Nahiri, the Lithomancer - Equipments

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 3 years ago

Nahiri, the Lithomancer - Equipments

Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Approximate Total Cost:

A Brief History

Nahiri, the Lithomancer was my first ever commander deck. When friends of mine started getting into this format years ago, just to be able to play one night rather than building my own deck initially (having played other formats for years I wasn't opposed to this at all, but time was of the essence) I purchased the pre-constructed deck featuring Nahiri and was shocked and how well it did right out of the box. Ever since then I've upgraded and changed the deck quite a bit over the years.

Note - I have disassembled this deck as of 5/22/23. Leaving this up in case I revisit it in the future or someone else wants inspiration. Most of this deck has been transformed into trying out a deck for the new Nahiri, Forged in Fury.

About The Deck

Nahiri generally lends herself towards a token playstyle, an equipment heavy playstyle, or somewhere in between and I've changed the deck up between those two styles a number of times. At bare minimum, a Nahiri deck is always going to have some sort of equipment main or sub theme given that all three of her loyalty abilities involve equipment in some manner. Going more token focused than my current list is certainly viable to some degree but I enjoy the way this plays more at the moment.

Let's go through each of the loyalty abilities that Nahiri has:

+2: Create a 1/1 white Kor Soldier creature token. You may attach an Equipment you control to it.

This ability is going to be the ability that you use the most. If you have searched up Skullclamp then this ability is a great card draw engine, at that point it basically reads "+2: Draw two cards" which is a fantastic source of card advantage to have in a white deck. Otherwise, Nahiri makes sure any equipment you have in play will have a chance to be wielded without the expense of mana, which can be very impactful if you have something with a high equip cost like Argentum Armor or Colossus Hammer in play. Most offensive equipment can be serviceable in the hands of a 1/1 if you don't have to pay anything to equip. This ability also provides a blocker to protect Nahiri for a turn so if an opponent is getting concerned about Nahiri closing in on 10 to activate her ultimate ability, they are generally going to have to send at least two attackers (unless they have some sort of evasion). Most of the time, unless you are in need of pre-combat card draw and have a Skullclamp or Mentor of the Meek in play, you will be activating this ability in your post-combat main phase.

-2: You may put an Equipment card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield.

This ability will probably only be used a few times over the course of a game, sometimes not at all, and in my experience a lot of opponents tend to forget she even has it. This can surprise people with equipment they don't see coming, but also when someone expends effort to destroy equipment you have then it makes it easy to recover. I've had a number of opponents overlook this ability when Nahiri is in the command zone, use some removal on an equipment that concerns them, only to see me immediately get it back. You will most likely activate this ability in your pre-combat main phase to get an equipment available for a creature that needs to swing with it that turn but you may find yourself activating it in the post-combat main phase if you have for example, drawn an equipment off of a Sword of Fire and Ice trigger during combat. A great thing about this ability is it gets equipment down without worrying about counterspells, and gets around Rule of Law effects. Cheating in a surprise Argentum Armor or other pricey equipment piece for free is always a nice option to have, especially with effects that let you cheat on equipping as well.

-10: Create a colorless Equipment artifact token named Stoneforged Blade. It has indestructible, "Equipped creature gets +5/+5 and has double strike," and equip .

This ability can absolutely be a major source of damage but it isn't necessarily an immediate game ender like a lot of planeswalker's ultimate abilities are. Adding, at minimum, 11 damage to your combat phase (just assuming a 1/1 has the Stoneforged Blade) is not insignificant. If you happen to have Anointed Procession in play you can get two of these equipment pieces instead of one, which is nice. This is almost always going to be activated in your pre-combat main phase.

Nahiri generally does not get attacked by opponent's until she is closing in on activating her ultimate ability and usually by that point you will have some decent defenses. Even if you can't get the ultimate ability to go off, every attack opponents throw at Nahiri is less damage coming at you.

An incremental build-up of tokens, which is accelerated greatly by Anointed Procession, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion, can slowly become a solid threat, especially when supporting some of the actual creature cards in the deck. A moderate token army, some of which have been been equipped with various things for free when they came into play due to Nahiri's +2 aided by Mirror Entity can be a game ender.

Cards like Rule of Law, Ethersworn Canonist, Archon of Emeria, and Thalia, Heretic Cathar can be vital to keeping the game at a slower pace until you get built up and they keep any of the spellslingers in check. Depending on your local playgroup/meta at any point in time, you may need to lean even heavier into these effects or scale them back a little. Adding further hate bear types of creatures can definitely be a great idea, and most of them are not too shabby at holding equipment.

When it comes to the various equipment tutor effects, you really will have to read the board state at the time to decide what to go for. Sometimes the best thing to go for is going to be Colossus Hammer just to get the big damage going as quickly as possible. Sometimes you will need a source of card advantage instead like Skullclamp, Sword of Fire and Ice, or Sword of Light and Shadow. There isn't a single gameplan that you have to go for every game.

Why Nahiri?

There are some more obvious equipment and aggro commanders if you are wanting to play a monowhite deck. Sram, Senior Edificer and Kemba, Kha Regent are both excellent commanders for these strategies. However, in my experiencing seeing those decks, they are heavily reliant upon their commander being in play while this deck doesn't necessarily have to rush Nahiri into play right away depending on what cards you've got in hand and in play. Nahiri enhances the overall gameplan of the rest of the deck, but the deck does not absolutely rely upon her. Nahiri may not necessarily be blatantly stronger than those kinds of commanders, she does tend to be a bit more subtle. She does not tend to immediately draw attention the way that a more voltron oriented commander might, which can let you fly under the radar a bit.

Nahiri will be generating tokens, playing equipment from your hand for free, and having built in equipment recursive abilities gives you some different options that other monowhite equipment commanders don't have.

One other strength a deck like this has is after an enemy plays a creature board wipe like Wrath of God. Nahiri is an immediate source of creatures to pick up your equipment so you can continue swinging quickly. Sometimes you have no creatures in hand after a board wipe, but that isn't a factor here.

Nahiri can also be a pretty good source of card advantage with her +2 ability as detailed above. Sram, Senior Edificer also gets a great card draw engine going but in a different way.

Notable Exclusions

There are a number of cards that have been in and out of this deck over the years and some that may just seem like glaring exclusions.

Sun Titan - This is an amazing card as I'm sure most people know. It is pretty high on mana cost and the deck can only support so many high cost cards. It has certainly been in the deck at various points because there are a ton of cards that are CMC 3 or less. You could easily take out one of the other high mana cost cards like Captain of the Watch if you felt the need to include this.

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Elesh Norn has been in and out of this deck but much like Sun Titan, it is a high cost card and only so many of those can be run. At one point when this deck was much more token focused, I actually had the deck set up so that I could switch between Elesh Norn or Nahiri as the commander. Elesh is truly great for this deck as one of your high cost cards if you wish to try her out.

Sword of Feast and Famine - A lot of people love this one. I don't see this deck as actually taking full advantage of the abilities it has like some other decks can, although admittedly it is great.

Lightning Greaves & Swiftfoot Boots - Haste and the shroud/hexproof is great and these have been in the deck at various times. Giving haste to just one creature can be crucial with something like Heavenly Blademaster but overall when your deck is going wide it isn't as awful to be missing.

Any sort of board wipes - Occasionally I find myself in games wishing I had something like Austere Command but honestly I'm usually trying to be the aggressor and make it so that my board state is what makes people want to drop a board wipe. I wouldn't fault people for including these to some degree but overall I haven't found myself to be in need of them often enough to care.

Post by **ISBPathfinder** » 3 years ago

Its interesting that you went for more of a proactive strategy with Nahiri. I played against a deck for her a number of years back and I think that list probably ran in the range of 10 wraths. The concept of the list I played against was sort of along the idea of tutor and abuse Skullclamp. Drop wraths like Akroma's Vengeance and rez Skullclamp with the commander afterwards.

I guess I am curious as to why you chose Nahiri over someone like Sram or Kemba for a more proactive equipment strategy.

Gauntlet of Power feels a little out of place in this list to be honest. You aren't really a token swarm list nor do I see much for big mana going on here.

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 3 years ago

Sram or Kemba could potentially be better commanders for an equipment strategy but over the years I've just honestly enjoyed playing this deck with Nahiri in charge so I haven't really felt the need to switch it up. She is a bit more resilient in some respects as a planeswalker and her -2 is super useful too as my playgroup is not shy on removal and interaction for the most part. Constant access to Nahiri as the commander rather than in the 99 does open up some different angles than those two. I'm not usually absolutely dependent upon Nahiri being in play unlike most Sram decks I've seen, and she doesn't tend to have an immediate target on her head most of the time when I do put her in play.

I've played against a number of Sram decks and they just didn't seem to appeal to me with the voltron type angle since I already have quite a few decks that aim to win by commander damage anyway like Zurgo Helmsmasher. I definitely respect how effective Sram is though.

I've never seen a Kemba led deck but I could see that having some potential. I could potentially just swap Nahiri out for Kemba straight up and the deck would still be effective but in a different manner. It could be worth it to try it sometime. Kemba was in the 99 when this was more heavy on tokens.

This deck isn't going to hang with a CEDH crowd or anything but it generally can hold its own a fair amount of the time. As an aggro deck it is a bit of an uphill battle anyway sometimes, but you just have to target the "combo out of nowhere" decks first if possible.

Tokens and board wipes is a solid direction to go in with Nahiri. In the past this deck did lean more that way and got its fair share of wins but I've just found this more enjoyable to play with lately. I wanted to try a non-voltron but still equipment heavy strategy out and it has been pretty fun and decent since shifting in that direction.

Gauntlet of Power does pump all of my creatures but it is certainly a bit lackluster. Tapping out just to play it isn't exactly thrilling. It has been on the edge for sometime and is a bit of a relic of the earlier days when I had less good ramp and land drop guarantee cards in the deck and was leaning way harder on tokens as a win condition. It will probably be dropped from the deck when I revise it next (there are a few cards from the new set I am going to be trying out when I can get them like Halvar, God of Battle // Sword of the Realms and Glorious Protector).

weltkrieg · Post by **weltkrieg** » 3 years ago

I rather like Gauntlet of Power in here. I would even consider Caged Sun . It is true that you have a lot of equipment cheaters, but you don't always get them. Mana doubling goes a long way towards fixing that issue since equip costs are usually mana hungry. I would remove chrome mox for it which is bad in a deck full of artifacts in the first place.

For your equip lists, I would think that sword of truth and justice might be better than war and peace here. You already have 2 sources of protection from red and the proliferate makes for good synergy with your commander.

I actively question the use of godsend and darksteel plate here. Yes, I know darksteel plate adds indestructible. However, most of the time hexproof or shroud will do the job just as well. About the only time I can see darksteel plate being worth it is if it is attached to your heavenly blademaster or protector of the crown. Godsend really wants to be a Loxodon Warhammer or Shadowspear . Lifegain can be helpful.

Personally, I think you could use more card draw and repeatable equipment tutoring. Mask of Memory seems as if it would be really helpful. Is there a reason you're not running Stonehewer Giant ? It is both a free equip and a repeatable tutor.

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 3 years ago

I almost never have an issue with getting Chrome Mox online and it has led to some pretty fast starts. There are a good number of non-artifact cards in the deck. The real concern to weigh is the card disadvantage versus ramp and it has been worth it in my experience. It can be disappointing as a top deck but it adds more good than bad. It can be another cheap source of metalcraft being online quickly for the couple of cards that matters for as well. Having two mana available turn 1 or 3 mana available turn 2 can make quite a difference.

The indestructible equipments can be vital in maintaining a presence after a board wipe (that isn't -x/-x or exile). I run two for redundancy to increase odds of drawing into that sort of effect. The various "Sword of" do a good job of stopping stuff from being targetted to some degree also so hexproof hasn't been utterly crucial. Indestructible vs. Hexproof/Shroud is really looking to accomplish two slightly different things in my opinion. I could understand someone choosing to drop Darksteel Plate, but I rarely regret having it.

Godsend is really just a pet card I'm playing at the moment, admittedly it isn't a top tier equipment, but I could totally support switching it for Shadowspear or something else entirely. There are some small incidental lifegain aspects like Sword of Light and Shadow but overall i haven't found it to be a major need. If I were really wanting lifegain as a factor I'd be running True Conviction, which has been in the deck multiple times over the years.

Sword of Truth and Justice doesn't really strike me as fitting well. There aren't really enough payoffs for proliferate in the deck other than Nahiri and the Elspeths, which I dont feel is really enough to be worth it. Maybe if the deck were running quite a few more planeswalker cards I could see it. The Sword of War and Peace gives better protections (and I enjoy having some redundancy in that respect) and its actual abilities are a bit more impressive to me.

Card draw actually hasn't been a huge issue overall in my experience. Mask of Memory has been in the deck before and it is a super solid card that I have in other decks, so it is totally likely it could be back in at some point. Skullclamp, Mentor of the Meek, Sword of Fire and Ice, Stone Haven Outfitter, the various monarch cards, those all get some decent card draw action going. Sword of Light and Shadow is putting cards in hand in another way. Armored Skyhunter is another source of card advantage also. Enlightened Tutor, Steelshaper's Gift, and Stoneforge Mystic all can search out those card draw equipments fairly early if they don't get drawn naturally. Once Skullclamp and one of the 3 planeswalkers are in play, which is not difficult to set up, you tend to be able to draw quite a bit.

Stonehewer Giant is another one of those good but high mana cost cards and I can only run so many. I can definitely speak to it being good, I run it in my Zurgo deck, so I wouldn't fault anyone for running it of course. You could drop Captain of the Watch for it pretty easily.

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 3 years ago

Kaldheim singles showed up so I've made some changes to the list to try some things out:

Added Cards
+1 Reidane, God of the Worthy // Valkmira, Protector's Shield - This may be a dud but it holds equipment pretty decent and the tax on bigger spells may make a difference. Doesn't hurt to try it out for a bit.
+1 Halvar, God of Battle // Sword of the Realms - Everything it does is great for this deck. The equipment side is cool but this deck probably can't take much advantage of it.
+1 Glorious Protector - Seems pretty great for any deck running a decent amount of creatures.
+1 Cosmic Intervention - Similar to Glorious Protector but affects more things and could be great with planeswalkers.

Removed Cards
-1 Stone Haven Outfitter - It isn't awful but it isn't consistent either.
-1 Bounty Agent- I really like this, even without a ton of recursion but I needed to make room. If Reidane, God of the Worthy // Valkmira, Protector's Shield doesn't work out I'll probably swap this back in.
-1 Gauntlet of Power - This is an alright card, I don't think I'll miss it too much. Worst case I add it back in later.
-1 Kusari-Gama - After a few games with it, I never seemed to be in a great position to take advantage of it. I think it is good but in another deck that has bigger creatures most likely.

I've also made quite a few revisions to the original post to try to add a bit more detail.

I'm considering putting Scroll Rack in here as it has worked pretty great in other decks that have Land Tax. Maybe this will be in a future update.

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 2 years ago

A few neat new cards have come out lately that have persuaded me to make some adjustments to this deck.

Added Cards
+1 Esper Sentinel - This seems like a no-brainer choice to add. Potential source of card advantage, or at least a way to tax/slow down some opponents, and it only costs 1 mana. Being an artifact also helps with the Metalcraft cards and slides under the Ethersworn Canonist as well. With the equipment in this deck, I can increase the power of this fairly easily and probably more reliably draw some cards.
+1 Sword of Hearth and Home - It ramps, which is nice in a mono-white deck. The potential to blink some of the ETB creatures like Stoneforge Mystic or the monarch granting creatures seems pretty solid as well (although I'm not running a ton of these ETB effects).
+1 Archaeomancer's Map - I've tried this in some other decks and it has been fantastic.
+1 Quietus Spike - I decided to put this in the deck again, no idea why I had removed it a while ago. This increases the aggressive potential considerably for a deck that wins by turning creatures sideways.

Removed Cards
-1 Reidane, God of the Worthy // Valkmira, Protector's Shield
-1 Glorious Protector
-1 Cosmic Intervention
-1 Godsend

I haven't really played this deck much since I made my last update so I really didn't get to test the three cards I added last time that are being removed in this update but I think I have a decent amount of defensive tech already and I'd really rather go on the offense when possible, and the ramp/card advantage from the cards being added will work out better I believe. Godsend has always been a bit of a pet card, and it has actually made a difference in some games but it was time to switch it out for Quietus Spike since that is usually going to have a much bigger impact.

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 2 years ago

The recent Innistrad Midnight Hunt set actually had three new cards that seem like they'd be worth trying.

Added Cards
+1 Intrepid Adversary - This deck tends towards have a decent number of creatures in play, so this new card will definitely ramp up the aggression potential in the end game, sort of in the way that Mirror Entity does. Worst case, a 3/1 lifelink creature to carry equipment for two mana isn't awful in a pinch either.
+1 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar - Maybe I'm overhyping it, but this seems pretty awesome. It is potentially a pretty high power creature for three mana, while also furthering a go wide strategy.
+1 Visions of Glory - This might not be amazing but it seems to have some potential. With the flashback cost only being three mana in this deck, this could make the board get pretty big in some games.

Removed Cards
-1 Keeper of the Accord - I haven't really seen this do a ton. The first part is rarely triggered in this deck, and I already have a decent bit of ramp type stuff. I don't think this really fit the deck super well.
-1 Protector of the Crown - The defensive capabilities of this, especially with something like Darksteel Plate are nice, but I had to remove something to try these new cards and this is a rather high mana card that sometimes just doesn't do anything other than grant the monarch ability (which is admittedly nice in a white deck).
-1 Darksteel Plate - This was super useful with Protector of the Crown, but it is gone, and I still have Hammer of Nazahn if indestructibility is needed. If I ever put Protector of the Crown back in the deck, this will likely return as well.

I think these changes are a good shift towards increased offensive capabilities, so hopefully they'll work out.

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 1 year ago

I haven't played this deck a ton since the last time I posted an update but there have recently been a number of neat cards that feel very worthwhile to try out, so I have swapped out quite a few cards:

Added Cards
+1 Luxior, Giada's Gift - This is a game changer. Opening up the deck to a commander damage victory seems silly but very possible. Stopping opponents from attacking Nahiri or an Elspeth directly is certainly useful, although vulnerability to creature removal is a concern. I'm excited to see how this plays out.
+1 Grand Crescendo - For a mere two mana this is great for protecting a built up board, and the X value is worth throwing mana into if you have it to spare I think.
+1 Master of Ceremonies - All three options that opponents can pick from seem to be fairly useful and if Anointed Procession is out then two of the three options become even better. I'm generally not a fan of giving opponents resources but I think this is at least worth a try.
+1 Bennie Bracks, Zoologist - Seems to be a fairly reliable source of card draw.
+1 Welcoming Vampire - I think this one is going to on average be better than Mentor of the Meek unless I get a ton of token producers out.
+1 Call the Coppercoats - It's a great card when people are playing creature heavy decks, instant speed works great for it.

Removed Cards
-1 Visions of Glory - Never got to see it in action but Call the Coppercoats just feels better.
-1 Rest in Peace - This is always a flex spot card and I needed to make some room. If grave based decks become a serious issue anytime soon I can always throw it back in.
-1 Archon of Emeria - This is a great card that slows opponents and holds equipment well but I had to make room to try out some new stuff and this seemed like one of the easier cards to cut since I have other versions of it's effect in the deck.
-1 Mentor of the Meek - This might be a mistake, it's generally been useful but I added three potential card draw sources so I think this should play out alright.
-1 Intrepid Hero - Repeatable removal is really useful, but sometimes it does very little. Needed to find room to try out new things.
-1 Verge Rangers - This is a very "average" card, not bad but not amazing. Seemed like a decent choice to cut for the time being.

There are a few other cards I definitely wanted to make room for that have come out recently that I may try in the future:
Halo Fountain seems not unreasonable to actually try for it's "win the game condition" and other two abilities seem decent although probably a bit clunky.
Rabble Rousing seems like it could get out of hand pretty quick, and gets you a free cast with the Hideaway ability. The CMC is a bit high though.

Ruiner · Post by **Ruiner** » 1 year ago

Made a few changes due to some recently released cards.

Added Cards
+1 Myrel, Shield of Argive
+1 Loran of the Third Path
+1 Cut a Deal
+1 Clever Concealment
+1 Strixhaven Stadium

Removed Cards
-1 Master of Ceremonies
-1 Mirran Crusader
-1 Rule of Law
-1 Grand Crescendo
-1 Wayfarer's Bauble

Grand Crescendo and Clever Concealment fulfill very similar roles. I think it is very likely Grand Crescendo ends up being essentially free in this deck, so I'm switching these two cards for now as I don't think I need any extra deck spots dedicated to protection at the moment.

Master of Ceremonies is a decent card but in my experience works far better in a a more chilled, slower deck, so it's gone now.

Cut a Deal has impressed me in other decks so it definitely is going to work out well here I'm sure.

Myrel, Shield of Argive and Loran of the Third Path both seem pretty great for this deck.

I've wanted to try Strixhaven Stadium for a while now and it is likely not as good as Wayfarer's Bauble but I think it should at least be fun to try to score some goofy kills with. Both are essentially "Spend 3 mana to have an extra mana available on your turns" though.

I cut Mirran Crusader, which has done some great things in the past, but I needed to find room for something and this "just holds equipment".

Rule of Law is gone just to try new things and I haven't been seeing as much "spell slinger" type stuff happening with my playgroup. It always has a potential home in this deck though.

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