Hello everyone, my name is Brenden McCarley and I am glad to be back on GSZ! The last time I wrote here was many formats ago when I had top 8ed an MTGO Challenge with Maverick.
This time I am here for a brief tournament report from a Top 16 at the SCGCon Baltimore Legacy 5K as well as some general thoughts on the deck and how it came to be.
While I am clearly not the first person to play Nadu and Nomads together, I do feel that I have made a significant development in the archetype for Legacy by incorporating a Living Wish package in the deck.
The thought process for this deck originally came in the form of wanting to find more tutors for Nomads en-Kor. I had initially tried a BANT list with Urzas Saga and Shuko package but quickly decided that package wasn’t the best option for me. I had an idea about Living Wish as a way to find either half of the combo as well as interactive cards or other midrange threats etc. I immediately got very excited, hopped on MTGO and started building the list.
I decided the best way to go about only having a 3 card sideboard (12 cards stay in the sideboard always for Living Wish versatility) was to base the deck in black with the Nomads as our only white splash.
The reason I wanted to do this mainly lies in the card Assassins Trophy. I felt this inclusion would be crucial for the deck, allowing us to have a maindeck removal spell that is very versatile, to compliment our thin sideboard.
This black splash also comes with a couple nice GSZ/Wish targets in Grist, the Hunger Tide and Leovold, Emissary of Trest.
I ended up on Force of Vigor as the “real” card I wanted in my sideboard and I have felt like it’s a pretty reasonable choice. Other considerations for that SB card have been Thoughtseize & Force of Negation.
I had tested the deck on MTGO through some leagues in the week and a half or so until SCG Baltimore and the list felt very smooth. I made some slight tweaks to end up on the current iteration but I could tell I had a solid game plan here (not getting the coveted 5-0 but producing many 4-1 leagues).
I also was performing very well vs UB Scam and Grixis Delver style decks which made me think the deck would be a strong choice. I decided I would play the 4C Wish deck on the Friday 1K event and depending how that went/how I felt about the deck I’d consider playing it on Sunday.
The 1K went solid, with me being 4-1 at one point in a 7 round event. I lost my round 6 unfortunately which knocked me out of top 8 contention. The event only paid out to top 8 so I decided to spend time with friends over playing my round 7 for no prizes.
Even though I didn’t get to the top 8, the performance in those matchups win or draw felt good enough to me that it was going to be reasonable to bring to the 5K.
I didn’t specifically write notes for any of the events as I wasn’t planning to write at all going into the tournament, some matches I remember more then others gameplay wise.
Friday 1K Round Up
Round 1
I played vs EW Champion Jay W on Grixis Delver! I was able to sneak a Nadu combo in game 1, using Living Wish for Cavern of Souls to ensure my Nadu would resolve! Game 2 and 3 were close grindy games, with me losing in the mid/lategame where we were both just playing off the top and whoever rips better wins. Very exciting match and very pleasurable opponent to play against as well!
Round 2
I played vs another Grixis Delver deck, this match went a lot better for me, I believe I 2-0ed here pretty easily, Assassin’s Trophy on their lands to be a sinkhole was a blowout.
Round 3
I played vs Bryant Cook on TES! I got the 2-0 here, both games played out as me having Force of Will for his combo turn, then untapping and assembling Nomads/Nadu to build my board and draw into more Forces!
Round 4
I played vs Cloudpost! Having Assasin’s Trophy in my maindeck was huge being able to target lands, as well as artifacts like Disruptor Flute! Got the 2-0 here by having some level of disruption + assembling the combo.
Round 5
I played vs UB Control. I originally thought this was UB Scam in game 1, but then I realized by middle of the 2nd game that they likely weren’t Scam and were just UB Tempo/Control without reanimate package. This led me to just take my time and play slow as I thought my mid/late game was better then theirs if I can weather the early storm. I was able to take the match in a close set!
Round 6
I played vs Eldrazi and lost 0-2. Very brutal way to lose my win and in as I mulliganed to 5 game 1 and had to keep a 1 land with Ponder which shuffled and missed a land, then got Wastelanded out of the game.
Game 2 I had to keep a land light 6 and Sowing Mycospawn absolutely slammed the door on any chance I had of playing the game. I was certainly bummed out about the loss given I didn’t get a fair shake to play the game, but that is Magic for ya!
Knowing I couldn’t top 8 even at 5-2, I decided to drop and spend time with my friends. I was very excited about even going 4-2 with a brew though, and after some conversations with friends about my tournament and getting some feedback from others on my deck idea (which surprised me as many people seemed very interested in the deck and saw its potential) I decided that I would also play it for the 5K on Sunday.
Sunday 5K Round Up
My Sunday tournament started off with a bang.
Round 1
I see that I’m paired up against Jack Potter and think wait a second, isn’t that the guy that got 2nd place in the Modern 10k yesterday? It was!! We start playing and also realize we have played against each other a fair amount on MTGO, very friendly player with some banter involved.
Game 1 I am able to answer an early Frog and play around Daze to win on the midrange axis as he didn’t find a reanimation setup. Game 2 I was able to Living Wish for Faerie Macabre on turn 2 to give myself action against an Entomb into reanimate line. The next turn I GSZ for Delighted Halfling and then play a Grist from hand uncounterable to kill a newly played Frog. My next turn I play Nomads and then an uncounterable Nadu. My opponent flashes in Bowmasters to try and kill the Nomad, but I use Nomad’s ability to make the Halfling take the 1 damage instead. Then my opponent scoops after I start Nadu comboing and do a GSZ for Springheart Nantuko to “lock it up”.
Round 2
I play against Bant Nadu. Game 1 I am able to have an early Nadu Combo with Force of Will Backup. Game 2 was interesting, we got into a situation where we both had a Safekeeper and a Nadu in play but no free target besides Safekeeper. I decide to start saccing my lands to get Nadu triggers hoping to find interaction or Nomads and I was able to lucksack into a Nomads to take that match down!
Round 3
I play against Eldrazi! This is the same opponent that beat me in the 1K on Friday so I was excited to try and avenge that loss. I ended up getting there game 1 with an early combo on the play, game 2 my opponent had tons of interaction and a quick clock so I got annihilated, game 3 my opponent kept a hand hoping they could leverage multiple wastelands to good effect, but me starting with a mana dork and having multiple lands in hand let me play through the mana disruption and assemble my threats!
Round 4
I play against Eldrazi again! I ended up losing the match. This opponent had some pretty wild draws to take it down in the 3rd game after mulling to 5, multiple removal spells in a row while TKS and Mycospawn beat me down.
Round 5
I play against Merfolk. This was a matchup where I actually won game 1 early with Nadu combo and then won game 3 in the super late game with Uro. Was very cool to see the deck work on both axis! I had lost the 2nd game to a Harbinger of Seas through Cavern of Souls which was very scary!!
Round 6
I play against Rescam again. I think my opponent kind of drew poorly in our match because they didn’t do much proactively or reactively to stop my combo. An interesting line that came up game 1 was my opponent attacked with Grief, I got to fetch for Dryad Arbor and block with Dryad Arbor and Nomads, using Nomads ability to ensure that the Dryad Arbor would end up trading for the Grief. Game 2 I also had an interesting line where I had a Nadu in play, opponent attacks me with a 1/2 Frog and 3 cards in hand, I blocked to make them discard their hand. Then I played Living Wish for Gilded Drake to steal the Frog and win the midrange game with their own threat. That game was the first time I’ve ever controlled a Psychic Frog in my life!
Round 7
I play against Mono Red Prison. Game 1 I was able to Force of Will a Blood Moon and assemble Nomads + Nadu before they found more prison pieces. Game 2 I got absolutely annihilated and game 3 came down to top decks at the end. I played a Nadu with the ability to cast nomad from hand next turn, opponent with 0 cards in hand top decks a Fury to hardcast! I ended up having to chUmp with the Nomads and died a few turns later as I couldn’t find anything besides lands and a late FOW
Round 8
I play against another Bant Nadu deck. Game 1 I am able to have turn 3 Nadu combo on the play which opponent immediately packs it in to. Game 2 they unfortunately had to mulligan to 4 and I am able to get their fairly easily.
Conclusions
I really enjoy the deck a lot and aim to continue playing it in the future. I am very optimistic about Nadu as an archetype in Legacy in general and very much also enjoy the Bant Nadu builds that are not on Saga.
I have a couple other ideas I’ve wanted to mess around with as well but haven’t had the time to put pen to paper in that sense. Would be very interested in hearing feedback from anyone that reads this if you try the deck out yourself or have suggestions for Living Wish targets.
Very much encourage anyone reading to take this deck for a spin if it looks like your playstyle, deck does cool stuff and is fun, gives you lots of different decisions and can pivot between Sultai Midrange/Creature combo in a way that feels hard for the opponent to play against!
