Hi Brewers,

Were you considering brewing for [[Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion]]? I certainly was not… Not at first. It wasn’t until after I thoroughly read over his effect and studied up on “Infinite Combat” did I realize that Neheb truly is worthy.

Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion – The Worthiest

The strategy is simply: Attack, Rinse & Repeat. However, how best can we accomplish this? With this Primer, I figured out how. We run all the wheels, all the (best) extra combats and turns as well as a series of cards that will let us recur those effects to continue what I call “the assault.” We can and will damage out the board, but not without knowing what to look for. If you’ve been considering Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion let me know what you think about the list after a few hands! I can confidently say, [[Godo, Bandit Warlord]] has company now. Be on the lookout for video based primers over on The 99 very soon discussing this deck. To include: the core strategy, inclusions & exclusions as well as gameplay!

-Patrick Marlett, The 99

I hope you all are even a fraction as excited as I am. Niv is one of my absolute favorite characters in the lore, and I’m thrilled to get to play him at the helm of my favorite deck.

I’ve reworked the Food Chain Tazri primer for the new Niv.

I’ve also made a $700 budget build (as of 4/12/19).

Decklist & Primer

Budget Decklist

and the wonderful Niv-Mizzet Discord

Recent list changes

Extract -> Sterling Grove: Since adding Entomb for Squee (an instant speed version of Extract), I’ve felt that I may have too many tutors for the cast-from-exiles (CFEs). Sterling Grove is a (great) hit off Niv, tutors Food Chain, protects FC (from Decay!) if it’s redundant, and can pivot to Necropotence or Remora.

Timetwister -> Vexing Shusher: Timetwister is very low synergy in the deck and is worse with more people abusing Smothering Tithe and wheel-steal in general. Happy to have Vexing Shusher in this high-interaction meta.

Swords to Plowshares -> Dovin’s Veto: New Veto is amazing, and Swords is currently the weakest piece of interaction in the list. Since Trophy’s printing, I’ve been preferring the more flexible removal options over dedicated creature removal.

Other multicolor considerations: Manamorphose, Wear//Tear, Treasured Find

Outlets

Hydroid Krasis: The highest utility outlet, but not a hard outlet. Extra draw, even if overcosted, is welcome on a combo piece. When comboing, cast this first to draw your deck on a cast trigger, and Silence/counter to protect subsequent hard outlet execution.

Circu, Dimir Lobotomist: A hard outlet. Its value case is fairly memey, but he’s relevantly a 2/3 and exile-mill is a more solid win condition than graveyard-mill by Hallimar Excavator.

Sparkcaster: PEW PEW PEW. Not much more to say about infinite burn as a hard outlet stapled to a 5/3.

…

Sawtooth Loon: A soft outlet that sees more cards. A great budget alternative to Hydroid Krasis. To win with LabMan, use Niv to pull out your multicolor cards, Loon to cycle them back into the deck and redraw them with Niv. Cycling this draws and empties the library.

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain: Another soft outlet, probably worse than Hydroid Krasis. Good value interaction with Squee.

Balefire Liege: The next best hard outlet. Fairly clunky.

Comparison to Tazri

No verdict on superiority. Tazri and the allies are forwardly more castable than Niv and his outlets, which on the very surface is the more powerful thing for a fast, aggressive deck that needs very minimal mana. The most important interaction being playing out the 2 mana allies for later Food Chain mana; secondarily, Tazri tutors allies to improve Consultation odds and is a solid aggro-soak as a 3/4.

It’s unclear if the extra utility of Niv and his pieces outweighs the specific castability upside Tazri and the allies have, but as new multicolor cards get printed, Niv has the potential to get progressively stronger.

Happy spoiler season!

Shaper