By this point, I’ve established that I enjoy making some convoluted Commander decks for Magic the Gathering. What can I say? I like finding commonalities in cards and putting together decks to show them off. However, there are ways to do this and still build something more straightforward.

I detailed some 5-color commanders that were easier to build decks around a while back. One of the commanders mentioned there sparked an idea that blossomed into my newest creation. If you’re interested in building a 5-color deck but get overwhelmed, this may be the deck for you. Using “Niv-Mizzix, Guildpact” we’re assembling an army of 2-color permanents using hybrid mana.

Hybrid Strategy

Niv-Mizzix is a powerful commander in any form he comes in. The card we’re using, “Niv-Mizzix, Guildpact,” allows it to deal direct damage, draw cards, and gain life. However, this all depends on the number and color identity of two color permanents we have. We can solve both of these issues at once using hybrid mana cards.

Hybrid mana costs can be paid by providing mana of either color. This gives some flexibility in how you cast hybrid mana cards. It also makes it easier to get powerful two color cards onto the battlefield. 

Take “Deathrite Shaman” for example. You can spend either one black or one green mana to cast it. However, it will count as both black and green once out and count as two color. This is just way we can gain a two colored permanent by only spending one mana.

Hybrid mana cards have continued to evolve in Magic the Gathering. Playing with these cards captures a glimpse of what older generations of Magic felt like. What we are building in many ways details Magic’s history and growth. For these reasons, the goal of this deck is for every colored card we play to be a Hybrid mana card. This gives us a solid theme, a fun deck building restriction, and this guarantees nearly every permanent we have triggers Niv-Mizzets ability.

Star of the Show

The real highlight of this deck are two cycles of powerful creatures. Way back in the Lorwyn set, Wizards of the Coast released the Liege cycle and the Demigod cycle. Each of these cycles feature two-color creatures with a lot of hybrid mana. These creatures were the inception of this entire deck idea and have the potential to be incredibly powerful. Since each cycle features one card of each two color combo, these creatures work perfectly with “Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact.”

In total, these twenty cards will be the main center of our deck. With these cards in place, we’ll have a solid strategy to work around as we construct the rest of our deck.

Anthem of the Liege Lords

The Lieges are a cycle of ten creatures that each increase the power and toughness of other creatures in their colors. These types of buff are usually referred to as “anthems.” Creatures that give specific anthems are usually called “lords.”

The Liege’s ability to buff others is very strong, especially when compounded. Each Liege can buff up to six other Lieges and up to seven different “Demigods.” Our use of hybrid mana means that Lieges will almost always be buffing something good. Even if the Lieges don’t end up buffing anything else, each Liege will buff Niv-Mizzet the maximum amount. Even with just two Lieges out, Niv-Mizzet can become frighteningly huge extremely quickly.

These anthem effects can snowball quickly, especially with the extra abilities of each Liege. Not only will our best creatures get buffed, but our other creatures can become viable threats. If that doesn’t work, most lieges have an extra ability that rewards you for playing two-color spells, helping the deck careen out of control.

Might of the Demigods

The Lorwyn demigods are some of the most imposing and forgotten creatures in Magic: the Gathering. These creatures have some awesome abilities but are usually hard to cast. We’re making them the star of the show in this deck. While each of them is very powerful and can dominate a game, I do have my favorites, however.

Oversoul of Dusk” may just be my favorite demigod in the cycle. Protection is such a powerful ability that is rarely printed anymore, and it is fun to randomly be immune to part of (or all of) a deck because of it. Remember that Protection doesn’t discriminate between friend or foe. You’ll be unable to target her with any spells that are blue, black, or red, even if they’re beneficial.

“Deus of Calamity” has the potential to get a lot of hate at a table. This is because land destruction is a very powerful, disliked strategy in Magic: the Gathering. It is very uncommon for Wizards of the Coast to print land destruction on modern creatures, making the Deus stand out. With the Liege’s anthems in effect, “Deus of Calamity” can grow large enough to reliably destroy a land every turn.

“Godhead of Awe” has an ability from a classic enchantment, “Humility,” that shrinks everyone’s creatures. Normally, this would be crippling at a table, not only for opponents but for yourself. However, the Lieges provide ten different anthems to our side of the board. Combined with the Lieges, the Godhead’s effect makes for a crippling, one-sided powershift. After the Godhead’s arrival, only creatures on our side of the board will be able to meaningfully attack or block.

Lowering the Curve

With the main focus of our deck determined, we’ll need to focus on the cards that support them. Fortunately, once the main twenty cards in our deck have been filled, we’re left with a pretty glaring hole to fill. Since none of the Lieges cost less than four mana, and all of the Demigods cost five, the next place to fill out should be the lower-cost spells.

In our deck, low-cost creatures can be incredibly effective since we know they’re going to get much bigger. “Rhys the Redeemed” is already a good card that lets us make two colored tokens if we run out of spells. Judge’s Familiar puts the potential to counter something on the board, making our opponents play around a one-cost creature. As we fill our boards with lieges, these creatures can turn from nuisances into pressing threats.

“Scuzzback Scrapper,” on the other hand, is an example of exactly why this deck is fun. Wither is a fun ability, but most decks would normally never run this card since it would only ever put one counter on an opponent’s creature. With our anthems in tow, however, “Scuzzback Scrapper” becomes a legitimate threat that is costly to attack or block. The same is true of “Nip Gwyllion.” This creature is normally not worth putting in a deck. It will die on its first hit against any creature, gaining only one life. However, making it bigger lets it survive attacks and gain a respectable amount of life.

Ramping it up

Our deck restriction to use hybrid mana cards comes with one major drawback. Many of the premier ramp cards to speed up mana production are not hybrid mana. We do have a few options to help us out, but we need more. In addition to “Deathrite Shaman,” we’re also running “Jegantha, the Wellspring,” “Wild Cantor,” “Manaforge Cinder,” and “Manamorphose.” However, the last three cards only help fix our mana, turning mana of one color into another, even if it’s delayed. We need to add mana if we want this deck to perform well.

So, I’m going to bend the rules a little bit. Instead of adding cards like “Rampant Growth” or “Three Visits,” we’ll include a few colorless artifacts. This allows me to satisfy my desire by ensuring every card with colors has hybrid mana, while also ensuring we can still advance. Most of our artifacts are included to give us some solid ramp, like “Chromatic Lantern,” “Arcane Signet,” and “Felwar Stone.” However, for a bit of redundancy, we’re also including “Glass of the Guildpact,” which is our eleventh anthem effect.

Scoping Out the Terrain

A deck like this needs a pretty meticulous mana base. There is a lot of mana of specific colors we need to make quickly.

For this deck, we can rely on a few well-placed fetch lands and the pain land cycle. Pain lands can tap for colorless mana, or mana of two specific colors at the cost of one life. Running all ten of them puts us in a good spot for our mana base.

Additionally, we are running some two sided cards that double as land. “Revitalizing Repast” can save our important creatures or be played as a land if needed. Likewise, “Waterlogged Teachings” can find some good spells, or be a two color land in a pinch.

With our versatile land base and mana ramp assembled, we now have a good base to pursue a few interesting strategies.

Two Heads are Better Than One

One of the biggest features of our Lieges and Demigods is a subtle one: they aren’t legendary. Nowadays, the Lieges would likely be printed as legendary creatures, and the Demigods definitely would. However, since these cards are old, they lack the legendary type. This lets us do some interesting things, like create copies of the Demigods.

If one Liege is good, two is great. If one Demigod is great, two are excellent. Running some copy cards can let us run away with the game with multiple copies of our best creatures.

“Repudiate//Replicate” and “Spitting Image” are two great copy cards we can run in our deck. “Repudiate//Replicate” meets our hybrid mana restriction since “Repudiate” costs hybrid mana. “Replicate” is a cheap copy spell to duplicate some of our best creatures. “Replicate” can even be fetched with “Waterlogged Teachings,” since “Repudiate” is an instant.

“Spitting Image” is more expensive than “Repudiate//Replicate,” but can be cast again and again by discarding lands. This interaction allows us to get multiple copies of great creatures throughout the game. Even though “Spitting Image” can’t be fetched, this card is useful even if it ends up in the graveyard first.

One other way to flood the board with copies is through “Growing Ranks.” This enchantment creates a copy of any token we have at the start of each of our turns. This can create more copies of Demigods or Lieges, but also has other uses. There are a few more cards that create tokens in this deck. This gives “Growing Ranks” more things to copy, which is useful if you can’t find “Repudiate//Replicate” or “Spitting Image.”

Getting Across the Finish Line

With most of our major strategies laid out, it’s time to round out with a few final considerations. Every deck needs some utility pieces to make its strategy more reliable. For that reason, we’re running some removal, a few pieces of card draw, and some haste granting cards.

Haste is the easiest place to start. Since our dominant deck strategy is overwhelming opponents with creatures, they need to attack faster. “Sootstoke Kindler” and “Samut, Tyrant Smasher” put in the legwork here. Samut is probably the best since it gives all of our creature’s haste, but “Sootstoke Kindler” is quite handy as well. It gives seven Lieges and seven Demigods haste, as well as our commander. This can make a difference very quickly.

We’re also packing some card draw to keep finding Demigods and Lieges to play. “Augury Adept” and “Cold-Eyed Selkie” work similarly, gaining us a card when they attack. “Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner” can draw cards when we play creatures while also potentially ramping us or untapping a creature. However, by far the best piece of card draw in our deck is our commander, Niv-Mizzet. His ability to draw cards every time he attacks can draw so many cards that we have to discard down to hand size.

When it comes to removal, I’ve prioritized multipurpose removal cards for the deck, but there is one key card to mention. Boardwipes are a staple of Commander. Having the ability to get rid of everything in one fell swoop is incredibly useful in the right scenario. Unfortunately, our deck restriction means we only get to run one true boardwipe.

“Worldpurge” essentially resets the entire game. It returns all permanents back to their owner’s hands… but that includes lands. Except for life totals and graveyards, this card returns the game to its original state. Be careful when casting this card. This can set you up for a long game.

Something Old, Something New

This deck is a tribute to what I love about Commander in Magic: the Gathering. Commander is a format that lets you play any card from across Magic’s history, but most end up feeling pretty similar. Decks rely on Commander staples and become predictable because of it. There are so many cool untapped ideas and so many mechanics that can be experimented with. Most decks never dare to truly plumb the depths of Magic’s history and see what they can create.

The deck I’ve built isn’t perfect, it isn’t without its flaws, and it still relies on some staples. However, this deck contains my love for Magic cards of old and for Magic’s history. A good chunk of the cards in this deck normally never see play. I wanted to shine a light on forgotten cards and make something new out of something old. 

Hybrid mana has continued to get better along with the rest of the game. Hybrid cards have made for some of the coolest cards in magic, and I know both hybrid cards and Magic as a whole will continue to improve. I can’t wait to see what comes next.