Niv-Mizzet on a Medium-High budget (EDH w/primer)

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Control Infinite Combo Tempo UR (Izzet)

bipidyboo

Land (32)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 5x Island
• 2x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Tolaria West

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Counterbalance
• 1x Curiosity
• 1x Dream Halls
• 1x Future Sight
• 1x Mind Over Matter
• 1x Mindmoil
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Omniscience
• 1x Rhystic Study

Sorcery (21)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Call to Mind
• 1x Enter the Infinite
• 1x Expropriate
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Inner Fire
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Mystic Retrieval
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Recoup
• 1x Reforge the Soul
• 1x Show and Tell
• 1x Temporal Manipulation
• 1x Temporal Mastery
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Winds of Change

Artifact (14)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Commander (1)

Instant (20)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cryptic Command
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Forbid
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Izzet Charm
• 1x Long-Term Plans
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mindbreak Trap
• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Remove Soul

Creature (3)

• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Snapcaster Mage

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Trinket Mage

Land (1)

• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Day's Undoing

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Welcome to my Niv-Mizzet mini primer!

My History with Niv-Mizzet

Niv-Mizzet has been my favorite creature since I first started playing magic. The Izzet vs Golgari duel deck was my first experience in a deck with him and I absolutely adored it. The concept of retaining card advantage while pinging targets became my first real playstyle that I adopted - where each card I drew seemed to always at least do two things at once. I then at that point gathered up enough lawn-mowing money to make a terrible "modern" deck, with my one copy of Niv-Mizzet practically being my win condition. All the deck really did was counter spells and draw cards... and I guess you can say drawing cards would have been great had Niv survived long enough. It was truly a hard lesson to learn, a 6 drop with such a slow win-con was not that reliable in modern. I wont go into much more detail about how bad this deck was. Though, like many players who are new to the game who got their butts kicked, I was in denial. I was still convinced that Niv was a great card and insisted on a different strategy. "What if I could just play him whenever I wanted" I thought. It was then where my good friend told me of the format of Commander. Earlier iterations of my Niv commander decks were very similar to my "modern" deck... counter spells.. and draw cards. Luckily, at least in my playgroup, Commander was a very slow format. I had saw much more success with Niv and I began to fall in love. The contents of our decks were mostly from recent sets because we weren't aware of the beautiful world of buying singles, so games were slow and grindy. Boy did I learn some lessons from the more optimized decks. More people began joining our little playgroup, some of them being very seasoned players with plenty of experience with deckbuilding. It was then, again, where I got my butt handed to me. Longer story short, I built other decks that worked better. But in secret never lost hope in Niv-Mizzet. I actually ended up finding a small community of Niv-Mizzet players who loved him as much as me. All of us together began discussing playstyles. It began quite apparent that I would have to start forking out some serious money. 6 years of work later, I think I found my comfortable playstyle. I still counter spells and draw cards. But I feel that I have made a more optimized and versatile approach... ... I became the target.

Why should YOU play Niv-Mizzet?

To me, Niv has been the exact idea of what red blue should be. My general understanding of red had always been burn, blue has been drawing and countering. Niv is the true general who should be played by people who truly love UR for what it was originally designed to be.

You will like Niv if you enjoy: - Drawing cards - Quick games - Versatility in win conditions - Explosive turns where you win out of nowhere. - Playing a challenging deck where you need to take your opponents deck/playstyle into consideration. - Counterspells

You will despise Niv if you enjoy: - Winning through combat - Decks that have satisfying and hard-earned wins - Playing safe and not taking risks - Gaining life and keeping your total healthy - Having creatures to protect you - Pineapple on pizza

As much money as it can take to make an optimized Niv deck, the deck can feel very cheap/obnoxious because other people at your table might want to actually play magic. I don't often recommend building a deck like this because the wins are usually very unsatisfying unless you are playing against OTHER very explosive decks. Sometimes winning with this deck might make you feel like a can of piss, so try to win in a more difficult fashion if your up against less optimized decks... magic isn't about enemies, its about making friends and showing dem da wae. (explicit dead meme)

Here are some quick pros and cons to playing Niv:

Pros: -Versatile -Card advantage -Fast -Combo-y

Cons: -Fragile -Can run out of gas -You will get focused -Easy to shut down

Yes. Niv just flats out to many many commanders out there. So it's your job to be faster and more intelligent than your foe Nekusar, the Mindrazer and Gaddock Teeg decks out there. Of course, it wont always be you with 5 mana on turn two so we need to take into account some certain playstyles in certain situations.

This primer will be continued shortly!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.01