In Commander, combos can play an exceptionally important role in dictating how games play out. As strong as generating value and card advantage is, a single infinite combo slipping through the cracks can spell doom for the whole pod.
With this in mind, sometimes the best way to fight opposing combo decks is by presenting combos of your own. Luckily, this is exactly what Naru Meha, Master Wizard is designed to do.
MTG Naru Meha, Master Wizard
At a baseline, most of the value Naru Meha gives you comes from its instant-speed entry ability. Copying cards like Dig Through Time and Bribery is a surefire way to pull ahead.
Considering how much weight is placed on Naru Meha’s enters effect, however, it’s essential that you get as much value as you can from it. Utilizing trigger doublers like Panharmonicon and Naban, Dean of Iteration lets you get multiple bites at the apple. The more spells you copy, the more Magecraft triggers you’ll get from Archmage Emeritus as well.
Unfortunately, once you’ve gotten your value from Naru Meha’s enters ability, this Commander isn’t very good in play. To help this, repeatable bounce effects like Blood Clock and Riptide Laboratory help make this Commander a consistent engine. Similarly, blinking Naru Meha with Displacer Kitten makes it trivial to get extra mileage from all your instants and sorceries.
All of that said, when in play, Naru Meha buffs all of your Wizards. While this isn’t hugely impactful, it does make Docent of Perfection more intriguing as a finisher. Plus, leaning into the Wizard typal subtheme gives you access to elite tools like Azami, Lady of Scrolls, which is never a bad thing. Still, thanks to the multitude of combos this legend enables, you won’t always need a traditional win condition.
Combos With Blink and Copy Spells
As strong as Naru Meha is as a value generator, the creature’s best trait is its combo potential. In conjunction with blink spells like Ghostly Flicker, it isn’t hard to close out games. Once you have seven mana, cast Ghostly Flicker targeting two permanents of your choice, and then cast Naru Meha in response.
In doing so, you’ll get a copy of Ghostly Flicker, which can then blink out Naru Meha and another permanent. When Naru Meha reenters, it’s free to copy the original Ghostly Flicker that’s still on the stack to keep the chain going.
While this process technically doesn’t win the game automatically, a whole bunch of different cards make this lethal. Blinking out Sunscorched Desert, for example, sets up an infinite damage kill. Alternatively, exiling and resetting Agent of Treachery lets you steal all your opponents’ permanents. Illusionist’s Stratagem and Blur can be used as alternatives to Ghostly Flicker, drawing your deck by blinking Naru Meha.
If these blink combos weren’t enough, you can even generate infinite token copies of Naru Meha with Quantum Misalignment. As long as you have nine mana at the ready and another creature in play to target with Quantum Misalignment, you’re able to cast Naru Meha and copy the sorcery all the same. Once the copy resolves, you get to create a nonlegendary copy of Naru Meha to recopy Quantum Misalignment again. Since each copy of Naru Meha pumps oneanother, this process nets you a boatload of arbitrarily large creatures.
Underappreciated Gem
Despite the plethora of combos available, Naru Meha remains extremely underrated. This legend only appears as the Commander in 448 decks, which is kind of shocking. Admittedly, the Human Wizard does see a bit more play in the 99 of other decks, showing up as a support piece in 21,400 decks. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of value to be had with consistent access to this combo piece.
Luckily, though, Naru Meha’s limited demand has helped the mythic stay rather cheap. As a mono-colored creature with a price tag sitting below $1, Naru Meha is a solid budget-friendly Commander option.
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