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You may recall the previous post on Tuesday title 'Nay Fatties' in which I had discussed a future desire to effect a Naya build. The deck in mind would be include the supporters of Knotvine Mystic and Druid of the Anima. These would hopefully bring early arrivals of the likes of Woolly Thoctar and Realm Razer.I am always keen to see what others are playing to see where the metagame is going and to assist me in evolving and developing my casual game. To this end, I was very interested in seeing the results of recent decks of the week posted today over at Wizards.
More specifically, the recent Shards of Alara Block events on Magic Online gave me pause to think. From the 40 Top Eight decks in the five events held, almost 30 of these decks ( 75 % ! !) had builds with Druid of the Anima, Wooly Thoctar and Realm Razer.
Check it out . . .Shards of Alara Block on Magic Online
2/2/2009 (Event #176867)
2/3/2009 (Event #176869)
2/3/2009 (Event #176870)
2/5/2009 (Event #184467)
2/5/2009 (Event #184468)
2/2/2009 (Event #176867)
2/3/2009 (Event #176869)
2/3/2009 (Event #176870)
2/5/2009 (Event #184467)
2/5/2009 (Event #184468)
Here is a typical build on the winning decks.
4 x Battlegrace Angel
4 x Druid of the Anima
3 x Realm Razer
4 x Steward of Valeron
3 x Woolly Thoctar
4 x Ajani Vengeant
3 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 x Druid of the Anima
3 x Realm Razer
4 x Steward of Valeron
3 x Woolly Thoctar
4 x Ajani Vengeant
3 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Also included in the sideboards were a fair variation of removal or counter like Oblivion Ring and Naya Charm.
I am not one for 'net-decking' simply because it feels like I've borrowed someone else's deck at FNM. In this case however, I feel that I had arrived independently to a similar build. As I have most these cards already, I expect to be playing it soon at the local gammery store or the kitchen table.
I was enchanted with Naya the moment I opened Alara and have been successfully using it. Though I can see how the Bant-ish elements help, they bring a little too much order to my Naya realm. The Conflux story does allow for this kind of crossover, but I am going in a different direction. I also don't have all those nice Planeswalkers. With the onset of Conflux and going to try dipping into the domain a bit, with the help of Shadowmoor's Prismatic Omen. Wild Nacatl, Matca Rioters, and Exploding Borders thrive in this environment, plus I get all my Thoctars and Thornlings out. I loved Realm Razer, but it quickly defeats the Domain aspects unless I play it at a strategic moment.
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