The Best Final Fantasy Combo Cards for Commander

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yuna, Grand Summoner" href="#" target="_blank">Yuna, Grand Summoner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by: <a href="https://kevinglint-studios.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kevin Glint</a></em></p>
<p>Friendly greetings and welcome to Spira, the world of <em>Final Fantasy X</em>. I'm <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/author/john-sherwood" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Sherwood</a>, and I'm taking a break from my regular <em>Bracketeering</em> series to feature a new commander. This deck tech is brought to you in part by mixed feelings about a video game I never beat. It wasn't for lack of trying. I spent an unhealthy number of hours grinding every corner of Spira's map. Some of that time was spent side questing for the focal character of this dech tech: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yuna, Grand Summoner" href="#" target="_blank">Yuna, Grand Summoner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Yuna, Grand Summoner|fic|208"></div></div>
<p>Although Yuna is the secondary commander in the <a href="https://edhrec.com/precon/counter-blitz" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Counter Blitz</em> preconstructed deck</a>, this is not a precon upgrade guide. This is also not a budget deck; it's way too rich for me, but it's fun to theorycraft. So here I go, brewing Yuna for the Optimized (4) Bracket.</p>
<h2>Who Is Yuna, Grand Summoner and What Does She Do?</h2>
<p>Yuna is a central story character and vital party member in <em>Final Fantasy X</em>. In the role-playing game, Yuna is on a religious pilgrimage and she summons powerful creatures in battle. In <em>Magic</em>, Yuna is a Cleric with a mana ability that rewards you for casting creatures. That's a flavor win as far as I'm concerned. While you can use Yuna's mana for anything, she promises upside to the next creature spell you cast this turn by giving it two additional +1/+1 counters. Notably, this second part of Yuna's mana ability is a delayed trigger, and creates a decision point during deck construction and gameplay. The straightforward line is to spend the mana on a creature spell <em>now</em> and immediately get the counters. Some of the more interesting lines involve saving the trigger for later (more on this later).</p>
<p>Yuna's second ability is a triggered ability that allows us to manipulate counters and play with our graveyard. If this ability reflects any aspect of Yuna's character, I don't remember it. Granted, a lot of my mental bandwidth for <em>Final Fantasy X</em> is devoted to despising <a href="https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Blitzball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blitzball</a>. Despite not remembering any reason for Yuna to care about permanents hitting the graveyard, I'm excited about this card ability. If a permanent you control with counters on it is put into any graveyard, then Yuna places an equal number of+1/+1 counters on any target creature. The permanent that goes in the bin doesn't have to be a creature, and the original counters don't have to be +1/+1 counters. In other words, there's a wide range of possible triggers.</p>
<p>Just a quick nonbo note: avoid finality counters. These counters create a replacement effect that exiles instead. Any counters that would have been available for Yuna's second ability will be lost.</p>
<h2>Veggies and Value</h2>
<p>I created this deck on <a href="http://www.archidekt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archidekt</a> with card packages for ramp, mana base, and board wipes. Card packages are a great feature to expedite adding essential cards to a deck, saving time for the fun parts of the deck building process.</p>
<p>One of the more enjoyable aspects of brewing a new commander is finding those synergistic value pieces. While both of Yuna's abilities can be played for value, her second ability leans into the graveyard for extra utility and resilience.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Evolution Witness"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Evolution Witness" href="#" target="_blank">Evolution Witness</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a fantastic pairing with Yuna's second ability. If a permanent goes to the yard with counters on it, then targeting Evolution Witness to receive +1/+1 counters from Yuna will allow us to return a permanent from the graveyard to hand. This interaction can mitigate opponents' removal, or we can take advantage of it with sacrifice outlets.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rikku, Resourceful Guardian"></div></div>
<p>I included a few other cards that benefit from receiving counters. Picks like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scurry Oak" href="#" target="_blank">Scurry Oak</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to go wide, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wildwood Scourge" href="#" target="_blank">Wildwood Scourge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to go tall, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rikku, Resourceful Guardian" href="#" target="_blank">Rikku, Resourceful Guardian</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for evasion.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ratchet Bomb"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ratchet Bomb" href="#" target="_blank">Ratchet Bomb</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Engineered Explosives" href="#" target="_blank">Engineered Explosives</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are handy sweepers, and can be played for extra layers of value in this deck since their charge counters will become +1/+1 counters after sacrificing them. We can take this a step further. By aiming for a number of charge counters equal to the mana value of our own permanents, we effectively turn these removal artifacts into sacrifice outlets to pump up more valuable creatures. Set this up preemptively for an impactful attack, or maybe as an edge case to to save an important creature from damage.</p>
<h2>Yuna, Combo Queen</h2>
<p>If Yuna, Grand Summoner is going to make a splash in higher Brackets, then some of the key cards for this deck should be combo pieces. Both of Yuna's abilities have combo potential, but the first ability requires fewer combo pieces to achieve a winning game state.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Freed from the Real"></div></div>
<p>Remember that delayed trigger we saved until later? Saving it gives us opportunities to duplicate it, such as untapping Yuna to do it again. Using either <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pemmin&#039;s Aura" href="#" target="_blank">Pemmin&#039;s Aura</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Freed from the Real" href="#" target="_blank">Freed from the Real</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, you can make blue mana with Yuna and spend it to untap her. This allows Yuna to tap and produce mana again. You can repeat this cycle as many times as you like to create any number of delayed triggers, which will all resolve on the next creature spell you cast. That creature will enter with a number of counters equal to twice the number of times Yuna tapped for mana.</p>
<div id="4222-6566" style="width: 100%; position: relative; overflow: visible; display: flex; justify-content: center;"><img decoding="async" id="csbLoad" src="https://commanderspellbook.com/images/gear.svg" alt="csb logo" width="300" /><br />
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Even better than Freed from the Real, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pemmin&#039;s Aura" href="#" target="_blank">Pemmin&#039;s Aura</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can protect Yuna from targeted removal and make her more dangerous in combat.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Pemmin&#039;s Aura"></div></div>
<p>Just in case we don't find those Auras for Yuna, untappers like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ioreth of the Healing House" href="#" target="_blank">Ioreth of the Healing House</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Saryth, the Viper&#039;s Fang" href="#" target="_blank">Saryth, the Viper&#039;s Fang</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> provide redundancy. If you have both of those creatures with Yuna, then the three of them combine into a three-card untapping extravaganza.</p>
<div id="1432-4513-6566" style="width: 100%; position: relative; overflow: visible; display: flex; justify-content: center;"><img decoding="async" id="csbLoad" src="https://commanderspellbook.com/images/gear.svg" alt="csb logo" width="300" /><br />
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<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="." width="0" height="0"></iframe></p>
<p>However you untap Yuna, there are plenty of support pieces to improve the potency. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Leyline of Abundance" href="#" target="_blank">Leyline of Abundance</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy" href="#" target="_blank">Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> net extra mana, which we can pump into winning payoffs.</p>
<h2>How to Win With Yuna, Grand Summoner Combos</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Walking Ballista"></div></div>
<p>Let's start our push to victory by circling back to those tapping and untapping combos. The combos I picked don't inherently win the game. It doesn't matter how many times we <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Twiddle" href="#" target="_blank">Twiddle</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Yuna, it's nondeterministic until we add a creature payoff. One of my favorite win conditions in this deck is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Walking Ballista" href="#" target="_blank">Walking Ballista</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. First, repeat the cycle of tapping and untapping Yuna a number of times greater than half of your opponents' combined life. Then cast Walking Ballista. It will enter with an amount of counters exceeding your opponents' life totals and you win the game by pinging them to death. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Triskelion" href="#" target="_blank">Triskelion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can serve as a backup for this plan, but it requires more mana.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Twenty-Toed Toad"></div></div>
<p>Another great win condition in this deck is <em>Bloomburrow</em>'s <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Twenty-Toed Toad" href="#" target="_blank">Twenty-Toed Toad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This croaker can puff up with or without Yuna's help into a must-answer threat.</p>
<p>If combos and "you win" cards are unable to carry this deck to victory, there's always combat. Many of the creatures in the deck are ready to turn sideways. Also, Yuna can target herself with her second ability to becoming a serious commander damage threat.</p>
<h2>Yuna, Grand Summoner Commander Deck List</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Yuna, Grand Summoner Dech Tech" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Yuna, Grand Summoner
[/Commander]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Astral Cornucopia
*1 Engineered Explosives
*1 Everflowing Chalice
*1 Patriar&#039;s Seal
*1 Ratchet Bomb
*1 Sol Ring
*1 The Ozolith
[/Artifacts]
[Sorceries]
*1 Altar of Bone
*1 Distant Memories
*1 Idyllic Tutor
*1 Insist
*1 Nature&#039;s Lore
*1 Storm the Seedcore
*1 Sylvan Tutor
*1 Three Visits
*1 What Must Be Done
[/Sorceries]
[Creatures]
*1 Abzan Falconer
*1 Birds of Paradise
*1 Bounty Agent
*1 Cankerbloom
*1 Cathar Commando
*1 Crystalline Giant
*1 Danny Pink
*1 Esper Sentinel
*1 Evolution Witness
*1 Forgotten Ancient
*1 Herd Baloth
*1 Ioreth of the Healing House
*1 Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
*1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
*1 Lonis, Genetics Expert
*1 Rikku, Resourceful Guardian
*1 Robaran Mercenaries
*1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
*1 Saryth, the Viper&#039;s Fang
*1 Scurry Oak
*1 Slippery Bogbonder
*1 Triskelion
*1 Tuskguard Captain
*1 Twenty-Toed Toad
*1 Walking Ballista
*1 Wildwood Scourge
[/Creatures]
[Enchantments]
*1 Freed from the Real
*1 Leyline of Abundance
*1 Pemmin&#039;s Aura
*1 Sterling Grove
*1 Utopia Sprawl
*1 Well Rested
*1 Wild Growth
[/Enchantments]
[Instants]
*1 Aetherize
*1 Bant Charm
*1 Beast Within
*1 Cyclonic Rift
*1 Eladamri&#039;s Call
*1 Enlightened Tutor
*1 Generous Gift
*1 Gift of the Viper
*1 Heroic Intervention
*1 Slip Out the Back
*1 Teferi&#039;s Protection
*1 Worldly Tutor
[/Instants]
[Lands]
*1 Blast Zone
*1 Boseiju, Who Endures
*1 Breeding Pool
*1 Command Tower
*1 Demolition Field
*1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
*1 Exotic Orchard
*1 Flooded Strand
*7 Forest
*1 Hallowed Fountain
*1 High Market
*5 Island
*1 Karn&#039;s Bastion
*1 Minamo, School at Water&#039;s Edge
*1 Misty Rainforest
*1 Otawara, Soaring City
*1 Path of Ancestry
*3 Plains
*1 Plaza of Heroes
*1 Prismatic Vista
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
*1 Shifting Woodland
*1 Spara&#039;s Headquarters
*1 Temple Garden
*1 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<h2>Sequel Setup</h2>
<p><em>Final Fantasy X </em>has a sequel and a remaster. I've never played either of them, just like I'll never play this deck in paper. It was a lot of fun to tinker with, and hopefully you found a little inspiration here. I love this card; Yuna is a very open ended commander with more potential than there are slots in the 99. If you're building <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yuna, Grand Summoner" href="#" target="_blank">Yuna, Grand Summoner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, tell me about your brew in the comments below.</p>


Yuna, Grand Summoner Optimized Commander Deck Tech

The Best Instant Combos in Commander

Wombo Combo - Best Sorcery Combos in EDH

Wombo Combo - Best Dragon Combos in EDH

Best Land Combos in EDH

<h6 style="text-align: right;">Header Image: Palinchron, Illus. <a href="https://x.com/mattwilsonprime?lang=en">Matthew D. Wilson</a></h6>
<h2>Time to cast your vote!</h2>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Squirrel Nest" href="#" target="_blank">Squirrel Nest</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is not a Game Changer. Neither is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Earthcraft" href="#" target="_blank">Earthcraft</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>But what happens when both these cards are present in a Commander deck?</p>
<p>One of the classic two-card infinite combos, Squirel Nest + Earthcraft is easy to assemble (outside of the financial cost of one of those two cards, of course), can be added to any green deck, and can almost instantly win any game. How do you assess your deck's bracket in this case?</p>
<p>That's for us to find out, with the Commander Bracket Combo Vote.</p>
<p>EDHREC is introducing today a way for the Commander community to work together to determine what effect two-card combos have on your deck's bracket placement.</p>
<h2><strong>Everyone's invited to head <a href="https://edhrec.com/combo-vote">over here</a> and start participating.</strong></h2>
<hr />
<h2>How does it work?</h2>
<p>Utilizing combo data from EDHREC's sister site <a href="https://commanderspellbook.com/">Commander Spellbook</a>, voters are presented with a two-card combo and are asked three questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong> Can this combo be reasonably executed in the first six or so turns?</strong></li>
<li><strong>Are the prerequisites (ignoring mana) easy enough that you'd still call this a two-card combo?</strong></li>
<li><strong>Is it easy to leverage this combo into a win?</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Based on the data acquired through the vote, EDHREC will be able to display on the site which brackets the community thinks these individual combos might fit, as well as give a more accurate bracket estimate for decks on Archidekt.</p>
<p>Each question is designed to assess how impactful each of these combos are in an average game of Commander, as there currently is no "official list" related to brackets for two-card infinite (or near-infinite) combos.</p>
<p>The data generated by the voting also won't be "official," but it will be made available to members of the Commander Format Panel as they continue to tweak the Bracket System for widespread use in the community.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the voting will help identify in which bracket players might expect to find individual two-card combos, therefore allowing them to make more informed decisions when assessing their own deck's bracket.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cephalid Aristocrat"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reconnaissance"></div></div>
<p>On the voting page, each voter will be presented with a two-card combo as identified by Commander Spellbook.</p>
<p>They'll be asked to assess the combo using the above three questions with either a "yes," indicating that they agree with the question in relation to the combo, or "no," indicating that they do not agree.</p>
<p>Based on the voter's answers, they'll be presented with an opportunity to submit a vote for the lowest-powered bracket in which the combo is safe to play.</p>
<h3>When can I vote?</h3>
<p><strong>Voting will be live from Wednesday, March 19 through Sunday, March 23.</strong></p>
<hr />
<h2>How will it help?</h2>
<p>For a quick refresher into the methodology of the Bracket System, <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/introducing-commander-brackets-beta">this article from Wizards of the Coast's Gavin Verhey</a> will get you up to speed. In short, however, every Commander deck will fit into one of five brackets based on a number of criteria related to that deck's power level, card inclusions and intent.</p>
<p>The "Exhibition" Bracket, or Bracket 1, contains decks that "just focus on fun" and are usually based on a theme — in other words, "ultra-casual." Next up is Core, or "the average current preconstructed deck," followed by "Upgraded" and "Optimized."</p>
<p>According to Verhey and other Commander Format Panel (CFP) members, most decks fall into those two latter categories. Lastly, there's the "cEDH" Bracket, which is exactly what it says on the tin.</p>
<p>Commander Spellbook is host to more than 40,000 combos, including dozens of clear two-card combos.</p>
<p>However, many of these combos fall into a bit of a "gray area" due to either the prerequisites required to initiate their effect, or the effect itself possibly not being game-ending on its own. That's covered in the latter two questions with which voters will be prompted.</p>
<p>As for the first question, Verhey defines in the above article "early game" as in the first six-or-so turns, which is why the question is worded in this way.</p>
<p>If a two-card combo can be reasonably executed in the early game, that has relevance when determining which bracket a deck might belong to.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Curiosity"></div></div>
<p>This week's voting is just an initial run, followed by persistent voting of two-card combos continually present on the "<a href="https://edhrec.com/combos">Combos</a>" tab on EDHREC.</p>
<p>While the Commander Bracket Combo Vote bears a lot of similarity to EDHREC's annual Salt Score voting, you won't have to wait for voting to open once a year to have your say.</p>
<p>Because of this, combos created by newly released cards can be assessed for their bracket placement much more quickly.</p>
<p>And if due to a two-card combo in your deck you've been placed in Bracket 4, for example, you'll be able to express your opinion via voting if you feel like that's not quite right.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bigger on the Inside"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Staff of Domination"></div></div>
<hr />
<h2>Where will the data go?</h2>
<p>The information generated from the Commander Bracket Combo Vote will be used in a variety of ways, but first and foremost it'll be available for public viewing on EDHREC in the weeks following the end of the initial voting period.</p>
<p>The primary goal behind the Commander Bracket Combo Vote is to provide players with more tools with which to assess their decks through the lens of the Bracket System.</p>
<p>To that end, deck-building site <a href="https://archidekt.com/">Archidekt</a> will also be provided the data to allow the site to provide a more accurate estimate of a deck's bracket.</p>
<p>White the Commander Bracket Combo Vote is not conducted in association with Wizards of the Coast, the data generated by the voting, like everything else on EDHREC, is thanks purely to the community at-large.</p>
<p>And since it's community-generated data about Commander, it's possible that the two-card combo data may impact the Bracket System in an official capacity in the future.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Palinchron"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Deadeye Navigator"></div></div>
<hr />
<h2>What's next?</h2>
<p>Nothing! Other than voting, that is. <a href="https://edhrec.com/combo-vote">Let's get to it!</a></p>
<p>The Commander Bracket Combo Vote is now live, and the only thing left to do is lend your Commander expertise to it.</p>
<p>As always, thanks for reading, and happy voting!</p>


Introducing the Commander Bracket Combo Vote

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Visionary</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>| art by <a href="https://danscottart.com/">Dan Murayama Scott</a></h6>
<h2><b>Which </b><a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=Niv-Mizzet"><b>Niv-Mizzet</b></a><b> is it?</b></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hello! Welcome to </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Archetypes of Imagination</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a brand new series where I'll be building decks based on popular Commander archetypes. I'll be using</span><a href="https://tagger.scryfall.com/"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Scryfall's tagging system</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and</span><a href="https://edhrec.com/tags"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">EDHREC's Tag pages</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to build around a new theme each week.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Scryfall has a really cool way of categorizing cards, where each card has specific labels attached to it for later reference. For example, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wrath of God" href="#" target="_blank">Wrath of God</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has the sweeper tag and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mirari&#039;s Wake" href="#" target="_blank">Mirari&#039;s Wake</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has the mana increaser tag. EDHREC's tag system is really cool too, letting users see popular cards associated with a given strategy. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Equipment tag shows users that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Puresteel Paladin" href="#" target="_blank">Puresteel Paladin</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> works well with the strategy and the Landfall tag does the same for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rampaging Baloths" href="#" target="_blank">Rampaging Baloths</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week, we'll use those two systems to build a Commander deck centered around everybody's favorite 60-card archetype: burn! Burn can sometimes struggle to keep up in a format with three players who each start with 40 life, but I've got some plans that should power this strategy up well. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To that end, I've chosen a super cool commander: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Visionary</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary"></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is Niv's seventh appearance on a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Magic: The Gathering</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> card, which is quite something. I do think that this version is my favorite so far, and that's coming from someone who played <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Parun" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Parun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in cEDH for years.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> And, hilariously, this version of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> goes infinite with two of his previous iterations. Check out these combos from Commander Spellbook, a database with information on over 40,000 EDH combos:</span></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That aside, let's talk about <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Visionary</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This card wants us to do non-combat damage to our opponents, rewarding us with tons of card draw when we do so. So, I've packed this deck with lots of ways to ping our opponents for little bits of damage, lots of ways to hit them hard with big amounts of damage, and leaned hard into an Izzet spellslinger theme this week. I'm excited to show you what I've come up with, so let's go!</span></p>
<p><b>Burn, baby! Burn!</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This deck is focused heavily on instants and sorceries, having a total of 32 cards that fall into those categories. And, out of those cards, 11 of them can deal damage directly to our opponents. My favorite from this sub-group is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fiery Confluence" href="#" target="_blank">Fiery Confluence</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which can act as a board wipe, a way to hit our opponents in the face, and even some targeted artifact removal. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cave-In" href="#" target="_blank">Cave-In</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is from all the way back in 1999's </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mercadian Masques</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and can draw us a total of 6 cards for free if we cast it with our commander on the field. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wheel of Misfortune" href="#" target="_blank">Wheel of Misfortune</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is extremely interesting too, adding even more complexity to its already-difficult mini-game by punishing our opponents who pick a high number. If one of our opponents wants to outbid us so that they can draw a full seven-card hand, then we'll be be drawing a ton of extra cards.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fiery Confluence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cave-In"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wheel of Misfortune"></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And, with all the instants and sorceries we'll be casting, there's some sweet payoffs to let us draw even more cards. My favorite pinger in the deck is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Coruscation Mage" href="#" target="_blank">Coruscation Mage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, acting as a typical two-mana one-damage pinger with the option to become a four-mana two-damage pinger if we cast it later in the game. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I think <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch" href="#" target="_blank">Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is another fantastic card, both pinging our opponents whenever we cast a spell and rebuying a card at random on each of our turns. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And, as a pretty cool storm enabler, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urabrask" href="#" target="_blank">Urabrask</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is here too. This Praetor will ping our opponents, as most of the creatures in this deck do, while also providing us some extra mana to keep slinging spells. And, should we choose to, he can flip into a saga that synergizes perfectly with our deck.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Coruscation Mage"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urabrask"></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But, I hear you asking, what if we run out of instants and sorceries to cast? Well, I hope that never happens. But, in case it does, there's a few other ways to deal noncombat damage to our opponents.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> One of my favorite cards from last year, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Razorkin Needlehead" href="#" target="_blank">Razorkin Needlehead</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> will ensure at least one point of noncombat damage on each of our opponents' turns, and will usually provide even more pings as they inevitably take game actions. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I also love <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scalding Viper" href="#" target="_blank">Scalding Viper</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, a creature that can hit our opponents pretty easily combined with a (somewhat lackluster) removal spell. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While neither half of this card is absolutely stunning, the two halves combine to make a pretty good whole. Lastly, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Descent into Avernus" href="#" target="_blank">Descent into Avernus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has a slot here too.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> This card can speed up the game drastically, lowering life totals and raising the amount of mana available to players. We break parity on this card easily, drawing a boatload of cards once we have our commander and this card on the board together</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Razorkin Needlehead"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Scalding Viper"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Descent into Avernus"></div></div></span></p>
<p><b>Now that's a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gut Shot" href="#" target="_blank">Gut Shot</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>!</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, we'll be dealing a lot of noncombat damage to everyone at the table. But, most of that damage is coming in small increments (usually in ones). Let's see what we can do to bump those numbers up. </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Foundations</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">' <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Twinflame Tyrant" href="#" target="_blank">Twinflame Tyrant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is an awesome card, doubling damage dealt to our opponents and providing a combat-relevant 3/5 flying creature all for just five mana! </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Not to sound like a broken record, but this is yet another of my favorite cards from the past year. There's another damage doubler here too: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus" href="#" target="_blank">Solphim, Mayhem Dominus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Again, this creature can double damage while also acting as a pretty big 5/4 creature. Plus, this one can defend itself from removal at the low cost of discarding two cards, paying four life, and paying one mana. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lastly, there's <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might" href="#" target="_blank">Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This card is fantastic, usually quadrupling the damage that we'll be dealing to our opponents. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And, much like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus" href="#" target="_blank">Solphim</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, this card is quite hard for our opponents to get rid of permanently.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Twinflame Tyrant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might"></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here's the full decklist:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Archetypes of Imagination - Burn" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="&nbsp;
[Commander]
*1 Niv-Mizzet, Visionary
[/Commander]
&nbsp;
[Creatures]
*1 Archmage Emeritus
*1 Archmage of Runes
*1 Ashling, Flame Dancer
*1 Chandra&#039;s Incinerator
*1 Coruscation Mage
*1 Electrostatic Field
*1 Erebor Flamesmith
*1 Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch
*1 Firebrand Archer
*1 Goblin Electromancer
*1 Guttersnipe
*1 Harmonic Prodigy
*1 Kessig Flamebreather
*1 Laboratory Maniac
*1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
*1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
*1 Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power
*1 Pink Horror
*1 Psychosis Crawler
*1 Razorkin Needlehead
*1 Scalding Viper // Steam Clean
*1 Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
*1 Stormcatch Mentor
*1 The Locust God
*1 Thermo-Alchemist
*1 Twinflame Tyrant
*1 Unruly Catapult
*1 Urabrask // The Great Work
*1 Veyran, Voice of Duality
[/Creatures]
&nbsp;
[Instants]
*1 Arcane Denial
*1 Brainstorm
*1 Desperate Ritual
*1 Fierce Guardianship
*1 Flame of Anor
*1 Frantic Search
*1 Ghostfire Slice
*1 Gut Shot
*1 Into the Flood Maw
*1 Lightning Bolt
*1 Opt
*1 Pongify
*1 Pyretic Ritual
*1 Rush of Inspiration // Crackling Falls
*1 Seething Song
*1 Untimely Malfunction
[/Instants]
&nbsp;
[Sorceries]
*1 Boltwave
*1 Cave-In
*1 End the Festivities
*1 Fiery Confluence
*1 Flame Rift
*1 Gitaxian Probe
*1 Inner Fire
*1 Jeska&#039;s Will
*1 Mana Geyser
*1 Ponder
*1 Rite of Flame
*1 Season of Weaving
*1 Slagstorm
*1 Tectonic Hazard
*1 Wheel of Misfortune
[/Sorceries]
&nbsp;
[Enchantments]
*1 Descent into Avernus
*1 Ominous Seas
[/Enchantments]
&nbsp;
[Lands]
*1 Cascade Bluffs
*1 Command Tower
*1 Ferrous Lake
*1 Fiery Islet
*12 Island
*11 Mountain
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
*1 Riverpyre Verge
*1 Shivan Reef
*1 Stormcarved Coast
*1 Sulfur Falls
*1 Training Center
[/Lands]
&nbsp;
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Thought Vessel
[/Artifacts]
&nbsp;"></span></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some of you may notice upon looking at this list that there's very few mana rocks. This is on purpose, I promise! For a spellslinger deck, I much prefer to run rituals. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mana Geyser" href="#" target="_blank">Mana Geyser</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has much more synergy with the rest of this deck than something like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Izzet Signet" href="#" target="_blank">Izzet Signet</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Plus, I get to run some super cool, powerful rituals like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Inner Fire" href="#" target="_blank">Inner Fire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> that can provide enough mana to end the game outright.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mana Geyser"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Izzet Signet"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Inner Fire"></div></div></span></p>
<h2><b><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fiery Finish" href="#" target="_blank">Fiery Finish</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></b></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thanks for reading this week's edition of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Archetypes of Imagination</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">! Before you go, I wanted to talk about a few of my favorite cards in the deck. I like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archmage Emeritus" href="#" target="_blank">Archmage Emeritus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but I love <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archmage of Runes" href="#" target="_blank">Archmage of Runes</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. It's exactly the kind of big, dumb five-mana creature that I think commander is all about. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I think that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chandra&#039;s Incinerator" href="#" target="_blank">Chandra&#039;s Incinerator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is great in this deck too, both as an easy-to-cast big creature and as a payoff for all the noncombat damage we'll be dishing out. Finally, I also wanted to shoutout <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ashling, Flame Dancer" href="#" target="_blank">Ashling, Flame Dancer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> This card does everything that this deck wants out of a creature: it adds mana, burns our opponents, and even provides card selection.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Archmage of Runes"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chandra&#039;s Incinerator"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ashling, Flame Dancer"></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I'll see you all next week, when I build another EDH deck centered around cantrips!</span></p>


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