Vivi
[[Vivi Ornitier]] leads a blue-red [[symbol:u]][[symbol:r]] turbo deck. Every noncreature spell you cast puts a +1/+1 counter on Vivi and deals 1 damage to each opponent. Once on each of your turns, Vivi adds mana equal to its power. With [[Curiosity]] on Vivi, its damage lets you draw a card for each opponent hit. You win with Vivi's damage, a [[Hullbreaker Horror]] loop or [[Underworld Breach]].
Core Gameplan
Cast [[Vivi Ornitier]] with a draw effect or a hand of cheap noncreature spells to follow it. Each spell grows Vivi and deals damage, so a draw aura can keep the hand supplied while you build toward a larger mana activation.
Use Vivi's mana when you need it to continue, or wait for more counter triggers if you can afford to. If the hand cannot finish this turn, keep interaction available instead of spending every spell to make Vivi larger.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Two-Card Engine: Vivi plus one draw piece ([[Curiosity]], [[Ophidian Eye]] or [[Tandem Lookout]]) can draw a card per opponent damaged by each noncreature spell. Curiosity and Ophidian Eye are optional; Tandem Lookout is not.
The Commander Is the Kill: Every noncreature spell hits each opponent for 1, so a repeatable cast loop can finish the table if you can resolve enough damage without losing to mandatory draws.
Mana from the Commander: Noncreature spells increase Vivi's power before you use its once-per-turn mana ability, helping fund the next spells.
Free Interaction: Free counterspells protect your combo turn ([[Force of Will]], [[Fierce Guardianship]], [[Pact of Negation]], [[Mental Misstep]]).
Weaknesses
Vivi Is the Target: Removal can strand a hand that depends on Vivi for mana or draws. Keep protection when you need Vivi to continue the turn.
Spell Limits: [[Rule of Law]] and [[Deafening Silence]] stop you from chaining spells. [[Damping Sphere]] makes each extra spell cost more.
Draw Punishers: [[Orcish Bowmasters]] and [[Sheoldred, the Apocalypse]] make every extra card you draw cost you.
Two Colors: You have no [[Silence]] or [[Veil of Summer]], so your protection is counterspells and redirect spells.
Core Combos
Infinite Damage Combos
[[Hullbreaker Horror]] + [[Sol Ring]] + [[Mox Amber]] or [[Lotus Petal]]
Requirements: [[Vivi Ornitier]], Hullbreaker Horror and an untapped Sol Ring on the battlefield in your main phase, with Mox Amber or Lotus Petal in hand. The steps below use Mox Amber; Lotus Petal can take its place without being sacrificed. Remove or otherwise account for mandatory draw effects such as [[Tandem Lookout]] or [[Niv-Mizzet, Visionary]] before looping; optional Curiosity draws may be declined.
Tap [[Sol Ring]] for [[symbol:c]][[symbol:c]].
Cast [[Mox Amber]]. Resolve Vivi's damage trigger and Hullbreaker's trigger returning Sol Ring to your hand, then let Mox Amber resolve.
Cast Sol Ring. Resolve Vivi's damage trigger and Hullbreaker's trigger returning Mox Amber to your hand, then let Sol Ring resolve.
Repeat steps 1 - 3 to create [[symbol:infinity-c]] and deal infinite damage.
See Win Conditions below.
Infinite Mana Combos
[[Vivi Ornitier]] + [[Quicksilver Elemental]]
Requirements: Vivi and Quicksilver Elemental on the battlefield, [[symbol:u]] to start, and it has to be your turn.
Activate [[Quicksilver Elemental]] ([[symbol:u]]) targeting Vivi. Let that activation resolve so Quicksilver gains Vivi's mana ability.
Activate that ability for three mana (Quicksilver's unmodified power) in any mix of [[symbol:u]] and [[symbol:r]], keeping at least one [[symbol:u]] for the next activation.
Activate Quicksilver Elemental again targeting Vivi. Each newly gained instance of the ability can be activated once. Let the gain-ability activation resolve before using it.
Repeat steps 2 - 3 to create [[symbol:infinity-u]][[symbol:infinity-r]].
See Win Conditions below.
Note: This loop only makes mana and deals no damage. Use it to pay for a separate Breach line if you have its cards and graveyard fuel. It does not supply those cards, cast triggers or storm by itself.
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.
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. Graveyard hate, spell limits and forced draws can stop the line.
With the commander out, cast triggers also deal damage. [[Tandem Lookout]] and [[Niv-Mizzet, Visionary]] make those damage events draw cards without a choice; account for those draws before self-milling.
Win Conditions
[[Vivi Ornitier]]
Vivi deals 1 damage to each opponent for every noncreature spell, so a [[Hullbreaker Horror]] loop can deal lethal damage. A finite spell chain also works if it deals enough damage before you run out of cards or mana.
[[Brain Freeze]]
Escaped off an [[Underworld Breach]] loop, it mills each opponent's library. 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 Vivi
Mulligan: Keep hands that cast Vivi by turn two and have card draw: a draw piece, a tutor for one, [[Mystic Remora]] or [[Rhystic Study]]. A combo piece alone isn't a reason to keep. Check the colors and timing of your mana, not just whether the hand contains Vivi's three-mana cost.
Grow Vivi Before You Use It: Vivi's mana ability works once on each of your turns, so resolve its counter triggers before activating when you can afford to wait. Free spells such as [[Gitaxian Probe]] and [[Mishra's Bauble]] grow it, but use the mana earlier if you need it to continue.
Use Hullbreaker as Protection: [[Hullbreaker Horror]] can't be countered. Once it's out, answer a counterspell by casting any instant and returning their spell to their hand with Hullbreaker's trigger.
[[Final Fortune]]: It gives you an extra turn, so you can activate Vivi's mana ability again and keep chaining. Its delayed trigger makes you lose when it resolves in that turn's end step.
Conclusion
Before starting a cast loop, separate optional draws from mandatory ones. A line that deals enough damage can still fail if your own draw engine empties your library first.
Updated October 2026.
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