This is an attempt at a competitive Naru Meha, Master Wizard list. This build attempts to combine the mana production of High Tide with the unique flicker combos provided by Naru to facilitate fast, reactive win conditions.

Combos and Win Conditions

A note about priority: If you cast a spell and pass priority, you are giving up the ability to cast Naru in response as long as the rest of the table also passes priority. This means you can't wait to see if they have responses before casting Naru - you must cast her before giving your opponents a chance to respond.


Ghostly Flicker

This is our bread-and-butter infinite mana combo. However, it's worth noting that this combo doesn't actually win the game on its own - you need some sort of outlet. That outlet can be any number of things: a mana sink, a creature with an ETB effect, or one of several spells. Outlets will be explained in more detail below.

The steps for this combo are as follows:

  1. Cast Ghostly Flicker. The targets don't matter.

  2. Holding priority, cast Naru in response.

  3. Have Naru's trigger target the original Ghostly Flicker.

  4. Resolve Naru's trigger, creating a new copy of Ghostly Flicker. This copy should target Naru and an Island.

  5. Repeat 3 and 4 until you have infinite mana. Most of our infinite mana outlets are instant speed, so I recommend leaving the original Ghostly Flicker on the stack while winning the game unless you need it in the graveyard (perhaps for Snapcaster Mage).

  6. Win the game using any of the outlets below.


Naru Strats

This is what I've been calling Naru's combo with Illusionist's Stratagem. This two-card combo will draw you your entire deck, but won't actually win you the game directly.

  1. Cast Illusionist's Stratagem with at least one target - you can't change the number of targets when Naru copies the spell, and the copy has to be able to target her.

  2. Holding priority, cast Naru in response.

  3. Have Naru's trigger target Stratagem, and have the copy target Naru.

  4. Resolve the copy, flickering Naru and drawing a card.

  5. Repeat 3 and 4 to draw your deck. You will need to let the original copy resolve, so make sure to account for that extra card.

The rest of this combo has to happen at sorcery speed, unless you have extra mana. You need .

  1. Play out mana positive artifacts to reach the next mana requirement.

  2. Cast Ghostly Flicker with any targets.

  3. Cast Essence Flux targeting Naru. Resolve Essence Flux to generate another Naru trigger.

  4. Have Naru copy Ghostly Flicker, and proceed as in the Ghostly Flicker line.


Outlets

These are the ways we win the game once we've produced infinite mana. Any of them will work fine. Most, but not all, are instant speed. In order to take full advantage of these, you may want to get Naru off the battlefield so you can use her copy effect. Flickers, bounce effects, or killspells will all let you do this. Sending her back to the command zone is fine because you have infinite mana.

  • Blue Sun's Zenith, Stroke of Genius, Pull from Tomorrow, Flash of Insight: These outlets are all instant speed, and let you draw your deck (Flash of Insight only lets you put a single card into your hand - probably one of the others). From there, you can use either Blue Sun's Zenith or Stroke of Genius to deck the table. Getting three copies is easy thanks to Naru's trigger.

  • Spellseeker: Infinite Spellseeker triggers pulls all Instant and Sorcery cards with CMC 2 or less to your hand. This includes Pull from Tomorrow and/or Flash of Insight, which can then be used as above.

  • Trinket Mage: Infinite Trinket Mage triggers puts all Artifact cards with CMC 1 or less into your hand. This includes Walking Ballista, which deals infinite damage when combined with infinite mana. This is the only outlet that's not instant speed.

  • Pongify: These next two are a bit weird. With infinite mana and Naru in the command zone, you can cast Pongify, hold priority, and cast Naru in response. Naru copies Pongify, and the copy targets Naru. When she dies to the copy, send her back to the command zone and make a 3/3 Ape. Repeat this to create infinite 3/3s, which can turn sideways at the table on your next turn. This outlet is best used on someone's end step.

  • Reality Shift: This one might be even weirder. Follow the same process as with Pongify, but use Reality Shift instead. This manifests your library. I'd suggest not manifesting the whole thing, unless you're not intending to draw another card before the table dies. Manifest until you hit Naban, Dean of Iteration, and un-manifest him. Then, with the original Ghostly Flicker and Reality Shift still on the stack, cast Naru and get double triggers. Have one trigger copy Ghostly Flicker, and the other copy Reality Shift. Flicker targets Naru, and Reality Shift targets something someone else has on the field. Repeat this infinitely to manifest everyone's libraries, causing them to deck themselves when they go to draw a card. There's also the option of untapping and turning all your manifest creatures sideways too but that requires you to untap with them.

  • Winds of Rebuke: (This one's much easier, I promise.) Using the same technique as above, have Naru infinitely bounce herself by copying Winds of Rebuke to mill the table.

Wheel Chaining

Naru can also be used to copy wheel effects like Windfall, Timetwister, and Time Spiral. Of these, Time Spiral is the best one to make multiple copies of since it generates free mana after each copy resolves. Using wheel chaining, you can essentially dig through your deck in an effort to find a win. Since our win conditions are all instant speed, we can win as soon as we find something, even with other wheels still on the stack. If you find a flicker spell but no way to win with it, you can just cast it targeting Naru to generate another wheel. It's not like you're losing the flicker spell anyway thanks to the reshuffle from Twister and Spiral, and even Windfall can still draw us into Snapcaster Mage or Mission Briefing.

Game Plan

Your goal in a game should be to make mana and draw cards until you can find a combo. You should always aim to make mana and draw cards first, and combo second. Control only as necessary in order to not lose the game. Once you have combo pieces and enough mana, don't just try to go off right away. Remember that Naru can win any time she wants to, so you should sit back and wait for the right opening, or to hold protection like Force of Will or Pact of Negation. This usually occurs when someone else tries to resolve a big spell, usually with the intent of winning (think Ad Nauseam), but sometimes just to try to get ahead. Waiting for another player to use their countermagic on something else is also a good opportunity. If someone tries to wheel and you have your combo in hand, just go for it in response, even without protection. You're not any worse off if you fail than if the wheel resolves and you pitch your combo cards.

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 10 months
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

8 - 0 Mythic Rares

29 - 0 Rares

18 - 0 Uncommons

20 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 1.83
Tokens Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Manifest 2/2 C
Folders Competitive decks, Competitive EDH
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