Much Abrew About Nothing: Nahiri's End
Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new and improved Much Abrew About Nothing. Last week, none of the Instant Deck Techs came out as a clear winner, but one did stand out as the most controversial, generating the most responses, both positive and negative: Nahiri's End. Some people loved the addition of the Nahiri, the Harbinger / Emrakul, the Aeons Torn combo to the time-honored Living End strategy, while others thought it took away slots that were valuable in supporting the deck's main combo: resolving a huge Living End. So, what's the truth? That's what we are trying to figure out this week as we run the deck through it's paces in Modern!
We'll have some notes on Nahiri's End after the videos, but first a quick reminder. If you enjoy the Much Abrew About Nothing series and the other video content on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish YouTube Channel to keep up on all the latest and greatest.
Nahiri's End: Instant Deck Tech
Nahiri's End vs. Eldrazi & Taxes
Nahiri's End vs. Titan Scapeshift
Nahiri's End vs. Dredge
Nahiri's End vs. Jund
Nahiri's End Wrap Up
Thoughts
- We know that Living End is good, and we know that Nahiri, the Harbinger / Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is good, so there's not really any point in discussing either of these topics. Instead, we are trying to figure out whether these things are good together, and also if Siege Rhino has a place in Living End.
- First off, we never actually ultimated Nahiri, the Harbinger. Actually, we never even got a chance to +2 Nahiri, the Harbinger. This is partly because there are only two copies in the deck and partly because, when we did draw Nahiri, the Harbinger, we often had something better to do (like cascading into Living End).
- Second, we never, ever wanted to draw Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, but unfortunately we did with some regularity. Every single time we drew it, we wished it was something else, like a cycler, Cascade spell, or even a land.
- This means that, all together, I wasn't especially impressed with the combo of Nahiri, the Harbinger / Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in Living End. Nahiri, the Harbinger did exactly one positive thing in all four of our matches (exiling an enchantment), and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn did nothing.
- The biggest problem is that Living End already has good game one matchups, because few decks play any main deck graveyard hate. As a result, Nahiri, the Harbinger and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn make the deck worse on game one. Theoretically, they could shine in game two once people start bringing in Leyline of the Void and Relic of Progenitus, which might mean they have a place in the sideboard. That said, a lot of decks are running Grafdigger's Cage to fight Nahiri, the Harbinger, so the combo isn't a guaranteed way to beat the hate in games two or three.
- Siege Rhino, on the other hand, was actually pretty sweet, catching opponents by surprise and gaining relevant amounts of life, but it still feels odd in the deck. If we can resolve a Living End, we don't need Siege Rhino to win, and if we don't resolve Living End, it's fairly unlikely that three copies of Siege Rhino will be enough to save us.
- All in all, it seems that you're best off playing normal Living End and playing Nahiri, the Harbinger in non-Living End decks. If you really want to play the two together, I'd look at putting Nahiri, the Harbinger in the sideboard, playing more than two copies, and making Nahiri, the Harbinger / Emrakul, the Aeons Torn a transformational sideboard plan to deal with graveyard disruption.
