2024 was the year of increased IP usage in Magic, the surprise popularity of Bloomburrow, some of the most amazing art on record and....Nadu.
Every year, there are always arguments over what card was the most powerful to have come out. If a ban was justified. How dominant it proved to be. But in 2024, there really was no question - it was Nadu, Winged Wisdom of Modern Horizons 3. And here's what happened.
Initially in playtesting, though, Nadu was this:
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
1GU
Legendary Creature – Bird Wizard
3/4
Flying
You may cast permanent spells as though they had flash.
Whenever a permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand.
During playtesting, however, Nadu's flash ability was a growing concern. This was quickly reworked with a small number of playtesters and designers working on it. Nadu soon became a four-mana, 3/4 creature that said this:
Creatures you control have “Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand. This ability triggers only twice each turn.”
While it solved the flash problem, it's new abilities were overlooked. Specifically, when played with 0 mana abilities like the equipment card, Shuko, Nadu suddenly became amazingly powerful. Turns became long, but Nadu suddenly could generate infinite mana.
This final version managed to get by all the designers .
According to lead designer Michael Majors "In one of these meetings, there was a great deal of concern raised by Nadu's flash-granting ability for Commander play. After removing the ability, it wasn't clear that the card would have an audience or a home, something that is important for every card we make. Ultimately, my intention was to create a build-around aimed at Commander play, which resulted in the final text."
"I missed the interaction with zero-mana abilities that are so problematic," he continues. "The last round of folks who were shown the card in the building missed it too. We didn't playtest with Nadu's final iteration, as we were too far along in the process, and it shipped as-is."
That deadline to have the Modern Horizons 3 expansion in stores by June had a huge price. Players quickly keyed into the Nadu cheat. At Pro Tour MH3 in Amsterdam in late June, Nadu-centric decks quickly became the top performing ones of the tournament. They had a 59% win rate. As Nadu dominance continued into July and August, and confusion bleeding to Thunder Junction and Bloomburrow, Magic finally had enough and banned it in both Modern and Commander.
As Majors added "Nadu, Winged Wisdom was a design mistake"
The banning brought a major uproar amongst players, but Nadu had truly broken the game. Still, months afterwards, players are still talking about it. At MagicCon Las Vegas in October, many players had to quickly rebuild decks to make them legal.
Currently Nadu is only legal in Legacy, Vintage, Oathbreaker, and Timeless. And while it was a huge mistake in 2024, it was one that was also corrected and apologized for. Plus, in addition to serving as a lesson for future designers, it did make for one of the most memorable tournaments in recent years.
