Nasty Nin's Disco Inferno [Combo-Nin]

[Khaospawn]

Nin, the Pain Artist

Just who is Nin, the Pain Artist?

There was something about Nin, The Pain Artist that attracted me to her from the moment I laid eyes on her. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. There she was, with her hooded bald head, strange energy pistol, busty rack, and her legendary status. I mean, she’s nothing special if you want to compare her sex appeal to Liliana of the Veil, but I was intrigued nonetheless. Her CMC is a delicious single Red and a single Blue
so she’s not just easy on the eyes, but she’s also easy on the mana. However, she’s obviously not a beater; she’s only a 1/1 for crying out loud. So what’s so special about her? I dropped my gaze to her text box (giggity).

And then it hit me - that ability.

Nin is the ultimate S&M dominatrix in Magic the Gathering. For every point of pain she inflicts on some poor, hapless creature, that creature’s controller draws a card. She exchanges pain for pleasure, and by the gods, she is very good at what she does. As it turns out, Vedalkan Wizards with a Red streak in them are sexed up and just downright twisted.

That’s my kind of woman.

So what does Nin actually want? Well, just like with any woman, she wants to be in control but she wants to do it in style. She wants to make you submit. She wants to flog you, torture you, and make you beg to be released. Nin is a sadist and she knows she can’t ever truly be happy unless she’s taking out her twisted desires on somebody. She wants to find the
perfect masochist to complete her, but unfortunately, very few creatures know the right safety word. And even when she finds the right one, she still doesn’t like to stop….

You Might Like Nin, the Pain Artist If:

(1) You enjoy non-linear decks.

(2) You prefer a reactive and utility style of play with a combo feel.

(3) You like to be in control.

(4) You’re a Red Mage at heart that just loves drawing cards and wanton destruction.

(5) You prefer to come up with unique ways to win in each game.

(6) You thought Ripley in Alien 3 was hot.

You Might Not Like Nin, the Pain Artist If:

(1) You prefer a proactive and aggressive style of play.

(2) You prefer the allure of more “broken” and “mainstream” Generals.

(3) You prefer decks that actually “do something.”

(4) You prefer a direct path to victory.

(5) You like to play a lot of creatures.

(6) You hate bald women.

[center:
20lblace][/center]

Nasty Nin's Disco Inferno

[deck]
General (1)
1x Nin, The Pain Artist

Mega-Mana Rocks (8)
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
1x Grim Monolith
1x Basalt Monolith
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Gilded Lotus

Artifacts (9)
1x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Expedition Map
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Voltaic Key
1x Library of Leng
1x Tormod's Crypt

Creature (17)
1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
1x Archaeomancer
1x Consecrated Sphinx
1x Drift of Phantasms
1x Glen Elendra, Archmage
1x Jace’s Archivist
1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1x Master Transmuter
1x
Mercurial Chemister
1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
1x Psychosis Crawler
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Stuffy Doll
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Trinket Mage
1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Enchantment (3)
1x Leyline of Anticipation
1x Rhystic Study
1x Vicious Shadows

Instant (11)
1x Pongify
1x Rapid Hybridization
1x Blue Sun's Zenith
1x Cerberal Vortex
1x Chaos Warp
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Evacuation
1x Forbid
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Twincast

Sorcery (13)
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Past in Flames
1x Fabricate
1x Incendiary Command
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Molten Psyche
1x Mystic Retrieval
1x Rite of Replication
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Time Stretch
1x Vandalblast
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Windfall

Land (38)
1x Academy Ruins
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Kher Keep
1x
Reliquary Tower
1x Riptide Laboratory
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Cascade Bluffs
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Shivan Reef
1x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Volcanic Island
4x Mountain
1x Great Furnace
10x Island
1x Seat of the Synod
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
[/deck]

How To Play The Deck

The modus operandi for Nin is quite simple- it involves mana production, card draw, and strong doses of pain. Big mana rocks are the order of the day for fast, early mana; utilizing Voltaic Key and Master Transmuter wil be your tools for maximizing value from your Vaults and Monoliths.

I usually cast Nin on turn 2 and let her chill there for a bit as I begin
to build my manabase. Once I get to a decent amount and have started to fill or sculpt my hand, I’ll pop Nin off for as much as I can squeeze at the end of my opponent’s turn. If I have a nifty target like a Solemn Simulacrum or a Stuffy Doll then all the better, but I’ll kill of Nin in a pinch if I need to. Since I’m building the manabase steadily, I’ll be able to cast Nin once or twice more before the game is over so I can refill my hand. Draw spells like [card]Blue Sun’s Zenith[/card], Wheel of Fortune, and Reforge the Soul can be used early game if need be, but I prefer to use them towards getting to my end-game. However, sometimes you’ll be able to assemble a sick draw engine using Arcanis the Omnipotent and the Rings of Brighthearth – abuse it for all its worth. They key to being able to survive
through the mid-game is by clutching some answers, such as a counterpell, a boardwiper, or a tutor, and building your manabase. Nin is a mana hungry wench. Feed her well and she’ll treat you good.

Nin, the Pain Artist isn’t your typical beatdown, bomb-laying, goodstuff deck. The deck runs in a borderline control/combo mode. Playing some good politics and having plenty of removal for a plethora of situations will go a long way to reaching your end-game. It’s not a heavy counter deck, but it does use some of the "broken Wizards" in conjunction with Riptide Laboratory to establish a "soft-lock" to ensure you can go off without further disruption. Forbid is your one true counter that you can tutor for with either tutor spell or Drift of Phantasms. When deciding what to counter I usually ask myself one question: will this spell kill me or keep me from winning. If the answer is yes, then counter it.
n
Controlling the board isn’t too difficult with the right tools. My tool is usually Fire, but I can find other methods that work just as well. Blasphemous Act and Incediary Command will keep creature swarms off your back and, while you have Vicious Shadows out, can even take out an opponent. Mass bounce effects like Evacuation and Cycloninc Rift can be used abusively with an Archaeomancer or with a few rebuys from Mystic Retrieval. Vandalblast and Into the Core will keep the big artifact decks at bay. Finally, Chaos Warp is your “catch-all” spot removal spell, while Pongify and Rapid Hyridization are your instant speed creature removal.
Bonus points for doing the Disturbed "monkey noise" and saying, "Get Pongified, bitch!" when you cast Pongify.


So you’ve drawn some cards and have a stable foundation for your mana. What now? It’s time to bring some pain. I usually try to get a good perception of the boardstate and then devise a funky way to win. The most direct way is to usually just land Psychosis Crawler and then proceed to draw a metric ton of cards with Nin or a [card]Blue Sun’s Zenith[/card] to kill off my opponents. Sometimes you can just drop a Vicious Shadows and boardwipe your opponents and their army into oblivion. Rite of Replication can be a nasty tool for stupid win conditions. Making multiple Stuffy Dolls before a fiery boardwipe or copying Psychosis Crawler before a big draw spell can spell the end in
spectacular fashion. And while these methods are fairly straightforward, there are still yet more ways to win.

The big finale is a flash riot that can catch the table off guard if it’s timed correctly. When you’re clutching a massive grip thanks to Library of Leng or Reliquary Tower, Windfall effects can be absolutely devastating. For one, your opponent will fill their hands up too, allowing for an epic Molten Psyche blowout. Using [card]Jace’s Archivist[/card] multiple times, thanks to Thousand-Year Elixir or Rings of Brighthearth (or both!), can potentially deck some opponents, including you. If you wanted to get fancy, you could always play Laboratory Maniac, but he doesn’t do anything for you in the early-game. Fortunately, [card]Kozilek, Butcher of Truth[/card:
20lblace] is our failsafe from self-milling and Library of Leng allows us to put valuable cards back on top of our deck. If your opponents have any creatures out, they’re dead in the water if you can also drop Vicious Shadows plus a boardwipe. Also, Psychosis Crawler and a Consecrated Sphinx on the table is pretty much an auto-win during a Windfall/Wheel Effect.

[Azrael]

Hmm, I've found in my work on Nin that it's pretty critical to both mana ramp like a fiend and to pack in some cheap utility creatures that can be turned into Mind Springs (or maybe just Divinations and Concentrates) in short order, so you can keep fueled up on land drops and mana development.

Some of my go-to options are Viashino Heretic, Palladium Myr, Apprentice Wizard, Spellskite, Scroll Thief, Ophidian, Orcish Settlers, and Goblin Flectomancer.

My build is more permission-heavy and does some more "that guy" things, like Ruination, but I think the principle of getting your Nin options available ASAP and with lots of mana up holds true in any build.

Hellkite Tyrant seems like a good man for this deck, too.

Doubling Cube, Sculpting Steel, Copy Artifact?

[Khaospawn]

I've tried all the "Big Blue" options already like Time Stretch and Time Warp, Sculpting Steel and Mizzium Transreliquat, Bribery and Acquire, Copy Artifact and Copy Enchantment. At some point the deck just started becoming a Mono Blue build and I contemplated changing Generals. That's when I realized how important theme is to a good EDH deck.

I like all the creatures you've mentioned, but the way the deck plays out with it's boardwipes and bounces, creatures don't typically last too long on the field. Viashino Heretic is an absolute beast but in my playgroup he draws a lot of hate and I really think that [card]Vandalblast[/
card]is a more suitable replacement.

Hellkite Tyrant is an interesting suggestion. I like it, but I don't. For one, it requires you to attack with it - something my deck doesn't do too well. Second, it has the ole "I win" function, something that I'm trying to distance myself from with this deck. But with that said, it's still a solid creature and I don't see why it couldn't be included if you wanted to make a few tweaks. I play it in my Kaalia deck and he's an absolute house.

[Khaospawn]

Azrael, I'm curious to see your list. I'm always glad to meet a fellow Nin player. Any plans on posting it or sharing it?

[Azrael]

This should be pretty close:

[deck]
1 Nin, the Pain Artist

14 Ramp
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Palladium Myr
1 Apprentice Wizard
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Trinket Mage
1 Fabricate
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1 Copy Artifact
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Doubling Cube
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Thran Dynamo

13 Counterspells
1 Mana Drain
1 Counterspell
1 Rewind
1 Counterflux
1 Hinder
1 Spell Crumple
1 Negate
1 Misdirection
1 Forbid
1 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast

5 Utility
1 Spellskite
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Scroll Thief
1 Ophidian
1 Recurring Insight

11 Win Cons
1 Sphinx Ambassador
1 Rite of Replication
1 Memnarch
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Argentum Armor
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Bribery
1 Insurrection

3 Tutors
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Personal Tutor
1 Gamble

4 Turns
1 Time
Warp
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Time Stretch
1 Knowledge Exploitation

6 Land Destruction
1 Ruination
1 Back to Basics
1 Blood Moon
1 Dwarven Miner
1 Orcish Settlers
1 Dwarven Blastminer

5 Control
1 Treachery
1 Gilded Drake
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 All is Dust
1 Chaos Warp

38 land[/deck]

[Khaospawn]

Sick deck, Azrael. I see a lot of goodstuffs, but I also see a very similar deck skeleton to mine. I've seen several Nin decks out there, but I gotta say, I think our builds are pretty much the best way to play Nin.

I played a game the other day and it went completely clockwork: I ramped up and wiped the board when I started seeing too many threats.I cast Nin and started playing draw/go while countering a few key spells from my opponents until I picked the right time to pop her for a shit-ton. Eventually I held a monster grip and proceeded toTwincast a Windfall and draw into my Molten Psyche, which I found on the first Windfall but my Library of Leng let me keep it by putting back on my deck, Snapcaster'd my Twincast and used it on Molten Psyche for the win. Triple Kill!

Not every game goes like that. Sometimes I get creative with Rite of Replication or just "instant win" by boardwiping with a Vicious Shadows
out, but I think I may try some new stuff. I actually thought about putting Runeflare Trap in. Not only is it some "hate" on the decks out there like mine (Big Blue) but it's an alt-win for when I start using Windfall effects. Thoughts?

[Azrael]

Seems like the strength of your build is hitting multiple people at once for critical amounts of damage. Runeflare only does a single player, and it's pretty conditional whether it will deal enough damage to kill a player who's at a decent amount of life.

Your deck is definitely far more creative and interesting than mine, that's for sure. About as fancy as I get is locking people out with Dwarven Miner.

[Khaospawn]

I've learned that the typical flow of an EDH game in my area usually consists of three phases:

Phase (1): Early game ramp and board presence. Usually one player will come out of the gates swinging and will become a threat to the entire table. Sometimes a careless player may be taken out prematurely.

Phase (2): A cataclysmic boardwipe by one player will set the aggressor back to square one. The aggressor will attempt a feeble act of "revenge" against the player who boardwiped. This will leave the final player (or two players) in a position to either take down the game or play "Kingmaker."

Phase (3): While all the other players are competing for board presence or playing politics for survival, the eventual winner, who has been conserving his resources, will either assemble his combo or initiate an all-out, surprise attack to take down the other weakened players. Whining and/or cries of "Awesome
game, dude!" will fill the air.

Experience has taught me that I always want to be that guy who sweeps the table or goes out in a fiery, dramatic, blaze of glory. Therefore, it's usually best to play cards that will affect the entire table and I completely agree with your assessment of Runeflare Trap. However, I can't help but daydream about asking the other Blue Mage across the table, "How big is your grip? 45 cards? Ok, you're dead." Or better yet, after a Windfall I can always Twincast it - but that's all probably a pipe dream.

[Azrael]

Heheh, probably.

[Khaospawn]

Well, Trade Secrets is banned in EDH now. I suppose I'll need to make a quick adjustment and replace it. I'm thinking either Brainstorm, Braingeyser, or Recurring Insight.

Thoughts?

[Manasjap]

I think you could use another powerful draw spell, so you'd have to decide if Recurring Insight (depending on your opponent's hand being full) will net you more cards than Braingeyser would.

[Azrael]

Recurring Insight is almost always much, much better than Braingeyser and Mind Spring.

[Khaospawn]

You guys speak with great wisdom. Recurring Insight it is!

[Calamity]

Wow this looks really awesome, makes me want to get into edh myself.

Any way to modify this for 1v1 or would it be better to just change generals at that point?

[Jack]

I think that this would be less suited for 1v1, given that Nin is not actually a win-con by herself.

[Azrael]

Nin's pretty good 1v1, but you'd need some pretty substantial overhauls.

My version posted above has had a lot of revisions, but it's suited for either multi or 1v1.

[Jack]

Okay, I was kinda just talking out of my ass there, based upon the above reasoning. It turns out that she's one of the more popular draw-go 1v1 commanders out there.
Also, Khaos, is there a reason you don't play Thespian's Stage or Academy Ruins? They seem like they'd both work pretty well with your deck.

[Khaospawn]

Okay, I was kinda just talking out of my ass there, based upon the above reasoning. It turns out that she's one of the more popular draw-go 1v1 commanders out there.
Also, Khaos, is there a reason you don't play Thespian's Stage or Academy Ruins? They seem like they'd both work pretty well with your deck.

I actually need to update the list I posted. I do play Academy Ruins currently, but I don't play the Stage anymore only because I want to test Kher Keep in its place.

[Khaospawn]

The deck is updated, but I'm totally going to have to rewrite the Primer. The deck has changed into more of a "power card - goodtstuffs" type deck, complete with big artifact mana, theft cards, more tutors. The deck is now capable of being pretty degenerate- it can take infinite turns, make infinite mana, combo out with damage or even with milling.

[Khaospawn]

K, actually updated (somewhat) the Primer to reflect the current decklist.

[Khaospawn]

I'm going to try Past in Flames instead of Blatant Thievery. This will hopefully enable me to cause more combo-rrific sheNINagans.

[razzliox]

a nice primer. could grow some, but interesting. why is time stretch better than say capture? can you cast it that often?

[Purp]

time warp -> into time stretch -> into ral zarek ult.

I got to live this dream once.