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Main » Articles » The GP Kyoto Niv-Mizzet Top 8

The GP Kyoto Niv-Mizzet Top 8

Adrian Sullivan
Posted on March 29, 2019
 Reddit

You may be unsurprised that I had more than a few people ask me about the Niv-Mizzet, Parun Jeskai deck that took Top 8 at Grand Prix Kyoto.

Well, having "publicly abandoned" Jeskai recently, I had to go see what all the fuss was about.

If you haven't seen the list, here it is, piloted by Kensuke Katoh:

Jeskai Control - Kensuke Katoh, 4th Place, Grand Prix Kyoto

For reference, here is my build of the deck that I played at the first Mythic Championship in Cleveland:

Jeskai Hybrid Control | Allegiance Standard | Adrian Sullivan, 217th Place Mythic Championship Cleveland

Unfortunately, in looking at the deck from Kyoto, I wasn't really able to decipher the coverage, as it was all in Japanese. As a result, I couldn't get as clear of a sense as I'd like about some of the general elements of the event, like, for example, metagame. Another thing is that I really don't know how the matches went down, to see why a match was won or lost in the Top 8 - and there isn't a good way to replace that knowledge...

That being said, one of my favorite things to do is play Magic to find out what is what. After putting it together online, I went on a small Arena spree, falling a little bit in the standings, but still getting to a point where I felt like there was something to the deck that was worth thinking about.

Now, there aren't a ton of differences between the two decks, but there are some significant things to take note of. Let's get to it!

Improvements

Lava Coil

I'd largely abandoned Lava Coil, and after having played the format a lot, I really think this was a mistake. While Justice Strike is a powerful and important card, the deck truly does need cards that can remove a creature from the game. In addition, you can't ever Lava Coil some creatures - most notably Wildgrowth Walker. The Sultai matchup is far, far harder than the Golgari matchup ever was, and you need to be able to kill that early Wildgrowth Walker before it takes over. The extra copy in the sideboard is smart, and wisely chosen.

Deafening Clarion

This is probably, more than ever, a format where you get rewarded for four Deafening Clarion. While I still like the use of a card like Settle the Wreckage or Cleansing Nova (perhaps especially Cleansing Nova), the fourth Deafening Clarion seems excellent right now, even if it is dead again the most controlling decks.

Banefire

This is the first sideboard card I'm going to mention, but there are a hell of a lot of them. I think Katoh's success can largely be tied to the excellent sideboard choices.

As a sideboard card, I was sorely missing this card in Cleveland.

One of the reasons is that you really need to be able to have a card that can help trump the control war versus the current Esper deck. Thief of Sanity is a monster against you, and you need enough cards that can take it out early, especially if you are on the draw. At the same time, you don't want too many pure creature removal spells, because you can easily lose the mid- or late-game with an abundance of those cards.

Banefire is perfect for this.

In addition, versus plenty of decks, you will want to spend that six mana to get rid of some problematic permanent, and not have to worry about it. Kudos to Kensuke Katoh for bringing this card back.

Deputy of Detention

Speaking of cards that can take out Thief of Sanity, but are also otherwise useful, Deputy of Detention absolutely fits the bill. While a cascade of terribleness can occur with the death of a Deputy, that isn't as huge for this deck in control mirrors, given the power of Niv-Mizzet, Parun to take over a game. While I would prefer a full-on Detention Sphere if it were available, in Standard, this is the best Oblivion Ring variant you'll find, and so it is worth it, despite the fragility. Again, great call from Kensuke Katoh.

While I'm still uncertain whether I should be bringing it in against Blue Aggro, I certainly have used it to get rid of Curious Obsession.

Legion Warboss

This is another excellent decision.

Against all of the controlling and combo-oriented decks, a Legion Warboss can take over the game. When backed up by countermagic, this is even more true.

This card can even flip the script against Thief of Sanity, and put the same question to Esper that Esper asks of this deck - how much removal are you willing to keep in?

Of all of the sideboard cards, this might be the most important choice that was made.

Things I Don't Like

It may seem strange to criticize a deck that's done well, but one thing is definitely true: sometimes a deck succeeds with errors in it. The example I usually use is the Pro Tour Hollywood winning deck of Charley Gindy.

Gindy's deck was excellent, but more importantly, the archetype at large that he was playing was simply phenomenal. In the case of that Standard, it was probably the best archetype in Standard, though most people (I believe) incorrectly thought it was Faeries. However, his deck included Garruk Wildspeaker - a common choice at the time - which encouraged a less aggressive strategic role than the deck could be capable of playing.

Despite my criticism, it still won a Pro Tour, and was excellent; excellence doesn't mean perfection.

Warrant // Warden

I don't particularly like reactive cards in this deck that aren't counterspells. Many games are decided by your ability to keep the Niv-Mizzet, Parun whirring away. Warrant and Warden are both cards that don't work well with your How to Train Your Dragon-Dragon. This can cause a loss where nearly any other spell would facilitate a win.

Shivan Fire

I've tried Shivan Fire.

Unequivacally, I advocate for Shock in this spot. It isn't just because of the power of the card against Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, but it is also because, again, of Niv-Mizzet, Parun. You need to keep things going, and you don't necessarily have the luxury of targetting your own Niv. In addition, sometimes, you just barely kill someone. Even though, yes, you can kick Shivan Fire, I don't think that is worth it.

Chemister's Insight

I've said it before: I don't like this card in a Niv-Mizzet, Parun deck.

The real power of this card in this archetype is ditching bad cards for good cards. This is most important in Game 1. However, versus the most aggressive decks, this is often too slow to help unless they had their draw stunted. Versus the most controlling of decks, you have an incredible Game 1 advantage because of Treasure Map and Niv-Mizzet, Parun. After sideboarding, the most useful factor of the card diminishes greatly.

This should just be that fourth Expansion // Explosion, and perhaps some other card.

Absorb

Again, I've talked about it before: this card should just be Ionize.

I fully understand the desire to have another hard counterspell in the deck, but despite the improvements to the mana, the fact remains that this deck is actually a hybrid control deck, not a control deck.

Where that life is most useful is in the matchups versus the most pure aggressive lists like Red Aggro and White Weenie. Even there, though, the cost is simple: pain from lands. The life from Absorb is still a small enough add that it is better to just have more removal.

The Future

With all of that said, where would I put the deck today?

After having tried out Kensuke Katoh's build, here is my current take:

Jeskai Hybrid Control | Allegiance Standard | Adrian Sullivan

As you can see, this list is very close to a mix between the two decks, and puts into the deck all of the changes I mention, above. The Spell Swindle is a card you'll have to pry out of my cold, dead hands, as I love how powerful the card is against test spells - Chemister's Insight being the most common, but Nexus of Fate as well. I could imagine using Steve Rubin's Unwind in its place, but with Treasure Map, Spell Swindle becomes backbreaking.

I've added Jeskai back into my rotation, and its exciting to be playing it again.

Expect that for the next month until the release of War of the Spark, you'll be seeing a bunch of this deck on my stream!

- Adrian Sullivan

Follow me on Twitter! @AdrianLSullivan

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, decklist, adrian sullivan, allegiance standard, gp kyoto, 03292019, magicfest kyoto

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