STD DEKTEK – Naya Rade

MASTERING THE HUNT

2 weeks ago I played a Selesnya deck to a 4-0-1 victory.

Last week Huntsmaster of the Fells sat me down for a one-on-one.

“So… do we have a problem here, Carl?”

“Ummm what do you mean Mr. Huntsmaster, sir?”
“You haven’t summoned me in months. I’ve just been sitting here in your binder squashed between Prime Speaker Zegana and Auriela the Warleader. Do you know what it’s like having to listen to them debate between who’s cuter between Gatekeeper of Malakir and Master of the Pearl Trident?
“Doesn’t seem that bad. I mean, obviously it’s Gatekeeper since I’m not into seafood…”
*SIGH* “You’re missing the point. When you need life, who gets it for you?”
“… Thragtusk?”
“NO! ME YOU DUMMY! I get you life! And when you need to burn out an annoying Silverblade Paladin, who do you call?”
“… Mizzium Mortars?”
“My but you’re thick. ME! YOU CALL ME! I DO EVERYTHING!!”
“Everything except show up in my deck, that is?”
“… Sick burn, bro. You’re a stone cold basilisk.”

On that note (and to stop Huntsmasters constant nagging and whining. I mean damn, I’ve got a fiancée to blah blah blah  in my ear if that’s what I wanted!) it was time to 4-0-1 with a Naya deck again!

CARL SZALICH’S NAYA RADE DECK

Creatures (33)

4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim

3 Arbor Elf
3 Voice of Resurgence (only had 3)
3 Loxodon Smiter
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Restoration Angel
4 Huntsmaster of the Fells
2 Hellrider
4 Thragtusk
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Aurelia, the Warleader

Seems pretty self-explanatory. Mash all the best creatures together and call it a deck. No need to use any brain power or creativity. Just human centipede together a few Tusks, Huntsmasters, and Angels and tell them to feed!

I find that having 6-7 1-drop accelerators are pretty key for a deck like this one. You need to keep applying threats as quickly as possible to both combat faster aggro and try and do a little damage before control closes the doors on you. It also lets me run a low number of 2-drops because I can skip right to the 3-drops on T2.

The thing I really like about this deck is that it’s good against the field and doesn’t have many bad matchups. Against aggro you’ve got built in life gain all over the place (Thrag / Huntsmaster + Resto) and lots of “value blockers” (Smiter / Reckoner). Against control you’ve got a ton of “must answers” and hasty creatures that let you roll out one or two baddies that threaten to end the game on their own if not answered AND you’ve got main deck Voice. In all honesty, the only cards I DON’T want to see off the top are my mana dorks, as every other card is a bomb.

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Domri Rade

I finally got to try him out, and he wasn’t half as bad as I’d expected! Most of the time it was a T2 or T3 fatty followed by Domri -2 to fight. Elephants love the arena… but not as much as Minotaurs! That was a nice little combo I hadn’t even thought of until it happened.

When Domri wasn’t telling his peeps to brawl he was quietly gaining me card advantage or (more often than not) diddling himself in his uselessness. I’d like to say that with my > 50% worth of creatures that I was hitting a draw at least half the time, but alas, math isn’t concrete and the fates were cruel. Most of the time I just got to see the land I was going to be drawing next turn.

It’s all about the fight club for our friend Domri.

This build did cause me to think that I was trying to be too “cute”, and sacrificed some power just to try out Domri since I ran no spells. In the future I’d probably cut Domri so that I can play Advent of the Wurm and some main deck removal (probably Mizzium Mortars). Sorry Dom. :(

Lands (24)

1 Kessig Wolf Run

1 Gavony Township
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Rootbound Craig
4 Temple Garden
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Clifftop Retreat
 
These are lands, I tap them for mana.
Sometimes I don’t draw them, then I lose.
Sometimes I draw too many, then I lose.
 

HUNTSMASTER SAYS…

“Well there you go. Another victory. And you know who you’ve got to thank for it?”

“Domri Rade?!”
“Ummm you know I read the part about how you’d cut him for Advent of the Wurm, right?”
“Oh yea! I must have meant Aurelia, the Warleader!!”
*FACE PALM*

 

Cheers all,

Carl Szalich

@Psilence6K on Twitter