Lands - 25
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Selesnya Guildgate
4 Temple Garden
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Plains
2 Mountain
1 Forest
Spells - 35
4 Chained to the Rocks
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Magma Jet
3 Selesnya Charm
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Selesnya Keyrune
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Advent of the Wurm
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Assemble the Legion
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Sideboard - 15
3 Last Breath
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Destructive Revelry
To get this out of the way, this deck was not designed by me. In fact, it is a mash-up of two different Naya list. I took what I liked best from each list and tuned it until I arrived at what you see above. I know a few of the numbers look a little weird such as only 3 Dragons and 3 Mortars, or the 2 seemingly random Magma Jets, but this is what has been working pretty well for me. Originally, there were 4 Mortars, 3 Angers, and 2 Warleader's Helix main, but after a lot of testing(going 1-2-1 drop in a PTQ due to 3 control matches), I concluded that I had too much removal and not enough threats.
This deck is designed to beat Mono Black, R/W Devotion, and various aggro decks. The control match-ups can be a little rough, but they get much better after sideboard where the creature removal is turned into more threats. Mono Blue is also a problem before side-boarding because even though there is quite a bit of removal main deck, we don't have much that actually kills them. Speaking of sideboards, here is how I sideboard in various match-ups:
Mono Black
-3 Stormbreath Dragon, -1 Magma Jet
+2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, +2 Assemble the Legion
I feel this is our best match-up. We are already set up really well to deal with the Mono Black menace with the main deck and we get a little bit better after board. The key cards in this match up are the removal spells and most importantly, Assemble the Legion. Until Born of the Gods comes out, Mono Black has no way to deal with this card outside of Thoughtseize and Duress.
Mono Blue
-2 Assemble the Legion, -3 Xenagos, the Reveler, -1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
+3 Last Breath, +3 Mistcutter Hydra
Mono Blue is pretty rough for us. Our early threats are green, which makes them perfect targets for Tidebinder Mage. Thassa, God of the Sea and Master of Waves are both major threats and sadly, we can not rely that heavily on Chained to the Rocks due to the presence of Cyclonic Rift. In this match up, we are the control deck. Keep their devotion as low as possible and try to sneak in heavy hitters when you think the path is clear.
Control
-2 Magma Jet, -4 Chained to the Rocks, -2 Selesnya Charm, -1 Mizzium Mortars
+2 Destructive Revelry, +3 Mistcutter Hydra, +2 Assemble the Legion, +2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
I am lumping all Blue based control decks together here to make it easier to get the general idea of how to board versus them. Depending on what I see, I sometimes don't cut mortars to be able to handle things like opposing Assemble the Legion or Archangel of Thune. Against these decks, you want to keep pressure on, but not overextend. One of the best cards in these match ups has actually been Destructive Revelry. Being able to get back a Xenagos, the Reveler or another threat at the end of their turn has won me quite a few games.
R/W Devotion
-2 Xenagos, the Reveler, -2 Assemble the Legion, -4 Voice of Resurgence
+3 Last Breath, +3 Anger of the Gods, +2 Destructive Revelry
Against R/W Devotion, we are a control deck. R/W can not do much without devotion and if you can stop it, the match-up is a breeze. It is perfectly fine to Anger of the Gods whenever you see a Boros Reckoner, since it is such an important piece to their deck.
G/R Devotion or GR Monsters
I am 100% sure what we want in these match-ups. Anger of the Gods is really good against both decks as it removes their mana ramp. Last Breath is fine against G/R Devotion, but does nothing against the GR Monsters list since their ramp is usually Sylvan Caryatid. I have not played enough against these decks to have a set plan, but I feel that's a good place to start.
Aggro Decks
-2 Assemble the Legion, - 4 Voice of Resurgence
+3 Last Breath, +3 Anger of the Gods
I am lumping all aggro decks into this sideboard plan. The plan is to stop their early game and then just win. Our creatures and Planeswalkers are a lot more powerful then anything most of these decks are doing and if you can get to those, the game is most likely over for them.
With Born of the Gods right around the corner, at least in the paper Magic world, there are a couple of cards I'm looking to test in this deck, the most obvious of those being Brimaz, King of Oreskos. This card seems like the perfect fit for this list. It lives through Anger of the Gods and provides constant pressure. I am also looking into adding Xenagos, God of Revels to the list, but I believe that would force me to change the deck significantly to get the most out of him. Lastly, I want to look at Searing Blood over Magma Jet. Magma jet's purpose in this deck is not only early removal, but card filtering with Scry 2. It may be the case that the 3 damage to the creature's controller is just better but who knows, maybe Magma Jet is just what this deck needs!
I hope you enjoyed the article and feel free to tell me what liked/disliked about the article, your feelings about the deck, and just Magic in general! I should have videos of the deck in action up on the blog soon, so look out for those! Your feedback is important to me and I plan to respond and interact with you guys as much as possible.
What are some other topics that you want us to talk about or some videos you want to see happen. You can contact us at mtgplaymatt@gmail.com and be sure to follow us on Twitter @mtgPlayMatt and our PlayMatt Facebook site.
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