When no changes were announced to Pioneer in the latest ban announcement, there were major concerns that the format would stay extremely stale. Red decks were as dominant as ever and completely warped the rest of the format.
However, we’ve actually seen a multitude of innovative strategies pop up over the past few weeks. Boros Hammer Time and Simic Scapeshift, for example, have been putting up a lot of results in Challenges as of late.
In yesterday’s Pioneer Challenge, we even saw a unique Naya aura combo deck make it all the way to top eight! This archetype is wild and abuses some newer Final Fantasy cards, too. Let’s see what the combo brings to the table.
The Combo
This deck’s main combo is centered around three specific cards. The first card is Storm Herald. This is an extremely exciting combo piece that hasn’t shown up in Pioneer for quite some time. The goal here is to get some elite auras into your graveyard prior to casting this card. Then when it enters, you can distribute those auras amongst your creatures in any way you see fit.
Those auras do get exiled at the end of your turn. Fortunately, it isn’t too difficult to win the game the turn you cast Storm Herald.
This is because of the presence of two key auras, each appearing in playsets in this deck. Both auras, Colossification and Burning Anger, team up perfectly to enable a kill as early as turn three!
With both auras in your graveyard, when Storm Herald enters, you’ll get to return both auras to play attached to a creature of your choice. Colossification will trigger, requiring you to tap the enchanted creature. With this ability on the stack, though, you can tap the creature to deal a boatload of damage to the opponent thanks to Burning Anger.
Unless your opponent has gained a bunch of life very early, one activation will be more than enough to end the game. What makes the combo more resilient than you might think is that Storm Herald doesn’t actually require you to choose a target for your auras when it enters.
As such, if you cast Storm Herald with another creature already in play, even if your opponent has one removal spell at the ready, they can’t kill both of your creatures at once. If they kill Storm Herald with the trigger on the stack, you still get to shove your auras onto your other threat and send 20+ damage to your opponent’s face.
Keep this in mind against removal-heavy decks. It may be worth setting up a board of creatures first rather than simply jamming Storm Herald on an empty board and risking getting blown out by a kill spell.
Support Cards
In order to make the combo as consistent as possible, you need the rest of your deck to support your main gameplan. Therefore, the rest of the deck is filled with ways to loot away your big auras and dig for Storm Herald.
Two of your strongest discard outlets are undoubtedly Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant. Both of these cards synergize with Storm Herald. On top of helping you get your auras into the graveyard, Fable provides multiple bodies that can wear those auras nicely. In the case of Joshua, having access to a four-toughness creature that outsizes Fiery Impulse only makes it more likely you can execute your combo unhindered.
In the spell portion of the deck, Seed of Hope and Thrilling Discovery serve as efficient ways to fuel your graveyard and churn through your library to find your combo pieces. Thrilling Discovery leads to your most explosive draws and makes a turn three kill possible.
Filling your graveyard also helps you maximize Traverse the Ulvenwald as another way to find Storm Herald. Kellan, the Fae-Blooded can then tutor up Burning Anger or Colossification (or Chained to the Rocks, when applicable) via its Adventure.
Hate
Naya aura combo is undeniably a fun strategy, and seeing it put up a strong performance is awesome. The recent additions of Joshua as a support piece and Starting Town as an excellent mana fixer that’s a lot less painful than Mana Confluence in the long game bolstered the archetype in a big way.
Overall, though, this deck still has a lot going against it. Mono-red can present a quick clock backed up by cheap removal like Reckless Rage to keep even your biggest threats off the board. Mono-black midrange and Izzet Phoenix are equipped with tons of disruption, which can be tough to fight through.
With Izzet Phoenix being a top-tier archetype, you are also vulnerable to splash hate. Cards such as Rest in Peace and Ashiok, Dream Render are prevalent in sideboards and graveyard hate really messes with your combo. Your combo pieces aren’t good on their own, either. At least Joshua and Fable give you a chance at winning a fair fight.
There are at the very least a number of matchups including Lotus Field combo and Simic Scapeshift that don’t have much in the way of interaction. Playing a rogue deck like Naya aura combo does have its advantages, too, since many players are likely unprepared and unfamiliar with how the deck functions.
Storm Herald is unlikely to become a top-tier build-around anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sweet design. Give this deck a shot if you want to surprise your opponents with an unusual combo.
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