I'm brewing a Naya Midrange deck for SCGCIN tomorrow, and I'm having trouble deciding whether I would rather play Elvish Mystic or Sylvan Caryatid for early mana acceleration.
For reference, here is the current iteration of the deck:
If anyone wants to throw in any other pointers or tips, feel free to do so as well.
For reference, here are a few cards I considered including but ultimately went away from, and the reasoning behind each:
Boros Reckoner: Strong against aggro strategies (which I expect to see a lot of), but with Mystic and Temples in the deck the odds of getting it out on T3 are reduced significantly. Also, I expect a huge uptick in the amount of Abrupt Decay being played. This may be a consideration again if it is determined that Caryatid is the better inclusion.
Domri Rade: Much stronger against midrange, which I don't expect to see as much of. T2 Domri is freaking amazing against something like Junk or the mirror. T2 Domri on the draw when looking at a tapped Rakdos Cackler and Ash Zealot seems terrible. Also, see above point about Abrupt Decay.
Polukranos, World Eater: I have honestly never been happy with this card. I've played quite a bit of G/R and Jund Monsters and just... bleh. Plus, Setessan Tactics makes it redundant and does its fight thing very well for less mana.
Boon Satyr: I went back and forth between this and Rampager. This is great as a blow-out trick on blocks, but Abrupt Decay still presents a huge problem. Rampager is also a better creature in general if cast for retail.
If you are planning to scry turn one then caryatid is a fine turn 2 play. It helps keep you from getting color screwed and can block pretty well for the early game.
This deck is good. I went 3-1-1 in Swiss, then went 1-1 in the top 8.
First round I played against Naya Hexproof and lost 1-2. This deck really struggles to beat their fast draws, and if you're on the draw it is almost impossible to win unless you get lucky and pull multiple Deicide/Banishing Light to deal with their enchantments. Advent of the Wurm can be a blowout on blocks though, and directly led to my game 2 victory.
Second round I played against the BR minotaur event deck. Won 2-1. I made a mistake in game 2 by using Banishing Light on a vanilla black 2/2 because I thought it was the minotaur that gave all other minotaurs deathtouch. He proceeded to play 2 Kragma Warcallers and we went to game 3.
Third round I played against a RUG midrange deck that was basically G/R monsters + Aetherling and a couple counterspells. This was an easy 2-0 win.
After drawing into top 8, I 2-0'd Mono-Black Devotion in the quarterfinals. This was a surprisingly easy win. Nyx-Fleece Ram brick-walled his Pack Rats long enough for me to draw some answers. I found the key was to hold an Archangel of Thune or Stormbreath Dragon until they use all their removal spells on Coursers and Rams. There is also virtually nothing they can do to combat Assemble the Legion out of the sideboard. Bile Blight just doesn't do enough.
In the semis I lost to the same Naya Hexproof player who beat me in Round 1, with the same result of 1-2.
Some notes:
Every single game that I lost in the tournament was to a lightning fast aggro draw (and all when they were on the play). I think I am going to cut the 4 Soldier of the Pantheon from the SB and add 3 Fog and move the second Setessan Tactics over to make room for a third Advent.
I think you want Caryatid for sure over mystic, better vs aggro, better with t1 temples, and you don't have 3 drops for Mystic to ramp into anyways (or a ton of 2-drops that compete with Caryatid to play on t2).
If I may ask, what are the Soldier of the Pantheons for sb? I get that they let you shift to a more aggressive role, but what decks do you want to do that for?
I think there are probably more effective ways to beat aggro than Fog, like a fourth Ram, Brimaz, or Fiendslayer Paladin (WW might be too much though). Brimaz is really good vs aggro if they can't remove, and Fiendslayer can pick off their small attackers with FS while gaining life to help stabilize. If you don't think 1WW is playable, then consider Voice of Resurgence, it can block twice, often trading both times, and the token grows into a relevant threat late game. Part of your problem vs aggro is just the number of big drops in the deck, so just make sure you have some cheaper stuff to side in. The deck looks pretty good overall though, gratz on top 4.
I would almost say a 2 Elvish Mystic 3 Sylvan Caryatid split. The Caryatids would help against aggro and both would help with ramp. The Mystics would be good early with the Ghor-Clan Rampagers if you draw a perfect draw.
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For reference, here is the current iteration of the deck:
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Archangel of Thune
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Banishing Light
2 Advent of the Wurm
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Setessan Tactics
24 Lands
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Deicide
2 Assemble the Legion
1 Pithing Needle
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Banishing Light
If anyone wants to throw in any other pointers or tips, feel free to do so as well.
For reference, here are a few cards I considered including but ultimately went away from, and the reasoning behind each:
Boros Reckoner: Strong against aggro strategies (which I expect to see a lot of), but with Mystic and Temples in the deck the odds of getting it out on T3 are reduced significantly. Also, I expect a huge uptick in the amount of Abrupt Decay being played. This may be a consideration again if it is determined that Caryatid is the better inclusion.
Domri Rade: Much stronger against midrange, which I don't expect to see as much of. T2 Domri is freaking amazing against something like Junk or the mirror. T2 Domri on the draw when looking at a tapped Rakdos Cackler and Ash Zealot seems terrible. Also, see above point about Abrupt Decay.
Polukranos, World Eater: I have honestly never been happy with this card. I've played quite a bit of G/R and Jund Monsters and just... bleh. Plus, Setessan Tactics makes it redundant and does its fight thing very well for less mana.
Boon Satyr: I went back and forth between this and Rampager. This is great as a blow-out trick on blocks, but Abrupt Decay still presents a huge problem. Rampager is also a better creature in general if cast for retail.
Any input is greatly appreciated!
3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Archangel of Thune
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Banishing Light
2 Advent of the Wurm
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Setessan Tactics
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
3 Temple of Abandon
3 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple of Triumph
2 Mana Confluence
3 Forest
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Deicide
2 Assemble the Legion
1 Pithing Needle
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Banishing Light
This deck is good. I went 3-1-1 in Swiss, then went 1-1 in the top 8.
First round I played against Naya Hexproof and lost 1-2. This deck really struggles to beat their fast draws, and if you're on the draw it is almost impossible to win unless you get lucky and pull multiple Deicide/Banishing Light to deal with their enchantments. Advent of the Wurm can be a blowout on blocks though, and directly led to my game 2 victory.
Second round I played against the BR minotaur event deck. Won 2-1. I made a mistake in game 2 by using Banishing Light on a vanilla black 2/2 because I thought it was the minotaur that gave all other minotaurs deathtouch. He proceeded to play 2 Kragma Warcallers and we went to game 3.
Third round I played against a RUG midrange deck that was basically G/R monsters + Aetherling and a couple counterspells. This was an easy 2-0 win.
Fourth round was a 2-1 win against a Rakdos aggro deck. Game 2 on the play, he played Tormented Hero, Tormented Hero, Rakdos Shred-Freak and I lost quickly.
After drawing into top 8, I 2-0'd Mono-Black Devotion in the quarterfinals. This was a surprisingly easy win. Nyx-Fleece Ram brick-walled his Pack Rats long enough for me to draw some answers. I found the key was to hold an Archangel of Thune or Stormbreath Dragon until they use all their removal spells on Coursers and Rams. There is also virtually nothing they can do to combat Assemble the Legion out of the sideboard. Bile Blight just doesn't do enough.
In the semis I lost to the same Naya Hexproof player who beat me in Round 1, with the same result of 1-2.
Some notes:
Every single game that I lost in the tournament was to a lightning fast aggro draw (and all when they were on the play). I think I am going to cut the 4 Soldier of the Pantheon from the SB and add 3 Fog and move the second Setessan Tactics over to make room for a third Advent.
Ajani 4.0 is the real deal.
Archangel of Thune + Courser of Kruphix and/or Nyx-Fleece Ram = incredibly frustrated opponents.
If I may ask, what are the Soldier of the Pantheons for sb? I get that they let you shift to a more aggressive role, but what decks do you want to do that for?
I think there are probably more effective ways to beat aggro than Fog, like a fourth Ram, Brimaz, or Fiendslayer Paladin (WW might be too much though). Brimaz is really good vs aggro if they can't remove, and Fiendslayer can pick off their small attackers with FS while gaining life to help stabilize. If you don't think 1WW is playable, then consider Voice of Resurgence, it can block twice, often trading both times, and the token grows into a relevant threat late game. Part of your problem vs aggro is just the number of big drops in the deck, so just make sure you have some cheaper stuff to side in. The deck looks pretty good overall though, gratz on top 4.