The U/G list seems a bit too cute to be competitive, but hey I didn't test it much and I wasn't sure whose build to test.
The GP this in Minneapolis is for Standard
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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
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
Yeah...it is a deck I honestly haven't played a ton against...so I probably never really planned for it.
Side question...how do you feel about running three copies of Oath of Nissa? There are games where I swear it is the best card in the deck. It is a great top deck late...good early....but I'd rather have a mana-dork on turn 1-2 and multiples obviously are a TINY bit awkward (although the effect replaces itself). I'm just wondering if you've tried three ever. I haven't yet (it just seems like four is "right" but I had the thought creep in that maybe 3 is best.
Sometimes it feels like I have too many spells, cutting Oath of Nissa was hard for me, but IDk
[...]
Scry is real too. I want to cram in more fetch lands, because the top card is exposed so often that your fetchlands read "Scry 1" which is good.
It's not surprising that i like your list , too . Great Deck.
That feeling with too many spells was yesterday overwhelming for me. I have played Ruric Thar, the Unbowed early in the game and it was a disaster. The Opponent sayed that Ruric isn't very impressive - lol. i think he was only in the wrong Deck. But the counter of 17 Spells we have both in our Deck is right in the middle like the other Devotion Decks. So i believe the number is good. I think ruric is good in a Sideboard-Deck against pur 100% Control or against Combo without creatures.
I like really that you play the Vizier of the Menagerie. I have often consider him as a candidate for the Mainboard. How is the experience with the Vizier?
i think 8 Fetchlands are the perfect Number. And i really like the "scry 1" effect, too.
A note for myself if i go crazy:
There is something if you like to go infinite: Freed from the Real . on a Arbor Elf with a Utopia Sprawl or on the Channelers with the Mana Mode. After that into Manasinks , too.
to this i will 100% agree.
One Option if you use Kiora, the Crashing Wave is Kiora's Follower . The Upside that you can untap even a creature could be good if you have the targets for that(...and the flavour with the Name )
Kiora did a better Ramp Job if we have an Arbor Elf and Utopia Sprawl on the Board. Garruck is better if we have Nykthos and an Utopia Sprawl on Forest.
Kiora have with the -2 "dig trough the Deck" theme, And garruck give a creature if needed. The reason why garruck is slightly better, is that his final is for us a realistic WinCondition.
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P.S.:
I'm really exited about Ixalan. This have a explore Mechanic that want know what you have on Top of the library. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back on top or into your graveyard.) Sounds a little bit familar to me
Yeah....that was kinda my first though....I played Magus of the Candelabra in the past...and I honestly couldn't see enough situations where Hope Tender was any better to warrant the extra mana. To each their own, however. Maybe they know something I don't.
Decimator of the Provinces does have it's positives (you still get the +2/+2 if it is countered as it is a "cast" trigger, etc.) but it's hard not to use Craterhoof :). I could see it though (especially with things like Kitchen Finks or others where you get some benefit when they are sacrificed).
I've tried Freed from the Real in the past (with Drift of Phantasms to transmute for it). I played essentially the Arbor Elf/Utopia Sprawl combo with it (which can win as early as turn 2) as well as Bloom Tender just to have some extras...it was just a little fragile. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if you could get it to work (as a lot of new stuff has been printed since I tried it...and you are an awesome deck builder!)
And you are right....Ixalan is going to be fun! We likely won't get anything that ends up being useful in the long run (although I like Waker of the Wilds and the 1-drop enchantment already)....but boy oh boy is it fun testing the new stuff
@CurdBros
It's your fault, because of your nice words
I give that a try:
Freed from the Real is a real honey trap if i do a quick look in the internet with all the Decks with this card. This card need a lot setup, and this make it very fragile if this is your only WinCondition.
Luckily we have the best fertile ground for a home for this "trap".
Turn 2 > Forest, Utopia Sprawl on the untapped one naming blue. Double the Utopia Sprawl then untap the tapped one with Arbor Elf. Freed from the Real using 3 mana (1 blue and one green from double sprawl forest, 1 from normal forest) on Arbor Elf, untap with the floating blue mana and then produce infinite mana. The combo is still possible with only one Utopia Sprawl, but 2 are needed for the turn 2 combo, and you will only produce infinite green mana (+1 Blue if tap enchanted forest at least). Kiora's Follower can also be used.
-----------
Quick Reminder for the Deckbuilders:
Every Card with a X is great to finish the Game and every Mana sinks is a great help and do the same.
For this Reason i have Chord of Calling in this Build (with infinite mana search Duskwatch Recruiter and find with him the Ballista).
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Some Card Choices
Why Weirding Wood ? We have 6 Untap creatures (Arbor Elf ,Kiora's Follower ) in this Deck, but without only 4 Land Entchantments to go infinite Mana. 5 seems a good number.
And why not Overgrowth ? Because we only need 1 additional Mana to go infinite and we get a Clue for the Card Draw.
The Combination with that much Land Entchantments and the Untappers make maybe Kiora better as Garruk - Maybe...i don't know. Just try it
In All that make 10 targets for this Enchantment.
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Is the Combo good?
Maybe not, because a 3 card Combo (In this case Untapper, Land-Enchantment and Freed from Real) are alyways critical. The most just do a build around with a combination with a lot protection. And after that you have often a Glas Canon or a lot dead Cards in your hand. In the better case you have a bunch of Medicore Cards that is not even great
i like my Combo Builds when they use good Cards by itself or have valid strategy if the combo not working. In this case the "Core" is the normal Green Devotion Deck
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Tipps
You can use Freed from the Real to enchant a Threat from your Opponent and tap this creature the hole Game (with a U tax)
a very common mistake that i have seen. If you use a white Splash, search your Aura with Open the Armory not with Idyllic Tutor.
I'm currently having a lot of success with my White Walkers build; but I'm going to have to tune my blue list too...I actually like the idea of Temur Sabertooth in the board for match ups where the game goes long. Lots to think about
________
I have spent some time recently focusing on the sideboard so I'd like to get a good list of sideboard options together.
I'm a big fan of infinite combos... when they are consistent, and the deck can still function without it, and I'm not sure how consistent Freed is, although I like the fact that it can function as removal. I won a match with your Freed from the Real list I think I may have tweaked it a little. I beat Burn in 3 games comboing both games I won. I think game 1 I comboed turn 2.
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Garruk Relentless might even be better than Gideon, but unfortunately it's a Garruk so I don't want too many copies. Having that extra removal is really nice.
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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
Vizier is good. Im not sure if she is good enough tho. I like having another way to peep the top of your library, also, she can plow thru some birds or elves late game. With Courser of Kruphix you can look at a lot of cards in one turn.
Sometimes its awesome, with Vizier and courser on board you can do something like Arbor elf, bird, forest, selkie, without playing a card from your hand. Which is card advantage for sure, but...
Sometimes it doesnt fit into the curve, four drops are difficult. I like to play a 3 on two and a 5 on 3, but Vizier is more of a late game card anyway
Best case is to get her on turn two with Forest ... Elf ... turn 2 ... Forest ... Utopia Sprawl .... 4 mana ... garruk ... untap ... Vizier ... turn 3 ... rip creatures off the top till you hit a Craterhoof and win. but thats dreamn
Vizier doesnt scale either, the way a genesis hydra would, she is bad when you dont have any mana, she doesnt help with devotion. I think of her as a support card, because tapping out to play her on turn 3 after casting a turn 2 nissa, can let you know if you should +1 or +0 your planeswalker.
If there is an elf or bird on top of my library, and I am about to cast a oath of nissa or reason or nissa +1, Ill usually pay (G) to get it off the top and make sure I dont draw it or have to waste a scry on it.
Idk if its good enough, the deck is able to look pretty deep into the library, but so what?
The card I want to cut the most is believe, I should probably play more Woodland Bellower, with all the 3 drops I play, but I dont play too many cards that are +5. If I cast it, I pay 5 for a wistful selkie or something. Once I won the game with a hoof on top. once.
@rendroc - you might be too cute jk, i think blue has a little play to it. I think it has as much of a chance to be competitive. I do like the selesnya brew tho. ajani is bad a__
I really want this card to be good. I tried it as a one of when I played whisperwood elemental. so I could return a primal command or garruk to my hand and it was cool enough.
Check out this list I came across. It's not devotion just 4 color Walkers, but it seems pretty good. Probably super weak to big black decks without the token making chump blockers though.
The Selesnya deck is a Walker deck that has Nykthos to pump out cards and potentially have very explosive starts. I got turn 3 Garruk and Ajani Unyielding down recentlty, then proceeded to play every other Planeswalker in my deck. A nice screenshot.
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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
Hi all, been a while since I posted here, been playing around with a bunch of different stuff the last couple months. Came back to devotion and took it to GP Minneapolis this weekend and jammed it through a couple double prize side events. Figured it would be helpful to post some metrics for people that are interested, so here goes!
Overall I played a total of 8 matches with 3 ID's across 3 events (ID's for sweet sweet prizes). My record was 6-2-3.
Round 1: UW Emeria (W 2-1)
This is a good matchup! They have no clock, which lets us build a board with impunity. However, he ran Supreme Verdicts, which were a speed bump.
As long as you manage your threats though, it's fine. Raging Ravine and Primeval Titan won me both games. The loss was a mull to 5 and getting stuck on 2 lands, so not much takeaway there.
Round 2: Lantern Control (W 2-1)
Game one was over very quickly, with some BTE's, Wistful Selkies, and Primeval Titan's rumbling in the first 3 turns. Game 2 was a slog, and he eventually got out a Magus of the Tabernacle??? and grinded me out. Game 3 I resoled a RURIC THAR which won the game by himself
Round 3: Grixis Death Shadow (W 2-0)
Resolved Primeval Titans and Primal Commands were able to keep him off Death Shadow and stalled Gurmag Angler long enough to make lethal with Raging Ravine and Kessig Wolf Run. Same thing happened game 2. The games would most likely have been much different if he was able to get a T2 Tasigur, thankfully that didnt happen!
Round 4: Tron Walkers (L 0-2)
Game one had me reeling..... Turn 3 Karn, Turn 4 Oath of Nissa into Nicol Bolas, God Pharoah, play Bolas. On the play. Lawd have mercy. Game 2 was another Turn 3 Karn, so yea I got Tron'd hard.
Round 5: GW Tron (W 2-0)
Game one he dropped a horizon canopy turn one, I was glad to have an extra turn. With some ramping available, I Primal Command'd a land to the top and fetched Acidic Slime. Next Turn Acidic Slime took out Urza's Tower. Playing Temur Sabertooth the following turn allowed me to loop Acidic Slime and start destroying his lands. Felt SO GOOD! Game 2 I ramped quickly and started beating him down. Unfortunately he had a grip full of lands, and wasn't able to do much. I got pretty lucky there.
Round 6: GB Tron (W 2-0)
Game 1 on the draw I faced a Turn 3 Tron again, except this time his payoff was simply a Wurmcoil Engine. I vomited out a bunch of dudes and drew into Craterhoof. The turn after I Hoof'd him for ~45 damage. Game 2 I got out a turn 3 Crumble and kept him off cracking his Oblivion Stone long enough to beat him down with some BTE's and Selkies.
Round 7: 8-rack (L 0-2)
This matchup is so terrible! Game 1 wasn't even a contest. He was running smallpox as well, which just destroys our deck in the early game. Game 2 I had him dead in 2 turns, but didn't play fully to my outs. I had the ability to respond to the Rack and Shrieking affliction triggers to bounce a creature with Temur Sabertooth, however it didn't cross my mind. Whoops!
Round 8: GW Hatebears (W 2-0)
Their deck is much slower than ours, and since I'm only running 4 fetchlands, Leonin Arbiter and Aven Mindcensor don't do a whole lot. Ran him over with Polukranos monstrous activations both games
Overall, I think I was a bit lucky against the Tron players. Crumble felt good versus them, however Primal Command into Acidic Slime felt a bit slow. I added the Primal Command's as a way to fight Death Shadow, which they did a great job at. However with BTE's I feel that Summoner's Pact is a slightly better option. Notable cards that I think underperformed based on my matchups:
1) Polukranos - while he won me both my Hatebears games, I sided it out almost every other game. Much better against affinity and elf-type decks, which I didn't face.
2) Walking Ballista - same as Polukranos. I didn't get the right matchups for this guy unfortunately.
3) Eternal Witness - I was never in a position to loop Eternal Witness and Primal Command, but I can see this being better in a grindier meta. Would probably go down to 1 or 0 and try and add more gas for the midgame.
4) Oath of Nissa - I've liked this card for a while, however it's something that can be kind of awkward, since it does not ramp you in any way. Adds more consistency, and would again be better in a grindier meta. Probably will go down to 1-of.
5) Acidic Slime - Great versus my Tron opponents, however in other matchups I sided it out every time. In a Summoner's Pact version I can see it being a lot better.
6) Temur Sabertooth - Only had one opportunity to utilize him for real advantage, but that is most likely a combination of only having 1, and using Primal Command instead of Summoner's Pact.
Overperformers:
1) Wistful Selkie - Drawing cards and 3 devotion are great in almost any situation. Glad to have 4-of in the list.
1) RAGING RAVINE - card did so much work for me in a number of matchups. Even just being on the battlefield made the opponents fearful of it, which was great. Glad to have a 1-of.
3) Primeval Titan - card is great. Everyone knows it. Fetching Raging Ravine and Kessig is fantastic. Also a huge body stops much of the formats midrange threats.
All in all I had a lot of fun, and I was very happy to pilot a deck I enjoy to a decent record. One thing that I will be experimenting with is including the Ramunap Excavator and Azusa, Lost but Seeking combo with one or two Ghost Quarters for a mini land destruction package. I'll be doing some more testing to see how it feels, however I have a feeling that a singleton Ghost Quarter and Excavator may be all the deck needs. Time will tell.
On the subject of polukranos, it is a pet card of mine, but in reality walking ballista is almost always a better card and if you're machine gunning creatures down with it, you're already winning. A 5/5 for 4 is good against the creature decks, but the 4/4 baloth is better in most cases i'd say or another pw.
Check out this list I came across. It's not devotion just 4 color Walkers, but it seems pretty good. Probably super weak to big black decks without the token making chump blockers though.
The Selesnya deck is a Walker deck that has Nykthos to pump out cards and potentially have very explosive starts. I got turn 3 Garruk and Ajani Unyielding down recentlty, then proceeded to play every other Planeswalker in my deck. A nice screenshot.
Hey there! For some reason, the link or photo hasn't shown up on my end. Can you see it on yours?
Hi all, been a while since I posted here, been playing around with a bunch of different stuff the last couple months. Came back to devotion and took it to GP Minneapolis this weekend and jammed it through a couple double prize side events. Figured it would be helpful to post some metrics for people that are interested, so here goes!
Overall I played a total of 8 matches with 3 ID's across 3 events (ID's for sweet sweet prizes). My record was 6-2-3.
Round 1: UW Emeria (W 2-1)
This is a good matchup! They have no clock, which lets us build a board with impunity. However, he ran Supreme Verdicts, which were a speed bump.
As long as you manage your threats though, it's fine. Raging Ravine and Primeval Titan won me both games. The loss was a mull to 5 and getting stuck on 2 lands, so not much takeaway there.
Round 2: Lantern Control (W 2-1)
Game one was over very quickly, with some BTE's, Wistful Selkies, and Primeval Titan's rumbling in the first 3 turns. Game 2 was a slog, and he eventually got out a Magus of the Tabernacle??? and grinded me out. Game 3 I resoled a RURIC THAR which won the game by himself
Round 3: Grixis Death Shadow (W 2-0)
Resolved Primeval Titans and Primal Commands were able to keep him off Death Shadow and stalled Gurmag Angler long enough to make lethal with Raging Ravine and Kessig Wolf Run. Same thing happened game 2. The games would most likely have been much different if he was able to get a T2 Tasigur, thankfully that didnt happen!
Round 4: Tron Walkers (L 0-2)
Game one had me reeling..... Turn 3 Karn, Turn 4 Oath of Nissa into Nicol Bolas, God Pharoah, play Bolas. On the play. Lawd have mercy. Game 2 was another Turn 3 Karn, so yea I got Tron'd hard.
Round 5: GW Tron (W 2-0)
Game one he dropped a horizon canopy turn one, I was glad to have an extra turn. With some ramping available, I Primal Command'd a land to the top and fetched Acidic Slime. Next Turn Acidic Slime took out Urza's Tower. Playing Temur Sabertooth the following turn allowed me to loop Acidic Slime and start destroying his lands. Felt SO GOOD! Game 2 I ramped quickly and started beating him down. Unfortunately he had a grip full of lands, and wasn't able to do much. I got pretty lucky there.
Round 6: GB Tron (W 2-0)
Game 1 on the draw I faced a Turn 3 Tron again, except this time his payoff was simply a Wurmcoil Engine. I vomited out a bunch of dudes and drew into Craterhoof. The turn after I Hoof'd him for ~45 damage. Game 2 I got out a turn 3 Crumble and kept him off cracking his Oblivion Stone long enough to beat him down with some BTE's and Selkies.
Round 7: 8-rack (L 0-2)
This matchup is so terrible! Game 1 wasn't even a contest. He was running smallpox as well, which just destroys our deck in the early game. Game 2 I had him dead in 2 turns, but didn't play fully to my outs. I had the ability to respond to the Rack and Shrieking affliction triggers to bounce a creature with Temur Sabertooth, however it didn't cross my mind. Whoops!
Round 8: GW Hatebears (W 2-0)
Their deck is much slower than ours, and since I'm only running 4 fetchlands, Leonin Arbiter and Aven Mindcensor don't do a whole lot. Ran him over with Polukranos monstrous activations both games
Overall, I think I was a bit lucky against the Tron players. Crumble felt good versus them, however Primal Command into Acidic Slime felt a bit slow. I added the Primal Command's as a way to fight Death Shadow, which they did a great job at. However with BTE's I feel that Summoner's Pact is a slightly better option. Notable cards that I think underperformed based on my matchups:
1) Polukranos - while he won me both my Hatebears games, I sided it out almost every other game. Much better against affinity and elf-type decks, which I didn't face.
2) Walking Ballista - same as Polukranos. I didn't get the right matchups for this guy unfortunately.
3) Eternal Witness - I was never in a position to loop Eternal Witness and Primal Command, but I can see this being better in a grindier meta. Would probably go down to 1 or 0 and try and add more gas for the midgame.
4) Oath of Nissa - I've liked this card for a while, however it's something that can be kind of awkward, since it does not ramp you in any way. Adds more consistency, and would again be better in a grindier meta. Probably will go down to 1-of.
5) Acidic Slime - Great versus my Tron opponents, however in other matchups I sided it out every time. In a Summoner's Pact version I can see it being a lot better.
6) Temur Sabertooth - Only had one opportunity to utilize him for real advantage, but that is most likely a combination of only having 1, and using Primal Command instead of Summoner's Pact.
Overperformers:
1) Wistful Selkie - Drawing cards and 3 devotion are great in almost any situation. Glad to have 4-of in the list.
1) RAGING RAVINE - card did so much work for me in a number of matchups. Even just being on the battlefield made the opponents fearful of it, which was great. Glad to have a 1-of.
3) Primeval Titan - card is great. Everyone knows it. Fetching Raging Ravine and Kessig is fantastic. Also a huge body stops much of the formats midrange threats.
All in all I had a lot of fun, and I was very happy to pilot a deck I enjoy to a decent record. One thing that I will be experimenting with is including the Ramunap Excavator and Azusa, Lost but Seeking combo with one or two Ghost Quarters for a mini land destruction package. I'll be doing some more testing to see how it feels, however I have a feeling that a singleton Ghost Quarter and Excavator may be all the deck needs. Time will tell.
Cheers all.
Hey Grull!! Great to hear from you again. Thanks for posting a recap full of good info!
Your list looks strong! Great straight up Devotion.
Raging Ravine does seem really good in a Prime Time deck.
With as powerful as Walking Ballista has been for me...I'm half tempted to put together a straight Devotion deck with four copies of Ballista and Prime Time. Seems like it would beat a good portion of the meta
I once took a very simple list to FNM that included 4x Primal Command, 4x Eternal Witness, 4x Walking Ballista, and 4x Prime Time and it worked suprisingly well haha. I did face 2 affinity opponents, so that would lend itself to being a good matchup. Besides the obvious other matchups like Elves or Tokens, Ballista is also an out versus Lantern Control. If you're able to stick one and start swinging/pumping, it can be a route to victory. Against midrange decks and Tron though, Ballista doesn't do too much unfortunately.
On another note, I saw the GW Planeswalker decks you all posted a page or two back. How would you say those versions perform? They seem like they would be good versus control and midrange, although a bit lacking when paired against combo or big mana. Is this accurate in your experience? I like the way they look, especially with multiple Gideons. He is just so good!
On the subject of polukranos, it is a pet card of mine, but in reality walking ballista is almost always a better card and if you're machine gunning creatures down with it, you're already winning. A 5/5 for 4 is good against the creature decks, but the 4/4 baloth is better in most cases i'd say or another pw.
I included Polukranos because it tangos with Tasigur, Thought Knot, Reality Smasher and Gurmag Angler. Against a go wide list, yes Ballista is better. Baloth does not offer the same effect as Polukranos, I don't see them as comparable.
Hmm,I actually really like what he is doing here. He's got. Gifts package for creatures he can also potentially cast. I find it interesting that he choose the Sphinx and Emrakul, but I suppose the Sphinx gives him more gas and Emrakul, even if not cast, should close out the game.
His choice to us Kiowa the crashing wave is confusing
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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
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The GP this in Minneapolis is for Standard
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
edit: On some plays, noxious definitely too cute. Still like visions though.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Yeah...it is a deck I honestly haven't played a ton against...so I probably never really planned for it.
Side question...how do you feel about running three copies of Oath of Nissa? There are games where I swear it is the best card in the deck. It is a great top deck late...good early....but I'd rather have a mana-dork on turn 1-2 and multiples obviously are a TINY bit awkward (although the effect replaces itself). I'm just wondering if you've tried three ever. I haven't yet (it just seems like four is "right" but I had the thought creep in that maybe 3 is best.
Yeah....that was kinda my first though....I played Magus of the Candelabra in the past...and I honestly couldn't see enough situations where Hope Tender was any better to warrant the extra mana. To each their own, however. Maybe they know something I don't.
Decimator of the Provinces does have it's positives (you still get the +2/+2 if it is countered as it is a "cast" trigger, etc.) but it's hard not to use Craterhoof :). I could see it though (especially with things like Kitchen Finks or others where you get some benefit when they are sacrificed).
I've tried Freed from the Real in the past (with Drift of Phantasms to transmute for it). I played essentially the Arbor Elf/Utopia Sprawl combo with it (which can win as early as turn 2) as well as Bloom Tender just to have some extras...it was just a little fragile. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if you could get it to work (as a lot of new stuff has been printed since I tried it...and you are an awesome deck builder!)
And you are right....Ixalan is going to be fun! We likely won't get anything that ends up being useful in the long run (although I like Waker of the Wilds and the 1-drop enchantment already)....but boy oh boy is it fun testing the new stuff
It's your fault, because of your nice words
I give that a try:
Freed from the Real is a real honey trap if i do a quick look in the internet with all the Decks with this card. This card need a lot setup, and this make it very fragile if this is your only WinCondition.
Luckily we have the best fertile ground for a home for this "trap".
4 Breeding Pool
3 Flooded Strand
4 Forest
1 Island
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Wooded Foothills
//Spells
2 Chord of Calling
4 Freed from the Real
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Kiora, Master of the Depths
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
4 Utopia Sprawl
1 Weirding Wood
1 Altered Ego
4 Arbor Elf
3 Coiling Oracle
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Genesis Hydra
2 Kiora's Follower
4 Mul Daya Channelers
2 Walking Ballista
2 Wistful Selkie
1 Acidic Slime
2 Beast Within
2 Chameleon Colossus
4 Condescend
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Temur Sabertooth
2 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Unyaro Bees
Infinite Mana on Turn 2 - the Nut Draw!!!
Turn 1 > Forest, Arbor Elf
Turn 2 > Forest, Utopia Sprawl on the untapped one naming blue. Double the Utopia Sprawl then untap the tapped one with Arbor Elf. Freed from the Real using 3 mana (1 blue and one green from double sprawl forest, 1 from normal forest) on Arbor Elf, untap with the floating blue mana and then produce infinite mana. The combo is still possible with only one Utopia Sprawl, but 2 are needed for the turn 2 combo, and you will only produce infinite green mana (+1 Blue if tap enchanted forest at least). Kiora's Follower can also be used.
-----------
Quick Reminder for the Deckbuilders:
Every Card with a X is great to finish the Game and every Mana sinks is a great help and do the same.
For this Reason i have Chord of Calling in this Build (with infinite mana search Duskwatch Recruiter and find with him the Ballista).
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Some Card Choices
Why Weirding Wood ? We have 6 Untap creatures (Arbor Elf ,Kiora's Follower ) in this Deck, but without only 4 Land Entchantments to go infinite Mana. 5 seems a good number.
And why not Overgrowth ? Because we only need 1 additional Mana to go infinite and we get a Clue for the Card Draw.
The Combination with that much Land Entchantments and the Untappers make maybe Kiora better as Garruk - Maybe...i don't know. Just try it
4x Mul Daya Channelers --> if the Mana Mode is open it is a great target for Freed from the real.
In All that make 10 targets for this Enchantment.
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Is the Combo good?
Maybe not, because a 3 card Combo (In this case Untapper, Land-Enchantment and Freed from Real) are alyways critical. The most just do a build around with a combination with a lot protection. And after that you have often a Glas Canon or a lot dead Cards in your hand. In the better case you have a bunch of Medicore Cards that is not even great
i like my Combo Builds when they use good Cards by itself or have valid strategy if the combo not working. In this case the "Core" is the normal Green Devotion Deck
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Tipps
You can use Freed from the Real to enchant a Threat from your Opponent and tap this creature the hole Game (with a U tax)
a very common mistake that i have seen. If you use a white Splash, search your Aura with Open the Armory not with Idyllic Tutor.
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I love splashing Blue. I just love Coiling Oracle and Nissa, Steward of Elements so much
I'm currently having a lot of success with my White Walkers build; but I'm going to have to tune my blue list too...I actually like the idea of Temur Sabertooth in the board for match ups where the game goes long. Lots to think about
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I have spent some time recently focusing on the sideboard so I'd like to get a good list of sideboard options together.
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Garruk Relentless might even be better than Gideon, but unfortunately it's a Garruk so I don't want too many copies. Having that extra removal is really nice.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Vizier is good. Im not sure if she is good enough tho. I like having another way to peep the top of your library, also, she can plow thru some birds or elves late game. With Courser of Kruphix you can look at a lot of cards in one turn.
Sometimes its awesome, with Vizier and courser on board you can do something like Arbor elf, bird, forest, selkie, without playing a card from your hand. Which is card advantage for sure, but...
Sometimes it doesnt fit into the curve, four drops are difficult. I like to play a 3 on two and a 5 on 3, but Vizier is more of a late game card anyway
Best case is to get her on turn two with Forest ... Elf ... turn 2 ... Forest ... Utopia Sprawl .... 4 mana ... garruk ... untap ... Vizier ... turn 3 ... rip creatures off the top till you hit a Craterhoof and win. but thats dreamn
Vizier doesnt scale either, the way a genesis hydra would, she is bad when you dont have any mana, she doesnt help with devotion. I think of her as a support card, because tapping out to play her on turn 3 after casting a turn 2 nissa, can let you know if you should +1 or +0 your planeswalker.
If there is an elf or bird on top of my library, and I am about to cast a oath of nissa or reason or nissa +1, Ill usually pay (G) to get it off the top and make sure I dont draw it or have to waste a scry on it.
Idk if its good enough, the deck is able to look pretty deep into the library, but so what?
The card I want to cut the most is believe, I should probably play more Woodland Bellower, with all the 3 drops I play, but I dont play too many cards that are +5. If I cast it, I pay 5 for a wistful selkie or something. Once I won the game with a hoof on top. once.
@rendroc - you might be too cute
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On Temur Sabertooth
I really want this card to be good. I tried it as a one of when I played whisperwood elemental. so I could return a primal command or garruk to my hand and it was cool enough.
The Selesnya deck is a Walker deck that has Nykthos to pump out cards and potentially have very explosive starts. I got turn 3 Garruk and Ajani Unyielding down recentlty, then proceeded to play every other Planeswalker in my deck. A nice screenshot.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
4 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Wistful Selkie
2 Eternal Witness
2 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Temur Sabertooth
1 Acidic Slime
3 Primeval Titan
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Walking Ballista
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Oath of Nissa
3 Primal Command
Land
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4x Misty Rainforest
2 Stomping Ground
1 Raging Ravine
1 Kessig Wolf Run
9 Forest
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Choke
2 Crumble to Dust
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Stone Rain
1 Ancient Grudge
Overall I played a total of 8 matches with 3 ID's across 3 events (ID's for sweet sweet prizes). My record was 6-2-3.
Round 1: UW Emeria (W 2-1)
This is a good matchup! They have no clock, which lets us build a board with impunity. However, he ran Supreme Verdicts, which were a speed bump.
As long as you manage your threats though, it's fine. Raging Ravine and Primeval Titan won me both games. The loss was a mull to 5 and getting stuck on 2 lands, so not much takeaway there.
Round 2: Lantern Control (W 2-1)
Game one was over very quickly, with some BTE's, Wistful Selkies, and Primeval Titan's rumbling in the first 3 turns. Game 2 was a slog, and he eventually got out a Magus of the Tabernacle??? and grinded me out. Game 3 I resoled a RURIC THAR which won the game by himself
Round 3: Grixis Death Shadow (W 2-0)
Resolved Primeval Titans and Primal Commands were able to keep him off Death Shadow and stalled Gurmag Angler long enough to make lethal with Raging Ravine and Kessig Wolf Run. Same thing happened game 2. The games would most likely have been much different if he was able to get a T2 Tasigur, thankfully that didnt happen!
Round 4: Tron Walkers (L 0-2)
Game one had me reeling..... Turn 3 Karn, Turn 4 Oath of Nissa into Nicol Bolas, God Pharoah, play Bolas. On the play. Lawd have mercy. Game 2 was another Turn 3 Karn, so yea I got Tron'd hard.
Round 5: GW Tron (W 2-0)
Game one he dropped a horizon canopy turn one, I was glad to have an extra turn. With some ramping available, I Primal Command'd a land to the top and fetched Acidic Slime. Next Turn Acidic Slime took out Urza's Tower. Playing Temur Sabertooth the following turn allowed me to loop Acidic Slime and start destroying his lands. Felt SO GOOD! Game 2 I ramped quickly and started beating him down. Unfortunately he had a grip full of lands, and wasn't able to do much. I got pretty lucky there.
Round 6: GB Tron (W 2-0)
Game 1 on the draw I faced a Turn 3 Tron again, except this time his payoff was simply a Wurmcoil Engine. I vomited out a bunch of dudes and drew into Craterhoof. The turn after I Hoof'd him for ~45 damage. Game 2 I got out a turn 3 Crumble and kept him off cracking his Oblivion Stone long enough to beat him down with some BTE's and Selkies.
Round 7: 8-rack (L 0-2)
This matchup is so terrible! Game 1 wasn't even a contest. He was running smallpox as well, which just destroys our deck in the early game. Game 2 I had him dead in 2 turns, but didn't play fully to my outs. I had the ability to respond to the Rack and Shrieking affliction triggers to bounce a creature with Temur Sabertooth, however it didn't cross my mind. Whoops!
Round 8: GW Hatebears (W 2-0)
Their deck is much slower than ours, and since I'm only running 4 fetchlands, Leonin Arbiter and Aven Mindcensor don't do a whole lot. Ran him over with Polukranos monstrous activations both games
Overall, I think I was a bit lucky against the Tron players. Crumble felt good versus them, however Primal Command into Acidic Slime felt a bit slow. I added the Primal Command's as a way to fight Death Shadow, which they did a great job at. However with BTE's I feel that Summoner's Pact is a slightly better option. Notable cards that I think underperformed based on my matchups:
1) Polukranos - while he won me both my Hatebears games, I sided it out almost every other game. Much better against affinity and elf-type decks, which I didn't face.
2) Walking Ballista - same as Polukranos. I didn't get the right matchups for this guy unfortunately.
3) Eternal Witness - I was never in a position to loop Eternal Witness and Primal Command, but I can see this being better in a grindier meta. Would probably go down to 1 or 0 and try and add more gas for the midgame.
4) Oath of Nissa - I've liked this card for a while, however it's something that can be kind of awkward, since it does not ramp you in any way. Adds more consistency, and would again be better in a grindier meta. Probably will go down to 1-of.
5) Acidic Slime - Great versus my Tron opponents, however in other matchups I sided it out every time. In a Summoner's Pact version I can see it being a lot better.
6) Temur Sabertooth - Only had one opportunity to utilize him for real advantage, but that is most likely a combination of only having 1, and using Primal Command instead of Summoner's Pact.
Overperformers:
1) Wistful Selkie - Drawing cards and 3 devotion are great in almost any situation. Glad to have 4-of in the list.
1) RAGING RAVINE - card did so much work for me in a number of matchups. Even just being on the battlefield made the opponents fearful of it, which was great. Glad to have a 1-of.
3) Primeval Titan - card is great. Everyone knows it. Fetching Raging Ravine and Kessig is fantastic. Also a huge body stops much of the formats midrange threats.
All in all I had a lot of fun, and I was very happy to pilot a deck I enjoy to a decent record. One thing that I will be experimenting with is including the Ramunap Excavator and Azusa, Lost but Seeking combo with one or two Ghost Quarters for a mini land destruction package. I'll be doing some more testing to see how it feels, however I have a feeling that a singleton Ghost Quarter and Excavator may be all the deck needs. Time will tell.
Cheers all.
Creature (16)
4x Arbor Elf
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3x Eternal Witness
4x Hope Tender
3x Primeval Titan
1x Xenagos, God of Revels
Sorcery (5)
1x Harmonize
4x Tooth and Nail
Enchantment (11)
3x Blood Moon
4x Overgrowth
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Kiora, Master of the Depths
Land (21)
2x Breeding Pool
6x Forest
1x Island
1x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
2x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2x Stomping Ground
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Arbor Colossus
1x Beast Within
2x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Creeping Corrosion
1x Nature's Claim
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Privileged Position
1x Spellskite
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
More information on the matches can be found in the post linked above.
WRGBurnGRW
RBGJund Shadowvine[/mana]gbr[/mana]
RGTooth & NailGR
Standard:
BGBG Energy ConstrictorGB
On the subject of polukranos, it is a pet card of mine, but in reality walking ballista is almost always a better card and if you're machine gunning creatures down with it, you're already winning. A 5/5 for 4 is good against the creature decks, but the 4/4 baloth is better in most cases i'd say or another pw.
Hey there! For some reason, the link or photo hasn't shown up on my end. Can you see it on yours?
Hey Grull!! Great to hear from you again. Thanks for posting a recap full of good info!
Your list looks strong! Great straight up Devotion.
Raging Ravine does seem really good in a Prime Time deck.
With as powerful as Walking Ballista has been for me...I'm half tempted to put together a straight Devotion deck with four copies of Ballista and Prime Time. Seems like it would beat a good portion of the meta
On another note, I saw the GW Planeswalker decks you all posted a page or two back. How would you say those versions perform? They seem like they would be good versus control and midrange, although a bit lacking when paired against combo or big mana. Is this accurate in your experience? I like the way they look, especially with multiple Gideons. He is just so good!
I included Polukranos because it tangos with Tasigur, Thought Knot, Reality Smasher and Gurmag Angler. Against a go wide list, yes Ballista is better. Baloth does not offer the same effect as Polukranos, I don't see them as comparable.
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
Creature (17)
1 Acidic Slime
4 Arbor Elf
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
2 Eternal Witness
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Thragtusk
1 Wood Elves
3 Primal Command
1 Unburial Rites
Instant (4)
4 Gifts Ungiven
Enchantment (8)
4 Fertile Ground
4 Utopia Sprawl
Land (22)
2 Breeding Pool
4 Forest
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
SRC: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-challenge-2017-08-06
His choice to us Kiowa the crashing wave is confusing
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC