Hello everyone! In case you haven't heard the news, the future of MTG Salvation is somewhat up in the air at the moment. MTG Salvation itself is transferring ownership and much of the staff is working to build a new and separate site (MTGNexus). In light of this, I wanted to put out one last major update to the deck - see below. Unless the MTGS content transfers gracefully, I likely won't be updating the main post to suit - too much work given it may disappear in just a few weeks.
New Commander:
By far the most significant change is - to no one's surprise - a switch in commanders to Niv-Mizzet, Parun. His advantages are many, including: protecting himself on the stack; serving as a much more synergistic, effective, and speedy draw engine; and superior P/T. RRRUUU is more difficult to reach, but shifting away from near-mono-U High Tide and into more artifacts and any-color lands helps us significantly.
Niv-Mizzet, Parun's greatest advantage over his predecessors is the sheer amount of card draw he provides, especially when not combo'ing. This enables us to cast him far more aggressively and with less fear of enemy removal. When he does die, he often draws multiple cards in the process. Defending him is also more easily justified as he allows each of our counterspells to replace themselves with new cards.
The fact that NewNiv does a much better job of keeping our hand full means we can dip heavily into artifact ramp without worry of running out of "gas" (previously, it was often "either-or"). Consistently drawing cards on enemy turns also substantially improves the power of miracle cards such as Reforge the Soul and Devastation Tide. However, I'm not running the latter at the moment (you often Miracle into it at times you really don't want to cast it).
General Changes:
The decklist itself has more changes than I have time to address here, but in general, there were a few major aims:
Reduce CMC. I want this list to be as fast and efficient as possible without fully stepping into CEDH territory. Objective #1 is to preserve the crazy, unpredictable, and fun playstyle this deck brings to the table. We now have access to some even better engines and cards, but the gameplan remains the same - roll the dice, wheel like crazy, and see if you can't pull out an insane win from nowhere!
Remove unnecessary redundancy. With a more powerful and easily-protected draw engine, we have much less need to run multiples of certain effects. For example, including both Vedalken Orrery and Leyline of Anticipation is rather unnecessary. I now run just the Orrery - as it's easier to tutor for and easier cast (especially if you have limited blue mana sources and need to leave them up for interaction)
Much greater focus on racing out Niv-Mizzet. We do this by including many more low-CMC mana rocks with the goal of slamming him ASAP. Even if he dies to removal, there's a good chance he draws you the other mana sources needed to re-cast him!
Replace higher-CMC counterspells with 1-2 cmc alternatives. For example, Delay. Many players look down on this card as it isn't a "hard" counter. However, in a game of EDH, three turns may as well be forever... by the time that spell resolves, the game will be in a totally different place!
A Note on Combo:
The keen-eyed among you will observe that this deck now technically does have access to infinite combos via Isochron Scepter and Paradox Engine. However, that's not why they're included. They're here because they're just freaking good cards. You can always choose not to play down the infinite combo route (and I encourage you not to, unless your playgroup is cool with that!). They are simply so generally useful outside of infinite combos that I feel neglecting them would be a mistake.
Alright folks, this will do it for now. As mentioned, this primer will eventually transition to its new home at TappedOut. TappedOut is my most go-to repository for decklists and primers at the moment (including a CEDH Meren Primer for any of you who might be interested), so be sure to follow if you want to keep up with future updates!
Otherwise, I wish everyone well and hope to see you on the other side!
I have had my eye on Runic Armasaur! However, there is one similar card I am adding first - see below. As far as Runic Armasaur is concerned, I think the main drawback is that it doesn't actually stop creature combos. You get to draw cards, but if an opponent is ready to combo off, it doesn't really help you there (in my case, non-mana-generating creature abilities are almost exclusively used to combo off and win on-the-spot). However, depending on the meta I think this dino could be a good add (I should probably add a section on "Meta Tuning" to the OP, this card will be there if I do).
Chalice is extremely powerful in general, especially vs. spellslinger decks. Unfortunately, it is "often a good answer" but almost never "the best". It is never the stax piece you'll tutor for first, and although it creates a big roadblock for some decks, it doesn't necessarily shut them out as well as I would like. I've found it is hard to stick more than 1-2 stax pieces at a time, so those you do must be as back-breaking as possible - and although Chalice can definitely be a pain for our opponents, it isn't quite enough of a pain. It may make a re-entrance at some point, but for now it's out.
Taking its place is Cursed Totem, the anti-creature analogue to Null Rod. It should not need much introduction, as it stops many of the format's most powerful creature-based combos:
No clue how Phyrexian Arena has slipped under the radar for so long and missed so many previous edits/cuts, but now that I "remembered" it, it is the obvious card to cut. Why? It's just too slow and clunky. It takes two full turn cycles just to net you 1 card (an aeon in CEDH), and too many afterwards to really begin paying off. It doesn't hurt your opponents at all, doesn't feed Meren, and doesn't have any strong ETB ability to get guaranteed value out of. Unfortunately, the "direction" of a competitive game is often largely decided in the first 3-4 turns, so we need to focus on immediate value and advantage engines as opposed to something this slow. Additionally, at 3 cmc it is costlier than we'd like... but more importantly the T2/T3 3-drop is a crucial tempo slot for this deck. It is when we either want to start clearing out the board with removal, drop our first oppressive stax piece (Damping Sphere or Null Rod), or play out ability-laden utility creatures to gain board advantage and prepare the Meren engine.
Hi folks, have you been playing this deck as for lately? Any updates with new cards such as Ravenous Chupacabra?
I like No Mercy as a way to prevent people attacking me, stalling them for a while and/or making them sacrifice more creatures.
Quick update: Unfortunately life has been really busy recently and my main playgroup hasn't had a chance to get together in almost two months now, so I don't have too many changes to report. Here are the current changes I will be making (hopefully sometime soon I will get the chance update the OP to reflect this):
Reasoning: Scavenging Ooze - Gitrog Combo and Jarad are both in my meta; that is basically all the explanation you will need. GY hate is premium value for me, and this is one of the best solutions (cheap, instant-speed, interacts with Meren). On the other end, Blood Funnel was a neat plaything, but it never really felt "right". Before the Meren engine is up and running (i.e. early game, when you have few lands and the Blood Funnel discount is most helpful) you don't have the luxury of sacrificing creatures; afterwards, card advantage tends to be the bigger issue, and not mana production.
Damping Sphere is just far too powerful of a silver bullet to ignore. It single-handedly shuts down a huge fraction of wincons in combo decks in the competitive meta, from multiple archetypes - storm, Doomsday, High Tide, etc. Actually, it is simply a powerhouse against any blue deck in general. They usually like to toss out tons of cheap cantrip-like spells (Brainstorm, Ponder, etc) and their mid- and late-game often relies heavily on chaining these cheap spells together. However, not sure exactly what will come out of the list to include this.
3x Forests --> 3x Swamps really just comes down to color demands in the mid-game; we have many more cards requiring BB / BBB than GG.
Hi folks, have you been playing this deck as for lately? Any updates with new cards such as Ravenous Chupacabra?
I like No Mercy as a way to prevent people attacking me, stalling them for a while and/or making them sacrifice more creatures.
If Chupacabra was at 3cmc I think it might worth considering (especially if you have creature-oriented combos like Gitrog in your meta), but I think 4cmc is just too high a price to pay. Creatures have the POTENTIAL to be re-used with Meren, but often people overvalue this interaction and it's just better to have a few one-off, cheap/efficient spells... so you can get the job done (killing something) while also using recursion on other, more useful creatures. If you need more removal look at options like Bone Splinters, Cast Down, Devour in Shadow, Fatal Push, Go for the Throat, Hero's Demise, Victim of Night, Walk the Plank, etc. (choose depending on your needs and meta). Bone Shredder was in my list for a short time, and even at 3cmc it felt a bit clunky and slow.
No Mercy is alright if you are in a heavily creature-combat based meta. On the other hand, it is not very versatile and proactive - it won't stop oppponent combos, won't stop a lethal alpha strike, etc. It is probably better to go with more/better removal and/or boardwipes (i.e. Drown in Sorrow) instead, as they are more flexible, kill toolbox creatures (that will never be used to attack you anyway), and don't give your opponents a choice in the matter. However, BY FAR the biggest issue with No Mercy is that it doesn't ACTUALLY stop combat damage against you, it just creates a drawback for attacking; it only protects you if the damage doesn't kill you in the first place. Unfortunately, life points are a very valuable resource to this deck and their availability is already extremely constrained by many different things. Just look at how many cards reduce our life total: Necropotence, Dark Confidant, Mana Crypt, Toxic Deluge, Sylvan Library, Birthing Pod, Elves of Deep Shadow, Phyrexian Arena, Dismember, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, City of Brass/Mana Confluence, Overgrown Tomb, Llanowar Wastes, Ancient Tomb, SEVEN fetchlands... these are mostly all 1-2 points individually, but together they really add up quickly. I would say there is not enough life buffer available for No Mercy to be effective, it's better to solve the problem in other ways. But, with some deck tweaks and in the right meta it may be workable for you.
Hey guys, just wondering what people think about Thallid Soothsayer as a sac outlet and card advantage. Probably going to get some testing in with it soon.
Not a huge fan of this card tbh, it just costs way too much (in BOTH CMC and ability cost) to be worth it. You can't drop it early, it costs 6 mana before you even break even on cards, it isn't good against surprise boardwipe (likely won't have mana up to draw 1 card, much less 2+), etc. It is worse than Grim Haruspex in just about every way.
Finally got around to updating the OP with a few changes:
"How to Play the Deck" section added
New Changelog Entry: +1 Damping Matrix, -1 Sensei's Divining Top - In a bit of an unexpected change, this update sees the removal of Sensei's Divining Top from the list. Why? It just doesn't fit our tempo that well, and there aren't that many times it feels like the right choice. T1 we'd much rather be playing a dork, and T2-4 are typically already full with other control options. While a good sink for extra mana, it just doesn't feel like we ever have that mana to spare - and often 1 mana makes or breaks a turn. The replacement card is a very meta-call for me, so it may not be the right choice for everyone. I play against a lot of artifact and creature-based combo, so stopping both of these combo lines is a major concern for me. Though, this could be a very dead card in some playgroups. I could easily see Drown in Sorrow, Putrefy, Pithing Needle, Scavenging Ooze, Loaming Shaman, etc. in this slot.
This update addresses the slow tempo of Lili #2 and introduces a powerful new tool vs. combo. Phyrexian Revoker stops all kinds of shenanigans, from Isochron Scepter combos and Teferi, Temporal Archmage activations to Necrotic Ooze and Aetherflux Reservoir. It is also easily cast, easily tutored, and easily recovered via Meren, giving us much greater flexibility in answering threats of this type.
Hi folks, after some testing, I've decided to stick with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind over The Locust God as my commander. Why? It's quite simple, actually - Niv-Mizzet offers a higher ceiling to those who may eventually push their deck towards a truly competitive skew. Although in this primer I willingly forego the popular combos with Niv-Mizzet (namely Curiosity, Ophidian Eye, Tandem Lookout, and the much more mana-intensive Mind Over Matter), the upgrade path is still there for those who find themselves in more CEDH circles. The playgroup I've been with in Boston over the last year has steadily grown more competitive, and I've actually found myself moving back towards real combo again to keep up with the speed. This flexibility is easy to accommodate in Niv-Mizzet, but the combo power peak is just not quite as strong with Locust God.
Outside of strict CEDH and combo I believe Locust God is the stronger commander due to its greater flexibility and built-in recursion. However, the competitive potential of The Locust God seems slightly lower, so Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind seems the better choice for those whose playgroups may edge towards the CEDH scene (although IMO neither Niv-Mizzet nor Locust God are Tier-1 CEDH material, Niv-Mizzet combo seems to do a better job of keeping up)
Overflowing Insight
4UUU
Sorcery
Target player draws seven cards.
The truth came to Kumena like the Great River's torrent: the only way to keep his enemies away from the hidden city was to claim its power for himself
I don't see that making the cut for this deck at all. Wheel of Fortune, Reforge the Soul, Time Reversal and Time Spiral all fill that gap, to much greater degrees. Part of the goal of this deck is not only to cycle your own hand(and thus get draw damage from Niv), but also to screw your opponent's hands(hopefully). While Overflowing Insight certainly gets the draw power, it's overcosted for its effect, is only sorcery speed, and is a 1:1 deal, unlike the previous examples(to explain: suppose FireStorm had Consecrated Sphinx out. The other examples would get him HUGE benefit, much moreso than his opponents. With this, he would have to choose between a 7 draw or a 14 draw. See what I mean?).
Good thought, just too niche for this deck.
I also lean away from this new card simply due to the high CMC. I have found that anything over 2 cmc, and especially over 3 cmc, truly needs to do something special to deserve a place here. I've even been testing a more recent list without Consecrated Sphinx and Omniscience (but granted, I've also been testing out some Curiosity-like combos) so I'd have a hard time biting the bullet on a 7-cmc card with virtually any effect short of "win the game." Diminishing Returns definitely feels like the card to include over Overflowing Insight (and, hint hint, Diminishing Returns is likely to see an entrance in a future update!)
Added Living Plane + Minister of Pain as a new "win condition." Although it does not immediately win the game like some combos (Mike + Trike), it basically assures victory nonetheless, and crucially the individual combo pieces are still very powerful and useful on their own. This win condition provides the list with the much stronger win condition I've been seeking for quite some time now, and I am much happier with this than the alternatives! I am surprised I haven't come across this combo before.
Alrighty, some major changes happening the past few days. I've been really re-examining this list from a competitive standpoint, and have decided to restructure much of how it operates (especially through the first few turns). The major changes are:
Mana Dorks - Although they are far less syngergistic with Meren and our stax strategy, the greater speed/tempo of dorks is just unmatched by land-fetching creatures. Additionally, although land-fetchers have better long-term value if reanimated multiple times, realistically this doesn't happen - and it's simply better to explode out of the gates as quickly as possible. Thanks to those who had mentioned mana dorks in this thread - it took some further discussion and experimentation for me to realize how much stronger they are, despite the anti-synergy.
Nonbasics - I try to stay away from these when possible, but hitting guaranteed colors (esp. G on T1) is now so important that the basics count may get lower again.
Diligent Farmhand - This takes the spot over Bloom Tender for a few reasons: (a) it can be played T1; (b) it can be activated immediately (Bloom Tender is clunky when reanimated); (c) it has a built-in sacrifice effect. Not much else to say! Bloom Tender is strong, but she is anti-synergistic with the deck; she doesn't want to die, AND doesn't want to be reanimated (because she doesn't have haste).
Ophiomancer - Takes the spot over Glissa, the Traitor. While the artifact recursion is nice, it is more of a niche need - and often games are won or lost before that becomes relevant. With so many sacrifice-based effects in this list, a cheap token-generator (which also happens to be a creature itself) is hard to ignore... so after many months, Ophiomancer returns!
Viridian Emissary - Wins the spot over Wood Elves for being 1 cheaper on the curve. That's about all!
Yahenni's Expertise - I believe this card is truly undervalued and one which is very powerful in the right list. This replaces Attrition, which simply requires too much setup to be effective (and even then, the nonblack restriction is a pain). At 4 cmc, the cost matches Attrition if you include the first removal activation; and the ability to cast another spell for free is pure gravy. Even better, it doesn't kill Meren!
Considering:
Swapping out Chains of Mephistopheles for Damping Matrix. Haven't made the switch yet, and this seems like a hugely meta-dependent call. However, I feel it's worth bringing the option to everyone's attention, depending on the types of problems you are facing!
Unfortunately this summer has been quite hectic, and my playgroup has been in and out of town at various times so I've gotten only a few games in (probably 2-3 games with a handcycling list, in total). So, I can't report back yet on which commander I prefer (though intuition still leans me towards Locust God).
However, I did gain some valuable insight in those games re: deck construction of my Locust God list, and I recommend taking a look at the changes over in this thread. They focus on: inclusion of faster mana, Khans delve cards, and replacing a few of the counterspells with removal (to broaden our suite of interaction). I think this batch of changes apply well to both Niv Mizzet and Locust God.
Why not run both The Locust God and Niv 1.0? You have the benefit of one in your command zone at all times, and when/before he gets prohibitively expensive, you draw into the other for backup/redundancy, or ideally for a tag-team.
EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT!!!!
Granted... If you are too combo-centric, you'll not want to run him. You're going too fast to run a card that isn't exactly going to win the game. Like, you don't want to drop any of your hand-cycling cards for it. But I would see the god make it's way as one of the 99.
My thinking is - at 6 mana to start with, these commanders are an expensive investment, especially when there isn't any immediate payoff (i.e. ETB effect). So I usually found myself simply not playing Niv until I was actually about ready to win, in which case the Commander Tax usually wasn't an issue - and before that point, the last thing I wanted was another big and expensive spell clogging up the list! I think this depends heavily on how you build the list though - my version is super focused on cheap and efficient spell-slinging, so I don't want too many wrenches included that can mess up that tempo. But a build focusing more on ramp and raw card advantage engines (i.e. Mind's Dilation and other powerful permanent-based effects) might be more interested in casting the commander (or pseudo-commmander) early and often.
Hi folks, sorry for the slow updates - our playgroup has been largely out-of-town this summer (and I haven't gotten to play much in the last 1.5 months. At any rate, here are the current changes I've made:
Added:
+1 Anger of the Gods - A solid hoser to Edric, Yisan, and the like. I worry heavily about the RR cost, however...
+1 Chrome Mox - I've been wanting to test this one for a while and finally feel we have the card advantage to support it without the drawback being too detrimental
+1 Curse of the Swine - Direct swap of one answer for another - out with a counterspell, in with perhaps the best creature removal in blue. Although our clock is fast and counterspells are aplenty, key problematic permanents will simply get through.
+1 Dig Through Time - Adding some Delve to see how I like it.
+1 Dream Halls - It's simply too good to be without. The combo potential enabled here (specifically, circumventing colored costs) is the best you can get for the cost. People think Mana Echoes is cool, but in a list with such severe color requirements, Dream Halls is the real combo king.
+1 Evacuation - One additional trick for dealing with hasty / swarming board positions.
+1 Imprisoned in the Moon - See description for Curse of the Swine; this card is probably the best single-target removal blue has for Commander (and, deals with indestructible, etc)
+2 Island
+1 Isochron Scepter - Yes, it's time.
+1 Mox Diamond
+1 Omniscience - See "Dream Halls" entry above
+1 Treasure Cruise - See "Dig Through Time" above
+1 Vandalblast - In my playgroup, reliance on artifacts for stax, mana production, and/or combo has increased recently, and this is a welcome inclusion.
Removed:
-1 Fabricate - At instant speed this would be close to auto-include, but at sorcery speed it's just a little too slow and expensive.
-1 Flusterstorm - I've removed a few counterspells in favor of more On-The-Battlefield removal
-1 Mana Echoes - Yes, the combo potential with The Locust God is definitely there. But, what does this actually offer us? This deck is already playing a number of cost-reducers, so our greatest mana-cost challenges are colors, not CMC values. Early game, Mana Echoes offers nothing on its own; and when we are about to win, it has an even bigger flaw - even when paired with Locust God, you still need a third card to make it truly "go off"! It looks great from a distance, but IMO the upside is too narrow (no colors) and the fact it still requires additional setup means it doesn't provide a fast and consistent win.
-1 Mindbreak Trap
-1 Monastery Siege
-1 Overwhelming Denial
-1 Pact of Negation
-1 Star Compass
-1 Stifle
-1 Strip Mine - Together with Wasteland, these just weren't needed enough to justify the lack of color production. Yes, producing colors is that important for us. There are no major land-reliant combos in my playgroup currently; or at least, none that aren't solved in other, fairly straightforward ways.
-1 Supreme Will
-1 Trickbind
-1 Turnabout
-1 Wasteland
Evaluate every card choice by asking, "What conditions need to be met for this to be a good play?"
In other words, look for reasons why a card that SEEMS awesome will ultimately be a dud. It is easy to get tunnel vision with awesome combos and interactions... but often they prove too slow (top-heavy), difficult to assemble, inconsistent, etc.
A common theme with the format staples is that they are basically always good plays, at any point in the game... without relying on other cards to do so. So, you should be considering how each card works for you early game (opening hand) vs late, when you're ahead vs behind, swarmed board vs post board wipe, how many other cards it needs to interact with to "turn on", etc. The more often it is a "good play," the better a choice it is (generally).
Said quickly: Evaluate your cards at their worst, not their best!
Hi folks! The spoiling of The Locust God earlier today is very exciting news, as we're getting perhaps the most powerful Izzet commmander ever printed.... one which, in many ways, is a clear upgrade from the long-loved Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. As the keeper for one of our Niv-Mizzet primers here at MTG Salvation I think it's only logical to test The Locust God to see how it compares.
Keep an eye out on this thread as I'll report back on my thoughts and whether I might want to retire our dear friend Niv-Mizzet in favor of some shiny new tech, or stick with our old friend! Mainly I plan to use this thread as a sandbox for thoughts and ideas in the coming weeks as I play and test various things, but advice and discussion is of course welcomed and appreciated!
My current Niv-Mizzet build is highly tuned and runs quite well without needing access to the commander. The below list is very close to that, but with a few key tweaks. The differences here hinge on the fact that The Locust God is more resilient to removal and can also act as a great source of mana generation. So, I've included some of the very best of that tech here - but not too much, since at 6 cmc, the majority of the game will be played without our commander on the battlefield.
Added:
+1 Anger of the Gods - A solid hoser to Edric, Yisan, and the like. I worry heavily about the RR cost, however...
+1 Chrome Mox - I've been wanting to test this one for a while and finally feel we have the card advantage to support it without the drawback being too detrimental
+1 Curse of the Swine - Direct swap of one answer for another - out with a counterspell, in with perhaps the best creature removal in blue. Although our clock is fast and counterspells are aplenty, key problematic permanents will simply get through.
+1 Dig Through Time - Adding some Delve to see how I like it.
+1 Dream Halls - It's simply too good to be without. The combo potential enabled here (specifically, circumventing colored costs) is the best you can get for the cost. People think Mana Echoes is cool, but in a list with such severe color requirements, Dream Halls is the real combo king.
+1 Evacuation - One additional trick for dealing with hasty / swarming board positions.
+1 Imprisoned in the Moon - See description for Curse of the Swine; this card is probably the best single-target removal blue has for Commander (and, deals with indestructible, etc)
+2 Island
+1 Isochron Scepter - Yes, it's time.
+1 Mox Diamond
+1 Omniscience - See "Dream Halls" entry above
+1 Treasure Cruise - See "Dig Through Time" above
+1 Vandalblast - In my playgroup, reliance on artifacts for stax, mana production, and/or combo has increased recently, and this is a welcome inclusion.
Removed:
-1 Fabricate - At instant speed this would be close to auto-include, but at sorcery speed it's just a little too slow and expensive.
-1 Flusterstorm - I've removed a few counterspells in favor of more On-The-Battlefield removal
-1 Mana Echoes - Yes, the combo potential with The Locust God is definitely there. But, what does this actually offer us? This deck is already playing a number of cost-reducers, so our greatest mana-cost challenges are colors, not CMC values. Early game, Mana Echoes offers nothing on its own; and when we are about to win, it has an even bigger flaw - even when paired with Locust God, you still need a third card to make it truly "go off"! It looks great from a distance, but IMO the upside is too narrow (no colors) and the fact it still requires additional setup means it doesn't provide a fast and consistent win.
-1 Mindbreak Trap
-1 Monastery Siege
-1 Overwhelming Denial
-1 Pact of Negation
-1 Star Compass
-1 Stifle
-1 Strip Mine - Together with Wasteland, these just weren't needed enough to justify the lack of color production. Yes, producing colors is that important for us. There are no major land-reliant combos in my playgroup currently; or at least, none that aren't solved in other, fairly straightforward ways.
-1 Supreme Will
-1 Trickbind
-1 Turnabout
-1 Wasteland
Creation of The Locust God (AKA swaps from original Niv-Mizzet list)
Supreme Will is potentially a good fit for this list, with both modes being things we really like to be doing. Digging 4 deep is quite strong, though unfortunately 3-cmc for a non-hard counter is less appealing.
Here are the major things that draw me to this card:
Recent edits have focused strongly on cost-reducing cards, thus this will often be cast for 1U or just U. Not having UU in the cost immediately slots this up one peg for this reason. (This is also the reason there is a very high likelihood that Cryptic Command will be pulled out soon!)
Digging four deep is very strong, but fatesealing the rest to the bottom-of-library is also great as we aren't stuck with what we have (as is the case with Sensei's Divining Top)
This helps to guard against other early wins, while also digging deep in a fresh draw-7 when comboing off. Most counterspells are dead once we are comboing out; this lets us more reliably string together our crazy and chaotic wheel effects while also being a relevant answer earlier in the game.
Although we have many answers, there is inevitably a tradeoff between having answers and speeding more quickly towards our own win condition... for most slots, the decision is an, "either, or" and we can't have our cake and eat it too. This manages to do both at once, and I hope future cards will do the same for us!
Although Wizards no longer gives us 2-cmc goodies, I really, really like that they are giving us so many cards with multiple options stapled on - this is PERFECT for a list like ours and I look forward to what this and future sets bring us. At this point, I'm thinking this would slot in nicely as a replacement for the recently-added Anticipate; definitely open to suggestions though!
The Locust God. Wow! He doesn't fit in our list, but is an extremely strong contender to replace Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind outright as our commander. I am not sure yet whether I will be making this change personally, but I think it is something that every Niv-Mizzet pilot needs to seriously consider. Locust God offers many advantages that are simply hard to ignore: produces a boatload of blockers for early protection, has a MUCH easier casting cost, circumvents the commander tax to most removal (allowing you to play him earlier and more often, without as much restraint) and he combos extremely well with Skullclamp and the like. On the other hand, he can't snipe problematic creatures and has a (slightly) more difficult time getting at planeswalkers and life totals (assuming opponents have flying blockers). Right now I still like spellslinger Niv-Mizzet more - but there is something to be said for the power of this flashy new commander. We shall see!
That said, I plan to eventually transfer and update the contents of this primer over to the decklist's new home at TappedOut.net:
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/primer-flash-of-the-firemind-niv-mizzet-parun/
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
ARTIFACTS:
1 Chrome Mox
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Grim Monolith
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Izzet Signet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Paradox Engine
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Talisman of Creativity
1 Vedalken Orrery
CREATURES:
1 Baral, Chief of Compliance
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 God-Eternal Kefnet
1 Mizzix of the Izmagnus
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Whirlpool Warrior
ENCHANTMENTS:
1 As Foretold
1 Dream Halls
1 Future Sight
1 Mystic Remora
1 Omniscience
1 Rhystic Study
INSTANTS:
1 Arcane Denial
1 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Delay
1 Dramatic Reversal
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Force of Negation
1 Force of Will
1 Frantic Search
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Mana Drain
1 Mission Briefing
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Narset's Reversal
1 Negate
1 Pact of Negation
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Swan Song
1 Tolarian Winds
1 Dack Fayden
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Narset, Parter of Veils
SORCERIES:
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Echo of Eons
1 Fabricate
1 Faithless Looting
1 Gamble
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Show and Tell
1 Time Spiral
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Winds of Change
LANDS:
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Fiery Islet
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forbidden Orchard
12 Island
1 Mana Confluence
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Strip Mine
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wooded Foothills
New Commander:
By far the most significant change is - to no one's surprise - a switch in commanders to Niv-Mizzet, Parun. His advantages are many, including: protecting himself on the stack; serving as a much more synergistic, effective, and speedy draw engine; and superior P/T. RRRUUU is more difficult to reach, but shifting away from near-mono-U High Tide and into more artifacts and any-color lands helps us significantly.
Niv-Mizzet, Parun's greatest advantage over his predecessors is the sheer amount of card draw he provides, especially when not combo'ing. This enables us to cast him far more aggressively and with less fear of enemy removal. When he does die, he often draws multiple cards in the process. Defending him is also more easily justified as he allows each of our counterspells to replace themselves with new cards.
The fact that NewNiv does a much better job of keeping our hand full means we can dip heavily into artifact ramp without worry of running out of "gas" (previously, it was often "either-or"). Consistently drawing cards on enemy turns also substantially improves the power of miracle cards such as Reforge the Soul and Devastation Tide. However, I'm not running the latter at the moment (you often Miracle into it at times you really don't want to cast it).
General Changes:
The decklist itself has more changes than I have time to address here, but in general, there were a few major aims:
A Note on Combo:
The keen-eyed among you will observe that this deck now technically does have access to infinite combos via Isochron Scepter and Paradox Engine. However, that's not why they're included. They're here because they're just freaking good cards. You can always choose not to play down the infinite combo route (and I encourage you not to, unless your playgroup is cool with that!). They are simply so generally useful outside of infinite combos that I feel neglecting them would be a mistake.
Alright folks, this will do it for now. As mentioned, this primer will eventually transition to its new home at TappedOut. TappedOut is my most go-to repository for decklists and primers at the moment (including a CEDH Meren Primer for any of you who might be interested), so be sure to follow if you want to keep up with future updates!
Otherwise, I wish everyone well and hope to see you on the other side!
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
In other news, one additional change:
+1 Cursed Totem
-1 Chalice of the Void
Chalice is extremely powerful in general, especially vs. spellslinger decks. Unfortunately, it is "often a good answer" but almost never "the best". It is never the stax piece you'll tutor for first, and although it creates a big roadblock for some decks, it doesn't necessarily shut them out as well as I would like. I've found it is hard to stick more than 1-2 stax pieces at a time, so those you do must be as back-breaking as possible - and although Chalice can definitely be a pain for our opponents, it isn't quite enough of a pain. It may make a re-entrance at some point, but for now it's out.
Taking its place is Cursed Totem, the anti-creature analogue to Null Rod. It should not need much introduction, as it stops many of the format's most powerful creature-based combos:
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
+1 Damping Sphere
+1 Scavenging Ooze
+3 Swamp
-1 Blood Funnel
-3 Forest
-1
??? (Undecided)Phyrexian ArenaNo clue how Phyrexian Arena has slipped under the radar for so long and missed so many previous edits/cuts, but now that I "remembered" it, it is the obvious card to cut. Why? It's just too slow and clunky. It takes two full turn cycles just to net you 1 card (an aeon in CEDH), and too many afterwards to really begin paying off. It doesn't hurt your opponents at all, doesn't feed Meren, and doesn't have any strong ETB ability to get guaranteed value out of. Unfortunately, the "direction" of a competitive game is often largely decided in the first 3-4 turns, so we need to focus on immediate value and advantage engines as opposed to something this slow. Additionally, at 3 cmc it is costlier than we'd like... but more importantly the T2/T3 3-drop is a crucial tempo slot for this deck. It is when we either want to start clearing out the board with removal, drop our first oppressive stax piece (Damping Sphere or Null Rod), or play out ability-laden utility creatures to gain board advantage and prepare the Meren engine.
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
Quick update: Unfortunately life has been really busy recently and my main playgroup hasn't had a chance to get together in almost two months now, so I don't have too many changes to report. Here are the current changes I will be making (hopefully sometime soon I will get the chance update the OP to reflect this):
+1 Damping Sphere
+1 Scavenging Ooze
+3 Swamp
-1 Blood Funnel
-3 Forest
-1 ??? (Undecided)
Reasoning:
Scavenging Ooze - Gitrog Combo and Jarad are both in my meta; that is basically all the explanation you will need. GY hate is premium value for me, and this is one of the best solutions (cheap, instant-speed, interacts with Meren). On the other end, Blood Funnel was a neat plaything, but it never really felt "right". Before the Meren engine is up and running (i.e. early game, when you have few lands and the Blood Funnel discount is most helpful) you don't have the luxury of sacrificing creatures; afterwards, card advantage tends to be the bigger issue, and not mana production.
Damping Sphere is just far too powerful of a silver bullet to ignore. It single-handedly shuts down a huge fraction of wincons in combo decks in the competitive meta, from multiple archetypes - storm, Doomsday, High Tide, etc. Actually, it is simply a powerhouse against any blue deck in general. They usually like to toss out tons of cheap cantrip-like spells (Brainstorm, Ponder, etc) and their mid- and late-game often relies heavily on chaining these cheap spells together. However, not sure exactly what will come out of the list to include this.
3x Forests --> 3x Swamps really just comes down to color demands in the mid-game; we have many more cards requiring BB / BBB than GG.
If Chupacabra was at 3cmc I think it might worth considering (especially if you have creature-oriented combos like Gitrog in your meta), but I think 4cmc is just too high a price to pay. Creatures have the POTENTIAL to be re-used with Meren, but often people overvalue this interaction and it's just better to have a few one-off, cheap/efficient spells... so you can get the job done (killing something) while also using recursion on other, more useful creatures. If you need more removal look at options like Bone Splinters, Cast Down, Devour in Shadow, Fatal Push, Go for the Throat, Hero's Demise, Victim of Night, Walk the Plank, etc. (choose depending on your needs and meta). Bone Shredder was in my list for a short time, and even at 3cmc it felt a bit clunky and slow.
No Mercy is alright if you are in a heavily creature-combat based meta. On the other hand, it is not very versatile and proactive - it won't stop oppponent combos, won't stop a lethal alpha strike, etc. It is probably better to go with more/better removal and/or boardwipes (i.e. Drown in Sorrow) instead, as they are more flexible, kill toolbox creatures (that will never be used to attack you anyway), and don't give your opponents a choice in the matter. However, BY FAR the biggest issue with No Mercy is that it doesn't ACTUALLY stop combat damage against you, it just creates a drawback for attacking; it only protects you if the damage doesn't kill you in the first place. Unfortunately, life points are a very valuable resource to this deck and their availability is already extremely constrained by many different things. Just look at how many cards reduce our life total: Necropotence, Dark Confidant, Mana Crypt, Toxic Deluge, Sylvan Library, Birthing Pod, Elves of Deep Shadow, Phyrexian Arena, Dismember, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, City of Brass/Mana Confluence, Overgrown Tomb, Llanowar Wastes, Ancient Tomb, SEVEN fetchlands... these are mostly all 1-2 points individually, but together they really add up quickly. I would say there is not enough life buffer available for No Mercy to be effective, it's better to solve the problem in other ways. But, with some deck tweaks and in the right meta it may be workable for you.
Not a huge fan of this card tbh, it just costs way too much (in BOTH CMC and ability cost) to be worth it. You can't drop it early, it costs 6 mana before you even break even on cards, it isn't good against surprise boardwipe (likely won't have mana up to draw 1 card, much less 2+), etc. It is worse than Grim Haruspex in just about every way.
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
This update addresses the slow tempo of Lili #2 and introduces a powerful new tool vs. combo. Phyrexian Revoker stops all kinds of shenanigans, from Isochron Scepter combos and Teferi, Temporal Archmage activations to Necrotic Ooze and Aetherflux Reservoir. It is also easily cast, easily tutored, and easily recovered via Meren, giving us much greater flexibility in answering threats of this type.
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
Outside of strict CEDH and combo I believe Locust God is the stronger commander due to its greater flexibility and built-in recursion. However, the competitive potential of The Locust God seems slightly lower, so Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind seems the better choice for those whose playgroups may edge towards the CEDH scene (although IMO neither Niv-Mizzet nor Locust God are Tier-1 CEDH material, Niv-Mizzet combo seems to do a better job of keeping up)
I also lean away from this new card simply due to the high CMC. I have found that anything over 2 cmc, and especially over 3 cmc, truly needs to do something special to deserve a place here. I've even been testing a more recent list without Consecrated Sphinx and Omniscience (but granted, I've also been testing out some Curiosity-like combos) so I'd have a hard time biting the bullet on a 7-cmc card with virtually any effect short of "win the game." Diminishing Returns definitely feels like the card to include over Overflowing Insight (and, hint hint, Diminishing Returns is likely to see an entrance in a future update!)
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
- Mana Dorks - Although they are far less syngergistic with Meren and our stax strategy, the greater speed/tempo of dorks is just unmatched by land-fetching creatures. Additionally, although land-fetchers have better long-term value if reanimated multiple times, realistically this doesn't happen - and it's simply better to explode out of the gates as quickly as possible. Thanks to those who had mentioned mana dorks in this thread - it took some further discussion and experimentation for me to realize how much stronger they are, despite the anti-synergy.
- Faster stax effects - Smokestack and Necrogen Mists are out; Smallpox and Syphon Mind are in. Less value over time, but much more immediate impact.
- More targetted removal
- Nonbasics - I try to stay away from these when possible, but hitting guaranteed colors (esp. G on T1) is now so important that the basics count may get lower again.
Here are the changes:Added:
- Abrupt Decay
- Beast Within
- Birds of Paradise
- Birthing Pod
- Chrome Mox
- City of Brass
- Deathrite Shaman
- Dismember
- Elves of Deep Shadow
- Elvish Mystic
- Fauna Shaman
- Fyndhorn Elves
- Llanowar Elves
- Maelstrom Pulse
- Mana Confluence
- Nature's Claim
- Shriekmaw
- Smallpox
- Syphon Mind
- Trinisphere
Removed:Results:
- Average CMC lowered from 2.43 to 2.18...
- ...and much higher likelihood of 3+ mana available on T2, for much more explosive starts
- Much higher likelihood of landing T2 disruption or stax piece, thereby increasing chances of staying ahead of fast combo
- Regularly landing T2/T3 Meren is commonplace; before, the chances were not so great
- Much more removal to disrupt combo and deal with OTB threats
Here is a link to the updated decklist (until such time as I can update the OP): http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/death-staxes-firestorm4056s-competitive-meren/UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
Added:
- Diligent Farmhand
- Ophiomancer
- Viridian Emissary
- Yahenni's Expertise
Removed:- Attrition
- Bloom Tender
- Glissa, the Traitor
- Wood Elves
Diligent Farmhand - This takes the spot over Bloom Tender for a few reasons: (a) it can be played T1; (b) it can be activated immediately (Bloom Tender is clunky when reanimated); (c) it has a built-in sacrifice effect. Not much else to say! Bloom Tender is strong, but she is anti-synergistic with the deck; she doesn't want to die, AND doesn't want to be reanimated (because she doesn't have haste).Ophiomancer - Takes the spot over Glissa, the Traitor. While the artifact recursion is nice, it is more of a niche need - and often games are won or lost before that becomes relevant. With so many sacrifice-based effects in this list, a cheap token-generator (which also happens to be a creature itself) is hard to ignore... so after many months, Ophiomancer returns!
Viridian Emissary - Wins the spot over Wood Elves for being 1 cheaper on the curve. That's about all!
Yahenni's Expertise - I believe this card is truly undervalued and one which is very powerful in the right list. This replaces Attrition, which simply requires too much setup to be effective (and even then, the nonblack restriction is a pain). At 4 cmc, the cost matches Attrition if you include the first removal activation; and the ability to cast another spell for free is pure gravy. Even better, it doesn't kill Meren!
Considering:
Swapping out Chains of Mephistopheles for Damping Matrix. Haven't made the switch yet, and this seems like a hugely meta-dependent call. However, I feel it's worth bringing the option to everyone's attention, depending on the types of problems you are facing!
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
However, I did gain some valuable insight in those games re: deck construction of my Locust God list, and I recommend taking a look at the changes over in this thread. They focus on: inclusion of faster mana, Khans delve cards, and replacing a few of the counterspells with removal (to broaden our suite of interaction). I think this batch of changes apply well to both Niv Mizzet and Locust God.
My thinking is - at 6 mana to start with, these commanders are an expensive investment, especially when there isn't any immediate payoff (i.e. ETB effect). So I usually found myself simply not playing Niv until I was actually about ready to win, in which case the Commander Tax usually wasn't an issue - and before that point, the last thing I wanted was another big and expensive spell clogging up the list! I think this depends heavily on how you build the list though - my version is super focused on cheap and efficient spell-slinging, so I don't want too many wrenches included that can mess up that tempo. But a build focusing more on ramp and raw card advantage engines (i.e. Mind's Dilation and other powerful permanent-based effects) might be more interested in casting the commander (or pseudo-commmander) early and often.
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
Added:
+1 Anger of the Gods - A solid hoser to Edric, Yisan, and the like. I worry heavily about the RR cost, however...
+1 Chrome Mox - I've been wanting to test this one for a while and finally feel we have the card advantage to support it without the drawback being too detrimental
+1 Curse of the Swine - Direct swap of one answer for another - out with a counterspell, in with perhaps the best creature removal in blue. Although our clock is fast and counterspells are aplenty, key problematic permanents will simply get through.
+1 Dig Through Time - Adding some Delve to see how I like it.
+1 Dream Halls - It's simply too good to be without. The combo potential enabled here (specifically, circumventing colored costs) is the best you can get for the cost. People think Mana Echoes is cool, but in a list with such severe color requirements, Dream Halls is the real combo king.
+1 Evacuation - One additional trick for dealing with hasty / swarming board positions.
+1 Imprisoned in the Moon - See description for Curse of the Swine; this card is probably the best single-target removal blue has for Commander (and, deals with indestructible, etc)
+2 Island
+1 Isochron Scepter - Yes, it's time.
+1 Mox Diamond
+1 Omniscience - See "Dream Halls" entry above
+1 Treasure Cruise - See "Dig Through Time" above
+1 Vandalblast - In my playgroup, reliance on artifacts for stax, mana production, and/or combo has increased recently, and this is a welcome inclusion.
Removed:
-1 Fabricate - At instant speed this would be close to auto-include, but at sorcery speed it's just a little too slow and expensive.
-1 Flusterstorm - I've removed a few counterspells in favor of more On-The-Battlefield removal
-1 Mana Echoes - Yes, the combo potential with The Locust God is definitely there. But, what does this actually offer us? This deck is already playing a number of cost-reducers, so our greatest mana-cost challenges are colors, not CMC values. Early game, Mana Echoes offers nothing on its own; and when we are about to win, it has an even bigger flaw - even when paired with Locust God, you still need a third card to make it truly "go off"! It looks great from a distance, but IMO the upside is too narrow (no colors) and the fact it still requires additional setup means it doesn't provide a fast and consistent win.
-1 Mindbreak Trap
-1 Monastery Siege
-1 Overwhelming Denial
-1 Pact of Negation
-1 Star Compass
-1 Stifle
-1 Strip Mine - Together with Wasteland, these just weren't needed enough to justify the lack of color production. Yes, producing colors is that important for us. There are no major land-reliant combos in my playgroup currently; or at least, none that aren't solved in other, fairly straightforward ways.
-1 Supreme Will
-1 Trickbind
-1 Turnabout
-1 Wasteland
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
In other words, look for reasons why a card that SEEMS awesome will ultimately be a dud. It is easy to get tunnel vision with awesome combos and interactions... but often they prove too slow (top-heavy), difficult to assemble, inconsistent, etc.
A common theme with the format staples is that they are basically always good plays, at any point in the game... without relying on other cards to do so. So, you should be considering how each card works for you early game (opening hand) vs late, when you're ahead vs behind, swarmed board vs post board wipe, how many other cards it needs to interact with to "turn on", etc. The more often it is a "good play," the better a choice it is (generally).
Said quickly: Evaluate your cards at their worst, not their best!
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
Keep an eye out on this thread as I'll report back on my thoughts and whether I might want to retire our dear friend Niv-Mizzet in favor of some shiny new tech, or stick with our old friend! Mainly I plan to use this thread as a sandbox for thoughts and ideas in the coming weeks as I play and test various things, but advice and discussion is of course welcomed and appreciated!
My current Niv-Mizzet build is highly tuned and runs quite well without needing access to the commander. The below list is very close to that, but with a few key tweaks. The differences here hinge on the fact that The Locust God is more resilient to removal and can also act as a great source of mana generation. So, I've included some of the very best of that tech here - but not too much, since at 6 cmc, the majority of the game will be played without our commander on the battlefield.
1 The Locust God
CREATURES
1 Baral, Chief of Compliance
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Curious Homunculus
1 Goblin Electromancer
1 Mizzix of the Izmagnus
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Whirlpool Warrior
INSTANTS
1 Arcane Denial
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Delay
1 Dig Through Time
1 Disallow
1 Dream Fracture
1 Evacuation
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Force of Will
1 Frantic Search
1 High Tide
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Mana Drain
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Negate
1 Remand
1 Swan Song
1 Tolarian Winds
1 Whir of Invention
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Compulsive Research
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Personal Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Serum Visions
1 Time Reversal
1 Time Spiral
1 Timetwister
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Vandalblast
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Winds of Change
ARTIFACTS
1 Alhammarret's Archive
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Chrome Mox
1 Grim Monolith
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Izzet Signet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Diamond
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 As Foretold
1 Dream Halls
1 Imprisoned in the Moon
1 Jace's Sanctum
1 Mystic Remora
1 Omniscience
1 Rhystic Study
1 Shared Animosity
NONNBASIC LANDS
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wooded Foothills
BASIC LANDS
18 Island
2 Mountain
Cards I'd like to break but haven't found a way to yet - post up your recommendations!
Changelog:
2017-Aug-27
Added:
+1 Anger of the Gods - A solid hoser to Edric, Yisan, and the like. I worry heavily about the RR cost, however...
+1 Chrome Mox - I've been wanting to test this one for a while and finally feel we have the card advantage to support it without the drawback being too detrimental
+1 Curse of the Swine - Direct swap of one answer for another - out with a counterspell, in with perhaps the best creature removal in blue. Although our clock is fast and counterspells are aplenty, key problematic permanents will simply get through.
+1 Dig Through Time - Adding some Delve to see how I like it.
+1 Dream Halls - It's simply too good to be without. The combo potential enabled here (specifically, circumventing colored costs) is the best you can get for the cost. People think Mana Echoes is cool, but in a list with such severe color requirements, Dream Halls is the real combo king.
+1 Evacuation - One additional trick for dealing with hasty / swarming board positions.
+1 Imprisoned in the Moon - See description for Curse of the Swine; this card is probably the best single-target removal blue has for Commander (and, deals with indestructible, etc)
+2 Island
+1 Isochron Scepter - Yes, it's time.
+1 Mox Diamond
+1 Omniscience - See "Dream Halls" entry above
+1 Treasure Cruise - See "Dig Through Time" above
+1 Vandalblast - In my playgroup, reliance on artifacts for stax, mana production, and/or combo has increased recently, and this is a welcome inclusion.
Removed:
-1 Fabricate - At instant speed this would be close to auto-include, but at sorcery speed it's just a little too slow and expensive.
-1 Flusterstorm - I've removed a few counterspells in favor of more On-The-Battlefield removal
-1 Mana Echoes - Yes, the combo potential with The Locust God is definitely there. But, what does this actually offer us? This deck is already playing a number of cost-reducers, so our greatest mana-cost challenges are colors, not CMC values. Early game, Mana Echoes offers nothing on its own; and when we are about to win, it has an even bigger flaw - even when paired with Locust God, you still need a third card to make it truly "go off"! It looks great from a distance, but IMO the upside is too narrow (no colors) and the fact it still requires additional setup means it doesn't provide a fast and consistent win.
-1 Mindbreak Trap
-1 Monastery Siege
-1 Overwhelming Denial
-1 Pact of Negation
-1 Star Compass
-1 Stifle
-1 Strip Mine - Together with Wasteland, these just weren't needed enough to justify the lack of color production. Yes, producing colors is that important for us. There are no major land-reliant combos in my playgroup currently; or at least, none that aren't solved in other, fairly straightforward ways.
-1 Supreme Will
-1 Trickbind
-1 Turnabout
-1 Wasteland
+1 The Locust God
+1 Ashnod's Altar
+1 Fabricate
+1 Grim Monolith
+1 Mana Echoes
+1 Phyrexian Altar
+1 Shared Animosity
+1 Skullclamp
+1 Whir of Invention
-1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
-1 Dack Fayden
-1 Dissolve
-1 Dream Halls
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1 Omniscience
-1 Overwhelming Denial
-1 Temporal Manipulation
-1 Time Warp
UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R
Hour of Devastation Spoilers:
- Recent edits have focused strongly on cost-reducing cards, thus this will often be cast for 1U or just U. Not having UU in the cost immediately slots this up one peg for this reason. (This is also the reason there is a very high likelihood that Cryptic Command will be pulled out soon!)
- Digging four deep is very strong, but fatesealing the rest to the bottom-of-library is also great as we aren't stuck with what we have (as is the case with Sensei's Divining Top)
- This helps to guard against other early wins, while also digging deep in a fresh draw-7 when comboing off. Most counterspells are dead once we are comboing out; this lets us more reliably string together our crazy and chaotic wheel effects while also being a relevant answer earlier in the game.
- Although we have many answers, there is inevitably a tradeoff between having answers and speeding more quickly towards our own win condition... for most slots, the decision is an, "either, or" and we can't have our cake and eat it too. This manages to do both at once, and I hope future cards will do the same for us!
Although Wizards no longer gives us 2-cmc goodies, I really, really like that they are giving us so many cards with multiple options stapled on - this is PERFECT for a list like ours and I look forward to what this and future sets bring us. At this point, I'm thinking this would slot in nicely as a replacement for the recently-added Anticipate; definitely open to suggestions though!UR [PRIMER] Flash of the Firemind (Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind) RU
BG Death and Staxes: FireStorm4056's Competitive Meren Stax List GB
W Avacyn Angel of Hope W
R Akroma, Angel of (Your Opponent's) Fury R
R 99-Mountain Ashling R