"You know that a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - Sherlock Holmes
You have a lot of draw, setup, and answers, but you don't have anything worth protecting, which I think is a disservice to narset's ability to ignore mana costs.
Jeskai Ascendancy is just plain awesome for the deck: It allowed me to dig 2 or 3 cards deep per attack swing, and made Narset into a monster. Plus, untaps my creatures so they may block next turn. Overall, a big sign of approval! Another card that performed nicely was Goblinslide. I hadn't noticed until it was pointed out to me that they have haste!
Hypersonic Dragon didn't really do anything for me. On the chopblock for now.
And, yes the deck lacks... staying power? It burns through cards pretty fast, what with Narset's ability plus Jeskai Ascendancy, plus all the card draw I slotted in. It didn't help that one of my opponent's was playing Jeleva, either. So I'll start looking for a big blunt instrument to win the game with. I'll go with Carthage's list: I do have a Rite of Replication that I can use.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"You know that a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - Sherlock Holmes
I'm thinking of doing a creatureless narset deck, and the thing I'm really thinking is land destruction. Cards like ruination, Armageddon, and destructive force could be outrageously fun. I'd also up the number of wraths with cards like blasphemous act, end hostilities, etc. The real plus to narset though, is that she can play planeswalkers. So I'd want to run cards like Gideon, Champion of Ravnica, and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker.
Played a second game, this time against Zurgo Helmsmasher, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Animar, Soul of Elements and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. Zurgo and Animar ganged up on Oloro to keep his lifegain in check, and I lucked into a massive Nova to pretty much one shot Hannah while she was tapped out and finish off the weakened Oloro: Drew Medomai with haste courtesy of Hall of the Bandit Lord, and Narset flips Jeskai Ascendancy. Instants make me draw into Aurelia. At the extra turn, play Aurelia, flip Waves of Aggresion and Flying Crane Technique. During Aurelia's extra attack phase I flip howl of the Horde, which I use to copy Waves of Aggresion twice. Of course, then Animar Obliterated the table, and a lot of my lands had been exiled by then
Having to balance Mana sinks with the need to keep mana open for instants is really cutting into the utility of those mana sinks to begin with. Case in point, having Quiet Contemplation, Pemmin's Aura and Flickerform in play while I'm holding three instants meant missing good chances to play my instants or not using the mana sinks to the fullest. So, also adding them to my chop block. I'm probably upping my land count to 37.
"You know that a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - Sherlock Holmes
Reduced the creature count in the deck, and added Propaganda / Ghostly Prison to try to keep other decks at bay, plus an additional board sweeper in the form of Cataclysm. Storm Herd & Armageddon to try to lock up the game. Plus Spelltwine to reuse some of my sorceries or instants. Also, upped the land count to 37.
Ohmnath and Surrak kept putting pressure on the table. I kept creatures from hitting me by being lucky enough to put Propaganda and Ghostly prison into play. Child of Alara wrathed the board a few times, but the other Narset player kept to himself "You playing your Commander any time soon?" "Nah, waiting for you to blink" (Cheeky fellow). He was actually holding onto a Hinder and tucked my Narset into the bottom. Luckily, I had Long-Term Plans in hand to (sorta) bring Narset back. Drew Storm Herd, and with Jeskai Ascendancy already in play, I thought I had the game in the back (26 Tokens), but Child Detention Sphered my tokens away At which point, other Narset went infinite with Archaeomancer, Venser, the Sojourner and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, plus an extra turn Sorcery.
Second game was similar. I had to wipe the board a few times due to Surrak and Omnath's aggresiveness. Retribution of the Meek was pretty sweet here, allowing my Narset, Guttersnipe and Warden of the Eye to survive. I managed to take out the other Narset, who was having mana issues courtesy of Incendiary Command (Copied with Howl of the Horde) and Return to Dust. Child of Alara and Surrak were beating the daylights out of each other when Omnath produced a Metric *****-ton (that needs to become an official unit of measurement) of Mana to fuel a Genesis Wave and literally put his entire deck onto the battlefield, no other non-permanent spells in the deck, and smashed our collective faces with a few dozens of Hasty, Trampling, 30/30s
"You know that a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - Sherlock Holmes
Played again, this time against Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Shaarum the Hegemon and Numot, the devastator. Quite frustrating, actually, since Numot had a very strong land destruction suite (both global and targeted, and Augustin made things expensive on anyone. Fortunately, the Numot player kept focusing on keeping Sharuum in check via targeted land destruction. I caught both Augustin and Sharuum tapped out, which gave me a chance to pretty much one shot the entire board: Time Stretch & Storm Herd went to the top of the deck via Brainstorm. Flipped an additional Firemind's Foresight that searched for Enlightened Tutor and Long-Term Plans and Boros Charm. End of turn Tutor for Jeskai Ascendancy and it's all over.
Second game, however, Numot targeted my lands and Augustin kept counterspeling/disenchanting my mana rocks. Shaarum comboed in something like turn five.
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Added Time Stretch, Ral Zarek, Venser, the Sojourner and Elspeth, Knight-Errant to the deck. Ral Zarek taps potential blockers (and works nicely with Ajani), Elspeth and Venser give Narset much needed evasion. Time Stretch has already won me a game
"You know that a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - Sherlock Holmes
Finally had time to Update my list here. I've gone almost creature-less and added around 10 counterspells, which aren't that bad an inclusion in Narset, as it turns out.
I'm pretty happy with this version of the deck.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"You know that a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - Sherlock Holmes
"You know that a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - Sherlock Holmes
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6 Narset, Enlightened Master
Creatures: 1
5 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Instant: 24
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Brainstorm
1 Swan Song
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Wear // Tear
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Negate
2 Telling Time
2 Lightning Helix
2 Boros Charm
2 Twincast
2 Counterspell
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Jeskai Charm
3 Counterflux
3 Render Silent
3 Hinder
3 Orim's Thunder
3 Reiterate
3 Long-Term Plans
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Steam Augury
4 Cryptic Command
Sorcery: 20
0 Ancestral Vision
1 Preordain
3 Retribution of the Meek
4 Mystic Retrieval
4 Rite of Replication
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Divine Reckoning
4 Cataclysm
4 Armageddon
5 Waves of Aggression
5 Bribery
5 Acquire
6 Mind's Desire
6 Terminus
6 Austere Command
7 Temporal Mastery
7 Fury of the Horde
8 Treasure Cruise
10 Time Stretch
10 Storm Herd
1 Sol Ring
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Talisman of Progress
2 Azorius Signet
2 Izzet Signet
2 Boros Signet
2 Mind Stone
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Commander's Sphere
5 Gilded Lotus
Enchantments: 4
1 Clout of the Dominus
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Propaganda
8 Decree of Silence
Planeswalkers: 2
4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Ral Zarek
Land: 35
7x Plains
7x Island
5x Mountains
1x Tolaria West
1x Halimar Depths
1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
1x Temple of the False God
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Arid Mesa
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Flooded Strand
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Temple of Triumph
1x Temple of Epiphany
1x Celestial Colonnade
1x Mystic Monastery
1x Command Tower
Concept behind the deck's simple: Use Narset's ability to clear the way of enemy blockers or draw into more cards in hand.
If we stay on narset theme of avoiding creature spells, we still have plenty of options:
insurrection often wins the game on the spot
storm herd is another one
rite of replication( you can kick it with narset )
blatant thievery
omniscience
You have a lot of draw, setup, and answers, but you don't have anything worth protecting, which I think is a disservice to narset's ability to ignore mana costs.
Jeskai Ascendancy is just plain awesome for the deck: It allowed me to dig 2 or 3 cards deep per attack swing, and made Narset into a monster. Plus, untaps my creatures so they may block next turn. Overall, a big sign of approval! Another card that performed nicely was Goblinslide. I hadn't noticed until it was pointed out to me that they have haste!
Hypersonic Dragon didn't really do anything for me. On the chopblock for now.
And, yes the deck lacks... staying power? It burns through cards pretty fast, what with Narset's ability plus Jeskai Ascendancy, plus all the card draw I slotted in. It didn't help that one of my opponent's was playing Jeleva, either. So I'll start looking for a big blunt instrument to win the game with. I'll go with Carthage's list: I do have a Rite of Replication that I can use.
Also, Past in flames.
Having to balance Mana sinks with the need to keep mana open for instants is really cutting into the utility of those mana sinks to begin with. Case in point, having Quiet Contemplation, Pemmin's Aura and Flickerform in play while I'm holding three instants meant missing good chances to play my instants or not using the mana sinks to the fullest. So, also adding them to my chop block. I'm probably upping my land count to 37.
In:
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Warleader's Helix
1 Armageddon
1 Storm Herd
1 Fury of the Horde
1 Spelltwine
1 Cataclysm
1 Propaganda
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Island
1 Mantis Rider
1 Tarland, Sky Summoner
1 Hypersonic Dragon
1 Cunning Wish
1 Winterflame
1 Flickerform
1 Quiet Contemplation
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Goblinslide
1 Tithe
1 Mountain
1 Plains
Reduced the creature count in the deck, and added Propaganda / Ghostly Prison to try to keep other decks at bay, plus an additional board sweeper in the form of Cataclysm. Storm Herd & Armageddon to try to lock up the game. Plus Spelltwine to reuse some of my sorceries or instants. Also, upped the land count to 37.
Played 2 games against Ohmnath, Locus of Mana, Child of Alara, Surrak Dragonclaw and... another Narset, Enlightened Master.
Ohmnath and Surrak kept putting pressure on the table. I kept creatures from hitting me by being lucky enough to put Propaganda and Ghostly prison into play. Child of Alara wrathed the board a few times, but the other Narset player kept to himself "You playing your Commander any time soon?" "Nah, waiting for you to blink" (Cheeky fellow). He was actually holding onto a Hinder and tucked my Narset into the bottom. Luckily, I had Long-Term Plans in hand to (sorta) bring Narset back. Drew Storm Herd, and with Jeskai Ascendancy already in play, I thought I had the game in the back (26 Tokens), but Child Detention Sphered my tokens away At which point, other Narset went infinite with Archaeomancer, Venser, the Sojourner and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, plus an extra turn Sorcery.
Second game was similar. I had to wipe the board a few times due to Surrak and Omnath's aggresiveness. Retribution of the Meek was pretty sweet here, allowing my Narset, Guttersnipe and Warden of the Eye to survive. I managed to take out the other Narset, who was having mana issues courtesy of Incendiary Command (Copied with Howl of the Horde) and Return to Dust. Child of Alara and Surrak were beating the daylights out of each other when Omnath produced a Metric *****-ton (that needs to become an official unit of measurement) of Mana to fuel a Genesis Wave and literally put his entire deck onto the battlefield, no other non-permanent spells in the deck, and smashed our collective faces with a few dozens of Hasty, Trampling, 30/30s
All in all, the deck's performing quite well.
Edit: The other Narset build seemed to be heavier on Planeswalkers: I saw Jace, the mind Sculptor, Venser the Sojourner, Ral Zarek, Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. Quite a few extra turn cards, Archaeomancer, Izzet Chronarch, Call to Mind & Mystic Retrieval. Plus a more or less standard Counter/Spot removal/Board wipe suite.
Not sure I agree with a heavy Counterspell suite for Narset... they seem like a dead card if flipped with her ability.
Second game, however, Numot targeted my lands and Augustin kept counterspeling/disenchanting my mana rocks. Shaarum comboed in something like turn five.
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Added Time Stretch, Ral Zarek, Venser, the Sojourner and Elspeth, Knight-Errant to the deck. Ral Zarek taps potential blockers (and works nicely with Ajani), Elspeth and Venser give Narset much needed evasion. Time Stretch has already won me a game
1 Ral Zarek
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Time Stretch
1 Electrolize
1 Lightning Helix
1 Wear // Tear
1 Day of Judgment
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Propaganda
1 Dig Through Time
1 Spelltwine
1 Histroinic Resonator
1 Miraculous Recovery
I'm pretty happy with this version of the deck.