Naya Midrange (deck 10b in series) (Frontier)

*The final three colored pairing in a series of decks that explores building the best good stuff midrange decks for each three colored pairing.

What the deck does:
Plays the best midrange creatures Naya has to offer, then expands from there.
Naya has so many powerful options in the midrange that it is difficult to narrow them down.

What inspired the deck:
Finishing off a long series of midrange decks.
I first looked at doing Naya planeswalkers, but the deck is not the most interesting to build. It is fairly powerful though.

Step 1: Pick the best creature to play at each slot of the curve.

a) Elvish Mystic. 4 copies.
just ramp on turn 1. That simple.
dead card in the late game.

b) Merfolk Branchwalker. 4 copies.
Hoping to grab that land.
3/2 that helps fix our draw next turn is acceptable.

c) Thalia, Heretic Cathar. 2 copies.
Slows things down to get us to our big fatties.
decent stats on her own.

d) Rhonas, the Indomitable. 2 copies.
*beatstick that will generally be enabled the next turn.

e) Rekindling Phoenix. 4 copies.
*recursion, 4 power, haste on re-entry.

f) Glorybringer. 4 copies.
*haste, removal, 4 power.

g) Carnage Tyrant. 2 copies.
so difficult to remove
strong curve topper.

Step 2: Fill out the curve with support creatures.

a) Selfless Spirit. 2 copies.
*protection against spot removal, red and some black/white sweepers.

b) Duskwatch Recuiter. 2 copies.
nice place to dump mana in the late game.
if he flips on turn 2/3, it does us a world of good.

c) Jadelight Ranger. 2 copies.
more lands or more top deck filtering.
nice turn two play off of a Mystic.

d) Ripjaw Raptor. 2 copies.
*we will not draw a ton of cards, so any help is appreciated.

e) Surrak, the Hunt Caller. 1 copy.
giving our creatures haste is nice.
giving himself haste is not bad either, especially on turn three.

Step 3: Utility Cards.

a) Oath of Nissa. 2 copies.
*Mana fix and creature draw.

b) Dromoka's Command. 2 copies.
*best removal option we have that also allows us to stay aggressive.

c) Temur Battle-Rage. 2 copies.
*double strike on these creatures ends games.

d) Nissa, Vital Force. 1 copy.
returning creatures is good.
allowing lands to attack with trample is great.
*ultimate is hard to overcome, and is very reachable.

Step 4: Mana Base.

a) Windswept Heath. 4 copies.
b) Wooded Foothills. 4 copies.
c) Cinder Glade. 2 copies.
d) Canopy Vista. 2 copies.
e) Plains. 1 copy.
f) Mountain. 2 copies.
g) Forest. 2 copies.
h) Battlefield Forge. 2 copies.
i) Rootbound Crag. 3 copies.

Step 5: Sideboard.

Protection.
a) Selfless Spirit. 2 copies.
b) Blossoming Defense. 2 copies.

Removal.
c) Abrade. 2 copies.
d) Declaration in Stone. 1 copy.
e) Sorcerous Spyglass. 2 copies.
f) Thrashing Brontodon. 2 copies.

Aggro Answer/Saheeli Combo

Final Thoughts

A) I really do not want to be playing a midrange/ramp deck right now unless one of the colors is blue. Weird thought. It is just so hard to protect your creatures from Settle the Wreckage and Languish. You have to have access to counterspells since typical creature protection from hexproof and indestructible do not stop those two cards from sweeping you.

B) The Naya planeswalker deck I started building actually stands up to removal much better.

C) If you want to turn creatures sideways as your main way to win you better be fast enough to finish by turn 4, have blue for protection, or hope they simply do not draw mass removal.