Sheltered Aerie is much worse than Overgrowth.. It makes 2 mana, Overgrowth makes a land create 3 mana. Paying 3 mana so thr land makes 1 extra is really bad.. Unless you play 5 color or something..
I agree with you Odium that we must first and foremost find the absolute best interactions in Green Devotion and then we can fine tune decks and boards over months of play (just as all "good" decks do). I actually don't mind the experimental ideas (like bloom and knightfall mash-ups) as sometimes they present a new idea/interaction we hadn't thought of (or show us the power of cards like Kiora, etc.). Every once in a blue moon they even lead to crazy new and great decks. Eventually. However, you are right...there's a point where it's just better to play the existing deck.
Devotion is a REALLY tough mechanic. You are right that the curve was off. It's part of the reason Sslkie and Growth were added. The curve being off can happen so easily! The reasons are:
1. Devotion is a "snowball" mechanic. The more green symbols the better.
2. EARLY ramp matters most. Getting green symbols on board in turns 1-3 is paramount.
3. Once you have all the mana in the world; you have to have something to do with it!
So basically, you want to pour all your cards on board to ramp and increase devotion; but once you're there you want to be sure you have a full grip with plenty to cast!!! So you're constantly fighting yourself
This is essentially why (a)permanent-based card draw/advantage and (b) variable or "scalable" cards become so important. It's what makes cards like Oath so amazing. It increases devotion, is cheap, AND it replaces itself with you're choice among the top three! Far and away our best games involve several green symbols eay and a Nykthos. This should be goal number one. From there, we figure out how to win :). Of course, I'm basically telling you all something you all already know (most of you are already better at building decks than I am.). It's more a thought process for those new to devotion wondering why I run so many cards that say "draw a card" (or something similar) whose cost=their devotion.
Having said this; The tooth and nail, Aggro, Traditional, and other combo lists I've seen recently have been amazing. Many of you just naturally know how to build green devotion. I'm still learning new things/ seeing where I'm wrong and can improve (I.e. With the curve, etc) with every list and post. but that's just what makes Salvations great.
Thanks CurdBros for the response. It continues to amaze me how many different ways this "mono-green" devotion has spun! just splashing one or two more colors for Walkers seems like a solid idea. looking at the decklists posted, i am really curious about all of these different variations. however, i am still stuck on my more "traditional" mono-green mash. As i stated earlier, i am experimenting with the enchantment version of this deck. this version i feel, deals with some of the issues that traditional has had in the past. i.e, the curve being strung out and lack of card draw. the original list from michael jacob's tournament play was where i started. although some of the more innovative and newer nykthos decks can take advantage of cards like wistful selkie and elvish visionary, my traditional build did not take full advantage of these cards. they became dorks with no real use after their ETB. so in my search for a more useful permanent for those slots, i tried out strangleroot geists and carven caryatid. geists were amazing for early devotion, resiliency, and early damage. they often allow for a turn two couple of damage and combo well with garruk, utopia sprawl and arbor elf for a lot of threats on turn two as well as large devotion. what i still lacked was consistency in card draw. i found myself on the losing side of many games when i burned through my hand in the first couple of turns (it felt like i was running an underpowered burn deck as my hand would empty and my opponent would steady out and start eliminating my board). the introduction of eidolon of blossoms seemed like a magical fit, but since the traditional list only plays 7-8 enchantments and most come out prior to casting an eidolon, the build seemed strange. that was until i started looking at this forum and smashing different ideas together. so i came up with a list that i am currently smoothing out.
my sideboard has always been far from traditional because of the meta at the stores i played. i saw a lot of RU delver and Jund decks with most of the Pod players (pre ban) being eliminated early.
i am still toying with the last 5 slots and gravity well may be removable with the addition of the arbor colossus. further, i was previously running the polukranos/bow of nylea combo for token decks and to deal with stuff like oversized goyfs. for those of you who missed the thread: declare combat with polukranos and bow on board and open mana for poly's monstrosity ability. before blockers use monstrosity to deal 1 damage to all creatures opponent controls and due to bow (deathtouch when attacking) all opponents creatures die and you only lose poly if he wasnt sufficiently pumped. ill trade 1 for 5-6 any day. it is also funny in the mirror match.
some issues with the current scheme are still that eidolons, coursers, and enchantresses are still dorks. i like the idea of RG liege. but, i dont know where to fit it in yet. and it would definitely only be a 2 of.
one thing i also noticed with traditional builds relying on Choof, is that G wave can still be a dud if you can't find the loop. i really like the card though. and i am working to find a combination of permanents that will continue to build board state when placed by a G Wave that isnt a game ender. It is hard to eliminate the wiffs, but, i feel that with tweaking, this build could become more viable again.
the build focuses on the combo while having enough support cards to play a long to midrange game. Primal lock is a must have for me. i have won more games than i should have because of that combination. the addition of a curio would obviously make the combo more efficient since you could bounce two e wits and use the second ability of command to either gain life to dig out of a hole or as a tutor for a more viable creature for the situation. i think with curio, mono green could become more Pod-like in that we would run a more toolbox set of creatures.
on another note, one thing that i tried out for some time was a 1of bonfire of the damned then a 1 of banefire. both of these can be instant wins, however, they are normally a dead draw for me. having them in my opening hand means i am playing with 6 cards instead of 7 and seeing them hit on a GWave was always a bust too. the only time i ever felt good pulling it was on the draw of turn 3 or 4 when i was ready to end the game. but, often i would already have G Wave or enough power on the field to press for the win. so banefire/bonfire were just winmores. i still like toying with the idea. but, i have left it aside for now. unfortunately i dont feel that this has completely summed up my experiences with the deck, but time is up for me right now. i appreciate further insight into this build and can't wait to see what else comes of these new twists. Oath is definitely in teh main board of the list i posted, but i forgot to put it in as it is not in my apps data base and therefore wasnt on the list that i was copying. sorry about that!
Alright, i know i just posted, but my list was incomplete and i wanted to make sure that i discussed everything i was looking for/at in the deck so here is the current decklist:
lets start with dorks:
why not a full playset of elves or birds or both? here's the deal with GWave combos. nothing can shut down a G Wave combo faster than a "utility" G Wave for X=5-6 and getting nothing but dorks and utopia sprawls when we were looking for eidolons or coursers or garruk. and yes, we do want an elf turn one. that is a given. but, elf turn one is a huge target. by this time, many people are fearful of elf combo as well as our monogreen aggro and midrange decks. even if they dont see us a huge competitive threat, they still see ramp decks as a huge threat and knowing that turn two 4 mana is available is a scary thing. so why not 4 elves and one bird? color fixing and late game are the keys to this choice. so, with more of monogreen splashing into R/U versions or a mix of the two, the color fixing of the BOP is crucial. in this build, the color fixing is not as necessary, but when the sideboard is included, (crumble to dust, dismember) the extra color fixing is nice when we can no longer fetch a stomping ground or to save a couple of life points on dismember. now lategame, they are pumped by Choof and Kessig. either or both in conjunction with the BOP can be game over!
Argothian Enchantress...Why? She's pretty. just kidding. she gives a hard to remove small devotion to green. and provides a steady card draw that can net several cards over the course of the game. ill admit she seems a weak play on turn two since she doesnt replace herself immediately. however, there are hands where this is not the case. take for example, turn 1 land, elf. turn two land, utopia sprawl. we now have access to four mana. so we play garruk, untap lands. access to three mana. then argothian and second utopia on unchanted land. draw a card. and turn three now we have access to 6 mana before we even use garruk. granted this is not typical, but it is still a line of play. further, Enchantress receives the buff from liege to become a 1/2. nothing special, but there is still damage to be dealt there. and when Choof hits the field she is a valuable piece that has previously been undervalued by the opponent.
courser of kruphix is a card that i have been playing with prior to the enchantment build as a pseudo card draw. in mid to late game, the life gain from lands entering from GWave is enough to make the game shift in my favor. and courser falls right into the eidolons wheel house. it nets me a card when played and is tutorable with primal command. also two devotion on a tough body is great too. also affected by liege!
eidolon is the card draw wonderwoman. she nets a card on ETB and is pumped by liege and adds two devotion! sounds good, unfortunately she is still susceptible to removal. even with the liege buff, she is a 3/3 and within lightning bolt range [if we swap the polukranos for nylea, and play a more conservative, midrange game (which this deck likes) then we can use nylea's buff to keep creatures out of removal range but not on the ETB turn unless the eidolon was cast late game and we have mana to spare]
boartusk-not a card i thought i would ever include! but he is here and i am willing to take him for a spin. there have been several games that i have played where one or two damage have made the difference and i had to wait out another turn and hope that an answer wasnt drawn. this is never a good place to be. BTL gives us that extra little bit early on so that we can get the early push.
Eternal witness/Primal Command, enough said. midrange lock down that can start on turn two is amazing. turn three is when this nasty little scheme starts to aggravate the control players. putting a land back ontop of their deck so that we always know what is going to be pulled and we keep them down on mana is amazing. And with Eternal Witness, Primal command can be looped four times. and four turns is a doosey in Modern.
Xenagos is the god of all things stompy. he helps to give us a solid body when devotion is met and has an amazing effect that turns some of our smaller creatures into beaters.
Garruk is only a 3 of. why? because i don't need to loop his as much as I do other creatures or spells (GWave/Ewit/Primal Command). And honestly, hitting two garruk's on a GWave is a waste since the first one will come in and cannot be used until the completion of all abilities that hit the stack after GWave is completed. But, there are still enough to guaranty sufficient drawing power.
Craterhoof is the combo beater that i started with and has been a reliable beast ever since. A 1 of is all that is needed since we typically like to loop G Wave into a big hoof for GG.
The other major change to this deck is a 3 of Nykthos instead of a playset. this is not something most people would consider in this type of deck, but again it comes down to how often it has been a dud card on certain draws or GWaves. it is not often, but often enough to be annoying.
I have also gone up to a full playset of wooded foothills and a 2 of windswept heath. the addition of the cinder glade give me flexibility late game to bring in mana without shocking if need be.
Kessig is a mono green staple! must have. too much of the extra damage comes from this little guy.
Inkmoth is an addition i accommodated a little over a year ago. i have snuck out some great victories over life gain decks and after board wipes where i needed a one turn finisher. and going down to the 3 nykthos gives me another slot for a colorless mana. win-win for me. but others have not fallen in love with this idea as i have.
so for most of you, i am the currently the guy that is explaining the joke after telling it. we all know these basics and how most of these mechanics work together. what i have not nailed down is the sideboard. i used to play 2 of surgical extraction. it was an easy splash since it was phyrexian mana and it helped to rid myself of some pesky counter spells after turn two. haha eat that control decks. i still like the idea. but, it can be a dead draw if during games 2/3 i ramp quickly and have the game in hand with a dead card in my hand and i need more juice. i like the idea of a spellskite to ease the twin matchup. i think there is plenty here to combat affinity. tron was a problem. i normally out ran mono blue tron. but, having the crumble to dust is way awesome now. with the addition of Oath's mainboard, this deck could see some really awesome and interesting combinations/interactions. i hope this clarifies a little of where this version is at and where i am in playing. any recommendations for sideboard or main are always welcome. i wish i had more time/money to experiment with these other versions, but right now i am enjoying what i have.
oh, as a side note, i dropped two prime times in this current build. they seemed to never be there when i needed them and were always there when i didnt. the land fetching will be missed. but, i often didnt need two lands, i would need either a nykthos or a kessig. i often went to fetch inkmoth in addition to each of those however to add value. i may pull polukranos for a one of Prime Time. just a thought.
I saddly can't really post a fulldeck list right now cause I'm still fiddling with it and tbh for now results aren't as good as with other devotions builds.
Also, on a sidenote, I don't really understand how you find Nykthos a dead card when GW'ing? When you Genesis Wave, unless in desperate situations, you must always keep one forest untaped, so that when your revealed enchantments enter the battlefield, you attech them to the untaped forest (as you can't attach them to the GW'd lands that enter the battlefield with them), and if you're lucking enough to draw a Nykthos at the same time, you pay Nykthos 2 mana cost with the newly enchanted forest, and cast the stuff you will almost invariably have drawn with Abundant Growth, Eidolon of Blossoms, etc. I stopped counting the amount of games I've won like that.
@CurdBros
Man your build are sick as usual and I really think your Curio/Walker combo + Oath is gonna be "what we lacked" to turn it into a more competitive deck.
What do you think will be the best planeswalker for insta kill?
I've listed the followings:
ya i do need to change the argothian enchantress to a verduran. this is unfortunate. the app i was using actually had her listed under modern legal and it didnt even cross my mind building the decklist. that is super embarrassing. as far as nykthos as a dead draw, i agree and have used nykthos on the GWave entrance. however, hitting multiple nykthos on the same GWave can be a bit underwhelming once the play is made. i cannot give an exact example as it has been several weeks since i have played the deck. but, i have found myself feeling "flooded" with nykthos on multiple occasions. however, the same can also be true for lacking nykthos. i am just playing around with the 3 of idea for now to see how things play out. especially after we get a little dig from oath of nissa . looks like i may have to realign the deck a little. verduran still fills a nice turn two set up spot as it fills the same role as courser of kruphix. it can be played after a garruk on the untapped lands to set up for a massive turn 3. and devotion is better than with argothian. the lack of shroud is a bummer, but it can be dealt with. this whole deck is based around making a bunch of small threats much bigger stompier ones. so they have to choose now, is the burn to kill the devotion or the pure ramp? kill the card draw or the dorks? either way their attention is now split. i still like the idea. i do appreciate the catch though. that would have been rough if id spent the money on them already.
Hey friends. I am an avid Elf player and have been contributing there for a while. I live in Japan and my role is to give players some outside perspective so to further discussions and hone decks.
I don't have this deck yet (have most of the pieces and am really thinking about getting the rest), but do like it a lot.
I am posting because a certain iteration of this deck has made quite a bit of top 8's here in Japan. The store that hosts the events is called Hareruya and is an incredibly competitive environment (with platinum level pros), so I'm pretty sure they are legit finishes, not just a fluke. Here is a list from the latest one. Looks like a 65 man and the pilot took it to second place.
Well, I hope this helps even a little. Green is my favorite color, so I wish this deck much luck (as well as my Elves and RG Scapeshift lol).
PS: Looks like Oath of Nissa is tailor made for this kind of strategy.
Thanks CurdBros for the response. It continues to amaze me how many different ways this "mono-green" devotion has spun! just splashing one or two more colors for Walkers seems like a solid idea. looking at the decklists posted, i am really curious about all of these different variations. however, i am still stuck on my more "traditional" mono-green mash. As i stated earlier, i am experimenting with the enchantment version of this deck. this version i feel, deals with some of the issues that traditional has had in the past. i.e, the curve being strung out and lack of card draw. the original list from michael jacob's tournament play was where i started. although some of the more innovative and newer nykthos decks can take advantage of cards like wistful selkie and elvish visionary, my traditional build did not take full advantage of these cards. they became dorks with no real use after their ETB. so in my search for a more useful permanent for those slots, i tried out strangleroot geists and carven caryatid. geists were amazing for early devotion, resiliency, and early damage. they often allow for a turn two couple of damage and combo well with garruk, utopia sprawl and arbor elf for a lot of threats on turn two as well as large devotion. what i still lacked was consistency in card draw. i found myself on the losing side of many games when i burned through my hand in the first couple of turns (it felt like i was running an underpowered burn deck as my hand would empty and my opponent would steady out and start eliminating my board). the introduction of eidolon of blossoms seemed like a magical fit, but since the traditional list only plays 7-8 enchantments and most come out prior to casting an eidolon, the build seemed strange. that was until i started looking at this forum and smashing different ideas together. so i came up with a list that i am currently smoothing out.
my sideboard has always been far from traditional because of the meta at the stores i played. i saw a lot of RU delver and Jund decks with most of the Pod players (pre ban) being eliminated early.
i am still toying with the last 5 slots and gravity well may be removable with the addition of the arbor colossus. further, i was previously running the polukranos/bow of nylea combo for token decks and to deal with stuff like oversized goyfs. for those of you who missed the thread: declare combat with polukranos and bow on board and open mana for poly's monstrosity ability. before blockers use monstrosity to deal 1 damage to all creatures opponent controls and due to bow (deathtouch when attacking) all opponents creatures die and you only lose poly if he wasnt sufficiently pumped. ill trade 1 for 5-6 any day. it is also funny in the mirror match.
some issues with the current scheme are still that eidolons, coursers, and enchantresses are still dorks. i like the idea of RG liege. but, i dont know where to fit it in yet. and it would definitely only be a 2 of.
one thing i also noticed with traditional builds relying on Choof, is that G wave can still be a dud if you can't find the loop. i really like the card though. and i am working to find a combination of permanents that will continue to build board state when placed by a G Wave that isnt a game ender. It is hard to eliminate the wiffs, but, i feel that with tweaking, this build could become more viable again.
the build focuses on the combo while having enough support cards to play a long to midrange game. Primal lock is a must have for me. i have won more games than i should have because of that combination. the addition of a curio would obviously make the combo more efficient since you could bounce two e wits and use the second ability of command to either gain life to dig out of a hole or as a tutor for a more viable creature for the situation. i think with curio, mono green could become more Pod-like in that we would run a more toolbox set of creatures.
on another note, one thing that i tried out for some time was a 1of bonfire of the damned then a 1 of banefire. both of these can be instant wins, however, they are normally a dead draw for me. having them in my opening hand means i am playing with 6 cards instead of 7 and seeing them hit on a GWave was always a bust too. the only time i ever felt good pulling it was on the draw of turn 3 or 4 when i was ready to end the game. but, often i would already have G Wave or enough power on the field to press for the win. so banefire/bonfire were just winmores. i still like toying with the idea. but, i have left it aside for now. unfortunately i dont feel that this has completely summed up my experiences with the deck, but time is up for me right now. i appreciate further insight into this build and can't wait to see what else comes of these new twists. Oath is definitely in teh main board of the list i posted, but i forgot to put it in as it is not in my apps data base and therefore wasnt on the list that i was copying. sorry about that!
So much useful info here! First off, what s cool list. You are absolutely 100% right that tons of card draw is a must in most devotion decks (Aggro is the only one that can probably deal with a little less although it still needs some). I think you're fine without Curio as well. A 1-of could lead to some crazy scenarios; but you look like you've got a solid curve and plenty without it. Curio decks are weird cuz you have to maintain a decent curve while going a little on the "low end" to have enough to bounce (it's what makes A. Growth, Oath, and Visionary so good). I totly agree with you about the hand issue. I've struggled a few times with feeling like I start amazing but run through my hand. I discussed it above a little; but it's part of what makes devotion so tough/fun. We have to pour out our hand to build devotion; but once we have it, we want plenty of cards to take advantage of it!
I love the addition of Raging Ravine. Made me think that lists with Boartusk Liege should probably run at least one! Keep up the awesome brewing. There's a lot here in your post; but the "old school" idea of needing card draw/advantage (can be done in ways outside of "draw" such as Wave, undying, persist, walkers, token generators, really any 2-for-1 or more) is something I for one lost sight of that can be paramount to building a solid green devotion deck.
And no biggy on the Argotian thing...I just assumed you meant Verudian Enchantress (I constant confuse them too).
I sadly can't really post a fulldeck list right now cause I'm still fiddling with it and tbh for now results aren't as good as with other devotions builds.
Also, on a sidenote, I don't really understand how you find Nykthos a dead card when GW'ing? When you Genesis Wave, unless in desperate situations, you must always keep one forest untaped, so that when your revealed enchantments enter the battlefield, you attech them to the untaped forest (as you can't attach them to the GW'd lands that enter the battlefield with them), and if you're lucking enough to draw a Nykthos at the same time, you pay Nykthos 2 mana cost with the newly enchanted forest, and cast the stuff you will almost invariably have drawn with Abundant Growth, Eidolon of Blossoms, etc. I stopped counting the amount of games I've won like that.
@CurdBros
Man your build are sick as usual and I really think your Curio/Walker combo + Oath is gonna be "what we lacked" to turn it into a more competitive deck.
What do you think will be the best planeswalker for insta kill?
I've listed the followings:
I like both Chandra's and Xenagos most for their "insta kill" nature.
Chandra Pyromaster is a better all around Walker, with built in card advantage if you draw her separate of the combo. I think you can probably get away with the 2-red in a list with fetches, Stomping Grounds, Abundant Growth, and Oath of Nissa (as with an oath on board she essentially becomes a green Walker for casting purposes ).
I've tended to use Xenagos, the Reveler as my "insta kill" of choice. He's a weak Walker by himself (which is a definite downside); but he does meet a certain few useful criteria:
1. His +1 creates mana. This can be important for the infinite loop if you don't have a Nykthos. Say you have a forest with 2 Sprawls on it and 5 creatures on board (a couple dorks, a BTE, and two tokens or something...not super important). At that point Xenagos +1's for 5-mana and Garruk +1's for 4-mana. With a Curio, you're now in a position to "go infinite".
2. He is an "insta kill". It takes some triggers if you don't have a Nykthos (i.e. Are only netting 1-mana per loop....but there are ways to speed this up that I can explain in another post); but once you have infinite mana you also have infinite tokens. In the case of Xenagos, these tokens have haste. For that reason, you can just make 100, 1000, (or in the case of MTGO) 8-12 depending on the opponent's board, life total, and open mana. From there it's just a matter of attacking. The major downside here is that it has to be done on first main (prior to attack phase).
3. He is a 4-drop with 1-green Devotion. The 4-drop is important because that means he can be cast in turn 2 and it means the "infinite loop" only requires Garruk to create 8-mama alone or for the combination of the two to create 9-mana. The green devotion is just an added benefit that can be important in rare cases.
4. He creates mana outside of the combo. This can be important for speed. It's just nice to cast a Walker, have it essentially pay for itself (or close) and cast another permanent. This can be very important to the speed of a Devotion deck.
5. He can create an "insta kill" off a wave where you don't hit the combo. I've had times where I hit a Nythos, a couple lands, have a huge board, and a Kessig Wolf Run...in those instances, you just tap the lands, trigger the Nykthos, trigger Xenagos to make a 2/2 haste Satyr, and trigger the Wolf Run to give the Satyr a +20/+20 or more boost. Kessig is our "Plan B"; so having a walker that can still win off a large wave that just happens to miss the combo is nice.
Having said all of this, I do need to look into Chandra more. Being as to "go infinite" on second main is a plus for sure, and with oath and land enchantments the red may be less of an issue (especially if you are diligent about fetching for Stomping Grounds). Xenagos meets all of the above; but Chandra is a better Walker in a vacuum (unless you play Boartusk Liege). I will certainly look into this and see what happens with Chandra in the current Xenagos slot.
** as an aside, Karn Liberated also works as an effective "insta kill" (as you remove every permanent they have including lands); but the loop obviously takes more mana/devotion on Garruk 's part (he has to plus 1 for 11-mana). It's definitely doable, and a turn 3 Karn will win most games on its own (it also slows the opponent so much that you get to 11-devotion)...so this is also an option. **
** EDIT - Added the 5th reason for use of Xenagos (just remembered it ) **
Hey friends. I am an avid Elf player and have been contributing there for a while. I live in Japan and my role is to give players some outside perspective so to further discussions and hone decks.
I don't have this deck yet (have most of the pieces and am really thinking about getting the rest), but do like it a lot.
I am posting because a certain iteration of this deck has made quite a bit of top 8's here in Japan. The store that hosts the events is called Hareruya and is an incredibly competitive environment (with platinum level pros), so I'm pretty sure they are legit finishes, not just a fluke. Here is a list from the latest one. Looks like a 65 man and the pilot took it to second place.
Well, I hope this helps even a little. Green is my favorite color, so I wish this deck much luck (as well as my Elves and RG Scapeshift lol).
PS: Looks like Oath of Nissa is tailor made for this kind of strategy.
Hey there! Of course I recognize you from the Elf thread.
What a cool list! Summoners Pact and Chord both tend to be a little under-played in devotion (for a few reasons) but this list is an AWESOME toolbox list that takes full advantage of them (and Fauna shaman if course). What a great take on devotion. We will have to look at this as a very viable way to play devotion given the level of competition. I haven't seen a toolbox list in the longest time! Pedros and Purklefluff really spearheaded such lists many moons ago; and it's great to see them getting recognized. I'dovr to hear from the deck creator/pilot on how he/she plays the deck too!
Very cool indeed. I need to post the recent success of Tooth and Nail lists as well on MTGO. They have seen some success. At the end of the day, good cards are just good! The list looks extremely competitive.
It uses some chord/tooth and nail/brutalizer/primal command toolboxing, but the main idea is to accelerate out huge boardstates and land destruction spells. (facilitated by Sabertooth)
I include only two Sabertooths as, while it is a very important card, I can easily tutor for it and bring it back with Witness. I am considering adding a Kiora, the Crashing Wave as it goes infinite with sabertooth, witness, and nykthos. It also drops more land into play, which can be very helpful along with the card draw. Additionally, I have gone undefeated at FNM, my meta including: Abzan Midrange, CoCo Elves, Utron, RGtron, burn, Twin, and several control decks.
This is a great build...you can never go wrong just playing some of the strongest green cards ever printed. A little built-in redundancy, some ways to slow the opponent down a bit...looks good to me! If it ain't broke, don't fix it
It uses some chord/tooth and nail/brutalizer/primal command toolboxing, but the main idea is to accelerate out huge boardstates and land destruction spells. (facilitated by Sabertooth)
I include only two Sabertooths as, while it is a very important card, I can easily tutor for it and bring it back with Witness. I am considering adding a Kiora, the Crashing Wave as it goes infinite with sabertooth, witness, and nykthos. It also drops more land into play, which can be very helpful along with the card draw. Additionally, I have gone undefeated at FNM, my meta including: Abzan Midrange, CoCo Elves, Utron, RGtron, burn, Twin, and several control decks.
What an interesting list...I am a big fan of Temur Sabertooth. It takes a very specific list for it to excel; but it is certainly a very powerful card. Thanks for posting this.
This is a great build...you can never go wrong just playing some of the strongest green cards ever printed. A little built-in redundancy, some ways to slow the opponent down a bit...looks good to me! If it ain't broke, don't fix it
I always go back and forth with 1x Prime time and 1 wurmcoil though. In the end the Coil may stay.
Oath of Nissa makes me wish I was not a new magic player because I just do not know all of the cards. She gives us the ability to consider putting any planeswalker in our deck. Obviously we can't go crazy with it in case we don't draw Oath but we are not bound to a planeswalker having to have green manna in its cost or all colorless (is generic the word now since wastes will represent colorless?). This is where I wish I knew other planeswalkers so I could think about what might synergize with our goals. I know people are already doing this like Swaggy Lobsters post and the discussion that followed. I might just have to do some walker research.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard:GR Eldrazi Ramp
Modern: Mono Green Devotion
In the walker/Curio version of the deck we keep talking about combo wins and going infinite on turn 3-4. How consistent is that? It feels like you have to have a lot of pieces to get there. I know you are testing the Oath of Nissa version of the deck and I am not running that yet and maybe that is the difference. I just feel like I have to have a couple of critters on the board then get both planeswalkers and curio down which means I probably need a nykthos.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard:GR Eldrazi Ramp
Modern: Mono Green Devotion
Oath of Nissa makes me wish I was not a new magic player because I just do not know all of the cards. She gives us the ability to consider putting any planeswalker in our deck. Obviously we can't go crazy with it in case we don't draw Oath but we are not bound to a planeswalker having to have green manna in its cost or all colorless (is generic the word now since wastes will represent colorless?). This is where I wish I knew other planeswalkers so I could think about what might synergize with our goals. I know people are already doing this like Swaggy Lobsters post and the discussion that followed. I might just have to do some walker research.
There are two great sites where you can look up Magic cards any way you want. The first is Magic Gatherer (just type it into google). The second is www.magiccards.info. Gatherer is simpler to use, but you can break down cards by specific costs (both mana and activated ability costs in magiccards.info. Once you know how to use both; you can find anything. Another thing I like to do is go to MythicSpoiler.com. You can then click the set (like Mirrodin, etc) and see a picture layout of the whole set on one page. You can even break it down by color (I.e. If you only wanna see green, etc.). This goes a long way to helping you find diamonds in the rough (or to go "I wonder if they've made a card that does X?".
Of course there's always the community on here too. The best suggestions normally come straight from those who play the deck.
My last remark for now is a repeat I believe. Temur Sabretooth + Eternal Witness + 2x Garruk = infi mana and acces to all stuff in the GY. It might seem like a cornercase but it has worked for me and won the game on the spot multiple times, in normal games and during a 'Wave-turn'.
I dont think you can bounce 2 garruks. Oh do you mean play garruk, sacrifice the other one, get mana through nykthos, recast eternal witness, get garruk back, and each loop generates additional mana? To do so you would need utopia sprawl, nykthos, garruk, witness, sabretooth and 3 more devotion right? I did not think about this "combo", if you play primal command (and you should probably play some if you play witness) it is excelent tutor target. Nice job finding this out!
Hey friends. I am an avid Elf player and have been contributing there for a while. I live in Japan and my role is to give players some outside perspective so to further discussions and hone decks.
I don't have this deck yet (have most of the pieces and am really thinking about getting the rest), but do like it a lot.
I am posting because a certain iteration of this deck has made quite a bit of top 8's here in Japan. The store that hosts the events is called Hareruya and is an incredibly competitive environment (with platinum level pros), so I'm pretty sure they are legit finishes, not just a fluke. Here is a list from the latest one. Looks like a 65 man and the pilot took it to second place.
Well, I hope this helps even a little. Green is my favorite color, so I wish this deck much luck (as well as my Elves and RG Scapeshift lol).
PS: Looks like Oath of Nissa is tailor made for this kind of strategy.
Devotion is a REALLY tough mechanic. You are right that the curve was off. It's part of the reason Sslkie and Growth were added. The curve being off can happen so easily! The reasons are:
1. Devotion is a "snowball" mechanic. The more green symbols the better.
2. EARLY ramp matters most. Getting green symbols on board in turns 1-3 is paramount.
3. Once you have all the mana in the world; you have to have something to do with it!
So basically, you want to pour all your cards on board to ramp and increase devotion; but once you're there you want to be sure you have a full grip with plenty to cast!!! So you're constantly fighting yourself
This is essentially why (a)permanent-based card draw/advantage and (b) variable or "scalable" cards become so important. It's what makes cards like Oath so amazing. It increases devotion, is cheap, AND it replaces itself with you're choice among the top three! Far and away our best games involve several green symbols eay and a Nykthos. This should be goal number one. From there, we figure out how to win :). Of course, I'm basically telling you all something you all already know (most of you are already better at building decks than I am.). It's more a thought process for those new to devotion wondering why I run so many cards that say "draw a card" (or something similar) whose cost=their devotion.
Having said this; The tooth and nail, Aggro, Traditional, and other combo lists I've seen recently have been amazing. Many of you just naturally know how to build green devotion. I'm still learning new things/ seeing where I'm wrong and can improve (I.e. With the curve, etc) with every list and post. but that's just what makes Salvations great.
my sideboard has always been far from traditional because of the meta at the stores i played. i saw a lot of RU delver and Jund decks with most of the Pod players (pre ban) being eliminated early.
i am still toying with the last 5 slots and gravity well may be removable with the addition of the arbor colossus. further, i was previously running the polukranos/bow of nylea combo for token decks and to deal with stuff like oversized goyfs. for those of you who missed the thread: declare combat with polukranos and bow on board and open mana for poly's monstrosity ability. before blockers use monstrosity to deal 1 damage to all creatures opponent controls and due to bow (deathtouch when attacking) all opponents creatures die and you only lose poly if he wasnt sufficiently pumped. ill trade 1 for 5-6 any day. it is also funny in the mirror match.
some issues with the current scheme are still that eidolons, coursers, and enchantresses are still dorks. i like the idea of RG liege. but, i dont know where to fit it in yet. and it would definitely only be a 2 of.
one thing i also noticed with traditional builds relying on Choof, is that G wave can still be a dud if you can't find the loop. i really like the card though. and i am working to find a combination of permanents that will continue to build board state when placed by a G Wave that isnt a game ender. It is hard to eliminate the wiffs, but, i feel that with tweaking, this build could become more viable again.
the build focuses on the combo while having enough support cards to play a long to midrange game. Primal lock is a must have for me. i have won more games than i should have because of that combination. the addition of a curio would obviously make the combo more efficient since you could bounce two e wits and use the second ability of command to either gain life to dig out of a hole or as a tutor for a more viable creature for the situation. i think with curio, mono green could become more Pod-like in that we would run a more toolbox set of creatures.
on another note, one thing that i tried out for some time was a 1of bonfire of the damned then a 1 of banefire. both of these can be instant wins, however, they are normally a dead draw for me. having them in my opening hand means i am playing with 6 cards instead of 7 and seeing them hit on a GWave was always a bust too. the only time i ever felt good pulling it was on the draw of turn 3 or 4 when i was ready to end the game. but, often i would already have G Wave or enough power on the field to press for the win. so banefire/bonfire were just winmores. i still like toying with the idea. but, i have left it aside for now. unfortunately i dont feel that this has completely summed up my experiences with the deck, but time is up for me right now. i appreciate further insight into this build and can't wait to see what else comes of these new twists. Oath is definitely in teh main board of the list i posted, but i forgot to put it in as it is not in my apps data base and therefore wasnt on the list that i was copying. sorry about that!
3 arbor elf
2 birds of paradise
2 argothian enchantress
2 courser of kruphix
4 eternal witness
2 boartusk liege
3 eidolon of blossoms
1 polukranos, world eater (flex)
1 Xenagos, god of revels
1 Craterhoof behemoth
enchantments
3 utopia sprawl
2 fertile ground
3 genesis wave
3 primal command
planeswalkers
3 garruk wildspeaker
lands
2 cinder glade
6 forest
1 inkmoth nexus
1 kessig wolf run
3 nykthos, shrine to nyx
2 stomping ground
2 windswept heath
4 wooded foothills
2 seal of primordium
2 wheel of sun and moon
2 dismember
2 creeping corrosion
2 crumble to dust
1 arbor colossus (moved from main)
3 genesis hydra
1 nylea, god of the hunt
Alright, the break down...
lets start with dorks:
why not a full playset of elves or birds or both? here's the deal with GWave combos. nothing can shut down a G Wave combo faster than a "utility" G Wave for X=5-6 and getting nothing but dorks and utopia sprawls when we were looking for eidolons or coursers or garruk. and yes, we do want an elf turn one. that is a given. but, elf turn one is a huge target. by this time, many people are fearful of elf combo as well as our monogreen aggro and midrange decks. even if they dont see us a huge competitive threat, they still see ramp decks as a huge threat and knowing that turn two 4 mana is available is a scary thing. so why not 4 elves and one bird? color fixing and late game are the keys to this choice. so, with more of monogreen splashing into R/U versions or a mix of the two, the color fixing of the BOP is crucial. in this build, the color fixing is not as necessary, but when the sideboard is included, (crumble to dust, dismember) the extra color fixing is nice when we can no longer fetch a stomping ground or to save a couple of life points on dismember. now lategame, they are pumped by Choof and Kessig. either or both in conjunction with the BOP can be game over!
Argothian Enchantress...Why? She's pretty. just kidding. she gives a hard to remove small devotion to green. and provides a steady card draw that can net several cards over the course of the game. ill admit she seems a weak play on turn two since she doesnt replace herself immediately. however, there are hands where this is not the case. take for example, turn 1 land, elf. turn two land, utopia sprawl. we now have access to four mana. so we play garruk, untap lands. access to three mana. then argothian and second utopia on unchanted land. draw a card. and turn three now we have access to 6 mana before we even use garruk. granted this is not typical, but it is still a line of play. further, Enchantress receives the buff from liege to become a 1/2. nothing special, but there is still damage to be dealt there. and when Choof hits the field she is a valuable piece that has previously been undervalued by the opponent.
courser of kruphix is a card that i have been playing with prior to the enchantment build as a pseudo card draw. in mid to late game, the life gain from lands entering from GWave is enough to make the game shift in my favor. and courser falls right into the eidolons wheel house. it nets me a card when played and is tutorable with primal command. also two devotion on a tough body is great too. also affected by liege!
eidolon is the card draw wonderwoman. she nets a card on ETB and is pumped by liege and adds two devotion! sounds good, unfortunately she is still susceptible to removal. even with the liege buff, she is a 3/3 and within lightning bolt range [if we swap the polukranos for nylea, and play a more conservative, midrange game (which this deck likes) then we can use nylea's buff to keep creatures out of removal range but not on the ETB turn unless the eidolon was cast late game and we have mana to spare]
boartusk-not a card i thought i would ever include! but he is here and i am willing to take him for a spin. there have been several games that i have played where one or two damage have made the difference and i had to wait out another turn and hope that an answer wasnt drawn. this is never a good place to be. BTL gives us that extra little bit early on so that we can get the early push.
Eternal witness/Primal Command, enough said. midrange lock down that can start on turn two is amazing. turn three is when this nasty little scheme starts to aggravate the control players. putting a land back ontop of their deck so that we always know what is going to be pulled and we keep them down on mana is amazing. And with Eternal Witness, Primal command can be looped four times. and four turns is a doosey in Modern.
Xenagos is the god of all things stompy. he helps to give us a solid body when devotion is met and has an amazing effect that turns some of our smaller creatures into beaters.
Garruk is only a 3 of. why? because i don't need to loop his as much as I do other creatures or spells (GWave/Ewit/Primal Command). And honestly, hitting two garruk's on a GWave is a waste since the first one will come in and cannot be used until the completion of all abilities that hit the stack after GWave is completed. But, there are still enough to guaranty sufficient drawing power.
Craterhoof is the combo beater that i started with and has been a reliable beast ever since. A 1 of is all that is needed since we typically like to loop G Wave into a big hoof for GG.
The other major change to this deck is a 3 of Nykthos instead of a playset. this is not something most people would consider in this type of deck, but again it comes down to how often it has been a dud card on certain draws or GWaves. it is not often, but often enough to be annoying.
I have also gone up to a full playset of wooded foothills and a 2 of windswept heath. the addition of the cinder glade give me flexibility late game to bring in mana without shocking if need be.
Kessig is a mono green staple! must have. too much of the extra damage comes from this little guy.
Inkmoth is an addition i accommodated a little over a year ago. i have snuck out some great victories over life gain decks and after board wipes where i needed a one turn finisher. and going down to the 3 nykthos gives me another slot for a colorless mana. win-win for me. but others have not fallen in love with this idea as i have.
so for most of you, i am the currently the guy that is explaining the joke after telling it. we all know these basics and how most of these mechanics work together. what i have not nailed down is the sideboard. i used to play 2 of surgical extraction. it was an easy splash since it was phyrexian mana and it helped to rid myself of some pesky counter spells after turn two. haha eat that control decks. i still like the idea. but, it can be a dead draw if during games 2/3 i ramp quickly and have the game in hand with a dead card in my hand and i need more juice. i like the idea of a spellskite to ease the twin matchup. i think there is plenty here to combat affinity. tron was a problem. i normally out ran mono blue tron. but, having the crumble to dust is way awesome now. with the addition of Oath's mainboard, this deck could see some really awesome and interesting combinations/interactions. i hope this clarifies a little of where this version is at and where i am in playing. any recommendations for sideboard or main are always welcome. i wish i had more time/money to experiment with these other versions, but right now i am enjoying what i have.
oh, as a side note, i dropped two prime times in this current build. they seemed to never be there when i needed them and were always there when i didnt. the land fetching will be missed. but, i often didnt need two lands, i would need either a nykthos or a kessig. i often went to fetch inkmoth in addition to each of those however to add value. i may pull polukranos for a one of Prime Time. just a thought.
Funny, I'm working on an "enchantress" devotion build too, but I think you have an issue with your list, Argothian Enchantress isn't modern Legal, that's why for similar effect in Modern you have to rely on Verduran Enchantress or Mesa Enchantress and Eidolon of Blossoms, and none have shroud, this is why for shrouding your enchantments, a solution is Greater Auramancy.
I saddly can't really post a fulldeck list right now cause I'm still fiddling with it and tbh for now results aren't as good as with other devotions builds.
Also, on a sidenote, I don't really understand how you find Nykthos a dead card when GW'ing? When you Genesis Wave, unless in desperate situations, you must always keep one forest untaped, so that when your revealed enchantments enter the battlefield, you attech them to the untaped forest (as you can't attach them to the GW'd lands that enter the battlefield with them), and if you're lucking enough to draw a Nykthos at the same time, you pay Nykthos 2 mana cost with the newly enchanted forest, and cast the stuff you will almost invariably have drawn with Abundant Growth, Eidolon of Blossoms, etc. I stopped counting the amount of games I've won like that.
@CurdBros
Man your build are sick as usual and I really think your Curio/Walker combo + Oath is gonna be "what we lacked" to turn it into a more competitive deck.
What do you think will be the best planeswalker for insta kill?
I've listed the followings:
Ajani Vengeant
Sorin Markov
Chandra, Pyromaster
Chandra, the Firebrand
Chandra Nalaar
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
I think the most viable are Chandra, Pyromaster, Chandra, the Firebrand and Ajani Vengeant.
I think in terms of mana cost and color requirement Chandra, the Firebrand is the best of them all, but Chandra, Pyromaster can survive Lightning Bolt at the cost of one more red mana requirement, Ajani is worst both in casting condition and survivability.
What's your take on it?
I don't have this deck yet (have most of the pieces and am really thinking about getting the rest), but do like it a lot.
I am posting because a certain iteration of this deck has made quite a bit of top 8's here in Japan. The store that hosts the events is called Hareruya and is an incredibly competitive environment (with platinum level pros), so I'm pretty sure they are legit finishes, not just a fluke. Here is a list from the latest one. Looks like a 65 man and the pilot took it to second place.
Well, I hope this helps even a little. Green is my favorite color, so I wish this deck much luck (as well as my Elves and RG Scapeshift lol).
PS: Looks like Oath of Nissa is tailor made for this kind of strategy.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
So much useful info here! First off, what s cool list. You are absolutely 100% right that tons of card draw is a must in most devotion decks (Aggro is the only one that can probably deal with a little less although it still needs some). I think you're fine without Curio as well. A 1-of could lead to some crazy scenarios; but you look like you've got a solid curve and plenty without it. Curio decks are weird cuz you have to maintain a decent curve while going a little on the "low end" to have enough to bounce (it's what makes A. Growth, Oath, and Visionary so good). I totly agree with you about the hand issue. I've struggled a few times with feeling like I start amazing but run through my hand. I discussed it above a little; but it's part of what makes devotion so tough/fun. We have to pour out our hand to build devotion; but once we have it, we want plenty of cards to take advantage of it!
I love the addition of Raging Ravine. Made me think that lists with Boartusk Liege should probably run at least one! Keep up the awesome brewing. There's a lot here in your post; but the "old school" idea of needing card draw/advantage (can be done in ways outside of "draw" such as Wave, undying, persist, walkers, token generators, really any 2-for-1 or more) is something I for one lost sight of that can be paramount to building a solid green devotion deck.
And no biggy on the Argotian thing...I just assumed you meant Verudian Enchantress (I constant confuse them too).
Sorry for double post (on my phone).
I like both Chandra's and Xenagos most for their "insta kill" nature.
Chandra Pyromaster is a better all around Walker, with built in card advantage if you draw her separate of the combo. I think you can probably get away with the 2-red in a list with fetches, Stomping Grounds, Abundant Growth, and Oath of Nissa (as with an oath on board she essentially becomes a green Walker for casting purposes ).
I've tended to use Xenagos, the Reveler as my "insta kill" of choice. He's a weak Walker by himself (which is a definite downside); but he does meet a certain few useful criteria:
1. His +1 creates mana. This can be important for the infinite loop if you don't have a Nykthos. Say you have a forest with 2 Sprawls on it and 5 creatures on board (a couple dorks, a BTE, and two tokens or something...not super important). At that point Xenagos +1's for 5-mana and Garruk +1's for 4-mana. With a Curio, you're now in a position to "go infinite".
2. He is an "insta kill". It takes some triggers if you don't have a Nykthos (i.e. Are only netting 1-mana per loop....but there are ways to speed this up that I can explain in another post); but once you have infinite mana you also have infinite tokens. In the case of Xenagos, these tokens have haste. For that reason, you can just make 100, 1000, (or in the case of MTGO) 8-12 depending on the opponent's board, life total, and open mana. From there it's just a matter of attacking. The major downside here is that it has to be done on first main (prior to attack phase).
3. He is a 4-drop with 1-green Devotion. The 4-drop is important because that means he can be cast in turn 2 and it means the "infinite loop" only requires Garruk to create 8-mama alone or for the combination of the two to create 9-mana. The green devotion is just an added benefit that can be important in rare cases.
4. He creates mana outside of the combo. This can be important for speed. It's just nice to cast a Walker, have it essentially pay for itself (or close) and cast another permanent. This can be very important to the speed of a Devotion deck.
5. He can create an "insta kill" off a wave where you don't hit the combo. I've had times where I hit a Nythos, a couple lands, have a huge board, and a Kessig Wolf Run...in those instances, you just tap the lands, trigger the Nykthos, trigger Xenagos to make a 2/2 haste Satyr, and trigger the Wolf Run to give the Satyr a +20/+20 or more boost. Kessig is our "Plan B"; so having a walker that can still win off a large wave that just happens to miss the combo is nice.
Having said all of this, I do need to look into Chandra more. Being as to "go infinite" on second main is a plus for sure, and with oath and land enchantments the red may be less of an issue (especially if you are diligent about fetching for Stomping Grounds). Xenagos meets all of the above; but Chandra is a better Walker in a vacuum (unless you play Boartusk Liege). I will certainly look into this and see what happens with Chandra in the current Xenagos slot.
** as an aside, Karn Liberated also works as an effective "insta kill" (as you remove every permanent they have including lands); but the loop obviously takes more mana/devotion on Garruk 's part (he has to plus 1 for 11-mana). It's definitely doable, and a turn 3 Karn will win most games on its own (it also slows the opponent so much that you get to 11-devotion)...so this is also an option. **
** EDIT - Added the 5th reason for use of Xenagos (just remembered it ) **
Hey there! Of course I recognize you from the Elf thread.
What a cool list! Summoners Pact and Chord both tend to be a little under-played in devotion (for a few reasons) but this list is an AWESOME toolbox list that takes full advantage of them (and Fauna shaman if course). What a great take on devotion. We will have to look at this as a very viable way to play devotion given the level of competition. I haven't seen a toolbox list in the longest time! Pedros and Purklefluff really spearheaded such lists many moons ago; and it's great to see them getting recognized. I'dovr to hear from the deck creator/pilot on how he/she plays the deck too!
Very cool indeed. I need to post the recent success of Tooth and Nail lists as well on MTGO. They have seen some success. At the end of the day, good cards are just good! The list looks extremely competitive.
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/345135#paper
3x Acidic Slime
4x Arbor Elf
3x Brutalizer Exarch
2x Creakwood Liege
4x Elvish Visionary
3x Eternal Witness
1x Karametra's Acolyte
4x Leatherback Baloth
2x Temur Sabertooth
4x Voyaging Satyr
1x Tooth and Nail
15x Forest
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2x Overgrowth
4x Utopia Sprawl
It uses some chord/tooth and nail/brutalizer/primal command toolboxing, but the main idea is to accelerate out huge boardstates and land destruction spells. (facilitated by Sabertooth)
I include only two Sabertooths as, while it is a very important card, I can easily tutor for it and bring it back with Witness. I am considering adding a Kiora, the Crashing Wave as it goes infinite with sabertooth, witness, and nykthos. It also drops more land into play, which can be very helpful along with the card draw. Additionally, I have gone undefeated at FNM, my meta including: Abzan Midrange, CoCo Elves, Utron, RGtron, burn, Twin, and several control decks.
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/356497#online
This is a great build...you can never go wrong just playing some of the strongest green cards ever printed. A little built-in redundancy, some ways to slow the opponent down a bit...looks good to me! If it ain't broke, don't fix it
What an interesting list...I am a big fan of Temur Sabertooth. It takes a very specific list for it to excel; but it is certainly a very powerful card. Thanks for posting this.
I always go back and forth with 1x Prime time and 1 wurmcoil though. In the end the Coil may stay.
Modern: Mono Green Devotion
Modern: Mono Green Devotion
There are two great sites where you can look up Magic cards any way you want. The first is Magic Gatherer (just type it into google). The second is www.magiccards.info. Gatherer is simpler to use, but you can break down cards by specific costs (both mana and activated ability costs in magiccards.info. Once you know how to use both; you can find anything. Another thing I like to do is go to MythicSpoiler.com. You can then click the set (like Mirrodin, etc) and see a picture layout of the whole set on one page. You can even break it down by color (I.e. If you only wanna see green, etc.). This goes a long way to helping you find diamonds in the rough (or to go "I wonder if they've made a card that does X?".
Of course there's always the community on here too. The best suggestions normally come straight from those who play the deck.
I dont think you can bounce 2 garruks. Oh do you mean play garruk, sacrifice the other one, get mana through nykthos, recast eternal witness, get garruk back, and each loop generates additional mana? To do so you would need utopia sprawl, nykthos, garruk, witness, sabretooth and 3 more devotion right? I did not think about this "combo", if you play primal command (and you should probably play some if you play witness) it is excelent tutor target. Nice job finding this out!
Here is the list cleaned up.
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Stomping Ground
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Acidic Slime
4 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
1 Cloudthresher
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Eternal Witness
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Primeval Titan
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Dismember
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Primal Command
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Spellskite
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Beast Within
1 Dead // Gone
2 Fog
1 Fracturing Gust
3 Rending Volley
2 Stone Rain