Narset, Enlightened Exile - WIP

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BlackbirdPlaysMTG
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 1 week ago

Narset, Enlightened Exile - WIP


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Table of Contents




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A Short Introduction


There was no thread or discussion about Narset yet, so I made one. Most of my current decks aren't exactly aggressive. I generally prefer to play the long game and grind my opponents out of the game by gaining an insurmountable advantage, be it card-wise or on board. Only my Ellivere of the Wild Court list really wants to get in the red zone. I have been looking into voltron decks lately, so I made a Kellan, the Fae-Blooded list with the help of @Avacyn Believer who wrote a great primer on his Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier voltron deck. I have also been looking at @MeowZeDung's Kykar, Wind's Fury primer and @Rumpy5897's Feather, the Redeemed deck, which are both very capable of winning with a swarm of (buffed) tokens. Played Rumpy's deck for a while and it's great fun, but also quite demanding with all the card draw and triggers that happen. Another commander that is always somewhere in the back of my head is Narset, Enlightened Master. I never actually built her, but did face her a few times. She basically just wins the game the moment she attacks - either because you string together extra turns or just gain so much (mana) advantage that your opponents just can't compete with all the value. I really like Narset as a character, but the OG version is just too much of a one-trick pony.

Then I remembered that she actually got a new card printed in the small Aftermath set - Narset, Enlightened Exile. This set contained quite a few interesting commanders that seemed to be tailored towards commander, but she was definitely one of the more interesting ones. Initially I wanted to do a voltron build with her, but she sort of encourages you to go wider because she grants Prowess to your entire board. Quite a potent buffing ability! Her second ability allows you to gain more value out of your noncreature spells. When she attacks, you may exile a noncreature, nonland card costing less than her power from a graveyard, create a copy of it and cast it without paying its mana cost. This is works nicely with instants and sorceries of course, but you can also create copies of artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers that ended up in your graveyard. My initial ideas for this list & strategy:
  • Narset likes to attack but doesn't have any evasion, so making her unblockable/giving her protection from colours is probably necessary
  • Going wide (with tokens for example) is a good way to milk the board-wide Prowess ability
  • She rewards chaining multiple spells during your own turn before you attack (or before damage)
  • Running a modest package of board protection/cheap counterspells is probably necessary to protect your gameplan
  • You ideally want to cast a decent number of (cheap) spells on turns were you are swinging in for damage, so card draw is pretty important to keep your grip full
  • A Sunforger package seems like a good fit
The list below is a first draft that I built around her, but it's very rough (I have no idea what I am doing honestly :rofl:). I am running cards like Weathered Wayfarer and I am like... "why am I running this goodstuff card that is not really contributing anything to the gameplan"? I am not running running enough evasive creatures/token makers, and the deck is too full of cycling and not enough gas. I am not sure if I want to run the Swords, maybe cards like Unquestioned Authority and Spectra Ward are more efficient.

Help is very, very welcome! Card suggestions, comments on strategy and card ratios, you name it. Help this late-game enthusiast become an aggro master :mad:.



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Decklist & Budget Variant


Narset, Enlightened Exile - WIP

Finisher (3)

Approximate Total Cost:

Narset, Enlightened Exile on a €150 Budget
Approximate Total Cost:




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Changelog


Changelog

Changelog 23/03/2024
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The Changes:

REMOVED :fuming: ADDED :)
Changelog 29/03/2024
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The Changes:

REMOVED :fuming:
  • Memory Deluge: Right... during goldfishing I realised that this card doesn't do its thing when you try and cast it with Narset from the graveyard. I have grown to really appreciate this card over the past few months, but I'd rather run something that does actually work with Narset's second ability.
ADDED :)
  • Quick Study: An instant-speed Divination. This card isn't sexy or super powerful. It's cheap mana-wise and good value with Narset though.




*****Credit for this Primer Template belongs to all members of the Primer Committee*****
Last edited by BlackbirdPlaysMTG 9 hours ago, edited 13 times in total.

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 1 week ago

I'd think you would place a premium on equipment that autoequips in this deck? Maybe embercleave and hammer of Nazahn type stuff?

I'm sure there are more decent ones I'm missing.

Both being a little awkward because of their mana value tho lol :D

Wonder if some auras may be efficient? There are quite a few cheap auras that give some value and also pump. Stuff like Ordeal of Thassa maybe?

Might be cause for some haste enablers. Flamekin village is one I always think of. But might be some cool auras or enchantments.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant effects might be pretty good options.


Cool stuff though. A deck that synergizes with fish is always cute :D

Extra turns and combats are the obvious lines I think. But might be worth a couple. I like the rebound one since you can get three out of it.

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 6 days ago

pokken wrote:
1 week ago
Extra turns and combats are the obvious lines I think. But might be worth a couple. I like the rebound one since you can get three out of it.
Thank you for responding! In all honesty, I didn't even think about extra turns and combats :rofl:. Guess she is more like OG Narset than I imagined. You mean World at War right?
I'd think you would place a premium on equipment that autoequips in this deck? Maybe embercleave and hammer of Nazahn type stuff?

I'm sure there are more decent ones I'm missing.

Both being a little awkward because of their mana value tho lol :D
Hammer of Nazahn is interesting. It gives an attack buff as well as making her indestructible. I think it's probably better than some of the Swords that I included in the draft. Embercleave could be pretty cheap if I have some tokens on the board, but I am unsure whether it is really worth it to go for voltronny damage-increasing equipments over keywords like indestructible and protection from X.
Wonder if some auras may be efficient? There are quite a few cheap auras that give some value and also pump. Stuff like Ordeal of Thassa maybe?
Yeah, I am definitely looking into auras, they are generally a bit cheaper mana-wise when compared to equipment, and because Narset can recur them the downside of losing them when she goes down is not as backbreaking.
Might be cause for some haste enablers. Flamekin village is one I always think of. But might be some cool auras or enchantments.
Maybe something like Rising of the Day? Triggers Narset's prowess and other cards that care about noncreature spells, buffs Narset by 1 and gives freshly created tokens the opportunity to get in there.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant effects might be pretty good options.
Hesitant to run walkers in EDH, but in a token deck they are better protected. Both +1 abilities from Elspeth are useful, and if I ever get the emblem... :grin:

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 5 days ago

Some initial changes based on goldfishing this list for a day - removed some ramp as the deck doesn't need that much of it and tweaked some categories. This might be the list I will be testing in my LGS. I have no idea how it will perform :P... kind of fun honestly, as I generally build decks and strategies that I at least have some experience with.

Changelog 23/03/2024

The Changes:

REMOVED :fuming: ADDED :)


EDIT: Added a €150 budget list to the main post :). Made the manabase a lot cheaper and removed some of the more expensive staples for alternatives.
Last edited by BlackbirdPlaysMTG 9 hours ago, edited 2 times in total.

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 5 days ago

Definitely consider adding Brought Back btw, narset being able to hit it and bring back fetchlands is pretty amazing. You can fetch fetch, brought back, then next turn do it again :D More fetches you run the better here, ofc.

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BlackbirdPlaysMTG
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 5 days ago

pokken wrote:
5 days ago
Definitely consider adding Brought Back btw, narset being able to hit it and bring back fetchlands is pretty amazing. You can fetch fetch, brought back, then next turn do it again :D More fetches you run the better here, ofc.
I visited my LGS today to browse through the single maps and I actually saw a Brought Back and considered it briefly. I have an ever-so-slight preference for Sevinne's Reclamation, but Brought Back becomes better if you can keep two white mana open during your opponent's turns reliably. Might snatch Brought Back from the binder next Friday anyway :).

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Post by Uncle_Krupi » 4 days ago

So I was typing out a response as I run a Narset EE deck as well, then I thought the effort was probably better spent creating the thread:

viewtopic.php?t=279825

Mine is more enchantress-focused than yours and prefers to run more repeatable enchantments like Flickering Ward or Mark of Fury. Not enough room for me to run a Sunforger package. On that note you're running more varied types of noncreature spells, so cards that trigger off only one type might be underwhelming (e.g. Storm-Kiln Artist, Young Pyromancer). Or perhaps go in the other direction and fovcus less on enchantments so make sure those in/sorc triggers are more reliable.

At first glance I'm not positive you're running enough token generators either.

Overall though looks like a very fun deck -- good luck!

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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 10 hours ago

Uncle_Krupi wrote:
4 days ago
So I was typing out a response as I run a Narset EE deck as well, then I thought the effort was probably better spent creating the thread:

viewtopic.php?t=279825

Mine is more enchantress-focused than yours and prefers to run more repeatable enchantments like Flickering Ward or Mark of Fury. Not enough room for me to run a Sunforger package.
Hey Krupi,

Thanks for your comment! I'll take a look at your list in a moment and provide some of my thoughts. Gotta help a fellow Narset player out right?
On that note you're running more varied types of noncreature spells, so cards that trigger off only one type might be underwhelming (e.g. Storm-Kiln Artist, Young Pyromancer). Or perhaps go in the other direction and fovcus less on enchantments so make sure those in/sorc triggers are more reliable.
Young Pyromancer is definitely the weakest token creator of the bunch, but I think I am running enough instants and sorceries to justify running her. The main list runs 26 instants and 9 sorceries - that's more than one-third of the deck. Narset can also reuse most of these with her second ability (save the counterspells) for extra triggers of Pyromancer, Talrand, Archmage and Artist. During goldfishing I got plenty of value out of these creatures.
At first glance I'm not positive you're running enough token generators either.
Yeah, this is something I am curious about as well. There aren't all that many good token creators in Jeskai that fit Narset's gameplan, but there are one-shot alternatives like Whirler Rogue that could fit the bill. Creates three bodies at once, two of those bodies are evasive and it provides the option of making Narset unblockable. Seems solid and worth playtesting.
Overall though looks like a very fun deck -- good luck!
Thanks! I ordered the deck last Sunday on Magiccardmarket and a lot of the cards are in by now. Made some small adjustments like running Heliod's Pilgrim + a small aura package instead of Stoneforge Mystic and the swords, but other than that the list is pretty close to what I want to run in the end. Really curious as to how it will perform :).

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BlackbirdPlaysMTG
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Post by BlackbirdPlaysMTG » 10 hours ago

Changelog 29/03/2024

The Changes:

REMOVED :fuming:
  • Memory Deluge: Right... during goldfishing I realised that this card doesn't do its thing when you try and cast it with Narset from the graveyard. I have grown to really appreciate this card over the past few months, but I'd rather run something that does actually work with Narset's second ability.
ADDED :)
  • Quick Study: An instant-speed Divination. This card isn't sexy or super powerful. It's cheap mana-wise and good value with Narset though.

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