In preparation for Grand Prix: Columbus, I’ve been trying a fair number of Modern decks. One deck that really caught my eye was the Naya Birthing Pod deck with the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Restoration Angel combo built in (the combo debuted at Grand Prix: Yokohama).

I also wanted to discuss and play matches with Reid Duke. He decided to test his R/U/G Delver deck (the list of which can be found in an article of his soon).

Here’s the list I eventually decided on to play against Reid:

"Modern Naya Pod"

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Deceiver Exarch
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 1 Reveillark
• 1 Village Bell-Ringer
• 2 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Kitchen Finks
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Wall of Roots
• 1 Spellskite
• 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 4 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

• Spells (8)
• 4 Chord of Calling
• 4 Birthing Pod

• Lands (23)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Arid Mesa
• 4 Fire-Lit Thicket
• 4 Grove of the Burnwillows
• 4 Razorverge Thicket

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Gut Shot
• 1 Combust
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 2 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Harmonic Sliver
• 1 Stonecloaker
• 1 Avalanche Riders
• 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons

Buy This Deck

Notably, I added Deceiver Exarch, which does a lot of work for you. You can combo out from a board state of a 2- and 3-drop with Birthing Pod and 3 mana in the following fashion: Activate Pod, sacrificing the 2-drop, find Deceiver Exarch to untap Birthing Pod, then sacrifice your 3-drop to find Restoration Angel to flicker Deceiver Exarch to untap Birthing Pod, then sacrifice Restoration Angel to find Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. However, once Deceiver Exarch is added, I think I should have cut the Village Bell-Ringer. Also, you have six mana guys to hard-cast Exarch if necessary.

Wall of Roots over-performs in this deck in conjunction with Chord of Calling (you can tap it to convoke and add a counter to the Wall to pay 2 mana for Chord of Calling).

I didn’t think Cunning Sparkmage or Murderous Redcap were high-impact enough cards, but I will be investigating them in greater detail in the future.

The deck seemed relatively strong, although the videos highlighted a key weakness: Blood Moon effects. With only two basic lands in the deck (and one of them being a Mountain), Blood Moon is a huge problem. Without Blood Moon, I feel that I am slightly ahead against Reid’s deck, but it is still relatively close since he has a lot of cheap removal to buy time.

To this end, I wouldn’t mind playing four Fulminator Mage (cutting one Combust and the Avalanche Riders) and potentially boarding a second Ethersworn Canonist or another Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

Windborn Muse is an interesting card against Splinter Twin, although it seems mostly worse than Linvala, Keeper of Silence (which is harder to kill).

This deck is the real deal, and I expect to see a fair amount of it doing well both on Magic Online and at Grand Prix: Columbus.

If you have any questions or comments about this deck or further videos you'd like to see, you can contact me here; or I’m @jkyu06 on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and watching!