Naya Miracles

By Sam Black

Sam Black is a Platinum Pro Player and longtime writer for StarCityGames.com. He is a respected deck builder and took over Daily Decks for the first half of 2013.

We've seen dedicated Miracle decks before, most notably in Pro Tour Avacyn Restored , but also in Legacy. They've always been WU Control decks. Today's deck uses the X spell miracles, Entreat the Angels and Bonfire of the Damned, to go over other midrange decks, sporting a healthy three different Keyrunes (on top of the ubiquitous Farseek) to build up to large miracles in a hurry.

This is certainly built onto a Naya Midrange shell, which we've seen a lot of, but this is a different direction from a deck like the one that Eric Froehlich made the Top 4 of Pro Tour Gatecrash with. Going bigger is, to some extent, a natural evolution of trying to beat the other midrange decks. Where this deck throws a curveball that puts it on an entirely different axis is with four copies of Terminus, supporting the other miracles and making the game go longer so the Angels will eventually come.

Creatures are used only minimally for mana (just two Avacyn's Pilgrims, possibly taking inspiration from the two Arbor Elfs in Reid Duke and Owen Turtenwald's Jund decks), and no Gyre Sage. This provides more resistance to the opponent's removal, and, more importantly, its own Terminuses.

Daybreak Ranger and Huntmaster of the Fells allow the deck to skip a turn after playing a creature without drawing suspicion to the sweeper the player's likely holding while the opponent overextends to fight the Werewolf—an excellent trap.

I don't know how this deck might change with the additional options from Dragon's Maze, but this is a pretty spectacular late-season twist from slymudaly.

slymudaly's Naya Miracles

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (1)

1 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Creature (14)

1 Angel of Serenity 1 Aurelia, the Warleader 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim 1 Boros Reckoner 1 Daybreak Ranger 4 Huntmaster of the Fells 4 Thragtusk

Sorcery (15)

2 Bonfire of the Damned 1 Devil's Play 3 Entreat the Angels 4 Farseek 1 Mizzium Mortars 4 Terminus

Instant (2)

2 Searing Spear

Artifact (3)

1 Boros Keyrune 1 Gruul Keyrune 1 Selesnya Keyrune

Enchantment (1)

1 Oblivion Ring

Land (25)

2 Cavern of Souls 1 Clifftop Retreat 1 Kessig Wolf Run 4 Rootbound Crag 2 Sacred Foundry 3 Slayers' Stronghold 4 Stomping Ground 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Temple Garden

61 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Angel of Serenity 1 Devil's Play 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Garruk, Primal Hunter 1 Boros Charm 4 Rest in Peace 2 Selesnya Charm 3 Sigarda, Host of Herons 1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice