Whenever a new set comes out, the first color combination I have my eyes on is Naya. New creatures (and sometimes new planeswalkers) enter the format and always tend to somehow improve the past existing version of Naya. It’s sort of a safe middle of the road take on approaching a new format. Monocolored decks receive obvious improvements, like Bile Blight for Mono-Black Devotion and Thassa’s Rebuff for Mono-Blue Devotion, while entirely new decks wait to be discovered.
As the format stands, with devotion and the new two-colored gods being the trend, three-color decks like Naya aren’t really in a good spot. Most of the Temples have been released, and stretching for the third color was often just an excuse to gain access to another Temple. Now that nearly every guild has a Temple, two-colored decks no longer need Guildgates to fix their mana, and there is more equality among the guilds as far as consistency is concerned.
Courser of Kruphix is currently my pick for second-best card from Born of the Gods right behind Temple of Enlightenment. Most of the people I talked to considered it good even before I reminded them that you also gain one life from your land drops (a rather unnecessary icing on an already delicious cake). The obvious comparison is to Oracle of Mul Daya, a comparison that I consider to be unfair since the cards have very little in common.
Oracle of Mul Daya couldn’t get into combat at all. It was a combo card that accelerated what you were doing, and you hoped that was good enough to kill the opponent before they killed you. Courser of Kruphix is pure value, more akin to Nightveil Specter than anything else. In the right deck, you can expect maybe half a card in value every turn that you untap with it (not flashy but very solid nonetheless). Having four toughness is also the sweet spot in a world of Bile Blights, Lightning Strikes, and Anger of the Gods.
Creatures (27)
- 2 Scavenging Ooze
- 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Polukranos, World Eater
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 2 Xenagos, God of Revels
- 3 Courser of Kruphix
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (10)
Spells (16)
Manipulating the top card of your deck is key to maximizing Courser of Kruphix, and planeswalkers are far and away the best way to do that right now. Courser of Kruphix allows you to look at your top card before deciding which ability of Domri Rade to use. This type of deck already really wanted another three-drop, but Boon Satyr was never really all that impressive due to the tension of wanting to wait to bestow it for full value. This should alleviate that problem.
Xenagos, God of Revels has been a welcome addition as well. Courser of Kruphix provides two devotion, and with Xenagos being indestructible, it makes for the perfect Domri Rade fight target. It sucks a little that you can’t give Xenagos itself +X/+X and haste or bloodrush a Ghor-Clan Rampager before gaining the bonus, but both cards have been pulling their weight nonetheless. Flesh // Blood is missed a bit, but with the heightened need for devotion, a priority has been placed on permanents over spells.
That leaves just enough room for Mizzium Mortars. Bile Blight is expected to make a big impact for Mono-Black Devotion, and with Blood Baron of Vizkopa likely showing up in higher numbers, Mizzium Mortars becomes a premium removal spell in the format. Courser of Kruphix is another sweet one that you probably want to get rid of before an avalanche of value falls upon you.
Courser of Kruphix is undoubtedly sweet, and planeswalkers are the main way to make sure your top card is a land. So it makes sense to look at what Kiora, the Crashing Wave has to offer:
Creatures (24)
- 1 Scavenging Ooze
- 2 Prime Speaker Zegana
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Polukranos, World Eater
- 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 3 Arbor Colossus
- 1 Prophet of Kruphix
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (12)
26 lands (and it really could be 27) means this deck is a blend of ramp, value, and haymakers. It has the ramp elements necessary to slam an early Arbor Colossus or Garruk, Caller of Beasts without leaning too hard on mana accelerants. An obvious card I didn’t include is Kiora’s Follower as a Voyaging Satyr with upside. I felt like there weren’t enough blue sources to warrant its inclusion and wanted to stay away from too many of that effect anyway. Sweepers have always been a problem for this type of deck, and Drown in Sorrow is no different in that regard. The value and resilience of Courser of Kruphix will hopefully smooth out the weaknesses the deck had in the past.
Kiora works perfectly with Courser of Kruphix. Of course more land drops is more life, but the real impact is Kiora’s -1 to draw a card. And by a card I mean a spell since any land on top would be played with the Courser. From there you get another shot at hitting a land on top or possibly two since you get an extra land drop that turn.
I really like the idea of playing Kiora’s -1 to Explore and then being able to use the land that’s played that turn. That’s where the one-mana instants in the sideboard came in. Fog might be too cute, and Wasteland Viper could be the correct thing to play instead. There’s also the thought that no one-drops are needed since always adding loyalty to Kiora is the smart thing to do all the time.
I said at the top that Naya is always my main focus, so I had to look somewhat at a Naya deck. Creature enchantments have always been a no-no in Constructed due to their vulnerability to removal, but the following concept is as strong as it’s ever been right now and is worth exploring:
Creatures (22)
- 4 Voice of Resurgence
- 2 Leafcrown Dryad
- 4 Boon Satyr
- 4 Hopeful Eidolon
- 4 Hero of Iroas
- 4 Eidolon of Countless Battles
Lands (16)
Spells (22)
Here I started with a more normal W/G shell containing typical strong cards like Fleecemane Lion, Loxodon Smiter, and Advent of the Wurm. After some testing I cut a lot of "normal" cards for more synergistic and versatile cards like bestow creatures. It’s hard to pass up increasing the power of both Ethereal Armor and Eidolon of Countless Battles.
Speaking of the newest bestow creature, Eidolon of Countless Battles is a card that I’m excited to try out. It counts every Aura, not just ones enchanting your creatures, so you get rewarded for playing Auras like Chained to the Rocks and Pacifism as your removal spells. Its bestow cost is strangely one colorless less than average, giving me the impression that the card is pushed intentionally. The card most similar to it is probably Nighthowler, so hopefully it won’t be quite as unplayable.
It’s possible that stretching for Chained to the Rocks is wrong, but it’s the most efficient removal spell there is. The deck does need to interact somewhat. If Chained to the Rocks were cut, we’d lean a bit on Selesnya Charm and possibly have to go back to Banisher Priest. Right now it feels like much too strong a card to pass up on, and the costs of adding it don’t feel excessively high.
Leafcrown Dryad looks a bit weak on paper, but I’m trying it out over Fleecemane Lion for the time being. Nylea’s Presence is a card that hasn’t seen any Constructed play as of yet, but now there just might be enough reasons to give it a chance. Nylea’s Presence increases the Mountain count for Chained to the Rocks without having to play the actual card Mountain in addition to Stomping Grounds and Sacred Foundry.
A lot is still left to be discovered within Born of the Gods. The Auras deck may not be perfect, but I feel like there’s a real deck somewhere in those cards. After all, Wizards has been subtly pushing the concept ever since Sphere of Safety and Ajani’s Chosen. However, if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that you should get your set of Courser of Kruphix as fast as you can at the Born of the Gods Prerelease. That one is too good to pass up!