I am a fan of Hareruya Rogue Decks simply because they’re just so innovative and competitive at the same time. You just got to love Japanese Deck Techs. One of the decks that caught my eye this week is Naya Midrange.
1,2, Naya’s Coming For You. 3,4 Better Shut That Door
Rogue decks are not to be messed with. They may not be meta decks, but they do a good job at surprising opponents. This one ended up in the Top 16 list in Hareruya’s Season Masters War Of The Spark Event, piloted by Takao Shota.
So what does this deck have?
Naya Midrange – Takao Shota
Top 16 Season Masters War of the Spark
Lands(23)
4 Forest
Creatures(24)
3 Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
Spells(13)
4 Shock
Sideboard Cards(15)
Early Game Drops
Naya Midrange has some decent early game drops that can put the pressure on the opponent when left unattended.
Llanowar Elves simply ramps up mana when it’s on the board and brings you one mana closer to your big creatures.
Adanto Vanguard acts as a cheap blocker that can be indestructible at the cost of 4 life, so it can kill a blocking Goblin Chainwhirler.
Growth-Chamber Guardian just gives you something to do on your 2nd and 3rd turn. On the third turn and with three available mana, you can use its Adapt ability to get some surprise damage and to fish for another copy at the same time.
Captain Lannery Storm is a turn 2 drop if you have Llanowar Elves in play and its ability generates Treasure tokens that can get you additional mana when sacrificed. It also gets bigger whenever you sacrifice a Treasure, so you have that going for you when you’re trying to beat down the opponent faster.
Big Creature Drops
Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice is a 4-drop 2/5 creature that has Mentor ability and gives one of your creatures +2/+0, Trample if the creature is red and Vigilance if the creature is white. Both if the creature is red and white. It’s also an effective blocker that can withstand Gruul Spellbreakers, Goblin Chainwhirler, and Tempest Djinn to name a few
Trostani Discordant gives your creatures +1/+1 and makes them more potent in both damage and defense.
Planeswalkers
You have two planeswalkers from the Gruul Midrange decklist, Domri and Nissa.
They pretty much have the same function and purpose as in Gruul decks. Domri is a ramp and removal in one PW, while Nissa turns your lands into 3/3 creatures and gives your Forests one additional mana when it’s tapped.
Domri also gives your creatures +1/+0 so long as it’s in the battlefield, so having that and Trostani can get you a huge damage boost.
Removal
Shock and Lava Coil are your two removal spells that gets rid of other dorks, tokens, and bigger threats such as Rekindling Phoenix and Tempest Djinn.
Playstyle
Naya Midrange plays out just how you would with Gruul Midrange.
Get to 5 mana as early as turn 3 with Llanowar Elves and Captain Lannery Storm, then drop your big threats such as Trostani, Aurelia, and the PW’s.
Your playstyle here should be to go all out and go wide, unless you’re in the post board where your opponents might be boarding in board wipes such as Kaya’s Wrath and Cry of the Carnarium, which are both effective against this deck.
Sideboard
Just like Gruul Midrange, you have more or less the same sideboard except for a few cards.
- Knight of the Autumn is good against Aggro decks and Esper decks when you want to gain 4 life or when you want to get rid of enchantments such as Oath of Kaya.
- Karn, Scion of Urza gets you card advantage with both its +1 and -1 abilities, which is nifty to have against control matchups.
- Ripjaw Raptor is a decent creature that can withstand damage and lets you draw a card with its Enrage
- Vine Mare is a solid creature against Esper controls because it has Hexproof and can’t be blocked by black creatures, so it’s able to sneak in some damage.
Check out Day9TV’s variation of Naya Midrange right here:
With Core Set 2020 just over the horizon, there are certain cards from the set that’s sure to bump this deck’s power level up a few notches.
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