Niv-Mizzet, Parun - "Controlled Burn" - No creatures!

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

NIV-MIZZET, PARUN

~CONTROLLED BURN~
*OFFICIAL EDH primer*


Image

TABLE OF CONTENTS



INTRODUCTION
.

WHO AM I?

Among formats, I play Commander exclusively. I enjoy this format because it's an eternal format. It allows creation of flavorful decks using nearly any card printed. It's one of the more challenging formats mainly because of the sheer number of options when deckbuilding and the complexity of a multiplayer setting. Also, having access to otherwise restricted or downright banned cards is awesome!

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

This is my first commander deck and my last. What I mean by that is that it was the first commander deck I built and often the last I will put on the table because of its power level. It's my "flagship" deck and still my favorite.

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.
Image
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. :P

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... :grin:

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?

Image
For me, Niv-Mizzet has certainly been one of the most interesting characters in the game. I identify with him greatly and would even consider him to be my personal avatar into the world of MTG. Here is a link to a wiki entry on Niv-Mizzet's story: https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Niv-Mizzet

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. UUURRR 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 R 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."

IS THIS A COMMANDER CENTRIC DECK?

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!

SHOULD YOU GIVE NIV-MIZZET A TRY?
You might like Niv-Mizzet if you:
  • 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.


You might NOT like Niv-Mizzet if you:
  • 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.


STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS OF THIS DECK
STRENGTHS
  • 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 UR 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 Evacuation and Blasphemous Act.


WEAKNESSES
I would consider purely Izzet to be an underdog color combination compared to other options. For example, adding b or g to this deck would probably strictly make it better by covering its blind spots, but then we wouldn't get to run Niv as our commander. :( There is a certain appeal to building an underdog color combo and not having all the options at your disposal. However, it tends to increase the ticket price of the deck and the difficulty of building it, but I like each of my decks to feel unique.
  • 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 G 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, UUURRR, 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.
Image
"Niv-Mizzet's genius and vanity reverberate throughout the mirrored halls of Nivix."
.

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.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
Image
ARTIFACTS:
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.
OTHER SPELLSLINGER COMMANDERS:

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.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
Baral, Chief of Compliance - having a cost reduction effect in your command zone is pretty nice. Naturally, his second ability pushes the deck into the control archetype as well. Going mono blue certainly has some advantages. Namely it cuts down your costs on expensive dual lands. Using a commander like Baral means you don't have to go as heavy into artifact ramp either. I would say this is a fantastic budget option if you want to play control.

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 UR 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.
Image


THE DECK
.

CURRENT DECKLIST

I am posting this deck exactly as I currently own it in paper and will update it as I acquire upgrades. Many of the reserve list cards were acquired before they spiked. I consider myself lucky, however they aren't 100% necessary for this deck to function well. Additionally, this includes my bling. Without the bling I think you are looking at around 1400.

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.
Decklist

LANDS (34)

Basics

Approximate Total Cost:

.

BUDGET DECKLIST

Don't have $2000 to spare right now? I understand. Neither did I when I first started building the deck. What follows is a "seed-list" You can purchase this list for under $100 and it will perform pretty well. You can trade and give yourself birthday presents to gradually increase the power of the deck.

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.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
Decklist

COMMANDER

LANDS (35)

Basics

16 Island
Approximate Total Cost:

I would prioritize working on your landbase before anything else. There are some decent dual lands that aren't that much more expensive, but they do add up. Sulfur Falls Cascade Bluffs, Steam Vents, Fiery Islet, Shivan Reef, Stormcarved Coast, and Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway.

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

This deck fits into several common archetypes, however, it is the combination of them that makes the deck unique. Being aware of these archetypes and making card choices based on their philosophy has been and continues to be an important part of streamlining and focusing the deck.
Image

ARCHETYPES OF FIREMIND'S FURY:
SPELLSLINGER: - The definition of "spellslinger" is an instant and sorcery based strategy as opposed to creature based or permanent based, but not only that. A spellslinger deck attempts to cast as many of these spells as possible eventually comboing out with a high storm count or in the case of this deck, a particular combo. As such, many the cards in the deck, no less our commander, synergize with instants and sorceries. Not going heavy on creatures means we can slot in powerful cards like Blasphemous Act and All is Dust and they will generally be one sided.

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.
LOOK, NO CREATURES!
Aside from Niv himself, there are currently ZERO creatures in the deck. I like the challenge of building decks with these kinds of restrictions and in my gut I feel it makes a lot of sense for this particular decklist. There are a few reasons this is the case:
It makes our own board wipes one sided most of the time. - I run a lot of board wipes in this deck and there aren't a ton of one sided creature wipes in these colors aside from Cyclonic Rift. Not killing off our own card advantage as collateral damage is a good thing.

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

REITERATE/MANA GEYSER
Recently, I've effectively swapped out my old standby win con Inner Fire and Comet Storm for Mana Geyser and Reiterate. While this is no longer a 2 card combo, I can still reliably generate enough infinite mana to the copy any other spell in my hand. At the same point that Inner Fire and Comet Storm becomes lethal, so does this. Infinite copies will usually translate to infinite damage and/or infinite draw.

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 UUURRR 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.
Now, there are a couple of other win-cons that come close to checking all these boxes. I could use things like Molten Psyche or Spiraling Embers however I find those cards to be a lot more situational and don't quite pack the same punch that my chosen win-con does.

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.
BURNING WINDS
Image
This deck can certainly win by burning out my opponents with Niv's ability, and does happen with some frequency. However, as I said before, Niv is pretty vulnerable, and that's why this isn't my primary route to victory. Cards like Winds of Change and Tolarian Winds can be devasting, especially with Alhammarret's Archive in play. It isn't difficult to knock out one or two players like this.

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

While a sideboard isn't exactly common in Commander, I do include it because there are certain cards you may want to slot in depending on your meta or matchups at a particular table. I participate in Commander tournaments where decks are allowed to be accompanied by a 15 card sideboard, so I will list some of those those card options here.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
ANTI-BLUE:
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 R 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

EARLY GAME:
This part of the game is perhaps the most crucial. Your opening hand can easily make the difference between a win and a loss. But don't worry, even if you are behind, this is a multiplayer format, so you can still win just try to respond to relevant threats if you don't have enough of your own resources to get ahead.
Image
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 5. 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.


MID GAME:
Now is when things get a little more complicated. I generally consider turns 5-10 to be the mid game for this deck, although is a possibility of early explosive win. There are a few priorities for the mid game you need to keep in mind:
Image
  • 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: "U: Draw Six Cards" Winds of Change says: "R: 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.


END GAME:
This is when you win or lose. Again, in theory, pretty simple. But there will have been several board wipes and events that happened in the mid game which can affect our chances of winning. You should have spent the mid-game building up your resources and gradually increasing your hand size as well as staving off your opponents' potential wins.

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

Just like any deck, Firemind's Fury is susceptible to other deck archetypes and gets shut down by certain cards. Often the best defense is a good offense. Superior speed and card advantage is the surest way to beat any other deck. But our second best line of defense against these decks is our removal and control suites. These aspects of the deck's structure can be tailored to best combat your opponents. Refer to the sideboard section for specific recommendations.

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.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
DEDICATED CONTROL - Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg, Venser, Shaper Savant, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - These are some of our toughest opponents, because they will trump us on control and permission cards most of the time. Hopefully, the other players won't like their games being shut down either and will hate them out or at least soak up some of the counters for us. Our best hope though is to simply out-race them in card advantage so we have access to more of our own control cards. You can always swap in more of our own control and blue hate from the sideboard.

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.
Now lets discuss specific cards that tend to hinder our game plan. These kinds of cards tend to fall into a few specific categories. If you see these cards being played, you should prioritize them as threats.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
DRAW HURTS - These cards come in two flavors. Cards that hurt you when you draw and cards that punish you for cards already in your hand. Both, quite unsavory. The good news is that these cards are pretty uncommon outside of a deck that uses them specifically as a win condition. Grixis decks (UBR) are the mostly likely to run these cards. Watch out for Crosis, the Purger, Nicol Bolas, and especially Nekusar, the Mindrazer.

Draw Bleeding:
Hand Punishment:
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
GRAVEYARD HATE: It will go a long way towards handicapping the deck. That's because this deck burns through a lot of cards very quickly - often discarding 10-20 cards when digging for something or trying to deal damage. A well timed graveyard exiler can forever sever us from game winning spells and important removal and control.
RESOURCE CONTROL: These types of cards are so numerous that I'll just mention some of the ones that you'll see most often. COUNTER THIS STUFF OR GET RID OF IT!
LIBRARY HATE: For a somewhat combo-centric deck this is a relevant threat. Fortunately, Firemind's Fury has several routes to victory. It takes either a kicked Sadistic Sacrament or a ridiculously high storm count on Bitter Ordeal to even come close to crippling this deck.
Image
"We can't beat the necromancers in numbers or raw power. We must beat them with ingenuity and timing."

CARD CHOICES
.

CARD SELECTION

Here I will break down the deck card by card, in order of function. I will also go more in depth when it comes to certain interactions, toolboxing, or my general thinking behind my card choices.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
MANA ROCKS:
Jeweled Lotus, Talisman of Creativity, Izzet Signet, Arcane Signet, Chrome Mox - these all serve the same function of giving us access to more colored mana early. The primary reason for this is to cast our commander as early as possible and ensure that we also have mana open to protect him. Of course, we can accellerate into other spells as well.

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.


RITUALS:
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. 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.


CONTROL
The control spells are here to serve a few roles. The primary role is to protect Niv from removal. The secondary role is to protect myself from spells that would hinder my chances of winning the game or outright lose. Many counters are there as tempo pieces. That means forcing our opponents to use their mana inefficiently, or to waste whole turns.

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.
TUTORS
While tutor options in these colors is pretty limited, we are running the best of what is available.

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.

RECURSION/COPY
As I've said before, being able to utilize your graveyard is a tremendous advantage, especially when we are pitching so many cards into our graveyard.

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.
REMOVAL/WIPES
Firestorm - Firestorm is an interesting card. It actually requires that you have exactly X legal targets. This can be a very efficient removal spell early game or a finisher lategame.

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. UR 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.
CHEAP DRAW
These cards all do essentially the same thing. They are largely the bread and butter of the deck. Effectively thinning the deck and giving us access to the cards we need when we need them. Later on, when Niv or Archive are in play, they all turn into big draw spells and lightning bolts. Instant speed is certainly preferred, but efficiency is also very important.
PASSIVE DRAW

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.
DRAW MULTIPLIERS
Alhammarret's Archive - The lifegain here isn't used, but 5 cmc is still quite reasonable for double draw.

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.


HANDCYCLING
I used to go heavier into handcycling but Parun really changed the focus of the deck into being more spellslinger. These cards are still great though, but I just run fewer of them and only the best or most synergistic.

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 R 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.
Image
LANDS
I am currently running just 32 lands. That's because I have purposely reduced the average cmc of the deck to as low as possible. I also have included just about every cheap draw or looting effect in these colors. The deck plays smoothely most of the time. If you feel like you need to bump up the land count, go right ahead! 34 is a pretty safe number.

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.
UTILITY:
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

This is a very specific set of cards that I plan to acquire when my budget allows. These are cards that are strictly better than what I'm currently running. I'm not rich, so I don't have them yet.
SPOILER
Show
Hide

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

These are cards that might have a place in your version of the deck. There is an absolute plethora of options available depending on what you are interested in or have access to.
SPOILER
Show
Hide

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

These are cards I've either tested and taken out, or cards that I refuse to slot in for various reasons.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
Image
Infite draw combos. Curiosity, Tandem Lookout, Ophidian Eye - I've had all of them in the deck at one point or another. They don't make the cut because they fail two of my important tests: are they useful at any point in the game? NO. Are they instants and sorceries? NO. Slotting in cards that are completely dependent on our very color heavy commander to be playable just aren't good picks IMO, and they aren't needed.

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. UR 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.
Alternate damage translators. Guttersnipe, Psychosis Crawler - while these certainly get the damage through, I just don't feel I need backups to my commander. This deck is focused on getting Niv on the battlefield, making him stay there, and triggering his ability. IMO, adding backups just clog up the deck and make it less likely that Niv sees play.

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.


FOOTNOTES
.

CHANGELOG

SPOILER
Show
Hide

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 R.

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 1 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 U. 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.
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.
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.

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 U.


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 UR
.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Here I will list some topics that I'm interested in discussing or later coming to my own conclusions about through testing.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
.

CASUAL VS COMPETITIVE - A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

SPOILER
Show
Hide
When it comes to this question, I find myself firmly in the middle of the road.

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

This is a fun little set of cards that I made that I would love to test out in this list.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
ImageImageImageImageImageImage
.

CREDITS AND THANKS

Of course this deck would not be possible if it were not for countless opponents over the years. Without people there is no game. I love deck building but the battlefield is the crucible in which this deck has evolved.

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."


"(Z->)90° - (E-N²W)90°t=1"
Last edited by RowanKeltizar 1 month ago, edited 362 times in total.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

Tags:

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

Post by MeowZeDung » 4 years ago

RowanKeltizar wrote:
4 years ago
My primary win condition is Inner Fire and Comet Storm.
Love it.

Any of the Niv's go great with Psychosis Crawler, Arjun, the Shifting Flame, and Mindmoil, and none moreso than the Parun. Just food for thought. It's a little more machine gun than your inner fire/comet storm bazooka, but it gets the job done.
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

Thanks for the comment. All of the cards you suggest would make pretty decent win conditions, or Parun support, however, thematically, I've chosen this to be a non-creature based deck. I also like to steer away from permanent based win-cons because they are more fragile and less synergistic. Purely a personal choice.

I had Mindmoil in the deck for a long time, but I ultimately found it to be a little less optimal simply because I can't tutor for it. Also, once it's down, you don't have any choice but to cycle the rest of your hand away. For a combo deck, this can occasionally be problematic. Mindmoil isn't exactly a card you want in your opening hand. It's a late game play. I would consider building around it if Inner Fire and Comet Storm weren't so attractive to me.

The one thing I've struggled with is that the primary goal of this deck is to get the majority of my library into my hand. Curiosity and Enter the Infinite are definitely in alignment with that plan, but I struggle to find the right place for them in the deck. They are highly situational and splashy cards but will win me the game in the right circumstances. Generally, my inclination is steer away from such situational cards and get to that goal by other means.

Underworld Breach has simply been a godsend for this deck because it enables some pretty broken things to happen. Namely, I can keep chaining wheels and keep casting Inner Fire until I win.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

NZB2323
Posts: 588
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by NZB2323 » 4 years ago

Is there a reason why you're not playing the combo? If you're okay with winning via combo I'd recommend these cards:
Current Decks
rg Morophon, the infinite Kavu Eowyn, human tribal Legolas, voltron control Wb Tymna/Ravos cleric tribal Neheb, Chicago Bulls tribal Ug Edric pauper

Retired Decks
Edgar Markov Kaalia, angel board wipes Ghen, prison Captain Sisay Ub Nymris, draw go Sarulf, voltron control Niv-Mizzet, combo Winota Sidisi, Zombie Tribal

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

I try to maindeck cards that are good at any point in the game. I've found that cards that rely on my extremely color heavy commander to be playable aren't great picks, even if they might win me the game. Often, they are card-disadvantage. In the 8+ years of playing this deck, I've decided that steering away from permanent based win conditions is a good thing for the deck. For example, a simple Path to Exile can completely stop the infinite draw combo in its tracks if I don't have protection. I prefer the inexorable card advantage that the rest of the deck gives me. When I cast Inner Fire + Comet Storm there is never anything anyone can do about it.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

NZB2323
Posts: 588
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by NZB2323 » 4 years ago

RowanKeltizar wrote:
4 years ago
I try to maindeck cards that are good at any point in the game. I've found that cards that rely on my extremely color heavy commander to be playable aren't great picks, even if they might win me the game. Often, they are card-disadvantage. In the 8+ years of playing this deck, I've decided that steering away from permanent based win conditions is a good thing for the deck. For example, a simple Path to Exile can completely stop the infinite draw combo in its tracks if I don't have protection. I prefer the inexorable card advantage that the rest of the deck gives me. When I cast Inner Fire + Comet Storm there is never anything anyone can do about it.
I mean, you can build your deck however you want to, but your combo is just as vulnerable to a counterspell as the curiosity combo, and newer cards like Dockside Extortionist, search for azcanta, arcane signet, gilded lotus, and Narset's Reversal can help get Niv out early.

I also don't know how you have been playing this deck for 8+ years when Niv-Mizzet, Parun was released in October of 2018.
Current Decks
rg Morophon, the infinite Kavu Eowyn, human tribal Legolas, voltron control Wb Tymna/Ravos cleric tribal Neheb, Chicago Bulls tribal Ug Edric pauper

Retired Decks
Edgar Markov Kaalia, angel board wipes Ghen, prison Captain Sisay Ub Nymris, draw go Sarulf, voltron control Niv-Mizzet, combo Winota Sidisi, Zombie Tribal

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind was my commander before Parun, so it's not like I haven't played around with the infinite draw combos he is known for. Here is my primer on the old forums.

The vast majority of counterspells are only in blue. There is single target permanent removal in every color. The infinite draw combos you mentioned are definitely more fragile for that reason. Also, by the time I can cast Inner Fire to win, I will have plenty of my own counter protection available if someone tries to stop me with a counterspell or Teferi's Protection for that matter. Going more mid-range control with the deck, rather than explosive combo was a choice I made a few years ago.

For me, it's just a question of optimization. In my mind I would rather have a Faithless Looting in my hand than something that is only really useful when I have my commander in play, especially early in the game.

Enter the Infinite is a bit more attractive to me that those other cards because I don't need Niv in play. It also synergizes well with the rest of my deck. I can even cast it using Mizzix's Mastery. The main reason I dropped it is the mana cost. It's pretty bad to have in your opening few turns, just like the rest of those cards.

Dockside Extortionist might be a good inclusion tho. Unfortunate he is entirely vanilla in this deck. I won't be able to get multiple triggers off of him.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

NZB2323
Posts: 588
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by NZB2323 » 4 years ago

RowanKeltizar wrote:
4 years ago
Dockside Extortionist might be a good inclusion tho. Unfortunate he is entirely vanilla in this deck. I won't be able to get multiple triggers off of him.
Evacuation and Devastation Tide allow you to get another trigger off of the goblin.
Current Decks
rg Morophon, the infinite Kavu Eowyn, human tribal Legolas, voltron control Wb Tymna/Ravos cleric tribal Neheb, Chicago Bulls tribal Ug Edric pauper

Retired Decks
Edgar Markov Kaalia, angel board wipes Ghen, prison Captain Sisay Ub Nymris, draw go Sarulf, voltron control Niv-Mizzet, combo Winota Sidisi, Zombie Tribal

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

Thanks for pointing that out. Definitely slipped my mind!

What's everyone's experience with Narset's Reversal? It seems to a good inclusion over Remand possibly. Of course, Remand hits other types of spells, but Reversal can really do some damage if used wisely. Imagine hitting someone else's overloaded Cyclonic Rift with this!

What I don't like about it is that if you are targeting something like a Path to Exile whose crosshairs were set on Niv, the caster can simply recast it. Of course Remand has the same issue. It's more of a tempo piece than true protection. But at least you also get a Path to Exile, which isn't the case with Remand.

Worth noting: Something I love about Reversal is that you can target your own spells (such as Inner Fire) to get double use out of them. I think this is a huge benefit and makes the normal situationalism of a counterspell less so.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

OUT: Omniscience IN: Ponder

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.

I used to run Mindmoil 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.
  • Inner Fire + Comet storm is easily tutorable, the other is not. Not to mention, Intuition gets both pieces for us in combo with Mystic Retrieval
  • 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.
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.

OUT: Long-Term Plans IN: Thirst for Knowledge

Plans always felt like a lackluster card. Sure it gets me anything in the deck. Maybe I just don't like the art.

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.

OUT: Devastation Tide IN: Izzet Charm

I can usually tutor or recur the board wipes I need. I go back and forth between whether I like Tide or Evacuation better. Evacuation being an instant is major points and helps tremendously with tempo. It is just under Niv in my curve. 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 UR

Moving forward, I have a few goals for the deck:

Optimize my ramp. We want to get our commander out as soon possible because he is one of our primary draw engines. He helps fatten our hand and draw into more answers. That color weight is such an obstacle because I can't use my traditional colorless ramp spells to get him out. Artifacts that cost 2 and tap for either U or R are pretty good. Coming in untapped is a lot better. Arcane Signet is really the only other card I think of that does this, and I will likely be picking one up.

Optimize my control suite. I have a lot of good and efficient counterspells like Arcane Denial and Negate sitting in my binder. I'd like to find room for these, but generally I like my counterspells to be a bit more modular or catch all. I'm not completely happy with the ones I have though. Not sure what the right number of these actually is, or which ones make the most sense for the deck.

Get that average cmc down to 2.5. I am pretty close at 2.8, so it shouldn't be that hard. Cutting cmc 4 cards for cmc 3, cutting cmc 3 cards for cmc 2, etc... Blasphemous Act should be ignored since it often casts for just R. If I pretend that Act's cmc is 1, my average is 2.68! Once I get it down to 2.5 I think I can safely cut a land for another cheap draw spell. Maybe Careful Study.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

Wow, so I just played a game in which I discovered yet another broken combo with Underworld Breach: Frantic Search. This combo essentially says: "exile 1 card from your graveyard: draw 2 cards, discard 2 cards."

THE DRAW IS FREE BECAUSE FRANTIC SEARCH UNTAPS THE LANDS YOU USED TO CAST IT, AND SINCE WOTC DOESN'T KNOW HOW THEIR OWN GAME WORKS, FRANTIC SEARCH, INSTEAD OF BEING EXILED LIKE ALL OTHER RECURSION EFFECTS OF THIS NATURE, GOES BACK TO YOUR GRAVEYARD ON RESOLUTION.

You should be able to just dig for what you need OR if you have the almighty and powerful (broken) Alhammarret's Archive in play, this combo now says: "exile 1 card from your graveyard: draw 4 cards, discard 2 cards" It isn't difficult to your refill your graveyard by casting spells like Tolarian Winds, so for all intents and purposes this is an infinite draw combo.

I don't need to say that this triggers Niv's ability as well, netting yet another card in your hand and translating all this crazy looting into damage.

If I had a chance to redesign Underworld Breach to be a bit less broken it would read something like this:
Underworld Breach 1RR

Enchantment

If a card would enter your graveyard from anywhere, exile that card instead.

Each nonland card in your graveyard has escape. The escape cost is equal to the card's mana cost plus exile three other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast cards from your graveyard for their escape cost.)

At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice Underworld Breach.
That new first ability means you just can't go infinite with this. Resolved spells cast by escape are exiled. Also, costing another R means you can't as easily splash this. Is this still strictly better than something like Past in Flames - yes! because it can recur ANY non-land card for less initial investment IN RED, a color that before now, just doesn't do that. With the new clause, it works much more like Yawgmoth's Will which is still a $70 card!


In other news, I've been running with Arcane Denial and it is really a fantastic card for this deck. Maybe one of the best counterspells you could run. Why? The card draw and the efficiency. This deck is already set up to support the effect. For example casting Arcane Denial with Niv and Archive in play will draw you a whopping 4 cards! This can happen more often than you might think.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

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

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

This deck looks really tuned, and I love all the explanations around how you've come to some conclusion of card exclusions based on your 9 years of playing the Niv-Mizzet brand of creatures.

You spend a lot of time explaining the desirable win condition of Inner Fire + Comet Storm, but it is worth discussing other options you have, especially with Underworld Breach now into the mix.
Now you already have some great enablers with the hand cycling cards for Underworld Breach. These allow you to keep digging for a finisher, lets say if Niv-Mizzet, Parun isn't on the board, because in theory he can kill if you are continuous drawing cards.
But then your mana is completely reliant on Inner Fire as recastable spell.

Now you have mentioned Dockside Extortionist in your "CONSIDERATIONS" section, and I will fully endorse this as an option. It scales particularly well depending on competitive matchups, and also with opponents having fast starts.
That is he is better when your opponents have done well, which means that he gives you an opportunity to catchup. I always rate cards that can get you from behind, rather than those that do better when you're ahead.
Now the reason I'm also bringing him up is that you can use him as another source of recurring mana with Underworld Breach. Normally the problem is that you need it die (go to graveyard) and Niv-Mizzet, Parun can help you out with this by pinging him.
So you can keep reusing a handcycling card and Dockside Extortionist as a way to keep making mana. You do need Niv-Mizzet, Parun in play so already this is a win condition as Niv can then deal the other X damage to opponents.

I do believe in not running cards that are "win only" cards, that is Comet Storm looks a little one purpose. If you look at cards that do X damage, then you hand cyclers in theory are better at that game, with Pull from Tomorrow for example just being better with Niv-Mizzet, Parun in play.
Now you could argue that Comet Storm could be used for some amount of board control during the course of the game, but I'm personally not 100% on-board with it.
Now if you wanted to go for a more efficient card then Thassa's Oracle would be a bit more streamlined. You can actually cast it on Turn 2 for the pseudo scry, then its a blocker, and later on you can recast it for the win-con trigger with Underworld Breach.

But honestly I feel like you don't need any of this as you already have Tolarian Winds, Windfall, Fateful Showdown, Wheel of Fortune.
Because you can generate so much mana from Inner Fire and Dockside Extortionist, that you'll be able to cast Niv-Mizzet, Parun no matter what the commander tax is.
So between Fateful Showdown and Niv-Mizzet, Parun you can definitely line up lethal even if opponents have gained lots of life.

I've always personally found Tolaria West to be too much of an investment, and its more likely to be just a tapped land. I've dearly tried to be patient with this card in lots of decks, but from a competitive point of view I've always come to the conclusion that tapping 3 lands at sorcery speed is just a little too much and its not like your land options are that vital to the decks strength.

Of note it might be worth looking at the SECRET LAIR: ULTIMATE EDITION with the fetch-lands. It comes with Marsh Flats, Scalding Tarn, Verdant Catacombs, Arid Mesa, Misty Rainforest.
I'm not sure what the actual final price would be but if they do sell around $170 then it is something to consider.
Obviously this deck would go up a few notches with Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm, Counterbalance, Underworld Breach.
Lets face it the literal worst cards in the deck are Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse.

These are the current prices of fetch-lands.
SPOILER
Show
Hide
Arid Mesa 33.37
Bloodstained Mire 18.99
Flooded Strand 16.99
Misty Rainforest 66.19
Polluted Delta 21.50
Scalding Tarn 69.29
Wooded Foothills 18.92

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

Thanks for the comment!

When it comes to fetchlands, I guess I am holding out for a true reprint. They did say they would reprint fetchlands in a non-standard product this year other than the promo secret lair ones.

Tolaria West also fetches Chrome Mox and Pact of Negation. The other thing I typically will grab is Reliquary Tower or Ghost Quarter. When I acquire a Mana Crypt that will also be a fairly good target. While I would not normally endorse a limited 3cmc sorcery speed tutor, at least it is a land. But I do generally agree with your point. I've taken out almost every other tap-land.

I have a few complaints about being more reliant on Underworld Breach: I only have 3 ways to tutor for it. Gamble, Long-term Plans, and Muddle the Mixture. But more importantly, I cannot recur it from my graveyard. That is actually more of drawback than you might think. I have several additional ways to tutor for and recur both Inner Fire and Comet Storm. When Breach is good, it's great, but my experience with it is that I can't rely on it because it is an enchantment.

Dockside Extortionist probably deserves a spot, but I don't own an extra one as of yet. I may move it from my other deck to this one for testing purposes. I still don't love that it's a creature, and that the only way to recur it from graveyard is Underworld Breach. However, it DOES synergize well with bounce effects. If I slot more of those in, I can create a pretty good mana engine. Overall, I think it's too good not to slot in. But as far as Extortionist being a part of my win condition, it suffers from the same issues that Underworld Breach does. Now if I was running G I would be all in because now we have all the creature tutors in the world, not to mention things like Regrowth but we don't.

I've been running Dockside in my Jund reanimator deck and it's completely broken. I also run Underworld Breach in the deck. With a sac outlet (i.e Prossh, Skyraider of Kher or Ashnod's Altar) and Breach, you can easily make infinite mana. I have access to all the great tutor power and recursion in GB. I feel like Dockside really shines in a deck that is much more creature based.

You are correct in that Inner Fire and Comet Storm are two very situational cards. They are pretty dead draws early in the game. While that is definitely a weak point of the deck, I think I have enough looting and cycling effects to mitigate it. That's why I ended up taking out everything else that fits in this category like Mindmoil, Omniscience, Show and Tell, etc... It's a sacrifice that so far has been worth it, although not quite perfect.

My issue with Fateful Showdown as a win con is that often I will have about half my deck in my hand when I cast it. That is a bit of a risky move. While I could cast Time Reversal and such, it also resets my hand size. It's pretty easy to deck yourself if you are not careful, especially with Alhammarret's Archive in play.

Many of these issues would moot if I didn't have 3 opponents. That's part of why I find Comet Storm to be so effective. Even if I have 4 or 5 opponents, it will still totally do the job.

Spiraling Embers is a card that I had some interest in because it fills the role of both Inner Fire and Comet Storm without the deck-yourself drawback of Fateful Showdown. In testing however, I was having trouble killing the whole table with it. While I am open to further exploring its efficacy, I'm not convinced that it does everything we need it to. Making it work consistently means slotting more copy or recursion effects into the deck, which aren't good early game either. I would absolutely run Spiraling Embers instead if it had a built in kicker cost where I can copy it similar to how Comet Storm works. The other issue with Embers is that in order to copy it enough times, I usually have to spend somewhere between 4 and 6 extra mana on top of Ember's cost. So instead of simply paying 3R, I end up paying much more than that to kill the table.

I don't think I can rely on Niv to be my primary win con. A big reason is his mana cost, but also because of the abundance of creature removal in the format. If I spend mana casting and protecting Niv, that means I have less mana available to actually cast the handcycling cards. I have found that when I am dealing damage with Niv, I often end up having to pass the turn. Dealing 120+ damage in one turn with Niv isn't as easy as you might think. It can certainly happen, but if it doesn't, then not only do I have to sacrifice Underworld Breach if I have it in play, but Niv has a whole turn round to be answered to.

Thassa's Oracle though should be considered as a good alternative, but like I mentioned in the primer, it's not on theme. I want to go with a burn win-con. Oracle just feels a bit anti-climatic to me. I guess that comes from my love of R.

I have taken Inner Fire and Comet Storm out of the deck to test all this and I invariably wish I had them back. I'm not saying another a win-con is completely out of the question, but I haven't found a solution I am completely happy with.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

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

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

RowanKeltizar wrote:
4 years ago
I have a few complaints about being more reliant on Underworld Breach: I only have 3 ways to tutor for it. Gamble, Long-term Plans, and Muddle the Mixture. But more importantly, I cannot recur it from my graveyard. That is actually more of drawback than you might think. I have several additional ways to tutor for and recur both Inner Fire and Comet Storm. When Breach is good, it's great, but my experience with it is that I can't rely on it because it is an enchantment.

You are correct in that Inner Fire and Comet Storm are two very situational cards. They are pretty dead draws early in the game. While that is definitely a weak point of the deck, I think I have enough looting and cycling effects to mitigate it. That's why I ended up taking out everything else that fits in this category like Mindmoil, Omniscience, Show and Tell, etc... It's a sacrifice that so far has been worth it, although not quite perfect.

My issue with Fateful Showdown as a win con is that often I will have about half my deck in my hand when I cast it. That is a bit of a risky move. While I could cast Time Reversal and such, it also resets my hand size. It's pretty easy to deck yourself if you are not careful, especially with Alhammarret's Archive in play.

Many of these issues would moot if I didn't have 3 opponents. That's part of why I find Comet Storm to be so effective. Even if I have 4 or 5 opponents, it will still totally do the job.

Spiraling Embers is a card that I had some interest in because it fills the role of both Inner Fire and Comet Storm without the deck-yourself drawback of Fateful Showdown. In testing however, I was having trouble killing the whole table with it. While I am open to further exploring its efficacy, I'm not convinced that it does everything we need it to. Making it work consistently means slotting more copy or recursion effects into the deck, which aren't good early game either. I would absolutely run Spiraling Embers instead if it had a built in kicker cost where I can copy it similar to how Comet Storm works. The other issue with Embers is that in order to copy it enough times, I usually have to spend somewhere between 4 and 6 extra mana on top of Ember's cost. So instead of simply paying 3R, I end up paying much more than that to kill the table.

I don't think I can rely on Niv to be my primary win con. A big reason is his mana cost, but also because of the abundance of creature removal in the format. If I spend mana casting and protecting Niv, that means I have less mana available to actually cast the handcycling cards. I have found that when I am dealing damage with Niv, I often end up having to pass the turn. Dealing 120+ damage in one turn with Niv isn't as easy as you might think. It can certainly happen, but if it doesn't, then not only do I have to sacrifice Underworld Breach if I have it in play, but Niv has a whole turn round to be answered to.

Thassa's Oracle though should be considered as a good alternative, but like I mentioned in the primer, it's not on theme. I want to go with a burn win-con. Oracle just feels a bit anti-climatic to me. I guess that comes from my love of R.

I have taken Inner Fire and Comet Storm out of the deck to test all this and I invariably wish I had them back. I'm not saying another a win-con is completely out of the question, but I haven't found a solution I am completely happy with.
Very valid point that Underworld Breach has no way of being recurred in the deck, where as you have additional access to instants and sorcery from your graveyard.
Its a shame that Comet Storm can't really be cast off Mizzix's Mastery.
But I doubt there are many non-X type spells which can deal lethal damage? You did mention Spiraling Embers, but that seems a bit of a linear card as well.

Have you thought about Expansion // Explosion instead? The Expansion portion can literally be used to counter counterspells (copy the opponents counterspell) and it has a built in win condition.

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

What do people think of the instant/sorcery cost reducers: Arcane Melee, Jace's Sanctum, Baral, Chief of Compliance, Goblin Electromancer

This is a family of cards I haven't had too much experience with. Out of all these I tend to like
Jace's Sanctum the most because of the scry and the fact that it isn't on a fragile creature body.

Drawback I see with these is that they don't help with casting Niv, and some of my instants and sorceries don't have a colorless component. If only it cost 1 less or had an effect upon entering the battlefield.

Electrodominance is a neat little card I just discovered. Sort of like a red Quicken. I wouldn't really consider running it because I don't think it does enough for the deck, but still a neat concept.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

Set review:

I'm going to rate each card listed with the following terms:

Auto-include - This would be something like Sol Ring or Mana Drain. There's literally no reason NOT to run it. A very rare grade.

Worth Testing - These are cards that I'm not 100% sure are auto-includes but could certainly be good under the right conditions.

Pass - probably either just not good enough to make my cut, or doesn't fit my playstyle

Hard Pass - Just not worth running at all. If the card isn't mentioned at all in my review, it falls into this category. However, I may still list cards in the review that are hard passes just for the sake of argument.

IKORIA

Rielle, the Everwise - Worth Testing - this is a fantastic effect for this deck, and something I've been hoping would be printed, just not on a creature body! If this was an artifact or an enchantment I would say it was an auto-include. As a reminder: creatures have no synergy with the other cards in the deck, and they aren't tutorable nor are they recurable. They die to removal. Nonetheless, I will definitely be trying this out. If it sticks, it is on par with Alhammarret's Archive in terms of draw power. She has a lot of uses: 1. She negates having a maximum handsize. Imagine discarding down to 7 on your end step, then simply redrawing the cards you just discarded. Broken! 2. Any card like Tolarian Winds or Wheel of Fortune will be doubled! 3. All of the cheap looting effects like Faithless Looting become that much more powerful. 4. Any enemy discard effects like Mind Twist for example are neutralized.

Rielle could be a very powerful commander as well and even gives Niv a run for his money! Largely because of the mana cost, but also because of the sheer draw potential. It's sort of like having Archive in your command zone.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see much else in Ikoria worth looking at for this deck.

COMMANDER 2020

Fierce Guardianship - Worth Testing - this card does exactly what we need it to. A free counterspell to protect Niv is always welcome but can also do other things. Will probably come in for Negate.

Deflecting Swat - Pass pretty good card, also does the job of protecting Niv from spot removal, however that's about it. I never really liked cards like Swerve or Redirect because they are limited in use. I'd almost always rather see a hard counter or a board wipe.

Lavabrink Floodgates - Pass - this has some interesting potential as a ramp piece since we need the colored mana. Not as efficient as some other options and the fact that this can backfire later on when Niv is in play makes this a pass.

Decoy Gambit - Pass - this deserves a mention at least. I'm going to call this card a draw three for 2U, because if you target anything relevant with this, I'm pretty much going to assume my opponent will just let me draw a card. And that is the main issue with this card. IMO, it can't be considered removal because it won't work on anything relevant. And in terms of being a cheap draw spell, I think I have more efficient options.

Twinning Staff - Pass - This card is pretty neat, but doesn't really fit the deck. I'd say this goes better in a deck like Melek, Izzet Paragon

Manascape Refractor - Worth Testing I think this card has potential! Would I run it in this deck? Maybe. Thing is, I don't have too many lands I would want to copy slotted in the deck other than Cephalid Coliseum maybe. I wish this either cost 1 less or didn't come into play tapped. Not sure why they felt the need to nerf this card as it could have been much more powerful and interesting and much needed for certain decks. Amazing what the difference of 1 mana or coming into play tapped will do to a card. Still... having a Maze of Ith, Strip Mine, Ancient Tomb, or even a Cabal Coffers possibly available to me would be pretty cool. In a 4 player commander game there usually are plenty of good lands in play and being able to use ANY of their abilities once per turn is pretty neat.

That's it! Unless you may have noticed something that I missed. Lots of interesting cards in both sets, but not too many that fit in this list.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

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

Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

RowanKeltizar wrote:
4 years ago
Rielle, the Everwise - Worth Testing - this is a fantastic effect for this deck, and something I've been hoping would be printed, just not on a creature body! If this was an artifact or an enchantment I would say it was an auto-include. As a reminder: creatures have no synergy with the other cards in the deck, and they aren't tutorable nor are they recurable. They die to removal. Nonetheless, I will definitely be trying this out. If it sticks, it is on par with Alhammarret's Archive in terms of draw power. She has a lot of uses: 1. She negates having a maximum handsize. Imagine discarding down to 7 on your end step, then simply redrawing the cards you just discarded. Broken! 2. Any card like Tolarian Winds or Wheel of Fortune will be doubled! 3. All of the cheap looting effects like Faithless Looting become that much more powerful. 4. Any enemy discard effects like Mind Twist for example are neutralized.
Agreed that its a shame that Rielle, the Everwise is a creature, but when you've highlighted numerous times in your primer that Alhammarret's Archive is the key card in the deck for shenanigans, then a 3 mana version is definitely going to be worth it, even if its a lot more vulnerable to removal.
Sometimes its fine to run cards that are just like "Can you deal with it? No, great".

Surly Badgersaur is another creature, but man this one is bonkers. Discarding land cards to give you tokens is not to be snuffed at.
The thing with the "fight" clause is that its easy not to get it killed by just targeting the same creature, say a mana dork when you hand cycle, so that the creature is dead by the time it would deal more damage to it. So it also acts as a way to remove smaller problematic creatures.
Niv-Mizzet and this guy machine gunning creatures seems like fun.

Ethereal Forager I think is going to be a bit of a underrated card for competitive play.
The fact is that in a deck like this it will often only cost uu and then you get to do an Archaeomancer every turn.
I'm not saying its right for this particular deck, at the end of the day a Dig Through Time or Treasure Cruise would be better for you, but I just wanted to highlight it as a card that could have been considered.

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 4 years ago

Surly Badgersaur - Pretty neat card! I was looking at it for my Dinosaur deck. You're certainly right in that making treasure tokens by discarding lands shouldn't be ignored. I will definitely be picking up a copy either way. I still don't like that it's a creature though.

Ethereal Forager - Yeah, I could see it being really good a creature based deck.

And I did miss another one:

Channeled Force - Worth Testing - I like this card and it could be compared to Fateful Showdown. I would have loved if it didn't deal any damage and just cost UR which would then be comparable to Tolarian Winds.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

I believe Rielle, the Everwise is worth running and protecting for the same reason that Consecrated Sphinx is. However, she is half the cost which means I should be able to get immediate use out of her more often.

I think Pull from Tomorrow will come out for Rielle. Reason being is that it can be a late game bomb, but is pretty useless in the first few turns, where as Rielle should be a powerhouse at any point. I will rename the "BIG DRAW" category to 'DRAW MULTIPLIERS" of which Rielle fits the bill.

Drift of Phantasms can be run to tutor for Rielle. Drift can also notably get Rhystic Study, Wheel of Fortune, Chaos Warp, Reiterate, Forbid, and Whir of Invention. It's not a great tutor by any means but it can do the job.

To support Rielle and generally increase the synergy with her and the rest of the deck, I will likely swap for cards that efficiently discard. These are cards like Careful Study, Thirst for Meaning, and maybe even Rites of Refusal. Channeled Force is probably worth running as I can chain these types of spells to double my handsize each time.

While Impulse is a fantastic card, it has no interaction with either Archive nor Rielle. I think I will try Thirst for Meaning instead.

Visions of Beyond might be a good swap here for either Ponder or Preordain. I want to prioritize instant speed effects and Visions has the not so distant potential of being an Ancestral Recall. It's optimized when Archive is in play of course and has the potential to draw 6 for U, 8 if Niv is play as well.

Past in Flames will likely come back in as I believe I now have adequate support for it. This card is best when you can cast the most cards from it. Cheap draw spells are perfect targets. Inner Fire certainly supports it as well. Just like Mystic Retrieval it can really support my win con in tandem with Intuition. I may want to possibly consider some other rituals like Seething Song, Mana Geyser, or Turnabout to support these strategies. Underworld Breach of course fits into this plan quite well already.

TENTATIVE SWAPS WILL BE
These swaps are for testing purposes, and it will be at least a few months before I officially commit any new changes to the Primer.

Pull from Tomorrow ==> Rielle, the Everwise

Ponder ==> Visions of Beyond

Preordain ==> Careful Study

Mystic Retrieval ==> Past in Flames

Negate ==> Fierce Guardianship

Impulse ==> Thirst for Meaning

Sapphire Medallion ==> Dockside Extortionist - My gut tells me this is probably a solid swap since it can potentially jump us right into casting Niv. Muddle the Mixture can tutor for Dockside. I will likely try to find a few more ways of bouncing Dockside back to my hand.

Merchant Scroll ==> Drift of Phantasms - We need to be able to tutor for Rielle. Merchant Scroll is such a narrow tutor. Basically the only things it gets me of value is Cyclonic Rift or Mystical Tutor. I think paying one more U for transmuting into some other key cards is probably worth the trade. I wish wizards would give us better tutors in these colors!

PRIMER CHANGES


4/20/20

Counterbalance ==> 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.

Island ==> Cephalid Coliseum - 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 U.

WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image


User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

Teferi's Ageless Insight indeed should be great! So efficiently costed. Compare to Thought Reflection. Power creep? Probably, but honestly, Thought Reflection was beyond the range of playable IMO.

I'm also looking at Double Vision as finally being a copy spell that is efficient enough to include. The fact that it triggers once per turn is fantastic with all the cheap instant speed draw effects. Not sure that it is completely necessary though.

I will be posting a full review of M21 and Double Masters when they are fully spoiled. I'm hoping I will finally be able to afford a Mana Crypt for this deck.

In other news, our local game store is finally open again, so I've been playing a few games. My previous swaps are performing quite well indeed. Still have not had the extra cash for a Dockside Extortionist or a Fierce Guardianship but Rielle, the Everwise is truly fantastic!

There was one game where I found myself desperately wishing I still had Devastation Tide in the deck. The situation was this: My opponent had stolen both Alhammarret's Archive and Sol Ring with Pako, Arcane Retriever and cast both using Haldan, Avid Arcanist fairly early in the game, putting him way ahead of the rest of the table and hindering my own game plan. I had Mystical Tutor in my hand and the only way to retrieve my cards would have been Cyclonic Rift although Tide would have done the same thing for a lot cheaper. I never did get to use Cyclonic Rift as my opponent ended up using Deflecting Swap in response! Anyhow Boomerang would have worked too, which is a bit more efficient. Was a pretty crazy game.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

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

Post by sweetwaterbob » 3 years ago

If you're looking to add more cost efficient bounce spells and Dockside Extortionist I would consider Lore Drakkis and Winds of Rebuke / Into the Roil as alternative combo that's also very conditional to your opponents board state.

You can setup an infinite dockside + lore drakkis mutate once your opponents have a combined total of 5-7 artifacts/enchantments on their side.

Cast dockside → cast bounce spell targeting dockside → cast dockside → mutate lore drakkis on dockside getting back a bounce spell → cast bounce spell on mutated dockside → repeat the loop.

Into the Roil Blink of an Eye - draw your whole deck
Winds of Rebuke - mill the whole table

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

That's a pretty neat combo. My main concern with this is that I have so few other creatures in the deck that Lore Drakkis will be a dead card a lot of the time. In a more a creature heavy deck, this could be a great inclusion.

I see Into the Roil and Blink of an Eye run in a lot of cEDH Parun decks and I think they are solid picks because of the built-in optional cantrip. They are great tempo cards, especially 1v1. Certainly worth considering. I like Boomerang because it can hit lands if I need it to.

My main issue with these types of effects is that they only hit one thing. In multiplayer it's usually not enough to hit only one target. Typically I'm wanting to bounce EVERYTHING, which is why I was looking at Devastation Tide again. If I manage to draw it on someone else's turn I can cast it at instant speed for just 1U.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

CORE SET 2021 REVIEW

Wow, what a set! A lot of great value reprints and some fantastic new cards. Too many to list really, but we didn't get too much for ole Niv I'm afraid.

New grading system: AUTO INCLUDE - should be run as it is strictly better than other options WORTH TESTING probably has some merit in certain builds or playstyles. More testing is needed to see if it fits. NO THANKS - In my opinion, simply not worth consideration


Discontinuity - NO THANKS - this card fails to be a the Time Stop reprint that I was hoping for. At 3UUU you are simply never going to have that kind of mana open. The reason we want this effect is to keep from losing to an explosive turn or infinite combo on someone else's turn, Teferi's Protection is that card. I guess I will continue to wait for the Time Stop of my dreams....

See the Truth - NO THANKS - this is a strictly worse Impulse to my eyes, which is a card I am already considering cutting.

Double Vision - WORTH TESTING - I think this card might have some merit. I want to explore the possibility of copying my instants and sorceries but I don't want to spend a lot of mana or card advantage to do it. That's why I've steered away from cards like Twincast or Swarm Intelligence. Double Vision is on curve and works very well if you are casting a lot of instants on other people's turns. For 6cmc you could cast Thousand Year Storm which is likely the better card, but I feel that 6cmc is just beyond my means a lot of the time. Anything this concept is something that needs further exploration.

Sublime Epiphany - NO THANKS - too mana intensive. I don't run Cryptic Command, so I certainly won't run this. It's sort of like a blue version of Decimate or Casualties of War. I wish it were modular and scaled up the more mana you put into it but this is strictly a late game bomb. It's not needed in the build.

Teferi's Ageless Insight - AUTO INCLUDE - YUP! That's right. This card is excellent and very much welcome in the deck. I am seriously considering swapping out Consecrated Sphinx for this beauty. It's much easier to cast and arguable does more work for us. It is much harder for our opponents to deal with and should draw less hate until it is simply too late!

Miscast - WORTH TESTING - This is actually not that bad of a counterspell. I'm not usually a fan of tax-counters, but this one is just so efficient. I probably won't actually pick up a copy because I am liking the control suite I have, but I think it should be considered for some people looking for hyper efficient counterspells.

Rain of Revelation - NO THANKS - even though this is an instant, our draw/discard spells need to be efficient. 3cmc is kind of the cut off in my experience for what I'm willing to pay for the effect. Still, this isn't a bad card per se, but there are better options.


So, in summary, we got one absolute gem from this set (Teferi's Ageless Insight), and one card that requires further testing (Double Vision). I will definitely be picking of copies of both these cards and giving a thorough report.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

User avatar
RowanKeltizar
Firemind
Posts: 531
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: New Mexico
Contact:

Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

JUMPSTART 2020 REVIEW

Immolating Gyre - NO THANKS - As much as I wish this card were different, it's just not. It's a 6cmc burn spell. Spellslinger decks simply don't want to pay that much. If it had the Overload mechanic, or some kind of cost reducing clause I would probably consider it. But as is, we can do a lot better with Blasphemous Act or even Magmaquake since it also has the added benefit of hitting planeswalkers (btw, Magmaquake is a card that I am seriously considering for the deck). Magmaquake for X=1 can do some serious damage.

Just for fun, here is a rewrite of this card that I would actually consider slotting in:

Image

Anyway, I'm a bit salty about this, because I am seeing wasted potential. Conflagrate is also something I've considered for this deck which is kind of in the same vein.

Rhystic Study - AUTO INCLUDE - At this point, I'm trying to make myself feel better. If you don't already own a Rhystic Study, now is a good time to pick one up!


All that aside, Jumpstart 2020 is a great set with a lot of solid reprints. Just nothing exciting for this particular deck.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Decklists”