Nick Fury
[[Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.]] costs [[symbol:w]], but his Power-up ability costs [[symbol:w]][[symbol:u]][[symbol:b]][[symbol:r]][[symbol:g]], so his color identity is all five colors. His low cost enables commander-dependent mana and interaction. The deck uses [[Ad Nauseam]] or [[Necropotence]] to assemble a [[Thassa's Oracle]] or [[Underworld Breach]] win.
Core Gameplan
Use fast mana and rituals to reach a draw engine or a large [[Ad Nauseam]] turn. Cast Nick when he enables a card you need, such as [[Mox Amber]] or a commander-dependent free spell. Amber makes white from Nick, not every color in his identity.
Look for an opening before opposing engines take over. Reserve mana for the spells you expect to find; a large hand does little if you have spent all your mana reaching it. If the early win closes, rely on ongoing draw engines to rebuild.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Every Color for One Mana: Nick gives access to all five colors while costing only [[symbol:w]] for his first cast.
Lots of Tutors: Tutors can find card engines or missing combo pieces ([[Vampiric Tutor]], [[Demonic Tutor]], [[Gamble]]).
Strong Protection: You can stop opponents from casting spells on your turn ([[Silence]], [[Jennifer Walters]]) and still hold free protection ([[Pact of Negation]], [[Deflecting Swat]]).
Two Ways to Win: If [[Thassa's Oracle]] gets stopped, [[Underworld Breach]] gives you a second route that uses your graveyard.
Weaknesses
No Repeatable Draw Engine: Nick's Power-up can find a Hero, Equipment or Vehicle, but it is not a repeatable card-draw engine. A stalled turbo hand still needs the draw spells in the 99.
Life Total: [[Ad Nauseam]], [[Necropotence]], fetch lands and shock lands all cost life. Damage reduces the life budget you can spend on Ad Nauseam.
Hate Pieces: [[Drannith Magistrate]] stops escape and stops you casting Nick from the command zone. [[Rule of Law]] limits you to one spell a turn. Graveyard hate ([[Soul-Guide Lantern]]) breaks Breach turns.
Core Combos
Thassa's Oracle Lines
[[Thassa's Oracle]] + [[Demonic Consultation]] or [[Tainted Pact]]
Requirements: Thassa's Oracle and Demonic Consultation or Tainted Pact in hand, with [[symbol:u]][[symbol:u]] for Oracle plus [[symbol:b]] for Consult or [[symbol:1]][[symbol:b]] for Pact. For the Pact line below, the cards remaining in your library should all have different names.
Cast [[Thassa's Oracle]].
With its enter trigger on the stack, cast [[Demonic Consultation]]. As it resolves, name a card that isn't in your library. Or cast [[Tainted Pact]] and decline to put any exiled card into your hand. Either line empties your library under these conditions.
Let the Oracle trigger resolve with your library empty to win the game.
Note: After your library is empty but before Oracle's trigger resolves, an opponent can trigger your own [[Esper Sentinel]] with their first noncreature spell that turn and decline to pay. That makes you draw from an empty library and lose. Remove Sentinel before it triggers, or retain enough cards to survive the expected draws while still meeting Oracle's devotion check. Leaving cards also makes removal of Oracle more relevant.
Breach Lines
[[Underworld Breach]] + [[Lion's Eye Diamond]] + [[Brain Freeze]]
Requirements: Underworld Breach in hand, Lion's Eye Diamond and Brain Freeze in hand or graveyard, [[symbol:1]][[symbol:r]] to cast Breach in your main phase, and six expendable cards between hand and graveyard. If LED starts in the graveyard, you need nine expendable cards in total, at least three of them already in the graveyard for its first escape. Do not count the combo pieces or cards reserved for the finish as fuel. These are starting requirements for the order below; later escapes need fuel from your self-mill.
Cast [[Underworld Breach]], then cast [[Lion's Eye Diamond]] or escape it by exiling three other cards.
Discard your hand and sacrifice LED for [[symbol:u]][[symbol:u]][[symbol:u]]. Brain Freeze must now be in your graveyard.
Escape LED for [[symbol:0]], exiling three other cards. Let it resolve.
Escape [[Brain Freeze]] for [[symbol:1]][[symbol:u]], exiling three other cards. Aim enough copies at yourself to supply the next escape costs; each copy mills three cards.
Repeat steps 2 - 4 while you have the fuel. Each pass leaves one more [[symbol:u]] and adds two spells to the storm count. Split later copies between yourself and your opponents as needed.
Use enough Brain Freeze copies on each opponent to mill their remaining library.
Optional Oracle finish: If your list runs [[Thassa's Oracle]], you can instead mill your own library, keep Oracle and three other graveyard cards out of escape payments, and reserve [[symbol:u]][[symbol:u]] to escape it. Sacrifice the battlefield LED for blue before casting Oracle if needed. Let its enter trigger resolve with an empty library to win.
Note: This is a finite graveyard-fuel sequence, not an unlimited mana loop. Milling opponents does not make them lose until they try to draw. [[Necropotence]] can exile your discarded fuel before you can escape LED; graveyard hate, spell limits and forced draws also change the line.
[[Underworld Breach]] + [[Lion's Eye Diamond]] + [[Wheel of Fortune]]: Finding Brain Freeze
Requirements: Underworld Breach and Lion's Eye Diamond on the battlefield in your main phase, Wheel of Fortune in your hand or graveyard, Brain Freeze in your library, and six other cards in your hand and graveyard.
Sacrifice [[Lion's Eye Diamond]] for [[symbol:r]][[symbol:r]][[symbol:r]], discarding your hand.
Escape [[Wheel of Fortune]] to draw a new seven.
Escape Lion's Eye Diamond.
Repeat only while enough cards remain for the mandatory seven-card draws and the next escapes. Keep Brain Freeze and any optional finisher out of exile payments; switch lines as soon as Brain Freeze is available.
Sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond for [[symbol:u]][[symbol:u]][[symbol:u]] instead, discarding Brain Freeze if you drew it. With six expendable graveyard cards reserved, continue from step 3 of the Brain Freeze line: escape LED first, then Brain Freeze.
Note: Every Wheel refills your opponents' hands too.
Win Conditions
[[Thassa's Oracle]]
Wins when its enter trigger resolves with your library empty, after [[Demonic Consultation]], [[Tainted Pact]] or a self-mill loop.
[[Brain Freeze]]
In an [[Underworld Breach]] loop you can aim the copies at your opponents instead and mill them out. They lose when they try to draw from an empty library. Passing the turn can finish the game, but an opponent who skips their draw step, such as with [[Necropotence]], may survive. Reshuffle effects and draw replacements can also prevent the finish. If your list runs [[Faerie Mastermind]], get it onto the battlefield and pay [[symbol:3]][[symbol:u]] to make everyone draw immediately. Keep enough cards in your own library for your draws, including any draw needed to find Mastermind; its activation makes you draw too.
Tips for Playing Nick Fury
Mulligan: Keep fast mana plus a payoff or a tutor, ideally with a free counterspell. [[Dark Ritual]] into [[Necropotence]] is a strong start if the rest of the hand can use the cards or protect the play. Count [[Mox Amber]] as white mana once Nick is out, and check that the hand still supplies the colors your engine needs.
Choose the Ad Nauseam Window: Casting it in the end step before your turn lets you untap with the cards. Casting it in your main phase instead lets you use land drops and remaining fast mana immediately; choose around the mana and protection available.
Win in the Necropotence End Step: Necropotence's cards arrive at your next end step and may include [[Borne Upon a Wind]]. Once they are in your hand, cast Borne with a card still in your library for its draw; it lets you cast [[Thassa's Oracle]] then, and [[Valley Floodcaller]] lets you cast noncreature spells like [[Underworld Breach]]. [[Final Fortune]] gives you an extra turn to use the cards, but its delayed trigger makes you lose when it resolves in that turn's end step.
[[Silence]] First: Cast Silence before you start the combo, and hold a free counterspell in case someone responds to it.
Conclusion
Before committing to Ad Nauseam or Necropotence, identify how the hand will pay for the win afterward. Nick makes the commander-dependent cards cheap to enable, but does not refill a stalled hand.
Updated October 2026.
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