Kazi Baker’s really great write-up on why they think Nadu should be banned in Modern after the PT MH3 showing last weekend.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom just posted one of the best showings at a Pro Tour of any new card(s) ever. The deck is comparable to decks (and seasoned) headlined by both Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis and Eye of Ugin Eldrazi in terms of conversion rate to Day 2, and slightly behind Eldrazi and significantly ahead of Hogaak (although for context, Hogaak had not received its power up from a ban yet) in terms of top 8 finishes at its first Pro Tour.
But how did this happen, and how did it happen so quickly?
I’ve been playing Magic long enough to remember when a 3/4 for 3 mana would need a pretty significant drawback to even be printable. So I’m still surprised when they come out with broken nonsense like Nadu, even though I shouldn’t be by now.
This Pro Tour had lopsided numbers and non-interactive games and just wasn’t much fun to watch. Wizards should consider it a disaster, but whether they will probably depends a lot on MH3 sales numbers.
The stats are hardly the main issue. Creatures today are way stronger than back then, and we could easily have a 3/4 for 3 at common. For Nadu, it means it cannot get bolted, ok, but the issue is the ability wording.
It also means that it blocks Solitude and Subtlety (as well as Grief) very well, plus bounces off of itself in the mirror.
Which added to not dying to bolt make it, and it’s deck, much more resilient than a growth spiral engine has any right to be.
That is true, I had not thought of that
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You are right. Unfortunately, we can expect wizards to ban Shuko first, as it is what they have done in situations like this.
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It likely should. I just swapped it in as my commander for my group hug simic deck that has no wincon… And 2 cards in the deck that actually work with Nadu. Just because of the memes.
And just in case anyone was wondering about simic group hug… I give people card draw, lands, and symmetrical combo pieces. The plan is to make a 5+ person game not take 3 hours.
Yeah I think this is pretty much how the vast majority of the player base feels right now, the question is whether Wizards will do it
Friends were discussing whether they might do the cop out again and ban some of the enabler cards, mostly [[Shuko]]
There’s a decent argument that Shuko and anything else that can be activated an unlimited number of times should be banned, because this isn’t the first time a combo like this has come around. But I think this article does a good job making the case that Nadu is broken even apart from that. (That doesn’t mean Wizards won’t hide behind a Shuko ban anyway…)
Yeah for sure, in the context I’ve learned that Shuko has been tearing up other formats for a long time too.
I’d expect that Nadu would still be nuts with other utility if they stick to the Shuko ban. So yeah, curious to see what happens
I’ve seen Nadu. Strong. Too strong, yeah. But I only see it occasionally, and can usually deal with it in one way or the other, mostly Sheoldred’s Edict saving the day.
What really bugs me out is [[Ocelot Pride]], together with [[Guide of Souls]] and [[Ajani, Nacatl Pariah]].
They are so strong and cheap, useful and versatile, everybody left and right has put them in their decks. I mean, it’s nice to get pawed by a cat themed deck once in a while. But I literally face this combo for multiple BO1s in a row. Seriously. It’s a rather refreshing surprise when I get to see a somewhat different opponent. This power creep has so ruined the meta, diversity is so low it hardly makes fun playing.
