With Commander Sealed 2024 behind me, it's time to focus on new cards again. This past weekend saw the prerelease of Duskmourn: House of Horror and I'm excited to be able to shine a spotlight on a Rat Ninja Wizard who might just be cute enough to have had a home in Bloomburrow.

Nashi, Searcher in the Dark is a 2/2 with Menace and a decent combat damage trigger. Whenever Nashi deals combat damage to a player I'll mill that many cards. Then I can put any number of legendary and/or enchantment cards from among them into my hand. If I put no cards into my hand this way, I'll put a +1/+1 counter on him.

This is the fourth version of Nashi. Nashi, Moon's Legacy showed up in March of the Machine: The Aftermath, and Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion appeared in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. There was another Nashi, Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer, which was available online in Alchemy: Outlaws of Thunder Junction, but was never included in a printed set.

I like card selection, especially when it's not actually drawing the cards so I won't need to worry about triggering a Smothering Tithe or Consecrated Sphinx. I like that Nashi has menace, so it'll be easier to get in a little combat damage. I even like that he'll only be hitting for 2 damage, as most players won't overreact to a few hits by removing my commander.

The one thing I'm unsure about is what direction to take Nashi in. Self-mill is right there on the card, but not in enough quantity to make me want to lean into it. I've got +1/+1 counters as a possible theme, but I'm not in Green and it doesn't feel like a great option. A Dimir Enchantress build could be interesting, but I feel like I'd be missing too many great enablers from other colors, like all those Enchantress cards in Green and White. A Rats deck could include all 10 other legendary Rats, nine of which are in Black and one is in Black and Blue.

I didn't hate any of those ideas, but I didn't love them either. The fact that Nashi can grab both enchantment cards and legendary cards got me thinking about building a Dimir goodstuff deck with Nashi as an extra way to dig for my good stuff. Dimir goodstuff is a versatile color space and it should result in a deck that can go in all kinds of interesting directions.

Combat Matters

I found out the hard way in a test game with this list that having Nashi survive combat is incredibly important. I lost her in my first attack and my tempo was just screwed up for the rest of the game, but I'll get to that later. We really do want to make sure Nashi has a chance to get through our opponents' defenses.

Aqueous Form, Aether Tunnel, Cloak of Mists, Access Tunnel, and Rogue's Passage can all make my commander unblockable. I'm also running an old enchantment called Dauthi Embrace. This Black card from Tempest lets me pay to give target creature shadow until end of turn, all but guaranteeing a free shot on at least one of my tablemates.

I'm also running a pair of enchantment creatures in Archetype of Imagination (above) and Archetype of Finality (below) to help with this. The former gives my creatures flying and keeps my opponents from having flying. The latter does the same but with deathtouch. If I've got flying and my opponents can't have flying, I just need an opponent without any untapped reach blockers and Nashi should be able to get through.

This isn't an aggro deck so I also want to run ways to try to make it harder for other decks to attack me. Deathtouch doesn't guarantee Nashi will get through blockers, but if I swing at someone without that many creatures, chances are good that they won't want to lose one just to avoid two or three damage. Chances are also very good that folks won't want to swing at me if they're going to lose their attackers.

I included three of the "Vow" auras in today's list. They all give +2/+2 and prevent the enchanted creature from attacking me. They also give an additional keyword. Vow of Flight gives flying, Vow of Malice gives intimidate, and Vow of Torment gives menace. None of these will goad a creature, so they can just sit back and be a blocker. When there's a singular threat on the table that I don't want coming at me, the Vows are a nice way to deal with them.

I'm also running a few auras that can deal with potential threats even more strongly. I considered running Mind Control and Control Magic as ways to steal creatures, but ended up going with Treachery and Corrupted Conscience. The former costs five mana and will untap five lands, so it's effectively free if I can make that initial five mana. The latter will give me control of target creature and gives it infect.

Auras that lock down or nerf a creature also got some consideration for today's list. I ended up including Imprisoned In the Moon, which effectively turns a creature, land, or planeswalker into a colorless land that taps for colorless mana. Kasmina's Transmutation is also in the list, and turns enchanted creature into a 1/1 with no abilities.

I'm running a few boardwipes in Damnation, In Garruk's Wake and Toxic Deluge, and a bunch of removal spells that aren't auras. I chose to run more enchantments than usual to lean into Nashi's ability to put cards in my hand.

Dimir Goodstuff

I run a little bit of everything in today's deck, with a focus on cards that Nashi might be able to put in my hand with his combat damage trigger. I didn't lean into traditional voltron pump spells because I didn't want anyone to be panicked about keeping me from getting that trigger or taking too much damage. I'm not sure that was the right choice, but if I end up building this in paper and it underperforms, I'll probably throw in a few ways to make Nashi bigger.

The ways I have to make creatures unblockable will work nicely with a few of the creatures in my list. Consuming Aberration is a Horror with a power and toughness equal to the number of cards in my opponents' graveyards. Whenever I cast a spell, each opponent will Mind Grind, meaning they'll mill until they reveal a land, and will put those cards into their graveyard. This is a classic card in mill decks, and could easily be a huge threat at the right table even if I'm not specifically leaning into mill.

Umbris, Fear Manifest is a legendary Nightmare Horror that gets +1/+1 for each card my opponents own in exile. It requires a very specific build if you're running it as commander, but in this deck it has the potential to be impactful at the right table or under the right circumstances. A simple Bojuka Bog could turn it from a modest threat into a major problem if I had an opponent with a relatively full graveyard.

I'm running a few creatures that can help with my card draw. Mulldrifter, a classic EDH staple, is in the list along with Faerie Mastermind, and Arcanis, the Omnipotent, a legendary Wizard that can tap to draw me three cards. Ancient Silver Dragon, which can draw me up to 20 cards, is in the list, but you may not be as familiar the card shown above: Sire of Stagnation. This six-mana Eldrazi will trigger whenever a land enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, drawing me two cards and exiling the top two cards of their library. I ended up not including Consecrated Sphinx or Notion Thief, but they could easily have made the cut. I definitely left out some good cards on the basis that Nashi wouldn't put them into my hand.

If Consuming Aberration or Umbris were to get big enough, they might work nicely with the only God in my list, Phenax, God of Deception. If I've got seven or more Black and Blue pips in permanents I control, he'll make for a capable 4/7 blocker as he is indestructible. He'll also give my creatures the ability to tap and mill target opponent for X cards where X is the toughness of the creature being tapped.

Lazav, Dimir Mastermind is another classic Dimir mill card that I had to include. This 3/3 shapeshifter has Hexproof and can turn into a copy of any creature put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere. If I can resolve an In Garruk's Wake and kill something really good, Lazav can become a copy of it and then swing in over the wreckage of my boardwipe. Even a one mana Pongify or Rapid Hybridization could give Lazav something useful to work with.

I haven't mentioned it yet, but I briefly considered building this list as a Dragon Kindred deck. Dimir isn't a color space you normally associate with Dragons, but there are enough kicking around that I think you could make a pretty fun Nashi Dragons deck. I included Ancient Silver Dragon, but left out Ancient Brass Dragon. I did decide to run both iterations of Silumgar from the Khans of Tarkir block. Dragonlord Silumgar will let me steal a creature when it enters the battlefield. Silumgar, the Drifting Death, will have me give defending player's creatures -1/-1 whenever a Dragon I control attacks.

Keiga, the Tide Star and Kokusho, the Evening Star are also in the list. If I were to lean into Dragons I'd also be running Kairi, the Swirling Sky and Junji, the Midnight Sky. Rite of Replication would slot in nicely with those legendary dragons, and it would be a nice excuse to run Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon as a potential player killer.

I feel like I'm talking myself into building a Nashi Dragons deck, and to be honest - I just might if I open a copy of Nashi from a Duskmourn booster pack. It is the year of the Dragon after all.

Nashi Nonsense

It's worth mentioning that today's list was built with a lower powered playgroup in mind. I've got some effective and powerful cards but my goal was not to create the most optimized Nashi list imaginable.

When leaning into "goodstuff" it's easy for a deck to lose its identity and I think this happened a bit with this list. I included a lot of legendary lands and legendary creatures, along with a heavy aura subtheme so that Nashi would have a very good chance to hit at least one card on each two card combat damage trigger. Two cards isn't a lot, but my hope was that a bit of incremental advantage would let me stay in the game but not get too far ahead of the table. I think it's a solid starting point for mid-powered play but you aren't going to do much in a high-powered game.

Nashi EDH | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Nashi, Searcher in the Dark

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Ancient Silver Dragon
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Archetype of Finality
• 1 Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Consuming Aberration
• 1 Dragonlord Silumgar
• 1 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Keiga, the Tide Star
• 1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1 Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
• 1 Leaden Myr
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Phenax, God of Deception
• 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
• 1 Silver Myr
• 1 Sire of Stagnation
• 1 Umbris, Fear Manifest

• Spells (12)
• 1 AEtherize
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Sudden Spoiling
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Damnation
• 1 In Garruk's Wake
• 1 Toxic Deluge

• Enchantments (23)
• 1 Aether Tunnel
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Bitterblossom
• 1 Black Market
• 1 Black Market Connections
• 1 Cloak of Mists
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Combat Research
• 1 Corrupted Conscience
• 1 Dauthi Embrace
• 1 Eel Umbra
• 1 Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1 Kasmina's Transmutation
• 1 Octopus Umbra
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission
• 1 Revel in Riches
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Treachery
• 1 Vow of Flight
• 1 Vow of Malice
• 1 Vow of Torment

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Whip of Erebos

• Lands (38)
• 10 Island
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Choked Estuary
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dark Depths
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Thespian's Stage
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Watery Grave

Buy This Deck Export text

Every commander and every deck has a power level that it can play at and be enjoyable. I think Nashi could be tuned up with a focus on reanimator combo, using Nashi to dig for cards and fill your graveyard, and probably play at high powered tables. I'm admittedly no expert on building reanimator decks outside of some experience in Sultai playing Muldrotha, the Gravetide. I don't think Nashi's ceiling is higher than that, as the potential value you get from her trigger is limited to legendary and enchantment cards, and you're just putting them into your hand.

Loading up with fast mana and running a few higher power cards like Bolas's Citadel and more powerful legendaries like K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth might be enough to comfortably set Nashi into higher powered play. A strong mono-Black backbone with Blue added in for stack interaction is the sort of thing that can absolutely win games if the deck is focused and has a clear plan on how it's going to win. My "goodstuff" first draft is far from that.

Final Thoughts

I did get this deck into a game, but the game really didn't go well. I swung Nashi early on and didn't expect a tablemate to actually kill her just to avoid 2 damage and a Nashi trigger. From that point on my tempo was off and I never really recovered from having to recast Nashi. That sounds overly dramatic, but the other decks were getting a lopsided advantage from a player on Ms. Bumbleflower who was giving them the vast majority of their extra card draws. It made for a real uphill battle, but I would try out this list again if given the chance. A one game sample size is not enough to really evaluate a deck.

Building for a lower-powered playgroup is something of a trap at times. This deck was aiming for that modest power level, but after my early setback it felt like I was further hampered by probably being the weakest deck at the table. Everyone's idea of power levels is different and sometimes my "lower-powered" deck ends up being too much for this playgroup, I ended up outlasting the Bumbleflower deck but not being able to keep up with what the other two decks were doing.

It's hard to argue that this deck might not be stronger if I had decided to lean heavily into one singular theme. Mill, combo, Ninjas, Wizards, Rats, Dragons, or even Dimir Horrors would be fine directions to take Nashi, Searcher in the Dark. By running a little bit of everything, I tried to make the deck a little more interesting for me to play. I've played nearly every type of deck by now, so if one of those themes isn't one you've had a chance to explore, I would encourage you to give it a try. Variety is the spice of life, after all, and Nashi seems like a very capable mid-powered commander for lots of different types of decks. I'm very likely going to build Nashi Dragons if I open him in a prerelease or a random booster pack, but lots of other flavors of Nashi could also work well.

I think the best thing about Nashi, Searcher in the Dark, is probably that the card doesn't really push you towards any one build path. You aren't being guided towards Ninjas, Rats, mill, or any other obvious build. You are always free to do what you like, but aside from wanting you to play enchantments and legendary cards, Nashi invites you to find your own way.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!