I think you seriously undervalue Frostwalker. It has a way better clock than Icefeather Aven against control and is a solid beater against most midrange decks too. I don't think this deck wants to be on the defense all that often so I don't see the need for aven. The morph is a bit too costly for my tastes too, but it is nice to have some psuedo-removal available to the deck. However, I feel like counterspells or Silumgar Sorcerer are better forms of interaction than expensive morphs.
Thassa's Rebuff looks really bad to me. You'll need at least a Sorcerer or Shorecrasher Elemental out to make it strong enough. I suppose if you play Hypnotic Siren and some two drops you could get there with it, it's probably worth the playtest at least.
Speaking of Siren, I have never been impressed with that card. It's usually just a 1/1 flying that adds one blue devotion, which can be decent at times but I don't think maximizes the potential value of the deck. Seven mana is quite pricey, heck even 6 mana with Kiora's Follower seems like way too much. I could see it's potential against dragons like you mentioned so sideboard could be a fine place for it.
I completely agree with you on Thassa. 4 is way too much especially considering he's playing collected company too.
Two things:
1. Quickling seems like a pretty awkward card to get off of collected company because if it's the only creature you hit you either can't play it or you'll be forced to return another creature you have at a bad time. It has potential against removal so it could be worth trying out, but I have never been impressed with the card. There just never seems to be a good time to cast it.
2. I like Omenspeaker over anticipate. You don't get to draw a card, but omenspeaker is a solid blocker that does a similar job to anticipate, adds to blue devotion, and can be hit from collected company.
Most lists are still running some assortment of Thassa and Master of Waves, so while the lists aren't all strictly mono blue many of them still have a mono blue devotion shell to them. I don't think these lists are so significantly far removed from "pure" versions of this deck that they need to be posted elsewhere.
@fluffofdoom: Congrats on the first place finish! I completely agree on your thoughts as I have noticed this deck tends to excel by making small tempo plays to gain an advantage rather than going all out aggro or devotion. Reality Shift was a card I definitely could have used during my game day experience as well because it hits what Encase in Ice cannot i.e. tapped Dragonlord Ojutai and Dragonlord Silumgar. Plummet could also be a decent option since a good amount of the targets we would want to reality shift have flying. How did you like Monastery Flock and Monastery Siege in the sideboard? I'm curious to know what they did for you and when you sided them in.
My only question is how you balanced out Collected Company with your spells in the main and sideboard. In my experience, collected company gets significantly worse post board so I was wondering how you might mitigate that potential downside.
@Surfkatt: Why would it be? Thornwood Falls, Temple of Mystery, and Yavimaya Coast tap for both colors, plus it's possible to rip the raptor off of Collected Company instead of hardcasting it. Den Protector could be a potentially sweet addition to the deck especially because it makes sideboard options even better.
Do you all think it is still worth it to play Collected Company despite not having Deathmist Raptor? I'm not sure if I should keep going with it or just switch to monoblue.
Stratus Dancer looks like it should have a place in this deck. Cloudform could also be an interesting option as well because the hexproof and flying wouldn't be too bad.
Here is the deck I ran for Monday night Standard. I went 3-1-1 losing only to a jund aggro deck, but the matchup was extremely close.
Overall thoughts on new DtK cards:
1. Shorecrasher Elemental - This does exactly what it promises i.e. 3 blue devotion on an efficient threat. I initially wanted to play 4 of it, but could only procure 3 copies for the night. I actually really liked this number because I found that I wasn't too fond of drawing too many of it, but I don't think it would be wrong to play 4.
2. Silumgar Sorcerer - This guy was impressive to say the least. The amount of versatility it provides is insane, especially if you're playing Collected Company. Flying, flash, potential Remove Soul, and 2 blue devotion to boot. What more can we get in a card? I feel he deserves a couple maindeck slots with some more in the side possibly. He's a tad bit weaker against control decks so that is a consideration.
3. Collected Company - This card blew my mind. I only got to cast it about 6 times throughout the night, but it was a hit all but 1 time. I just straight out won a game by hitting Thassa and Shorecrasher. This card plays very nicely with exploit creatures, so the amount of options it provides is really powerful.
4. Stratus Dancer - This is a card that impressed me when I saw it, but I only got to play it a few times throughout the night. I could see the count of this card being reduced to 2 or 3 maindeck as seeing multiples of this card might not be so great. This card combos nicely with Cloudform, however, so I may have to tinker with this a bit.
5. Mirror Mockery - Wow! This is a card I was surprised worked so well. There's an obvious interaction with Master of Waves, but this card was a fantastic blue pacifism as well. The thing about this deck is that it generally can attack freely due to flying or unblockable with Thassa so making it tough for your opponent to backswing is awesome.
6. Sidisi's Faithful - I found myself siding this card in quite a bit. It's a nice early blocker and can act as an Unsummon off of collected company.
7. Gudul Lurker - This card was mediocre for me. It added early blue devotion and got in a couple points of damage, but I really was not impressed otherwise. Megamorphing it is too slow for my tastes. I'll be replacing this card for 4 Sidisi's Faithful in the main, however I think it will depend on which list you're toying with. Deathmist Raptor and Bident of Thassa work well with Lurker so I don't think it would be incorrect to play him, he just wasn't too great in my deck.
How has Deathmist Raptor been performing? There definitely seems to be enough morph/megamorph to make good use of his ability. I might add a few Thornwood Falls to help cast the Deathmist a little bit more reliably.
Bident of Thassa seems really sketch in that list. You're not playing little unblockable dorks like Gudul Lurker or Triton Shorestalker, so I'm not seeing how you can get much value from it. I guess you can force their creatures to attack and then make favorable trades with Deathmist, but that seems like a really slow option.
As an aside, hotlikedimes mentioned the use of Monastery Flock. Not only does it negate Siege Rhino attacks, but having flying is very relevant as it can also block a lot of the dragons floating around (e.g. - Stormbreath dragon, Thunderbreak Regent, etc). It may be useful in more controlling lists.
I like the idea of collected company but it seems like an awkward card to splash for especially if that's all you'd splash for.
Reclamation Sage is in the sideboard, but you may be right. It really comes down to whether or not Collected Company is good in this deck or even good at all, which I think awaits to be seen. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
I currently splash green (for Icefeather/Yasova and sideboard Sagu Mauler/Naturalize effects), but doing so for Collected Company is not a route I had considered. I like the theory behind it and may give it a shot myself.
I hadn't considered the Icefeather, Yasova, or Sagu Mauler, I'll have to look into those as well. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty around collected company, so I think it's worth testing to see how it performs.
@herkamurjones: I really like your deck because it's a bit more controlling than a normal blue devotion deck, but still has an aggressive curve. I'm curious about the frostwalker as he seems a bit out of place here considering you're not playing Cloudform. Icefall Regent is looking really strong, too, how have you liked it?
Kolaghan's Command could have a place here as shocking and returning a creature from your graveyard would be a great way to get card advantage in this type of deck.
Here is a blue devotion deck splashing green for Collected Company. Having the ability to put Shorecrasher Elemental and Thassa, God of the Sea in play at the end of an opponents turn sounds too sweet to pass up. I haven't tested this yet, but I am considering a few Profaner of the Dead in the mainboard and Icefeather Aven could make the list as well. Mirror Mockery is kind of iffy for me at the moment, but I want to try it out before I make any assumptions.
The current problem I am having is getting the third mana or double blue early. I'm running no fetches currently (I could), and I'm doing a hybrid of Ensoul + Mono Blue. A challenge for me right now is casting Shorecrasher elemental on T3/T4 with 3 Blue mana. Lastly, I'm still unsure how my lands is optimal.
What is your decklist? My guess is that Darksteel Citadel is hurting the manabase a little, especially if your land count is lower (i.e. 20).Ornithopter + Springleaf Drum with a few one drops can help you hit blue easier, but is still probably reliant on your land count.
I'm starting to think that the Ensoul Artifact plan might be an all in strategy. Blue has a lot of strong options from DtK that could potentially overshadow an Ensoul strategy, although it may just be preference on how explosive you want to be. Ensoul blue is likely more aggro oriented while a strict mono blue devotion strategy is shifting more towards a midrange plan in my opinion. I'm still tinkering with all the new cards so I can't say for certain.
White/Blue seems to be the worst color combination in my opinion as there doesn't appear to be too much synergy. White/Green is the strongest two color combination, but not really because I think green is particularly strong. White looks like the strongest color in the set and green is better than blue in a vacuum and synergizing with white bolster cards. Black and Red are also strong colors because the removal is actually somewhat cheap compared to sealed in previous sets, so I expect that color combination to be good as well.
Thassa's Rebuff looks really bad to me. You'll need at least a Sorcerer or Shorecrasher Elemental out to make it strong enough. I suppose if you play Hypnotic Siren and some two drops you could get there with it, it's probably worth the playtest at least.
Speaking of Siren, I have never been impressed with that card. It's usually just a 1/1 flying that adds one blue devotion, which can be decent at times but I don't think maximizes the potential value of the deck. Seven mana is quite pricey, heck even 6 mana with Kiora's Follower seems like way too much. I could see it's potential against dragons like you mentioned so sideboard could be a fine place for it.
I completely agree with you on Thassa. 4 is way too much especially considering he's playing collected company too.
1. Quickling seems like a pretty awkward card to get off of collected company because if it's the only creature you hit you either can't play it or you'll be forced to return another creature you have at a bad time. It has potential against removal so it could be worth trying out, but I have never been impressed with the card. There just never seems to be a good time to cast it.
2. I like Omenspeaker over anticipate. You don't get to draw a card, but omenspeaker is a solid blocker that does a similar job to anticipate, adds to blue devotion, and can be hit from collected company.
Also, what's your sideboard looking like?
My only question is how you balanced out Collected Company with your spells in the main and sideboard. In my experience, collected company gets significantly worse post board so I was wondering how you might mitigate that potential downside.
2 Nykthos, Shrine of Nyx
3 Temple of Mystery
3 Yavimaya Coast
1 Thornwood Falls
15 Island
Creatures (28)
3 Shorecrasher Elemental
4 Stratus Dancer
2 Hypnotic Siren
3 Silumgar Sorcerer
4 Master of Waves
3 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Gudul Lurker
4 Omenspeaker
1 Quickling
4 Collected Company
4 Cloudform
3 Mirror Mockery
2 Sidisi's Faithful
2 Reality Shift
1 Quickling
1 Silumgar Sorcerer
3 Voyage's End
3 Negate
Here is the deck I ran for Monday night Standard. I went 3-1-1 losing only to a jund aggro deck, but the matchup was extremely close.
Overall thoughts on new DtK cards:
1. Shorecrasher Elemental - This does exactly what it promises i.e. 3 blue devotion on an efficient threat. I initially wanted to play 4 of it, but could only procure 3 copies for the night. I actually really liked this number because I found that I wasn't too fond of drawing too many of it, but I don't think it would be wrong to play 4.
2. Silumgar Sorcerer - This guy was impressive to say the least. The amount of versatility it provides is insane, especially if you're playing Collected Company. Flying, flash, potential Remove Soul, and 2 blue devotion to boot. What more can we get in a card? I feel he deserves a couple maindeck slots with some more in the side possibly. He's a tad bit weaker against control decks so that is a consideration.
3. Collected Company - This card blew my mind. I only got to cast it about 6 times throughout the night, but it was a hit all but 1 time. I just straight out won a game by hitting Thassa and Shorecrasher. This card plays very nicely with exploit creatures, so the amount of options it provides is really powerful.
4. Stratus Dancer - This is a card that impressed me when I saw it, but I only got to play it a few times throughout the night. I could see the count of this card being reduced to 2 or 3 maindeck as seeing multiples of this card might not be so great. This card combos nicely with Cloudform, however, so I may have to tinker with this a bit.
5. Mirror Mockery - Wow! This is a card I was surprised worked so well. There's an obvious interaction with Master of Waves, but this card was a fantastic blue pacifism as well. The thing about this deck is that it generally can attack freely due to flying or unblockable with Thassa so making it tough for your opponent to backswing is awesome.
6. Sidisi's Faithful - I found myself siding this card in quite a bit. It's a nice early blocker and can act as an Unsummon off of collected company.
7. Gudul Lurker - This card was mediocre for me. It added early blue devotion and got in a couple points of damage, but I really was not impressed otherwise. Megamorphing it is too slow for my tastes. I'll be replacing this card for 4 Sidisi's Faithful in the main, however I think it will depend on which list you're toying with. Deathmist Raptor and Bident of Thassa work well with Lurker so I don't think it would be incorrect to play him, he just wasn't too great in my deck.
I'll be adding a few Profaner of the Dead to the sideboard as well as Encase in Ice and Display of Dominance. Overall DtK gave us plenty of awesome tools to work with!
Bident of Thassa seems really sketch in that list. You're not playing little unblockable dorks like Gudul Lurker or Triton Shorestalker, so I'm not seeing how you can get much value from it. I guess you can force their creatures to attack and then make favorable trades with Deathmist, but that seems like a really slow option.
As an aside, hotlikedimes mentioned the use of Monastery Flock. Not only does it negate Siege Rhino attacks, but having flying is very relevant as it can also block a lot of the dragons floating around (e.g. - Stormbreath dragon, Thunderbreak Regent, etc). It may be useful in more controlling lists.
Reclamation Sage is in the sideboard, but you may be right. It really comes down to whether or not Collected Company is good in this deck or even good at all, which I think awaits to be seen. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
I hadn't considered the Icefeather, Yasova, or Sagu Mauler, I'll have to look into those as well. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty around collected company, so I think it's worth testing to see how it performs.
@herkamurjones: I really like your deck because it's a bit more controlling than a normal blue devotion deck, but still has an aggressive curve. I'm curious about the frostwalker as he seems a bit out of place here considering you're not playing Cloudform. Icefall Regent is looking really strong, too, how have you liked it?
2 Nykthos, Shrine of Nyx
4 Temple of Mystery
3 Yavimaya Coast
15 Island
Creatures (28)
4 Shorecrasher Elemental
4 Stratus Dancer
2 Hypnotic Siren
2 Silumgar Sorcerer
4 Master of Waves
3 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Gudul Lurker
4 Omenspeaker
1 Quickling
4 Collected Company
4 Cloudform
3 Mirror Mockery
2 Silumgar Sorcerer
1 Quickling
3 Reclamation Sage
3 Negate
3 Profaner of the Dead
Here is a blue devotion deck splashing green for Collected Company. Having the ability to put Shorecrasher Elemental and Thassa, God of the Sea in play at the end of an opponents turn sounds too sweet to pass up. I haven't tested this yet, but I am considering a few Profaner of the Dead in the mainboard and Icefeather Aven could make the list as well. Mirror Mockery is kind of iffy for me at the moment, but I want to try it out before I make any assumptions.
What is your decklist? My guess is that Darksteel Citadel is hurting the manabase a little, especially if your land count is lower (i.e. 20).Ornithopter + Springleaf Drum with a few one drops can help you hit blue easier, but is still probably reliant on your land count.
I'm starting to think that the Ensoul Artifact plan might be an all in strategy. Blue has a lot of strong options from DtK that could potentially overshadow an Ensoul strategy, although it may just be preference on how explosive you want to be. Ensoul blue is likely more aggro oriented while a strict mono blue devotion strategy is shifting more towards a midrange plan in my opinion. I'm still tinkering with all the new cards so I can't say for certain.