Nadu, Winged Wisdom has been making a name for itself in a bunch of different formats with Legacy and Modern players comboing it with Shuko for some incredible turns that would make any Timmy Commander player salivate. Being able to throw lands from your deck into play untapped means you can go mana positive consistently with minimal effort while accessing more and more cards. So, I had to try it in Timeless.
Honestly, as a fan of the game, I am concerned about the impacts Nadu will have for casual players, but Timeless is the format where the most broken and degenerate gameplans are allowed, so I'm here to test if we can make it work in my own way.
What’s the Big Idea?
Nadu is a house, obviously, but green/blue also has access to a whole host of busted cards and I decided to take a kitchen sink-approach. We have Primeval Titan and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, and even Scute Swarm in the deck because they're all must-answer threats that synergize with our overall landfall strategy. My hope here is to create enough Simic value in enough ways that one of them will ultimately stick and knock out our opponent, even if Nadu gets answered.
And because we have Primeval Titan, we absolutely run Field of the Dead and a mana base made up primarily of one-off lands to support it. Whether it's Scutes or Field, we'll find away to go wide deep into the game.
Why Best-of-One?
This deck started as a proof of concept and I really just wanted to see if such a system was viable. Best-of-one is usually a good litmus test for whether or not an idea has a chance against the fastest archetypes available. I spent a lot of time trying to get the nuts and bolts of the main deck dialed in – more time than expected, to be honest. By the time I was satisfied with the main deck, it was time to write this article, so keep your eyes peeled on my videos uploaded here for future sideboards.
I honestly was surprised at how much fun I had playing this deck, so I'm sure I'm not done with it yet.
Nadu’s Combo Enablers
In a lot of all-in Nadu combo decks, you see equipment or one-drop spells like Bone Saw and Tamiyo's Safekeeping. While these cards are excellent if Nadu is online, they're not very valuable if Nadu isn't available. Given the variable approach this deck takes, I opted to forgo those cards in favor of a package that gives meaningful value even if Nadu isn't available. So we're working with Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and Roaring Earth.
These two each help us translate land drops into creature power while also targeting our permanents when Nadu is present. Bristly Bill is preferable because it puts a body on board our opponent will be threatened by and it might even soak up removal early. This is our primary method for ensuring Nadu triggers late in the game.
Tie the Room Together
Such disparate approaches wouldn't be possible if we didn't have a singular card that can tie it all together for us. That card is Chord of Calling. Being able to take advantage of our Scute Swarm tokens or Field of the Dead tokens and make sure we get the exact bomb we're missing at instant speed is nuts, and it also allows us to run situational tools like Sylvan Safekeeper. This is the primary reason Uro is only a one-of in this build given that he can be tutored up on a whim.
I honestly think there's more potential to explore situational pieces that can be chorded into play. Maybe Mistcaller, Topiary Stomper, or dozens of other creatures could find their way into future builds of this deck or the sideboard should I flesh this out for best-of-3.
In-Game Tips and Tricks
The strength of this build lies in its versatility. Given the level of hype it's received and the composition of many other builds out there, opponents will likely believe that Nadu is the only win condition in the deck and if they eliminate them, everything will be fine. Given that this isn't necessarily true, don't hesitate to run Nadu out on turn three or even turn two if our Arboreal Grazers showed up on turn one. If an opponent spends targeted removal on Nadu early, we'll get at least one trigger and either ramp or get a replacement card in hand. We're still net positive in that exchange, so don't be afraid to just run out the bird.
If you're not under pressure and have a Chord of Calling in hand, it's often best to wait until you can throw it where X=6 and get Primeval Titan. Flooding the board with multiple Fields of the Dead is so strong and difficult to interact with that the card got banned in a ton of formats. If you are under pressure and need to fire the Chord sooner, though, don't necessarily stress getting Nadu online. Because we're not all-in, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is often the correct target. This is doubly true if you are out of cards and have the means to escape him.
In all the matches I played preparing for this article, I found the Rakdos Scam deck to be tough to deal with. Grief and Fury both represent potentially devastating opening turns and those decks playing Reanimate just means the Nadu or Primeval Titan they strip out of our hand will be swinging back at us as early as turn two. This matchup is by far our worst and I would honestly devote 8+ sideboard slots to dealing with it. On the plus side, though, all the Thoughtseizes and Reanimates blast their life total very quickly, so if you're able to get a couple good blocks with Arboreal Grazer or Scute Swarm tokens and crack back, you don't have far to go to kill them.
Another deck that represents a problematic matchup is Izzet Energy. If you haven't seen this deck yet, it's using a ton of the energy payoffs from Modern Horizons 3 to remove the opposing board and, ultimately, use Aether Revolt to blast the opponent to death. A lot of the removal in that deck targets with the premier one being Galvanic Discharge. In this matchup you need to pick your battles because nearly every creature you play out will be killed immediately and those kill spells will be providing your opponent with energy to fuel their gameplan. It's often wise in this matchup to sandbag your creatures and not play anything into open mana. It's frustrating to wait, but ensuring you have enough lands on board to get value when you do finally establish can create a board state that's too wide for them to deal with. Playing on curve plays into their gameplan, so mix it up.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this deck was far more fun than I expected, and I'll definitely be working on a sideboard in the future. It's very satisfying to see your opponent spend tons of resources answering Scute Swarm and Nadu only to have Field of the Dead tokens overrun them for the win. If I was serious about ranking up with this deck, I'd probably include a one-of Craterhoof Behemoth, but I'm trying to deny my villainy at least a little bit. If you have most of the cards or plenty of wildecards, this deck is a ton of fun. It's also super adjustable, so feel free to swap in any pet cards you'd like. I hope it serves you well and you keep smiling while you're playing the game because that's what it's all about.
Thanks for reading, and happy brewing!
