Hi everybody! Chris here, and while I normally show off Pauper decks and tweaks, I'm here today to talk about Naya in Theros Block Constructed.

I'm a semi-competitive player and grinder on MTGO, although almost all of my previous experience had been in Pauper. When Pauper Daily Events got removed, I had to find a different way to fund my events. Being that I didn't have enough tickets in stock to invest in Standard, I decided to try out Theros Block Constructed.

I started off with Mono Black, thinking with all the removal and disruption that this GR monsters deck can't be too hard right?

Well, not only was I wrong, but a guy named lucastyree showed me just how wrong I was. Here was the list he was running:

After he thoroughly trounced me in 6 or 7 games, I chatted with him about the deck. He told me it was the best deck no one had come to realize yet, and that it had no bad matchups with the exception of the GR Monsters deck, which was slightly in their favor but not by much.

Normally I take the "best deck in the format" claims with a grain of salt. I watched replays of him crushing every variation of opponent in Daily Events. UG, Heroic, Black, oddball decks, it didn't matter. Every single deck he came up against that wasn't GR just never stood a chance.

#JustScoopToElspeth is the hashtag I've started on Twitter. No deck can really handle Elspeth well. At the very least, she'll Time Walk opponents when you're behind. I'll delve more into her merits later.

I traded for the cards and bought the cards from MTGOTraders until I finally assembled his 75. In testing, I found some weaknesses along with some cards I was just never sideboarding in, and I came to my own deck that I run today:

Quite a big difference between what we started with and what we ended up with. Part of this is due to the meta shifting for this deck, and part of it was me tweaking weaknesses I found in testing. Keep in mind that decklists change day-to-day to compensate for meta shifts, so my decklist may not be the same tomorrow or the day after.

So without further ado, let's break it down card-by-card, tweak-by-tweak.

Detailed Deck Analysis

Maindeck:

Manabase:

You might look at this manabase and think "whoa, how are you gonna cast all those GGG spells in the sideboard, or WW spells in the main?!"

Well, the actual lands aren't so bad themselves, but we add additional fixing via Sylvan Caryatid and Nylea's Presence. Presence also lets us attach Chained to the Rocks to any land. Voyaging Satyrs help us achieve the troublesome double mana costs.

All in all, we run 33 Mana sources counting Caryatid and Voyaging Satyr. I run 25 lands because I HATE mulliganing due to 1 landers. There is always something to do with the excess mana as well. We run the full 8 mana dorks because getting a turn 2 mana ramper is crucial in mirror matches. Caryatid and Satyr let us ramp into our...

Monsters:

Polis Crusher - Many decks have moved away from him entirely, but I think this is a mistake. Crusher is just an amazing utility monster. His Trample is relevant in shoving opposing Elspeth tokens out of the way, his protection from Enchantments blanks opposing Boon Satyr, Nighthowler, Baleful Eidolon, and Chained to the Rocks. His relatively low Monstrosity cost has threat of activation written all over it. The ability to destroy opposing enchantments removes pesky things like Whip of Erebos or Boon Satyr. We run the full playset because he has such good utility against every deck in the field. He is, of course, smaller than Polukranos.

Polukranos, World Eater - The flagship monster of the set actually isn't very good in this list. Don't get me wrong, you can do some broken things with him, Elspeth, and Xenagos on the table, but you pretty much already won if you have two planeswalkers out ticking up anyway. We mostly use him for his ability to be a 5/5 for 2GG with some upside to get a little bigger and kill low toughness dorks occasionally. Some lists choose to run 4 of Polukranos, but we're only running 2. It's also worth noting that he is Legendary, so you sometimes run into situations where you have a 2nd Polukranos in your hand that you can't cast if one is already out. Furthermore, he makes a great target for opposing Chained to the Rocks, which we want to blank as much as possible from opponents.

Stormbreath Dragon - Can't really say much about this guy. Protection from White is certainly relevant as he blanks Chained to the Rocks. He is also a 4/4 flier with Haste for 3RR, which is very nice. His Monstrosity is a bit expensive, but you can catch opponents off guard with it when they have 3-4 cards in hand, which bolts them in additions to a 7/7 flier coming in. The full playset is necessary, it's good in every matchup.

These aren't the only thing you're ramping into, we also have...

Planeswalkers:

Xenagos, the Reveler - This guy seems like he's not a big threat at first, until he ramps out the rest of your hand or makes 5x 2/2 Satyr tokens pinging away at their life totals. He combos insanely well with Elspeth, sometimes allowing you to play Stormbreath and make it Monstrous in the same turn, or activate Polukranos for 14. Making tokens is his primary use though. He allows you to out-attrition Mono Black players or chump block opposing Polukranos or Arbor Colossus

Elspeth, Sun's Champion - The real reason we're playing white at all. Elspeth is just impossible to deal with. While the 1/1s she creates aren't impressive, they add up very quickly and become a huge problem. Her +1 creates 3 Soldier tokens. Her -3 destroys all creatures with 4 or more power, which is handy for catching up against opposing GR decks when they have a lot of monsters out. We run 4 for two reasons: we want to see one every game(excepting Heroic decks), and we want to use her -3 to two-for-one opponents and have a backup Elspeth when opponents kill her the turn after a -3. Her ultimate leads to a horde of 3/3 flying Soldiers, which should close the game out pretty handily. Most decks just aren't equipped to deal with her in a timely fashion, so we get a lot of free wins by ticking her up a few times and overrunning our opponents.

The Spells:

Chained to the Rocks - The best removal spell in Theros. For a single mana you can remove any creature. This targets any playable creature in the format except Polis Crusher and Stormbreath Dragon. Handy for casting multiple spells in a turn because it's so cheap too. We're only running 3 in the maindeck right now though, because it's pretty bad in the mirror unless they play into it.

Lightning Strike - Four of these get to play in our maindeck because Prophet of Kruphix is how the UG deck beats us. It's also handy for taking down Heroic creatures, Xenagos, Voyaging Satyrs, etc.

Sideboard:

Arbor Colossus - The biggest creature in the format unfortunately doesn't fit into the maindeck. He's a target for Chained to the Rocks, and also doesn't trample. He's relegated to the sideboard to make the UG match a little easier, and as an alternate to Chained to the Rocks from our maindeck in the mirror.

Glare of Heresy - A useful white hate card, this comes in against Heroic decks(either UW or WR), and we bring in 2 in the mirror on the draw

Hunt the Hunter - The green hate card, we used this to get ahead of opponents on tempo. For G mana, you usually take out their Polukranos or Polis Crusher while letting yours live and turn the tides on "who's the beatdown." Trample from Polis Crusher is hugely relevant in combo with this as well.

Magma Jet - We bring in Jets mostly for Agent of the Fates, but this card is also useful against Heroic decks.

Peak Eruption - And finally we have the red hate card. This is my least favorite card in the board, but you can mise wins off of it. The ideal use is blowing up an opposing Mountain with Chained to the Rocks attached, or a Nylea's Presenced land and redirecting damage to Xenagos to kill him. Sometimes you can mana screw opponents though, which is always nice.

Sideboarding and Matchup Guide:

Now keep in mind that sideboarding is always up for debate, but I'm going to share with you my specific strategy and theory behind my choices. I believe that as long as you have solid reasons for your sideboarding, you can do it however you see fit, however that may not necessarily be optimal.

Mono Black

This matchup should be pretty close to a bye for you. I've lost to one Mono Black opponent in 14 Daily Events and never lost in 2-man queues. Your Planeswalkers and Monsters present too many threats for them to Hero's Downfall, and Polis Crushers blank their Baleful Eidolons. You will need to play around Agent of the Fates though, or risk having to sacrifice your monsters. Always make sure their devotion count is low if possible, or they can pants you with Gray Merchant of Asphodel. This can occasionally mean you need to Chain a Disciple of Phenax to the Rocks.

Sideboard: -3 Voyaging Satyr, +3 Magma Jet. You don't need to ramp in this matchup, you just need to deploy your threats periodically. Keep aggression on as much as possible, but be careful to protect your Planeswalkers. Xenagos and Elspeth will eventually overwhelm them, assuming Stormbreath doesn't kill them first. We bring in Jets to kill Agent of the Fates, he makes attacking with our ground creatures a pain and gives opponents value off of the bad Bestow creatures they have to play to make sure their deck works. Don't be afraid to burn them directly to give yourself outs - opponents hurt themselves with Thoughtseize and Read the Bones, which leaves them vulnerable to Lightning Strike burnout.

Here's an older video of me playing against Mono Black. The build is different, but you'll get the general idea of how to play against Mono Black:

Heroic(UW or RW)

I loop these two together because they function fairly similarly. This matchup should also be fairly well in your favor, especially after sideboarding. Weenie decks in general tend to have problems with ramp monster decks. The key to beating them is to stay alive long enough to get Stormbreath down to block. This may require you to "throw away" a Polis Crusher, Polukranos, or whatever. They play a hexproof deck with no hexproof creatures though, so you will eventually run them out of pump or protection, and be able to turn the tides with a few monsters or Elspeth.

Sideboard: -4 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, -3 Voyaging Satyr, +3 Magma Jet, +4 Glare of Heresy. After sideboard, your only goal is removing their Voltron creatures and turning offensive as soon as possible. Heroic decks don't defend well, so utilize every resource you have to put them on defense. Opponents will win out of nowhere with Fabled Hero, so play around him if at all possible. Make sure you NEVER Auto-Yield to this deck, the +1/+1 counters are VERY relevant when you're trying to Lightning Strike their guy in response to the Heroic trigger. Don't be wasteful of the Glares either, if an opponent gets an Aqueous Form on someone, there's a solid chance that Lightning Strike won't be able to deal with him anymore. Your priorities for killing things are: Fabled Hero, Fabled Hero, Fabled Hero, Phalanx Leader, Battlewise Hoplite, Favored Hoplite for the UW deck, and Fabled Hero, Fabled Hero, Fabled Hero, Phalanx Leader, Akroan Hoplite, Anax and Cymede, Akroan Crusader for the RW deck.

Don't be afraid to main phase removal either, which may make their attacks next turn more awkward if they have to use Gods Willing to protect their guy. Always play around Gods Willing if possible.

Here's a video showing off a Heroic matchup:

UG Prophet

This is the scariest of the non-mirror matches. Opponents look to play a control tempo game with you, using Prognostic Sphinx to start ensuring their draws are always live. Prophet of Kruphix ensures they can dump their hand and still have Dissolve up to protect themselves from your Monsters and Planeswalkers. Furthermore, Voyage's End buys them time to draw into Boon Satyrs to make the Sphinx a royal pain, or Arbor Colossus to block your guys. Yikes!

Sideboard: -3 Voyaging Satyr, +3 Arbor Colossus. You still should be slightly better off than them if you can get ahead before they get a Sphinx online. Arbor Colossus blanks the Sphinx or makes it very difficult to attack for them. The 2-for-1 monstrosity is very nice too, but make sure you play around Voyage's End and Boon Satyr when you can. Polis Crusher can make their Boon Satyr plays pretty bad too, especially if you've already Monstrositied him. Your overall game plan is to get a big threat down and put your opponent under pressure. Try to keep up Lightning Strike for Prophet of Kruphix, they will almost always win if they can protect a Prophet for a turn or two. Make sure you use removal on the Prophet pre-combat! A flashed in Arbor Colossus to block means you lose.

GRx



This is the only match you should have significant difficulty with. Matches play out fairly similarly between GR and GRW, so for simplicities sake I'll talk about them together. The matchup is very reliant on the turn 2 mana dork. Any hand without a Sylvan Caryatid or a Voyaging Satyr and a means to cast them is usually a mulligan. I'll sometimes keep a hand with a Temple on the draw, as long as the land will work out and the hand is full of gas. The scry and extra 2 draw steps will hopefully mean you can hit 1 of 8 mana dorks. Don't be afraid to use Elspeth's -3 in this matchup, especially if you can 2-for-1 your opponent. If you are in a GRW mirror, play around Chained to the Rocks. This usually means playing Polis Crusher instead of Polukranos, unless you suspect they'll ramp into Elspeth next turn. The GR deck sometimes uses Bow of Nylea and Nylea, God of the Hunt, so don't forget about the tricks they can pull!

Sideboard: If you're on the play: -3 Chained to the Rocks, -4 Lightning Strike, -1 Nylea's Presence, +3 Peak Eruption, +3 Arbor Colossus, +2 Hunt the Hunter. On the draw: -3 Chained to the Rocks, -4 Lightning Strike, -2 Nylea's Presence, +2 Peak Eruption, +3 Arbor Colossus, +2 Hunt the Hunter, +2 Glare of Heresy

You want live draws all the time. Lightning Strike is a nice utility to answer Voyaging Satyr or an early Xenagos, but you can't guarantee they'll have either and you almost can guarantee they'll play around Lightning Strike. Finally, I'd rather be casting my own mana dork than bolting his. Chained to the Rocks becomes useless when opponents bring in Peak Eruption to effectively 3-for-1 you. We remove Nylea's Presence to make ourselves less vulnerable to Peak Eruption and hopefully blank opponents cards in hand. This may go without saying, but play your Mountains at the very last second possible, unless they guarantee you make your 2-drop or another important land drop. These are matches where Elspeth ultimate is fairly realistic, if you have an Elspeth at 7 loyalty play around opposing Stormbreath to try and fire off the ultimate. If you're on the draw, the game can be fair until they get their Elspeth online. This is why we have 2x Glare of Heresy on the draw, but not on the play.

Rogue decks:

Other matchups should be fairly easy due to the limited card pool available to Block right now. Opponents will have problems dealing with all of your threats and there are no real sweepers in the format, so deploy threats and lay down the beats. Try to play around Dissolve, and Prognostic Sphinx will be your worst enemy that a rogue deck might run. Everything else you should be well equipped to handle.

Sideboarding: Should be pretty straight forward. You'll either want Arbor Colossus or nothing, really.

Here's a video of me against a UB Control deck that couldn't beat Stormbreaths:

Conclusions

This deck is always in flux, and I'm always looking to make it more consistent. There are small numbers you can tweak to personalize it as well, for example:

Remove a Voyaging Satyr to liven late game draws

Mixing Magma Jets and Lightning Strikes between the main and the board

Mainboarding Arbor Colossus or more Chained to the Rocks, Nylea's Presence, Polukranos

Change up the sideboard how you like! I've always hated Peak Eruption, but I've found it necessary if only to fight opponents who mistakenly leave in Chained to the Rocks.

I've had suggestions of removing 1 of Xenagos, or 1 of Elspeth. That is also an option.

My overall Daily Event record with this deck is 13/17, with 2 4-0s(and a split at the 3-0 bracket in my favor). It's very well paid for itself and then some. Overall I'm very happy with my iteration of the deck. I hope you enjoyed this look at the number 1 deck of Block Constructed. Give it a shot, I'm sure you won't be disappointed!