Narset, Jeskai Waymaster features as one of the legendary creatures released in Magic: The Gathering’s Tarkir: Dragonstorm set. Narset has been around since the very first set that took place on Tarkir, and is one of its most iconic characters. This version of Narset sees her as the leader of the Jeskai (blue/red/white).
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Narset is a deck that wants you to cast a ton of spells, and dig through your deck. It is a combo deck, able to easily find various combos with just one trigger of Narset’s effect to then win the game off of it. Narset is fast and strong, so if you like combos, she is the perfect commander choice.
Decklist
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Commander: Narset, Jeskai Waymaster |
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Jace, Wielder of Mysteries |
Ral, Crackling Wit |
Teferi, Time Raveler |
Archmage Emeritus |
Displacer Kitten |
Dragon’s Rage Channeler |
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Grand Abolisher |
Guttersnipe |
Hullbreaker Horror |
Kitsa, Otterball Elite |
Kykar, Wind’s Fury |
Laboratory Maniac |
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Monastery Mentor |
Ornithopter |
Storm-Kiln Artist |
Thassa’s Oracle |
Valley Floodcaller |
Young Pyromancer |
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Third Path Iconoclast |
Blasphemous Act |
Gitaxian Probe |
Grapeshot |
Mind’s Desire |
Ponder |
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Preordain |
Serum Visions |
Supreme Verdict |
Treasure Cruise |
Vanquish the Horde |
Angel’s Grace |
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An Offer You Can’t Refuse |
Arcane Denial |
Banishing Knack |
Brain Freeze |
Chaos Warp |
Consider |
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Counterspell |
Dig Through Time |
Dovin’s Veto |
Dramatic Reversal |
Frantic Search |
Gut Shot |
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Into the Flood Maw |
Lightning Bolt |
Negate |
Opt |
Path to Exile |
Pongify |
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Pyretic Ritual |
Retraction Helix |
Seething Song |
Swords to Plowshares |
Arcane Signet |
Commander’s Sphere |
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Fellwar Stone |
Isochron Scepter |
Lotus Petal |
Mishra’s Bauble |
Sol Ring |
Talisman of Conviction |
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Talisman of Creativity |
Talisman of Progress |
Underworld Breach |
Adarkar Wastes |
Battlefield Forge |
Cascade Bluffs |
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Clifftop Retreat |
Command Tower |
Deserted Beach |
Emergence Zone |
Exotic Orchard |
Fiery Islet |
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Glacial Fortress |
x6 Island |
x4 Mountain |
Mystic Gate |
Mystic Monastery |
Mystic Sanctuary |
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x4 Plains |
Prairie Stream |
Rugged Prairie |
Shivan Reef |
Stormcarved Coast |
Sulfur Falls |
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Sunbaked Canyon |
Sundown Pass |
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The decklist contains three planeswalkers, 16 creatures, ten sorceries, 25 instants, ten artifacts, one enchantment, and 34 lands. Narset wants to cast a ton of spells, which is why the line-up of instants is so high, while most creatures benefit from noncreature spells being cast.
Key Cards
Narset, Jeskai Waymaster
In a combo deck, finding your combo pieces is vital, and Narset, Jeskai Waymaster is the best way. Every spell you cast can turn into a card being drawn, so long as you’re fine with discarding your hand. If you have another key card in your hand, you may want to avoid using Narset’s effect.
No matter your hand size, Narset will always draw cards equal to the number of spells cast. Even if you end the turn with no cards in hand, if you had cast eight spells, you’ll still draw eight cards.
Narset’s effect triggers at the end step, so the cards you get into your hand aren’t able to be used until your turn comes around. Once it does, though, you have a high likelihood of being able to combo off and win the game off of the cards you drew.
Underworld Breach
Underworld Breach is one of the most important cards in the deck, as it’s both a combo enabler and helps you to get back combo pieces discarded from Narset. You want to make sure you have a lot of mana the turn you play Underworld Breach as it is sacrificed at the end step.
The best combo available with Underworld Breach is the Lotus Freeze combo, utilizing a loop involving Brain Storm and Lotus Petal. This combo involves three specific cards, which Narset can easily draw you into.
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Prerequisites |
Underworld Breach is on the battlefield (both combos). Lotus Petal and Brain Freeze in hand. |
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Step 1 |
Cast Lotus Petal, tapping it for one blue mana. |
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Step 2 |
Make one more blue mana from any source (or escape Lotus Petal if you have three cards in the graveyard) to cast Brain Freeze. |
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Step 3 |
Two copies of Brain Freeze are created from storm (if you escaped Lotus Petal), target yourself with both to mill six (or nine if you escaped Lotus Petal) |
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Step 4 |
Escape Louts Petal and sacrifice it for blue mana twice, exiling six cards milled with Brain Freeze. |
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Step 5 |
Escape Brain Freeze, targeting yourself with at least three copies, the rest can target any opponent. This will give you nine cards in graveyard to make sure you can escape Lotus Petal twice and Brain Freeze once. |
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Result |
This gives you a huge storm count, multiple magecraft triggers, and a ton of mana, and it can mill your entire library |
Valley Floodcaller
Valley Floodcaller is your main way to cast as many spells as you want to draw any number of cards with Narset. Being able to cast noncreature spells with flash is great too, especially with planeswalkers so no opponents can damage them so they’re around on your turn.
The combo with Valley Floodcaller is best used when you have a card with storm in hand or you want to draw with Narset. It does require a few moving parts, and in some cases, make infinite mana. Here’s how the combo works.
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Prerequisites |
Valley Floodcaller on the battlefield, Banishing Knack or Retraction Helix in hand. Any zero-mana nonland permanent or Sol Ring. |
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Step 1 |
Cast Banishing Knack/Retraction Helix, targeting Valley Floodcaller to give it the ability to tap to return nonland permanent to its owner’s hand. |
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Step 2 |
Tap Valley Floodcaller, returning the zero mana permanent/Sol Ring to hand. If you’re using Sol Ring, make sure to tap it for two mana. |
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Step 3 |
Re-cast the spell you bounced, untapping Valley Floodcaller with its own effect. |
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Step 4 |
Repeat steps 2 and 3. |
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Result |
Infinite number of spells cast, all Otters gain an infinite number of stats, if Sol Ring was used, infinite colorless mana. |
Ral, Crackling Wit
Ral, Crackling Wit provides a lot of utility. Just six spells being cast allows you to give all your instant and sorceries storm. Alternatively, you can make Otter tokens that can be boosted up with Valley Floodcaller combos or just be used to loot through your deck to find important combo pieces.
Ral is likely to be attacked during your opponents’ turns. While very strong, you don’t have to dedicate all your resources to protecting it. If you are defending it, it’s best to use chump blockers made from token generators.
The biggest downside to planeswalkers in Commander is that three different people can attack them before you have a chance to use them after being cast. Luckily, thanks to its passive effect, you can get around this by easily adding extra loyalty counters without needing to use loyalty abilities.
How To Play The Deck
A Narset, Jeskai Waymaster Commander deck is built around a ton of different combos, with multiple different ways to win the game once you assemble all the pieces. Even if you’re not using combos, creatures that create tokens when you play noncreature spells help to make your battlefield wide to swing in for damage.
There are multiple combos, and sometimes you’ll have different combo pieces in your hand for different combos. Sometimes, it’s better to discard them all to Narset’s effect to try for another combo or use Underworld Breach to assemble the combo from the graveyard.
As with many combo decks, the combo needs to resolve in order to win the game. If it gets interrupted, odds are that a combo is going to be cut off. This is where the suite of counterspells comes in and should primarily be saved for when you’re about to start your combos that’ll win you the game.
The primary win condition of the deck is winning through combo lines. There are various game-winning combo lines in the deck, so even if one gets interrupted, you can work towards another one. You can also win through combat if you create enough creature tokens.
The biggest downside of the deck is its reliance on combo. Combo decks can be fragile, and Narset, Jeskai Waymaster is no exception. Narset does add a lot of consistency that many combo decks don’t have, but can still have trouble against more aggressive decks.
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