Source
r/spikes•
LostPixel

[Standard]New Standard, Naya Monsters

Standard

Decklist http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-09-14-naya/

I was hoping to get spikes thoughts on the deck.

Card Choices

Creatures

9 mana dorks - I felt that 12 seen in some lists was far too many, after playtesting with the 9th dork, I found I had one in my opener nearly every game.

Rabblemaster - I realize that courser is a card advantage engine, but without domri, she loses a lot of her validity, and I feel a potential turn 2 rabblemaster is worth the loss of the card advantage engine.

Polukranos - Pretty standard 4 drop for monsters style lists, hes no less powerful on turn 3 now than he was last standard

Stormbreath Dragon - Even better than before with a higher limit on the number of cards that can actually kill him.

Planeswalkers

Xenagos - Aside from being a fantastic generator on his own, he can help enable large crater's claws if you need to remove something big, or finish them to the face.

Ajani - I generate a lot of tokens of rabblemaster and xenagos, all of them could do a lot being larger, and, a first striking rabblemaster is a lot harder to kill. Also goes nicely with polukranos to help aggro match-ups

Sarkhan - Sormbreath dragon 5 and 6, does double duty as removal

Elspeth - Top end finisher that can get you winning when you are behind, is pretty nuts with ajani and xenagos

Other mainboard spells

Crater's Claw - enough of my threats are 4 power or greater that I get a lot of value damage from this card, Either the final reach we need to get to the face, or it lets us pick off creatures. Essentially a scaling removal spell.

Banishing Light - Catch All for creatures I need removed.

Sideboard Tech

Ajani, Mentor of Heroes - great in a mirror styled match, or if someone is playing a slower control style deck

3x Arc Lightning - I expect aggro to be an issue, being able to kill 2 - 3 creatures for 3 mana seems efficient

1x Banishing Light - One more for safety

2x Bow of Nylea - lifegain can be relevant against aggresive decks, may be too slow but its mostly for polukranos machinegun style boardwipes

1x Chandra, Pyromaster - card advantage engine and great in mirror style match-ups for getting attackers through

2x Circle of Flame - Hoses rabblemaster and other red deck wins decks

3x Mistcutter Hydra - Anti-Blue Tech

2x Murderous Cut - With 8 fetches I thought it would be a good idea to put 8 sources of black mana ( counting caryatids ) and have murderous cut in the board to remove anything for the one black more frequently than not. May be inconsistent, needs more testing.

Why play this over Temur?

I thought about temur, and the only major differences in the lists would be temur charm and knuckleblade.

Temur charm is excellent, but I don't think knuckleblade is anything special in a tap out strategy, at the very least not as good as rabblemaster

With the White however, I get the use of Ajani Steadfast to pump my tokens, Banishing Light as a excellent piece of catch all removal and Elspeth, which is as always an incredible threat.

So Spikes,

Good, Bad? Better Side/Mainboard tech? let me know

Posted Sep 19, 2014, 12:50 PM UTC

015
abombdiggityElves!, 4c Gifts•

I haven't tested very much standard with ktk being legal, but it just seems that leaving out courser, expecially with eight on color fetchlands, seems like a mistake. Hitting your first six or seven land drops, gaining a little bit of life, and being able to shuffle away dead draws is extremely important for a midrange deck. I can understand prioritizing rabblemaster in an aggressive shell, but to not run any just doesn't seem right. Mono red aggressive strategies will be big in the first few weeks of the format, and a 2/4 blocker who comes down on turn three and gains you a turn or two against them while filtering your draws and hitting your land drops seems like one of the best reasons to be in green.

3
LostPixelOP•

This is something I've strongly considered myself.

I have both cards and will probably try the list both ways.

thats also why the sideboard is loaded with anti aggro hate.

and don't forget I do get a very nice life swing with my ajani's as well as the attacking creature left up to block.

but yeah overall I agree, that spot is up for debate.

1
The_Rox•

If you can field elspeth and xenagos long enough your Crater's claw alone will end the game.

I think bow should be main board just because of the threat potential it creates. It'll make your tokens far less likely to get blocked early, and would serve as something of a buffer against banishing light.

1
LostPixelOP•

I definitly see the logic in that, but what would come out. I don't like the idea of removing any of my banishing lights or craters claws, and the creature list is pretty tight.

1
Fluxxed0•

Your curve seems really high. Even if you do manage to land mana dorks, you're still only casting one spell a turn most of the time.

Rabblemaster also has no business in a midrange list like this. You have no removal, so Rabble will never be able to attack safely. You have no use for his tokens, so they're just going to suicide every turn.

The mana's probably a little greedy. It remains to be seen how well decks will play when they have CC spells in three different colors.

1
LostPixelOP•

Curve is high, I'm not sure if you played monsters lists before, but they usually only do one spell per turn.

I actually have 5 removal spells main(plus polukranos), more in the side, and I'd say that rabble master does have buisness in a midrange list, against aggressive decks he comes out for removal options, and against other midrange strategies, a t2 rabblemaster can win the game. Also, I trust CVM's Logic of running him in jund monsters lists.

Mana is Definitly Greedy, being smart about fetches is the only way to make it work.

2
buughostL: Sneak'n'Show M: Twin•

Have you considered last breath? It's great against cards like courser, rabblemaster and any other aggro creatures.

1
LostPixelOP•

That sould definitly be some awesome sideboard tech :)

1
j0mbieS: Abzan Whip | M: Junk Reanimator•

I feel like this is split between midrange and aggro, and that Crater's Claw should be sideboard, along with a Nylea. It's great if you're ahead, but it's not great if you have a bad board state. And honestly, if you're ahead, each of your threats can win you the game anyways.

I made a similar list, but I dropped the Rabblemaster, Mystics, Voyaging, Crater's, and all but one Xenagos. Added a single Chandra, Coursers, split between Ajanis, added a Brimaz, and added two Nissas. Essentially Naya Midrange Walkers. I just got threat after threat, and was out of reach of Anger and Bile Blight. There isn't enough good ways to get rid of Walkers right now with Boros Charm, Dreadbore, and DSphere leaving, so people couldn't handle it. My flex slot is Magma Jet, I might just add some Angers.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/naya-midrange-walkers-ktk/

1
LostPixelOP•

Mine is definitly a more agressive monsters shell.

The biggest reason I have the Crater's Claws is scalable removal. i can't think of anything in that slot that can hit large threats if I need it to.

The second reason is the loss of Ghor-Clan Rampager.

the extra reach for Ghor Clans often was the difference between a win and a loss.

I definitly feel xenagos is too powerful to be a one of, xenagos is a fast clock, or a cluch mana boost.

even when its just a fireball, 5-6 to the face could be game.

1
j0mbieS: Abzan Whip | M: Junk Reanimator•

Fair enough, you're heading slightly more in the aggro direction. I think I would just embrace that. Get rid of the Satyr, Ajanis, and maaaaaaybe an Elspeth. Add in Brimaz. The synergy with Rabble/Brimaz and Xenagos is awesome. Then you do a lot of damage up front, and the end of your mana curve is your things with reach: Stormbreath, Sarkhan, Crater's. Elspeth can help Crater's with a Xenagos, but that's a three card combo that has to be online for a while.

1
mtgice•

I like the idea in general, and there are card choices that "feel right" (f.ex. electing to not run temples - even if you must realize the Outpost could be replaced by RW Temple). However it feels like it lacks that small bit of oumph that would make me want to build it. The planeswalkers all compete for the same spot(s), which actually makes the white splash feel very weak. I get that you could see this as a replacement for Jund Monsters (splashing mainly for versatile anwer(s) and sideboard cards), so maybe drop the Steadfast?

Also, 8 dorks is fine, Voyaging Satyr seems weak here (with Nissa I would buy it). Murderous Cut is extremely weird.

Choose one theme: Aggro, attacking tokens (with Walker/etc. support), midrange, ramp (into planeswalkers). Feels like a mishmash.

1
LostPixelOP•

I runthe murderous cuts because it is an awesome removal spell, good enough in my opinion to run 8 sources(including caryatids) for.

1
kuaggie•

you're being silly not including courser. If you're worried about not getting enough value off it, run chandra in your MD, but that's a meta call. I think day 1 a 2/4 for 3 that gains gradual advantage will be fantastic on its own.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

-5
LostPixelOP•

in which way?

1