Hello All! I know there are about a zillion Niv decks out there, most with the staple two-card Niv combos but some without. Here is my take on how to build this deck without them or any degenerate combos for that matter. I've been running this decklist (give or take a few cards) for a couple months now and have no intention of ever taking it apart although I'm sure like any decent deck it will continue to evolve. It's a lot of fun to play and it can be a lot of fun to play against as well, depending on the mood of whoever is piloting it. I'll run through the synopsis of the deck, the decklist, explanation of card choices and finally the notable exclusions. If you are interested in building a deck of this type I highly recommend Rowan's Niv Primer. As always, suggestions and constructive criticisms are welcome and encouraged.
Synopsis/Gameplan:
TLDR - Have flash with lots of spells in hand. Cast spells cheaper than intended. Win game.
Basically this deck is trying to do two things: maintain card advantage and be able to cast everything at instant speed for cheaper than it's CMC. There are so many ways to keep card advantage in these colors, so I've focused mostly on Wheel of Fortune effects but haven't been shy when it comes to one-shot cantrips either. I've also tried to keep it from relying on any particular card or cards to do this; more than anything else I don't want to "combo out". I put that in quotations because most of the times I win its at instant speed in reaction to someone else's big play, but the cards I use to do so vary wildly from game-to-game and I'm never just sitting on the cards waiting to win. It's always exciting and most of the time I don't know if I can actually pull off a win or not until it actually happens. This deck is also intentionally spell-heavy; there are definitely some creatures left out that are great draw engines but I felt spells were more on theme for the Izzet guildleader. I also have other EDH decks that revolve around creatures or permanents and I like all my decks to give me a distinctly different way to play Magic. When playing this deck, you can't be at all attached to your hand. Believe me, even if there is no direct benefit to wheeling your hand, I guarantee the more you do it the faster your hand will get to the size you need it to be to make Niv a monster.
Explanation of card choices:
While most of the cards in this list are pretty self explanatory, here are some reasons I've chosen a few of the less-obvious or powerful ones:
First of all, it's cheap. While Venser's Journal would provide enormous life gain and it allows me no max hand size rather than just skipping discard (for all you Jin-Gitaxias palyers out there), and Spellbook is a 2nd Reliquary Tower, what really makes this card the card for this slot how it lets you control your discards. With all the Wheel effects, keeping those one or two cards you need (or a counter, just in case) is gold. This card is often ignored until people see me keeping whatever I want while they are forced to pitch. Being able to put any of the cycling lands back on top, shuffle Tolaria West back in when you transmute it, line big spells up for Melek or set up a miracle is also pretty awesome. All for a one-time, one mana investment!
There are better cards out there to hard cast for these purposes, but miracling one of these usually costs me 1 mana and is all but guaranteed with Scroll Rack or Library of Leng out. Beyond miracling them, there is so much cost reduction in this deck I rarely hard cast these for more than 3 mana, usually I can cast them for 2.
Every time I play this card someone asks to read it not because it's complicated, but just because they've never heard of it. With a large hand size, there is almost always an extra land or some card I don't immediately need to shuffle back in, and drawing two on upkeep is very much worth it. Really shines when you get it under the Scepter.
This just went in last week when I found out Trade Secrets was banned so that I could play the deck legally. It's not a bad spell for the deck, but it'll be traded for Capsize when I can find another copy of it in the mess that is my MtG collection.
Ok, 1 mana for one card at instant speed is great in 60-card formats. In EDH, not so much. The buyback is really what makes this card a beast. Cost reduction is applied to buyback costs, so this card usually costs me 2 or 3 mana bought back (I've gotten it to free buyback more than once though). If all else fails, throw it under the Scepter and watch them blow it up over a medallion just because they see you actively using it. If worse comes to worse you can just draw a card for one mana and move on with your day. This card shines in this deck, but without the cost reduction theme it would definitely not be here.
Mind's Desire: Yes it does have Storm. No, I can't combo with it. This is just another way to cast things for cheaper than they were intended to be. You have to get a lot of spells going to make this worth it, but (I'm noticing a pattern here...) with all the mana reduction that's not very hard. In the end I usually end up getting 4 or more spells with this, and I never end up casting it for more than 3 or 4 mana.
I don't own a Force of Will or Pact of Negation. But I do own a foil Foil. Discarding for the alt casting cost is only a problem early in the game, and with the cost reduction theme of the deck this card turns into an old fashioned 2-blue counterspell very quickly. In it goes.
Again, the cost reduction of this deck can't be given enough value. Thoughtflare is both red and blue, which means it's twice as likely to be affected by a medallion. Even getting it to CMC 4 this card isn't bad, at less than 4 it's very good. Shattered Perception is included along the same vein; flashback is affected by cost reduction stuff so it's often a one-sided wheel twice in a row for 5 or less mana. With Niv on the field, that should be a win.
People don't like you to have flash. They will blow up your flash-enablers. This card lets you sneak that clutch play in when they least expect it. If worse comes to worse just cast it to cantrip at end of opponent's turn or save it for a cheap Foil or Commandeer. As always, the Scepter is your friend here.
6 is a lot to pay for a ramp card that's not doubling your mana. That being said, reducing costs is a big part of what makes this deck work so you gotta take it where you can get it. I sometimes switch this out for Semblance Anvil which also helps the mana curve a bit. I've tried Caged Sun and Gauntlets of Might in this slot, but they draw so much attention it's usually a dead play before I experience any real benefits. Strictly speaking Mana Matrix isn't as good as the doublers, but it tends to stay on the board which nets it more overall value in my opinion. On top of that, it pays for itself pretty quick when you have 24 instants and enchantments in the deck that can benefit from it.
Giving everyone the chance to play whatever's in their hands for a cheap alternate cost is a dangerous game. Not as dangerous as being the player at the table that can do it at instant speed though. This card is feels combo-ish, but the bottom line is that it really just allows you to cast things on the cheap which is on-theme with the deck. You can't win the game just by being able to do that, a seperate wincon on the battlefield (or better yet on the right place in the stack!) is still required. Usually with a decent number of cards in hand, if one of them is a wheel effect, Dream Halls is probably going to win the game for you. It's a new addition to the deck, so if I find that resolving it turns out to be "insta-win" then I'll probably take it out and replace it with Semblance Anvil or some other cost-reduction effect. I'll admit that casting Niv after he's been blown up multiple times by discarding some cheap draw spell does feel great though...
Not the best counterspells, but they're usually castable for just 1 mana, they cantrip, and most threatening (or annoying depending on what side of the table you're on) of all they can go under the Scepter.
Notable Exclusions:
You can’t fit every card in every deck, and here’s why I didn’t choose these ones.
There are some great card draw creatures out there. I chose not to include them in order to pack as many instants and sorceries as possible while still being efficient. Keeping permanent counts down is also to help enable Epic Experiment and to a lesser extent Mind’s Desire.
I tried to put as few counters in the deck as I could while still allowing me to protect myself. This deck is not trying to stop everyone else from doing stuff, so there was no need to go crazy here. I also tried to keep them all below 2CMC in order to make they were all Scepter-able. Muddle the Mixture, Trickbind and Flusterstorm have all made their way into this deck, but I found that their limitations kept me from casting them more that I liked. Spell Crumple made it in because there’s a good chance you’ll be able to cast it twice in a game, Forbid plays into the buyback/cost reduction synergy, and Foil is in because I don’t have a Pact or FoW. Counterspell got cut because I needed it more in another deck.
Thought Reflection: This used to be in the deck and was amazing with the wheel effects, but at 7 CMC it was taking up whole turns to cast and then getting blown up before I benefitted much. Obviously with a deck that draws so many cards no one is going to let you keep a Thought Reflection if they can stop it.
Omniscience: If I’m worried that Dream Halls might be too much “combo” for the deck, Omniscience is definitely out. I don’t want to be able to drop any single card and say “I win”.
Tutors: Again, I don’t want to rely on any single cards to make this deck function. There are a lot of cards in this deck that do basically the same thing, so it tends to be very consistent. I do have Tolaria West to dig up non-basics or to fix my mana (I run light on red sources), but other than that there is no way to find the card you want other than to dig for it. Well, cast Niv then dig for it.
Sensei’s Diving Top: Becomes irrelevant very quickly in this deck so I swapped it out for Scroll Rack and haven't looked back.
Time Stretch / Lighthouse Chronologist / Walk the Aeons, etc: When I originally made this deck, it was supposed to be a "time mage" deck. I quickly found that too many extra turn effects in became extremely degenerate, as is true for most blue-based decks. The worst part was that not only were my opponents not enjoying themselves, but it was so solitary I really wasn't either. If this were strictly a competitive deck you could bet these would be in here. Beacon was kept simply because it shuffles back in to the library, allowing me the option to abuse it if the game "gets that way". Usually I just use this as something to go for with Mind's Desire or Epic Experiment, or I just hold it in my hand until I can use it one time to end the game: throw it on the stack and pile up the hand cycling on top. Time Warp is strictly better for this purpose, but I only have 2 of those and they're both in other decks so in goes the expensive but reusable version.
Big "Draw X" Spells: These don't play nice with Mind's Desire, Epic Experiment or Dream Halls. Beyond that, I just didn't like the effect it had on the way I played the deck; I was always waiting on one of these to fill my hand before I really felt like I was playing. I did keep Blue Sun's Zenith since (you guessed it) it shuffles back in.
I’m very happy with this deck right now, I know it’s not perfect but it does have the right balance of casual and competitive for my playgroup. Any suggestions are very welcome!
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Hello All! I know there are about a zillion Niv decks out there, most with the staple two-card Niv combos but some without. Here is my take on how to build this deck without them or any degenerate combos for that matter. I've been running this decklist (give or take a few cards) for a couple months now and have no intention of ever taking it apart although I'm sure like any decent deck it will continue to evolve. It's a lot of fun to play and it can be a lot of fun to play against as well, depending on the mood of whoever is piloting it. I'll run through the synopsis of the deck, the decklist, explanation of card choices and finally the notable exclusions. If you are interested in building a deck of this type I highly recommend Rowan's Niv Primer. As always, suggestions and constructive criticisms are welcome and encouraged.
Synopsis/Gameplan:
TLDR - Have flash with lots of spells in hand. Cast spells cheaper than intended. Win game.
Basically this deck is trying to do two things: maintain card advantage and be able to cast everything at instant speed for cheaper than it's CMC. There are so many ways to keep card advantage in these colors, so I've focused mostly on Wheel of Fortune effects but haven't been shy when it comes to one-shot cantrips either. I've also tried to keep it from relying on any particular card or cards to do this; more than anything else I don't want to "combo out". I put that in quotations because most of the times I win its at instant speed in reaction to someone else's big play, but the cards I use to do so vary wildly from game-to-game and I'm never just sitting on the cards waiting to win. It's always exciting and most of the time I don't know if I can actually pull off a win or not until it actually happens. This deck is also intentionally spell-heavy; there are definitely some creatures left out that are great draw engines but I felt spells were more on theme for the Izzet guildleader. I also have other EDH decks that revolve around creatures or permanents and I like all my decks to give me a distinctly different way to play Magic. When playing this deck, you can't be at all attached to your hand. Believe me, even if there is no direct benefit to wheeling your hand, I guarantee the more you do it the faster your hand will get to the size you need it to be to make Niv a monster.
Decklists:
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Artifacts (11):
1 Elixir of Immortality (1)
1 Sol Ring (1)
1 Library of Leng (1)
1 Sapphire Medallion (2)
1 Ruby Medallion (2)
1 Isochron Scepter (2)
1 Scroll Rack (2)
1 Mind Stone (2)
1 Teferi's Puzzle Box (4)
1 Vedalken Orrey (4)
1 Mana Matrix (6)
Creatures (11):
1 Goblin Electromancer (2)
1 Jace's Archivist (3)
1 Whirlpool Warrior (3)
1 Laboratory Maniac (3)
1 Spellbound Dragon (5)
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir (5)
1 Hypersonic Dragon (5)
1 Psychosis Crawler (5)
1 Consecrated Sphinx (6)
1 Melek, Izzet Paragon (6)
1 Dragon Mage (7)
Enchantments (5):
1 Rhystic Study (3)
1 Leyline of Anticipation (4)
1 Dream Halls (5)
1 Mindmoil (5)
1 Arcane Melee (5)
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage (5)
Instants (21):
1 Visions of Beyond (1)
1 Brainstorm (1)
1 Quicken (1)
1 Whispers of the Muse (1)
1 High Tide (1)
1 Boomerang (2)
1 Lat-Nam's Legacy (2)
1 Remand (2)
1 Arcane Denial (2)
1 Forbid (3)
1 Cerebral Vortex (3)
1 Reiterate (3)
1 Spell Crumple (3)
1 Plagiarize (4)]
1 Foil (4)
1 Turnabout (4)
1 Evacuation (5)
1 Thoughtflare (5)
1 Commandeer (7)
1 Blue Sun's Zenith (X3)
Sorceries (16):
1 Winds of Change (1)
1 Shattered Perception (3)
1 Call to Mind (3)
1 Windfall (3)
1 Wheel of Fortune (3)
1 Molten Psyche (3)
1 Past in Flames (4)
1 Tidings (5)
1 Time Reversal (5)
1 Reforge the Soul (5)
1 Rush of Knowledge (5)
1 Devastation Tide (5)
1 Mind's Desire (6)
1 Recurring Insight (6)
1 Beacon of Tomorrows (8)
1 Epic Experiment (X2)
1 Tolaria West
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Terrain Generator
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Smoldering Crater
1 Command Tower
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Izzet Boilerworks
3 Mountains
21 Islands
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
1 Psychosis Crawler
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Beacon of Tomorrows
Mana Acceleration / Cost Reduction (13):
1 High Tide
1 Goblin Electromancer
1 Dream Halls
1 Arcane Melee
1 Sol Ring
1 Ruby Medallion
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Mind Stone
1 Turnabout
1 Mana Matrix
1 Epic Experiment
1 Mind's Desire
1 Terrain Generator
Flash (5):
1 Quicken
1 Vedalken Orrey
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Hypersonic Dragon
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Hand Cycling/Wheel Effects (12):
1 Winds of Change
1 Shattered Perception
1 Windfall
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Molten Psyche
1 Time Reversal
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Mindmoil
1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
1 Jace's Archivist
1 Whirlpool Warrior
1 Dragon Mage
1 Brainstorm
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Lat-Nam's Legacy
1 Cerebral Vortex
1 Plagiarize
1 Thoughtflare
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Tidings
1 Rush of Knowledge
1 Recurring Insight
1 Spellbound Dragon
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Scroll Rack
1 Rhystic Study
1 Library of Leng
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Tolaria West
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Smoldering Crater
Counters/Control (9):
1 Boomerang
1 Arcane Denial
1 Remand
1 Forbid
1 Spell Crumple
1 Foil
1 Evacuation
1 Commandeer
1 Devastation Tide
1 Call to Mind
1 Past in Flames
1 Elixir of Immortality
Spell Copying (3):
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Reiterate
1 Melek, Izzet Paragon
Explanation of card choices:
While most of the cards in this list are pretty self explanatory, here are some reasons I've chosen a few of the less-obvious or powerful ones:
Library of Leng:
Reforge the Soul / Devastation Tide:
Lat-Nam's Legacy:
Visions of Beyond:
Whispers of the Muse:
Mind's Desire: Yes it does have Storm. No, I can't combo with it. This is just another way to cast things for cheaper than they were intended to be. You have to get a lot of spells going to make this worth it, but (I'm noticing a pattern here...) with all the mana reduction that's not very hard. In the end I usually end up getting 4 or more spells with this, and I never end up casting it for more than 3 or 4 mana.
Foil:
Thoughtflare / Shattered Perception / Other semi-expensive spells:
Quicken:
Mana Matrix:
Dream Halls:
Remand / Arcane Denial:
Notable Exclusions:
You can’t fit every card in every deck, and here’s why I didn’t choose these ones.
Spellbound Dragon / Azami, Lady of Scrolls / Jin-Gitaxias / Nin, the Pain Artist, etc:
There are some great card draw creatures out there. I chose not to include them in order to pack as many instants and sorceries as possible while still being efficient. Keeping permanent counts down is also to help enable Epic Experiment and to a lesser extent Mind’s Desire.
Counterspell / Pact of Negation / Force of Will / having a million counters:
I tried to put as few counters in the deck as I could while still allowing me to protect myself. This deck is not trying to stop everyone else from doing stuff, so there was no need to go crazy here. I also tried to keep them all below 2CMC in order to make they were all Scepter-able. Muddle the Mixture, Trickbind and Flusterstorm have all made their way into this deck, but I found that their limitations kept me from casting them more that I liked. Spell Crumple made it in because there’s a good chance you’ll be able to cast it twice in a game, Forbid plays into the buyback/cost reduction synergy, and Foil is in because I don’t have a Pact or FoW. Counterspell got cut because I needed it more in another deck.
Thought Reflection: This used to be in the deck and was amazing with the wheel effects, but at 7 CMC it was taking up whole turns to cast and then getting blown up before I benefitted much. Obviously with a deck that draws so many cards no one is going to let you keep a Thought Reflection if they can stop it.
Omniscience: If I’m worried that Dream Halls might be too much “combo” for the deck, Omniscience is definitely out. I don’t want to be able to drop any single card and say “I win”.
Tutors: Again, I don’t want to rely on any single cards to make this deck function. There are a lot of cards in this deck that do basically the same thing, so it tends to be very consistent. I do have Tolaria West to dig up non-basics or to fix my mana (I run light on red sources), but other than that there is no way to find the card you want other than to dig for it. Well, cast Niv then dig for it.
Sensei’s Diving Top: Becomes irrelevant very quickly in this deck so I swapped it out for Scroll Rack and haven't looked back.
Time Stretch / Lighthouse Chronologist / Walk the Aeons, etc: When I originally made this deck, it was supposed to be a "time mage" deck. I quickly found that too many extra turn effects in became extremely degenerate, as is true for most blue-based decks. The worst part was that not only were my opponents not enjoying themselves, but it was so solitary I really wasn't either. If this were strictly a competitive deck you could bet these would be in here. Beacon was kept simply because it shuffles back in to the library, allowing me the option to abuse it if the game "gets that way". Usually I just use this as something to go for with Mind's Desire or Epic Experiment, or I just hold it in my hand until I can use it one time to end the game: throw it on the stack and pile up the hand cycling on top. Time Warp is strictly better for this purpose, but I only have 2 of those and they're both in other decks so in goes the expensive but reusable version.
Big "Draw X" Spells: These don't play nice with Mind's Desire, Epic Experiment or Dream Halls. Beyond that, I just didn't like the effect it had on the way I played the deck; I was always waiting on one of these to fill my hand before I really felt like I was playing. I did keep Blue Sun's Zenith since (you guessed it) it shuffles back in.
I’m very happy with this deck right now, I know it’s not perfect but it does have the right balance of casual and competitive for my playgroup. Any suggestions are very welcome!
URNiv-Mizzet the Firemind
WUBRGSliver Queen leads the Planewalkers