Going into Grand Prix DC, I would have been extremely satisfied with a tenth place finish, so I suppose I’m fine with it. The last week has been a nonstop barrage of requests for play tips, sideboarding guides, and so on, so clearly I knew what I was writing about today.
While I wasn’t exactly committed to playing Naya, my last minute brewing didn’t go so well, but I guess that’s another story. Naya was a solid backup plan. In the end, Calosso Fuentes, LSV, Gabe Walls, and I were the only pilots with my 75.
I’m probably going to repeat a few things I said last week, but that’s necessary for completeness.
My quest to find a good metagame deck started at the Lincoln, Nebraska PTQ, where I finished in the Top 4 with Jund. I noticed that my mirror matches and matchup against UWr Planeswalkers (the two biggest decks at the time) were strictly about attrition. I needed a deck that wouldn’t run out of gas so easily.
I remembered back to Pro Tour: San Diego, and how LSV ground out multiple opponents with Ranger of Eos and Bloodbraid Elf providing multiple little dudes to attach to a Behemoth Sledge. Vengevine was the obvious update to Naya, and thus began my MTGO grind.
The results were more than promising. UWr and Jund were more or less cakewalks. As long as they didn’t get aggressive with Elspeth or Putrid Leech respectively, Naya was favored in the long game.
UW Tap Out and its Mind Springs were a bit more difficult, but the matchup was far from impossible. Some opponents even sided out Mind Springs against me for irrelevant cards like Kor Firewalker or Celestial Purge. The “rogue” factor was very nice.
Mythic was the other big deck, and it could be a bit of trouble, but thankfully, they can almost never beat Cunning Sparkmage/Basilisk Collar.
I could save the list for Grand Prix: DC, but that isn’t really my style. These big tournaments are always fun, but they get even better when more of my friends are present. I decided to do my part and help my homeboys get to Nationals. My Naya list qualified five people that I can think of, and allowed Bobby Graves to win a PTQ the following day. Several others came very close at Regionals.
This is the list most of them played:
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Wild Nacatl
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Scute Mob
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Lotus Cobra
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Vengevine
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Ranger of Eos
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Raging Ravine
2 Stirring Wildwood
2 Sunpetal Ground
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Arid Mesa
5 Forest
2 Plains
2 Mountain
1 Sejiri Steppe
There’s nothing really innovative here. Vengevines were added, Sparkmage/Collar was moved to the maindeck, Bloodbraids will always cascade into another creature (which obviously has synergy with Vengevine), and the Ranger package was shaved a little. Wild Nacatl just isn’t very impressive, and the deck didn’t want a billion four-drops, so something had to go.
The manabase also changed slightly. I added an accelerator, the oft-maligned Lotus Cobra, and would later add more. As I tend to do, I added some lands as well. This deck has a high number of spells that provide card advantage, so you are favored in the late game against most decks. All you really need is to play a land every turn, especially with Cobras. In this format, missing a land drop often means death, so you would rather err on the side of caution. You don’t ever mind being flooded. With manlands, the opponents’ Spreading Seas, and the ability to use your mana every turn, you want as many lands as you can realistically play.
Still, there were some reasons I didn’t want to play the deck at DC. For one, the mirror was growing in popularity. There are a few ways to gain an edge, like Bojuka Bog; Linvala, Keeper of Silence; playing more Sparkmages like Stun Sniper or Vithian Stinger; or ways to break through ground stalls like Gideon Jura or Eldrazi Monument. Regardless, I would rather play against Jund or UWr than the mirror. Gaining a significant edge is hard.
Linvala was a problem card that was becoming more popular. It was more of an annoyance than anything, but simply its presence was a sign: The masses were catching on.
As I said, the late night brewing didn’t go so well. I considered playing Chapin’s Bant deck and Flores’s Jund deck, but those weren’t quite cutting it against Naya. In the end, I went back to old faithful. I probably should have been willing to put my money where my mouth was.
I looked at the list and had some discussion with Michael Jacob. He wanted to cut the Ranger of Eos package, but without the steady stream of dudes, Vengevine and Behemoth Sledge got much worse. He said he didn’t care and would be willing to cut the Mystic package, but that makes your Sparkmages somewhat sketchy. Basically, he wanted to overhaul the deck entirely.
I wasn’t quite there yet. I agreed that Rangers could be something better, but wasn’t sure what that “better” should be. Planeswalkers are some of the more powerful cards you can play nowadays, and Elspeth is similar to Ranger in that it provides a steady stream of animals, but it’s worse with Vengevine and harder on the mana.
Gideon was another card we all wanted to play, whereas Wild Nacatl was not. Cutting the Rangers for Planeswalkers seemed more than fine. To compensate for the strain on the mana, I went up to the full four Cobras, and nine accelerators total.
This is what we all registered:
Creatures (27)
- 1 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
- 4 Bloodbraid Elf
- 4 Lotus Cobra
- 4 Cunning Sparkmage
- 2 Stoneforge Mystic
- 4 Vengevine
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (17)
Spells (12)
I ended up having a slot and deciding to play a miser’s Oblivion Ring. I wouldn’t have minded more, especially since I was planning on siding them in against almost everything, but there wasn’t room, and I didn’t want to remove more creatures.
The sideboard got an overhaul. Splashing for things like Vapor Snare, Consuming Vapors, Maelstrom Pulse, or garbage like Duress is unnecessary. You can find answers to everything you need in the Naya colors.
Ajani was LSV’s old go-to answer to control decks. Typically, I wouldn’t like them very much, but with all the other Planeswalkers, it seemed like a legitimate threat. Pithing Needle was less relevant seeing as how I had a bunch of ways to answer their Planeswalkers.
The Gideon would get sided in against almost everything, since he is just awesome.
Pridemage is a catchall. I wouldn’t necessarily side them in against every single deck with Oblivion Ring, since the deck is full of power cards, and Disenchant isn’t necessarily something you want to draw. Sometimes it comes in, sometimes it doesn’t, depending on how many cards you want to cut.
Linvala is strictly for the mirror. It’s okay against Mythic, but you have better cards to bring in.
The Bojuka Bog is a dedication to Joseph Crosby. We both wanted to use it to get filthy, and I did so twice in the tournament. I would probably keep it if I were to play the deck again, but you don’t have to.
Path to Exile is another catchall. Mythic, Naya, and RDW are all close matchups, and being able to have a cheap answer card against them is a great way to shore up those results.
Other options include more Sparkmages, Mystics, and Collars in the sideboard; Vengevines in the sideboard; or Wall of Omens. I’m excited to try out some new configurations.
My Grand Prix experience went like this:
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: Bye
Round 3: Michael Jacob Spread ‘Em update, 2-0
Round 4: Time Sieve, 2-0
Round 5: UWr Planeswalkers, 0-2
I played poorly, to say the least. My opponent didn’t win any matches after this round.
Round 6: Vampires, 1-2
I mulliganed each game and failed to draw Sparkmages or Vengevines the entire match. This is what I would call a favorable matchup, but the cards just didn’t fall my way.
Round 7: RDW, 2-1
I lost game 1 when he mulliganed to five, but was able to pull out the other games.
Round 8: UW Tap Out, 2-1
I mulliganed to five, but Ajani went ultimate in game 3.
Round 9: Mythic, 2-0
Sparkmage did good work here. Game 1 I drew the miser’s Oblivion Ring to kill his Baneslayer Angel.
Round 10: Mythic, 2-0
Pew pew.
Round 11: UW Tap Out, 2-0
First game he mulliganed to five and got rolled. Martial Coup would have put him back in it, though. Second game I played third turn Knight, fourth turn Vengevine. Fifth turn I jammed Vengevine into his Baneslayer. He tanked for a little bit before blocking, but I fetched Steppe and used Ajani to finish it off.
His Sphinx of Jwar Isle did little to help him.
Round 12: Naya, 2-1
I kept a hand without White game two and was punished by his aggressive draw. Decided to mulligan into a playable hand game 3, and destroyed him.
Round 13: Naya, 2-0
My opponent was the ringer Tommy Ashton, but I knew he had the old list, so I felt I was favored. Game 1 I was a little behind on tempo, but Sparkmage plus Collar quickly caught me up. He was forced to make some poor attacks in order to try and get some damage in, but he couldn’t get through my Collar.
Second game was funny. I had Knight into Linvala, but drew the Sejiri Steppe the turn I could have played the Knight. I just decided to play Linvala and hope, but he had a Path. Tommy got ahead but out-Knighted me two to one, but he made a mistake on which I should have been able to capitalize. He tried to Knight up a Sejiri Steppe on his turn, realized that it wouldn’t kill me, and got a Ravine instead. Then he attacked with his other Knight into my untapped Knight. I could have blocked, fetched up a Bojuka Bog and brick walled him, but I forgot it was in my deck, so I chump blocked.
End of his turn, I saw the Bog when I used my Knight, and wanted to kick myself. Now I had to figure out a way to trick him with the Bog. He used Knight to find a lethal Steppe, but I used the Bog to stay alive and hope for a peel. Naturally Stoneforge Mystic came off the top, found me a Sledge, and put me back in the game. I attacked him down to three, but his own Sledged Bloodbraid put him back up to ten.
I saw my chance to win. His creatures were all Green and I had a 10/10. End of his turn, I revealed the last card in my hand, the Sejiri Steppe; he looked at the board and conceded.
The problem? Pro Green causes the Sledge to fall off.
Round 14: Mythic, 2-0
Sparkmage was picking off his mana sources, and Bloodbraid Elf served up the one-of Basilisk Collar to kill his Baneslayer Angel. Game 2 I had an absurd Cobra draw, also with Sparkmage.
Round 15: Naya Planeswalkers, 0-2
I probably took a poor line of play in game 1, but couldn’t beat his steady stream of gas regardless. Second game I was stuck on three lands for multiple turns with two Knights in play. I had to continually use them for mana on my turn so that I couldn’t block, and he was able to Path my blocker and kill me with a Pridemage and Ravine. A very frustrating loss.
Round 16: RDW, 2-0
My draws were absurd, but this matchup seems solid regardless.
Round 17: UWr Planeswalkers, 2-1
He got a game loss for showing up late. While I was ahead the majority of game 1, he eventually drew into one of his Martial Coups the turn before I was able to kill his Gideon. “Third” game saw Ajani disrupt him enough for my little beaters to get in for lethal.
Final record: 14-3, 10th place
Onto the matchups!
Jund
Awkwardly enough, I didn’t play against Jund a single time in the GP. How strange is that? I’m not sure if I’m happy to avoid Jund or not. From my experience, Jund is good and UW Tap Out is almost bad, but LSV had the opposite experience at the GP.
I would definitely side in the Gideon, but anything else depends on what their version plays. Path to Exile, Oblivion Ring, and Ajani Vengeant could be good. Sparkmage is bad against the older versions, but pretty awesome against Plated Geopede.
UW
In the last round of the GP, if my opponent had literally any spell that did something rather than his crappy Divinations, I probably would have gotten crushed. Instead, he spent his turns doing nothing and I was able to get ahead. At least if it were a Mind Spring I would have straight up lost once he hit a reasonable amount of mana.
Gavin Verhey played Manabarbs for this matchup, but that’s wrong on a lot of levels. You just want to grind them out. Also, smart UW players can get around Manabarbs by being aggressive early with some Planeswalkers, Baneslayer, or manlands, locking you out under your own card. It’s not close to what you want. You would rather have something that deals with their array of threats than a high variance card.
Side in Pithing Needles, Oblivion Rings, and Planeswalkers. Path to Exile is useful if they have Baneslayer Angel, but Oblivion Ring, Ajani Vengeant, and Gideon Jura can deal with Baneslayer as well, so I would probably only want two Paths. Qasali Pridemage can kill their Everflowing Chalices, Oblivion Rings, or Spreading Seas in a pinch, but it’s not something you actively want in your deck. It just doesn’t do enough.
You can cut some mana accelerators, since you don’t typically beat them by gaining a tempo advantage. Any advantage you gain can be taken away with one of their various Wraths anyway, which could destroy the manabase you’ve developed.
I started by cutting Lotus Cobras and keeping Noble Hierarchs, but they can Spread you out of Red mana. Hierarch allows you to beat through Wall of Omens and sometimes the bigger stuff, but Cobra provides a solid little beater as well, so it’s a moot point. Overall, Cobra seems better and I would probably cut two Hierarchs and one Cobra.
Sparkmages aren’t the worst, but you can do better. The Basilisk Collar sucks without Sparkmage, so you can also shave a Mystic. You really do want to find the Sledge in order to pound through tokens and always have a relevant guy post Day, but drawing multiple Mystics sucks.
Mythic
I’ve heard varying stories from this matchup, but I crushed it in the GP, and most of the people I talked to also crushed it. They can certainly beat you with Baneslayer, Gideon, or Sovereigns of Lost Alara, but most of the time that won’t happen. Especially post board once you bring in more removal, you can deal with the few threats they have.
Definitely bring in the Paths and Gideon. Ajani and Oblivion Ring are also solid. Most people brought in Linvala or Bojuka Bog, but those cards don’t do enough.
Against most other creature decks, Vengevine is underwhelming. Throughout the day I felt like that was the biggest mistake other people playing Naya were making: They refused to side out their Vengevines.
Mirror
Bojuka Bog is sick, while Oblivion Ring, Path to Exile, and Qasali Pridemage are okay. First game is a weird stall where you are both trying to Knight all the lands out of your deck, and hopefully draw into more Sparkmages than your opponent. Things like Elspeth and Gideon, both of which are excellent at breaking stalls, are more important to have game 1 than post board.
I would actually cut Elspeths, since they don’t do enough in the post-board games. Pridemage, Path, and Ring are solid, but I don’t want the maximum amount of all of them. If they have Linvala, then Path is more important, but otherwise only killing Knight and Sparkmage, while important, can be accomplished with other, more versatile cards.
Oblivion Ring is more important the more hard to handle targets they have, like Planeswalkers and Linvala. Pridemage is for Collar, Sledge, and to a lesser extent, Oblivion Ring. Unless I know they have a lot of Oblivion Rings, I don’t like to side in more than one.
You can easily cut Vengevines, but from there it gets difficult. Elspeth is a semi-easy shave, but past that, the only real cuttable cards are mana accelerators. Just like against UW, I like Cobra over Hierarch, since it’s more explosive and makes Red mana, but you can’t afford to cut too many. You can’t fall behind, since it’s very difficult to catch back up.
Polymorph is a joke. By now, most of the people who have wanted to play it have gotten that whole thing out of their system and realized that the deck probably sucks. Almost no one was playing it at the GP. You should bring in Rings, Gideon, Paths, and Pridemages for their Needles and maybe Awakening Zones. You can cut Vengevine, Elspeth, and the equipment package. Knight could also go if you need the slots.
RDW is about the next best deck, even though it too also sucks. You want all the removal you can fit, and cut the clunky stuff that has little effect on the game, namely Vengevine and Elspeth. Antti Malin brought in Manabarbs against me, which seems terrible, but if that becomes a trend for whatever reason, maybe you want Pridemages.
So there you have it. You should know nearly everything about Naya at this point, but if I somehow missed something, ask me in the forums and I’ll reply this week. Last week I was a little busy and was planning on writing this article anyway, so might as well put it all in one place, ya know?
Both versions of the deck are fine, or all three if you want to count Michael Poszgay’s Naya Planeswalker deck. For right now, I would play the list I played at the GP with very few changes, but I’m eager to get back to brewing. Tom Ross suggested sideboarding Vengevines, and that honestly sounds genius.
Next week: Block Constructed? Gross.
GerryT