Naya- Alara Block

[SomeRandomDude]

You know me. I never did like t2. Its either not big enough or too big. Extended, you can do anything, so you can play broken stuff. That's fun. Block, its limited, so there's nothing broken. T2 is like, not broken enough to be fun, but too broken to be fun.

So, I go back to block.

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
    4 [ALA] Mountain (2)
    5 [ALA] Plains (4)
    6 [ALA] Forest (4)
    4 [ALA] Jungle Shrine
    4 [ALA] Naya Panorama

// Creatures
    4 [ALA] Rip-Clan Crasher
    4 [ALA] Steward of Valeron
    4 [ALA] Woolly Thoctar
    4 [ALA] Qasali Ambusher
    4 [ALA] Wild Nacatl
    4 [ALA] Manaplasm
    3 [ALA] #$&*@!'s Thunder

// Spells
    4 [ALA] Oblivion Ring
    2 [ALA] Goblin Assault
    4 [ALA] Magma Spray

Yup. Straightforward nose-bashing Naya style. This deck is different from typical Naya in that it doesn't try to run 5 power creatures for the purpose of having 5 power creatures. Sure there's Woolly Thoctar, but its cheap. This deck is all about big and cheap. Cheap most important. Didn't pack a single crit over 3.

Which is also why I deviated from my typical 24 lands in every deck. 22 lands so I can have a steady flow of cards coming in, and because I can miss some land drops here in there, most expensive card is 4 (Planeswalkers).

Tested it, and it slaughters Grixis. Like, massively. Can't remove enough to keep up with it.

[FM]

Ok, there is absolutely no way this deck can perform this well with 22 lands, and THAT manabase. Seriously. Play 4 lands that come into play tapped, for of the new fetchlands, and MAYBE we can talk. However, a "block" deck with a single set kinda loses it's purpose. Better to draft triple Alara and post the results, it would be of more help, since drafts WILL take place like this for a while, whilst block tournaments will only happen after AT LEAST the next set is released.

[SomeRandomDude]

Okay...I added the fetchlands and upped the Jungle Shrine to 4, now running 23 lands at the expense of a Sigil Blessing.

Why can't it perform on 22 lands? I run low cost creatures, so I can afford to run low on lands. But yeah, good point on the fetchlands.

[FM]

No, you're missing my point. It can. I ran Zoo in Regionals last year on 21 lands, and had trouble in ONE game ONLY, and it was a COLORscrew, not even a manascrew. Thing is, I ran Flagstones of Trokair and Ravnica shocklands, in addition to Painlands, Horizon Canopy AND Gemstone Mines, in order to pull it off, and my deck curved out at 4, a set of Giant Solifuges (the ONLY 4-costing cards, including sideboard). But on this manabase, it's harder to run such a low land count, and since the format tends to be slower anyway, you can sacrifice a small bit of speed in order to habe a better middle game. I'd probably cut out Ajani, really not worth it, and even consider cutting Planeswalkers altogether, so you can run an even tighter curve. With this type of build, you'll also want/need some burn spells to force damage through and take out big blockers that may arrive, so I'd cut the 'walkers (perhaps relegate the to the sideboard) for a set of Magma Sprays, to kick things off. You could try to squeeze in blue (through fetchlands as well, merely a splash) to run that 3-mana 3/4 lifelink guy, and perhaps some 4-mana 4/4s to top it off, but I'd stick with the lifelink guy, tops, perhaps the 2/1 Shroud or the 2/2 unblockable guy. Lots of potential here, although it would bleed the Shard you want to play, so yeah, let's try working in-color first.

[SomeRandomDude]

So you want more removal, and the Planeswalkers are too expensive?

Sarkhan stays. He's awesome. But Magma Spray? What about Soul's Fire? I'm seeing Magma Spray as a little...small.

I'm missing your point about the mana base. I'm able now to consistently drop lands in Naya color for whatever, so I'm not seeing how I'm getting screwed up here. Steward of Valeron helps ramp as well. Am I missing something?

[FM]

I think it's fine as it is NOW, but as it was before, you were BOUND to hit mana issues every now and then. Magma Spray is cheap, I'd run him AND #$&*@!'s Thunder, you need to be able to dome then from an empty board, and I think #$&*@!'s Thunder fits in nicely. You could also consider losing Sharkan for maindeck Goblin Assault.

[SomeRandomDude]

There. Dropped planeswalkers and Naya Charm (it kinda stinks anyways) for 2 Goblin Assault and 4 Magma Spray.

[FM]

I'd tryt o run at least 3 assaults, and I strongly advocate for #$&*@!'s Thunder main. It's a friggin Flame Javelin to the dome! Oh, and a REPEATABLE one, at that! Are FOUR Oblivion Rings REALLY that necessary? Can't you cut with 3? And... Sigil Blessing? REALLY? I'd run bun over a pump any day. You could run it INSTEAD of Magma Spray, though, it does more damage, although it might be a dead draw sometimes.

[SomeRandomDude]

Updated Naya deck. Its been smashing face bad and I like it a lot. Regular wins, but oddly, its been doing fine without the Rip-Clan Crashers.

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
    4 [ALA] Jungle Shrine
    6 [ALA] Forest (1)
    5 [ALA] Plains (1)
    5 [ALA] Mountain (2)
    4 [ALA] Naya Panorama

// Creatures
    4 [ALA] Woolly Thoctar
    4 [ALA] Bull Cerodon
    3 [ALA] Drumhunter
    4 [ALA] Steward of Valeron
    4 [ALA] Qasali Ambusher
    4 [ALA] Wild Nacatl

// Spells
    4 [ALA] Oblivion Ring
    4 [ALA] Naya Charm
    1 [ALA] Elspeth Knight-Errant
    2 [ALA] Ajani Vengeant
    2 [ALA] Sarkhan Vol

Drumhunter rocks. Seriously. And it actually goes off more often than one might think. So I have a constant flow of aggro, as well as tons of crit accelerators. It even pulled off a win in spite of a Jund Charm to wipe 2 Stewards, 1 Drumhunter and 2 Nacatls (Jungle Shrines, but no Mountains).

It rocks.

[Thranduil]

This is the Naya deck I've put together after a few weeks of drafting. What do you think?

2x Jungle Shrine (yes, obviously I want 4)
5x Mountain
8x Forest
6x Plains

3x Wild Nacatl
4x Druid of the Anima
2x Bloodthorn Taunter
3x Woolly Thoctar
2x Gustrider Exuberant
1x Mayael the Anima
2x Keeper of Progenitus
2x Dreamhunter
2x Mostodon
2x Rakeclaw Gargantuan
2x Bull Ceredon
1x Spearbreaker Behemoth
1x Godsire

3x Oblivion Ring
2x Gift of the Gargantuan
3x Naya Charm
2x Obelisk of Naya
1x Ajani Vengeant
1x Where Ancients Tread

Mayael and the Gift of the Gargantuan are obviously designed to sift through my deck for the Godsire (from the 1st pack that I ever drafted!). Mana acceleration is pretty hefty especially with Keeper of Progenitus so I should be able to play huge creatures pretty fast. Dreamhunter is amazing and goes through my deck looking for Godsire. More often than not, I think this deck wins by putting down Gustrider Exuberant, sacrificing it and swinging with about 20 power in the air! Naya Charm also seems amazing; one of those cards that says "Win the game" by its third ability.

[FM]

Ok, from here, I'd try and evolve it into a beatdown deck. Want a strategy, specific cards, general advice, sideboard ideas? You name it.

[Thranduil]

Ok, from here, I'd try and evolve it into a beatdown deck. Want a strategy, specific cards, general advice, sideboard ideas? You name it.

Any or all of the above!

Thranduil