Najeela, the Blade Dancer [cEDH Primer]

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Multiplayer Tempo Tokens

ImGefest

Instant (32)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Miscast
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Silence
• 1x Snap
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Neoform

Land (30)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Deafening Silence
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Nature's Will
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth

Commander (1)

Creature (19)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
• 1x Destiny Spinner
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Hullbreacher
• 1x Ignoble Hierarch
• 1x Mindblade Render
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Toski, Bearer of Secrets

Artifact (5)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sol Ring

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Before Battlebond, the majority of cEDH commanders used several kinds of wincons in order to win, these are mostly abusing infinite mana into built-in abilities of commanders like Breya, Etherium Shaper , taking infinite extra turns like God-Eternal Kefnet , creating deadly Protean Hulk lines like Varolz, the Scar-Striped , cascading through the whole deck thanks to Food Chain like The First Sliver , you get it. Almost none of cEDH decks really prioritized or abuse combat as a legit wincon, except for Godo, Bandit Warlord . But thanks to the glorious 2HG set, we do have a commander we deserved, a commander for fans of beating other opponents to death and pushing everyone's life total way down.

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom isn't just a pain train for almost creatureless decks thanks to a surprisingly fast token generation, this high and resilient damage output allows us to pressure the life total of players who's ready to pay a lot of life for advantage engines, such as Sylvan Library , Necropotence , Ad Nauseam . It is also one of the strongest cEDH commanders in the format, as Magic's entire cardpool provides us with a good amount of 1-card wincons, so you can pick only the best ones to unleash the deadly dance of blades as fast and efficient as possible. Also, Najeela, the Blade-Blossom costs only , so you have plenty of ways to consistently cast her on turns 2 and even 1, allowing us to start the damage pressure on our opponents and get ready for casting our 1-card wincons and teke infinite combat steps; and even if your army gets wiped or commander gets a single-target removal, her casting cost isn't that hard to pay again.

Since the main engine of the deck is extremely compact, Najeela, the Blade-Blossom can be built in several ways, such as adding Protean Hulk lines, all the Laboratory Maniac -styles of options to win via turbo-mill\exile as early as possible, investing heavy into hatebears in order to answer meta rivals and then amassing an army of tokens under cover of many stax pieces. This exact build of mine is a more classic one and it uses only a couple of meta answers and a small back-up plan with Thassa's Oracle , but you can shape the deck however you wan accordingly to local meta and your personal taste.

Mulligan

Casting Najeela, the Blade-Blossom as early as possible is the most important goal of the deck (there are, of course, some exceptions, which will be mentioned in "Small Nuances" part), so it's crucial to have at least one 1-mana dork in your opening hand or Mana Crypt , Chrome Mox , Mox Diamond , Sol Ring . Do also note that even though our commander is 3 CMC, it's not very pleasant to recast her in a couple turns and lose a lot of tepmo and possibly tap out and npt have any interaction, because our commander is way too good of a check for decks like Turbo Ad Nauseam lists, Doomsday Zur the Enchanter , Food Chain lists, so having protection in form of Mental Misstep , Red Elemental Blast , Dispel , Swan Song is always a nice bonus for safety reasons. Next up, you need any sort of either a strong card advantage engine like Dark Confidant , Mystic Remora , Mindblade Render , Rhystic Study , and in some cases even Edric, Spymaster of Trest ; or a good cantrip like Brainstorm , Ponder , Preordain . Tutors can substitute card advantage, if they either can grab one of these engines, or you have any of our combo engines in hand and you just need protection. Although this particular build doesn't run that many stax pieces, you need to keep in mind that sime matchups will require mulligainning for Collector Ouphe against artifact-heavy fast decks such as Breya, Etherium Shaper and Urza, Lord High Artificer , or Rest in Peace against Protean Hulk lists and graveyard strategies, such as Tasigur, the Golden Fang or The Gitrog Monster . Slow opening hands are acceptable only if you're not the fastest deak and you have a suitable hate piece and disruption, or you have Mystic Remora and a lot of interaction in a pod with several proactive decks, such as The Gitrog Monster , Anje Falkenrath , Protean Hulk lists.

Combos

There are several combos, each has its own pros and cons:

Derevi Plan

So the combo is built around Derevi, Empyrial Tactician and her untap triggers when our creatures deal combat damage. In order to execute the Derevi Plan, you need to untap permanents that in total produce 5 or more mana, and also keep in mind that you need to get exactly , so check this in advance in order not to mess up the win attempt. Knowing that, we do not have to amass at least 5 creatures that can get through as long as we have land enchanted with Wild Growth or Utopia Sprawl or active Bloom Tender , which taps for at least with Derevi, Empyrial Tactician on the battlefield. Action order (after you are sure you have Najeela, the Blade-Blossom on the battlefield and at least 5 mana):

1. Cast Derevi, Empyrial Tactician ()manually or cast Eldritch Evolution (), sacrifiring any 1 or 2 CMC creature and then put Derevi, Empyrian Tactician on the battlefield;

2. Resolve the Derevi's trigger from entering the battlefiled and either untap one of your mana sources, or tap target creature an opponent is able to block your creatures with;

3. Move to combat and make sure you have enough triggers from dealing combat damage in order to have at least 5 mana needed to activate Najeela, the Blade-Blossom 's second ability;

4. After resolving Derevi, Empyrial Tactician 's triggers from combat damage, but before the end of combat phase, activate Najeela, the Blade-Blossom 's second ability with the mana you added to your mana pool and go to your new extra combat step;

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until everyone else is dead.

Pros:

• Can be assembled as early as turn 2 with the best hand possible

• If you cast Derevi, Empyrial Tactician manually, it's harder to stop while on the stack since the amount of counterspells that can target creatures is limited

• Does not require any more spells after resolving Derevi, Empyrial Tactician if left uninterrupted, so thank to this can be executed even under Rule of Law effects on the battlefield

• In several circumstances requires as little ready to attack creatures as 2 or even 1, which is important while playing against stax effects such as Static Orb

Cons:

• Even after Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is resolved, your creatures are vulnerable to removal, so be well prepared to this

• Eldritch Evolution is a glass-cannon on the stack since it is a sorcery, and the vast majority of counterspells can counter sorceries

• Does require a specific amount of exact-colored mana

Nature's Will Plan

This one is pretty similar to the Derevi plan and is built around Nature's Will . Action order (after you are sure you have Najeela, the Blade-Blossom on the battlefield and at least 4 mana):

1. Cast Nature's Will ();

2. Move to combat and make sure you have enough creatures to get through in order to untap at least WUBRG;

3. When you deal combat damage, you have Nature's Will 's triggers on the stack. Keep in mind, the triggers are separate fore each opponent, so if you deal damage to all 3 opponents, you have 3 untap triggers. This lets you add mana to your mana pool part by part, so you can easily win even if your lands do not produce the whole WUBRG from only one trigger. Before the end of combat phase, activate Najeela, the Blade-Blossom 's second ability with the mana you added to your mana pool and go to your new extra combat step;

4. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until everyone else is dead.

Pros:

• Does not requires that many creatures on the battlefield and does not even require 5 lands to execute

• Does not require any more spells after resolving Nature's Will if left uninterrupted, so thank to this can be executed even under Rule of Law effects on the battlefield

• In several circumstances requires as little ready to attack creatures as 2 or even 1, which is important while playing against stax effects such as Static Orb

Cons:

• Not as vulnerable as Eldritch Evolution on the stack, still is pretty easy to counter, and even if resolved, make sure you have protection for your creatures and Nature's Will itself

• Does require a specific amount of exact-colored mana

Druid's Repository Plan

This combo is built around Druids' Repository , the third and the last 1-card combo in most of builds.Action order (after you are sure you have Najeela, the Blade-Blossom on the battlefield and at least 3 mana):

1. Cast Druids' Repository ();

2. Move to combat and make sure you have at least five attacking creatures and, ideally at least 5 creatures that can get through, so that you have at least 5 Druids' Repository triggers to get counters on this enchantment;

3. After combat damage but before the end of combat, activate Druids' Repository 's second ability and remove 5 counters in order to get WUBRG, then activate Najeela, the Blade-Blossom 's second ability in order to get an extra combat step;

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until everyone else is dead.

Pros:

• Does not require any more spells after resolving Nature's Will if left uninterrupted, so thank to this can be executed even under Rule of Law effects on the battlefield

• Does not require that many lands and\or mana dorks besides Druids' Repository 's casting cost

Cons:

• Does require a lot of creatures to attack, at least 5 to connect, not just to be declared as attackers, since Najeela, the Blade-Blossom generates Warrior tokens which are put on the battlefield already attacking, so you cannot get triggers via Druids' Repository off of tokens. Sure, you can use some of your untapped lands and\or dorks, but then you lose mana for interaction

• Not as vulnerable as Eldritch Evolution on the stack, still is pretty easy to counter, and even if resolved, make sure you have protection for your creatures and Druids' Repository itself

The Oracle Plan

This one is an infamous and universal combo for any deck with at least Dimir () colors available.

1. Cast Thassa's Oracle ();

2. When it enters the battlefield, Thassa's Oracle trigger from entering the battlefield will appear on the stack. Holding priority, cast Demonic Consultation (), naming a card which does not appear in the deck, or cast Tainted Pact (), and exile the rest of your deck;

3. After the resolution of any of the two spells mentioned above, Thassa's Oracle 's trigger will resolve and you will win the game!

Pros:

• Does not require ANY board state, just /

• A compact and very resilient wincon, and only Thassa's Oracle is a dead card by itself, the other two can be used as emergency tutors

Cons:

• The most popular wincon in the format, so be ready to resistance and answers such as Torpor Orb which make this wincon unable to execute

• Does require casting 2 spells, so it is vulnerable to Rule of Law effects.

Do also take into account there is also an option of the same win via Thassa's Oracle , but it requires more mana ( to be exact) an one more card:

1. Cast Ad Nauseam ();

2. Hold priority before any responses and cast Angel's Grace ();

3. Put the whole deck into your hand, so that your library is empty now;

4. Cast Thassa's Oracle (), resolve it's enter the battlefield trigger and you win the game!

This combo is an emergency one, but it still works. Despite the fact you need even more cards, again, only Thassa's Oracle is a dead card by itself. This combo is a very rare one to execute, but nevertheless, it's still a legit wincon and is usually executed under effects such as Aven Mindcensor and you cannot tutor any of the other cards for the Oracle plan into your hand, but do have these exact 3 in your hand.

Tutor Targets

In the early game, carddraw is very important for this deck, so Mystic Remora and (if you're the most creature-heavy deck) Edric, Spymaster of Trest are exceptionally efficient. In artifact-heavy metas or in matchups against decks like Urza, Lord High Artificer or Breya, Etherium Shaper , Collector Ouphe is a great piece in order to slow them down and keep in check for at least a turn or two, and Dockside Extortionist can ramp you quickly in situations when you have the cards you need to win but need more mana to execute a win attempt in this or (for some reason) next turn. Rest in Peace is obvious against any graveyard decks, like The Gitrog Monster , and this one can also save us from a huge Drown in the Loch . If you expect a very fast combo win, Silence can be devastating for these kind of decks, guaranteeing at least 1 turn of delay for the table to get ready to answer win attempts. Although we do not run double-sided board wipes, Fire Covenant is a very strong card in matchups against decks with a number of utility creatures, or just in situations when you need to clear your way from blockers. Bloom Tender is perfect against stax pieces like Static Orb , allowing us to almost ignore this effect manawise and benefit from a huge slow-down from our opponents. Veil of Summer is the best answer to Flusterstorm and troublesome targeted removal, so it is a great protection tool while executing a win attempt. As for wincons themselves, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is usually the best one since it is way harder to counter compared to other combo-engines, and requires a moderate amount of attackers.

Small Nuances

• Even though casting our general is a crucial part of main gameplan, do not cast her any time you're able to do this. Having a possibility to cast a well-timed stax piece like Collector Ouphe or a strong draw engine like Mystic Remora in cases shen there's a faster deck than you is too important to miss, since this particular build is an adaptive one, so you'll find a proper timing to cast her.

• ALWAYS attack if you have a chance to generate more warriors, but be careful not to lose Najeela from a flash-speed creature put suddenly as a blocker.

• Do not be too afraid to cast your combo-engines even though Najeela is not on the battlefield. Each of these cards is advantageous to have in play, so keep this in mind.

• Use Najeela, the Blade-Blossom 's activated ability even if you do not have any means of winning the game through a combo. Sometimes this can give some information about your hand quality to your opponents, but gamage output is a very important aspect of piloting the deck, this one can easily overrun the table many, many times even without combo, just thanks to tokens.

Meta Answers

In my opinion, this is one of the most important topics for discussions and places to polish your personal creation. If your meta sees more artifact ramp and artifacts in general, you can run both Collector Ouphe and Null Rod , and can even add Kataki, War's Wage if needed. But in this case, I personally will prefer Force of Vigor , thanks to a nice flexibility and being "free" because of a high density of green dorks. If your meta is even more creature-heavy than mine, you should either add cards for a back-up plan, like Jace, Wielder of Mysteries , and take out Edric, Spymaster of Trest . I also have some experience of playing with Champion of Lambholt as a strange, yet effective meta answer, but this one is tough to find place for in a somewhat reasonably balanced meta. If your meta is heavy-disruptive one, Grand Abolisher is a very solid choice, and keep in mind that you can fetch him into play with Eldritch Evolution .

Single Card Discussion

Ad Nauseam ? Is this a Mad Farm deck? No, but in my personal experience, having such a powerful card advantage in an adaptive list is very nice, especially if we're able to amass a strong board or we're forced to go for the secondary Oracle plan.

OK i get it, Ad Nauseam is decent, but why Angel's Grace ? This one does not just synergize well with the previously mentioned card, but also with Pact of Negation and, if you run it, Summoner's Pact . But this one is also a powerhouse against Thassa's Oracle lists, as it just ignores their attempts to win.

Qasali Pridemage ? You're a wierdo...Keep in mind that buffs do help Najeela herself to connect, that's why I personally am a huge champion of Qasali Pridemage , who's not just a buffer for Najeela, but is also a very handy removal and a nice enabler for Bloom Tender .

Speaking of ramp, Bloom Tender is obnoxiously strong in stax-heavy metas and synergizes perfectly with our commander. I personally no not support Faeburrow Elder as a budget substitution for this kind of deck, but it is just my evaluation, so feel free to test it out if you like it.

Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below. Thanks for attention!

Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 57 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.63
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure, Warrior 1/1 W
Folders	cEDH