[EDH] Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

[Mnemon]

I never played EDH so I don't know how good or bad this deck is.
I just goldfished a few times on MWS and it could be fun but I don't
know if I would get to that point against other players. Would be
nice hear some advice of more experienced people.

General:
Niv-Mizzet (http://magiccards.info/fvd/en/11.html)

Creatures (18)
1 Jushi Apprentice
1 Whirlpool Rider
1 Whirlpool Warrior
1 Whirlpool Drake
1 Psyhic Membrane
1 Dragon Mage
1 Magus of the Jar
1 Merfolk Looter
1 Thought Courier
1 Lore Broker
1 Apprentice Wizard
1 Arcanis, the Omnipotent
1 Cephalid Sage
1 Mulldrifter
1 Anger

1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Nucklavee

Drawspells (19)
1 Curiosity
1 Ophidian Eye
1 Tolarian Winds
1 Jace Beleren
1 Rush of Knowledge
1 Tidings
1 Timespiral
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Wheel of Fate
1 Teferis Puzzlebox
1 Memory Jar
1 Frantic Search
1 Concentrate
1 Brainstorm
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Divination
1 Compulsive Research
1 Windfall

Other spells (15)
1 Gamble
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Intuition
1 Reminisce
1 Mnemonic Nexus
1 Propaganda
1 Hinder
1 Force of Will
1 Conflagrate
1 Seismic Assault
1 Senseis Divining Top
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Mind over Matter
1 Mass Mysteria
1 Dream Halls

Mana Artifacts (10)
1 Mox Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Izzet Signet
1 Coalition Relic
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Ruby Medallion
1 Saphire Medallion

Lands (37)
10 Island
6 Mountain
1 Shivan Reef
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Flooded Strand
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Volcanic Island
1 Steamvents
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Great Furnace
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge

Obviosly the plan is to draw large amouts of cards while having
Niv-Mizzet on the board or to combo with Niv and Couriosity/Ohidian Eye.
The creaturecount seems a bit low on first sight but I don't know if it's
really important here.

[MattH]

The thing is, you can't infinitely combo with N-M+Curiosity; you're limited by the number of cards left in your library, so he's not the greatest for larger games. You could get around this by Feldon's Cane or some such tomfoolery, though (I see you have Reminisce).

I also wouldn't bother with City of Brass in a 2-color deck. Thawing Glaciers is pretty hot, though. I also would cut the Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond, throwing away cards for mana is even worse in multiplayer than in duels (assuming you're not storm comboing or something of course).

[Mnemon]

The idea behind the moxes was to play them when I woud draw them of one of
the "discard your hand, draw many cards" effects and then do another of those
effects or simply if I am tapped out an want to play someting immediatly. I dont know how important that is so maybe

-2 Moxes
+1 Sky Diamond
+1 Fire Diamond
?

The Diamonds seem crappy. Is there better accel. ?

I know that I can't combo infinitely with Niv but I can at least kill 1/2 players.
For the rest I have cards like Seimic Assault and Conflagrate.

I guess cards like Intuition would help me. Intuition on Gamble, Izzet Chronarch, Anrchist -> Gamble for Couriosity/Ophidian Eye?

[MattH]

Is there no way you can Intuition for Curiosity, Ophidian Eye, XXXX?

[Mnemon]

I can't play hybrid cards that have colors my general doesn't have, like Helm of the Ghastlord, right ?
Otherwise Curiosity, Eye and Helm could be the targets and I can't think of any red/blue thing that can bring auras back.

But like the philosopher Mick Jagger said: "You can't always get what you want".

[Black Mass]

ancestral visions belongs here, with djinn illuminatus you can copy as much as you want. Another tutor for blue could be Long-term plans, puts the card third from the top, but you can search for anything you want instant speed.
And maybe dragon mage, lets you draw cards too.
this said, where's brainstorm and thist for knowledge, they both draw you three cards = 3 damage.
As for acceleration: try the ruby medallion and saphire medallion to cheapen your spells and I see you play quite a few x damage spells (or my eye just caught them) so I'd sujest extraplanar lens and mana flare.

[Mnemon]

Dragon Mage is alredy in the list but I agree with the rest of your suggestions.
I added them and other cheap carddraw to the deck and removed most of the win more or irrelevant cards like Myojin, Jhoira, Soramaro, Timestretch.....

I missed that Mind over Matter and Niv-Mizzet can draw my deck untin I have
Couriosity and then combo on as much as I like, discarding my hand, tapping and untapping anything that I want, reshuffle my graveyard with Reminice and
then draw my library again. Well, its overkill but I like the Idea ^^.

[Mnemon]

Since everyone discusses the new unbannings in legacy I couldn't get
around to discover Dream Halls for this Deck. I play alot of carddraw so
it shouldn't be that hard to keep drawing for some time while Niv-Mizzet
burns my opponents down.

I also added Windfall but I'm not sure if it's not too broken for a fun format ^^.

The addition of Dream Halls led me to the questions if I could cheat my general
into play with it or if the Medallions reduce the generals cost. Cheating the
general into play with DH seems absurd since he could be quiet expensive in
a long game but right now I don't see why it shouldn't be possible.

[freakish777]

Mnemonic Nexus
Turnabout
Quicken -> Reminisce



Go infinite.

[Mnemon]

I don't know if I need to go infinite. I can kill ~4 players with
combo+Conflagrate. And I don't necessarily need the Quicken.
I could just stop the combo, Turnabout into Mind over Matter
and then keep going on.

But my question still stands. Can I manipulate the costs of my
general with cards in play, like Medallions or Dream Halls ?

[MattH]

Card Name: Dream Halls
Mana Cost: 3 :u::u:
Converted Mana Cost: 5
Types: Enchantment
Card Text:
Rather than pay the mana cost for a spell, its controller may discard a card that shares a color with that spell.


Dream Halls applies whenever paying a spell's mana cost. It doesn't depend on the spell being played from your hand (contrast with cycling, which requires discarding the card from your hand, so you can't cycle from the graveyard, even while Yawgmoth's Will is in effect).

Dream Halls applies when playing spells from hand (most spells), from graveyard (Haakon, when Yawgmoth's Will/Agenda are in effect, etc. but NOT cards played via flashback abilities), from your library (Panglacial Wurm), or from the command zone (generals). All Dream Halls asks is that you be playing the spell by paying its mana cost (which is why it won't help with flashback, where you pay the flashback cost).

I think, but am only 95% sure, that you also can't use Dream Halls when playing spells without paying their mana costs. For example, you can't discard Anger (trying to give your creatures haste) to play a card that's been exiled by a copy of Mind's Desire. Not 100% sure on this though.

Dream Halls also only replaces the mana cost (what's in the upper righthand corner), so if you're playing your general for the second time, you'll have to discard a card and pay :2:.

Medallions reduce the overall cost, regardless of how you are playing the spell (regular, flashback, evoke, et cetera). So a Sapphire Medallion will make Deep Analysis cost :2::u: from hand and :u: when played via flashback. Multiple Medallion effects can stack and be used to pay for the "general tax": Emerald Medallion and Sunscape Familiar together will let general-Gaddock-Teeg be replayed for :w::g: instead of :2::w::g:.