I must say the video is very informative. He drops the Primeval Titan package (Titans + Wolf Run + Manland) for Bellowers and goes down to 19 lands. That's pretty scary to play as many lands as 8 whacks but the ceiling is high. And Bellowers is quite impressive I must say.
He's also playing BTE which I'm not playing. I have 3 flex slots at 2cmc, I'm currently playing 3x Strangleroot Geists to keep me alive against aggro decks, but BTE has his advantages for sure. I should probably switch.
Primal Command did some good things but the card is so slow I still prefer Summoner's Pacts.
Genesis Wave was pretty good. Pretty good.
Burn is easier if you have incidental life gain like Courser or Command.
Command is definitely slower, and leans towards control rather than explosive, combo-like openings. For Pact, the reverse is true.
As for Wave, that was the very first incarnation of the deck. It's still the most powerful on an absolute level, but slower and less consistent. I wouldn't worry about Boseiju though: if they don't counter the Titan, you're probably in good shape regardless. Remember, these old builds had four different angles to win:
1. Garruk or Craterhoof overrun
2. Big Wave
3. Titan with KWR
4. Command-looping
Try not to tunnel vision on any one of these. They work independently and simultaneously towards your goal to overwhelm the opponent.
This is what i have come up with after all the awesone feedback and watching some streams too.
I completly agree. Right now i am looking at both curve refinement, and control/finishers. Inho there is something to be said turning on land hate t2,3,4 and the using a finisher to win. I think it is always important to note though, command allows us to toolbox our wincons.
The build of the video was rather underwhelming. He didn't have enough big beats inside the deck that when his midgame came around all the opponent needed was to spot removal everything he played.
The only times he won was when he started FAST and the opponent had a slow hand. This is imperative for ANY modern deck. You cannot play a slow hand or the control player outplays you with a meta counter to your deck: heavy spot removal.
There was his game with a Genesis Wave twice over that didn't plop down a single FATTY even if he won the game, and this part of his deck is what disturbs me. You need a curve of FATTYs inside like Alex's Arbor Colossus.
In Jamie Wakefield style old school Secret Force mono green deck, when you plop down a FATTY it is supposed to be Game Over for the opponent.
This fascination for grindy decks that keep putting blocker-attackers into play is rather counterintuitive to a mono green deck and it may be the reason why the deck is rather inconsistent. The mana Wall build is understandable because it scales a mana flood with just three Walls into play with either just one Overgrown Battlement,or a Axebane Guardian and any two Walls. Even with no Nykthos in play. That is your sleight of hand mana ramp schtick: mana Walls into Primalcrux then a possible Mirrorweave for the sick Overrun alternative with all your dorks turning into Primalcrux.
Over time playing the deck, I've noticed that if you build board position, you must have something to punch through such as a Fatty by turn 4 to force them to tap out for spot removal, then pump your remaining devotion dorks that attack with Aspect of Hydra. Opponents can always run three spot removals in a row by midgame from their goldfishing for hand or board control, which is what defeats the original playstyle of putting in weak devotion dorks.
Using any kind of sticky dudes inside to keep something active for the mana flood when it comes may not be as good as having a mana alternative or ramp alternative, but this is just me thinking of trade offs between Kitchen Finks and going with Overgrown Battlement.
That being discussed, Mirrorweave is still a sideboard card if you play Primalcrux because if the opponent has untapped dorks, they become Primalcrux too. But this negates any of their abilities and they just become big fat and stupid green so you can still punch through with one green mana and an Aspect of Hydra. Playing without a playset of Planeswalkers might also be an option espcially if all the opponent has to do is to board wipe your creatures. Better that extra 2 Garruks become a Polukranos or a Chameleon Colossus or even an extra Ruric Thar the Unbowed.
Guys if you play mono green anything, shouldn't we win with a big Monster? Or else, it ain't worth winning at all. If we wanted grindy stuff we'd play Stompy in the first place. But for the sheer explosiveness of Devotion,maybe even some of the Standard builds of Nykthos may also be more potent than current Modern builds.
What I don't like with Steel Leaf is that it's too vanilla for my taste. I know everything doesn't have to generate card advantage but still. Especially if you're playing three : it's more an all-in strategy and you'll lack gas if the opponent manages to kill it (which isn't that hard).
I don't understand how stompy lists can be considered grindier that Devotion. But maybe I'm not thinking about the good lists. To me, in Modern, it's an agressive deck with lots of vanilla undercosted creatures, and once the board has been wrathed it's very hard to come back.
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French Commander : Yisan Liliana Kytheon Kari Zev Grenzo Karlov Tajic Gitrog Prossh Turboramp Najeela Modern : Solemnity Prison Martyr Proc Devotion to Green 8 Whacks Eldrazi Processor Bogles Landfall Aggro Legacy : Goblins
Hey All! Sorry I was away for a few days. We had a business opportunity arise that required me to both travel and prepare quite a bit of work/documents that required 110% of me time. The good news...it went well! The bad news is I had ZERO time to devote anywhere else for about a week.
In terms of streaming...I'm sure Todd would be happy to stream it; but that would really only be a 1-time thing.
My bro and I talked about streaming for a little bit; but I can only imagine how boring we would be to watch That and I imagine we would make mistakes that the chat just wouldn't forgive...There was a young woman who streamed Devotion for a while; but I'm not sure she streams any longer. I haven't seen her in some time.
Alright, played in my local fnm and play a tweaked version of my devotionish list.
Observations. Beast within directly won me 3 games. 2 against grixis shadow and another against combo. Being able to nuke lands on t2 or 3 almost gaurenteed is brutal.
Tireless tracker is gold. They must answer him or loose. Definitly keeping him in.
Still on the ropes of stragleroot geist vs bte, but geist was noce to have in several matches.
Nissa 3cmc and garruk was all stars and very hard for almost all opp to deal with.
Field of ruin was very nice, somewhat disruptive. Best uses they have is to turn off manlands so far.
Will post match details amd final list tonight once i get to a cpu
So Territorial Allosaurus might be a decent addition instead of Polukranos. It can take down something bigger for less mana, although it's not as great a mana sink.
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Always wear protection kids, sleeve up your deck.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
was sifting through cards and discovered Cold-Eyed Selkie. Immediately this got me thinking, its devotion and it has islandwalk. for the blue splash devotion, maybe this sounds gimiky but I think its solid to run 4 Cold-Eyed Selkie along side 4 spreading seas.
cantrips plus we make a devotion card like cold-eye unblockable. now we have land distruption built into the deck as well.
pump her maybe with Rhonas the Indomitable or something and now you drawing a lot of cards or just walking in to end the game.
@Semoreh I think a 5/4 is a problem that the opponent will need to take care of, as its a 4 turn clock, and the 3 devotion it adds cant be ignored either. I will give it a try and see how it performs.
I have been playing around with a Anthonys list, with a slight tweak replacing one Garruk for one Tracker and the primal command for a Chord, and it seems pretty solid. I love the toolbox nature it has, how explossive it can be, but it can also grind really good in case things dont go out super explossive.
Some cards that I still want to try in the build is Carnage Tyrant and maybe one more Tireless Tracker for a Nissa, but it feels pretty solid for now.
I have some questions about sideboarding. I usually sideboard the Oaths of Nissa out in most games, specially when I want to hit Abrade, Bolt or Relic. Would you guys consider that a good practice?
I'm taking out Oath, Voice of Zendikar, and Selkies entirely in favor of Rangers/Trackers/Ewits. I like the more versatile card advantage, and I think its a very competitive direction. The Steel Leafs seem like another solid 3-bomb as well, I'm gonna have a hard time making room for all these 3 drops! Seems like they'll all work great with the Bellowers too, I'll probably be running 2 to take advantage of it.
I like your inclusion of Blood Moon, I've been using that with good success recently myself.
Alright, played in my local fnm and play a tweaked version of my devotionish list.
Observations. Beast within directly won me 3 games. 2 against grixis shadow and another against combo. Being able to nuke lands on t2 or 3 almost gaurenteed is brutal.
Tireless tracker is gold. They must answer him or loose. Definitly keeping him in.
Still on the ropes of stragleroot geist vs bte, but geist was noce to have in several matches.
Nissa 3cmc and garruk was all stars and very hard for almost all opp to deal with.
Field of ruin was very nice, somewhat disruptive. Best uses they have is to turn off manlands so far.
Will post match details amd final list tonight once i get to a cpu
Beast Within is a great card, but I don't think its wise to run 3. It's not a card you want multiples of, and it puts you on a clock (though it sets back time in your advantage). I find other ways to have removal or shore up weaknesses in a different way all together. Try Polukranos, Garruk Relentless, Territorial Allosaurus, Acidic Slime, Reclamation Sage, Dismember, and even Blood Moon.
So Territorial Allosaurus might be a decent addition instead of Polukranos. It can take down something bigger for less mana, although it's not as great a mana sink.
Seems like it has a use, but I can't help but feel that if you're not casting it for 8, its worse than Polukranos, and if you are, Dragonlord Atarka is just better (unless you're going mono-green.)
I have some questions about sideboarding. I usually sideboard the Oaths of Nissa out in most games, specially when I want to hit Abrade, Bolt or Relic. Would you guys consider that a good practice?
As I wrote couple pages back, I do the same and I think it makes a lot of sense. Game 1 I want the Oaths to get my gameplan working with maximum consistency while in G2 I hope for my sideboard cards to mess with the opponent's gameplay, leaving aside some of the main gameplan for some devastating cards like bloodmoon or just more interaction.
I've given playing that cremator deck a try and there is some strategy to it that I like, but i've never really played with a evolution centered list.
I think Eldritch Evolution shines in a Kiki-Jiki centered combo deck stuffed with other value creatures. I wasn't a fan of it in most devotion decks without any combos. Pairs nice with Kitchen Finks and Strangleroot Geist but is just horrific against Remand and the likes. You have become known for some pretty out there cards, give it a go and see if you can come up with something busted.
Been playing this GR version for the past couple of weeks in paper. Thinking about investing into mtgo
I have some questions about sideboarding. I usually sideboard the Oaths of Nissa out in most games, specially when I want to hit Abrade, Bolt or Relic. Would you guys consider that a good practice?
As I wrote couple pages back, I do the same and I think it makes a lot of sense. Game 1 I want the Oaths to get my gameplan working with maximum consistency while in G2 I hope for my sideboard cards to mess with the opponent's gameplay, leaving aside some of the main gameplan for some devastating cards like bloodmoon or just more interaction.
I've given playing that cremator deck a try and there is some strategy to it that I like, but i've never really played with a evolution centered list.
I think Eldritch Evolution shines in a Kiki-Jiki centered combo deck stuffed with other value creatures. I wasn't a fan of it in most devotion decks without any combos. Pairs nice with Kitchen Finks and Strangleroot Geist but is just horrific against Remand and the likes. You have become known for some pretty out there cards, give it a go and see if you can come up with something busted.
Been playing this GR version for the past couple of weeks in paper. Thinking about investing into mtgo
I like the idea of your build, I never thought about how Relentless could be used to tighten up Oath by effectively replacing tutor spells entirely. Pretty damn clever. Having to bottom Pacts/Commands has always been a real feels-bad for me, and I've been going to great lengths to try and find some other source of top-deck advantage.
Do you think the streamlined performance it gives you outweighs the extra turn Relentless takes to play the creature, often even slower than P.Command? And do you think its worth the loss of Beast Within and other useful instants/sorceries?
I would also just throw in that you're really missing out on a lot of synergy without a Courser. I'd take out 1 Tracker for a Courser, especially with all the fetches you're mainboarding, and the two titans. It's not something you want out in multiples but man is it great with trackers and fetches.
Thanks.
Sadly, Garruk Relentless is not an efficient tutor like Primal Command, Pact or Chord. He can be pretty bad against creatureless (e.g. ad nauseam, hard control) and very big creatures like ETron. The Tutor side cannot be achieved every time, it's more like a bonus. Sometimes I had to kill my own arbor elf to get him to flip (vs UW control). Getting to sac Plant Tokens for his tutor feels great though. Remember, he does not threaten an ultimate and is in bolt range all the time. However spamming 2/2 Wolfs is not that bad either and goes well with the Garruk Wildspeaker/ Nissa +1/+1 counter / Craterhoof overrun plan.
The consistency of the deck is at a good place and I would say that adding Bolts/Abrades/Beast Withins (or any strong non creature/walker card) is meta dependant and hard to answer in general (as some number will be in the 75 anyway). My Decklist is incomplete with the sideboard, as we really should be looking at 75 cards.
I still think Oath of Nissa is the strongest card printed for devotion in the past sets and I want to maximize its efficacy.
On the play a T2 Nissa VOZ into a T3 Garruk Relentless is pretty sweet and hard to deal with for many decks.
I think that this sort of Walker heavy deck needs some form of interaction to stand a chance against decks like humans. Red opens up Chandra and great sideboard options.
I don't play Courser in here because I need the resiliency of Kitchen finks to protect the walkers.
You are right that Courser usually shines in a deck with fetches and Primeval Titans, but I rather fill up the board with finks because they synergise well with Nissa VOZ and the recurring blocking protection to get the planeswalker value train rolling.
I've been thinking a bit about the archetype lately. There has been a tendency to (a) elevate Nykthos and (b) try to be the best X deck, as CurdBros would say.
I actually think the star card of the deck gets little attention and has recently been cut from some builds to bad effect. We are indeed trying to be the best X deck, but X is not Nykthos, Titan, or other splashy card.
We are actually the best Garruk Wildspeaker deck.
Why? Because a lot of the deck's modes of action are enabled by him more than Nykthos. Mana boosting, going wide, and overrunning are all enabled by Garruk WS. I think this is a reason that a lot of the builds that focus on single modes tend to fail (all in on Eternal-Command, combo, etc.) while those which are more flexible seem to succeed.
For a great example, consider the builds that AS repeatedly uses to good effect: ostensibly they are Pact-Toolbox builds, but the powerful openings can be turned into wins with Garruk, as can the multiple-PW "go wide" approach, and the mana-boost enables the toolbox.
I'm going to be thinking about the implications of this approach going forward, and building with this in mind.
He's also playing BTE which I'm not playing. I have 3 flex slots at 2cmc, I'm currently playing 3x Strangleroot Geists to keep me alive against aggro decks, but BTE has his advantages for sure. I should probably switch.
Primal Command did some good things but the card is so slow I still prefer Summoner's Pacts.
Genesis Wave was pretty good. Pretty good.
Edit : Burn seems very hard ^^
Modern :
Legacy :
Command is definitely slower, and leans towards control rather than explosive, combo-like openings. For Pact, the reverse is true.
As for Wave, that was the very first incarnation of the deck. It's still the most powerful on an absolute level, but slower and less consistent. I wouldn't worry about Boseiju though: if they don't counter the Titan, you're probably in good shape regardless. Remember, these old builds had four different angles to win:
1. Garruk or Craterhoof overrun
2. Big Wave
3. Titan with KWR
4. Command-looping
Try not to tunnel vision on any one of these. They work independently and simultaneously towards your goal to overwhelm the opponent.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
4 Arbor Elf
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Eternal Witness
4 Tireless Tracker
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Acidic Slime
1 Primeval Titan
2 World Breaker
1 Hornet Queen
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Beast Within
4 Primal Command
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Field of Ruin
10 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Stomping Ground
2 Treetop Village
4 Wooded Foothills
This is what i have come up with after all the awesone feedback and watching some streams too.
I completly agree. Right now i am looking at both curve refinement, and control/finishers. Inho there is something to be said turning on land hate t2,3,4 and the using a finisher to win. I think it is always important to note though, command allows us to toolbox our wincons.
The only times he won was when he started FAST and the opponent had a slow hand. This is imperative for ANY modern deck. You cannot play a slow hand or the control player outplays you with a meta counter to your deck: heavy spot removal.
There was his game with a Genesis Wave twice over that didn't plop down a single FATTY even if he won the game, and this part of his deck is what disturbs me. You need a curve of FATTYs inside like Alex's Arbor Colossus.
In Jamie Wakefield style old school Secret Force mono green deck, when you plop down a FATTY it is supposed to be Game Over for the opponent.
This fascination for grindy decks that keep putting blocker-attackers into play is rather counterintuitive to a mono green deck and it may be the reason why the deck is rather inconsistent. The mana Wall build is understandable because it scales a mana flood with just three Walls into play with either just one Overgrown Battlement,or a Axebane Guardian and any two Walls. Even with no Nykthos in play. That is your sleight of hand mana ramp schtick: mana Walls into Primalcrux then a possible Mirrorweave for the sick Overrun alternative with all your dorks turning into Primalcrux.
Over time playing the deck, I've noticed that if you build board position, you must have something to punch through such as a Fatty by turn 4 to force them to tap out for spot removal, then pump your remaining devotion dorks that attack with Aspect of Hydra. Opponents can always run three spot removals in a row by midgame from their goldfishing for hand or board control, which is what defeats the original playstyle of putting in weak devotion dorks.
Using any kind of sticky dudes inside to keep something active for the mana flood when it comes may not be as good as having a mana alternative or ramp alternative, but this is just me thinking of trade offs between Kitchen Finks and going with Overgrown Battlement.
Playing without Utopia Sprawl may actually hurdle the deck's inherent weakness to Ghost Quarter, Spreading Seas and any other land d effect.
That being discussed, Mirrorweave is still a sideboard card if you play Primalcrux because if the opponent has untapped dorks, they become Primalcrux too. But this negates any of their abilities and they just become big fat and stupid green so you can still punch through with one green mana and an Aspect of Hydra. Playing without a playset of Planeswalkers might also be an option espcially if all the opponent has to do is to board wipe your creatures. Better that extra 2 Garruks become a Polukranos or a Chameleon Colossus or even an extra Ruric Thar the Unbowed.
I don't understand how stompy lists can be considered grindier that Devotion. But maybe I'm not thinking about the good lists. To me, in Modern, it's an agressive deck with lots of vanilla undercosted creatures, and once the board has been wrathed it's very hard to come back.
Modern :
Legacy :
I will update you when the primer is up.
My bro and I talked about streaming for a little bit; but I can only imagine how boring we would be to watch
Observations. Beast within directly won me 3 games. 2 against grixis shadow and another against combo. Being able to nuke lands on t2 or 3 almost gaurenteed is brutal.
Tireless tracker is gold. They must answer him or loose. Definitly keeping him in.
Still on the ropes of stragleroot geist vs bte, but geist was noce to have in several matches.
Nissa 3cmc and garruk was all stars and very hard for almost all opp to deal with.
Field of ruin was very nice, somewhat disruptive. Best uses they have is to turn off manlands so far.
Will post match details amd final list tonight once i get to a cpu
I've given playing that cremator deck a try and there is some strategy to it that I like, but i've never really played with a evolution centered list.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
interesting to see, but if i'm not mistaken Curdbros or someone else was farther ahead in developing and trying kiora devotion?
cantrips plus we make a devotion card like cold-eye unblockable. now we have land distruption built into the deck as well.
pump her maybe with Rhonas the Indomitable or something and now you drawing a lot of cards or just walking in to end the game.
I'm taking out Oath, Voice of Zendikar, and Selkies entirely in favor of Rangers/Trackers/Ewits. I like the more versatile card advantage, and I think its a very competitive direction. The Steel Leafs seem like another solid 3-bomb as well, I'm gonna have a hard time making room for all these 3 drops! Seems like they'll all work great with the Bellowers too, I'll probably be running 2 to take advantage of it.
I like your inclusion of Blood Moon, I've been using that with good success recently myself.
Beast Within is a great card, but I don't think its wise to run 3. It's not a card you want multiples of, and it puts you on a clock (though it sets back time in your advantage). I find other ways to have removal or shore up weaknesses in a different way all together. Try Polukranos, Garruk Relentless, Territorial Allosaurus, Acidic Slime, Reclamation Sage, Dismember, and even Blood Moon.
Seems like it has a use, but I can't help but feel that if you're not casting it for 8, its worse than Polukranos, and if you are, Dragonlord Atarka is just better (unless you're going mono-green.)
As I wrote couple pages back, I do the same and I think it makes a lot of sense. Game 1 I want the Oaths to get my gameplan working with maximum consistency while in G2 I hope for my sideboard cards to mess with the opponent's gameplay, leaving aside some of the main gameplan for some devastating cards like bloodmoon or just more interaction.
I think Eldritch Evolution shines in a Kiki-Jiki centered combo deck stuffed with other value creatures. I wasn't a fan of it in most devotion decks without any combos. Pairs nice with Kitchen Finks and Strangleroot Geist but is just horrific against Remand and the likes. You have become known for some pretty out there cards, give it a go and see if you can come up with something busted.
Been playing this GR version for the past couple of weeks in paper. Thinking about investing into mtgo
4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Oath of Nissa
CMC 2/3
4 Tireless Tracker
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Nissa Voice of Zendikar
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Garruk Relentless
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Polukranos
CMC 5+
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Primeval Titan
1 Hornet Queen
1 Acidic Slime
8 Green Fetch
2 Stomping Ground
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
6 Forest
I like the idea of your build, I never thought about how Relentless could be used to tighten up Oath by effectively replacing tutor spells entirely. Pretty damn clever. Having to bottom Pacts/Commands has always been a real feels-bad for me, and I've been going to great lengths to try and find some other source of top-deck advantage.
Do you think the streamlined performance it gives you outweighs the extra turn Relentless takes to play the creature, often even slower than P.Command? And do you think its worth the loss of Beast Within and other useful instants/sorceries?
I would also just throw in that you're really missing out on a lot of synergy without a Courser. I'd take out 1 Tracker for a Courser, especially with all the fetches you're mainboarding, and the two titans. It's not something you want out in multiples but man is it great with trackers and fetches.
Sadly, Garruk Relentless is not an efficient tutor like Primal Command, Pact or Chord. He can be pretty bad against creatureless (e.g. ad nauseam, hard control) and very big creatures like ETron. The Tutor side cannot be achieved every time, it's more like a bonus. Sometimes I had to kill my own arbor elf to get him to flip (vs UW control). Getting to sac Plant Tokens for his tutor feels great though. Remember, he does not threaten an ultimate and is in bolt range all the time. However spamming 2/2 Wolfs is not that bad either and goes well with the Garruk Wildspeaker/ Nissa +1/+1 counter / Craterhoof overrun plan.
The consistency of the deck is at a good place and I would say that adding Bolts/Abrades/Beast Withins (or any strong non creature/walker card) is meta dependant and hard to answer in general (as some number will be in the 75 anyway). My Decklist is incomplete with the sideboard, as we really should be looking at 75 cards.
I still think Oath of Nissa is the strongest card printed for devotion in the past sets and I want to maximize its efficacy.
On the play a T2 Nissa VOZ into a T3 Garruk Relentless is pretty sweet and hard to deal with for many decks.
I think that this sort of Walker heavy deck needs some form of interaction to stand a chance against decks like humans. Red opens up Chandra and great sideboard options.
I don't play Courser in here because I need the resiliency of Kitchen finks to protect the walkers.
You are right that Courser usually shines in a deck with fetches and Primeval Titans, but I rather fill up the board with finks because they synergise well with Nissa VOZ and the recurring blocking protection to get the planeswalker value train rolling.
I actually think the star card of the deck gets little attention and has recently been cut from some builds to bad effect. We are indeed trying to be the best X deck, but X is not Nykthos, Titan, or other splashy card.
We are actually the best Garruk Wildspeaker deck.
Why? Because a lot of the deck's modes of action are enabled by him more than Nykthos. Mana boosting, going wide, and overrunning are all enabled by Garruk WS. I think this is a reason that a lot of the builds that focus on single modes tend to fail (all in on Eternal-Command, combo, etc.) while those which are more flexible seem to succeed.
For a great example, consider the builds that AS repeatedly uses to good effect: ostensibly they are Pact-Toolbox builds, but the powerful openings can be turned into wins with Garruk, as can the multiple-PW "go wide" approach, and the mana-boost enables the toolbox.
I'm going to be thinking about the implications of this approach going forward, and building with this in mind.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB