It didn’t take long for players to figure out just how broken Nadu, Winged Wisdom was. The card quickly earned a ban in Modern, and this past Monday, was finally deemed too powerful for Legacy. Even traditional Commander players don’t get to make use of the Bird powerhouse. One format where the card does remain legal, however, is Duel Commander.
Even though the card is only eligible to be played in the 99 of decks, Nadu combo has emerged as one of the best strategies in the format. Its popularity has recently spiked even further thanks to the printing of an efficient Bant Commander option from MTG Spider Man, which just put up three top 16 finishes at a 972-player tournament. If you’re a fan of iconic Universes Beyond characters, look no further.
Peter Parker Meets Nadu
As powerful as Nadu is as a build-around, one thing these decks have been missing is a good Commander to help the cause. Obviously, any Commander featured with Nadu in the 99 has to be at least Simic colored, but there’s a lot of incentive to go into white. Not only does white provide one of the strongest combo cards to pair with Nadu in Nomads en-Kor, but you also get a wealth of removal options like Swords to Plowshares to stave off early aggression. The problem is that most Bant Commander options are inefficient and don’t synergize with Nadu at all.
Peter Parker does a good job solving both of these problems. First, despite being a three-color Commander, it only costs two mana to cast. While its front half isn’t overly threatening, having access to a white two-drop that can consistently come down before Nadu makes it much easier to take advantage of Flare of Fortitude as a protection spell and Neoform as a tutor to find Nadu.
Secondly, getting two bodies for the price of one makes it significantly easier to churn through your library once you get Nadu and one of your free targeting effects online. Even before jamming Nadu, Peter Parker helps with Convoke spells such as Knight-Errant of Eos or Chord of Calling, which two of the three high-performing Peter Parker decks made use of.
Additionally, even if it doesn’t come up very often, transforming Peter Parker is always an option. The Web-Slinging aspect of the back half isn’t really relevant, but making a big blocker can help against the aggro decks.
Importantly though, as good as Peter Parker is at leading the charge, this is still a Nadu combo deck at the end of the day. Without lots of ways to search up your combo pieces, this strategy would fall short of expectations. Fortunately, searching for them is trivial.
Tutors Galore
Unsurprisingly, this deck’s best tutors are the ones that are capable of grabbing multiple combo pieces at once. Eladamri’s Call fits the bill nicely as it can grab either Nadu or Nomads en-Kor once you have Nadu rolled up. From there, Green Sun’s Zenith and Summoner’s Pact make an appearance as less versatile but more efficient options. While neither of these cards finds Nomads en-Kor, creatures like Scythecat Cub or Bristly Bill, Spine Sower do a pretty good job filling in on your big turn.
What’s nice about Nadu Combo in Duel Commander is that there’s a lot of redundancy when it comes to cards that pair nicely with Nadu. Both Shuko and Lightning Greaves are elite noncreature combo cards, for example, that open the door for an array of other tutors to make an appearance. Options such as Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Stoneforge Mystic, and Urza’s Saga become elite inclusions as a result.
These tools are particularly strong because they also grab your strongest grindy card by a huge margin in Skullclamp. The fact that Peter Parker generates two puny creatures on the cheap that both die to Skullclamp makes the equipment a super reliable value engine. Of course, it also has merit as a way to target your creatures once Nadu sticks.
After you work to assemble your big plays, the last piece of the puzzle is being able to keep your precious Bird Wizard unscathed in the face of opposing removal spells. Luckily, this deck comes prepared for attrition battles in more ways than one.
Defend the Bird
The simplest way to make sure Nadu sticks around when it resolves is to have a free source of protection ready to go. In the creature section, both Mother of Runes and Sylvan Safekeeper serve this role nicely. They’re efficient tutor options for Brightglass Gearhulk and Starfield Shepherd, too. Then in the spell slots, Reverent Mantra acts as a force field for Nadu even after you tap out.
The one thing these cards don’t help with, however, is getting Nadu past a wall of countermagic. Considering the prevalence of Lier, Disciple of the Drowned and Kefka, Court Mage shells in Duel Commander, you need ways to either sneak Nadu past counterspells or bring Nadu back from the dead. To help with the first point, Voice of Victory shuts off all spell-based interaction from the opponent. In the event you can’t set that up, finding a window where you can cast Nadu and then use Helping Hand to resurrect it on the same turn gives you a chance to overload your opponent’s mana.
With all these things in mind, this version of Nadu Combo is consistent, resilient, strong in grindy games, and even better against creature-heavy decks without a wealth of disruption. It’s amazing what a simple Commander update can do for a strategy like this. Dominating an event of this magnitude is no easy feat, so don’t be surprised if Peter Parker only becomes more popular as time goes on.
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