MTG: BIG STOMPY – Top Five Naya Commanders
If the Godzilla universe were an Alaran shard it would definitely be Naya the land of giant jungle monsters.
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander. For the uninitiated, Commander is a semi-casual format for Magic: the Gathering, where you use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, your Commander.
Aside from basic lands, you are only allowed one copy of each card in the deck. Moreover, you can only include cards in your Commander’s “color identity” or artifacts. Each color and color combo has a unique playstyle and a wealth of mighty generals to lead your deck to victory. EDHRec.com is a great source for Commander info and can give you ideas to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
Naya is the Jurassic Park of Alara and definitely the place you’d go to look for dinosaurs. While Jund may have all the horrifying dragons and barbarians, Naya is the land of the battle druids and angry jungle monsters. You won’t find many dragons here, but that’s only because the giant rhino-bears ate them.
Gishath, Sun’s Avatar
Ian Malcom’s worst nightmare, Gishath is the undisputed king of the dinosaurs. With a nasty suite of keywords and a dino cannon damage effect, Gishath can flood the board with a mess of deadly threats. Adding any extra punch to the old Avatar, you can basically turn over your entire deck of creatures. There isn’t much that can stand against a stampede like that.
Atla Palani, Nest Tender
What’s better than giant creatures? Catapulting giant creatures at your opponent’s face! Atla Palani hides your biggest beaters behind unassuming eggshells, then digs through your deck until she finds something better when those Eggs die. If you can find a way to sacrifice the Eggs, you’ll get two awesome effects for the price of one.
Rin and Seri, Inseparable
Dogs and cats are normally enemies, but this commander lets you make them friends. Rin and Seri give you a Cat every time you make a Dog, and vice versa. Then, they throw out damage and gain you life based on how many you have. Show them the meaning of raining Cats and Dogs.
Jetmir, Nexus of Revels
The Great Catsby himself and one of my favorite commanders of all time, Jetmir loves creatures. The more you have, the better he makes them, so token generation is key to this deck. After all, parties are always better with more attendants, especially when you’re using those parties to cover illicit trade deals.
Jinnie Fay, Jetmir’s Second
Jetmir’s surrogate daughter, Jinnie Fay is great at making sure the tokens you make are worth it. You either get hasty Cats or vigilant Dogs whenever you make any token, even treasures. If you want an army of good boys and benevolent overlords, Jinnie Fay is a great candidate.
