I Went Double Infinite with Elesh Norn | Brewer's Kitchen
Well, hello there! Brewer’s Kitchen here and today we’re gonna go double infinite with the new Elesh Norn. As usual, check out the video to see the deck in action:
The Gameplan
The gameplan of the deck is to assemble an endless loop of creatures entering and leaving the battlefield. We do this by using two creatures that exile and return another creature when they enter the battlefield. While they are usually worded in a way to prevent looping infinitely with a second copy, in the right combination, they can continuously target each other. Arena has three options for creatures like this: Restoration Angel, Icewind Stalwart, and Wispweaver Angel.
While the Wispweaver Angel doesn’t have any limitations in target choice, Icewind Stalward and Restoration Angel prevent their own creature type from being targeted. Unfortunately, the “non-angel” clause makes the Restoration Angel a bit of a nombo with Wispweaver Angel. With these three cards we end up with three different combinations to archive infinity:
Wispweaver Angel - Wispweaver Angel
Wispweaver Angel - Icewind Stalwart
Icewind Stalwart - Restoration Angel
But what do we do with this? Just blinking creatures until our clock runs out doesn’t accomplish much by itself. We need a way to get value out of creatures entering the battlefield. Sounds like good reason to play some of my favorite two-drop creatures Gala Greeters and Prosperous Innkeeper.
While the Greeters only trigger up to three times a turn, having an Innkeeper on the battlefield while performing the loop will gain us infinite life. Well… technically. In paper we could demonstrate a loop and just say how much life we want to get. Arena will not allow you to perform this loop for long enough. Not only will your timer run out, the system will literally warn you to perform another action to prevent the game ending in a draw. Luckily we got another payoff: Witty Roastmaster.
The Roastmaster will deal one damage whenever another creature enters the battlefield. This alone will win the game once we assemble the loop. And while this is neat, it is quite complicated to pull off against an opponent that defends themselves. But there is another way to make use of the infinite loop by doubling it with Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines.
Elesh Norn will double our own “enter the battlefield” triggers and prevent the opponent’s ones. Not only can this be incredibly effective in the right matchup, it will also allow us to get absurd value from our infinite loop. Once we double up the blink triggers, we can target the rest of our board with the additional triggers to create an infinity of other recourses. Prosperous Innkeeper will create infinite mana with treasures, Wall of Blossoms and Llanowar Visionary will draw as mana cards as we want. With this setup we can draw our entire deck, cast the Witty Roastmaster and then cast another blink creature to restart the loop and win the game.
As complicated as it sounds, it is way more likely to perform the double infinite, than just comboing the Roastmaster into the loop. Most of the games we first ramp out Elesh Norn with Treasures, Gilded Goose, and Llanowar Visionary and then start to blink our board with Icewind Stalwart and the likes. While Witty Roastmaster is a three-drop, it is usually one of the last spells we cast in a game.
Now that doesn’t mean that every game goes as well as the first one in the video. Sometimes you just run out the Rostmasters for incidental damage and slowly grind the opponent out of the game. Sadly, the deck needs to heavily focus on the combo and synergies with Elesh Norn. Our only form of interaction is The Eternal Wanderer. Her +1 allows us to blink creatures which will generate continuous value or restart the infinite in a pinch. Her -4 can technically wipe the board but will often feel pretty bad since we need a board presence to win the game. While control and removal heavy decks can be tough matchups, aggro decks often can’t race our life gain. The incidental life gain from Prosperous Innkeeper, Gala Greeters and Gilded Goose will give us enough time to assemble our combo or beat them in the air with our angels. Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines will also shut down some decks by herself due to her passive ability as seen in the video.
Wrap up
While this deck is fun to play with, it plays some very underpowered cards. The Roastmaster might be a win condition but does pretty much nothing in the early game/setup phase. It also doesn’t help that Wispweaver Angel costs a hefty six mana. If we ever get Felidar Guardian, we might come back to the deck since it will allow for some legitimately broken combos at more competitive mana costs. That being said, Elesh Norn is an absolute house and will win some games by herself.
If you have questions or ideas for this or any other deck, you can reach me on Twitter @Brewers_Kitchen or at brewerskitchen@mtggoldfish.com.
