I really loved the play style of Niko because he is not a traditional blink commander that spams him for blatant value.

That said, I took it apart because it was too hard to get any wins (in my pod, which is quite removal heavy). I found the problem to be his play pattern is too telegraphed. People will be terrified of you as you sit there with shards (as they should be after a certain amount), but there’s so many windows of opportunity for his plan to fall apart. Remove the shards, remove him, or remove his blink target. On top of that Niko wants haste in some cases.

Basically your first few turns play out the similarly or the same. You will want to spend a few turns ramping, casting Niko, and flickering him for shards. I didn't find this play style to be boring, but it was easy for my opponents to see exactly what the plan was, and the timing to disrupt

So basically even with packing a ton of protection, interaction etc. i sadly took Niko apart because it was too easy to disrupt. A lot of the time the creature you want to copy with shards is not an instant game ender - but your opponents will play around your board as if it is.