Welcome Izzet mages to a wonderful thread devoted to the amazing Mizzix of the Izmagnus. Released in the 2015 commander lists, Mizz brings us something that comes few and far between- an ability to reduce the costs of sorceries and instants. Sure we've had our medallions and other random rocks or little bears that reduce all spells by one....and that's been great. Izzet's a big fan of casting multiple spells a turn, storm or not- so that 1 off really adds up. Now we have something that compares to the Titan that is Animar, Soul of Elements. Suddenly every spell that felt too mana costly can be cast with ease, staple draw spells are even more absurdly efficient, and seeing you pass the turn with three mana open can mean a whole lot more than one removal spell to your opponents. If you like Izzet colors and really want to a leader that will give you something you can only do in commander- Mizz is right for you.
A little history of the list...
As soon as she was spoiled, I was building lists. I'm a blue player at heart who loves his cantrips and various draw spells. However, red was the color I've always found underwhelming and had never bothered to really give it a shot. So I ordered things like Wheel Of Fortune and Gamble to truly obligate myself to making a worthwhile list. At first it was hard to even figure out what could cut it for competitive since well...higher cmc spells were on the table as viable. After a few weeks brewing here, it went from barrels of semi-casual fun to a must remove threat that could just goldfish to a win if it untapped with its leader on board. The incarnation now has drawn back on grinding out consistent early wins to something that prefers control and letting the game play for a while.
What makes the deck worth playing?
1. The cost reduction is truly unique and incredibly versatile. I think it's exactly what a true commander should offer- An ability that is somewhat linear in that it forces a card type theme but not any real specific form of that card type, it scales as the game goes on, and opens up some plays only available to that commander- assuming you can keep it on board and jump through some hoops-all of which your opponent's can fairly interact with. If you truly want to pilot a deck that feels like what commander was made to be, Mizzix is an ideal choice to pilot.
2. Draw Power. Where to even start...I guess we'll begin with what made me get into Mizzix. Playing RU gives access to one of the most enjoyable forms of draw, called wheels. This term is coined from Wheel of Fortune, which is exactly what those cards do. They're excellent across the board, casual to competitive. They allow for some beastly plays, fill our very relevant graveyard, and keep those casual games going. The afore mentioned cost reduction makes these and all other draw spells far more cost efficent than any other commander. And for when you're behind or without Mizzix, the draw allows you to push through for answers or mana rocks.
3. Mizz costs 4 mana and only two are colored. 4 cmc leaders are excellent in commander. The cost justifies a very powerful ability, and landing a t2 mana rock means it can come down t3, and in those amazing t1 sol ring games, can come down t2. There is of course, much risk in tapping out to cast your leader as you move up in competitive tiers, but the ability to do so is very relevant at all levels. This also means her second time coming down is 6, which may sound expensive, but is dramatically different than 7 or 8, especially when our extra mana comes from 90% of removable permanents.
4. Her tribes. Both goblin and wizards are arhetypes on their own. This opens us up to unique spells and entire deck themes- both of which are nicely suited with the color they aren't. Goblin decks benefit from blue's draw and protection, while Wizards can appreciate the removal and win conditions red offers.
5. Her budget card pool. When it comes down to it, we really only run a few types of cards. Draw, removal, and mana rocks. These exist at all price ranges in our colors. I have seen a Mizz deck packed with the cheapest ($) color producing mana rocks, a well made curve of Divination price level draw and counterspells, and Blaze effects destroy a casual table. So if money is an issue, there are plenty of equivilents to be found in your price range. I'll have a section to go over that soon- and maybe even a few according deck lists.
6. Her undeniable versatility. Really want to hammer this concept in to anyone who's willing to read this much and passionately wants to build a Mizzix deck. There's honestly no end to the "good" cards to play with Mizz. She is so well designed to scale with whatever meta she is in it almost feels limiting to give a deck list. You don't need to go out of control with her ability either- it is plenty viable to run her only need to cap at 3 counters. It makes her a smaller priority and kind of acts like an "Izzet battery" to heavy spell themed decks in exchange for their leader's advantages.
What issues might I face?
1. She's pretty darn Removable. That ability had to have a drawback somewhere. She's open to all kinds of removal. Two power and two toughness open you a lot of cheap red removal, blue mind control, and a ton of other cards you see across budget tiers.
2. It's hard to not play the deck dependent on her presence.. This is the drawback of many commanders and their bane as far as reaching tier 1. Without built in protection, building a deck that vastly benefits and caters to it leader existing on the battle runs into the responsibility of also protecting it. There's a little bit of political protection regularly casting wheels and playing big brother, but this varies table to table, and honestly game to game.
3. Most variations need to rely on sorceries or instants to win. Winning through spells is...a lot more philosophical and political than you'd think. If you haven't played a deck like this and your table hasn't seen one, you must understand this is leader is a magnet for EDH taboo. You will have access to and synergy with some very powerful archetypes-all of which are seeing spell reduction they've never seen before. If you take the casual route and want to approach storm or massive burn spell, seeing you untap with Mizz and 3+ counters cannot happen. So be wary with how quickly and abusively you try to win. If you read the other drawbacks, you'll see you aren't warranted to let her become too much of a high priority as soon as she hits the board. Depending on where your meta sits, it's good to look to build the deck around your average win clock. This usually just involves scaling up spell costs, but in turn you'll get more and in the long run, actually be more stable than a deck that tries to win earlier.
Piloting:
If you're new to Mizz and not too familiar with the vast sea of rulings magic boasts, you have a chance to really feel like an Izzet mage when you have learn about some of the confusing and crazy little things that come with Mizz's ability. It's well worth the time to learn by heart what is here- the ability to do it, understand how its working, and then explain it to your opponents. I will eventually link the examples to the corresponding rulings so that we can all come right to this thread if we need to prove anything....and trust me, you will need to more than once.
1. Mizzix's ability applies to the overall cost of your spells, not their converted mana costs. The overall cost is what you will pay and converted is what's read on the card. (don't forget x=0) This means that you can apply this discount to Overload, Buyback, Kicker, Spells with X, or any other instant or sorcery cost that requires generic mana. So, if you have 6 experience counters with Mizzix out, once you pay the RR for your Comet Storm, you can put the reduced cost of six towards either kicker or x, or even a combination of both before you even pay mana into the spell.
2. Here's how calculating your spell cost goes, found here written by Lithl
The total cost of a spell is:
The mana cost or the chosen alternative cost (eg, Overload, Flashback); if there's a variable cost such as x, it's generally relevant here (there are, of course, exceptions, such as Verdeloth the Ancient)
1.Plus all additional costs (eg, Kicker, Buyback)
2.Plus all cost increasers (tax effects)
3.Minus all cost reductions (such as Mizzix)
4.Apply Trinisphere if there's one in play (I pray none of you play against this nightmare)
3. You can respond to her experience ability triggering with another spell of the same cost and still rack up an experience counter. This is key to get down and what will really make Mizz insanely powerful. Here's a good explanation by Hucka
Mizzix has a triggered ability that everyone (including you) can respond to
since Mizzix only checks for the CMC when it triggers and not when the trigger resolves, you will get 2 counters total in that scenario. You can stack beyond a second spell as well.
Wish I could think of a better name for these than 'themes,' but I figured card type is already taken. But these are just specific spell effects that are printed on lots of different cards, some the exact same, some with different costs or limitations. "Wheel" spells mentioned in the pros is an example. There is more than just Wheel of Fortune, so you can find them at varying price levels if budget is an issue or go for redundancy if one them really speaks to you.
1. Wheel Cards. I've been bringing this up over and over so that if you leave here with only one thing, it's to make sure you play wheel spells. A list of available wheels can be found here.
2. Cantrips. My personal favorite spell type. Brainstorm and friends are unsung EDH heroes. The holy trinity of PonderBrainstorm and Preordain are the grease in any competitive deck that can run them. Here, they're what start our big engine, and the 2 cmc+ are what get it going.
3. Counterspells. Would it really be a spell-slinger deck without some of these? We aren't in the best colors for single target removal, so we must take pre-emptive measures. It's best to play counterspells with as few colored mana symbols in them as possible. You the spells to get as cheap as possible so you can leave less mana open for protection. Leaving a few untapped mana once you got the Mizz train rolling is so much more threatening than any other leader. With the amount of draw and untap we sport, you should have no issue hitting the no button a few times, especially with a card like Spellburst and another hard counter. Pay 1-2 for every cheap spell and hard counter big spells. I'm not going to leave a best list of counterspells- I find this can be meta dependent. I love Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast but I know blue is the dominant color for every meta. Just be sure you're cutting colored mana where you can, but don't do it blindly. Counterspell still answers everything for 2 mana and Rewind can ramp, but neither are really needed.
5. Recursion. Recursion, when defined broadly, just means getting back spells you've cast or ended up in the yard by some means besides casting. Mystic Retrieval, Call to Mind, and Recoup are the all-stars. Recasting powerful spells here is pretty easy, which is why we want this option. Once Mizz has a decent reduction going it is viable to cast that spell twice in the same turn and still have open mana. If you have some specific cards that are effective in your meta, play a good amount of this. Mystic Retrieval is the most powerful and Recoup if it's the wheels or Large bounce spells that keep the board in the position you want.
6. Forks. Named after...Fork, these spells allow us to copy spells on the stack (some our limited to only our own spells). Combined with Mizz's ability, these allow for some great plays. Most of the fork spells have little to no generic mana paid into them, so we don't get the reduction very often (save Reiterate, one of our favorite card), but with how easily we cast large spells or really beef up the "X", it's easy to toss in the fork spells, which in the past could be challenging. They can also been seen as x2 multipliers to x spells. The Fork casts copy of the exact spell, meaning that whatever has been paid into X is matched instead of going to 0.
7. Mana Rocks. These are key in every EDH deck, we all know this. Here, we want to get as much colored mana from our rocks as possible, preferably at 2 mana, unless the rock adds extra mana or bonus effects. This isn't as important the lower your meta's competitive level is. If you can afford to drop 3 on the rocks, things like Darksteel Ignot that add any color may be better than settling for something like Sky Diamond. This section is a little like counterspells- I can't advise anything exact outside of top tier competetion. Look at the deck list for the best rocks, but play what you have. They all have their ups and downs.
With 4 experience counters and Mizz on the field, one can generate infinite storm (spells cast) with Reiterate and anything that untaps at least two lands that produce RR. This is probably one of the more reliable combos in that a lot of the cards can fill the untap role, some with obvious stipulations like Snap and Frantic Search, but ending up with Reality Spasm lets you draw your deck with Gitaxian Probe for Lab Man, or copy a single burn spell enough to win on the spot.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Intuition is your kill card. Casting it usually will lead to
Mystic Retrieval targeting Frantic Search, discard Enter the Infinite, Flashbacked with Mizzix's Mastery
I've lost who originally post this idea (I'll track you down and credit you soon), but it's ultimately the fastest way to combo out once Mizz is on board. way you will have to play it, but ultimately you are trying to cast Enter the Infinite for as little as no mana by the end...done right, it can even provide a missing mana to combo on a turn or leave up Swan Song mana.
So now you must be saying, "but Welgo, these are all commander dependent combos! This has all been super awesome so far, but we're playing a hexproofless 2/2 that has no value on impact!
Have no fear my friends, we're playing a High Tide deck! There are tons of ways mid game to generate enough mana to either get back to a win or clear opponent's boards. This is where your meta is going to impact some card desicions. Cyclonic Rift or a big enough Temporal Fissure into a Wheel of Fortune effect will buy you time to get Mizz back on board or a win to the scoops of frustration. Devastation Tide is a great addition to decks with creature heavy metas. Comet Storm may not synergize with wheeling, but it can be another combo piece. Both of these cards sit on the bench for my deck, but that is only because I don't play in creature heavy metas.
High Tide is a card that obviously has varying effectiveness. If you're playing a game where Mizz won't stick, you may need to look to this as the pillar of your win-con. With enough lands, it can let Reiterate and Reality Spasm combo off again, or just provide the gold fishing into whatever lets you close the game.
Jace, Vyrn's Pordigy: Testing for now. Getting a card filterer online t1 is pretty good. No sources of haste yet, but rarely will he not flip after his first activation. Paying Snapcaster's mana a turn ahead is something I like. Had a lot of success in Tasigur, hopefully here too.
Snapcaster Mage Flashbacking spells is huge, whether it be to cast the same spell twice or getting back something you had to discard earlier. Self explanatory.
Laboratory Maniac: Go ahead and write "I WIN" with a thick sharpie on this if you don't own a foil. That's all he does.
Trinket Mage: If you're budget, cut this. Candelabra of Tawnos and its synergy with Voltaic Key are the only reason he's still in. Don't be fooled into thinking keeping him for tutoring up your Sol Ring or Top is really worth it- such a narrow tutoring window isn't worth the three mana.
Dack Fayden: You'll never ult him, but you won't need to. The looting and stealing are great. Comes online early easily if you run the 0 cmc rocks. If you're playing budget don't worry, he isn't pivotal to the deck. You can go without.
Tezzeret the Seeker: Artifacts are pretty big here, and this guy is a shining star. Far more affordable then Dack and probably a bit better. With the right rocks he's almost free if you tick him up the first time, and all our cool artifacts dont cost much, so we can even tutor a second time if he survives.
0 cmc rocks/Mana Vault/Grim Monolith: You only need these if you are playing at a table that is cool with try hard. These are what get you a turn ahead and what can secure wins. Replacing them with 2 cmc mana rocks or Chromatic Lantern or even Retraced Image works.
Candelabra of Tawnos: If you have it I feel like I don't need to say anything. I know most won't have it, but don't sweat it. It's best function for me is filtering colorless mana to colored and as an engine piece for winning while Mizz is off board. Plenty of ways to pull off the latter with much, much cheaper cards.
Voltaic Key: Pending on what you won't have from the previous artifacts, this card has varying value. I personally almost cut it before Candelabra. Gilded Lotus and Mana Crypt are great targets, but colorless mana can be useless and Gilded Lotus isn't around or tutor-able enough to have a card devoted to it. This is another cut you can afford if your rocks don't produce a lot of mana.
Coalition Relic: Really great rock. Usually nets two mana and there is synergy with proliferate, as narrow as it might be to line up. Don't look at something like Chromatic Lantern or Worn Powerstone as an almost alternative- that two mana that can vary in color is huge. I highly advise picking one up if you don't own it, it will never exist outside a commander deck as long as you live.
Gamble: Rarely ever a gamble. Cards can be in the yard or hand, whatever. I am yet to have even discarding my tutored card not put me ahead. Must have.
Gitaxian Probe: Storm Count, manaless cantrip. Peek. Amazing art. Amazing alternate art. Super cool card. If you don't own it, grab one.
Ponder/Preordain: T1 gas and two of the more underrated cards in EDH imo. A way to generate Mizz's first token. Some of the toughest calls you'll make all game are your t1- there are games where saving filtering til after Mizz hits board-sometimes untapping with mizz and that 1 cmc spell can well...lead to goldfish wins.
Vandalblast: I hate this card. It's too well designed. A part of me feels betrayed just letting it into one of my own decks, but it's just too much. Prob a meta dependant card, but getting rid of t1 rocks or wiping board of them later (maybe even for R still :D) is still really good, even without artifact focused decks. Even the hardest ramping green decks still have mana rocks or tools. I'll call it a meta card, but still advise it highly.
Recoup: Odds are it ends up in yard and the Flashback is all that gets used- but that's great. It's loot fodder with the upside of letting you abuse either draw if the game lulls or a control spell if things get out of hand. I remember back in the day knowing the game was going to stretch on when a friend of mine tutored this after a ***. Not totally needed, but the Flashback is what I think justifies it as a solid choice, especially as Baby Jace comes in.
Wheel of Fortune/Windfall/Reforge the Soul: These are what can keep you going forever. Line up Recoup or other similar effects and some untapping spells and you can certainly tilt your chair back because you can know certainly your line is gonna snag.
Mizzix's Mastery The big blowout in the 99 that came with Miz. This will win you games, one way or another. Pivotal combo piece and party bomb no matter what variation you play. And yes, overloading the spells count towards storm. But no, you may not pay alternative costs of spells. You copy and exile them, meaning the spell's cmc is taken. X spells will always be 0, Cyclonic Rift can't be overloaded, and buyback is off the table. Must have regardless.
Mystic Retrieval: Recoup, but way better. Big time combo piece and will save your neck more than you will know. Get a foil, the work it will put in for you deserves such splendor.
Past In Flames: The art reminds me of the atmosphere in the room when this spell resolves. When it looks like a good time to activate it, it probably means a win. A Combo piece and well, clearly overpowered in any spellslinging deck. Must have.
Temporal Fissure: Our crashing waves. This is the storm card that doesn't really "win" the game, but it does. Even a small Fissure can put players far behind, and even without a solid win in view, this into Wheel of Fortune usually gets scoops too. If you have it in hand during a point where you're wheeling or goldfishing hard, you can usually let it go and flashback it later for something bigger, or both if you have the mana. Don't sit on it too long if you have to discard. It does require set up (and usually Miz) to work.
Time Warp: Blue Explore, with obvious other benefits. We really don't need it- I may cut it just because of the taboo with Izzet solitaire. So far people haven't gotten too bored of my turns yet, they aren't nearly as long as some Mono blue or Narset turns I have seen by a long shot.
Treasure Cruise: A card banned from nearly all competitive formats can't be bad right? Disgustingly easy to get to U with Mizz out. Must have.
Enter the Infinite: Obvious Combo piece. Shout out to my little brother Josh, who gave me his own foil after hearing about the deck's/this thread's success. I personally will always run it even if other combos seem better. Builds can go without it, although right now the Mizzix's Mastery combo stands as one of the more abuseable combos. I even saw a variation of a legacy deck that did this. Didn't get very far, but hey, if it can go anywhere in Legacy...
Brainstorm: T1 gas and an easy way to abuse the Mizzix ability on the stack (mentioned in stuff to know about Mizz). Works well with fetches, if ye didn't know already.
Flusterstorm Wirrsturm in German. Great counterspell, will see a lot of use. Expensive price tag though, just slap in Negate if you don't have FLuster.
High Tide: What the deck was founded on. Plenty of ways to exploit. Sometimes its a ramp of desperation, sometimes for a powerful turn, sometimes for the win. Reiterate it with buyback as many times as you want, and so long as you can then untap the lands later for big mana.
Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast: Always wanted to run these. Blue is the meanest color there is, that color clause will rarely be relevant. Must haves if you deal with blue at the table
Swan Song/Arcane Denial/Mana Drain/Force of Will/Remand: Need counterspells to do the dank dirty things we do. Pact of Negation is probably going in, I just don't own two and am waiting to purchase a foil and let the old one leave the deck it's in for here. Pending on budget, just sub out whatever you can't afford for other counterspells. Spell Burst in a more casual meta is probably better than all of them.
Remand gets extra mention. When you storm with a card, like Ignite Memories or any other storm card, each of your storm copies goes off before the original. This is because it's put on the stack, then creates the copies. Since these copies came after, theyre put on the stack after, and all have to resolve before the original does. When you reach thhat, you can Remand it back to your hand...and do it again.
Cyclonic Rift: It's never if the rift will be played every game, it's when. Enjoy overloading it for what others pay to bounce one thing.
Impulse/Thirst for KnowledgeFact or Fiction: Classic blue EDH draw that just gets better and better here. My original plan was to abuse expensive spells, but abusing already proven effective cards has been the way to go. Fact or Fiction is extra fun when you only have to tap one land, look at the 5 cards and see the dismay in the player's face when they realize no matter what they do, you can cast all of them that turn with mana to spare.
Capsize: Commander staple and overpowered here. This will win drawn out games unless someone gets Mizz off board fast. I rarely have games end in any way but three people dying at once, but for those of you who see games where people die one by one, this gets better and better. Pretty much a hard lock one on one.
Intuition: the killshot. Read in combos as to why it's so pivotal. Must have.
Reiterate: Too much fun. Probably my favorite card in the deck. Almost counter-proof when used as a combo because you can just...reiterate the counterspells. If you like this deck and see yourself playing it a lot, this is another card that deserves to be foil. It will do tons of work.
Misdirection: Another counterspellish protection spell. This and FoW still read as 5cmc even with alternative costs. Of course, it offers more than protection. I'm sure your buddy worked real hard to draw 7 with his Blue Sun's Zenith, but...
Mizz wants to see the standard opening hand for spellslingers. Mana rocks, counterspells, and draw. You are really looking to drop Mizz with either protection mana or something left over to start the engine fast. Pending on your meta, draws and counterspells in opening hand vary in importance. Casting t1 cantrips is ill-advised unless your stuck with a bad hand or no rocks. Letting it generate the first counter can be big since most games you will probably start with a 2 cmc. You end up with an extra counter, spending the same amount of mana, and filter the same cards.
Ramp before you get out Mizz. If you top deck a mana rock the turn you planned to cast Mizz, give it a turn to cast the rock. Once Mizz hits the board, the mana open that turn is very important. The longer you put off casting her, the more you can do without untapping. Don't think you should always be building up counters as fast as possible. Sometimes it's safer to have three mana open and chain spells together. Cast a 1 cmc, then a 2, then a 3 etc. It truly varies pending on you opening hand how you'll play the game.
Don't be afriad to wheel and give opponent's value. Ugh, the double-edged sword. I have the mantra of being headstrong with these. We run a slue of counters and other control spells and have 2 other players to deal with if anyone pushes ahead. I'm a firm believer in political EDH and wheeling can earn you some mercy. If you have the option to cast it for 1-2 and have mana open afterwards, I encourage you to do so. Some of the most amazing and roller coaster games I've had were off just boldly wheeling. Every player groans when Narset takes her 20 minute turn(s), but I've had plenty of people been blown away when Mizz really unloads.
Protect Miz at all costs. This is what the counterspells are here for. Unless it's a game ending play, you really want to devote every counter you come across to keeping her on board. With the draw density we have we can afford to let cards go one-for one if it's keep Mizz on board. The reduced draw really lets us play out our hand and refill or play slowly and keep it stocked at a good pace. If a spell gets countered, sometimes it's best to let it go. Unless you heavily poured into an X spell, odds are its reasonably redundant and can come up again or just be returned to your hand. Again, there are going to be times when you must counter
Draw, draw, draw. When you look at the deck working without interference, the plan is to literally just draw until we can put something together that wins us the game. Be as efficient as possible with experience counter generation, but really just make sure your grinding out cards to hand. Casting Blue Sun's Zenith should probably be done ASAP rather than look for maximum pay out. Letting it draw 3-4 cards is a better way to push for board progress than to hold it.
Don't tap out for x spells if you have countermagic. I guess this goes without saying, but this is a primer..so I will anyways. Even if you aren't afraid of counter spells, casting that x spell that doesn't win the game and having Mizz go down can lead to you suddenly scrounging. Red blue is notorious for what it can do with untapped mana on another player's turn, and Mizz is the Queen of it. You want to bluff at all times- once players get used to your counterspell density, that untapped mana will always mean it's possible.
Mizz on board? Get greedy. Spend entire turnings just casting draw spells if you need to. You really want to keep the cards flowing, from deck to hand to graveyard. The more cards you have face up somewhere on the board, the better off you are. Don't be afraid to lose your yard to graveyard exile. Unless you had way too many goodies in there and just never hit recursion, we can lose a good chunk of cards and still win. Our graveyard dependent combo puts everything we need in the yard on the same turn, so seeing a Tormod's Crypt sitting around may be worse than seeing it activated. I have on a few occasions won the instant it removed my grevayrd
Hand filling but no wins yet? Go on the defensive. Here's where you can start throwing counter-spells at the first player after you on rotation. Odds are if pieces and tutors dont show up, ramp and counterspells do. Countering the threats and letting the removal get through can be what wins it. Having Mizz cost 6 mana to recast but reduces spells by 4 can win off as little as two mana with the right hand or board state. You'll be surpised how quickly 4 generic mana and two colored becomes irrelevant when you have things in your favor
Graveyard hate. We aren't as reliant on our graveyard as some decks are, but it's certainly something we can do a lot with. Don't go filling it with win con cards. Letting draw or a few pieces go is no problem at all, and even poppin a Past in Flames to move ahead early isn't an issue. We run enough bounce and artifact removal to clear the biggest and most common threats, but it's still an issue to watch for.
Stax Probably the hardest thing to play against. If they set up faster than we do, it tends to be game over. Work with other players and remove what you can, but never count yourself out.
Your own ego. I think this is more important than people give it credit for. Mizz is a mere 2/2 with no protection built-in. After a few months of experience, I don't think it's best to rush wins. If you go too hard, she will be too big of a threat and removed asap.
It's time to combo. This had to happen one way or the other if your using the decklist here. Refer to the combo sections for a guide of what needs to be assembled. At this point, you want to be filtering through cards. You will want some protection for whatever you're trying to do. If you're using Past in Flames as a part of your combo, it tends to be best to activate that first to gain access to more counterspells or start draw out opponent's counters. Since we're going for late game wins, it's pretty likely you can assemble a combo after counters or removal aimed at Mizz has been drawn out
Hey look...we're making the same general again. What a surprise
I'm gonna suggest more counters in here. Mizzix needs to be protected for you to do what you wanna do here.
I also like Planeswalkers in this deck like JTMS and Tezzeret the seeker. Work super well with Poliferate effects that can abuse your experience counters. Fuel for the cause is sweet here.
I suggest things like Frantic search and Time spiral to really get bang for your buck. Look forward to seeing where this goes.
Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Mizzix loves Spells with x in their cost. She might be the only general that makes "x" counterspells worth playing (like Power Sink, Syncopate, Clash of Wills, Mindswipe ect...)
Hey look...we're making the same general again. What a surprise
I'm gonna suggest more counters in here. Mizzix needs to be protected for you to do what you wanna do here.
I also like Planeswalkers in this deck like JTMS and Tezzeret the seeker. Work super well with Poliferate effects that can abuse your experience counters. Fuel for the cause is sweet here.
I suggest things like Frantic search and Time spiral to really get bang for your buck. Look forward to seeing where this goes.
I just found this card: Spell burst
What's better than infinite counter spells?
Mizzix's Mastery
I'm currently at a 130 card decklist...curse my love of land destruction
Great minds think alike Yeah, ALL of these cards on my list. What I have here is just what I threw together/ordered. Spellburst seems like an awesome idea, I guess counterspells were the first things I cut from my cards simply because I wanted to do something fun over competitive but that never works for more than a week. Can't wait to see your list, I know I want land destruction too but I'm getting kind of specific, I worry the ones that include creature damage. I'm super curious about how the mana will work in relation to recasting him if I ever need too.
Edit: Walkers are a question I ca't decide. I wanted to roll low and have one who's ult could be proliferated into right away..I figured Ral at first cause of so many chances at extra turns, but Dack has a really useful minus....but JTMS and Tezz are my personal faves. Get your list up already
I actually just forgot to put both Merchant Scroll and Steam Vents in list, they just weren't on me at the time. As far as Terrain Generator, it's def a test. All the draw and lack of actual ability to get more islands into play had me worried.
Edit: I ordered them as well as a few of the suggestions I knew I needed and threw them in list already. Really looking forward to future spoilers- I probably wont add them in til we see it all so cuts are more clear, but if theres a few as half as good as Mizzix's Mastery I'm sure many of them will see play here. Hopefully they did a few more especially abuseable with this incredible leader
Mizzix loves Spells with x in their cost. She might be the only general that makes "x" counterspells worth playing (like Power Sink, Syncopate, Clash of Wills, Mindswipe ect...)
Power Sink seems really interesting for that secondary effect. I know a few time's that would've been useful in other combo decks. I'll test it out
This is pretty much what I pictured in my mind when it was spoiled, nice list have you played it yet?
Edit: I am not seeing Force of Will... did I miss something in the text? budget?
..
Yeah, I don't have an extra now, but where I play allows proxies if you own the card and I think I'm finally caving to that. Probably going to tweak it once everythings spoiled. Right now it looks like more looting could be really good with Mizzix's Mastery and a properly set up Spelltwine and I'm really rooting for Trash for Treasure. Since I'll be doing the proxy thing, will probably have Intuition and Mana Crypt or other higher end cards. Def gotta get me a Blood Moon. Hopefully we get a few more spoilers that'll help figure it out. I sadly can't test til a few days after set release because Im in a heavier part of classes right now. But I had to get this out there in hopes of getting feedback. If you test a list, let me know results :]
Why Trash for Treasure? Aside from Sphinx Bone Wand I don't see any artifact win cons worth bringing back from the graveyard. Academy Ruins is probably enough artifact recursion, maybe just throw in Tolaria West to give yourself another land tutor. In the place of Trash for Treasure I'd run Reshape to help you get the artifacts you need, being an X spell it will always put a counter in Mizzix if she's on the field. I'd also maybe include Seat of the Synod and Great Furnace to increase your chances of having an artifact you can sac as a part of the additional cost to Reshape.
It is too bad that Mycosynth Lattice doesn't change costs, cause that card could break the game in half with Mizzix's cost reducing ability if it did (the lattice's ability allows you to spend mana as if it were mana of any color, which means that the colored mana costs of your instant and sorceries spells still need to be paid, though you could pay those costs with any color of mana or colorless mana).
Trash for Treasure is in there only because I forsee a bit of loot/discarding being mandatory. Caged Sun was the card that justified it for me, as adding intuition could make for some devastating plays. I'll only need R in that situation which sounds viable. But then again, it's just a test slot I want to see, I only have theory down on paper. Seat of the Synod was a possibility, but I have a feeling I'll be playing a few more rocks.
Compulsive research would be ok and Talrand, Sky Summoner was in the list at first but I think I prefer the proc on Jace's Sanctum a bit more for this strat. If blockers are needed I'll throw it right in. Gamble is on my next list. Sakishima the Impostor looks like it's worth a slot too, but I question Windfall was something I skipped because of all the reanimation in my metas.
It's powerful. I just don't know what do about board wipes vs MLD. It's super tempting but all the ones that deal four damage to creatures makes me second guess some choices. Ramp is another issue I've been having. I feel like I'll always need to have some protection mana for her when shes been cast
I actually cut the MLD from my testing list because often you just win the same turn anyway.
Been loving my playtesting and oddly enough even with all the counters I throw in I've cut things like counterspell and mana drain because having things for 1 blue is so much better than two. I'll probably put mana drain back in once I throw this into my playgroup though
Current VIP's
Mind's Desire
Volcanic vision
Spelltwine
Shattering pulse
Spell burst
Turnabout
Wheels
Tezzeret's Gambit
Tezzeret/Teferi/and Ral Zarek of all people
Mizzix's Mastery
I'm probably going to mod the deck further once I assemble all the cards in real life but working off High tide + untap effects means that I will likely throw candelabra and voltaic key and like all of the copy artifact things. Works well for caged sun too.
EVER CAST 89 SPELLS IN ONE TURN?!!?!
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
I actually cut the MLD from my testing list because often you just win the same turn anyway.
Been loving my playtesting and oddly enough even with all the counters I throw in I've cut things like counterspell and mana drain because having things for 1 blue is so much better than two. I'll probably put mana drain back in once I throw this into my playgroup though
Current VIP's
Mind's Desire
Volcanic vision
Spelltwine
Shattering pulse
Spell burst
Turnabout
Wheels
Tezzeret's Gambit
Tezzeret/Teferi/and Ral Zarek of all people
Mizzix's Mastery
I'm probably going to mod the deck further once I assemble all the cards in real life but working off High tide + untap effects means that I will likely throw candelabra and voltaic key and like all of the copy artifact things. Works well for caged sun too.
EVER CAST 89 SPELLS IN ONE TURN?!!?!
Yeah, all of the cards in my list you named were cards I have the most faith in. I guess wheels are my next step. Artifacts were the other thing I've questioned. Cutting Fabricate hurt because it was one I wanted to cause for U the most. As for walkers, Ral Zarek was who I had the most faith in since proliferating it to ult right away seemed viable, but I was worried that'd be about it. I think my issue is just storm is treading new waters and permanent count is something I don't know. Can't wait to see your official list. I can't test til this upcoming Saturday so I just have to sit on this brew and look at the cards over and over and over.
Edit: is Guttersnipe even worth it? I feel like there may be enough other win cons to cut it.
Well I cut nearly all of my actual permaments that don't impact the game enough.
Artifacts that ramp and walkers that untap are amazing.
Jace and Dack of course are in here.
The creatures so far are Snappy, Glen elendra, guttersnipe, trinket mage, and treasonus ogre
I cut Goblin electromancer and jace's sanctum because my spells were mostly "free"ish by that point anyway.
So far I'm keeping rhystic study, mystic remora, and future sight for enchamtnets.
The rest are all instants/sorceries.
My list still needs 4 more cuts and some more testing (Need room for Gamble, long term plans, etc) but I figure once the new commander set comes out I can get my testing in.
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
You know I was gonna try and skip Rhystic Study and friends but the more I think about the more I want to cut a few cards like Gush for a few permanents that curve out before Mizzix. I guess I'll keep everything on the cutting board since mine's just theory for now. Like i don't know how important Call to Mind and Fork effects are yet so they could be way too redundant for now. I just feel that it's possible to say, High Tide to just cast stuff but keep drawing....and win. Either way, I am beyond excited all of this is possible. High Tide was the star card in a janky casual deck that beat my pants off and made me love blue when I came back to magic a few years ago (previous experience was being 8 and liking the art). Looking at it now, it honestly seems like it's the sure fire way to go to make it competitive as possible.
High tide tech is one of the single most powerful package in commander it wins games and fast. Most of this deck is solid cards i would consider cutting for better ones not all of these need cut but these are in my opinon the weakest slots
overall the deck looks solid but i think you overestimate how hard you have to build around the general i would replace some of the jankey cards that would seems to make better use of his ability for stronger cards in general and let him just do his job in an already functional storm shell.
Super solid response. I feel like I'm going to end up with a lot of those cards and cutting what you've listed, but I want to give the build around some time. Really can't wait for Saturday when I can finally test it.
Ya, it's been a tough call with walkers, but that is an ult I'd probably enjoy. Im gonna get some real testing in and see what works best. She's on my list.
Welcome Izzet mages to a wonderful thread devoted to the amazing Mizzix of the Izmagnus. Released in the 2015 commander lists, Mizz brings us something that comes few and far between- an ability to reduce the costs of sorceries and instants. Sure we've had our medallions and other random rocks or little bears that reduce all spells by one....and that's been great. Izzet's a big fan of casting multiple spells a turn, storm or not- so that 1 off really adds up. Now we have something that compares to the Titan that is Animar, Soul of Elements. Suddenly every spell that felt too mana costly can be cast with ease, staple draw spells are even more absurdly efficient, and seeing you pass the turn with three mana open can mean a whole lot more than one removal spell to your opponents. If you like Izzet colors and really want to a leader that will give you something you can only do in commander- Mizz is right for you.
A little history of the list...
As soon as she was spoiled, I was building lists. I'm a blue player at heart who loves his cantrips and various draw spells. However, red was the color I've always found underwhelming and had never bothered to really give it a shot. So I ordered things like Wheel Of Fortune and Gamble to truly obligate myself to making a worthwhile list. At first it was hard to even figure out what could cut it for competitive since well...higher cmc spells were on the table as viable. After a few weeks brewing here, it went from barrels of semi-casual fun to a must remove threat that could just goldfish to a win if it untapped with its leader on board. The incarnation now has drawn back on grinding out consistent early wins to something that prefers control and letting the game play for a while.
What makes the deck worth playing?
What issues might I face?
Piloting:
If you're new to Mizz and not too familiar with the vast sea of rulings magic boasts, you have a chance to really feel like an Izzet mage when you have learn about some of the confusing and crazy little things that come with Mizz's ability. It's well worth the time to learn by heart what is here- the ability to do it, understand how its working, and then explain it to your opponents. I will eventually link the examples to the corresponding rulings so that we can all come right to this thread if we need to prove anything....and trust me, you will need to more than once.
1. Mizzix's ability applies to the overall cost of your spells, not their converted mana costs. The overall cost is what you will pay and converted is what's read on the card. (don't forget x=0) This means that you can apply this discount to Overload, Buyback, Kicker, Spells with X, or any other instant or sorcery cost that requires generic mana. So, if you have 6 experience counters with Mizzix out, once you pay the RR for your Comet Storm, you can put the reduced cost of six towards either kicker or x, or even a combination of both before you even pay mana into the spell.
2. Here's how calculating your spell cost goes, found here written by Lithl
The total cost of a spell is:
The mana cost or the chosen alternative cost (eg, Overload, Flashback); if there's a variable cost such as x, it's generally relevant here (there are, of course, exceptions, such as Verdeloth the Ancient)
1.Plus all additional costs (eg, Kicker, Buyback)
2.Plus all cost increasers (tax effects)
3.Minus all cost reductions (such as Mizzix)
4.Apply Trinisphere if there's one in play (I pray none of you play against this nightmare)
3. You can respond to her experience ability triggering with another spell of the same cost and still rack up an experience counter. This is key to get down and what will really make Mizz insanely powerful. Here's a good explanation by Hucka
Mizzix has a triggered ability that everyone (including you) can respond to
if you cast a Ponder, the Stack will look like
--TOP
Mizzix trigger
Ponder
--BOTTOM
Now you can hold priority and respond to the trigger by casting Brainstorm. and the stack will look like this:
--TOP
Mizzix trigger <--- Brainstorm's trigger
Brainstorm
Mizzix trigger <-- ponder's trigger
Ponder
--BOTTOM
since Mizzix only checks for the CMC when it triggers and not when the trigger resolves, you will get 2 counters total in that scenario. You can stack beyond a second spell as well.
Wish I could think of a better name for these than 'themes,' but I figured card type is already taken. But these are just specific spell effects that are printed on lots of different cards, some the exact same, some with different costs or limitations. "Wheel" spells mentioned in the pros is an example. There is more than just Wheel of Fortune, so you can find them at varying price levels if budget is an issue or go for redundancy if one them really speaks to you.
1. Wheel Cards. I've been bringing this up over and over so that if you leave here with only one thing, it's to make sure you play wheel spells. A list of available wheels can be found here.
2. Cantrips. My personal favorite spell type. Brainstorm and friends are unsung EDH heroes. The holy trinity of Ponder Brainstorm and Preordain are the grease in any competitive deck that can run them. Here, they're what start our big engine, and the 2 cmc+ are what get it going.
3. Counterspells. Would it really be a spell-slinger deck without some of these? We aren't in the best colors for single target removal, so we must take pre-emptive measures. It's best to play counterspells with as few colored mana symbols in them as possible. You the spells to get as cheap as possible so you can leave less mana open for protection. Leaving a few untapped mana once you got the Mizz train rolling is so much more threatening than any other leader. With the amount of draw and untap we sport, you should have no issue hitting the no button a few times, especially with a card like Spellburst and another hard counter. Pay 1-2 for every cheap spell and hard counter big spells. I'm not going to leave a best list of counterspells- I find this can be meta dependent. I love Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast but I know blue is the dominant color for every meta. Just be sure you're cutting colored mana where you can, but don't do it blindly. Counterspell still answers everything for 2 mana and Rewind can ramp, but neither are really needed.
5. Recursion. Recursion, when defined broadly, just means getting back spells you've cast or ended up in the yard by some means besides casting. Mystic Retrieval, Call to Mind, and Recoup are the all-stars. Recasting powerful spells here is pretty easy, which is why we want this option. Once Mizz has a decent reduction going it is viable to cast that spell twice in the same turn and still have open mana. If you have some specific cards that are effective in your meta, play a good amount of this. Mystic Retrieval is the most powerful and Recoup if it's the wheels or Large bounce spells that keep the board in the position you want.
6. Forks. Named after...Fork, these spells allow us to copy spells on the stack (some our limited to only our own spells). Combined with Mizz's ability, these allow for some great plays. Most of the fork spells have little to no generic mana paid into them, so we don't get the reduction very often (save Reiterate, one of our favorite card), but with how easily we cast large spells or really beef up the "X", it's easy to toss in the fork spells, which in the past could be challenging. They can also been seen as x2 multipliers to x spells. The Fork casts copy of the exact spell, meaning that whatever has been paid into X is matched instead of going to 0.
7. Mana Rocks. These are key in every EDH deck, we all know this. Here, we want to get as much colored mana from our rocks as possible, preferably at 2 mana, unless the rock adds extra mana or bonus effects. This isn't as important the lower your meta's competitive level is. If you can afford to drop 3 on the rocks, things like Darksteel Ignot that add any color may be better than settling for something like Sky Diamond. This section is a little like counterspells- I can't advise anything exact outside of top tier competetion. Look at the deck list for the best rocks, but play what you have. They all have their ups and downs.
With 4 experience counters and Mizz on the field, one can generate infinite storm (spells cast) with Reiterate and anything that untaps at least two lands that produce RR. This is probably one of the more reliable combos in that a lot of the cards can fill the untap role, some with obvious stipulations like Snap and Frantic Search, but ending up with Reality Spasm lets you draw your deck with Gitaxian Probe for Lab Man, or copy a single burn spell enough to win on the spot.
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Intuition is your kill card. Casting it usually will lead to
-Mizzix's Mastery
-Past in Flames
-Hidden Strings or pending on mana Reality Spasm
cast Past in Flames, recast Intuition for
-Enter the Infinite
-Frantic Search
-Mystic Retrieval
Mystic Retrieval targeting Frantic Search, discard Enter the Infinite, Flashbacked with Mizzix's Mastery
I've lost who originally post this idea (I'll track you down and credit you soon), but it's ultimately the fastest way to combo out once Mizz is on board. way you will have to play it, but ultimately you are trying to cast Enter the Infinite for as little as no mana by the end...done right, it can even provide a missing mana to combo on a turn or leave up Swan Song mana.
So now you must be saying, "but Welgo, these are all commander dependent combos! This has all been super awesome so far, but we're playing a hexproofless 2/2 that has no value on impact!
Have no fear my friends, we're playing a High Tide deck! There are tons of ways mid game to generate enough mana to either get back to a win or clear opponent's boards. This is where your meta is going to impact some card desicions. Cyclonic Rift or a big enough Temporal Fissure into a Wheel of Fortune effect will buy you time to get Mizz back on board or a win to the scoops of frustration. Devastation Tide is a great addition to decks with creature heavy metas. Comet Storm may not synergize with wheeling, but it can be another combo piece. Both of these cards sit on the bench for my deck, but that is only because I don't play in creature heavy metas.
High Tide is a card that obviously has varying effectiveness. If you're playing a game where Mizz won't stick, you may need to look to this as the pillar of your win-con. With enough lands, it can let Reiterate and Reality Spasm combo off again, or just provide the gold fishing into whatever lets you close the game.
4 Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Creatures (3)
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Nivix Guildmage
Walkers (2)
3 Dack Fayden
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
Artifacts (13)
0 Chrome Mox
0 Mana Crypt
0 Mox Diamond
0 Mox Opal
1 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Mana Vault
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's BaubleFoil
2 Izzet Signet
2 Grim Monolith
3 Coalition Relic
5 Gilded Lotus
Sorecery (19)
1 Gamble
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Vandalblast
2 Merchant Scroll
3 Wheel of Fortune
3 Windfall
4 Mizzix's Mastery
4 Mystic RetrievalFoil
4 Past in Flames
4 Tezzeret's GambitFoil
5 Reforge the Soul
5 Temporal FissureFoil
5 Time Warp
6 Mind's Desire
6 Time Spiral
8 Treasure CruiseFoil
12 Enter the Infinite
1 Brainstorm
1 Flusterstorm
1 High Tide
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Swan Song
2 Arcane Denial
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Delay
2 Hidden StringsFoil
2 Impulse
2 Mana Drain
2 Reality SpasmFoil
2 Remand
2 Reset
2 Snap
3 Blue Sun's Zenith
3 Capsize
3 Frantic Search
3 Intuition
3 Reiterate
3 Stroke of Genius
3 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Turnabout
5 Force of Will
5 Misdirection
7 Firemind's ForesightFoil
8 Dig Through Time
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Beacon
1 Command Tower
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Volcanic Island
14 Island
5 Mountain
Snapcaster Mage Flashbacking spells is huge, whether it be to cast the same spell twice or getting back something you had to discard earlier. Self explanatory.
Laboratory Maniac: Go ahead and write "I WIN" with a thick sharpie on this if you don't own a foil. That's all he does.
Trinket Mage: If you're budget, cut this. Candelabra of Tawnos and its synergy with Voltaic Key are the only reason he's still in. Don't be fooled into thinking keeping him for tutoring up your Sol Ring or Top is really worth it- such a narrow tutoring window isn't worth the three mana.
Tezzeret the Seeker: Artifacts are pretty big here, and this guy is a shining star. Far more affordable then Dack and probably a bit better. With the right rocks he's almost free if you tick him up the first time, and all our cool artifacts dont cost much, so we can even tutor a second time if he survives.
Candelabra of Tawnos: If you have it I feel like I don't need to say anything. I know most won't have it, but don't sweat it. It's best function for me is filtering colorless mana to colored and as an engine piece for winning while Mizz is off board. Plenty of ways to pull off the latter with much, much cheaper cards.
Voltaic Key: Pending on what you won't have from the previous artifacts, this card has varying value. I personally almost cut it before Candelabra. Gilded Lotus and Mana Crypt are great targets, but colorless mana can be useless and Gilded Lotus isn't around or tutor-able enough to have a card devoted to it. This is another cut you can afford if your rocks don't produce a lot of mana.
Coalition Relic: Really great rock. Usually nets two mana and there is synergy with proliferate, as narrow as it might be to line up. Don't look at something like Chromatic Lantern or Worn Powerstone as an almost alternative- that two mana that can vary in color is huge. I highly advise picking one up if you don't own it, it will never exist outside a commander deck as long as you live.
Gitaxian Probe: Storm Count, manaless cantrip. Peek. Amazing art. Amazing alternate art. Super cool card. If you don't own it, grab one.
Ponder/Preordain: T1 gas and two of the more underrated cards in EDH imo. A way to generate Mizz's first token. Some of the toughest calls you'll make all game are your t1- there are games where saving filtering til after Mizz hits board-sometimes untapping with mizz and that 1 cmc spell can well...lead to goldfish wins.
Vandalblast: I hate this card. It's too well designed. A part of me feels betrayed just letting it into one of my own decks, but it's just too much. Prob a meta dependant card, but getting rid of t1 rocks or wiping board of them later (maybe even for R still :D) is still really good, even without artifact focused decks. Even the hardest ramping green decks still have mana rocks or tools. I'll call it a meta card, but still advise it highly.
Merchant Scroll: Will often get High Tide or a Counterspell variation, but obv isn't limited to that. Must Have.
Recoup: Odds are it ends up in yard and the Flashback is all that gets used- but that's great. It's loot fodder with the upside of letting you abuse either draw if the game lulls or a control spell if things get out of hand. I remember back in the day knowing the game was going to stretch on when a friend of mine tutored this after a ***. Not totally needed, but the Flashback is what I think justifies it as a solid choice, especially as Baby Jace comes in.
Fabricate: Tutor
Wheel of Fortune/Windfall/Reforge the Soul: These are what can keep you going forever. Line up Recoup or other similar effects and some untapping spells and you can certainly tilt your chair back because you can know certainly your line is gonna snag.
Mizzix's Mastery The big blowout in the 99 that came with Miz. This will win you games, one way or another. Pivotal combo piece and party bomb no matter what variation you play. And yes, overloading the spells count towards storm. But no, you may not pay alternative costs of spells. You copy and exile them, meaning the spell's cmc is taken. X spells will always be 0, Cyclonic Rift can't be overloaded, and buyback is off the table. Must have regardless.
Mystic Retrieval: Recoup, but way better. Big time combo piece and will save your neck more than you will know. Get a foil, the work it will put in for you deserves such splendor.
Past In Flames: The art reminds me of the atmosphere in the room when this spell resolves. When it looks like a good time to activate it, it probably means a win. A Combo piece and well, clearly overpowered in any spellslinging deck. Must have.
Temporal Fissure: Our crashing waves. This is the storm card that doesn't really "win" the game, but it does. Even a small Fissure can put players far behind, and even without a solid win in view, this into Wheel of Fortune usually gets scoops too. If you have it in hand during a point where you're wheeling or goldfishing hard, you can usually let it go and flashback it later for something bigger, or both if you have the mana. Don't sit on it too long if you have to discard. It does require set up (and usually Miz) to work.
Time Warp: Blue Explore, with obvious other benefits. We really don't need it- I may cut it just because of the taboo with Izzet solitaire. So far people haven't gotten too bored of my turns yet, they aren't nearly as long as some Mono blue or Narset turns I have seen by a long shot.
Treasure Cruise: A card banned from nearly all competitive formats can't be bad right? Disgustingly easy to get to U with Mizz out. Must have.
Enter the Infinite: Obvious Combo piece. Shout out to my little brother Josh, who gave me his own foil after hearing about the deck's/this thread's success. I personally will always run it even if other combos seem better. Builds can go without it, although right now the Mizzix's Mastery combo stands as one of the more abuseable combos. I even saw a variation of a legacy deck that did this. Didn't get very far, but hey, if it can go anywhere in Legacy...
Flusterstorm Wirrsturm in German. Great counterspell, will see a lot of use. Expensive price tag though, just slap in Negate if you don't have FLuster.
High Tide: What the deck was founded on. Plenty of ways to exploit. Sometimes its a ramp of desperation, sometimes for a powerful turn, sometimes for the win. Reiterate it with buyback as many times as you want, and so long as you can then untap the lands later for big mana.
Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast: Always wanted to run these. Blue is the meanest color there is, that color clause will rarely be relevant. Must haves if you deal with blue at the table
Swan Song/Arcane Denial/Mana Drain/Force of Will/Remand: Need counterspells to do the dank dirty things we do. Pact of Negation is probably going in, I just don't own two and am waiting to purchase a foil and let the old one leave the deck it's in for here. Pending on budget, just sub out whatever you can't afford for other counterspells. Spell Burst in a more casual meta is probably better than all of them.
Remand gets extra mention. When you storm with a card, like Ignite Memories or any other storm card, each of your storm copies goes off before the original. This is because it's put on the stack, then creates the copies. Since these copies came after, theyre put on the stack after, and all have to resolve before the original does. When you reach thhat, you can Remand it back to your hand...and do it again.
Cyclonic Rift: It's never if the rift will be played every game, it's when. Enjoy overloading it for what others pay to bounce one thing.
Hidden Strings/Reality Spasm/Snap/Frantic Search: pseudo ramp spells/win cons with Reiterate with Mizz on board. These are the cards you want, maybe cutting Snap out entirely or adding in Toils of Night and Day.
Impulse/Thirst for KnowledgeFact or Fiction: Classic blue EDH draw that just gets better and better here. My original plan was to abuse expensive spells, but abusing already proven effective cards has been the way to go. Fact or Fiction is extra fun when you only have to tap one land, look at the 5 cards and see the dismay in the player's face when they realize no matter what they do, you can cast all of them that turn with mana to spare.
Capsize: Commander staple and overpowered here. This will win drawn out games unless someone gets Mizz off board fast. I rarely have games end in any way but three people dying at once, but for those of you who see games where people die one by one, this gets better and better. Pretty much a hard lock one on one.
Intuition: the killshot. Read in combos as to why it's so pivotal. Must have.
Reiterate: Too much fun. Probably my favorite card in the deck. Almost counter-proof when used as a combo because you can just...reiterate the counterspells. If you like this deck and see yourself playing it a lot, this is another card that deserves to be foil. It will do tons of work.
Misdirection: Another counterspellish protection spell. This and FoW still read as 5cmc even with alternative costs. Of course, it offers more than protection. I'm sure your buddy worked real hard to draw 7 with his Blue Sun's Zenith, but...
Dig THrough Time: Same deal as Treasure Cruise. Too easy to get to its colored mana only.
Playing the Deck
Mizz wants to see the standard opening hand for spellslingers. Mana rocks, counterspells, and draw. You are really looking to drop Mizz with either protection mana or something left over to start the engine fast. Pending on your meta, draws and counterspells in opening hand vary in importance. Casting t1 cantrips is ill-advised unless your stuck with a bad hand or no rocks. Letting it generate the first counter can be big since most games you will probably start with a 2 cmc. You end up with an extra counter, spending the same amount of mana, and filter the same cards.
Ramp before you get out Mizz. If you top deck a mana rock the turn you planned to cast Mizz, give it a turn to cast the rock. Once Mizz hits the board, the mana open that turn is very important. The longer you put off casting her, the more you can do without untapping. Don't think you should always be building up counters as fast as possible. Sometimes it's safer to have three mana open and chain spells together. Cast a 1 cmc, then a 2, then a 3 etc. It truly varies pending on you opening hand how you'll play the game.
Don't be afriad to wheel and give opponent's value. Ugh, the double-edged sword. I have the mantra of being headstrong with these. We run a slue of counters and other control spells and have 2 other players to deal with if anyone pushes ahead. I'm a firm believer in political EDH and wheeling can earn you some mercy. If you have the option to cast it for 1-2 and have mana open afterwards, I encourage you to do so. Some of the most amazing and roller coaster games I've had were off just boldly wheeling. Every player groans when Narset takes her 20 minute turn(s), but I've had plenty of people been blown away when Mizz really unloads.
Protect Miz at all costs. This is what the counterspells are here for. Unless it's a game ending play, you really want to devote every counter you come across to keeping her on board. With the draw density we have we can afford to let cards go one-for one if it's keep Mizz on board. The reduced draw really lets us play out our hand and refill or play slowly and keep it stocked at a good pace. If a spell gets countered, sometimes it's best to let it go. Unless you heavily poured into an X spell, odds are its reasonably redundant and can come up again or just be returned to your hand. Again, there are going to be times when you must counter
Draw, draw, draw. When you look at the deck working without interference, the plan is to literally just draw until we can put something together that wins us the game. Be as efficient as possible with experience counter generation, but really just make sure your grinding out cards to hand. Casting Blue Sun's Zenith should probably be done ASAP rather than look for maximum pay out. Letting it draw 3-4 cards is a better way to push for board progress than to hold it.
Don't tap out for x spells if you have countermagic. I guess this goes without saying, but this is a primer..so I will anyways. Even if you aren't afraid of counter spells, casting that x spell that doesn't win the game and having Mizz go down can lead to you suddenly scrounging. Red blue is notorious for what it can do with untapped mana on another player's turn, and Mizz is the Queen of it. You want to bluff at all times- once players get used to your counterspell density, that untapped mana will always mean it's possible.
Mizz on board? Get greedy. Spend entire turnings just casting draw spells if you need to. You really want to keep the cards flowing, from deck to hand to graveyard. The more cards you have face up somewhere on the board, the better off you are. Don't be afraid to lose your yard to graveyard exile. Unless you had way too many goodies in there and just never hit recursion, we can lose a good chunk of cards and still win. Our graveyard dependent combo puts everything we need in the yard on the same turn, so seeing a Tormod's Crypt sitting around may be worse than seeing it activated. I have on a few occasions won the instant it removed my grevayrd
Hand filling but no wins yet? Go on the defensive. Here's where you can start throwing counter-spells at the first player after you on rotation. Odds are if pieces and tutors dont show up, ramp and counterspells do. Countering the threats and letting the removal get through can be what wins it. Having Mizz cost 6 mana to recast but reduces spells by 4 can win off as little as two mana with the right hand or board state. You'll be surpised how quickly 4 generic mana and two colored becomes irrelevant when you have things in your favor
Graveyard hate. We aren't as reliant on our graveyard as some decks are, but it's certainly something we can do a lot with. Don't go filling it with win con cards. Letting draw or a few pieces go is no problem at all, and even poppin a Past in Flames to move ahead early isn't an issue. We run enough bounce and artifact removal to clear the biggest and most common threats, but it's still an issue to watch for.
Stax Probably the hardest thing to play against. If they set up faster than we do, it tends to be game over. Work with other players and remove what you can, but never count yourself out.
Your own ego. I think this is more important than people give it credit for. Mizz is a mere 2/2 with no protection built-in. After a few months of experience, I don't think it's best to rush wins. If you go too hard, she will be too big of a threat and removed asap.
It's time to combo. This had to happen one way or the other if your using the decklist here. Refer to the combo sections for a guide of what needs to be assembled. At this point, you want to be filtering through cards. You will want some protection for whatever you're trying to do. If you're using Past in Flames as a part of your combo, it tends to be best to activate that first to gain access to more counterspells or start draw out opponent's counters. Since we're going for late game wins, it's pretty likely you can assemble a combo after counters or removal aimed at Mizz has been drawn out
Meta Adjusting
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
I'm gonna suggest more counters in here. Mizzix needs to be protected for you to do what you wanna do here.
I also like Planeswalkers in this deck like JTMS and Tezzeret the seeker. Work super well with Poliferate effects that can abuse your experience counters.
Fuel for the cause is sweet here.
I suggest things like Frantic search and Time spiral to really get bang for your buck. Look forward to seeing where this goes.
Edit:
PAST IN FLAMES!
Stroke of genesis draws a ton of cards and so does Blue sun's Zenith
Cyclonic rift and Vandalblast are insane too
Edit Edit:
I just found this card:
Spell burst
What's better than infinite counter spells?
Mizzix's Mastery
I'm currently at a 130 card decklist...curse my love of land destruction
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Also Elsewhere Flask might be a consideration if you want to go all Islands when you combo.
You could even Dragon Storm into some Niv-Mizzets if you really wanted.
In Progress
GBIshkanah, Grafwidow ~ BWGRTymna the Weaver & Tana, the Bloodsower ~ UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ~ RGAtarka, World Render
Great minds think alike Yeah, ALL of these cards on my list. What I have here is just what I threw together/ordered. Spellburst seems like an awesome idea, I guess counterspells were the first things I cut from my cards simply because I wanted to do something fun over competitive but that never works for more than a week. Can't wait to see your list, I know I want land destruction too but I'm getting kind of specific, I worry the ones that include creature damage. I'm super curious about how the mana will work in relation to recasting him if I ever need too.
Edit: Walkers are a question I ca't decide. I wanted to roll low and have one who's ult could be proliferated into right away..I figured Ral at first cause of so many chances at extra turns, but Dack has a really useful minus....but JTMS and Tezz are my personal faves. Get your list up already
I actually just forgot to put both Merchant Scroll and Steam Vents in list, they just weren't on me at the time. As far as Terrain Generator, it's def a test. All the draw and lack of actual ability to get more islands into play had me worried.
Mind's Desire is just a card I don't own, it will be the first I order with Time Spiral
Edit: I ordered them as well as a few of the suggestions I knew I needed and threw them in list already. Really looking forward to future spoilers- I probably wont add them in til we see it all so cuts are more clear, but if theres a few as half as good as Mizzix's Mastery I'm sure many of them will see play here. Hopefully they did a few more especially abuseable with this incredible leader
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Power Sink seems really interesting for that secondary effect. I know a few time's that would've been useful in other combo decks. I'll test it out
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Edit: I am not seeing Force of Will... did I miss something in the text? budget?
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
Yeah, I don't have an extra now, but where I play allows proxies if you own the card and I think I'm finally caving to that. Probably going to tweak it once everythings spoiled. Right now it looks like more looting could be really good with Mizzix's Mastery and a properly set up Spelltwine and I'm really rooting for Trash for Treasure. Since I'll be doing the proxy thing, will probably have Intuition and Mana Crypt or other higher end cards. Def gotta get me a Blood Moon. Hopefully we get a few more spoilers that'll help figure it out. I sadly can't test til a few days after set release because Im in a heavier part of classes right now. But I had to get this out there in hopes of getting feedback. If you test a list, let me know results :]
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
It is too bad that Mycosynth Lattice doesn't change costs, cause that card could break the game in half with Mizzix's cost reducing ability if it did (the lattice's ability allows you to spend mana as if it were mana of any color, which means that the colored mana costs of your instant and sorceries spells still need to be paid, though you could pay those costs with any color of mana or colorless mana).
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Compulsive research would be ok and Talrand, Sky Summoner was in the list at first but I think I prefer the proc on Jace's Sanctum a bit more for this strat. If blockers are needed I'll throw it right in. Gamble is on my next list. Sakishima the Impostor looks like it's worth a slot too, but I question Windfall was something I skipped because of all the reanimation in my metas.
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
We all seemed to converge on building this deck.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Been loving my playtesting and oddly enough even with all the counters I throw in I've cut things like counterspell and mana drain because having things for 1 blue is so much better than two. I'll probably put mana drain back in once I throw this into my playgroup though
Current VIP's
Mind's Desire
Volcanic vision
Spelltwine
Shattering pulse
Spell burst
Turnabout
Wheels
Tezzeret's Gambit
Tezzeret/Teferi/and Ral Zarek of all people
Mizzix's Mastery
I'm probably going to mod the deck further once I assemble all the cards in real life but working off High tide + untap effects means that I will likely throw candelabra and voltaic key and like all of the copy artifact things. Works well for caged sun too.
EVER CAST 89 SPELLS IN ONE TURN?!!?!
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Yeah, all of the cards in my list you named were cards I have the most faith in. I guess wheels are my next step. Artifacts were the other thing I've questioned. Cutting Fabricate hurt because it was one I wanted to cause for U the most. As for walkers, Ral Zarek was who I had the most faith in since proliferating it to ult right away seemed viable, but I was worried that'd be about it. I think my issue is just storm is treading new waters and permanent count is something I don't know. Can't wait to see your official list. I can't test til this upcoming Saturday so I just have to sit on this brew and look at the cards over and over and over.
Edit: is Guttersnipe even worth it? I feel like there may be enough other win cons to cut it.
If artifacts become more significant, this is absolutely a possibility.
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Artifacts that ramp and walkers that untap are amazing.
Jace and Dack of course are in here.
The creatures so far are Snappy, Glen elendra, guttersnipe, trinket mage, and treasonus ogre
I cut Goblin electromancer and jace's sanctum because my spells were mostly "free"ish by that point anyway.
So far I'm keeping rhystic study, mystic remora, and future sight for enchamtnets.
The rest are all instants/sorceries.
My list still needs 4 more cuts and some more testing (Need room for Gamble, long term plans, etc) but I figure once the new commander set comes out I can get my testing in.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Cards your not running that i would consider for replacemants
overall the deck looks solid but i think you overestimate how hard you have to build around the general i would replace some of the jankey cards that would seems to make better use of his ability for stronger cards in general and let him just do his job in an already functional storm shell.
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Or is her ultimate too winmore?
Beating Face with Bane
Beatrice, the Golden Witch
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU