by Johnny Cycles, September 26th, 2025
Hello! Welcome to the first installment of a new column – Commander Clinic! In this series, I take viewer-submitted Commander deck lists, identify their core idea, then streamline it. The end goal is to make the deck more efficient, more consistent, and more powerful, all without straying too far from the deck builder’s original vision. Furthermore, I’ll provide budget-friendly upgrades, as well as a few non-budget.
The first deck I’ll be working on is my nephew’s Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind Commander deck. He hasn’t played in a few years, but when he built the deck, he was a casual player who played with his dad, brothers, and a few friends. He didn’t spend a lot of money on packs and mostly built the deck around what he and his family opened during the drafts they would organize with each new set.
Here’s the deck list:
Decklist – Izzet Burn with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
| Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind |
Creatures (17)
| Delver of Secrets | |
| Goblin Motivator | |
| Cheatyface | |
| Dismissive Pyromancer | |
| Goblin Electromancer | |
| Void Stalker | |
| Champion of Wits | |
| Dragon Turtle | |
| Irencrag Pyromancer | |
| Neurok Commando |
| Rummaging Goblin | |
| Clone | |
| Ogre Battledriver | |
| Keranos, God of Storms | |
| Thundering Djinn | |
| Arjun, the Shifting Flame | |
| Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius |
Planeswalkers (6)
| The Royal Scions | |
| Chandra, Torch of Defiance | |
| Jace, Wielder of Mysteries | |
| Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor | |
| Ral, Storm Conduit | |
| Ral Zarek |
Artifacts (2)
| Swiftfoot Boots | |
| Chromatic Lantern |
Enchantments (3)
| Curiosity | |
| Smoke | |
| Dictate of Kruphix |
Instants (14)
| Brainstorm | |
| Lightning Bolt | |
| Rapid Hybridization | |
| Swan Song | |
| Turn Aside | |
| Icy Blast | |
| Abrade | |
| Essence Scatter | |
| Izzet Charm | |
| Magmaquake | |
| Redirect | |
| Blue Sun’s Zenith | |
| Cancel |
| Dissolve |
Sorceries (20) + 1 mfdc
| Fireball | |
| Preordain | |
| Curse of the Swine | |
| Finale of Revelation | |
| Arc Lightning | |
| Jace’s Triumph | |
| Ravenform | |
| Role Reversal | |
| Stone Rain | |
| Craterize | |
| Demolish |
| Ruination | |
| Sleep | |
| Reforge the Soul | |
| Echo of Eons | |
| River’s Rebuke | |
| Alrund’s Epiphany | |
| Sea Gate Restoration (mfdc) | |
| Star of Extinction | |
| Treasure Cruise |
Lands (38) + 1 mfdc
Arcane Lighthouse
City of Brass
Command Tower
Mana Confluence
Reliquary Tower
Sea Gate, Reborn (mfdc)
Spirebluff Canal
Steam Vents
Sulfur Falls
Island (15)
Mountain (14)
Rather Watch than Read?
Primary Game Plan
This deck is a Control deck looking to win via burn, mostly on the back of its Commander’s static ability of dealing 1 damage per card drawn. Ours is the long game, as its unlikely we’ll 1-shot our opponent with this strategy. That’s where the control part of the deck comes in.
Even with a limited budget and card pool, you can see how the deck is built to support this strategy. Sure, there are a few odd cards that don’t really belong (looking at you Cheatyface), but for the most part each of the 99 further supports controlling the board and burning your opponent out.
Can it be more streamlined? More powerful? Of course.
Before I get to the changes I’d make, I want to point out two glaring problems. First, there are only two ramp cards (Chromatic Lantern and Goblin Electromancer). Second, there are only three sweepers, two of which cost more than six mana.
As I go through my changes, keep in mind that I’m cutting cards as much because they are inefficient as because I want to make room for at least 8 mana rocks and several more sweepers.
Card Draw
The deck runs 22 cards that can, uh, draw cards, not including the commander. That’s a healthy amount of ways to trigger Niv-Mizzet’s static effect. Furthermore, as shown above, the card draw is diversified among cantrips, creatures, enchantments, card draw spells, Planeswalkers, and wheel effects.
Here’s the breakdown of each card in the above categories:
Cantrips
In this section, I’m including the 1-mana spells that replace themselves…in case you didn’t know what a cantrip is.
These are two of the best, though Brainstorm without sufficient shuffle effects can be real bad. Still, it’s hard to deny the synergy with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind.
Initial Reaction
This is a place that needs shoring up. Control strategies in any format need ways to smooth out their draws, dig for answers, and ensure they’re making land drops. 1-mana cantrips are great at this early and late.
Cards to Add
| Consider | .50 cents |
| Opt | .20 cents |
| Ponder | $1.65 |
| Serum Visions | .69 cents |
| Thought Scour | .47 cents |
Total Cost: $3.51
A bit of instant speed cantrips so that we can hold up our counter magic in the mid- to late-game. Filling our graveyard is a subtheme of the deck, so I’ve prioritized cards like Thought Scour and Consider. Mental Note is another good option here, but it’s an old card with few printings and so will run you $5. Thought Scour is a fine substitute that is under a buck and can target your opponent, making it a strictly better option.
Creatures
Arjun, the Shifting Flame
Champion of Wits
Dismissive Pyromancer
Keranos, God of Storms
Neurok Commando
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Rummaging Goblin
Initial Reaction
I like using creatures to draw cards, as having a body to attack, block, or sacrifice is almost never a bad thing. Arjun, the Shifting Flame is some sweet, sweet tech that I can see coming back to bite us, but it hits all the right janky and synergistic buttons for me.
Champion of Wits is great, as it can be recurred. Keranos, God of Storms is just the kind of bomb we need. It triggers our commander if we hit a land or burns our opponent out if we don’t…both things happen to be part of our primary game plan.
The other creatures all serve our purpose, but do so in ways either fragile or inefficient or both. Sure, it’s great to have a repeatable card draw effect, but that’s assuming our creatures have survived long enough for us to take advantage of it with our commander out.
Rather than go this route, then, I’ve put a primacy on card draw spells, whether attached to creatures or otherwise. The idea here is that if we stock up on our card draw cards, then we’re likely to be able to chain them together when we’re ready to hit our opponent for a bunch.
Cards to Cut
Dismissive Pyromancer
Neurok Commando
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Rummaging Goblin
Cards to Add
| Cavalier of Gales | .50 cents |
| Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy | $5.48 |
| Kiora, the Rising Tide | .62 cents |
| Overlord of the Floodpits | $2.97 |
Total Cost: $9.57
One glaring omission is the latest iteration of Niv, Niv-Mizzet, Visionary. He makes up half of a lethal 2-card combo with our commander. My play group has banned 2-card combos for the most part, so I’m not including him in this deck. However, if you have no such inhibitions, find a spot for this bomb!
Enchantments
Initial Reaction
A 1-mana enchantment that draws us a card when we deal combat damage to a player is far from its best in a deck like ours… We don’t play enough creatures that can take advantage of this card. Meanwhile, drawing an extra card a turn is great, but not when our opponent gets to, as well. If we were able to win the turn we untap with Dictate of Kruphix, then great, but I don’t think that’s in the cards for Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind.
Cards to Cut
Curiosity
Dictate of Kruphix
Cards to Add
| Fable of the Mirror-Breaker | $7.88 |
| Spreading Seas | .21 cents |
Total Cost: $8.09
The former is an all-star in nearly all the formats its legal in. Sure, we have to wait a turn to draw the cards, but it does so much else that it’s hard not to include it in our build. Spreading Seas gives us an answer to problematic lands while also drawing us a card. This deck runs no shortage of land destruction, but, as you’ll see, I’m going to cut most of it.
Card Draw Spells
In this category, I’m including the spells that draw us multiple cards, but aren’t Wheel of Fortune effects.
Blue Sun’s Zenith
Finale of Revelation
Izzet Charm
Sea Gate Restoration
Initial Reaction
These are all fine. Can we do better? I think so.
Cards to Add
| Archmage’s Charm | (included below) |
| Flame of Anor | (included below) |
| Frantic Search | .49 cents |
| Mind Spring | .49 cents |
| Prismari Command | (included below) |
| Pull from Tomorrow | .25 cents |
| Quick Study | .25 cents |
| Silver Scrutiny | .30 cents |
| Thirst for Knowledge | .20 cents |
I’ve prioritized flexibility and instant speed for this section. It’s fine to have a few big, sorcery speed draw X cards spells (and we still do), but I’d rather draw two cards on our opponent’s turn, then tap down to draw five or more on our own, unless we’re winning on that same turn.
Total Cost: $1.98
Planeswalkers
The deck is running a total of six Planeswalkers, all of which further the primary game plan.
Initial Reaction
These are all fine. Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor stands out as the weakest of the bunch, particularly given that it costs 4 mana. There are plenty of easy and cheap upgrades should we want to replace her with a more powerful Planeswalker. Otherwise, several only sort of synergize with our strategy.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance is no doubt super powerful, but she doesn’t technically draw us cards. Of course, she does support our burn plan. Meanwhile, Ral Zarek feel out of place. His abilities don’t really synergize with what we’re doing, short of untapping our commander to get another activation out of it. Meh…
Ral, Storm Conduit is the best of the two in this deck. Pinging for each instant or sorcery in a deck like ours can add up to a significant amount of damage, while its other abilities can be very powerful for us.
That being said, I’m cutting all of them and replacing them with a single one – Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This 4-mana Planeswalker needs no explanation as to its power, but its 0 ability synergizes with our deck too well to pass up.
Otherwise, I’m cutting the remainder mostly because Planeswalkers tend to get killed pretty quickly in 4-person Commander. Rather than hope they survive in a deck that doesn’t have a lot of ways to protect them, I’m taking them out in favor of cards this deck desperately needs – more on that later.
However, if you’re like me and love playing Duel Commander and Planeswalkers, then I would leave in The Royal Scions, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and Ral, Storm Conduit.
Cards to Cut
All of the Planeswalkers.
Cards to Add
| Jace, the Mind Sculptor | $19 |
Total Cost: $19
It’s tempting to add Narset, Parter of Veils to this deck, particularly since we run a few Wheel effects (see next section). I won’t fault anyone who wants to increase the power level of this deck by going the route of Narset + Wheel of Fortune = Sad Opponents, but I’ve lived this very mean dream before. It’s only fun for the person doing it and completely miserable for your play group.
Wheel Effects
Forcing everyone to discard and draw seven new cards is one of the first routes to take when thinking of ways to get the most out of Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. That being said, I think maxing out on these effects is a siren’s song. I like that there are a few, though.
Initial Reaction
This is a good number. We could add one or two more, but I don’t see any need to change anything.
Possible Addition
Commit/Memory
A Wheel effect that also answers problematic permanents. I like this card as a catch-all answer with great upside in our deck.
Control Elements
The deck plays a variety of common types of control cards, even if the cards themselves are unique. What I mean by this is yes, tapping your opponent’s creatures is a way to maintain control of the board, but I’ve not encountered Smoke or Icy Blast in Commander before. Kudos to my nephew for finding some hidden gems.
That being said, most of these will be cut in favor of more permanent answers.
This section can be broken down into counter magic, kill spells, preventing combat, and land destruction. That’s right! This deck is not for the faint of heart (i.e., all those Commander players who complain about land hate).
Counter Magic
This section features some commonly played counter spells…and has some glaring omissions (no Counterspell!). All of this is very common in casual decks. No worries, though. There are some easy and cheap upgrades!
Cancel
Dissolve
Essence Scatter
Izzet Charm
Redirect
Swan Song
Turn Aside
Initial Reaction
These are all fine, particularly if you’re working on a budget and/or a limited collection. Of the counters here, I think Essence Scatter, Izzet Charm, and Turn Aside are the ones I’d consider keeping. That being said, I swapped all of these out for the following:
Card to Add
| Archmage’s Charm | .69 cents |
| Commit/Memory | .28 cents |
| Counterflux | .52 cents |
| Counterspell | $1.47 |
| Disdainful Stroke | .20 cents |
| Negate | .25 cents |
Total Cost: $3.41
The first two synergize with our card draw strategy and thus bring flexibility. The remainder, minus Counterflux, should serve as 2-mana hard counters of what we care about (sweepers, basically). Counterflux could be Essence Scatter or Izzet Charm, but I like that it can’t be countered and has some flexibility with its overload cost.
I could see finding room for more counter magic if you enjoy that style of play.
Kill Spells
All Control decks need ways to remove permanents that make it through the counter magic. This deck is no different.
Abrade
Arc Lightning
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Curse of the Swine
Dismissive Pyromancer
Fireball
Irencrag Pyromancer
Izzet Charm
Keranos, God of Storms
Lightning Bolt
Magmaquake
Rapid Hybridization
Ravenform
River’s Rebuke
Star of Extinction
Thundering Djinn
Initial Reaction
As far as targeted removal goes, most of these are just fine. Dismissive Pyromancer isn’t in the deck for removal, but it’s nice that it can function as a Stoke the Flames in a pinch. Magmaquake is not the best sweeper in our colors. Neither is Curse of the Swine, though exiling is very nice.
Arc Lightning can be a 3-for-1, but Anger of the Gods or Brotherhood’s End would do the job better. I’ve already addressed the Planeswalkers. Thundering Djinn has a lot of potential in this deck, but it does require several hoops to be jumped through before that potential is realized.
Star of Extinction and River’s Rebuke are great at what they do, but we’re paying a whole lot for their effect. Too often I see these cards rotting in our hand as we die to aggressive decks before ever casting them.
Cards Out
I’m cutting everything but Irencrag Pyromancer, Keranos, God of Storms, Thundering Djinn, and Lightning Bolt.
Cards In
| Blasphemous Act | $1.81 |
| Burn Down the House | .50 cents |
| Flame of Anor | $4.55 |
| Hour of Devastation | .60 cents |
| Prismari Command | .35 cents |
| Roaring Furnace/Steaming Sauna | .35 cents |
| Storm’s Wrath | .25 cents |
Total Cost: $8.41
I’m putting emphasis on sweepers, as that is one of two glaring weaknesses in this deck. Of course, Izzet doesn’t have access to hard board wipes, but we’re hoping to use what we have to reset the board by turns 4 or 5, then stick our commander and let our card draw plus damage keep the board clean and kill our opponent.
Flame of Anor is an upgrade of Abrade. Prismari Command is an upgrade of Izzet Charm. Roaring Furnace should trade up in mana value on the front side, while the unlocked side synergizes with our card drawing strategy.
Blue has access to a whole bunch of conditional sweepers that bounce creatures and/or permanents in the vein of Cyclonic Rift. I’m choosing to go with Red-based sweepers. We don’t play a ton of counter magic, like my Mono Blue deck does that runs these kinds of bounce sweepers, so we’d rather get rid of creatures once and for all, not bounce, then counter on the recast.
With the cards I’ve added, we’ve trimmed only five from our kill spell list.
Preventing Combat
Blue has a number of ways of preventing creatures from attacking.
Dragon Turtle
Icy Blast
Role Reversal
Sleep
Smoke
Void Stalker
Initial Reaction
Generally speaking, it’s better to kill problematic creatures than prevent them from attacking for a turn or more. In a more tempo-style deck, these cards can be just what is needed to finish a game. I don’t think they belong in this list, though.
Of the cards here, though, I’d keep Smoke. It doesn’t just keep creatures tapped for a single turn, but indefinitely…minus one, of course.
Role Reversal inspires daydreams of swapping our unimpactful cards for some huge bomb, but there are numerous problems with this hope. First, why are we playing unimpactful cards? Second, both players have to have a permanent with a shared card type to cast this spell. There will be times when the permanent we really want to steal is not a card type we have on the battlefield.
Third, all the stars could align and we get to take our opponent’s biggest threat, but that’s no guarantee it’ll save us if we’re under pressure from a big board. Furthermore, does this big threat function to its potential on our battlefield the way it does for our opponent, who built a deck to take advantage of their bombs?
Control Magic and other such effects are the better option if you really want to include this kind of card in your deck.
Cards to Cut
I’m cutting everything but Smoke. This is the kind of card that can keep us alive long enough to untap with our commander. It’s an old card that hasn’t been printed since 5th Edition. And finally, it breaks the color pie, given that Red is typically an aggressive strategy. These are all great reasons to keep it!
Cards to Add
As stated above, I don’t like the strategy of stalling out your opponent’s attacks, unless its part of a greater taxing or control shell. For this reason, I’m not going to add anything. However, if you want to keep this kind of effect in your deck, then I recommend the above three cards as powerful ways to slow down aggressive decks.
Land Destruction
The final Control element of this deck is land destruction. I know blowing up lands generates a lot of angst among the majority of Commander players, but my TL;DR opinion is that it’s fine playing some spot land hate in all of your decks and it’s also fine to have one dedicated land hate deck, if that’s what you enjoy. Just be upfront about it when everyone is choosing what decks to play.
Craterize
Demolish
Ruination
Star of Extinction
Stone Rain
Initial Reaction
I think all these cards are fine…except Ruination. Truth time. I hate getting blown out by Ruination. I hate that, when it’s good, it more often than not leads to a slow and painful death. Rather than winning the turn this card resolves, in my experience, opponents tend to durdle their way to victory in a version of Solitaire with me as a spectator.
Cards to Cut
I’m cutting all of them. However, some number of these are fine. I just think we can do better.
Cards to Add
| Demolition Field | .25 cents |
| Field of Ruin | .25 cents |
Total Cost: .50 cents
I like having my land destruction attached to lands so that they’re never dead cards. That being said, I’d include a card like Pillage over Demolish.
Support Cards
Every strategy needs some enablers and this deck is no different.
Alrund’s Epiphany
Clone
Goblin Electromancer
Goblin Motivator
Ogre Battledriver
Swiftfoot Boots
Initial Reaction
Goblins and Ogres in a Niv-Mizzet deck???
Giving our commander haste is the motivation behind Goblin Motivator, Ogre Battledriver, and Swiftfoot Boots. Goblin Electromancer functions as a mana rock if it lives. Alrund’s Epiphany is the odd one out, but who doesn’t like taking extra turns? Clone has much the same issues as Role Reversal detailed above.
Cards to Cut
All of them, though I could see keeping Goblin Electromancer.
Cards to Add
The honest answer is none that count as support, though a case can be made for Guttersnipe finding a home in the 99.
We’ll end our review of the original deck here and jump right into the biggest changes I made to the build.
What’s Missing?
There are a few glaring weaknesses in this deck, one of which (lack of sweepers) I’ve mentioned. So far, we’ve spent about $55 on our changes, leaving us with nearly half of our budget. That’s a lot of $$$ to work with.
Where’s the Ramp?
It’s true, the original build has Chromatic Lantern and Goblin Electromancer. However, when our commander costs six mana, we really, really want more ways to jump the curve and get him down as early as possible (and with protection up). I’ve made room for nine mana rocks.
| Arcane Signet | .41 cents |
| Commander’s Sphere | .25 cents |
| Decanter of Endless Water | $2.49 |
| Fire Diamond | .25 cents |
| Izzet Signet | .33 cents |
| Mind Stone | .25 cents |
| Sky Diamond | .25 cents |
| Talisman of Creativity | $1.46 |
| Thought Vessel | $1.23 |
Total Cost: $6.92
More Sweepers
We need ways to reset the board before trying to stick our 6-mana commander.
| Blasphemous Act | $1.81 |
| Burn Down the House | .50 cents |
| Hour of Devastation | .60 cents |
| Storm’s Wrath | .25 cents |
Total Cost: $3.16 (already included)
Protection Spells
Given that we really, really want to untap with our commander, we need some cheap ways to protect him from targeted removal beyond our counter magic.
| Magic Damper | .17 cents |
| Shore Up | .20 cents |
| Slip Out the Back | $2.01 |
Total Cost: $2.38
Need. More. Bombs.
Our main strategy is to ping our opponent 1 damage for each card we draw… Even with our best cards, this is a slow strategy. Furthermore, no competitive deck only relies on its commander to win. So let’s find some bombs to add, shall we?
| Emrakul, the Promised End | $14 |
| Murktide Regent | $8.27 |
| The Locust God | $4.66 |
Total Cost: $26.93
We are really good at filling our graveyard, which means we should be able to get a lot of value out of the first two bombs. Meanwhile, The Locust God synergizes extremely well with our card draw game plan.
Whew, that’s a big chunk of what’s left of our budget. We now have only about $10 to spend.
Maximizing Our Burn
1 point of damage per card drawn is a glacial pace, as I’ve mentioned. The final piece of our changes, then, is a way to increase that damage.
| Mechanized Warfare | .60 cents |
| Torbran, Thane of Red Fell | $2.73 |
Total Cost: $3.33
This section could use some additions, but unfortunately, many of the best cards are very expensive. Here’s our wish list of what we’d add with a bigger budget:
| Fiery Emancipation | $10 |
| Solphim, Mayhem Dominus | $17 |
| Urabrask | $15 |
Other Support Cards
With about $6 to spend, lets see what we can find!
| Ashling, Flame Dancer | $3.19 |
| Blast Zone | .49 cents |
| Desolate Lighthouse | .25 cents |
| Dig Through Time | .25 cents |
| Gandalf the Grey | .35 cents |
| Mystic Sanctuary | $1.50 |
| Soul-Guide Lantern | .25 cents |
Total Cost: $6.28
Total Spent: $100.31
Close enough for me!
Of course, there are several expensive cards we could cut in favor of some of the damage doubling cards mentioned on our wish list. Do we really need Jace, the Mind Sculptor? Can we find some cheaper, but still powerful bombs and cut Emrakul, the Promised End and Murktide Regent? Is Fable of the Mirror-Breaker really that great in Commander?
These four cards make up nearly half of our budget ($49.15). Cutting them in favor of our wish list cards would leave us with a few bucks to spare. I’ll let you be the judge!
Decklist – Izzet Burn with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, take 2
| Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind |
Creatures (11)
| Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy | |
| Champion of Wits | |
| Irencrag Pyromancer |
| Torbran, Thane of Red Fell | |
| Cavalier of Gales | |
| Keranos, God of Storms | |
| Overlord of the Floodpits | |
| Thundering Djinn | |
| Arjun, the Shifting Flame | |
| The Locust God | |
| Emrakul, the Promised End |
Planeswalkers (1)
| Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
Artifacts (10)
| Soul-Guide Lantern | |
| Arcane Signet | |
| Fire Diamond | |
| Izzet Signet | |
| Mind Stone | |
| Sky Diamond | |
| Talisman of Creativity | |
| Thought Vessel | |
| Commander’s Sphere | |
| Decanter of Endless Water |
Enchantments (4)
| Smoke | |
| Spreading Seas | |
| Fable of the Mirror-Breaker | |
| Mechanized Warfare |
Instants (21)
| Commit/Memory | |
| Dig Through Time |
Sorceries (13) + 1 mfdc
| Ponder | |
| Preordain | |
| Serum Visions | |
| Finale of Revelation | |
| Silver Scrutiny | |
| Storm’s Wrath | |
| Burn Down the House | |
| Hour of Devastation |
| Reforge the Soul | |
| Echo of Eons | |
| Sea Gate Restoration (mfdc) | |
| Treasure Cruise |
| Blasphemous Act |
Lands (39) + 1 mfdc
Arcane Lighthouse
Blast Zone
City of Brass
Command Tower
Desolate Lighthouse
Field of Ruin
Mana Confluence
Mystic Sanctuary
Reliquary Tower
Sea Gate, Reborn (mfdc)
Spirebluff Canal
Steam Vents
Sulfur Falls
Island (14)
Mountain (13)
Final Cost of Upgrades: $96.77
I didn’t end up adding all of the support cards that I mentioned, so that brings our changes to under $100. No game changers. Less than three wheel effects.
Summary of Upgrades
In case you want to skip to the end, building around Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind means you want to draw a lot of cards once you’ve untapped with your commander. With this in mind, I think the deck can go one of two primary directions. First, overload on Wheel of Fortune effects with the hopes of chaining them together in one big turn. Second, increase the damage you deal via Niv with cards like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell. Of course, you can do both.
But I don’t like playing a bunch of Wheel effects after playing my Grixis Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck. When it works and you chain together Wheel effects with your support pieces down and you kill everyone at the table, it’s a thing of beauty. Too often, however, this does not happen.
Instead, the overcosted draw 7 spells sit in your hand while you die, or, you cast them in hopes of finding your combo pieces but before you can really punish your opponent. The result of this, then, is your opponent gets seven new cards on top of the board they’ve already built for themselves, while you have to wait a turn to do anything with your new cards.
I think the best version of this deck is the one presented above.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve enjoyed the first installment of Commander Clinic! Let me know in the comments what you think of the changes I’ve made. What would you do differently?
I’ll say right now that I’m on the fence about cutting our expensive bombs in favor of damage increasing effects, as detailed above. I’ve made the decision to stick with the above list for two reasons. First, every deck needs some other cards that can win the game for them. The three I’ve added that are bombs can do just that. Imagine you’re in the late game on a stalled board. Would you rather draw Emrakul, the Promised End or Fiery Emancipation?
And this gets me to the second reason I went with these bombs. I think they’re more fun!
That being said, if I had another $50 in our budget, I’d make room for the three damage increasing cards I highlight above.
Thanks for reading and watching! Email me your Commander deck list at johnnycycles16@gmail.com if you’d like me to offer my advice on upgrades!
