Niv-Machine Gun

Commander / EDH Dragons Pillow Fort UR (Izzet) Wall

RustamM

Creature (25)

• 1x AEtherflame Wall
• 1x Amaranthine Wall
• 1x Angrath's Marauders
• 1x Dreamscape Artist
• 1x Embermaw Hellion
• 1x Excavated Wall
• 1x Fog Bank
• 1x Glacial Wall
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x Illusionary Wall
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, Parun
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
• 1x Psychosis Crawler
• 1x Shivan Hellkite
• 1x Steel Wall
• 1x Thunder Wall
• 1x Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
• 1x Walking Atlas
• 1x Wall of Air
• 1x Wall of Dust
• 1x Wall of Earth
• 1x Wall of Fire
• 1x Wall of Lava
• 1x Wall of Razors
• 1x Wall of Stone

Artifact (14)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Gorgon's Head
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Izzet Cluestone
• 1x Izzet Keyrune
• 1x Izzet Locket
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Neurok Stealthsuit
• 1x Orbs of Warding
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Urza's Armor
• 1x Witchbane Orb

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Cowardice
• 1x Curiosity
• 1x Dictate of the Twin Gods
• 1x Meishin, the Mind Cage
• 1x Quest for Pure Flame
• 1x Wizard Class

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Jaya, Venerated Firemage

Commander (1)

Land (50)

• 22x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 23x Mountain
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shivan Gorge
• 1x Temple of Epiphany

Instant (3)

• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Shock
• 1x Sudden Shock

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Maybeboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Akoum Hellkite
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal

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Niv-Machine Gun

A deck designed around repeatedly using Niv-Mizzet's damage ability, while hiding behind walls.

Theme

The idea behind this deck was to create an interactive Commander deck that always has something to do with relatively low price cards. I was getting frustrated in long multiplayer Commander games with a bad board state where top decking a land added nothing, so I wanted a deck where that would be no bad thing.

The original idea was Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius and 99 lands, but I think that deck would only work the first time before my playgroup would see through it. To counter this, I added a number of walls in {R}/{U}/{C} as they are relatively cheap, both in mana and price.

After that, a few more cards were thrown in to

• Protect Niv-Mizzet from removal
• Protect me from burn
• Amplify Niv's ability

always answering the challenge question "Would this be better than just another basic land?", which can be sunk into Niv's ability.

A couple of combos are included as well, but the individual cards work by themselves.

Why Dracogenius?

There are plenty of Niv-Mizzets out there, but none have the repeatability of the ping that Dracogenius does. Many of the others rely around card draw or untapping, which I don't think has the growing momentum that the unlimited mana sink of Dracogenius provides.

As it happens, the other versions conbo well together so they are included in the deck too.

Bring on the walls!

Walls are great in this deck. As well as providing a low cost blocker early game to stop an aggro defeat before Niv is out around turn 6, they also add a lot of flavour. The idea of a dragon sitting behind walls in his fortress, firing shots over them at the enemy is appealing to me.

Top walls:

• Steel Wall / Excavated Wall are {1} cost walls that work well on turn 1 and are welcome later in the game too.

• Fog Bank one of my favourite walls that can suck up any amount of non-trample damage

• Amaranthine Wall an industructible wall is exactly what you need
• Wall of Razors who thought giving a wall First Strike was a good idea? Regardless, keeps opponents at bay

Protect the King

The final category of cards are protection for Niv and the player, as no amount of walls can stop a Murder occuring or a Lightning Bolt to the face. As the deck revolves around Niv's ability he is a prime target for removal.

To counter threats to Niv I've included:

• Darksteel Plate no reason to not be included in any Commander deck

• Swiftfoot Boots hexproof shoes go a long way

• Neurok Stealthsuit not a card I had come across before, but it made the cut for its instant speed shrowd for {U}{U}

The second part was protecting me, the player. I chose a few artifacts which either gave me hexproof or reduced damage, limiting the need to use walls as blockers and generally making it less efficient to attack me than opponents.

Urza's Armor / Witchbane Orb / Orbs of Warding fulfil this purpose. Ironically, reducing damage would counter Niv's ability entirely, so I wouldn't play them against a copying deck.

Other cards

There are a few other themes to the remaining cards.

Some enhance Niv's ability like Illusionist's Bracers and Basilisk Collar

Some add or double damage (though doubling happens before adding, at your opponent's discretion) like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Embermaw Hellion.

Psychosis Crawler means every opponent takes damage of Niv's ability, and is as big as your hand. I imagine it will be a removal decoy more than getting much time on the battlefield.

Cowardice makes Niv be {R}{U} repeatable removal.

Meishin, the Mind Cage makes every creature join my walls on 0 power.

Combos

I'm not a huge fan of instant win combos, as they come from nowhere and end a game in an unsasifyint way, so I use them sparingly. However, there's a few I couldn't resist and the cards work well by themselves without their pair.

Curiosity + Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind / Curiosity + Niv-Mizzet, Parun I couldn't not put in this quick instant win combo (depending on the cards left in deck), but as it doesn't work off the commander Niv I thought it wasn't too bad.

Dictate of the Twin Gods + Heartless Hidetsugu were sitting next to each other in my rares folder, and I couldn't not include them. Each by themself make Niv's job a burning an opponent to zero life half as easy, but together they kill all. Niv's ability means you can guarantee your own life total is odd when you tap Hidetsugu meaning you remain on 1 life. It's then {R}{U} any remaining opponents to win.

Blanket damage doubling cards do make the walls half as effective, so I've used them sparingly in the deck.

Feedback

Any advice greatfully received, particularly

• abilities that enhance Niv's repeatable ping
• better defenders/walls
• good equipment
• more ways to cheat out lands

Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Curiosity + Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind Dictate of the Twin Gods + Heartless Hidetsugu Curiosity + Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	20 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.26