French advance, Na3 a viable option?

I saw the Giri So game today, and I was surprised to see Na3 played. This might solve my problems with dealing with the b2 pawn (or just square) attack and provide protection on the d4 square.

How reliable is it? Are there situations where you shouldn't play Na3 in the French Advance?

This is the first I have seen it. I usually castle instead. Then there is a queenside pawn dance which I usually mess up against higher rated players. This Na2-c2 idea seems to be a good solution. Are there times when it shouldn't be played?

I just want to find an easy way to draw against the French Advance so I can focus on other openings.

Not especially. It's actually not as common as I assumed. Probably the reason is that it seems more holding things together in a neat way rather than pushing for imbalances and aggression - so you could be on to something there for it to be a good attempt for a draw. 

I won't take credit for things being a draw, Giri has a lot to do with it. You could say he "drew" my attention to it.

I have played it a few times before. Generally, you need to be careful about cxd4 and Bxa3 or leaving your knight hanging on c2.

I always play the french advance as black and Na3 is one of the main lines in the line I play (Bd7 one) and it's very reliable

However if you play the advance variation against the french you'll probably face 5.Qb6 more often than 5.Bd7 where you wanna play 6.a3(the best move) and expand on the queenside with b4

You joined one day ago, created this thread and closed your account... what?

this is @gambitshift coming back on a new account for like the 20th time

So I wasted my time over here.. I'm glad!

It's a very common idea that has been played many times, with the obvious idea of playing to c2 and supporting the d4-pawn. White would much rather develop the queen's knight to the c3 square but this is not possible.