Nahiri, the Harbinger: Official Thread

Magic: The Gathering - Puzzle Quest MtGPQ Deck Strategy & Planeswalker Discussion Planeswalker Details
21

Unless her kit is just so good on its own, I might be better off buying the cheaper Tezzeret, because I have some really great blue and/or colorless artifact cards like Thopter Spy Network, Helm of the Gods, Prism Array, Shrine of the Gods, the whole Tutelage combo and some generators… Think I should just hold off on Nahiri until I have some stronger White and Reds?

IMHO I’d go with Nahiri. I don’t use Tezzeret at all. Nahiri I use mostly for QB’s. She has good mana gain in both colors (Koth might have problems against some decks more often than Nahiri). For blue PW, if I were You, I’d wait to get Jace 2.0. Having Nahiri, Kiora and one Black, In 3 games You can get 10 Crystals form story mode (instead of 4 or 5 games).

22

I typically play Nahiri for all my quick battles and have over a 90% win rate and with the buffs she can use with her first ability you can get creatures out and buff them up quickly and add a few creature destroyers in the deck and you can control what the other person puts out to battle you.

Here is the deck that i use most often for Nahiri

Supports

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
Harness the Storm

Spells

Inner Struggle
Devils Playground
Nahiri’s Wrath

Creatures

Archangel Avacyn
Gisela the Broken Blade
Bruna the Fading Light
Linvala the Preserver
Knight of the White Orchid

I find this combination pretty lethal especially the Kight with first strike and i get a buff or two on him with her first ability.

Hope this helps anyone looking for a good deck

23

Here’s my QB deck.
It’s strictly Nahiri zoo in spirit, with a pinch of optimization idea of limiting creatures combat interaction.
First tried with a couple of Berserkers but found that it frequently causes absorbing Uncaged Fury, making it a mere first strike spell, not double strike, when charging against enemy creatures. Thus ended up leaving out otherwise great killers like Decimator, Breakneck Rider and such.

Also, tokens spawning spells/supports are omiitted for saving extra time and need for tapping, thus no Devil’s Playground nor Oath of Gideon.

Big Girls

  • Avacyn
  • Gisela
  • Tyrant of Valakut (would swap with Olivia if got one)

Cheapies

  • Reckless Bushwhacker
  • Serene Steward (pumping effect takes a little time, but basically pays off great)
  • Lone Rider
  • Sanctifier of Souls (Volcanic Rumbler would be better, but that’s eluded me)
  • Lantern Scout

Spells

  • Uncaged Fury
  • Inner Struggle
24

My deck consists of:
Creatures
Olivia
Thalia
Emrakul, Promised End
Avaricious Dragon
Lone Rider
Reckless Bushwacker
Spells
Smite the monstrous
Haunted cloak
Humble the brute
Fragmentize

I might dispose of some spells but for the moment, it is working great for me, especially Thalia which comes with First Strike and disables AI creatures when they ETB. She and Lone Rider with Haunted Cloak after using Nahiri’s first ability can fend off most attackers.

On the other hand, if I manage to draw Emrakul and gather enough loyalty for Nahiri’s third ability, we’re talking about a 65 attack which is more than half the life for most of the PW!

25

I’m playing this:

Creatures
Lone Rider/It That Rides as One - First strike, Lifelink. Trample once transformed. This is the best card in the deck. I’ve won many games playing no other creatures.
Smuggler’s Copter - Card fixing, 6/6, flyer that is cheaper when you play other creatures. Mostly here for coalition events.
Solemn Recruit - Double strike, 3/3, for 6.
Visionary Augmenter - Fabricate 2, which pumps Lone Rider, and causes it to transform into It That Rides as One on turn two. Also nice just about any other time for the two +1/+1 servos it makes.

Spell
Declaration in Stone - Creature removal
Uncaged Fury - Grants double strike and +1/+1 bonus.
Unlicensed Disintegration - Creature removal, and usually 3 damage.

Support
Always Watching - Vigilance, and gives a +2/+2 to non token creatures you control.
Hixus, Prison Warden - Lock down on creatures which attack you.
Oath of Chandra - 5 damage to target creature, or plainswalker upon entering, and 2 damage to the planeswalker for every non-token permanent you play.

Sideboard
Blood-Cursed Knight - Replaces Knight of the White Orchid for events requiring vampires.
Gideon’s Reproach - Replaces Declaration in Stone for events requiring no spells, but not always.
Silverstrike - Replaces Smite the Monstrous for events requiring no spells, but not always.

Play
Ideally:
Turn 1 Lone Rider or Solemn Recruit, and overflow mana into either Visionary Augmenter.
Turn 2 Visionary Augmenter Play Hixus, Prison Warden if you have it, AND there are no adjacent manawhite.png
gems, but I’ve recently taken to holding these until I have two to drop at once.
Turn 3 ramp either manapw.png
, or into other creatures, or supports. If your opponent has creatures out already (not likely), focus on Declaration in Stone, Unlicensed Disintegration, or Oath of Chandra to remove them, or Always Watching if you have any creature with First Strike.
Turn 4, and every turn there after, Stoneforge, Stoneforge, Stoneforge in between playing out more creatures, removal, and supports.

I have used Lithomancy only a few time, and it was in an event facing against a 400+ health opponent with a 2 or less creature challenge. I had a hard lock on all their creatures thanks to 2-3 shielded Hixus, Prison Warden, and was at 30 manapw.png
. It was a long, slow grind, and I used it to dig for extra Hixus, Prison Warden, or other supports to trigger Oath of Chandra, and to have a full compliment of fully charged removal on standby if Hixus, Prison Warden got destroyed. Harbinger can be a game ender, but you should probably not use it in other situations unless you’re using It That Rides as One to Trample down a defender.

Weaknesses:
Flying, Hexproof, and big Tramplers prior to you getting Vigilance and Stoneforge online with. Focus on either direct removal, or lockout and defending Hixus, Prison Warden.

Strengths:
Strong against mana draining, and discard. Very resilient, consistent, and cheap. Control/discard decks don’t do much since most everything is cheap. Keep a card in second position for them to drain/discard, and move the spell you want to cast this turn in first position.

Improvements
If I pull them, these are the cards I would put it right away:
Angel of Invention - Flying, Lifelink, Vigilance, Fabricate, gives each creature you control gets +3/+3, and an 8/8 body for 18. Replaces Oath of Chandra because its a beatstick, and superfriend.
Gisela, the Broken Blade - First Strike, Flying, and Lifelink, and an 8/8 body for 12 mana. Replaces any creature except Lone Rider/It That Rides as One because it plays turn 1, and has Trample. Best card in the the game.
Inner Struggle - Replaces Smite the Monstrous, but I have no luck pulling this. One of four uncommon SOI cards I do not have.
Olivia, Mobilized for War - Flying, Haste, Lifelink, and an 8/8 body for 20 mana. The discard trick for any incoming creature after (and including) her gives that creature gains +3/+3, Flying, Haste and Lifelink. Superfiend standout.
Scourge Wolf - First Strike, with conditional Double Strike, and a 4/4 body for only 8 mana.

26

Here is my Nahiri deck. I’m still adjusting it but it’s been giving very consistent results:

Creatures (3)
Gisela the Broken Blade
Geier Reach Bandit
Knight of the White Orchid

Spells (4)
Deploy the Gatewatch
Demolish
Uncaged Fury
Unlicensed Disintegration

Supports (3)
Battlefield Forge
Fevered Visions
Always Watching

Gisela is a monster lifelinker, very cheap for an 8/8 body. She saved my butt in a few decks and combination with Always Watching remains important. (I can afford the mana for it, but Haunted Cloak is also an option)
Knight of the White Orchid most often leads to absurd chains (especially if two are popped from Deploy the Gatewatch) and is also a First Strike - Defender. Normally a 4/4 wouldn’t be impressive, but because Nahiri can pump it by +4/+4 it ends up being very good.
Geier Reach Bandit is the card that wins me many many matches. Ultimating it while transformed and pushing an Uncaged Fury has lead occasionally to a 76 power double-striker smashing everything. Sure, if the opponent has defenders you might want to remove those first… which leads me to:
Unlicensed Disintegration - premium removal, removes everything, and with all the supports I have most often deals 3 damage to the opponent.
Fevered Visions gains me cards and burns the opponent. Helped me quite a bit in some tight matches. (oh zombies, how I hate you)
Battlefield Forge helps with ramping up and stabilizing horrible gem boards (no reds or whites… what’s up with that?). Annoying when I get 3 copies in my hand.
Demolish for now helps deal with supports. Long-term I would prefer to have it replaced with an Anguished Unmaking (I can afford the extra 3 cost), though it has provided much usefulness against Fabricate decks (how about I destroy 3 of your boosts instead of just one?) - but it’s random and only occasionally useful.

27

clearly one of the best walkers, super adaptable for many different secondaries and able to win in many different ways. the 3 abilities are just so good.

a Nahiri deck I run on occasion, until upgrades. my fastest QB deck.

Desolation Twin
Metalwork Colossus

Deploy the Gatewatch
Uncaged Fury
Magmatic Insight
Cathartic Reunion

Silverstrike
Suppression Bonds
Drownyard Temple
Tamiyo’s Journal

kills as early as turn 1 if you’re super lucky, but more typically kills turn 4-6 most games.

Deploy remains the most stupid card in the game, but at least it’s over quick.

28

Does anyone run Lightning Runner in their deck? I’m excited to buy Nahiri tomorrow and have a First/Double Strike deck lined up. I’ve got Aerial Modification in there due to efficiency on double strikers, option to trigger Lone Rider, and to let powered up strikers kill flyers. Thoughts?

29

It’s a fine card. There are three reasons why I personally wouldn’t run it in my Nahiri deck:

  • I don’t run much energy with Nahiri, so the 4 energy it generates to get the overload seems a bit slow. In a more energy-centric deck it seems like a better card.
  • I run deploy the gatewatch, and this is not necessarily a creature I am excited to deploy. I’d rather have something bigger like Gisela, Olivia, Skysovereign or Decimator (I only have Gisela from these, but you get my point)
  • It does not synergize with the ultimate as good as beefier creatures. My best combo here is a transformed Geier Reach Bandit pumped by ultimate (that’s 12x5=60 power minimum) + grant double strike with Uncaged Fury. 120 damage in a turn, bam!

But give it a shot and see how it works with your Nahiri deck.

30

Lightning runner has become one of my favorite creature to add in red decks. he pairs well with big hitters too because of his overload 1. if you can get a cascade going it like using nahiri’s 3rd ability with runner.

For a cheap beat down deck I run him with Solemn recruit, Kari Zev and lone rider. and grow them with oath of Ajani and Nahiri’s first ability. once they get big enough I would give them berserker to act as removal with giant spectacle. But I enjoy running him most in my Saheeli deck along with Aehertide whale. put artistry on runner after you populate the board with energy and uncaged fury on whale. cascade overload as much as you can and win.

31

I thought base power on runner meant excluding
buffs such as saheeli’s artistry?

HH

32

you are correct. he can only gain 2/2 with 1 match. the overload is meant for the whale with base power of 10 and other big hitters like skyship.
saheeli’s artistry is to buff the runner after you energized the board w/ him along with whale, and whatever energizing cards in deck.

33

I miss read the description, I thought it was similar
to cultivator of blades. it effectively reinforces each
creature on an overload 1? that’s a good deal for
6 mana.

HH

34

Thanks for the input. I don’t have Deploy the Gatewatch so that’s probably a huge difference in approaches. I’ve had a chance to play with Lightning Runner and it works well. I find the energy it generates is actually quite a lot compared to other cards (ignoring PW abilities). 4 per turn adds up fast and it’s not uncommon to hit one most turns after he’s out. I run Gisela, Metalwork Colossus, and Decimator so reinforcing those is a big return.

The biggest risk with Lightning Runner is the low toughness. He’s very susceptible to things like red damage cards and Chandra’s abilities. Then again he’s cheap to get back out.

35

My advice to you is… Get Deploy. Fast. Card is a massive game changer.

36

You’re the first I’ve seen, outside of my own deck, utilizing solemn recruit, Kari Zev and Lone rider… it’s a brutal mix.

Mine consists of:
Creatures-

Lone Rider
Kari Zev
Solemn Recruit
Decimator of the Provinces

Supports-

Fevered Visions
Corrupted Graystone

Spells-

Unlicensed Disintegration
Inner Struggle
Giant Spectacle
Uncaged Fury

Giant Spectacle shines bright here. Kari Zev with Giant Spectacle makes an incredibly aggressive combo early on that continues to grow with each attack. I’ve found in over 90% of my battles, the AI is forced to resort to creature removal (if available) due to the First Strike with massive damage output by round three. If it cannot, the match is quickly over witg the help of Uncaged Fury. The fact that Kari Zev has menace is a bonus early on if Giant Spectacle isn’t in my hand yet. Solemn recruit coupled with Giant spectacle is an 11 mana combo that duplicates Iroas’s Champion which costs 19 mana for the same effect. While some may argue that Iroas’s Champion takes only one spot in the deck, the Giants Spectacle is far more versatile for the aggression it provides. Coupled with Lone rider and he transforms quickly worth out any addition of other cards with lifelink to take up deck space. Decimator of the provinces was a risky addition that I was not sure would work, but turns out that coupled with Nahiri’s high mana output he comes out in three turns or less if a cascade can be achieved. The match is usually over by then. If i don’t have a creature removal card in hand One bonus trick I use is this, usually my units are pumped up so that a problematic flyer that my opponent has can be eliminated by casting Giant spectacle on it and wait for the next round to bring it to your first Strike units to be taken off the battlefield.

When using this deck I used Nahiri’s first ability at every chance I get to boost the first strikers above spells that can dump damage and remove large creatures that hit the table. If the cascades provide more points than needed, then I’ll used her ultimate on solemn recruit or Decimator of the Provinces, preferably the latter if he’s out.

Creature removal such as Inner struggle for equal power/toughness creatures and Unlicensed Disintegration is reserved for unbalanced low power/high toughness creatures. Both are usually used for problematic flyers.

Corrupted Graftstone was implemented in this deck because the lack of correct mana is one of the problems I can run into. The support helps lower the likelihood of that problem occuring as many of these cards are built around a single match and cast at Nahiri’s higher levels. 30+.

Fevered dreams is to help needle down the opponent while caught in a Mexican standoff… when and if they occur. The extra card boost helps Nahiri as most of these cards are one match and cast.

This deck really shows how quick and efficient First Strike and Double Strike can be and I’ve gotten to the upper 20’s in QB on it alone. The Win ratio is over 95% if I had to hazard a guess. Weaknesses are mana controlling opponents, high cascade starts for opposing Red decks on their first turn, high creature removal decks (usually Sorin). Baral Decks haven’t been a problem, he’s usually eliminated the next turn.

I would kill for a Lightning Runner as I don’t have one, but not sure if it would work here unless coupled with Dana volt tower, which I don’t have either in place of Fevered Dreams.

Your thoughts guys? I’ve had a blast with this deck.

37

Thanks for the tip on Giant Spectacle, I’ll try it out. I really want Haunted Cloak since vigilance > berserker for free enemy kills, but a targeted spell would be nice. I use True-Faith Censer sometimes but then casting order is critical.

I play Lightning Runner and I’ll say again, even as the sole source of energy you get a lot of overloads from him alone.

38

@Gunmix25
Our deck is very similar indeed. This is how I run mine.

421×576 105 KB

With this deck, I try to have my double strikers in the first slot. that way they gain twice the value from the light/shadow sword. I dropped Unlicensed Disintegration after having it always in my hand with nothing to remove. because Giant Spectacle on Gisela or Kari Zev would do all the removing I need. Inner struggle is for when they aren’t big enough yet to run in for the kill.

The reason why I prefer Gisela over piggy is simply the cost. Piggy is still a very strong choice for this deck. that +4/+4 beserker trample for all is amazing; just a bit too mana heavy for my boros whiney build. that and I need some form of sustain while still having the first & double strike mechanic. I do run piggy from time to time in my deploy decks…

As describe earlier Lighting Runner works great with big hitters like Gisela…if you happen to cascade overload. it like popping Nahiri’s ultimate…for all your creatures. of course it rare to cascade. lead alone doing it with overload. but when it happens…it so sweet. He is also one of the better-energizing creatures, you can get a lot of value with overload with runner…I only have oath of Ajani for the +1/+1.

Looking forward to Amonkhet. Samut, Voice of Dissent would make a great addition to this deck.

39

@Avacyn Wow… seriously, wow! A very nice build. (Sorry for the delay in responding. I had no notice) you have 4 cards that I don’t have, Gisela, lightening runner (STILL chasing this card down, smh) shrine of the forsaken gods, and sword of light and shadow (truly envious of your acquisition). The regardless of the build, the structure and format are literally identical. Your explanation for Gisela makes sense, I would’ve done the same, but lack any other first Strike or double strike creatures to use for this deck. I keep unlicensed Disintegration mainly for the weaker power to heavy toughness and flying creatures as well as to buy myself time to bring out piggy. With Gisela that would indeed remove the need for such a spell, because you’ve got the flyer block reinforced with first Strike and further reinforced with giant spectacle… this is a crazy good combo for both its speed to put out and it’s all around effectiveness for all fronts. Well done! Oath of Ajani is a great card with lightening runner virtually guaranteeing that OoA triggers almost every swap mid match. I wonder what dynavolt would be like in your build in place of OoA? Thank you for sharing, this is an excellent build and fun to know that someone else is utilizing Nahiri in a similar manner. I’ve tried to tweak mine, but I think I will wait to see what Amonkhet brings.

40

This is incorrect. Lithomancy does not draw 2 cards until level 4. My Nahiri is at 57. She discards 1 card, draws 1 card, and destroys 3 white gems.