Competitive Approach: Boss Naya (Part 2)

Those of you out there who are not up-to-date with the current card pool may find this posting to be rather boring. Since it would take me forever to explain what each card does, I've linked to the cards I've named so that all of you who don't know them will have a better understanding. Hopefully that will help, but this post might get a little technical...so I understand (though grudgingly) if you want to pass on this one and wait til next time.

Now, moving on.

The Boss Naya deck is an aggro/mid-range deck capable of dropping early threats and using cards like Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise to accelerate into heavier threats. The deck becomes strong when it hits its four-drops like Ranger of Eos, Bloodbraid Elf, and Ajani Vengeant or Elspeth, Knight Errant. Each of these cards is extremely powerful and can quickly turn a game around.

Boss Naya is also a toolbox deck. A toolbox deck is a deck that is reliant on “tutors”, cards that search out specific cards in your deck (or “library” as it's called). Tutors get their name from a series of cards, the most famous of which is Demonic Tutor, a card that allows a player to search out any card in his or her deck. Boss Naya has three tutoring cards: Ranger of Eos, Stoneforge Mystic, and Knight of the Reliquary.

Ranger of Eos allows the pilot to search for his one-drop creatures (creatures that cost one mana to play). Stoneforge Mystic searches for equipment that makes all creatures better. And Knight of the Reliquary searches for lands, and in the Zendikar block there are some lands that have effects when they come into play (or “enter the battlefield” as the new jargon states).

Ranger of Eos and Stoneforge Mystic both make the deck extremely resilient, putting more creatures into your hand and putting equipment onto the field that makes every creature (even your lowly accelerants) a threat. Knight of the Reliquary gives the deck a slew of combat tricks that can quickly turn the tide of battle.

Bloodbraid Elf is also a tutor in its own way, though it doesn't search for anything specific. Its Cascade ability, which has made Jund so powerful, means that you are potentially playing two spells instead of one when you cast it. What better bargain can you get than that?

The reason I think this deck is so good is that it can be extremely fast and overwhelming. But if it isn't, or if the opponent manages to slow it down, it has enough resilience to come back and retake the board. I was playing a game against an opponent last week where I managed to stabilize at 6 life and turn the game around and win, something that most normal aggro decks don't do. The toolbox gives you a continual stream of threats and a lot of versatility, something that not every deck can boast.

I'm posting the list that LSV ran to a 12-1 record below. It is currently the list that I am playing. In the next post I will go over how the sideboard for this deck works. It was actually a mystery to me until recently, so I'm hoping I can explain it well.




Luis Scott-Vargas (USA)
Pro Tour–San Diego Top 8

Main Deck

60 cards

4 Arid Mesa
5 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sejiri Steppe
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Terramorphic Expanse

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24 lands


2 Birds of Paradise
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Ranger of Eos
1 Scute Mob
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wild Nacatl

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25 creatures 2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Path to Exile

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 other spells


Sideboard

2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Behemoth Sledge
4 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Dauntless Escort
1 Goblin Guide
2 Manabarbs
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Stoneforge Mystic

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 sideboard cards



Upcoming: Sideboarding for Boss Naya


Check us out at: sites.google.com/site/teamdamageonthestack