About a week ago I posted a video on my YouTube channel to explore the impact that the new Battle for Zendikar dual lands would have on Standard. My main conclusion was that the 3-color shards (Naya, Jund, Grixis, Bant, and Esper) would have very fast and reliable mana bases. With that in mind I had a look at Naya aggro, and quickly realized that several of the best available creatures had Prowess. I built the deck in about 10 minutes.

The Prowess creatures that I am playing are Monastery Swiftspear, Seeker of the Way, Abbot of Keral Keep, and Monastery Mentor. However, the star of the deck is Managorger Hydra. In a deck that can protect and pump it this card is insanely powerful, dealing 15+ damage out of nowhere.

There are many non-creature spells I could have played; I could have given my deck reach with some burn, or tried to play a tempo game by removing my opponent’s creatures. I went with the most exciting option: massive damage with cards such as Temur Battle Rage and Become Immense. Other key spells are Dromoka’s Command (my only removal spell), Gods Willing (one-mana protection), and Gather Courage (protect your Hydra from a Languish for zero mana).

The deck is almost entirely rotation-friendly. I will have to replace Gods Willing and Gather Courage, but that should be easy. Apart from Monastery Mentor and the mana base (which will improve after rotation) the deck is pretty budget friendly.

Pick up your Managorger Hydras ASAP. It is tremendously undervalued at the moment. Have a look at the videos if you don’t believe me.