Dear Azami: Izzet Combo Time?

As I’ve probably said before, I’m not a combo player in Commander. It’s not my jam. But this knowledge is not something innate; I’ve played combo and found it to be wanting. For me at least. So I read last week’s “combo-breaker” article with interest.

See, my most influential experience playing combo in Commander came a couple of years back, when the Commander 2011 decks dropped an interesting Jeskai commander: Zedruu the Greathearted. Before that point, Jeskai had one option to play as your commander, and it was terrible: Numot, the Devastator. Land destruction is a red flag for most Commander tables, and that’s the only thing Numot does of note. Commander 2011’s addition of Ruhan of the Fomori was good, since it gave you an aggro commander who didn’t threaten a scorched earth campaign, but I’ve never been a fan of the random school of aggro abatement. It doesn’t make me feel better when someone hits me in the face because of a die roll, and sometimes it takes out the player you’re trying to let live. But Zedruu was awesome. An ability that draws cards, gains life, and generates goodwill? That’s completely up my alley!

The thing is, Zedruu doesn’t win the game. She’s not an aggressive commander by her very nature, and I didn’t want to make her into a Group Hugs deck. Instead, I built her with a bunch of universal effects I could give away, leading up to a combo victory. That victory? An unknown little combo called Splinter Twin. It turns out when you’re full Jeskai in a singleton format, there are a lot of neat cards that help support that combo, like Elemental Mastery. If you’re interested in a deeper analysis of those combo elements, I wrote about this a while ago.

But I felt proud of my combo deck and was excited to twin out a table. The game that stuck in my head was one I won. I had been using my usual political techniques to keep my head above the water, as I tried to draw towards the third red source I needed to win the game. At some point, one of my friends held back on a kill shot, and of course that was the turn that I drew my final mountain and won the game on the spot.

My friend, not normally a Commander player, got a little salty at that… not that the rest of the table was particularly happy either. We had gotten to one of those epic stalemates, and I ended it on the spot. I felt guilty, because by all rights I should have been dead, and I repaid the favor by killing everyone.

That having been said… the experience of building that deck was enjoyable, and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to find out that I don’t like combo. That brings us to this week’s letter. I’ll let Ryan explain:

I’ve played around with this deck before back when I was newer to the game. One of my friends had a casual sixty-card deck built around the Niv-Mizzet, the
Firemind combo kill. He used Mind Over Matter back then, and his purchase of that card was my first exposure to the concept of buying cards off the
internet. (Our meta at that point was more a folie a deux.) As you can imagine, this entry speaks to me on several different nostalgic axes.

Let’s see what I ended up with!

Foundation

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The first thing I noticed was the land count. While there are some decks that could potentially go as low as 29 lands, those decks tend to be built for the
French Commander League, with its emphasis on smaller commanders and more aggressive starts.

Your deck, however, wants to be landing a six-drop commander while holding up protection. This is something that is going to require you to hit every land
drop. And that means running at least 36 lands. Personally, I tend to root for 38, but in this deck, the high concentration of draw spells allows you to
get away with shaving one, leaving you with 37 lands. I suspect you’ll find it plays much more smoothly this way.

Desolate Lighthouse is a slam dunk in any Izzet, Jeskai, or even Temur deck. It gives you a powerful card selection engine without taking up a spell slot,
and it’s generally not aggressive enough for someone to kill it. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx lands in a similar spot. It’s a good addition since your creatures
have very specific mana requirements and because many of the permanents in your deck can add several pips at a time. Worst case, it’s a way to filter your
mana.

Shivan Reef and Sulfur Falls are both just on-color duals. They have the extra benefit of both coming into play untapped, which is what a deck like this,
with the tetchy mana costs, wants in its top-decked lands. It’s not worth cutting Izzet Guildgate or Swiftwater Cliffs over that drawback, but it does make
Temple of Epiphany seem a bit excessive. Still, if you have the spare cash to pick up a Temple of Epiphany and a Steam Vents, it may come in handy down the
line.

Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse are both cheap fetchlands. There are few things as neat as Brainstorm-ing into a fetch, and they allow for that
without breaking the bank. Scalding Tarn has gotten a little out of hand lately.

Riptide Laboratory is interesting because it’s a land that protects your commander, who is a dragon wizard. It also gives you a way to bounce Izzet
Chronarch and Archaeomancer, so that you can reuse their “enters the battlefield” triggers. Since that seems helpful, Tolaria West gives you a means of
searching up whatever land you’re missing.

Finally there’s Mana Flare, which isn’t a land at all! I’ve put it in this section because it’s the only ramp card that I added; I put it in the deck
because its utility outweighs the friendly drawback. This deck is a mana-hungry one! Being able to cast Lightning Greaves into Mana Flare into Niv-Mizzet,
the Firemind seems like a solid line of plays. And unlike the more midrange decks, which have to concern themselves with the giant monsters that your
opponents will cast, you’re a combo deck. Who cares what your opponents are doing, so long as they can’t kill you before you’re ready?

Branching Out

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Here, your deck was doing something I don’t think helps your gameplan. If you’re a combo deck with a combo kill, Treachery effects don’t advance your
position. In Commander, Act of Treason effects are good in two contexts: Steal-and-Sac decks and aggro decks. While those cards can be barrels of fun in
those decks, here they’re wasted slots.

Instead, let’s give you some ways to protect your combo. Lightning Greaves, which is surprisingly more expensive than I had expected it to be, is the
weakest way to protect your gameplan. If you want to put Curiosity on Niv-Mizzet while Lightning Greaves is in play, you need to also have another creature
so you can shift off the boots until Niv gets enchanted up. That having been said, the zero-mana equip cost is significantly better than the one-mana equip
cost on Swiftfoot Boots, so it might be a wash at the end of the day. Both certainly have their benefits, and considering Niv-Mizzet has an activated
ability, the haste is very relevant.

Finally, this is the perfect deck for Monastery Siege. I’ve been impressed with all the sieges so far, but a deck like this wants Monastery Siege like no
other. Drop it early to give yourself a card selection engine that will dig you into your combo, or drop it while you’re going off to protect your board.
Either way, it’s going to be a solid draw, and that’s the type of card I like to play.

Selection Versus Action

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In general, I think I would endorse this change. Replacing card selection with combo pieces is a defensible position to take, since having redundancy for
your combo helps protect you from incidental mill and well-timed counterspells. It’s certainly the right decision here, though, since a deck like this
wants fewer creatures than spells. With cards like Melek, Izzet Paragon and Guttersnipe, every effect that gets tied to a creature is a wasted spell
trigger. While I certainly am not opposed to doing that when the card quality makes it worth it (I’m looking at you, Mulldrifter), Merfolk Looter and
friends are fairly weak as these things go. Which is not to say I have a problem with them seeing play in general, but for this deck they’re not the right
cards.

Meanwhile, I’ve added in Ophidian Eye, since it has the same effect as Curiosity, only at instant speed. Mnemonic Nexus and Psychic Spiral replicate the
effect of Reminisce, although that’s not necessarily going to save you if Rest in Peace is in play. In case of that scenario I’ve added in Laboratory
Maniac, which can just win you the game even if your opponent has more life than you have cards in your library. And since Laboratory Maniac is in the mix,
the trope namer for our column also deserves a slot in the mix: Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Azami’s actually extra useful, since she gives Niv-Mizzet, the
Firemind a type of pseudo-haste, and the large number of wizards in your deck means she should end up drawing you more than one extra card per turn.

Which brings us to Mind Over Matter. When I was a kid, my father used to love that stupid phrase, “it’s about mind over matter; I don’t mind, and you don’t
matter.” Wonderful, right? Everyone matters. Anyway, I mention this to suggest that my recoiling response to that card might not be entirely earned. It’s
just such a dumb combo piece! It lets you loot through your deck when combined with any Archivist; the only reason to do that, presumably, is so that you
can win the game on the spot. If you don’t have an Archivist, it’s much less useful, but your commander fills that role, so you should be set.

The Right Type of Draw

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As I mentioned in the last section, you want most of your draw to come from spells. When it does come attached to a body, like with Mulldrifter or Nivix
Guildmage, you want it to do something more than just draw a card. Mulldrifter is there, for example, because it gives you two modes. Either it’s a better
version of Divination, or you can play it out for five mana and add a chump blocker slash evasive threat to the board. Sometimes that’s what you need!

Anyway, most of the cuts were creatures for spells. Azure Mage is too pricey, Courier’s Capsule is only good when artifacts matter, and Divination is worse
than Mulldrifter. Last Thoughts would be great if cipher wasn’t restricted to combat damage, but it is. Neurok Commando, Scroll Thief, and Stealer of
Secrets are all weaker in Commander. Generally, I’d play Archivist over the ones that require you to connect. Commander has a lot of stalemates.

Ordeal of Thassa and Pursuit of Flight are both draw spells that can be blown out by removal, which is bad. Thought Scour would be acceptable if you were
some sort of self-mill deck, but with only two ways to get back spells, I don’t think you’re that deck. Runewing is tied to a death trigger, which is hard
to abuse or even control in a deck like this. Train of Thought is a bad rate for a draw spell, and Treasure Hunt and Uncovered Clues don’t actually draw
cards for you. That’s bad, since there are going to be moments where your draw spell is going to be the kill, and you want to make sure it’s doing the
right thing at that moment.

So instead, I put in some generically powerful draw spells. Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge both dig you three cards deep, although you’re
often going to be discarding two cards to Thirst (more than made up for by its instant speed). Concentrate and Treasure Cruise are both draw three spells.
Standstill also draws you three cards but with the added advantage of slowing the game down while you draw towards your combo pieces. Thoughtflare draws
you four, and at instant speed, and while Dig Through Time doesn’t draw you any cards, it’s banned in Modern for a reason.

That reason is power!

Get Outta Here

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When it comes to removal, the name of the game is card advantage. Every card I added in this section offers an ability to get two cards worth of advantage
out of a single card. And almost all the cards I took out didn’t have that ability. While this deck has enough draw to support one-for-one removal spells,
I tend to prefer the slightly weaker alternatives. The difference between the three damage from Bolt of Keranos and the two damage from Electrolyze is
slight, but the difference between scry 1 and draw a card is huge.

Voyage’s End gets replaced by Repulse. Thunderous Wrath is only good when you can miracle it, and a draw deck is going to have difficulties doing that.
Street Spasm is a two-for-one, but it’s super expensive for the effect. Starstorm does a better, cheaper version of that, and you can cycle it if you don’t
need a wrath. Inaction Injunction is a tempo card, and you’re not a tempo deck. Also, tempo is a tricky archetype in Commander. They typically tend to be
decks focusing around commander damage, and I’ve always been skeptical of those strategies.

Pyromantics can two-for-one, but it’s super expensive to do so, like Train of Thought. Boomerang is a boring one-for-one bounce spell, and double blue can
occasionally be limiting. The instant speed of Magma Spray is not worth the inability to hit face, so I’d play Pillar of Flame over it; realistically, I
don’t tend to play either spell, since I’d rather attack the graveyard directly with Relic of Progenitus or friends. And Lightning Strike is worse than
Lightning Bolt. If you really want that effect, find a copy of bolt. There’s something truly sublime about playing with that card.

Meanwhile, Electrolyze is surprisingly expensive because it’s a modern staple. Jilt is old school, but the ability to bounce one thing and kill another is
pretty cool. Mercurial Chemister is one of my favorite cards, because the utility of the removal half is backed by a repeatable draw two. And finally we
have Vandalblast. I realized you probably would want some artifact removal, and Vandalblast is my favorite take on that these days. It’s just so good!

Just Say No

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When you’re playing a blue combo deck, counterspells are important. They’re how you protect your position when you’re going off, and even before that,
they’re how you keep the pressure off. A key counterspell placed at the right moment can crush an opposing threat. That’s why I added in four of them.

Essence Backlash ties a conditional damage spell to its counter. That’s fine in the right type of deck, but this is combo, not Counter Burn. As such, the
most important thing to see on your counterspells is “draw a card.” There’s a reason Scapeshift plays Cryptic Command! When you have Niv-Mizzet, the
Firemind in play, all these draw triggers turn into damage anyway, even if you don’t have the combo kill ready.

Anyway, Dismiss is basically just Cryptic Command, only without the ridiculous price tag. Speaking of which, I wanted to put Remand in before I saw the
price tag on that card. It’s a bit much! Scatter Arc is limited to non-creature spells, but in Commander you can be sure to run into plenty of those. Dream
Fracture and Arcane Denial both prevent your opponents from getting salty when you counter something early, and if you’re going off, them drawing a card is
often useless, since they’ll be tapped out by that point.

I mean, make sure the coast is clear though. Timing matters with combo. It may even be the most important aspect of that style of deck.

Finish Her!

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If you were wondering where I was going to be finding all the slots we used to pump up your manabase, well, we’ve gotten to that section. A lot of the
cards here were trying to do things a little sideways to your main goal, and to me that says “cutting time.” Blistercoil Weird can be an interesting combo
piece with Paradise Mantle, but without it there aren’t too many ways to abuse its pseudo-prowess ability. Same goes for Wee Dragonauts, Shrewd Hatchling,
and Nivmagus Elemental, only with respective caveats for the wrinkles in each of their abilities. They’re all cards rewarding you for casting spells, in
their own ways, but none of them are powerful enough to merit inclusion in a combo-focused deck.

Cognivore can be huge in the right deck, but since it focuses on instants I don’t know if this is that deck. You’ve got plenty of sorceries in the mix,
after all, and I don’t know if a flying eight-drop is what this deck needs to end games. Steamcore Weird is a creature that doesn’t really advance your
Plan A, and its utility for Plan B is marginal. If it were a 4/4 for two mana I think it would still be marginal in Commander; as a 4/1 or 1/4 it’s far too
weak to merit the slot. Finally, there’s Lava Axe. I’m not a fan in almost any format.

Finally, there’s the card I brought in: Chasm Skulker. I’ve been impressed by that card in general, since it comes down early and grows bigger every turn.
In Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind though, it gives you another potential avenue for victory, and it serves as a force multiplier for every draw spell in your
deck. Plus, it survives Wrath of God in its own weird way. That’s pretty cool!

Reconciliation

So here’s the reconciled list:

Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

Jess Stirba

Test deck on 02-17-2015

Commander

Creatures (16)

• 1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
• 1 Djinn Illuminatus
• 1 Izzet Chronarch
• 1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Laboratory Maniac
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Augur of Bolas
• 1 Goblin Electromancer
• 1 Guttersnipe
• 1 Hypersonic Dragon
• 1 Nivix Guildmage
• 1 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
• 1 Mercurial Chemister
• 1 Melek, Izzet Paragon
• 1 Chasm Skulker

Planeswalkers (1)

• 1 Ral Zarek

Lands (37)

• 12 Mountain
• 13 Island
• 1 Riptide Laboratory
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tolaria West
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Desolate Lighthouse
• 1 Izzet Guildgate
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Swiftwater Cliffs

Spells (46)

• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Mind Over Matter
• 1 Exclude
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Curiosity
• 1 Serum Visions
• 1
• 1 Standstill
• 1 Starstorm
• 1 Thirst for Knowledge
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Concentrate
• 1 Reminisce
• 1 Quicksilver Dagger
• 1 Prophetic Bolt
• 1 Jilt
• 1 Repulse
• 1 Deep Analysis
• 1 Compulsive Research
• 1 Mnemonic Nexus
• 1 Electrolyze
• 1 Invoke the Firemind
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Ophidian Eye
• 1 Foresee
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Dream Fracture
• 1 Sphinx-Bone Wand
• 1 Preordain
• 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1 Gitaxian Probe
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Izzet Charm
• 1 Psychic Spiral
• 1 Vandalblast
• 1 Thoughtflare
• 1 Izzet Keyrune
• 1 Scatter Arc
• 1 Izzet Cluestone
• 1 Mindswipe
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Dig Through Time
• 1 Temporal Trespass
• 1 Monastery Siege

As you can see, we’ve gone up to 48 noncreature spells. Almost half your deck is noncreature, which means that cards like Augur of Bolas, Djinn
Illuminatus, and Guttersnipe will be that much more powerful. With 37 lands, you should be able to cast your spells and still have stuff in hand to drop in
case you need to loot, either through Izzet Charm, Faithless Looting, or even Mind Over Matter. And now you have more utility lands too!

This was a pricier build than I usually go for, but it still stayed beneath $100. In fact, the final price was $78.18, much of which comes from the
manabase, Mind Over Matter, and the inflation in Modern staples. I, for one, can’t wait till Modern Masters 2 helps solve some of those problems.

Hopefully, Ryan, you’ll enjoy the changes I’ve suggested. Personally, I think you’ll tire of the combo win after a couple of times at the head of the
table, but luckily at that point you’ll be well positioned to rip out the combo pieces and turn the deck into a Melek, Izzet Paragon Counter Burn deck, or
something of that ilk. Izzet tends to be a strong color combination, and you’ve got the underpinnings of a lot of different styles of Izzet deck.

That’s it for this week! As always, please submit to us! Now, I don’t
know if my counterpart is at the same place I am with Fate Reforged, but personally I’m looking forward to getting back to
something different. So if you’ve had a deck in mothballs you want to update, or want to do something fun and tribal, send us an email!

EMAIL US! EMAILS ARE OUR FOOD!

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