Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Legendary Creature — Praetor

Vigilance

Other creatures you control get +2/+2.

Creatures your opponents control get -2/-2.

Discussion (51)

Wishfallen on BR Wish Reanimator

4 days ago

META CHANGE / DECK CHANGE

Update at 09/2020

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MAIN OUT

1 Ashen Rider

1 Iona, Shield of Emeria

1 Snow-Covered Swamp

1 Thoughtseize

MAIN IN

1 Bayou

1 Children of Korlis

1 Tendrils of Agony

1 Unmask

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SB OUT

1 Surgical Extraction

1 Abrade

1 Archetype of Endurance

1 Grave Titan

1 Pyroblast

1 Red Elemental Blast

SB IN

3 Serenity

1 Faerie Macabre

1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

1 Ashen Rider

1 Iona, Shield of Emeria

Tzefick on Amdael, Dire Auramancer

2 weeks ago

This seems really interesting, but also pretty narrow. You'd need a critical mass of matching CMC between auras and creatures you can get into the graveyard.

May I suggest a revised version that is more flexible?

revised Show

Amdael, Dire Auramancer

Legendary Creature - Troll Shaman

Aura cards you control have "As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may pay . If you do, as this spell resolves you may return target creature card with converted mana cost less than or equal to X plus the converted mana cost of this aura from your graveyard to the battlefield and attach this aura to that creature."

3/5

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An alternative wording of the ability:

Aura cards you control have "As you cast this spell you may pay the mana cost of target creature card in your graveyard reduced by the mana cost of this aura. If you do, as this spell resolves return that creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield and attach this aura to it."

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This was actually more difficult to create than what I intended. Initially I wanted it to basically become Animate Dead with an additional cost attached to it equal to the difference in CMC between the aura and the creature. However that idea was kinda screwy as is the text on Animate Dead.

It does provide some benefits over the OP's suggestion

• For one you can use a Holy Strength to resurrect Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite with a mana investment.
• Basically as long as you have an aura, you can play any creature from your graveyard. Yes, that makes Rancor or Flickering Ward extremely beneficial in this deck. However you're also playing an aura centric deck, that naturally sets you a bit behind.
• You don't require a very metrical combination of creatures and auras to make it function, so it opens you up to experiment more with auras. Auras in general is not favored in Magic, so I think we can afford them some flexibility here. I get that one of the OP's points was that restrictions makes people creative. I fear it makes the deck type too narrow to only include mid-costed auras and low costed creatures. My revisions are not hindering that tactic as the cost reduction is still the same, you just have a higher ceiling.
• It's one package - meaning one Counterspell takes care of the whole lot. It also means you can effectively reanimate creatures that cannot sustain themselves, say Force of Savagery, as there's no time in between the creature entering and the aura attaching, where state based actions are checked and would kill the Force.
• A flaw; there's no target when reanimating as it happens during resolution - so no interaction, no exiling the target in response. Can just be seen as an upside that you wont have paid the cost of the creature for nothing. The alternative wording I made fixes this flaw, but that also opens it up to so much vulnerability. Suddenly a Scavenging Ooze becomes an unlimited Essence Scatter for .
• A flaw; to simplify the design I made the additional cost which means you can bypass color requirements/intensity. The alternative wording I made should solve this problem - if you cast a Aura and intent to cast a creature, you still need to pay as the aura can only reduce the generic mana cost in this instance. The problem is that this wording makes it a LOT more complex to fully understand.

Monomanamaniac on Need help making room in …

3 weeks ago

SynergyBuild that's actually where I'm hoping to keep it tbh, when I do get to play, my group is tough, but not cedh, I want the deck to be hyper focused but not so much so that they stop wanting to see it at the table. I'm ecstatic at the 2.3 average cmc I've managed to pull off, even with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in the list lol. When it's finished it'll likely be under 2, which is perfect for mono-white considering the weakness of mana ramp lol. Thank you though, I'm glad it's finally getting to be at least worth considering lol

Poly_raptor on Inniaz's Deasil Designs EDH

4 weeks ago

If you do run Dovescape you could also run Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite which would buff your birds and kill your opponents birds. So you swap a bird for a nonland permanent and then the bird dies.

Fibonachos on The Hateful Trait

1 month ago

Thanks for the comments KuzcosPoison! Cut Vindicate for the Nature's Claim, and Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons for Mangara, the Diplomat. Also switched out Ready / Willing for Eladamri's Call which should help fetch either answers like Containment Priest, or finishers like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Mirror Entity. Definitely considering Destiny Spinner, will see what playtesting shows. I think Alms Collector is a bit too off-track for this deck (expensive/3 power). Grand Abolisher is definitely a good one, but recent spikes have it out of my price range :/. Crawlspace isn't bad, but I'm less worried about being hit wide, and more worried about being hit high by one or two big bois. Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist is good, but no way of ensuring she doesn't get killed when she attacks as she is a 3/2.

Monomanamaniac on Balan, one-punch woman

1 month ago

Omniscience_is_life well Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite has a number of uses a) it's a one sided board wipe, anything that survives is greatly powered down, and it clears out all the chump blockers that might be stopping me. It shuts down any deck that relies upon making a swarm of small creatures/ tokens B) it powers up my team, including Balan, and is a big enough target to occasionally eat single target removal before my beloved commander. C) it's a pet card, I paid 20$ for it a long time ago when the deck was helmed by Kemba, Kha Regent.

I agree with you though for the most part though. I mostly wait to cast it as a last resort, or if I'm out of equipment to cast. As far as they go though, I'm running somewhere between 25-30 equipment already which is more than plenty. When I get more swords that'll change though, you can't have enough swords lol.

I appreciate the feedback and I'll definitely consider taking elesh norn out to build a deck around her.

Omniscience_is_life on Balan, one-punch woman

1 month ago

Super awesome list, still so stoked you cracked down and got the Sword. My only question is: why are you running Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite? I mean, don't get me wrong, Ellie's a beast, but she doesn't fit the strategy of the deck as it were. And as a 7-drop... I'd much rather have the mana to play and equip something, which for that much you can definitely do.

ElektronischerFleischaffe on Experimenting With Orzhov CEDH

1 month ago

Hi Ghostbreath77!

Great, seeing something decent going on in Orzhov :) As for your gameplan you can probably take inspiration off of this list: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/lurrus-stax-cedh/

Deafening Silence and Spirit of the Labyrinth seem like auto-includes to me if you wanna go the disruptive route.

I'm playing combo-teysa since 6 years. You're most certainly right on your choice of commanders since card advantage is crucial in strong metas. However Teysa, Orzhov Scion lead my deck leaning to a markov-like list (https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/symphony-of-the-knight-primer/), trying to generate value from bodys with cards like Grim Haruspex and Carnival of Souls. First target for tutoring is always Skullclamp which is awesome when teysa is out and/or you play cards like Pitiless Plunderer and Zombie Infestation which can loot through your whole deck and need minimal setup. Most compact combos are the dead-cat-loop and gravecrawler and carrionfeeder on your choice of Phyrexian Altar, carnival or pirate.

Razaketh, the Foulblooded and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite might be considerations for a decent top end, making ad nauseam more painful obviously.

If there gonna be some ideas thrown together I can see some proper Orzhov Lists coming up :) great to see that there's more people into it!