Niko, Light of Hope | Blinking / Aggro - The Brewery [S12E11]

[@CommanderS579]

Might I suggest an alt card for the deck. Auton Solider. It enters as a non legendary copy of any creature in play, and it has myriad. You copy Niko then you can flicker make the shards non legend copies, attack with myriad and make more shards.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Ooh! Very true! Amazing suggestion - that card is crazy good here!

[@dannydoomno1]

How about Niko, Lets go bowling

[@adrianmetz3013]

This looks like an awesome list, but I'm surprised you didn't include more constellation effects. I've been brewing up a list and mine is based more around getting as many shards as possible to get a giant combat step to knock everyone out at once. Since Im trying to blink Niko as much as possible, Skybind does amazing work blinking Niko and anything else I want every turn as well as Ajani's Chosen and Archon of Sun's Grace for bodies while I stockpile shards

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Ooh! Skyblind is a great suggestion!

[@DwreckJ]

Am I wrong in thinking the populated copies of shard tokens would just remain tokens of the creature they correspond to and would not revert back to shards?

[@TheCommanderTavern]

I'm pretty sure they remain as the card they became, but the point is for them to become copies anyways. It also makes them easier to populate later on. So I guess it depends on which direction you want to take.

[@GoinEZ]

I think this might be my favorite commander from this set

[@TheCommanderTavern]

I like it so much I'm seriously considering it for my Commander Cube - and cuts for it become increasingly more difficult each time.

[@GoinEZ]

@@TheCommanderTavern sounds about right

[@matthewmejia1590]

fun decklist! i like the anthem effects, a really fun card with niko is master of Etherium because all the copies will also be artifact creatures plus the given anthem it has!, another fun way to draw a BUNCH of cards is curiosity crafter because all the copies will also be creature tokens. loyal drake works with card draw too. i really like niko, i brew mine with trying to blink niko as much as possible and win via combat! fun vid dude.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Thanks! Glad you liked it! Yeah, blinking Niko is definitely a good way to get more shards. Ultimately, I think Brago was the only card left over from the blinking package I had, just because I wanted to try something different. But those are all great suggestions!

[@Wojtek36762]

Neat take! I’ve tested this deck a little, and aside from Nesting Dovehawk, all the populate effects felt way too slow compared to just flickering Niko. I find the deck closes out really quickly if I can start the turn with 6 shards or so, to the extent that I don’t need to bother much with all these go wide effects and individual anthems. There are six or seven creatures that should just swing for the win with a counterspell for protection. It seems weird to spend >$100 on counterspells, another $150 on fetch lands, and then build such an explosive commander to be slow and durdly. Why Three Blind Mice when you could play all four versions of Teleportation Circle? Flickering Niko on end step is two shards a turn. To be fair, running all those and some 1 mana flicker effects did push Lightning Greaves out of my deck. Astral Dragon is cool as heck but I’m loaded up on 2 mana rocks for budget ramp, because I want Niko on turn 3 and all my subsequent turns to involve playing a new threat, activating Niko, and keeping something up for interaction if at all possible. I’m trying out Overlord of the Hauntmoors but otherwise every other spell in the deck costs six or less and it feels plenty explosive. If I can swing for 40 and then 90 in the air, or make a bunch of angels of Destiny and win on the spot, going bigger than that feels like screwing my curve for no reason.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

You can definitely go full on with blinking effects to get more shards each end step - especially with also including effects that double triggers (so you can double trigger the blink effects and the ETB effects). When building the deck, I build it midrange on purpose because I wanted something a bit more different (focusing more on tokens than blinking). But blinking is definitely a better route to go - however, so long as you make the most of it. Without more creatures with ETB triggers, those blinking effects are dead cards. So there'd have to be more balance on that end to maximize those effects.

[@brunodiedrich625]

Can you share your build?

[@JonReid01]

Like a list please

[@sebbydragoneel9500]

Love the list. Curious how you’re supposed to get the morbid trigger off that one enchantment, since the shards should lose their sac ability (right?). Similar with that elemental guy that pumps elementals. I understand the actions for when you blink him. Is it the same for when he comes back? Shards stops becoming him then he comes in??

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Thanks! Glad you like it! Morbid doesn't just trigger off your own things dying, or by sacrificing things. The deck is very aggressive so you can expect at least one creature to die in combat - whether an opponent's or your own.

[@sebbydragoneel9500]

@@TheCommanderTavern thanks I realized that after reading the card 😂. What about the other guy? Like I see where it works but don’t at the same time

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@sebbydragoneel9500 Which other guy?

[@sebbydragoneel9500]

@@TheCommanderTavern the one that makes 1/0 elementals. You’ve stated due to how state based actions occur. The shard will keep the 1/0 alive. Is it the same for the end step? Never seen that dude before and honestly seems like such an interesting deck tech

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@sebbydragoneel9500 Yes, because it happens simultaneously. The shards return to being shards while the original Master of Waves returns. So when state-based actions are checked, the elementals are at least 2/1 because the original is back by the time state-based actions are checked again.

[@aztyngames4471]

EDIT: Just noticed the rules for it updated a few sets ago. I'm pretty sure Thing in the Ice wouldn't work with the shard tokens. They aren't transforming tokens or permanents, correct?

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Tokens can transform as of the rules update with March of the Machine. As long as the token isn't exiled to then transform, it will transform. Because once it leaves the battlefield, it ceases to exist. This is not the case with Thing in the Ice because it doesn't exile itself to return transformed; it just transforms. So any token copies of it will transform if they meet the same transformation requirements.

[@paolomoonman]

@@TheCommanderTavern I think it would only work if the shard tokens entered as copies of Thing in the Ice. I looked up the rules and it seems like even with the March of the Machine update, tokens that are already on the battlefield can't become transform since they weren't double-faced to begin with: "The rules for a permanent that's already on the battlefield becoming a copy of another permanent haven't changed, regardless of whether either one is a transforming permanent. Notably, a permanent that isn't a transforming permanent can't become one due to a copy effect, and it can't ever transform even if an effect instructs a player to transform it."

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@paolomoonman Interesting! Thanks for the clarification!

[@hiddenleaf414]

How does populate work with Niko? You can only populate creature tokens so regular shards couldn’t get populated and once they become copies of something they are basically a clone of that creature they copies.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Exactly. The shards would have to be creatures for you to populate them. But you'd be populating the best thing you can copy, which is the trick ;) You get to keep your best creatures as copy tokens that can either then be further populated, or you can populate new shards-turned-creatures.

[@soratonin6972]

Link goes to Balloon Man. Also, Id definitely play things like Temmet since the shards are tokens also the blue court to help make more shards

[@TheCommanderTavern]

D'oh! Thanks for letting me know. Just fixed it!

[@royalphoenix2028]

Why not add a helm of the host, irenicus's vile duplication, quantum misalignment, storm of saruman, Vesuvan Duplimancy, and auton solider? All create 2 shards, then with them on the stack, exile them. Those shards become copies, and then when they etb create more shards, repeat and then change target to a hasted opponents creature or one with etb effects to end the loop / stop the stack (WARNING Helm of the Host will auto draw the game)

[@royalphoenix2028]

You can also do this with 3 card combos like Cephalid Facetaker and Cackling counterpart.

[@aztyngames4471]

I don't think It would work like that. The shards would have to be in play already to become copies. There wouldn't be any additional ETBs

[@royalphoenix2028]

@@aztyngames4471 Ahhh got it, either way a helm of the host for an extra 2 shards per turn or Vesuvan Duplimancy making it so every time you blink Niko you get 4 shards as another copy would be made would still be good for the deck

[@aztyngames4471]

@royalphoenix2028 Oh yeah, without a doubt

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Helm of the Host is definitely an amazing card. Same with Auton Soldier. Unfortunately, commander decks can have only and exactly 100 cards. But if you use them for you own deck, great! Because those 2 cards are amazing here!