What!? A deck with Norin the Wary!? That's not awful!? Blasphemy!
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Introduction
It's 2006. You just bought a new booster pack from the new Time Spiral set. You think about all the potential goodies that could be inside, Lotus Bloom, Dragonstorm, Akroma, Angel of Wrath. You rip open your pack with glee and go straight to the rare and find... Norin the Wary. You stare at it blankly for a few seconds as you scan it's text. Then you scan it again... and again.
"IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING!" you screech. For the next 5 years, it collects dust in your rare binder. Nobody wants it... It's beginning to decompose...
But alas a miracle happens. The wait is over. There is indeed a use for this card.
And that, my friends, is why you should play Norin the Wary (other than the fact that it's a fun deck to play with).
History
Literally, Norin the Wary has made no appearance in any tournament in any format whatsoever. Trust me, I searched.
Soul Sisters, which Norin the Wary is somewhat based off of, has made small appearances in Standard and has fairly good results. The original deck used lifegain from Soul Warden to power up a Serra Ascendent and stall to play bigger creatures.
Here's the original decklist (or the oldest one I can find, let me know if you found an older one):
This deck is rather simple to run. Simply have some combination of ETB cards and a Norin the Wary to gain many various effects. Like lifegain, creature tokens, creature boosting, and card draw. With these you overwhelm your opponents with Myr or a really big Champion of the Parish.
Here's an example of a rather ideal play (Note: Soul Warden can be replace with any creature with the same abilities):
T1: Champion of the Parish
T2: Soul Warden, Norin the Wary, swing for 3, Gain 2 life(assuming your opponent casts a spell or attacks)
T3: Genesis Chamber, another Soul Warden or Path to Exile, swing with Champion of the Parish for 6, Gain 4 life and 2 Myr, possibly more.
T4: Mentor of the Meek, draw, swing for 9, Gain some more life and a few more Myr.
T5: Ranger of Eos, fetch whatever your need, swing for 12,Gain some more life and add more Myr.
T6: Draw a bunch, gain a bunch of life, add more myr to your army, and win.
Deck List
Keep in mind, this deck is still a work in progress and this deck list will surely change.
Norin the Wary
He's the reason this deck was made, he triggers Genesis Chamber, Pandemonium, Confusion in the Ranks, Mentor of the Meek, Champion of the Parish, and Soul Warden on your turn AND your opponents turn. He also dodges almost all removal. You really want this guy in your opening hand (you can still win without him, but he makes it a lot easier). The only thing that kills this guy (that sees play) is Grim Lavamancer and Mogg Fanatic, and even those can be avoided.
Glitterfang
Sort of a Norin Jr. He doesn't trigger Champion of the Parish and doesn't activate on your opponent's turn. But triggers just about anything else. Can also attack early for a few quick hits.
Norin's Best Friends
Soul Warden
Keeps you alive against many aggro decks and combos with Norin and Genesis Chamber. A key player in this deck.
Genesis Chamber
This card can be devastating at times, especially in multiples. Never underestimate the power of 10 1/1 myrs. Replace these with Kataki, War's Wage if your playing against affinity. The last thing you want is for them to have more artifacts.
Champion of the Parish
If you get this guy turn 1, he get's huge in no time. By turn 4, you should have him a least be a 7/7, maybe even bigger. He ends games fast.
Ranger of Eos
Fetchs Norin, Glitterfang, Soul Warden, Champion of the Parish and Soul's Attendent. Great for late-game fuel.
Mentor of the Meek
This guy turn almost all of your creatures into cantrips. He also triggers whenever Norin blinks, tripling the amount of cards you draw.
Spellskite
Ptotect Norin from Planeswalkers and Grim Lavamancer. Also great for against burn and removal.
Grim Lavamancer
Other than being a solid one-drop human. He can shoot down any small creature you want.
Suture Priest
Gains you life while damaging your opponents. But since it's not a human, I wouldn't run it with Champion of the Parish.
Dark Confidant
Amazing card. Must have in any Norin deck running black. The lifegain makes his drawback pretty much nonexistant.
Blood Arist
Another card to run in any black Norin deck. You can drain your opponent's life very quickly with this guy.
Other Good Spells
Path to Exile
Great creature removal. A staple in most white decks and this one is no exception.
Proclamation of Rebirth
Revives Champion of the Parish, Soul Warden, and Norin at the same time!
Sideboard Options
Kataki, War's Wage
Great sideboard option against affinity and other artifact-based decks.
Leyline of the Void
Sideboard for graveyard based strategies like Melira and Reanimator.
Thalia, Gaurdian of Thraben
May not look like much, but can be really nasty against certain spell based decks. I run a few maindeck because she's really that good.
Aven Mindsensor
Stops tutoring and weakens fetchlands. The more colors your opponent plays the better.
Dismember
Kills most threats and is only 1 mana. The life loss can be pretty painful at times but it's usually worth it.
Blood Moon
Can absolutly destroy greedy mana-bases. Only run these of you truly need them though, it effects your lands too.
Oblivion Ring
Handy a destroy just about anything that gets in your way.
It's Gaka's EDH deck come to life in Modern... I approve. It may be a little slow, but could be fun.
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Looks like Voyager Staff would be good tech for this. Staff comes down, blink one of their guys then they HAVE to switch it with one of your dudes, which is hopefully a token. Confusion is not a may trigger. Would also be useful to stall if you don't have a confusion out. Staff also combos with your etb evoke, allowing you to use the etb twice and keep the guy, if you want to. Of course, with the list you have now this last combo doesn't work so well seeing as how your evokers all have combat related abilities. Would definitely be good with mull drifter though.
Edit: I don't like how this has no game against combo decks at all, which for the most part are creatureless. You would be useless against Pyromancer/Storm, Sunnyside Up, Hivemind and Melira (if they're not an idiot). With very low power creatures I don't see how you would be able to set up a zerg in time since every single one of them returns to your hand. The myr are cute but won't be fast enough. Unless you set up a transformation sb I don't see any game against combo.
"Some of the other guys dared me to go out, but I knew it weren't no ordinary giant giga-blasting blaze of unending flames that would scorch the whole world."
—Norin the Wary
Added a sideboard to fight combo, also made a U/R version of the deck that seems to work a bit better. I also expanded the card choices section and will continue expanding it soon. Thanks for the more or less positive feedback, by the way.
That is a damn cool deck, my friend. Supremely cool.
I think there are a ton of really good ideas here. Especially Saltskitter, which increaces our ETB triggers each turn. I also like the idea of using a Soul Sister to gain life. With Skitters, Norin, Myr tokens, and all that stuff entering play each turn we should gain an extremely comfortable life buffer against aggressive strategies.
Also, I kind of like Pandemonium over Confusion. Saltskitter gives you repeatable Lightning Bolts that are not a bad wincon at all. Especially with Norin, Myr tokens, and the like also chipping away at the opposing life total.
And there's no Dark Depths or Hypergenesis for this to backfire on. Granted, there is Emrakul, but you'd lose when he comes down anyway, with or without Pandemonium.
I've been using with with cream of the crop and cards that cheat creatures onto the battlefield from the top of your library. Then just using cards that say when a creature comes into the battlefield, target creature gets a buff. Primal Forcemage is a good example.
Its a fun card, just that you need a fast way to get confusion on the field. Most games end at turn 3 or 4 in modern. Without speed, I was just getting paced out of the games.
Green gives you the speed.
I made a U/R/W deck that's aggressive and defensive. The sideboard a bit weird (I'll fix it soon) but the deck is much stronger. Thanks for the input. I'll try some match-ups tonight.
Wow, the Modern bannings does kinda take out blue from the deck. Now I'm going for a R/W/G build that gains crazy amounts of life, with Rhys the Redeemed as a win condition. It's a bit clunky right now but can do some some pretty sweet stuff. I'll try to update the primer in a little bit.
Edit: Added a few match-ups. Also updated the card choices section. I'm going to update the intro tomorrow.
it could be good... but the problem is it costs 4 and doesnt attack or anything
what is the W/R list looking like?
EDIT:
okay i took a glance at the r/w deck
and honestly, i see no reason to have green in there. rhys is really mana intensive and slows the deck down a considerable amount
i would cut him in favor of more aggressive cards
Have any suggestions? Can't really think of anything off the top of my head. I'll think about it though.
You keep saying there's a green red white version but I'm not seeing it. I see a white red version that plays green lands and no green cards (essence warden? Can't you just replace that and make your mana base better?) I agree that saltskitter and pandemonium are less useful in this deck. Pandemonium seems more fit in an infect combo deck.
I'd say consider buyback but Evangelize is really expensive as it is.
Rather than let your opponent benefit from the leyline of the meek have you considered Intangible Virtue? It's not free but it's cheap enough and is one-sided.
Is there a reason why you're not play serra's ascendant anyway? It has lifelink which is eh, but if you're doing your job right it's going to be a huge creature for 1 and is a perfect target for Ranger of Eos to go get.
Champion of the Parish and Mentor of the Meek from Innistrad seem perfect here. Champion will get a +1/+1 counter on every Norin blink, and Mentor can draw you cards from every Norin blink and from every Genesis Chamber token.
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You keep saying there's a green red white version but I'm not seeing it. I see a white red version that plays green lands and no green cards (essence warden? Can't you just replace that and make your mana base better?) I agree that saltskitter and pandemonium are less useful in this deck. Pandemonium seems more fit in an infect combo deck.
I'd say consider buyback but Evangelize is really expensive as it is.
Rather than let your opponent benefit from the leyline of the meek have you considered Intangible Virtue? It's not free but it's cheap enough and is one-sided.
Is there a reason why you're not play serra's ascendant anyway? It has lifelink which is eh, but if you're doing your job right it's going to be a huge creature for 1 and is a perfect target for Ranger of Eos to go get.
It's hard to run Serra's Ascendent due to shockland and painland damage.
As for Intangible Virtue, I probavly going to take out Leyline of the Meek Anyways because it's not always reliable.
Lastly, I'll probably take out green eventually, I'll try testing R/W.
Champion of the Parish and Mentor of the Meek from Innistrad seem perfect here. Champion will get a +1/+1 counter on every Norin blink, and Mentor can draw you cards from every Norin blink and from every Genesis Chamber token.
I was just about to consider using those! I'll test them soon.
Probably needs Path to Exile in there somewhere, but it's a start. Amusingly, both Canonist and Abolisher are humans and thus give Mentor counters. The deck can pretty easily zerg out with genesis chamber. Later on, Ranger of Eos into Goblin Bushwhacker and Figure of Destiny should seal the game. Drop them all with Genesis Chamber active and it's a pretty huge burst.
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Probably needs Path to Exile in there somewhere, but it's a start. Amusingly, both Canonist and Abolisher are humans and thus give Mentor counters. The deck can pretty easily zerg out with genesis chamber. Later on, Ranger of Eos into Goblin Bushwhacker and Figure of Destiny should seal the game. Drop them all with Genesis Chamber active and it's a pretty huge burst.
Not bad, but I wouldn't run Pandemonium or Confusion in the Ranks in this deck because its a bit too risky. I may sideboard Aven Mindsensor. Goblin Bushwhacker seems like an interesting finisher...
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive/596931-r-w-norin
What!? A deck with Norin the Wary!? That's not awful!? Blasphemy!
Banner by Froxbite
Introduction
"IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING!" you screech. For the next 5 years, it collects dust in your rare binder. Nobody wants it... It's beginning to decompose...
But alas a miracle happens. The wait is over. There is indeed a use for this card.
And that, my friends, is why you should play Norin the Wary (other than the fact that it's a fun deck to play with).
History
Soul Sisters, which Norin the Wary is somewhat based off of, has made small appearances in Standard and has fairly good results. The original deck used lifegain from Soul Warden to power up a Serra Ascendent and stall to play bigger creatures.
Here's the original decklist (or the oldest one I can find, let me know if you found an older one):
1 Emeria,the Sky Ruin
4 Kabira Crossroads
4 Tectonic Edge
14 Plains
Creatures
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Sun Titan
2 Transcendent Master
3 Student of Warfare
4 Ajani's Pridemate
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Serra Ascendent
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendent
4 Brave the Elements
4 Survival Cache
2 Ajaini Goldmane
Strategy
Here's an example of a rather ideal play (Note: Soul Warden can be replace with any creature with the same abilities):
T1: Champion of the Parish
T2: Soul Warden, Norin the Wary, swing for 3, Gain 2 life(assuming your opponent casts a spell or attacks)
T3: Genesis Chamber, another Soul Warden or Path to Exile, swing with Champion of the Parish for 6, Gain 4 life and 2 Myr, possibly more.
T4: Mentor of the Meek, draw, swing for 9, Gain some more life and a few more Myr.
T5: Ranger of Eos, fetch whatever your need, swing for 12,Gain some more life and add more Myr.
T6: Draw a bunch, gain a bunch of life, add more myr to your army, and win.
Deck List
4 Norin the Wary
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Mentor of the Meek
4 Ranger of Eos
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendent
2 Thalia, Gaurdian of Thraben
Spells
4 Genesis Chamber
4 Path to Exile
2 Proclamation of Rebirth
2 Lightning Helix
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Arid Mesa
3 Clifftop Retreat
2 Mountain
3 Plains
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Kher Keep
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Kataki's War Wage
2 Thalia, Gaurdian of Thraben
2 Dismember
3 Blood Moon
2 Oblivion Ring
Here's the original mono-red deck. It's a bit outdated at this point, bit I guess it's an O.K budget deck.
18 Mountains
4 Scalding Tarn
Creatures
4 Norin the Wary
2 Ingot Chewer
4 Inner-Flame Acolyte
4 Glitterfang
4 Viashino Sandscout
3 Glarewielder
3 Seething Song
4 Magma Jet
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Genesis Chamber
4 Confusion in the Ranks
3 Pandemonium
3 Mindbreak Trap
4 Blood Moon
2 Ingot Chewer
3 Leyline of the Void
Card Choices
The Blinkers
He's the reason this deck was made, he triggers Genesis Chamber, Pandemonium, Confusion in the Ranks, Mentor of the Meek, Champion of the Parish, and Soul Warden on your turn AND your opponents turn. He also dodges almost all removal. You really want this guy in your opening hand (you can still win without him, but he makes it a lot easier). The only thing that kills this guy (that sees play) is Grim Lavamancer and Mogg Fanatic, and even those can be avoided.
Glitterfang
Sort of a Norin Jr. He doesn't trigger Champion of the Parish and doesn't activate on your opponent's turn. But triggers just about anything else. Can also attack early for a few quick hits.
Norin's Best Friends
Keeps you alive against many aggro decks and combos with Norin and Genesis Chamber. A key player in this deck.
Soul's Attendent
See Soul Warden.
Genesis Chamber
This card can be devastating at times, especially in multiples. Never underestimate the power of 10 1/1 myrs. Replace these with Kataki, War's Wage if your playing against affinity. The last thing you want is for them to have more artifacts.
Champion of the Parish
If you get this guy turn 1, he get's huge in no time. By turn 4, you should have him a least be a 7/7, maybe even bigger. He ends games fast.
Ranger of Eos
Fetchs Norin, Glitterfang, Soul Warden, Champion of the Parish and Soul's Attendent. Great for late-game fuel.
Mentor of the Meek
This guy turn almost all of your creatures into cantrips. He also triggers whenever Norin blinks, tripling the amount of cards you draw.
Spellskite
Ptotect Norin from Planeswalkers and Grim Lavamancer. Also great for against burn and removal.
Grim Lavamancer
Other than being a solid one-drop human. He can shoot down any small creature you want.
Suture Priest
Gains you life while damaging your opponents. But since it's not a human, I wouldn't run it with Champion of the Parish.
Dark Confidant
Amazing card. Must have in any Norin deck running black. The lifegain makes his drawback pretty much nonexistant.
Blood Arist
Another card to run in any black Norin deck. You can drain your opponent's life very quickly with this guy.
Great creature removal. A staple in most white decks and this one is no exception.
Lightning Helix
A lightning bolt with a bonus 3 life.
Proclamation of Rebirth
Revives Champion of the Parish, Soul Warden, and Norin at the same time!
Great sideboard option against affinity and other artifact-based decks.
Leyline of the Void
Sideboard for graveyard based strategies like Melira and Reanimator.
Thalia, Gaurdian of Thraben
May not look like much, but can be really nasty against certain spell based decks. I run a few maindeck because she's really that good.
Aven Mindsensor
Stops tutoring and weakens fetchlands. The more colors your opponent plays the better.
Dismember
Kills most threats and is only 1 mana. The life loss can be pretty painful at times but it's usually worth it.
Blood Moon
Can absolutly destroy greedy mana-bases. Only run these of you truly need them though, it effects your lands too.
Oblivion Ring
Handy a destroy just about anything that gets in your way.
Lands
Boros Garrison
Ancient Amphiththeater
Battlefield Forge
Rugged Prairie
Sacred Foundry
Clifftop Retreat
Arid Mesa
You're welcome.
Eiganjo Castle
Protects Norin from Grim Lavamancer and makes Thalia even more annoying. Run only 1 since it's legendary.
Cavern of Souls
Since every creature in this deck is a human, these give you an edge against control.
It evokes, flies, and refills your hand. What more can you want? Must have if you splash blue.
Essence Warden
See Soul Warden.
Rhys the Redeemed
Can generate some extra tokens earlier in the game for life and becomes a great finisher by doubling your Myr army.
Leyline of Anticipation
Double's the power of Glitterfangs and Viashino Sandscouts.
Matchups
Norin the WaryRW
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Wydwen|Edric|Sakashima|Marrow-Gnawer|Hazezon
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Edit: I don't like how this has no game against combo decks at all, which for the most part are creatureless. You would be useless against Pyromancer/Storm, Sunnyside Up, Hivemind and Melira (if they're not an idiot). With very low power creatures I don't see how you would be able to set up a zerg in time since every single one of them returns to your hand. The myr are cute but won't be fast enough. Unless you set up a transformation sb I don't see any game against combo.
Cockatrice Username: seriph0
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That is a damn cool deck, my friend. Supremely cool.
I think there are a ton of really good ideas here. Especially Saltskitter, which increaces our ETB triggers each turn. I also like the idea of using a Soul Sister to gain life. With Skitters, Norin, Myr tokens, and all that stuff entering play each turn we should gain an extremely comfortable life buffer against aggressive strategies.
Also, I kind of like Pandemonium over Confusion. Saltskitter gives you repeatable Lightning Bolts that are not a bad wincon at all. Especially with Norin, Myr tokens, and the like also chipping away at the opposing life total.
And there's no Dark Depths or Hypergenesis for this to backfire on. Granted, there is Emrakul, but you'd lose when he comes down anyway, with or without Pandemonium.
I've been using with with cream of the crop and cards that cheat creatures onto the battlefield from the top of your library. Then just using cards that say when a creature comes into the battlefield, target creature gets a buff. Primal Forcemage is a good example.
Its a fun card, just that you need a fast way to get confusion on the field. Most games end at turn 3 or 4 in modern. Without speed, I was just getting paced out of the games.
Green gives you the speed.
Works good with Cloudstone Curio to reuse ETB effect, too.
Its pretty competitive to be honest
It does pack a lot of hate
3 storage matrix
3 thorn of amethyst
3 hokori, dust drinker
3 leonin arbiter
4 norin the wary
2 soul warden
2 soul's attendant
3 stonecloaker
4 ghostly prison
2 pandemonium
3 wrath of god
4 arid mesa
4 terramorphic expanse
10 plains
6 mountain
I enjoy it a lot
Insert witty phrase here
Norin the WaryRW
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Edit: Added a few match-ups. Also updated the card choices section. I'm going to update the intro tomorrow.
Norin the WaryRW
Legacy
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Edit: Just realized I double-posted. Sorry about that...
Norin the WaryRW
Legacy
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Have any suggestions? Can't really think of anything off the top of my head. I'll think about it though.
Edit: Added a strategy and history section.
Norin the WaryRW
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Norin the WaryRW
Legacy
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I'd say consider buyback but Evangelize is really expensive as it is.
Rather than let your opponent benefit from the leyline of the meek have you considered Intangible Virtue? It's not free but it's cheap enough and is one-sided.
Is there a reason why you're not play serra's ascendant anyway? It has lifelink which is eh, but if you're doing your job right it's going to be a huge creature for 1 and is a perfect target for Ranger of Eos to go get.
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It's hard to run Serra's Ascendent due to shockland and painland damage.
As for Intangible Virtue, I probavly going to take out Leyline of the Meek Anyways because it's not always reliable.
Lastly, I'll probably take out green eventually, I'll try testing R/W.
I was just about to consider using those! I'll test them soon.
Norin the WaryRW
Legacy
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4 Norin the Wary
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Grand Abolisher
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Champion of the Parish
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 Mentor of the Meek
2 Ranger of Eos
4 Genesis Chamber
4 Pandemonium
2 Confusion in the Ranks
Lands - 24
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Arid Mesa
4 Clifftop Retreat
12 Plains
Probably needs Path to Exile in there somewhere, but it's a start. Amusingly, both Canonist and Abolisher are humans and thus give Mentor counters. The deck can pretty easily zerg out with genesis chamber. Later on, Ranger of Eos into Goblin Bushwhacker and Figure of Destiny should seal the game. Drop them all with Genesis Chamber active and it's a pretty huge burst.
Currently Playing:
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Not bad, but I wouldn't run Pandemonium or Confusion in the Ranks in this deck because its a bit too risky. I may sideboard Aven Mindsensor. Goblin Bushwhacker seems like an interesting finisher...
I've been testing Champion of the Parish and Mentor of the Meek. Wow. It make the deck soooo much faster.
Here's the list I've been using
4 Norin the Wary
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Mentor of the Meek
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Glitterfang
4 Soul Warden
4 Essence Warden
4 Genesis Chamber
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Helix
Lands
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Arid Mesa
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Mountain
5 Plains
Edit: This version is going much better for me, I updated the primer for this deck. I'll update the match-ups soon.
Norin the WaryRW
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