So I wanted to make a deck about "SCIENCE!!!" ya, see? I tried making a Riku of the Two Reflections deck, but I decided to build Maelstrom Wanderer instead.
I tried building a Niv-Mizzet deck before, but this was back when all there was was "the firemind" and the deck didn't feel "fun" enough (with just a bunch of odd blue/red cards stapled together with Curiosity. That deck was taken apart.
When Return to Ravnica came out, I wasn't all that interested in Dracogenius...at least until I found this video....
Suddenly, in a wave of nostalgia, I had a mad craving for "SCIENCE!!!" Who does "SCIENCE!!!" better than the Izzet guild?!
With the pickings for a general slim (Firemind and Jhoira being universally hated), and knowing that I would have to review him eventually for the show (the one you can find by clicking on the link in my sig), I decided to use Niv-Mizzet, Dragogenius as my general and experiment with the possibilities.
I HAVE NEVER HAD SO MUCH FUN.
The deck was built with nary a single purpose but "fun spells and spells that copy because copying stuff is fun!", and it hasn't failed to give me a good time yet (unless Gaddock Teeg is involved...).
Dracogenius has an AMAZING draw power that the Firemind never had. Late game when you've built up quite the mana base, there aren't a whole lot of things you can do with it because the your hand is pretty small. Not with the Dracogenius. He's a constant mana-dump that pings people, shoots small creatures, and refills your hand for your trouble.
I decided that I was also going to have a wizard sub-theme, since it takes all kinds of scientists to make "SCIENCE!!!" happen.
So how does the deck win? With "SCIENCE!!!" of course! Don't you know anything about "SCIENCE!!!"?
I classify the deck as a combo deck, but without knowing what the combo is or how to get it together. The idea was that I would play a bunch of cards that were fun, and had the chance to interact with each other.
The first time I played it, I discovered that OmniSCIENCE and Eye of the Storm are HUGE enablers for "SCIENCE!!!" My brother sat there for fifteen minutes as Azami kept untapping herself with a copied Insurrection, tapped down all of my wizards to draw cards, played more spells, untapped more wizards that were then tapped to draw cards, and so on and so forth until I had a crap load of hasty drake tokens, a Guttersnipe that was eating away his life total, and a huge Blistercoil Weird.
Well, that's ONE combo I can take note of....
As I continued experimenting with the deck, I ended up cutting creatures for more spells. When I finally got a copy of Epic Experiment, I cut a couple more creatures to better use those spells. I started including instants that could be tutored for with Firemind's Foresight, played on Isochron Scepter, and copied with Izzet Guildmage.
I also started to include more cards that could help me win if I couldn't combo off. Chandra's Spitfire gets HUGE if you dump all of your mana into Niv-Mizzie's drawing power, and Psychosis Crawler enjoys the card draw as well.
The biggest edition came when I added in Turnabout, realizing that untapping my lands with copy effects could mean a huge ramp advantage, which it has been. Repeatedly. I've never used it for anything BUT to untap my lands and get "SCIENCE!!!" started off with a bang.
Just combining Turnabout with the aforementioned enchantments gives me the chance at infinite mana (provided I draw at least one spell that can trigger Eye of the Storm).
What I love most about this deck is that it does "accidentally" combo off, but never in a mean-spirited fashion (like some decks happen to do with Elesh Norn or Kikki-Jikki). It also lacks the tutor power that would make putting the combos I do figure out repetitive. If I draw into it, great! If I don't, I have to get really creative to figure out how to stop my opponents, which I've had to do.
My Epic Experiment plays aren't always a success. There have been times where I whiff HORRIBLY after casting it for 9-12, and there have been times where it made or enabled some pretty crazy plays that help me reach the end game. But that's part of the fun of experimenting! Having a chance to either fail or succeed and not knowing the odds of either adds to the excitement of the game for me. To that end, I am avoiding the more common tutors that would actually set up or search out the combos I find. It's a lot more fun to be forced to think on my feet in the heat of battle rather than sitting there and hoping nobody pokes me until I'm ready.
The deck has been fun, it does stuff, and it's the first combo deck that makes me feel like a true Johnny.
Hahaha... "SCIENCE!!" is fun. Glad you made a deck that "does stuff" haha. It's cute.
Ummm, I don't really have any suggestions for you because most of my suggestions would just make it more competitive not more fun. Maybe include some more flavor Izzet cards that happen to be decent such as Stitch in Time or Double Negative.
Maybe you can be more specific on the kind of critiques you want?
Hahaha... "SCIENCE!!" is fun. Glad you made a deck that "does stuff" haha. It's cute.
Ummm, I don't really have any suggestions for you because most of my suggestions would just make it more competitive not more fun. Maybe include some more flavor Izzet cards that happen to be decent such as Stitch in Time or Double Negative.
Maybe you can be more specific on the kind of critiques you want?
I was more or less asking what you thought, though I would like to find a card I could potentially cut for curiosity since it would make setting up the arcmage Ascension that much easier with Dracogenius (and could enable some silly shenanigans outside of being played on the Firemind).
Just played some one on one commander with my bro....my Izzet-bro.
Actually, I was in a sciency mood, so we made it "SCIENCE!!!" VS. "Science~!", aka my Dracogenius deck vs. his Pain Artist deck.
My hand was so slow to start. Idk what I would've done if I hadn't drawn into Izzet-bounce land on turn two cuz' I had no other lands besides Desolate Lighthouse.
He started beating the crap out of me early with a Flametongue Kavu, a Batterskull, and a Chandra's Spitfire that was hitting for four because of his Staff of Nin.
THANK NIV I HAD VENSER'S JOURNAL. Actually, I had two of them thanks to Mizzium Transreliquat (one of my favorite cards ever). The life gain from both journal's kept me in the game FAR longer than I had any right to be.
I was finally getting things going by playing a Sphinx-Bone Wand, with an Izzet Guildmage and a Lunar Mystic, with a Isochron Scepter that was Brainstorming for me every turn. Btw, Lunar Mystic let's me cantrip the Brainstorm since I'm casting a copy without paying its manacost. Pretty good when I need to draw as many cards as I can to avoid dying.
Unfortunately, even with a couple of engines online, I had no way to stop my brother from just ramming into my every turn. He cast Sleep to tap all of my dudes and then knocked me down to four life while he got buffed over 90, without me doing barely any damage to him whatsoever.
I couldn't untap my dudes to block, so I brainstormed on my turn (with a cantrip), hoping to draw an answer, and passed to him.
He swung out with his Batterskull germ, Flametongue, and an Anarchist. With my Bone Wand at a single charge counter, I cast Cyclonic Rift (cantripped) at its regular cost and bounced the Batterskull to kill the germ token, this triggered the Bone Wand which shot the Flametongue for two and killed it. I followed up with a Thoughtflare (also cantripped) to trigger the Bone Wand again and shot the Anarchist and avoided taking any damage. With plenty of cards in hand at this point, the journals gave me some breathing room to work with.
Since he was tapped out, I untapped on my turn and cast my Djinn Illuminatus after swinging with my Izzet Guildmage, Lunar Mystic, and my own Chandra's Spitfire.
He tapped out in order to a Goblin Electromancer and recast his Batterskull. At the end of his turn, I cast Lightning Bolt and replicated it three times with the Djinn's ability. This triggered the Bone Wand, which I used to shoot the Germ for four, used the original bolt to kill the goblin, and burned him for nine, with a Brainstorm to finish things up.
With it being my turn now, I used my Mystic Retrieval to get back my Turnabout. I floated some mana and cast Turnabout, replicating it once with Djinn. Trigger the Bone Wand on both instances (for 5, then 6). Float mana before the second Turnabout Resolves. Flashback Retrieval to get it before doing it again to make more mana and triggering Bone Wand ( 7 and 8 more dmg straight to his face for a total of 26 this turn and Chandra's Spitfire getting +3/+0 each time he's dealt damage).
He scooped before I could do anything else, but my plan was to take all of my floating mana, divide by three, and cast Stitch in Time by that many (which would have been at least eight copies by my count, so statistically I would have had at least ONE extra turn). That's the only extra turn card I run in the deck, but it would have been so much FUN!
And thus, I am reminded of my Sphinx-Bone Wand is awesome in a spell-based deck.
I tried building a Niv-Mizzet deck before, but this was back when all there was was "the firemind" and the deck didn't feel "fun" enough (with just a bunch of odd blue/red cards stapled together with Curiosity. That deck was taken apart.
When Return to Ravnica came out, I wasn't all that interested in Dracogenius...at least until I found this video....
Suddenly, in a wave of nostalgia, I had a mad craving for "SCIENCE!!!" Who does "SCIENCE!!!" better than the Izzet guild?!
With the pickings for a general slim (Firemind and Jhoira being universally hated), and knowing that I would have to review him eventually for the show (the one you can find by clicking on the link in my sig), I decided to use Niv-Mizzet, Dragogenius as my general and experiment with the possibilities.
I HAVE NEVER HAD SO MUCH FUN.
The deck was built with nary a single purpose but "fun spells and spells that copy because copying stuff is fun!", and it hasn't failed to give me a good time yet (unless Gaddock Teeg is involved...).
Dracogenius has an AMAZING draw power that the Firemind never had. Late game when you've built up quite the mana base, there aren't a whole lot of things you can do with it because the your hand is pretty small. Not with the Dracogenius. He's a constant mana-dump that pings people, shoots small creatures, and refills your hand for your trouble.
I decided that I was also going to have a wizard sub-theme, since it takes all kinds of scientists to make "SCIENCE!!!" happen.
General: Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Desolate Lighthouse
Evolving Wilds
Forgotten Cave
14 Island
Lonely Sandbar
13 Mountain
So how does the deck win? With "SCIENCE!!!" of course! Don't you know anything about "SCIENCE!!!"?
I classify the deck as a combo deck, but without knowing what the combo is or how to get it together. The idea was that I would play a bunch of cards that were fun, and had the chance to interact with each other.
The first time I played it, I discovered that OmniSCIENCE and Eye of the Storm are HUGE enablers for "SCIENCE!!!" My brother sat there for fifteen minutes as Azami kept untapping herself with a copied Insurrection, tapped down all of my wizards to draw cards, played more spells, untapped more wizards that were then tapped to draw cards, and so on and so forth until I had a crap load of hasty drake tokens, a Guttersnipe that was eating away his life total, and a huge Blistercoil Weird.
Well, that's ONE combo I can take note of....
As I continued experimenting with the deck, I ended up cutting creatures for more spells. When I finally got a copy of Epic Experiment, I cut a couple more creatures to better use those spells. I started including instants that could be tutored for with Firemind's Foresight, played on Isochron Scepter, and copied with Izzet Guildmage.
I also started to include more cards that could help me win if I couldn't combo off. Chandra's Spitfire gets HUGE if you dump all of your mana into Niv-Mizzie's drawing power, and Psychosis Crawler enjoys the card draw as well.
The biggest edition came when I added in Turnabout, realizing that untapping my lands with copy effects could mean a huge ramp advantage, which it has been. Repeatedly. I've never used it for anything BUT to untap my lands and get "SCIENCE!!!" started off with a bang.
Just combining Turnabout with the aforementioned enchantments gives me the chance at infinite mana (provided I draw at least one spell that can trigger Eye of the Storm).
What I love most about this deck is that it does "accidentally" combo off, but never in a mean-spirited fashion (like some decks happen to do with Elesh Norn or Kikki-Jikki). It also lacks the tutor power that would make putting the combos I do figure out repetitive. If I draw into it, great! If I don't, I have to get really creative to figure out how to stop my opponents, which I've had to do.
My Epic Experiment plays aren't always a success. There have been times where I whiff HORRIBLY after casting it for 9-12, and there have been times where it made or enabled some pretty crazy plays that help me reach the end game. But that's part of the fun of experimenting! Having a chance to either fail or succeed and not knowing the odds of either adds to the excitement of the game for me. To that end, I am avoiding the more common tutors that would actually set up or search out the combos I find. It's a lot more fun to be forced to think on my feet in the heat of battle rather than sitting there and hoping nobody pokes me until I'm ready.
The deck has been fun, it does stuff, and it's the first combo deck that makes me feel like a true Johnny.
www.commandercast.com
Commandercast on Tumblr!
My EDH/Commander List:
Wedges:
Numot, the Devastator RWU
Damia, Sage of Stone GUB
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Olivia Voldaren
Ummm, I don't really have any suggestions for you because most of my suggestions would just make it more competitive not more fun. Maybe include some more flavor Izzet cards that happen to be decent such as Stitch in Time or Double Negative.
Maybe you can be more specific on the kind of critiques you want?
MY PRIMER ON NIV-MIZZET, THE FIREMIND, MY CUSTOM CARDS ON DEVIANTART
My other decks:
Kaalia of the Vast: Certified Air Raid Material
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher: NOM NOM NOM!
Aurelia, the Warleader: Warclamp
Ooooo, more fun cards like Stitch in Time, please!
I was more or less asking what you thought, though I would like to find a card I could potentially cut for curiosity since it would make setting up the arcmage Ascension that much easier with Dracogenius (and could enable some silly shenanigans outside of being played on the Firemind).
www.commandercast.com
Commandercast on Tumblr!
My EDH/Commander List:
Wedges:
Numot, the Devastator RWU
Damia, Sage of Stone GUB
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Olivia Voldaren
Electrolyze is efficient, potentially allow you to kill a creature or even two without losing card advantage.
Swerve enables some fun shenanigans and protects Niv
Try out Faithless Looting, Careful Study, Frantic Search or Compulsive Research to turn on Ascension and give you a bit more consistency. They are amazing in your opening hand.
MY PRIMER ON NIV-MIZZET, THE FIREMIND, MY CUSTOM CARDS ON DEVIANTART
My other decks:
Kaalia of the Vast: Certified Air Raid Material
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher: NOM NOM NOM!
Aurelia, the Warleader: Warclamp
Actually, I was in a sciency mood, so we made it "SCIENCE!!!" VS. "Science~!", aka my Dracogenius deck vs. his Pain Artist deck.
My hand was so slow to start. Idk what I would've done if I hadn't drawn into Izzet-bounce land on turn two cuz' I had no other lands besides Desolate Lighthouse.
He started beating the crap out of me early with a Flametongue Kavu, a Batterskull, and a Chandra's Spitfire that was hitting for four because of his Staff of Nin.
THANK NIV I HAD VENSER'S JOURNAL. Actually, I had two of them thanks to Mizzium Transreliquat (one of my favorite cards ever). The life gain from both journal's kept me in the game FAR longer than I had any right to be.
I was finally getting things going by playing a Sphinx-Bone Wand, with an Izzet Guildmage and a Lunar Mystic, with a Isochron Scepter that was Brainstorming for me every turn. Btw, Lunar Mystic let's me cantrip the Brainstorm since I'm casting a copy without paying its manacost. Pretty good when I need to draw as many cards as I can to avoid dying.
Unfortunately, even with a couple of engines online, I had no way to stop my brother from just ramming into my every turn. He cast Sleep to tap all of my dudes and then knocked me down to four life while he got buffed over 90, without me doing barely any damage to him whatsoever.
I couldn't untap my dudes to block, so I brainstormed on my turn (with a cantrip), hoping to draw an answer, and passed to him.
He swung out with his Batterskull germ, Flametongue, and an Anarchist. With my Bone Wand at a single charge counter, I cast Cyclonic Rift (cantripped) at its regular cost and bounced the Batterskull to kill the germ token, this triggered the Bone Wand which shot the Flametongue for two and killed it. I followed up with a Thoughtflare (also cantripped) to trigger the Bone Wand again and shot the Anarchist and avoided taking any damage. With plenty of cards in hand at this point, the journals gave me some breathing room to work with.
Since he was tapped out, I untapped on my turn and cast my Djinn Illuminatus after swinging with my Izzet Guildmage, Lunar Mystic, and my own Chandra's Spitfire.
He tapped out in order to a Goblin Electromancer and recast his Batterskull. At the end of his turn, I cast Lightning Bolt and replicated it three times with the Djinn's ability. This triggered the Bone Wand, which I used to shoot the Germ for four, used the original bolt to kill the goblin, and burned him for nine, with a Brainstorm to finish things up.
With it being my turn now, I used my Mystic Retrieval to get back my Turnabout. I floated some mana and cast Turnabout, replicating it once with Djinn. Trigger the Bone Wand on both instances (for 5, then 6). Float mana before the second Turnabout Resolves. Flashback Retrieval to get it before doing it again to make more mana and triggering Bone Wand ( 7 and 8 more dmg straight to his face for a total of 26 this turn and Chandra's Spitfire getting +3/+0 each time he's dealt damage).
He scooped before I could do anything else, but my plan was to take all of my floating mana, divide by three, and cast Stitch in Time by that many (which would have been at least eight copies by my count, so statistically I would have had at least ONE extra turn). That's the only extra turn card I run in the deck, but it would have been so much FUN!
And thus, I am reminded of my Sphinx-Bone Wand is awesome in a spell-based deck.
www.commandercast.com
Commandercast on Tumblr!
My EDH/Commander List:
Wedges:
Numot, the Devastator RWU
Damia, Sage of Stone GUB
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Olivia Voldaren