I suppose kiora draws more gas and fogs, and the sphinx gets gas and is a mana sink, however, if you wanted more gas and a finisher, there's always kozilek, butcher of truth. But I love the concept of splashing colors. Green can only go so far and Elesh beats up on a lot of decks, and more colors in the sb help win poor matchups
I feel as if the manabase is stretched too hard. I would at the very least cut sphinx and just have a slight blue splash. This way there is probably a better chance of being able to hard cast threats such as Elesh or Iona.
At 7 mana, you could just cast regal force. But you want card advantage, primal command is where its at. I jammed a few games and sphinx is just too cute. Not uncastable since you have 12 ways to make blue, not including the lands. But sphinx sounds so underwhelming
I'm not saying that Sphinx in and of itself is uncastable, it's the combination of a gifts package (which commonly includes Elesh and Iona) and sphinx. Also, if you're not casting serious haymakers, I don't see the point of running gifts. Therefore, If you're not playing haymakers, I would agree in saying that Primal Command is where it's at.
@deckslayer
You could play Death Cloud, but it would mostly help in matchups where you're already favored, such as GBx and Control. If you're looking to lock out your opponent, Primal + Ewit is often enough. Also, the black splash is steep, it'd be hard to run Death Cloud and Finks/Courser/Hornet Queen (Which imo is all fairly important to the deck's success). I believe you'll be better off running a dedicated BG Death Cloud deck. I'm not trying to discourage you from trying it out , though. I encourage you to see if it functions well!
2 chameleons was mostly a meta call as there is always an insane amounts of U/B/X/Shadow at that store.
R1: Titanshift
g1: turn 2 nissa got me turn 3 ruric thar. Scoop. -1 scooze -1 banefire -1 Atarka. +3 moon.
g2: I mull to 4 and he just rolls me on turn 4.
g3: No moons but get another turn 2 nissa out. He bolts birds and anger of god's me next turn but I end up hitting a moon through scrying and craterhoof him the turn before he kills me post reclamation sage.
R2: Abzan
g1: Slow game and opponent misplays into channeler (even the threat of a 5/5 with a fetch on board is scary as I later learn) early and I get a free kill on lili. Ruric thar closes out gamestate after. +3 chalice +1 thrun -1 banefire -1 courser -1 craterhoof -1 visions.
g2: Probably my favorite game I've played in a long time. I get a chalice on 2 fairly early and I don't draw into much else for a while. We go back and forth for 25 minutes between board wipes, atarka, lingering souls, acidic slimes, more board wipes, ballistas. I finally draw into chameleon and he's out of paths and I grind it out slamming into his goyfs with it.
R3: Grixis Shadow
g1: Turn 2 nissa just out-values him. Chameleon seals the deal. +3 chalice +3 blood moon +1 thrun. -3 visions -1 atarka -1 craterhoof -2 courser.
g2: I get T1 seized and lose chalice, T2 seize and inquisition, T3 seize inquisition deathshadow. neat.
g3: I resolve chalice on 1 and get a garruk out with chameleon (this card is like the bane of this store).
R4: U/B Shadow
g1: Really long drawn out game where he does nothing but stops me from doing anything. I finally win with an ulted nissa. +3 Bloom moon +1 thrun -1 atarka, -1 craterhoof, -1 courser, -1
g2: He counters my t2 moon and my t3 chalice and counter/discard-locks me up for a while but is eventually afraid to attack into channelers when I have 3 fetchlands out. I end up fetch-scrying myself to 1 health and get a lucky ballista on 4 for the win.
Hard to take anything away from tonight other than Nissa, chalice, and ruric are some of my favorite cards, and chameleon in a black meta does absolute work. I was also hesitant about channelers before but the more I play with them the more I like them - the added speed they give has been a consistent blessing. My under-performer was probably thrun tonight: I added thrun to my sideboard earlier and even got him out a few times - yet he still just died to lili or couldn't get through the bigger threats. I'd say he's probably more for U/W control type decks so I'm hesitant to replace him, but I'm starting to think another banefire might just be a better option? - looking at that swagalicious Trex for the control matchups once Ixalan drops.
Also, my sideboarding could probably use a little work: I'm running into some tough "what should I put in/out" choices a lot - although that's a good indicator for me that at least all my cards are now useful!
This was also the first time in forever that I haven't run primal command. and I... didn't miss it? Maybe it was just my matchups, but I just like serum vision's early consistency aid so much more than dropping 5 mana on something that often gets countered or doesnt really help me in a boardstate that I'm behind in.
It seems Green Devotion is having more and more solid performances.
I don't like that it doesn't run Ballista, and no Ruric Thar. Not a huge fan of this list except for his tutor package. I'd probably cut a single Pact.
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
That's great! You are right...it seems that Devotion is putting up far more consistent results than it has in the past.
His list is a great Pact list. I've not used Burning-Tree Emissary a ton for quite some time; but I've always said that Summoner's Pact & Burning-Tree Emissary go well together. It has the perfect core in my opinion (Arbor Elf, Utopia Sprawl, Oath, Garruk, Nissa) and the rest is just the best Silver Bullet/answer permanent for the deck he's playing against....if he gets a fast start, he can just Overrun with Garruk, Craterhoof, or Primeval Titan+Kessig.
I would advise anyone wanting to play Pact Devotion (or just devotion in general) to play this list. It just looks super strong. Of course, you can always tune it to your meta (can remove one of the bullets for your bullet of choice, etc.).
I guess he's focused on utilizing Chord and Pact, so he went with Atarka as his "removal permanent" of choice....but I really think he could still play a Ballista or two as well.
______
In playing my blue list a bit; I have REALLY liked Acidic Slime in the current meta. There are so many Eldrazi Tron and Tron variants running around; that some main-board land hate is nice to have. I know we can beat tron without it; but it really does kind of seal up the match up. The deathtouch helps too...works well if you have "fight" options in your deck (like Domri Rade, etc.) I've added Domri to the blue version to test. I'm pretty certain the white version is just better (it just keeps winning) but it never hurts to tune two lists
One question I constantly wonder is why the Spike Feeder + Archangel of Thune combo has never performed well for Devotion. Spike Feeder is a 3-drop that adds two devotion...we have some +1/+1 counter synergy alrready, we go wide in many cases...so the cards would be reasonable even without the combo...that, and with Ballista you can kill the opponent with the counters (rather than just gain infinite life...of course if you have another creature they get infinitely large; but it is another avenue is all I mean...
In the end, however, we likely don't need any combos. A lot of the recent great performances have come from pretty much straight up Devotion. That is really promising!
I remember that guy placing in something else as well a few months back. Can't remember what it was.
@Ohgrr
How did the channelers and Nissa feel to you? The channelers have been on my radar but I never picked any up. Also did you feel that 20 lands was enough?
@Grull
I'm liking channelers a lot more than I expected actually! They open up options to T3 ruric, ballista on 3, and big chameleons more than I thought: and I realize combined with courser I ended up cracking my fetches pretty much entirely in a "scry 1" effect yesterday- adding a consistency that I hadn't had before. Trading with gurmag and beating out tasigur was also a good highlight for their effectiveness yesterday.
I don't think I'll ever drop Nissa, I like her that much. A turn 2 nissa against slower matches is essentially GG: and I've ended up not boarding her out in most aggro matchups too: at worse she's "scry 2 avoid 3 damage" - and with chalice and boardwipes in my sideboard, I'm more concerned about digging to those than anything else really (which is another reason I'm liking serum visions over oath).
I'd go up to 21 lands If I had wolf run but 20 without has been doing me just fine.
That's great! You are right...it seems that Devotion is putting up far more consistent results than it has in the past.
His list is a great Pact list. I've not used Burning-Tree Emissary a ton for quite some time; but I've always said that Summoner's Pact & Burning-Tree Emissary go well together. It has the perfect core in my opinion (Arbor Elf, Utopia Sprawl, Oath, Garruk, Nissa) and the rest is just the best Silver Bullet/answer permanent for the deck he's playing against....if he gets a fast start, he can just Overrun with Garruk, Craterhoof, or Primeval Titan+Kessig.
I would advise anyone wanting to play Pact Devotion (or just devotion in general) to play this list. It just looks super strong. Of course, you can always tune it to your meta (can remove one of the bullets for your bullet of choice, etc.).
I guess he's focused on utilizing Chord and Pact, so he went with Atarka as his "removal permanent" of choice....but I really think he could still play a Ballista or two as well.
______
In playing my blue list a bit; I have REALLY liked Acidic Slime in the current meta. There are so many Eldrazi Tron and Tron variants running around; that some main-board land hate is nice to have. I know we can beat tron without it; but it really does kind of seal up the match up. The deathtouch helps too...works well if you have "fight" options in your deck (like Domri Rade, etc.) I've added Domri to the blue version to test. I'm pretty certain the white version is just better (it just keeps winning) but it never hurts to tune two lists
One question I constantly wonder is why the Spike Feeder + Archangel of Thune combo has never performed well for Devotion. Spike Feeder is a 3-drop that adds two devotion...we have some +1/+1 counter synergy alrready, we go wide in many cases...so the cards would be reasonable even without the combo...that, and with Ballista you can kill the opponent with the counters (rather than just gain infinite life...of course if you have another creature they get infinitely large; but it is another avenue is all I mean...
In the end, however, we likely don't need any combos. A lot of the recent great performances have come from pretty much straight up Devotion. That is really promising!
Holy smoke, this is a combo I've never seen! G devotion could do a lot worse than splashing white. You get elesh norn for once thing and great sb options and you can already run ballistas too! Feeder just isn't that impressive on it's own. And the three drop slot is already clogged as it is.
I'll explore the archangel combo, it also allows you to do infinite dmg to the face with a Ballista on the bf.
There are so many different builds it's a bit overwhelming choosing one. I suppose Anthony's list is pretty good since he had two respectable finishes at SCG events with it. I think his sideboard is what helped him a lot. 3x Blood Moon to steal wins, beat Tron, and defend against Valakut. 3x Creeping Corrosion to have a decent shot at destroying an artifact matchup, and 3x Sudden Shock for the weenie decks, because he doesn't have Ballista mainboard he is very vulnerable to G/W Vizier.
@CurdBros, I know you like BTE plus Pact, but it's only good if you have Nykthos, and I don't like wasting my tutor on a BTE unless I have a payoff card in hand I am confident can resolve and closeout the game.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
If I expect affinity to be here, as I'm playing 3 ballista, how many Creeping Corrosion should I play in the sideboard ? 2 or 3 ?
How many blood moon should I play in the sideboard ? got 2 (including a sweet invocation)
Another Question, not directly related:
If you would choose 3 decks in the current meta to train against, what would be those decks ?
Thanks !
E_mouchet
Three Decks? Pretty Easy. 1x Aggro Deck, 1x Control Deck and 1x Combo. Play against that much Archetypes as you can.
1+1 would i play. That guarantee more flexibility
In my Simic Deck i play 7-8 fetch lands. 6 is fine for little splash
2 Stomping Ground are more as enough. You have the Utopia Spawl and all the Fetchlands to be sure you have always 1 Red Mana if needed. Even 1 is enough with Blood Moon imho.
Sideboard: Firespout! If you have no Eldrazi's you have no Upsides! Firespout is a good Lingering Souls Killer if you want only kills persky fliers and 3 Damage is better against little aggro creatures.
In your very small Meta its a good call to have 3 Corrosions in your SB.
play both if you want steal Games with that.
Be aware. In very little Metas they build Sideboards against you. look what they can do against you.
Why don't G/x devotion lists run world breaker? A seven mana acidic slime seems good. Has anyone tried it? I don't like hornet queen since my build is already soft to anger and I don't like the other colored threats that you get by splashing since I only like a light splash. It really is unfortunate that everytime I test another threat in place of primeval titan, it's never that good. Turns out a 6/6 trampler that fetches the utility lands you need is just great, while also providing 2 g devotion. I always play devil's advocate and say that it dies to path to exile, but still, it is good enough. I run four and always love to see them. I hate that I can't really find something else to put in its place. So boring.
I think your answer is in your second sentence. Why would we cast a 7 CMD LD creature when we can cast a 5 CMC one? Yes it dies to Anger, but much of our deck does. I don't think a 1-or-2 of card like Slime or World Breaker would change that fact. Also, there's nothing wrong with sticking with Primeval Titan! He's a house and there's nothing wrong with that. Also, I don't think path is a good argument for not playing a creature, nearly every creature in Magic dies to path! I would just worry about how the creature impacts the boardstate and factor that in.
Can someone who plays the gw walker list tell me how it just doesn't autolose to aggro? To you play your walker on t3 t4 and hope they don't just go after your life total? And it doesn't look like you have enough of a sb for aggro in the first place. Can someone explain?
YOU have blockers for days. As long as you can keep your walkers alive you will quickly outvakue and overwhelm your opponent. It does struggle vs. flyers like Spirits. Ballista and path is rwallt important vs flyers.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Can someone who plays the gw walker list tell me how it just doesn't autolose to aggro? To you play your walker on t3 t4 and hope they don't just go after your life total? And it doesn't look like you have enough of a sb for aggro in the first place. Can someone explain?
It depends which aggro deck you are talking about. If it is creature-based...not really.
Each of the early walkers (Nissa, Gideon, Garruk) create a token. This means you end up with the Walker AND the creature. From there, if they don't find a way to kill the creature and the walker they are going to get overwhelmed quite quickly. Also, generally your first walker should be played on turn 2 or 3 (rather than 3-4). It is a minor difference; but a big one in play. By turn four you often want at least two walkers down.
P.S. My current list also plays 2 copies of Kitchen Finks. When this is added to Elspeth Tirel's potential for life-gain (again, 2 copies) and the sometimes fun play of using Ajani Unyielding to Swords to Plowshares a large Hydra, token, etc...the deck can gain a good amount of life when it is needed.
Having said that; there are weak spots the sideboard needs to shore up. You are right that the sideboard is not perfect.
I hope this was a little helpful. The deck likely isn't as weak to some Aggro decks as you think; but you are absolutely right that we need to ensure our board can deal with hyper-linear decks (including many forms of Aggro, Storm, Counters Combo, Ad Nauseum, Cherios, All-In Scapeshift, etc). Essentially, any deck that solely focuses on Goldfishing will often gold-fish a half-turn more quickly than us on average...so if they are on the play, we lose. We have to have quick enough disruption to deal with them; but versatile enough disruption to deal with ALL of them :). That's what makes Modern the greatest format there is
______
I've been very impressed with Acidic Slime recently....this is likely due to the rise in land-based decks (Scapeshift/Titanshift and Eldrazi Tron). The combination of Acidic Slime and Walking Ballista seems like a great place to start for main-board disruption (at least for those decks not playing Primal Command).
Sylvan Primordial is fun. It's always nice to have a fatty with reach. I'm not sure it competes with Acidic Slime; but as you said your list already plays four of those...so you have a great focus on hating the opponent's lands while also building devotion/ramping. This is a great way to focus your deck on a main game plan (especially in the current meta).
YOU have blockers for days. As long as you can keep your walkers alive you will quickly outvakue and overwhelm your opponent. It does struggle vs. flyers like Spirits. Ballista and path is rwallt important vs flyers.
Ditto...yeah, I'm working on flyers as well. Ballista is great; but you can only play four That, and sometimes you just want a cheap way to quickly deal with them. Path is always a great choice for removal. I've looked at things like Bow of Nylea or modal spells that have "desttroy creature with flying" but likely we are better off just looking into White or whatever color(s) we splash. I am a fan of the Fight mechanic (love playing Domri Rade) especially in a deck with a good amount of Acidic Slime's....so I may utilize more fight items as well....There is always some means of improvement
You could play Death Cloud, but it would mostly help in matchups where you're already favored, such as GBx and Control. If you're looking to lock out your opponent, Primal + Ewit is often enough. Also, the black splash is steep, it'd be hard to run Death Cloud and Finks/Courser/Hornet Queen (Which imo is all fairly important to the deck's success). I believe you'll be better off running a dedicated BG Death Cloud deck. I'm not trying to discourage you from trying it out , though. I encourage you to see if it functions well!
4 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Dragonlord Atarka
3 Walking Ballista
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Acidic Slime
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Mul Daya Channelers
2 Chameleon Colossus
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Summoner's Pact
1 Banefire
3 Serum Visions
Planeswalker [6]
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Nissa, Steward of Elements
Land [20]
5 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Blood Moon
2 Fracturing Gust
3 Firespout
2 chameleons was mostly a meta call as there is always an insane amounts of U/B/X/Shadow at that store.
R1: Titanshift
g1: turn 2 nissa got me turn 3 ruric thar. Scoop. -1 scooze -1 banefire -1 Atarka. +3 moon.
g2: I mull to 4 and he just rolls me on turn 4.
g3: No moons but get another turn 2 nissa out. He bolts birds and anger of god's me next turn but I end up hitting a moon through scrying and craterhoof him the turn before he kills me post reclamation sage.
R2: Abzan
g1: Slow game and opponent misplays into channeler (even the threat of a 5/5 with a fetch on board is scary as I later learn) early and I get a free kill on lili. Ruric thar closes out gamestate after. +3 chalice +1 thrun -1 banefire -1 courser -1 craterhoof -1 visions.
g2: Probably my favorite game I've played in a long time. I get a chalice on 2 fairly early and I don't draw into much else for a while. We go back and forth for 25 minutes between board wipes, atarka, lingering souls, acidic slimes, more board wipes, ballistas. I finally draw into chameleon and he's out of paths and I grind it out slamming into his goyfs with it.
R3: Grixis Shadow
g1: Turn 2 nissa just out-values him. Chameleon seals the deal. +3 chalice +3 blood moon +1 thrun. -3 visions -1 atarka -1 craterhoof -2 courser.
g2: I get T1 seized and lose chalice, T2 seize and inquisition, T3 seize inquisition deathshadow. neat.
g3: I resolve chalice on 1 and get a garruk out with chameleon (this card is like the bane of this store).
R4: U/B Shadow
g1: Really long drawn out game where he does nothing but stops me from doing anything. I finally win with an ulted nissa. +3 Bloom moon +1 thrun -1 atarka, -1 craterhoof, -1 courser, -1
g2: He counters my t2 moon and my t3 chalice and counter/discard-locks me up for a while but is eventually afraid to attack into channelers when I have 3 fetchlands out. I end up fetch-scrying myself to 1 health and get a lucky ballista on 4 for the win.
Hard to take anything away from tonight other than Nissa, chalice, and ruric are some of my favorite cards, and chameleon in a black meta does absolute work. I was also hesitant about channelers before but the more I play with them the more I like them - the added speed they give has been a consistent blessing. My under-performer was probably thrun tonight: I added thrun to my sideboard earlier and even got him out a few times - yet he still just died to lili or couldn't get through the bigger threats. I'd say he's probably more for U/W control type decks so I'm hesitant to replace him, but I'm starting to think another banefire might just be a better option? - looking at that swagalicious Trex for the control matchups once Ixalan drops.
Also, my sideboarding could probably use a little work: I'm running into some tough "what should I put in/out" choices a lot - although that's a good indicator for me that at least all my cards are now useful!
This was also the first time in forever that I haven't run primal command. and I... didn't miss it? Maybe it was just my matchups, but I just like serum vision's early consistency aid so much more than dropping 5 mana on something that often gets countered or doesnt really help me in a boardstate that I'm behind in.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=115403
It seems Green Devotion is having more and more solid performances.
I don't like that it doesn't run Ballista, and no Ruric Thar. Not a huge fan of this list except for his tutor package. I'd probably cut a single Pact.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
His list is a great Pact list. I've not used Burning-Tree Emissary a ton for quite some time; but I've always said that Summoner's Pact & Burning-Tree Emissary go well together. It has the perfect core in my opinion (Arbor Elf, Utopia Sprawl, Oath, Garruk, Nissa) and the rest is just the best Silver Bullet/answer permanent for the deck he's playing against....if he gets a fast start, he can just Overrun with Garruk, Craterhoof, or Primeval Titan+Kessig.
I would advise anyone wanting to play Pact Devotion (or just devotion in general) to play this list. It just looks super strong. Of course, you can always tune it to your meta (can remove one of the bullets for your bullet of choice, etc.).
I guess he's focused on utilizing Chord and Pact, so he went with Atarka as his "removal permanent" of choice....but I really think he could still play a Ballista or two as well.
______
In playing my blue list a bit; I have REALLY liked Acidic Slime in the current meta. There are so many Eldrazi Tron and Tron variants running around; that some main-board land hate is nice to have. I know we can beat tron without it; but it really does kind of seal up the match up. The deathtouch helps too...works well if you have "fight" options in your deck (like Domri Rade, etc.) I've added Domri to the blue version to test. I'm pretty certain the white version is just better (it just keeps winning) but it never hurts to tune two lists
One question I constantly wonder is why the Spike Feeder + Archangel of Thune combo has never performed well for Devotion. Spike Feeder is a 3-drop that adds two devotion...we have some +1/+1 counter synergy alrready, we go wide in many cases...so the cards would be reasonable even without the combo...that, and with Ballista you can kill the opponent with the counters (rather than just gain infinite life...of course if you have another creature they get infinitely large; but it is another avenue is all I mean...
In the end, however, we likely don't need any combos. A lot of the recent great performances have come from pretty much straight up Devotion. That is really promising!
@Ohgrr
How did the channelers and Nissa feel to you? The channelers have been on my radar but I never picked any up. Also did you feel that 20 lands was enough?
Yeah...he got 18th in the Modern Open last month and was in the top 8 of a IQ in March....so definitely a champion of Green Devotion!
I'm liking channelers a lot more than I expected actually! They open up options to T3 ruric, ballista on 3, and big chameleons more than I thought: and I realize combined with courser I ended up cracking my fetches pretty much entirely in a "scry 1" effect yesterday- adding a consistency that I hadn't had before. Trading with gurmag and beating out tasigur was also a good highlight for their effectiveness yesterday.
I don't think I'll ever drop Nissa, I like her that much. A turn 2 nissa against slower matches is essentially GG: and I've ended up not boarding her out in most aggro matchups too: at worse she's "scry 2 avoid 3 damage" - and with chalice and boardwipes in my sideboard, I'm more concerned about digging to those than anything else really (which is another reason I'm liking serum visions over oath).
I'd go up to 21 lands If I had wolf run but 20 without has been doing me just fine.
Holy smoke, this is a combo I've never seen! G devotion could do a lot worse than splashing white. You get elesh norn for once thing and great sb options and you can already run ballistas too! Feeder just isn't that impressive on it's own. And the three drop slot is already clogged as it is.
There are so many different builds it's a bit overwhelming choosing one. I suppose Anthony's list is pretty good since he had two respectable finishes at SCG events with it. I think his sideboard is what helped him a lot. 3x Blood Moon to steal wins, beat Tron, and defend against Valakut. 3x Creeping Corrosion to have a decent shot at destroying an artifact matchup, and 3x Sudden Shock for the weenie decks, because he doesn't have Ballista mainboard he is very vulnerable to G/W Vizier.
@CurdBros, I know you like BTE plus Pact, but it's only good if you have Nykthos, and I don't like wasting my tutor on a BTE unless I have a payoff card in hand I am confident can resolve and closeout the game.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Three Decks? Pretty Easy. 1x Aggro Deck, 1x Control Deck and 1x Combo. Play against that much Archetypes as you can.
Be aware. In very little Metas they build Sideboards against you. look what they can do against you.
I think your answer is in your second sentence. Why would we cast a 7 CMD LD creature when we can cast a 5 CMC one? Yes it dies to Anger, but much of our deck does. I don't think a 1-or-2 of card like Slime or World Breaker would change that fact. Also, there's nothing wrong with sticking with Primeval Titan! He's a house and there's nothing wrong with that. Also, I don't think path is a good argument for not playing a creature, nearly every creature in Magic dies to path! I would just worry about how the creature impacts the boardstate and factor that in.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
It depends which aggro deck you are talking about. If it is creature-based...not really.
Each of the early walkers (Nissa, Gideon, Garruk) create a token. This means you end up with the Walker AND the creature. From there, if they don't find a way to kill the creature and the walker they are going to get overwhelmed quite quickly. Also, generally your first walker should be played on turn 2 or 3 (rather than 3-4). It is a minor difference; but a big one in play. By turn four you often want at least two walkers down.
P.S. My current list also plays 2 copies of Kitchen Finks. When this is added to Elspeth Tirel's potential for life-gain (again, 2 copies) and the sometimes fun play of using Ajani Unyielding to Swords to Plowshares a large Hydra, token, etc...the deck can gain a good amount of life when it is needed.
Having said that; there are weak spots the sideboard needs to shore up. You are right that the sideboard is not perfect.
I hope this was a little helpful. The deck likely isn't as weak to some Aggro decks as you think; but you are absolutely right that we need to ensure our board can deal with hyper-linear decks (including many forms of Aggro, Storm, Counters Combo, Ad Nauseum, Cherios, All-In Scapeshift, etc). Essentially, any deck that solely focuses on Goldfishing will often gold-fish a half-turn more quickly than us on average...so if they are on the play, we lose. We have to have quick enough disruption to deal with them; but versatile enough disruption to deal with ALL of them :). That's what makes Modern the greatest format there is
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I've been very impressed with Acidic Slime recently....this is likely due to the rise in land-based decks (Scapeshift/Titanshift and Eldrazi Tron). The combination of Acidic Slime and Walking Ballista seems like a great place to start for main-board disruption (at least for those decks not playing Primal Command).
Sylvan Primordial is fun. It's always nice to have a fatty with reach. I'm not sure it competes with Acidic Slime; but as you said your list already plays four of those...so you have a great focus on hating the opponent's lands while also building devotion/ramping. This is a great way to focus your deck on a main game plan (especially in the current meta).
Ditto...yeah, I'm working on flyers as well. Ballista is great; but you can only play four That, and sometimes you just want a cheap way to quickly deal with them. Path is always a great choice for removal. I've looked at things like Bow of Nylea or modal spells that have "desttroy creature with flying" but likely we are better off just looking into White or whatever color(s) we splash. I am a fan of the Fight mechanic (love playing Domri Rade) especially in a deck with a good amount of Acidic Slime's....so I may utilize more fight items as well....There is always some means of improvement