Into the Vault: Niv-Mizzet Parun Deck Tech

Written by Christian Gil Portugalisa

         Hi everyone. It’s been awhile since our last article. This time, I want to talk about an Izzet Dragon Commander who, in War of the Spark, died and was reborn. Our article will be focused on Niv-Mizzet Parun, the guild master prior to his death. I would also like to dedicate this article to Justin Ian Rosario. I hope this article helps you out and most importantly, bring you fun commander games.

The Commander

         Niv-Mizzet is a very interesting commander. He always had one thing going for him ever since he first came out in the original Ravnica block. Whenever you draw a card, Niv-Mizzet deals one damage to any target. This is a very powerful ability since all you need to do is put in a lot of cantrips and you’re good to go. Plus this commander can also deal infinite damage with certain cards which we will talk about in a bit.

         The biggest downfall of this commander is the high mana cost requirement. Three (3) blue and three (3) red is no joke. This means we really need to work on his mana base as well as choose the right mana rocks to get this bad boy out as fast as possible. Another thing to note is that you will need a few control cards to slow the game down long enough to cast your commander and bring the pain.

How do we deal with his mana cost?

         First thing we need to figure out is how we can deal with that extravagant mana cost requirement. We can do this by making sure that most of our lands and mana rocks can produce both red and blue mana. Lands such as:

Cascade Bluffs, City of Brass, Command Tower, Exotic Orchard, Fiery Islet, Forbidden Orchard, Mana Confluence, Reflecting Pool, Shivan Reef, Steam Vents, Tarnished Citadel and Volcanic Island.

         Some of these cards may be out of your budget so you can always replacement them with Vivid Lands (Vivid Creek and Vivid Crag), Izzet Boilerworks, Sulfur Falls, Izzet Guildgate, Swiftwater Cliffs, Wandering Fumarole, Shivan Reef, Temple of Epiphany and many more. These cards can definitely help however, they will slow down your game plan. Also, don't be afraid to add basic Islands and Mountains.

         In the mana rock section, you will need the following: Chrome Mox, Coalition Relic, Fellwar Stone, Gilded Lotus, Izzet Signet, Lotus Petal, Mox Diamond, Mox Opal, Star Compass and Talisman of Creativity. I know what you're thinking right now, I can't afford these rocks. Don't fret. You can replace them with any of the following: Jeweled Amulet, Arcum's Astrolabe, Mana Cylix, Coldsteel Heart, Corrupted Grafstone, Pentad Prism, Pillar of Origins, Prismatic Lens, Silver Myr, Sky Diamond, Chromatic Lantern, Chronatog Totem, Darksteel Ingot, Izzet Cluestone, Izzet Keyrune and Izzet Locket.

The Combos

         Now for the fun part and the reason why you have decided to play Niv-Mizzet Parun. This commander goes infinite with any one of the following cards:

  

         When you have enchanted or paired any of these with your commander, you can either cast a cantrip or just wait for your opponent to play a spell. They are doomed either way. Once you start drawing a card, your commander will deal 1 damage to a target, ideally an opponent, which in turn allow you to draw another card which will then loop the entire process till their are all dead. One thing to consider is that adding up the life total of all your opponents in a standard edh game comes up to 120 which is more than the number of cards in your deck. So if you are not careful, you might actually deck yourself out of the game bringing one or two of your opponents with you. Which brings me to the next two (2) cards you want inside the deck:

 

         Ahh Labman and Jace, the go to heroes of Ravnica and competitive decks alike. These two will be your saving grace when all else seems lost. But wait, what if your opponents manage to remove or destroy your Niv-Mizzet and now he is too expensive to recast? Here comes a new hero: Glint-Horn Buccaneer.

         Glint-Horn Buccaneer can utilize any of the curiosity effects that you are already using. He is much easier to cast, comes in early and your opponents will not be ready for him. This is an amazing backup plan. His combo works this way:

1. Cast Glint-Horn and equip him with a Curiosity Effect
2. Use his ability during combat, discarding a card, pinging each opponent, and getting draw triggers. This should work out to 1R: Discard a card, deal 1 to each opponent, draw 4 cards.
3. Move to the cleanup step with 8+ cards in hand. Discard down to maximum handsize. This triggers Glinthorn for each discarded card which forces a new round of priority
4. Resolve each damage trigger independently as each one will trigger another curiosity draw(s)
5. After these are resolved you now have a bunch more cards in hand. Move to another cleanup step and repeat this.

         WARNING: Because each damage trigger will trigger curiosity independently, if you drew all possible cards multiple times, the growth is exponential. For instance if you discarded 3 cards, you can now draw a maximum of 9 cards, then 27, then 81. See the problem? For Curiosity and Ophidian Eye the solution is simple: Only choose to draw 1 card off his triggers. So it would go Discard down to 7, Glinthorn triggers, Choose to draw a card off the first curiosity trigger, choose not to on the others, repeat, going 1 card at a time.

         The real problem is if he's paired to Tandem Lookout, as Tandem Lookout doesn't have a "may" clause for drawing a card. The solution to this is to be careful and use a well timed removal card (preferably free like Snapback or Submerge).

1. First make sure you have enough cards in your deck to deal enough damage
2. Resolve the combo as normal, even with the exponential growth. Let's say you have just discarded 27 cards to maximum handsize. You have 27 Glinthorn triggers
3. Each of those triggers will put 3 draws on the stack that will resolve before the next damage trigger. Lets say you have 20 cards left in your deck. You'll be able to resolve 6 of those damage triggers, as each will draw you 3 cards (18 draws).
4. You now have 21 Glinthorn triggers on the stack. If you let them resolve now, you will lose due to drawing cards. At this point hold priority and cast Snapback/Submerge/Pongify/Blink of an Eye/Whatever on the Tandem lookout
5. You can now safely resolve those 21 triggers dealing 21 damage. You also have 17 extra cards in your hand (18 minus the 1 removal spell) and you can move to discard and safely deal another 17 damage to everyone. This will have been well over 40 damage assuming you started the loop at a smaller number than 27.

The Control Game

         All these are good as long as you live long enough to actually play them. What you want to do in the early turns is to control the game as much as you can while slowly placing mana rocks and or dorks.

  

         Pyroclasm effects are the way to go to control those pesky mana dorks your opponents may have with the added benefit of hitting their life total as well.

  

         These can handle either slow down the game for your opponents and may even stop them in their tracks. Now if budget isn't an issue, you can also add these three cards:

  

         You will need to adjust your mana base if you want to play Back to Basics since this can actually stop you too. The great thing about including Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon is that it can stop certain decks in their tracks catapulting you to your win. Just increase your basic Island count since both Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon will turn all your non-basic lands into mountains.

         I hope you enjoyed this article. If there are other commanders that you want to be featured here, leave a comment below. I would also like to thank deakmana and Rob828 for their help and decklists.

Casual Niv-Mizzet

Instant (33)
1x Abrade
1x Anticipate
1x Arcane Denial
1x Blink of an Eye
1x Brainstorm
1x Cancel
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Chaos Warp
1x Counterspell
1x Cryptic Command
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Deprive
1x Dig Through Time
1x Discombobulate
1x Dizzy Spell
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Forbid
1x Impulse
1x Izzet Charm
1x Mana Leak
1x Memory Lapse
1x Miscalculation
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Narset's Reversal
1x Negate
1x Opt
1x Pongify
1x Pyroblast
1x Rapid Hybridization
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Snapback
1x Submerge
1x Swan Song

Land (32)
1x Cascade Bluffs
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Exotic Orchard
1x Fiery Islet
1x Forbidden Orchard
1x Izzet Boilerworks
1x Izzet Guildgate
1x Mana Confluence
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Shivan Reef
11x Snow-Covered Island
2x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Swiftwater Cliffs
1x Tarnished Citadel
1x Temple of Epiphany
1x Vivid Crag
1x Vivid Creek
1x Wandering Fumarole

Sorcery (9)
1x By Force
1x Earthquake
1x Gitaxian Probe
1x Ponder
1x Preordain
1x Pyroclasm
1x Rolling Earthquake
1x Sleight of Hand
1x Treasure Cruise

Enchantment (3)
1x Curiosity
1x Legacy's Allure
1x Ophidian Eye

Commander (1)
Niv-Mizzet Parun

Artifact (13)
1x Arcane Signet
1x Arcum's Astrolabe
1x Coldsteel Heart
1x Corrupted Grafstone
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Izzet Cluestone
1x Izzet Keyrune
1x Izzet Locket
1x Izzet Signet
1x Mana Cylix
1x Prismatic Lens
1x Sol Ring
1x Talisman of Creativity

Creature (5)
1x Glint-Horn Buccaneer
1x Laboratory Maniac
1x Silver Myr
1x Tandem Lookout
1x Treasonous Ogre

Planeswalker (4)
1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
1x Karn, the Great Creator
1x Narset, Parter of Veils
1x Ral, Storm Conduit

Niv-Mizzet Parun cEDH Build

by deakmana

Land (32)
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Cascade Bluffs
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Exotic Orchard
1x Fiery Islet
1x Flooded Strand
1x Forbidden Orchard
10x Island
1x Mana Confluence
1x Misty Rainforest
2x Mountain
1x Polluted Delta
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Shivan Reef
1x Steam Vents
1x Tarnished Citadel
1x Volcanic Island
1x Wooded Foothills

Removal (6)
1x Gilded Drake
1x Mogg Salvage
1x Pongify
1x Pyroclasm
1x Rolling Earthquake
1x Submerge

Combo (4)
1x Curiosity
1x Glint-Horn Buccaneer
1x Ophidian Eye
1x Tandem Lookout

Draw/Selection/Tutor (17)
1x Anticipate
1x Brainstorm
1x Dig Through Time
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Frantic Search
1x Gitaxian Probe
1x Imperial Recruiter
1x Impulse
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Mystic Remora
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Ponder
1x Preordain
1x Pull from Tomorrow
1x Rhystic Study
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sleight of Hand

Mana (15)
1x Arcane Signet
1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
1x Captain Lannery Storm
1x Chrome Mox
1x Coalition Relic
1x Copy Artifact
1x Dockside Extortionist
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Izzet Signet
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Mox Diamond
1x Sol Ring
1x Talisman of Creativity
1x Treasonous Ogre

Commander (1)
Niv-Mizzet Parun

Counterspell (15)
1x Counterspell
1x Delay
1x Dispel
1x Flusterstorm
1x Force of Negation
1x Force of Will
1x Mana Drain
1x Mental Misstep
1x Misdirection
1x Negate
1x Pact of Negation
1x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Spell Pierce
1x Swan Song

Utility (6)
1x Blink of an Eye
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Narset's Reversal
1x Snapback
1x Spellskite

Stax (4)
1x Blood Moon
1x Cursed Totem
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Stranglehold