I'm obviously happy with my current list, but I'm wondering if there's a potential list with the Ghost Quarter, Ramunap Excavator, and Asuza package. I'll try to put it together when I have the chance. I have a feeling it will be quite tricky mostly because Ghost Quarter is a colorless land.
I think if you stayed Mono-Green and perhaps Colorless (warping wail, TKS, etc) it could work. Azusa, Ghost Quarter and Ramunap together is quite a package. It would definitely be interesting to see. Maybe with Mwonvuli-Acid Moss or even Command you can pretty much always keep them off lands...with Ballista and Courser you would just need to decide on whatever bug catdd you wanted.
I think a deck is certainly there...and one that does well with Primal Command too
How interesting to completely remove Garruk Wildspeaker and play only a set of Kiora, Master of the Depths...she is better if you never plan on overruning Garruk (as she can draw more and goes to 5 with a plus). It is by far an underplayed card (of course you have to commit a little to blue...but it seems he/she felt perfectly comfortable splashing multiple colors).
The mana-base seems a little wonky; but with so many cards that can untap lands I guess there is a little freedom to play non-forests. It is super interesting to see the combo of Kiora and Kiora's Follower (as I've seen this in a few decks). May be something to it.
I do like many of his board choices though. I have been trying white recently (both white and red) as I wanted to access Leyline...Gaddock Teag is intersting...that and I LOVE Trinishphere. I've played it before and while it can be a little wonky (when we have arbor elf, visionary, utopia sprawl, etc.) it REALLY effects decks like Storm, Elves, etc.)
One of the things that lets us get away with a lot of stuff is that Garruk WS means that even drawing a lot of acceleration critters can still prove lethal for an opponent: Elf; Elf; BTE + Garruk + X=1 Ballista still threatens a 17 point attack on turn 4, which is lethal in a formal where everyone is bolting themselves with greedy manabases.
I had some fun playing the deck lately, but I feel like I need some middleweights to tangle with the Eldrazi, Tarmogoyfs, and the like running around. I dropped one Pact and one Command to add two Polukranos. This has felt good so far. I'd love to sneak in Wolfbriars since they are so scalable, as we said, but I'm not seeing an easy spot. I may just keep using Ballista in that role... they're essential anyway, and do scale somewhat (even if less efficiently). I am also considering dropping to two Eternal Witness: I'm realizing these days that Command loops are rarely an efficient victory path, and two cycles is enough; meanwhile a starting Witness tends to be on the weak side. 3 Commands has worked quite well.
Edit: Addendum: Regarding that linked list: It looks like a very grindy deck, oriented towards a very specific metagame. You can tell that based on the SB Worship and MD Elderscale Wurm (which is a card I'll have to take another look at, I beleive I discussed its potential utility long ago, and it could be an amazing tutor-target: the only color that typically runs a spell actually capable of killing it is white. Also the anti-combo cards. Though it's not a list I'd likely use, it does have some interesting elements worth examining.
So I just played the Grixis Shadow matchup, I've payed it before witht his deck but forget the results. Anyways I won 2-0. The future of Modern is Green Devotion!
MATCHES Last Updated: 9/24 11:00 PM
I've won a bunch of matches against non-tier decks or bad players and I don't want to include those in the results
VS. Jeskai control WIN 2-1
- Game 1: can't remember but I win Game 2: outvalued and controlled and I lose Game 3: Long and eventually I just barely get enough dmg through with Kessig
VS. PIF Combo (w/Opt) WIN 2-0
- Game 1 a quick Ruric and they scoop, Game 2 SD hate cards to stall then Ruric and scoop
VS. Abzan Good stuff LOSS 0-2
- he plays goyfs and discard and Rhinos and Souls Wilt-Leaf Lieges and the pressure it just too much both games
(I did not have Baloth in this list for the match, Baloth is the last card I added, and it's actually perfect since it helps vs Burn and the deck needed either Thrag or Baloth while also helping vs. B/x decks. Baloth was the pick because it's great vs. Lili and also amazing with Pact)
VS. U/W control WIN 2-0
- Games 1 and 2: lots of mana very fast and just dumping cards which they won't be able to deal with way to fast for them, quick match
VS. 8-Rack WIN 2-0
- Game 1: Courser gains me life and nets me cards and I drop a Whisperwood and they scoop Games 2: turn 2 Inquisition sees two Courser, Visionary and Wildspeaker and they scoop (maybe not the best version, they running Liliana's Caress which seems bad
VS. U/B Faeries WIN 2-1
- I forget the games, but the games I won were not very close and the game he won was quite close
VS. Jund Loss 0-2
- Game 1: I was so close to winning but I made a risky block putting my at 3 life dead to Bolt and he drew it in two turns. Game 2: an anger hurt and then I didn't find some to stall the game and he was beating down with a big scooze while we were both hellbent. I feel like this match was very close, I could have won it.
VS. Eldrazi Tron WIN 2-0 Game 1: I come out fast and land a Whisper with a Hoof in hand to win easily next turn, he even had turn 3 Tron. Game 2: I land whisper and I suppose he realized his All is Dust isn't great anymore and I will overwhelm him and he scoops, albiet immaturely so I'm a bit disappointed he did it so early
VS. Grixis Death's Shadow WIN 2-0 Game 1: I'm on the draw and just do better stuff than my opponent Game 2: he gets stuck on 1 land for two turns and scoops
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
...with Ballista and Courser you would just need to decide on whatever bug catdd you wanted.
What?? WHat are you trying to say?
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I'm toying with the idea of getting rid of Burning Tree Emissary and using Overgrown Battlement and Axebane Guardian playsets for a Jamie Wakefield kind of toolbox deck. Even if they nuke Nykthos, the deck might be more resilient as a mana dork deck with creature Fatties like Deus of Calamity and Primalcrux as the Devotion enablers. Relying on bad creatures for devotion usually costs us games against early game heavy hand removal and creature removal given that some decks run playsets of Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt so its either you dont have a board with Nykthos in play or you have lots of crap devotion dorks and the opponent qhost quarters or spreading seas your Nykthos giving you an ugly board state while they beat face on you.
Can you guys try the 2 playsets of mana dork walls to play a fat Walking Ballista early? You can also pump replenish it since 3 walls is equal to 9 mana and that puts into play any fattie that can change the game. I'm messing around with Mirrorweave with Primalcrux and Deus of Calamaity as targets. It turns all the walls into Primalcrux or Deus of Calamaity and 4 or 5 of those with just 2 or 3 swinging is lethal.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I'm toying with the idea of getting rid of Burning Tree Emissary and using Overgrown Battlement and Axebane Guardian playsets for a Jamie Wakefield kind of toolbox deck. Even if they nuke Nykthos, the deck might be more resilient as a mana dork deck with creature Fatties like Deus of Calamity and Primalcrux as the Devotion enablers. Relying on bad creatures for devotion usually costs us games against early game heavy hand removal and creature removal given that some decks run playsets of Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt so its either you dont have a board with Nykthos in play or you have lots of crap devotion dorks and the opponent qhost quarters or spreading seas your Nykthos giving you an ugly board state while they beat face on you.
Can you guys try the 2 playsets of mana dork walls to play a fat Walking Ballista early? You can also pump replenish it since 3 walls is equal to 9 mana and that puts into play any fattie that can change the game. I'm messing around with Mirrorweave with Primalcrux and Deus of Calamaity as targets. It turns all the walls into Primalcrux or Deus of Calamaity and 4 or 5 of those with just 2 or 3 swinging is lethal.
Decklist? Sounds fun.
BTE is great for giving you insane ramp speed in the right draws (especially potent combined with Summoner's Pact) and is another body for overrun effects. However I would not consider BTE as a dork, as without Nykthos there is no real ramping going on.
The Walls Ramp can definitely work well and is great against aggro, but the overrun plan gets worse (except with Mirrorweave).
They are not as fast as Bird of Paradise, which I assume you'd cut? And no color fixing.
Mirrorweave: Sweet card to toy around with for sure. This card can be absurd like you mentioned, targeting a Primeval Titan, Deus of Calamity, Axebane Guardian, Arbor Elf. But...
Can't be tutored easily (sorcery)
Dead card on an empty board.
CMC 4 and UW
As for myself found that Kitchen Finks is a great stabilizer against aggressive decks. Especially useful combined with Planeswalkers.
On another Note: Luck is definitely a big part of the game. Got to cast a Turn 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance off an Utopia Sprawl on R and an Arbor Elf.
Observation: Between Birds of Paradise, Utopia Sprawl, Fetches&Shocks, Arbor Elf untapping a Shock and Oath of Nissa, I've never had any issues casting my off color, out there, inconsistent 1 of Planeswalkers.
@Rendroc: Thanks for the great content. Lovely edited write ups! Walking Ballista seems to give great early game interaction and scales well in lategame. If only it were green and shoot trees
Will play them at the next FNM for sure. Whisperwood Elemental I played it too for a while, it's truly like a little Planeswalker with Wrath protection build in for your creatures. Activates EOT with [0]: Manifest the top card of your library.
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Modern: GNykthos Devotion - Eldrazi Tron - RW Boros Burn - UW UW Control
I'm toying with the idea of getting rid of Burning Tree Emissary and using Overgrown Battlement and Axebane Guardian playsets for a Jamie Wakefield kind of toolbox deck. Even if they nuke Nykthos, the deck might be more resilient as a mana dork deck with creature Fatties like Deus of Calamity and Primalcrux as the Devotion enablers. Relying on bad creatures for devotion usually costs us games against early game heavy hand removal and creature removal given that some decks run playsets of Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt so its either you dont have a board with Nykthos in play or you have lots of crap devotion dorks and the opponent qhost quarters or spreading seas your Nykthos giving you an ugly board state while they beat face on you.
Can you guys try the 2 playsets of mana dork walls to play a fat Walking Ballista early? You can also pump replenish it since 3 walls is equal to 9 mana and that puts into play any fattie that can change the game. I'm messing around with Mirrorweave with Primalcrux and Deus of Calamaity as targets. It turns all the walls into Primalcrux or Deus of Calamaity and 4 or 5 of those with just 2 or 3 swinging is lethal.
It's true that creature vulnerabilities can work against us. That said, fast creatures give us a very real chance of attacking for lethal on turn 4 via Garruk or Craterhoof. The amount of times this happens is significant, and it cannot happen when relying on creatures with Defender who literally cannot serve any purpose besides blocking and adding mana. And they still die to Damnation and Wrath of God.
I think that your approach can work, but it needs to play a much more robust set of top-end things in order to make up for the lost punch. Mirrorweave feels flashy, but is probably overkill more than practical, and doesn't do much on its own. More threats would probably be preferable.
- I'd like to get a Polukranos in the deck; but not entirely certain where.
- I have been wondering if Chandra, Torch of Defiance would be a good 1-of but I really don't want to dilute the deck too much.
- I may try a 1-of Fauna Shaman (as it's driving me crazy "missing" Pact(s) off Oath and Garruk COB digging.
- I'm really liking Wolfbriar Elemental. It fits so well with both main win conditions (Garruk and Craterhoof).
For a while I toyed with the idea of playing only two copies of Oath of Nissa with it being legendary; but then I realiZed how well it both helps smooth out our curve as well as digs for Nykthos and Garruk....so I never brought myself to do it.
To be honest; I'm really wracking my brain over about 4 slots in the main board (5 if you include the Pact)...it's kinda funny to think this hard on such a small subset of cards; but I want it to be perfect.
I've been writing down all my match ups and have had some odd results...matchups I was sure would be difficult (Affinity, Deaths Shadow, Jund) have not been...it's been quite odd. I will test more to ensure it's not just "running hot" for a few days...as it does effect which cards go in the side board (so I want to make sure I have a large enough sample to make the correct decision).
I dont mean to sound negative...it's good news! Just want to make sure I have enough data to make the best decisions pertaining to the board and matchups.
SO I wasn't having much trouble with any control deck before, but the new iterations of U/W Control running more Walkers are much harder to beat.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
- I'd like to get a Polukranos in the deck; but not entirely certain where.
- I have been wondering if Chandra, Torch of Defiance would be a good 1-of but I really don't want to dilute the deck too much.
- I may try a 1-of Fauna Shaman (as it's driving me crazy "missing" Pact(s) off Oath and Garruk COB digging.
- I'm really liking Wolfbriar Elemental. It fits so well with both main win conditions (Garruk and Craterhoof).
For a while I toyed with the idea of playing only two copies of Oath of Nissa with it being legendary; but then I realiZed how well it both helps smooth out our curve as well as digs for Nykthos and Garruk....so I never brought myself to do it.
To be honest; I'm really wracking my brain over about 4 slots in the main board (5 if you include the Pact)...it's kinda funny to think this hard on such a small subset of cards; but I want it to be perfect.
I've been writing down all my match ups and have had some odd results...matchups I was sure would be difficult (Affinity, Deaths Shadow, Jund) have not been...it's been quite odd. I will test more to ensure it's not just "running hot" for a few days...as it does effect which cards go in the side board (so I want to make sure I have a large enough sample to make the correct decision).
I dont mean to sound negative...it's good news! Just want to make sure I have enough data to make the best decisions pertaining to the board and matchups.
Ruric Thar is fantastic, but I have no idea what to replace for him. Probably Pacts, since he IS a threat, and also makes Pact a lot more painful. Command is just too useful to cut below 3x, though.
Polukranos for me displaced 3-drops. This makes my curve a bit more awkward, but the upside has been worth it.
Chandra ToD is probably not the best PW for us. We already have one 4-mana PW that climbs to a fast and lethal ultimate. If Garruk WS isn't likely lethal, she probably won't be that dangerous either. I think this might be a slot for another good 4-drop, like Polukranos.
I can see the appeal of Fauna Shaman, but I refuse to play that card because World of Warcraft does not belong in MtG (seriously, who approved that Blizzard fan-art!?). In addition, it's not nearly so efficient, since it's not as punchy on its own, and requires discarding a weaker creature (which I guess could be Elves or BoP). It's actually not that bad a choice functionally, especially if you play Genesis Hydra (as it can be grabbed as low as X=2).
Wolfbriar is great. He actually replaced Genesis Wave for me, and only recently got replaced by Ballista. I'd argue that Wolfbriar is in many ways the perfect choice for low-tutor decks: he scales extremely well from moderate threat to game-ending, multiples aren't bad, and synergizes with lots of other choices (while tutors prefer to get that one great choice). In decks with tutoring, the issue is that his lack of specialization means there is often a better choice (notably Hornet Queen). As you move away from Pact and Command, this is the best way to go, because you can just play four copies of this and be happy.
Oath should be 2-3x. I favor 2x, because I have enough of my threats in Pact and Command, and because with 21 land I'm less dependent on it for draw-smoothing. Plus, only the first one adds Devotion. If I cut the Pacts and Command, I'd probably move up to a third.
Regarding those matchups... they don't surprise me at all. DS can be chumped all-day-long without too much issue, and if he's big enough to be threatening than the opponent's life total is small enough to die on a crackback. Jund is grindy, but their top-end is way worse than ours, and we're not as disruptable as they want. Affinity can be rough, but we have some cards that just win: Hornet Queen, Creeping Corrosion, Walking Ballista. I generally have found that for any deck that wants to brawl, there is a way for us to get the upper hand.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Lol, funny that you responded to me as if my comment was serious. I accidentally posted it here, but that comment was meant for the U/B Rogues thread.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Lol, funny that you responded to me as if my comment was serious. I accidentally posted it here, but that comment was meant for the U/B Rogues thread.
I was just trying to be nice and thought either (a) he missed the "Rogue" part at the end of the text or (b) just really likes the spell so I tried to find a nice way to say it wasn't a great option :). Makes more sense now.
Here is a clearer picture of what I'm talking about. Like most stompy alpha strike decks. The original explosive 4 turn wincon of the current Devotion Green relying on Overrun via Garruk or Craterhoof Behemoth usually sputters when you fight tier 1 or 2 decks that either slow you down with spot removal aka fatal push, lightning bolt, terminate or path to exile and hand kill via Inquisition of Kozilek. This is what makes the deck extremely vulnerable to control opponents. By weathering an early pick off via spot removal or hand kill that removes 3 to 4 cards either from your hand or board and reduces your board presence to one land drop a turn, the defender build lulls the opponent to either use their spot removal for the wrong targets and by the time you get a fattie into play, you've already won the game. This is a slower strategy and it may work only if you can Summoning Trap a fattie into play with Mirrorweave castable, or if the opponent plays his own fattie like Wurmcoil Engine and you have 4 or so Defenders and/or other creatures to turn into Wurmcoil Engines and attack the opponent with lethal before he knows what's happening. It's the sickest win con ever since Devotion by itself is an overkill wincon.
One really sweet thing with this devotion build is that it weathers early aggro and puts a FAT Walking Ballista into play and pumps it if it survives machine gunning the opponents board position even when the opponent kills your Nykthos. It's like a Spike Weaver that does damage instead of fogging as the parallel to the Secret Force deck. Most of opponents spot removal first game are just Lightning Bolts and Fatal Pushes which makes them dead cards if you Summoning Trap into a nice Fattie like a Primalcrux or a Worldspine Wurm. Mirrorweave is your current era Overrun from 2001's Secret Force's own pump spell and it is way better than a Garruk. If the opponent picks off any one of your dorks the Garruk Overrun isn't lethal, but just 3 mirrorweaved Primalcrux or Deus of Calamity or Worldspinw Wurm if you're lucky is lethal. The devotion trigger in this build are the FATTIES instead of the small devotion utility creatures which are soooo useless without Nykthos in play--if Nykthos gets nuked along with your Garruk you got a crappy board position. Not so with mana dork defenders. They are there as deceptive Priest of Titania clones that become Mirrorweave bodies since one fat Axebane Guardian by itself can cast Mirrorweave.
Jamie Wakefield's philosophy was to topdeck every card and not rely much on tutors. The Primal Command's of the Devotion Green are also non tutorable so having Mirrorweaves as a top deck Overrun or an early draw card also functions in the same way.
You Primal Command the Ballista or top deck with one. Summoning Trap is for the opponent countering your first Fattie and turning it into the same win con or a bigger monster or for turn 4 Primalcrux or Gaea's Revenge with the opponent having dead card spot removal. Fatal push has made the removal suite of control opponents more efficient especially with Snapcaster Mage
The deck is more midrange than early alpha strike Overrun and I will be testing the build at FNM and big tournaments just to see how it fares against heavy board and hand disruption.
Secret Force early 2000
Jamie Wakefield Toolbox Style
Tell me what you think if you can playtest a similar concoction. A Mirrorweaved FAT Ballista is also a precious win con in my humble opinion. If you add Genesis Wave to this build, you can even add Mirror Gallery artifact so you can Mirrorweave Ruric in response to any spell the opponent casts and have them take Ruric trigger damage multiple times because Mirror Gallery negates the Legend rule. Heeh.
The overriding focus of this build is the Mirrorweave targeting their Fatties or your own. 5 X Primalcrux is 30/30 each. 5 X Deus of Calamity blows up almost half their lands if they have some blockers. We can even add 1 Wrecking Ogre to sneak in lethal via Nykthos devotion.
The Mirrorweave creates blasphemous amounts of G for either Deus or Primalcrux and you can tweak a Nykthos activation into anything you want--from Savage Beating to the aforementioned Wrecking Ogre.
Mirrorweave can make plenty of walls too for a lethal Banefire.
Mirroweave for Devotion might be the tech that beats spot removal for weenie devotion critters. Just one fatty makes for plenty of G if mirrorweaved and opponent has no path to exile or similar fatty removal. 3 mana wall dorks make for 9 mana and 16 mana if they were 4. That by itself should be more explosive than any similar weenie devotion spread on the board with similar 2 to cast or 3 to cast laydowns. When you Mirrorweave a full G CmC Fatty on the battlefield, it's alpha strike Good Game better than Garruk Overrun or the 1 in 60 Craterhoof topdeck or Primal Command lock tutor.
You can get a 20 plus G devotion spread with a Mirrorweaved Fatty so you can activate Nykthos for any X spell. Mirrorweave IS your Garruk Overrun and you dont need to untap Nykthos because of the lethal G devotion created by the copies. Think about that for a moment and test the theory.
I think if you stayed Mono-Green and perhaps Colorless (warping wail, TKS, etc) it could work. Azusa, Ghost Quarter and Ramunap together is quite a package. It would definitely be interesting to see. Maybe with Mwonvuli-Acid Moss or even Command you can pretty much always keep them off lands...with Ballista and Courser you would just need to decide on whatever bug catdd you wanted.
I think a deck is certainly there...and one that does well with Primal Command too
That is super interesting...
How interesting to completely remove Garruk Wildspeaker and play only a set of Kiora, Master of the Depths...she is better if you never plan on overruning Garruk (as she can draw more and goes to 5 with a plus). It is by far an underplayed card (of course you have to commit a little to blue...but it seems he/she felt perfectly comfortable splashing multiple colors).
The mana-base seems a little wonky; but with so many cards that can untap lands I guess there is a little freedom to play non-forests. It is super interesting to see the combo of Kiora and Kiora's Follower (as I've seen this in a few decks). May be something to it.
I do like many of his board choices though. I have been trying white recently (both white and red) as I wanted to access Leyline...Gaddock Teag is intersting...that and I LOVE Trinishphere. I've played it before and while it can be a little wonky (when we have arbor elf, visionary, utopia sprawl, etc.) it REALLY effects decks like Storm, Elves, etc.)
I had some fun playing the deck lately, but I feel like I need some middleweights to tangle with the Eldrazi, Tarmogoyfs, and the like running around. I dropped one Pact and one Command to add two Polukranos. This has felt good so far. I'd love to sneak in Wolfbriars since they are so scalable, as we said, but I'm not seeing an easy spot. I may just keep using Ballista in that role... they're essential anyway, and do scale somewhat (even if less efficiently). I am also considering dropping to two Eternal Witness: I'm realizing these days that Command loops are rarely an efficient victory path, and two cycles is enough; meanwhile a starting Witness tends to be on the weak side. 3 Commands has worked quite well.
Edit: Addendum: Regarding that linked list: It looks like a very grindy deck, oriented towards a very specific metagame. You can tell that based on the SB Worship and MD Elderscale Wurm (which is a card I'll have to take another look at, I beleive I discussed its potential utility long ago, and it could be an amazing tutor-target: the only color that typically runs a spell actually capable of killing it is white. Also the anti-combo cards. Though it's not a list I'd likely use, it does have some interesting elements worth examining.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
MATCHES Last Updated: 9/24 11:00 PM
I've won a bunch of matches against non-tier decks or bad players and I don't want to include those in the results
VS. Jeskai control WIN 2-1
- Game 1: can't remember but I win Game 2: outvalued and controlled and I lose Game 3: Long and eventually I just barely get enough dmg through with Kessig
VS. PIF Combo (w/Opt) WIN 2-0
- Game 1 a quick Ruric and they scoop, Game 2 SD hate cards to stall then Ruric and scoop
VS. Abzan Good stuff LOSS 0-2
- he plays goyfs and discard and Rhinos and Souls Wilt-Leaf Lieges and the pressure it just too much both games
(I did not have Baloth in this list for the match, Baloth is the last card I added, and it's actually perfect since it helps vs Burn and the deck needed either Thrag or Baloth while also helping vs. B/x decks. Baloth was the pick because it's great vs. Lili and also amazing with Pact)
VS. U/W control WIN 2-0
- Games 1 and 2: lots of mana very fast and just dumping cards which they won't be able to deal with way to fast for them, quick match
VS. 8-Rack WIN 2-0
- Game 1: Courser gains me life and nets me cards and I drop a Whisperwood and they scoop Games 2: turn 2 Inquisition sees two Courser, Visionary and Wildspeaker and they scoop (maybe not the best version, they running Liliana's Caress which seems bad
VS. U/B Faeries WIN 2-1
- I forget the games, but the games I won were not very close and the game he won was quite close
VS. Jund Loss 0-2
- Game 1: I was so close to winning but I made a risky block putting my at 3 life dead to Bolt and he drew it in two turns. Game 2: an anger hurt and then I didn't find some to stall the game and he was beating down with a big scooze while we were both hellbent. I feel like this match was very close, I could have won it.
VS. Eldrazi Tron WIN 2-0 Game 1: I come out fast and land a Whisper with a Hoof in hand to win easily next turn, he even had turn 3 Tron. Game 2: I land whisper and I suppose he realized his All is Dust isn't great anymore and I will overwhelm him and he scoops, albiet immaturely so I'm a bit disappointed he did it so early
VS. Grixis Death's Shadow WIN 2-0 Game 1: I'm on the draw and just do better stuff than my opponent Game 2: he gets stuck on 1 land for two turns and scoops
TOTAL RESULTS:
7-2
CURRENT DECKLIST
// 24 Creature
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Walking Ballista
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Acidic Slime
1 Hornet Queen
1 Whisperwood Elemental
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
// 7 Enchantment
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Oath of Nissa
2 Summoner's Pact
// 21 Land
6 Forest
2 Stomping Ground
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Misty Rainforest
// 6 Planeswalker
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
// 2 Artifact
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Abrade
1 Obstinate Baloth
2 Primal Command
2 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Creeping Corrosion
2 Slaughter Games
1 Crumble to Dust
Potential Changes
-1 Relic in SD
-1 Primal Command SD
+1 Obstinate Baloth SD
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
What?? WHat are you trying to say?
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I'm toying with the idea of getting rid of Burning Tree Emissary and using Overgrown Battlement and Axebane Guardian playsets for a Jamie Wakefield kind of toolbox deck. Even if they nuke Nykthos, the deck might be more resilient as a mana dork deck with creature Fatties like Deus of Calamity and Primalcrux as the Devotion enablers. Relying on bad creatures for devotion usually costs us games against early game heavy hand removal and creature removal given that some decks run playsets of Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt so its either you dont have a board with Nykthos in play or you have lots of crap devotion dorks and the opponent qhost quarters or spreading seas your Nykthos giving you an ugly board state while they beat face on you.
Can you guys try the 2 playsets of mana dork walls to play a fat Walking Ballista early? You can also pump replenish it since 3 walls is equal to 9 mana and that puts into play any fattie that can change the game. I'm messing around with Mirrorweave with Primalcrux and Deus of Calamaity as targets. It turns all the walls into Primalcrux or Deus of Calamaity and 4 or 5 of those with just 2 or 3 swinging is lethal.
** just need to decide what big cards you wanted.. **
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Decklist? Sounds fun.
BTE is great for giving you insane ramp speed in the right draws (especially potent combined with Summoner's Pact) and is another body for overrun effects. However I would not consider BTE as a dork, as without Nykthos there is no real ramping going on.
The Walls Ramp can definitely work well and is great against aggro, but the overrun plan gets worse (except with Mirrorweave).
They are not as fast as Bird of Paradise, which I assume you'd cut? And no color fixing.
Mirrorweave: Sweet card to toy around with for sure. This card can be absurd like you mentioned, targeting a Primeval Titan, Deus of Calamity, Axebane Guardian, Arbor Elf. But...
Can't be tutored easily (sorcery)
Dead card on an empty board.
CMC 4 and UW
As for myself found that Kitchen Finks is a great stabilizer against aggressive decks. Especially useful combined with Planeswalkers.
On another Note: Luck is definitely a big part of the game. Got to cast a Turn 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance off an Utopia Sprawl on R and an Arbor Elf.
Observation: Between Birds of Paradise, Utopia Sprawl, Fetches&Shocks, Arbor Elf untapping a Shock and Oath of Nissa, I've never had any issues casting my off color, out there, inconsistent 1 of Planeswalkers.
@Rendroc: Thanks for the great content. Lovely edited write ups!
Walking Ballista seems to give great early game interaction and scales well in lategame. If only it were green and shoot trees
Will play them at the next FNM for sure.
Whisperwood Elemental I played it too for a while, it's truly like a little Planeswalker with Wrath protection build in for your creatures. Activates EOT with [0]: Manifest the top card of your library.
It's true that creature vulnerabilities can work against us. That said, fast creatures give us a very real chance of attacking for lethal on turn 4 via Garruk or Craterhoof. The amount of times this happens is significant, and it cannot happen when relying on creatures with Defender who literally cannot serve any purpose besides blocking and adding mana. And they still die to Damnation and Wrath of God.
I think that your approach can work, but it needs to play a much more robust set of top-end things in order to make up for the lost punch. Mirrorweave feels flashy, but is probably overkill more than practical, and doesn't do much on its own. More threats would probably be preferable.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
- I'm liking Ruric-Thar enough to main-deck him.
- I'd like to get a Polukranos in the deck; but not entirely certain where.
- I have been wondering if Chandra, Torch of Defiance would be a good 1-of but I really don't want to dilute the deck too much.
- I may try a 1-of Fauna Shaman (as it's driving me crazy "missing" Pact(s) off Oath and Garruk COB digging.
- I'm really liking Wolfbriar Elemental. It fits so well with both main win conditions (Garruk and Craterhoof).
For a while I toyed with the idea of playing only two copies of Oath of Nissa with it being legendary; but then I realiZed how well it both helps smooth out our curve as well as digs for Nykthos and Garruk....so I never brought myself to do it.
To be honest; I'm really wracking my brain over about 4 slots in the main board (5 if you include the Pact)...it's kinda funny to think this hard on such a small subset of cards; but I want it to be perfect.
I've been writing down all my match ups and have had some odd results...matchups I was sure would be difficult (Affinity, Deaths Shadow, Jund) have not been...it's been quite odd. I will test more to ensure it's not just "running hot" for a few days...as it does effect which cards go in the side board (so I want to make sure I have a large enough sample to make the correct decision).
I dont mean to sound negative...it's good news! Just want to make sure I have enough data to make the best decisions pertaining to the board and matchups.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Ruric Thar is fantastic, but I have no idea what to replace for him. Probably Pacts, since he IS a threat, and also makes Pact a lot more painful. Command is just too useful to cut below 3x, though.
Polukranos for me displaced 3-drops. This makes my curve a bit more awkward, but the upside has been worth it.
Chandra ToD is probably not the best PW for us. We already have one 4-mana PW that climbs to a fast and lethal ultimate. If Garruk WS isn't likely lethal, she probably won't be that dangerous either. I think this might be a slot for another good 4-drop, like Polukranos.
I can see the appeal of Fauna Shaman, but I refuse to play that card because World of Warcraft does not belong in MtG (seriously, who approved that Blizzard fan-art!?). In addition, it's not nearly so efficient, since it's not as punchy on its own, and requires discarding a weaker creature (which I guess could be Elves or BoP). It's actually not that bad a choice functionally, especially if you play Genesis Hydra (as it can be grabbed as low as X=2).
Wolfbriar is great. He actually replaced Genesis Wave for me, and only recently got replaced by Ballista. I'd argue that Wolfbriar is in many ways the perfect choice for low-tutor decks: he scales extremely well from moderate threat to game-ending, multiples aren't bad, and synergizes with lots of other choices (while tutors prefer to get that one great choice). In decks with tutoring, the issue is that his lack of specialization means there is often a better choice (notably Hornet Queen). As you move away from Pact and Command, this is the best way to go, because you can just play four copies of this and be happy.
Oath should be 2-3x. I favor 2x, because I have enough of my threats in Pact and Command, and because with 21 land I'm less dependent on it for draw-smoothing. Plus, only the first one adds Devotion. If I cut the Pacts and Command, I'd probably move up to a third.
Regarding those matchups... they don't surprise me at all. DS can be chumped all-day-long without too much issue, and if he's big enough to be threatening than the opponent's life total is small enough to die on a crackback. Jund is grindy, but their top-end is way worse than ours, and we're not as disruptable as they want. Affinity can be rough, but we have some cards that just win: Hornet Queen, Creeping Corrosion, Walking Ballista. I generally have found that for any deck that wants to brawl, there is a way for us to get the upper hand.
Hadn't noticed that. Details?
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
If we played enough Chameleon Colossus maybe...we just don't have enough (or any) Rogues to make the prowl cost a reasonable option.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I was just trying to be nice and thought either (a) he missed the "Rogue" part at the end of the text or (b) just really likes the spell so I tried to find a nice way to say it wasn't a great option :). Makes more sense now.
One really sweet thing with this devotion build is that it weathers early aggro and puts a FAT Walking Ballista into play and pumps it if it survives machine gunning the opponents board position even when the opponent kills your Nykthos. It's like a Spike Weaver that does damage instead of fogging as the parallel to the Secret Force deck. Most of opponents spot removal first game are just Lightning Bolts and Fatal Pushes which makes them dead cards if you Summoning Trap into a nice Fattie like a Primalcrux or a Worldspine Wurm. Mirrorweave is your current era Overrun from 2001's Secret Force's own pump spell and it is way better than a Garruk. If the opponent picks off any one of your dorks the Garruk Overrun isn't lethal, but just 3 mirrorweaved Primalcrux or Deus of Calamity or Worldspinw Wurm if you're lucky is lethal. The devotion trigger in this build are the FATTIES instead of the small devotion utility creatures which are soooo useless without Nykthos in play--if Nykthos gets nuked along with your Garruk you got a crappy board position. Not so with mana dork defenders. They are there as deceptive Priest of Titania clones that become Mirrorweave bodies since one fat Axebane Guardian by itself can cast Mirrorweave.
Jamie Wakefield's philosophy was to topdeck every card and not rely much on tutors. The Primal Command's of the Devotion Green are also non tutorable so having Mirrorweaves as a top deck Overrun or an early draw card also functions in the same way.
You Primal Command the Ballista or top deck with one. Summoning Trap is for the opponent countering your first Fattie and turning it into the same win con or a bigger monster or for turn 4 Primalcrux or Gaea's Revenge with the opponent having dead card spot removal. Fatal push has made the removal suite of control opponents more efficient especially with Snapcaster Mage
The deck is more midrange than early alpha strike Overrun and I will be testing the build at FNM and big tournaments just to see how it fares against heavy board and hand disruption.
Secret Force early 2000
Jamie Wakefield Toolbox Style
3 Elvish Lyrist
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Wall of Roots
2 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
2 Spike Feeder
2 Spike Weaver
3 Uktabi Orangutan
Sorcery (11)
4 Creeping Mold
4 Natural Order
3 Overrun
Land (22)
3 Gaea's Cradle
16 Forest
3 Wasteland
Modern Green Devotion Adaptation of Secret Force
3 Hope Tender
2 Gatecreeper Vine
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Axebane Guardian
2 Eternal Witness
2 Walking Ballista
1 Genesis Hydra
1 Nylea God of the Hunt
1 Xenagos God of Revels
3 Deus of Calamity
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Primalcrux
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Overgrowth
2 Fertile Ground
// Instant (6)
4 Summoning Trap
2 Mirrorweave
// 2 Sorcery (2)
2 Primal Command
// 20 Land
11 Forest
2 [cardTemple Garden
2 Stomping Ground
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Kiora, Master of the Waves
60 Cards
Tell me what you think if you can playtest a similar concoction. A Mirrorweaved FAT Ballista is also a precious win con in my humble opinion. If you add Genesis Wave to this build, you can even add Mirror Gallery artifact so you can Mirrorweave Ruric in response to any spell the opponent casts and have them take Ruric trigger damage multiple times because Mirror Gallery negates the Legend rule. Heeh.
The overriding focus of this build is the Mirrorweave targeting their Fatties or your own. 5 X Primalcrux is 30/30 each. 5 X Deus of Calamity blows up almost half their lands if they have some blockers. We can even add 1 Wrecking Ogre to sneak in lethal via Nykthos devotion.
The Mirrorweave creates blasphemous amounts of G for either Deus or Primalcrux and you can tweak a Nykthos activation into anything you want--from Savage Beating to the aforementioned Wrecking Ogre.
Mirrorweave can make plenty of walls too for a lethal Banefire.
Mirroweave for Devotion might be the tech that beats spot removal for weenie devotion critters. Just one fatty makes for plenty of G if mirrorweaved and opponent has no path to exile or similar fatty removal. 3 mana wall dorks make for 9 mana and 16 mana if they were 4. That by itself should be more explosive than any similar weenie devotion spread on the board with similar 2 to cast or 3 to cast laydowns. When you Mirrorweave a full G CmC Fatty on the battlefield, it's alpha strike Good Game better than Garruk Overrun or the 1 in 60 Craterhoof topdeck or Primal Command lock tutor.
You can get a 20 plus G devotion spread with a Mirrorweaved Fatty so you can activate Nykthos for any X spell. Mirrorweave IS your Garruk Overrun and you dont need to untap Nykthos because of the lethal G devotion created by the copies. Think about that for a moment and test the theory.