I'm not so sure Xenagos, God of Revels is the card to break the archetype. It's mildly better than running say Urabrask + Emrakul. It doesn't really break out the strategy that was already there.
I'm not so sure Xenagos, God of Revels is the card to break the archetype. It's mildly better than running say Urabrask + Emrakul. It doesn't really break out the strategy that was already there.
Aww.. In every aspect Xenagod is better than Urabrask with Emrakul because he double Emrakul Power.
Also Xenagod is Indestructible Enchant , aka it's be Path or Maelstrom Pulse etc. so it's more consistent.
If you Tooth and Nails into Urabrask they just have to kill Urabrask and Emrakul lose Haste... well according to some guy in my local who explain me the ruling.
Aww.. In every aspect Xenagod is better than Urabrask with Emrakul because he double Emrakul Power.
Also Xenagod is Indestructible Enchant , aka it's be Path or Maelstrom Pulse etc. so it's more consistent.
If you Tooth and Nails into Urabrask they just have to kill Urabrask and Emrakul lose Haste... well according to some guy in my local who explain me the ruling.
I know it is better than Urabrask, I said that. I played Tooth and Nail with Urabrask and Emrakul for a long time before moving on to Genesis Wave though, and rarely was the issue causing a loss someone taking out Urabrask with spot removal. The deck suffered from the same problems we're still trying to address in other versions of green Devotion now. If you managed to swing with Emrakul after dropping a Tooth and Nail you just about always won, so while doubling up to a 30/30 pretty much ensures that win is absolute, it pretty much was already. God of Revels is strictly better than Urabrask for that line of play, yes, but does it break the archetype? It's worth testing, but I don't think so.
What it would take to "break" MGD is hard to say. When it comes to what "could" be printed, anything is possible. We already have an early game plan with Arbor Elves and Utopia Sprawls, we already have pretty solid ways to close the game with our big sorceries, and we have decent means to protect those big sorceries in Boseiju. I think what it would take to genuinely break the archetype is some form of strong green-devoted protection in the early-mid game slots. Hand Disruption is a big problem for us, something that hated out targeted discard for instance would be amazing for us. Who knows. A mildly better version of something we've already played with isn't going to be the tipping point though I don't think.
Aww.. In every aspect Xenagod is better than Urabrask with Emrakul because he double Emrakul Power.
Also Xenagod is Indestructible Enchant , aka it's be Path or Maelstrom Pulse etc. so it's more consistent.
If you Tooth and Nails into Urabrask they just have to kill Urabrask and Emrakul lose Haste... well according to some guy in my local who explain me the ruling.
The guy in your store is right. If Urabrask is removed before you attack Emmi loses haste. That was the reason I played Zealous Conscripts to give Emmrakul haste. Xenagos solves this pretty but it's also quite possible that he enters the battlefield as a creature (he himself offers 2 devotion and having 5 devotion while playing T&N should happen quite often) and then your main enemy stays Path to Exile.
Even then, while playing with Emrakul and Conscripts I never had a boardstate where I did not win after attacking with Emrakul even though my opponent still had a bunch lifepoints. The thing that makes him win games is not only his size but merely it's habit to annihilate 6 cards of your opponent's board.
Xenagos could be better playable alone than Conscripts, though.
Xenagos is a good card and when he belongs into Nykthos Green Devotion then together with Emrakul in a T&N-Shell, yeah. But I doubt that he will 'break this deck'.
Tooth and Nails into Xenagos + Emrakul , Emrakul is a 30/30 Annihilator 6 protect from all color .. Xenagos is not a creature most of the time so it's an Indestructible Enchantment.
I feel that if we are casting Tooth and Nail for 9, we have at least 5 devotion so the Xenagos would most likely be a creature the whole time.
I know it is better than Urabrask, I said that. I played Tooth and Nail with Urabrask and Emrakul for a long time before moving on to Genesis Wave though, and rarely was the issue causing a loss someone taking out Urabrask with spot removal. The deck suffered from the same problems we're still trying to address in other versions of green Devotion now. If you managed to swing with Emrakul after dropping a Tooth and Nail you just about always won, so while doubling up to a 30/30 pretty much ensures that win is absolute, it pretty much was already. God of Revels is strictly better than Urabrask for that line of play, yes, but does it break the archetype? It's worth testing, but I don't think so.
What it would take to "break" MGD is hard to say. When it comes to what "could" be printed, anything is possible. We already have an early game plan with Arbor Elves and Utopia Sprawls, we already have pretty solid ways to close the game with our big sorceries, and we have decent means to protect those big sorceries in Boseiju. I think what it would take to genuinely break the archetype is some form of strong green-devoted protection in the early-mid game slots. Hand Disruption is a big problem for us, something that hated out targeted discard for instance would be amazing for us. Who knows. A mildly better version of something we've already played with isn't going to be the tipping point though I don't think.
Well to be honest, to me, the deck look top tier material already.
Maybe I should not have used ''break'' because it's already ''broken'' but now it's even harder to stop which make it even more broken.
Because anything that can play Emrakul Turn 4 is pretty broken imo.
It's 7 devotion for it to be a creature, sure it's not rare to hit 7 but it's easy to change the deck a little to make sure we have less.
I said 5 because Xenagos adds 2 red/green devotion himself. I don't see us casting an entwined Tooth and Nail with less than 5 devotion since you need 4 devotion for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to be anything more and a Forest.
What it would take to "break" MGD is hard to say. When it comes to what "could" be printed, anything is possible. We already have an early game plan with Arbor Elves and Utopia Sprawls, we already have pretty solid ways to close the game with our big sorceries, and we have decent means to protect those big sorceries in Boseiju. I think what it would take to genuinely break the archetype is some form of strong green-devoted protection in the early-mid game slots. Hand Disruption is a big problem for us, something that hated out targeted discard for instance would be amazing for us. Who knows. A mildly better version of something we've already played with isn't going to be the tipping point though I don't think.
I don't know if I'm the only who thinks like that but in my opinion our biggest problem is that we are really draw dependent. It just happens too often that i need to mulligan to 6 or 5. I know a green Ponder won't happen:D but has anyone some opinions on that?
Sometimes I'm even thinking about going back to play 2-3 Abundant Growths. Or has anyone better suggestions?
I said 5 because Xenagos adds 2 red/green devotion himself. I don't see us casting an entwined Tooth and Nail with less than 5 devotion since you need 4 devotion for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to be anything more and a Forest.
aww true.. true.. I didn't count him in .. sorry! ^^
Tooth and Nail can easily be casted for only 7 if you have some Summoner's Pact... also Xenagod + Primeval Titan is already quite strong.
But I see your point..any way we have an upgrade for Urabrask and it's cool.
At worst it's a 12/12 Trample with Kessig for next turn, at best it's 30/30 annihilator 6.
True.. but it's not.. better.. and its also harder to hard cast.
It's good to note that Urabrask also stall your opponent creature.. in the event that you don't win the turn you cast it.
=
Also Xenagod will hit the store in about a week.
You should be winning the turn you're casting tooth and nail or genesis wave. If not, then they should be near enough dead that it will be a moot point.
Private Mod Note
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Legacy:
combo elves
Modern:
White Rock (41-24-4 in matches. Beginning 10/14/14. Last updated 1/2/15)
List:
I'm just now exploring this deck and thinking about tinkering with it. Anyone tried any amount of Everflowing Chalice. It might be a worthless mana rock or it might ramp a touch on its own. (Play for 4 and activate Nykthos) but it doesn't add devotion to green so it would have to max out at 1-3 copies.
Just brainstorming.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I'm just now exploring this deck and thinking about tinkering with it. Anyone tried any amount of Everflowing Chalice. It might be a worthless mana rock or it might ramp a touch on its own. (Play for 4 and activate Nykthos) but it doesn't add devotion to green so it would have to max out at 1-3 copies.
Just brainstorming.
There is no moment where you need to have a mana dump normally.. so Chalice while it could be great is unneeded.
BUT
I might try it out just out of curiosity.. because there is some potential.
I don't know if I'm the only who thinks like that but in my opinion our biggest problem is that we are really draw dependent. It just happens too often that i need to mulligan to 6 or 5. I know a green Ponder won't happen:D but has anyone some opinions on that?
Sometimes I'm even thinking about going back to play 2-3 Abundant Growths. Or has anyone better suggestions?
No, I would agree with you to some extent on this. I'm back to running 3 Harmonize maindeck right now. I slipped out my Summoners Pacts to go back to Harmonize and see how it feels. I also went up to 22 lands some time ago, adding two extra Forests in, because I was getting really sick of just how often I was being forced into mulling zero land draws.
I noticed Michael Jacob 4-0'd a Daily on the 22nd with a Green Devotion list. He seems to lean more towards the cantripping creature base, with Geists for good measures. While there seems to be a fair amount of debate on what 2 drops we should run out of BTE, Geist, and Elvish Visionary. He's just gone ahead and runs all 3. Which is interesting, as I've been feeling a little "top heavy" so to speak on my curve lately. I've been eyeballing the 3cmc slot as a place to move into, but maybe this is more where I want to be.
MJ's new list is quite similar to the last one he placed with, but he's also ticked his land count up and moved into the Wolf Run/Stomping Grounds line up.
So while the general philosophy here has moved towards believing that we need to be more resilient in our creature base, and avoid the all-in attack mode, we have a top level pro here that seems to have been doing quite well with a lower curve and explosive combo style deck. He runs a pretty interesting sideboard with a lot of singletons as well. I don't really watch his stream or anything, so I'm nto sure how often he plays the deck in the Dailies, or how many bad runs he's had with it though.
Next post will be my try on the primer. Feel free to comment and give some feedback, show me grammar mistakes or stuff like that (english is not my native language).
It's not quite finished yet, though. I'm gonna hang on some different decklists aswell and just couldn't figure out how to put pictures in that damn thing (I thought I had, but I hadn't...)
I would like to post pictures of Nykthos, Primeval Titan and Garruk Wildspeaker unter the headline. Would be glad about some help:)
Why should I play this deck?
You want to play green how it is meant to be? Generate a massive amount of mana and cast the real huge creatures?
You want to overrun you opponent with hordes of big beaters?
That is possible in modern?
Yep it is, with Nykthos Green Devotioon.
The CORE
First one important Information:
NGD is a deck that is still in development.
Which means that there is not one 'real' NGD-Decklist at the moment, but lots of different approaches of how to abuse your massiv amounts of mana and how to build up your devotion.
If you want to play NGD you'll probably have to brew some time over your decklist. So if you also like brewing over new decks, this is definitely the right place for you.
Now to the core:
Nykthos, Shrine to Nynx:
The namesake of the deck and our enabler for massive amounts of mana. Play 4 of them. Garruk, Wildspeaker:
Little Garruk's +1 let's us untap Nykthos and/or with Utopia Sprawl enchanted forests to gain even more mana. If he's in danger his -1 protects him quite good from attacking creatures and his ultimate provides a whole wincondition in this deck. Play 4. Utopia Sprawl:
Ramps, provides devotion, that's quite hard to remove and synergizes well with Garruk. Play 4. Arbor Elf:
Ramps, but ramps even harder with Utopia Sprawl. Having 4 mana Turn 2 to play Garruk, untap your lands and play a 3-drop sounds good? Well, we think so, too. Play 4. Primeval Titan:
Big beater that impacts the game solely by coming into play, searches for Nykthos and gets even bigger if we splash red for Kessig Wolf Run? Yes please! Play 4.
Different NGD Variants
There are 2 questions you have to ask yourself while building this deck:
1. How do I build up my devotion?
2. What do I want to do with my tons of mana?
Because the second question is way more exciting we'll talk about that first.
Option Nr.1: Genesis Wave
There is not much that makes more fun than casting an enormous Genesis Wave. Oh no, how about just casting one, and then another, even bigger one in the same turn? Thanks to the new Legend-Rules Nykthos Green Devotion is quite capable of doing that. You just need to hit an Eternal Witness to get your Wave back (or have another Wave in Hand) and hit Garruk to untap your Nykthos or just get another Nykthos that replaces your older one and dependent on your boardstate a land or two or an Burning-Tree Emissary. That sounds like a lot that has to come together but it happens more often than you'd think. Combine it with a Craterhoof Behemoth and maybe some hasty creatures like Strangleroot Geist an you get a decent overkill-win out of nowhere.
Option Nr. 2:Tooth and Nail
The downside of this card in comparison with Genesis Wave is that you can only cast it for 9 mana (not entwined really isn't what you want to do).
The upside is that you should get a save win either with our favorite Spaghetti Monster Emrakul, the Aeons Torn backed up with someone who gives him haste like Zealous Conscripts, Urabrask the Hidden or the new Xenagos, God of Revels or just put two giant Craterhoof Behemoths into play.
Option Nr.3: Primal Command + Eternal Witness
Both of those cards are pretty powerful and versatile on their own, but together they create a nice little softlock that should get you enough time to overrun your opponent with your creatures. The lock works like this: You play Command, set one land of your opponent back on top of his library and search for a Eternal Witness. Your opponent only gets to draw his land which he has to play again. In your turn you can play the Witness, get Command back, play it, set your opponents land back on top, search for the next Witness...
In direct comparison to options 1 and 2 this one sounds kinda lame, but it really should not be underestimated because both Command and Witness are also powerful and versatile cards on their own and can also be played if you don't have an 'I-get-a-fantastillion-mana-by-Nykthos-boardstate'.
Of course the are more cards that could be abused with Nykthos but these ones just turned out to be the best while testing.
Most of the current NGD-Lists even run Primal Command together with Genesis Wave. So that's a way to go, too.
How do I build up my devotion?
This is one more difficult question. Because of the lack of good enchantments creatures are the way to go. Here aswell you have two options: More resilient and slower or less resilient but more explosive.
Usually playing 'either-or' does not make that much sense for this deck, but you gotta decide how resilient or how explosive your deck shall be.
Resilient: Strangleroot Geist: Adds 2 devotion, comes back even bigger when it dies, has haste. Solid 2-drop. Predator Ooze: Blocks like a boss, is quite hard to remove and gets bigger and bigger if you're the aggressor. Adds 3 devotion but can be hard to play in the early game (dependent on how many utility lands you want to play). Better on defence than on the offence. Leatherback Baloth: Easier to remove than Ooze, but still pretty good positioned in a meta where Lightning Bolt is the most common removal. If you want to play more aggressive this guy is your man, pulling him out T3 can make quite some pressure. Costs also GGG, so he offers a nice amount of devotion but can be difficult to play early. Kitchen Finks: Getting some life is always good, a creature that comes back after one death, too. Helps alot against Burn, but be aware of Deathrite Shamans and Scavenging Oozes. Carven Caryatid: This card combines resiliency (big toughness)with explosivness (card draw). But you can't attack with it. Taste and meta dependent but definitely a card to consider.
Explosivness/Card Draw Burning-Tree Emissary: Provides 'free' devotion, chain 2 or even 3 of them for the real explosivness. Dies quite easily and GR can sometimes make it difficult to cast another creature after her. Still a card that is at least worth testing. Elvish Visionary: Cantrips and is castable of BTEs GR, but Strangleroot Geist tends to be the better 2-drop. Wistful Selkie: Visionaries older sister. Cantrips and offers 3 devotion. still easy to kill, though. If you want to get out your big Gen-Wave or T&N as soon as possible, this should be your card. Eternal Witness: Adds devotion and gives you back any card in your graveyard, pure card advantage and a big '
I don't give a f...' against targeted discard. Yep she's good. And with Command she's even better.
Some even consider her part of the deck's core. Run 2-4 (but keep in
mind that you usually don't want her as your turn 2 or 3 drop while your graveyard is still empty). Regal Force: Big card draw, big creature, big devotion. Sounds good, doesn't it? The problem is that a Craterhoof Behemoth would often win you the game instead. Often, not always. So if you like the card give it a try. Garruk Primal Hunter: Offers 3 devotion, protects himself easily, the -3 has big potencial in deck. You probably won't use his ultimate so much, but when then it's an overkill. Problem is he doesn't get along with little Garruk so well.
Other cards that should be considered
Summoner's Pact: All of our creatures are green, this card not only searches for our Titan or a Craterhoof for the win but also also allows us to play one or two utility creatures like Acidic Slime. If you play Burning-Tree Emissary you can also tutor him up and get that last two devotion you needed for your Tooth and Nail.
Just don't forget to pay it of the next turn (if there is a next turn and you haven't already won). Craterhoof Behemoth: It's big, it has haste, it makes every other creature you have big and ready for a huge final attack. Really good in winning games. One copy with some tutors should do fine. Kessig Wolf Run: Yeah you need to splash red for it, but hey that's worth it. Kessig offers a nice mana sink and definitely is your second land to grab with Primeval Titan which combined offer a nice extra wincondition. Harmonize: Card draw at it's finest, doesn't add devotion but does quite good in slower, more defensive builds. Bogart Ram-Gang: Less resilient than Leatherback Baloth but if you want to play even more aggressive, here you go. Sylvan Scrying: If your 4 Titans aren't enough or you want to be able to grab Nykthos safely early in the game, Scrying does that job quite well. Acidic Slime: Nice utility creature that helps you get rid of annoying permanents like Ensnaring Bridge or hits to kill annoying manlands. Consider playing one copy together with some tutors.
Tips'n'Tricks for building and playing NGD
Buliding:
-Don't play too many expensive spells. Even though they are really fun to play, a proper base to get there is way more important. Usually 3-4 Spells that cost more than 6 mana are quite sufficient. (Genesis Wave counts as over 6-CMC-Spell here because you really don't want to cast it for x=3 usually).
-Don't get too cute. You found that cool card that synergizes so nice with the deck but costs a lot of mana? Well great, but does it win you the game?
Everything that needs 8 or more mana to be played should be also a good Wincondition or better even be able to make you win the same turn you play it. Compare the card you want to play with Craterhoof Behemoth or Tooth and Nail and then decide if it's really worth playing.
-Don't try to play too many utility lands. Yeah we play 4 Primeval Titans and maybe Sylvan Scryings, too but we also play a bunch of GG or GGG cards that need their green mana and with 4 Nykthos and quite often a Kessig Wolf Run there's not much room for noncolored mana. You also can't play Utopia Sprawls on them.
Playing
-The new legend rule is good to us. You drew two Nykthos and can't play the other one? Well how about you just activate the one in play, gain 4 or more mana (this only makes sense if your devotion is 4 or higher) then play the other Nykthos, decide to kill the tapped one and you get a new untapped Nykthos which you can use again. (The same thing can even work with Garruk Wild Speaker if you have the right boardstate and just need to get one or two mana more to cast you big spell).
- Keep Nykthos in hand as long as possible. The most common targeted discard spells can't hit lands, but Ghost Quarters and Tectonic Edges can.
- If you're able to, keep your Burning-Tree Emissary in hand until you can surprise your opponent with her 'free' devotion and get out a big spell.
You should have a decklist for every variant also.
Also it's Massive not Massiv.
=
I am also working on a new variant that will abuse Land Drop but I might just do my own thread for this variant because it might be overly different..It's not better it's just that I love to build deck and Green Ramp is my favorite type of deck to play.
Aww.. In every aspect Xenagod is better than Urabrask with Emrakul because he double Emrakul Power.
Also Xenagod is Indestructible Enchant , aka it's be Path or Maelstrom Pulse etc. so it's more consistent.
If you Tooth and Nails into Urabrask they just have to kill Urabrask and Emrakul lose Haste... well according to some guy in my local who explain me the ruling.
I know it is better than Urabrask, I said that. I played Tooth and Nail with Urabrask and Emrakul for a long time before moving on to Genesis Wave though, and rarely was the issue causing a loss someone taking out Urabrask with spot removal. The deck suffered from the same problems we're still trying to address in other versions of green Devotion now. If you managed to swing with Emrakul after dropping a Tooth and Nail you just about always won, so while doubling up to a 30/30 pretty much ensures that win is absolute, it pretty much was already. God of Revels is strictly better than Urabrask for that line of play, yes, but does it break the archetype? It's worth testing, but I don't think so.
What it would take to "break" MGD is hard to say. When it comes to what "could" be printed, anything is possible. We already have an early game plan with Arbor Elves and Utopia Sprawls, we already have pretty solid ways to close the game with our big sorceries, and we have decent means to protect those big sorceries in Boseiju. I think what it would take to genuinely break the archetype is some form of strong green-devoted protection in the early-mid game slots. Hand Disruption is a big problem for us, something that hated out targeted discard for instance would be amazing for us. Who knows. A mildly better version of something we've already played with isn't going to be the tipping point though I don't think.
The guy in your store is right. If Urabrask is removed before you attack Emmi loses haste. That was the reason I played Zealous Conscripts to give Emmrakul haste. Xenagos solves this pretty but it's also quite possible that he enters the battlefield as a creature (he himself offers 2 devotion and having 5 devotion while playing T&N should happen quite often) and then your main enemy stays Path to Exile.
Even then, while playing with Emrakul and Conscripts I never had a boardstate where I did not win after attacking with Emrakul even though my opponent still had a bunch lifepoints. The thing that makes him win games is not only his size but merely it's habit to annihilate 6 cards of your opponent's board.
Xenagos could be better playable alone than Conscripts, though.
Xenagos is a good card and when he belongs into Nykthos Green Devotion then together with Emrakul in a T&N-Shell, yeah. But I doubt that he will 'break this deck'.
I feel that if we are casting Tooth and Nail for 9, we have at least 5 devotion so the Xenagos would most likely be a creature the whole time.
A 30/30 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn does seem pretty sweet though.
Cards for sale: Check them out!
It's 7 devotion for it to be a creature, sure it's not rare to hit 7 but it's easy to change the deck a little to make sure we have less.
Well to be honest, to me, the deck look top tier material already.
Maybe I should not have used ''break'' because it's already ''broken'' but now it's even harder to stop which make it even more broken.
Because anything that can play Emrakul Turn 4 is pretty broken imo.
I said 5 because Xenagos adds 2 red/green devotion himself. I don't see us casting an entwined Tooth and Nail with less than 5 devotion since you need 4 devotion for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to be anything more and a Forest.
Cards for sale: Check them out!
I don't know if I'm the only who thinks like that but in my opinion our biggest problem is that we are really draw dependent. It just happens too often that i need to mulligan to 6 or 5. I know a green Ponder won't happen:D but has anyone some opinions on that?
Sometimes I'm even thinking about going back to play 2-3 Abundant Growths. Or has anyone better suggestions?
aww true.. true.. I didn't count him in .. sorry! ^^
Tooth and Nail can easily be casted for only 7 if you have some Summoner's Pact... also Xenagod + Primeval Titan is already quite strong.
But I see your point..any way we have an upgrade for Urabrask and it's cool.
At worst it's a 12/12 Trample with Kessig for next turn, at best it's 30/30 annihilator 6.
Legacy:
combo elves
Modern:
White Rock (41-24-4 in matches. Beginning 10/14/14. Last updated 1/2/15)
List:
4 Dark Confidant
3 Siege Rhino
1 Thrun, The Last Troll
Spells - 20
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 abrupt decay
2 maelstrom pulse
1 slaughter pact
1 path to exile
1 Disfigure
1 damnation
3 lingering souls
NCP - 4
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Bow of Nylea
4 verdant Catacombs
2 marsh flats
2 windswept heath
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 overgrown tomb
1 godless shrine
1 temple garden
1 Treetop Village
2 stirring wildwood
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Thrun, the last troll
2 Duress
1 Creeping Corrosion
2 Stony Silence
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Back to nature
1 Utter End
1 Golgari Charm
True.. but it's not.. better.. and its also harder to hard cast.
It's good to note that Urabrask also stall your opponent creature.. in the event that you don't win the turn you cast it.
=
Also Xenagod will hit the store in about a week.
You should be winning the turn you're casting tooth and nail or genesis wave. If not, then they should be near enough dead that it will be a moot point.
Legacy:
combo elves
Modern:
White Rock (41-24-4 in matches. Beginning 10/14/14. Last updated 1/2/15)
List:
4 Dark Confidant
3 Siege Rhino
1 Thrun, The Last Troll
Spells - 20
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 abrupt decay
2 maelstrom pulse
1 slaughter pact
1 path to exile
1 Disfigure
1 damnation
3 lingering souls
NCP - 4
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Bow of Nylea
4 verdant Catacombs
2 marsh flats
2 windswept heath
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 overgrown tomb
1 godless shrine
1 temple garden
1 Treetop Village
2 stirring wildwood
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Thrun, the last troll
2 Duress
1 Creeping Corrosion
2 Stony Silence
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Back to nature
1 Utter End
1 Golgari Charm
Just brainstorming.
There is no moment where you need to have a mana dump normally.. so Chalice while it could be great is unneeded.
BUT
I might try it out just out of curiosity.. because there is some potential.
No, I would agree with you to some extent on this. I'm back to running 3 Harmonize maindeck right now. I slipped out my Summoners Pacts to go back to Harmonize and see how it feels. I also went up to 22 lands some time ago, adding two extra Forests in, because I was getting really sick of just how often I was being forced into mulling zero land draws.
I noticed Michael Jacob 4-0'd a Daily on the 22nd with a Green Devotion list. He seems to lean more towards the cantripping creature base, with Geists for good measures. While there seems to be a fair amount of debate on what 2 drops we should run out of BTE, Geist, and Elvish Visionary. He's just gone ahead and runs all 3. Which is interesting, as I've been feeling a little "top heavy" so to speak on my curve lately. I've been eyeballing the 3cmc slot as a place to move into, but maybe this is more where I want to be.
MJ's new list is quite similar to the last one he placed with, but he's also ticked his land count up and moved into the Wolf Run/Stomping Grounds line up.
So while the general philosophy here has moved towards believing that we need to be more resilient in our creature base, and avoid the all-in attack mode, we have a top level pro here that seems to have been doing quite well with a lower curve and explosive combo style deck. He runs a pretty interesting sideboard with a lot of singletons as well. I don't really watch his stream or anything, so I'm nto sure how often he plays the deck in the Dailies, or how many bad runs he's had with it though.
// Modern Daily #6622294 on 2014-01-22
10 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Stomping Ground
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Arbor Elf
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
3 Elvish Visionary
4 Eternal Witness
3 Primeval Titan
3 Strangleroot Geist
2 Wistful Selkie
2 Fertile Ground
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Genesis Wave
1 Primal Command
4 Utopia Sprawl
1 Beast Within
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Damping Matrix
1 Dismember
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Nature's Claim
1 Primal Command
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Vexing Shusher
It's not quite finished yet, though. I'm gonna hang on some different decklists aswell and just couldn't figure out how to put pictures in that damn thing (I thought I had, but I hadn't...)
I would like to post pictures of Nykthos, Primeval Titan and Garruk Wildspeaker unter the headline. Would be glad about some help:)
INTRODUCTION
Why should I play this deck?
You want to play green how it is meant to be? Generate a massive amount of mana and cast the real huge creatures?
You want to overrun you opponent with hordes of big beaters?
That is possible in modern?
Yep it is, with Nykthos Green Devotioon.
What is Nykthos Green Devotion?
Nykthos Green Devotion is a ramp-style deck, that tries to abuse it's namesake Nykthos, Shrine to Nynx to generate massiv amounts of mana to cast big Genesis Waves, Tooth and Nail or a Craterhoof Behemoth.
But can this deck build up devotion fast enough to be competitive in Modern?
Ever heard of Burning-Tree Emissary? Also, with Arbor Elf, Utopia Sprawl and Garruk Wildspeaker we have some really nice synergies to create lots of mana early and without Nykthos, too.
The CORE
First one important Information:
NGD is a deck that is still in development.
Which means that there is not one 'real' NGD-Decklist at the moment, but lots of different approaches of how to abuse your massiv amounts of mana and how to build up your devotion.
If you want to play NGD you'll probably have to brew some time over your decklist. So if you also like brewing over new decks, this is definitely the right place for you.
Now to the core:
The namesake of the deck and our enabler for massive amounts of mana. Play 4 of them.
Garruk, Wildspeaker:
Little Garruk's +1 let's us untap Nykthos and/or with Utopia Sprawl enchanted forests to gain even more mana. If he's in danger his -1 protects him quite good from attacking creatures and his ultimate provides a whole wincondition in this deck. Play 4.
Utopia Sprawl:
Ramps, provides devotion, that's quite hard to remove and synergizes well with Garruk. Play 4.
Arbor Elf:
Ramps, but ramps even harder with Utopia Sprawl. Having 4 mana Turn 2 to play Garruk, untap your lands and play a 3-drop sounds good? Well, we think so, too. Play 4.
Primeval Titan:
Big beater that impacts the game solely by coming into play, searches for Nykthos and gets even bigger if we splash red for Kessig Wolf Run? Yes please! Play 4.
Different NGD Variants
1. How do I build up my devotion?
2. What do I want to do with my tons of mana?
Because the second question is way more exciting we'll talk about that first.
Option Nr.1: Genesis Wave
There is not much that makes more fun than casting an enormous Genesis Wave. Oh no, how about just casting one, and then another, even bigger one in the same turn? Thanks to the new Legend-Rules Nykthos Green Devotion is quite capable of doing that. You just need to hit an Eternal Witness to get your Wave back (or have another Wave in Hand) and hit Garruk to untap your Nykthos or just get another Nykthos that replaces your older one and dependent on your boardstate a land or two or an Burning-Tree Emissary. That sounds like a lot that has to come together but it happens more often than you'd think. Combine it with a Craterhoof Behemoth and maybe some hasty creatures like Strangleroot Geist an you get a decent overkill-win out of nowhere.
Option Nr. 2:Tooth and Nail
The downside of this card in comparison with Genesis Wave is that you can only cast it for 9 mana (not entwined really isn't what you want to do).
The upside is that you should get a save win either with our favorite Spaghetti Monster Emrakul, the Aeons Torn backed up with someone who gives him haste like Zealous Conscripts, Urabrask the Hidden or the new Xenagos, God of Revels or just put two giant Craterhoof Behemoths into play.
Option Nr.3: Primal Command + Eternal Witness
Both of those cards are pretty powerful and versatile on their own, but together they create a nice little softlock that should get you enough time to overrun your opponent with your creatures. The lock works like this: You play Command, set one land of your opponent back on top of his library and search for a Eternal Witness. Your opponent only gets to draw his land which he has to play again. In your turn you can play the Witness, get Command back, play it, set your opponents land back on top, search for the next Witness...
In direct comparison to options 1 and 2 this one sounds kinda lame, but it really should not be underestimated because both Command and Witness are also powerful and versatile cards on their own and can also be played if you don't have an 'I-get-a-fantastillion-mana-by-Nykthos-boardstate'.
Of course the are more cards that could be abused with Nykthos but these ones just turned out to be the best while testing.
Most of the current NGD-Lists even run Primal Command together with Genesis Wave. So that's a way to go, too.
How do I build up my devotion?
Usually playing 'either-or' does not make that much sense for this deck, but you gotta decide how resilient or how explosive your deck shall be.
Resilient:
Strangleroot Geist: Adds 2 devotion, comes back even bigger when it dies, has haste. Solid 2-drop.
Predator Ooze: Blocks like a boss, is quite hard to remove and gets bigger and bigger if you're the aggressor. Adds 3 devotion but can be hard to play in the early game (dependent on how many utility lands you want to play). Better on defence than on the offence.
Leatherback Baloth: Easier to remove than Ooze, but still pretty good positioned in a meta where Lightning Bolt is the most common removal. If you want to play more aggressive this guy is your man, pulling him out T3 can make quite some pressure. Costs also GGG, so he offers a nice amount of devotion but can be difficult to play early.
Kitchen Finks: Getting some life is always good, a creature that comes back after one death, too. Helps alot against Burn, but be aware of Deathrite Shamans and Scavenging Oozes.
Carven Caryatid: This card combines resiliency (big toughness)with explosivness (card draw). But you can't attack with it. Taste and meta dependent but definitely a card to consider.
Explosivness/Card Draw
Burning-Tree Emissary: Provides 'free' devotion, chain 2 or even 3 of them for the real explosivness. Dies quite easily and GR can sometimes make it difficult to cast another creature after her. Still a card that is at least worth testing.
Elvish Visionary: Cantrips and is castable of BTEs GR, but Strangleroot Geist tends to be the better 2-drop.
Wistful Selkie: Visionaries older sister. Cantrips and offers 3 devotion. still easy to kill, though. If you want to get out your big Gen-Wave or T&N as soon as possible, this should be your card.
Eternal Witness: Adds devotion and gives you back any card in your graveyard, pure card advantage and a big '
I don't give a f...' against targeted discard. Yep she's good. And with Command she's even better.
Some even consider her part of the deck's core. Run 2-4 (but keep in
mind that you usually don't want her as your turn 2 or 3 drop while your graveyard is still empty).
Regal Force: Big card draw, big creature, big devotion. Sounds good, doesn't it? The problem is that a Craterhoof Behemoth would often win you the game instead. Often, not always. So if you like the card give it a try.
Garruk Primal Hunter: Offers 3 devotion, protects himself easily, the -3 has big potencial in deck. You probably won't use his ultimate so much, but when then it's an overkill. Problem is he doesn't get along with little Garruk so well.
Other cards that should be considered
Just don't forget to pay it of the next turn (if there is a next turn and you haven't already won).
Craterhoof Behemoth: It's big, it has haste, it makes every other creature you have big and ready for a huge final attack. Really good in winning games. One copy with some tutors should do fine.
Kessig Wolf Run: Yeah you need to splash red for it, but hey that's worth it. Kessig offers a nice mana sink and definitely is your second land to grab with Primeval Titan which combined offer a nice extra wincondition.
Harmonize: Card draw at it's finest, doesn't add devotion but does quite good in slower, more defensive builds.
Bogart Ram-Gang: Less resilient than Leatherback Baloth but if you want to play even more aggressive, here you go.
Sylvan Scrying: If your 4 Titans aren't enough or you want to be able to grab Nykthos safely early in the game, Scrying does that job quite well.
Acidic Slime: Nice utility creature that helps you get rid of annoying permanents like Ensnaring Bridge or hits to kill annoying manlands. Consider playing one copy together with some tutors.
Tips'n'Tricks for building and playing NGD
-Don't play too many expensive spells. Even though they are really fun to play, a proper base to get there is way more important. Usually 3-4 Spells that cost more than 6 mana are quite sufficient. (Genesis Wave counts as over 6-CMC-Spell here because you really don't want to cast it for x=3 usually).
-Don't get too cute. You found that cool card that synergizes so nice with the deck but costs a lot of mana? Well great, but does it win you the game?
Everything that needs 8 or more mana to be played should be also a good Wincondition or better even be able to make you win the same turn you play it. Compare the card you want to play with Craterhoof Behemoth or Tooth and Nail and then decide if it's really worth playing.
-Don't try to play too many utility lands. Yeah we play 4 Primeval Titans and maybe Sylvan Scryings, too but we also play a bunch of GG or GGG cards that need their green mana and with 4 Nykthos and quite often a Kessig Wolf Run there's not much room for noncolored mana. You also can't play Utopia Sprawls on them.
Playing
-The new legend rule is good to us. You drew two Nykthos and can't play the other one? Well how about you just activate the one in play, gain 4 or more mana (this only makes sense if your devotion is 4 or higher) then play the other Nykthos, decide to kill the tapped one and you get a new untapped Nykthos which you can use again. (The same thing can even work with Garruk Wild Speaker if you have the right boardstate and just need to get one or two mana more to cast you big spell).
- Keep Nykthos in hand as long as possible. The most common targeted discard spells can't hit lands, but Ghost Quarters and Tectonic Edges can.
- If you're able to, keep your Burning-Tree Emissary in hand until you can surprise your opponent with her 'free' devotion and get out a big spell.
You should have a decklist for every variant also.
Also it's Massive not Massiv.
=
I am also working on a new variant that will abuse Land Drop but I might just do my own thread for this variant because it might be overly different..It's not better it's just that I love to build deck and Green Ramp is my favorite type of deck to play.
RGStandard Gruul AggroRG
Consider Mwonvuli Acid-Mossthen:D