MTG Salvation

evolutionary leap I was thinking of using it with the Garruk list as it could fetch the creatures for ramping and by pass the planeswalkers. which the walkers themselves make the tokens. I'm all for running janky piles of garruks, but still apply this use to the devotion walkers list it makes sense.

if there is haste on the board it gets even crazier, if its non-creature win conditions maybe the creature density is thin enough that you devotion for mana, sacrifice arbor elf leaping into another arbor elf to tap and make more mana.

if the only creatures in the deck are mana accelerators, evolutionary leap can dig from one mana dork or land fetcher to the next. such as wood elves into wood elves net gaining forests. same as viridian emissary.

lots of possibilities.

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i like the idea of platinum emperion in the deck. we are naturally running what it needs, that most other decks lack which is cards that give it trample. which should make it work better for us almost every time. biggest thing though!!

I'm rebuilding Ghalta, Primal Hunger now that we are talking about Platinum Emperion. I havent finalized my list yet, but 4 mana for a madcap experiment basically takes 8cc off of Ghalta, Primal Hunger now you get a 4cc 12/12 monster.



I need to cut something to give it all haste, otherwise its just awesome synergy

when your pulling turn 3 ghalta, should the deck run Blossoming Defense or an agressive fling?

I’ve been thinking of putting a few non green answer cards in my main deck (abrade, ee, or relic). They’re powerful but I’m skeptical about reactive cards that don’t add devotion. Is this a good idea?

Generally not, but there are exceptions to every rule. See: Walking Ballista. I definitely think Relic is fine, being that it cantrips in the worst case.

Had to remove three parts of the Primer...but they were more for show than for content. Working on getting it up shortly.

The problems with giving specific strategies for beating opponents is (a) the meta fluctuates frequently, though it has recently calmed down, and (b) because our archetype varies so widely, individual builds need very different strategies. What might be useful is a discussion of the metagame and picking the right build for it (eg: avoiding slow, controlling builds when Storm is prevalent, playing fewer PWs against Affinity, etc.).

Adding the Metagaming Section now...

I think Lord is right in the sense that it may be best to say, "Against hyper linear agro, these are the best archetypes/cards to play"...when X is prevalent, you may want to avoid Y. This is kinda the route I am going now.

I will make sure to add sections specific to Control and "Efficient Midrange" and discard.

I participated in GP Toronto and I was in 40th place after round 10 but then hit some hard luck :(. I was not playing Green Devotion.

I saw someone playing Tooth and Nail that managed to make it to day 2, not sure what rank he ended up with though, but not in the top 32 that's for sure because the deck isn't listed.

Well time for Jace and Bloodbraid. Modern's gonna be fun for the next few weeks

That is CRAZY!!!!

Should we be trying out either? Bloodbraid in particular?

I will absolutely be trying out BBE; but is Jace viable in a Superfriends version with Courser for the top deck shenanigans?

I was just having the Bloodbraid conversation with a friend of mine. He was arguing that devotion is combo deck and that Bloodbraid is a value creature that doesn't help our strategy. I believe we are a combo deck but a combo deck that relies on value creatures to provide devotion and hit our combo. I think it could be good because a turn 2 Bloodbraid can get us that extra devotion to help us go off on turn 3. However, I am afraid of the times that it hits Genesis Wave or Summoners Pact depending on if you are playing either of those.

I think Jace could be interesting in the super friend lists. He helps keep full of action and the other color walkers are great at fighting opposing ones. Nissa / Garruk 1.0/ Vraska 2.0 go wide to invalidate unsummon, Ob Nix helps draw out fateseal, and Vraska 1.0 and Garruk Apex can just kill him out right.

Against other decks, Jace helps ensure a steady stream of cards.

Bloodbraid seems weaker since it can easily hit a bird, elf or utopia sprawl. The high would be Tracker or Courser? Still good, but nothing super crazy.

JtMS is a problem for some variants of our deck, but not all of them. BBE is not really useful to us, and I don't expect to have a terribly large impact.

Quote from CurdBros »

That is CRAZY!!!!

Should we be trying out either? Bloodbraid in particular?

I will absolutely be trying out BBE; but is Jace viable in a Superfriends version with Courser for the top deck shenanigans?

I see jace, the mind sculptor more as a threat to most of our strategies than an ally.
that bouncing on a stick is annoying

but brainstorm on a stick, thats gotta be good for any superfriends deck.

right behind you, i'm testing bloodbraid elfs all this week.
For testing it, I was thinking of using it in place of genesis hydra, what was your most recent hydra build?

I don't think BBE is good in most Devotion decks at all, but I DO think it could make Aggro Devotion better. I will test that out.

Almost finished with “meta gaming” section per request...will be finished by tomorrow (assuming the unbanned didn’t warp the meta).

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Played my walker Curio combo deck (the Xenagos + Garruk one) with the addition of Chandra TOD and Bloodbraid Elf...it’s really good. Looks like I’m going back to my roots for some fun ;). Granted...currently it only runs one BBE (so it’s not like it was the card that changed it).

I’m really interested to see what JTMS does to Superfriends...it’s such an odd card to evaluate in some builds. I’d like go sultai as it was the more “controlling” of the builds (with On Nixilis, Vraska, and Karn). Either way, It would be surprising if it was in the tier of The best Devotion decks.

I do agree though that the bans did us more harm than good...generally the answer to powerful 4-drops is going hyper-fast linear for a lot of people. These types of decks (Grishoalbrand, Hollow One, Infect, Storm, etc.) are bad for us (as we spend our first few turns “setting up leather than interacting with the opponent....and they generally are faster than us as setting up them combo. It may be best for us to side a lot of hate or Madcap (I’ve been playing it in my board recently after main-decking it for a while as (a) we can cast it on turn 2-3 regularly and (b) many decks can’t deal with it or it slows them down substantially.

Quote from CurdBros »

Almost finished with “meta gaming” section per request...will be finished by tomorrow (assuming the unbanned didn’t warp the meta).

________

Played my walker Curio combo deck (the Xenagos + Garruk one) with the addition of Chandra TOD and Bloodbraid Elf...it’s really good. Looks like I’m going back to my roots for some fun ;). Granted...currently it only runs one BBE (so it’s not like it was the card that changed it).

I’m really interested to see what JTMS does to Superfriends...it’s such an odd card to evaluate in some builds. I’d like go sultai as it was the more “controlling” of the builds (with On Nixilis, Vraska, and Karn). Either way, It would be surprising if it was in the tier of The best Devotion decks.

I do agree though that the bans did us more harm than good...generally the answer to powerful 4-drops is going hyper-fast linear for a lot of people. These types of decks (Grishoalbrand, Hollow One, Infect, Storm, etc.) are bad for us (as we spend our first few turns “setting up leather than interacting with the opponent....and they generally are faster than us as setting up them combo. It may be best for us to side a lot of hate or Madcap (I’ve been playing it in my board recently after main-decking it for a while as (a) we can cast it on turn 2-3 regularly and (b) many decks can’t deal with it or it slows them down substantially.

Would you play platinum emperion along with madcap experiment?

I only ask because of the amount if mana these decks produce it would be very easy it seems to have a couple on up to a playset. THere are SOOOO many ways we could stick one. I'll toss one in my build once I get the cards.

On that note, I'm getting closer and closer to having a green Nykthos Garruk arbor elf Utopia sprawl deck to use. Hopefully soon I can post my list a share some feedback on it with you all.

Siding in Madcap-Emperion seems strange, but a pretty clever play. There will likely be no remaining artifact removal opposite after game 1. The question is whether it will likely return in game 3, and what can be done about that. If we play Witnesses, we have a real shot of recurring and hardcasting Emperion if need be.

Quote from lord_darkview »

Siding in Madcap-Emperion seems strange, but a pretty clever play. There will likely be no remaining artifact removal opposite after game 1. The question is whether it will likely return in game 3, and what can be done about that. If we play Witnesses, we have a real shot of recurring and hardcasting Emperion if need be.

I just find that a lit of decks (at least before Jace) had difficulties dealing with it and it tended to give me enough time to “go off”. Until the meta calms down and we see just how much control we will be playing g against...who knows..I got my Genesis Hydra’s back out today just in case :).

...although Banefire is difficult for them too.

Thinking about it some more, Jace might be pretty good in GarfieldKlon's Gifts Devotion. Elf + Sprawl let's you turn 2 it in dream land, and it lets you brainstorm back in fatties or other cards that you would rather Gifts for.