just throwing ideas out there. umbra would involve an attack step, but would add gg to devotion.
a revane that lasts a full turn (magic Christmas land) would provide gx6
I think Garruk Wildspeaker fits way better with in a green Nykthos deck than Nissa Revane with Nissa's Chosen. But Bear Umbra sounds interesting, thanks for that one. You only need to attack and not to make any damage or anything, which is clearly way better. Downside is that we can't keep any mana from our first main phase, but it could be really good in aggroish builds.
Here's my decklist i threw together a few days ago. It's more a ramp build with Tooth and Nail, Ulamog and even Emrakul as curvetoppers.
The unusual stuff:
Besides the 2x Nobles Hierarchs I play Utopia Sprawls and even Abundant Growth over creature-mana-dorks like elves.
Upsides of that are that I'm less vulnerable to creature hate and boardsweepers (I played some elves last Standard season and in Modern aswell and the feeling when your whole first 3 turns are destroyed by one single Supreme Verdict is just meh).
Also Utopia Sprawl is a 'free' devotion card after turn 1 (And by 'free' I mean the card gives me back her costs in the same turn) that synergizes perfectly with Garruk Wildspeaker. Abundant Growth is cantripping with adding 1 to the devotion count (the mana fixing part can be also neat).
Speaking of cantripping, this deck bases on Sebastian Knorr's GP Antwerp deck. He found Abundant Grove to be better than Dorks and although I was skeptical I think so too after some testing. The thing is that cantripping is just sooo good for this deck and it's consistency. Good enough that i added blue for some Serum Visions and Coiling Oracle as a pseudo mana dork. During Goldfishing he hit the land surprisingly often and Serum Visions helps with that, too. And if he doesn't, at least he cantrips. Also i don't care about him dying as a chump blocker or due to boardsweepers as i would care about an llanowarelf.
Splashing blue also lets me play Minamo, School at Water's Edge which can push your mana really over the edge (Hardcasted Emrakul on turn 4 with it once, not even Tron can give you that). It's a solid 1 of and tutorable with Primeval Titan and Sylvan Scrying (if you already have your Nykthos).
Polukranos fits really good, because this decks tends to produce 4-5 Mana on turn 3 and then explodes on turn 4 into 7, 8 or even more mana, for which Polukranos offers great use.
If you have any questions about this decklist feel free to ask. I definitely have to do some more playtesting, because i think theres a lot of potencial here. Sadly i really don't have much time at the moment.
Sadly i gotta say that Minamo wasn't as good as i thought. The problem is the blue mana you need to activate it. So you need two mana for activating Nykthos and then Minamo and another blue source open because Nykthos only gives you green mana and then you gotta pay two of your mana you already made with Nykthos, which means that your devotion has to be higher than 4 to gain some extra mana with Minamo.
So Minamo still works but it's more like pushing your mana over the edge in turn 4 or more often turn 5, for a hardcast Emrakul.
That's really not bad at all, but i think we need more consistency for explosive starts in modern, because a hardcast turn 5 Emrakul is good, but not good enough for modern if we are only barely able to interact with our opponent in the meanwhile.
More 'free' devotion-enablers like Burning-Tree Emissary or Utopia Sprawl (if played after turn 1) would be really great.
But sadly I didn't found others yet.
I don't think leylines are the way to go. I mean the idea sounds really great, but besides Leyline of the Void and Leyline of Sanctity, which can be really useful in sb, all others are not really playable, in my opinion. To get them in your starting hand, you would have to play them as 4 ofs, but you usually don't want more than one of each. Their effects just aren't good enough to waste 8 Slots for cards that are really bad topdecks and don't have enough impact.
Don't get me wrong, i think the idea in itself is really good. I just think our leylines are too weak. But I'd love to be proven wrong, because more 'free' devotion cards like Burning-Tree Emissary for more explosive starts would be really great. Utopia Sprawl can be used the same way (if you don't cast it at turn 1) and synergizes really good with Garruk Wildspeaker.
Any other 'free' devotion cards I'm missing?
Anyone considered Oversoul of Dusk, Kodama of the North Tree or Vorapede?
Some removal-resistent Beaters/Protectors, which enable lots of devotion could be really good for a more ramp orientated deck, i guess.
Like I said I threw it together kinda quickly, but I still want to make some explanations.
With not going the elf/mana dork route I think the deck should be way more resilient. We all know that it's easier to kill creatures than lands, enchantments or planeswalkers and when we loose our dorks, we loose devotion aswell. (And I really love how Utopia Sprawl, Garruk and Nykthos synergize, together with 1 Emissary they allow Vorapede+Garruk on Turn 2 and with more Emissaries even crazier stuff).
I don't run Urabrask because i don't want a Card that's dead in my Hand without T&N.
My Goldfishing had pretty solid results, i think. I usually had 4 or 5 mana on turn 3 and 7 or more on turn 4.
I also did one match against G/W Hatebears, which i thought would be quite hard because of their land hate killing my nykthos and enchanted lands.
But it went really well. First Game he had leonin arbiter out turn 2 eating my lands with ghost quarters. But that could only slow me down but not stop me and i could overrun him with garruks ultimate, Primeval Titan, a 3/3 Token, an Emissary and a Coiling Oracle in play.
And killing him Game 2 with Tooth and Nail although he had two Arbiters in play (so i had to pay 13 mana!) on turn 4 was really great:D
So i will definitely do some more testing this weekend.
Any suggestions for my decklist?
First hi everyone, after following some threads here this one made my make an account. I would just love to be able to play tooth and nail in modern.
I realized that Minamo, School at Water's Edge would synergize really will with nykthos, because it can untap it (and is tutorable with Primeval Titan aswell). So how about we splash a little blue?
I haven't had the time to test Knorr's Decklist really, but he stated that it needs more consistency (which was the reason he played 4x Abundant Growth and just one BoP).
So blue should definitely help with that. Maybe we could even Play Coiling Oracle, it's not exactly a mana dork, but it cantrips, when it's not (what makes it a way better topdeck than most other dorks) and you can use his body for chump blocks afterswards. If we have room for some 'real' blue cantrips like Serum Visions he would be even better.
I think I'm gonna throw a decklist together and test/goldfish it when i have some spare time.
I think Garruk Wildspeaker fits way better with in a green Nykthos deck than Nissa Revane with Nissa's Chosen. But Bear Umbra sounds interesting, thanks for that one. You only need to attack and not to make any damage or anything, which is clearly way better. Downside is that we can't keep any mana from our first main phase, but it could be really good in aggroish builds.
Here's my decklist i threw together a few days ago. It's more a ramp build with Tooth and Nail, Ulamog and even Emrakul as curvetoppers.
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Breeding Pool
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
8x Forest
Ramp:
4x Abundant Growth
4x Utopia Sprawl
2x Noble Hierarch
4x Coiling Oracle
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
3x Polukranos, World Eater
2x Vorapede
2x Primeval Titan
1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2x Sylvan Scrying
2x Summoner's Pact
2x Tooth and Nail
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
The unusual stuff:
Besides the 2x Nobles Hierarchs I play Utopia Sprawls and even Abundant Growth over creature-mana-dorks like elves.
Upsides of that are that I'm less vulnerable to creature hate and boardsweepers (I played some elves last Standard season and in Modern aswell and the feeling when your whole first 3 turns are destroyed by one single Supreme Verdict is just meh).
Also Utopia Sprawl is a 'free' devotion card after turn 1 (And by 'free' I mean the card gives me back her costs in the same turn) that synergizes perfectly with Garruk Wildspeaker.
Abundant Growth is cantripping with adding 1 to the devotion count (the mana fixing part can be also neat).
Speaking of cantripping, this deck bases on Sebastian Knorr's GP Antwerp deck. He found Abundant Grove to be better than Dorks and although I was skeptical I think so too after some testing. The thing is that cantripping is just sooo good for this deck and it's consistency. Good enough that i added blue for some Serum Visions and Coiling Oracle as a pseudo mana dork. During Goldfishing he hit the land surprisingly often and Serum Visions helps with that, too. And if he doesn't, at least he cantrips. Also i don't care about him dying as a chump blocker or due to boardsweepers as i would care about an llanowarelf.
Splashing blue also lets me play Minamo, School at Water's Edge which can push your mana really over the edge (Hardcasted Emrakul on turn 4 with it once, not even Tron can give you that). It's a solid 1 of and tutorable with Primeval Titan and Sylvan Scrying (if you already have your Nykthos).
Polukranos fits really good, because this decks tends to produce 4-5 Mana on turn 3 and then explodes on turn 4 into 7, 8 or even more mana, for which Polukranos offers great use.
If you have any questions about this decklist feel free to ask. I definitely have to do some more playtesting, because i think theres a lot of potencial here. Sadly i really don't have much time at the moment.
So Minamo still works but it's more like pushing your mana over the edge in turn 4 or more often turn 5, for a hardcast Emrakul.
That's really not bad at all, but i think we need more consistency for explosive starts in modern, because a hardcast turn 5 Emrakul is good, but not good enough for modern if we are only barely able to interact with our opponent in the meanwhile.
More 'free' devotion-enablers like Burning-Tree Emissary or Utopia Sprawl (if played after turn 1) would be really great.
But sadly I didn't found others yet.
Don't get me wrong, i think the idea in itself is really good. I just think our leylines are too weak. But I'd love to be proven wrong, because more 'free' devotion cards like Burning-Tree Emissary for more explosive starts would be really great.
Utopia Sprawl can be used the same way (if you don't cast it at turn 1) and synergizes really good with Garruk Wildspeaker.
Any other 'free' devotion cards I'm missing?
Some removal-resistent Beaters/Protectors, which enable lots of devotion could be really good for a more ramp orientated deck, i guess.
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Breeding Pool
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
8x Forest
Ramp:
4x Abundant Growth
4x Utopia Sprawl
2x Noble Hierarch
4x Coiling Oracle
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
3x Polukranos, World Eater
2x Vorapede
2x Primeval Titan
1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3x Serum Visions
2x Sylvan Scrying
2x Summoner's Pact
2x Tooth and Nail
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
no sb yet.
Like I said I threw it together kinda quickly, but I still want to make some explanations.
With not going the elf/mana dork route I think the deck should be way more resilient. We all know that it's easier to kill creatures than lands, enchantments or planeswalkers and when we loose our dorks, we loose devotion aswell. (And I really love how Utopia Sprawl, Garruk and Nykthos synergize, together with 1 Emissary they allow Vorapede+Garruk on Turn 2 and with more Emissaries even crazier stuff).
I don't run Urabrask because i don't want a Card that's dead in my Hand without T&N.
My Goldfishing had pretty solid results, i think. I usually had 4 or 5 mana on turn 3 and 7 or more on turn 4.
I also did one match against G/W Hatebears, which i thought would be quite hard because of their land hate killing my nykthos and enchanted lands.
But it went really well. First Game he had leonin arbiter out turn 2 eating my lands with ghost quarters. But that could only slow me down but not stop me and i could overrun him with garruks ultimate, Primeval Titan, a 3/3 Token, an Emissary and a Coiling Oracle in play.
And killing him Game 2 with Tooth and Nail although he had two Arbiters in play (so i had to pay 13 mana!) on turn 4 was really great:D
So i will definitely do some more testing this weekend.
Any suggestions for my decklist?
I realized that Minamo, School at Water's Edge would synergize really will with nykthos, because it can untap it (and is tutorable with Primeval Titan aswell). So how about we splash a little blue?
I haven't had the time to test Knorr's Decklist really, but he stated that it needs more consistency (which was the reason he played 4x Abundant Growth and just one BoP).
So blue should definitely help with that. Maybe we could even Play Coiling Oracle, it's not exactly a mana dork, but it cantrips, when it's not (what makes it a way better topdeck than most other dorks) and you can use his body for chump blocks afterswards. If we have room for some 'real' blue cantrips like Serum Visions he would be even better.
I think I'm gonna throw a decklist together and test/goldfish it when i have some spare time.