Nikya: CreatureBall

[Crazy Monkey]

Nikya of the Old Ways is a mana flare in the command zone, but has a significant drawback of only allowing creatures to be cast. However, that drawback only impacts deckbuilding if there are non-creatures in the deck. I wanted to build a Gruul combo deck that was as powerful as possible without including any non-creature spells. The ramp to Nikya is primarily either playing extra lands or untapping lands so that there is a larger payout after she resolves.

The deck just generates large amounts of finite or infinite mana then fireballs people with creatures.

Creature-based Fireballs

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Nikya, of the old ways

ramp

1 arbor elf

1 magus of the candelabra

1 sakura-tribe scout

1 skyshroud ranger

1 voyaging satyr

1 lotus cobra

1 krosan restorer

1 azusa, lost but seeking

1 dryad of the ilysian grove

1 blossom dryad

1 wood elves

1 karametra's acolyte

1 oracle of mul daya

1 stone-seeder hierophant

1 keeper of progenitus

1 argothian elder

1 zhur-taa ancient

1 thermopod

1 avatar of growth

1 nyxbloom ancient

1 vorinclex, voice of hunger

Untap effects

1 wirewood symbiote

1 quirion ranger

1 scryb ranger

1 temur sabertooth

tutors

1 fauna shaman

1 fierce empath

1 imperial recruiter

1 yisan, the wanderer bard

1 woodland bellower

1 ulvenwald hydra

1 protean hulk

Haste enablers

1 ogre battledriver

1 anger

1 urabrask the hidden

1 purphoros, bronze-blooded

1 cyclops of eternal fury

draw

1 magus of the wheel

1 beast whisperer

1 garruk's packleader

1 soul of the harvest

1 primordial sage

1 garruk's horde

1 regal force

1 kozilek, butcher of truth

mana sinks

1 nylea, keen-eyed

1 captivating crew

1 cinder elemental

1 soul of shandalar

1 soul of new phyrexia

1 goblin dynamo

Combo cards

1 worldgorger dragon

1 kiki-jiki, mirror breaker

1 feldon of the third path

1 greater gargadon

Utility/value

1 bramble sovereign

1 ruric thar, the unbowed

1 bloodshot cyclops

1 angrath's marauders

1 archetype of endurance

1 nullstone gargoyle

1 Ulamog, the ceaseless hunger

Land

1 command tower

1 ancient ziggurat

1 spire garden

1 rootbound crag

1 temple of abandon

1 stomping ground

1 cinder glade

1 game trail

1 wooded foothills

1 evolving wilds

1 terramorphic expanse

1 myriad landscape

1 wirewood lodge

1 nykthos, shrine to nyx

1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

1 kessig wolf run

9 mountain

12 forest

Approximate Total Cost:

infinite mana combos:

• Argothian Elder + Wirewood Lodge + Nikya of the Old Ways or any other method for a land to generate gg
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Bramble Sovereign + Worldgorger Dragon: respond to the original dragon EtB by making a token. The original will subsequently exile the token and reset the loop. Note: this ends with all permanents exiled under the original dragon.
• Worldgorger Dragon in graveyard + Feldon of the Third Path + haste + Greater Gargadon suspended. Use Feldon to make a copy of the dragon, then sacrifice the dragon token to gargadon. Can only be repeated 10 times unless Temur Sabertooth bounces the gargadon back to hand after it resolves. Even non-infinite, this is usually lethal.
• Temur Sabertooth + most land untapping creatures (with enough mana flare effects) + haste. Easier if the land is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or the creature is Karametra's Acolyte.

I'd like this deck to be as competitive as possible while playing only creatures. I'm on the fence about whether I'd like to add all the remaining 1 CMC mana dorks, because while they would usually pay for themselves during the turn this deck basically storms out, they don't synergize as well as land untapping effects. Notable exclusion is Craterhoof Behemoth because the vast majority of my creatures seem to end up tapped for mana. Maybe this doesn't matter. Maybe I should play Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.

I'm sad that Jegantha, the Wellspring is the gruul companion instead of Umori, the Collector. I think the reason is obvious.

[rogerandover]

I'm not a competative player, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I definitely think you should lower your curve and trim your wincons a bit. Goblin Dymano is precisely what your deck wants, but it's almost double the cost of Cinder Elemental. Even then I think you overlooked some of the better manasinks. Kumano, Master Yamabushi is pretty cheap to activate. You also miss Walking Ballista.
Add all the cheapest manadorks you can find. Even Arboreal Grazer fits good into this deck. I think you'll want all the card advantage as possible since you miss out on the green tutors to find the ones that gives you that. Maybe Tireless Tracker could do some work. You'll also want Vizier of the Menagerie. Maybe you even want to add cyclers to your landbase.

You should add Maze of Ith since it combos with all your untap dudes. Also Thawing Glaciers with Stone-Seeder Hierophant finds all your basics. With these two lands, it might be an idea to add more stuff that finds nonbasics - which could also find you Valakut. In addition to Ulvenwald Hydra, there's Elvish Reclaimer and Realm Seekers. Maybe even add Vesuva and Thespian's Stage if you want to go deep on Valakut.

Zealous Conscripts combos with Kiki too.

Genesis Hydra for the lulz?

[Crazy Monkey]

@rogerandover, thanks for the feedback. I'm not a competitive player either; this deck started as a thought exercise.

I agree that Kumano, Master Yamabushi and Walking Ballista are better than Goblin Dynamo once I have infinite mana, but the 2:1 or 4:1 rate of damage output gets quickly outpaced if I haven't gone infinite, but have 30+ mana (which is somewhat common). They each interact with my conditional tutors somewhat differently (eg. hulk vs recruiter) but are probably worth testing. I added Soul of Shandalar to have a repeatable damage source that hit the overlap between hulk and Fierce Empath so I may test Walking Ballista replacing Goblin Dynamo.

I think that there are 5 more 1 CMC manadorks that I could play, including Orcish Lumberjack. There are also three 1 CMC creatures that could play an extra land on turn 1. I'm leaning towards trying fewer lands and dropping Blossom Dryad and Wood Elves and the bad fetches for the mana dorks. I don't think that I could do both because the risk of not having lands to play would be higher.

Vizier of the Menagerie should be played for more cards. At the least, it could replace Garruk's Horde. Honestly, I should also play Prowling Serpopard here too; I forget about Amhonket block a lot. I'm not sure about tireless tracker, I play it in another deck and am usually not impressed at it's speed.

Zealous Conscripts is one of those 2 card combos that I usually avoid because it's too straightforward, so I didn't even think about it. That's a good addition here due to the unrestrained nature of this build. Probably drop Zhur-Taa Ancient for this effect.

Maze of Ith has two possible combos here, that's probably worth the slot despite being dead otherwise.

I've never seen that Stone-Seeder Hierophant + Thawing Glaciers engine before, that's definitely getting a slot. Either get lands equal to the mana I can make or all of them with Lotus Cobra.

I'd built this deck around the same time as a Wrenn and Six + Harrow Oathbreaker deck that ramped to Valakut, which uses the Thespian's Stage + Vesuva mentioned. I should have already included that effect. Of the two, I'm more likely to use the stage because it enters untapped. Honestly, Valakut was added as another wincon with infinite landfall via Temur Sabertooth + Quirion Ranger + Sakura-Tribe Scout and either another mana flare or Lotus Cobra because I was already playing those cards. This would add some extra non-infinite reach. Adding Realm Seekers makes sense to set up more of these combos, because I usually hold back Ulvenwald Hydra until I know which land enables a combo (or just to go for commander damage via Kessig Wolf Run).

Genesis Hydra is great after I have infinite mana to enable a win, but more difficult to play when the deck is semi-storming and non-infinite. I would have trouble deciding on what value I should use for X here. That doesn't make it bad and the open question implies that I should test it.