Izzet League: My local store decided to host an EDH League with an idea that you buy a pre-con and enter the tournament played in 3-5 man pods. First week you can change cards for total of $5, second week $10, third $20 etc. Cost is based on TCG mid-price and following is applied to bulk prices: Commons - $0.25, Uncommons - $0.50, Rares - $1.00, Mythics - $2.00. Infinite combos are banned. There are three games per week.
History of the deck: Well, there is not much history. I am a blue control player in a depths of my heart. As such, I had two choices to play in the league (mentioned above) - Mizzix and Ezuri, Claw of Progress (and Arjun, the Shifting Flame or Kaseto, Orochi Archmage whom I dislike). Ezuri is too creature-centric for me, so the choice was quite obvious. Now, people often compare Mizzix to Melek, Izzet Paragon and say that former is probably a better option. I strongly disagree, but I'll talk about it more in later sections. I can compare Mizzix to a cup that you fill with liquid and once the cup is full, liquid starts to spill everywhere around it. Mizzix is the same in a sense that you fill her experience counters and once you have four or five, things start to snowball and there is usually no coming back for other players. So beware of the decks power. It might be overwhelming for the rest of the playgroup.
Why would you want to play Mizzix:
[-] You are a control player that loves playing instants and sorceries, stealing permanents, scheming, cheating, etc. Mob Rule.
[-] You want your deck to become more and more powerful with time as the game progresses. Power Sink.
[-] You love drawing your whole deck and winning with one card left in a library. Last Word.
[-] You like to experiment with your deck, play spells that may be not that good on their own but are amazing in conjunction with your general or game plan. Epic Experiment.
[-] You like constantly tinkering your deck. Shifting from one powerful option to another. Laboratory Maniac.
[-] You like playing things for free. Casting spells even when you tapped out and seem to be unable to respond. Sudden Impact.
[-] Finally, you love winning. Destroying everyone who stands in a way. In a vain and temperamental fashion. Decree of Annihilation.
Why would you not want to play Mizzix: (can't think about a good reason but here are some bad ones)
[-] You are an agro player, who hates counterspells, instants and everything that is blue. Warbringer.
[-] You are a midrange player who loves rhinos, angels and ETB creatures in general. Survival of the Fittest.
[-] You love to ramp with green little spells. You have a sense of accomplishment if you get more than one land a turn into play. Unnatural Speed.
[-] You have an aversion to combo from your childhood, when you lost that Street Fighter match to Bison comboing you off. Mindless Null.
[-] Finally, you might be a secret spy of Selesnya, law-abiding citizen of Golgari, war-trumping Orzhov goblin, mutant snake from Rakdos, Simic giant from a local hill, Boros necromancer, Gruul evil spirit, Azorius blood-thirsty demon or Dimir plant. If so, you'll Vanish into Memory.
Instants (32):
28 Act of Aggression
29 Arcane Denial
30 Blue Sun's Zenith
31 Brainstorm
32 Comet Storm
33 Commandeer
34 Cyclonic Rift
35 Desperate Ravings
36 Desperate Ritual
37 Dig Through Time
38 Fact or Fiction
39 Force of Will
40 Frantic Search
41 Gush
42 High Tide
43 Impulse
44 Intuition
45 Mana Drain
46 Mystic Confluence
47 Mystical Tutor
48 Pact of Negation
49 Read the Runes
50 Reiterate
51 Remand
52 Repeal
53 Reset
54 Spell Burst
55 Spell Pierce
56 Stroke of Genius
57 Swan Song
58 Thirst for Knowledge
59 Turnabout
Artifacts (12):
60 Chrome Mox
61 Everflowing Chalice
62 Grim Monolith
63 Lion's Eye Diamond
64 Mana Crypt
65 Mana Vault
66 Mind Stone
67 Mox Diamond
68 Mox Opal
69 Sensei's Divining Top
70 Sol Ring
71 Thought Vessel
Non-basic lands (17):
71 Ancient Tomb
72 Arid Mesa
73 Bloodstained Mire
74 City of Brass
75 Command Beacon
76 Command Tower
77 Flood Strain
78 Mana Confluence
79 Misty Rainforest
80 Polluted Delta
81 Reliquary Tower
82 Scalding Tarn
83 Shivan Reef
84 Steam Vents
85 Sulfur Falls
86 Volcanic Island
87 Wooded Foothills
General explanation:
Deck had a lot of fun creatures that do not have any synergy with a general. Some spells were pretty bad and all of the enchantments had to go. Instead we put cheap card draw, card selection, spells recursion and a few card draw creatures to balance lack of them in the first weeks. Mulldrifter and Azami did not impress me and we'll remove them later after we fix other immediate problems. 34 lands is enough for our deck, by the way.
Out:
1 Gigantoplasm - cool clone, but worse than Phyrexian Metamorph or Clever Impersonator. We already have Rite of Replication if we want to copy something.
2 Broodbirth Viper - the idea is cool, but he doesn't have an ETB effect or any evasion.
3 Arjun, the Shifting Flame - I actually like the card, but you need to build around him and that's not a plan for now.
4 Sleep - not in EDH, please.
5 Call the Skybreaker - nothing to be excited about, too expensive, too.
6 Blustersquall - same as sleep.
7 Ætherize - doesn't hit creatures that don't attack.
8 Worn Powerstone - comes into play tapped and ramps into 6, while we need to ramp into 4.
9 Seal of the Guildpact - Gilded Lotus would be so much better. I prefer Hedron Archive, though.
10 Awaken the Sky Tyrant - no comments here. Waste of a card. Sky Tyrant it is not.
11 Rite of the Raging Storm - rage of the too much text to do a huge nothing.
12 Thought Reflection - the only reasonable enchantment, but too expensive for my taste.
13 Rogue's Passage - do not need this, our creatures are not here to kill anyone.
14 Spinerock Knoll - comes tapped and I prefer to avoid tapped lands as much as possible.
15 Izzet Boilerworks - from my vast EDH experience - do not ever play bounce lands, ever! Unless you love getting behind and losing two turns to Acidic Slime, Strip Mine or Scour from Existence.
16 Mountain - excess lands.
17 Mountain - excess lands 2.
In:
1 Commander's Sphere - an easy include. Draws a card when destroyed, which is huge. Sometimes you sacrifice it just to cycle.
2 Mulldrifter - draws two and that's pretty much it. Remember that you can get experience counter from opponent's Meren if you evoke it!
3 Essence Backlash - a very solid counter-burn, usually for UR mana. Shines late game.
4 Sea Gate Oracle - an bear that digs two cards deep. Nothing to be excited about.
5 Mnemonic Wall - recursion creature number 1.
6 Trinket Mage - searches for Sol Ring. And nothing else matters...
7 Izzet Chronarch - recursion creature number 2.
8 Archaeomancer - recursion creature number 3.
9 Azami, Lady of Scrolls - love this card but it was hugely unimpressive. Looks like we don't need her. Still she is good enough to stay for now.
10 Frantic Search - all star addition! There are so many tricks you can do with this card. Usually, you are going to untap three lands for U, then play something that people didn't expect because they saw only one U open.
11 Repulse - one of my favorite cards in EDH. Wins games by messing up plans both in attack and defence. Bounces your general or other creatures when needed.
12 Telling Time - a cheap solid card selection.
13 Murmurs from Beyond - maybe we are going to enter Arcane mode (or even Arcade!) with Desperate Ritual. Mostly works like Thirst for Knowledge.
14 Peer Through Depths - another arcane spell, but less impressive.
15 Spiraling Embers - all star number 2! One of the main win cons. Draw 15 with Stroke of Genius EOT. Untap and kill.
16 Deep Analysis - all of the flashback spells excel in this deck. Draw 4 for UU and 3 life. Not bad, huh?
17 Treasure Cruise - does what it does and with a high enough mana cost almost always gives you an experience counter.
What happened was very much what you might expect. Deck was failing but the pilot managed to achieve victory regardless. So let's describe it in details:
I was in a three-man pod with another Mizzix of the Izmagnus and Meren of Clan Nel Toth. I hate playing three players pods because it is usually 2vs1. Luckily it wasn't the case this week, though. Obviously, player on my left won the roll, so I started last.
Meren deck started with Sol Ring turn 1, which was ... promptly killed by another Mizzix player with Vandalblast. Meanwhile, I played land, land, cantrip, land, desperate ravings, land and... . At this point, I was holding Faithless Looting and had a choice to cast my general with no mana open or pass with Magmaquake, draw into a land and play Looting. I chose the second option, killed opponent's Mizzix and two small creatures from Meren. Then I played my general, cast Looting, got an experience counter. That's when things went sideways...
Second Mizzix ramped from 5 to 7 with Temple of the False God and cast Thought Reflection which I have no way to deal with. Meren killed our general and played Skullclamp. Those two cards haunted me for the rest of the game. Especially, after I missed a couple of land drops and was forced to cast Commander's Sphere and defend the board position with cards like Meteor Blast and Repeal. I stole Thought Reflection at some point with Word of Seizing to replenish hand with flashbacked Faithless Looting. I used Windfall, too. Meren player was bashing the other with Mycoloth, Meren was online and Thought Reflection was still drawing million cards, just not for me. I managed to sneak my general into play and protect it with Counterflux.
Finally, I got a break. Mizzix's player tapped out after casting some removal on Meren and played Charmbreaker Devils. I played Dominate on it end of turn. Untapped, drew into Epic Experiment, cast it, did stuff and killed Mizzix player with his own 24/4 creature. Boom! My experience counter clock suddenly grew to 6. Next turn I managed to play end of turn Stroke of Genius for 11. Untapped, played Reins of Power, attacked and killed with Spiraling Embers for 20 or something.
1:0!!! First blood!!!
Game 2 was played on another occasion. I faced Ezuri, Claw of Progress, another Mizzix and Meren. The game was going back and forth. With Meren player having a million experience counters and blowing up my island with his Acidic Slime. It was super annoying, because most of my spells require blue and I was stuck with two islands. Eventually, I figured out the situation. My general died two times early so I waited out opponents and played a control game. I managed to sneak in my general and she went unnoticed for a turn. Then, when everyone was tapped out, I stole Psychosis Crawler EOT. Untapped, played my Crawler and proceeded to draw 9 with Stroke of Genius, then another 10 with Blue Sun's Zenith into Windfall.
2:0 !!
Third game was played immediately after the second one. One of the players changed - another Ezuri came in for Mizzix. It actually changed a lot in the balance of power, because soon enough "new Ezuri" and Meren teamed up against me.
I started with Island and Brainstorm ... which was countered by Stubborn Denial. Why? Who knows. But that was really annoying. Few more lands and I had a chance to retaliate. All other players played their general on turn 4. EOT, if cast Desperate Ravings. And ... randomly discarded Blatant Thievery. Untapped, played land and Mizzix's Mastery on Blatant Thievery to steal Island, Ezuri (of the guy who countered my spell) and Meren (of the guy who conspired against me for the second game in a row). So turn four, I had two generals in play. And they weren't even mine! After that Ezuri player started to counter everything I did, while I was bashing him with his own Ezuri. Meren player was giving him counters back with Skullwinder. A few turns later, I managed to cast Melek, Izzet Paragon with three lands untapped and revealed Repulse on top of my deck. That allowed me to cast Repulse on the only two creatures that Meren had in play and Ezuri player 2 (the one who didn't bother me and managed to build an army) attacked him for something around 30 and Meren died promptly. Ezuri enemy player had to switch his focus and Melek started to do his work by doubling my hand size and fending off armies on both sides. I stole Cold-Eyed Selkie with 12 counters on it, cast Psychosis Crawler, attack with Selkie and deal 26 damage (13 Selkie, 13 Crawler). Brainstorm finished off Ezuri-counterspell-guy. A second later, I was killing the last remaining Ezuri with his own Selkie. Selkie for the win!
3:0 was the result of first week.
+ Deck can win literally "out of nowhere".
+ Try to save counterspells for the late game.
+ Card draw is obviously excellent in the deck.
+ Judo style. Stealing creatures is a great way to kill your opponents. Use their own energy to cause them damage.
- Enchantments are almost impossible to deal with when resolved.
- We need more rocks and ramp.
- Deck is actually low on counterspells.
- Some pre-con cards are still dead, like Warchief Giant and Dragon Mage.
- We need graveyard hate like Harley needs Davidson. Maybe Tormod's Crypt or Relic of Progenitus?
In a second week I decided to concentrate changes on mana-base and mana-rocks. I introduced additional uncommons and a few counterspells. Rest of the problematic cards was removed, so now my deck looks more or less consistent in what it wants to do and future changes will only improve on a general idea of playing a control/counter-burn deck.
Out:
1 Dragon Mage - while Dragons are nice and appreciated, his ability usually helps opponents more than it helps us. He is expensive, too.
2 Mirror Match - nice card, but for now I didn't see that many ETB creature to warrant it's inclusion.
3 Warchief Giant - a beatdown creature that doesn't fit our strategy.
4 Stolen Goods - random card that doesn't do much.
5 Lone Revenant - I like revenant in this deck, because we don't play many creatures. Still, he is not impacting board that much.
6 Prophetic Bolt - costs too much for a burn spell. Not a fan of this card.
7 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer - cascade into x-spells or counterspells is a nonbo.
8 Island - excess basic 1.
9 Island - excess basic 2.
10 Mountain - excess basic 3.
11 Mountain - excess basic 4.
12 Vivid Crag - vivid lands are nothing to be excited about.
13 Mnemonic Wall - I realized that I've put too many recursion creatures so I cut one this week and I'll probably cut one next week.
14 Peer Through Depths - too random for now. Might come back if I decide to go Arcane route.
15 Blatant Thievery - it's a nice spell, but a little overcosted and it creates 3 enemies at the same time, while we want to fly under radar.
In:
1 Thirst for Knowledge - one of my favorite draw spells, now featuring "draw 3, discard 1 for U".
2 Mindswipe - counter-burn continued.
3 Tezzeret's Gambit - all-star card #3! Draw two for 2 life and 1 mana, boost experience counters by two. Proliferate does fantastic work with experience counters.
4 Arcane Denial - my favorite counterspell ever printed.
5 Talent of the Telepath - that card failed me in the match, but in general it might be a blast form the past if we hit Tooth and Nail or Recurring Insight.
6 Mind Stone - solid rock that draws a card. Ideal for this deck.
7 Wayfarer's Bauble - just a rampant growth that you can search for with Trinket Mage.
8 Lonely Sandbar - cycle-land #1 to fight floods.
9 Forgotten Cave - cycle-land #2.
10 Myriad Landscape - ramp-land! Our Krosan Verge in this colors.
11 Halimar Depths - card selection land.
12 Shivan Reef - some painland action.
13 Scour from Existence - all star #4! Reads as: "Exile a permanent for 1, add an experience counter".
14 Izzet Staticaster - was put in there to fight saproling tokens from Mycoloth or Thrummingbird. Nothing special.
15 Hedron Archive - probably not needed. Our Gilded Lotus for now.
It was probably the best game I've played so far. My opponents were playing Meren, Kalemne and another Mizzix. The game was heavily influenced by Meren deck being unable to compete because he built his deck with too many big creatures and was stuck on 5 lands.
Kalemne started fast with Urza's Incubator and Giant beaters. It spread damage between all players. I countered [card]Inferno Titan
[/card] to protect my general, who died regardless to Urza's Rage. I used Chain Reaction and Magmaquake to keep everyone in the game. Then, I managed to steal Meren with Dominate EOT. Untap with Meren and evoke Mulldrifter to get an experience counter. Then I blocked with my Archaeomancer and Jace's Archivist for more counters! I got to four exp counters and returned Archaeomancer!
The game was going back and forth. Opponent's generals died while I ramped with mana-rocks. When I ran out of playable cards, I would sacrifice Mind Stone and Commander's Sphere to replenish hand. My [card]Talent of the Telepath
[/card] against Mizzix player did a huge nothing, but timely Blue Sun's Zenith replenished hand again. Somewhere in between I got to 8 exp counters. Finally, Mizzix player was forced to tap out, I copied Kalemne with Rite of Replication and protected it with Counterflux to kill Mizzix player next turn. I used Reins of Power to nullify two combat phases by Giant tribal player. Drew my Blue Sun's Zenith again into Stroke of Genius to finish the struggle with Spiraling Embers. When we finished the game, I had only 5 cards left in my library! Epic battle was over...
4:0 in games so far.
The second game of that week was less entertaining but showed the full power of the deck. My opponents were two Ezuri decks.
I played Mind Stone turn 2, my general turn 3. Brainstorm, Frantic Search and Tezzeret's Gambit happened to boost my experience to 4. Next turn, I played Talrand, Sky Summoner and started to chain spells. Soon enough, I had army of 13 drakes and by turn 8 both opponents were dead. Flawless victory!
5:0 !
Game 3 was a 5-player against Kalemne, Ezuri, Kaseto, Orochi Archmage and another Mizzix. I started with Mind Stone and Mizzix turn 3, but she died immediately to Flametongue Kavu. I replayed her turn 5 and she died again. That's when I switched to control mode and carefully tried to make friends without making enemies. I stole Tarland but a whole board was reset. Kalemne started a war with Ezuri, who in turn tried to kill Kaseto. I used all of the confusion to slowly build up, not missing land drops and adding mana rocks, until I felt fairly secure to proceed with more action-packed plays. Kaseto was slayed and we had four players left.
I rebuilt my hand with flashback spells, cast general, Mizzix's Mastery to gain even more advantage with cards like Scour from Existence or Treasure Cruise in a graveyard to boost experience counters 8. Finally, I killed Ezuri player with Spiraling Embers for 15. Two other players died to stolen Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas who combined with my counters was 11 double strike which means he killed in one-shot.
6:0 !!!
+ This deck is flexible and you need to know when to attack, defend, play control, sit quietly, save someone. You need to switch between this modes flawlessly and your deck has all of the right tools to do that.
+ Stealing opponents generals is great because you can use your experience counters with their general. Ezuri, Meren and Kalemne - they all help as if they are your second and third general.
+ Proliferate is fantastic with experience counters!
+ Always try to leave untapped mana and do stuff EOT of the last opponent before your turn.
+ Practice your EDH judo a lot and you will achieve thousand victories!
- Still no graveyard hate. Need to figure out an answer here.
- Not much you can about Island hate like Tsunami. Counter it if you can.
- Fliers are somewhat problematic.
This is the first week of slow transformation of the deck into a Storm shell. With budget limits - it's going to take a while. I was also initially going to put Reiterate but there was unexpected spike in its value. I will also add Repercussion next week to combo with Blasphemous Act. Considering original Niv-Mizzet.
Out:
1 Hedron Archive - it appears that we don't need to ramp too much with this deck.
2 Azami, Lady of Scrolls - one of the best cards in EDH, but not a greatest fit for this deck.
3 Goblin Electromancer - seems to do the same thing as our general, but we don't need redundancy in this department.
4 Chain Reaction - a little slow and conditional.
5 Urza's Rage - nothing to be impressed by with this card.
6 Commander's Sphere - we are trying to ramp into 4 and 6, not 5.
7 Vandalblast - sorcery speed hurts, but this is more like a trial between this and Shattering Pulse.
8 Sea Gate Oracle - another card that was better on paper than in testing.
9 Mulldrifter - same as above.
10 Izzet Chronarch - we haveArchaeomancer and Mystic Retrieval to do the same thing for less mana.
11 Jace's Archivist - usually we have more card advantage than our opponents so no reason to help them.
12 Charmbreaker Devils - nothing feels worse than dying to your own Charmbreaker being stolen by another Mizzix player.
13 Wayfarer's Bauble - testing Everflowing Chalice instead.
14 Talent of the Telepath - did not work in Ezuri-Meren metagame.
15 Essence Backlash - testing Exclude instead.
16 Meteor Blast - we already have Mizzium Mortars.
17 Izzet Staticaster - was not good enough in this metagame[/card].
In:
1 Volcanic Fallout - uncounterable slayer of Ezuri's armies and opponent's Mizzix.
2 Fabricate - sol ring tutor, I will add more artifacts in a near future.
3 Guttersnipe - auto-include with our gameplan.
4 Blasphemous Act - improving on Meteor Blast and preparing for Repercussion combo.
5 Izzet Charm - versatile cards are always my favorites.
6 Mystical Tutor - a new all-star addition.
7 Quicken - we play a lot of sorceries and it always provides a surprise factor.
8 Capsize - all-star addition #2.
9 Everflowing Chalice - it will shine in a Storm shell.
10 Learn from the Past - graveyard hate or saving half of your library from being exiled.
11 Ponder - brother of Preordain.
12 Turnabout - all-star addition #3.
13 High Tide all-star addition #4.
14 Exclude - better than Backlash probably.
15 Gush - protects islands from Acidic Slime and Tsunami. Lol.
16 Shattering Pulse - testing this over Vandalblast.
17 Recurring Insight - one of the best spells to draw cards, even better if we can get 2 experience counters from it.
That was a game where I've got manascrewed by my own spells. Desperate Ravings made me discard a land twice. So I was stuck in a limbo, while Ezuri and Mizzix destroyed each other. Mizzix fell in the end. In time for me to comeback and lock the game down with Capsize.
7:0!!
A game where I got manascrewed again. This time Meren was added to a mix, but it concentrated on fighting a second Mizzix. I came back into the game to cast Mizzix, flashback Deep Analysis and ... Mizzix died to Putrefy. Then I tried Talrand plan ... with the same success. I got Mizzix again and managed to elevate number of experience counters to 4. She died again. I proliferated with Tezzeret's Gambit to five. Killed other Mizzix and half of the board with Volcanic Fallout. Cast Mizzix third time and Epic Experiment into Turnabout. It was easier from now on. I ended up winning with 80 cards in my graveyard, casting Mizzix's Mastery.
8:0!!! Still on a roll....
Game 3 of this week was very eventful. Unfortunately, details of it were lost to historians. The only recollection from this game is a fact that I drew 20 cards, stole Ezuri and slayed everyone.
9:0 it was indeed.
+ You can come back from being manascrewed as long as you don't antagonize people and try to proactively prevent their attacks.
+ Turnabout, Mystical Tutor and High Tide are letting this deck advance to a next next level.
+ Play spells with a great care. Knowing when to cast and when not is what matters the most when playing this deck.
+ Don't let players convince other players that you are the biggest threat. You are, but they don't have to know.
- There is not much you can about being manascrewed, except drawing into more lands. At least we have all of the Preordain and Ponders possible.
- The deck is a little low on ground troops but that's how we built it. Thinking about including Silent Arbiter.
- Graveyards are still problematic!
I did not play any games with Mizzix in a fourth week due to perceived complaints that I received from my playgroup. Instead I sleeved a Mazirek deck that destroyed everyone regardless of me not playing blue. It was boring so next week I returned with Mizzix.
Like I stated above, people were complaining a little bit (not like I care much), so I decided to not go with a storm Brain Freeze, Grapeshot, Empty the Warrens, Temporal Fissure plan. Instead, we'll try to make Dragonstorm work. Dragons don't work very well with Mizzix herself, but ... at this point deck is tuned so they don't disrupt it too much and huge flyers are not bad in general. Niv easily replaced Psychosis Crawler so we still have powerful options to win.
As expected, the deck worked excellently even after changing to Dragonstorm plan. This game was slow, though. I ramped a lot, played spells and ended up with 3 experience counters, 11 mana from lands and rocks, 5 lands in my hand, Commandeer and Swan Song. I promptly "commandeered" Epic Experiment of another Mizzix for the win with Temporal Mastery, drawing 26 with Stroke of Genius and finishing with Spiral Embers played twice.
10:0 in games.
Game 2 was a brutal display of what this deck became. Dragonstorm turn 5 turned into a slaughter of my two opponents (Mizzix and Ezuri). There was no salvation for them.
11:0 continuing amazing run with a deck.
There was no third game that week.
+ Dragonstorm is awesome!
+ Commandeering spells is another way to win. Judo style rules!
+ My league opponents are light years behind in terms of developing their decks. Some of them run Spidersilk Armor when I run Niv-Mizzet.
+ While our land count is low, we rarely suffer from being mana-screwed.
+ Always count your storm, just to scare people.
- I removed all of the cards to steal creatures that steal creatures. There might be a blowback.
- Dragons are clunky when you have to hardcast them.
- Sometimes you just don't have a card draw and sit waiting to draw it.
Comments or proposals of changes are appreciated! I have a general idea of where this deck wants to go, but I will also listen to advice and follow community ideas! Then test them in EDH league!
I have divined your fate. You shall find your nemesis, a catastrophic clash. Devastation, misery for all, the unleashing of horrible curses and ferocious powers. Ruin, such ruin that I dream each night of blessed peace, assured that the universe is in balance once more...
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Final Version of the deck:
1 Laboratory Maniac
2 Trinket Mage
Sorceries (25):
3 Beacon of Tomorrows
4 Deep Analysis
5 Enter the Infinite
6 Fabricate
7 Faithless Looting
8 Gamble
9 Gitaxian Probe
10 Grapeshot
11 Merchant Scroll
12 Mind's Desire
13 Mizzix's Mastery
14 Mystic Retrieval
15 Past in Flames
16 Personal Tutor
17 Ponder
18 Preordain
19 Reforge the Soul
20 Recurring Insight
21 Rite of Replication
22 Spiraling Embers
23 Temporal Mastery
24 Tezzeret's Gambit
25 Time Spiral
26 Vandalblast
27 Wheel of Fortune
Instants (32):
28 Act of Aggression
29 Arcane Denial
30 Blue Sun's Zenith
31 Brainstorm
32 Comet Storm
33 Commandeer
34 Cyclonic Rift
35 Desperate Ravings
36 Desperate Ritual
37 Dig Through Time
38 Fact or Fiction
39 Force of Will
40 Frantic Search
41 Gush
42 High Tide
43 Impulse
44 Intuition
45 Mana Drain
46 Mystic Confluence
47 Mystical Tutor
48 Pact of Negation
49 Read the Runes
50 Reiterate
51 Remand
52 Repeal
53 Reset
54 Spell Burst
55 Spell Pierce
56 Stroke of Genius
57 Swan Song
58 Thirst for Knowledge
59 Turnabout
60 Chrome Mox
61 Everflowing Chalice
62 Grim Monolith
63 Lion's Eye Diamond
64 Mana Crypt
65 Mana Vault
66 Mind Stone
67 Mox Diamond
68 Mox Opal
69 Sensei's Divining Top
70 Sol Ring
71 Thought Vessel
Non-basic lands (17):
71 Ancient Tomb
72 Arid Mesa
73 Bloodstained Mire
74 City of Brass
75 Command Beacon
76 Command Tower
77 Flood Strain
78 Mana Confluence
79 Misty Rainforest
80 Polluted Delta
81 Reliquary Tower
82 Scalding Tarn
83 Shivan Reef
84 Steam Vents
85 Sulfur Falls
86 Volcanic Island
87 Wooded Foothills
Basic lands (11):
9 Island
2 Mountain
[quote]Card choices explained:
Laboratory Maniac - combos with Enter the Infinite obviously. Also, we have games where we just draw a whole deck with Stroke of Genius or Blue Sun'z Zenith.
Trinket Mage - "Tutor Mage" searches for most of the rocks or Top.
Sorceries:
Beacon of Tomorrows - backup plan if Laboratory Maniac somehow fails (dies, gets exiled).
Deep Analysis - usually this card says "Draw four for two blue and two life. Get an experience counter or two". It also works well if discarded.
Enter the Infinite - one of our most important cards. After casting it - we have a few ways to finish the game like Laboratory Maniac, Beacon of Tomorrows, Spiraling Embers.
Fabricate - tutors for rocks.
Faithless Looting - pretty good in our deck even if don't play reanimator.
Gamble - it is what it is. A little bit of excitement.
Gitaxian Probe - getting a free experience counter is always a positive thing. We use to storm, too.
Grapeshot - storm wincon.
Merchant Scroll - counter or card-draw tutor.
Mind's Desire - goes quickly through your deck. Might randomly fetch Sundering Titan or Black Lotus if you shuffle well enough.
Mizzix's Mastery - the best card printed in Commander 2015 except Mizzix herself, of course.
Mystic Retrieval - our cheaper version of Greenwarden of Murasa.
Past in Flames - our red Yawgmoth's Will.
Personal Tutor - tutors for different wincons and that's all you need to know.
Ponder - cousin of Preordain.
Preordain - cousin of Ponder.
Reforge the Soul - Wheel of Fortune backup plan.
Recurring Insight - one of the best card draw spells ever printed. Usually nets about 10 cards.
21 Rite of Replication
22 Spiraling Embers
23 Temporal Mastery
24 Tezzeret's Gambit
25 Time Spiral
26 Vandalblast
27 Wheel of Fortune
Instants (32):
28 Act of Aggression
29 Arcane Denial
30 Blue Sun's Zenith
31 Brainstorm
32 Comet Storm
33 Commandeer
34 Cyclonic Rift
35 Desperate Ravings
36 Desperate Ritual
37 Dig Through Time
38 Fact or Fiction
39 Force of Will
40 Frantic Search
41 Gush
42 High Tide
43 Impulse
44 Intuition
45 Mana Drain
46 Mystic Confluence
47 Mystical Tutor
48 Pact of Negation
49 Read the Runes
50 Reiterate
51 Remand
52 Repeal
53 Reset
54 Spell Burst
55 Spell Pierce
56 Stroke of Genius
57 Swan Song
58 Thirst for Knowledge
59 Turnabout
Artifacts (12):
60 Chrome Mox
61 Everflowing Chalice
62 Grim Monolith
63 Lion's Eye Diamond
64 Mana Crypt
65 Mana Vault
66 Mind Stone
67 Mox Diamond
68 Mox Opal
69 Sensei's Divining Top
70 Sol Ring
71 Thought Vessel
Non-basic lands (17):
71 Ancient Tomb
72 Arid Mesa
73 Bloodstained Mire
74 City of Brass
75 Command Beacon
76 Command Tower
77 Flood Strain
78 Mana Confluence
79 Misty Rainforest
80 Polluted Delta
81 Reliquary Tower
82 Scalding Tarn
83 Shivan Reef
84 Steam Vents
85 Sulfur Falls
86 Volcanic Island
87 Wooded Foothills
Basic lands (11):
9 Island
2 Mountain
1st week - changes:
2 Broodbirth Viper
3 Arjun, the Shifting Flame
4 Sleep
5 Call the Skybreaker
6 Blustersquall
7 Ætherize
8 Worn Powerstone
9 Seal of the Guildpact
10 Awaken the Sky Tyrant
11 Rite of the Raging Storm
12 Thought Reflection
13 Rogue's Passage
14 Spinerock Knoll
15 Izzet Boilerworks
16 Mountain
17 Mountain
2 Mulldrifter ($0.25)
3 Essence Backlash ($0.25)
4 Sea Gate Oracle ($0.25)
5 Mnemonic Wall ($0.25)
6 Trinket Mage ($0.25)
7 Izzet Chronarch ($0.25)
8 Archaeomancer ($0.25)
9 Azami, Lady of Scrolls ($1.00)
10 Frantic Search ($0.25)
11 Repulse ($0.25)
12 Telling Time ($0.25)
13 Murmurs from Beyond ($0.25)
14 Peer Through Depths ($0.25)
15 Spiraling Embers ($0.25)
16 Deep Analysis ($0.25)
17 Treasure Cruise ($0.25)
General explanation:
Deck had a lot of fun creatures that do not have any synergy with a general. Some spells were pretty bad and all of the enchantments had to go. Instead we put cheap card draw, card selection, spells recursion and a few card draw creatures to balance lack of them in the first weeks. Mulldrifter and Azami did not impress me and we'll remove them later after we fix other immediate problems. 34 lands is enough for our deck, by the way.
Out:
1 Gigantoplasm - cool clone, but worse than Phyrexian Metamorph or Clever Impersonator. We already have Rite of Replication if we want to copy something.
2 Broodbirth Viper - the idea is cool, but he doesn't have an ETB effect or any evasion.
3 Arjun, the Shifting Flame - I actually like the card, but you need to build around him and that's not a plan for now.
4 Sleep - not in EDH, please.
5 Call the Skybreaker - nothing to be excited about, too expensive, too.
6 Blustersquall - same as sleep.
7 Ætherize - doesn't hit creatures that don't attack.
8 Worn Powerstone - comes into play tapped and ramps into 6, while we need to ramp into 4.
9 Seal of the Guildpact - Gilded Lotus would be so much better. I prefer Hedron Archive, though.
10 Awaken the Sky Tyrant - no comments here. Waste of a card. Sky Tyrant it is not.
11 Rite of the Raging Storm - rage of the too much text to do a huge nothing.
12 Thought Reflection - the only reasonable enchantment, but too expensive for my taste.
13 Rogue's Passage - do not need this, our creatures are not here to kill anyone.
14 Spinerock Knoll - comes tapped and I prefer to avoid tapped lands as much as possible.
15 Izzet Boilerworks - from my vast EDH experience - do not ever play bounce lands, ever! Unless you love getting behind and losing two turns to Acidic Slime, Strip Mine or Scour from Existence.
16 Mountain - excess lands.
17 Mountain - excess lands 2.
In:
1 Commander's Sphere - an easy include. Draws a card when destroyed, which is huge. Sometimes you sacrifice it just to cycle.
2 Mulldrifter - draws two and that's pretty much it. Remember that you can get experience counter from opponent's Meren if you evoke it!
3 Essence Backlash - a very solid counter-burn, usually for UR mana. Shines late game.
4 Sea Gate Oracle - an bear that digs two cards deep. Nothing to be excited about.
5 Mnemonic Wall - recursion creature number 1.
6 Trinket Mage - searches for Sol Ring. And nothing else matters...
7 Izzet Chronarch - recursion creature number 2.
8 Archaeomancer - recursion creature number 3.
9 Azami, Lady of Scrolls - love this card but it was hugely unimpressive. Looks like we don't need her. Still she is good enough to stay for now.
10 Frantic Search - all star addition! There are so many tricks you can do with this card. Usually, you are going to untap three lands for U, then play something that people didn't expect because they saw only one U open.
11 Repulse - one of my favorite cards in EDH. Wins games by messing up plans both in attack and defence. Bounces your general or other creatures when needed.
12 Telling Time - a cheap solid card selection.
13 Murmurs from Beyond - maybe we are going to enter Arcane mode (or even Arcade!) with Desperate Ritual. Mostly works like Thirst for Knowledge.
14 Peer Through Depths - another arcane spell, but less impressive.
15 Spiraling Embers - all star number 2! One of the main win cons. Draw 15 with Stroke of Genius EOT. Untap and kill.
16 Deep Analysis - all of the flashback spells excel in this deck. Draw 4 for UU and 3 life. Not bad, huh?
17 Treasure Cruise - does what it does and with a high enough mana cost almost always gives you an experience counter.
1 Archaeomancer
2 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
3 Charmbreaker Devils
4 Dragon Mage
5 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
6 Goblin Electromancer
7 Illusory Ambusher
8 Izzet Chronarch
9 Jace's Archivist
10 Lone Revenant
11 Melek, Izzet Paragon
12 Mnemonic Wall
13 Mulldrifter
14 Psychosis Crawler
15 Sea Gate Oracle
16 Talrand, Sky Summoner
17 Trinket Mage
18 Warchief Giant
Sorceries (16):
19 Blatant Thievery
20 Chain Reaction
21 Deep Analysis
22 Epic Experiment
23 Faithless Looting
24 Meteor Blast
25 Mizzium Mortars
26 Mizzix's Mastery
27 Mystic Retrieval
28 Preordain
29 Rite of Replication
30 Spiraling Embers
31 Stolen Goods
32 Treasure Cruise
33 Vandalblast
34 Windfall
35 Æthersnatch
36 Act of Aggression
37 Brainstorm
38 Blue Sun's Zenith
39 Comet Storm
40 Counterflux
41 Desperate Ravings
42 Dominate
43 Echoing Truth
44 Essence Backlash
45 Fact or Fiction
46 Firemind's Foresight
47 Frantic Search
48 Magmaquake
49 Mirror Match
50 Murmurs from Beyond
51 Mystic Confluence
52 Peer through Depths
53 Prophetic Bolt
54 Reins of Power
55 Repeal
56 Repulse
57 Steam Augury
58 Stroke of Genius
59 Telling Time
60 Urza's Rage
61 Word of Seizing
62 Commander's Sphere
63 Izzet Signet
64 Sol Ring
65 Thought Vessel
Non-basic lands (9):
66 Command Tower
67 Evolving Wilds
68 Izzet Guildgate
69 Reliquary Tower
70 Swiftwater Cliffs
71 Temple of the False God
72 Terramorphic Expanse
73 Vivid Crag
74 Vivid Creek
Basic lands (25):
14 Island
11 Mountain
I was in a three-man pod with another Mizzix of the Izmagnus and Meren of Clan Nel Toth. I hate playing three players pods because it is usually 2vs1. Luckily it wasn't the case this week, though. Obviously, player on my left won the roll, so I started last.
Meren deck started with Sol Ring turn 1, which was ... promptly killed by another Mizzix player with Vandalblast. Meanwhile, I played land, land, cantrip, land, desperate ravings, land and... . At this point, I was holding Faithless Looting and had a choice to cast my general with no mana open or pass with Magmaquake, draw into a land and play Looting. I chose the second option, killed opponent's Mizzix and two small creatures from Meren. Then I played my general, cast Looting, got an experience counter. That's when things went sideways...
Second Mizzix ramped from 5 to 7 with Temple of the False God and cast Thought Reflection which I have no way to deal with. Meren killed our general and played Skullclamp. Those two cards haunted me for the rest of the game. Especially, after I missed a couple of land drops and was forced to cast Commander's Sphere and defend the board position with cards like Meteor Blast and Repeal. I stole Thought Reflection at some point with Word of Seizing to replenish hand with flashbacked Faithless Looting. I used Windfall, too. Meren player was bashing the other with Mycoloth, Meren was online and Thought Reflection was still drawing million cards, just not for me. I managed to sneak my general into play and protect it with Counterflux.
Finally, I got a break. Mizzix's player tapped out after casting some removal on Meren and played Charmbreaker Devils. I played Dominate on it end of turn. Untapped, drew into Epic Experiment, cast it, did stuff and killed Mizzix player with his own 24/4 creature. Boom! My experience counter clock suddenly grew to 6. Next turn I managed to play end of turn Stroke of Genius for 11. Untapped, played Reins of Power, attacked and killed with Spiraling Embers for 20 or something.
1:0!!! First blood!!!
2:0 !!
I started with Island and Brainstorm ... which was countered by Stubborn Denial. Why? Who knows. But that was really annoying. Few more lands and I had a chance to retaliate. All other players played their general on turn 4. EOT, if cast Desperate Ravings. And ... randomly discarded Blatant Thievery. Untapped, played land and Mizzix's Mastery on Blatant Thievery to steal Island, Ezuri (of the guy who countered my spell) and Meren (of the guy who conspired against me for the second game in a row). So turn four, I had two generals in play. And they weren't even mine! After that Ezuri player started to counter everything I did, while I was bashing him with his own Ezuri. Meren player was giving him counters back with Skullwinder. A few turns later, I managed to cast Melek, Izzet Paragon with three lands untapped and revealed Repulse on top of my deck. That allowed me to cast Repulse on the only two creatures that Meren had in play and Ezuri player 2 (the one who didn't bother me and managed to build an army) attacked him for something around 30 and Meren died promptly. Ezuri enemy player had to switch his focus and Melek started to do his work by doubling my hand size and fending off armies on both sides. I stole Cold-Eyed Selkie with 12 counters on it, cast Psychosis Crawler, attack with Selkie and deal 26 damage (13 Selkie, 13 Crawler). Brainstorm finished off Ezuri-counterspell-guy. A second later, I was killing the last remaining Ezuri with his own Selkie. Selkie for the win!
3:0 was the result of first week.
+ Try to save counterspells for the late game.
+ Card draw is obviously excellent in the deck.
+ Judo style. Stealing creatures is a great way to kill your opponents. Use their own energy to cause them damage.
- Enchantments are almost impossible to deal with when resolved.
- We need more rocks and ramp.
- Deck is actually low on counterspells.
- Some pre-con cards are still dead, like Warchief Giant and Dragon Mage.
- We need graveyard hate like Harley needs Davidson. Maybe Tormod's Crypt or Relic of Progenitus?
2.) Frantic Search
3.) Spiraling Embers
4.) Dominate
5.) Act of Aggression
2 Mirror Match
3 Warchief Giant
4 Stolen Goods
5 Lone Revenant
6 Prophetic Bolt
7 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
8 Island
9 Island
10 Mountain
11 Mountain
12 Vivid Crag
13 Mnemonic Wall
14 Peer Through Depths
15 Blatant Thievery
2 Mindswipe ($1.00)
3 Tezzeret's Gambit ($0.50)
4 Arcane Denial ($0.50)
5 Talent of the Telepath ($1.00)
6 Mind Stone ($0.50)
7 Wayfarer's Bauble ($0.25)
8 Lonely Sandbar ($0.25)
9 Forgotten Cave ($0.25)
10 Myriad Landscape ($1.40)
11 Halimar Depths ($0.50)
12 Shivan Reef ($1.80)
13 Scour from Existence ($0.25)
14 Izzet Staticaster ($0.50)
15 Hedron Archive ($0.50)
In a second week I decided to concentrate changes on mana-base and mana-rocks. I introduced additional uncommons and a few counterspells. Rest of the problematic cards was removed, so now my deck looks more or less consistent in what it wants to do and future changes will only improve on a general idea of playing a control/counter-burn deck.
Out:
1 Dragon Mage - while Dragons are nice and appreciated, his ability usually helps opponents more than it helps us. He is expensive, too.
2 Mirror Match - nice card, but for now I didn't see that many ETB creature to warrant it's inclusion.
3 Warchief Giant - a beatdown creature that doesn't fit our strategy.
4 Stolen Goods - random card that doesn't do much.
5 Lone Revenant - I like revenant in this deck, because we don't play many creatures. Still, he is not impacting board that much.
6 Prophetic Bolt - costs too much for a burn spell. Not a fan of this card.
7 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer - cascade into x-spells or counterspells is a nonbo.
8 Island - excess basic 1.
9 Island - excess basic 2.
10 Mountain - excess basic 3.
11 Mountain - excess basic 4.
12 Vivid Crag - vivid lands are nothing to be excited about.
13 Mnemonic Wall - I realized that I've put too many recursion creatures so I cut one this week and I'll probably cut one next week.
14 Peer Through Depths - too random for now. Might come back if I decide to go Arcane route.
15 Blatant Thievery - it's a nice spell, but a little overcosted and it creates 3 enemies at the same time, while we want to fly under radar.
In:
1 Thirst for Knowledge - one of my favorite draw spells, now featuring "draw 3, discard 1 for U".
2 Mindswipe - counter-burn continued.
3 Tezzeret's Gambit - all-star card #3! Draw two for 2 life and 1 mana, boost experience counters by two. Proliferate does fantastic work with experience counters.
4 Arcane Denial - my favorite counterspell ever printed.
5 Talent of the Telepath - that card failed me in the match, but in general it might be a blast form the past if we hit Tooth and Nail or Recurring Insight.
6 Mind Stone - solid rock that draws a card. Ideal for this deck.
7 Wayfarer's Bauble - just a rampant growth that you can search for with Trinket Mage.
8 Lonely Sandbar - cycle-land #1 to fight floods.
9 Forgotten Cave - cycle-land #2.
10 Myriad Landscape - ramp-land! Our Krosan Verge in this colors.
11 Halimar Depths - card selection land.
12 Shivan Reef - some painland action.
13 Scour from Existence - all star #4! Reads as: "Exile a permanent for 1, add an experience counter".
14 Izzet Staticaster - was put in there to fight saproling tokens from Mycoloth or Thrummingbird. Nothing special.
15 Hedron Archive - probably not needed. Our Gilded Lotus for now.
1 Archaeomancer
2 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
3 Charmbreaker Devils
4 Goblin Electromancer
5 Illusory Ambusher
6 Izzet Chronarch
7 Izzet Staticaster
8 Jace's Archivist
9 Melek, Izzet Paragon
10 Mulldrifter
11 Psychosis Crawler
12 Sea Gate Oracle
13 Talrand, Sky Summoner
14 Trinket Mage
Sorceries (16):
15 Chain Reaction
16 Deep Analysis
17 Epic Experiment
18 Faithless Looting
19 Meteor Blast
20 Mizzium Mortars
21 Mizzix's Mastery
22 Mystic Retrieval
23 Preordain
24 Rite of Replication
25 Spiraling Embers
26 Talent of the Telepath
27 Tezzeret's Gambit
28 Treasure Cruise
29 Vandalblast
30 Windfall
31 Æthersnatch
32 Act of Aggression
33 Arcane Denial
34 Brainstorm
35 Blue Sun's Zenith
36 Comet Storm
37 Counterflux
38 Desperate Ravings
39 Dominate
40 Echoing Truth
41 Essence Backlash
42 Fact or Fiction
43 Firemind's Foresight
44 Frantic Search
45 Magmaquake
46 Mindswipe
47 Murmurs from Beyond
48 Mystic Confluence
49 Reins of Power
50 Repeal
51 Repulse
52 Scour from Existence
53 Steam Augury
54 Stroke of Genius
55 Telling Time
56 Thirs for Knowledge
57 Urza's Rage
58 Word of Seizing
59 Commander's Sphere
60 Hedron Archive
61 Izzet Signet
62 Mind Stone
63 Sol Ring
64 Thought Vessel
65 Wayfarer's Bauble
Non-basic lands (13):
66 Command Tower
67 Evolving Wilds
68 Forgotten Cave
69 Halimar Depths
70 Izzet Guildgate
71 Lonely Sandbar
72 Myriad Landscape
73 Reliquary Tower
74 Shivan Reef
75 Swiftwater Cliffs
76 Temple of the False God
77 Terramorphic Expanse
78 Vivid Creek
Basic lands (21):
12 Island
9 Mountain
Kalemne started fast with Urza's Incubator and Giant beaters. It spread damage between all players. I countered [card]Inferno Titan
[/card] to protect my general, who died regardless to Urza's Rage. I used Chain Reaction and Magmaquake to keep everyone in the game. Then, I managed to steal Meren with Dominate EOT. Untap with Meren and evoke Mulldrifter to get an experience counter. Then I blocked with my Archaeomancer and Jace's Archivist for more counters! I got to four exp counters and returned Archaeomancer!
The game was going back and forth. Opponent's generals died while I ramped with mana-rocks. When I ran out of playable cards, I would sacrifice Mind Stone and Commander's Sphere to replenish hand. My [card]Talent of the Telepath
[/card] against Mizzix player did a huge nothing, but timely Blue Sun's Zenith replenished hand again. Somewhere in between I got to 8 exp counters. Finally, Mizzix player was forced to tap out, I copied Kalemne with Rite of Replication and protected it with Counterflux to kill Mizzix player next turn. I used Reins of Power to nullify two combat phases by Giant tribal player. Drew my Blue Sun's Zenith again into Stroke of Genius to finish the struggle with Spiraling Embers. When we finished the game, I had only 5 cards left in my library! Epic battle was over...
4:0 in games so far.
I played Mind Stone turn 2, my general turn 3. Brainstorm, Frantic Search and Tezzeret's Gambit happened to boost my experience to 4. Next turn, I played Talrand, Sky Summoner and started to chain spells. Soon enough, I had army of 13 drakes and by turn 8 both opponents were dead. Flawless victory!
5:0 !
I rebuilt my hand with flashback spells, cast general, Mizzix's Mastery to gain even more advantage with cards like Scour from Existence or Treasure Cruise in a graveyard to boost experience counters 8. Finally, I killed Ezuri player with Spiraling Embers for 15. Two other players died to stolen Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas who combined with my counters was 11 double strike which means he killed in one-shot.
6:0 !!!
+ Stealing opponents generals is great because you can use your experience counters with their general. Ezuri, Meren and Kalemne - they all help as if they are your second and third general.
+ Proliferate is fantastic with experience counters!
+ Always try to leave untapped mana and do stuff EOT of the last opponent before your turn.
+ Practice your EDH judo a lot and you will achieve thousand victories!
- Still no graveyard hate. Need to figure out an answer here.
- Not much you can about Island hate like Tsunami. Counter it if you can.
- Fliers are somewhat problematic.
2. Scour from Existence
3. Dominate
4. Act of Aggression
5. Talrand, Sky Summoner
2 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
3 Goblin Electromancer
4 Chain Reaction
5 Urza's Rage
6 Commander's Sphere
7 Vandalblast
8 Sea Gate Oracle
9 Mulldrifter
10 Izzet Chronarch
11 Jace's Archivist
12 Charmbreaker Devils
13 Wayfarer's Bauble
14 Talent of the Telepath
15 Essence Backlash
16 Meteor Blast
17 Izzet Staticaster
2 Fabricate ($2.25)
3 Guttersnipe ($0.50)
4 Blasphemous Act ($1.00)
5 Izzet Charm ($0.50)
6 Mystical Tutor ($7.00)
7 Quicken ($1.25)
8 Capsize ($0.75)
9 Everflowing Chalice ($0.50)
10 Learn from the Past ($0.50)
11 Ponder ($1.00)
12 Turnabout ($2.25)
13 High Tide ($0.50)
14 Exclude ($0.25)
15 Gush ($0.50)
16 Shattering Pulse ($0.25)
17 Recurring Insight ($1.00)
Out:
1 Hedron Archive - it appears that we don't need to ramp too much with this deck.
2 Azami, Lady of Scrolls - one of the best cards in EDH, but not a greatest fit for this deck.
3 Goblin Electromancer - seems to do the same thing as our general, but we don't need redundancy in this department.
4 Chain Reaction - a little slow and conditional.
5 Urza's Rage - nothing to be impressed by with this card.
6 Commander's Sphere - we are trying to ramp into 4 and 6, not 5.
7 Vandalblast - sorcery speed hurts, but this is more like a trial between this and Shattering Pulse.
8 Sea Gate Oracle - another card that was better on paper than in testing.
9 Mulldrifter - same as above.
10 Izzet Chronarch - we haveArchaeomancer and Mystic Retrieval to do the same thing for less mana.
11 Jace's Archivist - usually we have more card advantage than our opponents so no reason to help them.
12 Charmbreaker Devils - nothing feels worse than dying to your own Charmbreaker being stolen by another Mizzix player.
13 Wayfarer's Bauble - testing Everflowing Chalice instead.
14 Talent of the Telepath - did not work in Ezuri-Meren metagame.
15 Essence Backlash - testing Exclude instead.
16 Meteor Blast - we already have Mizzium Mortars.
17 Izzet Staticaster - was not good enough in this metagame[/card].
In:
1 Volcanic Fallout - uncounterable slayer of Ezuri's armies and opponent's Mizzix.
2 Fabricate - sol ring tutor, I will add more artifacts in a near future.
3 Guttersnipe - auto-include with our gameplan.
4 Blasphemous Act - improving on Meteor Blast and preparing for Repercussion combo.
5 Izzet Charm - versatile cards are always my favorites.
6 Mystical Tutor - a new all-star addition.
7 Quicken - we play a lot of sorceries and it always provides a surprise factor.
8 Capsize - all-star addition #2.
9 Everflowing Chalice - it will shine in a Storm shell.
10 Learn from the Past - graveyard hate or saving half of your library from being exiled.
11 Ponder - brother of Preordain.
12 Turnabout - all-star addition #3.
13 High Tide all-star addition #4.
14 Exclude - better than Backlash probably.
15 Gush - protects islands from Acidic Slime and Tsunami. Lol.
16 Shattering Pulse - testing this over Vandalblast.
17 Recurring Insight - one of the best spells to draw cards, even better if we can get 2 experience counters from it.
1 Archaeomancer
2 Guttersnipe
3 Illusory Ambusher
4 Melek, Izzet Paragon
5 Psychosis Crawler
6 Talrand, Sky Summoner
7 Trinket Mage
Sorceries (16):
8 Blasphemous Act
9 Deep Analysis
10 Epic Experiment
11 Fabricate
12 Faithless Looting
13 Mizzium Mortars
14 Mizzix's Mastery
15 Mystic Retrieval
16 Ponder
17 Preordain
18 Recurring Insight
19 Rite of Replication
20 Spiraling Embers
21 Tezzeret's Gambit
22 Treasure Cruise
23 Windfall
Instants (37):
24 Æthersnatch
25 Act of Aggression
26 Arcane Denial
27 Blue Sun's Zenith
28 Brainstorm
29 Capsize
30 Comet Storm
31 Counterflux
32 Desperate Ravings
33 Dominate
34 Echoing Truth
35 Exclude
36 Fact or Fiction
37 Firemind's Foresight
38 Frantic Search
39 Gush
40 High Tide
41 Izzet Charm
42 Learn from the Past
43 Magmaquake
44 Mindswipe
45 Murmurs from Beyond
46 Mystic Confluence
47 Mystical Tutor
48 Quicken
49 Reins of Power
50 Repeal
51 Repulse
52 Scour from Existence
53 Shattering Pulse
54 Steam Augury
55 Stroke of Genius
56 Telling Time
57 Thirst for Knowledge
58 Turnabout
59 Volcanic Fallout
60 Word of Seizing
61 Everflowing Chalice
62 Izzet Signet
63 Mind Stone
64 Sol Ring
65 Thought Vessel
Non-basic lands (13):
66 Command Tower
67 Evolving Wilds
68 Forgotten Cave
69 Halimar Depths
70 Izzet Guildgate
71 Lonely Sandbar
72 Myriad Landscape
73 Reliquary Tower
74 Shivan Reef
75 Swiftwater Cliffs
76 Temple of the False God
77 Terramorphic Expanse
78 Vivid Creek
Basic lands (21):
12 Island
9 Mountain
7:0!!
8:0!!! Still on a roll....
9:0 it was indeed.
+ Turnabout, Mystical Tutor and High Tide are letting this deck advance to a next next level.
+ Play spells with a great care. Knowing when to cast and when not is what matters the most when playing this deck.
+ Don't let players convince other players that you are the biggest threat. You are, but they don't have to know.
- There is not much you can about being manascrewed, except drawing into more lands. At least we have all of the Preordain and Ponders possible.
- The deck is a little low on ground troops but that's how we built it. Thinking about including Silent Arbiter.
- Graveyards are still problematic!
2. Mystical Tutor
3. Comet Storm
4. Tezzeret's Gambit
5. Izzet Charm
2 Melek, Izzet Paragon
3 Æthersnatch
4 Dominate
5 Counterflux
6 Echoing Truth
7 Word of Seizing
8 Mindswipe
9 Mizzium Mortars
10 Steam Augury
11 Terramorphic Expanse
12 Evolving Wilds
13 Vivid Creek
2 Past in Flames ($4.50)
3 Commandeer ($3.90)
4 Merchant Scroll ($1.15)
5 Swan Song ($1.10)
6 Cyclonic Rift ($3.25)
7 Gitaxian Probe ($3.10)
8 Dig Through Time ($3.00)
9 Read the Runes ($1.00)
10 Desperate Ritual ($1.25)
11 Remand ($5.00)
12 Island ($0.00)
13 Steam Vents ($12.50)
Out:
1 Telling Time - replace by a better card which is Impulse.
2 Melek, Izzet Paragon - too slow. I'd rather have a spell than him.
3 Æthersnatch - never drew that card. Not a greatest reason to replace it, but Commandeer is just better.
4 Dominate - while it won me multiple games, I felt like it was a good time to part ways with that card.
5 Counterflux - doesn't get cheaper with Mizzix. and is too expensive.
6 Echoing Truth - Cyclonic Rift is just better.
7 Word of Seizing - another great card that is not a part of game plan that we envision.
8 Mindswipe - Remand is just better.
9 Mizzium Mortars - sorcery speed and doesn't kill many big creatures, never convinced me.
10 Steam Augury - we already have Fact.
11 Terramorphic Expanse - upgrading lands #1.
12 Evolving Wilds - upgrading lands #2.
13 Vivid Creek - cutting one land.
In:
1 Impulse - upgrading Telling Time.
2 Past in Flames - our red Yawgmoth's Will.
3 Commandeer - one of my favorite cards. Won me trillions of games.
4 Merchant Scroll - tutor for like most of our deck.
5 Swan Song - my favorite counter #2 after Arcane Denial.
6 Cyclonic Rift - an EDH staple that's going to win games.
7 Gitaxian Probe - obvious inclusion.
8 Dig Through Time - delve spells are just awesome.
9 Read the Runes - while not the most obvious choice, I think it has a chance to shine in our deck.
10 Desperate Ritual - now we can cast general turn 3 without rocks.
11 Remand - another powerful counter that cycles.
12 Island - upgrading our bad fetches.
13 Steam Vents - an Island!
1 Archaeomancer
2 Guttersnipe
3 Illusory Ambusher
4 Psychosis Crawler
5 Talrand, Sky Summoner
6 Trinket Mage
Sorceries (18):
7 Blasphemous Act
8 Deep Analysis
9 Epic Experiment
10 Fabricate
11 Faithless Looting
12 Gitaxian Probe
13 Merchant Scroll
14 Mizzix's Mastery
15 Mystic Retrieval
16 Past in Flames
17 Ponder
18 Preordain
19 Recurring Insight
20 Rite of Replication
21 Spiraling Embers
22 Tezzeret's Gambit
23 Treasure Cruise
24 Windfall
Instants (37):
25 Act of Aggression
26 Arcane Denial
27 Blue Sun's Zenith
28 Brainstorm
29 Capsize
30 Comet Storm
31 Commandeer
32 Cyclonic Rift
33 Desperate Ravings
34 Desperate Ritual
35 Dig Through Time
36 Exclude
37 Fact or Fiction
38 Firemind's Foresight
39 Frantic Search
40 Gush
41 High Tide
42 Impulse
43 Izzet Charm
44 Learn from the Past
45 Magmaquake
46 Murmurs from Beyond
47 Mystic Confluence
48 Mystical Tutor
49 Quicken
50 Read the Runes
51 Remand
52 Reins of Power
53 Repeal
54 Repulse
55 Scour from Existence
56 Shattering Pulse
57 Swan Song
58 Stroke of Genius
59 Thirst for Knowledge
60 Turnabout
61 Volcanic Fallout
62 Everflowing Chalice
63 Izzet Signet
64 Mind Stone
65 Sol Ring
66 Thought Vessel
Non-basic lands (11):
67 Command Tower
68 Forgotten Cave
69 Halimar Depths
70 Izzet Guildgate
71 Lonely Sandbar
72 Myriad Landscape
73 Reliquary Tower
74 Shivan Reef
75 Steam Vents
76 Swiftwater Cliffs
77 Temple of the False God
Basic lands (22):
13 Island
9 Mountain
2 Illusory Ambusher
3 Scour from Existence
4 Treasure Cruise
5 Murmurs from Beyond
6 Windfall
7 Epic Experiment
8 Capsize
9 Talrand, Sky Summoner
10 Guttersnipe
11 Psychosis Crawler
12 Quicken
13 Mountain
14 Mountain
15 Mountain
16 Reins of Power
17 Izzet Charm
18 Archaeomancer
2 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind ($1.00)
3 Scourge of Valkas ($3.50)
4 Hellkite Charger ($1.00)
5 Hypersonic Dragon ($1.00)
6 Hoarding Dragon ($1.00)
7 Dragonstorm ($1.00)
8 Mind's Desire ($1.00)
9 Sarkhan's Triumph ($0.50)
10 Time Spiral ($17.50)
11 Reiterate ($10.50)
12 Anticipate ($0.25)
13 Ancient Tomb ($12.50)
14 Temple of Epiphany ($3.25)
15 Sulfur Falls ($10.50)
16 Heat Shimmer ($1.00)
17 Temporal Mastery ($6.50)
18 Basilisk Collar ($7.00)
Out:
1 Blasphemous Act - since we are not going Repercussion route (at this point I'm not sure which route we are taking at all) this has to go.
2 Illusory Ambusher - there were too many creatures so I cut one more.
3 Scour from Existence - another expensive spell to cut.
4 Treasure Cruise - replaced with instant speed Dig.
5 Murmurs from Beyond - making space for dragons. Splicing never happened for me anyway.
6 Windfall - another cut that probably is not very necessary. It helped my opponents more than it helped me.
7 Epic Experiment - too many x-spells.
8 Capsize - target of complaints from other people.
9 Talrand, Sky Summoner - not-a-dragon.
10 Guttersnipe - another "not-a-dragon".
11 Psychosis Crawler - "not-a-dragon" Niv.
12 Quicken - I cut this because we have a Hypersonic Dragon.
13 Mountain - improving lands #1.
14 Mountain - improving lands #2.
15 Mountain - improving lands #3.
16 Reins of Power - we are moving away from stealing creatures to attacking with our dragons, for now.
17 Izzet Charm - doesn't get cheaper with our general.
18 Archaeomancer - I feel like we had enough recursion with Mystic Retrieval and Past in Flames.
In:
1 Dragon Tempest - I love this card. Makes all of our dragons haste and deal damage on ETB.
2 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - dragon upgrade for Psychosis Crawler.
3 Scourge of Valkas - stacks with Dragon Tempest and clones. Makes Dragonstorm even more powerful.
4 Hellkite Charger - born killer, untap with a lot of mana and ... kill.
5 Hypersonic Dragon - works well with sorceries that we have, is relatively cheap and hasty.
6 Hoarding Dragon - a more expensive Trinket Mage.
7 Dragonstorm - lynchpin of our new Dragon gameplan.
8 Mind's Desire - random Dragonstorm. Seriously.
9 Sarkhan's Triumph - tutor for Niv.
10 Time Spiral - obviously, this card is overpowered in this deck. Remember that it shuffles Meren's graveyard!
11 Reiterate - our sub for Capsize. Obviously OP.
12 Anticipate - a worse Impulse is still good for this deck.
13 Ancient Tomb - now we can tap for two.
14 Temple of Epiphany - no a fan of taplands but this one is the best of them.
15 Sulfur Falls - obvious inclusion.
16 Heat Shimmer - copying Scourge of Valkas is just devastating. Or you
17 Temporal Manipulation - works very well with Mystical Tutor. Doesn't violate infinite extra turns rule.
18 Basilisk Collar - turns Niv into machine gun. You can fetch it with Trinket Mage or Frantic Search.
1 Hellkite Charger
2 Hoarding Dragon
3 Hypersonic Dragon
4 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemand
5 Scourge of Valkas
6 Trinket Mage
Sorceries (19):
7 Deep Analysis
8 Dragonstorm
9 Fabricate
10 Faithless Looting
11 Gitaxian Probe
12 Heat Shimmer
13 Merchant Scroll
14 Mind's Desire
15 Mizzix's Mastery
16 Mystic Retrieval
17 Past in Flames
18 Ponder
19 Preordain
20 Recurring Insight
21 Rite of Replication
22 Spiraling Embers
23 Temporal Mastery
24 Tezzeret's Gambit
25 Time Spiral
Instants (34):
26 Anticipate
27 Act of Aggression
28 Arcane Denial
29 Blue Sun's Zenith
30 Brainstorm
31 Comet Storm
32 Commandeer
33 Cyclonic Rift
34 Desperate Ravings
35 Desperate Ritual
36 Dig Through Time
37 Exclude
38 Fact or Fiction
39 Firemind's Foresight
40 Frantic Search
41 Gush
42 High Tide
43 Impulse
44 Learn from the Past
45 Magmaquake
46 Mystic Confluence
47 Mystical Tutor
48 Read the Runes
49 Reiterate
50 Remand
51 Repeal
52 Repulse
53 Sarkhan's Triumph
54 Shattering Pulse
55 Swan Song
56 Stroke of Genius
57 Thirst for Knowledge
58 Turnabout
59 Volcanic Fallout
60 Dragon Tempest
Artifacts (6):
61 Basilisk Collar
62 Everflowing Chalice
63 Izzet Signet
64 Mind Stone
65 Sol Ring
66 Thought Vessel
Non-basic lands (13):
Ancient Tomb
67 Command Tower
68 Forgotten Cave
69 Halimar Depths
70 Izzet Guildgate
71 Lonely Sandbar
72 Myriad Landscape
73 Reliquary Tower
74 Shivan Reef
75 Steam Vents
76 Sulfur Falls
77 Swiftwater Cliffs
78 Temple of Epiphany
79 Temple of the False God
Basic lands (20):
14 Island
6 Mountain
10:0 in games.
11:0 continuing amazing run with a deck.
+ Commandeering spells is another way to win. Judo style rules!
+ My league opponents are light years behind in terms of developing their decks. Some of them run Spidersilk Armor when I run Niv-Mizzet.
+ While our land count is low, we rarely suffer from being mana-screwed.
+ Always count your storm, just to scare people.
- I removed all of the cards to steal creatures that steal creatures. There might be a blowback.
- Dragons are clunky when you have to hardcast them.
- Sometimes you just don't have a card draw and sit waiting to draw it.
2. Dragonstorm
3. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
4. Desperate Ritual
5. Hellkite Charger
Comments or proposals of changes are appreciated! I have a general idea of where this deck wants to go, but I will also listen to advice and follow community ideas! Then test them in EDH league!