“They aren’t ready for the ferocious team of… US!”
Art:Nacatl Hunt-Pride
by Steve Prescott
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Nacatl Hunt-Pride is an awesome commander who deserves a ton more love, with only one other deck out there! This card is a little clunky, but overall, it is very cool and deserves much more love. Naya is a combat focused color combination and this deck is no different, focusing on counters and our commander allows us to be very strong in combat on both offense and defense and we are just generally quite strong in that phase. If you love Naya, Combat decks, or even just +1/+1 counters, then this may be the deck for you! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Why Nacatl Hunt-Pride?
Nacatl Hunt-Pride is a very cool commander who is a little on the expensive side but is extremely strong, whether we take out an opponent’s best blocker and make us a winner in combat or force an opponent’s creature to block when we have an advantage in combat. Nacatl War-Pride is a strong attacker/blocker for the deck, but we typically do not go for the commander damage route, depending on the game, it can be an option.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
To start off, we have some strong mana dorks like Druid of the Anima
, Avacyn's Pilgrim
, and Llanowar Visionary
, which are great ways to get ahead and keep on casting. Next, we have some sweet +1/+1 counter payoffs like Longshot Squad
, Ainok Bond-Kin
, and Duskshell Crawler
, which can give us keyword soup and allow us to be better in combat. One of my favorite creatures in the deck is Celebrity Fencer
, which can get out of hand very quickly and can be absolutely huge in just a few turns. Once we have a few creatures, we can easily cast cards like Molten Monstrosity
for only one or two mana, or we can cast a huge Ivy Elemental
. Prowling Felidar
is another card I love in the deck since it goes up every turn and can get out of hand very quickly. Sporeback Troll
is one of the few pieces of protection we have in the deck and can be a great way to save a key creature. Urban Daggertooth
is one of my favorite attackers/blockers in the deck since we can proliferate a ton off of it!
Instants:
Most of our instants are removal like Generous Gift
, Crib Swap
which are great ways to take out a variety of threats our opponents have, as well as Abrade
which is a great card to take out artifacts or creatures/commanders of our opponents. We also have some strong draw and mana sources like Big Score
and Unexpected Windfall
, which do a lot for only four mana and a card.
Sorceries:
The two best sorceries in our deck are Inspiring Roar
and Silverflame Ritual
since these are large sweeping buffs that make every creature better in combat and, when combined with some of our counter, payoffs make us quite hard to stop. The same is true for Courage in Crisis
and Travel Preparations
which are cheap and can provide a ton of stats to a creature. Cultivate
, Kodama's Reach
, and Farseek
, which are great ways to get all of our colors established and allow us to ramp out. Atraxa's Fall
is one of my favorite removal spells in the format and can take out a variety of threats from our opponents. The main finisher for the deck is You Meet in a Tavern
which is essentially an Overrun
effect for the deck and can help us hit hard and end games.
Artifacts:
To start off, we have some mana rocks that are super important in three-color decks, some of our rocks include Bonder's Ornament
, Arcane Signet
and Selesnya Locket
which are great rocks that can come down early and help us ramp out and in the case of the locket and ornament can be great pieces of supplemental card draw. Greatsword of Tyr
and Armory of Iroas
are arguably some of the best equipment in the format and help us further the counter gameplan.
Enchantments:
To start off, we have some ways to remove opponent’s threats in Lignify
, Oblivion Ring
, and Journey to Nowhere
. These are great for a variety of threats, but I typically target commanders; against the right decks, these can be devastating. Master Chef
is a great card that works very well with all of the proliferate effects and makes all of our creatures/commander better in combat. The same is true for Forced Adaptation
and Predatory Hunger
which are great ways to buff up our creatures. Utopia Sprawl
rounds out our enchantment package and is a great way to establish all our colors.
Land Base:
Being a three-color deck, we have some dual lands like Radiant Grove
and Sacred Peaks
, which give us an advantage since we can grab these with cards like Farseek. We also have all three on-color thriving lands, which are additional strong dual lands that can be great. For shuffling and fetching, we have Terramorphic Expanse
and Evolving Wilds
. My favorite lands in the deck are the phyrexian draw lands like The Fair Basilica
, and The Hunter Maze
. I have had no issues with this land base and enjoy it an absolute ton, and I have no real issues with flooding or not having our colors.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We have many proliferating effects and many ways to put a counter on creatures, which makes us very strong at both attacking and blocking.
- Our commander is a great toolbox piece, turning off strong blockers for opponents or, if we have a matchup advantage in combat, forcing a creature to block.
- We have a few cards that let us go over the top and force damage like You Meet in a Tavern
and Inspiring Roar/Silverflame Ritual.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We are a little slow in the early game; while we do have some early-game mana dorks, we almost never want to block with these and can take some early damage from more aggressive strategies.
- Our commander is very strong but does cost six, so we can take a little time and definitely won’t have our commander out quicker than most decks. Because of this, we don’t have a ton of combat interaction before turn six or earlier if we can ramp into it.
- There are some general downsides of being in Naya, and the worst of it is that we cannot interact with anything outside of the board, so things that have cast triggers or a strong ETB will still trigger even if we hit them with a removal spell.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We are a good old-fashioned combat deck. We are aided by a ton of ways to put counters on, proliferate those counters, and a few cards we can go over the top with, like You Meet in a Tavern. This deck is super combat heavy and we are quite strong at attacking and blocking.
Conclusion:
Nacatl Hunt-Pride is a very cool commander who, in my opinion, is quite underrated, with only one other deck on PDHREC! Come on, people, this card is sweet; while it is a little clunky and costs six, it is a cool and interesting take on the basic Naya strategy, which is typically big swings and combat tricks. I have been having a blast with this one and want more people to check out and pilot this amazing commander.