I dont keep track of my footage, sorry. Im sure the games from the invi will be hosted somewhere.
For titanshift, preboard its just a race. We have faster draws but are less consistent. Acidic slime and primal command can buy a key turn by hitting a land. You need to do thier valakut math ahead of time in order to know if you should pact for slime. Post board I bring in 3 blood moon, which I feel makes it a favored matchup. But its still close. This kind of matchup is why I think blood moon is mandatory in the board. We are the only ramp deck that can play through a moon.
For affinity, if we dont get the hoof god hand, then its hornet queen or bust. Only etched champion can beat a queen. I board out 3 nissa and the unimportant pact toolbox cards for at least 6 cards im the board. Kozileks return in my board is there for this matchup, otherwise I would play firespout. Instant speed wrath lets you hit their man lands and etched champion dies to it.
Burn is a fun matchup, I like to keep it around 50-50 with my board plan, but its really easy to craft a board that is heavily favored. I prefer to spend the slots elsewhere. Ruric thar plus blood moon is very hard for them to beat. I board in 1-2 moons, since it turns off boros charm, helix, path, destructive revelry, deflecting palm, and landfall for instant speed searing blaze. I played leyline in my board for the matchup, but after the tournament I will be moving back to obstinate baloth or kitchen finks. Play a finks main if you want a better matchup. Finks is a lot better than baloth, but baloth helps against liliana and k command in a similar was as leyline does.
Nah. While it may turn off nykthos typically its mrore brutal on other decks which is why we run it. While it may turn off a few of our nuts turns it can remove several decks for some of their colors or just shut off tron which is why we run it in most of lists in the Sideboard.
Hey guys, anthony here. Thanks for all your support. This weekend has been crazy.
Couple of notes:
my sideboard was kinda crap, but luckily it did not matter. (Out of my 8 rounds of modern, only 2 went to 3 games. That means I played almost half of the games preboard) Do not copy the white cards, they were too cute to be correct. I literally never played a white card this weekend other than fracturing gust. In retrospect, I didnt need them to win, and I dont like the lack of consistency from playing the extra color. Worship was for humans, and I felt silly winning both humans matchups without drawing it. Its not good enough against most other matchups, so it felt like wasted slots. I would rather just play more removal or tweak the maindeck for humans.
The infect match in top 8 was great. My 2 wins were from craterhoof, not killing his creatures. If we see more infect in the meta, I plan on playing sudden shock. He had the better seed, so he was on the play. As it ended up, each of us won when on the play, which was kinda funny. Aaron was great to play against, and it was gratifying to hear that matchup ended up feeling a lot closer than he had expected. Sometimes its fun to just jam two non-interactive decks against each other.
Ponza is really mediocre against us. Ponza is bad against any deck that is not soft to blood moon. Just keep hands with lands, and board in some removal for arbor elf. As long as you sequence utopia sprawl and nykthos smartly, its not a hard matchup. Just play to the beatdown plan, and you will be fine. I have won the vast majority of my matchups against this deck.
Congrats Anthony! We can't thank you enough for being the torchbearer for the Deck. Couldn't ask for a better one!
Thanks so much for posting here as well. We really do appreciate hearing the inner workings of the deck and how it played. You rock!
______
I too have never found Ponza to be a difficult match up.
That is really great that Infect went well. I've always hated the match up (because it felt like we had to side in more than I was comfortable devoting to a single deck); but it does help to have a turn 3-4 win to win with consistency on the play. It will be interesting to see how much Infect grows in the meta due to the win...
vivian seems alright. very toolboxish but heck that's our deck. the 5 Green for a 10/10 dino seems funny but bad for us unless we run the spam creature version with strangleroots and Craterhoofs imo
Blood moon only stops nykthos, we have plenty of other ways to generate mana. This is also why I top out my curve at 8 mana, and all but 4 cards cost 5 or less. Its true that moon stops our best plays, but if we get the turn 3 win opener, we can just choose not to play moon. Moon is useful if it slows our opponent down by 3 turns, since it will only slow us down 1 turn on average. Edit: looks like i posted this too late, ulka beat me to the punch
Nah. While it may turn off nykthos typically its mrore brutal on other decks which is why we run it. While it may turn off a few of our nuts turns it can remove several decks for some of their colors or just shut off tron which is why we run it in most of lists in the Sideboard.
Ditto. Blood Moon can hurt us a little; but in reality (a) it really doesn't hurt us that much as we run a lot of basic Forests, (b) we run multiple non-Nykthos ramp pieces, and (b) a game slowing down is usually in our favor.
I would certainly build with Blood Moon in mind; but it is not an issue we have to worry about/side board.
Elvish rejuvinator is really close to my imaginary card that would completely break this deck. If it was a 2/1 with sylvan scrying text, I would snap run 4. As it stands, only being able to see the first few cards is a lot worse, and putting the land into play is not as good as guaranteeing nykthos. I still think i will try running it, but I cant really find room in the build. Maybe over 4th oath of nissa, the thrun, and the 3rd bird. I love theose cards though, so rejuvinator would have to end up being broken to stay in the list.
Elvish rejuvinator seems like it could be very strong in the Top deck version I've been looking at that focuses on U/G devotion but in our more standard Garruk focused lists i feel its weaker than Oath due to not begin able to grab our wildspeakers.
I almost never side out oath. Its key to a lot of broken hands. Oath into burning tree is a dark ritual with nythos up. Oath into mana dork on turn 2 sets up 5 mana on turn 3. Hitting walkers can win games against grindy matchups. That said, I do board out 1 against goyf decks because of the legend rule, replacing it with a relic of progenitus. I also board out 1 if I am replacing 5 cards it can hit with 5 cards it cant from the board, but that is really rare.
I almost never side out oath. Its key to a lot of broken hands. Oath into burning tree is a dark ritual with nythos up. Oath into mana dork on turn 2 sets up 5 mana on turn 3. Hitting walkers can win games against grindy matchups. That said, I do board out 1 against goyf decks because of the legend rule, replacing it with a relic of progenitus. I also board out 1 if I am replacing 5 cards it can hit with 5 cards it cant from the board, but that is really rare.
I honestly forget Burning tree causes the dark rit effect with nykthos. I cut them a while ago for silkies because I liked my card draw a bit more but i might have to reconsider the burning tree. There is so much variation and adjust-ability in these decks that, man is it hard to settle on a solid 60 without copious amounts of testing. This is partially why I love the deck but at the same time its frustrating unlike most lists because we can't rely on others results as much due to the list variation.
the few cards I'm trying to reevaluate in my list vs what I have run in the past so far has been silkies and Vorapedes but I feel like there even more I should reconsider.
Elvish rejuvinator seems like it could be very strong in the Top deck version I've been looking at that focuses on U/G devotion but in our more standard Garruk focused lists i feel its weaker than Oath due to not begin able to grab our wildspeakers.
I hadn't thought about that for your deck. You are right. It seems very strong there. There is a very interesting U/G variant that can just bury the opponent in cards...would be difficult against some combo decks...but the cards are definitely there.
I almost never side out oath. Its key to a lot of broken hands. Oath into burning tree is a dark ritual with nythos up. Oath into mana dork on turn 2 sets up 5 mana on turn 3. Hitting walkers can win games against grindy matchups. That said, I do board out 1 against goyf decks because of the legend rule, replacing it with a relic of progenitus. I also board out 1 if I am replacing 5 cards it can hit with 5 cards it cant from the board, but that is really rare.
I honestly forget Burning tree causes the dark rit effect with nykthos. I cut them a while ago for silkies because I liked my card draw a bit more but i might have to reconsider the burning tree. There is so much variation and adjust-ability in these decks that, man is it hard to settle on a solid 60 without copious amounts of testing. This is partially why I love the deck but at the same time its frustrating unlike most lists because we can't rely on others results as much due to the list variation.
the few cards I'm trying to reevaluate in my list vs what I have run in the past so far has been silkies and Vorapedes but I feel like there even more I should reconsider.
^^ THIS!! ^^
It has made the Primer SOOO difficult to organize. I've been working on it for months and it still feels like it is far too jumbled (especially with trying to put pictures and links in). I've tried to organize it into a minimum of 6 "archetypes" but even then I feel like I'm leaving some people/decks out.
It does make testing paramount. I've historically played Visionary over BTE; but I would never play Pact without BTE...so each deck plays very differently...
As you said, it is what I love about Green Devotion (because it truly can be a very personalized deck) but does make agreeing on the "best 75" very hard That is why having someone like Anthony is so great. It gives a lot of people the "best version" to play and test adding/subtracting what they like.
I agree, theres a million builds of green possible. Ive played most of them, including things like 3 carnage tyrant 2 rishkars expertise + 3 big garruk. But in the end i keep coming back to bte pact, for the explosiveness. Its less consistent than other builds, but the raw power lets you beat matchups that you should lose. In the top 8 match against infect i turn 3 hoofed him on the play game two, winning a preboard game with 0 removal main deck. His turn 2 play was blighted agent, I would have lost on his turn 3. Being able to race infect on the play is a big deal.
Also, earlier i misspoke about oath of nissa. I do not board it out against goyf, although i used to. Here is my current board plan for jund: -2 pact, -hoof, -slime, -scooze, -ruric thar (pact instead if playing leyline). +2 ballista, +2 obstinate baloth (or leyline of sanctity), +2 relic of progenitus. This is a new plan, less than 2 months old. I used to board out bte and oath, and board in moon, but i feel the new plan is a lot better. I also tried wilt leaf leige over thrun main, and thats a little better against jund but a lot worse against jeskai.
I agree, theres a million builds of green possible. Ive played most of them, including things like 3 carnage tyrant 2 rishkars expertise + 3 big garruk. But in the end i keep coming back to bte pact, for the explosiveness. Its less consistent than other builds, but the raw power lets you beat matchups that you should lose. In the top 8 match against infect i turn 3 hoofed him on the play game two, winning a preboard game with 0 removal main deck. His turn 2 play was blighted agent, I would have lost on his turn 3. Being able to race infect on the play is a big deal.
Also, earlier i misspoke about oath of nissa. I do not board it out against goyf, although i used to. Here is my current board plan for jund: -2 pact, -hoof, -slime, -scooze, -ruric thar (pact instead if playing leyline). +2 ballista, +2 obstinate baloth (or leyline of sanctity), +2 relic of progenitus. This is a new plan, less than 2 months old. I used to board out bte and oath, and board in moon, but i feel the new plan is a lot better. I also tried wilt leaf leige over thrun main, and thats a little better against jund but a lot worse against jeskai.
I agree with you that in many cases; the best way for us to win against some of our worst match ups is simply to race them....and the Pact version you run is really the only version that can do this with consistency. There is no making up for speed (as we can't generally run a TON of interaction). Against opponents like Infect, my decks often will lose pre-boarded games 75% of the time (where you have a much better chance). Pact also lets us hit the important toolbox cards we can utilize.
I know I tend to play slightly slower, more card-advantage-centric lists...but it does make it much harder to win against decks like Infect (which is 30/70 for me traditionally pre-board). This should be considered when both making a board and choosing the best Devotion deck for each person. Cragerhoof is the best green finisher in the game. There is a reason it sees play in Legacy Focusing on it and hitting it quick is a great thing! We HAVE to play smaller creatures to build up devotion (Arbor Elf, Birds, BTE, Visionary, a million different 3-drops, etc.) so anything that can make those creatures lethal (be it Garruk, Craterhoof, Kessig wolf Run, or now a Vivien Emblem, etc.) is a great finisher for the deck and creates a "positive" from a restraint of playing Green Devotion....and Craterhoof is the most powerful of all of them.
Craterhoof behemoth is one I have considered a bunch but I'e cut mine a while back for Ballista as I found the Ballista +kessig outs were typically more stable than the hoof who is more explosive. I might try hoof again espically if I go back to BurningTree but until I do i feel teh hoof isnt as strong as ballista but again thats just from my meta which has a lot of lantern and tezzereator.
On jeskai: I think jeskai is one of our easier matchups but it might be that i have lots of expreience with the deck as I play against it almost weekly.
Thrun is unkillable against the standard list so long as you keep regeneration mana up. This makes the deck almost an auto win for us if we get postboard games. The big thing I find with Jeskai is that you need to learn to make it look like our meh drop is our payoff. Some of this Is psychology in facking tells (yea Im that kid) or just making some trades/ counters seem more profitable. in the jeskai matchup i will offer up primetimes for terade a lot to protect rhuric, huntmasters or thrun.
thats my other note: Run huntmasters. Hunts overwhelms most boards and unless you are going all in on the TaN combo or the Pact explosive deck i feel Huntmanster is a needed 2 in the 75. This might just be a pet card what plays to my love of tempo but he forces unfavorable trades in removal amounts and we almost always net positive with him.
For titanshift, preboard its just a race. We have faster draws but are less consistent. Acidic slime and primal command can buy a key turn by hitting a land. You need to do thier valakut math ahead of time in order to know if you should pact for slime. Post board I bring in 3 blood moon, which I feel makes it a favored matchup. But its still close. This kind of matchup is why I think blood moon is mandatory in the board. We are the only ramp deck that can play through a moon.
For affinity, if we dont get the hoof god hand, then its hornet queen or bust. Only etched champion can beat a queen. I board out 3 nissa and the unimportant pact toolbox cards for at least 6 cards im the board. Kozileks return in my board is there for this matchup, otherwise I would play firespout. Instant speed wrath lets you hit their man lands and etched champion dies to it.
Burn is a fun matchup, I like to keep it around 50-50 with my board plan, but its really easy to craft a board that is heavily favored. I prefer to spend the slots elsewhere. Ruric thar plus blood moon is very hard for them to beat. I board in 1-2 moons, since it turns off boros charm, helix, path, destructive revelry, deflecting palm, and landfall for instant speed searing blaze. I played leyline in my board for the matchup, but after the tournament I will be moving back to obstinate baloth or kitchen finks. Play a finks main if you want a better matchup. Finks is a lot better than baloth, but baloth helps against liliana and k command in a similar was as leyline does.
Nah. While it may turn off nykthos typically its mrore brutal on other decks which is why we run it. While it may turn off a few of our nuts turns it can remove several decks for some of their colors or just shut off tron which is why we run it in most of lists in the Sideboard.
very interesting indeed.
https://media.wizards.com/2018/m19/en_CSO3KJ7ns2.png
From the pack pictures; it looks like it is Ajani = White, Sarkhan = Red, Tezzeret = Blue, Liliana = Black and most importantly Vivien Reid = Green
Congrats Anthony! We can't thank you enough for being the torchbearer for the Deck. Couldn't ask for a better one!
Thanks so much for posting here as well. We really do appreciate hearing the inner workings of the deck and how it played. You rock!
______
I too have never found Ponza to be a difficult match up.
That is really great that Infect went well. I've always hated the match up (because it felt like we had to side in more than I was comfortable devoting to a single deck); but it does help to have a turn 3-4 win to win with consistency on the play. It will be interesting to see how much Infect grows in the meta due to the win...
Ditto. Blood Moon can hurt us a little; but in reality (a) it really doesn't hurt us that much as we run a lot of basic Forests, (b) we run multiple non-Nykthos ramp pieces, and (b) a game slowing down is usually in our favor.
I would certainly build with Blood Moon in mind; but it is not an issue we have to worry about/side board.
So perfect for walker decks...but not certain about anywhere else...I do like it at 5 though
Seems at minimum a card we should try.
I'm still a fan of Elivsh Rejuvinator too...but I'm big on card advantage/selection.
I honestly forget Burning tree causes the dark rit effect with nykthos. I cut them a while ago for silkies because I liked my card draw a bit more but i might have to reconsider the burning tree. There is so much variation and adjust-ability in these decks that, man is it hard to settle on a solid 60 without copious amounts of testing. This is partially why I love the deck but at the same time its frustrating unlike most lists because we can't rely on others results as much due to the list variation.
the few cards I'm trying to reevaluate in my list vs what I have run in the past so far has been silkies and Vorapedes but I feel like there even more I should reconsider.
I hadn't thought about that for your deck. You are right. It seems very strong there. There is a very interesting U/G variant that can just bury the opponent in cards...would be difficult against some combo decks...but the cards are definitely there.
^^ THIS!! ^^
It has made the Primer SOOO difficult to organize. I've been working on it for months and it still feels like it is far too jumbled (especially with trying to put pictures and links in). I've tried to organize it into a minimum of 6 "archetypes" but even then I feel like I'm leaving some people/decks out.
It does make testing paramount. I've historically played Visionary over BTE; but I would never play Pact without BTE...so each deck plays very differently...
As you said, it is what I love about Green Devotion (because it truly can be a very personalized deck) but does make agreeing on the "best 75" very hard
Also, earlier i misspoke about oath of nissa. I do not board it out against goyf, although i used to. Here is my current board plan for jund: -2 pact, -hoof, -slime, -scooze, -ruric thar (pact instead if playing leyline). +2 ballista, +2 obstinate baloth (or leyline of sanctity), +2 relic of progenitus. This is a new plan, less than 2 months old. I used to board out bte and oath, and board in moon, but i feel the new plan is a lot better. I also tried wilt leaf leige over thrun main, and thats a little better against jund but a lot worse against jeskai.
I agree with you that in many cases; the best way for us to win against some of our worst match ups is simply to race them....and the Pact version you run is really the only version that can do this with consistency. There is no making up for speed (as we can't generally run a TON of interaction). Against opponents like Infect, my decks often will lose pre-boarded games 75% of the time (where you have a much better chance). Pact also lets us hit the important toolbox cards we can utilize.
I know I tend to play slightly slower, more card-advantage-centric lists...but it does make it much harder to win against decks like Infect (which is 30/70 for me traditionally pre-board). This should be considered when both making a board and choosing the best Devotion deck for each person. Cragerhoof is the best green finisher in the game. There is a reason it sees play in Legacy
On jeskai: I think jeskai is one of our easier matchups but it might be that i have lots of expreience with the deck as I play against it almost weekly.
Thrun is unkillable against the standard list so long as you keep regeneration mana up. This makes the deck almost an auto win for us if we get postboard games. The big thing I find with Jeskai is that you need to learn to make it look like our meh drop is our payoff. Some of this Is psychology in facking tells (yea Im that kid) or just making some trades/ counters seem more profitable. in the jeskai matchup i will offer up primetimes for terade a lot to protect rhuric, huntmasters or thrun.
thats my other note: Run huntmasters. Hunts overwhelms most boards and unless you are going all in on the TaN combo or the Pact explosive deck i feel Huntmanster is a needed 2 in the 75. This might just be a pet card what plays to my love of tempo but he forces unfavorable trades in removal amounts and we almost always net positive with him.
thats my random thoughts