Norinota, Joiner of Waries
Artist : Heather Hudson
"I have a bad feeling about this"
—Norin the Wary
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Introduction
Norin the Wary is my favorite card of all-time. When Time Spiral was revealed, I was 13. I just started to understand how the game works, how deep was the lore and I felt in love with MtG for few years. I even got the Time Spiral trilogy books, wich were fantastic.
So, I have some kindness for this little special guy, with his weird ability. He's mysterious, he got quotes in a lot of cards all around the Multiverse (Jade Statue (Alpha version), Sabretooth Tiger (5th edition), Goblin Shrine, Animate Wall, Viscid Lemures) and a lot of people make fun of him. So, when I came back on Magic few years ago - thanks to EDH - I wanted to make a deck for him.
"When you have been bitten with fangs of granite, you start to long for the ivory sabers of tigers."
—Norin the Wary
—Norin the Wary
As you'll see, Norin is not the commander of this deck. But it's because he's hiding. Obviously.
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Deck History
The main difficulty was the mono-color, and the poor pool of red cards who can feet with ETB. Some enchants work with Norin, but most of these permanents were very bad (Vigilante Justice...). Above that, it was just a chaos deck. The job was done, but I was the table nemesis every game, doing the same thing every game (and losing every game without fun).
So, I tried to find something else. What will Norin do in that kind of situation ? And, of course, the answer was "hiding".
Nor-out : Norin as a secret commander. The idea is here, but now ? I had to find the perfect color combinaison. Gruul and Izzet weren't options. Rakdos could be, I liked the idea of "Opponents can't get life", but Boros was awesome. A good synergy with ETB and tiny creatures, a lot of human tutors to find Norin in the deck, lifegain, board protection.
After that, the commander was quite easy to find. Winota, Joiner of Forces was perfect for the job : her ability can help us to find Norin. That totally blew up my mind. And if Winota wasn't created for cEDH, but only to find Norin in a deck ? Maybe not, but imagine.
I'm not the first one who get the idea. During my research, I even seen it on MTGNexus. @ISBPathfinder did an absolute fantastic work on that topic. However, the lists are very different (30+ nonland cards aren't the same, so far). While ISBPathfinder's decklist is about triggering Winota and Norin, our is just for our little cutty archeologist/warrior/coward. Pretty sure ISBPathfinder one's is better, or at least faster, because Winota can do absolutely everything. But we didn't want a deck who can win without a cowardly Indiana Jones on board.
"Some of the other guys dared me to touch it, but I knew it weren't no ordinary hunk o' rock."
—Norin the Wary
—Norin the Wary
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Why Winota ?
I used to play these creatures when I built the deck for the first time, but it's definitely not the spirit of what we want here. Our real commander is Norin the Wary damnit ! We don't want to win on board, we want to hide and throw some stones from behind a huge rock !
So, there is three main reasons to put Winota on the command zone :
1. Obviously, the colors : is an incredible add for Norin. We can play a lot of ETB (and most of them are Human creatures which work well with our Winota, Joiner of Forces), we can protect our board (even though Norin can protect himself because he's perfect), we have access to a lot a nice tutors to help finding our false Lara Croft, we can gain life (which is very important because people around usually do not like watching their health points down fall : making us THE target) and we can use some reanimation and resilience spells if Norin or other precious creatures get countered or killed.
2. Finding our secret commander : Something I didn't mention yet, in addition to being a (fantastic) warrior, Norin is also a human. Just a human. Maybe he's not so special, but for Winota (and me), he is. Because Winota ability's will help us to put Norin on board faster - and she can also find a messenger who knows where Norin's hiding (Imperial Recruiter, Ranger of Eos, Ranger-Captain of Eos, Recruiter of the Guard, Thalia's Lancers).
3. Make them fear : Winota is famous (top 70 most played commander on EDHREC) and she is one of the most oppressive commander in EDH (easy A-Tier in cEDH). That will help us A LOT. If our opponents don't know the deck, even if you tell them that the real commander is Norin, their eyes will focus Winota. The thing is : we prefer by far losing Winota three times in a row, than once Purphoros, God of the Forge. If we can find Norin fast enough, we don't even need Winota on the battlefield.
Don't make me say something I didn't : Winota is incredible in this deck and can do A LOT of things other than finding Norin. We are always happy to keep her on the board because she gives us so much value. But we don't expect to win thank to her.
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Alternative commanders
I will not spend too much time on this, because it's quite hard to find a commander for a secret commander decklist, and after playing Norinota, I didn't want to try another general.
- Norin the Wary : Who else ? Norin can be his own commander. WotC give us some auto-include cards for a mono-red with Norin the past two years : Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power, Rose Room Treasurer, Witty Roastmaster or Gimli of the Glittering Caves. It could be more interesting than before.
- Purphoros, God of the Forge - If you want a very strong mono-red commander, go for it. You just have to find Norin, your main pinger is already in your command zone. Half-way to paradise.
- Cadric, Soul Kindler - If Winota didn't exist, I'm pretty sure I chose Cadric. He gives us access to all Boros cards, and he can double, triple, ... our triggers. Bushin no Jutsu. A board full of Norin, what a dream. Can be win-more in our deck, but as commander it's quite good.
- Dihada, Binder of Wills - A bit tricky here, help us to find Norin (but not so well than Winota), but she gives us a TONS of useful black cards.
- Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer - And here's our real challenger. Rocco could be the best commander for a secret commander, especially if that one is Norin. You just have to pay and Norin is on the board : Winota can't fight in the tutor battle.
Adding to the equation gives a nice pool of very good cards for the gameplan (Gala Greeters, Guardian Project, Aura Shards, Essence Warden). But, there is 3 main reasons that I still prefer Winota than Rocco :
1. Manabase, I don't think the green color gives us enough arguments to deserve a 3-color manabase. We want to gain life, draw and do damage, and we can do it in Boros colors. The ramp and big creatures don't interest us much.
2. Rocco deck is a toolbox, his ability can help find the right creature at the right time, but Winota's one is much better if you are behind. Most of the time, we don't need Winota when Norin is on the board, yes. But sometimes... it's good to know that we can have a backup plan in our Command Zone.
3. Flavour. And it was very important for me when I created the deck (before New Capenna and Rocco) : I very like the fact than Norin is a warrior and Winota a warleader looking for her damnit soldier and asking recruiters to find him. It makes the decklist a bit funnier to play.
Of course, all of this is very personnal. Rocco is a very good commander for Norin and he'll gives you a tons of solid cards if you choose him.
.Why and why not playing Norinota ?
Why not playing Norinota ?- You're looking for a "traditional" Winota deck. As we said, we avoid every Winota staples. With a good hand, we can spend the whole game without Winota on the battlefield and it's not an issue.
- You want a consistent deck. Sorry, but the thing is : if Norin is exiled, you'll pass a tough evening. We CAN still win without him, but it's quite hard.
- You like to interact with your opponents creatures. We have some spot removals in the decklist, but Norin prefers interact directly with life points.
Why playing Norinota ?- You want to have fun, playing a deck with flavour. Who else than Norin the Wary can be a secret commander, hiding in a deck ? And you need recruiters to find him ?
- You like to see how people interact with your deck. Sometimes, they will focus you because of pingers and Winota, sometimes it's the total opposite. And you have to adapt.
- You don't want to win on the battlefield. Your creatures can make a lot of things, but not killing your opponents by combat damages (can still happens though, we have Winota in the Command Zone).
- You love to see your opponents life points go down, ping after ping after ping, when your life goes up so fast.
"I fear anything with teeth measured in handspans!".
—Norin the WaryDecklist
Norinota, Joiner of WariesApproximate Total Cost:
As we can see, even without Winota staples/easy-triggers, we still have a lot of non-humans creatures. We will talk about all of that bellow.
.Read the card, explain the card
The decklist is totally non-exhaustive. I'll need more cards (fetchs, Mana Crypt, etc.) and it's absolutely possible that I missed a big staple. I also show my list because I'm pretty sure that we can do something better. Feel free to give your ideas !
I will try to take that decklist updated so far I can.
For now, here's my explanations.
Finding NorinShowHide- Winota, Joiner of Forces - Of course, Winota's here. Easy.
- Imperial Recruiter - Norin or another creature (if our best T1 is already on board), there's a lot of choice.
- Ranger-Captain of Eos - Almost the same thing that Imperial Recruiter, but it can also be sacrificed if we are afraid of counterspells (on Purphoros, for example).
- Ranger of Eos - Same, same, but twice. Unfortunately, we can't have two Norin.
- Recruiter of the Guard - I think we understand this one too.
- Thalia's Lancers - More expensive, but who cares with Winota ? You can get any Legendary permanent with them. A God of the Forge maybe ?
Norin, fire ! (ping)ShowHide- Purphoros, God of the Forge - One of the best card of the deck so far. Not a creature as long you have less than 5 devotion to red, indestructible. If he can touch the board, we are pretty sure to ping each opponents few times. At least 8 until your next turn, if Norin is also on the battlefield (well, when he comes back to it).
- Impact Tremors - The best red enchant in my book. Less violent than Purphoros, but also cheaper, it can come very fast on the battlefield. One per turn, to each opponent, good for me.
- Warleader's Call - Not so good than Impact Tremors, but still a nice enchant. The +1/+1 is even worse because Norin as 3/2 cannot triggers Welcoming Vampire, but all we want is damages.
- Witty Roastmaster - Impact Tremors, but a creature who can trigger Winota if we needed. Auto-include.
- Terror of the Peaks - Also a non-human creature, with flying. Can help us to clean the board or make some direct damages on a single opponent. Very solid.
- City on Fire - Even if we don't play around Winota ability, our board can be huge (hello Genesis Chamber). City on Fire can be cast for free and it triples all the damages of our pingers.
- Solphim, Mayhem Dominus - Same effect than City on Fire, but who can be indestructible and trigger Winota.
- Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power - Can turn our 1-damage Impact Tremors into a 4-damages. 16 per opponent if it stay on the board until your next turn. Surprisingly hard to remove, because he can turn-on very easily.
- Angrath's Marauders - When they comes with the Winota ability, it's already very very good. If they stay a bit on the table with a pinger, it's destructive.
Norin, help ! (lifegain)ShowHide- Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant - The Soul Sisters are our best friends in this deck. Come fast on the board, can be hit by our tutors. They are annoying but not enough to be removed and give us a tons of life. And they trigger also when opponents creatures touch the battlefield (hello again, Genesis Chamber).
- Auriok Champion - Basically the same thing that the Soul Sisters for two , but the protection worth it.
- Daxos, Blessed by the Sun - Not a big fan of Daxos, but the fact that he's come fast and can trigger both Winota and Norin is a very good point. I never win because of him, but I never lose neither.
- Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom - Can be found with Winota, trigger on Norin and can trigger Winota later. It's a very good creature.
- Mardu Woe-Reaper - Life, life, life again, but this time, when Norin (or another human) come, we can grave hate.
Norin, do something please ! (other ETB)ShowHide- Genesis Chamber - I love that card. It's a fantastic spot in our deck : it basically doubles the ETB of our creatures, is a real engine for Winota ability, works well with our Soul Sisters. Does everything we want.
- Blessed Sanctuary - The effect is not so far than Genesis Chamber one : triggering on Norin, create 4 unicorns for your next turn who can trigger Winota. The board protection is more important than we can imagine, though.
- Gimli of the Glittering Caves - Didn't expect anything from the Dwarf, but it's a really good card. Help us to ramp in early, it will be a real threat if he stays on board with Norin.
- Rose Room Treasurer - Very versatile card. We can create a tons of treasure, and it sometimes can be a excellent removal engine.
- Welcoming Vampire - So strong. Non-human creature with flying who can make us draw one card per turn for free ? "Hold my lantern" - Norin the Wary.
- Tocasia's Welcome - Basically a Welcoming Vampire but harder to remove.
- Spirit Bonds - Feet well with Norin and Winota, and give us some protection if we needed. What asking more ?
Noring doublingShowHide- Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines - Doubling the trigger of our permanents and cancelling the opponent ones. It's maybe a bit win-more, but just because it will cristallise the hate in something else than our needed permanents : worth it. Very good card.
- Gandalf the White - You can cast Norin as an instant. Love it. And it also doubles our triggers. And he's never late.
- Panharmonicon - Of course, Panharmonicon is also here.
Other stuff, not reliable to our Rick O'ConnellShowHideRemovals/Board GestionShowHide- Blasphemous Act - Sometimes, we are not in a good game. No board, no pingers, maybe even Norin is not here. A boardwipe is a good solution. Sometimes, we have a big board, few pingers, Norin, something who can keeps our creature alive (Grand Crescendo, Blessed Sanctuary, etc.) and an opponent close to win the game. A boardwipe is also a good solution.
- Burn Down the House - Good versatile card. Works well with our deck : small boardwipe if we needed, easy ETB and food for Winota.
- Generous Gift - One of the best removal in white. Always useful.
- Swords to Plowshares - Best creature removal in my book.
- Brutal Cathar // Moonrage Brute - Can be found by Winota and can trigger her later, strong politic potential.
- Duergar Hedge-Mage - Easy to get the condition to destroy an enchant and an artefact. And then, we can send him to fight for Winono.
- Vandalblast - One of the best board wipe in the game, by far.
And we already talked about our Rose Room Treasurer and Terror of the Peaks
ProtectionShowHide- Selfless Savior - The doggo is our friend. Easy to see why ! We need things to protect our creature in this deck, and he does it very well. He can also be reanimate from the graveyard with Abiding Grace.
- Mother of Runes - Like the dog, she's always very useful.
- Skrelv, Defector Mite - Same style.
- Boros Charm - Very versatile, it protects the whole board and can also be a good removal.
- Grand Crescendo - One of the best add, I totally pass through this card when it was revealed but it's very good. Save our board for and give us some Winota stuff if we pay the X. If we have some pingers on board, can be a wincon.
- Lena, Selfless Champion - Again, a very versatile card. Lena does everything we want (maybe too much) : save our board, be found by Winota and create Soldiers.
- Teferi's Protection - What else ? We'll certainly miss some triggers, but sometimes it's ok to stay hide a bit longer, Norin !
- Selfless Spirit - Can be sacrificed whenever you want to make your board indestructible is already a good point, but being a non-human creature for two, with flying ?
RampShowHide- Arcane Signet - I'll go fast on that one.
- Sol Ring - Same thing.
- Boros Signet - Same.
- Dockside Extortionist - Now we can talk. Strong card, cheap (I mean, manas), can trigger Winota. Well, didn't need to talk too much.
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer - Didn't sure that the monkey has a spot on this deck, but I had it in my collection. Fantastic in early game, he can be a very good allied in late.
- Solemn Simulacrum - One land, one draw and one (at least) trigger for Winota. Enough for me.
- Aerial Surveyor - Early trigger for Winota and there is always someone who ramps better than us. As Smuggler's Copter, it can be piloted by Norin or our small creatures.
- Jeska's Will - Not the best card here, because Winota is not always on board. But strong effects.
+ We already talked about Rose Room Treasurer and Gimli of the Glittering Caves
DrawShowHide- Esper Sentinel - Good draw engine, useful in early, lesser in late game. But we are happy when it's in our opening hand.
- Mangara, the Diplomat - He will make us draw tons of cards for sure. I like the fact that he can be good against a lot of strategy.
- Smuggler's Copter - Wonderful card. Can be piloted by Norin or a Soul Sister, flying, non-human, draw. Awesome.
- Trouble in Pairs - Mangara n°2 + it will be annoying for my friend who plays extra-turns.
+ Tocasia's Welcome, Jeska's Will, Solemn Simulacrum and Welcoming Vampire.
ResilienceShowHideOur worst nightmare is to lose Norin. A Toxrill, the Corrosive, an activated capacity, whatever. It can happens that our little boy cannot hide anymore. So, we need some reanimation somewhere.
- Abiding Grace - Not a very good card in most of decks, in our it's huge. It can stay here and give us some life points, but above that if Norin get removed you can give him a second life. Can also reanimate a lot of good drops 1 : Esper Sentinel, Soul Warden, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Selfless Savior, Mother of Runes, etc.
- Celestine, the Living Saint - We sometimes gain a lot of life during our turn : one is enough for Norin, but with 4, Purphoros came back also !
Other good things in our bagShowHide- Enlightened Tutor and Idyllic Tutor - We need our enchants, and they can't be find with Winota.
- Grand Abolisher and Myrel, Shield of Argive - Blue player can be the worst match-up : don't let us playing Norin or Purphoros can be the right choice to put us out of the game so Myrel and the Abolisher can be very useful. Myrel gives us some food for Winota, too.
- Roiling Vortex - Our main wincon is to ping our opponents to death. We hate lifegain decks, so we need something to annoying them a bit.
LandsShowHide- Ancient Tomb - Fast mana, auto-include.
- Fetch lands (Arid Mesa, Prismatic Vista, Marsh Flats, etc.) - For the fixing.
- Command Tower - AU-TO-IN-CLU-ED.
- City of Brass and Mana Confluence - We are not afraid of losing life, and they both can fix our mana.
- Rugged Prairie, Sacred Foundry, Spectator Seating, Sundown Pass, Elegant Parlor, Battlefield Forge -
- Kher Keep, Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance and Blinkmoth Nexus - Can sometimes help us to trigger Winota if we are far behind. Don't really like them, but they can help.
- Cavern of Souls - Most of the time, none of our humans will be countered. But our two gods ? Maybe. I'm trying it, don't know if it's good or useless yet.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - Our devotion can be high. Most of the time, it's worth and at worst, it's a colorless mana for a while.
- Hall of Heliod's Generosity - Because our enchantment are importants, we don't want to see them in our graveyard. If our opponents can't target Norin easily, they'll focus on Purphoros or Impact Tremors.
- Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire - I love the KND land cycle, the versatility is incredible.
- Mountain and Plains - Why not ?
"I knew it weren't no ordinary pile of—you know."
—Norin the Wary.Didn't make the cutShowHide- A lot of Winota staples : Blade Historian, Legion Warboss, Loyal Apprentice, Goblin Rabblemaster, Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort, Priest of the Blessed Graf, Combat Celebrant, etc. (see EDHrec page) - As we said, we don't need them. This is not the spirit of our fantastic explorator.
- Cadric, Soul Kindler - Good card, but a bit "win-more" in our deck. I do prefer Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, Gandalf the Grey or Mirror March because you don't have to pay the .
- Warstorm Surge - Too expensive. Got it in the deck since the beggining but we don't wanna pay 6 manas for it. Cut.
- Vigilante Justice - Even worse than Warstorm Surge. It's sad because we have a tons of Human creatures, but anyway.
- Cathars' Crusade - Funny card with Norin, but we don't need to get a bunch of big creatures on the board.
- Ajani's Welcome - Solid enchant, but I think we have enough lifegain with our creatures.
- Skyclave Apparition - I love that one, but I didn't find a spot for her. Sadly, but I'll think about it.
- Champion of the Parish - Work well with Norin, but basically just a big body who can't even trigger Winota. Gimli of the Glittering Caves is more expensive but so much better.
- Skullclamp - We can create a lot of 1/1 tokens, but maybe not enough to take a spot in the decklist. Next.
- Palace Jailer - Strong removal, but we aren't so good to keep the Monarch. In my book, Brutal Cathar // Moonrage Brute is better.
- Confusion in the Ranks - Auto-include in most of Norin decklists, it's a bit too confusing for what we want. Don't really need it, and it makes us the main target.
- Dictate of the Twin Gods - Double the damages for sure, but for everyone. Can be super good or super bad, depending of our opponents. We have enough, don't take that risk.
- Fiery Emancipation - Triple the damages, but 6 manas is too much. A bit win-more, I do prefer City on Fire because we have creatures who can help to pay.
- Torbran, Thane of Red Fell - I never tried him, I think that the is a bit expensive, but why not ?
- Mentor of the Meek - Definitely bader than Welcoming Vampire. Can be cut soon, on my watch list. Still a draw engine, buuuuuuut... do we need it ?
- Mirror March - This card is SO funny. I had so much fun playing it. The thing is : 6 is expensive, and it's not so strong because you need luck (and I don't have any). Good for a budget deck if you don't have Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, with a fun potential.
- By Invitation Only - Good against Voltron or if we can get a very big board, but I'm not totally sure that is a good card overall.
- Loran of the Third Path - Solid removal, can be politic and makes us draw. But Duergar Hedge-Mage is more useful most of the time.
- Keeper of the Accord - Typically the kind of creature I do not like in this deck because it's a Winota staple. Creating non-humans like this is too easy, but the ramp is fine.
- Angel of Glory's Rise - Hard to cast, and most of the time it's a dead card because we can find a way to protect our board. I was focusing about how the card can be strong on paper. In practice, it's meeh.
- Chaos Warp - Strong removal, can pass through indestructible. It's personal but I do prefer Swords to Plowshares or Generous Gift
Strategy
So, basically, the decklist turns around Norin the Wary. It's not an aggro or a big damages deck, we can see it more like a mid-range deck. It's not so fast, because our commander is not in the Command Zone. We have to set up our board, swimming under the radars during few turns before taking action. Three steps.
First of all, we need to find him. Because he's very important for our strategy but he's not in the Command Zone, all our resources should go toward our library, looking for a little man with a lantern. In early game, if Norin is not in our hand, we should be afraid of a lot of decks. I have a friend who plays mill, another one has a Pako, Arcane Retriever deck, we don't want them to find Norin before us.Early game : Finding Norin
If Norin and some lands are in our opening hand, we should always keep it. Otherwise, we need some ramp and something who can trigger Winota. A cheap tutor can be good too. Most of the time, we should catch Norin T3 or T4, don't worry.
We finally get Norin, it's time to set up our board. We're looking for non-oppressive trigger : lifegain. Try to find a Soul Sister for example. What we want here isn't to be a threat for our opponents, remember that they are already afraid about Winota.Mid game : Setting up our friends
We don't especially need a tons of life points, we just want a comfortable mattress. The deck can be destructive at some point, and sometimes the easy way for our opponents to survive is to take us out of the game. More we can get high in life points, better he is for the late game.
Then, when we finally get our pingers and damage enablers, it's time to put them on the battlefield. Remember that it always better to get something like Myrel, Shield of Argive or Grand Abolisher on board to avoid any counterspell on Purphoros, for example. Ranger-Captain of Eos and Cavern of Souls can also work.
And here we are, now it can go very fast. Everything can work quite good. A Norin the Wary + Purphoros, God of the Forge + Angrath's Marauders : 4 damages per turn to each.
We get Norin the Wary + Impact Tremors + Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power ? 4 damages per turn.
Hmm Norin the Wary + Witty Roastmaster + Solphim, Mayhem Dominus ? 2 damages per turn.
There is a ton of possibilities. Add anything who can doubling our trigger and it's destructive.
Everything went the way we wanted. Now, we just have to wait, looking our opponents in the eyes while they are trying to survive. They'll try to remove our creatures, but we have answers in the deck, thank to white color : Mother of Runes, Grand Crescendo, Lena, Selfless Champion, Teferi's Protection, Selfless Spirit, Selfless Savior, Boros Charm, they are all useful in late. If we needed, card like Grand Crescendo can also be a finisher.Late game : Protecting our board
Lemurs? Is that all? Finally, something harmless...".
—Norin the WaryConclusion
I had (and still have) a lot of fun creating that decklist and playing Norin. I'm happy to share it with you guys with my very first topic ever on MTGNexus. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as me ! As I said, creating a deck around him was one of my objective when I came back on Magic few years ago. The decklist changed a lot and will change again in the future, feel free to try things and let me know, maybe we can find something much better !
(Btw, I'm sorry if there are some spelling mistakes in the text, I'm not a native english speaker.)
Have a good day and don't forget to check, sometimes, if Norin isn't hiding behind you.
.Changelog
January 2024ShowHide+ Aerial Surveyor
+ Skrelv, Defector Mite
+ Swords to Plowshares
+ Burn Down the House
+ Tocasia's Welcome
+ Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
+ Some fetch lands for fixing
- Keeper of the Accord
- Loran of the Third Path
- By Invitation Only
- Chaos Warp
- Mentor of the Meek
- Some basic landsMurders at Karlov Manor - February 2024ShowHide
