Welcome Magic lovers!
With the inevitable, long overdue Standard rotation right around the corner, it's natural for many players to want to avoid playing the same tired, old decks that they've been playing for months now. Instead, we're having one last hurrah with underplayed strategies, or perhaps pet cards that just weren't quite good enough to make the cut in tier 1.
Therefore, today we'll be going over one such deck that's not only powerful and fun to play, but which also doesn't lose much in the upcoming rotation…except its all-important tri-lands. Will there still be life left in this shell once the powerful Streets of New Capenna lands say goodbye to Standard, or will Domain Niv to Life be able to survive in a whole new metagame?
The Deck
This is a domain deck at heart, rocking no less than seventeen tri-lands in order to assemble all five land types as early as turn two. With proven domain payoffs in Leyline Binding and Herd Migration, as well as the incomparable Atraxa, Grand Unifier at the top of the curve, the foundation is already an excellent starting point to jump off from. However, that's where the similarities to the Domain Ramp decks of last year's Standard end.
Instead of Topiary Stomper to ramp on turn three, this list runs a full playset of a recently-discovered tool, Ancient Cornucopia. In a five-color deck, the Cornucopia is fantastic, as not only does it ramp and fix one's mana for any color, but it also begins to gain a massive amount of life as one continues to cast spells. Gaining five life after firing off a Lightning Helix against Boros Convoke or Gruul Aggro feels almost like casting a bolt that drew two cards.
Competitive players may recall a similar Domain list briefly doing well just after the last Standard Pro Tour in April of this year. It was a time when aggressive decks were everywhere, and a deck packing a ton of built-in life gain felt really well-positioned. However, with the subsequent ascendance of Azorius Control to the top of tier 1, the Domain life gain deck drifted away and disappeared. Until now.
How it Plays
While this deck does have a lot of the same elements that its predecessor did, there are quite a few fundamental changes that affect the way it plays out in several different matchups. Notably, this version of the deck revolves around specifically playing two-color instants and sorceries in order to flash them back later using the passive, jump-start ability on spicy new addition, Niv-Mizzet, Supreme.
Now, I know what you Domain players are thinking. We're trading our Archangel of Wrath for this thing that doesn't even have an enter-the-battlefield trigger and sounds like a combo meal at Burger King??
Yes, and here's why. Niv-Mizzet, Supreme just so happens to line up extremely well against nearly all of the most commonly played removal in the Standard format. Its passive ability to not be targeted by mono-colored spells and abilities means it's essentially hexproof against most decks. Go for the Throat, Get Lost, Destroy Evil, Shoot the Sheriff, Witchstalker Frenzy, The Wandering Emperor, etc. Nothing can touch it. Casting an uncounterable Niv-Mizzet, Supreme using a Cavern of Souls is often game over against decks like Esper Raffine.
Sweepers like Sunfall, as well as sacrifice effects like Liliana of the Veil and Sheoldred's Edict can deal with it, though the latter is seeing virtually zero play at the moment. That means the huge dragon is often unkillable and, more importantly, also allows the pilot to jump-start any of the powerful gold spells the deck is packing.
The aforementioned Lightning Helix is incredible against aggro decks, and flashing it back a few times with Niv-Mizzet, Supreme is an effective way to put the final nail in the coffin against control decks. Ill-Timed Explosion is not only a fine sweeper, it also acts as card draw against slower, late-game decks. Assassin's Trophy fills in here as a nice catch-all to hit not only creatures, but also creature lands, a pesky Urabrask's Forge, or perhaps even an opposing Wedding Announcement or Wandering Emperor. This suite of interaction, alongside Sunfall and Leyline Binding, allows the deck to cover all its bases.
Card draw is handled by Make Your Own Luck, a very powerful spell when played alongside Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Niv-Mizzet, Supreme. Plotting an Atraxa or Niv in order to play them for free and thus immediately put all that card advantage to use feels fantastic. Pillage the Bog is the other insane sorcery that allows the deck to dig extremely deep for whichever answer the situation may require. Finding a Cavern of Souls to set up an uncounterable Atraxa or Niv-Mizzet is a common line, or perhaps a sweeper against aggro, or an Assassin's Trophy or Boseiju, Who Endures to deal with an annoying non-creature permanent. Pillage the Bog is truly incredible in this deck, and being able to jump-start it out of the graveyard with Niv-Mizzet is often back-breaking.
With a plethora of gold cards in the deck, one can imagine just how passively powerful Ancient Cornucopia becomes. Remember, with just one Cornucopia in play, every spell gains a minimum of one life, if not two or four. Casting Lightning Helix or Niv-Mizzet and gaining five life against aggressive decks feels unfair. With multiple Cornucopias in play, the life gain gets so rapidly out of control that defeating this deck quickly becomes an impossible task for most opponents, outside of milling or toxic damage.
However, there is another, darker, side to this coin. Playing this many color-intensive spells in the same deck puts a lot of stress on the mana, and despite all the fixing, one must be very careful about which lands one fetches with Herd Migration, or which tri-lands to play in which order. Being color-screwed can sometimes occur, and while the deck has the power to recover in most games, there are always going to be additional losses due to mana inconsistency with a list like this.
The Matchups and Sideboard
Aggro
Due to Ancient Cornucopia, the Niv to Life deck has an incredible intrinsic advantage against aggressive strategies like Boros, Gruul and Mono-Red, such that it feels like the deck is playing pre-sideboarded against them. That said, the sideboard does still include a Pest Control and Temporary Lockdown, as well as a few additional spot removal spells in a second Assassin's Trophy and a Go for the Throat, just to make sure things are firmly in hand.
Midrange
Against midrange, the built-in life gain often means it's a simple matter to stabilize against an early rush, then go over the top of whatever they're doing. Decks like Esper Raffine fold quickly to the invincible Niv-Mizzet, Supreme, which they often have no way of interacting with. The sweepers are also excellent against Esper, but take care to plan and sequence one's unkillable dragon paragon so that it doesn't also die to one's own Sunfall a few turns later.
The Golgari Midrange matchup can be trickier, as the excellent Restless Cottage dodges not only the sweepers like Sunfall and Ill-Timed Explosion, but also Leyline Binding, so carefully timing the use of the Assassin's Trophy and Boseiju is key. Lightning Helix does great work against Glissa Sunslayer, though game one definitely revolves around dealing with Liliana before running out one's Niv-Mizzet. Obstinate Baloth is the perfect sideboard card against Liliana of the Veil, and Tishana's Tidebinder often does great work against most of their threats. Additional spot removal like Go for the Throat and Assassin's Trophy also certainly come in to deal with the pesky creature land.
Control
Against control decks like Azorius and Dimir, Niv-Mizzet, Supreme is nigh-unkillable, forcing them to tap out on their turn to sweep it away, letting one untap and resolve another huge, must-answer threat like Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Herd Migration. Post-sideboard, colossal control-mage-slayer Tyrranax Rex makes quick work of them, while Negate and Disdainful Stroke can protect Niv-Mizzet, Supreme from a clunky sweeper effect, or stop a Jace, Perfected Mind from stealing a long, drawn out game when one only has fifteen or twenty cards left in deck.
Conclusion
Altogether, the Niv to Life deck is resilient, powerful and operates on a couple of different axes that many opposing decks will not be well-equipped to deal with. Against some, Niv-Mizzet, Supreme may as well have actual hexproof, while decks trying to race have to contend with the fact that they may simply lose to a mythic mana rock or two (which also happen to gain ten or more life over the course of a game). However, as with most things in (Niv to) life, it's not all upside. This deck certainly has its bad matchups, like the incredibly powerful Temur Ramp deck, or the hot new Calamity Surprise ramp deck, both of which feel like very rough battles for Niv to Life. Bant Toxic is also floating just under the surface of tier one Standard, which is another deck that can simply ignore one of the more potent facets of Niv to Life, its lifegain.
As is the case when choosing any deck for a given tournament or event, knowing when to field a list like Niv to Life will be the key to how successful one is with it. Is your metagame infested with aggro? Do control mages have you down in the dumps? Rejuvenate yourself with Niv to Life!
