This week's article is going to be different. It still fits in the Make EDH Weird Again category but I haven't built or played this deck yet. I didn't want to do another mono red deck before I write up a mono black list, but the real world came calling and I wanted to share this with you. A few weeks ago someone proposed the idea of a Norin the Wary deck built around commander damage. I interest was immediately piqued because Norrin says he gets exiled until end of turn whenever a creature attacks. I went ahead a started the build on my twitter, @BonzaiEnt. I wanted to finish that here.
One problem gave way to another in building this deck, but that's what made it interesting. The first was how to get around Norin's propensity to run away. I need to deal combat damage but if I go to attack he runs away. I could strip his ability from him. Great idea if I was in blue. Red doesn't have a lot of those polymorph or turn to frog type spells. I can't even turn him into an indestructable bug, elk, or tree man. What a disappointment. What I really needed to do was interrupt the idea of attacking. If a creature just so happens to enter the battlefield tapped and attacking, in this case Norin, I get around his stipulation. My first 2 finds were rather easy. Arni Metalbrow and Ilharg, the Raze Boar. When one of these attacks I can put a creature onto the battlefield tapped and attacking, just what I need. Arni falls short because he doesn't return the creature to hand at the end of turn. Ilharg on the other hand does just that. He gets extra points for also giving himself a type of protection by going back into my deck when he dies. That makes him much more reliable.
If you want to find a way to put Norin on top of the library reliably then Fireflux Squad would open up as a choice. A Brainstone would fill the enabler role but that's not really enough since Brainstone exiles after you use it the first time.
With this strategy of putting my commander from hand onto the battlefield attacking all orbiting around these two creatures I need to be able to reliably find them. Red is not really known for it's tutors. These creatures are too important to risk putting them into the graveyard accidentally with Gamble and I'm not about to do something so random and use Chaos Warp on one of my creatures in hopes I find one of my roll players. Citanul Flute is by no means a format staple. It shines here as a repeatable creature tutor at a very fair rate, the cost of the creature I want. That's really the last direct option I could find. That's not enough. I had to get creative. Red can find things like dragons reliably and colorless cards can tutor up matching creature types but nothing really exists for a Boar, God, Human, or Berserker directly. I can cheat a little. Maskwood Nexus makes all my creatures wherever they are all creature types. Now I open up cards like Pyre of Heroes, Sarkhan's Triumph, and Forerunner of The Empire. There are plenty of ways in red to tutor up artifacts so I can find the flute or Nexus reliably to start all this off. I like Magda, Brazen Outlaw for this reason too. She'll pump Norin once Nexus is out or she can help me tutor up one of my role players. I just need some treasure enablers. Regardless, she can find the flute so we can start the cycle from there.
I'm really getting ahead of myself. I need to get Norin in my hand reliably and do it without casting a spell. Abilities will be key here. I'm lucky a lot of them can be found on artifacts as well. The first that came to mind, in part because it's pricey, was Cloudstone Curio. If I play a creature I can pop my Commander back to hand. I just have to stack my triggers right. I can make this even more versatile with Flash. There will be plenty of times I want Norin, The Wary to flicker in and out of the battlefield but eventually I need him in hand to let Arni and Ilharg do their thing. A creature with Flash means I can let Norrin do his thing for 3 turns and tuck him away when he's in danger or when I need to set up his next attack. My options are a little limited but I get to play Defender of Chaos. Flash and Protection from White can make him a nuisance to an opponent. Dualcaster Mage is an easy include since he's so versatile. Being able to put him back in my hand too means my opponents will be on notice that I can copy their best spells. Newcomer Skittering Cicada plays nice with all the artifacts I'll be playing too. Radiant Performer could get out of hand. Imagine Copying Norrin's ability to exile until end of turn or the Curio to bounce all creatures back to hand. I can clear the board permanently or temporarily. Wild.
Back to bouncing creatures to my hand. Erratic Portal and Decoction Module are pretty familiar in the format. There's nothing wrong with that. I would like to spotlight Barbarian Guides. This oldy can make Norin unblockable if someone happens to be playing snow. If not I still get to pop him back to my hand at the end of the turn. This Ice Age common is certainly a little weird but he fits in here nicely. The last 2 cards worth talking about rescue Norrin from the command zone, or even the graveyard. Campfire gains me life when I don't need it for anything else but also lets me avoid heavy commander tax. Command Beacon lets me avoid that heave tax too.
I'm pretty confident I can get Norrin onto the field for damage and back to my hand reliably. But at the end of the day 2 damage is not a lot. It's going to take forever to kill one person with Commander damage. Now I just have to pump up the damage. Spells are out and so are equipment since Equip happens at sorcery speed. So I need a static effect. What are the red versions of Glorious Anthem? Street Riot works half way giving my attacking creatures +1/+0. The trample might even be relevant. I prefer Ghitu War Cry. This enchantment lets me give any creature Firebreathing. I'll dump a ton of mana into my Commander to help him kill someone. What's really nice though, I can use it politically to pump my opponents creature if it gets directed somewhere else.
I know I said no equipment, but that's not entirely true. I just can't do ones that require an equip cost. Something like Ronin Warclub just gets attached to Norrin when he ETBs. Sai of the Shinobi and Stormrider Rig work the same way. It might be worth adding in Sparring Collar since it can get moved around at instant speed. The only problem is, it doesn't pump Norrin's power.
Piling on to the lack of Equipment there are several older artifacts that provide long term bonuses to a creature. Tawnos' Weaponry and Zelyon Sword pump a creature for a little mana and a tap. That creature keeps the benefit as long as you choose to keep the artifact tapped. I won't because Norin will go back to my hand at some point but the effect is repeatable the next time he's on the field. It's a pretty simple mana sink of a category. Sword of the Chosen is a little more limited only pumping a legendary creature which Norin obviously is. Trigon of Rage comes from a great cycle. Three is a good number of counters to start with for the pump effect and I can always add more on an off turn. Power Matrix not only pumps but gives a couple relevant key words including some evasion with flying. Dragon Mask does it all. I pump my attacker when I need to but then it pops back to my hand at the end of turn. I have plenty of creatures besides Norrin who I would love to recast for profit.
The last way to pump without casting I found way is an underutilized ability called Bloodrush. If I have a creature with Bloodrush in hand I can pay the ability cost to discard the card and pump up a creature of my own. This is very versatile. Since I'm not casting when I discard to the ability Norrin won't get scared and bug out. There are some cool creatures like Wrecking Ogre I get to play that would give out +3/+3 and more importantly Double Strike. I can recur Pyrewild Shaman when one of my creatures connects to extend the ability. There are only 6 cards available to me and I'm playing each one.
Norrin is looking potentially lethal. If I can connect. So I need to ensure he gets in for damage as every point will count. Red has no shortage of ways to shut off blockers. Alchemist's Vial is a favorite of mine. It replaces itself immediately. Then I can pop it when it's convenient and advantageous to either protect myself from a formidable potential attacker or to let my own attacker sneak through. If Norrin is still in me hand I get to play Renegade Tactics or Blinding Flare To stop a single blocker. It's pretty low impact, but the cantrip ability on Tactics is bonus card draw while the Flare does scale to the number of creatures as long as I can pay for it. But why limit myself to so few targets? Bedlam just shuts down all blockers. Norin is definetly getting in in that case. I just have to watch my own life total. But even weirder is the card War Cadence. This unique effect means I force an opponent to pay X for each potential blocker. I only have to pay it once but he has to pay it for each creature. I can even save it for an opponent's turn and play a little politics to open the door for someone else to get overrun.
Even if this strategy is firing on all cylinders it's still rather contingent and limited. I fully believe I can take out one player with commander damage reliably. Maybe even a second. But if I lose Ilharg and Arni Plan A is toast. I need to soften up players and throw damage around. Red favorites like Impact Tremors and Purphoros God of The Forge are practical includes. Outpost Siege could be good conditional card advantage but the ability to do damage when creatures leave the battlefield is more relevant.
I mentioned earlier some artifact tutors to get things moving. Goblin Engineer, Goblin Welder, and even Hoarding Dragon are great ways to move the pieces I need out of the library or into hand. Even Scrap Welder can get in on the action.
To round out the deck I'll throw in some more ramp, draw, removal, and graveyard hate. The four main food groups of the format it seems. Moonsilver Key starts us off and Descent into Avernus pushes us right into treasure for Magda but the damage keeps softening life totals too. I like Dungeoneer's Pack here as it does so much, ramp, card draw, it even introduces Initiative. I'll be dealing enough combat damage I can take it back pretty reliably. Plundering Barbarian will deal with a troublesome artifact or leave me a Treasure. With all these Treasures floating around Treasure Map is a no brainer. It makes Treasure and lets me change them into card draw when I need it. Bag of Holding lets me loot away stuff I don't need now and recoup it later. Soul-Guide Lantern, Tormod's Crypt, why not. Blast Zone, Chaos Warp, and Blasphemous Act are quick includes to round out the article.
Here's what I have so far. Check it out.
Norin The Wary
Arni Metalbrow Cloudstone Curio Wrecking Ogre
Ilharg, The Raze Boar Erratic Portal Pyrewild Shaman
Citanul Flute Decoction Module Rubblebelt Maaka
Maskwood Nexus Barbarian Guides Scorchwalker
Pyre of Heroes Goblin Kites Skinbrand Goblin
Sarkhan's Triumph Campfire Viashino Shanktail
Forerunner of The Empire Street Riot Alchemist's Vial
Minion of The Mighty Ghitu War Cry Renegade Tactics
Magda, Brazen Outlaw Ronin War Club Blinding Flare
Defender of Chaos Sai Of The Shinobi War Cadence
Dualcaster Mage Stormrider Rig Bedlam
Skittering Cicada Sparring Collar Goblin Welder
Radiant Performer Tawnos' Weaponry Goblin Engineer
Impact Tremmors Zelyon Sword Hoarding Dragon
Purphoros, God Of The Forge Sword of The Chosen Scrap Welder
Outpost Siege Trigon of Rage Moonsilver Key
Bag of Holding Power Matrix Descent Into Avernus
Soul-Guide Lantern Dragon Mask Dungeoneer's Pack
Tormod's Crypt Abrade Plundering Barbarian
Chaos Warp All Is Dust Introduction to Anihilation
Blasphemous Act Tibalt's Trickery Bellowing Bruiser//Beat A Path
Embreth Shieldbreaker
Mountain x26 Spikefield Hazard Scavenger Grounds
Ghost Quarter Kazuul's Fury/Cliffs Treasure Map//Cove
Shatterskull Smashing// Pass Command Beacon Blast Zone
Song-Mad Treachery//Ruins
I'm working in more MDFCs here that usual. I think these cards shine best in a mono colored deck. I don't have to worry about fixing so that opens my lands to do more work when I have a need. Norin is so cheap and protects himself so that helps too.
As I wrap this up I realize this is wide open for customization. I could make room for damage doublers like Furnace of Wrath or effects that prevent life gain like Tibalt, Rakish Instigator to keep opponents on the ropes. I could even go simpler with cards that increase damage a fixed amount like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell. I would work on building this but I'm still working on my mono black MEDHWA deck and I have another mono white list ready. I can't do a 3rd mono red deck already, unless you really want me to.
Thanks to everyone that contributed to the discussion. Stand by for another in the future.
Comments