[Deck] UR Nivmagus Tempo

[Lentini]

Hi All,

Kendrick here.

For the impatient, here's my current list. Background and strategy to follow.

[12 Creatures]
4 Nivmagus Elemental
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer

[30 Non-creature Spells]
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Flusterstorm
4 Stifle
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Clout of the Dominus

[18 Lands]
4 Wasteland
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand

[15 Current Sideboard]
3 Divert
3 Spell Pierce
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Shattering Spree
2 Forked Bolt
1 Pyrokinesis
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Dismember


A little background: Last year I placed 13th at the SCG Milwakee with a more burn heavy Nivmagus build featuring Price of Progress (similar to classic UR Delver). You can find the list here: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=59860

Since then, I have remained enamoured with Nivmagus Elemental and Young Pyromancer's ability to close out games in legacy. I have been testing and tuning a tempo version of the deck that plays very similarly to RUG Delver - cutting a color and changing the threats. In my mind, this deck has so many advantages over RUG Delver, that I am tempted to call it strictly better.

In addition to the strengths of RUG, you are also afforded these benefits:
1. You have the ability to combo them. These invlove drawing a specific sets of cards (1 Nivmagus and 2 Flusterstorm), so it's somewhat rare, but it's always nice to be able to get some free wins. I have killed Storm decks on turn 2 before, which feels nice :)
2. You have basics. While you are almost always the deck with the lower curve, being able to not lose too much tempo in the early game if they have Delver/Deathrite + Wasteland is really helpful. Plus, if you are holding up a flusterstorm, you can't be wasted off of the mana to cast it if you leave your basic up.
3. You are not hosed by graveyard hate. Mongoose and Tarmogoyf have this drawback which I am sure you are aware of.

To be fair, this deck shares many of the same weaknesses as RUG Delver. The most difficult matchups are non-greedy midrange decks, specifically Deathrite-Abrupt Decay strategies. Elves is also tough. As a tradeoff, spell-based combo and control matchups are heavily in your favor.

I plan to write up more later, but that's all I have for now. Please discuss and ask questions!

[trollking21]

why just 1 ponder? the card seem good as far as finding what you need to find. Having played RUG rather frequently it is one of the more powerful cards in the deck.

[Lentini]

why just 1 ponder? the card seem good as far as finding what you need to find. Having played RUG rather frequently it is one of the more powerful cards in the deck.

That's a great question, and I admit that only 1 ponder may be wrong.

The short story: casting Ponder gives up a little bit of tempo that can be extremely valuable in the early game.

The long story: I find that I rarely have time to cast Ponder without giving up the opportunity to hold up for Stifle/Flusterstorm (unless we are in the lategame of 3+ lands). I find this to be a critical problem with Ponder because games with this deck often revolve around protecting a threat or disrupting combo with Flusterstorm, or preventing them from developing their manabase with Stifle. In this world, Ponder doesn't really help your early-game pressure until you have a blue mana to spare; which is sometimes too late.

To be fair, Ponder is definitely as incredible as you say. It basically guarantees you will have the right number of lands/spells, as well as the right kinds of spells.

A nice middle ground might be to play 2 or 3 Ponders maindeck in order to see 1 over the course of a game to smooth out your draws but simultaneously make it unlikely to draw a pair (or worse) in your opener and give up too much tempo.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Hi Lentini!
I'm a fan of Nivmagus Elemental (NME) and I like your deck. I got few questions and ideas, though.
first of all, I think you should take a look at the mono-U Martyr thread,there is some potential in the deck, and it's quite similar to yours.
Next, what do you think about Disr. Shoal as an additional way how to protect NME?
Also, are 12 threats enough?
Do you really need Wasteland? How important it was in your playtests and tournament games? Because you're quite on the combo side of aggro-combo deck (maybe on par with Ichorid or certain builds of Affinity), so maybe the land does very little?

[mextremartini]

I've been developing a similar UR Nivmagus Tempo deck. The ideia is to deny mana, tempo play, counters, while nivmagus wins some counters. Take a look, and feel confortable to test. PS: I thoght that 17 lands are enogh to this curve.

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nivmagus Elemental

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Lighning Bolt
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Stifle
4 Flusterstorm
2 Clout of the Dominus
1 Forked Bolt

4 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island

[rufus]

Have you considered Grapeshot or Manamorphose?

[Bed Decks Palyer]

mextremartini, are you sure eight threats are enough? I think Young Pyromancer is really strong in this kind of deck, unless, of course, you'Re stuck on one land for ever, or get the dude Bolted.

[Lentini]

What do you think about Disr. Shoal as an additional way how to protect NME?


I don't think that I have the spread of CMC for blue cards. All blue cards in this deck are 1 CMC with the exception of daze (FoW doesn't count because we would just remove Shoal to FoW), which makes Shoal's alternate cost quite ineffective.



Also, are 12 threats enough?


I would probably play 13-14 threats if I could, but the quality of threats drop dramatically after the first 12. In this deck, each threat needs to be capable of closing out a game on its own, and I can't seem to find any other threats in UR (CMC 2 and under) that can do such a thing.



Do you really need Wasteland? How important it was in your playtests and tournament games? Because you're quite on the combo side of aggro-combo deck (maybe on par with Ichorid or certain builds of Affinity), so maybe the land does very little?


ABSOLUTELY. This is a tempo (sometimes called Aggro-control) deck that wants to keep the game in the early phase of the game for as long as possible because its curve is so low. It only happens to combo sometimes. If my only method of winning was combo, I would agree that Wasteland would be worse than a colored source or a spell; but that is not the case.

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Have you considered Grapeshot or Manamorphose?


I have considered these actually. They didn't make my cut mostly due to mana costs, but also not being versatile enough. They are quite nice for building and utilizing storm count for Nivmagus, but seem lackluster otherwise.

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mextremartini, are you sure eight threats are enough? I think Young Pyromancer is really strong in this kind of deck, unless, of course, you'Re stuck on one land for ever, or get the dude Bolted.


In a world with Abrupt Decay, you cannot protect your threats easily enough to run only 8. Also, you'd like to play a threat as early as possible, which becomes less likely as you play less threats.

[FTW]

Have you considered Misdirection to deal with AD? Is Divert just better most of the time?

How much better is the singleton Clout with option to super-protect Nivmagus once in a blue moon compared to the consistency of having a 2nd Ponder?

[Lentini]

Have you considered Misdirection to deal with AD? Is Divert just better most of the time?

How much better is the singleton Clout with option to super-protect Nivmagus once in a blue moon compared to the consistency of having a 2nd Ponder?

Hi FTW. Those are both very good questions; my response for both is "it's a close race".

For the first one: I think Divert is better in the current meta. The most popular abrupt decay deck right now is BUG Delver, and Divert is better against that deck than Misdirection (They play alot of two drop targets including Hymn and often don't hit four lands, especially when they make the mistake of wastelanding you).

On Clout: Clout is nearly as good on a Delver as it is on Nivmagus, so you should factor that in when evaluating the card's utility. While it is incredible in many scenarios, I have been considering moving it to the side recently. It's just nice to have a situationally powerful blue card in a deck with 4 Brainstorm, 4 FoW. Feel free to play Ponder over it, but I think it's good enough for the 75.

[paradigm72]

Have you considered playing a couple more pieces of graveyard hate, or hate that's broader than just Surgical Extraction? Your deck is in an interesting position where it has little to no graveyard dependence compared to RUG, so I wonder if adding more graveyard hate would help against the midrange matchups enough to be worth it (hurting Deathrite Shaman, Tarmogoyf, Life from the Loam, Lingering Souls, etc.).

I guess without white and on a low curve you may be limited to options like Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, and Leyline of the Void. Still, they might be worth considering for their value against things like BUG Delver and Loam decks, even aside from the blowout potential against the rare Dredge/Reanimator matchup.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Have you considered playing a couple more pieces of graveyard hate, or hate that's broader than just Surgical Extraction? Your deck is in an interesting position where it has little to no graveyard dependence compared to RUG, so I wonder if adding more graveyard hate would help against the midrange matchups enough to be worth it (hurting Deathrite Shaman, Tarmogoyf, Life from the Loam, Lingering Souls, etc.).

I guess without white and on a low curve you may be limited to options like Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, and Leyline of the Void. Still, they might be worth considering for their value against things like BUG Delver and Loam decks, even aside from the blowout potential against the rare Dredge/Reanimator matchup.
I'd play Relic. It cantrips, makes Goyfs and Mongooses irrelevant, it makes life harder for DRS, Grim and Stalker, it's one-mana spell, it's one of the best cards against Dredge/Reanimator, it is good against PiF based decks.
I'd also play Grafdigger's Cage, as it stops GSZ and such. Elves may overrun you with Craterhoof. Yes, it's hard agaisnt deck with fast win, lots of counterspells and quite some burn, but still, it worsens their situation, is amazing in combo matchup be it gy.dec or even Storm, it stops Cabal Therapies.
The last one is Crypt. Although I view it as the worst of the low-mana anti-grave spells, it has a few pros. First, you can't it's effect get it any cheaper, unless you'd use Faerie Macabre (which is also quite solid option); you may play the Cryopt and keep mana open, which may be crucial in situations where unprotected Cage/Relic gets chained/grudged EOT. Moreover, even against removal it may still do at least something: suppress threshold, or remove the fatty, LftL, PFire, PiF (or its minions), whatever. And, most notably, it has beautiful illustration. :)