(Noyan Dar, Roil ShaperNoyan Dar, Roil Shaper | Art by Karl Kopinski)

Introducing... Borderland Explorer

Welcome to Borderland Explorer, the new EDHREC series that dives deeper into commanders that are right on the border of popularity – not too obscure, but nowhere near the “Top Commanders” front page either.

For this series, I’m choosing the 1,200-deck mark as a grounding point, or just hovering on either side of the “Over” from this great series. (These rules aren’t super strict though – commanders leading 900 or 1300 decks will do just fine!)

In this series we will:

1. Identify a commander that falls into the 1,200-deck range for each allied two-color pair
2. Highlight unique and interesting game plan(s) for this commander
3. Outline the advantages and challenges of these strategies
4. Build a budget-friendly deck following these plans
5. Walk through important card categories and use EDHREC synergy numbers as a starting point to talk about notable inclusions and exclusions
6. Go over upgrades for readers interested in investing more money into this strategy

Overall, the goal is to find commanders that have some established traction but lots of room for exploration and growth and get into the brewing spirit without breaking the bank!

This week, we are starting with white-blue. Filtering by number of decks, we see Noyan Dar, Roil ShaperNoyan Dar, Roil Shaper is right around the 1,200 mark.

This Merfolk Ally also has a unique game plan and does not rely on any prohibitively expensive cards – great news! So let’s dive in.

The Game Plan

This deck uses cheap instants and sorceries to build and protect an imposing battlefield of land creatures while disrupting your opponents’ plans.

Advantages and Challenges

The promise of this deck is growing a board advantage as a natural by-product of doing what this color combination is already great at – using instants and sorceries for efficient card draw, removal, and disruption.

One challenge of this deck is making consistent land drops in a color pair that does not include green. Another challenge is reading the game state to figure out if you should use Noyan Dar to “go wide” by making a bunch of 3/3 lands – or “go tall” by making a few lands enormous. Let’s see how the deck comes together!

Mana Sources

A different Azorius deck would have no trouble with mana – just add artifact staples like Arcane SignetArcane Signet, Azorius SignetAzorius Signet, and Talisman of ProgressTalisman of Progress, and call it a day! What complicates this equation is Noyan Dar's unique reliance on lands.

This specific commander thrives when you have a healthy supply of lands to animate – and we don’t want to dilute our instant/sorcery-focused deck with too many artifacts. That’s why our mana production will largely fall into one of the following categories:

1. Colorless land searching and white catch-up ramp – It's difficult to find instants and sorceries that get you more lands directly onto the battlefield like CultivateCultivate in this color combination. However, we can make do with colorless ramp like Wayfarer’s BaubleWayfarer’s Bauble, Explorer’s ScopeExplorer’s Scope, and Solemn SimulacrumSolemn Simulacrum. Additionally, one silver lining of our land creatures dying in combat is enabling white’s “catch-up ramp”. Cards like Knight of the White OrchidKnight of the White Orchid fit well with Noyan Dar and Scholar of New HorizonsScholar of New Horizons synergizes particularly well with our Commander.
2. Multi-faced lands – Cards like Silundi VisionSilundi Vision and Sejiri ShelterSejiri Shelter maintain a high instant/sorcery count and also serve as lands if needed. Ondu InversionOndu Inversion is a slam dunk for this list, because it functions as a land drop in the early game and a board wipe that leaves our land creatures intact in the late game.
3. Lands that have added bonuses when animated. Lands that have built-in protection, added power, and/or evasion become more potent when targeted by Noyan Dar. Against sweepers, you can put a bunch of counters on Darksteel CitadelDarksteel Citadel. Against a play group with a lot of cards like Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares, you can make a huge Valgavoth’s LairValgavoth’s Lair instead. Celestial ColonnadeCelestial Colonnade – already a great budget dual land – is even better in this strategy due to built-in flying and vigilance.

Instants and Sorceries

We’re going to want a high concentration of cheap instants and sorceries to trigger our commander. Luckily, this color combination delivers a good variety of card drawcard draw, countermagiccountermagic, removalremoval, and protectionprotection.

Counters Matter

A portion of the deck deals with +1/+1 counter synergies. You can give your animated lands first strikefirst strike, flyingflying, lifelinklifelink, and even pump your whole team with proliferateproliferate. Sigarda’s SummonsSigarda’s Summons is a powerful finisher, effectively giving your animated lands +4/+4 and flying.

Protection

One unfortunate byproduct of Noyan Dar's main strategy is turning your opponents' creature removal spells into Stone RainStone Rains. This is where white cards like Tomik, Distinguished AdvokistTomik, Distinguished Advokist, Sacred GroundSacred Ground, and Terra EternalTerra Eternal shine, sheltering your lands from harm.

You can also use white protection spells and blue counterspells to further frustrate your opponents’ plans while simultaneously triggering your commander to continue growing your board.

Mass Removal

Noyan Dar’s ability, however, has the added bonus of insulating your board from removal that goes after nonland permanents. For example, you will be much less affected by the ever-present Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift than other decks. You can also use cards like Consuming TideConsuming Tide and Hour of RevelationHour of Revelation proactively as sweepers that leave your own board largely untouched.

Inclusions

I’m including two “finisher” cards that I believe are great fits for the deck.

1. Octavia, Living ThesisOctavia, Living Thesis (14% of decks) This one is a bit ambitious, but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to cast for only in a deck with nearly 40 total instants and sorceries. Octavia’s Magecraft ability complements Noyan Dar well, giving animated lands 8/8 before adding their +1/+1 counters.
2. Candlekeep InspirationCandlekeep Inspiration (8% of low-budget decks). Similar to Octavia, this card synergizes with your high instant and sorcery count and can turn your animated lands into game-ending threats at the drop of a hat.

Exclusions

MirrorweaveMirrorweave (37% of decks) is a really clever card. The goal is to turn every creature into a copy of one of your 0/0 lands. The result: your opponents’ creatures will probably all die, resulting in a one-sided board wipe. However, I’m not including it in this deck because:

1. You get blown out by someone responding with a removal spell on Mirrorweave’s target
2. Opposing creatures with +1/+1 counters/auras/equipment on them will survive
3. You already have access to great one-sided mass removal without these drawbacks.

Decklist

Deck Checklist

• 52 Mana Sources (41 lands + mdfcs, 6 ramp, 5 "catch-up" ramp)
• 14 Card Draw
• 10 Targeted Removal/Counterspells
• 5 Board Wipes
• 3 Finishers

Mid-Budget Upgrades

$40 is a great starting point, but what if you really connect with this commander and want to invest a bit more into your deck? Let's go through some important categories and find some higher-budget cards in the <$20 range that can improve this deck's strategies.

Extra Lands, Extra Mana

Deep Gnome TerramancerDeep Gnome Terramancer, Land TaxLand Tax, Sword of the AnimistSword of the Animist, and Bitterthorn, Nissa's AnimusBitterthorn, Nissa's Animus are all ways to ensure you keep making land drops to turn into creatures. DrumbellowerDrumbellower has amazing synergy with Noyan Dar, allowing your land creatures to cast instants during each opponent's turn.

Protection

Akroma's WillAkroma's Will, Flawless ManeuverFlawless Maneuver, and Ripples of PotentialRipples of Potential are all great ways to upgrade your suite of protection spells. As mentioned before, this kind of spell is especially important in a deck that often uses its lands as threats – facing a Wrath of GodWrath of God effect will feel extra bad if all your creatures are also lands.

Will and Ripples have the added bonus of buffing your lands, while the Maneuver has the added bonus of requiring no mana to cast, allowing you to trigger Noyan Dar at an unexpected time.

Lands

Upgrading your lands is always a great place to start if you want to improve your deck. For mana consistency, Hallowed FountainHallowed Fountain, Flooded StrandFlooded Strand, and Sea of CloudsSea of Clouds are all white-blue lands in the mid-budget range.

Noyan Dar also works well with utility lands like Inkmoth NexusInkmoth Nexus, Lotus FieldLotus Field, and Flagstones of TrokairFlagstones of Trokair. Adding versatile lands with Channel like Eiganjo, Seat of the EmpireEiganjo, Seat of the Empire and Otawara, Soaring CityOtawara, Soaring City, as well as double-faced lands like Emeria's CallEmeria's Call and Sink into StuporSink into Stupor allow you to consistently make your land drops without flooding out in the late game.

Conclusion

So there you have it, a deeper look at a white-blue commander with a pretty unique strategy and a lot of room for exploration. See you next time on Borderland Explorer, when we scout out a blue-black commander with some brewing promise.

Ezra Sassaman

Based in Maine, Ezra started playing Magic around when Ravnica: City of Guilds came out and hasn't looked back since! Besides Commander, he enjoys any format where you can look across the whole history of the game, so Cube drafting has a special place in his heart!