Naya In Standard

Naya has always been my favorite three-color combination. With its aggressive nature, reach, and efficient answers, the archetype is always a competitive deck in every format. I played it in Legacy and Extended for many years, during Shards of Alara Block Constructed, and in Standard both this season and for Pro Tour San Diego when Luis Scott-Vargas made his 16-0 run. So naturally, I’d like to discuss the state of Naya in Standard right now and how it fits into the metagame.

Going into Pro Tour Theros testing, I felt pretty far behind in Standard. I’d largely ignored Standard over the past year while mainly playing in Limited Grand Prix when I had the opportunity. I tried brewing a bit but couldn’t quite find a deck that complemented my skillset. That’s when I gave up on trying to create a breakout deck or otherwise break the format and settled on refining a known deck that I felt I could pilot well, and thus began my experience with Naya in the new Standard. This is what I played at Pro Tour Theros:

Naya Midrange

Tom Ross

78th Place at Pro Tour on 10-13-2013

Standard

Creatures (29)

Planeswalkers (6)

Lands (18)

Spells (7)

Sideboard

Once I discovered that Team StarCityGames had developed Mono-Blue Devotion, I was unsure how my "fair" deck would perform. It turns out I was able to beat Mono-Blue Devotion both times I played it mostly due to key trampling opportunities. I took some losses to Esper Control and B/R/W Midrange but finished a reasonable and semi-expected 7-3 in the Constructed portion.

I got a lot of criticism about some of my choices in the deck, in particular the eyesores of one-ofs that I decided to include. I’m of the belief that if a card gets noticeably worse in multiples then it’s a fine candidate as a one-of even if it’s a card that you want to have early like Sylvan Caryatid. I used similar logic when I ran a singleton Lotus Cobra in my Naya deck some seasons ago. The first Sylvan Caryatid is a nice blocker and accelerator. The second is nothing but a 0/3 defender, much like the second Lotus Cobra was nothing but a vanilla 2/1.

The legendary cards like Xenagos, the Reveler; Chandra, Pyromaster; and Polukranos, World Eater are one-ofs because of the legend rule. Domri Rade is such a centerpiece of the deck and such a dominant presence that I often don’t mind drawing multiples or having one being "uncastable" while another is doing work taking over the game (I say "uncastable" because sometimes the second copy is cast after the first one uses the -2 fight ability).

The second thing that I look at when evaluating and tweaking an existing decklist are the four-ofs. While doing this, I ask myself the following:

"If I could play more than four of this card in my deck, would I?"

If the answer is "no," odds are that four isn’t the perfect number of copies of that card and perhaps two or three may be right. This is how I came to easily shave a Loxodon Smiter and Boros Reckoner.

The card I was most excited to play was Gruul Charm. I didn’t get to cast it very much, but the impact seemed awesome. I originally included it as a semi-mise against the Ashiok decks (to take back what they took with Ashiok) while having marginal use of making Blood Baron of Vizkopa or Aetherling unable to block. I even had hopeful fantasies of killing all of the Soldier tokens when an opponent activated Elspeth’s ultimate. It turned out the card has more utility than just that—killing all of the flyers out of Mono-Blue Devotion or letting me get past a wave of 2/1 Elementals made me wish I had more copies in my sideboard.

David Sharfman played a similar version of Naya that had two maindeck Boros Charms, which was an idea that I didn’t like at first. I originally wanted a deck that was super threat dense with as high a percentage chance as possible to hit a creature from Domri Rade’s +1. I didn’t want a ton of Mizzium Mortars, and Selesnya Charm had a ton of applications but most often functioned as a weaker Ghor-Clan Rampager.

I’ve since changed my outlook toward spells in Naya, realizing that squeaking out a bit of card advantage isn’t so great when your deck is somewhat one-dimensional. Boros Charm serves as the reach needed to sometimes finish off the opponent or to kill a planeswalker. And of course the indestructibility mode serves to combat Supreme Verdict, which is probably the most effective card against Naya. Unfortunately the double-strike mode always felt like a waste of space. The highest natural power a creature in the deck has is only four, so the mode won’t do anything that the other two don’t.

Then . . .

Brad Nelson told me the story of how he cast a Mistcutter Hydra for X=4. Attacked a Mono-Blue Devotion player down to sixteen. Then attacked next turn . . . used Ghor-Clan Rampager’s bloodrush to make the Mistcutter Hydra an 8/8, and then cast Flesh // Blood for the final eight, dealing sixteen in one turn!

So I began sideboarding in my Boros Charms against Mono-Blue Devotion and using the double-strike mode on a Rampaged creature like Loxodon Smiter to get past lone blocking 2/1 Elemental tokens. The "combo" was really actually happening! I immediately wanted to have them maindeck.

So there you have it! Naya’s strangely effective plan to beat Master of Waves.

This is the version that I’m working on currently:

Naya Midrange

Tom Ross

Test deck on 12-06-2013

Standard

Creatures (28)

Planeswalkers (6)

Lands (18)

Spells (8)

Sideboard

My sideboard has changed a bit since Pro Tour Theros. The second Polukranos is necessary because of how good it is against Mono-Blue Devotion, and an extra copy of Gruul Charm and Wear // Tear were added because they overperformed in testing. Arbor Colossus never really got to come out of the sideboard, and Pithing Needle was a reactive card that I was unhappy with. Plummet is a new addition to help fight Nightveil Specter and Desecration Demon, and Bramblecrush is sort of a flex card that does everything from killing planeswalkers to destroying the land enchanted by Underworld Connections.

Since this is the version of Naya that I’m most experienced with, I’ll give a quick rundown of how I sideboard against the common matchups before looking at other existing versions of Naya.

Mono-Black Devotion

-3 Boros Reckoner, -1 Boros Charm, -1 Stormbreath Dragon, -1 Temple of Abandon

+2 Wear // Tear, +1 Plummet, +1 Bramblecrush, +2 Selesnya Charm

Here it may seem strange to side out a land, but against decks with Thoughtseize and other attrition-based strategies, I like doing so. The Boros Reckoners are weak because their removal isn’t damaged based.

Mono-Blue Devotion

-3 Stormbreath Dragon, -4 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Chandra, Pyromaster, -1 Xenagos, the Reveler, -1 Sylvan Caryatid, -1 Temple of Abandon

+2 Gruul Charm, +2 Wear // Tear, +3 Unflinching Courage, +1 Plummet, +1 Shock, +2 Mizzium Mortars

Your Voice of Resurgences never die, but it’s easy for them to avoid casting spells on your turn. Stormbreath Dragon tends to be too slow and gets blocked or dealt with rather easily. The planeswalkers also don’t do enough in general.

Here you have to be the beatdown and deal a large chunk of damage in one hit through Unflinching Courage or Ghor-Clan Rampager trample complemented with Boros Charm. Again, we’re siding out mana sources while reducing the curve by bringing in cheap answers. Shock and Mizzium Mortars are largely to kill Tidebinder Mage since the games rarely go long enough for a Mizzium Mortars to be overloaded.

Esper Control

-3 Boros Reckoner, -1 Polukranos, World Eater

This matchup greatly depends on what cards you see game 1. If they have Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver; Domestication; or something like Nightveil Specter, then you want Gruul Charm. Nearly all versions have Detention Sphere, so Glare of Heresy and Wear // Tear are likely what you want as well. If they have multiple Blood Baron of Vizkopas, then you want Mizzium Mortars. Whatever you decide to bring in, you always side out the same four cards.

G/R Devotion & Aggro

-2 Stormbreath Dragon, -1 Xenagos, the Reveler, -2 Boros Charm, -2 Loxodon Smiter

+3 Unflinching Courage, +2 Selesnya Charm, +2 Mizzium Mortars

Selesnya Charm really shines here as a way to kill Polukranos, World Eater and a Boon Satyred creature. The plan here is to ride out an Unflinching Courage on hopefully a Fleecemane Lion. Loxodon Smiter is just a vanilla creature that doesn’t match up too well against their bigger creatures.

Now let’s compare my list to Andrew Hanson’s Top 8 deck from Grand Prix Albuquerque.

Naya Midrange

Andrew Hanson

7th Place at Grand Prix on 11-24-2013

Standard

Creatures (17)

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands (20)

Spells (20)

Sideboard

This version forgoes Domri Rade in favor of real spells. I definitely like Soldier of the Pantheon as the one-drop of choice since it’s still a very strong card even when it doesn’t come down on turn 1. There was always a tension when trying to add it to Domri Naya since it can’t be used to fight other creatures due to the protection from multicolored clause. The reason that Domri Naya runs Elvish Mystic is for the turn 2 Domri Rade or Loxodon Smiter draws. Otherwise the card doesn’t do all too much. Your creatures are very efficient, so there’s less need to actually ramp when what you’re doing is as good or better than what your opponent is doing.

Chained to the Rocks is undoubtedly very strong in the format right now. The key is finding the right home for it. Ten Mountains is the minimum I’d want to play with the card, and this deck fits the requirements. It’s quite the blowout when Mono-Blue Devotion leans on Master of Waves to stabilize and you cast Chained to the Rocks on it when they figure that they’re safe.

Chandra, Pyromaster is interesting, and you do run the risk of not getting double red to cast her. But Naya needs some source of card advantage, and without Domri Rade the Chandras fill this role. The +0 is best in a deck like this that can easily protect her, and the eight Temples make sure the top card is something that is useable that turn.

I like the Advent of the Wurms to go along with Boon Satyr, Lightning Strike, and Selesnya Charm. It’s an inherently powerful card that only gets stronger when you have further options when you’re leaving mana up. Advent is often telegraphed the moment any G/W/x player passes with four mana open, and after you show them that you had instants to play during their turn with the mana, they’re going to have a lot of trouble playing around everything and may start respecting Advent less and running into your open mana.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Eken.’s Naya Hexproof from the Top 8 of the Magic Online Championship Series 11 of this year, the same one that Brian Kibler notoriously got dropped from:

Naya Hexproof

Eken.

5th Place at Magic Online Championship on 11-17-2013

Standard

Creatures (17)

Lands (17)

Spells (26)

Sideboard

I personally like the idea that such a deck exists. When the format is full of targeted removal, it’s vulnerable to being attacked from the hexproof axis. Right now it’s close, but Devour Flesh is plentiful in Mono-Black Devotion and Esper Control still has access to Supreme Verdict. Anger of the Gods isn’t played very much outside of Matt Costa Jund, and the "Voltroned" creature quickly gets out of range of it. If people become convinced that Last Breath is the answer to Nightveil Specter and end up going lower on Devour Flesh numbers, this deck could be a thing in the future.

The most glaring card not included is Fleecemane Lion, which seems like a perfect fit in the strategy, but I’m sure that crossed the mind of the designer. The obvious switch would be for Skylasher, but that card seems sweet in the metagame right now with how popular Mono Blue Devotion is. It also doesn’t hurt that it avoids Azorius Charm and Detention Sphere.

The things that bother me about this deck are its current inherent weakness to Devour Flesh with the draws that don’t include Voice of Resurgence and the low number of Mountains to go along with Chained to the Rocks. I also don’t love that the deck is running the full eight life-gain Aura package in Gift of Orzhova and Unflinching Courage, but that was likely a byproduct of the red-heavy environment on Magic Online.

Overall, the deck (and archetype in general) is very capable of catching a format with its pants down, serves to keep them honest, and punishes those who lean on one-for-one targeted effects backed with card advantage of some sort to solve all their problems. It’s a good deck to keep in mind for when the time is right to strike.

I would be happy to pilot any of the above three versions of Naya at Grand Prix Dallas/Fort Worth if Boss Sligh weren’t so sweet. I think midrange is in a pretty good place right now and that rogue strategies in general have a lot going for them since the format is so centered on beating Mono-Black and Mono-Blue Devotion. A lot can be said about people not knowing the exact contents of your deck, and value can be gained by them wrongly assuming that you do or don’t have certain cards in your deck.

As the Philosophy of Fire says, "There are no wrong threats—only wrong answers."