Challenge completed? Scooping the finals of a PTQ seems close enough.
Between GP San Diego and school, I haven’t had a lot of time to playtest (see that becoming a pattern?). As a result, I walked into Amazing Discoveries that morning with the same exact 75 cards as the deck I played from the Super IQ two weeks ago. In fact I hadn’t touched the deck since the Super IQ itself.
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a stellar performance — perhaps 4-4, or 5-3, something to that effect. I was surprised when Naya Blitz performed nearly as well as last time — however, one thing to note was that the insane nut draws that I was getting at the Super IQ (7 damage on turn 2 or multiple Burning-Tree Emissaries, etc) was not nearly as common this time around. In fact, the first time I actually got a nut draw was in round 5.
Yeah it’s the same 75 as last time but here’s the list so you don’t have to read my other article to find it:
| Creatures (33) 4 Boros Elite 4 Burning-Tree Emissary 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Experiment One 4 Flinthoof Boar 4 Frontline Medic 1 Ghor-Clan Rampager 4 Lightning Mauler 4 Mayor of Avabruck Spells (7) 3 Giant Growth 4 Searing Spear Lands (20) 4 Cavern of Souls 1 Rootbound Crag 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Stomping Ground 3 Sunpetal Grove 4 Temple Garden | Sideboard (15) 3 Boros Charm 2 Fiend Hunter 2 Gruul Charm 2 Nearheath Pilgrim 2 Pacifism 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 1 Domri Rade |
Here were my matchups:
| Round 1 | Gruul Aggro | Win | 2-1 | 1-0 |
| Round 2 | Naya Humans Midrange | Loss | 1-2 | 1-1 |
| Round 3 | Jund Aggro | Win | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| Round 4 | UW Control | Win | 2-0 | 3-1 |
| Round 5 | Crypt Ghast | Win | 2-1 | 4-1 |
| Round 6 | Bant | Win | 2-1 | 5-1 |
| Round 7 | Bant Prime Speaker | Win | 2-1 | 6-1 |
| Round 8 | Jund Midrange | ID | 0-0-1 | 6-1-1 |
| Top 8 | Junk Reanimator | Win | 2-0 | 7-1-1 |
| Top 4 | Naya Blitz | Win | 2-0 | 8-1-1 |
Yes, as it turns out, almost all of my matches went to game 3. This was mostly a result of me keeping slower hands on the draw (I lost nearly all of my die rolls at the PTQ). Of course, with a deck like this, that’s a definite no-no.
Like my last article, I didn’t take notes, so here are just my thoughts on what happened. You can read my Super IQ report here if you want to read more about my thoughts on this deck: Click here!
Stars of the Day
Pacifism – Obviously when my deck’s only removal spell is Searing Spear, this deck generally relies on “killing your opponent before the card you need to remove becomes relevant” as its real removal. But when your “removal” doesn’t get the job done, this is where Pacifism comes in. It saved me in the top 4 by disabling my opponent’s Frontline Medic. I love it, although it can be pretty bad against decks that run Restoration Angel. I still consider boarding one in anyway; Restoration Angel is bad news anyway whether I have Pacifism or not because it blocks and kills almost everything without a Medic, so I might as well try to stall them (you have to use it strategically and only when necessary though).
Gruul Charm – The first mode of this charm allowed me to push through alpha strikes. I will say that it felt like it could have been a win-more, but I haven’t played it enough to really tell. It was a dead draw in a particular situation that I was behind, but in stalemates (perhaps in my top 4 in the mirror match where we were stuck draw-going for several turns) it immediately wins you the game. In the Junk Reanimator match against Lotleth Trolls and Spirit tokens, the versatility helped.
Anti-Naya Blitz Cards I didn’t face against all day (kind of)
Boros Reckoner – I only faced it in my only match loss of the day, and I didn’t face it at all at the Super IQ. When I did face it, I Pacified it, but of course my opponent had the Angel to blink it several turns later. With Frontline Medic, Reckoner isn’t as much of a problem, but otherwise it’s extremely difficult to deal with.
Olivia Voldaren – Well as you can see in my matchups, I only faced Jund Aggro, which doesn’t run Olivia. Although it is entirely possible to beat an Olivia, she is probably one of the cards I am most afraid to face. But today it wasn’t a problem.
Not facing Olivia is probably where I got the luckiest. Although at the Super IQ I faced 4 Jund Midrange decks, here at the PTQ I faced none, except for my ID into the top 8. I feel that the match up is generally favorable, but I just hate playing against it because if they untap with Olivia, I pretty much lose.
Would I still recommend this deck?
Well, Caleb Tefft took my advice and ran this deck. I ended up knocking him out of the top 4 — that he got into with an impressive 6-0-2 run. Sorry buddy.
So I’d still say yes. Sure, the deck is just as simple as “playing creatures and turning them sideways” — this deck just does it best. Personally I love this deck — it’s a burn deck with much more resiliency and consistency than typical burn decks. Plus nut drawing your opponent is really fun (admittedly not for them, though).
What changes would I make to my Naya Blitz deck?
Well, I’d certainly find a way to deal with Olivia much more efficiently. I’ve been suggested Selesnya Charm, which actually seems like a great idea; the pump from the charm is also very, very relevant, with the token also being relevant for battalion and evolve.
In addition, I’ve been considering Bonds of Faith in the sideboard in place of Pacifism. Thing is, the Pacifism over Bonds of Faith won me my top 4 match because I was able to place it on a Frontline Medic; this is a corner case situation, but I feel like the universal effect of Pacifism is much more effective than the situational pump given by Bonds of Faith. Plus it’s not as useful in the mirror match. I’d rather disable the Medic than pump one of my own guys.
I do find myself boarding out the Giant Growths/Ghor-Clan Rampagers a lot; although the pump can be useful, there is a lot of removal in non-Bant Prime Speaker decks that I don’t like getting 2-for-1’d. Especially with this deck, where you can and will be trading more than one card for your opponent’s, you need to save every card you can. In addition, taking out too many creatures can be detrimental if your plan is to Battalion your opponent out of the game.
I do like having Thalia maindeck in place of the Giant Growths. If I were to play the deck again, that’s probably what I would do. That would also free up the sideboard for additional tech, such as Electrickery or Thunderbolt that Caleb Tefft was running in his 75.
If the UG Delver deck that won this PTQ becomes popular, it means that Fog will be as well, since that is one of their best cards against us. So in this case I’d probably put Skullcrack in the sideboard as well — it stops damage prevention, not just life gain!
Why did I scoop the finals to Joseph?
For those not in the know: I did end up scooping the finals to Joseph. With my graduation this semester, I really don’t know where I will be in October. I’d hate to get the invite, then get locked up at work and not be able to attend. That would be a waste of an invite. Joseph definitely was excited to go, and he deserves it; might as well give it to the guy who WILL go than the guy who might, right?
Wrapping it all up
This is probably one of my last tournaments for a bit. Like I said previously, I am graduating this semester and school has caught up to me; I haven’t been able to play as much Magic as I would have liked. But at least I ended it for now pretty well.
Although I did enjoy this run with Naya Blitz, I can’t help but feel that I abused the ‘luck’ factor inherent to Magic: the Gathering with this deck. But it was a blast doing so. And it’s what this deck is designed to do.
Props
- My deck for doing what it does best!
- Joseph Pinkley for piloting a sweet UG Delver deck and managing to pull off the win in game 3 of the semi finals, and of course qualifying for PT: Theros!
- Amazing Discoveries for running a smooth event even with almost 140 players there
- Caleb Tefft for running Naya Blitz as well!
Slops
- I suppose I kept a lot of slower hands that I shouldn’t have with this deck.
- My friend getting knocked out of his win-and-in :(
Thanks for reading! This was my first PTQ top 8 (although I guess it didn’t really sink in that I was THIS close to playing on the highest Magic tournament possible), but I hope it’s not my last. This deck is a lot of fun, but I don’t know how Dragon’s Maze will change the viability of this deck. With school kicking me around, I don’t think I’ll get a chance to play Standard a lot…
Follow me on Twitter: @mtgtwin2
Jeff A.