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Nadu, Winged Wisdom is one of the best commanders to come out of Modern Horizons III inMagic: The Gathering. The deck is a Simic (green/blue) one that gives you a ton of value just by looking at it. The ability to combo off is very easy, with even budget builds of the deck able to do a whole lot.
For cEDH players, the deck is a big threat if you’re willing to put the money in for the expensive cards. Nadu decks generate a ton of mana by putting lands directly onto the battlefield and cards right into your hand to keep the pressure up.
Field of the Dead
Key Cards
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
The commander of the deck is the main attraction. It’sacombo enabler while also being a solid attacker and blockerwith an evasive ability in flying. For just three mana, it’s possible to cast Nadu, Winged Wisdom as early as turn two to start taking advantage of its ability early in the game, before any of your opponents can get set up.
Whenever any creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, you canput a land card from the top of your library onto the battlefield, andif it’snot a land, it goes to your hand. This can trigger twice, but notably,if a creature leaves the battlefield and returns, you can keep using the effectto effectively draw your whole deck and put all your lands onto the battlefield.
Nadu is the heart and soul of the deck, and the reason why it’s so good in the first place. When combined with cards thatcreate creature tokens when a land entersthe battlefield, you will always have access to more creatures that can utilize Nadu’s ability.
Zero-Equip Artifacts
Equipping an Equipment is targeting a creature with an ability, which will in turn trigger Nadu. While you do gain access to a ton of mana by putting lands untapped to the battlefield with Nadu, it’s better spent on spells than on paying for an equip cost.
As such,cards that are free to equip are just as important as Naduitself, so you have a consistent trigger for it.Lightning Greaves, Shuko, and Umbral Mantledon’t have the more flashy effects (sans Lightning Greaves), but you play them because they can equip to a creature for no mana. you may equip as much as you like in one turn, letting the effects stack up.
Cowardice
Cowardiceisnormally a fairly weak card, but in Nadu specifically, it’s fantastic. If a creature leaves the battlefield and returns, Nadu’s ability “resets” on that creature, allowing them to keep benefitting from it if they become the target of a spell or ability.
This is where the zero-cost creatures come into play likeOrnithopter,Phyrexian Walker, and Memnite.
You can always cast zero-mana creatures for free so when they get bounced after being targeted with Cowardice on the battlefield and triggering Nadu, you can re-cast to repeat the process. This combo lets youdraw out your entire deckto ensure victory if your opponent can’t interact with you.
Instant-Win Cards
The most important part of a Nadu Commander deck is the way to win the game. While Nadu generates more value than you may know what to do with by putting your whole deck into your hand,the combo won’t actually win the game for you.
That’swhere cards that win the gamefor not having cards in your library come into play.Thassa’s Oracle, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, and Laboratory Maniacall help you to win the game, easily brought into your hand by looping Nadu’s ability.
How To Play The Deck
Nadu, Winged Wisdom is the main card youwant to be on the battlefield at all times.Every card in the deck revolves around Nadu’s ability to help push your advantage state forward.
One keycomponent is landfall triggers. These are abilities that activate whenever a land enters the battlefield. The best are cards likeScute Swarm, Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer, and Zendikar’s Roilwhich create a token creature when lands enter. Thesegive you more creatures to use for Nadu’s effectand keep the pressure up.
If Nadu gets removed and you have the pieces for any combo lines, you want it back on the battlefield right away. Nadu is a “kill on sight” commander, meaning you will likely be targeted. However, thanks to how much you can ramp in Simic colors and with Nadu’s ability,you will likely always have the mana to re-cast it, so don’t worry if it gets targeted for removal.
Nadu can have a slow startuntil you get any of your combo pieces, so tutoring for artifacts is a big component of the deck.Trinket Mageis a big consistency card,letting you bring out any of your Equipment spells directly from your libraryand into your hand to start using with Nadu.
While you don’t have Nadu on the table, you want to focus more on playing lands and ensuring your landfall triggers are going off. They are the main way to get your defenses going and give you creatures to block with. There are a ton of ways to generate tokens with lands, so you will likely always see a few over the course of the game to defend until your Nadu combos are online.
There aretwo main ways to win the gamewith a Nadu deck, either byflooding the battlefield with creature tokensorwith an instant-win card. Since Nadu can keep putting lands onto the battlefield, you’re able to keep triggering all your landfall effects to make an army of tokens. If you make it through your whole library, you can use cards that win the game for not having cards in your library.
When it comes to using counterspells, it’s better to use them to stop cards resolving on your opponents' side rather than keeping your own stuff safe.
With how much value Nadu gives,board wipes and removal don’t mattermuch since it’s easy to rebuild with the plethora of mana you get access to. Even having an instant-win card get countered isn’t too big a deal since there are three different ones your opponents have to work through.
