“The world may crumble, but I shall remain.”
Art:Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
by Igor Kieryluk
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander Is:
Elesh Norn has been a feared creature since there printing all the way back in New Phyrexia and for good reason! While this card costs 7 mana it is an absolute bomb and can cause chaos and destruction when they hit the field! Elesh Norn is also the perfect commander for a tokens deck, combine her with all of our other buffs and ways to make more tokens and we have a nasty deck that will make your opponents scared! Without further adieu lets get it!
The Deck:
Click here to copy full decklist to your clipboard!
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Tokens!
Buy This Deck!
Buy the deck using our TCGPlayer Affiliate link: Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Tokens Brewed EDH
Help Support the Site!
Why Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite?
Elesh Norn is the marquee card for our deck, while we absolutely can close out games without them on the field it is much easier to close them out after casting Elesh Norn. Elesh Norn can invalidate a ton of strategies just from being cast, I personally have been on both sides of this and this card is truly game-warping! Elesh Norn is not a card that makes our deck work, but does enhance our gameplan in every way!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! As well as highlighting some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
Esper Sentinel
is a strong way to draw some cards and only costs 1 we can’t say no to a strong effect like this in mono-white! We have a bunch of creatures that ETB so Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
not only helps us but makes our opponents card worse as well! Evangel of Heliod
and Reverent Hoplite
are both cards that we love to trigger our stuff twice on perfect for Cathars' Crusade
! Mondrak, Glory Dominus
not only can give themselves indestructible but is basically a second copy of Anointed Procession
! Loran of the Third Path
is a really cool piece of removal and can even help us build some good-will with our opponents! Darien, King of Kjeldor
is a great way to turn a bad combat against us into a ton of tokens! Since we produce so many tokens we can use Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
as a huge attacker and token producer!
Planeswalkers:
We only have three planeswalkers and two of them are Elspeth’s but they are all pretty strong! Elspeth, Sun's Champion
is a strong token producer, a strong removal spell and if we can get to her emblem we are unstoppable! Elspeth, Knight-Errant
is a strong token producer a great buff for one of our creatures or a pretty much game-ending emblem since almost all of our stuff is indestructible. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
can become a creature and make tokens but we use them solely for the come down for 4 and make an emblem giving our creatures a permanent +1/+1 buff!
Instants:
Our instant package is where nearly all of our removal / interaction lies with sweet cards like Swords to Plowshares
, Path to Exile
and Return to Dust
being three examples of strong removal spells! Settle the Wreckage
is another really strong card especially when an opponent is going all in on an attack and trying to end the game! Grand Crescendo
is a really cool card since we can make some tokens and protect our creatures, what more could we ask for! Once we have our creatures buffed up we can use Akroma's Will
as a crazy strong way to swing and kill our opponents! In case we get into a tough situation where our life is being threatened we can use Teferi's Protection
as a way to buy that one more turn we may need!
Sorceries:
We can be much slower than our opponents and fall behind so we have Austere Command
as a strong catch-all for the deck when we are behind! The rest of our sorcery package has a ton of ways to produce tokens like Increasing Devotion
, Finale of Glory
and White Sun's Twilight
which are all really strong ways to produce a ton of tokens for the deck!
Artifacts:
Caged Sun
and Extraplanar Lens
are both really strong ways to make a ton of mana and get Elesh Norn out there as quick as we can! Pearl Medallion
and Oketra's Monument
are both ways to make nearly every card in our deck cheaper, how can we say no to that! Skullclamp
is a card we can really effectively use in the early game to gain some card advantage! The One Ring
is a strong card draw outlet in a color combination that struggles to draw cards the protection is really nice as well! We of course had to include Sol Ring
and Throne of Eldraine
which are both really strong ways to generate a lot of mana!
Enchantments:
Starting off we have in my opinion two auto-includes for white decks in Land Tax
and Smothering Tithe
which are both really strong ways to generate a bunch of extra mana and are basically our “ramp”. Cathars' Crusade and Virtue of Loyalty // Ardenvale Fealty are both really strong ways to buff up our tokens and get to swinging! Brave the Sands
is a really cool card against aggressive strategies since we can attack with vigilance and our tokens being able to block 2 creatures can be really strong in a variety of combat situations. Anointed Procession is an absolute auto-include in this deck and we will never say no to doubling tokens! Flowering of the White Tree
is a really strong buff and protection for Elesh Norn and a small buff for our tokens and other creatures!
Land Base:
Being in Mono-White there is not a lot of need for a very complicated land-base and we can instead focus on lands that assist and do things. Minas Tirith
is a really cool land that we can almost always use to draw a card! Windbrisk Heights
is a strong card we can use to get out mid-late game permanents much earlier than they should be! My personal favorite land in the deck is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
since we can use it to produce a ridiculous amount of mana this is the best piece of “ramp” in our deck!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Easy to win combat
- While we don’t have a ton of ways to speed out Elesh Norn they can by themselves invalidate certain strategies
- Decent amount of interaction
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Lacking card draw
- Easily in the weakest color in EDH
- Weak to creature hate / control strategies
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops in the deck we win the game by buffing up all of our tokens through cards in the deck or through Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Elesh Norn is a huge part of our main win condition since we can often invalidate many strategies just by casting Elesh Norn, not too mention how much better we get when they hit the field!
Conclusion:
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite has been a menace at magic and EDH tables since there release and to the surpise of no one, nothing has changed! While we are in magic’s weakest colors we still have a ton of ways to control and protect ourselves on the board. Our opponents will no doubt feel our presence when we come we come really strong! Thanks for reading to the end and thanks for all of your support!