4 years ago

Now which lands to cut?

SirGregarious
Posts: 21
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by SirGregarious » 4 years ago

I was expecting enemy bicycle lands, but these tricycle lands make the decision making a little easier in my opinion. You need a certain amount of lands that enter untapped to function. I run 10 Shocks, 10 Pains, 5 Basics and 5 Rainbows. This leaves me with 5ish slots for choice lands, which are currently occupied by the allied bicycle lands. I think going down on the untapped land to include all the multicolored cycling lands might be a mistake as it would bring the total tapped lands up to 10. I think I'm just going to replace the old bicycle lands with the tricycle lands because it will up the color fixing without slowing the deck down at all. As for new cards, there actually aren't a ton that I think are snap includes.

Escape Protocol messes up the cascade, which is the most important part of the deck for consistency in my experience, and it ups your cycling costs from 2 mana to 3 mana if you want the Astral effect. Compared to Astral Slide/Drift, you can only do two flickers on the turn after you play Niv instead of three. It seems on flavor, but it seems awkward in practice. I don't think I'll be running it in my deck.

Rielle, the Everwise is pretty ridiculous and fills the grave very fast while potentially turning in to a decent beater later. Even just having her down for the first turn you cast Niv means you'll probably be drawing and discarding three more cards during your end step. Something interesting she does is transform Insidious Dreams into a true tutor for however many cards you discard to it. I stopped running it a while ago though. Definitely worth exploring, but I think she's going to be her own deck.

Keruga, the Macrosage is the only companion that I like the look of, but not because of the companion part. Just running him in the 99, he's another copy of Tishana, Voice of Thunder or Prime Speaker Zegana.

This set has a ton of cool stuff in it, just nothing that really jumps out for this deck in my opinion. I'm still feeling the Golgari woes with none of their cards really fitting the theme of the deck very well. Almost all of my Golgari cards are generic beaters. I might give Back for More a try to even out the colors of my deck a little more, I just wish it had cycling.

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Now that everything has been spoiled from Ikoria and C20 I can take stock of everything.

I've decided to change the design of how the deck plays a reasonable amount to include Escape Protocol as another cascade target in the deck.
There are pros and cons to this of course, but with careful design, I believe I can make the deck even better.

Normally you wouldn't use a cascade card during the early turns, unless you wanted to try for a Hypergenesis if your hand seems good enough to overpower potentially what your opponents can put into play.
However with Escape Protocol in the deck, you might want to go for an early cascade for the 1/3 chance of hitting it, before casting Niv-Mizzet Reborn so that you have a exile/cycling engine on-board ready to go.

The problem with this is that you might hit the Living End (or Hypergenesis). It might be that you clear the board of some early creatures, but now that leaves you without one of your trump cards to cascade into.

However with some redesign, we can make this type of play work.
miehen wrote:
4 years ago
Now which lands to cut?
The new Triome lands are not only great for fixing colors, and giving 5 new ways to cycle, but a way to make Mystic Sanctuary a feasible card in the deck.
If you've put Living End/Hypergenesis into your graveyard already, then Mystic Sanctuary is a way to put them on top to guarantee the cast.
Now requiring 3 Islands does mean a complete change in the mana base. The current mana base was mostly due to making sure it was budgeted so that people wanting to make the deck is more feasible.
But with wanting to use Mystic Sanctuary, fetchlands and revised duels that have Island in the print are going to be a necessary evil. I will keep a budgeted version of the mana base in the primer somewhere, so that people can still construct a cheaper version, but you just can't play the Mystic Sanctuary interaction.
Fetchlands that can get Island, can get the Mystic Sanctuary at any stage. Also Sanctum Plowbeast and Jhessian Zombies can search for it as well. So you'll have access to it almost certainly through out the game.

Mistveil Plains is another land that can put cards back into your library and with Niv-Mizzet Reborn in play you only need one other white permanent.
Note that its a Plains, so a fetchland that can get Plains can be used to find it, along with Sanctum Plowbeast and Pale Recluse.

Grazing Kelpie is a card that I should have been playing all along . If you have one of the suspend cards in your graveyard you can shuffle it back in, and with persist even twice through the game.

Lore Drakkis another new bi-colored card that allows getting cards back from graveyard.
Now returning a Living End/Hypergenesis to your hand still requires additional work to cast them.
At the moment there is Fires of Invention and Yahenni's Expertise as ways to "cast a card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your hand without paying its mana cost.".
I'm also going to add Rishkar's Expertise as its just a great card to draw 6 cards off Niv-Mizzet Reborn power and then even potentially cast Hypergenesis if you draw some nice stuff.
Tamiyo, Collector of Tales is another card in the deck that can get back your suspend cards from graveyard.

Alright so the new plan of cascading into Escape Protocol is well covered, what else is new?

Zirda, the Dawnwaker allows cycling to cost 2 less (but no less that 1), which means that you can cycle all your cards for 1, even the Triome lands.

Yorion, Sky Nomad is another new blink effect. The neat thing with this is that you can use a Astral/cycle effect on it to get the ETB of all your permanents, not only Niv-Mizzet Reborn.
With Escape Protocol you can use it as a way to protect your permanents against a board wipe, and even perhaps your planeswalkers if they are being attacked. A really powerful new addition.

Keruga, the Macrosage is another draw card. Its actually just going to be a straight replacement over Prime Speaker Zegana. The reason is that Zegana only actually draws you a single card from a Living End/Living Death play. Its just the way that the +1/+1 counters are not a trigger on the stack, so you are deemed not to have "other creatures" in play because they all come in at the same time.
Tishana, Voice of Thunder however does get the trigger because once the trigger goes on the stack, you'll actually control creatures.
Keruga, the Macrosage works that same way, so you'll get to draw for all your permanents, including enchantments and planeswalkers.
Unfortunately Keruga, the Macrosage cannot be played as an actual companion..because you know Living End/Hypergenesis/Escape Protocol. So close however!

Rielle, the Everwise is a fine way to discard and draw more cards. The best example is that you draw a number of cards off Niv-Mizzet Reborn and then at end of turn say discard 4 cards. Now you get to draw 4 more cards, and you discard another 4 cards.
This sets up your graveyard perfectly.
You can also get a draw in each opponents' turns if you cycling card.


What else did I consider?
Jegantha, the Wellspring is way to get lots of mana. But I've already played Mirari's Wake in the deck, for a similar type of play, and the problem is that at 5 mana, you are normally casting Niv-Mizzet Reborn anyway.
Admittedly it is a creature (rather than enchantment), so can be cheated in more easily, but by that stage you are not needing the mana as much if you've done a power play already.
I did look at seeing if I could play it as a "companion" but with Yahenni's Expertise, Ashiok, Dream Render, Ashen Rider, Pyrrhic Revival, Expansion // Explosion, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Flame-Kin Zealot, Aurelia, the Warleader, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Voidslime, Repudiate // Replicate, and now the other "companion's" its just too much of an ask to change the deck up.

Golari is by far the worst color pair for this deck design and so I looked at Umori, the Collector as a way to make creatures cost less.
But I might as well just play Leyline Prowler and this is really unexciting.
I'm actually just cutting Golari for the newer cards as they don't provide any real synergy. This means that you are less likely to draw more cards off Niv-Mizzet Reborn, but this is fine. Just a little bit more quality before quantity.
Even Cadaverous Bloom as I really do lean on the "cheat plans" rather than trying to cast cards, fair and square.

Parcelbeast is potentially a "2 mana play", but there are just isn't enough early creature play to get it to work as an early game play. Certainly no Turn 2 targets :P

I was thinking about adding Goblin Dark-Dwellers back into the deck for the "cast from graveyard" interaction, and this lead me to look at Vadrok, Apex of Thunder as well.
But both are not bi-colored cards, and I feel comfortable with the plans I have already.

Eerie Ultimatum is another card that can bring cards back from graveyard, but I already cut Immortal Servitude as a similar type of play, just because you have access to other ways of reanimating for much less. Not being bi-colored is the biggest downside.

With the new land base Eldrazi Displacer isn't feasible anymore. Its a bit of a shame as Zirda, the Dawnwaker would reduce the cost by 2 meaning just one colorless mana. It'll remain for a budgeted build however.

You can also replace the other shocklands for revised duals, like Plateau for Sacred Foundry if wanting to go the full hog.

This configuration gives the deck 15 Islands, plenty for turning on Mystic Sanctuary if you search for the right lands you need, while trying to put islands into play. The Triome just make it so easy to get all the colors you need.

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

SirGregarious wrote:
4 years ago
I was expecting enemy bicycle lands, but these tricycle lands make the decision making a little easier in my opinion. You need a certain amount of lands that enter untapped to function. I run 10 Shocks, 10 Pains, 5 Basics and 5 Rainbows. This leaves me with 5ish slots for choice lands, which are currently occupied by the allied bicycle lands. I think going down on the untapped land to include all the multicolored cycling lands might be a mistake as it would bring the total tapped lands up to 10. I think I'm just going to replace the old bicycle lands with the tricycle lands because it will up the color fixing without slowing the deck down at all. As for new cards, there actually aren't a ton that I think are snap includes.

Escape Protocol messes up the cascade, which is the most important part of the deck for consistency in my experience, and it ups your cycling costs from 2 mana to 3 mana if you want the Astral effect. Compared to Astral Slide/Drift, you can only do two flickers on the turn after you play Niv instead of three. It seems on flavor, but it seems awkward in practice. I don't think I'll be running it in my deck.

Rielle, the Everwise is pretty ridiculous and fills the grave very fast while potentially turning in to a decent beater later. Even just having her down for the first turn you cast Niv means you'll probably be drawing and discarding three more cards during your end step. Something interesting she does is transform Insidious Dreams into a true tutor for however many cards you discard to it. I stopped running it a while ago though. Definitely worth exploring, but I think she's going to be her own deck.

Keruga, the Macrosage is the only companion that I like the look of, but not because of the companion part. Just running him in the 99, he's another copy of Tishana, Voice of Thunder or Prime Speaker Zegana.

This set has a ton of cool stuff in it, just nothing that really jumps out for this deck in my opinion. I'm still feeling the Golgari woes with none of their cards really fitting the theme of the deck very well. Almost all of my Golgari cards are generic beaters. I might give Back for More a try to even out the colors of my deck a little more, I just wish it had cycling.
Make sure to check out my new additions to see if any of it fancies you. If you don't run Escape Protocol and the various ways to work around it, that's understandable, but check out Zirda, the Dawnwaker and Yorion, Sky Nomad as definite additions :)

sweetwaterbob
Posts: 36
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by sweetwaterbob » 4 years ago

I like the changes a lot so far.

I love that Zirda makes all lands cycle for 1cmc. That's great. Didn't even think of that. I do like the idea of rhiskar's expertise in this deck ALOT. Klothys was putting in work since a ton of decks I play against all do GY abuse. I do like the two new Izzet cards a lot and the Cadaverous Bloom cut. That got used once and it was less than stellar.

I was eyeing escape protocol. I think I'm happy to add the new dual color cards that you've listed. Not sure about the mystic sanctuary and dual land adds since the current iteration of the deck runs pretty smoothly for my 75% group. Definitely something to consider.
darrenhabib wrote:
4 years ago
Zirda, the Dawnwaker
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Keruga, the Macrosage
Rielle, the Everwise
Lore Drakkis
Grazing Kelpie
Rishkar's Expertise
Indatha Triome
Ketria Triome
Raugrin Triome
Savai Triome
Zagoth Triome
I like these as adds currently.

User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

Alright I tried out the whole adding Escape Protocol to the deck as a cascade option over the last couple of months, and ultimately I just prefer having only Living End and Hypergenesis as targets.

I also have reverted the land base back to more budget options as I feel like making the build more accessible to people wanting to make the deck is the best way to go and honestly I never ended up using Mystic Sanctuary anyway in games, and the whole point of adding in lots of expensive lands was to turn on the whole "3 Islands" thing. So back to painlands and a few others.
I've added a "Unlimited Budget Lands" list under the deck list (primer) for those that want to squeeze more out of the deck potentially.

The great thing is that I've noticed the price of cards in fact coming down for the deck overall. Cards that used to be over $10 are now coming into single digits.

I've also already covered even more budget options for the land base under the section "Building on a budget" in the cards choices section, so there are plenty of options for even the lowest of potential budgets.


User avatar
darrenhabib
Posts: 1812
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

Nothing has stood out majorly with the bi-colored cards of Zendikar Rising for this deck.
Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate is the best of them giving your creature either hexproof or indestructible if you sacrifice it. Unfortunately there are no Clerics in the deck so it's impossible to create a full "Party". Also Azorius already has 7 cards, so wouldn't want to add to the count and nothing I'd cut for it in that bi-color.

Now the modal spells/lands in Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore, Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt, Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge are the cards that have me interested for the deck.
However realistically they would have to replace a basic Island, Swamp, Mountain respectively, and I have the basic land cyclers in Ancient Excavation, Grave Upheaval, Sylvan Reclamation which in theory means can fix for any color that I might need. However I never struggled to fix colors now with the Triome lands and all the other duel land search cyclers, so it is possible to not play the full 5 colors of basics.
Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore can copy Niv-Mizzet Reborn for an additional trigger.
Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt is another reanimation card and even comes into play untapped. I could cast it for say 6bbb hoping to get a 3,4,5,6 cmc creatures from graveyard.
Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge as a tapped modal spell/land is interesting because it allows you to hand cycle and if you have the infamous Living End or Hypergenesis in hand then you can put it on the bottom for a rainy day.

The other untapped modal lands with Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn, Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood, Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave are just not quite on theme enough for being just single color fixes.
Sure Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood can get a big creature, but this deck is about putting tons of creatures into play if you are spending that much mana and you'll likely just have a creature you would cast from hand anyway if having to go that route.

Obviously it is possible that in a 5 color deck I should just be playing more duel/multi colored lands like Mana Confluence and City of Brass. But going back to the fact that the deck has 8 land search cyclers, I almost always fix colors for casting spells.
I want to give these changes a try anyway.


Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Decklists”