I obviously love this deck! I have tried to make the Dracogenius work as my general over the Firemind many times, but I have never seen a list that was as spot on as yours. Welcome to the Izzet League!

Well, thanks a lot for the great compliment TheDracogenius! Dracogenius for me was the hardest general to build around and balance so far, but I am pretty happy with the current build. Do you have any suggestions or tips from your own experiments? I'll have a look at your firemind list soon, when I have some more time on my hands.

I always tried to build a voltron deck with equipmemt cards like Loxodon Warhammer and the "swords of protection and value" to win with commander damage. Turns out that Niv is actually a great control card rather than a purely aggressive beatstick. I would not look at those lists for advice, I am much more comfortable with my current build. But I will probably try out a few new variations of my deck with the Dracogenius at the helm to switch things up a little. My problem has always been that the Dracogenius was too fair in my eyes, while the appeal of the Firemind gets kind of lost when you only use him to activate a game winnig combo every time. The build you have sits comfortably in the middle between broken interactions and infinite combo potential, which is a state my deck always either failed to reach or exceeded by a mile.

Ok, thanks a lot for your clarification and openness TheDracogenius. I'm glad my deck was able to inspire you to try out a new build!

Don't be too harsh on yourself for playing firemind as a broken competitive combo powerhouse. He just kind of asks for that. Also, I think playgroups play a large role in dictating the character of decks. So if the group wants to play a highly competitive game, there is probably less room for fun interactions. I agree that it does bury some of the appeal of firemind (for me it also undermines the appeal of the format somewhat, but that is a personal preference), but it also gets your competitive itch scratched.

Our playgroup usually just wants to have a fun match, kitchentable style. When everyone's racing for their combo, there is just less room for everyone to try out their deck and have some fun with their creations. As a result, combo's are seen more as a way to finish games that drag out too long, so we can play our next game. It is never the main wincon of decks I make. Perhaps you can have multiple versions of your deck depending on what type of playgroup you are in. For a more casual game, use dracogenius, replace some of the combo's for more interactive shenanigans, so you can have a great Izzet experience in both environments.

Charisma or Thornbite Staff might fit here, as well as a Arcane Lighthouse

Hello carpecanum. Thanks for looking at the deck!

• I've tried both Charisma and Willbreaker but I don't like the reliability of those effects. With this deck I want to control the board. But those cards are very easily countered via a hate spell or Homeward Path. So I opted for removal enhancements instead.
• I do not see how thornbite staff adds anything to Niv. Could you explain that tip?
• Arcane Lighthouse is of course always welcome, and I see how that would be more beneficial with Niv compared to other commanders. I'll give that one some thought.

Thanks again!

I know the staff does what your boss does anyway but this way it would work with any creature if your boss is off board (the colorless mana might come into play rarely i guess). Some of the throwaway creatures like Solemn Simulacrum or an ogre token. You have enough deathtouch items to always have one equipped somewhere.

I have a cheaper, less competitive deck like this (Yeah, sure. Keranos will work) using lots of the same effects (Neko-Te being a favorite, i forgot to suggest that) but its full of cheap Prodigal Sorcerer type creatures so I never used the staff in that one.

Curiosity?

Thanks for looking at the deck hex!

Curiosity, or Ophidian Eye, are of course nice to put on the dracogenius, but they are not necessary. Once you've got dracogenius out, drawing one card per ping is usually more than enough. I did run it in one of my early builds, but ended up cutting it.

Greetings,

Beebles

You should make a deck with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind.

I could do that if I and my playgroup would enjoy playing generals that work well with degenerate 2-card combos. Except that we don't, so I'd rather stick with dragogenius, thanks.

Also, some argumentation with your advise would be helpful to really take it into considerstion.

Cheers

I just think it would be funny.

hey beebles :)

it took me some time to study your list but finally here i am.

first of all: i like your deck, especially the ETB-Bounce-Package! What Comes to my mind is the high-cmc-counterpackage (e.g.Overwhelming Intellect). in my playgroup there are decks that consistently win within the first 7-10 turns by going infinite. it could be hard to stop those type of decks. i would go for counterspells with a cheaper cmc.

you run many artifact hate. is your meta straight Forward regarding artifacts?

i would remove the Pillow section as it does not provide anything to your list. i would replace them for more removal or counterspells.

do you get big Advantage of your fetchis? i can see them in any 3colour deck running the ABUR/shock lands in a 3-3 but are they worth it in a 2 colour? i never had problems with mana-fixing. thinning your deck should not be an arguement as Dracogenious is happy for each land that comes down even in lategame.

best regards, serra

Thanks a lot for your feedback SerraMeya! A lot of things to ponder on. Let me give you my initial thoughts:

• High cmc counters & meta: in my playgroup we have banned infinite combo's that need 2 cards (or less, like tooth and nail based combo's) as we feel these are not fun ways to win. We allow combo's that need 3 or more cards. If you can pull those off, you deserve the win. Apart from that, I really like the counterspells that draw you another card right away. There fun to play, although indeed not the most efficient. With this deck I went for options over power or efficiency with most card choices.
• Artifact hate: I think I run 2 anti artifact spells. Do you consider that many? There are a lot of artifacts in my meta, and I only play multiplayer, so having artifact hate that get me 2 for one never feels bad (also, since we do not play many combo-heavy deck, most decks use the board to win). And since this is a control deck, I want to be able to deal with artifacts somewhat consistently.
• Pillows: This is a good suggestion to think over. They might not be necessary indeed. It does fit the goal I'm trying to achieve with the deck: trying to be neglected by all other players, so that's why I put them in. But perhaps you are right in that the spots are better suited for more control cards. I might replace them with a few more draw spells actually, as I sometime struggle with carddraw if dracogenius doesn't stick to the board.
• Fetches: this deck is all about flexibility. I run a few fetches not for thinning, but because they get me Steam vents, which gets me more mana flexibility, which is very helpful since dragogenius's ability is so color intensive.

Hope my reply makes some sense ;). Again, thanks for your time!

Beebles

This is an impressive deck, and clearly has a lot of effort poured into it, I'm not one for EDH/Commander, and quite frankly, I'm still pretty new to MTG. None the less, I will be testing this deck out, and going to see what happens. By the way, I would greatly appreciate it if you would give me some feedback on my favorite modern deck I've made so far, (In my grand total of two weeks of magic) and will happily accept criticism or assistance of any kind.

Xandermarron

Whoops! Almost forgot the deck! It's called, "Are You SURE You Want To Play That?"

Thanks Xandermarron! Cool that you are going to try it out. Let me know if you come up with some improvements. I'm sure there are still a lot of optimizations possible.

About your request: unfortunately I have never played a single game of modern in my life. I've stopped playing competitive formats before modern existed. So I'm actually more new to modern compared to you ;). All I can say about your list is "it looks cool" and "I like that you play Lignify", but that's all I can tell you about modern I'm afraid ;).

Greetings,

Beebles

I really like the deck!  I have some suggestions if you want them

Is ghitu encampment necessary? ETB tapped then a small creature that I doubt will scare people away from attacking you.

Thawing Glaciers is a great card to ensure you never run out of lands

Maybe Tormod's Crypt over relic of progenuis? You run some graveyard recursion so maybe cutting your own graveyard off isn't great.

Maybe Comet Storm over starstorm? Hitting precisely what's bothering you could be better than hitting everything

Maybe running Ponder, Preordain and Brainstorm for some card draw. Maybe over artificer's epiphany?

If you have some time I'm running an Izzet deck that I'd love to hear some feedback on, it's Jori En, Diving on a Budget

Thanks!

Hey hoardofnotions! Thanks for looking at the deck and giving me some tips! My take on them:

• Ghitu Encampment is not that important, but the first strike can take people of guard. I haven't had the chance to really try it yet, so I'm not sure if it will stay or not.
• Thawing Glaciers is a nice idea in this deck. I will consider it!
• The crypt is also a viable choice but I prefer the relic in my meta. It usually does not matter that much if my own grave gets exiled, as I'm not depending on it in the same way as a lot of decks in my Meta do.
• I think startstorm offers more in this deck, as you can cycle it and it can hit things this deck can't otherwise hit (since comet storm targets and startstorm does not).
• Ponder and preordain are sorceries and therefore will not enter this deck. Brainstorm is indeed a very good card and might be superior to artificer's epiphany indeed.

I will have a look at your list soon!

Hey, thanks again for all the help with my Jori En deck!

could Dragonlord's Prerogative, Jace's Ingenuity, Keep Watch, Lat-Nam's Legacy, Scour the Laboratory one of these over artificer's epiphany be worth it? I just see the epiphany as the weakest draw spell you have so i keep coming back to it

Izzet Signet over bauble or armilary sphere? mana ramp that's a staple. it's cheaper to get the extra mana than bauble and actually puts you up on mana unlike the sphere. Any Thoughts on a swap?

Have you had good experiences with the 2/1 first strike land?

Thanks for your help!

You are absolutely right about artificer's epiphany. I'm going to delete that one for sure. The alternatives you mention are cool! There are some cards there I did not know existed! I think I'm going to add a bunch of them and see how I feel about them.

I haven't taken this deck out for a spin in a while, because I want to move it in some other direction first. So still no experience with the land :(.

Your comment about the ramp suite is on point as well. I will rethink my card choices and amount in that category. Signet seems like an obvious match with niv's ability too.

Thanks