Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and this is Commander Kryptonite, the series that looks at some of the strongest commanders in the format, how they function, their strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately, how to go about defeating them. This week, we're looking at a classic commander and a boogeyman of old, Narset, Enlightened Master. This commander used to be one of the scariest commanders in the entire format and still sees some play today. On occasion, we actually see this commander played in cEDH tournaments. But what does this commander do, and why is it so terrifying? Let's take a look!

The Commander

Starting off with the commander, we have Narset, Enlightened Master, the creature. This commander is a 3/2 first striker with hexproof. Before we had ward, Wizards of the Coast was a lot looser with hexproof as a mechanic, giving it to powerful creatures like Narset and Uril, the Miststalker. Hexproof gave these creatures a massive amount of protection out of the command zone, meaning that a player either had to have a board wipe or a sacrifice effect ready if they wanted it removed after it was cast. The first strike helps Narset survive being blocked by smaller creatures that might want to trade off to remove her. The reason this creature would even think about putting itself in harm's way is for one of the strongest attack triggers in all of Commander. Upon attacking, Narset will exile the top four cards of her library and may cast any number of them this turn without paying their mana costs. That is incredibly broken, as cards like Omniscience, Time Stretch, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon can be played way before they should be. Naturally, the entire deck wants to focus around this effect.

The Deck

Now, while there are less popular versions of this deck focused on making tokens or casting enchantments for a Voltron build, Narset typically plays one of two themes. The deck is either focused on planeswalkers--playing out as many as possible to overwhelm opponents and get some ultimates or a combo to go off--or tailored to chain extra turn spells and combats together, effectively ending the game from possibly one combat step. While the planeswalker build is still very strong, the extra turn variant of this deck is much scarier since it can lock out every other player. For the sake of this article, Narset is typically built as a bracket four commander deck. Because of this, I'll be looking at stopping this deck from a bracket four perspective. Here is an example of a Narset deck that you will run into at your local game store.

Narset, Enlightened Master EDH | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 Narset, Enlightened Master

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Generator Servant
• 1 Grand Abolisher
• 1 Kykar, Wind's Fury
• 1 Simian Spirit Guide

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1 Narset Transcendent
• 1 Narset of the Ancient Way
• 1 Narset, Enlightened Exile
• 1 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (13)
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Long-Term Plans
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Mystical Tutor
• 1 Narset's Reversal
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (17)
• 1 Alrund's Epiphany
• 1 Beacon of Tomorrows
• 1 Enter the Infinite
• 1 Expropriate
• 1 Karn's Temporal Sundering
• 1 Nexus of Fate
• 1 Omniscience
• 1 One with the Multiverse
• 1 Part the Waterveil
• 1 Relentless Assault
• 1 Seize the Day
• 1 Temporal Manipulation
• 1 Temporal Mastery
• 1 Temporal Trespass
• 1 Time Stretch
• 1 Time Warp
• 1 Walk the Aeons

• Artifacts (16)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Lotus Petal
• 1 Mana Vault
• 1 Scroll Rack
• 1 Sensei's Divining Top
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Talisman of Creativity
• 1 Talisman of Progress

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Mystic Remora
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Smothering Tithe
• 1 Steel of the Godhead
• 1 Whirlwind of Thought

• Lands (34)
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 5 Island
• 4 Mountain
• 1 Mystic Monastery
• 5 Plains
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Training Center

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Strengths

The main strength of this deck is its speed and definitiveness. This deck plays a lot of fast mana to get Narset out as quickly as possible. The overall goal is to overwhelm before anyone else can get going. Once those Narset triggers hit, either it's an extra turns build that will chain to victory, or there will be enough planeswalkers in play with token making, removal, and mana advantage to bury the rest of the table in value. This deck is incredibly strong by bracket four standards; it's just not as powerful as it used to be.

Weaknesses

The weakness of this deck is its reliance on Narset being in play and attacking. If Narset is countered once or twice and it requires ten total mana to get her out again, this can put the Narset player in an awkward position, as the curve of this deck is incredibly high. Narset also isn't as well known for counterspells or removal, so it's possible to outpace the deck and win ahead of it.

Cards to look out for

These cards are pretty typical for either a planeswalker list or extra turns build.

1. Lightning Greaves - People typically don't think about Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots when building this deck since Narset already comes with hexproof. The main component is the haste enablement. Instead of casting Narset and passing the turn hoping to make it back around, Narset can start attacking right away.
2. Scroll Rack - This card helps Narset manipulate the top of the deck, essentially guaranteeing that the top four cards will all be castable spells every single time.
3. Strionic Resonator - This helps Narset double the cast trigger, allowing her to dig eight cards deep instead of four. That amount of spell value is practically impossible to come back from.
4. Elspeth, Sun's Champion - This is a strong card in Narset since it can both make an army of small blockers or sacrifice outlets as well as clear the board of creatures with power four or greater. This stops potential crackbacks as well as gets blockers out of the way.
5. Mana Vault - Any mana accelerants are incredibly scary to see with Narset, as they allow her to come out incredibly fast. Most players will burn their first couple of turns ramping and using all their mana, so these cards significantly increase Narset's chances of winning.

Stopping the clock on Narset

When going against this deck, everyone needs to be on the same page. Anything that can possibly be done to slow this deck down needs to be used. Counter a turn one Sol Ring? Absolutely. Burn a board wipe for one creature? You bet. Forgo ramping to set up a turn to ensure everyone has a way to block and kill Narset? One hundred percent. Getting this deck off its groove is essential. Narset isn't particularly good at blocking, so applying pressure to her life total can be effective if the whole table is bought in. A fast Voltron deck is set up well against this commander if she's disrupted, since it can typically take the Narset player out before they get going. The most important thing is that as a table, the number one rule is Narset doesn't get to attack and doesn't get to live to tell the tale if she gets through.

Commander Kryptonite

1. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade - Lavinia has a nasty ability to instantly counter any noncreature spell that's cast without paying a mana cost. This completely shuts down Narset, as it will counter any Narset-triggered spell until Lavinia is removed.
2. Rule of Law - Sometimes we can't totally cancel out Narset, but we can slow her down. With only one spell per turn, it becomes a lot more difficult for Narset to take over the game, giving the other players a fighting chance to survive.
3. Redirect - There are a lot of extra turn spells that, for whatever reason, give a target player an extra turn. These can be redirected to us, letting us take that extra turn instead, thus blanking out their extra turn spell and hopefully buying everyone enough time to find a way to stop or at least remove Narset.
4. Shadowspear - Though Narset has hexproof, this can be removed. If it is, the deck becomes significantly worse, as any creature-based removal spell will do wonders for slowing this deck down.

Wrapping up

Narset is genuinely a blast to play and terrifying to play against. But, like with most commanders, there's a way to overcome her. If you have a commander you'd like to see featured on Commander Kryptonite, send us an email at thoughtvesselshow@gmail.com. Until next time, happy gaming.