Naya Aggro Help

~

Hey all,

I hope to be heading into a BLOCK-CONSTRUCTED tournament this weekend and would be greatly appreciative of any constructive assistance you may be able to provide in helping me out in tweaking my Naya build.

The deck as it sits is overweight and needs to loose quite a bit.


In my sideboard (which may very well make it into the main deck) are some Ember Weavers (first strike reach), Naya Charms, Realm Razers and Battlegrace Angels.

Here is a shot of the Mana I can pull in or fix.


And here is the list . . . please help me fix it - - your suggestions please - post a comment.

~
46 Creatures
4 x Noble Hierarch (G)
4 x Path to Exile (W)
4 x Wild Nacatl (G)
4 x Druid of the Anima 1(G)
3 x Steward of Valeron (G)(W)
4 x Knotvine Mystic (R)(G)(W)
4 x Woolly Thoctar (R)(G)(W)
4 x Oblivion Ring 2(W)
2 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant 2(W)(W)
3 x Cliffrunner Behemoth 3(G)
2 x Ajani Vengeant 2(R)(W)
4 x Megnlonoth 3(R)(W)(G)
3 x Titanic Ultimatum (R)(R)(G)(G)(G)(W)(W)
1 x Apocalypse Hydra X(R)(G)

22 Lands
4 x Ancient Ziggurat
8 x Forest
5 x Plains
5 x Mountain

Prophetic Posts

~

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)

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

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.

Naya Fatties

~

When I first started playing Magic and did not know very much about the game at all, I tended to just love the fatties. The bigger the critter, the better the chance for inclusion within my deck. I did not know very much about removal, acceleration, and tempo. Suffice to say, my casual games were a brutal slaughter.

Since those early days, I really stayed very much away from big stupid aggro but just recently have renewed my interest again. For the first time in a long time, I have actually read the fattie cards. What changed ? It was the new Conflux card Knotvine Mystic.
The first thing I took note of was just what a great card this was - pay 1 colourless to receive one Red, Green, AND White. That kind of sounds like a 3-for-1 sale. The next thing I noticed was the drawback of this 3-drop tri-coloured card . . . I had to be able to get this out on the board by turn 3 to take full advantage of acceleration I would need for the fatties to come latter.

To this end, I took a close look at the Lush Growth enchantment which will allow the enchanted land to produce one of the required Red-Green-White needed. A tri-land . . not bad. Of course, we would need to include Jungle Shrine and Ancient Ziggurat. In addition, Druid of the Anima also provided the necessary tri-colours in the two-drop column.

With the supporting mana now in place, I revisted Shards of Alara and Conflux to short-list the Naya Fatties with preference to tri-coloured Red-Green-White critters. Woolly Thoctar was screaming for inclusion. This 3-drop 5/4 monster was a perfect fit and had a decent chance of hitting the table on Turn 4. Realm Razer provided solid mana lockdown and could deny your opponent any opportunity to mount a defence. Meglonoth, probably the best blocker I have seen for some time would also need to be on Team Fatty.
Still on the theme on big beaters, I looked to the adjacent Shard of Jund. One of better block combinations has to be the 6/6 critter Charnelhoard Wurm and the instant Soul's Fire which would allow you to ding your opponent for 6 pain and then immediately return the instant to your hand to do it all over again. ouchee. The only issue here is being able to provide the 1 black mana for the Wurm in an otherwise Naya-centric deck. This should not prove too difficult however.
To ramp the critters appropriately, I considered the 1-drop Wild Nacatl which promises to grow to a decent 3/3 as well as Qasali Ambusher which could get dropped into play free. Short-listed to support these big-guns would be Godtoucher and Vagrant Plowbeasts for damage control. A set of versatile Naya Charms and perhaps even a Mighty Emergence to make the beaters even more beat-tastic. I will certainly be looking forward to identify any supporting cards in Alara Reborn come April.
I do not think I will be building such a deck but the seeds are already planted. Perhaps there will be a chance that Fatty McFatster will make a debut at the kitchen table or FNM.

Conflux Intro Deck - Naya

~

The Conflux Intro Packs, originally spoiled here on MTG Realm truly waaaay back on 18th December finally have deck lists associated with them. Here is the skinny on all five and we will start with Naya.

Naya Domain

Foil card: Paleoloth

This deck thrives on the power of all five colors of mana, centered in the world of Naya. Go to war against the other planes using the domain mechanic, powering up your creatures and spells with the strengths of all five types of lands. Once you max out your domain with land-search spells and artifacts, you’ll crush your foes with the most diverse arsenal of spells available.

11 creatures

1 x Aven Trailblazer 2W
Creature – Bird Soldier (c)
Flying
Domain – Aven Trailblazer’s toughtness is equal to the number of basic land types among lands you control.
2/*

1 x Beacon Behemoth 3GG
Creature – Beast (c)
1: Target creature with power 5 or greater gains vigilance until end of turn.
5/3

1 x Ember Weaver 2G
Creature – Spider (c)
Reach
As long as you control a red permanent, Ember Weaver gets +1/+0 and has first strike.
2/3

1 x Kranioceros 4R
Creature – Beast (c)
1W: Kranioceros gets +0/+3 until end of turn.
5/2

2 x Matca Rioters 2G
Creature – Human Warrior (c)
Domain – Matca Rioters’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of basic land types among lands you control.
*/*

1 x Meglonoth 3RGW
Creature – Beast (r)
Vigilance, trample
Whenever Meglonoth blocks a creature, Meglonoth deals damage to that creature’s controller equal to Meglonoth’s power.
6/6

1 x Paleoloth 4GG
Creature – Beast (r)
Whenever another creature with power 5 or greater comes into play under your control, you may return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
5/5

1 x Vagrant Plowbeasts 5GW
Creature – Beast (u)
1 : Regenerate target creature with power 5 or greater.
6/6

1 x Wandering Goblins 2R
Creature – Goblin Warrior (c)
Domain – 3: Wandering Goblins get +1/+0 until end of turn for each basic land type among lands you control.
0/3

1 Woolly Thoctar RGW (Shards of Alara uncommon)
Creature - Beast
5/4

13 other spells

1 x Drag Down 2B
Instant (c)
Domain – Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn for each basic land type among lands you control.

1 x Kaleidostone 2
Artifact (c)
When Kaleidostone comes into play, draw a card.
5, T, Sacrifice Kaleidostone: Add WUBRG to your mana pool.

1 x Manaforce Mace 4
Artifact – Equipment (u)
Domain – Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each basic land type among lands you control.
Equip 3

1 x Might of Alara G
Instant (c)
Domain – Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each basic land type among lands you control.

1 Pacifism (Tenth Edition common)
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you play this. This card comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.

1 x Path to Exile W
Instant (u)
Remove target creature from the game. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put it into play tapped, then shuffle his or her library.

2 x Rampant Growth 1G (Tenth Edition common)
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land card and put that card into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.

1 x Shard Convergence 3G
Sorcery (u)
Search your library for a Plains card, an Island card, a Swamp card, and a Mountain card. Reveal those cards, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

2 x Spore Burst 3G
Sorcery (u)
Domain – Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play for each basic land type among lands you control.
2 x Sylvan Bounty 5G
Instant (c)
Target player gains 8 life.
Basic landcycling 1G (1G, Discard this card: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.)

17 lands

6 x Forest
1 x Island
3 x Mountain
3 x Plains
1 x Swamp
3 x Terramorphic Expanse
Tap, Sacrifice Terramorphic Expanse: Search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.

Alara Art Spoiler 4

~

More art, More flavour . . .

ALARA -
Another Plane, Another Time. In The Age Of Wonder. This Plane was multicoloured and good, Until it was rent assunder . . .

Where there was one, there are now five separate planes : the Shards. Each plane was all but severed from two of the five colours of mana. This mana imbalance caused the Shards to evolve in wildly distinct directions of the course of thousands of years. Now their environments and denizens could hardly differ more.

- BANT -

Primarily a white world that does have blue and green mana. The good citizens of Bant have never seen fire magic, and necromancy. A world cut off from red and black mana for hundreds of years has evolved to be a very orderly utopian society. This plane is populated by knights, angels, aven, and rocs. Should combat occur, it is very chivalrous, honorable and generally takes place between champions selected from each side.

- GRIXIS -

This plane is totally cut off from green or white mana. So there is no access to life mana there. What few humans that are left here, are constantly evading necromancers who intend steal their life energy to fuel their spells. It is a horrible world of decay populated by demons, vampires, goblins, and skeletons.

- JUNT -

Primarily red world, a world of chaos and fire. Humans here are barbaric. The apex predators of the food chain on this plane are the dragons. Sarkhan Vol is a denizen of Junt.

- NAYA -

Primarily green world, a bountiful world of growth and life. This plane are populated by elves, cat people, and humans, as well as very large beasts.

- ESPER -

Primarily blue world. Denizens here have organised themselves into a strict orderly society. The denizens here focused on measuring things, and preoccupied with knowledge and wisdom. Even the clouds are measured in Esper.








Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming !
Don't forget to head out to FNM at your local gaming store tonight.
~ CopySix