Hello folks!

I just can't stop loving him. It's not possible...

I love me some Niv-Mizzet Reborn!

To my mind, he is the perfect leader of a Commander deck. Good ol' Niv-Mizzet! (Is it okay if I call you Nivy?)

Niv-Mizzet slides into a perfectly flexible package to lead your deck. You can shape and sculpt Nivy's deck to give you what you want, and Nivy appears to be one of the best Swiss Army Knife leaders ever printed.

Here, let me show you what I am talking about...

Consider popular leaders like Muldrotha or Atraxa. Atraxa is currently the most popular Commander in the game, according to EDHREC.com. You can build an Atraxa deck in any number of ways. She can be used in a controlling deck that wants to reuse stuff like Spike Weaver, or a super friends deck where she is helping out planeswalkers, or a Simic meets Abzan +1/+1 counters matter build. Each of these builds is different. She has a very strong amount of flexibility.

Similarly, Muldrotha can be built in other ways. I've seen builds that are Voltron-eque that recast dead equipment and auras as artifacts and enchantments for that turn or reanimation strategies, among others. Muldrotha will use the graveyard, just like Atraxa will use counters, so there are some limits to them. But that's all.

But I believe that Nivy is the strongest and best Commander ever printed. Period. Full stop. He's perfect.

Why?

Because he can make any deck you can brainstorm much better, and gives you all five colors while doing so, that's why. There are almost 2000 multicolored spells in the game, most of which are two-colored, that he can give to you on arrival, so he has synergy with tons of cards. (Check it out here). And while three, four, or five color cards won't count as a free gift to your hands, the two-color ones will.

And that means that cards like Fire // Ice or Memory Plunder are two colors and will work. Due to the vast number of options unlocked with a five-color leader, Niv-Mizzet is arguably the most powerful and flexible leader ever printed. The only cards you cannot play, are those banned. Anything else is eligible for running. Even Atraxa or other four-color leaders are missing roughly 20% of cards for their deck.

Nivy breaks that open. Every card. Every support. And any shell where you lean on two-color cards will work. And that's most shells.

Don't believe me? All right then! Let me give you a few shells where he can bring a lot to the table, just to illustrate my point.

Reanimation

I just mentioned Reanimation above in Muldrotha, so let me show you how you could build a Nivy reanimation deck.

By using every color, you can run great reanimation enablers like Entomb and Buried Alive, along with strong beaters in every color. You also have access to a number of two-color cards in flavor:

Each of these will fill up your graveyard or return something valuable, and this only scratches the surface! Plus, they are in different color combinations, so you can spread out the cards with enough in each color that you hopefully won't hit four Orzhov cards in your flip of ten cards and then not be able to grab them all. You might want to dig into some milling or other cards as well. Good job!

That's just one shell though, right? Surely, I cherry picked reanimation just to show you the options, right? Right?

Blink

Another powerful Five Color enabler that Nivy could power is a Blink build. With all five colors, you have access to the best abusers and triggers ever printed. Even Nivy himself gets better in a blink build.

In such a shell, you could grab two color cards like these:

You have a massive amount of strong dorks to blink, effects to work, and engines like Aura Shards. That's powerfully strong. From creatures like Cloudblazer and Murderous Redcap to other blink effects, you have a lot to power your deck!

Let's do a third one and then call these quick challenges. How about something outside of the normal Five Color build....

Enchantment Loving

You can combine all of the best enchantments with all of the best enablers to create the best enchantment deck ever printed. You can combine cards like Replenish and Academy Rector and Eidolon of Blossoms and with the best enchantments in every color.

Here are some gold cards that I like:

There are a number of ways of harnessing enchantments here. You can see the power of Nivy running this build too, right?

With the exception of Five Color leaders that already exist for a specific archetype (such as Horde of Notions for Elementals or Sliver Overlord for Slivers), there is no archetype I can think of, that is not better with Nivy.

And that ain't all folks! Nivy is just getting started....

Discard? Lots of triggers and effects are two-colored.

Dragons? Cast the best Dragons and Dragon enablers!

Any Other Tribal Deck That Doesn't Have a Five Color Leader? Sure thing! We got you covered!

For example, how about Knights?

And those are in addition to Knight Lords. The same is true of options that are both supported, and without a five color leader. Before Nivy's arrival, your only option was something generic, or the Gives Herself Away Karona, False God. Now you can run something that is essentially a super Brass Herald.

Thanks Tribal!

Good Stuff? With cards like Pernicious Deed and Bring to Light that you can put into your hand for free, Nivy isn't "Good" Stuff, he's "Great" Stuff!

Super Friends? Cast the best planeswalkers and enablers thereof!

Group Hug? Run all of the classic Group Hug two color cards like Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Selvala, Explorer Returned, Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, and Fevered Visions.

You can even make two color archetypes better with Nivy. Take Counter Burn, typically Blue and Red archetype, right? Well, in a five-color shell, you can get counters like Undermine or Voidslime, as well as burn and removal effects like Aurelia's Fury and more. Whatever your previous limitations were in colors is no longer, as Nivy can make it happen. Previously, you only had generic Five Color options like Cromat or Ramos, Dragon Engine that you could use if you wanted to go to five without a specific leader already printed for you.

Shoot, you could even add Red to a normal Atraxa build. For example, +1/+1 counters?

Aren't you sad that your Atraxa builds can't use cards like Marshesa or Exava? Well now they can! Now to be fair, proliferate may be better in some decks than the sheer card advantage that Nivy brings on arrival each time. But getting the extra cards may often be worth it!

But with the power that Niv-Mizzet unlocks, and the sheer card advantage and flexibility you have by running him, the opportunity cost for hurting your mana base is more-that-made-up-for by the power of Nivy.

He's even better than you think!

He's clearly been handmade for Commander.

1. He digs ten cards down. That's 10% of your starting deck size, so you can dig deep for the right cards or best card advantage options.
2. His weakness is that he cannot get more than one of that color combination. So, if you were to reveal both Frilled Mystic and Growth Spiral, you couldn't get both. In a normal 60 card deck, that means you are going to be unlikely to run the same card more than once. If you want to use Growth Spiral in the deck, you are unlikely to run more than one, or else you could run into the feel bad moment when you flip three of them. But in Commander? That's not really a weakness as it's already singleton.

So the weakness for Constructed formats for the tournament aren't something that's as bad here.

Also, the opportunity cost for Niv-Mizzet isn't as bad as it used to be. There are a number of tools out there that can singlehandedly enable a five-color mana base out therework. Just dropping Prismatic Omen, Joiner Adept, or Chromatic Lantern and you can have your mana base made.

You also have artifacts like Prismatic Geoscope as well as Command Tower or Path of Ancestry lands that can make any color you need as well, in order to make your leader, or complicated mana effects.

Therefore, I don't think that Niv-Mizzet Reborn is going to wind up having as much of a mana issue today as it may have had in eras previously.

What I want to do is to make a quick little Nivy build for you, just to show you how deep the waters run. I've already talked at length about how he can make pretty much any idea work at the Five Color level.

So here is my deck.

In order to demonstrate that I am not cherry picking, I decide to hit Gatherer. My goal is to hit random card and give you the first mechanic that suggest itself.

Here are my cards in order:

I didn't think that the Swampwalk was a mechanic I could build around. But legendary matters?

Let's do it!

Niv-Mizzet's Legendary Revue

Where did I go to build this deck? Great question!

People will follow Captain Sisay into battle. So, she's a great leader, and I have folks like Arvad the Cursed that are on theme from multiple angles. This pair of Weatherlight folks from two eras of the storyline are the hearts of my deck. I have lots of legendary cards for Sisay to fetch, even non-dorks, like planeswalkers, lands, sorceries and artifacts. Meanwhile, Arvad loves legendary friends and is a strong captain for any legendary forces you may unleash on the battlefield.

Next?

We also have some historic cards that will unlock some powerful options as well. All three of these are good for the entire deck. While I doubt any Sagas will make the cut here, I certainly would expect some artifacts that aren't legendary, such as Chromatic Lantern in my brew. You'll also note that all three of these are two colors and legendary creatures, so they all slide into the deck quite ably.

I want to explore this space with some other "legendary matters" cards as well. Thalia's Lancers are a one-shot Sisay on arrival, and play nicely just like other supporters like Loyal Retainers, Reki, and Yomiji, all of whom have obvious synergy with my deck. None of them are perfect - they are mono-colored and some aren't legendary either, but they all work nicely. You can see why they are included too.

On the other hand, Primevals' Glorious Rebirth is great. Two colors and legendary. And it will bring back a ton of your dead stuff back onto the battlefield. This will include legendary artifacts, lands, planeswalkers, and more. It's perfect! Two other legendary sorceries also make an appearance that are valuable here too. Check them out!

There are a few other artifacts that support my theme as well, including the legendary Thran Temporal Gateway, which can be found by cards like Captain Sisay and others.

All right, enough support! How about some legendary dorks?

We have some powerful options for our deck. All of these are strong and offer some battlefield-shifting power. I also have a fun equipment suite that Nazahn taps into, with Hammer of Nazahn, Champion's Helm, and Blackblade Reforged out there as well. But you know what?

Lots of stuff happens earlier in the game than these powerhouses!

I also have some cheaper ones too:

How could you not want to run Saffi in a deck like this? Or Sygg and his card-drawing fun times? Mirri? You get it!

I also tossed in a few fun cards for you as well.

Just for fun! Because that's how Niv-MizzetReborn rolls.

Then I tossed in a few utility cards like Solemn Simulacrum and Expedition Map and called it a deck.

Destroyandget a land? Yes please! Double exile with the potential for landcycling if you need? Sure!

Here's muh deck:

Niv-Mizzet's Legendary Revue | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Niv-Mizzet Reborn

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Archangel Avacyn
• 1 Arvad the Cursed
• 1 Athreos, God of Passage
• 1 Bloom Tender
• 1 Captain Sisay
• 1 Dragonlord Atarka
• 1 Dragonlord Silumgar
• 1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1 Garna, the Bloodflame
• 1 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
• 1 Joiner Adept
• 1 Kefnet the Mindful
• 1 Kitsune Healer
• 1 Knight of New Alara
• 1 Loyal Retainers
• 1 Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• 1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
• 1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
• 1 Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
• 1 Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1 Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage
• 1 Ravos, Soultender
• 1 Reki, the History of Kamigawa
• 1 Rona, Disciple of Gix
• 1 Saffi Eriksdotter
• 1 Samut, Voice of Dissent
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
• 1 Thalia's Lancers
• 1 The Locust God
• 1 The Scorpion God
• 1 Yomiji, Who Bars the Way

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
• 1 Kaya, Ghost Assassin
• 1 Sarkhan Unbroken
• 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 1 Vraska, Relic Seeker

• Instants (11)
• 1 Deathsprout
• 1 Goryo's Vengeance
• 1 Sylvan Reclamation
• 1 Utter End
• 1 Conflux
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Kamahl's Druidic Vow
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Primevals' Glorious Rebirth
• 1 Time of Need
• 1 Urza's Ruinous Blast

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Day of Destiny
• 1 Genju of the Realm
• 1 Mirari's Wake
• 1 Prismatic Omen

• Artifacts (15)
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Conqueror's Flail
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Hammer of Nazahn
• 1 Heroes' Podium
• 1 Mox Amber
• 1 Prismatic Geoscope
• 1 Sword of the Chosen
• 1 Tenza, Godo's Maul
• 1 Thran Temporal Gateway
• 1 Tome of the Guildpact
• 1 Weatherlight

• Lands (32)
• 2 Island
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 4 Forest
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Eiganjo Castle
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Forbidden Orchard
• 1 Gateway Plaza
• 1 Guildmages' Forum
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Pillar of the Paruns
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Transguild Promenade
• 1 Volrath's Stronghold
• 1 Yavimaya Hollow

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And there we are!

What did you think of my Niv-Mizzet deck? Agree or disagree with my thoughts of him being the best Commander we've ever had? Then who do you think is? Let me know!

Welcome to the Era of Niv-Mizzet. Long may he reign!

And as always, thanks for reading my musings.