Time for some real talk. Izzet is my second-least-favorite color pair for Commander. As a 60-card strategy, I don't mind it, but in Commander it feels like just about every general is a take on the same thing: counterspells and burn.

Don't get me wrong! I like both counters and burn spells, even in Commander. I'm not even saying I don't like it as a strategy. But it feels a bit like, in most cases, in this color pair, you kind of have to do a spell-heavy deck to even have a fighting chance. Let's see if we can't figure out a way to do things a bit differently, shall we?

This is a fragile Commander with a wickedly abuse-able ability strapped to her. One of the nice things about drawing a ton of cards is it lets us choose what we have in our hand much more judiciously, so Nin is a good choice for a combo deck. We're going to do one, but to attempt to keep things fair, we're not going to tutor too much and we're going to mostly limit what our combos can do. One can always scale the power level up if it's not hacking it with your playgroup; start with it a bit more "fair" and see how you do.

One quick note: Combo decks are built around the combos themselves, so we're going to start by looking at the combos.

The first combo that came to my mind involves Stuffy Doll. Stuffy Doll is indestructible, so we can shoot it with as much Nin damage as we want and it won't go anywhere. We control it, so we draw the cards. Meanwhile, Stuffy Doll redirects the damage to an opponent of our choice. 12 mana? Great! You take 10, I'll draw 10.

This led to an aside of running indestructible creatures. They are great blockers and they can sit and take damage all day from Nin to draw us cards. There are a bunch of them; several are conditional as blockers or attackers but still take damage from Nin.

However, 10 damage doesn't kill someone. We probably want to be able to do 40, on average. That led me to infinite mana combos, and with infinite mana, we can shoot someone's creature for however much we need to so they just die. Here's the list.

• Mana Geyser + Reiterate
• Turnabout + Reiterate
• Doubling Cube + Filigree Sages
• Palinchron + Sneak Attack
• Palinchron + Caged Sun
• Izzet Chronarch + Deadeye Navigator + Turnabout
• Archaeomancer + Deadeye Navigator + Turnabout
• Mnemonic Wall + Deadeye Navigator + Turnabout
• Izzet Guildmage + Reset
• Reiterate + Reset

Once you're running Deadeye Navigator and Turnabout, you may as well run multiple ways to pull off the combo. It's worth noting Izzet Guildmage/Reiterate + Reset can be combined with Lightning Bolt for infinite Lightning Bolts. This can be worth it if it's an especially nasty table or the game is ready to be over. The last one of the combos - Reiterate + Reset + Lightning Bolt - can be searched up with Firemind's Foresight.

But the point isn't to do infinite damage, it's to create infinite mana. That way we can shoot someone else's creature or our Stuffy Doll with Nin to kill our opponents one by one. When the first opponent is dead, bounce or flicker Stuffy Doll and repeat on the following turn. This is good, in some ways because it means the table has a chance to respond and try to stop you. It's also got a bit more style than just announcing that you win by explaining the combo.

Do be careful, because you can draw yourself out with Stuffy Doll. Elixir of Immortality will help with this by putting our graveyard back in our library, but if we've got Reliquary Tower out we may not have much to put back!

This deck has 39 lands and 10 additional mana sources. That's a lot, but remember we can draw a ton of cards and it's easy to discard lands as necessary. However, most of our combos require a fairly significant mana investment to start, plus Nin's ability isn't cheap, and neither are indestructible creatures. So hitting our land drops and ramping up pretty quickly will be helpful. Riptide Laboratory can protect our commander. Endless Sands is a bit clunky but can keep our indestructible dudes from getting exiled.

We do have a couple of ways to search up pieces. Trinket Mage and Tribute Mage are both here, because they'll search up Sol Ring or Doubling Cube, then can be shot with Nin for a burst of cards. Mystical Tutor can hunt up a missing piece like Reiterate, Turnabout, or Mana Geyser. Fabricate will search up Stuffy Doll. But for the most part we're going to draw into our combos and see what the deck gives us. The couple of tutors are there to help finish the combo, not choose your favorite and go get it.

Cyclonic Rift is simply too good not to include, plus it is one of the best wrath effects available to Blue. It's ability to be bought back makes it nearly indispensable. Polymorphist's Jest, on the other hand, is hilarious and can turn a nasty attack into a mere flesh wound. We've also got a slate of counterspells, though when running Izzet I think it's fun to run the dual color ones. Choose your favorites. We're not running it, but Swerve can be very funny if you're willing to find the slot.

Nin, the Pain Artist | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Nin, the Pain Artist

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Colossus of Akros
• 1 Creepy Doll
• 1 Darksteel Gargoyle
• 1 Darksteel Myr
• 1 Darksteel Sentinel
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Dualcaster Mage
• 1 Filigree Sages
• 1 Hazoret the Fervent
• 1 Izzet Chronarch
• 1 Izzet Guildmage
• 1 Kefnet the Mindful
• 1 Keranos, God of Storms
• 1 Manor Gargoyle
• 1 Mnemonic Wall
• 1 Palinchron
• 1 Stuffy Doll
• 1 Tribute Mage
• 1 Trinket Mage
• 1 Willbreaker

• Instants (20)
• 1 Comet Storm
• 1 Counterflux
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Dissolve
• 1 Double Negative
• 1 Firemind's Foresight
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 1 Invert // Invent
• 1 Ionize
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Mystical Tutor
• 1 Polymorphist's Jest
• 1 Reiterate
• 1 Reset
• 1 Turnabout
• 1 Whir of Invention
• 1 Wizard's Retort

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Fabricate
• 1 Mana Geyser

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Sneak Attack

• Artifacts (16)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Caged Sun
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Crystal Shard
• 1 Doubling Cube
• 1 Elixir of Immortality
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Izzet Cluestone
• 1 Izzet Keyrune
• 1 Izzet Locket
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Portal of Sanctuary
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (39)
• 11 Island
• 6 Mountain
• 1 Arcane Lighthouse
• 1 Cascade Bluffs
• 1 Command Beacon
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Detection Tower
• 1 Endless Sands
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Highland Lake
• 1 Homeward Path
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Izzet Guildgate
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Riptide Laboratory
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Spirebluff Canal
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Inventors' Fair

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In this build, we're not wicked fast, but we're not slow, either. People will start dying out of nowhere once you assemble the combo, but you'll have to have some willpower not to go for the Lightning Bolt kill. Then again, if you're a more cutthroat player, or your playgroup likes to kill each other a lot, feel free to do it.

In fact, the deck could be built to lean into that a bit more. There are more ways to search up specific cards in this color pair; more tutors and going for the three-card-combo as the main win-con would be a way to power up the deck. Me? I'd rather durdle around with my little indestructible guys and kill people with Stuffy Doll.

The Locust God was in consideration. Shoot some indestructible dude with a bunch of Nin damage, draw 50 cards, and make 50 flying guys that can wipe someone out. Heck, run some stuff to buff them up and it can really get ugly quickly. Psychosis Crawler also seems like a great card, and I nearly included it, but then I remembered how much I hate it when people punish me for drawing a card, which is something I am incapable of avoiding. Keep in mind most people don't like that. Finally, the various Niv-Mizzets are all probably great, but a big ol' Dragon just didn't seem right.

This is one way to do Izzet differently than normal. How would you? What's your favorite way to shake up a color pair? I'd love to hear from you.

I did consider building around Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist without a Partner. That seems like another way to do Izzet differently, though I couldn't figure out how to leverage the ability to actually win the game. Maybe there's a group hug deck in that guy?

Thanks for reading.