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Much Abrew: Niv to Light (Modern, Magic Online)


Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Much Abrew About Nothing. Last week, we explored War of the Spark in Modern during our Instant Deck Techs, and in the end, the crazy five-color Niv-Mizzet Reborn deck Niv to Light came out on top. As such, we're heading into Modern today to play a deck that's overflowing with spicy one-ofs and features all 10 color pairs, with the main plan being to ramp into Niv-Mizzet Reborn and use it to draw as many cards as possible. We've had some success with Niv in Standard, but can the absurd five-color pile compete in Modern? Let's get to the video and find out; then, we can talk more about the deck!

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Much Abrew: Niv to Light

Discussion

  • As for our record, we ended up going 3-2 in our league, although in practice, the deck felt better than its record, considering that both of our losses came to opponents who happened to draw not just one but two copies of Blood Moon by Turn 3 or 4.
  • It's probably not surprising considering our five-color mana base, but Blood Moon is really, really good against Niv to Light. If we play carefully and sideboard well, we can beat one Blood Moon (with Cindervines being key since it's one of the few ways we can kill Blood Moon that we can usually cast after Blood Moon is on the battlefield), but we'll almost never beat two copies of Blood Moon.
  • As for our wins, we managed to take down Tron, Elves, and a Shrapnel Blast version of Affinity, which is pretty impressive. One of the biggest upsides of Niv to Light is that, among our endless one-ofs, we have an answer to just about any deck or card our opponent can throw at us. And thanks to Bring to Light and Niv-Mizzet Reborn, we actually have a pretty reasonable chance to find our answer in a timely manner.
  • As for the rest of the deck, it's really pretty difficult to describe since we have so many random one-ofs. The core of the deck is Niv-Mizzet Reborn, cards that ramp us into Niv like Birds of Paradise and Domri, Anarch of Bolas, and Bring to Light, which gives us extra copies of Niv-Mizzet Reborn and can help find all of our random one-ofs in matchups where they are good.
  • Otherwise, probably the easiest way to describe the deck is as five-color control. We've got a ton of removal to stay alive and a handful of counters and a bit of discard to defend our plan.
  • As far as winning the game, it's basically all on Niv-Mizzet Reborn. While we can technically win with Sin Collector or Kaya, Orzhov Usurper, most of the time, we simply deal with our opponent's threats and win with our 6/6 flier.
  • One interesting possibility for updating the deck is Glittering Wish. Since our sideboard is mostly multicolor cards thanks to Niv-Mizzet Reborn, Glittering Wish would give us another way to find silver-bullet answers in the right situation. Being able to snag Fracturing Gust, Cindervines, or Ashiok, Dream Render in game one can be devastating in certain matchups. While we probably don't need four copies of Glittering Wish, one or two to find with Niv-Mizzet Reborn has potential.
  • So, should you play Niv to Light? I think the answer is yes. The deck is super unique, really fun to play, and more competitive than it looks. While Blood Moon can be an issue, we probably got unlucky to run into Blood Moon so often in our league. The other upside of Niv to Light is that you have a ton of freedom to customize the deck. You can slot in just about any jank two-color card you want thanks to Niv, so if you have a pet card from one of the Ravnica guilds, feel free to go to town and slot it into the deck!

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.



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