Niv-Mizzet, the Draw Engine

Commander / EDH UR (Izzet)

GaryXean

Instant (18)

• 1x Anticipate
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Clairvoyance
• 1x Crimson Wisps
• 1x Electrolyze
• 1x Fire / Ice
• 1x Grip of Amnesia
• 1x Ignorant Bliss
• 1x Inside Out
• 1x Izzet Charm
• 1x Keep Watch
• 1x Obsessive Search
• 1x Opt
• 1x Peek
• 1x Reach Through Mists
• 1x Sapphire Charm
• 1x Think Twice
• 1x Turf Wound

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Divination
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Invoke the Firemind
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Saheeli's Artistry
• 1x Theft of Dreams

Land (41)

• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Highland Lake
• 17x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 13x Mountain
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Wandering Fumarole
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Ceta Sanctuary
• 1x Curiosity
• 1x Dictate of Kruphix
• 1x Fate Foretold
• 1x Fevered Visions
• 1x Monastery Siege
• 1x Ophidian Eye
• 1x Ordeal of Thassa
• 1x Quicksilver Dagger
• 1x Sphinx's Tutelage

Artifact (7)

• 1x Aligned Hedron Network
• 1x Cultivator's Caravan
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Izzet Cluestone
• 1x Izzet Keyrune
• 1x Sol Ring

Commander (1)

Creature (12)

• 1x Enclave Cryptologist
• 1x Kami of the Crescent Moon
• 1x Keranos, God of Storms
• 1x Lu Xun, Scholar General
• 1x Marchesa's Infiltrator
• 1x Melek, Izzet Paragon
• 1x Mercurial Chemister
• 1x Murder of Crows
• 1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1x Noggle Ransacker
• 1x Psychic Membrane
• 1x Tandem Lookout

Planeswalker (4)

• 1x Chandra, Pyromaster
• 1x Saheeli Rai
• 1x Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

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When I originally designed this deck, my plan was to get Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind onto the battlefield as quickly as possible, then proceed to start drawing cards to kill people. When he'd been killed 10 times in one game and it was costing me over 20 mana to cast him again, I realised that I needed to change my tactics.

The method of winning remained the same- cast Niv-Mizzet and draw cards to kill people, but the way of doing that changed. Now the deck is focused on three separate cards- Tandem Lookout, Ophidian Eye and Curiosity. These three cards create an infinite loop when paired with Niv-Mizzet.

Cards like Peek, Gitaxian Probe and Clairvoyance exist in the deck both for card draw and to make sure that the loop can be safely executed, mostly to check for counter spells. Ignorant Bliss is in the deck to stop people forcing a discard.

Because this deck isn't very creature heavy, it relies on a few control elements to stop getting killed quickly. Fire/Ice, Sapphire Charm and Aligned Hedron Network are all ways of slowing down attacks. If things start getting out of control, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon basically resets the board. Chandra, Pyromancer can be used to either get rid of a small, annoying deathtouch creature or to add to the draw power this deck has.

Saheeli Rai and Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded are BFFs in this deck- Saheeli controls the draw from Tibalt. The downside with Tibalt is the random discard, but if Saheeli's scry reveals one of the win-con cards, then Tibalt can be used as a target for people to attack. People are terrified of his ultimate ability.

The rest of the deck is drawing cards until enough mana sources are found to be able to cast Niv-Mizzet and one of the win-con cards. As long as Niv-Mizzet can be tapped to draw, the loop is near unavoidable. If people try to kill Niv-Mizzet or one of the win-cons, simply tap to draw in response and win.

Elixir of Immortality is in the deck to prevent the deck milling itself. If the deck's nearly out of cards during the loop, simply stop the card drawing, cast Elixir and go to endstep. Discard down to seven cards in hand then use Elixir in the next upkeep, then cast another draw spell to start over again. With this, you're looking at around 170 damage, which is enough to kill 4 players.

This deck doesn't really care what other people are doing. Because the curve is so low, it doesn't need a lot to get going.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 17 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 27 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.75
Tokens	Copy Clone