I mean, I wouldn't listen to people that haven't played much Devotion. I'm sure most of us have a lot more knowledge of Devotion than Merriam or the other guy. I've played enough to know that two of my Green Devotion decks are definitely competitive enough to take down a large tournament, with a little luck, as is always needed to win a large tournament.
@CurdBros,
I definitely like the idea of toying around with more Superfriends Devotion decks, the G/W Walker devotion deck is pretty good, but not quite as good as my Garruk Green deck and possible the new Devoted Druid Chord deck I built. Do you think Jund Superfriends is better than G/W Walkers?
Haha! I was literally writing my last post before I saw your message.
I think they are very different. Different enough (to me at least) that BOTH are good in different setttings (and play very differently despite both being Superfriends decks).
I do think the Jund one is a little better in the current meta (just given the range of opponents and how the interaction sets up)...but I think both can be viable depending on the meta.
And I agree on Overturff...he has no idea what Devotion is.
Ross Merriam, however, actually plays a good amount of Devotion and has at least educated himself on it, played a few different lists, discusses it, and is a champion for the deck in many ways. I do think his deck is limited a little in terms of what most people think Green Devotion is (Genesis Wave, Primal Command, BTE, etc. all rolled into one deck). They haven't seen the progression of the deck(s) and how not all "good" devotion cards necessarily work well together and crammed into one deck...). They pretty much all consider Michael Jacobs version of Green Devotion as what "Devotion Is"....we can fix that this year though
I completely agree with you. It is best to just pick a list and stick with it, in order to learn it inside and out. One of our main advantages right now is that we know our matchups better than our opponents; devotion is an unknown quantity. (example: in my last round against humans, meddling made named 'bonfire of the damned', which is not in my list). By staying on the same list you extend that competitive advantage by being more prepared for each situation than your opponent.
That said brewing is super fun. Today I plan on playing a ridiculous eidolon of blossoms list at my lgs, just for fun. I might post the list later, but it is pretty much a bad version of storm.
The superfreinds lists sound enjoyable, and right now I want to just take a 2 week break from playing pact devotion... I might check it out!
Thanks Anthony! And you are right...we have a definite information advantage against most opponents...and NOTHING can replace actually playing a deck over and over again. I've learned so many interactions, intricacies, etc in playing that I never would have thought of.
Keep up the awesome work! I would love to hear about your Eidolon deck if you end up having the time to discuss it
Well, if you like the Jund Superfriend deck so much, then I suppose I'll have to test and tune it as well.
What's your sideboard?
Already I'm wondering why Xenagos isn't in the list.
EDIT:
So perhaps I overlooked the potential of R/G Walkers before. I don't really want to play so many mana dorks, and I'd like to have a deck that can be both aggressive and defensive so I don't really want the Caryatids. I found finks to be great because it is protects Walkers really well. Without the Sylvan Caryatids the mana base seems a little iffy for Jund, although if you're playing Finks shocking yourself might not be too much of an issue, so you can just make sure to fetch up a dual most of the time. AND you hav 4x Oath so it's really not too bad. Still, playing double of red, green and black is sketchy imo.
This list is very similar to the G/W Walker list, except it has a bit more removal with Chandras, and the ability to make more mana more consistently. It also has Blood Moon coming out of the sideboard which is no small thing. It shares the same gameplan of every Walker making a token or being able to kill something, so it can protect itself in some way.
Here's the list I just threw together, haven't been able to test it yet. This actually seems extremely strong.
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
Played 3 rounds with Devotion Gifts yesterday, and surprisingly went 2-1. It was definitely more challenging to play than "normal" devotion as it was hard to know what to get with Gifts in certain situations. Also leaving up 4 mana on turn 3 is very suspicious!
I realise I've also undervalued Garruk's overrun. I won a few games just by pumping 1 sole creature to get in that extra few points of damage! For that reason I think going wide with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is wise (who also managed to solo a Jund Death's Shadow player for the match!).
I think after having Anthony get so many great tops with Burning-Tree Devotion that I'll put some attention to the deck myself. Luckily there's back to back Modern this week so I'll be playing 3 rounds with this decklist later today:
After all these months I still don't own any Kitchen Finks, Blood Moon or Summoner's Pact but I'm always keeping an eye out for a good deal (with WOTC being trigger happy with reprints recently I don't mind waiting for price drops; I'm not playing in any high-stakes tourneys). The fact that Burning-Tree does so well reminded me of a fun deck that I played in Yugioh a few years ago (Frogs w/ Nimble Angler and Tidal) that competed fairly well vs. the Tier 1 deck at the time due to its explosiveness. After the Tidal card got banned, funnily enough every other version of the deck was never as powerful. Perhaps there is a parallel with Green Devotion, in that our explosiveness is what will bring us up a tier.
I think Arch of Orazca will be worth testing. I've found myself with 10 permanents on board quite often, and with Oath of Nissa, Utopia Sprawl and random tokens (along with lands) it shouldn't be too hard to Ascend. It also plays very well with Primeval Titan, which I'm feeling as more and more of a 1-of staple rather than semi-staple for Devotion decks. I've dragged behind, and eventually lost, plenty of games just due to a single Ghost Quarter or removal on a mana dork (I believe I've mentioned this before), and it's so frustrating as the strategies that counter our deck also take our devotion off the table. My prediction is that Prime Time into Orazca will be a great long term strategy, as opposed to the Kessig pump which is great if you have lots of creatures (so that your board is resistant to removal) but not good on an empty board. And if Prime Time survives then you'll certainly Ascend and be able to draw cards to grind out opponents. It may even be the case that the land is sideboarded for control/grindy matchups; I don't fancy playing 6 colourless lands (4 Nykthos, Kessig and Orazca), but maybe it would work out.
Great Minds think alike I just added a single copy of Xenagos this evening (with the removal of one of the smaller creatures). I have gone back and forth trying to find a way to get another Chandra in (as having that removal at 4-CMC is nice. My list is a little more on the "interactive" side...so its SUPER exciting to see one a little more focused on overwhelming the opponent. And you are right...having access to Blood moon is really helpful.
I will post the full tuned list after I am finished testing (with preliminary board).
Well 3-0 so far with G/R Walker Devotion. I'd like to add a Craterhoof since it's the best Devotion finisher and I can tutor for it with Garruk Relentless.
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
Hey guys, just giving some match reports from the last two weeks now that holidays are over and I'm back in the LGS (40-60person weekly) train. Been running/tweaking this list for quite a while now.
Two notes beforehand:
I was running previously less lands and serum/oath/oracles for draw/scry effects - came to the conclusion that I should focus more on lands for earlier explosive channeler or courser plays. Kessig wolf run just made sense with the chameleon's I run too, love the combo and I think overall it's been the right choice.
Secondly, I've mentioned I love chalice. I still do. Total MVP+++.
1/2
Infect 2-0.
G1 is scary but g2-3 are in our favor via chalice/ballista I think?
G1: Had a pretty steady supply of chumpers and he didn't find non-trample evasion fast enough for a ballista to take over the game.
+ chalice, + abrade
g2: Chalice on 1
5c humans 2-1
Deck is pretty good against more honest stuff but I don't have much experience against this deck, I think I got lucky that he really didn't know what to do against me either and probably misplayed his mages.
g1: Hornet queen held out until I got rolling.
+ abrade, firespout. - scooze, slime, tyrant, ruric, 1 nissa
g2: Mul to 5 then overran before I got to do much
g3: Got some nuts value from t2 nissa and craterhoof'ed turn 4
Storm 2-0
I think my list in particular is good against storm because of my t3 ruric routes (channelers/nissa shenanigans), scooze and chalice
g1: killed electromancer with ballista and landed ruric after
g2: t3 ruric via channelers.
G tron 2-1
Hate Tron. Countering all is dust/ugin -> go over top seem like the most viable strategy for my SB. I think I have a positive record doing so?
g1: He mulls to 6 and keeps a yolo 1 lander and ends up doing pretty much nothing all game
+chalice +stubby (yes I know these are contradictory but if I can't land chalice I like having backups)
g2: I get an amazing hand but no counters and try to race a t3 natural ugin. oops.
g3: no chalice but a stubby d+ewit stunts him enough to get through a wurmcoil with 32 chameleon trample
1/9
Dredge 2-0
Mainboard scooze + lots of mana = super in favor I think
g1: Scoozed
+cage
g2: Suuuuper slow game.. nothing but ramp and a scooze + ewit.. and then i drew nothing but more lands. Casted scooze late to get around conflag and stalled so long he deck'ed himself.
Jeskai Tempo. 2-1
Carnage Tyrant. Stubby D.
g1: I get hit by 3 spell quellers in a row
+1 carnage. +3 stubbyd
g2: t3 carnage via channelers
g3: t4 stubby'd to land pact->carnage and he get him before wrath
Grixis Shadow 2-1
More chameleons the better
g1: torn apart by multiple thoughtseize/inq and a really fast double shadow
+chalice. +stubbyD
g2: Chameleon survives the discard and lands
g3: Nissa into ewit into discarded chameleon and kessig for the win
Eldrazi Tron 2-0
Yup still hate tron.
g1: he chalices himself out of mapping for the mana he needs to all is dust me for the win. Doesn't know I have pact and gets hoof'ed
+carnage, stubby d
g2: chalices on 0 this time but I stubby his boardwipe and a carnage blocks his smashers until I garruk overrun some hornets
I think most of my takeaway is how narrow a lot of deck's are right now and how some strong sideboard answers are for them + some unique ways to filter through to them (nissa, fetchland scrying) really run away with games. Most of the deck kinda comes outa left field, and the deck is fast enough that if they sideboard in answers-to-answers I get enough time to over-run them. I normally have some changes/thoughts but I'm really liking the current list and will report more soon, feel like I have strong hosers and a decent clock for pretty much every matchup, so at worst can go 50:50. U-tron and U-shift are probably the deck's I'm most scared of in our archetype, but haven't seen those in quite awhile.
Really like hearing about the return to primal lists: gen wave and primal is where I started as well and have wanted re-take a look recently. Continually impressed by the big green community and looking forward to more of people's findings.
one of the thing I like about arlinn Kord is her emblem wins through ensnaring bridge. before i was on the planeswalker kick, i played two of her in the main, some of my lantern opponents over looked the threat of her. Ghirapur Aether Grid ain't got nothing on Arlinn's emblem.
Sweet build you have there. I was just looking at all my Green Devotion brews I have saved, and the Freed From the Real version caught my interest. What's sweet about that deck is it can win on turn 2 with the nut hand! It plays Mul-Daya channelers, which is definitely a sweet card but because of the unreliability I didn't rate is extremely high. One thing you might want to consider is cutting Ruric Thar altogether and replacing it with Scooze. I think Scooze does a lot of the same job and more and it's cheaper. Especially since you've cut the 2-drop basically.
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Always wear protection kids, sleeve up your deck.
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 think channelers are definitely underrated imo. Not even including the synergy with nissa, the fetch land-scry-"I could maybe trade with your 5/5" effect is pretty powerful.
I've actually been wondering about scooze. Ruric absolutely stomps storm but carnage is now my go-to vs most controlly stuff I used to like him for: anyone else work with scooze over ruric? - I'll give it a run next week. edit: remember'd he's one of my main answers to burn - I'll have to run some non ruric games against burn specifically, match might get rough without him and thats a common enough deck I'm scared to have a more difficult time against them.
I like real but think ultimately it ends up kinda making the deck like T&N? - there's a better top-end gameplan for sure but at the end of the day being low enough to the ground to win on a gameplan thats not easily disruptable/all-in/not end up with dead weight in my hand makes me kinda shy away from it. Maybe a more dedicated list with chord could work better there?
I think channelers are definitely underrated imo. Not even including the synergy with nissa, the fetch land-scry-"I could maybe trade with your 5/5" effect is pretty powerful.
I was rethinking all of it's applications, and yes, it does have a lot of utility.
I've actually been wondering about scooze. Ruric absolutely stomps storm but carnage is now my go-to vs most controlly stuff I used to like him for: anyone else work with scooze over ruric? - I'll give it a run next week.
The problem with Ruric is that it's too expensive to be reliable vs. Storm, unless you have addition ramp, which you do because of Mul-Daya, but still, Scooze is super effective and safer because it's cheaper. It's all-around a better card. The only thing that Ruric has on Scooze is reach, and flyers can sometimes be an issue, but we have Hornet Queen and Ballista for Flyers, and you even have Firespout in the sideboard.
I do think your list is weak to Titanshift and Tron without Blood Moons.
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
This Thread is gonna running wild. I like it
This would be a great year for Devotion.
---
Yeah, Mul Daya Channelers are one of my Pet Cards. Not a easy card, but girls are never easy
Quote from GarfieldKlon »
@About Mul Daya Channelers
Yes. It's inconsistent on it own. But in my build i have incredible fun with these Girls. My Devotion Deck want see the most time the Top from my library for some reasons (Nissa, Steward of Elements, Courser of Kruphix, CardDrawEffects (Coiling Oracle) , "fetch cards away") and with Freed from the Real in the right time --> infinite Mana.
These Girls need a good home and after that, they make you very happy
To make a special list with our strongest 3Drops can be really useful and which theme it can shine. For example Predator ooze = Resilent, Devotion. +1/+1 Counter Theme .
-----
i realized that i have never posted my Gifts Devotion Deck that i have brewd.
Ok 95% we want only Combo of with Gifts Ungiven but sometimes we need something else
If you didn't know want to "Tutor" draw with Gifts Ungiven , here is something to read that i have wrote some weeks ago.
It feels and build it like a 2 Colour T&N Deck on speed.
Ok, i didn't need 9 for Tooth and Nail but 3U+3W need his setup, too , to play my "one" Card Combo.
To get Packages (see spoiler) i have sometimes the second best choices as 1 off in the Deck. For Example Nature's Spiral for Eternal Witness Effect. I'm not sure if its really necessary.
The Backup Plan is more as clear
i think Jadelight Ranger can shine in this Version. scry/Land-Draw, early blocker or put Rites in the Graveyard (Nut Situation).Most important she can dig 2 cards deep to search Gifts Ungiven.
Primal Command has his benefit to buying me time. With the Focus of Ramp i think it is the best Choice.
Sideboard: Blood Sun is really great. Beat Death Shadow and Valakut, protect us from Ghost Quarter and sorts, Cantriped, slow down our Opponent.
I have a feeling that i missing something important, but i don't what it is.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways kind of appealed to me for sake of creature ramp and he can close games with his formidable ability. match ups that don't have creatures would be won on its activation. such as storm and lantern.
You may have found the best home for Jadelight, since Gifts Devotion can take advantage of the milling effect.
Notes:
Birds of Paradise is not good in the Mana fix package, since it doesn't have haste, just replace it with a different fetchland. Also, in Gifts Devotion, you should definitely run different green fetches, so you can Gift for different fetches to fix your mana.
Blood Sun is one of the sweetest cards from RIX, but I'm afraid it's application may be too narrow. It's good vs. D&T and also Valakut, as well as any deck that's is running almost all fetchlands, and can be decent in many other situations, but I'd usually just rather have Blood Moon (maybe too hard to run Blood Moon in Gifs Devotion). Green Devotion typically runs a lot of fetchlands so it could bite you in the ass for playing it.
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Always wear protection kids, sleeve up your deck.
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
@Dos_Rouge
I think formidable ends up being win-more. If they let you have that much power out you can normally just win the game.
@GarfieldKlon
I like the shell and lovin the gifts stuff: how does nissa SoE work out for you? - it looks like you're pretty light on early drops for her. I'd personally rather have more kioras for the untap fertiles/utopias.
How do your game 2/3 matches against GY go? Are the 2 primals/regular ramp your go-to at that point?
Played 3 rounds with Devotion Gifts yesterday, and surprisingly went 2-1. It was definitely more challenging to play than "normal" devotion as it was hard to know what to get with Gifts in certain situations. Also leaving up 4 mana on turn 3 is very suspicious!
I realise I've also undervalued Garruk's overrun. I won a few games just by pumping 1 sole creature to get in that extra few points of damage! For that reason I think going wide with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is wise (who also managed to solo a Jund Death's Shadow player for the match!).
I think after having Anthony get so many great tops with Burning-Tree Devotion that I'll put some attention to the deck myself. Luckily there's back to back Modern this week so I'll be playing 3 rounds with this decklist later today:
After all these months I still don't own any Kitchen Finks, Blood Moon or Summoner's Pact but I'm always keeping an eye out for a good deal (with WOTC being trigger happy with reprints recently I don't mind waiting for price drops; I'm not playing in any high-stakes tourneys). The fact that Burning-Tree does so well reminded me of a fun deck that I played in Yugioh a few years ago (Frogs w/ Nimble Angler and Tidal) that competed fairly well vs. the Tier 1 deck at the time due to its explosiveness. After the Tidal card got banned, funnily enough every other version of the deck was never as powerful. Perhaps there is a parallel with Green Devotion, in that our explosiveness is what will bring us up a tier.
I think Arch of Orazca will be worth testing. I've found myself with 10 permanents on board quite often, and with Oath of Nissa, Utopia Sprawl and random tokens (along with lands) it shouldn't be too hard to Ascend. It also plays very well with Primeval Titan, which I'm feeling as more and more of a 1-of staple rather than semi-staple for Devotion decks. I've dragged behind, and eventually lost, plenty of games just due to a single Ghost Quarter or removal on a mana dork (I believe I've mentioned this before), and it's so frustrating as the strategies that counter our deck also take our devotion off the table. My prediction is that Prime Time into Orazca will be a great long term strategy, as opposed to the Kessig pump which is great if you have lots of creatures (so that your board is resistant to removal) but not good on an empty board. And if Prime Time survives then you'll certainly Ascend and be able to draw cards to grind out opponents. It may even be the case that the land is sideboarded for control/grindy matchups; I don't fancy playing 6 colourless lands (4 Nykthos, Kessig and Orazca), but maybe it would work out
.
That is Awesome! I loved the Gifts version you and GarfieldKlon have championed...it sounds like you're tuning it quite well. I do have to say, however...that the list you posted looks strong. Just seems very "tuned" and stout in the sense that it has on-theme answers for most decks even in the main. It looks like a deck from someone who has played the deck quite a bit and knows what they are doing.
I too have been trying Arch of Orazca and you are right...it really isn't hard to hit Ascend. The fact that ti doesn't come into play tapped is HUGE and we can untap it if we want to draw two cards in a single turn. I will continue to test it in my list as well. Extremely good point on Prime Time too...having a fatty that can tutor for our utility lands may be worth a slot in nearly every deck. I have always thought that by the time I cast Prime time I should be in a pretty "winning" place anyways...but that isn't true in real game play. Often times this tutor can be a big help. I may actually even try it in the Jund Superfriends deck...but in my more creature-heavy decks it seems like an extremely good idea. This is especially true if Arch of Orazca is strong (or any other Ascend cards) as he counts for 3 total permanents on top of fetching for it.
I used to love the idea of fetching a Mosswort Bridge or two with Prime Time as you pretty much always have the power needed (and can untap it with Garruk, Kiiora, or Nissa VF among others)...and Arch follows a similar path without coming into play tapped (which I've found to be a death knell to utility lands in our deck).
With regards to the Jund Walkers list, has the new Vraska been doing work for you? She's been incredible in cube for me
She is INCREDIBLE. I've won multiple games setting the opponent to 1 life and killing them with a small creature, ping from Chandra, or ping from Ballista.
______
I've made a few small changes to the list and started a breakdown of recent testing/changes (added Ballista, second Chandra in place of second Ob Nixils, etc.). I will provide the newer list ASAP (with board) and then provide the blurb after I have got the last two dozen games recapped.
Well 3-0 so far with G/R Walker Devotion. I'd like to add a Craterhoof since it's the best Devotion finisher and I can tutor for it with Garruk Relentless.
I agree that in the Grull version you've posted that Craterhoof would be a great finisher.
I forgot how good Xenagos can be in the right match ups...someimes he doesn't feel great; but other times he is unreal. I have liked Vraska quite a bit; but the Jund version is a little slower and more interactive than this; so it may be best as a sideboard option in your version (where you want removal without giving up the ability to spam tokens at a slightly higher cost).
Yeah, I really like Vraska, I've considered splashing her in my R/G deck as the only black card. She answerers basically anything, and also produces dudes. Since it costs 1 less than Earn I like her better in this deck. Though Karn is good vs. Tron, or in the mirror match for that matter
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Always wear protection kids, sleeve up your deck.
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
Hey guys, just giving some match reports from the last two weeks now that holidays are over and I'm back in the LGS (40-60person weekly) train. Been running/tweaking this list for quite a while now.
Two notes beforehand:
I was running previously less lands and serum/oath/oracles for draw/scry effects - came to the conclusion that I should focus more on lands for earlier explosive channeler or courser plays. Kessig wolf run just made sense with the chameleon's I run too, love the combo and I think overall it's been the right choice.
Secondly, I've mentioned I love chalice. I still do. Total MVP+++.
1/2
Infect 2-0.
G1 is scary but g2-3 are in our favor via chalice/ballista I think?
G1: Had a pretty steady supply of chumpers and he didn't find non-trample evasion fast enough for a ballista to take over the game.
+ chalice, + abrade
g2: Chalice on 1
5c humans 2-1
Deck is pretty good against more honest stuff but I don't have much experience against this deck, I think I got lucky that he really didn't know what to do against me either and probably misplayed his mages.
g1: Hornet queen held out until I got rolling.
+ abrade, firespout. - scooze, slime, tyrant, ruric, 1 nissa
g2: Mul to 5 then overran before I got to do much
g3: Got some nuts value from t2 nissa and craterhoof'ed turn 4
Storm 2-0
I think my list in particular is good against storm because of my t3 ruric routes (channelers/nissa shenanigans), scooze and chalice
g1: killed electromancer with ballista and landed ruric after
g2: t3 ruric via channelers.
G tron 2-1
Hate Tron. Countering all is dust/ugin -> go over top seem like the most viable strategy for my SB. I think I have a positive record doing so?
g1: He mulls to 6 and keeps a yolo 1 lander and ends up doing pretty much nothing all game
+chalice +stubby (yes I know these are contradictory but if I can't land chalice I like having backups)
g2: I get an amazing hand but no counters and try to race a t3 natural ugin. oops.
g3: no chalice but a stubby d+ewit stunts him enough to get through a wurmcoil with 32 chameleon trample
1/9
Dredge 2-0
Mainboard scooze + lots of mana = super in favor I think
g1: Scoozed
+cage
g2: Suuuuper slow game.. nothing but ramp and a scooze + ewit.. and then i drew nothing but more lands. Casted scooze late to get around conflag and stalled so long he deck'ed himself.
Jeskai Tempo. 2-1
Carnage Tyrant. Stubby D.
g1: I get hit by 3 spell quellers in a row
+1 carnage. +3 stubbyd
g2: t3 carnage via channelers
g3: t4 stubby'd to land pact->carnage and he get him before wrath
Grixis Shadow 2-1
More chameleons the better
g1: torn apart by multiple thoughtseize/inq and a really fast double shadow
+chalice. +stubbyD
g2: Chameleon survives the discard and lands
g3: Nissa into ewit into discarded chameleon and kessig for the win
Eldrazi Tron 2-0
Yup still hate tron.
g1: he chalices himself out of mapping for the mana he needs to all is dust me for the win. Doesn't know I have pact and gets hoof'ed
+carnage, stubby d
g2: chalices on 0 this time but I stubby his boardwipe and a carnage blocks his smashers until I garruk overrun some hornets
I think most of my takeaway is how narrow a lot of deck's are right now and how some strong sideboard answers are for them + some unique ways to filter through to them (nissa, fetchland scrying) really run away with games. Most of the deck kinda comes outa left field, and the deck is fast enough that if they sideboard in answers-to-answers I get enough time to over-run them. I normally have some changes/thoughts but I'm really liking the current list and will report more soon, feel like I have strong hosers and a decent clock for pretty much every matchup, so at worst can go 50:50. U-tron and U-shift are probably the deck's I'm most scared of in our archetype, but haven't seen those in quite awhile.
Really like hearing about the return to primal lists: gen wave and primal is where I started as well and have wanted re-take a look recently. Continually impressed by the big green community and looking forward to more of people's findings.
The Chalice idea is EXTREMELY intriguing. This could be a great answer a lot of our worst match ups without effecting us too heavily. I will absolutely be trying this out. Now that I am in red again, I am exctied to get back to having Ruric Thar as well It's not the fastest answer to Storm, but if they hiccup at all it ends their chances 90% of the time it is played. Its a heck of a lot tougher to play in a super-friends list, but Genesis Hydra goes a LONG way to helping this (and I side out a lot of the worse options and nombos).
The Channelers/Courser revealing the top makes Nissa SOE amazing. I tried to do that a bit with Courser and Vizier of the Menagerie; but Channelers is a much better option. Great list. Have you ever thought of adding a 1-of Dryad Arbor to your list? On top of the deck is "turns on" both of Channeler's abilities and may be strong in its own right in your build.
P.S. Also a fan of Stubborn Denial in a deck with that many potential 4+power creatures.
Haha! I was literally writing my last post before I saw your message.
I think they are very different. Different enough (to me at least) that BOTH are good in different setttings (and play very differently despite both being Superfriends decks).
I do think the Jund one is a little better in the current meta (just given the range of opponents and how the interaction sets up)...but I think both can be viable depending on the meta.
And I agree on Overturff...he has no idea what Devotion is.
Ross Merriam, however, actually plays a good amount of Devotion and has at least educated himself on it, played a few different lists, discusses it, and is a champion for the deck in many ways. I do think his deck is limited a little in terms of what most people think Green Devotion is (Genesis Wave, Primal Command, BTE, etc. all rolled into one deck). They haven't seen the progression of the deck(s) and how not all "good" devotion cards necessarily work well together and crammed into one deck...). They pretty much all consider Michael Jacobs version of Green Devotion as what "Devotion Is"....we can fix that this year though
Thanks Anthony! And you are right...we have a definite information advantage against most opponents...and NOTHING can replace actually playing a deck over and over again. I've learned so many interactions, intricacies, etc in playing that I never would have thought of.
Keep up the awesome work! I would love to hear about your Eidolon deck if you end up having the time to discuss it
Well, if you like the Jund Superfriend deck so much, then I suppose I'll have to test and tune it as well.
What's your sideboard?
Already I'm wondering why Xenagos isn't in the list.
EDIT:
So perhaps I overlooked the potential of R/G Walkers before. I don't really want to play so many mana dorks, and I'd like to have a deck that can be both aggressive and defensive so I don't really want the Caryatids. I found finks to be great because it is protects Walkers really well. Without the Sylvan Caryatids the mana base seems a little iffy for Jund, although if you're playing Finks shocking yourself might not be too much of an issue, so you can just make sure to fetch up a dual most of the time. AND you hav 4x Oath so it's really not too bad. Still, playing double of red, green and black is sketchy imo.
This list is very similar to the G/W Walker list, except it has a bit more removal with Chandras, and the ability to make more mana more consistently. It also has Blood Moon coming out of the sideboard which is no small thing. It shares the same gameplan of every Walker making a token or being able to kill something, so it can protect itself in some way.
Here's the list I just threw together, haven't been able to test it yet. This actually seems extremely strong.
// 17 Creature
4 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Walking Ballista
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Scavenging Ooze
// 8 Enchantment
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Oath of Nissa
// 21 Land
6 Forest
3 Stomping Ground
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Windswept Heath
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
3 Blood Moon
2 Abrade
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Unsure
Possible:
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I realise I've also undervalued Garruk's overrun. I won a few games just by pumping 1 sole creature to get in that extra few points of damage! For that reason I think going wide with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is wise (who also managed to solo a Jund Death's Shadow player for the match!).
I think after having Anthony get so many great tops with Burning-Tree Devotion that I'll put some attention to the deck myself. Luckily there's back to back Modern this week so I'll be playing 3 rounds with this decklist later today:
4x Arbor Elf
3x Birds of Paradise
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Wistful Selkie
1x Eternal Witness
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Chameleon Colossus
1x Polukranos, World Eater
1x Primeval Titan
1x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1x Hornet Queen
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
4x Garruk Wildspeaker
2x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Enchantments (8)
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Oath of Nissa
Sorceries (3)
3x Primal Command
Lands (21)
6x Forest
2x Windswept Heath
2x Verdant Catacombs
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Wooded Foothills
2x Stomping Ground
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Creeping Corrosion
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Acidic Slime
1x Carnage Tyrant
3x Genesis Hydra
2x Kozilek's Return
After all these months I still don't own any Kitchen Finks, Blood Moon or Summoner's Pact but I'm always keeping an eye out for a good deal (with WOTC being trigger happy with reprints recently I don't mind waiting for price drops; I'm not playing in any high-stakes tourneys). The fact that Burning-Tree does so well reminded me of a fun deck that I played in Yugioh a few years ago (Frogs w/ Nimble Angler and Tidal) that competed fairly well vs. the Tier 1 deck at the time due to its explosiveness. After the Tidal card got banned, funnily enough every other version of the deck was never as powerful. Perhaps there is a parallel with Green Devotion, in that our explosiveness is what will bring us up a tier.
I think Arch of Orazca will be worth testing. I've found myself with 10 permanents on board quite often, and with Oath of Nissa, Utopia Sprawl and random tokens (along with lands) it shouldn't be too hard to Ascend. It also plays very well with Primeval Titan, which I'm feeling as more and more of a 1-of staple rather than semi-staple for Devotion decks. I've dragged behind, and eventually lost, plenty of games just due to a single Ghost Quarter or removal on a mana dork (I believe I've mentioned this before), and it's so frustrating as the strategies that counter our deck also take our devotion off the table. My prediction is that Prime Time into Orazca will be a great long term strategy, as opposed to the Kessig pump which is great if you have lots of creatures (so that your board is resistant to removal) but not good on an empty board. And if Prime Time survives then you'll certainly Ascend and be able to draw cards to grind out opponents. It may even be the case that the land is sideboarded for control/grindy matchups; I don't fancy playing 6 colourless lands (4 Nykthos, Kessig and Orazca), but maybe it would work out.
I will post the full tuned list after I am finished testing (with preliminary board).
Other decent Walkers to consider:
Arlinn Kord
Nissa, Vital Force
Vraska, Relic Seeker
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Two notes beforehand:
I was running previously less lands and serum/oath/oracles for draw/scry effects - came to the conclusion that I should focus more on lands for earlier explosive channeler or courser plays. Kessig wolf run just made sense with the chameleon's I run too, love the combo and I think overall it's been the right choice.
Secondly, I've mentioned I love chalice. I still do. Total MVP+++.
1x Acidic Slime
4x Arbor Elf
3x Birds of Paradise
1x Carnage Tyrant
2x Chameleon Colossus
3x Courser of Kruphix
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Hornet Queen
1x Eternal Witness
1x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1x Scavenging Ooze
3x Walking Ballista
3x Mul Daya Channelers
1x Breeding Pool
2x Kessig Wolf Run
5x Forest
2x Stomping Ground
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
Planeswalker (6)
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Nissa, Steward of Elements
Other (7)
3x Summoner's Pact
4x Utopia Sprawl
2x Abrade
1x Carnage Tyrant
3x Chalice of the Void
3x Firespout
1x Fracturing Gust
2x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Stubborn Denial
1/2
Infect 2-0.
G1 is scary but g2-3 are in our favor via chalice/ballista I think?
G1: Had a pretty steady supply of chumpers and he didn't find non-trample evasion fast enough for a ballista to take over the game.
+ chalice, + abrade
g2: Chalice on 1
5c humans 2-1
Deck is pretty good against more honest stuff but I don't have much experience against this deck, I think I got lucky that he really didn't know what to do against me either and probably misplayed his mages.
g1: Hornet queen held out until I got rolling.
+ abrade, firespout. - scooze, slime, tyrant, ruric, 1 nissa
g2: Mul to 5 then overran before I got to do much
g3: Got some nuts value from t2 nissa and craterhoof'ed turn 4
Storm 2-0
I think my list in particular is good against storm because of my t3 ruric routes (channelers/nissa shenanigans), scooze and chalice
g1: killed electromancer with ballista and landed ruric after
g2: t3 ruric via channelers.
G tron 2-1
Hate Tron. Countering all is dust/ugin -> go over top seem like the most viable strategy for my SB. I think I have a positive record doing so?
g1: He mulls to 6 and keeps a yolo 1 lander and ends up doing pretty much nothing all game
+chalice +stubby (yes I know these are contradictory but if I can't land chalice I like having backups)
g2: I get an amazing hand but no counters and try to race a t3 natural ugin. oops.
g3: no chalice but a stubby d+ewit stunts him enough to get through a wurmcoil with 32 chameleon trample
1/9
Dredge 2-0
Mainboard scooze + lots of mana = super in favor I think
g1: Scoozed
+cage
g2: Suuuuper slow game.. nothing but ramp and a scooze + ewit.. and then i drew nothing but more lands. Casted scooze late to get around conflag and stalled so long he deck'ed himself.
Jeskai Tempo. 2-1
Carnage Tyrant. Stubby D.
g1: I get hit by 3 spell quellers in a row
+1 carnage. +3 stubbyd
g2: t3 carnage via channelers
g3: t4 stubby'd to land pact->carnage and he get him before wrath
Grixis Shadow 2-1
More chameleons the better
g1: torn apart by multiple thoughtseize/inq and a really fast double shadow
+chalice. +stubbyD
g2: Chameleon survives the discard and lands
g3: Nissa into ewit into discarded chameleon and kessig for the win
Eldrazi Tron 2-0
Yup still hate tron.
g1: he chalices himself out of mapping for the mana he needs to all is dust me for the win. Doesn't know I have pact and gets hoof'ed
+carnage, stubby d
g2: chalices on 0 this time but I stubby his boardwipe and a carnage blocks his smashers until I garruk overrun some hornets
I think most of my takeaway is how narrow a lot of deck's are right now and how some strong sideboard answers are for them + some unique ways to filter through to them (nissa, fetchland scrying) really run away with games. Most of the deck kinda comes outa left field, and the deck is fast enough that if they sideboard in answers-to-answers I get enough time to over-run them. I normally have some changes/thoughts but I'm really liking the current list and will report more soon, feel like I have strong hosers and a decent clock for pretty much every matchup, so at worst can go 50:50. U-tron and U-shift are probably the deck's I'm most scared of in our archetype, but haven't seen those in quite awhile.
Really like hearing about the return to primal lists: gen wave and primal is where I started as well and have wanted re-take a look recently. Continually impressed by the big green community and looking forward to more of people's findings.
Sweet build you have there. I was just looking at all my Green Devotion brews I have saved, and the Freed From the Real version caught my interest. What's sweet about that deck is it can win on turn 2 with the nut hand! It plays Mul-Daya channelers, which is definitely a sweet card but because of the unreliability I didn't rate is extremely high. One thing you might want to consider is cutting Ruric Thar altogether and replacing it with Scooze. I think Scooze does a lot of the same job and more and it's cheaper. Especially since you've cut the 2-drop basically.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I've actually been wondering about scooze. Ruric absolutely stomps storm but carnage is now my go-to vs most controlly stuff I used to like him for: anyone else work with scooze over ruric? - I'll give it a run next week. edit: remember'd he's one of my main answers to burn - I'll have to run some non ruric games against burn specifically, match might get rough without him and thats a common enough deck I'm scared to have a more difficult time against them.
I like real but think ultimately it ends up kinda making the deck like T&N? - there's a better top-end gameplan for sure but at the end of the day being low enough to the ground to win on a gameplan thats not easily disruptable/all-in/not end up with dead weight in my hand makes me kinda shy away from it. Maybe a more dedicated list with chord could work better there?
I was rethinking all of it's applications, and yes, it does have a lot of utility.
The problem with Ruric is that it's too expensive to be reliable vs. Storm, unless you have addition ramp, which you do because of Mul-Daya, but still, Scooze is super effective and safer because it's cheaper. It's all-around a better card. The only thing that Ruric has on Scooze is reach, and flyers can sometimes be an issue, but we have Hornet Queen and Ballista for Flyers, and you even have Firespout in the sideboard.
I do think your list is weak to Titanshift and Tron without Blood Moons.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
This would be a great year for Devotion.
---
Yeah, Mul Daya Channelers are one of my Pet Cards. Not a easy card, but girls are never easy
To make a special list with our strongest 3Drops can be really useful and which theme it can shine. For example Predator ooze = Resilent, Devotion. +1/+1 Counter Theme .
-----
i realized that i have never posted my Gifts Devotion Deck that i have brewd.
Ok 95% we want only Combo of with Gifts Ungiven but sometimes we need something else
If you didn't know want to "Tutor" draw with Gifts Ungiven , here is something to read that i have wrote some weeks ago.
In addition to the combo with Gifts Ungiven there are always still "packages" to tutor some answers.
For example in Esper Gifts :
Wrath Package
*Wrath of God
*Day of Judgment
*Damnation
* Board wipe of your choice
A full (old)List here:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-archives/222959-modern-gifts-packages
But this is the past and now we give Gifts Ungiven a new home with (nearly) new "Packages"
Any Two Cards
* Eternal Witness
* Noxious Revival / Nature's Spiral
* Card 1
* Card 2
Planeswalker Package example
* Garruk
* Kiora
* Nissa
* Anything other useful card
Mana Fix Package (to cast Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite if Unburial Rites isn't possible )
Abundant Growth
Birds of Paradise
Fertile Ground
Land Card
3 Breeding Pool
5 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
//Spells 21
1 Abundant Growth
3 Fertile Ground
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Kiora, Master of the Depths
1 Nature's Spiral
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
2 Primal Command
1 Unburial Rites
4 Utopia Sprawl
//Creatures 18
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Chameleon Colossus
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
2 Eternal Witness
2 Jadelight Ranger
1 Walking Ballista
1 Acidic Slime
2 Blood Sun
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
3 Negate
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Terastodon
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Den Protector
1 Freed from the Real
1 Hornet Queen
1 Noxious Revival
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Reason // Believe
1 Reclaim
1 Wistful Selkie
1 Deadbridge Goliath
It feels and build it like a 2 Colour T&N Deck on speed.
Ok, i didn't need 9 for Tooth and Nail but 3U+3W need his setup, too , to play my "one" Card Combo.
To get Packages (see spoiler) i have sometimes the second best choices as 1 off in the Deck. For Example Nature's Spiral for Eternal Witness Effect. I'm not sure if its really necessary.
The Backup Plan is more as clear
i think Jadelight Ranger can shine in this Version. scry/Land-Draw, early blocker or put Rites in the Graveyard (Nut Situation).Most important she can dig 2 cards deep to search Gifts Ungiven.
Primal Command has his benefit to buying me time. With the Focus of Ramp i think it is the best Choice.
Sideboard:
Blood Sun is really great. Beat Death Shadow and Valakut, protect us from Ghost Quarter and sorts, Cantriped, slow down our Opponent.
I have a feeling that i missing something important, but i don't what it is.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways kind of appealed to me for sake of creature ramp and he can close games with his formidable ability. match ups that don't have creatures would be won on its activation. such as storm and lantern.
You may have found the best home for Jadelight, since Gifts Devotion can take advantage of the milling effect.
Notes:
Birds of Paradise is not good in the Mana fix package, since it doesn't have haste, just replace it with a different fetchland. Also, in Gifts Devotion, you should definitely run different green fetches, so you can Gift for different fetches to fix your mana.
Blood Sun is one of the sweetest cards from RIX, but I'm afraid it's application may be too narrow. It's good vs. D&T and also Valakut, as well as any deck that's is running almost all fetchlands, and can be decent in many other situations, but I'd usually just rather have Blood Moon (maybe too hard to run Blood Moon in Gifs Devotion). Green Devotion typically runs a lot of fetchlands so it could bite you in the ass for playing it.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I think formidable ends up being win-more. If they let you have that much power out you can normally just win the game.
@GarfieldKlon
I like the shell and lovin the gifts stuff: how does nissa SoE work out for you? - it looks like you're pretty light on early drops for her. I'd personally rather have more kioras for the untap fertiles/utopias.
How do your game 2/3 matches against GY go? Are the 2 primals/regular ramp your go-to at that point?
That is Awesome! I loved the Gifts version you and GarfieldKlon have championed...it sounds like you're tuning it quite well. I do have to say, however...that the list you posted looks strong. Just seems very "tuned" and stout in the sense that it has on-theme answers for most decks even in the main. It looks like a deck from someone who has played the deck quite a bit and knows what they are doing.
I too have been trying Arch of Orazca and you are right...it really isn't hard to hit Ascend. The fact that ti doesn't come into play tapped is HUGE and we can untap it if we want to draw two cards in a single turn. I will continue to test it in my list as well. Extremely good point on Prime Time too...having a fatty that can tutor for our utility lands may be worth a slot in nearly every deck. I have always thought that by the time I cast Prime time I should be in a pretty "winning" place anyways...but that isn't true in real game play. Often times this tutor can be a big help. I may actually even try it in the Jund Superfriends deck...but in my more creature-heavy decks it seems like an extremely good idea. This is especially true if Arch of Orazca is strong (or any other Ascend cards) as he counts for 3 total permanents on top of fetching for it.
I used to love the idea of fetching a Mosswort Bridge or two with Prime Time as you pretty much always have the power needed (and can untap it with Garruk, Kiiora, or Nissa VF among others)...and Arch follows a similar path without coming into play tapped (which I've found to be a death knell to utility lands in our deck).
Great post! very informative.
She is INCREDIBLE. I've won multiple games setting the opponent to 1 life and killing them with a small creature, ping from Chandra, or ping from Ballista.
______
I've made a few small changes to the list and started a breakdown of recent testing/changes (added Ballista, second Chandra in place of second Ob Nixils, etc.). I will provide the newer list ASAP (with board) and then provide the blurb after I have got the last two dozen games recapped.
I agree that in the Grull version you've posted that Craterhoof would be a great finisher.
I forgot how good Xenagos can be in the right match ups...someimes he doesn't feel great; but other times he is unreal. I have liked Vraska quite a bit; but the Jund version is a little slower and more interactive than this; so it may be best as a sideboard option in your version (where you want removal without giving up the ability to spam tokens at a slightly higher cost).
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
The Chalice idea is EXTREMELY intriguing. This could be a great answer a lot of our worst match ups without effecting us too heavily. I will absolutely be trying this out. Now that I am in red again, I am exctied to get back to having Ruric Thar as well It's not the fastest answer to Storm, but if they hiccup at all it ends their chances 90% of the time it is played. Its a heck of a lot tougher to play in a super-friends list, but Genesis Hydra goes a LONG way to helping this (and I side out a lot of the worse options and nombos).
The Channelers/Courser revealing the top makes Nissa SOE amazing. I tried to do that a bit with Courser and Vizier of the Menagerie; but Channelers is a much better option. Great list. Have you ever thought of adding a 1-of Dryad Arbor to your list? On top of the deck is "turns on" both of Channeler's abilities and may be strong in its own right in your build.
P.S. Also a fan of Stubborn Denial in a deck with that many potential 4+power creatures.