Certain Magic: The Gathering cards are like fine wines. They may not wow at first, but given time to age and mature they can work wonders. Duskmourn’s Norin, Swift Survivalist is proving to be one such card. While it had us excited during previews, it hasn’t gone on to any competitive success in any format. Until this week, that is. In yesterday’s Duel Commander Trial, two Norin, Swift Survivalist decks managed to place in the top eight.
Duel Commander is an unconventional format, to be sure, but it’s still one with plenty of tough competition to deal with. That two different Norin lists made it into the rankings is a great sign for the card’s future there. The best part? Both lists are orders of magnitude cheaper than everything else in the Duel Commander meta right now, which makes it a fantastic budget option. If the price of other formats is getting you down, maybe it’s time to take Norin for a spin.
Norin, Swift Survivalist In Duel Commander
Norin, Swift Survivalist led lists that took third and sixth place in yesterday’s MTGO Duel Commander Trial. Piloted by Manalacio and Beraldi, respectively, the two decks follow essentially the same gameplan. This is classic Mono-Red Aggro, adapted for 100-card singleton.
Norin makes a great leader for this style of deck. Coming down on turn one as a 2/1 is already pretty aggressive, and the ability here pushes things even further. You can exile and recast any creatures that get blocked while Norin is out, which adds a ton of resilience. Normally red one-drops are too fragile to excel in Commander, but when you can pull them out of combat and refresh them they do much better. You can easily pressure your opponent with huge swings, without really risking any of your creatures.
This ability plays best with cheap creatures, so that’s mostly what the rest of the list is made up of. From Goblin Guide to Hired Claw, there are no less than 13 one-drops in the deck. A similar number of two-drops carry on the curve, then things really round out at three. A couple of banger three-drops like Screaming Nemesis make the cut, but for the most part this is a super-slim deck.
In addition to swinging in with endless cheap creatures, this deck also packs a huge burn suite. Pretty much every good direct damage spell at one or two mana is here, along with some bigger ones that you can cheat out in some way. We’re talking everything from Lightning Bolt to Fireblast. Spells like these aren’t typically worth playing in Commander for efficiency reasons. In Duel Commander, however, when you have one opponent with only 20 life, they shine.
Beatdown On A Budget
A few choice cards aside, that’s really it when it comes to Norin, Swift Survivalist in Duel Commander. It’s an extremely simple deck, which will either draw you in or push you away depending on the types of games you enjoy. One big factor in the deck’s appeal right now, however, goes beyond gameplay. Both of the Norin lists in the Duel Commander Trial were incredibly cheap compared to the other contenders, essentially making this a budget deck.
Manalacio’s list came in at $91 in total, while Beraldi’s totaled $151. That may not sound super-cheap to you, but for reference the next-cheapest deck in the Trial cost $400, and everything else was $700 up. Several decks in the Trial, all of which Norin managed to overcome, cost well over $2,000 each to build.
That’s a huge difference, especially in the tumultuous economic times we currently find ourselves in. Being able to field a competitive Duel Commander deck for less than $100 is fantastic. The figures above can easily come down, too. As is often the case, a lot of the value in each list is tied up in a handful of specific cards. Sub out Screaming Nemesis, Arena of Glory, and Mutavault and Manalacio’s list can be yours for under $50. Pricier lands are really the only thing separating Beraldi’s deck from Manalacio’s value-wise, too, so the same principle applies there.
These prices get even better if you’re playing on MTGO. Both decks can be had for less than $25 in Tix, which is a steal if you don’t mind playing digitally. However you slice it, Norin is an incredibly shrewd investment if its performance yesterday is an indicator of its future trajectory.
A Good Meta Pick?
All of that said, Norin, Swift Survivalist’s future in the Duel Commander format is very much up in the air. It put on a fantastic showing yesterday to be sure, but the other top meta contenders offer some serious resistance to its rise to fame.
Right now, the format is mostly dominated by other aggressive decks. Bruse Tarl/Yoshimaru and Phlage occupy the two and three spots, while Aragorn, King of Gondor, flavorfully enough, sits on the throne. These are all aggressive Commanders like Norin, but with access to white for lifegain effects. All three have built-in ways of gaining you life, too, which is huge in such an aggressive metagame.
What this means is that Norin will often be up against decks with a similar gameplan, but with more tools for surviving and turning the corner. Screaming Nemesis and Sunshine Lynx can counter the life gain, but given Red’s lack of tutors, they’re not showing up every game. Even if you put life aside, these decks all have access to much wider toolkits than Norin, Aragorn in particular.
On the other hand, being in Mono-Red has its advantages. Beraldi ran Magus of the Moon in their list, which is a stroke of brilliance in my eyes. Aragorn decks run a ton of nonbasics, which Magus shuts down hard. Neither deck did it, but you can also add OG Blood Moon to the deck for not a lot of money, especially on MTGO. They may feel a bit scummy to play, but these are great semi-budget options that help level the playing field for a deck like Norin.
Overall, Norin is in a great place in Duel Commander right now, especially given its ultra-budget price tag.