Updated for Vendetta

Nasus

Curator of the Sands

Calm

MindIntermediate

Nasus develops large units without always giving up the resources to defend them. Heron discounts the next card, while Ascended and Time Warp give that established board ways to finish the game.

Should you play Nasus?

Pick Nasus if you enjoy building toward large units while preserving resources for the fight afterward. Think twice if you want the Legend to contribute immediately or dislike choosing between growth and defending a point.

Best for: Midrange players who plan their rune count, sequence the Heron turn, and know when a large unit needs to start scoring instead of getting larger.
Think twice if: You prefer a low-curve attacking deck or tend to spend every rune before checking whether the expensive play is protected.

Key Cards

Curator can exhaust to ready up to two runes after a qualifying unit, Gear, or activated ability with an Energy cost of seven or more. Spells do not qualify. Ascended meets that threshold both on play and through his separate eight-Energy Empower, but the Legend must be ready each time. Heron supplies a different saving: from a battlefield, your first card sets up a discount for the next card you play that turn. These effects help you develop a real threat and still afford the next decision.

Nasus’ Field Guide

Nasus wants to reach the turns where a large unit can be played without leaving the rest of the turn empty. Curator of the Sands can exhaust to ready up to two runes when you play a unit, Gear, or activated ability with an Energy cost of at least seven. It checks the printed card cost or the ability's base cost, so discounts do not necessarily remove the payoff. The refund still arrives after committing to the qualifying play; it cannot supply the payment you were missing upfront. Early bodies and rune development buy the time for that transition. Once there, the saved resources should protect a point or another useful play, not simply encourage spending more on a board that already has enough Might.

How Nasus wins

Establish a battlefield with a threat that can survive, then make the opponent pay to break it while you develop the next attack. Ascended starts at eight Might with Deflect 2, making targeted answers more expensive. His separate eight-Energy Empower adds a point-scoring conquest ability, but neither plays him nor readies him. Steel Paws takes a different route: one Energy establishes the body, then its seven-Energy Empower makes it a seven-Might unit and can qualify for Curator's refund. Heron helps the follow-up card fit into the turn, while Watcher reduces the opposing board enough for these threats to clear a field. The aim is to turn the resource advantage into scoring before the opponent can ignore the large units and win elsewhere.

Key interactions

Leave resources after the large play

Curator of the Sands · Nasus, Ascended · Steel Paws

Ascended's eight-Energy play and eight-Energy Empower both qualify for the Legend, as does Steel Paws' seven-Energy Empower. Curator must be ready to pay its exhaust cost, so playing Nasus and empowering him in the same turn does not automatically give two refunds. Keep the full initial payment available before counting the two runes you can ready. Empower also leaves the unit's readiness unchanged. A Paws staged on an earlier turn can grow and attack, while one just played normally is still exhausted after the upgrade.

Use Heron's discount on the card the turn needs

Astral Heron · Thousand-Tailed Watcher · Time Warp

With Heron at a battlefield when your first card triggers it, the next card you play that turn after the trigger resolves costs two Energy and two Power less. An accelerated Watcher falls from eight Energy and two Mind Power to six Energy and no Power. Its printed seven-Energy unit cost still qualifies for Curator. Warp can instead fall to eight Energy and two Mind Power, but it is a spell and gives no Curator refund. A counter or other card played after the discount resolves can use it before your intended payoff. Choose the useful second card, not just the largest one in hand.

Keep seven runes through the removal

Siphoning Strike · Find Your Center · Temporal Breach

Siphoning Strike costs four Energy and deals four to a battlefield unit, or seven if you control at least seven runes when it resolves. If that target dies later in the same turn, it can still supply the exhausted rune. Recycled runes are no longer on the board, so spending Power can change the damage you are expecting. Center develops another exhausted rune while replacing itself. Breach offers a different kind of reuse: replaying Watcher repeats its reduction, but replaying an empowered Nasus resets his empowerment. Do not erase an eight-Energy investment just because the same spell is excellent on another unit.

Strengths

Large-unit development can leave two runes available for protection instead of requiring a completely spent turn.
Heron makes the cheap spell package useful as setup for a discounted threat or extra turn, while Student gains Might from the spells themselves.
Ascended's extra conquest point and an additional turn both reward turning a permanent board into a concrete finishing plan.

Weaknesses

The early units need time or support, and the Legend does little before a qualifying play. A hand of only finishers can concede too many points.
Recycling runes for Power can move Siphoning Strike below its seven-rune threshold and reduce the resources left for the following turn.
Empower is a separate investment, not readiness or protection from every answer. Losing or replaying an upgraded unit can cost much more than its initial play.

Shadow's Pick

Nasus tournament list by DWT-老默

3rd place · S4 Shenzhen City Challenge, 2026-08-23

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Deck total $277.70

Legend (1)

1x$0.11 ea.

Runes (12)

7x$0.16 ea.
5x$0.11 ea.

Battlefields (3)

1x$0.05 ea.
1x$0.10 ea.
1x$0.17 ea.

Spells (24)

1x$0.19 ea.
Energy
3
1x$0.96 ea.
Power
1
Energy
1
3x$0.17 ea.
Energy
3
3x$2.24 ea.
Energy
2
1x$0.89 ea.
Power
2
Energy
6
2x$58.52 ea.
Power
4
Energy
10
2x$4.81 ea.
Energy
4
3x$3.42 ea.
Power
1
Energy
1
2x$0.68 ea.
Energy
1
3x$0.23 ea.
Energy
1
2x$0.64 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
1x$1.27 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2

Gear (1)

1x$0.23 ea.
Power
2
Energy
3

Units (15)

1xChosen$1.26 ea.
Might
8
Power
1
Energy
8
2x$0.28 ea.
Might
0
Energy
1
3x$10.53 ea.
Might
7
Energy
7
3x$4.09 ea.
Might
0
Energy
2
2x$20.58 ea.
Might
7
Power
1
Energy
7
3x$0.27 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
1x$0.12 ea.
Might
2
Energy
3

Sideboard (10)

1x$1.27 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
1x$0.23 ea.
Power
2
Energy
3
1x$27.21 ea.
Power
1
Energy
3
1x$3.23 ea.
Power
1
Energy
1
1x$0.12 ea.
Might
2
Energy
3
1x$0.96 ea.
Power
1
Energy
1
1x$3.46 ea.
Might
8
Power
2
Energy
8
1x$0.13 ea.
Might
2
Power
1
Energy
3
2x$0.10 ea.
Might
4
Energy
4

Shadow's take

This is my Nasus pick because the three Herons give the early spells a clear job once the large-unit turns begin. A cheap Stupefy can set up an accelerated Watcher, with Curator leaving resources afterward to protect the new board. The two Siphoning Strikes give the rune development another payoff: at seven runes, four Energy can remove a seven-Might defender and add a rune when it dies. I like having the two Warps alongside that plan. Once a permanent unit is holding, the extra turn can turn an advantage into a point instead of asking the deck to win another full exchange first. Sterak's Gage also fits the Heron turn well, dropping to one Energy and no Power when it receives the discount. I would not rush Ascended's Empower just because it is available. If spending those eight Energy prevents you from taking or protecting the battlefield, the extra conquest point is still only theoretical. Make the attack work, then pay for the upgrade when it changes the finish.

The Game Plan

Early gameLook for Crab or Student, a useful cheap spell, and a route toward the first large play. Crab replaces itself and can still take an empty battlefield at zero Might. Student turns later Discipline and Stupefy exchanges into additional temporary Might. Steel Paws is cheap to establish, but do not count it as a seven-Might defender before paying its separate Empower. Center normally costs three Energy; its discount only applies when an opponent is within three points of winning. Retreat can save a unit and add an exhausted rune, but replaying the unit costs again. I would send back redundant Warps and too many expensive threats when the rest of the hand cannot contest the opening points.
MidgameArrange the Heron turn around the field that needs to change hands. With Heron already at a battlefield, seven ready runes and a ready Legend, Stupefy can spend the first Energy and start the discount. An accelerated Watcher then costs the remaining six Energy and no Power. Curator can ready two of the runes afterward. Against a nine-Might defender hit by both Stupefy and Watcher, the defender is now five Might and Watcher can attack at seven, with resources left for the response. That assumes the setup and effects survive; do not force it into a winning attack on the other field. Use Strike before recycling away the seventh rune, and decide whether Breach should repeat Watcher's play effect or be saved as a previously hidden answer. From hand, Breach is not a combat Reaction.
Late gameDecide whether you need an empowered Nasus conquest, an extra-turn Hold, or simply a better attack. Ascended's Deflect 2 taxes opposing targeted spells and abilities, but does not stop untargeted removal or ordinary combat. Preserve the eight-Energy Empower when possible: Altar can heal and recall the unit instead of letting it die in combat, while Breach or Retreat makes you pay for the upgrade again after replaying. Warp still needs its actual Mind Power even when Heron discounts it, and Curator does not refund it. Sterak's Quick-Draw can keep a threat alive without paying a separate Equip cost on play. Keep enough permanent presence at the battlefields for the next turn to score; a hand full of expensive options does not replace the holder you just returned to base.

Battlefields

Blind

Altar of Blood · Nasus, Ascended · Astral Heron

Altar offers a way to preserve an expensive or empowered unit through a combat death: pay three Power to heal, exhaust and recall it instead. That does not reset Nasus' empowerment, but it does remove him from the field. I would start here when preserving the threat is worth that payment and your hand can contest again afterward. The opponent has the same option, so an attack that would kill their unit elsewhere may only send it back to base here.

Going First

Abandoned Hall · Ravenbloom Student · Discipline

Hall rewards establishing a unit early and keeping spell resources available. A spell you play can give one of your units here +1 Might for the turn; Student also gains its own spell-triggered Might. Discipline on Student here can therefore add four Might in total: two from the spell, one from Student and one from Hall, with a card drawn. Those bonuses expire, and the opponent's spells can improve their own units here. Use the field to win the current exchange without assuming the inflated defender remains that large next turn.

Going Second

Sigil of the Storm · Siphoning Strike · Find Your Center

Sigil taxes the player who conquers it by forcing a rune recycle. That can make repeated opposing attacks expensive, but recovering the point costs your own rune as well. Check whether that drops Strike below seven or makes the next large play unaffordable. The forced recycle provides no Power. Once you have a permanent holder here, keeping it through the Hold avoids paying that conquest cost again.

Sideboard

Choose the Gear answer you can actually use

Disarming Rake · Tomb-Raider Barbara · Not So Fast

Rake costs three Energy and one Calm Power and can kill a Gear on play. The two Barbaras cost four Energy and need seven runes for their play trigger; they disempower an empowered enemy Gear instead of killing it, or kill an unempowered one. Do not bring Barbara expecting unconditional early removal. I would exchange the less useful removal or a slower threat for the answer that fits the opposing Gear. The extra Not So Fast is for targeted spells and abilities threatening your important unit, not a general answer to every reset.

Adjust the size of the fight

Bellows Breath · Whiteflame Protector · Lecturing Yordle · Sterak's Gage

Breath can finish units Watcher has reduced, with a second execution costing another Energy and Mind Power. Whiteflame gives a unit +8 Might on play, so an existing ready attacker can use the bonus without waiting for the Protector to ready. Yordle is the cheaper option when you need a body that draws and takes combat damage before the more valuable unit. The extra Gage favors keeping an established threat alive. Trim the part of the top end or removal that is failing in the actual matchup; these cards solve different problems and do not all belong in every game.

Make the slower Heron turn bigger

Svellsongur · Astral Heron · Charm

Svellsongur costs three Energy and one Calm Power to play, then another Energy and Calm Power to Equip. Attached to Heron before the first-card trigger, it gives another copy of that ability, so both resolved triggers can discount the next card by four Energy and four Power in total. It adds no printed Might and does not repeat a trigger that already happened. I would consider it when there is time for that setup, not when a cheap body is needed to survive. The extra Charm is a much smaller commitment when moving one defender away is enough to open the decisive attack.