With All This Naya on My Brain, Tokens are the Game

Hi Everyone! I know it has been a while since I wrote anything but I have decided to try to write an article every week. Most of the decks that I talk about can be found on my Imgur page, here. Anyway let's get down to business.

For those of you that watch my Magic stream, this article probably won't contain anything you haven't seen or heard. For those of you who don't watch my Magic stream, I would like to inform you that I have an obsession with playing Naya colored decks in the current Standard format. It all started with the list I wrote about for my very first article and I haven't stopped playing Naya since! Actually, that's a lie. After BNG was released online, my win percentage with Naya Midrange dropped off the planet. I moved on to playing Bant, which I finished okay with at a PTQ in Springfield, IL and then Jund Monsters, which led me to a 6-3 finish at GP Cincinnati, a very good run seeing as I came in with zero byes!

After that tournament, I decided to go back to the drawing board and work on different versions of Naya that basically all sucked. I couldn't beat anything and I felt pretty miserable about playing anything in Standard. Luckily, I was pulled out of my slump by a friend of mine, Wyatt, that shipped me a pretty cool Junk Aggro list. I played it for a bit both on and off stream and actually started winning again!

From there, I moved on to various other decks, one of the coolest being the Junk Reanimator list written about by Brian Braun-Duin on StarCityGames. The deck was actually insane in the few matches that I played with it but it felt like it was missing something. Turns out it wasn't the deck but more the fact that it really didn't fit my style. It was after that that I decided to return back to the lovely colors of Green, Red, and White!

I searched the net, mainly mtggoldfish.com, for any spicy Naya brews that could get me back home, where I belong. I actually found a couple but they didn't really excite me. These Naya decks were very similar to the previous builds of Naya Midrange/Control deck I worked on before but I was looking for something with a little more spice. After searching a bit more, I stumbled upon this thing of beauty:

Naya Tokens

This list is very close to the 75 Mtgo user, HeroesofKern, piloted to a 6-0 finish in a Standard event, which can be found here. I only made two changes: I cut 2 Scion for 2 Assembles and 1 Brimaz for a Xenagos. I can honestly say that the assemble has been insane for me on Mtgo. Mono Black makes up about 30% of the online meta-game and just being able to slam this down as early as turn 3 with the help of the mana dorks is just backbreaking. Domri's -2 ability is clearly not at his best here but being able to find a Purphoros is just too good to pass up. The one card in the maindeck that I constantly get questions about is the big, bird making elemental himself, Scion. I can see exactly what the deck creator was going for with this guy! Putting at least 6 power into play for 5 mana is okay but the card truly shines with a Purphoros on the battlefield. 6 power and 6 damage to the opponent and/or Planeswalkers is just so much value! The birds this guy brings to the party aren't anything to scoff at either since they can chump those silly Nightveil Specters or Cloudfin Raptors for a bit or they can go at your enemy's face with quite sharp claws using a few Purphoros pumps!

Moving on from the main-deck, I have not changed any of the sideboard cards. Many of the cards are self explanatory though the Ragebeast seems questionable. I can see the card coming in against other mid-range decks to fight things like Stormbreath Dragon or Polukranos. Once in play, it can sort of  machine gun things down with an active Assemble, Xenagos, or Elspeth in play. After playing the deck quite a bit (go check out my Twitch channel to see the deck in action), I don't think the beast is good enough. Possible replacements could be something like Warleader's Helix or maybe Polukranos.
 

I haven't given much thought about what I would change since Journey of the Nyx is right around the corner, but expect to see an update to this list and/or my old Naya list sometime in the future. I hope you enjoyed the article and feel free to join me in the amazing world of Naya!

Dech Tech: Post Grand Prix Cincinnati with Jund Monsters

After the Grand Prix, I still wanted to play with Jund Monsters in standard.  But after analyzing what happened in my matches and the shifting metagame in the format and everyone either playing the Esper Control or BW Midrange,  Some changes to the deck needed to made.  The top image is the deck that I ran at the Grand Prix and the bottom image is the current list with I have been running that is up to date.





Grand Prix List

Post Grand Prix List

When playing this deck against a control list, you have to expect that you are going to lose game one.  But after sideboard cards are in, Sire of Insanity, Dreadbore, Rakdos's Return, Deadbridge Chant, and Abrupt Decay, then the matchup will help but you still have to have good draws.

The one, dumb, OP (over powered) card that we couldn't handle was Obzedat, Ghost Council. We originally had one Putrefy in the sideboard for this, but it turned out to be a bigger problem.  Another card that the extra Putrefy helped could of helped is Lotleth Troll, just because of the regeneration.  With the uprising of the new GB Dredge deck that hit the floor, Putrefy makes this match a lot easier and our win percentage would increase exponentially.

There is one card that we added two of to the main board to help go faster or get more creatures out onto the battlefield, Xenagos, the Reveler.  This planeswalker did exactly that.  It got creatures out in the control matchup while having creatures that can block and destroy Blood Baron of Viskopa in the BW Midrange matchup.

We took out two Polukranos, World Eater, for a couple of reasons.  One, it is actually one of the most easiest creatures to destroy in this format. Another reason is that it Polukranos, World Eater also one of the most easiest creatures to exile due to the uprising of Lifebane Zombie and Selesnya Charm.  While Reaper of the Wilds could be exiled, when it is on the field, he has the potential to protect it self with the hexproof ability.

Hope this gives you incentive to play this deck in the future.  Let me know if there are any other changes that you would probably make with this deck and would tell me your results of your matches.

See you later!

Grand Prix Trials as a Judge

This past Saturday,  I had the privilege to be the head judge of a Grand Prix Trial tournament for GP Minneapolis.  It was an amazing experience. You have to be the one who can answer questions, fix situations, etc.  But there are some things that can be stressful about certain situations that need to be addressed.

For one,  you have to take yourself out of your comfort zone.  A friend my call you over to fix a situation or answer a question.  But when that happens, you have to be completely but yourself in a neutral state and be unbiased to the situation at hand. The tournament should be run by unbiased leader and you have to be that.

It can be a strain on someone to know everything, but thats not possible to do.  Thats why we have applications on smart phones that can aid us in situations.  It helps that we have the internet to so that we can look at forums and other judge websites too.

To become a judge if you think that you are ready, you can go to the judges website which the link will be on the bottom.  There are also other websites like wiki and such that can help you prepare for the exams, if those don't work, ask your local judge to help you out or shadow a tournament to view hands on experience.

Once you have taken you practice exams and passed all of those, contact your level two judge in the area.  They will be the one to administer your actual level one exam.  If you pass, congrats and welcome to the judging community, if not, then you need to work on some things or need to study more.  But I believe that you can do it.

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