Mono Green (White/Red) Devotion

[Pedros]

Small project I am currently trying to develop in modern. Played around 50 games so far with quite a good results so far (around 60% win percentage so it is quite good in modern) plus I am enjoying it so far. My current deck is different from the "stock" list found on salvation or in articles.

I will try to make this thread later similar to salvations primer with videos and stuff.

Relevant reads:

https://www.starcitygames.com/article/2 ... odern.html
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the- ... thos-green
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/a ... ily/rc/276
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/ jarvisyu ... in-modern/
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/c ... -devotion/
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/devotion ... -blossoms/
http://www.cmus.cz/dnn/%C4%8Cl%C3%A1nky ... kthos.aspx

Videos:

http://www.twitch.tv/magic/b/494644928?t=77m

Core of the deck:

4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Garruk Wildspeaker

Good accelerators that combos well together. Arbor elf and Garruk untaps utopia sprawled forest to produce twice a mana. Garruk also have synergy with small
creatures for his overrun ultimatum.

3 Wistful Selkie
4 Eternal Witness

Card advantage and devotion enablers. Some lists use only 2 Selkies, however I found them quite good especially with restoration angels.

4 Primal Command

Our "combo" with eternal witness. From my testing I found that I dont really like genesis wave or Tooth and Nail as they cost too much mana and arent relevant in mid game. They only works when your opponent isnt interracting with you, however even combo decks such as Twin or Storm have ways to interact (Lightning Bolt, remand, etc) so you are stuck with them and watching them winning. Primal Command however can lock your opponent out of the game by bouncing land every turn while slowly getting mana to cast craterhoof or ulti garruk. Another thing is the fact that Primal Command + Witness can be broken to 2 turns and used separately.

3 [card]Primeval Titan[/card:
30sdd7jw]
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Craterhoof Behemoth

Our creature lategame. Craterhoof wins most games on the spot, Elesh Norn wipes opponents team. Primeval titan fetches relevant lands (Nykthos, Kessig Wolf Run) that lets you win on next turn most of the time.

Cards from above (28 of them) are a core of this deck that mostly are same in every read I linked. Elesh Norn is sometimes 2nd Craterhoof, Xenagod, or other big monster, and number of Selkies floats from 2 to 4.

Lets get into last 2X cards that are currently in my deck.

Additional Mana ramp
3 (0-4) Birds of Paradise
1 (4) Burning-Tree Emissary
1 (0) Lotus Cobra
1 (0) Knight of the Reliquary

Only deck that used Lotus Cobra and Knight of the Reliquary was Petr Brozek's from GP Vienna. Michael Jacob (
DarkestMage on twitch) is another person who was trying out Knight of the Reliquary as an 1 off as an additional tutor target for Primal Command (usuful when you are constricted on mana and cant cast Primeval Titan).

As for Lotus Cobra I am currently testing if I want more of them. They give massive burst of mana (such as potential 8 mana on turn 3).

Birds of Paradise is a last 1 mana accelerator worth bringing into this deck, however a lot of decks mentioned earlier dont bring them. In my testing and experience starting with turn 1 accelerator is crucial, and because of that I settled on 3 Birds of Paradise.

Burning Tree Emissary is a stock 4 off in most decks mentioned earlier. I also started with 4 of them, however they combo of only with Nykthos. Without nykthos they are outclassed by virtually anything. 1 is crucial to fetch with Primal Command when you have nykthos but lacks colored symbols. Having 1 also allows you for turbo starts such as turn 2 Primeval Titan or Turn 3 Elesh Norn.

nLifegain, relevant blockers, card advantage, durable devotion
1 (0) Courser of Cruphix
2 (0) Kitchen Finks

Midrange aproach:

3 (0) Restoration Angel

Blinks card advantage bodies (Eternal Witness, Wistful Selkie), resets Kitchen FInks, protects cards from removal. Good bodies and good blockers that can close a game on their own (with a little bit of help from Kessig Wolf Run). Another thing I notices is the fact, that this deck was previously stone cold to flyers. With restoration angel it isnt the case anymore.

There are of course other midrange cards menioned earlier: Kitchen Finks, Knight of the Reliquary, Courser of Krupnix - cards that are good on their own and works well together.

Time to wrap it up - manabase.

From earlier reads we can see that this deck often have 18-22 lands. Decks with more lands have less accelerators and vice versa. My current aproach
is 20 as I have 11 turn 1 manadorks plus additional 2 mana generators in Knight of the Reliquary and Lotus Cobra. Notice 8 fetchlands to support those 2 cards (as well as Courser of Krupnix, as having option of shuffling bad card from top is quite relevant).

4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Forest

Notice red splash here. Only red card I use in main deck is Kessig Wolf Run. From amount of mana this deck can produce, in my oppinion this is better option than Gavony Township, however much less consistent. Sometimes this 1 stomping grounds allows use of relevant sb cards (currenly not there anymore).

From another good read (http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... ur-spells/) I should have 19 green sources for turn 3 double green card and 22 for tripple green card. With turn 1 Manadork I always have double green on turn 2 and need 19 green sources for trupple green card. I might be scientific person, however I would rather make a simulator than make calculations, so I would love help of others how to build this manabase. Sometimes I feel like having 1 more land(forest) wouldnt be bad choice, however I currently dont know what to cut (probably some cards from flex slots that arent birds of paradise).

Overall I am quite happy from a maindeck, in my oppinion it is within 5 cards from optimal - probably need 1 more land, probably one from lotus cobra and knight of the reliquary is better than the other, probably kitchen finks and courser of kruphix have similar situation, probably 3 Restoration angels are too much).

Sideboard:

As always
sideboard is one of the hardest and most important part of successful deckbuilding. I found the fact, that building sideboard to meta similar to MTGO is the best way. Modern metagame can be found here: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/modern

1 Arena
1 Beast Within
1 Courser of Kruphix
2 Damping Matrix
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Path to Exile
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Wolfbriar Elemental

From the top:

Arena is a fightland that is much better now when we have access for bigger bodies. It works around hexproof (as your opponent is choosing target), can prevent
attacking with tapping the target. Works good when creatures are involved. This doesnt produce mana, so never cut lands for it!

Beast Within is catch all removal spell with multiple purposes. Blowing up lands is one thing, however killing your own creature in response to removal, reseting kitchen finks, blowing your own land, etc gives you plenty of options.

Courser of Kruphix is good vs agressive decks where big butt is relevant, and vs lightning bolt decks where keeping devotion high is crucial. Also awsome as a card advantage machine, especially in matchups where keeping mana dork alive is almost impossible.

Damping Matrix is a card I am currently testing as a catch all card vs Twin, Pod and affinity. It might be that it would be better to personalize those matchups to have more slots dedicated to those matchups (such as stony silence vs affinity, etc).

Ghost quarter is additional land that is brought vs decks where keeping manadork alive is really hard. In addition to that, it have some
lategame potential of blowing celestial colonades vs UW or keeping scapeshift of mountains. Works wonder vs Tron with combination of Eternal Witness.

Path to Exile is catch all removal spell. With much harder white splash than before, I merged Dismembers and Combusts to this.

Polukranos, World Eater & Wolfbriar Elemental - in testing I figured out that in some matchups having access for big spell is relevant. I wanted to have Tooth & Nail or Genesis Wave in the sb, however I just thought that maybe big mana sink creature would be better. Here comes those 4 mana monsters. Polukranos is awsome vs small dorky decks, affinity and Jund, where often it is biggest thing on a board, Wolfbriar Elemental is good vs decks that plans 1 for 1 you all the time, such as UWR and Jund.

Scavenging Ooze - good graveyard hate card.

Spellskite - good vs bolt decks, jund, scapeshift, twin.

Thrun, the Last Troll - in testing right now, should be relevant vs blue decks.


Other cards not
in the deck:

[card]Summoner's Pact[/card] - fetching creature that is needed at this specific turn. It however is card disadvantage and blocks your next turn often.
Time of Need - fetches legendary permanents such as Nykthos, Elesh Norn, sb specific legendary hatecards such as Kataki, Linvala, Polukranos.

Both of those cards are much better when placed in sb when we have more relevant hate bears such as Kataki, Linvala, Polukranos, etc.

Stony Silence - good sb card vs affinity, potentially better than Damping Matrix
[card]Kataki, War's Wage[/card] - another good sb card vs affinity. Creature, legendary, good synergy with summoner's pact, time of need, primal command.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence - good sb card vs pod and twin, relevant flying body. Creature, legendary, good synergy with summoner's pact, time of need, primal command.
[card:
30sdd7jw]Summoning Trap[/card] - in previous version of the deck, spells were mostly important, so the were often countered. In this version however, mayority of things we do is connected with creatures. It has cascade effect with eternal witness and restoration angel blinking witness, where you can rebuy Trap and cast it again till you find your haymaker (Hoof, Titan or Elesh).
Cavern of Souls - another way of interacting vs counterspells, similar to trap.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - much better in heavier spell version of the deck.
Wurmcoil Engine - possible another 6 drop good in midrange fights. Might find place in md / sb.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - good sb card vs storm, Creature, legendary, good synergy with summoner's pact, time of need, primal command.
Thorn of Ametyst - similar to Thala, but permanent
[card]Rest in
Peace[/card] - anti graveyard card, however no synergy with eternal witness
Wheel of Sun and Moon - anti graveyard card, have synergy with a deck with eternal witness and nykthos, however not a good topdeck similar to rest in peace.

Those are cards that might be placed later, needs more testing and thoughts what is needed (as well as making sb plans vs most decks to see how many slots we have).

Finally, decklist:

[deck]
4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Birds of Paradise

1 Lotus Cobra
1 Burning-Tree Emissary

4 Eternal Witness
3 Wistful Selkie
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Restoration Angel

4 Primal Command

3 Primeval Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Craterhoof Behemoth

Lands
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Forest
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Kessig Wolf Run

Sideboard
2 Damping Matrix
2
Ghost Quarter
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
1 Beast Within
1 Spellskite
3 Path to Exile
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Arena
[/deck]

[Toddington]

Seems like a cool list. With regards to the mana, you include all of the dorks as well, not just land, so it seems your mana is fine?

You say Time of Need fetches Nykthos, but it only fetches creatures.

I like this deck. It's obviously combo-riffic, but sometimes you get a turn 3 titan and win like that.

[Pedros]

Seems like a cool list. With regards to the mana, you include all of the dorks as well, not just land, so it seems your mana is fine?

You say Time of Need fetches Nykthos, but it only fetches creatures.

I like this deck. It's obviously combo-riffic, but sometimes you get a turn 3 titan and win like that.

Ah yeah thx a lot Still better than pact if it is 2nd hate legendary creature (better to have in sb 1 Kataki, 1 Linvala, 1 Thalia, 1 Polukranos and 1 Time of Need than 8 creatures )

[magicdownunder]

What advantageous does this brew offer over U/RG Tron? From an outsiders perspective this ramp deck really does look like a "green" tron deck.

[Pedros]

What advantageous does this brew offer over U/RG Tron? From an outsiders perspective this ramp deck really does look like a "green" tron deck.

Similar speed.
More flexible parts in mana generator departament.
Better backup plan.
Less hateable.
Much more interactive (GR).

Just my opinion.

[Pedros]

Tested some games today, added Time of Need, Thalia, Linvala, Kataki to the sb, added Polukranos to the maindeck in place of restoration angel. Deck looks really good so far.

[Pedros]

4-0ed my local fnm, won vs hatebears, scapeshift, goblins and esper midrange. Elesh Norn is as good as it seamed, time of need sb plan works as intended.

Lotus cobra isnt as awsome as it seems, will probably cut it. From courser and knight both are good, cant decide yet which is better yet. Kitchen finks and resto angels are great additions.

Will probably cut cobra, might add scavenging ooze in its place. With possible change of cutting knight of the reliqjary courser would go to the md, both changes would free 2 slots from the sb.1 of the options is Harmonic Sliver.

[Pedros]

More results:

Scapeshift with Black (Decays, Seizes) 1-2
BW Zombies Aristocrats 2-1
UWR Control 2-0
Tron Eggs 2-0
UR metalcraft brew 2-0
UR Weird Storm 0-2
Scapeshift /w Goyf (Goyfshift) 2-0
UR Delver 2-1
Scapeshift 2-0

[Pedros]

My recent decklist:

[deck]
4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Birds of Paradise

1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Burning-Tree Emissary

4 Eternal Witness
3 Wistful Selkie
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Restoration Angel
1 Polukranos, World Eater

4 Primal Command

3 Primeval Titan

1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Craterhoof Behemoth

Lands
5 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Kessig Wolf Run

Sideboard
3 Path to Exile
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Summoning Trap
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Spellskite
1 Time of Need
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
[/deck]

Things to consider:

Need of md removal in Path to Exile (possible things to cut in Bop, BTE, some of my 3s)
What is better: Time of Need or
Chord of Calling?

[hamfactorial]

Chord of Calling all day! Especially since you're already running so much mana acceleration. It also lets you run a hate/combo toolbox with cards like Linvala, Iona and Kiki for more oops-I-win/you-lose blowouts.

[Pedros]

I dont think Iona or Kiki can be cast in this deck, however thank for oppinions! Apreciate it

[hamfactorial]

Oops I see BOP and assume you can cast every card all the time!

[Pedros]

I think I am going to try playing 1 Lotus Cobra in place of 1 Burning-Tree Emissary. Playing only 1 BTE is inconsistent, and Lotus Cobra is much more powerful if drawn earlier. Without BTE I cant have turn 2 Titan draw, However I still can have turn 3 Primal Command or Titan. I also noticed I almost never tutor for BTE, whereas I would like to totor for Corbra sometimes (with nykthos and fetchland it generates much more mana than BTE), and both cards works in similar way - however Cobra is better with Titans, Kotr, Courser and Fetchlands, while BTE with Nykthos. Ideal would be some sort of GG card that draws you a card - deck would work much smoother then, and I wouldnt have to play that much Wistful Selkies.

I also want to try playing 1 Horizon Canopy in place of 1 Fetchland - I noticed I drew too many fetchlands and lacked lands to tutor for later in a game, plus didnt have enought targets for Kotr. This will potentially
allow me to draw into more gas later in a game, it also works quite good with Kotr, Eternal Witness, Courser, Titan. It will make Lotus Cobra worse, however I still wanted to try it out.

As you might notice I made some changes to both SB and MD:

Split 2/2 of MD/SB Path to Exile.
Exchanged Time of Need for Chord of Calling and moved it to md - tutoring crucial hatebear is much better than swinging for mediocre amount of damage. It can tutor for stuff like Scavenging Ooze, Spellskite and Eidolon of Rhetoric (on this later), whereas Time of Need cant.

I moved Elesh Norn into SB while keeping Craterhoof in md - I noticed most of the time I dont need 2 big tutor targets in one game, sometimes I dont need even 1 of them.

SB I a mess right now with all those hatebears targets, however I am happy with that part.

Thrun - UWR, UR Tempo, BUG, UR twin (worse vs URg twin)
Thalia - UWR, UR Tempo, BUG, Twin, Storm, Eggs, Scapeshift, TRON, all sorts of combo decks, Burn, Living End (they need 5 mana to
cast cascade into end)
Kataki - Affinity, sometimes Tron
Harmonic Sliver - Affinity, Twin, Storm, Pod, Eggs, TRON, close to all sorts of combo decks.
Linvala - Twin, Pod, Affinity, plus all sorts of matchups where 3/4 Flyer is good
Spellskite - Twin, Scapeshift, UR Tempo, UWR, Burn
Scavenging Ooze - Storm, Pod, Scapeshift, UWR, UR Tempo, Affinity, Eggs, BUG, BG Rock, Burn, Living End
Elesh Norn - Affinity, UR Tempo, Pod

Other SB cards:
2 Ghost Quaters - I bring them in place where I have to cut some amount of mana dorks (vs Merfolks and Hatebears I have to cut utopia Sprawls, vs UWR and BG I dont want to flood on dorks and quaters can kill their manlands), plus vs Affinity (killing their manlands), TRON (obvious), Scapeshift - forcing them to have more mountains or useful when they have to play Valakut earlier.
2 Path to Exile - Affinity, Twin, Zoo, UR Tempo. Usually I dont board into 4 vs Pod and BG Rock as I dont think it is needed to do so. However 4 is crcial to have vs Affinity and Twin.
1
Courser of Kruphix - this is a slot that might be wrong, I can see myself cutting Wistful Selkie for it (it works similar, but drawing a card is much more powerful than filtering lands). I board it vs all sort of Red decks - Burn, UWR, Twin, UR Tempo, Scapeshift (vs Scapeshift it is crucial to have more than 18 life). Still not sure if I want to cut Selkie for it, or if I want to have 2nd in board.
2 Summoning Trap - crucial vs UR Tempo, UWR, Twin, Scapeshift. Often they counter your turn 2 3 drop with remand. If u have trap in hand you almost always win - Trap into witness get trap back rinse and repeat till you find Titan/Elesh/Polukranos/Relevant Hatebear and go to town from it.

I would like to fit:
Eidolon of Rhetoric - it hurts myself, however I prefer to play with worse deck than die vs all sort of Janky Combo deck. Storm, Eggs, Living End, etc.
X Stony Silence - dont think if needed yet (need more testing), however I have quite a lot cards to bring vs Affinity now.

[deck]
4 Arbor Elf
4
Utopia Sprawl
2 Birds of Paradise
2 Path to Exile

1 Lotus Cobra

4 Eternal Witness
3 Wistful Selkie
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Restoration Angel
1 Polukranos, World Eater

4 Primal Command

3 Primeval Titan

1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Chord of Calling

5 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wolf Run

Sideboard
2 Summoning Trap
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Path to Exile
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Spellskite
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
[/deck]

[Blackhound]

best sb cards against merfolk.

[Blackhound]

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=11603

[GoblinWarchief]

Which is the combo between eternal witness and primal command ? I am probably stupid or too lazy to think but i don't see any "broken" interaction

[Blackhound]

Play Primal command, fetch eternal witness and put land card on top of your opponents deck.

Next turn play eternal witness to bring back Primal command from Graveyard.

Play Primal command again to fetch another Eternal witness and put the land your opponent just drew to put it back on top of there deck again. Repeat.

Its not that broken I mean its an 8 mana combo which soft locks your opponent out the game.

[Blackhound]

is there any room for the new rg command in this deck ?

[Blackhound]

Wolfbriar elemental ?

[Blackhound]

For anyone that cares, my FNM deck, no sideboard.


15 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Stomping Ground
1 Ghost Quater
1 Kessig Wolf Run

4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Burning Tree Emmiserry
4 Eternal Witness
4 Primeval Titan
4 Genesis Wave
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Courser of Kruphix
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Sarkhan Vol
1 Scavenging ooze
1 Thrun, The last troll
1 Bonfire of the damned