[Primer] Devotion Red

[DarthStabber]

Against control you need to focus on speed and no overextending. You probably don't need more than 3 dudes. If your sideboard increases your speed, then go for it.

[rcwraspy]

People try and small talk to destroy concentration and get upset when it doesn't work.

People do that?? I wonder how many times I've blanked someone from doing that to me by just being terrible at small talk IRL...

That's DEFINITELY a thing. I played against a guy who was a nice enough guy, but he was talking a lot about his sexual persuasion choices. Like, in a LOT of detail. There was someone else at the table who I've played against a couple of times and while he and I are cordial, there seems to be this sort of underlying animosity. The two of them just
kept going back and forth making more and more lewd jokes.

Even though I was mono-red Devotion and he was mono-blue Devotion, I still won. His mulligan to 5 in game 3 helped a lot. But you just have to tune that stuff out. I found myself almost making play mistakes because I was trying to rush because the conversations were so uncomfortable.

[Tyrael]

Actually, I want you guys to critique the list I'm running right now and I hope you could give me some advice about how I should change it to fit my meta better (mostly B/W midrage, G/R ramp and BWR control). This is based on John Larkin's Pro Tour Theros list:

[deck]
Creatures (30)
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
3 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Firefist Striker
4 Rakdos Cackler

Spells (8)
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet

Lands (22)
2 Mutavault
20 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Frostburn Weird
3 Act of Treason
3 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Burning Earth
[/deck]

I currently do not have access to Chandra, nobody has been willing to trade her to me...

[DarthStabber]

I would replace BTE with RSF, less explosive, but much more consistent and does more to allow pressure after a sweeper (and immune to doomblade). And I would move boros reckoner to the board and replace those with 2 hammer of purphoros and a mountain, for reasons of consistency and fighting through floods.

[Tyrael]

To add a bit of context, I have been having major issues with G/R ramp, which is exactly why I removed RSF (I had them as a 4-of in my original list) because they were absolutely awful in that match-up. Seeing as explosive BTE-draws are good against pretty much everything it seemed like a logical switch to me.

[rcwraspy]

Actually, I'm going to disagree with Stabber. I think your 60 is right where you want to be, with the exception being that you may want 1 additional Mountain to help cast Reckoner on curve.

On second thought, I also think Magma Jet should be Shock. You're trying to go as fast as possible, so the scry isn't as important in this list as the efficiency of the 1-mana investment. I'd replace Jet with Shock and drop the number to 3 to allow a 21st Mountain, going up to 23 land altogether.

In the board, honestly I don't like Weird. I know he gives devotion and is a roadblock, but we're supposed to be an aggressive deck and we tapout too much to take advantage of the pump if he swings. I'd replace Weird with Peak Eruption or Flames of the Firebrand.

Other than those, I really like your 75.

EDIT: Really try to find room for both Peak Eruption and Flames of the Firebrand. You may want to cut Act to 2, maybe
Mizzium also.

[Tyrael]

Actually, I'm going to disagree with Stabber. I think your 60 is right where you want to be, with the exception being that you may want 1 additional Mountain to help cast Reckoner on curve.

On second thought, I also think Magma Jet should be Shock. You're trying to go as fast as possible, so the scry isn't as important in this list as the efficiency of the 1-mana investment. I'd replace Jet with Shock and drop the number to 3 to allow a 21st Mountain, going up to 23 land altogether.

In the board, honestly I don't like Weird. I know he gives devotion and is a roadblock, but we're supposed to be an aggressive deck and we tapout too much to take advantage of the pump if he swings. I'd replace Weird with Peak Eruption or Flames of the Firebrand.

nOther than those, I really like your 75.

EDIT: Really try to find room for both Peak Eruption and Flames of the Firebrand. You may want to cut Act to 2, maybe Mizzium also.

All right, the new deck list will be:

[deck]
Creatures (30)
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
3 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Firefist Striker
4 Rakdos Cackler

Spells (7)
4 Lightning Strike
3 Shock

Lands (23)
2 Mutavault
21 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Flames of The Firebrand
2 Peak Eruption
2 Act of Treason
2 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Burning Earth
[/deck]

I did quite like the BTE into Magma Jet plays but I guess that's just a bit too unreliable. Thank you for your input!

[magicdownunder]

Here is a Red-White Devotion List which has taken the MODO meta for a ride:

Deck Link

Its been doing quite well for itself even in a meta chock full of MonoBlack.

[DarthStabber]

Finished a 4 round event at lgs.

Round 1 monoblack control. 2-0. Easy as pie, no need to board, just speed through him as fast as possible and chuck burn at his face.

Round 2 and 3. R/G ramp. 2-1 and 1-2. That deck is a coin flip against everything, not even sure about what to board in for it.

Round 4 rug control. 2-1. Rip through him as fast as possible, lose game 2 to a timely anger of the gods. Mostly rip him in two. Guy says he lost to variance not me, I had some choice words, but I covered that in the main thread,

[Tyrael]

Here is a Red-White Devotion List which has taken the MODO meta for a ride:

Deck Link

Its been doing quite well for itself even in a meta chock full of MonoBlack.

That list is magic (get it?)

Will test it as soon as I've gotten all the Sacred Foundries I ordered

[RaidaTheBlade]

On second thought, I also think Magma Jet should be Shock.

Hate to disagree with rcwraspy, but I do. If absolute speed is your goal, we're not talking devo red anymore, were talking AIR. In AIR, this might be true, but I feel that for devored, magma jet is indispensible.

The scry not only combos with chandra, but it helps so much with findng our sideboarded cards. Sideboarded cards an help decide the match, and that 1 extra mana for potentially 2 turns closer to getting those sidebaod cards is much more valiable in my opinion.

[Tyrael]

Now I'm confused x.x

[RaidaTheBlade]

Rcwraspy's a lot smarter then me, so just listen to him for the time being. That was more of a way of getting into dialogue with him.

Besides, you're not stuck with one setup. Try the shocks for a while and if you miss the scry, switch back.

(Aka, sorry, didnt mean to confuse you e.e)

[DarthStabber]

I'm not even running chandra and i'm loving maindeck jets. I hats screw and flood, and jet helps fight through both. The sideboard point is also very relevant. My side board is reckoners and more burn, but you want to be holding the electrickery when master of waves hits play, or know that you are about to draw it. And nothing's worse than boarding in some mizzium mortars and never seeing it. I know it's hard to tell red players that paying more for the "same effect" is worth it, but this is definitely a case of getting what you pay for. This leads me into my "removal is not part of the curve because you aren't 'curving into it'" theory, but some one else probably already has such a theory, and it's probably a digression at this point.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Yeah, I honestly (and I know that I might be the only one who thinks this) consider jet as important if not more so then lightning strike. The 3 damage can be a lifesaver, but so can the scry.

[InflatablePie]

Here is a Red-White Devotion List which has taken the MODO meta for a ride:

Deck Link

Its been doing quite well for itself even in a meta chock full of MonoBlack.

This looks... interesting. I might try this out tomorrow night (since PyroWhite hasn't had much success at the LGS that runs the Wednesday event). Might experiment with a one-of Purph or Chandra over the singleton Hammer in the main though.

What's the SB plan here?

Control: 3 Skullcrack + Hammer + Chandra? --> -4 Chained, 1 Mogis? Bring in Burning Earth over Jets for Esper?
Aggro: -1 Hammer/4 Cackler, -1 ??? --> +4 Mortars, +2 Last Breath?
Midrange: B.Earth over Jets for tri-color,
Skullcracks over Jet+Hammer for mono-Black? Chandra over Hammer for G/R?

[Tyrael]

Yeah, I honestly (and I know that I might be the only one who thinks this) consider jet as important if not more so then lightning strike. The 3 damage can be a lifesaver, but so can the scry.

After a bunch of tests against a variety of decks I think I'll stick to running Magma Jet. Not only is BTE(-BTE)-MJ on their t1 mana dork a brutal play on turn 2, the scry helps you find the Fanatic and has won me several games.

[Khaospawn]

Magma Jet is a ballin'-ass card.

That's all I have to say about that.

[Tyrael]

Zem's Magma Jet article makes perfect sense now, yeah

[Khaospawn]

Zem's Magma Jet article makes perfect sense now, yeah

He has a way of putting into words what I've been discovering about the card over the past year. I wasn't around for the original printing of the card, but I'd been using it heavily in Modern Burn. Now that it's in Standard, I'm in heaven.

Z's article is an amazing read. If anybody thought that they knew everything already about Magma Jet, chances are they were wrong.

[Tyrael]

Agreed, I now understand why he is sort of seen like a real life Gandalf the Red

Kinda

[atatjacob1]

I'm posting this list here as it appears to me as a variant of fanatic devotion, I am quite interested in playing this and I love tribal decks

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=60286

I am really uncertain as to what it's like, could someone enlighten me?

[Platypus]

I like it. I'd try it if I had the Raiders and Shamans, but I don't at the moment. Curve looks nice, but I'd probablt drop the Coordinated Assault for a Chandra.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Theres a dude at my lgs who's been running something like tht for a while.

It's pretty good, actually, but burn cleans it up fairly nicely.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Here is a Red-White Devotion List which has taken the MODO meta for a ride:

Deck Link

Its been doing quite well for itself even in a meta chock full of MonoBlack.

I think I'm going to play this list tomorrow at my GPT with a few modifications:

-4 BTE (I hate this card with AZ), -4 FFS (I hate this card without BTE), -1 CttR (Need room in MB), -2 MJ (Need room in MB), -2 RB (I've never liked this card)

+4 Firedrinker Satyr, +4 Rakdos Shred-Freak, (because mana-curve matters) +3 Boros Charm, +1 CttR(SB), +1 Chandra (SB) (because good cards are good).
n
Unless someone can talk me out of it...

[Tyrael]

What happened to your Big Boros/Walter White lists, Johnny?

[Lightning_Dolt]

Looking at this:

[deck]Creatures (28)
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak

Spells (11)
3 Chained to the Rocks
4 Lightning Strike
3 Boros Charm
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Land (21)
11 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Mutavault

Sideboard (15)
2 Burning Earth
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Chandra Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Last Breath
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Skullcrack[/deck]

I tried Walter White and I don't think it has a great "Random Bullshit" match up, or at least it doesn't in my hands.

Big Boros is a deck close to my heart, but I think Dragon's have lost a lot of their appear with the Mono Black decks becoming more popular and U/W moving to Esper. When esper was UW, they couldn't interact with a dragon at all.

[Tyrael]

The thing that worries me about that list is that you only have 19 sources that can cast Boros Reckoner on curve which means you will be stuck on 2 red mana quite often.

[Lightning_Dolt]

You win. I'll add a mountain.

[atatjacob1]

So JS, which deck do you think is better placed in the professional meta, Big Boros or Devotion Red?

[Lightning_Dolt]

So JS, which deck do you think is better placed in the professional meta, Big Boros or Devotion Red?

After this weekends results, it would seem a hybrid of the two.

[Lightning_Dolt]

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=60389

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/a ... 13/welcome

[Lightning_Dolt]

Here's my report from the weekend's GPT. My list was this for reference:

[deck]Creatures (28)
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak

Spells (10)
3 Chained to the Rocks
4 Lightning Strike
3 Boros Charm

Land (22)
12 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Sideboard (15)
2 Burning Earth
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Chandra Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Last Breath
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Skullcrack[/deck]

TL;DR I went 3-3 for 22nd out of 49.

Round 1 VS Kohei with Jund

G1: I curve and answer everything he casts. Off to a good start.

G2: More of the same, but he floods this game.

1-0-0

Round 2 VS Keigo with U/W

This loss stings because of the circumstances surrounding it. I know the player from my LGS and we always seem to play each
other. He usually plays Naya or U/W/x. On Friday he beat me with G/R/w Monsters. When I sat down, I asked him if he was playing the same deck and he said he was. As we shuffled up we joked about it being a rematch etc. I draw an opening hand of 3x land, 2x [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card], 1x Boros Reckoner, 1x Chained to the Rocks. I look at that hand, and I think it's unkeepable if not for the information that I have. He has confirmed that he is on G/R/w Monsters. Well it turns out that my "friend" lied, and that hand is completely unacceptable vs U/W. Moral of the story? Even if you think they're a friend, even if you think you know what they're on, even if they are Japanese and Japanese people typically never lie because honour is important here, don't trust them. Bit of a scumbag move, not going to be super friendly with him from now on.

G1: Guess.

G2: I curve out and kill him on T4.

G3: I get [
card]Azorious Charm[/card]ed three times which keeps me off three land and have Reckoner / Mogis / Mogis in hand. He [card]Elspeth, Sun's Champion[/card] / Aetherlings me to death.

1-1-0

Round 3 VS Nobuyuki with Junk

G1: I fight through Hexproof plants and blood barons and whips, but he stabilizes on two life with a colossal Scavenging Ooze + Whip.

G2: I mulligan to 5, he has everything.

1-2-0

Round 4 VS Yuuto with Naya Midrange

G1: We race back and forth, and the final play comes down to my opponent attacking with a Stombreath Dragon and a Loxodon Smiter into my board of [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card], tapped Boros Reckoner (if he blocked with Smiter I had letal in hand, he didn't) I'm on 8 life, he's at 7, I have 2x [
card]Lightning Strike[/card] in hand. I block with the Dragon with the Phoenix and he attempts to Selesnya Charm his Dragon. I inform him that he can't, because it has protection from white, and the judge who happened to be walking by confirms. I tell him I don't mind if he wants to target the smiter instead, but he declines. At this point he is tilting, hard. I draw a Boros Charm, and attack in with Reckoner. He uses his Selesnya Charm to make a chump, I redirect the damage to the face, then burn him out with the lightning strikes so I don't reveal my Boros Charms. Now he is tilting super-hard, sweating and grumbling as we shuffle for G2.

G2: He casts a Smiter, I chain it, I cast a reckoner, he Chains it, I cast a Burning Earth (he has six non-basics in play) and [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card:
dko6ladl] his Unflinching Couraged Knight Token. He I cast reckoner + 2nd Burning Earth. At this point the game is over, but he makes me play it out, declaring each one of his steps (which he hadn't been doing before) just to be a dick. When I finish him off, he signs the slip and leaves without saying thank you (which is very strange in Japan, everyone says thank you at the end of the match, unless you did something scummy, which I didn't). Strange for JP players to tilt that hard.

2-2-0

Round 5 VS Wataru with Boros Heroic

G1: We race and it comes down to the point where if he has burn, he wins, if he doesn't, I win. He reveals a land.

G2: I mulligan to 5, and don't draw a white land all game, with three white cards in hand. I have two Reckoners up, but he blows me out with 2x Chained to the Rocks.

G3: He mulligans to 5 and I have a perfect hand.

3-2-0

[b:
dko6ladl]Round 6 VS Akimasa with U/W[/b]

This guy always plays U/W/x. He is one of the best players in the area and he's a T.O. I've beat him before, but I think he usually gets the better of me.

G1: Lose the roll, mull to 5, flood up to 10 lands.

G2: On the play, play through typical U/W bullshit and get him on T9.

G3: Mulligan to 5. A bunch of charms and Dramatic Rescues and Aetherling + Elspeth later I've missed top 16.

3-3-0

All in all, not horrible. I was hoping for better, but at least I got some points toward GP Shizuoka. Given that I haven't won a game in two weeks (luck comes and goes), it's an improvement.

I think this deck is probably worse than the other devotion decks with the dragons, but I just do not want to play a deck that lacks a mana-curve. It hurts me to even consider it.

[DocLawless]

I've been looking at and adjusting this list long enough that I'm over thinking it and now it's a mess. I've gone around in circles way too much and now I need fresh perspectives to get straightened out. I'm trying to build it on a RDW curve, or as best as the format will allow, and keep a Devotion sub-theme going with Fanatic.

[deck]4x Boros Reckoner
2x Burning-Tree Emissary
2x Chandra's Phoenix
4x Fanatic of Mogis
4x Firedrinker Satyr
4x Ash Zealot
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Rakdos Shred-Freak

3x Lightning Strike
3x Shock
2x Mizzium Mortars
1x Hammer of Purphoros

21x Mountain
2x Mutavault

Sideboard
2x Act of Treason
2x Burning Earth
3x Flames of the Firebrand
4x Frostburn Weird
1x Hammer of Purphoros
3x Skullcrack[/deck]

Obvious inclusions are Cackler, Satyr, Reckoner and Ash Zealot as 4-of. Shred-Freaks I like because UW became Esper in about a week around my parts and Freaks are immune to
Doom Blade. BTE x2 because I'm not super happy with my chain options, being as I'm trying to run as Red mana dense as I can and I don't want to have more BTEs than I can make an impact with, otherwise it's wasted mana. And I hate wasting mana. Phoenix x2 because I'm only running six spells that will recur it. But running those each as a 2-of makes me feel like I could be making a better decision. Fanatic is also an obvious include, but is 4x necessary I wonder?

I keep wanting to cram Stormbreath Dragons in there too but I don't know if I can support them on 23 lands. Maybe I can, as a 1 or 2-of? I miss having power plays like I did last season, with Falkenrath Aristocrat and Thundermaw. I keep looking at this list like it's missing something.

Also not sure if I'd just be better off running 23 Mountains. My gut says yes.

[Link]

seems you had to mulligan a lot in your write up J_S, is it the mana base?

[Yarpus]

What about making it much closer to Sledgehammer?
It was all about haymakers, just like Devotion is.

[deck]Creatures:
4 Rakdos cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Other Spells:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Mizzium Mortars

Planeswalkers:
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands:
1 Nykthos
2 Mutavault
21 Mountain[/deck]

Or go far more combo with Hammer of Purphoros and Scourge of Valkas? I'd even consider dropping Satyrs/Cacklers just for the powerlevel of cards I'd play.
I mean, there's nothing wrong in having both sick mana sinks and sick mana source.

[DocLawless]

Yeah, sledgehammer is kinda like what I think I've been shooting for. I've also got a splash green version in my head, born after LP posted a list containing Ghor-Clan Rampager a page back. Makes me want to revisit playing R/G, but my budget is tapped out for a few more months.

I'll see your sledgehammer list and raise you this...

[deck]Creatures:
4 Rakdos cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Ember Swallower

Other Spells:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Madcap Skills

Lands:
1 Nykthos
2 Mutavault
21 Mountain[/deck]

Erm... mostly because I only have two mouthbreathers at the moment.

Splash green, I'd -2 Madcap Skills, -2 Ember Swallower, -1 Lightning Strike, -1 Shock, +4 Ghor-Clan Rampager, +2 Gruul Charm. And fix the mana base, of course. I'm just worried the scry lands would slow me
down too much.

[DocLawless]

I miss Stonewright. Has anyone tested with Dragon Mantle?
- Mana sink that can kill you
- Counts toward devotion
- Replaces itself

[Lightning_Dolt]

seems you had to mulligan a lot in your write up J_S, is it the mana base?

I only mulliganed hands with no lands, no creatures, or one land and less than two one drops.

[Tyrael]

I'm interested in taking the deck to a more 'big' devotion approach since Purph has dropped to 8 euros a piece and is now a legitimate budget option for me

If anyone has any experience with the bigger version please do share your thoughts!