Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Praetor

Vigilance

Other creatures you control get +2/+2.

Creatures your opponents control get -2/-2.

Combos

• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Parallax Wave

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

SaberTech on Commander bracket recommendation

1 month ago

I don't know if you can program the system to detect certain combinations of cards in deck lists but Living Plane, Nature's Revolt, Natural Affinity, and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa are often played in conjunction with cards like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite with the intent to destroy and deny opponents lands.

Mycosynth Lattice + Sydri, Galvanic Genius, Karn, Silver Golem *oversized*, or Karn, the Great Creator are some other notable mana destruction/denial combos.

Epidilius on Infinite Rulings

2 months ago

Sorry, wasn't trying to come off as dismissive of the whole reason for the post. But, well, even those rules you've listed now are vague. Even just the "No MLD" rules brings up a ton of questions. Does that include Bearer of the Heavens, or Life and Limb + Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth + Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, or even just a bunch of "You get an extra land drop" cards + Crucible of Worlds + Ghost Quarter?

Trying to change the fundamentals of Magic gameplay is complicated. The MTG comp rules is 905 "main" rules (plus who knows how many sub-rules) for a reason haha.

If I were asked to write the rules for this tournament, I would say

"We want battlecruisery and unoptimized Magic, like we played when we first started. This is the spirit of what we are aiming for. No efficient tutors, no fast mana, no MLD, and combos can only trigger once per turn. Here some decks that showcase the level of power we are aiming for (each with a different archetype):

• Example Deck 1
• Example Deck 2
• Example Deck 3

If you are unsure if something crosses the line (eg, Farseek, Increasing Ambition, etc), ask and the entire playgroup can weigh in. If something comes up during a game, we'll figure it out then."

But even with all that, these rules wouldn't affect one of my close friend's Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder deck. It doesn't combo, doesn't have tutors, doesn't have Mana VaultGC, but it can get a quick Ydris into play and start generating tons of value pretty early, by casting multiple expensive spells every turn cycle. It violates the spirit of the ask, but unless I write a multi page document it won't violate the rules as written. Unless, of course, he were to play in good faith and say "I know this deck meets the rules as written but not as intended," which I believe he would.

TheVectornaut on Rise of the Griffins

6 months ago

While I like the idea of the current enchantment combo, I don't know that it's really necessary. Privileged Position already protects your stuff without the need to get out 2 cards. Further, turning all of your lands into enchantments opens you up to instantly losing the game to something like Spring Cleaning, although players are more likely to play mass wipes that will also destroy or exile their permanents due to Enchanted Evening's symmetry. Speaking of, you can try to take advanatge of that symmetry in other ways like playing Azorius First-Wing as an unblockable griffin, assuming you don't mind going into blue. Otherwise, I'd still try to upgrade the griffins here to be a little faster and more impactful. Diving Griffin and Resplendent Griffin have the potential to be better than Sunspire Griffin, depending on the final build. Fearless Fledgling and Griffin Rider are both aggressive options to shore up the 2 slot in a way I think would be more impactful than Crashing Drawbridge or the currently underwhelming Pearl Medallion. Finally, Wanted Griffin may be better than Senate Griffin at 4, again depending on what your game plan ends up being. Mutavault and Metallic Mimic are some less budget friendly options that could help the tribe's limited card pool.

As for anthems, I usually prefer the 2 cost options to the 3, although I do like Always Watching. Honor of the Pure is the vanilla option while Rally the Ranks or even Obelisk of Urd could fit in a tribal shell. One thing I thought of while looking at the high number of white pips making the Medallion worse was that you could lean into that and go for a mono-white devotion build. Some anthems like Flowering of the White Tree and Benalish Marshal already fit well in such a deck. You'd definitely want a playset of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and some sort of payoff for the extra mana like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Walking Ballista, or whatever other bomb you prefer. You'd also want something to play on 1 for that strategy. War Falcon has some synergy with Griffin Rider, Esper Sentinel is a generically powerful draw engine, and Weathered Wayfarer is a classic way to find Nykthos. War Falcon also brings to mind the idea of leaning more into broad flying support like Sephara, Sky's Blade and Rally of Wings, although I acknowledge going down that path could severely dilute the tribal identity of the deck. One final approach I can think of is pivoting to focus on lifegain to use the Griffin Aerie in your maybeboard. You'd definitely need cheaper ways to gain life than True Conviction, especially since I think it's already one of the weaker cards in the deck. The reality is that you'd probably be nudged towards splitting the griffins with angels to take advanatge of Angelic Accord, Bishop of Wings, Speaker of the Heavens, and even Archangel of Thune. Outside of that, the options are more limited. Maybe mass lifelink could be made cheaper with Metallic Mimic plus Envoy of the Ancestors or Abzan Battle Priest. This is the only route where I actually see Path of Bravery being worth it.

Nunu312 on Beware of Spooky Spirits

8 months ago

Love a good spirit deck, and nice to see a new commander doing it!

I think you've got some great cards in there that probably don't work as well as you want them to. Luminous Angel is incredibly expensive for a 4/4 flyer that might generate 2-3 tokens. By the time you put it down that's just not a relevant amount. Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens Is in very much the same boat. Because it only happens on casting, it can at most happen 5 times, as that's the amount of spirits you have to cast (and you have no arcane spells). Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Is a fantastic card but can occasionally create friction at the table. I don't necessarily suggest that you cut it, but do consider it. It can easily create an environment where some people are unable to play their decks at all until it is delt with.

A bit of the same but Long-Forgotten Gohei definitely fits, but you only have 6 spirit spells and no arcane spells, so you're only using half of it. Etchings of the Chosen is the same price but has an extra ability. You may just want to run both though?

The first thing for additions are the token doublers. These will really help you capitalise on your commander as they will act upon each instance. So instead of casting Triplicate Spirits and getting a rather underwhelming 3, you instead get 6. Then at the end of turn you get another 6... only this is doubled as well, instead of 3, you get 18.Mondrak, Glory Dominus and Anointed Procession are the standouts here, although they are pretty pricy in real world dollars.

Overall though, I feel your ways of generating tokens is very on theme, but not very sustainable. A key thing that you might have missed is that your commander generate spirits for each tokens you make, not spirit tokens. So Collector's Vault, makes a treasure token, free spirit. You have a huge amount of ways to make tokens but a lot of them are humans or other some such (Call the Coppercoats, Martial Coup) so they may not be on brand. Look into ways you can make those one or two treasure / clue / food tokens as you just otherwise play normally.

A conspicuous absence is any of the Teysas. Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts is expensive but fun. Teysa, Opulent Oligarch is much cheaper and synergises VERY well with your commander. Teysa, Orzhov Scion requires a bit more of the black/white spirits, but might still work very well. Teysa Karlov doesn't synergise super well, but has good abilities regardless and certainly isn't a bad pick. The Kaya planeswalkers also often deal with white black spirits as well as having a bit of control so they might be good to look at Kaya the Inexorable being the standout.

another fun card that is changed entirely by your commander Afterlife Insurance and having any method of sacrificing your spirits changes it from just saving those spirits, to doubling their amount. It would go well with Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, but that starts to lean more into aristocrats than pure spirit tokens.

Another thing is that a lot of white ramp works well with bounce or sac land, you've got the obvious one but you might be able to increase it with Lotus Field and Lotus Vale. Things like Land Tax is a staple for white, but even when you're just running Priest of the Blessed Graf they can help you make him work.

My final point is that you don't seem to have a good way of protecting your quite expensive commander. Your group might not place that big an emphasis on commanders, but it's more fun if she sticks around. There are the old standouts of Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots, but there are a lot of options.

jsnrice on Anikthea's Enchanting Recycling Plant [Primer]

9 months ago

How many times do you put in a combo or "I win" piece in a deck and it synergizes with the main deck theme? Not very often. Worse case scenario you get an enchantment zombie from Living Plane. Like I said before Living Plane pairs with either Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Doomwake Giant. I run a lot of stax and go-wide in my version.

RufusTheGrufus on Anikthea's Enchanting Recycling Plant [Primer]

9 months ago

jsnrice, thank you for the suggestions and for checking out the deck!

Living Plane is definitely an interesting suggestion. When initially tinkering with this deck I did consider running this card. Ultimately I opted not to run it however because it does not synergize with my main game plan(s) for this build (see the Introduction tab); and because I'm trying to curate a specific gameplay experience for this deck so that it doesn't feel overly oppressive or debilitating to play against. This is why I've also personally opted to not play really cool cards such as Out of Time (can permanently remove opponent's commanders from the game if turned into a creature with Anikthea), or things like Legion Loyalty, Starlight Spectacular,Cathars' Crusade (strong effects that lead to really convoluted and drawn out turns).

That being said, Living Plane (and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite) is a really cool option for Anikthea builds leaning harder into go-wide and resource denial strategies; and I'll add it to the maybeboard for consideration!

jsnrice on Anikthea's Enchanting Recycling Plant [Primer]

9 months ago

You're missing some key players that synergize with the deck:

Living Plane combined with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Living Plane combined with Doomwake Giant which is already in the deck

What your opponents lands go poof.

Rhadamanthus on Priority after ETB

1 year ago

No, this doesn't work. Though the player does retain priority to take another action, targets for a triggered ability are chosen at the time it's put onto the stack. You can't back up and re-select targets if someone makes a response.

It's possible to construct a situation where Loaming Shaman can target itself with its own trigger, but it involves the Shaman dying to a state-based-action immediately upon entering the battlefield. This is because triggered abilities are put onto the stack at the time a player gets priority to take another action but SBAs are checked and dealt with right before each time a player would get priority. So it could work in a situation where, for example, the player's opponent had Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, or someone had Leyline of Singularity and the player already controlled another Loaming Shaman.