(Niv-Mizzet, Visionary | Art by Dan Murayama Scott)

A Strong Foundation

Good day, friends! Welcome back to Commander Fusion, the series where we scratch that ol’ Simic Biomancer itch and see if we can combine two random commanders into one (semi)coherent deck, using EDHREC data! Today, we have a special edition of our new little series here. Moving forward, for each new set that is released, we will be doing a special fusion geared around a legend from that set! We will take a new (or returning) legend, then choose a random commander and see if we can make a fusion deck that takes inspiration from both commanders and makes something totally new. I hope you like card draw, because that is the name of the game today! Our fusion commanders today are the new Niv-Mizzet, Visionary and Kwain, Itinerant Meddler.

Familiar Visions

Foundations was designed to be a set that is not only welcoming to new players, but also gives experienced players fun new cards and strategies to experiment with. I think this is exemplified in Niv-Mizzet, Visionary, a great introduction to a classic Magic character for new players, but also an incredibly strong card that opens up a lot of powerful paths to victory. For our new players, Niv-Mizzet is the founder of Ravnica’s Izzet League (which is where we also get the name for the pairing of blue and red magic). Here’s how the MTG wiki describes the Izzet League:

“The Izzet League is charged with attending to Ravnican civic works, including water supply systems, sewers, heating systems, boilers, and roadways. In addition to carrying out these functions, the Izzet members — obsessive, keen, and creative intellectuals, who often have short attention spans— are known to perform magical experiments, ever with reckless abandon and sometimes with spectacular but severe results.”

In this description of the Izzet League, we also see Niv-Mizzet’s strategy: he gives you no maximum hand size (representing knowledge and/or wisdom), and whenever your experiments blow up to deal non-combat damage to your opponents, you learn from the results and draw more cards! Let’s take a look at how players are building this new Niv-Mizzet by examining his top synergistic cards so far, taken from his EDHREC page:

1. Lightning Bolt
2. Flame Rift
3. Kessig Flamebreather
4. Firebrand Archer
5. Price of Progress
6. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
7. Niv-Mizzet, Parun
8. Mana Vault
9. Guttersnipe
10. Swan Song

Dealing non-combat damage is the core of the deck’s strategy, and it is full of spells and abilities to make sure your opponents are hurting as much as possible. Lightning Bolt, Flame Rift, and Price of Progress will net you a pretty impressive amount of cards: spending one mana on Lightning Bolt to deal three damage and draw three cards is about one of the best uses of one mana I can think of. Kessig Flamebreather, Firebrand Archer, and Guttersnipe also deal damage for each of your burn spells, which gets you additional cards. If you’re still not convinced this strategy is going to be effective, we have not one, but TWO infinite combos just within the cards listed here. A narcissist’s dream, Niv-Mizzet, Visionary goes infinite with both older versions of himself, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and Niv-Mizzet, Parun after you draw a card; that will trigger the older Nivs to deal damage, triggering the new Niv to draw a card, triggering the old Nivs to deal damage, triggering the new Niv to draw a card…I think you get the picture. Continue until you’ve either drawn your library (Laboratory Maniac will be your friend here) or until all your opponents have been burned to death, whichever your prefer. I'm writing this while Foundations spoilers are ongoing, but I have no doubts that Niv-Mizzet here will be one of the standout commanders from this set.

Wascally Wabbit

Our next commander is no slouch, either. Kwain, Itinerant Meddler first appeared in 2020’s Commander Legends. Here’s a neat little trivia piece for you: Kwain and his rival Archelos were actually the first characters from Bloomburrow (the plane, not the set) we were ever introduced to as Magic players, four years before we knew the plane existed! This hasty hare is a lover, not a fighter: his ability allows each player to draw a card, and if you choose to do so, you gain a life, too. Talk about an offer you can't refuse. Here are the top cards Kwain players use to supplement their generous strategy:

1. Kami of the Crescent Moon
2. Howling Mine
3. Dictate of Kruphix
4. Temple Bell
5. Folio of Fancies
6. Triskaidekaphile
7. Laboratory Maniac
8. The Second Doctor
9. The Council of Four
10. Propaganda

How nice! So many cards to let our opponents draw cards: Kami of the Crescent Moon, Howling Mine, Dictate of Kruphix, Temple Bell, and Folio of Fancies all supplement this strategy well. This is Magic, though: giving our opponents cards and helping them gain life can’t be the only thing we do, as otherwise we’ll inevitably be taken out by the last remaining player who we’ve helped all along the way. The Second Doctor gives away cards, but also ensure the takers can’t swing at us next turn. The Council of Four also ensures we benefit from our opponents’ draws through more cards and an army of Knights. Propaganda helps to protect us while we draw through our library, seeking Triskaidekaphile or Laboratory Maniac to win the game (and though it’s not in the top 10 list, shout-out to my current favorite card, Twenty-Toed Toad, who would also work swimmingly as an alternate way to win with this deck.)

You Get a Card, and You Get a Card!

Ok, time to make this fusion happen. We’re looking for a commander that gives us access to white, blue, and red mana (aka Jeskai), and, if I had to take an uneducated guess, likes drawing cards. Here are the top Jeskai commanders that share the synergistic cards of Niv-Mizzet and Kwain that we have just discussed:

1. Zedruu the Greathearted- 7
2. Gavi, Nest Warden- 2
3. Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker // Jeska, Thrice Reborn- 2
4. Dynaheir, Invoker Adept- 1
5. The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler- 1
6. Aragorn, King of Gondor- 1
7. Numot, the Devastator- 1
8. Pramikon, Sky Rampart- 1
9. Brallin, Skyshark Rider // Shabraz, the Skyshark- 1
10. Gandalf of the Secret Fire- 1

Zedruu seems like a great commander to lead this fused strategy! Zedruu’s benevolence allows us to share generously with our opponents like Kwain, but her ability to draw us cards and gain life ensures we will be reaping the maximum benefit of our generosity. Gavi is another excellent include, as though we won’t be cycling much, she can net us a Dinosaur Cat when draw our second card each turn. I think we have our strategy!

It's Dangerous to Go Alone: Take This!

Let’s take a look, first, at the core of our strategy: things we can safely give away with Zedruu that will still help us draw cards. The good thing about Zedruu’s ability will ensure we are drawing cards as long as we are giving permanents to our opponents, but we really want to give them things that will continue to help us draw even more cards. Most of the synergistic cards for Kwain can help us with this. Dictate of Kruphix, Howling Mine, Kami of the Crescent Moon, and even Kwain himself can be safely off-loaded to an opponent, but will still give us cards despite not being under our control, in addition to the cards we will be drawing from Zedruu. Yes Man, Personal Securitron and Humble Defector can both draw us cards before we pass them along to our enemies.

There are many ways to give our permanents away without relying solely on Zedruu’s ability. Role Reversal, Shifting Grift, and Bazaar Trader can all allow us to exchange our permanents for fun, while cards like Pendant of Prosperity and Akroan Horse enter under an opponent’s control by default, allowing us to bypass the mana cost of Zedruu’s ability.

There are also a multitude of ways we can ensure reaping maximum benefit from drawing all these cards. The Archimandrite synergizes very well with Zedruu, helping us gain life from all the cards in our hand, and potentially buffing up Zedruu from both her own and the Archimandrite’s lifegain in case our generosity is not appreciated and we need to threaten some commander damage. Dream Trawler gets bigger and bigger the more cards we draw, and can present a scary threat in the air for our opponents to deal with. Psychosis Crawler is a classic, draining our opponents life totals when we draw cards, and the brand-new Homunculus Horde has been described as “the Scute Swarm” of card draw, allowing your board to quickly fill up with an army of 2/2s for attacking and blocking.

And what can we do with all that lifegain? Draw more cards, of course! Drogskol Reaver draws us a card when we gain life, and Sphinx of the Revelation lets us use life gain for card draw as well (and even though we’re not a dedicated Energy deck, we’ll likely have plenty to spare from its first ability.) Well of Lost Dreams also lets us turn our lifegain into card draw, and Alhammarret's Archive just lets us plain double our life gain and draw. That’s one permanent we’ll likely not be too keen to give away.

To finish out a game, you’ll likely be using some of the alternate win conditions we discussed earlier with Kwain. Laboratory Maniac and Triskaidekaphile can both help us win based on our card draw. We also have the Niv-Mizzet combo from earlier, too, allowing us to burn our opponents and draw an infinite number of cards. Finally, if you want to win purely through your generosity, try Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos! Your opponents will be thanking you profusely for your wonderful gift as Alexios grows larger and larger while you sit back and relax.

Great Hearts, Great Big Pockets

That’s it for this fusion! Which Foundations commanders and cards are you most looking forward to playing? Let me know in the comments below! Hurska Sweet-Tooth is my personal favorite so far- feel free to take a look at this non-fusion list I threw together over on Archidekt if you’re curious. See you next time!

Quinn Lambert

Quinn has been playing Magic since Kaladesh. A Bant player at heart, his number-one goal in any game is always to have more cards in hand than anyone else at the table. Outside of Magic, he is a licensed mental health counselor, non-professional but eager Jesus-imitator, and totally unlicensed toddler-wrangler.