Why was Nadu banned from Commander?

Following the Pioneer and Modern bans, Magic: The Gathering is back with a few more banned cards. This time it is in Commander format. Four major cards were hit hard by the ban, and reactions from the community were mixed.

Only one of the four banned cards is a legendary creature, and of course that creature is Nadu, the Winged Wisdom. Simic Bird Wizard has been feared by playgroups since its release. But why exactly is this a problem for Commander players? We looked into Nadu and its surroundings to find out why this commander was banned.

What is Nadu, winged wisdom?

Nadu, Winged Wisdom is a three-mana commander from the incredibly popular Modern Horizons 3 set. Despite being only 3 mana, Nadu is powerful offensively, with a 3/4 stat line, flying, and very good abilities. This can be achieved effectively by using Nadu's abilities. Free exploration is triggered every turn..

When Nadu is played, all creatures You gain the ability to reveal the top card of your library. Whenever you are the target of an ability spell.

If the revealed card is a land, that card is played. Whatever that card is, it goes into your hand. This ability only triggers twice, but still. Tons of decks specifically designed around one ability.

So what makes Nadu so good?

Nadu's ability provided tremendous value despite only triggering twice per turn per creature.

If you use the right card, Especially gear like Shuko and Lightning Greaves. Costing no mana to equip, this device can quickly pass through all creatures at once, triggering a ton of Nadu's Expedition-like effects.

There are cards that are ridiculously good in Nadu-based decks, or rather, very stupid cards that we can't even imagine would have been ridiculously good before Nadu was banned.

For example, Legends Instant Sea King's Blessing is: You can target any number of creatures, both yours and your opponent's, and turn them blue during your turn.

This 1 mana spell can provide numerous Nadu triggers, Because it is instantaneous speedYou can do it on your opponent's turn after burning both trigger limits on your turn.

Since it has both blue and green, you can expect a solid counter package to keep Nadu and other cards safe, as well as a solid ramp package outside of Nadu.

Nadu also encourages many land effects. The force that passes through land from the top of the deck; At the same time, it provides consistent card advantage when effectively drawing all of your non-land cards.

Couldn't I stop it?

Nadu could never be stopped. Nadu have a very clear line of play. The game plays fairly consistently both in card selection and direction.. Deck can be a bit slow. This is especially true at high levels of play where faster decks shine.

There are also decks of this type. Centered almost entirely on the commander, Therefore, if the other party continues to target Nadu or has a way to deal with it semi-permanently, Cards like Song of the Dryads and Witness ProtectionYou will get out of luck very quickly.

Why does this mean Nadu had to be banned?

The main issues that led to Nadu's ban are: It takes a long time to do everything.

Remember how I said that using gear like Shuko can help you burn Nadu triggers quickly? Well, if you have five creatures in play and want to trigger 10 on Nadu, To properly resolve the issue, you must trigger each instance one at a time..

That means you need to:

• To equip Shuko on creature 1, pay 0 mana.
• Place creature 1's Nadu's trigger on the stack.
• Resolve the trigger to determine whether the card is a land or nonland, then play or put that card into your hand.
• Move Shuko to Creature 2.
• Place Creature 2's Nadu trigger on the stack.
• Address that trigger and make the same decision as the first time.

In the meantime, you may have drawn a card you want to play. Decide if you want to play another game Before transferring Shuko to another creature.

If the revealed card is a land, that card also goes untapped, so if you tap out before drawing more cards, you can: Realistically release more land Until you have enough to cast another spell.

Then you For this scenario, repeat this 8 more times.. All this does is create a very oppressive board state that takes a long time to resolve everything and doesn't actually win the game itself.

Even if I am not your commander, Situations can still arise where the game takes an enormous amount of time for just one player's turn.While it doesn't actually go anywhere.

Where can I still play Nadu?

interestingly, Nadu is not banned from the Brawl format in Magic: The Gathering Arena.In many ways it mirrors the Commander format.

As some mysterious hints about Arena's future suggest: The true commander is coming soon You'll be able to get your Simic fix digitally in the near future.