Just saw you subscribe to Todd Stevens Curdbros, haha
Haha! He's great. I love his content. I'm on two months in a row (as I was doing it month to month and forgot a month). He has been really awesome about Green Devotion too. I've been writing to him about Devotion for over a year (it got a little bit harder when he blew up and got super famous in the MTG world...) and he has been awesome and truly helpful. He even played one of my lists on stream. I used to brag that he said on stream "Curdbros is the best Green Devotion player out there..." and "...Curdrbos is the best Green Devotion player I know...". I leave out the part where I'm pretty darn sure I was the only Green Devotion player he knew when he said it ha! Joking aside...I do like to tell people that he has been gracious with his time. Great guy.
The deck has a lot of similar stuff going on to devotion though.
I also have trouble seeing a blue counterspell version working out, but I won't knock it because it still does seem sweet. Unlike Blue Tron, our mana is produced by casting spells, so we very much want to actively be adding to the board. Although it can be possible to adding small pieces to the board with mana up for countermagic and then have a hugely explosive turn. Hopefully I'll brew a counter-devotion deck soon.
EDIT:
I'm actually thinking Bring to Light might be a better combination with Devoted Druid than Command.
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
I'm really surprised we haven't discussed Bring to Light at all! That seems like a very useful tool for us.
I would guess that we would be casting it for X = 2 or 3 most of the time, which fits in to devoted combo pretty nicely. Gotta say though, that deck you posted is quite a doozy. Might be a bit too crazy to really make a big splash for us...but it gives us an opportunity to think about expanding our creature base into off-colors. Very cool.
yeah, Bring to Light isn't great with Nykthos..., so I don't think the deck is possible
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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
Font of Fertility: basically non-instant/sorcery ramp. To those who say "I'd rather play Abundant Growth/Fertile Growth etc.", remember the point of this task is to find devotion that dodges land destruction (and creature removal)
Someone on the thread trolled me about this, but I'm glad a wiser mind has experienced the same difficulties with the deck that I've encountered. If you've read the interview with Wakefield, he hated cards like Control Magic and Tradewind Rider because they flat out put his threats on ice. Spreading Seas is like that, and every blue player worth his salt out there in competitive Modern has 3 or so of these main deck or in the sideboard against TRON and other three color Modern decks. A nuked Nykthos is GG for us if we can't pull up another. This, on top of Ghostly Quarter, which again, anybody worth his salt playing against TRON has mainboard or in the sideboard. Recursion with Eternal Witness is the only thing keeping a Nykthos Green devotion heavy build alive plus crawling to 6 mana to cast Primeval Titan to pull out one more. Six land drops mean game over in competitive Modern guys. Even the guy who says he doesn't care about spot removal is a dead duck to Jeskai competitive and he is the one who plays with slow hands.
Your putting in Sylvan Caryatid reinforce my view that just having an attacker on board won't cut it in competitive Modern in the early game, because those get Lightning Bolted or the blue-red spell that splits 2 damage on 2 of your 1/1 creatures. Even late game, a mana dork Wall can help stall better than a vanilla devotion creature. The Jamie Wakefield playtest winning him the next PTQ says it all. And in this generation, we have Priest of Titania scaling Walls. Imagine that. Three Walls can be 5 to 9 mana scaling up. That's a huge non-devotion boost. It's a different philosophy, and given that if one does play with Eric Clapton "slow hands", a mana Wall that scales as well as devotion sets up the game for the following insights:
Quote from @GarfieldKlon »
Reason to play with a blue splash are not surpringly the counters imho. it is the card draw and interaction with lands and library. Like the Coiling Oracle ,Nissa, Steward of Elements or Kiora, Master of the Depths. You can only be hardly outgrinded by Decks like Death Shadow or Jund if you jammed every round cards on the board
At LAST! A blue-green devotion mage. One who loves FIGHTING OCTOPUS as a grind out win condition too. The Nissa Steward tip should work like a charm with the mana Walls I'm putting together to pull out some gamechanging Fatty or to trigger the Turntimber Ranger infinite wolf, life and possibly turn combo.
The Bring to Light suggestion gives me extra incentive for playing it in my deck. It's 4 extra copies of the Turntimber Ranger. Digging for the ETB FTW.
I like the Mul Daya Channelers as the better Leatherback Baloth that doubles as a mana dork too. Jesus! The dork adds two mana of any color and with Freed from the Real as rogue tech, man that is amazing tech dude. Drop either a Walking Ballista or the Simic Sky Swallower for GG. And playing well against Tier 1 and 2, should give your build list more credence than just personal opinions about spot removal resiliency. I wonder if you'd try out the Turntimber combo inside your build?
I'm gonna go Donkey Kong copy your tech and see if it smooths out my combo for my slower Blue-Green Devotion Combo build. I can see why you need the heavy creature suite because of the Mul Daya Channelers and GG devotion is not too shabby at all. Can you play test the Mirrorweave/PrimalCrux even as a one of in your deck to see if it sneaks up on opponents?
Stalling for Fighting Octopus win con should be a legit Devotion option all the ways you can grind it.
Thanks a lot dude. Your post should help me tweak my Timmy-Form-Devastator UG devotion deck.
@lord_darkview
If you Bestow and the target of the aura (i.e. a creature) and in response it dies, the bestow comes into play as a creature (source: google search and a ponder in old judge forums). Not too shabby!
@MirageJenius
I found Mul Daya Channelers to be way too inconsistent. You may be able to get a build with minimal noncreature and nonland cards, but you're probably playing at the least 4 Utopia Sprawl and 4 Garruk Wildspeaker. Any more and I believe you'll find that a 3 mana 2/2 is actually frustratingly bad, despite it still giving 2 devotion. We don't have Ponder and Preordain to play with unfortunately.
After seeing Gruul_Me_Harder's UG list, and my appreciation of Carnage Tyrant, I present UG Devotion
(WARNING: completely based on theory, and I don't own all the cards of this deck, so no testing will be done)
The main mana sink is Nissa, Steward of Elements. Get her down turn 2, and you have a very good chance of hitting something turn 3 with her 0 ability. Phantasmal Image has many good targets to copy (especially Carnage Tyrant!). Also acts as handy tech vs. any creature-based matchup, copying Reality Smasher for a hasty kill, Thought-Knot Seer to take a look at their hand, Meddling Mage, Tasigur (w/ his ability!) and a whole lot more. Here's hoping Rivals of Ixalan brings some nice Explore toys to the table.
@lord_darkview
If you Bestow and the target of the aura (i.e. a creature) and in response it dies, the bestow comes into play as a creature (source: google search and a ponder in old judge forums). Not too shabby!
@MirageJenius
I found Mul Daya Channelers to be way too inconsistent. You may be able to get a build with minimal noncreature and nonland cards, but you're probably playing at the least 4 Utopia Sprawl and 4 Garruk Wildspeaker. Any more and I believe you'll find that a 3 mana 2/2 is actually frustratingly bad, despite it still giving 2 devotion. We don't have Ponder and Preordain to play with unfortunately.
After seeing Gruul_Me_Harder's UG list, and my appreciation of Carnage Tyrant, I present UG Devotion
(WARNING: completely based on theory, and I don't own all the cards of this deck, so no testing will be done)
The main mana sink is Nissa, Steward of Elements. Get her down turn 2, and you have a very good chance of hitting something turn 3 with her 0 ability. Phantasmal Image has many good targets to copy (especially Carnage Tyrant!). Also acts as handy tech vs. any creature-based matchup, copying Reality Smasher for a hasty kill, Thought-Knot Seer to take a look at their hand, Meddling Mage, Tasigur (w/ his ability!) and a whole lot more. Here's hoping Rivals of Ixalan brings some nice Explore toys to the table.
Turns out you're right regarding Bestow and removal; but I don't feel bad for not knowing that, since it's a highly specific thing to Bestow.
Besides that, I do like that build a lot. It's not explosive, but it will grind out matches very well and has enough card advantage and threats to even be solid against UW control in a long, conventional game. I will say that playing with Nissa SoE is the only exception I can think of to the Mul Daya Channelers issue, where a Scry 2 can get the effect you want every turn. You might have a few too many low-impact cards though, especially Branchwalker, Kira, and Sky Swallower. Singleton Wurmcoil isn't as good without a way to tutor it either. Your other problem is a lack of creature removal, which is easily solved by the addition of a few Polukranos, which are also an undercosted heavy, provides Devotion, and balance out the curve versus things like Engineered Explosives.
@Gruul me harder
Maybe your are right. My tests with counters wasn't great, but at the moment i have tested that, there was Kruphix in my deck that have killed my bluff in a instant
@About Mul Daya Channelers
Yes. It's inconsistent on it own. But in my build i have incredible fun with these Girls. My Devotion Deck want see the most time the Top from my library for some reasons (Nissa, Kruphix, CardDrawEffects, "fetch cards away") and with Freed from the Real in the right time --> infinite Mana.
These Girls need a good home and after that, they make you very happy
@MirageJenius
Only once i got with Kiora her Final in my FNM. That was really great and a instant win . It's funny to have Octopus Tokens in the DeckBox , but in the most time i got my Mana and i search for a finisher with the -2 ability.
I will drop the Simic Sky Swallower. I didn't really need Hexproof against Control Matchups. The Balista is nice even in the first rounds and good against nasty fliers.
Primalcrux...wih 6 Mana not bad. And great Synergys with the Nykthos Shrine. With enough Mana Sinks in the Deck a surprising good Option. My Problem is that often i say by Utopia Sprawl : "blue". So i have Mana that i couldn't spend to play the crux out. Great Choice in Mono Green Build.
Mirrorweave, with a creature heavy build it could be very funny. Need a deck with a lot creatures. I consider this with Biovisionary. But this would be a Deck on it's own i think.
For the Turntimber Combo , i need Arcane Adaptive and that really didn't fit at the moment. To play Adaption i really want a second reason to play this Enchantment to make a possible Deck consistency enough. a little offtopic: i played Allies, too . so i brewed with Turntimber and some other Pet cards to make a possible Deck on this.
@Uyan
Good Suggestion with Phantasmal Image. A great choice against other heavy creature builds .
Have you consider Polukranos, World Eater? Vanilla Creature, can be a ManaSink and could be a copy target for the Image.
Just a note about Primalcrux-Mirrorweave interaction, since I didn't read it well the first time - this won't work versus creature decks! It turns ALL creatures into a copy! If the opponent has more creatures than you, it's lights out. Just thought I should point that out.
On MulDaya Channelers, I tested them out a while ago with Nissa, Courser, and Vizier of the Menagerie. Still inconsistent! The Courser/Vizier synergy was real though!
@Uyan
Like the list. Big fan of Coiling Oracle. It seems you might have trouble breaking through boardstalls though. I agree with GarfieldKlon that Polukranos could help. Also trample enablers - Rhonas, Nylea, Craterhoof,etc.
Generally, it seems there's a but more discussion around the Curdbros-esque style of devotion-card advantage on dudes. This makes me think, if we fill the curve with lower-end creatures, is there a way for us to weaponize a slew of 2/2s and 3/2s? I'm thinking enchantment territory... I'll do some digging.
The deck has a lot of similar stuff going on to devotion though.
I also have trouble seeing a blue counterspell version working out, but I won't knock it because it still does seem sweet. Unlike Blue Tron, our mana is produced by casting spells, so we very much want to actively be adding to the board. Although it can be possible to adding small pieces to the board with mana up for countermagic and then have a hugely explosive turn. Hopefully I'll brew a counter-devotion deck soon.
EDIT:
I'm actually thinking Bring to Light might be a better combination with Devoted Druid than Command.
I tried to brew with Bring to Light when it was initially spoiled...at the time, however, I was big into playing Fertile Ground and Abundant Growth and was building mostly combo devotion decks (so BTL was perfect!). It can absolutely be utilized in extremely unique ways (although in my opinion you have to play
Where I did utilize BTL for an extended period of the time was in my board. I used to harp on playing a "Bring to Light Board" with a few copies of it, then the following cards:
a few others that I can't think of off the top of my head...I will try to dig back a few hundred pages and see if I can find a list with it I posted....but at the time I loved it. It is very different meta now (so it is likely the board would be very different); but I do think BTL could be used in the correct Devotion deck.
This card looks like it could possibly be a build around me card. If not a 3-4 of mainboard, it might still find a place in the side for particular matchups.
Biorhythm seems to favor us heavily. We substitute a lot of mana for creatures, giving us an advantage over nearly every opponent. This card could instantly win us the game if the opponent has no creatures! Seems the deck can produce 8 mana on turn 3-5 if I remember correctly. We don't even need the opponent to have 0 creatures. Even if they have a few life after it resolves, things like wolfbriar elemental that can net us a ton of creatures. Other things like Strangleroot Geist, Hornet queen Garruk and Xenagos walker can start flooding out our side with creatures.
The other thing I like about the card is that Craterhoof Behemoth, overrun and Garruk's ultimate all like having a lot of creatures. A deck could have biorhythm in as a wincon, while still having an alternative win con in the above cards.
I was worried about burn for a second. However, if we have 4 creatures or they have no mana up, it seems pretty safe. It could actually gain us life sometimes while decimating the opponent's if played. Also, responding with a burn spell to this card is useless. If they have no creatures, they are dead before they can respond.
Remember, vexing shusher can protect against counterspells. I'm sure there's a couple of more as well, I just don't know them.
One last consideration would be the old sideboard switcheroo. We could run these mb then side in craterhoof into it's place if we feel the opponent will try to answer Biorhythmm or vice versa.
I'll admit I don't have the knowledge to evaluate this card properly. Perhaps it's worthless, but perhaps it's a diamond in the rough?
What say you, wise mages of the green devotion thread?
Generally, it seems there's a but more discussion around the Curdbros-esque style of devotion-card advantage on dudes. This makes me think, if we fill the curve with lower-end creatures, is there a way for us to weaponize a slew of 2/2s and 3/2s? I'm thinking enchantment territory... I'll do some digging.
@Uyan
Like the list. Big fan of Coiling Oracle. It seems you might have trouble breaking through boardstalls though. I agree with GarfieldKlon that Polukranos could help. Also trample enablers - Rhonas, Nylea, Craterhoof, etc.
I played some casual games of Modern today, vs. UB Mill, Jeskai Control and a Mono U Artifact brew. The build is not finished so I will not post it here, but I wanted to share some takeaways:
Getting 2-for-1'ed by Electrolyze is horrible. In those situations, despite having other permanents onboard to provide devotion for a net-positive Nykthos activation, I usually only had 3 lands and thus only got 4 mana to use on my turn if I didn't hit my land drops. Walking Ballista poses a similar problem.
Getting Ghost Quartered is not nice. Really not nice. Again, not only do you lose 1 mana, but 1 devotion; every bit of devotion counts.
Garruk Relentless is a very tidy solution to any and all low toughness creatures that are being a nuisance. Again, praising the removal of the Uniqueness rule for planeswalkers by allowing him to be played alongside the OG Garruk. I didn't get to use the flip-side, but I felt that just that one ability (and making 2/2s, to be honest) was useful enough that I'm happy to consider him a semi-staple from now on.
Courser of Kruphix is quite good at gaining life when multiples are onboard. A small excuse to play 3 or 4, and play fewer fetches to improve lifegain? (6-7 rather than 8) Also blocks nicely in conjunction with 3/3 beasts and 2/2 wolfs to take down larger creatures.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar felt low impact, but I'm not yet prepared to take her out of the deck. The 0/1s chumped a lot of attacks, protecting 2 tough-to-deal-with devotion outside of fliers (with 2+ power, mind you), burn and Abrupt Decay. Also offers a nice "win condition" if left unchecked.
Birds of Paradise's flying ability is super, super relevant. I also consider semi-staple.
I feel like Nature's Claim might be a nice sideboard option. As for dealing with the "draw gas when you ramp, and ramp for your gas" problem, well we know of onboard mana sinks already, notably Walking Ballista and Rhonas the Indomitable. I would like to point out that I separate in-hand mana sinks such as Wolfbriar Elemental and Genesis Hydra from onboard mana sinks because ideally a mana sink exists on a card that is fairly good standalone anyway, with the mana sink being a bonus when you don't draw anything (e.g. Celestial Colonnade is a dual land early and a win con late game). The idea is to filter when we draw spells and when we draw lands.
Yes, another "do-nothing" card, but trust me, you'll definitely be doing nothing when your mana dorks get pushed/bolted/LTLH +1'ed and your stuck on 3 lands. Some blue builds are currently testing Search for Azcanta as a way to filter for land drops and later on dig for gas (I wish the Growing Rites ETB was a mana sink on the flip side!), and I believe Abundance would fill a similar role, whilst also adding 2 devotion as an enchantment. Whether we should sometimes play more like a control deck or stick to our ramping roots (and thus not play the enchantment, and accept that early removal blows us out big time)is up for discussion, but I think the 4 mana enchantment could potentially take a sideboard slot vs. decks with ample land destruction at the very least, attempting to combat Spreading Seas, Ghost Quarter and Karn.
Finally, what are people's thoughts on a singleton Mouth//Feed?
I've played with it a bit, and if you are already behind, playing a 4 mana enchantment and doing nothing for another turn isn't going to help. At that point you've probably lost already if you are playing competitively. I think the general consensus here is that there are really no good enchantments for devotion other than Oath of Nissa. I think it's a great card for casual games, group play, or a commander deck. Otherwise.. nah (IMO)
Regarding Biorhythm.. I think if you are looking to win the game on the spot and want to do so by casting an 8 mana sorcery, why not just play Tooth and Nail entwined (just 1 more mana)? You don't have to already have lots of creatures on the board that way either. If you cast Hornet Queen, or Wolfbriar kicked, you probably already won the game anyways and Biorhythm would just be "win more" at that point. Seems like a fun card to play in casual circles just for kicks, but if you want to compete I wouldn't play it personally. To add to the comments above, I also think it could easily backfire in many matchups with opponents that have damage spells or a planeswalker that deals damage. I like the ideas though.. keep them coming
Hey guys! Sorry for the triple post, but was also wondering if everyone currently active on the thread could post their most recent decklist, if they have easy access to it?
I am currently tweaking my list after buying some new devotion "staples".. wondering what everyone's take on the is deck currently? I will post my list over the weekend as well, but it'd be nice if we could have a bunch of lists close to each other, rather than 5 or 10 pages apart since this thread has been so active lately
I agree with most of your assertions here. They mirror my own conclusions.
I don't think Abundance is a good answer though, since it doesn't deal with the problem of drawing non-land sources of mana. Courser does as much for getting lands out of the way.
Mana sinks seem the better path.
Mouth//Feed seems pretty good, though it doesn't generate Devotion for us. If we run a lot of stuff with 3 power like Vizier of the Menagerie, it might be worth it. It can also generate enough if you use it immediately following a Garruk overrun... assuming that doesn't finish the job.
Haha! He's great. I love his content. I'm on two months in a row (as I was doing it month to month and forgot a month). He has been really awesome about Green Devotion too. I've been writing to him about Devotion for over a year (it got a little bit harder when he blew up and got super famous in the MTG world...) and he has been awesome and truly helpful. He even played one of my lists on stream. I used to brag that he said on stream "Curdbros is the best Green Devotion player out there..." and "...Curdrbos is the best Green Devotion player I know...". I leave out the part where I'm pretty darn sure I was the only Green Devotion player he knew when he said it ha! Joking aside...I do like to tell people that he has been gracious with his time. Great guy.
http://tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=25447&iddeck=199681
The deck has a lot of similar stuff going on to devotion though.
I also have trouble seeing a blue counterspell version working out, but I won't knock it because it still does seem sweet. Unlike Blue Tron, our mana is produced by casting spells, so we very much want to actively be adding to the board. Although it can be possible to adding small pieces to the board with mana up for countermagic and then have a hugely explosive turn. Hopefully I'll brew a counter-devotion deck soon.
EDIT:
I'm actually thinking Bring to Light might be a better combination with Devoted Druid than Command.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I would guess that we would be casting it for X = 2 or 3 most of the time, which fits in to devoted combo pretty nicely. Gotta say though, that deck you posted is quite a doozy. Might be a bit too crazy to really make a big splash for us...but it gives us an opportunity to think about expanding our creature base into off-colors. Very cool.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Someone on the thread trolled me about this, but I'm glad a wiser mind has experienced the same difficulties with the deck that I've encountered. If you've read the interview with Wakefield, he hated cards like Control Magic and Tradewind Rider because they flat out put his threats on ice. Spreading Seas is like that, and every blue player worth his salt out there in competitive Modern has 3 or so of these main deck or in the sideboard against TRON and other three color Modern decks. A nuked Nykthos is GG for us if we can't pull up another. This, on top of Ghostly Quarter, which again, anybody worth his salt playing against TRON has mainboard or in the sideboard. Recursion with Eternal Witness is the only thing keeping a Nykthos Green devotion heavy build alive plus crawling to 6 mana to cast Primeval Titan to pull out one more. Six land drops mean game over in competitive Modern guys. Even the guy who says he doesn't care about spot removal is a dead duck to Jeskai competitive and he is the one who plays with slow hands.
Your putting in Sylvan Caryatid reinforce my view that just having an attacker on board won't cut it in competitive Modern in the early game, because those get Lightning Bolted or the blue-red spell that splits 2 damage on 2 of your 1/1 creatures. Even late game, a mana dork Wall can help stall better than a vanilla devotion creature. The Jamie Wakefield playtest winning him the next PTQ says it all. And in this generation, we have Priest of Titania scaling Walls. Imagine that. Three Walls can be 5 to 9 mana scaling up. That's a huge non-devotion boost. It's a different philosophy, and given that if one does play with Eric Clapton "slow hands", a mana Wall that scales as well as devotion sets up the game for the following insights:
At LAST! A blue-green devotion mage. One who loves FIGHTING OCTOPUS as a grind out win condition too. The Nissa Steward tip should work like a charm with the mana Walls I'm putting together to pull out some gamechanging Fatty or to trigger the Turntimber Ranger infinite wolf, life and possibly turn combo.
The Bring to Light suggestion gives me extra incentive for playing it in my deck. It's 4 extra copies of the Turntimber Ranger. Digging for the ETB FTW.
I like the Mul Daya Channelers as the better Leatherback Baloth that doubles as a mana dork too. Jesus! The dork adds two mana of any color and with Freed from the Real as rogue tech, man that is amazing tech dude. Drop either a Walking Ballista or the Simic Sky Swallower for GG. And playing well against Tier 1 and 2, should give your build list more credence than just personal opinions about spot removal resiliency. I wonder if you'd try out the Turntimber combo inside your build?
I'm gonna go Donkey Kong copy your tech and see if it smooths out my combo for my slower Blue-Green Devotion Combo build. I can see why you need the heavy creature suite because of the Mul Daya Channelers and GG devotion is not too shabby at all. Can you play test the Mirrorweave/PrimalCrux even as a one of in your deck to see if it sneaks up on opponents?
Stalling for Fighting Octopus win con should be a legit Devotion option all the ways you can grind it.
Thanks a lot dude. Your post should help me tweak my Timmy-Form-Devastator UG devotion deck.
If you Bestow and the target of the aura (i.e. a creature) and in response it dies, the bestow comes into play as a creature (source: google search and a ponder in old judge forums). Not too shabby!
@MirageJenius
I found Mul Daya Channelers to be way too inconsistent. You may be able to get a build with minimal noncreature and nonland cards, but you're probably playing at the least 4 Utopia Sprawl and 4 Garruk Wildspeaker. Any more and I believe you'll find that a 3 mana 2/2 is actually frustratingly bad, despite it still giving 2 devotion. We don't have Ponder and Preordain to play with unfortunately.
After seeing Gruul_Me_Harder's UG list, and my appreciation of Carnage Tyrant, I present UG Devotion
(WARNING: completely based on theory, and I don't own all the cards of this deck, so no testing will be done)
4x Arbor Elf
2x Birds of Paradise
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Coiling Oracle
2x Merfolk Branchwalker
2x Courser of Kruphix
3x Tireless Tracker
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3x Carnage Tyrant
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Simic Sky Swallower
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Nissa, Steward of Elements
Enchantments (6)
4x Utopia Sprawl
2x Oath of Nissa
Lands (21)
4x Windswept Heath
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Breeding Pool
3x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
7x Forest
The main mana sink is Nissa, Steward of Elements. Get her down turn 2, and you have a very good chance of hitting something turn 3 with her 0 ability. Phantasmal Image has many good targets to copy (especially Carnage Tyrant!). Also acts as handy tech vs. any creature-based matchup, copying Reality Smasher for a hasty kill, Thought-Knot Seer to take a look at their hand, Meddling Mage, Tasigur (w/ his ability!) and a whole lot more. Here's hoping Rivals of Ixalan brings some nice Explore toys to the table.
Turns out you're right regarding Bestow and removal; but I don't feel bad for not knowing that, since it's a highly specific thing to Bestow.
Besides that, I do like that build a lot. It's not explosive, but it will grind out matches very well and has enough card advantage and threats to even be solid against UW control in a long, conventional game. I will say that playing with Nissa SoE is the only exception I can think of to the Mul Daya Channelers issue, where a Scry 2 can get the effect you want every turn. You might have a few too many low-impact cards though, especially Branchwalker, Kira, and Sky Swallower. Singleton Wurmcoil isn't as good without a way to tutor it either. Your other problem is a lack of creature removal, which is easily solved by the addition of a few Polukranos, which are also an undercosted heavy, provides Devotion, and balance out the curve versus things like Engineered Explosives.
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
Maybe your are right. My tests with counters wasn't great, but at the moment i have tested that, there was Kruphix in my deck that have killed my bluff in a instant
@About Mul Daya Channelers
Yes. It's inconsistent on it own. But in my build i have incredible fun with these Girls. My Devotion Deck want see the most time the Top from my library for some reasons (Nissa, Kruphix, CardDrawEffects, "fetch cards away") and with Freed from the Real in the right time --> infinite Mana.
These Girls need a good home and after that, they make you very happy
@MirageJenius
Only once i got with Kiora her Final in my FNM. That was really great and a instant win . It's funny to have Octopus Tokens in the DeckBox , but in the most time i got my Mana and i search for a finisher with the -2 ability.
I will drop the Simic Sky Swallower. I didn't really need Hexproof against Control Matchups. The Balista is nice even in the first rounds and good against nasty fliers.
Primalcrux...wih 6 Mana not bad. And great Synergys with the Nykthos Shrine. With enough Mana Sinks in the Deck a surprising good Option. My Problem is that often i say by Utopia Sprawl : "blue". So i have Mana that i couldn't spend to play the crux out. Great Choice in Mono Green Build.
Mirrorweave, with a creature heavy build it could be very funny. Need a deck with a lot creatures. I consider this with Biovisionary. But this would be a Deck on it's own i think.
For the Turntimber Combo , i need Arcane Adaptive and that really didn't fit at the moment. To play Adaption i really want a second reason to play this Enchantment to make a possible Deck consistency enough. a little offtopic: i played Allies, too . so i brewed with Turntimber and some other Pet cards to make a possible Deck on this.
@Uyan
Good Suggestion with Phantasmal Image. A great choice against other heavy creature builds .
Have you consider Polukranos, World Eater? Vanilla Creature, can be a ManaSink and could be a copy target for the Image.
On MulDaya Channelers, I tested them out a while ago with Nissa, Courser, and Vizier of the Menagerie. Still inconsistent! The Courser/Vizier synergy was real though!
@Uyan
Like the list. Big fan of Coiling Oracle. It seems you might have trouble breaking through boardstalls though. I agree with GarfieldKlon that Polukranos could help. Also trample enablers - Rhonas, Nylea, Craterhoof,etc.
Generally, it seems there's a but more discussion around the Curdbros-esque style of devotion-card advantage on dudes. This makes me think, if we fill the curve with lower-end creatures, is there a way for us to weaponize a slew of 2/2s and 3/2s? I'm thinking enchantment territory... I'll do some digging.
Forget I said anything!
I tried to brew with Bring to Light when it was initially spoiled...at the time, however, I was big into playing Fertile Ground and Abundant Growth and was building mostly combo devotion decks (so BTL was perfect!). It can absolutely be utilized in extremely unique ways (although in my opinion you have to play
Where I did utilize BTL for an extended period of the time was in my board. I used to harp on playing a "Bring to Light Board" with a few copies of it, then the following cards:
Slaughter Games
Crumble to Dust
Supreme Verdict
Primal Command
Reclamation Sage
a few others that I can't think of off the top of my head...I will try to dig back a few hundred pages and see if I can find a list with it I posted....but at the time I loved it. It is very different meta now (so it is likely the board would be very different); but I do think BTL could be used in the correct Devotion deck.
Biorhythm
This card looks like it could possibly be a build around me card. If not a 3-4 of mainboard, it might still find a place in the side for particular matchups.
Biorhythm seems to favor us heavily. We substitute a lot of mana for creatures, giving us an advantage over nearly every opponent. This card could instantly win us the game if the opponent has no creatures! Seems the deck can produce 8 mana on turn 3-5 if I remember correctly. We don't even need the opponent to have 0 creatures. Even if they have a few life after it resolves, things like wolfbriar elemental that can net us a ton of creatures. Other things like Strangleroot Geist, Hornet queen Garruk and Xenagos walker can start flooding out our side with creatures.
The other thing I like about the card is that Craterhoof Behemoth, overrun and Garruk's ultimate all like having a lot of creatures. A deck could have biorhythm in as a wincon, while still having an alternative win con in the above cards.
I was worried about burn for a second. However, if we have 4 creatures or they have no mana up, it seems pretty safe. It could actually gain us life sometimes while decimating the opponent's if played. Also, responding with a burn spell to this card is useless. If they have no creatures, they are dead before they can respond.
Remember, vexing shusher can protect against counterspells. I'm sure there's a couple of more as well, I just don't know them.
One last consideration would be the old sideboard switcheroo. We could run these mb then side in craterhoof into it's place if we feel the opponent will try to answer Biorhythmm or vice versa.
I'll admit I don't have the knowledge to evaluate this card properly. Perhaps it's worthless, but perhaps it's a diamond in the rough?
What say you, wise mages of the green devotion thread?
You solved it yourself.
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
I feel like Nature's Claim might be a nice sideboard option. As for dealing with the "draw gas when you ramp, and ramp for your gas" problem, well we know of onboard mana sinks already, notably Walking Ballista and Rhonas the Indomitable. I would like to point out that I separate in-hand mana sinks such as Wolfbriar Elemental and Genesis Hydra from onboard mana sinks because ideally a mana sink exists on a card that is fairly good standalone anyway, with the mana sink being a bonus when you don't draw anything (e.g. Celestial Colonnade is a dual land early and a win con late game). The idea is to filter when we draw spells and when we draw lands.
So what card am I thinking of?
Abundance
Yes, another "do-nothing" card, but trust me, you'll definitely be doing nothing when your mana dorks get pushed/bolted/LTLH +1'ed and your stuck on 3 lands. Some blue builds are currently testing Search for Azcanta as a way to filter for land drops and later on dig for gas (I wish the Growing Rites ETB was a mana sink on the flip side!), and I believe Abundance would fill a similar role, whilst also adding 2 devotion as an enchantment. Whether we should sometimes play more like a control deck or stick to our ramping roots (and thus not play the enchantment, and accept that early removal blows us out big time)is up for discussion, but I think the 4 mana enchantment could potentially take a sideboard slot vs. decks with ample land destruction at the very least, attempting to combat Spreading Seas, Ghost Quarter and Karn.
Finally, what are people's thoughts on a singleton Mouth//Feed?
Regarding Abundance:
I've played with it a bit, and if you are already behind, playing a 4 mana enchantment and doing nothing for another turn isn't going to help. At that point you've probably lost already if you are playing competitively. I think the general consensus here is that there are really no good enchantments for devotion other than Oath of Nissa. I think it's a great card for casual games, group play, or a commander deck. Otherwise.. nah (IMO)
Regarding Biorhythm.. I think if you are looking to win the game on the spot and want to do so by casting an 8 mana sorcery, why not just play Tooth and Nail entwined (just 1 more mana)? You don't have to already have lots of creatures on the board that way either. If you cast Hornet Queen, or Wolfbriar kicked, you probably already won the game anyways and Biorhythm would just be "win more" at that point. Seems like a fun card to play in casual circles just for kicks, but if you want to compete I wouldn't play it personally. To add to the comments above, I also think it could easily backfire in many matchups with opponents that have damage spells or a planeswalker that deals damage. I like the ideas though.. keep them coming
I am currently tweaking my list after buying some new devotion "staples".. wondering what everyone's take on the is deck currently? I will post my list over the weekend as well, but it'd be nice if we could have a bunch of lists close to each other, rather than 5 or 10 pages apart since this thread has been so active lately
I agree with most of your assertions here. They mirror my own conclusions.
I don't think Abundance is a good answer though, since it doesn't deal with the problem of drawing non-land sources of mana. Courser does as much for getting lands out of the way.
Mana sinks seem the better path.
Mouth//Feed seems pretty good, though it doesn't generate Devotion for us. If we run a lot of stuff with 3 power like Vizier of the Menagerie, it might be worth it. It can also generate enough if you use it immediately following a Garruk overrun... assuming that doesn't finish the job.
I agree with your assessment of both Abundance and Biorhythm.
This is what I'm running right now:
7 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Stomping Ground
1 Treetop Village
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Mana Boost (20)
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Oath of Nissa
4 Utopia Sprawl
1 Chameleon Colossus
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Dragonlord Atarka
2 Eternal Witness
3 Garruk Relentless
1 Hornet Queen
1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
1 Primeval Titan
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Summoner's Pact
3 Blood Moon
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Obstinate Baloth
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Terastodon
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Nissa is likely to be cut for a Rhonas at some point in the near future.
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