[EDH / Commander] Niv-Mizzet's Easy-to-follow 10 Guild Plan to Retake Ravnica

[ComingUpCway84]

Niv-Mizzet's Easy-to-follow 10 Guild Plan to Retake Ravnica

Niv-Mizzet Reborn is a card that screamed out to me to be built around when he was spoiled, partly because of the story significance (HOLY SHIT, IT'S A 5 COLOUR NIV-MIZZET FIGHTING FOR ALL OF RAVNICA), and partly because the idea of drawing 3-4 cards and getting a 6/6 flyer out of the mix seems all kinds of up my Shadow Alley.

There's a bunch of avenues you can go down with a deck like this, but considering Niv-Mizzet's scheming nature (after all, him being alive at all is just part of a contingency plan), I figured that a control shell made the most sense. I'd be the first to admit that control isn't normally my style, so any suggestions people want to make just fire away!

We're trying to maintain as much of a "Guilds-Matter" subtheme as we can, so the signets fit great as a ramp/fixing package on 2. That's also why we're including the Maze's End alternate wincon, as well as for budget fixing purposes. For bonus flavour points, make your 10 basic lands either 1 of each Guild Kit basic, or the 5 land panorama of Ravnica being destroyed and 5 lands where Ravnica looks fine- the state things are in now, and the way we want them to be.

The deck has some number of cards of all 10 colour combinations, with a slight skew towards Golgari (the best removal) and Azorius (the best control colours in general). In playtesting I've consistently drawn anywhere from 2-5 cards with this set up, but it could probably be optimized for some more efficiency. One place it may be worth cutting is Fist of Suns/Conjurer's Closet, but the former makes it infinitely easier to cast some of our more intensive-cost spells, while the latter let's us repeatedly use Niv's ability, so I'm not sure.

This deck is far from competitive, but it's an absolute blast to play, and nothing quite feels like seeing a massive chunk of your deck and cherry picking the best fits for your current situation.

As always, any and all suggestions are much appreciated!

[ComingUpCway84]

Revision 4

Added/removed cards:
-1 Absorb
-1 Artifact Mutation
-1 Aura Mutation
-1 Conjurer's Closet
-1 Expansion // Explosion
-1 Fist of Suns
-1 Growth Spiral
-1 Invade the City
-1 Justice Strike
-1 Kaya, Ghost Assassin
-1 Teferi, Time Raveler
-1 Venser, the Sojourner
+1 Advent of the Wurm
+1 Ajani Unyielding
+1 Ajani Vengeant
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+1 Armada Wurm
+1 Ashiok, Dream Render
+1 Dragonlord Atarka
+1 Hull Breach
+1 Izzet Charm
+1 Lavinia of the Tenth
+1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
+1 Wear // Tear

[ComingUpCway84]

Revision 6

Added/removed cards:
-1 Advent of the Wurm
-1 Ajani Vengeant
-1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
-1 Armada Wurm
-1 Notion Rain
-1 Plasm Capture
-1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
-1 Time Wipe
+1 Conjurer's Closet
+1 Expansion // Explosion
+1 Gruul Charm
+1 Hero of Precinct One
+1 Justice Strike
+1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
+1 Mistmeadow Witch
+1 Savage Twister

[ComingUpCway84]

Made some pretty big changes to the deck based on my playtime and what cards felt most fun. We've morphed into a pretty hardcore control deck, seeking to keep the board clear and either win games with Commander Damage or by out-valuing our opponents with planeswalkers. We take a little while to set up now, but we have plenty of ways to disrupt opponents so as long as we're not getting gunned for immediately, we should have time to get going and take control of the game.

Revision 8

Added/removed cards:
-1 Conjurer's Closet
-1 Detention Sphere
-1 Dragonlord Atarka
-1 Frilled Mystic
-1 Garruk, Apex Predator
-1 Gruul Charm
-1 Hero of Precinct One
-1 Izzet Charm
-1 Justice Strike
-1 Lavinia of the Tenth
-1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
-1 Savage Twister
-1 Silumgar's Command
-1 Soulherder
+1 Bring to Light
+1 Dack Fayden
+1 Dovin's Veto
+1 Kaya's Guile
+1 Kaya, Ghost Assassin
+1 Oath of Teferi
+1 Rakdos Charm
+1 Reap the Past
+1 Render Silent
+1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
+1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
+1 Teferi, Time Raveler
+1 Time Wipe
+1 Venser, the Sojourner

[Red_Wyrm]

So is the aim of the deck to just cast Mr. Mizzet and and draw a bunch of cards? Basically a commander that says when it enters the battlefield, draw a potential 10 cards? I doesn't look like you're abusing the ETB trigger, just getting the most value from it, which is exactly how I would build the deck.

I feel like scroll rack would be a good card in theory, but I am not too sure how it would actually play out, if it would be helpful or not. I don't think sensei's divining top is useful since it fixes the top 3 and you're going 10 cards deep.

You are also leaning a lot into azorius compared to your other color pairs. Perhaps ditch a few azorius cards for dimir or orzhov cards as they can usually all kind of do the same thing. I think windgrace's judgement and Mirrari's wake would be great additions

[ComingUpCway84]

Thanks for the feedback! With regards to the artifacts, I've found in playing the deck for a while that, while they can be strong when you draw them, the fact that Niv's ability ignores them has made it hard to justify putting them in. The signets are a necessary evil for ramp/fixing, and just a little bit of flavour.

As for colour combinations, I know Azorius is a little heavier than other colours, but that's literally just because UW are the best control colours, or have the most synergistic cards in the vein of what I want. That being said, I'm a big fan of the two cards you suggested, so I'll see if I can slip them in somewhere.

[ComingUpCway84]

Big Eldraine Update, fixing up some of the weaker areas of the deck!

Revision 10

Added/removed cards:
-1 Azor, the Lawbringer
-1 Azorius Guildgate
-1 Boros Guildgate
-1 Dack Fayden
-1 Decimate
-1 Dimir Guildgate
-1 Extract from Darkness
-1 Golgari Guildgate
-1 Gruul Guildgate
-1 Izzet Guildgate
-1 Kaya's Guile
-1 Maze's End
-1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
-1 Orzhov Guildgate
-1 Rakdos Guildgate
-1 Selesnya Guildgate
-1 Simic Guildgate
-1 Venser, the Sojourner
+1 Arcane Sanctum
+1 Crumbling Necropolis
+1 Drown in the Loch
+1 Frilled Mystic
+1 Frontier Bivouac
+1 Garruk, Apex Predator
+1 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
+1 Jungle Shrine
+1 Justice Strike
+1 Mystic Monastery
+1 Nomad Outpost
+1 Oko, Thief of Crowns
+1 Opulent Palace
+1 Reliquary Tower
+1 Sandsteppe Citadel
+1 Savage Lands
+1 Seaside Citadel
+1 The Royal Scions
+1 Venser, Shaper Savant