So I played in last weeks Fnl ( my first time playing in almost 4 years) I haven't finished my mono green devotion deck yet so I played my mono G Tron. It wasn't long till I noticed that 60% of the local Meta is either e-tron or mono green Tron.. LoL the other 4 decks that showed up where bant eldrazi, mardu elementals, UW control and jeskai control. How does green devotion fair against Tron style deck? What game plays / sideboard plans I should implement? I really want to surprise everyone and shake things up a bit. I noticed alot of d-sphere and Alpine moons in people's sideboard.
A fast Collector Ouphe can shut down their Chromatic Stars and Expedition Maps, slowing them down enough for you to find what you need to close the game quickly. Acidic Slime is a good tutor target to destroy their lands, albeit a little slow. Force of Vigor can disrupt a Karn + Mycosynth Lattice lock down, while also being able to destroy some key artifacts; for example, an Ensnaring Bridge brought from the sideboard. (P.S.: I play GU, I don't have access to red.) Since I play blue, I also bring Disdainful Stroke, in order to have a hard counterspell and not have to deal with problematic permanents.
I think Devotion fairs well against Tron. The deck is explosive and can win quickly, and it doesn't lack tools to interact with your opponent's strategy.
I know your playing simic, so that makes choosing new cards hard, but alot of the games you lost even with a wormcoil, might have been won with Ruric Thar, the Unbowed You lost to jund who killed 2 wormcoils and you killed 3 Lili's... Either one of those wormcoils spells would have cost them 6 life to kill...12 if you would have casted it twice
Ah yes that's definitely right. There are multiple match-ups where Ruric Thar shines; Phoenix comes to my mind. And I always feel that I'm missing some good cards by playing Simic and not Gruul. But Simic are my natural colors and I'm willing to try them. Maybe I will eventually switch to Temur if I feel that I've some blatant weaknesses. Ruric is a card that I appreciate and he has a special place in my heart for his ability to punish combo decks.
Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I won game 2, even if my opponent killed 2 Wurmcoils. I lost game 1 and 3 because my opponent had a few threats (ahem, Tarmogoyf) and all the appropriate answers to clear my board and kill me before I could land an unanswered threat, such as a Wurmcoil or a Hornet Queen. The deck I play struggles with aggro-control/disruption strategies. In those kinds of games, where I'm at a disadvantage, the lifegain is more important than doing some damage to my opponent. Eventually, if the game drags on, I will just win and that is what happened in game 2. So I believe Wurmcoil is a correct choice as a 6-mana curve filler.
I should precise that Wurmcoil is a powerhouse against Jund. It is true that Ruric is more agressive (a fat trampler) and that my opponent would've lost a lot of life by trying to remove it. However, the games were all about grinding your opponent. Some life loss could've helped me to apply more pressure on my opponent, but I was nowhere near a kill most of the time. We each tried to kill our opponent's planeswalker as soon as possible, and we mostly ignored our opponent's life total. The main advantage of Wurmcoil in this type of games is its resilience. The two wumrcoil spawns need to be removed as well. And for many opponents, Jund included, this can be excessively costly and time consuming. Deathtouch is also excessively relevant. In game 2, my opponent had an 8/8 Scavenging Ooze (that I forgot to mention) and Wurmcoil helped me deal with it nicely.
The main reason why I prefer Wurmcoil in the main right now is because it's excellent against a large part of the field; Jund, Death's Shadow, Dredge, Burn, etc. And because my deck is slower than Gruul versions.
Thank you for the comment @natesroom I'm always looking for sweet techs!
I went 4-3 at the tournament, thus finishing 33rd out of 97 players. A reasonable performance. Details are included in the following spoiler. I felt that no matchup was unwinnable. The deck's main strength is its explosiveness. I also felt that being on the play made a huge difference, since the deck is excellent at being proactive.
Round 1 (Win, 2-1, vs Dregde)
Game 1 (Loss): My opponent assembles an early large army and uses Conflagrate to burn my Birds and my Courser. Left with no board, I just die pretty soon.
Game 2 (Win): I'm able to rapidly ramp into Primal Command and shuffle my opponent's graveyard, putting the game effortlessly into my favor. I can then develop a solid board for the win.
Game 3 (Win): I start with Scavenging Ooze and Surgical Extraction in hand. Meanwhile my opponent rapidly goes hellbent, with no dredgers in his graveyard, and only two Narcomoebas in play. I'm in full control of the game. He concedes pretty soon.
Round 2 (Loss, 1-2, vs Spirits)
Game 1 (Loss): My opponent assembles a solid board of flyers and kills me fast.
Game 2 (Win): I have an explosive start and I'm able to apply strong pressure. It feels like whoever is able to race his opponent first will win the game.
Game 3 (Loss): My opponent has a somewhat slow start, but is able to reduce my life total. Later in the game I attempt to play Primal Command to gain life and prepare a Wurmcoil Engine on my following turn to stabilize my position. My opponent has four mana open, plays Collected Company and succeeds to find Mausoleum Wanderer to counter my spell. He then proceeds to win. The game was tight.
Round 3 (Win, 1-0-1, vs GW Taxes)
Game 1 (Win): I'm able to greatly lower my opponent's life total, but we get to a board stall pretty soon. My opponent uses Giver of Runes and Sigarda to pressure my planeswalkers and my life total, putting the game in his favor. I use Primal Command to gain life and grab Hornet Queen, restoring a good offensive and defensive position. I break the board stall a later on.
P.S.: I kept a 0-lander during this game, confident in Once Upon a Time's power. At some point I had a single Forest enchanted with a full playset of Utopia Sprawls, a Birds and a Nykthos. Even if I clearly knew at that point that my opponent was playing Ghost Quarter, I needed to do this to develop my board position and have a chance to win the game.
Game 2 (Draw): My opponent brings in Gaddock Teeg and Worship. His board is unimpressive. I can't win unless I find Walking Ballista to break the lock. We go to a draw before we can do anything usefull.
Round 4 (Loss, 1-2, vs Jund)
(Loss, Win, Loss)
The games were exceptionally grindy, what a surprise. Game 2 was particularly long and fun. He goes through 2 Wurmcoil Engines, I go through 3 of his Liliana. I use a Primal Command to bound a Wrenn and Six with 7 loyalty. Game 3 he has three early Tarmogoyfs. The fact that I play enchantments, artifacts and planeswalkers doesn't help me...
Round 5 (Loss, 1-2, vs Jund)
(Loss, Win, Loss)
My opponent is a friend. We have interesting games, but there's not much to say. He junds while I try to have explosive starts. Well, apart from the fact the Veil of Summer is incredible. During game 2, when I won, he thought he had all the necessary tools to pick apart my board, but he wasn't ready to get his Maelstrom Pulse countered by Veil.
Round 6 (Win, 2-1, vs Tron)
Game 1 (Win): I play an early Acidic Slime, denying my opponent's tron. Meanwhile he plays... Trinisphere, which is completely useless after the first few turns of the game. I grab a Craterhoof Behemoth to close the game.
Game 2 (Loss): I try to pressure my opponent's life total, with a Collector Ouphe in play. I do not respect my opponent's hand and his ability to come back into the game. He surprises me by playing Weather the Storm and gaining a large amount of life. He then plays Thragtusk on next turn. He eventually finds Ugin to wipe my board. I still have a Wurmcoil Engine, but he plays an Ensnaring Bridge and I'm pretty much forced to concede, with no hope of winning the game.
Game 3 (Win): I play a Collector Ouphe to block his turn one Chromatic Star. I develop a small board and reduce his life total, while he uses Karn to grab Ensnaring Bridge. My opponent is unable to complete his tron. In a single turn I use Eternal Witness to grab a Primal Command previously put in my graveyard by Kiora, to bounce his Bridge and to close the game with Craterhoof.
Round 7 (Win, 2-1, vs Grixis Death's Shadow)
Game 1 (Loss): My opponent is my room mate. We train together often and we know the matchup is slightly in his favor. He has an early Gurmag Angler, all the proper answers, and beats me down fast. I had a strong hand and a good start, but he found everything he needed to counter my plays.
Game 2 (Win): My opponent is forced to mulligan to 5 cards. His hand is insufficient to pressure my board and I'm able to win the game easily.
Game 3 (Win): Second time I keep a 0-lander during this tournament. Even after a mulligan to 6. Once Upon a Time is exceptional at fixing starting hands. I'm not even trying to win game 3, because I know he will soon not be able to go through my creatures. I sit behind two Coursers and a large board, going back from 6 to 22 life, while Nissa transforms my board into an impenetrable fortress. I know my room mate's plan is to have enough mana to go Temur Battle Rage-Snapcaster Mage-Temur Battle Rage to kill me in a single strike, but my board develops too fast. He eventually concedes.
Here's what I will be modifying, after my tournament experience:
Cards I was testing for the first time in the mainboard Nissa, Voice of Zendikar: Fine card, but not exceptional. It definitely won me two games during the tournament, one against GW Taxes and another against Grixis Death's Shadow, by transforming a weak board into a definitively solid defense. Her initial purpose was to turn my early rampers (Arbor Elves and Birds) into something useful during longer games, while possibly providing a good source of devotion early on. While she succeeded to accomplish her first role in grindy games, the problem is that she is too slow and unimpressive otherwise. Even if you can generate enough plants to chump block and protect her during the first turns of a game, a single removal spell is sufficient to get her killed. Nissa is strong in grindy games only, and would be much better in a fully dedicated creature-based devotion deck. At that point, I feel like I would prefer a stronger card with a better initial impact.
Hornet Queen: Absolutely wonderful. Being able to develop a large board covers one of the deck's main weaknesses; being unable to deal with wide aggressive boards. Didn't get to play her often, but I would have liked to draw her more often, for example against Spirits or Dredge.
Walking Ballista: Didn't like the card. Its role is to deal with opposing creatures, but... it's just too slow. Whenever I had it in hand, I felt like it couldn't help enough. When playing against a Tarmogoyf, a Gurmag Angler or a buffed Supreme Phantom, even a decent Ballista isn't enough. I have the same problem with Ballista that I had with Polukranos before. You need a large amount of mana to make it worth, and most of the time you wish you had better and faster interaction. There is one game against Jund where I played a 9/9 Ballista, but that was completely unnecessary and I could've won with any other wincon. The Vivien+Ballista combo is still excellent, but it's a fringe play only.
Vivien, Arkbow Ranger: Much better than expected. Her +1 was always useful. Buffed Coursers make for great defense, buffed Birds can destroy opposing planeswalkers with ease, 7/7 wurmcoil spawns are nothing to laugh about. The difference between Nissa and Vivien is that Vivien works well even with a small board, remains at a high loyalty and her +1/+1 counters are used wherever they are useful. I used her -3 with care, only when my opponent was tapped out, hellbent or clearly out of interaction. I didn't use her -5, but I always felt safe when having that option available. All my opponents felt that she was a good threat and had to respect her. Her devotion is exceptional. I will modify my mainboard to include a Kitchen Finks, since Vivien and Finks are absolute best friends. That combo did happen in a few post-sideboard games and always felt good. I will also modify my sideboard to include a wincon, maybe a second Craterhoof, to turn Vivien's "ultimate" into a Garruk's Overrun. Vivien is nice, but there is strong competition for the 4-mana planeswalker spot, so having her as a 1-of feels right.
Once Upon a Time: Marvelous, but I wouldn't play a full playset. It was always exceptional in opening hands. Between finding a Forest, a ramper, an early Courser or Nykthos, it grabs everything you need. Late game, I was always happy to draw one, since it digs deep and always finds something relevant. However! Some mulligan decisions were made exceptionally harder (especially the two 0-landers I kept during the tournament) because of its inclusion. Sometimes, it sat in my hand for a long period of time, because I drew it after my first turn and I didn't have time to play it. Modern is a fast format and a Turn 1 ramper into a Turn 2 Once is particularly slow. I can also mention that drawing 2 early Once feels really bad.
I will also modify my deck to include more creatures, since Once Upon a Time doesn't find planeswalkers like Oath of Nissa. Between the two, I was always more excited about Once. Oath seems like a fine card, but its impact is much more subtle. Maybe I could simply replace Oath by Once, I will need to make some tests.
Mainboard modifications
+1 Kitchen Finks
-1 Walking Ballista
-2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
-1-2 Kiora, Master of the Depths?
-0-3 Oath of Nissa? (Fine card, but slightly meh. Its impact is hard to evaluate)
+3-7 ???
I need a better board early on (since my planeswalkers are somewhat weak and slow), some way to weaken aggressive opponents (the deck is better if it can survive long enough to stabilize), I want a resilient source of devotion (because Nykthos needs to be "turned on" fast, even if my opponent has disruption) and... I want more creatures (since I run Once Upon a Time and Kiora). Kitchen Finks feels like a natural fit, and I will therefore include at least 1 in the mainboard. Turn 1 ramper into Turn 2 Finks into Turn 3 Vivien is also pretty solid and natural.
Walking Ballista was unimpressive, whereas Nissa was too narrow, so I will replace them. Kiora feels... ok. She was the main reason why I went into blue when I played a Genesis Wave devotion deck back in the days, to act as Garruk 5 and 6. But now I went away from that game plan, going for a value deck. Her -2 is her main appeal in order to find gas, but since I do not run a large amount of creatures, I feel like I whiff often. Finding a land through her -2 and using her +1 to ramp is fine to get to your costly threats. And her -2 puts stuff into your graveyard for Eternal Witness to find it. Well... Kiora is good, but I'm unsure about her place in my deck right now. I will try something else in order to better understand her utility.
Sideboard modifications
-1 Kitchen Finks (going in the Main)
-1 Thrun, the Last Troll (felt unnecessary)
+1 ???
+1 ??? (Creature for Vivien)
Things I want to try
Chord of Calling (since I'm naturally deviating towards a toolbox deck, and I don't want pure draw. I want to find what I need, not draw more lands and rampers)
Hydroid Krasis (life gain, draw, good threat, flexible, all in one. A good reason to play simic.)
Oko, Thief of Crowns (discouraging price tag)
A fast Collector Ouphe can shut down their Chromatic Stars and Expedition Maps, slowing them down enough for you to find what you need to close the game quickly. Acidic Slime is a good tutor target to destroy their lands, albeit a little slow. Force of Vigor can disrupt a Karn + Mycosynth Lattice lock down, while also being able to destroy some key artifacts; for example, an Ensnaring Bridge brought from the sideboard. (P.S.: I play GU, I don't have access to red.) Since I play blue, I also bring Disdainful Stroke, in order to have a hard counterspell and not have to deal with problematic permanents.
I think Devotion fairs well against Tron. The deck is explosive and can win quickly, and it doesn't lack tools to interact with your opponent's strategy.
Ah yes that's definitely right. There are multiple match-ups where Ruric Thar shines; Phoenix comes to my mind. And I always feel that I'm missing some good cards by playing Simic and not Gruul. But Simic are my natural colors and I'm willing to try them. Maybe I will eventually switch to Temur if I feel that I've some blatant weaknesses. Ruric is a card that I appreciate and he has a special place in my heart for his ability to punish combo decks.
Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I won game 2, even if my opponent killed 2 Wurmcoils. I lost game 1 and 3 because my opponent had a few threats (ahem, Tarmogoyf) and all the appropriate answers to clear my board and kill me before I could land an unanswered threat, such as a Wurmcoil or a Hornet Queen. The deck I play struggles with aggro-control/disruption strategies. In those kinds of games, where I'm at a disadvantage, the lifegain is more important than doing some damage to my opponent. Eventually, if the game drags on, I will just win and that is what happened in game 2. So I believe Wurmcoil is a correct choice as a 6-mana curve filler.
I should precise that Wurmcoil is a powerhouse against Jund. It is true that Ruric is more agressive (a fat trampler) and that my opponent would've lost a lot of life by trying to remove it. However, the games were all about grinding your opponent. Some life loss could've helped me to apply more pressure on my opponent, but I was nowhere near a kill most of the time. We each tried to kill our opponent's planeswalker as soon as possible, and we mostly ignored our opponent's life total. The main advantage of Wurmcoil in this type of games is its resilience. The two wumrcoil spawns need to be removed as well. And for many opponents, Jund included, this can be excessively costly and time consuming. Deathtouch is also excessively relevant. In game 2, my opponent had an 8/8 Scavenging Ooze (that I forgot to mention) and Wurmcoil helped me deal with it nicely.
The main reason why I prefer Wurmcoil in the main right now is because it's excellent against a large part of the field; Jund, Death's Shadow, Dredge, Burn, etc. And because my deck is slower than Gruul versions.
Thank you for the comment @natesroom I'm always looking for sweet techs!
Here's the Simic devotion list I played at a recent Face to Face Open in Quebec City, if it interests you.
10x Forest
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4x Windswept Heath
3x Breeding Pool
Creatures [18]
4x Arbor Elf
3x Birds of Paradise
3x Courser of Kruphix
2x Eternal Witness
1x Acidic Slime
2x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Hornet Queen
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Walking Ballista
4x Utopia Sprawl
3x Oath of Nissa
Instants & Sorceries [6]
3x Once Upon a Time
3x Primal Command
Planeswalkers [8]
2x Garruk Wildspeaker
2x Kiora, Master of the Depths
2x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
1x Nissa, Steward of Elements
1x Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
2x Collector Ouphe
2x Force of Vigor
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Veil of Summer
2x Disdainful Stroke
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Acidic Slime
1x Cyclonic Rift
I went 4-3 at the tournament, thus finishing 33rd out of 97 players. A reasonable performance. Details are included in the following spoiler. I felt that no matchup was unwinnable. The deck's main strength is its explosiveness. I also felt that being on the play made a huge difference, since the deck is excellent at being proactive.
Round 1 (Win, 2-1, vs Dregde)
Game 1 (Loss): My opponent assembles an early large army and uses Conflagrate to burn my Birds and my Courser. Left with no board, I just die pretty soon.
Game 2 (Win): I'm able to rapidly ramp into Primal Command and shuffle my opponent's graveyard, putting the game effortlessly into my favor. I can then develop a solid board for the win.
Game 3 (Win): I start with Scavenging Ooze and Surgical Extraction in hand. Meanwhile my opponent rapidly goes hellbent, with no dredgers in his graveyard, and only two Narcomoebas in play. I'm in full control of the game. He concedes pretty soon.
Round 2 (Loss, 1-2, vs Spirits)
Game 1 (Loss): My opponent assembles a solid board of flyers and kills me fast.
Game 2 (Win): I have an explosive start and I'm able to apply strong pressure. It feels like whoever is able to race his opponent first will win the game.
Game 3 (Loss): My opponent has a somewhat slow start, but is able to reduce my life total. Later in the game I attempt to play Primal Command to gain life and prepare a Wurmcoil Engine on my following turn to stabilize my position. My opponent has four mana open, plays Collected Company and succeeds to find Mausoleum Wanderer to counter my spell. He then proceeds to win. The game was tight.
Round 3 (Win, 1-0-1, vs GW Taxes)
Game 1 (Win): I'm able to greatly lower my opponent's life total, but we get to a board stall pretty soon. My opponent uses Giver of Runes and Sigarda to pressure my planeswalkers and my life total, putting the game in his favor. I use Primal Command to gain life and grab Hornet Queen, restoring a good offensive and defensive position. I break the board stall a later on.
P.S.: I kept a 0-lander during this game, confident in Once Upon a Time's power. At some point I had a single Forest enchanted with a full playset of Utopia Sprawls, a Birds and a Nykthos. Even if I clearly knew at that point that my opponent was playing Ghost Quarter, I needed to do this to develop my board position and have a chance to win the game.
Game 2 (Draw): My opponent brings in Gaddock Teeg and Worship. His board is unimpressive. I can't win unless I find Walking Ballista to break the lock. We go to a draw before we can do anything usefull.
Round 4 (Loss, 1-2, vs Jund)
(Loss, Win, Loss)
The games were exceptionally grindy, what a surprise. Game 2 was particularly long and fun. He goes through 2 Wurmcoil Engines, I go through 3 of his Liliana. I use a Primal Command to bound a Wrenn and Six with 7 loyalty. Game 3 he has three early Tarmogoyfs. The fact that I play enchantments, artifacts and planeswalkers doesn't help me...
Round 5 (Loss, 1-2, vs Jund)
(Loss, Win, Loss)
My opponent is a friend. We have interesting games, but there's not much to say. He junds while I try to have explosive starts. Well, apart from the fact the Veil of Summer is incredible. During game 2, when I won, he thought he had all the necessary tools to pick apart my board, but he wasn't ready to get his Maelstrom Pulse countered by Veil.
Round 6 (Win, 2-1, vs Tron)
Game 1 (Win): I play an early Acidic Slime, denying my opponent's tron. Meanwhile he plays... Trinisphere, which is completely useless after the first few turns of the game. I grab a Craterhoof Behemoth to close the game.
Game 2 (Loss): I try to pressure my opponent's life total, with a Collector Ouphe in play. I do not respect my opponent's hand and his ability to come back into the game. He surprises me by playing Weather the Storm and gaining a large amount of life. He then plays Thragtusk on next turn. He eventually finds Ugin to wipe my board. I still have a Wurmcoil Engine, but he plays an Ensnaring Bridge and I'm pretty much forced to concede, with no hope of winning the game.
Game 3 (Win): I play a Collector Ouphe to block his turn one Chromatic Star. I develop a small board and reduce his life total, while he uses Karn to grab Ensnaring Bridge. My opponent is unable to complete his tron. In a single turn I use Eternal Witness to grab a Primal Command previously put in my graveyard by Kiora, to bounce his Bridge and to close the game with Craterhoof.
Round 7 (Win, 2-1, vs Grixis Death's Shadow)
Game 1 (Loss): My opponent is my room mate. We train together often and we know the matchup is slightly in his favor. He has an early Gurmag Angler, all the proper answers, and beats me down fast. I had a strong hand and a good start, but he found everything he needed to counter my plays.
Game 2 (Win): My opponent is forced to mulligan to 5 cards. His hand is insufficient to pressure my board and I'm able to win the game easily.
Game 3 (Win): Second time I keep a 0-lander during this tournament. Even after a mulligan to 6. Once Upon a Time is exceptional at fixing starting hands. I'm not even trying to win game 3, because I know he will soon not be able to go through my creatures. I sit behind two Coursers and a large board, going back from 6 to 22 life, while Nissa transforms my board into an impenetrable fortress. I know my room mate's plan is to have enough mana to go Temur Battle Rage-Snapcaster Mage-Temur Battle Rage to kill me in a single strike, but my board develops too fast. He eventually concedes.
Here's what I will be modifying, after my tournament experience:
Cards I was testing for the first time in the mainboard
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar: Fine card, but not exceptional. It definitely won me two games during the tournament, one against GW Taxes and another against Grixis Death's Shadow, by transforming a weak board into a definitively solid defense. Her initial purpose was to turn my early rampers (Arbor Elves and Birds) into something useful during longer games, while possibly providing a good source of devotion early on. While she succeeded to accomplish her first role in grindy games, the problem is that she is too slow and unimpressive otherwise. Even if you can generate enough plants to chump block and protect her during the first turns of a game, a single removal spell is sufficient to get her killed. Nissa is strong in grindy games only, and would be much better in a fully dedicated creature-based devotion deck. At that point, I feel like I would prefer a stronger card with a better initial impact.
Hornet Queen: Absolutely wonderful. Being able to develop a large board covers one of the deck's main weaknesses; being unable to deal with wide aggressive boards. Didn't get to play her often, but I would have liked to draw her more often, for example against Spirits or Dredge.
Walking Ballista: Didn't like the card. Its role is to deal with opposing creatures, but... it's just too slow. Whenever I had it in hand, I felt like it couldn't help enough. When playing against a Tarmogoyf, a Gurmag Angler or a buffed Supreme Phantom, even a decent Ballista isn't enough. I have the same problem with Ballista that I had with Polukranos before. You need a large amount of mana to make it worth, and most of the time you wish you had better and faster interaction. There is one game against Jund where I played a 9/9 Ballista, but that was completely unnecessary and I could've won with any other wincon. The Vivien+Ballista combo is still excellent, but it's a fringe play only.
Vivien, Arkbow Ranger: Much better than expected. Her +1 was always useful. Buffed Coursers make for great defense, buffed Birds can destroy opposing planeswalkers with ease, 7/7 wurmcoil spawns are nothing to laugh about. The difference between Nissa and Vivien is that Vivien works well even with a small board, remains at a high loyalty and her +1/+1 counters are used wherever they are useful. I used her -3 with care, only when my opponent was tapped out, hellbent or clearly out of interaction. I didn't use her -5, but I always felt safe when having that option available. All my opponents felt that she was a good threat and had to respect her. Her devotion is exceptional. I will modify my mainboard to include a Kitchen Finks, since Vivien and Finks are absolute best friends. That combo did happen in a few post-sideboard games and always felt good. I will also modify my sideboard to include a wincon, maybe a second Craterhoof, to turn Vivien's "ultimate" into a Garruk's Overrun. Vivien is nice, but there is strong competition for the 4-mana planeswalker spot, so having her as a 1-of feels right.
Once Upon a Time: Marvelous, but I wouldn't play a full playset. It was always exceptional in opening hands. Between finding a Forest, a ramper, an early Courser or Nykthos, it grabs everything you need. Late game, I was always happy to draw one, since it digs deep and always finds something relevant. However! Some mulligan decisions were made exceptionally harder (especially the two 0-landers I kept during the tournament) because of its inclusion. Sometimes, it sat in my hand for a long period of time, because I drew it after my first turn and I didn't have time to play it. Modern is a fast format and a Turn 1 ramper into a Turn 2 Once is particularly slow. I can also mention that drawing 2 early Once feels really bad.
I will also modify my deck to include more creatures, since Once Upon a Time doesn't find planeswalkers like Oath of Nissa. Between the two, I was always more excited about Once. Oath seems like a fine card, but its impact is much more subtle. Maybe I could simply replace Oath by Once, I will need to make some tests.
Mainboard modifications
+1 Kitchen Finks
-1 Walking Ballista
-2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
-1-2 Kiora, Master of the Depths?
-0-3 Oath of Nissa? (Fine card, but slightly meh. Its impact is hard to evaluate)
+3-7 ???
I need a better board early on (since my planeswalkers are somewhat weak and slow), some way to weaken aggressive opponents (the deck is better if it can survive long enough to stabilize), I want a resilient source of devotion (because Nykthos needs to be "turned on" fast, even if my opponent has disruption) and... I want more creatures (since I run Once Upon a Time and Kiora). Kitchen Finks feels like a natural fit, and I will therefore include at least 1 in the mainboard. Turn 1 ramper into Turn 2 Finks into Turn 3 Vivien is also pretty solid and natural.
Walking Ballista was unimpressive, whereas Nissa was too narrow, so I will replace them. Kiora feels... ok. She was the main reason why I went into blue when I played a Genesis Wave devotion deck back in the days, to act as Garruk 5 and 6. But now I went away from that game plan, going for a value deck. Her -2 is her main appeal in order to find gas, but since I do not run a large amount of creatures, I feel like I whiff often. Finding a land through her -2 and using her +1 to ramp is fine to get to your costly threats. And her -2 puts stuff into your graveyard for Eternal Witness to find it. Well... Kiora is good, but I'm unsure about her place in my deck right now. I will try something else in order to better understand her utility.
Sideboard modifications
-1 Kitchen Finks (going in the Main)
-1 Thrun, the Last Troll (felt unnecessary)
+1 ???
+1 ??? (Creature for Vivien)
Things I want to try
Chord of Calling (since I'm naturally deviating towards a toolbox deck, and I don't want pure draw. I want to find what I need, not draw more lands and rampers)
Hydroid Krasis (life gain, draw, good threat, flexible, all in one. A good reason to play simic.)
Oko, Thief of Crowns (discouraging price tag)