I would love to see a report from the Nivmagus pilot.
KIP_NZ - This is a report from James White the pilot of the Nivmagus, he's not overly happy with how it's written but he's a busy guy and didn't get a chance to update it.I will go over what I see as some strengths and weaknesses of the deck, a few card selection options, sideboarding, and touch on some common lines of play.
The DeckI ran this deck to a 2nd place finish at the 11th May win-a-mox tournament held in Auckland, New Zealand. Of note, this tournament allowed an unlimited number of proxies, which made for no easy wins, and therefore a great tournament. There were 24 players.
4 Nivmagus Elemental
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Sideboard:
4 Surgical Extraction
2 Mental Misstep
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Echoing Truth
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Ingot Chewer
1 Mountain
How the Deck WorksAt first glance this deck may look like a storm combo deck, or an aggro control deck. It is both, depending on what match up you're facing and/or how you have managed to position yourself within any particular game.
Ideally you are casting Flusterstorm at the end of a chain of spells, of which Nivmagus Elemental eats enough spells off the stack to swing for lethal. The chain of spells can either be initiated during your own turn, or the result of a counter battle in the opponents turn.
This maybe surprising, but from my experience only around 40% of games you win end like this.
The other 60% of wins are via Snapcaster Mage & Lightning Bolt.
So why play a kill engine that only works in 2 out of 5 games?
The perceived threatWhen playing against a "normal" blue deck, if your opponent gets a Voltaic Key or Time Vault on the table you do not instantly loose the game, but it will usually make you play differently from that point forward. Nivmagus Elemental is like having either half of the vault/key combo in play... it threatens to attack for lethal at any time which subsequently makes your opponent play differently.
Resolving more Ancestral'sWhy?
● Nivmagus is excellent at baiting Mental Misstep.
● Getting to play four copies of Flusterstorm is huge.
● This deck has a very high count of blue cards, making Force of Will and multiple Forces super consistent.
● Playing Gitaxian Probe exposes the actual resistance.
● With such a thin deck thanks to 10 cantrip effects + Snapcaster, you find Ancestral or the tutor more often than other decks.
Key Match-upsVs Blue.dec’s - Grixis Control / Turbo Tez / Keeper / Gush / Bomberman
This deck is very good vs blue decks in the format. Most games play out like a regular blue.dec mirror, jockeying for position to resolve a card advantage mechanism. Whilst having less counterspell’s than most of the blue deck's, a full set of Flusterstorm and Snapcasters make that up somewhat + Lightning Bolt does a good job at keeping Dark Confident and planeswalkers in check.
On a mox draw, it is often correct to Probe-Snap-Probe on turn 1, or to snap back any 1 mana cantrip on turn 2. The pressure of a solitary Snapcaster that didn't cost you a card, should not be underestimated.
The sideboard plan vs non-Gush combo blue.dec's is:
Out: 1 Hurkyl's Recall, 1 Scalding Tarn.
In: 2 Mental Misstep.
Vs Gush, Regrowth decks and Bomberman depending on the build, also bring in Surgical Extraction, taking out Lightning Bolt.
The Grafdigger’s Cage comes in if you expect Oath of Druids after board (which is common from a broad range of blue decks these days).
Vs WorkshopsGame one is tough. Game one on the draw is very tough. The strategy is to make a largish man as quickly as possible.
On the play, ideally you want turn one Nivmagus Elemental & Force of Will, followed with second turn spell(s) + Flusterstorm, making a 7/8 or bigger man.
A significant advantage Nivmagus Elemental has over other creatures against Workshops, is immunity to Phyrexian Metamorph.
On the draw it is hard to win. If you get the chance to make a first turn 3/4 Nivmagus Elemental by eating a Gitaxian Probe, I normally do so. Cards in hand mean little.
After sideboard, things get much better:
Out: 4 Nivmagus Elemental, 4 Flusterstorm.
In: 4 Ingot Chewer, 2 Engineered Explosives, 1 Mountain, 1 Echoing Truth.
You morph into a control deck. Snapcaster + Lightning Bolt, together with hard cast Ingot Chewers grind the onslaught down. Crucible of Worlds is the most dangerous card for you after sideboard.
Vs DredgeGame 1 you are looking for a fast storm kill. Don’t be afraid to bolt your own creature to remove Bridge from Below’s. Next time I would move the Echoing Truth to the main deck, to improve game 1, as it’s important to be able remove chump blocking tokens en masse.
Out: 4 Force of Will, 1 Hurkyl’s Recall, 1 Scalding Tarn, 2 preordain
In: 4 Surgical Extraction, 1 Grafdigger’s Cage, 1 Echoing Truth, 2 Mental Misstep
Card SelectionTop cards that were considered but didn’t make the final cut include:
Demonic Consultation
Lotus Petal
Gush (with & without Fastbond) and between 1 and 4 copies
Mental Misstep (main deck)
Demonic Consultation seemed good for this deck, as you have 4 copies of each “combo” piece. In reality I find the games vs the blue decks are a war of attrition, and those games I want both my Ancestral Recall and Yawgmoth’s Will sitting safely in my deck. I do think that Demonic Consultation has a lot of merit in the match up where speed matters. The final reason Demonic Consultation didn’t make the cut, was I found 4 black cards main deck was 1 too many for the land configuration I ran.
Lotus Petal was the last card I cut, being replaced by the 8th fetch land. As you can see from the side board sets, the 8th fetch land is coming out in non-wasteland match ups. Maybe it’s my play style, but I think this deck is less combo and more aggro control. I need to play more vs Dredge to finally decide how important the Lotus Petal is.
Gush I have seen in most of the Nivmagus lists. There are certainly merits to playing Gush, especially being a free spell. As said before, I don’t play this deck like a combo deck, so I am not so concerned about having the free spell. What I am concerned about is having a turn 1 card selection play that I can snap back on turn 2. I was not prepared to add Tropical Island to an already stretched land configuration to accommodate Fastbond.
Mental Misstep did not make the main deck because I believe the match up vs the blue decks is already good enough. I am very happy to have access to Misstep for games 2 & 3.
Concise Tournament Report Round 1 – vs Grixis Control. Result 1-1This player made the top 4, which surprised me as he played incredibly slow due to what seemed like a lack of understanding of his deck, the cards and the format.
Game 1 loose to a action light game.
Game 2 opponent opens on land, mox, lotus, jace – which I force of will – which he red elemental blasts. I still win thanks to Ancestral, Snapcaster and Lightning Bolt(s).
Round 2 – vs RUG Tempo. Result 2-1Game 1 get beat up by delver and goyf backed with counterspells
Game 2 opponent is on 20 and chooses not to block Nivmagus Elemental with Tarmogoyf. I cast a post blockers Mystical Tutor, Misstep it, Force it, Bolt him and Fluster for lethal.
Game 3 ancestral, snaps, bolts, missteps & forces seal this one up.
Round 3 – vs Grixis Control. Result 2-0Game 1 grind it out until probe shows the path is clear to resolve will for the game.
Game 2 delivers me an opening hand including Nivmagus, Black Lotus, Vampiric Tutor, Fluster Storm, Gitaxian Probe. My first turn Nivmagus is missteped. I vamp for yawgmoths will in upkeep of turn 2, going nuts to end the turn on Time Walk with a 21/22 Nivmagus in play.
Round 4 – vs Workshop 2-1Game 1 on the draw and loose on turn 1 trinisphere.
Game 2 switch to Ingot Snap Control and grind out the win
Game 3 a very tight game, that I end on 1 life and win the game on turn 3 of extra time. Engineered Explosive were key.
Round 5 – IDQuarter-final – Grixis Control 2-0Game 1 opponent mulligans to a first turn land, mox, mana crypt, time vault opener + mystical for tinker during my end step.
My ancestral in response to tinker find force of will and from their snap + recall then bolts end the game quickly.
Game 2 was a typical grixis match, where my bolts keep bobs in check, my full set of flusterstorms & snaps with extra support from misstep keep the stack in check and eventually my gitaxian probe exposes a hand where a post declare blockers on an unblocked nivmagus is safe to go all in for a storm kill – bolt you, force my bolt, force my bolt, fluster storm for +18/+18 and 3 from the bolt.
Semi-final – Turbo-Tez 2-0I cant remember details from this match other than I resolve ancestral + snap both games & I make a misplay that luckily didn’t cost me game 2, where I could have missteped (paying life) a copy of my opponent flusterstorm to save an important mana.
Final – Workshop 1-2I’m critically not on the play game 1. Games 1 & 3 I don’t get to play any spells other than turn 0 force of will, in a good old fashion Workshop romping.
Game 2 ingot chewers, bolts & snaps make easy work of his threat light draw.
