Standard - Kaya's Prison

30 32
7 26 3 24
Control

2020 has been the year of Orzhov for me. This deck is all about using very fun ability of Kaya, Orzhov Usurperimage one last time before she rotates next month. Let's take at our namesake card here.

image

Kaya is here to collect her debts (your opponent's exile zone) - so let's get exilin'!

Early Game: Destroy their hand! Get Starfield Mysticimage down on Turn 2 if you can, because that will open you up to playing out your sagas so value is generated every turn. Remember, after Chapter III, the saga is sacrificed, so Starfield Mysticimage is going to get bigger too. You don't need to rush to get Kaya out, your opponent will likely get what you're trying to do once she's down. But if they have Uro in the 'yard or nothing else is scary, get her down and start the clock!

Mid Game: You have an abundance of 2-drops, and this is so on turn 4, after a turn 3 Kaya, you have two removal spells to keep her protected. Your goal is to deal with your opponents threat, but priortize those that can hurt Kaya. While you can definitely win without her, it's a huge amount of damage that can be countered by very few cards in standard. Sometimes, you can let Kaya die though because...

Late Game: Does your opponent even have a board at this point? If so, hit them with Elspeth Conquers Deathimage, and set up getting Kaya back. If they start laying down multiple threats (which, when possible, they will do when they see what you're playing), punish them for it with Massacre Wurmimage to remind your opponent that this is YOUR board! I won't lie, the Revival // Revenge was because I built this deck to have 59 cards, and I never play with it. This can TOTALLY be taken out in your variant. It is nice, however, when they don't have quite enough cards in exile, and this can help Kaya's ultimate do the job. As I will say likely 100 times more, Castle Ardenvaleimage is a prime card against control players. Your humans will do more damage than you think they will. You have Castle Locthwainimage to ensure your hand is never empty, and you're got life gain from The Birth of Meletisimage, Kaya, Doom Foretoldimage, and Basilica Bellhaunt.

Strengths: This deck is pretty balanced, even for the "seeming" jank aspect. There's a balance of permanent and hand removal, go wide, or tall, die, or exile. Remember, Kaya's -1 hits annoyances like Gilded Gooseimage for ramp or Shark Typhoonimage tokens, for that big shark that came out of nowhere. 

Weaknesses: This deck is thrown off by those Selesnya decks that seem to strike that great balance between going wide and tall. When playing a Selesnya player, stay focused. You have a bunch of removal, but they can respond by going wide if you have spot removal, or tall if you use Massacre Wurm. The second weakness is those fast Prowess-based Izzet decks. If they are a Phoenix deck that's fine, because you have exile, but burn and tempo magic can throw you off. Again, play carefully in this match-up.

Sideboarding Tips: The Archon of Absolutionimage has come in handy more times than I can count. Taxing aggressive decks makes your 1-for-1 removal totally fine. You have good hate against the mirror. Apostle of Purifying Lightimage is also a great sink that gets Kaya where she needs to be

Rotation Tips: Kaya, the namesake, is leaving us. This could easily become a Prison deck that substitutes Kaya's ultimate (essentially your win-con) with something else. Maybe aggressive Revival // Revenge and swing in with the Ardenvale tokens?

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Last Updated: 04 Aug 2020
Created: 04 Aug 2020
1575 222 0

Mainboard - 60 cards (22 distinct)

Creature (7)
$0.23€0.080.03
$1.78€2.000.02
$0.68€0.620.02
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (26)
$0.25€0.160.03
$0.50€0.390.02
$0.20€0.210.03
$0.30€0.190.02
$0.26€0.190.02
$0.20€0.110.03
$0.46€0.270.03
$0.25€0.170.03
$0.25€0.200.03
$0.20€0.100.05
$0.74€0.660.02
Land (24)
$5.53€4.180.15
$10.02€9.660.07
$0.40€0.340.02
$0.47€0.480.02
$3.42€3.472.03
$4.39€2.400.66
$2.52€1.490.49
Planeswalker (3)
$0.50€0.750.02

Sideboard - 15 cards (9 distinct)

$0.20€0.030.03
$0.50€0.340.86
$0.32€0.210.03
$0.25€0.180.03
$0.33€0.110.02
$0.20€0.170.03
$0.24€0.100.03
$0.20€0.200.03
$0.21€0.100.03

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Main/Sideboard Rarity Count
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