Thanks to the often drawn-out nature of Commander’s games, discard strategies can be surprisingly nasty. Preventing players from getting their cards in play, strong discard decks can keep you from playing anything. In these scenarios, even tiny 1/1 tokens can close the game effectively, making Nath of the Gilt-Leaf a strong Commander when properly supported.
MTG Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
While Nath of the Guilt-Leaf can enable itself, it does so rather slowly. Creating one body while forcing the archenemy to discard a card is appealing but, frankly, not worth the five-mana investment on its own. Because of this, Nath really needs discard support to execute his game plan properly.
Thanks to Commander’s multiplayer nature, you can discard a lot of cards with the right tools, turning Nath into an army in a can. Delirium Skeins and Dark Deal, for example, can create 9 or more 1/1 Elves for cheap while destroying your opponents’ hands. Alternatively, slower discard engines like Bottomless Pit, Oppression, and Painful Quandry can create a steady stream of Elves turn after turn.
With Nath encouraging tons of discard spells, other discard payoffs also become a lot stronger in this deck. Tinybones, Trinket Thief, Geth’s Grimoire, and Waste Not, for example, become great sources of card advantage. In the Game Changer category, Tergrid, God of Fright is particularly nasty, stealing whatever your opponents discard.
Once you have your Elf army assembled, you’ll need to find ways to close the game with it. Fortunately, between go-wide win conditions like Craterhoof Behemoth and Elf payoffs like Elvish Archdruid, Nath has plenty of options to choose from. You can even use other Elf token generators, like Lathril, Blade of the Elves, and Elvish Promenade to fuel these win conditions without going all-in on discard, giving your deck some needed resilience if Nath keeps on dying.
If you want to get really nasty with Nath, stax pieces play right into this card’s strategy. Cards like Sphere of Resistance and Thorn of Amethyst slow down the whole table, making it more difficult for your opponents to cast spells in the early game. With more cards stranded in hand, Nath can get more discard triggers and leave your opponent’s boards barren.
Forcing Opponents to Play Empty-Handed
While Nath of the Gilt-Leaf only has one infinite combo, it’s extremely easy to assemble. Combine this Commander with Sadistic Hypnotist, and you can strip all of your opponents of their hands on your turns. Nath’s tokens can be used to fuel the Hypnotist’s ability, giving the card endless fuel until there are no more cards to discard. Since Sadistic Hypnotist discards two cards per activation, you’ll also have a leftover board presence to play with. This makes cards like Painful Quandry particularly nasty, since your opponents will need to pay five life to cast anything.
While this combo doesn’t outright win you the game, forcing your opponents to discard their entire hand can be exceptionally punishing. This is especially punishing alongside ramp, as you can deprive your opponents of resources before they get established. Thanks to this, including Sadistic Hypnotist in your Nath of the Gilt-Leaf decks will make them stronger.
A Different Approach
Largely, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf offers a surprisingly strong discard Commander that can play from other angles. Once your opponents run out of cards to discard, you can continue to go wide and close the game. Without cards to play, even just an army of 1/1s can do a lot of damage.
Thanks to this flexibility, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf is largely underrated as a Commander. Considering that the Elf Warrior can both build your army while stripping opponents of their resources, only having 1,395 decks according to EDHREC is a bit shocking. Fortunately, as usual, this also means that Nath is a rather affordable card to pick up. Starting at $3.31 after shipping, grabbing this Commander is relatively cheap. Thanks to all this, Nath seems like a great fringe option if you’re looking to build something your Commander pod hasn’t seen before.
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