Yop there,
I'm looking for good pay offs in white, but overall I'm testing the idea of playing lifelinkers against the aggro part of the meta, and the best cards that enable Nykthos :
Bishop is a good blocker early, which leads me to an Angel shell. Resplendent is a decent mana sink, Thune is super strong with Bishop, Tithes and Rays are enough to slow the opponent.
Always Watching is really good at making the board unbeatable. It feels necessary with Initiate, very weak to Ballista and Slash decks. The enchant also gives Reckoner the ability to attack no matter what, and strengthens Tithes.
Oppressive Rays is a great Nykthos-y way to slow down aggro decks.
This iteration of the archetype tries to not die in the early turns, and power up big plays, without going to big. I didn't find a way to ramp efficiently towatds Angel of Serenity but that would be one of the best payoffs in an Angel shell.
The things I didn't like were the WW creatures : Anafenza, Tomik, Knight ot White Orchid. Pridemate requires an even more spcific shell, and after a bit of testing, I felt I wanted more lifelinkers for a bit more synergy with Thune and Resplendent, thus why Initiate it is.
I also didn't like the 1-cmc creatures that gain life, they're too weak, only gain 1 per turn, meh. While Landing can ramp and always give Nykthos a mana, and Thraben... well he's just good.
Past devotion decks also used to run Mastery of the Unseen which I found a bit weak but it may be good enough in this format.
I actually quite like Knight of the White Orchid as a 2-drop option as even if it doesn't ramp its floor as a 2/2 first-striker with 2-devotion isn't too bad and multiples block really well together. Brimaz, King of Oreskos is one of the better 3-drops in White and I'd want it here.
Another card worth considering is History of Benalia which can provide devotion for a couple of turns as well as blockers.
It can work offensively as well, especially with Knights as the 2-drops of choice.
Nice ideas ! I had completely forgotten about Mastery ! There must be a way to build a very different W Devo deck then, Mastery, Brimaz and Sun Elspeth seem good together.
I thought of Quarantine Field in the SB, potentially VS PW decks. I think the deck is weak to Oko + baby Tef Game 1.
The 3-cmc Walkers I'm not a fan of. They're good for aggro decks, like white weenie, but for devotion, you want to go big, and small PWs tend to die under the early pressure and removals of the opponents. Same, nt a fan of History since it dies by itself. The idea remains to take advantage of Nykthos at some point.
In any devo list, I think Mastery is a must at least in the SB against control and midrange.
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Yeah I tried the card in my list and was garbage. You really want a dedicated lifegain shell for it. From there, I'm not sure it's gonna be a good devotion shell. If we can build a nice Prison shell, maybe. Sphere of Safety cast of Nykthos and cheap lifegain enchants (Ajani's Welcome, Authority of the Consuls, Nyx-Fleece Ram etc...), but I fail to see a good deck there. It misses some key components.
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What the deck is missing is some form of card draw imho or ways to find your key pieces to leverage the mana and not "brick out".
I wonder if Board the Weatherlight can fill this role backed up by Thalia's Lancers.
Gideon Blackblade might not be amazing in the deck but it isn't easy to remove and can protect some key creatures or gain life by giving them lifelink. Gideon of the Trials on the other hand is a good defensive card as well which helps prolong the game until we can hit our mana and I think it should be included in any version of the deck.
History of Benalia is just a good value card that can someties win games by itself or just really tax opposing resources by making them spend removal on it and/or the tokens.
Sure it only adds devotion for a limited time but the floor of it is better than most 3-mana creatures.
My main concern with this deck is the high mana curve but I'm not sure what to do about it as there aren't any real good options in the 1-2 mana slots (besides those that are already included).
After strating with Oppressive Rays, and checking out all those expensive 2-cmc and 3-cmc O-Ring effects, I came to the conclusion Wizards has to print an Oblivion Decay :
WW - Enchantment
When O-Decay enters the BF, exile another target nonland permanent with cmc 3 or less until O-Decay LtBF.
White has very poor removal spells for the current metagame, which makes it a pretty difficult color to build with. I'd like to be able to deal with artifacts, 3 cmc PWs and small creatures with one card that doesn't cost a million mana, and that card simply doesn't exist. Conclave Tribunal is the closest though. Keep it in mind.
For now playing Copter is the best countermeasure I found to fight other Copters, ala KLD standard.
Nykthos is very strong in the shell but I can't have my payoffs to be 5+ cmc angels nonetheless (I even tried Parhelion II lul). It's better to have 2/3/4 cmc threats with a mana sink. Seems obvious but I needed to experience it by myself.
By splashing green, I have one mana sink with Shalai, don't know if it's worth it, but that's to say a splash is doable. To compare with Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice and Seraph of the Scales, and the slots used for the 2 Giselas. Maybe there's an additional good card in any splash that will reinforce it, but I haven't looked for it yet.
Reckoner was cut, I feel like synergies have to be there for the shell to stick as one.
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I'm looking for good pay offs in white, but overall I'm testing the idea of playing lifelinkers against the aggro part of the meta, and the best cards that enable Nykthos :
4 Archangel of Tithes
4 Resplendent Angel
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Bishop of Wings
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Legion's landing
4 Oppressive Rays
1 Castle Ardenvale
1 Shefet Dunes
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
17 Plains
Bishop is a good blocker early, which leads me to an Angel shell. Resplendent is a decent mana sink, Thune is super strong with Bishop, Tithes and Rays are enough to slow the opponent.
Always Watching is really good at making the board unbeatable. It feels necessary with Initiate, very weak to Ballista and Slash decks. The enchant also gives Reckoner the ability to attack no matter what, and strengthens Tithes.
Oppressive Rays is a great Nykthos-y way to slow down aggro decks.
This iteration of the archetype tries to not die in the early turns, and power up big plays, without going to big. I didn't find a way to ramp efficiently towatds Angel of Serenity but that would be one of the best payoffs in an Angel shell.
The things I didn't like were the WW creatures : Anafenza, Tomik, Knight ot White Orchid. Pridemate requires an even more spcific shell, and after a bit of testing, I felt I wanted more lifelinkers for a bit more synergy with Thune and Resplendent, thus why Initiate it is.
I also didn't like the 1-cmc creatures that gain life, they're too weak, only gain 1 per turn, meh. While Landing can ramp and always give Nykthos a mana, and Thraben... well he's just good.
Anyone tried to brew around white devotion ?
Secure the Wastes and Finale of Glory though not working with Always Watching is a downside for the go-wide plan (Spear of Heliod can be an alternative).
Benalish Marshal can also be good for the tokens plan.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion is a rather obvious payoff for the deck.
Past devotion decks also used to run Mastery of the Unseen which I found a bit weak but it may be good enough in this format.
I actually quite like Knight of the White Orchid as a 2-drop option as even if it doesn't ramp its floor as a 2/2 first-striker with 2-devotion isn't too bad and multiples block really well together.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos is one of the better 3-drops in White and I'd want it here.
The 3-mana Gideons seem like a solid inclusion as does Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
A rather clunky but potentially devastating removal option can be Quarantine Field (as mass-Banishing Light).
I don't know how necessary it is but Thalia's Lancers can be useful to tutor for either: Nykthos, any PW or some other legends.
It can work offensively as well, especially with Knights as the 2-drops of choice.
I thought of Quarantine Field in the SB, potentially VS PW decks. I think the deck is weak to Oko + baby Tef Game 1.
The 3-cmc Walkers I'm not a fan of. They're good for aggro decks, like white weenie, but for devotion, you want to go big, and small PWs tend to die under the early pressure and removals of the opponents. Same, nt a fan of History since it dies by itself. The idea remains to take advantage of Nykthos at some point.
In any devo list, I think Mastery is a must at least in the SB against control and midrange.
I wonder if Board the Weatherlight can fill this role backed up by Thalia's Lancers.
Gideon Blackblade might not be amazing in the deck but it isn't easy to remove and can protect some key creatures or gain life by giving them lifelink.
Gideon of the Trials on the other hand is a good defensive card as well which helps prolong the game until we can hit our mana and I think it should be included in any version of the deck.
History of Benalia is just a good value card that can someties win games by itself or just really tax opposing resources by making them spend removal on it and/or the tokens.
Sure it only adds devotion for a limited time but the floor of it is better than most 3-mana creatures.
Here is my initial take on the deck:
4x Thraben Inspector
4x Knight of the White Orchid
3x Banisher Priest
3x Boros Reckoner
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Heliod, God of the Sun
3x Archangel of Tithes
1x Gisela, the Broken Blade
4x Thalia's Lancers
1x Archangel Avacyn
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
1x Gideon of the Trials
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Enchantment (7)
1x Legion's Landing
4x History of Benalia
2x Banishing Light
Land (23)
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2x Castle Ardenvale
17x Plains
3x Rest in Peace
2x Declaration in Stone
2x Brave the Elements
2x Gideon's Intervention
2x Banishing Light
2x Sorcerous Spyglass
1x Disenchant
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
I'm not sure if Banisher Priest is good enough here so maybe Stasis Snare is the better removal option.
Board the Weatherlight would have 18x hits (6x Creatures, 3x PW's, 5x Enchantments and 4x Nykthos)
in this deck so I wonder if it can be good enough.
2 Angel of Sanctions
4 Archangel of Tithes
2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
4 Resplendent Angel
4 Bishop of Wings
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Legion's Landing
2 Conclave Tribunal
4 Temple Garden
4 Fortified Village
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Shefet Dunes
1 Castle Ardenvale
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
8 Plains
After strating with Oppressive Rays, and checking out all those expensive 2-cmc and 3-cmc O-Ring effects, I came to the conclusion Wizards has to print an Oblivion Decay :
White has very poor removal spells for the current metagame, which makes it a pretty difficult color to build with. I'd like to be able to deal with artifacts, 3 cmc PWs and small creatures with one card that doesn't cost a million mana, and that card simply doesn't exist. Conclave Tribunal is the closest though. Keep it in mind.
For now playing Copter is the best countermeasure I found to fight other Copters, ala KLD standard.
Nykthos is very strong in the shell but I can't have my payoffs to be 5+ cmc angels nonetheless (I even tried Parhelion II lul). It's better to have 2/3/4 cmc threats with a mana sink. Seems obvious but I needed to experience it by myself.
Speaking of 5 drops, I didn't take the time to test and compare all the viable angels : Archangel of Thune VS Angel of Sanctions VS Archangel Avacyn VS Lyra Dawnbringer VS Angel of Grace VS Angel of Invention VS Sigarda, Heron's Grace. Feel free to express your opinions and experiences.
By splashing green, I have one mana sink with Shalai, don't know if it's worth it, but that's to say a splash is doable. To compare with Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice and Seraph of the Scales, and the slots used for the 2 Giselas. Maybe there's an additional good card in any splash that will reinforce it, but I haven't looked for it yet.
Reckoner was cut, I feel like synergies have to be there for the shell to stick as one.