I don't know if this deck has a name, but I found it in a recent premier event. I figured with all the big beasts that RG was putting out that a deck using Voyages's End was soon to appear.
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
So I've been playing UGr the last couple of days, starting of before seeing the list above, leaving me with what I think is a different perspective. I've had moderate success, enough to make me feel confident that the deck is a clear contender in THS Block.
I had the pleasure of playing and talking with BlackNJudge today, so I feel I have a fairly well reflected view of many of the potential cards in the deck. My current list is below. Many of the numbers probably look a little weird; some numbers are a result of the deck being a work in progress and others I simply believe to be correct. Please do not that the exclusion of Horizon Chimera and Prophet of Kruphix makes for a different deck than BNJ's, and also that his list is changing by the minute.
The main selling point on the deck, in my opinion, is how good Sylvan Caryatid, Polukranos and Prognostic Sphinx are. The other blue cards are nice and the deck wouldn't work if you replaced them Bronze Sables, but it's the Sphinx that really carries the deck.
I've argued with people over the number of cards in a deck many times, and I feel that having a high number of "good cards" is better than having a small number of "really good" cards. I laugh at the people who argue that with a smaller deck you're more likely to draw what you need, because if you get in that situation you're gonna NOT end up drawing it many many more times than you would.
Yea. That's why its down here. I know it's a work in progress, but I believe in some way UGx is a deck.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
If people are interested I will continue to post my thoughts as I play more events. I don't fool myself into thinking my decks are competitive, but I have found this to be excellent so far.
I'd be very interested. This sounds like a deck that can break up the stagnated meta.
I am BlakeNJudge on MTGO Does this deck have a name? Yes, an excellent one - Master Flash.
EDIT: Realised I should probably add some of my thoughts about the deck. I've found it particularly good in the meta of GR dominance and minimal aggro. As cardfather mentioned, Voyage's End is truly excellent against them, especially if you can cast it in response to a Monstrous Polukranos or Arbor Colossus.
It might not be intuitive, but I win an incredible number of games by putting Boon Satyr on a Prognostic Sphinx and hitting them a few times whilst chumping/bouncing threats on the ground. The Sphinx in general is an even better card than it looks beacuse evasion is hard to come by (Stormbreath is the main card and Sphinx blocks it, which is pretty valuable.)
I tried building this deck as instant-speed as possible, but it forces me to play cards like Horizon Chimera that aren't necessarily the strongest. The fact that it dies to the red removal is pretty unfortunate given I have so few other targets for it in the deck.
xMiMx has been playing a version with Sedge Scorpions and Bidents maindeck which might be worth investigating. Since I have come across a few more mirror matches (a couple of other grinders are playing similar lists) I have 3 Gainsay in the SB.
If people are interested I will continue to post my thoughts as I play more events. I don't fool myself into thinking my decks are competitive, but I have found this to be excellent so far.
Thanks for you insight. I love when brewers come here and talk about their decks. The copypasta of MTGO really hurts people's outlook on block which is a unique and often challenging format weighed down by people who just want to grind packs.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I've gotten to play 3-4 Daily Events since last weekend, giving me some new thoughts and cementing some other earlier opinions. I echo the notion that there's a ton of GR Ramp out there, but I'm not all that convinced it's a great matchup. I'd say UG is favoured, but not by a lot.
To start of, here's the list I'm currently trying out:
So I've basically cut the light red splash, trying out Horizon Chimera (again) in the process. Omenspeaker has also been replaced in the main, with Sedge Scorpion. I believe I will replace one of the Chimeras with Boon Satyr soon, as Chimera is very underwhelming. As -A- said above me, it's a format of haymakers. A 3/2 just doesn't match up well against Arbor Colossus, Polukranos and Magma Jet. I look forward to eating a Xenagos with it though.
I have yet to try out Prophet of Kruphix, but I suppose I have to at some point. He just seems to me like the last card I would want to have as my top-end. Multiples also seem bad. I'm quessing that he goes very well with Prognostic Sphinx, especially a Boon Satyr'ed Sphinx, but then again, everything goes well with the Sphinx. Sphinx is what makes this deck work, you're generally winning if you draw it, in my experience.
I'm still clutching to my singleton Bident of Thassa and Thassa, God of the Sea. They're both very situation-dependent on how good they are, but when they're good, they can be really good. Especially Thassa, sneaking trough you're whole team for the win.
@ -A-
I'm curious about a lot of your sideboard-cards:
-Why no fourth Sedge Scorpion? Seems to me like an easy include as it's possibly the best card against aggro.
-When do you side Triton Tactics? I'm quessing it's meant as a counter to Anger of the Gods, but that just seems too narrow to be worth it (I'd say).
-Same question with regards to Annul. There really aren't that many enchantments seeing consistent play. I can imagine blowing out RG trying to buff an attacker with Boon Satyr, but I could never imagine siding in Annul against RG. I suppose you have WX Heroic decks, but something like Griptide would just be straight-up better in most situation where Annul would be handy.
-I see you just have two Curse of the Swine in your 75. As far as I can tell, it's stellar in the UG mirror. I would consider making room for a third.
Generally, I understand that you have a lot of wonky 1-ofs in your SB, as there's so much space in it (since so many cards are simply too bad) and GX ramp being 65% of the meta. I think I could be happy with a 5-card SB personally, without losing out on a lot
I've argued with people over the number of cards in a deck many times, and I feel that having a high number of "good cards" is better than having a small number of "really good" cards. I laugh at the people who argue that with a smaller deck you're more likely to draw what you need, because if you get in that situation you're gonna NOT end up drawing it many many more times than you would.
With regards to Scorpion, I'm not of the opinion that you should have all 4 against RG. I just keep the two I already have in the main. I also don't side in any more Voyage's End or Curses. In fact, with my current list, I only replace the Bident with a Hunt the Hunter. While it may seem weird to play 2 Scorpions, 2 Ends, 2 Curses and 2 Dissolve, they're all cards that are situational answers that get worse in multiples (in most situations). I stand by that split against RG.
Interesting on the Triton Tactics and Annul. They both seem very situational still, but it makes more sense. I might try it out at some point.
As for cards to side in against Mono Black, try more Curses. They're a tad situational, but can really screw over their Devotion, Whips and Nighthowlers
I've argued with people over the number of cards in a deck many times, and I feel that having a high number of "good cards" is better than having a small number of "really good" cards. I laugh at the people who argue that with a smaller deck you're more likely to draw what you need, because if you get in that situation you're gonna NOT end up drawing it many many more times than you would.
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
has anyone tried vaporkin over boon satyr? satyr seems so underwhelming in the deck, and vaporkin has some synergies with master (both for extra devotion and +1/+1) and the overall tempo plan of the deck.
I guess it depends on if you are actually playing MoW or not.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Modo grinder _megafone_ was streaming the deck the other day, he said there's not enough blue symbols to play master of waves. He also thought prophet was the worst card in the deck, and it doesn't have enough expensive cards to take advantage of her untap ability. He didn't archive his twitch videos and I forgot to SS his take on the deck, so I don't know what his decklist is. I believe he tried to put an arbor colossus in there.
I'm glad to hear BBD said it was card availability that led him to not include MoW, my intuition is that the card pool in those colours just wasn't deep enough to justify not playing it. I agree it's not great, but it beats horizon chimera imo, and I still want to test the deck with vaporkin instead of boon satyr (although after playing with the deck a bit more, I now appreciate how awesome satyr is when suited onto prognostic sphinx).
I don't play a lot of tournaments, but I've gone 4-0, 3-1, 0-2, 0-2 with the deck so far. Originally I designed it to smash R/G decks by playing a couple of big guys, then bouncing all of theirs with Sea God's Revenge (or turning them into pigs). The tempo advantage is crushing.
Against black, you can bring in the Swan Songs and the extra Sphinxes, probably boarding out Sea God's Revenge, Voyage's End, and Reverent Hunter. Swan Song counters a ridiculous portion of their deck for one mana, and the 2/2 is basically worthless against your big guys.
After some mixed results with a decklist mostly resembling the one in my previous post, I've decided to try out the Dark Side. The Dark Side basically involves fewer Voyaging Satyr, with more Dissolves and Voyage's End.
The way I view it, you should either be playing 4 Voyaging Satyrs, or 0. If it's a card you want as part of your strategy, it's a core part of your strategy. Unlike Carven Caryatid, it's vulnerable to Magma Jet and Lightning Strike, which is a big deal. Playing Satyr means devoting to the ramp-plan, which mean you want to build your deck to maximize on heavy-hitting 4/5/6s, while trying to avoid situational cards like Voyage's End and Dissolve.
So I'm running the list below, simultaneously trying out Vaporkins in the SB, in the belief that they're great against MonoB and possibly UB (if I happen to run into that).
I see most deck running an almost even split between blue sources and green sources. Mostly 25 lands with one more green than blue source. My list above has replaced a Forest in place of an Island by that logic, mostly due to Caryatid producing both colors. While the sideboard is mostly blue, it's mostly blue cards that get sided out too. Playing 4 Vaporkin in the SB, I might go for the more even split in the future. Opinions are appreciated.
I've ditched the singleton Nyktos, Shrine to Nix. It's only real use, with such divided Devotion, is to get an extra counter or two on Polukranos in some rarely occuring scenarios. Far more frequent are the draws where I would really appreciate an early blue or green source when I instead have Nykthos.
I think an even, or rounded to even, split between the off-color Temples is correct. The only real factor I can think of when deciding the split is that having two of the same color in your hand when you really want an extra source that turn of said color could lead to complications.
E.g., I have three Forests and a Caryatid in play, it's turn 4. I have a Sphinx in hand I would really like to play, but the rest of my hand is two Temple of Deceit and a Forest.
I know it sounds narrow, but I see no point in not doing the even split. Another matter is how many of-color Temples one should run. I think the answer is neither 0 or 8, and the excact answer depends on your build. I don't know how it depends though.
Horizon Chimera
While the added amount of Dissolves to the maindeck would suggest some number of Chimeras, I really can't get behind the card. It's so underwhelming. All of the RG top-end gives it a bad time, while it still falls over to to the early removal. While not directly comparable to Master of Waves, they share many of the same traits. Except Master is just better.
It's simply the last thing I would want to curve into with Caryatid
Prophet of Kruphix
I'm not sure I've come around to Prophet, as much as I have terminated all the other options. As he's almost useless in multiples, and fairly poor without at least one other fatty, I can't see going over two. I can actually barely see playing it at all, as he's just so dependent on other cards to provide anything to the board. It's not like his top-end is that high.
I might try an Arbor Colossus in place of the second one at some point.
@Tarpan
I like the idea, though I'm not sold on the list. There's certainly a middle ground between the UG-lists in this forum and the MonoG Devotion decks that has potential. I'm thinking that your list might have a bit too much situational removal (all the blue removal is in essence situational) and really wants to play all 4 Sphinxes main. The card is sick and your manabase can certainly support it. Also consider spicing up the manabase with some off-color Scrylands.
I've argued with people over the number of cards in a deck many times, and I feel that having a high number of "good cards" is better than having a small number of "really good" cards. I laugh at the people who argue that with a smaller deck you're more likely to draw what you need, because if you get in that situation you're gonna NOT end up drawing it many many more times than you would.
Against black, you can bring in the Swan Songs and the extra Sphinxes, probably boarding out Sea God's Revenge, Voyage's End, and Reverent Hunter. Swan Song counters a ridiculous portion of their deck for one mana, and the 2/2 is basically worthless against your big guys.
I like the idea of swan song, but it only really counters thoughtsieze and read the bones and giving them a wind drake in the early game seems really bad given how much damange they can do later through grey merchant/whip hits. And none of their late game spells that matter (whip, erebos, overlord) are touched by it, so I don't see how it's a relevant card. if it was envelop, I'd be all over it, but the wind drake seems way too dangerous to me.
@Tarpan
I like the idea, though I'm not sold on the list. There's certainly a middle ground between the UG-lists in this forum and the MonoG Devotion decks that has potential. I'm thinking that your list might have a bit too much situational removal (all the blue removal is in essence situational) and really wants to play all 4 Sphinxes main. The card is sick and your manabase can certainly support it. Also consider spicing up the manabase with some off-color Scrylands.
Well, once you've removed the mediocre Horizon Chimeras and Prophets, you basically have to remove Master of Waves too as your Blue devotion is 0 at that point. And then what do you replace them with? You have a bunch of green creatures, so cards that value green devotion are the most useful.
I think Sphinx is really good against Black Devotion decks (where you want 4), but it's mediocre at best against R/G. It can't block well, and it doesn't swing for much without a Boon Satyr. I actually board them out. 2 is a compromise for game 1s.
Adding more scry lands is an idea, but the format is very tempo oriented, and playing off curve can lose you the game pretty easily. I basically don't ever want to see a 2nd Temple of Mystery. Maybe once I hit 5 lands, but not before that.
Swan Song actually counters instants, sorceries, and enchantments, so it does in fact counter more than Read the Bones and Thoughtseize (don't counter Read the Bones). And giving them a bird token is totally worth it to keep a 5/5 or 6/6 from getting Downfalled, or to keep a Whip off the table. I'd probably even Swan Song a Baleful Eidolon, just because deathtouch is such an annoyance against my big ground guys. The monstrous on Polukranos and Arbor Colossus will kill the token anyway, assuming they haven't already chumped with it.
i realise interest in this format has dropped off pretty badly with the loss of DEs, but on the off chance people are still around, I thought I'd post my UG vaporkin deck for comment. This is a version of the deck that is much heavier blue to take better advantage of master of waves, and the vaporkin's give it the potential for agressive/tempo starts that some decks are poorly positioned to deal with. The basic idea was to get rid of the boon satyrs, which I think are very average in the deck, and the polukranos' which too many decks are set up well to deal with, in favour of a bigger flyer package.
I find that this setup is particularly excellent against mono black which only has 4 cards pre-board to deal with your flyers (abhorrent overlord is too slow). The flyer package is horribly weak to bow of nylea, luckly most people aren't running it maindeck and you take the flyers out post-board a lot of the time anyway so it's not too much of an issue.
It's slightly strange playing 13 green sources in a deck with hardly any green symbols in it maindeck, but green's still really important in the deck especialy post board with the bow's, so you can't cut back too hard.
Anyway, the deck's playing decently well in 2-person queues for me, even beat a standard esper deck 2-0 when I accidentally joined the wrong queue lol.
I am thinking of cut End in the side and play something that can win games against the RG Monters deck, also as this deck doesn't run any Master of Waves I think the Bidents are not working, so I am thinking of playing some number of Polukranos maindeck, if I do it I may cut one island for another forest.
THS Block Constructed Premier #6162756 on 10/25/2013
10 Island
2 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Mystery
25 lands
4 Boon Satyr
4 Horizon Chimera
4 Master of Waves
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Prognostic Sphinx
3 Prophet of Kruphix
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Voyaging Satyr
28 creatures
3 Voyage's End
7 other spells
2 Annul
2 Curse of the Swine
1 Griptide
3 Sedge Scorpion
2 Shipbreaker Kraken
2 Shredding Winds
2 Triton Tactics
1 Voyage's End
I don't know if this deck has a name, but I found it in a recent premier event. I figured with all the big beasts that RG was putting out that a deck using Voyages's End was soon to appear.
I had the pleasure of playing and talking with BlackNJudge today, so I feel I have a fairly well reflected view of many of the potential cards in the deck. My current list is below. Many of the numbers probably look a little weird; some numbers are a result of the deck being a work in progress and others I simply believe to be correct. Please do not that the exclusion of Horizon Chimera and Prophet of Kruphix makes for a different deck than BNJ's, and also that his list is changing by the minute.
4x Temple of Abandon
4x Temple of Mystery
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
9x Island
7x Forest
Creatures (25)
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Voyaging Satyr
2x Omespeaker
3x Boon Satyr
1x Thassa, God of the Sea
4x Master of Waves
4x Polukranos, World Eater
4x Prognostic Sphinx
2x Voyage's End
2x Dissolve
Sorcery (2)
2x Curse of the Swine
Enchantments (1)
1x Bident of Thassa
Planeswalkers (2)
2x Xenagos, the Reveler
4x Sedge Scorpion
3x Gainsay
1x Omenspeaker
2x Voyage's End
2x Peak Erruption
1x Dissolve
1x Curse of the Swine
1x Mistcutter Hydra
The main selling point on the deck, in my opinion, is how good Sylvan Caryatid, Polukranos and Prognostic Sphinx are. The other blue cards are nice and the deck wouldn't work if you replaced them Bronze Sables, but it's the Sphinx that really carries the deck.
I'd be very interested. This sounds like a deck that can break up the stagnated meta.
Thanks for you insight. I love when brewers come here and talk about their decks. The copypasta of MTGO really hurts people's outlook on block which is a unique and often challenging format weighed down by people who just want to grind packs.
To start of, here's the list I'm currently trying out:
3x Temple of Abandon
4x Temple of Mystery
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
9x Island
8x Forest
Creatures (25)
2x Sedge Scorpion
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Voyaging Satyr
3x Boon Satyr
1x Thassa, God of the Sea
4x Master of Waves
4x Polukranos, World Eater
2x Horizon Chimera
4x Prognostic Sphinx
2x Voyage's End
2x Dissolve
Sorcery (2)
2x Curse of the Swine
Enchantments (1)
1x Bident of Thassa
2x Sedge Scorpion
1x Hunt the Hunter
3x Gainsay
2x Omenspeaker
2x Voyage's End
2x Dissolve
2x Curse of the Swine
1x Mistcutter Hydra
So I've basically cut the light red splash, trying out Horizon Chimera (again) in the process. Omenspeaker has also been replaced in the main, with Sedge Scorpion. I believe I will replace one of the Chimeras with Boon Satyr soon, as Chimera is very underwhelming. As -A- said above me, it's a format of haymakers. A 3/2 just doesn't match up well against Arbor Colossus, Polukranos and Magma Jet. I look forward to eating a Xenagos with it though.
I have yet to try out Prophet of Kruphix, but I suppose I have to at some point. He just seems to me like the last card I would want to have as my top-end. Multiples also seem bad. I'm quessing that he goes very well with Prognostic Sphinx, especially a Boon Satyr'ed Sphinx, but then again, everything goes well with the Sphinx. Sphinx is what makes this deck work, you're generally winning if you draw it, in my experience.
I'm still clutching to my singleton Bident of Thassa and Thassa, God of the Sea. They're both very situation-dependent on how good they are, but when they're good, they can be really good. Especially Thassa, sneaking trough you're whole team for the win.
@ -A-
I'm curious about a lot of your sideboard-cards:
-Why no fourth Sedge Scorpion? Seems to me like an easy include as it's possibly the best card against aggro.
-When do you side Triton Tactics? I'm quessing it's meant as a counter to Anger of the Gods, but that just seems too narrow to be worth it (I'd say).
-Same question with regards to Annul. There really aren't that many enchantments seeing consistent play. I can imagine blowing out RG trying to buff an attacker with Boon Satyr, but I could never imagine siding in Annul against RG. I suppose you have WX Heroic decks, but something like Griptide would just be straight-up better in most situation where Annul would be handy.
-I see you just have two Curse of the Swine in your 75. As far as I can tell, it's stellar in the UG mirror. I would consider making room for a third.
Generally, I understand that you have a lot of wonky 1-ofs in your SB, as there's so much space in it (since so many cards are simply too bad) and GX ramp being 65% of the meta. I think I could be happy with a 5-card SB personally, without losing out on a lot
With regards to Scorpion, I'm not of the opinion that you should have all 4 against RG. I just keep the two I already have in the main. I also don't side in any more Voyage's End or Curses. In fact, with my current list, I only replace the Bident with a Hunt the Hunter. While it may seem weird to play 2 Scorpions, 2 Ends, 2 Curses and 2 Dissolve, they're all cards that are situational answers that get worse in multiples (in most situations). I stand by that split against RG.
Interesting on the Triton Tactics and Annul. They both seem very situational still, but it makes more sense. I might try it out at some point.
As for cards to side in against Mono Black, try more Curses. They're a tad situational, but can really screw over their Devotion, Whips and Nighthowlers
BBD (1st Place)
THS Block Constructed Premier #6210831 on 11/04/2013
7 Island
2 Temple of Abandon
3 Temple of Deceit
4 Temple of Mystery
4 Boon Satyr
3 Horizon Chimera
4 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Prognostic Sphinx
3 Prophet of Kruphix
4 Sedge Scorpion
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Dissolve
4 Voyage's End
2 Annul
2 Bident of Thassa
1 Bow of Nylea
2 Curse of the Swine
2 Fade into Antiquity
2 Hunt the Hunter
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Sea God's Revenge
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Voyaging Satyr
4 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Arbor Colossus
4 Boon Satyr
2 Prognostic Sphinx
2 Reverent Hunter
2 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Sea God's Revenge
2 Curse of the Swine
2 Voyage's End
4 Temple of Mystery
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
10 Forest
9 Island
1 Voyage's End
2 Mistcutter Hydra
4 Swan Song
2 Hunt the Hunter
2 Fade into Antiquity
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Sea God's Revenge
2 Prognostic Sphinx
I don't play a lot of tournaments, but I've gone 4-0, 3-1, 0-2, 0-2 with the deck so far. Originally I designed it to smash R/G decks by playing a couple of big guys, then bouncing all of theirs with Sea God's Revenge (or turning them into pigs). The tempo advantage is crushing.
Against black, you can bring in the Swan Songs and the extra Sphinxes, probably boarding out Sea God's Revenge, Voyage's End, and Reverent Hunter. Swan Song counters a ridiculous portion of their deck for one mana, and the 2/2 is basically worthless against your big guys.
The way I view it, you should either be playing 4 Voyaging Satyrs, or 0. If it's a card you want as part of your strategy, it's a core part of your strategy. Unlike Carven Caryatid, it's vulnerable to Magma Jet and Lightning Strike, which is a big deal. Playing Satyr means devoting to the ramp-plan, which mean you want to build your deck to maximize on heavy-hitting 4/5/6s, while trying to avoid situational cards like Voyage's End and Dissolve.
So I'm running the list below, simultaneously trying out Vaporkins in the SB, in the belief that they're great against MonoB and possibly UB (if I happen to run into that).
4x Temple of Mystery
2x Temple of Abandon
2x Temple of Deceit
7x Island
10x Forest
Creatures (26)
4x Sedge Scorpion
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Boon Satyr
4x Master of Waves
4x Polukranos, World Eater
4x Prognostic Sphinx
2x Prophet of Kruphix
3x Voyage's End
4x Dissolve
Sorcery (1)
1x Curse of the Swine
Enchantments (1)
1x Bident of Thassa
1x Hunt the Hunter
4x Vaporkin
3x Gainsay
1x Voyage's End
1x Bident of Thassa
1x Thassa's Emissary
3x Curse of the Swine
1x Mistcutter Hydra
Some thoughts on the manabase:
I see most deck running an almost even split between blue sources and green sources. Mostly 25 lands with one more green than blue source. My list above has replaced a Forest in place of an Island by that logic, mostly due to Caryatid producing both colors. While the sideboard is mostly blue, it's mostly blue cards that get sided out too. Playing 4 Vaporkin in the SB, I might go for the more even split in the future. Opinions are appreciated.
I've ditched the singleton Nyktos, Shrine to Nix. It's only real use, with such divided Devotion, is to get an extra counter or two on Polukranos in some rarely occuring scenarios. Far more frequent are the draws where I would really appreciate an early blue or green source when I instead have Nykthos.
I think an even, or rounded to even, split between the off-color Temples is correct. The only real factor I can think of when deciding the split is that having two of the same color in your hand when you really want an extra source that turn of said color could lead to complications.
E.g., I have three Forests and a Caryatid in play, it's turn 4. I have a Sphinx in hand I would really like to play, but the rest of my hand is two Temple of Deceit and a Forest.
I know it sounds narrow, but I see no point in not doing the even split. Another matter is how many of-color Temples one should run. I think the answer is neither 0 or 8, and the excact answer depends on your build. I don't know how it depends though.
Horizon Chimera
While the added amount of Dissolves to the maindeck would suggest some number of Chimeras, I really can't get behind the card. It's so underwhelming. All of the RG top-end gives it a bad time, while it still falls over to to the early removal. While not directly comparable to Master of Waves, they share many of the same traits. Except Master is just better.
It's simply the last thing I would want to curve into with Caryatid
Prophet of Kruphix
I'm not sure I've come around to Prophet, as much as I have terminated all the other options. As he's almost useless in multiples, and fairly poor without at least one other fatty, I can't see going over two. I can actually barely see playing it at all, as he's just so dependent on other cards to provide anything to the board. It's not like his top-end is that high.
I might try an Arbor Colossus in place of the second one at some point.
@Tarpan
I like the idea, though I'm not sold on the list. There's certainly a middle ground between the UG-lists in this forum and the MonoG Devotion decks that has potential. I'm thinking that your list might have a bit too much situational removal (all the blue removal is in essence situational) and really wants to play all 4 Sphinxes main. The card is sick and your manabase can certainly support it. Also consider spicing up the manabase with some off-color Scrylands.
I like the idea of swan song, but it only really counters thoughtsieze and read the bones and giving them a wind drake in the early game seems really bad given how much damange they can do later through grey merchant/whip hits. And none of their late game spells that matter (whip, erebos, overlord) are touched by it, so I don't see how it's a relevant card. if it was envelop, I'd be all over it, but the wind drake seems way too dangerous to me.
Well, once you've removed the mediocre Horizon Chimeras and Prophets, you basically have to remove Master of Waves too as your Blue devotion is 0 at that point. And then what do you replace them with? You have a bunch of green creatures, so cards that value green devotion are the most useful.
I think Sphinx is really good against Black Devotion decks (where you want 4), but it's mediocre at best against R/G. It can't block well, and it doesn't swing for much without a Boon Satyr. I actually board them out. 2 is a compromise for game 1s.
Adding more scry lands is an idea, but the format is very tempo oriented, and playing off curve can lose you the game pretty easily. I basically don't ever want to see a 2nd Temple of Mystery. Maybe once I hit 5 lands, but not before that.
Swan Song actually counters instants, sorceries, and enchantments, so it does in fact counter more than Read the Bones and Thoughtseize (don't counter Read the Bones). And giving them a bird token is totally worth it to keep a 5/5 or 6/6 from getting Downfalled, or to keep a Whip off the table. I'd probably even Swan Song a Baleful Eidolon, just because deathtouch is such an annoyance against my big ground guys. The monstrous on Polukranos and Arbor Colossus will kill the token anyway, assuming they haven't already chumped with it.
I find that this setup is particularly excellent against mono black which only has 4 cards pre-board to deal with your flyers (abhorrent overlord is too slow). The flyer package is horribly weak to bow of nylea, luckly most people aren't running it maindeck and you take the flyers out post-board a lot of the time anyway so it's not too much of an issue.
It's slightly strange playing 13 green sources in a deck with hardly any green symbols in it maindeck, but green's still really important in the deck especialy post board with the bow's, so you can't cut back too hard.
Anyway, the deck's playing decently well in 2-person queues for me, even beat a standard esper deck 2-0 when I accidentally joined the wrong queue lol.
9 Island
1 Temple of Abandon
3 Temple of Deceit
4 Temple of Mystery
4 sylvan caryatid
4 vaporkin
4 horizon chimera
4 master of waves
4 prognostic sphinx
2 omenspeaker
2 prophet of krufix
1 thassa, god of the sea
4 dissolve
2 bident of thassa
2 Annul
3 Bow of Nylea
2 Curse of the Swine
1 Fade into Antiquity
3 Gainsay
3 Sedge scorpion
1 swan song
2 Mistcutter Hydra
4 Prophet of Kruphix
4 Prognostic Sphinx
3 Boon Satyr
4 Voyaging Satyr
4 Arbor Colossus
4 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Curse of the Swine
4 Dissolve
2 Bident of Thassa
10 Forest
9 Island
4 Temple of Mystery
2 Gainsay
2 Sedge Scorpion
2 Hunt the Hunter
1 Triton Tactics
1 Triton Tactics
1 Voyage's End
2 Annul
1 Curse of the Swine
3 Nylea's Disciple
I am thinking of cut End in the side and play something that can win games against the RG Monters deck, also as this deck doesn't run any Master of Waves I think the Bidents are not working, so I am thinking of playing some number of Polukranos maindeck, if I do it I may cut one island for another forest.