Over the years, there have been a multitude of high variance cards printed that can add plenty of excitement to a game. Spells like Unexpected Results can put huge haymakers into play or barely improve your board position, and anywhere in between. Unfortunately, as fun as these designs tend to be, they don’t usually make a splash in Constructed.
Random Encounter, however, has actually showed some promise on MTG Arena. One player abused a full playset of Random Encounter in a Dragon-heavy ramp shell, boasting a 75% win rate in Diamond on the ladder! Above all, they won nine out of their ten matches against Izzet Cauldron. This showcases the deck’s ability to overperform even against Standard’s best archetype. If you’re tired of playing the same strategies and are feeling lucky, Naya ramp is a very fun option.
Main Gameplan
This deck’s main gameplan is to ramp in the early part of the game, then set up a massive swing with either Random Encounter or Smuggler’s Surprise. In order to maximize both of these cards, you need a high density of big creatures to put into play.
This deck delivers, with top end monsters like Vaultborn Tyrant and Terror of the Peaks serving as elite threats to put onto the battlefield. Resolving Random Encounter or Smuggler’s Surprise gives you a pretty good shot at winning the game in short order.
What’s nice about the way this archetype is constructed is that all of your big creatures aren’t too difficult to hard-cast. With ramp elements like Llanowar Elves and Overlord of the Hauntwoods in the mix, curving Terror of the Peaks on turn three into Overlord of the Boilerbilges turn four is a realistic way to pull ahead.
Of course, your strongest draws come when you can put multiple behemoths into play at once. Hitting Terror of the Peaks alongside other threats off Random Encounter not only sets you up for a vicious attack, but you’ll also get to deal a bunch of damage to your opponent or clear away blockers just from Terror’s triggers. This way, even if your opponent has a removal spell, you still get to pull ahead in a big way.
Reducing Inconsistencies
One of the biggest drawbacks to this style of strategy is that your gameplan can be inconsistent. In order to make Random Encounter as reliable a finisher as possible, you need a lot of big creatures to put into play.
However, with so many large threats in the deck, in games where you don’t draw Random Encounter or Smuggler’s Surprise, hard-casting your creatures can be a slow process. You normally wouldn’t have much room for removal or plays in the early game, either. After all, you need the bulk of your nonland slots to be creatures.
Fortunately, this shell gets around these issues by running a bunch of Dragons with Omens attached. Twinmaw Stormbrood doubles as a beefy threat and a cheap removal spell. Bloomvine Regent is a fine card to cheat into play or cast for five mana, but you can always use it as a three-mana ramp spell when applicable. Similarly, Sagu Wildling helps you hit your land drops when necessary while still letting you keep your creature count high for Random Encounter.
Plus, when you cast an Omen spell, you’ll shuffle the card back into your deck. As you continue to pull lands out of your deck, you’re only making your odds of hitting multiple creatures off Random Encounter more likely.
In the event you can’t win the game the same turn you cast Random Encounter, the life gain from putting in copies of Bloomvine Regent and Twinmaw Stormbrood should buy you some time to cast more spells or Flashback Random Encounter.
Sideboard Options
Despite your heavy deckbuilding restrictions, you do have access to some nice sideboard options depending on the matchup. Trumpeting Carnosaur and Fire Magic improve your position against aggressive decks. Your matchup against red aggro can be a bit tough if you don’t have removal early, so you’ll be looking for Twinmaw Stormbrood and Trumpeting Carnosaur to give you your best chance.
Versus control decks, Scrapshooter gives you your strongest out in the face of Authority of the Consuls, which can really mess with your Random Encounter turns. Otherwise, according to the pilot of this decklist, most players won’t have access to sideboard cards that mess up your main play patterns.
Naya ramp isn’t a top tier deck at the moment by any stretch, but the pilot’s strong win rate versus Izzet Cauldron is very notable. Naya ramp is capable of some very powerful turns and threatens to win games out of nowhere. Consider giving this a run on the MTG Arena ladder if you want something off-the-wall that still has game versus the top deck in the format.
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