Stompy players..you've got a new goody! Avatar of the Resolute! Picture to follow...3/2 Trample, Reach for GG with addition upside with +1/+1 counters...seems pretty darn good to me
It's amazing at locking down opponent and searching for win conditions. I haven't playtested it intensively so I'm not sure how viable it is but feel free to give me some criticism.
What a cool idea! With the U/W and R/W enchamtment lock-down deck making dents in Modern; there's no reason a G/W Devotion can't do well too.
I'm surprised Nylea didn't make the cut. A way to pump all those manifest creatures and enchantress while also giving them trample seems like a useful enchantment). I understand; however that most of the enchantments are white.
CurdBros: this post has a current list, plus a little information on lines-of-play for the toolbox deck, for the primer, to help people get sequencing down and when-to-tutor-for-what kind of settled in their minds. it's complex so i'll explain why it's worth hanging on to some cards and rushing for others.
ok guys, just in case someone, anyone missed this:
i'm considering taking out garruk for it, straight swap. it's by-the-numbers less consistent in terms of what it actually does, but the upsides are way bigger and the card has more actual gameplay on account of being instant and potentially flipping a witness in your opponent's end step (for only 4 mana. insane).
it would require a slightly more midrangey build (switching around the numbers a little to minmax the crap out of hitting the best three-drops) but really it's a simple swap.
shame it's actually pre-ordering for quite a lot of money. when it comes out proper, i'll grab a playset on Pucatrade. card's got potential.
for reference to the guys tweaking and brewing toolbox/midrange still; here's my current list. i'm considering taking it along to a modern event tonight (have other decks built but this one is the most fun by far).
notes: scavenging ooze has been cut from the maindeck. it was never worth chording it out (thereby losing the ability to recur the chord) and so i tended to rely on naturally drawing it. that's not a good enough reason to run the card, so he's hit the sideboard for now, for use against specific decks.
UTOPIA SPRAWL
i could write quite a lot on how many choices you have to make with this card. honestly there's no substitute for just playing the deck and working it out for yourself (so you don't get caught short in a word situation at a tournament).
but!
here are some guidelines for this particular version of the deck in its current state (other versions function differently)
first: what colour you choose depends on what lands you've drawn, and what cards you have in your hand. a general rule of thumb is to go for whatever colour isn't represented in the lands you've drawn. for instance, draw 2xtemple garden and an abrupt decay, the choice is already made for you. draw 2xverdant catacombs, and it gets harder. generally speaking the colour of the sprawl tends not to matter unless you get shafted by removal. normally you can tap it for mana more than once a turn, and this usually gives you your green requirement. as a result i tend to pick R on at least 1 sprawl as an insurance policy for the lategame.
"when to choose": G - when you've got a slow-starter, suboptimal hand without an elf, and it's your only option for playing a turn-2 threat. rarely happens. R - when you have a B source and a W source available, or are able to get one (fetchland in hand) red is a good choice. insures you against having to hardcast kiki if naturally drawn, which can sometimes be an issue. having an elf helps, as it properly smooths any green or black mana requirements. I always try to get a sprawl on red when i can, but as you can imagine, sometime's it's not feasible. try to think ahead to your outs. if kiki wins you the game in two turns and it's your major out, play for red. B - when you have a temple garden W - when you have an overgrown tomb
SEQUENCING
some usual opening sequences: (bear in mind shocklands are also forests, and fetchlands can get forests)
turn 1 - forest, arbor elf
turn 2 - any G producing land, utopia sprawl on untapped forest, tap-then-re-tap for 4 mana. 4-drop.
(if your 4-drop is garruk, untap and play something else as well)
turn 3 - primal command or chord. best-case-scenario is topdeck nykthos and just go off this turn.
turn 1 - forest, arbor elf
turn 2 - nykthos, tap forest for sprawl, and here you have choices. depending on your sprawl/land combo, you could hold up abrupt decay, or maybe play out a second sprawl/elf and then path something.
turn 1 - forest, sprawl
turn 2 - three drop (fulminator mage is nice)
turn 3 - Garruk, followed by another three drop.
fairly common line:
opponent's turn X - you have potentially (for example) sprawl, untapped witness and garruk in play (average non-optimal board state). lands are nykthos + any two others. lost a few life but stable. single chord of calling in hand. opponent taps out.
line of play would be the following:
EoT chord for eternal witness, getting back Chord (brings devotion up to 7)
your turn X+1 - activate nykthos for 7, chord out (tapping witness for convoke) restoration angel, blinking the witness (untapping it and bringing back chord again). G remaining in the pool. +1 garruk and untap your nykthos and any other land. activate nykthos for 7. use chord for the third time (X=5), convoking witness and fetching up Kiki-Jiki. if your opponent tapped out on their turn, you just won.
coming back from heavy removal:
the deck does better than most at recovering from removal. the trick is to always hold an "ace in the hole" as it were. this can mean (for example) chording for a witness earlier in the game (to establish devotion) and getting chord back. it's possible then to recover from some fairly heavy removal. you rely less on topdecks than a traditional creature deck like Junk.
e.g.:
opponent casts wrath and wipes your board, interrupting your game plan. you've been EoT chording for witnesses and establishing devotion for a win next turn. this sets you back.
you still have a Nykthos and a garruk, maybe a sprawl, but in your yard is now an arbor elf, two witnesses (plus maybe a fetchland and a piece of removal). situation A - topdeck something neutral, maybe a land/removal. depending on what turn it is, you could maybe do a couple of steps of this chain: chord for witness, get back witness, cast witness, get back final witness, cast witness, get chord, cast chord for resto angel, blink witness, get chord again, chord for win condition (sabertooth or kiki). against a combo opponent your goal should be to slowly establish devotion while keeping up removal/disruption. this means a slower gameplan. against Junk you just let rip and cast cards as fast as your mana allows. situation B - topdeck something live (garruk or primal command). command gets you back into the game fairly nicely. it sets your opponent back (either in terms of a clock or their mana) and nets you a Witness. from there you can progress as before, but instead of using chord, go for the disruptive command chain looping through temur sabertooth. Garruk is similarly a nice draw. it lets you cast him, untap, then chord for something else. that's a bigger pressure-play than before.
How to beat Splinter Twin:
tricky, but doable. the deck runs multiple ways to tutor up creatures, has fast ramp, and runs spellskite.
if you get a decent start, it would be perfectly fine to sit with 5 mana up in your opponent's combo turn, and chord out spellskite in response to twin being cast.
if you don't get a decent start, the deck has pressure-valves in the form of the uncounterable abrupt decay (x3) and path to exile (x2). these go a long way towards making the deck have a chance against Twin (we really wouldn't otherwise).
thirdly, with an average-to-decent start we can potentially keep them off 4 mana forever. it's rare but it happens.
How to beat Tron:
be ready to lose. this potentially is the single hardest matchup for the deck. getting primal command online is great, but if you're trying to bounce their final 3rd tron piece, they can still replay it every turn and get back up to 7 mana. this is one of the rare times when you'll elect for the 'shuffle' mode on command, tucking and shuffling a tron land away. it feels awful (and they can still topdeck another quite quickly) but it can be a decent couple-of-turns roadblock. fulminator mage is maindecked purely because of this matchup. I personally see quite a bit of Tron in my area. even if you don't, fulminator mage is one of the best three drops for the deck as it nets you time and can be re-bought with witness for a crushing land-denial plan.
How to beat Affinity:
this one isn't bad. you have enough cheap removal and a very solid (and fast) "combo" which affinity struggles to interrupt. your chord priorities change slightly though. instead of sabertooth you'll really want to go straight for Polukranos. Affinity obviously sometimes has nut-draws but if not, you can out-game them because your cumulative ramping takes over.
post-board our matchup hikes up to be really positive. without meaningful interaction, you can side in Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and 2x kataki, war's wage plus maybe reclamation sage which turns into a machine gun with resto angel or sabertooth.
I've chorded out a kataki on turn 2 before, meaning an insta-scoop. we do ok.
how to beat Burn:
this is why you play the deck. very positive. you won't lose very often, just because our "combo" is faster. instead of bouncing their lands with command, just gain 7 life. if skullcrack is a thing, pressure them with EoT chord-for-kitchen finks or siege rhino(!!!) then go to town with witnessing back that command, so you can gain a billion life and fetch resto angel to blink you lifegain dudes..
the positive side is that Burn doesn't really have any strong way to interact with this deck. you can just mostly "go off" and you're usually a turn or two faster.
post-board the deck becomes mono-lifegain and they don't really stand a chance. 2x kor firewalker and 3x obstinate baloth is too much.
when to fetch knight of the reliquary:
she's there for when you've drawn any 2x of command/chord/witness and you don't have a nykthos in play. first play is to EoT chord out a knight, then in your turn go to town by fetching up a nykthos. don't fetch her up if you only have one fetch-spell and no way to buy it back (i.e. witness). doing so will give you plenty of mana but nothing to cast with it.
when to fetch temur sabretooth:
any time you have a witness in play and you can't win on that exact turn. seriously. card's nuts. take care to leave the mana open to bounce your witness when you can. if you have mana that must be spent in your main phase (either from garruk or a nykthos activation) then bounce the witness and keep it safe in your hand. losing your entire board to a wrath/similar with no mana open is a tough pill to swallow.
why restoration angel?:
mostly as a 4th Witness. it's often the end of a chain of chord-cycling, or a nice topdeck when you have a witness in play and a chord/command, allowing you to fetch kiki for the win.
siege rhino?:
can be cast on turn 2 (surprisingly often). returned by witness, blinked by resto angel, eternally recurred by sabretooth and chorded out in your opponent's turn. it's a crucial piece of beef that gives the deck some clock when it just needs to race and change tack. it's the reason i'm set on running black, besides perhaps abrupt decay.
The Hard Lock:
let's say you've been able to crack off an early primal command. this is really the deck's major goal. we don't run 4x command because they can clog up your openers too much leading to game losses, and we don't run 4x witness because your sabretooth/resto angels both function as a 4th witness when creating a chord/command chain. the kiki combo is to catch out opponents when they tap out. always be ready to change strategy if your opponent taps out for something on turn 4 or 5. also remember that our kiki combo can be cast all at instant speed.
to achieve the hard lock, you need to establish an early command and tuck one of their key lands (a tapped-land is a huge bonus), fetching a Witness as well. this slows your opponent and prevents disruption.
the following turn, you can re-buy the command (with witness) and hopefully cast again (total 8 mana needed). tucking their land ensures they don't draw removal/disruption, and you should be able to continue unimpeded for the most part.
If you are lucky enough to have drawn a Nykthos/Garruk, within more or less a single turn, you should be able to start chaining commands and advancing the chain by buying it back the same turn, or (with 13 mana) casting it twice. with garruk and nykthos, every witness you play adds GGGG to your mana pool for the turn.
once you have one or two witnesses (depends on the presence of Nykthos), you want to rush straight for temur sabretooth and begin a subtly different chain of re-buying witness using the sabertooth, casting witness, casting the re-bought command, and this allows you to choose gaining 7 life instead of fetching a creature, as an option. it works well for midrange matchups where beatdowns are an issue, and frees up the chain to be more flexible.
at this point, with an active sabertooth and enough mana (10) to bounce witness, cast witness and cast command every turn, you have effectively won the game. your opponent will never draw any new cards, you can choose to gain 7 life every turn or fetch a new creature every turn, adding to devotion and building your boardstate. you have complete control. once you can cast more than one command a turn you can chain-tuck their lands, fetch rhinos/angel and just beat them down behind a wall of combo-disruption.
That post is amazing Purklefluff! Waiting for the rest of it!
I've been looking into some lists, and what strikes me is the lack of interaction in the traditional lists. With Decay, Path and Pulse in the MB in this list we have answers to combo (looking at you Twin).
I was wondering why you are planning on removing Garruk from the list? He seems to be a very powerful enabler in producing enough mana for the deck.
Also, can you add some info on how you play Utopia Sprawl? How do you determine what color to pick when you cast it?
Doesn't have a huge amount of interaction at the moment but there's lots of stuff to shave off to add interaction either in black for Discard/Decay or keep to White just for Path. But my god is it fast.
It would be great to have another mana sink in here.
That post is amazing Purklefluff! Waiting for the rest of it!
I've been looking into some lists, and what strikes me is the lack of interaction in the traditional lists. With Decay, Path and Pulse in the MB in this list we have answers to combo (looking at you Twin).
I was wondering why you are planning on removing Garruk from the list? He seems to be a very powerful enabler in producing enough mana for the deck.
Also, can you add some info on how you play Utopia Sprawl? How do you determine what color to pick when you cast it?
That was one of the biggest concerns with the original "traditional" lists. They had little interaction but also weren't straight forward "combo" lists...they seemed somewhere "in the middle"...that's why Devotion started seeing some more split up de ls (I.e. Fast Aggro/Combo and highly disruptive toolbox builds). Combo is a huge portion of the meta; so if you want to win a good percentage of game one's you either have to race or disrupt.
Yeah verdant and foothills can fetch the same stuff. I qualified the need (for either of them) because I used to run most rainforest, as green was the only important factor.
Added sprawl info. In a vacuum you tend to want to put sprawl on black and fetch temple garden first (there are less white lands in the deck so it's more important to get them out first). Doing it the opposite way round also works.
The blood crypt could also be A stomping ground. It's currently there to replace a single godless shrine i was running. It is there purely to make Kiki hard-castable off a fetch in the mid-game; something I desperately needed on a few occasions but wasn't able to pull off.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
This new set is providing a wealth of powerful cards for this archetype. I see great potential in Avatar of the Resolute paired with Gavony Township. Avatar is likely a 1-of or 2-of and can be fetched with Chord of Calling easily, can be Collected Company'd out, and can be blinked with Restoration Angel. I think it's flexibility, it's GG casting cost and it's scalability all contribute to the decks goals and synergies.
Defenders. Why would you play this version? The board state is harder for opponents to deal with. x/4's block well, don't die to Bolt and friends. There is a lot of drawing power via ETB effects. LOTS of mana. Combo finish or Alpha strike with Walls. Makes very strong use of Convoke on Chord of Calling.
I browsed the primer of this deck. Is this a case where you could have a transformative sideboard and swap out win conditions to mess with your opponents sideboard decisions?
I browsed the primer of this deck. Is this a case where you could have a transformative sideboard and swap out win conditions to mess with your opponents sideboard decisions?
Very much so. It is hard to perfect; but transformative sideboards are actually one of the big advantages of green devotion.
Stompy got yet another card (although it may work for every version). the new Surrak is awesome! So many tools in this set!
i'm not so sure. is it as good as Xenagod? really hard to tell. testing could prove interesting. at the very least he'll probably be a hasty 5/4 most of the time. but on the downside he doesn't really do anything else, and sometimes he's just a vanilla 5/4 for 4. i'd love to be proven wrong though, as it would mean the deck getting better. and we all want that.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
Stompy got yet another card (although it may work for every version). the new Surrak is awesome! So many tools in this set!
i'm not so sure. is it as good as Xenagod? really hard to tell. testing could prove interesting. at the very least he'll probably be a hasty 5/4 most of the time. but on the downside he doesn't really do anything else, and sometimes he's just a vanilla 5/4 for 4. i'd love to be proven wrong though, as it would mean the deck getting better. and we all want that
Very true....Xenagos certainly is more powerful; but Surrak is 4-CMC and mono-green...it is a little "vanilla" however; but even in the traditional build, a hasty Primeval Titan is huge...you're right though...only testing can really tell in the end.
Doesn't have a huge amount of interaction at the moment but there's lots of stuff to shave off to add interaction either in black for Discard/Decay or keep to White just for Path. But my god is it fast.
It would be great to have another mana sink in here.
Also: Purklepuff Awesome post! Thank-you.
What fun! Soon we are going to have to make "Defender Devotion" a thing...I actually had a defender deck brewed up in the past with a couple infinite combos that utilized devotion (and Karametra's Acolyte). I'm sure the deck was not nearly as competitive as the Elf one and many others on here...but Assault Formation opens up a whole new worlds of decks that could very well be competitive.
Very cool list. Keep testing and honing this...as it looks like you've got an idea on a devotion deck all your own
** EDIT **
I absolutely love your new version of the deck. If you don't mind, I would like to add it to the Primer as "Defender Devotion".
I don't think surrak cuts the mustard.. Not enough impact for a 4 mana slot. However, commune with lava and damnable pact are both pretty interesting as one ofs in different devotion archetypes. Testing this set should be pretty fun I think
And we still have yet to see dromokas command... (Keeping my fingers crossed for some awesome)
What a cool idea! With the U/W and R/W enchamtment lock-down deck making dents in Modern; there's no reason a G/W Devotion can't do well too.
I'm surprised Nylea didn't make the cut. A way to pump all those manifest creatures and enchantress while also giving them trample seems like a useful enchantment). I understand; however that most of the enchantments are white.
Very cool idea guys. Let us know how they test.
ok guys, just in case someone, anyone missed this:
Collected Company is really good.
i'm considering taking out garruk for it, straight swap. it's by-the-numbers less consistent in terms of what it actually does, but the upsides are way bigger and the card has more actual gameplay on account of being instant and potentially flipping a witness in your opponent's end step (for only 4 mana. insane).
it would require a slightly more midrangey build (switching around the numbers a little to minmax the crap out of hitting the best three-drops) but really it's a simple swap.
shame it's actually pre-ordering for quite a lot of money. when it comes out proper, i'll grab a playset on Pucatrade. card's got potential.
for reference to the guys tweaking and brewing toolbox/midrange still; here's my current list. i'm considering taking it along to a modern event tonight (have other decks built but this one is the most fun by far).
4x arbor elf
3x garruk wildspeaker
3x eternal witness
1x knight of the reliquary
3x primal command
3x chord of calling
3x abrupt decay
2x path to exile
1x maelstrom pulse
1x fulminator mage (potential flex slot for reclamation sage)
1x spellskite
1x temur sabretooth
1x polukranos, world eater (really good but still a flex slot)
3x siege rhino
2x kitchen finks
1x kiki-jiki, mirror breaker
4x nykthos, shrine to nyx
5x forest
2x overgrown tomb
2x temple garden
1x stomping ground
1x blood crypt
4x verdant catacombs (didn't matter before but now the black is needed)
2x wooded foothills
1x ghost quarter
1x scavenging ooze (Junk/snapcaster/reanimator decks)
1x elesh norn, grand cenobite (Junk/tokens/zoo)
1x ethersworn canonist (storm)
1x mangara of corondor (experiment - tron mostly)
2x kor firewalker (burn)
3x obstinate baloth (Junk/burn/discard/zoo)
1x reclamation sage (random essential removal)
2x kataki, war's wage (affinity)
2x magus of the moon (tron/junk/amulet/whatever)
1x flexi slot
notes:
scavenging ooze has been cut from the maindeck. it was never worth chording it out (thereby losing the ability to recur the chord) and so i tended to rely on naturally drawing it. that's not a good enough reason to run the card, so he's hit the sideboard for now, for use against specific decks.
UTOPIA SPRAWL
i could write quite a lot on how many choices you have to make with this card. honestly there's no substitute for just playing the deck and working it out for yourself (so you don't get caught short in a word situation at a tournament).
but!
here are some guidelines for this particular version of the deck in its current state (other versions function differently)
first: what colour you choose depends on what lands you've drawn, and what cards you have in your hand. a general rule of thumb is to go for whatever colour isn't represented in the lands you've drawn. for instance, draw 2xtemple garden and an abrupt decay, the choice is already made for you. draw 2xverdant catacombs, and it gets harder. generally speaking the colour of the sprawl tends not to matter unless you get shafted by removal. normally you can tap it for mana more than once a turn, and this usually gives you your green requirement. as a result i tend to pick R on at least 1 sprawl as an insurance policy for the lategame.
"when to choose":
G - when you've got a slow-starter, suboptimal hand without an elf, and it's your only option for playing a turn-2 threat. rarely happens.
R - when you have a B source and a W source available, or are able to get one (fetchland in hand) red is a good choice. insures you against having to hardcast kiki if naturally drawn, which can sometimes be an issue. having an elf helps, as it properly smooths any green or black mana requirements. I always try to get a sprawl on red when i can, but as you can imagine, sometime's it's not feasible. try to think ahead to your outs. if kiki wins you the game in two turns and it's your major out, play for red.
B - when you have a temple garden
W - when you have an overgrown tomb
SEQUENCING
some usual opening sequences:
(bear in mind shocklands are also forests, and fetchlands can get forests)
turn 1 - forest, arbor elf
turn 2 - any G producing land, utopia sprawl on untapped forest, tap-then-re-tap for 4 mana. 4-drop.
(if your 4-drop is garruk, untap and play something else as well)
turn 3 - primal command or chord. best-case-scenario is topdeck nykthos and just go off this turn.
turn 1 - forest, arbor elf
turn 2 - nykthos, tap forest for sprawl, and here you have choices. depending on your sprawl/land combo, you could hold up abrupt decay, or maybe play out a second sprawl/elf and then path something.
turn 1 - forest, sprawl
turn 2 - three drop (fulminator mage is nice)
turn 3 - Garruk, followed by another three drop.
fairly common line:
opponent's turn X - you have potentially (for example) sprawl, untapped witness and garruk in play (average non-optimal board state). lands are nykthos + any two others. lost a few life but stable. single chord of calling in hand. opponent taps out.
line of play would be the following:
EoT chord for eternal witness, getting back Chord (brings devotion up to 7)
your turn X+1 - activate nykthos for 7, chord out (tapping witness for convoke) restoration angel, blinking the witness (untapping it and bringing back chord again). G remaining in the pool. +1 garruk and untap your nykthos and any other land. activate nykthos for 7. use chord for the third time (X=5), convoking witness and fetching up Kiki-Jiki. if your opponent tapped out on their turn, you just won.
coming back from heavy removal:
the deck does better than most at recovering from removal. the trick is to always hold an "ace in the hole" as it were. this can mean (for example) chording for a witness earlier in the game (to establish devotion) and getting chord back. it's possible then to recover from some fairly heavy removal. you rely less on topdecks than a traditional creature deck like Junk.
e.g.:
opponent casts wrath and wipes your board, interrupting your game plan. you've been EoT chording for witnesses and establishing devotion for a win next turn. this sets you back.
you still have a Nykthos and a garruk, maybe a sprawl, but in your yard is now an arbor elf, two witnesses (plus maybe a fetchland and a piece of removal).
situation A - topdeck something neutral, maybe a land/removal. depending on what turn it is, you could maybe do a couple of steps of this chain: chord for witness, get back witness, cast witness, get back final witness, cast witness, get chord, cast chord for resto angel, blink witness, get chord again, chord for win condition (sabertooth or kiki). against a combo opponent your goal should be to slowly establish devotion while keeping up removal/disruption. this means a slower gameplan. against Junk you just let rip and cast cards as fast as your mana allows.
situation B - topdeck something live (garruk or primal command). command gets you back into the game fairly nicely. it sets your opponent back (either in terms of a clock or their mana) and nets you a Witness. from there you can progress as before, but instead of using chord, go for the disruptive command chain looping through temur sabertooth. Garruk is similarly a nice draw. it lets you cast him, untap, then chord for something else. that's a bigger pressure-play than before.
How to beat Splinter Twin:
tricky, but doable. the deck runs multiple ways to tutor up creatures, has fast ramp, and runs spellskite.
if you get a decent start, it would be perfectly fine to sit with 5 mana up in your opponent's combo turn, and chord out spellskite in response to twin being cast.
if you don't get a decent start, the deck has pressure-valves in the form of the uncounterable abrupt decay (x3) and path to exile (x2). these go a long way towards making the deck have a chance against Twin (we really wouldn't otherwise).
thirdly, with an average-to-decent start we can potentially keep them off 4 mana forever. it's rare but it happens.
How to beat Tron:
be ready to lose. this potentially is the single hardest matchup for the deck. getting primal command online is great, but if you're trying to bounce their final 3rd tron piece, they can still replay it every turn and get back up to 7 mana. this is one of the rare times when you'll elect for the 'shuffle' mode on command, tucking and shuffling a tron land away. it feels awful (and they can still topdeck another quite quickly) but it can be a decent couple-of-turns roadblock.
fulminator mage is maindecked purely because of this matchup. I personally see quite a bit of Tron in my area. even if you don't, fulminator mage is one of the best three drops for the deck as it nets you time and can be re-bought with witness for a crushing land-denial plan.
How to beat Affinity:
this one isn't bad. you have enough cheap removal and a very solid (and fast) "combo" which affinity struggles to interrupt. your chord priorities change slightly though. instead of sabertooth you'll really want to go straight for Polukranos. Affinity obviously sometimes has nut-draws but if not, you can out-game them because your cumulative ramping takes over.
post-board our matchup hikes up to be really positive. without meaningful interaction, you can side in Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and 2x kataki, war's wage plus maybe reclamation sage which turns into a machine gun with resto angel or sabertooth.
I've chorded out a kataki on turn 2 before, meaning an insta-scoop. we do ok.
how to beat Burn:
this is why you play the deck. very positive. you won't lose very often, just because our "combo" is faster. instead of bouncing their lands with command, just gain 7 life. if skullcrack is a thing, pressure them with EoT chord-for-kitchen finks or siege rhino(!!!) then go to town with witnessing back that command, so you can gain a billion life and fetch resto angel to blink you lifegain dudes..
the positive side is that Burn doesn't really have any strong way to interact with this deck. you can just mostly "go off" and you're usually a turn or two faster.
post-board the deck becomes mono-lifegain and they don't really stand a chance. 2x kor firewalker and 3x obstinate baloth is too much.
when to fetch knight of the reliquary:
she's there for when you've drawn any 2x of command/chord/witness and you don't have a nykthos in play. first play is to EoT chord out a knight, then in your turn go to town by fetching up a nykthos. don't fetch her up if you only have one fetch-spell and no way to buy it back (i.e. witness). doing so will give you plenty of mana but nothing to cast with it.
when to fetch temur sabretooth:
any time you have a witness in play and you can't win on that exact turn. seriously. card's nuts. take care to leave the mana open to bounce your witness when you can. if you have mana that must be spent in your main phase (either from garruk or a nykthos activation) then bounce the witness and keep it safe in your hand. losing your entire board to a wrath/similar with no mana open is a tough pill to swallow.
why restoration angel?:
mostly as a 4th Witness. it's often the end of a chain of chord-cycling, or a nice topdeck when you have a witness in play and a chord/command, allowing you to fetch kiki for the win.
siege rhino?:
can be cast on turn 2 (surprisingly often). returned by witness, blinked by resto angel, eternally recurred by sabretooth and chorded out in your opponent's turn. it's a crucial piece of beef that gives the deck some clock when it just needs to race and change tack. it's the reason i'm set on running black, besides perhaps abrupt decay.
The Hard Lock:
let's say you've been able to crack off an early primal command. this is really the deck's major goal. we don't run 4x command because they can clog up your openers too much leading to game losses, and we don't run 4x witness because your sabretooth/resto angels both function as a 4th witness when creating a chord/command chain. the kiki combo is to catch out opponents when they tap out. always be ready to change strategy if your opponent taps out for something on turn 4 or 5. also remember that our kiki combo can be cast all at instant speed.
to achieve the hard lock, you need to establish an early command and tuck one of their key lands (a tapped-land is a huge bonus), fetching a Witness as well. this slows your opponent and prevents disruption.
the following turn, you can re-buy the command (with witness) and hopefully cast again (total 8 mana needed). tucking their land ensures they don't draw removal/disruption, and you should be able to continue unimpeded for the most part.
If you are lucky enough to have drawn a Nykthos/Garruk, within more or less a single turn, you should be able to start chaining commands and advancing the chain by buying it back the same turn, or (with 13 mana) casting it twice. with garruk and nykthos, every witness you play adds GGGG to your mana pool for the turn.
once you have one or two witnesses (depends on the presence of Nykthos), you want to rush straight for temur sabretooth and begin a subtly different chain of re-buying witness using the sabertooth, casting witness, casting the re-bought command, and this allows you to choose gaining 7 life instead of fetching a creature, as an option. it works well for midrange matchups where beatdowns are an issue, and frees up the chain to be more flexible.
at this point, with an active sabertooth and enough mana (10) to bounce witness, cast witness and cast command every turn, you have effectively won the game. your opponent will never draw any new cards, you can choose to gain 7 life every turn or fetch a new creature every turn, adding to devotion and building your boardstate. you have complete control. once you can cast more than one command a turn you can chain-tuck their lands, fetch rhinos/angel and just beat them down behind a wall of combo-disruption.
[more coming. need to sleep]
I've been looking into some lists, and what strikes me is the lack of interaction in the traditional lists. With Decay, Path and Pulse in the MB in this list we have answers to combo (looking at you Twin).
I was wondering why you are planning on removing Garruk from the list? He seems to be a very powerful enabler in producing enough mana for the deck.
Also, can you add some info on how you play Utopia Sprawl? How do you determine what color to pick when you cast it?
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Wall of Roots
4 Wall of Omens
4 Carven Caryatid
2 Hornet Nest
4 Tooth and Nail
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Collected Company
2 Eternal Witness
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Stomping Ground
4 Forest
2 Temple Garden
1 Gavony Township
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Summoning Trap
1 Combust
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
2 Rest in Peace
2 Worship
Doesn't have a huge amount of interaction at the moment but there's lots of stuff to shave off to add interaction either in black for Discard/Decay or keep to White just for Path. But my god is it fast.
It would be great to have another mana sink in here.
Also: Purklepuff Awesome post! Thank-you.
The Wooded Foothills can get all of the same lands the Verdant Catacombs can.
Also is the Blood Crypt just to increase the ability to cast the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker?
Do you have any advice on what to set the Utopia Sprawl to?
That was one of the biggest concerns with the original "traditional" lists. They had little interaction but also weren't straight forward "combo" lists...they seemed somewhere "in the middle"...that's why Devotion started seeing some more split up de ls (I.e. Fast Aggro/Combo and highly disruptive toolbox builds). Combo is a huge portion of the meta; so if you want to win a good percentage of game one's you either have to race or disrupt.
Cool list. I'll get it added to the primer.
Hi :).
Yeah verdant and foothills can fetch the same stuff. I qualified the need (for either of them) because I used to run most rainforest, as green was the only important factor.
Added sprawl info. In a vacuum you tend to want to put sprawl on black and fetch temple garden first (there are less white lands in the deck so it's more important to get them out first). Doing it the opposite way round also works.
The blood crypt could also be A stomping ground. It's currently there to replace a single godless shrine i was running. It is there purely to make Kiki hard-castable off a fetch in the mid-game; something I desperately needed on a few occasions but wasn't able to pull off.
any thoughts?
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Forest
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Path to Exile
1 Beast Within
2 Chord of Calling
2 Primal Command
1 Genesis Wave
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Eternal Witness
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Restoration Angel
1 Reveillark
1 Acidic Slime
1 Primeval Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
2 Stony Silence
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Spellskite
1 Brindle Boar
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Summoning Trap
And Collected Company....man that card is amazing.
Defenders. Why would you play this version? The board state is harder for opponents to deal with. x/4's block well, don't die to Bolt and friends. There is a lot of drawing power via ETB effects. LOTS of mana. Combo finish or Alpha strike with Walls. Makes very strong use of Convoke on Chord of Calling.
4 Wall of Roots
4 Carven Caryatid
4 Wall of Omens
2 Arbor Elf
3 Eternal Witness
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Restoration Angel
1 Temur Sabertooth
4 Collected Company
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Chord of Calling
2 Primal Command
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
5 Forest
3 Temple Garden
2 Gavony Township
3 Horizon Canopy
And Stompy. Why play this version? Very fast clock. Transformational SB into Blood Moon/Devotion deck with Fanatic of Mogis. More interaction.
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
2 Burning-Tree Shaman
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Boartusk Liege
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Elderscale Wurm
4 Collected Company
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Burst Lightning
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Stomping Ground
7 Forest
4 Blood Moon
2 Spellskite
2 Leyline of Lifeforce
2 Leyline of Vitality
2 Fanatic of Mogis
Le Gambit @ Aether did this banner
[NYC Dark Knights]
join today
Very much so. It is hard to perfect; but transformative sideboards are actually one of the big advantages of green devotion.
i'm not so sure. is it as good as Xenagod? really hard to tell. testing could prove interesting. at the very least he'll probably be a hasty 5/4 most of the time. but on the downside he doesn't really do anything else, and sometimes he's just a vanilla 5/4 for 4. i'd love to be proven wrong though, as it would mean the deck getting better. and we all want that.
Very true....Xenagos certainly is more powerful; but Surrak is 4-CMC and mono-green...it is a little "vanilla" however; but even in the traditional build, a hasty Primeval Titan is huge...you're right though...only testing can really tell in the end.
What fun! Soon we are going to have to make "Defender Devotion" a thing...I actually had a defender deck brewed up in the past with a couple infinite combos that utilized devotion (and Karametra's Acolyte). I'm sure the deck was not nearly as competitive as the Elf one and many others on here...but Assault Formation opens up a whole new worlds of decks that could very well be competitive.
Very cool list. Keep testing and honing this...as it looks like you've got an idea on a devotion deck all your own
** EDIT **
I absolutely love your new version of the deck. If you don't mind, I would like to add it to the Primer as "Defender Devotion".
It says Until the end of your NEXT turn
Card draw in non-blue is always fun
And we still have yet to see dromokas command... (Keeping my fingers crossed for some awesome)