This deck is crazy fast. Fast enough to have a TWO TURN WIN! I mean so fast that about 3 out of 4 times I'll win by turn 4, and 9 out of 10 times I'll win by turn 5. You'll leave your opponent with their $600 dollar Esper Control Deck shocked that your $40 deck beat them so quickly. If you like this fast-paced deck, look at my other one, This Deck is so Fast it Deserves a Speeding Ticket, a quick Boros kill!
Nivmagus Elemental
is crazy. He has so much potential especially with cipher and a deck loaded with convenient one drop instants.
Card Descriptions:
Nivmagus Elemental
- Hero of the deck. If there's any reason you win, its because of him.
Blistercoil Weird- In case you don't draw
Nivmagus Elemental
we have a back up. Unfortunately, his effect won't be permanent, nor any of the spells cast on him, but he can still be a big swinger. Simply play as many spells as possible, buff him up with our one drop instants, enjoy the auto temporary +1, and swing.
Nivix Cyclops
-This guy can get insane with just a couple two instants or sorceries, especially if
Armed
is included. For example, play
Armed
and Titan's Strength on him, and he becomes a 11/4 for the turn, with double strike. Even if you don't target him with the spells, he's strong at 7/4. He's the "high drop" of this deck, which is why I don't run 4, but that could go up or down.
Dynacharge
-One drop instant that can be exiled with
Nivmagus Elemental
. Never use it for its actual effect; just to exile
Shock-was recommended this card and realized it was pretty good in the deck. It can be exiled with
Nivmagus Elemental
, used as finishing burn, or creature removal.
Mizzium Skin
- One drop that can be exiled for the counters. Also, if needed, the hexproof can help save
Nivmagus Elemental
from early game removals.
Titan's Strength- One drop that can be exiled for counters. There are times when the temporary +3/+1 will be better than the two +1/+1, most notably when you need that extra damage to finish your opponent off.
Armed / Dangerous
- We're only casting this for the Armed part. You should never exile this card, because the double strike is so valuable and will help a lot in the fastest endgames. Very important card in this deck.
Ordeal of Thassa
- supplies that badly needed draw power after we've used up all of the instants and sorceries and are now left with just a 1/1 Blistercoil Weird or a 1/4
Nivix Cyclops
without any spells. Throwing this on a creature powers it up and then let's us draw cards. Throw it on a
Nivmagus Elemental
that already has counters on it, and then you get two cards.
Hands of Binding- Included for being a low cost cipher card, and can temporarily inhibit a blocker if necessary.
Hidden Strings- 2nd or 3rd most important card in this deck. It is a low mana cipher card, with an astounding ability, even though we will be exiling the ciphered copies. Basically, it pays for itself, and leads to havoc. See the fast turn wins to see why this card is so important.
Aqueous Form- one drop unblockable. No questions asked we're taking it.
(Note: For a a super cheap version of the deck, lose the four Steam Vents and take two more Islands and mountains. I don't recommend Izzet Guildgates because they could potentially slow you down, and we're all about speed.)
TWO TURN WIN!:
To deal 20 damage in one turn, this is the hand you need: 1 Blistercoil Weird, 2 Steam Vents (or 1 Steam Vents and 1 Mountain, 2 Hidden Strings, 1
Armed / Dangerous
, 2 Titan's Strength. (Note: You'll start off with 7 of these, just hope you draw the card needed.)
T1: Play Steam Vents and cast Blistercoil Weird
T2: Play either Steam Vents or Mountain. Cast the first Hidden Strings and untap 2 land (Blistercoil Weird is now a 2/2) and then do it again, untapping the same two land (Blistercoil Weird is now a 3/3). Cast
Armed
, taking Blistercoil Weird to a 5/4 double strike. Swing for 5 double strike (hopefully they have no blockers; it's only T2 is its not terribly unlikely), and they take 5 from first strike (20-5=15). Then, the two copies of Hidden Strings will then trigger, taking Blistercoil Weird to a 7/6 for the turn (if we didn't do anything else, we'd take them down to 8). Now, cast two Titan's Strength, which gives Blistercoil Weird +3/+1, but then an additional +1/+1, giving Blistercoil Weird +4/+2 per Titan's Strength. That give us the addition 8 damage needed for game when added to the 7 that Blistercoil Weird is already at.
This is a highly unlikely way to win, so I doubt its worth it putting a playset of Blistercoil Weird, though if you wanna go for it, go for it.
3 Turn Insanely Fast Game Win:
T1: Mountain/Island;
Nivmagus Elemental
T2:Mountain/Island/[[Steam Vent-opposite of what you already have)- Play Hidden Strings, cipher it onto
Nivmagus Elemental
, and untap the two lands you have. Then, play Aqueous Form on
Nivmagus Elemental
and cast a 1 drop instant and exile it using
Nivmagus Elemental
's ability. (
Nivmagus Elemental
should be a 3/4 unblockable, with ciphered Hidden Strings). Swing for 3, and "eat" the ciphered copy by exiling the ciphered copy of Hidden Strings (yes this is allowed, and Hidden Strings is still ciphered onto [[Nivmagus Elemental). At the end of your turn,
Nivmagus Elemental
should be a powerful 5/6. (20-3=17 life left)
Turn 3: Any land. Play
Armed / Dangerous
on
Nivmagus Elemental
(becomes a 6/6 double strike for the turn) and then play any 1 drop instant and "eat it" making
Nivmagus Elemental
a 8/8 double strike for the turn (already has unblockable, should be a 7/8 permanently now), and then swing for game. When first strike damage is done, Hidden Strings is triggered and you "eat" it, taking
Nivmagus Elemental
to a 9/10 (10/10 for the turn), which will finish your opponent off.
(Note that there are many variations that can be done. For example, if you are facing control and they have no creatures, an Aqueous Form is unnecessary and another instant could be exiled and would suffice).
Other win:
Turn 1: Land;
Nivmagus Elemental
Turn 2: Land; cast and exile two instants, taking
Nivmagus Elemental
to 5/6, and swing for 5. (20-5=15)
Turn 3: Land; Play
Armed / Dangerous
on
Nivmagus Elemental
, and then cast and exile a one drop-
Nivmagus Elemental
becomes a 7/8 permanently, though an 8/8 for the turn. Swing for game.
(Note: There all you really need for that win is a
Nivmagus Elemental
,
Armed / Dangerous
, 3 one drop instants, and 3 land- which I have encountered quite a bit by turn 3. This win is greatly improved by an Aqueous Form)
Other win:
Turn 1: Land;
Nivmagus Elemental
Turn 2: Land; Play any instant (2 if you can) or cipher spell, exile if for counters if instant, swing, and if the spell was a cipher, exile the cipher for counters. Opponent should be at either 19 or 17, and
Nivmagus Elemental
should be at a minimum of 3/4.
Turn 3: Repeat process, use Aqueous Form when you draw it, and then keep swinging (you should be bigger than anything they have). Let's guess and say you swing with a "weak" (for our purposes) 5/6 (that's only one instant this turn), then they'll be down to either 14 or 12. If you played a cipher spell make sure to use it.
Turn 4 onward: Repeat process; you should win by turn 6.
Synergies Spelled Out:
Nivmagus Elemental
+Hidden Strings+Any two instants= Hidden Strings is played and untaps mana, then two instants are played, taking
Nivmagus Elemental
up +4/+4. Then swing, and you'll move up to +6/+6 this turn.
Nivmagus Elemental
+Cipher Spell+
Armed / Dangerous
= Play
Armed / Dangerous
onto
Nivmagus Elemental
that has a ciphered copy. Swing (double strike, hopefully unblockable), and when the first strike hits, "eat" the ciphered spell, and then hit for even bigger, and then "eat" the ciphered spell again.
Nivmagus Elemental
+Hidden Strings (ciphered already), Armed / Dangerous, and two instants in hand= Swing (hopefully unblockable, double strike), actually use the ciphered copy, and cast the two instant spells and eat them giving
Nivmagus Elemental
+4/+4 for the next hit.
There are tons of little synergies for with this deck that I did not explicitly state.
Also, I am considering mainboarding
Trait Doctoring
, because unlike Hands of Binding it is not dependent on my opponent controlling a creature, and is a one drop, which can help. I can just say all red mana symbols become blue, and call it done, and then cipher it. Unfortunately, the actual ability is not as good, and can't be potentially used to clear blockers like Hands of Binding.
Thanks, I will update with FNM results. +1 if you like it and please leave comments or suggestions!
