NIV-MIZZET, PARUN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Who am I?
Deck History
Why Play Niv-Mizzet, Parun?
Other Commander Options
THE DECK
Current Decklist
Budget Decklist
Deck Philosophy
Win Conditions
Sideboard
Playing the Deck
Vulnerabilities/Matchups
CARD CHOICES
Card Selection
Wishlist
Considerations/Maybeboard
Notable Exclusions
FOOTNOTES
Changelog
Discussion Questions
Casual vs Competitive
Credit and Thanks
"The mizzium-sphere array drove her mind deep into the thought field, where only the rarest motes of genius may be plucked."
WHO AM I?
I've been playing magic consistently since Rise of the Eldrazi. The first time I saw a magic card was in Junior high, maybe 2004? Some of my friends played up in Alaska where I grew up. The thing that really struck me was the ARTWORK. The words and characters depicted really intrigued me, long before I ever sat down to learn how the game actually worked.
"The Izzet learn something from every lesson they teach."
DECK HISTORY
I've owned an iteration of this deck for quite some time, around 10 years I think. Before Niv-Mizzet, Parun was printed I used Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, hence the name of the deck. Before i owned it in paper I played it extensively online on Cockatrice, playtesting different setups and strategies.
The impetus for this deck was combining the two things I loved doing most in the game. Drawing cards and casting burn spells. Niv-Mizzet seemed to exemplify this concept perfectly.
In its infancy, this deck was just a goodstuff red and blue deck. Lots of random burn spells and card draw. One of the first cards I really built around was Consecrated Sphinx, forcing my opponents to draw cards with wheel effects. Then I discovered the
Inner Fire + Comet Storm win con. However, at that point the deck was still pretty inconsistent and unfocused. I had the infinite draw combos slotted in but people usually hated Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind out before the combo could go off.
That's when I started looking more into control. Counterspells seemed like a logical route to take with a combo deck. Stopping other people from winning and protecting my combos seemed like a good plan, and it was! I also slotted in cards like Enter the Infinite and Omniscience using a go big or go home mentality. At this point my win-rate went up but the deck still felt clunky and inconsistent.
Enter Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Niv 3.0 as some people like to call him. All of a sudden, I had a super powerful draw engine in my command zone! Everything changed. I focused on triggering Niv's ability as consistently and efficiently as possible and getting him out as early as possible. Out came a lot of the higher cost effects and alternative win strategies. In went cheap colored ramp and cheap draw spells. The list became a lot more smooth and consistent, and I would say much closer to my original vision for the deck which was all about Niv being this incredibly powerful dragon that used intellect and overwhelming firepower to beat his opponents without much help from anyone else.
More recently I've been playing commander with a small group of friends, several of whome have been playing for longer than I have. The deck has a evolved a lot in that time as I created several new commander decks and my experience and knowledge with the game grew. There are many newly printed cards that have found a home in this deck as well. Lately, I've been on a bling kick, picking up shiny singles: secret lairs, promos, etc...
I had a primer written up on the old forums, but I won't link to it because A LOT has changed since then, and continues to change as I reach new understandings of the deck and the game, especially the complexity of this multiplayer format. I have however ported over any sections or information that still applies to the deck.
"He has no patience for minds that do not inspire him or explode by trying."
WHY PLAY NIV-MIZZET PARUN?
As a card, he directly translates card advantage into damage in the most elegant way with this simple phrase: "Whenever you draw a card, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind deals 1 damage to any target." It's taken me ten years to feel like I've finally got the equation right!
When Parun was spoiled, I was elated because I could finally justify running Niv without the infinite draw combos, and that is because of this ability right here: "Whenever a player casts an instant and sorcery card, you draw a card." That is an insane draw engine when built around correctly and that's what my deck has always wanted to do: Draw as many cards as possible. That ability means that the infinite draw combos simply aren't needed to draw your library. The theory is that by just casting the cards in your deck, you can build an adequate handsize in order to control the game and win. also means that getting Niv into play early just isn't possible. That alone steers the deck away from combos that rely on him being in play. I'm not going to hold onto a Curiosity for 6+ turns just so I can have a shot at attaching it to Niv.
Niv-Mizzet rewards us for casting as many instants and sorceries per turn as possible. This trigger is most efficient when we are paying the least for it. Not only that, but this ability is used to its fullest potential when you are triggering it multiple times per turn. Cards like Faithless Looting and Brainstorm are the ideal. Add Alhammarret's Archive and you will be drawing an obscene amount of cards for very little cost. Faithless Looting for just will be drawing you 6 cards!
Niv is also extremely hard to get off the table because any instant or sorcery based removal will draw US a card just for being cast, giving an opportunity to draw into something to counter that removal.
You play this commander if you like having all the cards and all the answers. If you enjoy controlling the game play by play, AND THEN blowing everything up with All is Dust or giving everyone new hands with Wheel of Fortune, meanwhile burning your opponents and their creatures to cinders! Izzet is equal parts control and chaos.
I personally enjoy the challenge of knowing what to respond to and what to leave alone. The finesse of threat assessment, and politics. Something I really enjoy is stopping other players from winning. "Sure, you can have that nice interaction with Crucible of Worlds and a fetchland, but if you're going to drop a Strip Mine and start nuking everyone's lands, I say NO."
A good question, and the answer is "kind of..." This deck can be relevant and even win without Niv ever hitting the field, and that I believe is an important distinction between a "monolithic" commander and what I would call an "enabler" commander. This specific decks falls somewhere in the middle. Any given game, we will try our hardest to get Niv on the field and keep him there, however the deck is built in such a way that you can win without him given the right setup. Our primary win condition is actually independent from Niv's abilities. More on that later!
- Enjoy the control archetype. Counterspells are kind of a love or hate thing.
- Like drawing cards. Do you like the feeling of having twenty cards in hand?
- Like burn. This deck usually wins by burning everyone to ash. In a blue deck. Pretty cool right?
- Enjoy graveyard recursion. Although not as focused as some other commanders, this deck certainly uses the graveyard.
- Hate blue.
- Appalled at the concept of a "non-creature" deck.
- Don't like the prospect of relying on artifact ramp or fringe treasure spells for your mana sources.
- Feel apprehensive without access to things like Rampant Growth, Demonic Tutor, and Path to Exile. In other words, you think izzet is a weak color combo.
- Insane card advantage. This deck draws more cards than any deck I've ever played or played against. Card advantage wins games consistently and is never situational. Niv-Mizzet is an excellent draw engine with the right setup, but nearly a third of the deck is card draw. Out racing your opponents in card advantage is always the surest way to victory.
- Efficient. Where card advantage is king, efficiency is queen. The majority of your cards need to be useful both early AND late game. My average casting cost is around 2.5, which means you get nice opening hands and can later cast multiple spells per turn.
- Control. One of blue's main strengths is the permission cards, and since we are solely in Evacuation and Blasphemous Act. that strength needs to be fully utilized to keep up with our opponents' color strengths such as tutors, removal, and ramp. We also get some nice creature hate in these colors such
- No blockers to speak of. If I am honest, I lose to creature damage the most. Having no real blockers means that most creatures are going to be coming at you. 40 life can dwindle pretty quick in commander. Dealing with our opponents' creature swarms is a constant drain of resources and sometimes we fall short. However, this is simply a result of the spellslinger archetype and leaning into our commander's trigger heavily.
- Tutor power is low. There is nothing like Natural Order, Demonic Tutor or Enlightened Tutor in these colors. Gamble and Mystical Tutor are the closest we get. While we can work around it a little bit with our cheap draw spells and artifact tutors, this is certainly still a handicap worth mentioning.
- Limited Ramp. No means we have to rely on artifacts and rituals for our mana acceleration. This is slower, can expensive in terms of $$$, and fragile! There is a lot of artifact removal in the format. Fortunately, our rituals work well and can lead to some explosive turns mid game. Early game we will most often lag behind the rest of the table.
- Our commander's color weight, , is certainly an obstacle and we have to build the deck to accommodate for that. That also means we need to be prepared to protect Niv with all of our resources, because recasting him is going to be very undesirable. Thankfully, we don't need him in play to win, and that is important to remember.
OTHER COMMANDER OPTIONS
OTHER IZZET COMMANDERS:
There has truly been a host of viable new Izzet commanders in the past couple years bringing the total of possible commanders to 71+! like running Niv-Mizzet over these other choices largely because of the creaturless draw-go archetype that he encourages, but also the history I've had with the character and the flavor.
There are still plenty of very good options depending on the direction you want to go with your deck. Izzet.dec can now do very different things. What follows is a quick (probably outdated) breakdown of some of the different commanders you might look at building around.
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain - Another great draw engine. This can be a very competitive commander which steers you toward an artifact storm strategy. Aetherflux Reservoir is a fantastic win con for this deck.
Saheeli, the Gifted - Very artifact focused
Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders - izzet equipment? very interesting. Probably more a support card than a commander but still an option.
Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice - Lots of shenanigans possible here. I like commanders than can be dropped early for strong effects.
TOKENS/CREATURES:
The Locust God - A very strong choice. His ability to make creatures covers a major part of a spellslinger deck's weakness, however it also can take the deck in a totally different direction. Locust God lists are more creature heavy in general since you probably want to be running things like Purphoros, God of the Forge, Talrand, Sky Summoner or Bident of Thassa.
Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer - another great token commander. His focus is more on copying other tokens you have already on the field.
Adeliz, the Cinder Wind - could be wizard tribal
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius - can draw a decent amount of cards. You're going to want to make sure you get his combat damage through, which is why I put him the in the creatures section. This is probably just a good-stuff izzet deck and doesn't really push you in a particular direction.
SPELLSLINGER:
Rielle, the Everwise - Rielle is an incredible draw engine but to make the most out of her ability you should be discarding cards on each of your opponents' turns. Interestingly, she negates any otherwise symmetrical discard effect which could be built around to good effect. You will be tossing a ton of cards into your graveyard which can then be flashbacked or otherwise recurred. You could also easily take this a more creature based route as well. Nezahal, Primal Tide seems great in this deck. However, her first ability shouldn't be ignored. This old lady can smack someone pretty hard out of nowhere with enough instants and sorceries in your graveyard. Voltron in izzet colors??
Mizzix of the Izmagnus - another pretty viable spellslinger commander. If you like going tall with your spells this is the commander for you. You can viably cast X spells like Epic Experiment for greater value.
Melek, Izzet Paragon - With Melek you are going to want to manipulate the top card of your library and get copies of big spells.
Keranos, God of Storms - another topdeck card matters commander. Could be taken a few different ways.
Jori En, Ruin Diver - pretty decent draw engine and doesn't get a lot of hate. Worth some consideration if you want to be a bit lower profile.
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - our old commander and chief, unfortunately he is a bit outclassed by the Parun. However, if you want to abuse his tap ability with things like Mind Over Matter you could still do that.
Arjun, the Shifting Flame - A Mindmoil in your command zone makes Omniscience or Dream Halls a much more viable win-con. All you need is way to translate that draw into damage. If you want to make a dedicated wheel deck, this might be the commander for you. Cards like Phycosis Crawler or Ominous Seas.
Kraum, Ludevic's Opus // Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist - a lot of creative potential with this commander which is another way of saying it's pretty casual IMO. Not a very focused commander.
OTHER IZZET SHENANIGANS:
Jhoira of the Ghitu - Building her correctly is a challenge and she draws a lot of hate because you are typically cheating out things like Blightsteel Colossus followed by an Obliterate, but you don't have to go that direction.
Okaun, Eye of Chaos // Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom - like flipping coins?
Rowan Kenrith // Will Kenrith - no idea what this deck does, but there is a great Primer for it here: but https://www.mtgnexus.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=285
Nin, the Pain Artist - Nin can lead to a very unique take on Izzet draw. Inherently creature based, you might find her a refreshing alternative to the spellslinger archetype if you want to go more creature heavy. You can also utilize a theft theme. Here is a great list by @Crazy Monkey viewtopic.php?f=35&t=29132
Tibor and Lumia - pretty casual. Could be taken a lot of different directions.
There are quite a few viable spellslinger commanders in other color combinations as well. When I say "spellslinger" I specifically mean that the deck is built around casting instants and sorceries. Here I will list the off color spellslinger commanders. I will only list what I consider to be the best options.
Taigam, Ojutai Master - some pretty crazy abilities here. Very much a build around commander.
Kess, Dissident Mage - absolutely fantastic commander. If you like using your graveyard, she is your girl. Adding black to is just broken because you get the insane draw and tutor power that black provides. I've considered using her instead of Niv many times but just can't bring myself to do it.
Elsha of the Infinite - Elsha is very good. If you like playing a topdeck card matters strategy she is your girl. Elsha can also get HUGE and so can actually be a somewhat viable voltron commander as well.
Sevinne, the Chronoclasm - if you want to use Jeskai colors but put a focus on casting spells from your graveyard, this is pretty great choice.
Narset, Enlightened Master - Narset can be very competitive, chaining extra turns and other big spells.
Riku of Two Reflections - an older commander but still strong. Adding green means that you also go a creatures route, or tokens route. Riku can be built a lot of different ways.
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder - can go combo, or simply utilize the cascade keyword to the max. Adding both green and black to the mix really expands your card choices.
CURRENT DECKLIST
Please refer to the budget decklist in the next section for alternatives.
Now there are two things to immediately take note of: There are two major restrictions I have personally chosen to apply to the deck. I will talk more in depth about these restrictions later in the primer.
The first, is that I run ZERO creatures other than Niv himself. That means no Dockside Extortionist, so Glint-Horn Buccaneer or Laboratory Maniac or Psychosis Crawler. There are MANY more creatures that would probably be strong considerations or outright autoincludes for some people, but none of them are here.
The second is that I have opted not to focus on combo-ing off with the traditional infinite draw combos associated with Niv. These are Curiosity, Ophidian Eye, Tandem Lookout.
COMMANDER
MANA ROCKS
CONTROL
REMOVAL/SWISS ARMY KNIVES
CHEAP DRAW
HAND-CYCLING/MASS DRAW
LANDS (34)
Multi-color
Utility
BUDGET DECKLIST
For this list, I've actually taken out the infinite or semi infinite combos. So that means this version is not running Underworld Breach, Reiterate. By itself Mana Geyser wont go infinite, so it's here. With something like Comet Storm and enough copy and recursion stacked together you can probably get lethal table damage still. Feel free to include the infinite enablers if you wish! There are lot of directions to take this deck.
This budget decklist works with a dedicated wheel strategy. Without the infinite mana combos, it relies on dealing damage with Niv. The strategy is to wheel or dig for the draw doublers, stick them and protect them while you draw greater and greater numbers of cards.
Next, I would work on your removal and control sections as that is largely what enables this deck to survive long enough to win.
Of course some of the big ticket items are really nice to have, but not completely necessary. Wheel of Fortune and Time Spiral are some of the best cards in the deck, but there are a lot of other options for much less $$$. Sensei's Divining Top is also a great card, however I wouldn't say it's mandatory either. You will do nearly as well with one of the cheap draw spells.
DECK PHILOSOPHY
CONTROL: - Blue is by far the most powerful color in commander because of the card draw and control effects that it offers. Parun pushes the deck more toward a control archetype largely because of his mana cost and color combination. You can very rarely get him out early, so it's all about stalling your opponents until you can get there. Once Niv is out, he cantrips all of the instants and sorceries cast by the table, and gives us more chances to draw into more answers. This is an integral strategy of the deck. Without control and removal, we would simply be overrun since we have such a low creature count of our own.
BURN: Burn spells just aren't great in commander, that is pretty well known. Instead of one opponent at 20 life, you have three opponents at 40 life. Those just aren't good odds. A normal burn deck would just never really work. It would run out of gas quickly and get overwhelmed. But, now add blue. Blue spells give us that sweet sweet card advantage, and the beautiful thing is that Niv allows us to turn all of that card advantage into damage directly. Now, Opt is a Shock and Faithless Looting is a Lightning Bolt. Add Alhammarret's Archive and you have some serious damage, especially when you slot in things like Winds of Change and Tolarian Winds. Suddenly you are doing 10-20 damage with very little mana invested. Now, all you have to do is protect Niv.
GRAVEYARD RECURSION - This deck attempts to grow it's handsize as quickly as possible. With the right recursion spells, your graveyard can be an extension of your hand. Over time, I've leaned more and more into this strategy and now with Underworld Breach it can allow me to win fairly reliably. Being able to recur spells from my graveyard gives me a huge amount of versatility and resiliency. Many of the wheel effects are present in order to fill my own graveyard.
COMBO: - While I wouldn't actually characterize this as a "combo deck" anymore, I do have a win condition that goes infinite. That is Reiterate and Mana Geyser. This makes infinite mana that can then be used to copy any other spell in the deck an infinite number of times. Now, I don't specifically tutor for this combo as often as you might think, and there are several other ways to kill the table, most notably with Niv-Mizzet's trigger in combo with the hand-cycling spells.
Creatures don't trigger Niv's ability - You might consider this to be a minor difference, but there is a special satisfaction in know that so many cards in the deck actually do have direct synergy with my commander just for being an instant or a sorcery. It makes topdecking in vaccuum slightly more tolerable. Chaining spells means we will always be drawing cards with Niv in play.
We don't have tutors or recursion for creatures. Most creatures we would want to run here are delayed advantage. That is they gain you value over time rather than being worth casting immediately. I don't like that, simply because there is so much creature removal in the format. Creatures tend to be a risky investment. Without any recursion for creatures, once that creature hits our graveyard it liable to stay there until the end of the game, whereas instants and sorceries can be utilized later. And as for tutors, without things like Natural Order or Green's Sun's Zenith we are counting on drawing into our creatures to play them. That's inherently inconsistent if we base our strategies around them.
It make deckbuilding easier. - in terms of competetive deckbuilding this shouldn't be a factor, I know... but there are currently so many cards available in this format, that choosing to only run specific types of cards makes for a lot easier deckbuilding choices. It also forces me to think outside the box and I am usually rewarded for that method of deckbuilding in finding hidden gems. Firestorm is a good example. It is also a lot easier to break symmetry on stax effects if you want to go that route.
"As brilliant as a cut diamond, and with just as cruel an edge."
WIN CONDITIONS
Shreds of Sanity or Underworld Breach supports this combo because without them, I will need to generate 11 mana in one go. A common line of play will be to cast Mana Geyser and use that mana to cast either of the aforementioned cards to recur Mana Geyser. I can then cast Reiterate with buyback to make infinite red mana while returning Reiterate to my hand.
Firestorm is an easy card to copy with Reiterate at this point as it costs red mana and can be copied to kill players directly.
Why I chose this win-con warrants some discussion as it might not be obvious to many and probably differs from most Niv-Mizzet, Parun lists out there.
- I needed a win-con that wasn't dependent on my commander. There is creature removal in every color. Wipes and single target removal spells are very abundant in the format. I found that I couldn't always count on Niv being available, especially in more competitive tables. Because of his mana cost, sometimes re-casting him from my command zone is out of the question. Not to mention, stacking other casting costs on top of means that I usually won't be able to go off the turn I cast him. And that brings us to the next point.
- I needed to kill all of my opponents regardless of their life totals and at the same time. Life-gain isn't super common, but it does exist. Furthermore, I wanted to knock out all players at the same time and not put myself in the vulnerable position of having to pass the turn.
- I wanted the win-con to be non-permanent based. And in keeping with the deck, an instant/sorcery based win-con is not only on theme, but is very supported. I can recur my win-con from my graveyard or tutor for it with consistency. Also, the only thing that can commonly stop this combo is a counterspell and that point I typically have enough of my own counterspells in hand to deal with any attempt to stop the combo. Permanent based win-cons can be much easier to disrupt.
I could also go with a storm based win using cards like Aetherflux Reservoir, Brain Freeze or Grapeshot. But any storm based win means I need an infinite or arbitrarily large storm count. Currently, I just don't have the right cards slotted to pull that off. To me that just seems more clunky than what I'm using, however it could still be viable for you. Perhaps the real reason I don't go the storm route with this deck, is that I find keeping track of my storm count to be exceedingly tedious!
At the end of the day, Mana Geyser + Reiterate checks all my boxes and most people don't see it coming. It works and I like using it.
Underworld Breach deserves a mention here as well because with the right cards in your graveyard and enough mana at your disposal you can win pretty effectively. You can either chain handcycling cards until everyone is dead.
"To those in tune with the Firemind, there is no difference between knowledge and flame."
SIDEBOARD
Other competitive combo/control decks tend to be our toughest opponents. Invariably blue decks are the most likely to be able to stop us. Thankfully, red has some good answers for those pesky opponents.
Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast - These are no-brainers. A Vindicate and a Counterspell for just can't be beat.
Counterflux, Overwhelming Denial- these are pretty darn good and will usually be enough to end a counter war, however we have other options in the deck like Mindbreak Trap and Flusterstorm.
ANTI-CREATURES:
Evacuation, Chain Reaction, Devastation Tide - these are my favorite answers to creature hordes that I'm not currently running.
ANTI-GRAVEYARD:
Echo of Eons, Day's Undoing, Commit // Memory, Game Plan, Time Reversal - These are all imitations of Timetwister which I am pretty sure nobody has a chance of acquiring. Generally, the best answer to our opponents' graveyard strategies is going to be these kinds of shuffle and draw effects because they synergize with our own gameplan.
Tormod's Crypt - something like this could be used in a pinch and is tutorable with our artifact tutors.
ANTI-ARTIFACTS:
Rebuild, Vandalblast, By Force, Shattering Spree - Because we are going pretty heavy into artifacts ourselves, we need one sided removal. Rebuild can acutally help us sometimes by saving our own stuff from removal.
ANTI-COMBO:
Extract, Jester's Cap - these are the best library hate cards for the deck because they are both recurrable and tutorable. Sometimes the best way to stop a combo deck is to take out the combo cards before your opponents have a chance to even cast them.
SPECIALTY CONTROL:
Time Stop - this is some specialty tech that can go in for one of our counterspells. Essentially, this is the ultimate answer to everything. I don't main deck it because it costs so much to cast and generally a regular counterspell is just fine, but there are some opponents or situations where you might want to have this.
Disallow - Very flexible. It could be argued that this should be maindecked, and you are more than welcome to. Your control and removal suite should be tailored to your meta.
PLAYING THE DECK
In your opening hand, I shouldn't have to tell you that you need at least 2 lands and the means to get one more. This usually means a cheap draw, looting or handcycling spell. That's the most important thing to keep in mind when taking your mulligans. If you can get some ramp in your opening hand, that's also great. Be wary of anything that costs more than 4 mana to cast as these will be dead cards for a while.
A God Hand: Command Tower, Fiery Islet, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Wheel of Fortune, Deflecting Swat, Jeweled Lotus - We will cast Sol Ring and Arcane Signet on turn one. Turn 2 we can play Niv with Jeweled Lotus with no fear of removal since we have free interaction. Depending on if we use Deflecting Swat to protect Niv and draw 2 more cards or not, and what we draw into on turn 3 (we need a third land drop), you can cast Wheel to refill your hand most likely disrupting everyone's mulligans to some degree. Congrats! You are public enemy number 1.
A mediocre opening hand: Island, Mountain, Opt, Mission Briefing, Faithless Looting, Big Score, Mindbreak Trap - I would still keep this hand, but we only have 2 lands and our only ramp piece costs . I would hope that Opt and Faithless looting can draw us into the third and fourth lands. Hopefully we get another ramp piece to step up to the Big Score. Mindbreak Trap is nice to have in your opening hand because we will be having a slower start with no ramp spells. If someone goes off early or puts something really threatening on the table we can respond to it. Mission Briefing at first glance isn't a great card to have in your opening hand but at turn 4 we can cast it and dig into our library or recur Opt.
A bad opening hand. You must take a mulligan: Academy Ruins, Island, Cleansing Wildfire, Mana Geyser, Swan Song, Time Spiral, Thran Dynamo - This hand is tempting to keep because of Thran Dynamo but Academy Ruins is a colorless land. Colorless lands are really bad in your opening hand because they push our casting of Niv into even later turns. You also won't get the colors you need to cast other important spells. Mana Geyser and Cleansing Wildfire are completely dead at this point without access to red mana. We don't have any looting effects or handcycling effects to fix this hand either.
GENERAL TIPS:
Spend the first 3-4 turns building your board state. Getting colored lands and artifact ramp onto the battlefield. If you are playing more competitively, you might need think defensively and hold mana open for counters if someone is trying to go off this early.
Tutor for artifact ramp spells or even lands if you need them. A turn one Gamble is a good play, but sometimes, depending on what else is in my hand, I wait until turn 2 so I have one more card in hand for the discard. Remember that discarding things means that we can usually get it back later with our recursion suite.
Be careful not to be too explosive, unless you can deal with the consequences. It is better to slowly build your board and hold mana open for instants.
- Respond to relevant threats. This essentially equates to "not losing." If your opponents cast spells that have a significant impact on our chances of winning, they need to be responded to if possible. That's what our removal spells and counter spells are here to do. Drawing into answers and building our hand size is a huge part of this plan. I would say that threat assessment is the most skilled part of piloting this deck. For example: I recently lost a game because I completely forgot about Purphoros, God of the Forge's second pump ability. This player had a small army of 1/1s and Purhporos on the field. I didn't consider that to be a threat, but when his turn rolled around, he pumped those weenies up to 4/1s and swung for lethal damage. I could have Chaos Warped Purphoros on my turn.
- Get a draw multiplier into play. These cards are a key component to our strategy because they put the deck into overdrive, allowing us to overwhelm our opponents with card advantage. For example, with Alhammarret's Archive in play, Brainstorm says: " : Draw Six Cards" Winds of Change says: " : Double your hand size" Once we get enough cards in hand we can reliably combo out.
- Get Niv-Mizzet onto the battlefield. Niv is one of our most powerful draw engines. He can also help protect us by pinging at our opponents' creatures. Niv cantrips all of our spells, which means we will pretty quickly be building a large hand size just from his ability. That means we can more easily build our mana base and respond to threats. It's usually not a great idea to hit players with his ability unless you have the means to kill the whole table or at least the most threatening player. I typically target my opponents' creatures and planes-walkers because it takes away from their card advantage. Having no blockers of our own means that creatures become much more of a threat.
There are several paths to victory as discussed earlier. It all depends on what you have access to. We can either burn everyone out with Niv-Mizzet, or cast our alternate win con of Mana Geyser and Reiterate.
"A skilled Izzet chronarch can carry out an epic vendetta between the fall of one hourglass grain and the next."
VULNERABILITIES/MATCHUPS
First, lets discuss specific archetypes and how to deal with them. I'll also list some of the stereotypical commanders that tend to embody these strategies.
AGGRO - Krenko, Mob Boss, Kaalia of the Vast, Aurelia, the Warleader, and Ezuri, Renegade Leader - A well built aggro deck will knock us out pretty quick if we don't stall them. You'll want to repeatedly bounce their armies and counter key spells until you can build enough card advantage to control the game. Swapping in more ways to deal with massive hordes of creatures is advisable. An aggro decks usual main weakness is card advantage. They are also pretty vulnerable to counterspells and wipes.
COMBO - Sharuum the Hegemon, Arcum Dagsson, Maelstrom Wanderer and Scion of the Ur-Dragon Although any commander could be sporting infinite game winning combos (most competitive decks will) these commanders are notorious for them. They can win out of nowhere and if you don't have counters or removal in hand there is nothing you can do about it. Familiarize yourself with the game winning combos they use and shut them down. Don't hesitate to swap in Jester's Cap if you are really serious about stopping these decks.
INSANE RAMP Radha, Heir to Keld, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Omnath, Locus of Mana, and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger it's possible to get outramped by any deck but you can reasonably assume that any commander with built in ramping capabilities will be running some heavy ramp and high cost, hard hitting spells to make use of it. Again, superior card advantage is the solution. Once you you have a lot of cards in hand you have the means to control the game and win.
MILL - Wrexial, the Risen Deep, Oona, Queen of the Fae, and Szadek, Lord of Secrets - a well built mill deck will exile the cards that it mills and do so efficiently and quickly. Because of the deck's combo nature, the more key cards we lose the closer we get to being unable to win the game. Yet again, superior card advantage and speed is the key to beating this strategy.
Draw Bleeding:
DISCARD EFFECTS (Hand Hate) - This is the antithesis of card draw and usually isn't a huge problem in a multiplayer format but you should be aware of it. Typically, discarding effects will be combined with other cards that punish you for discarding such as Liliana's Caress. Targeted discard is rare but will certainy strip you of your best and control and big draw spells before you get a chance to cast them.
ARTIFACT HATE: This is certainly a vulnerability of the deck because we rely on our artifact ramp so much, no less Alhammaret's Archive. Most opponents are going to be running some form of artifact hate, and there is artifact hate in just about every color. It is important to realize just how much these spells can hinder our gameplan. The best thing you can do is counter these spells
CARD SELECTION
Copy Artifact - It has the low possibility of doing nothing, however someone at the table is bound to have a Sol Ring sooner or later, but it has the heigh ceiling of copying something like a Blightsteel Colossus or Bolas's Citadel which something other mana rocks can't do.
1. They can accelerate us into casting Niv much earlier. As opposed to colorless ramp, these spells actually fix our colors. Getting Niv onto the table is one of the biggest goals of the deck since he is such a strong draw engine with the rest of the cards in the list.
2. They trigger Niv's ability if he is already on the battlefield. With these rituals, it is a basically a free draw trigger since the mana used to cast is immediately refunded. This can help you "storm off" into bigger and bigger plays. Therefore they aren't dead draws late-game, allow us to get draw triggers off Niv, or offering more utility
3. They play very well with Underworld Breach, allowing us to really go off if we are using these recursion effects and have access to rituals and lots of cards in our graveyard.
Therefore, my counterspells are: efficient and geared toward a priority of countering non-creature spells since my board wipes are there to deal with creatures.
Force of Negation - like a mini Force of Will but unlike Force of Will, you can actually hard cast this!
Counterspell - doesn't need explanation I think.
Swan Song, Arcane Denial - highly efficient counterspells are key for this deck. Oftentimes we only have a few mana open for protection for Niv.
Force of Will, Mindbreak Trap- free counterspells are great when I am comboing off or really need to stop someone else from winning. They also do a pretty good job of protecting Niv.
Narset's Reversal - an incredibly versatile card. Great card design here!
Fierce Guardianship - Protects Niv if we're tapped out, or rather it allows us to tap out on our turn and still protect him.
Archmage's Charm - a versatile counterspell.
Forbid - the power of this card in this particular deck shouldn't be underestimated. Sure it's just a cancel, but when you can cast it every turn it turns into a control engine.
Muddle the Mixture - the transmute tutor can just grab so many important things! Depending on stage of game, the best targets are probably going to be Underworld Breach, Cyclonic Rift, Spiteful Banditry, or maybe Tolarian Winds.
Mystical Tutor - shouldn't need much explanation. Being at instant speed makes this a fantastic tutor. It can grab relavent spells at any point in the game.
Intuition - Intuition is a card that takes experience to use. Knowing what three cards to tutor for at any given point in the game takes time to master. We have a lot of support for this card in that we run a suite of recursion effects. Even if what we want is discarded, we can usually cast it later.
Gamble - Gamble is one of my favorites. It almost always gets us what we need. The more cards in hand, the better this becomes.
Mission Briefing - I actually prefer this card over Snapcaster Mage. I think it fits better in this deck and works just as well most of the time. The surveil is really nice!
Underworld Breach - this broken card.... Truly an all star of the deck.
Shreds of Sanity - This is fairly efficient and is probably strictly better than similar cards in that it can get two cards back to hand. Getting things back to hand vs flashback is actually better in most cases since they don't get exiled.
Reiterate - Early game it can be used to copy a ramp spell or a tutor, lategame it makes infinite mana. This honestly has been in and out, but right now it's in because I have quite a few rituals and will probably be adding more.
Reality Shift - Currently, this is the closest we can get to Path to Exile. Instant speed creature exile is quite good.
Chaos Warp - This is red's Vindicate. At instant speed, it really is a great catch all removal, allowing me to hit key threats.
Cyclonic Rift - The perfect removal spell. Why isnt this banned yet?
Steal Enchantment - enchantments can be difficicult for Izzet to get rid of so why not steal them?
March of Swirling Mist - the epitome of a "swiss army knife spell". It does something very unique in that it saves Niv from board wipes while still letting them resolve. It can be used in a variety of situations more offensively as well and has a high ceiling of being a one sided board wipe for a turn.
All is Dust - The word "sacrifice" makes this amazing! The fact that I really don't run that many colored permanents usually makes this one sided. doesn't have a whole lot of answers for Planeswalkers and enchanments so this does makes a lot of sense.
Consuming Tide - This can be another one sided board wipe that leaves Niv untouched in most cases. It also tends to draw us a couple of cards seeing that this deck is permanent light. 4cmc makes this nice and efficient for a board wipe that hits all non-land permanents.
Blasphemous Act - I'm running this because of its efficiency. Creature hordes really are one of this deck's greatest weaknesses. My counterspells can't deal with creatures effectively because creatures in commander just pile up. I can't counter every single relevent creature spell that is played.
Spiteful Banditry - It pulls double duty as a board wipe and ramp which means its useful both early and late game. A clear autoinclude to my mind.
Insight - green commanders are incredibly common so this should do a lot of work, but feel free to swap it out if it's not doing enough. In the right matchup this can draw even more cards than Rhystic Study and they don't have the option of paying the tax.
Rhystic Study - also shouldn't need explanation. It's just a great draw engine and probably one of the strongest blue cards of all time. It just...sits there and gives you cards.
Mystic Remora - IMO this is a vastly underrated card and is close in power to Rhystic Study for much less inital investment. You should be regularly drawing 3-6 cards or more with this thing. Try running it and you will see why it is such a powerful draw engine.
Teferi's Ageless Insight - This card is crazy efficient at what it does compared to something like Thought Reflection. Truly a fantastic card for the deck adding much needed redundancy for Archive.
Winds of Change - Very powerful card. This can double our handsize with Archive, or cycle away things your opponents would rather keep. It feels absolutely epic to deal like 30 damage for just with Niv in play.
Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge - This acts as a bit of added redundancy to Winds of Change. When I have a draw multiplier out this is a convenient way to draw lots of cards without decking myself. If I don't have a multiplier out but am trying to chain wheels with Underworld Breach this is a great instrument to that end. It prevents the situation of my opponents saying "well, lets just see if I draw into instant speed interaction and see if I can stop you" since I am the only one wheeling. It's a lot less tedious.
Tolarian Winds - similar to Winds of Change in that it can double our handsize with Archive in play but this just affect us. Also, the cycled cards are discarded, which helps fill our graveyard.
Wheel of Fortune - the best draw 7 spell there is, aside from I guess Timetwister.
Time Spiral - our only shuffle/draw 7 effect. Aside from Timetwister, these other spells are too inefficient. Untapping all the lands spent to cast this is HUGE! That means we can utilize those cards the same turn we draw them, before our opponents. It also doubles as a graveyard hate spell.
FETCHES:
Prismatic Vista, Fabled Passage - while probably not strictly necessary they are better than running a basic since I can get exactly what I need into play. They have the added benefit of shuffling my library.
MULTICOLOR:
The more dual colored lands we have, the more likley we are to cast Niv on time.
Urza's Saga - This is most likely going to grab Jeweled Lotus. But if that's already in play or in the graveyard, you can get Sensei's Top or Sol Ring.
Cephalid Coliseum - this little gem is strictly better than an Island. Coming into play untapped is a huge upside for this card. Later on it isn't too difficult to draw 6 cards with this thing if you have one of the draw multiples in play.
Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn, Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass - If I absolutely need them to come into play untapped as lands I can bolt myself in pinch. The "high end" of these cards is MUCH more impactful to the game than running just another basic or one of the cycling lands.
Academy Ruins - A realy fantastic card for this deck as it allows to recover if our artifacts have been nuked.
Reliquary Tower - I wouldn't be without it. Sometimes I don't need it, but when I need it, I really need it.
BASICS:
We are definitely a bit heavier on blue than red. We prefer to have at least 3 islands in play to make use of High Tide and Mystic Sanctuary.
WISHLIST
Mox Diamond, Mana Crypt - Because this deck is lacking some of the other high powered colors like green and black, it asks for some intense ramp. More than any of my other decks, I feel this deck could benefit from these cards. However, Mox Diamond will probably never be available. Waiting for a chance to snag a crypt.
CONSIDERATIONS/MAYBEBOARD
Counterspells and Interaction - Adding more control can make the deck even more responsive to threats, however it is tough to find the right balance. You don't want to be in a position of being flooded with these cards and not having a way to gain further card advantage since 1 for 1 ing threats isn't sustainable without Niv in play. Ultimately, as I've said before you should be running whatever removal suits your playstyle and meta.
Rapid Hybridization Pongify Suspend
Boomerang, Into the Roil, Blink of an Eye
Delay
[card]Misdirection
Ramp and Rituals
Copy Artifact, Phyrexian Metamorph - these would primarily serve as ramp pieces. A bit more situational, but could be good.
Copy Effects
Twincast, Reverberate, Bonus Round
Cost Reducers
Sapphire Medallion Ruby Medallion Primal Amulet // Primal Wellspring Arcane Melee, Jace's Sanctum, Baral, Chief of Compliance, Goblin Electromancer - cost reducers could be an interesting route to explore however my feeling is that it is better to simply lower the mana curve.
Future Sight - this card has been in and out. I really like the effect, but it's high on my mana curve. Also, I try to choose instant and sorceries over permanents for the sake of synergy. Artifacts are the next priority. Colored enchantments are hit by All is Dust. Still... this is a very strong effect and has a nice synergy with Sensei's Divining Top
What some see as distracted is really fathoming the unfathomable.
NOTABLE EXCLUSIONS
Dramatic Reversal, Isochron Scepter - this is certainly a powerful combo, but my experience with it has been that scepter just sits in my hand waiting for its partner. It isn't a great card to have in your opening hand. If you do manage to imprint something relevant on it that doesn't go infinite, it turns into a hate magnet. Niv is enough of a hate magnet that I likely won't spend my valuable counterspells protecting scepter. While this could certainly be a viable option if really built around, this isn't my chosen route to victory.
The miracle cards in these colors. These are Reforge the Soul, Temporal Mastery, Devastation Tide, and to a lesser degree Bonfire of the Damned. While we have all the support to enable the miracle mechanic, in testing, casting these cards for their regular mana cost was just so painful when it happened I ended up swapping them out for more efficient spells. Kind of sad, because I really like the idea of miracle, but in practice, it just isn't ideal. There are better, although less budget options.
Creatures. Most notably these are: Dockside Extortionist, Consecrated Sphinx, Rielle, the Everwise, Gilded Drake, The Locust God, Talrand, Sky Summoner, God-Eternal Kefnet, Whirlpool Warrior, Jace's Archivist, Archaeomancer, Snapcaster Mage, Trinket Mage, Spellseeker. There are also a multitude of spellslinger payoff creatures like Storm-Kiln Artist that might be good fits, but over years of running this deck, I have determinded that effects on creature bodies just aren't ideal. Instants and sorceries have the most synergy with the rest of the cards in the deck. just doesn't have that much creature support like other color combinations do. When I switched over to Parun, this became even more apparent.
Planeswalkers There are currently no planesalkers that I feel are auto-includes for this deck. Planeswalkers that come close are: Narset, Parter of Veils, Dack Fayden, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Tezzeret the Seeker. Nearly all planeswalkers suffer from one fatal flaw: They are designed to be value over time, and yet they are vulnerable to creature damage. If there is a relevant planeswalker on the field, creatures are going to bee-line towards it. At most, you may only get one loyalty activation for your mana investment. This is most often not efficient. Planewalkers also suffer from the same lack of support that creatures do in this color combo. Without any of our own creatures to block, any planeswalkers we might field are unprotected.
Alternative win cons. Laboratory Maniac, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Thassa's Oracle - while these could no doubt be used as win conditions for a deck like this, I feel they aren't in alignment with the spirit of the deck, which is to a large extent burn. I prefer using the direct damage win cons. So I suppose you could say this is a personal choice.
Cheat cards, i.e shortcut wins. Dream Halls, Omniscience, Show and Tell - Omniscience is a card that nobody wants to see in their opening hand. I had it in here for a while as a replacement for Dream Halls. When you can drop omniscience, you win, but otherwise, without Show and Tell (which doesn't do much else for the deck) it's a dead card until I have that ten mana. More and more, I've taken out the shortcut wins because they are situational and clunky. I believe our commander demands a little more finesse.
Search for Azcanta - Not being an instant or sorcery makes it sub optimal for this deck. I specifically try to steer away from colored enchantments to support All is Dust
Extra turns:Time Warp, Temporal Mastery, Temporal Manipulation, Temporal Trespass - these are some of the better options. This has been a pretty recent philosophical cut. The reasoning behind their exclusion is that ONE: This deck really wants a low mana curve. Having these cards in the first few turns isn't that helpful. I'd rather have ramp or a cheap card draw effect. Being 5cmc at the low end, these cards usually aren't castable until turn 4 or 5. TWO: I have no other way to abuse these cards. Sure I can recur them, but I don't run creatures or planeswalkers in this deck, the two primary ways to utilize extra turns. THREE: They draw unnecessary hate. Not because I'm typically doing degenerate things, but because they are perceived as tedius. Extra turn cards are better in decks that can either: cheat them out such as Narset, Enlightened Master, or really utilize that extra turn for combat or planeswalkers.
Cryptic Command - think this one deserves its own mention because it is such a good card. I ran it for a long time, but I just don't think it quite fits in a two-color spellslinger deck. The heavy blue cost and high cmc means that it is more difficult to leave mana open for it. I like all my counterspells to be useful in the first few turns. if need be This is only really a mid-late game spell. It's great in a mono blue deck.
Tax-counters. Convolute, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Daze - While these are all great counters, I am simple not a fan of the tax-counters in this deck. They are too situational for my playstyle.
Mindmoil - I used to run this as a win con, but I came to prefer Inner Fire + Comet Storm for a few reasons:
- The Mindmoil Dream Halls combo relied on Niv being in play to for a kill, so it was a three piece combo in actuality.
- Reiterate + Mana Geyser is tutorable, the other is not. Not to mention, Intuition gets both pieces for us in combo with Past in Flames
- Mindmoil + Dream Halls + Niv is a lot easier to disrupt being permanent based.
- Dream Halls can backfire... badly, especially with other competitive decks. That's when Omniscience went in instead.
Draw X Spells. Pull From Tomorrow, Blue Sun's Zenith, Braingeyser, Finale of Revelation - when it comes to drawing cards, these types of spells aren't very efficient unless you specifically build around them - i.e. copy them or reduce their cost. You don't want to see them in your opening hand. They also need to be at instant speed. Many of them aren't but even the ones that are (best ones) suffer from the aforementioned problems.
CHANGELOG
11/10/22
Pyretic Ritual ==> Big Score - Functional copy of Unexpected Windfall. These are really decent being they are instants. In a vacuum these are great gas on turn 3 or 4 if I need to hold up mana for interaction. They set me up to cast Niv the next turn with open mana for interaction. And late game with Niv or a draw doubler out, they just refill my hand.
Gilded Lotus ==> Consuming Tide - I got tired of seeing Lotus. It costs a bit much to be considered early ramp and it's a target. It tends to blown up all too frequently. Consuming Tide I think is just a really solid board wipe in that it leaves Niv untouched and tends to draw me a couple of cards at the same time.
Reality Ripple ==> March of Swirling Mist - March is just a straight upgrade having a much higher ceiling of effect. I still like the effect of phasing out Niv in response to a board wipe enough to justify keeping Reality Ripple, but it's one of those things where I would prefer to have other cards.
Past in Flames ==> Shreds of Sanity - Past in Flames is out again. It's just too cumbersome and such a dead card early game. I still need this kind of effect however and Shreds of Sanity seems to be most efficient at doing this.
Chain of Vapor ==> Wild Magic Surge - I like Chain of Vapor but the possibility of this backfiring and bouncing Niv late game is too high for my comfort. Wild Magic Surge I think manages to be a great piece of spot removal for the deck.
Gitaxian Probe ==> Consider - I think Consider is pretty great. Instant speed draw is always going to be preferable and surveilling is relevant with my recursion spells.
Serum Visions ==> Izzet Charm - A slight optimization. I found myself missing my old izzet charm. The additional utility is nice, but digging deeper and pitching cards I don't' need realy is worth it for just one more .
Forbid ==> An Offer You Can't Refuse - An honest to god one mana counterspell, swan song redundancy can't be ignored. While Forbid is cute, it's not efficient so it's out. An offer you can't refuse can actually be used as ramp in a very very tight spot. I've never had to do it, but in this deck I wouldn't be too surprised if that scenario came up. It's also free draw in that scenario if Niv is out.
Urza's Saga ==> Stormcarved Coast - Urza's saga has only one real target in the deck. Ramping for just isn't amazing grabbing Sol Ring. I find I often just want the colored mana early in the game and late game sometimes I have no tutor targets for it.
11/19/21
Inner Fire ==> Unexpected Windfall - Windfall is a great spell. On it's own, it will reliably allow me to cast Niv on turn 5 and in combination with artifact ramp, on turn 4. That's fantastic.
Comet Storm ==> Chain of Vapor - Chain of Vapor has been playing great for me. It's one of the best bounce spells early game as no-one is will to sacrifice lands. It stops early wins and slows down folks who accelerate too fast. It also has the fringe benefit of ritualing with mana positive rocks as well as bouncing back stolen permanents to my hand.
Tolaria West ==> Urza's Saga - @darrenhabib will be happy to see this one. Finally swapping this out because Urza's Saga is just better. I can still get Chrome Mox with it if I need colors, but otherwise getting Sensei's Divining Top or Sol Ring is always going to be a better play.
Fabricate ==> Pull from Tomorrow - Pull from Tomorrow has been pulling it's weight. I'm normally against draw x spells, but somehow this manages to be good enough. I think it's because I have so many rituals now. It's also much better in a vacuum when I just need to refill my hand mid-game and don't have access to a draw doubler.
Izzet Charm ==> Prismari Command - I generally feel this to be a straight upgrade. Prismari Command can actually ramp me and has the fringe benefit of hitting artifacts if I need it to.
Scorched Earth ==> Cleansing Wildfire - While scorched earth definitely is awesome at certain points in the game, I just noticed I was holding onto it for far too long waiting for the best moment. Oftentimes, early in the game I actually don't have enough spare lands to discard (im already running very few lands as it is). Cleansing Wildfire is good at any point in the game. The cantrip makes it absolutely great. In a pinch I can even use this as a psuedo Harrow allowing me to color fix.
Pact of Negation ==> Archmage's Charm - pact was just turning into a liability. I am viewing it more as a purely CEDH card where you never get to the point of paying it's pact cost. I mostly play casual commander, and I feel it just doesn't fit anymore. Charm is a much more versatile card despite it's triple . Stealing a Sol Ring early game or just drawing cards is far more useful.
Long-Term Plans ==> Visions of Ruin I'm just never happy to see long-term plans. When you compare it to something like a Vampiric Tutor it really sucks, maybe that's why? In theory, it good, but I just never like casting it. Probably because it doesn't have an immediate effect on the gamestate. It also requires time and setup to gain benefit from. Visions of Ruin I think is good enough for the primer. This has the potential to ramp us into Niv on turn 5 with interaction backup and that's great.
Seething Song ==> Strike It Rich - for a while i had been testing Retraced Image in this slot, but then I realized that Strike It Rich more or less accomplishes the same thing, albeit more reliable early game. Seething Song felt a bit too clunky. It makes more red mana than I really need and requires 3 to cast, meaning that it actually isn't that effective in accelerating in Niv unless I have Sol Ring in play. While Strike it Rich may not stay in for the long haul (because it is fairly limited in what it does), I do appreciate the little bit of colored ramp it provides. By itself, it allows for a turn 4 Niv, which is nothing to scoff at.
1/27/2021
RITUALS/MANA
Generally, I am transitioning this decks' mana sources over to instant/sorcery based "rituals" whenever possible and effective. I find these spells to be very much superior for a lot of reasons:
1. They can accelerate us into casting Niv much earlier. As opposed to colorless ramp, these spells actually fix our colors. Getting Niv onto the table is one of the biggest goals of the deck since he is such a strong draw engine with the rest of the cards in the list.
2. They trigger Niv's ability if he is already on the battlefield. With these rituals, it is a basically a free draw trigger since the mana used to cast is immediately refunded. This can help you "storm off" into bigger and bigger plays.
3. They play very well with Past in Flames and Underworld Breach, allowing us to really go off if we are using these recursion effects.
Mana Vault ==> High Tide - I have no efficient method or trick to untap mana vault and the fact that it only gives us colorless was a limitation. I have found High Tide to be an extremely powerful effect. At its worst it is a blue Dark Ritual, at its best it will give us arbitrarily large amounts of mana with Underworld Breach and untap effects.
Thran Dynamo, Coldsteel Heart ==> Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual - These 2 mana rocks were the ones I consistently didn't like seeing. Dynamo only gives colorless and Heart comes into play tapped. Both these instant speed rituals help us accelerate and fix our mana for casting Niv and later on help us storm off.
Fellwar Stone ==> Seething Song ==> Fellwar Stone has been inconsistent. Many times it just taps for red or blue but not both and even sometimes just colorless. Seething Song definitely leans into the zone of red rituals that aren't as effective and that I wish were better (Geosurge, Irencrag Feat) however I still think it's better than the stone.
Chromatic Lantern ==> Jeska's Will - I have found Jeska's Will to be really phenomenal and it has secured a solid place in the deck. It typically gives me upwards of seven mana and the ability to actually grant "impulse draw" is really a nice bonus especially if I can manage to cast it multiple times.
CONTROL/REMOVAL
Negate ==> Force of Will - yup I finally picked one up. A non-foil borderless double masters copy. Absolutely gorgeous card and I have no regrets.
Evacuation ==> Magmaquake - I found I needed an efficient sweeper that didn't hit Niv. This fits the bill. Instant speed and it has the added bonus of wiping out planeswalkers.
DRAW
Whir of Invention ==> Gitaxian Probe - The triple blue felt too cumbersome and the fact that I need 8 mana to get Archive into play felt inefficient. With added draw multiplier redundancy it is less crucial to get Archive into play. As for Probe, it turns out drawing a card for 2 life is definitely worth it, and more often than not it winds up being 4 cards for 2 life!
Fateful Showdown ==> Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge - I've been thinking of this as a bit of added redundancy to Winds of Change. When I have a draw multiplier out this is a convenient way to draw lots of cards without decking myself. If I don't have a multiplier out but am trying to chain wheels with Underworld Breach this has been a great instrument to that end. It prevents the situation of my opponents saying "well, lets just see if I draw into instant speed interaction and see if I can stop you" since I am the only one wheeling. It's a lot less tedious.
Finale of Promise ==> Mystic Remora - So, I love the idea of Finale and recursion in general, however I almost always ended up casting Underworld Breach or Past in Flames at the point where I would want to be casting Finale. And Missing Briefing is the better card earlier in the game. I never like seeing recursion cards in my opening hand, so I needed to drop down my count. That said, I CANNOT BELIEVE how good Remora is. It's truly a broken card and I can't believe how cheap it is to cast and cheap in terms of $$. This is a fantastic addition to the deck and I can't believe how long it's taken me to include it.
LANDS
Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse ==> Prismatic Vista, Fabled Passage
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea ==> Mystic Sanctuary - Colorless lands are certainly a liability in this deck. I've been liking Mystic Sanctuary for the free recursion.
Vesuva ==> Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway - I ended up moving Vesuva to another deck where I can get more value from it.
Ghost Quarter ==> Training Center - I never really care about blowing up peoples' lands in this deck, so the colorless land was a liability. I can usually just counter or remove the things those lands enable rather than the lands themselves.
Forgotten Cave, Lonely Sandbar - Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn, Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass - While the simple draw effect is somewhat missed, I DON'T miss these lands coming into play tapped. These flip lands serve a very similar function and if I absolutely need them to come into play untapped as lands I can bolt myself in pinch. The "high end" of these cards is MUCH more impactful to the game.
9/28/2020
Reiterate ==> Teferi's Ageless Insight - Why Reiterate? For a while Reiterate served the function of going infinite with Inner Fire, but now with Underworld Breach, it is redundant for that purpose. Otherwise, I don't have a whole lot of blowout cards I want to copy with Reiterate. Generally, I find it sitting my hand waiting to used which means it has to go.
Mystic Retrieval ==> Past in Flames- This is mostly a strict upgrade. Past in Flames has the benefit of working a lot better with Inner Fire and the cheap card draw late-game. It also generally works very well in my graveyard, whereas Retrieval is a bit more limited in late-game scenarios.
6/28/2020
Pull from Tomorrow ==> Rielle, the Everwise - I have found the draw multipliers are the ideal effect for this slot because they are good at just about any point in the game. Rielle has a lot of things going for her. She negates any enemy discard effects, turns having a maximum handsize into an awesome end-of-turn looting effect, but more commonly doubles our draw from cards like Faithless Looting or Tolarian Winds. The "draw X spells" simply don't perform well in this deck. I can see them being better in a deck that can reliable copy them or reduce their cost, but in this deck they are bad topdecks early game. Just remember that her ability only activates for the first discard effect per turn. If you have multiple discard effects, you will get the most value by casting them on your opponents' turns or simply waiting for your next turn.
Ponder, Preordain, Impulse ==> Thirst for Meaning, Visions of Beyond, Careful Study - In this deck, our primary strategy is to fatten our handsize. These swaps are an optimization with that strategy in mind. The latter 3 cards perform much better if I have a draw multiplier in play and also help me fill up my graveyard.Rules update from Gatherer-- If the first time you discard cards during your turn is due to having too many cards in hand during your cleanup step, you'll draw that many cards. Players will receive priority during the cleanup step in this case, and a new cleanup step will happen after that one, during which you may have to discard cards again.
4/20/20Counterbalance ==> Reality Shift - I feel like counterbalance probably needs to come out sadly. It just isn't reliable without Scroll Rack in play (which I don't own yet). Sure, I've got some other top of library manipulation cards, but it isn't a dedicated strategy like you might have with Elsha of the Infinite say. Counterbalance doesn't trigger Niv. Reality Shift on the other can can be a fantastic removal spell and is the closest we get to a Path to Exile. It can be recurred from our graveyard. Creature removal spells are my priority when it comes to non-counterspell control since some of my counters can't target creature spells. I figure there will probably always be targets for Reality Shift.
4/20/20Island ==> Cephalid Colliseum - Finally picked up this excellent little gem. Strictly better than an island and can draw us a ton of cards with Archive in play for only .
3/17/20 OUT: Remand IN: Narset's Reversal - Reversal is strictly better in this deck I believe. In fact it is a near perfect spell in terms of what we want it to do. It helps our own gameplan by copying our important spells while protecting us if we need it to. It can also copy early game tutors and land ramp spells from our opponents. Great at any point in the game.
3/10/20 OUT: 1 Island IN: Thrill of Possibility - this card caught my attention as it is an instant speed draw effect in red! Not quite a Faithless Looting, but I'm going to give it a run. Going down to 32 lands feels a bit risky, but I do think with all these rummaging effects we might be able to pull it off.
3/10/20 OUT: 2 Islands IN: Izzet Signet, Arcane Signet - our mana curve is getting low enough I think we can take out a couple lands. We have A LOT of draw in the deck, and I am prioritizing cheap draw so we always have something in our opening hand.
3/8/20 OUT: Omniscience IN: Ponder
Ponder signifies a change in my philosophy for the deck. First of all, my target average cmc for the deck is around 2.5. Ponder definitely helps us get there. The most challenging part of the game for most decks is the opening few turns, but especially this deck for some reason. Those turns can make the difference between a win and a lose. Cards like Ponder, Faithless Looting, Frantic Search allow us to fix a less than ideal opening hand. Later on, our commander gives us a payoff for casting them. These cards help us dig for answers, key cards, and win conditions. They are good at all points in the game.
3/8/20 OUT: Time Warp IN: Thirst for Knowledge
3/8/20 OUT: Temporal Mastery IN: Opt
My philosophy here is that both of these extra turn cards aren't exactly something you want to see in your opening hand. They don't really synergize with the deck as well as other decks that might be wanting to extra attack phases or planeswalker activations. Thirst for Knowledge and Opt are solid deck thinning cards that are good at any point in the game.
3/8/20 OUT: Shreds of Sanity IN: Tolarian Winds
I was a little heavy on the recursion. These types of cards aren't great in your opening hand. Out of the ones I had, this seemed the least powerful. Tolarian Winds is a one sided wheel that helps me fill my graveyard. In combo with Alhammarret's Archive, it can just be bonkers.
3/8/20 OUT: Evacuation IN: Izzet Charm
I can usually tutor or recur the board wipes I need. I go back and forth between whether I like Devastation Tide or Evacuation better. Izzet Charm is pretty decent little modular card. Most often I use the draw effect, but it can do other stuff when I need it to. I think that's worth the
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
CASUAL VS COMPETITIVE - A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
The basic complaint I hear a lot is "Competitive games are short and unfun." While that can certainly be true, competetive games can also last just as long and be much more interactive. It really just depends on the luck of the draw, and how different decks match up to one another. My philosophy is that commander is the most fun when all decks are an equal power level to one another.
Ultimately, I think playing commander shouldn't just be about winning. What is actually fun for me about commander is strategy, making choices, politics, deck building, and interaction, The event of winning can be satisfying, but if that is your only goal, I think you are missing out on a lot of the other pleasures that the commander format has to offer over other more competetive formats.
I don't particularly like the the power creep or "arms race" aspect of comepetive commander where there is a strong desire to out-power the competition by getting more and more expensive cards. While upgrading your deck is fine, I don't think overpowering the competition should be a driving force. This mentality also starts to kill the diversity of deck building, which is a big reason I like the format.
Infinite combos can certaintly feel bad. Get your combo into play and if nobody has an answer the game is just over. Early game ending combos can definitely feel bad to play against and I don't necessarily feel favorable toward that particular aspect of competetive play. While stacking your deck with interaction can mean that you have answers, it doesn't mean you'll have those answers when you need them. Tutoring for your infinite combos all the time can also be exceedly boring. Win a few times on turn 3 or 4 with your tutored infinite combo and you will see what I mean. The look of dissapoitment on your opponent's faces will probably be enough to change your philosophy.
Of course, like I said earlier, if all decks are geared for winning early than that's fine.
Land destruction and severe resource limition are also feel bad scenarios, and I don't really condone either. They are a part of the game and I'm not going to tell anyone they shouldn't build those kinds of decks, but I personally find them tedious and choose not to go that route with my deckbuilding. Primarily I am referring to cards like Cataclysm and Winter Orb.
There are a few reasons why I personally enjoy more competitive play.
1. I enjoy the creative and intellectual challenge of building decks. Although I do enjoy the game itself a lot, the process of honing my decks is also a big reason why I play MTG. Synergy, consistency, and resilency all make a deck funner to play in my opinion.
2. I enjoy playing against opponents who know their decks and know the cards. Anticipating those infinite combos, epic counter wars, obscure but effective combos. Winning at 1 life. Coming back from having all my artifacts or lands nuked. That's what I think is fun.
One thing I love about Magic is the rock paper scissors aspect of it. For every combo there is a counter, for every permanent there's a piece removal that will do the trick. The same can be said for individual decks. Combo dies to aggro, aggro dies to control, etc... When Consecrated Sphinx hits the battlefield, there are hundred and one ways to get rid of it. This fundamental aspect of the game is something to keep in mind while playing. Nobody is invincible. Nothing is unstoppable.
I would say that your attitude while playing is what matters most. This is a GAME! You also don't HAVE to make the very best plays every turn. For example, if you have a stellar opening hand, you can resist going all out for the sake of the game if you want. Let the table dictate your plays. If everyone else only has played a single land for their first turn, don't lay down Mana Crypt, Mox Diamond, Volcanic Island, and then play Wheel of Fortune. Even though that may be the best play, it would put you leagues ahead of the rest of the table and make it a 1 vs 3 game. You generally don't want that. Not to mention you just put about $900 worth of cardboard onto the table!
But if you hold back, you must also RESIST the impulse to say "Oh, I could have won turn 3.... blah blah blah."
From experience, the best games are to be had when each deck is playing at relatively the same competitiveness level. So the best advice I can give is to go find yourself a playgroup with comparably powered decks and also: be honest with your table on how powerful you think your deck is.
CUSTOM CARDS
CREDITS AND THANKS
I also want to thank the MTG nexus team and Primer committee: @Feyd_Ruin @benjameenbear @ISBPathfinder @cryogen @darrenhabib and anyone else who made this website possible.
A big shoutout goes to @FireStorm4056 who was a little ahead of me in terms of deck building. I took many of his philosophies to heart. Our decks do diverge slightly, but I certainly credit him for many of the cards in this list.
"Friends teach what you want to know. Enemies teach what you need to know."