NIV-MIZZET, THE FIREMIND
DRAGON, GENIUS, GUILDMASTER
Niv-Mizzet is the bomb. He is easily one of the if not the most favorite dragon, for me, in the entire game of Magic. When I encountered the Firemind, I knew that I've found my guild. But what excites me the most every time I see Niv has something to do when I first saw the card in the first place.
When I started out with Magic seven years ago, I think that was two years after the first Ravnica block came out, I was heavily intrigued by the game's art. From Magic's artwork alone I was able to discern it from the other TCGs. This interest in artwork made me search the web for Magic wallpapers and full card art, which luckily for me, was readily available. Out of the first pictures I was able to acquire, one particular piece caught my attention: it was (if I am right) the first version of the Firemind, as seen in here. By that point, I wasn't really aware of the vast multiverse of cards that existed beyond my collection: for all I know they were just art for the story-line. Boy was I glad when I discovered the card. But more so when I found out his name. Up to this day the words still ring with a peculiar nostalgia: fire-mind.
During the next few years, after sharpening my skills in-game and enhancing my knowledge lore-wise, I've decided to "join" one of the ten guilds in Ravnica. I actually didn't know all ten by the time I got my first Guildpact deck, as all that was available was the Izzet and Orzhov decks. If it hadn't been for Niv, I would have taken a very, very different path. So I got the Guildpact Izzet deck, which introduced me to heavy-flavor cards like the Izzet Guildmage and Tibor and Lumia. Just visiting that deck's page on Wizard's unleashes a flood of nostalgia upon me.
But enough about that. Let's look at the card:
This aspect of Niv ( the other being the 5/5 Dracogenius) is my favorite. There's synergy with the main focus of both colors, card advantage for blue and burning for red, not to mention the ability to draw a card at instant speed. I mean, just imagine, cards like Divination and Counsel of the Soratami, or heck even Skyscribing can produce a very huge damage output, just with two cards! Not to mention the card-advantage. Also imagine this guy with the Djinn Illuminatus. Niv plus the Djinn plus a cheap draw spell would be utterly devastating for the opponent!
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