MTG Crokeyz breaks Kiki Jiki in Standard with Esika’s Chariot combo

Naya in the Magic: The Gathering Standard format has become meta, but there’s a new version that has the potential to pop off via a creative deck created by Stephen “Crokeyz” Croke. 

Naya colors within Magic are Green, the primary color, along with Red and White. The Naya Runes deck has been popular on the Alchemy ladder for a few weeks now, running Enchantment enablers from NEO in conjunction with Runes from IKO. Naya Runes is also playable within the Standard format, but Corkeyz may have created a much better way to play the MTG colors, built around a combo between Fable of the Mirror-Breaker//Reflection of Kiki-Jiki and Esika’s Chariot.

The Naya Standard deck, created by Crokeyz, runs a total of 26 lands with an average mana value of 1.57. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker//Reflection of Kiki-Jiki is one of the main cards in the build due to the Reflection of Kiki Jiki’s ability to create a token with Haste that is a copy of another non-legendary creature. The token gets sacrificed at the beginning of the next end step, though, unless Esika’s Chariot makes a copy of it upon attacking. 

For the build to hit the combo, mana and card draw are important. Prosperous Innkeeper provides early-game defense while creating a Treasure token. One copy of The Restoration of Eiganjo finds a Plains and can reanimate a Reckoner Bankbuster or Outland Liberator. And the Architect of Restoration creates a token when it attacks or blocks, synergizing with Esika’s Chariot. 

Outland Liberator is a versatile creature that provides early-game offense and defense while also having the option to remove Artifact and Enchantments. And Skyclave Apparition can help stall the board state long enough for the Naya Kiki Jiki combo to get online. 

For card draw, Reckoner Bankbuster is great and can even get crewed to block or attack when needed. Showdown of the Skalds opens up card advantage via its first two chapters and can buff creatures during the late-game stages. Fable of the Mirror Breaker lets players discard up to two cards to draw two cards, and Jugan Defends the Temple creates a mana dork via its first chapter.

Mono-White is the build’s toughest matchup, which is why Crokeyz runs Portable Hole in the main deck and in the sideboard, along with four copies of Archon of Emeria in the sideboard. Fateful Absence deals with planeswalkers while Elite Spellbinder stalls out the gameplan against Midrange and Control decks and is a good blocker against Flyers. 

Players can check out how Crokeyz pilots his Naya Kiki Jiki deck via his Twitch channel.