Dies to Removal

I just read an article on gathering magic which said that R/x devo is not a competitive deck

if only they knew

Excellent, thanks LP. I goldfished a bunch last night to get a feel for the hands...and holy shit. Golden gun is right.

Variance strikes again tonight. It did well for my 1st place win last night, but today I went 2-3, winning the first two matches without a hitch against UW Control and Naya Midrange. All of the sudden my deck decides to completely flood me out or the opposite, or decides to give me unplayable opening hands. I lost to two mirrors and a Mono Black. Having to mull several times against them due to no land hands made it almost an impossible task.

I got to say though, I miss the one drops. Mono Black walked all over me. I've adjusted the sideboard to have 4 Cacklers, but is it even a good idea when I can't play them 50% of the time on turn 1? My new adjustments looks like this:

[deck]
Creatures
3 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Ash Zealot
4 Frostborn Weird

Spells
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Domri Rade
2 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Mizzium
Mortars
3 Chained to the Rocks

Land
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Stomping Ground
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Last Breath
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Chained to the Rocks
4 Rakdos Cackler
[/deck]

Went 2-2 at FNM, only lost to the continual presence of 2 or 5 land hands....felt like I always had Nykthos + Mountain openers D: Still though, I had an absolute blast and the deck was tons of fun to play. More detail tomorrow, I'll be playing Saturday Noon Magic. Couldn't resist going back for more after playing this deck >:)

Wasn’t able to make it to Saturday magic, but here’s the scoop from last night. Played the stock list.

R1: Jim w/Esper control

This was a disappointing match because we didn’t actually get to play Magic. G1 we both kept 2-land hands, mine being Nykthos - Temple (are these hands keepable w/ a bunch of two drops + a threat? I see them all the time it seems like) and I drew Fanatics and 4 straight Stormbreaths before seeing a land. I had 3 lands in play when he Sphinxed for 9. G2 I board out removal, he boards in Soldier of the Pantheon, and draws 3 in his opener to my triple Frostburn.

R2: Zane w/BUG midrange

So I get paired up against my buddy who rode up with me…we had already played against each other several times, so it was mostly a foregone conclusion. He didn’t see enough removal either game to keep up with the constant stream of threats. Also, Abrupt Decay is obnoxious

R3: Toby w/almost mirror

Toby was playing GR, so -Cackler, -Chained, + Domri, Mortars, 1 card I didn’t see (he said he only had 3 Domri in when we talked). G1 we matched each other play-for-play, but he went first so his Purphoros came down swinging the turn before mine did. G2 I overloaded a mortars fairly early to wipe his field, which he was unable to recover from. G3 we both kept a two-land hands, and I elected to use my 2nd Mortars on his Zealot after he missed his 3rd land drop after I made my 3rd land drop, a Temple, and saw that I’d be hitting my fourth as well. He proceeded to draw several lands in a row, and Madcap Skills a Stormbreath. I didn’t draw the Mortars

R4: Landon w/Mono B

Our first game was hilariously fun, as he drew nothing but lands and Pack Rats and I had all the devotion in the world but couldn’t draw a threat to save my life. It was a close
game, but I ended up winning off a giant Fanatic. G2 he stuck a Pack Rat, I didn’t have the Mortars, and couldn’t keep up. G3 I counted to 20 better than he did and was able to go 20 - 16 - 8 - dead. I <3 Desecration Demon’s “I can’t really block, as much as I’d like to” clause.

So 2-2, only prized top 4, but it was still a good time and the deck is super fun to play and my losses were generally due to my own incompetent mulligans (or lack there-of). I’ll be playing this for the foreseeable future, so expect more reports.

I just read an article on gathering magic which said that R/x devo is not a competitive deck

if only they knew

Yeah kinda hard to defend in the face of Star City Columbus results...

My buddy wanted to test his R/B version and eventually we played SB games so I was playing w/out Cackler. I actually really liked the additional removal over the one-drops, like the list that came in 2nd yesterday. Not sure how I feel about Temple of Abandon though...like I understand that the scry is important, but why not Boros Guildgate for the white source?

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After Scrubbing out of GP sacramento after starting 5-0, I played in the Sunday Super Series and finished 5-1(-1) beating RG monsters, GW chronicler of hero's, MBC and 2 mono-blue decks including Greg Hatch.

The event was advertised as being top 8 so I drew round 6 with plans of drawing round 7, but in the final round, it was announced that the event would be top 4 and I had to play the mirror round seven where I got blown out by peak eruption.

Went 4-1 tonight losing the first round of top 8 with my Naya list with the Cacklers, and boy am I glad to have him back. It was very crucial in my two matches against Mono B. The other decks I beat were MUD and WW. I lost to Selesnya Aggro in a very close match where we both stalled and I couldn't draw removal to save my life. He finally built enough prescience to attack for the win by one point, and my next card was Mortars that I could have overloaded to kill everything on his board except two wurm tokens and getting back my Purphoros and two Reckoners that were hit by Banisher Priests.

Either way lesson learned. Never play Red Devotion without one drops.

Edit: My Cacklers were mainboard. Chandra and three Mortars were sided.

I keep seeing lists without Chandra placing well on MTGO and in major tournaments. What is the general consensus about Chandra? Is she absolutely necessary in this deck? And just to clarify, I'm only concerned with making the most efficient use of every slot in my 75. This isn't a money issue.

Chandra isn't necessary, just Pers pref. I played with 1 in my sideboard for the last month, though I top 4'd a 2k today with a version running 2 maindeck Chandra's. Mini-report(posted in clan thread as well).
List:

[deck]4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge

2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Hammer of Purphors

3 Chained to the Rocks
2 Jizzium Mortars

Lands:
2 Boros Guildgate
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
11 Mountain

Sideboard
3 Assemble the Legion
2 Boros Charm
2 Wear//Tear
2 Last Breath
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Chain to the Rocks
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Anger of the Gods[/deck]

Played against R/g pseudo mirror, the RW token deck from the SCG open(Vs. Vidi), Shouta UB control, Orzhov Aggro x2, Mono-blue. Id round 7, beat my 1 loss from the swiss
in top 8(1 of the Orzhov agro players) and we prize split top 4 at 225 each.

Top 8 was RW devotion, Orzhov aggrox2, BW midrange, Naya Hexproof, Naya midrange, Mono-red agro, Pyro Red.

LP, what changes are you making to your deck post BotG to combat new cards and improve the deck? Is Rakdos's Return worth going in to black for now we have temple?

Too early to speculate. Probably nothing changing. I'm more inclined to play the version without 1-drops so I'll be less soft to infinite upgraded removal spells and because playing with a real sideboard was fun.

Chandra isn't necessary, just Pers pref. I played with 1 in my sideboard for the last month, though I top 4'd a 2k today with a version running 2 maindeck Chandra's.

Ok, I still want to run at least 1 MD because dat ass. All things considered, this is my current list that I've decided on:

[DECK]
Lands (25)
1 Boros Guildgate
12 Mountain
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures (26)
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Frostburn Weird
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells (9)
3 Chained to the Rocks
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Mizzium Mortars

Sideboard (15)
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Assemble the Legion
3
Boros Charm
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Warleader's Helix
2 Wear // Tear
[/DECK]

9/10 Would Play.

Scrubbed out of FNM the other night 0-2 lost to my inability to mulligan correctly. Glad ya'll are having Great Success!

Went to PTQ Graz last weekend, got to top8 but lost in quarters

This is the deck:

[DECK]
Lands (25)
1 Boros Guildgate
12 Mountain
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures (26)
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Frostburn Weird
2 Puphoros, God of the Forge
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells (9)
3 Chained to the Rocks
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Mizzium Mortars

Sideboard (15)
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Assemble the Legion
3 Boros Charm
1 Chained to the Rocks
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Wear // Tear
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Last Breath
[/DECK]


In the swiss, I beat Esper, 2x Mono U, Mono B, White weenie (with black splash), lost to UB control and ID last round with RW tokens.

In top8, there were 3 mono U, Mono
B, RW devotion (me obv), RW tokens, UB control (that I lost in the swiss to) and Burn.

Got paired with burn which I think is the hardest MU of the above (correct me if I'm wrong). I won the first game easily since he wanted to race and burned me in the face but I drew triple fanatic to kill him. I had no idea how to board against him (this was actually the second time i played the deck, first being a local FNM), and I removed all my WLH from the board the night before. I had seen him sideboard the round before since he couldn’t ID and he had 4 reckoners and 4 chains in his 75. Also, he had young pyromancers and chandra’s phoenix, so I boarded 1x last breath, 1x glare of heresy, 1x chained and 1x wear/tear for second game, removing 2 gods and 2 hammers.... In retrospective, it was a huge mistake since I was so afraid of reckoner and chains and haven’t seen them at all in second game while I drew both glare and wear/tear. He peak eruptioned me and hit me with spark trooper (which I can’t answer unless I
block him which isn’t realistic). Peak eruption set me back enough so he can burn me below zero.

In third game, I removed wear/tear and 1 mortars for gods, but low land hand and another eruption killed me again He was also very slow since he kept a single land (temple of silence) on the draw, but he drew out of it unlike me while I had 2 dragons and 2 reckoners in hand with 3 lands on board (1 of them being nykthos)

So all in all, it was a solid run, but inexperience with the deck hurt me bad since my boarding plans were all over the place and I should’ve put more thought into SB construction.

My loss also had to do with me having no idea what role to take in the MU... I guess I should've just tried to race?

He is quite brave running spark trooper vs Rx, heck I took them out from my burn list because 4x Ash and 4x Boros Reckoner makes the x/1 a huge hurdle.

He is quite brave running spark trooper vs Rx, heck I took them out from my burn list because 4x Ash and 4x Boros Reckoner makes the x/1 a huge hurdle.

But you should be able to remove the blocker EOT and swing easily... Not to mention the MU looks like a race to me, so I'll rarely keep my reck/zealot to block against his empty board...

Is anyone thinking about replacing [card]Wear // Tear[/card] with Revoke Existence?

I've never run Wear / Tear, but I would run Revoke instead if given a choice between the two once BNG is released.

I'd lean towards where/tear since it's an instant. Of the gods currently seeing play, I don't side wear/tear in against those decks anyways and EOT tear on detention sphere is pretty hawt.

Also, sometimes you play against Esper Humans and you fuse wear/tear getting rid of whip+detention sphere for the blowout.

FWIW, Erik Smith just messaged me and said that he cut ash zealots for Firefist strikers and they where awesome for him.

I saw that as well LP, seems infinitely worse after BnG is released.

FWIW, Erik Smith just messaged me and said that he cut ash zealots for Firefist strikers and they where awesome for him.

I'm assuming this is because of the synergy between BTE and FFS? Also the possibility of some free attacks?

I'm rarely home so don't post as much as I want to during the week. I'm not ignoring your questions guys!

@Self(awkward if you think about that statement): Yes, but also the combination of FFS with the haste cards in your deck. It really screws up all of your opponents math and with hammer leads to blowouts.

@TripleD: I've never played vs. burn. Seems very math intensive as you have to judge how fast you need to be when your at 12 or so and they have multiple cards in hand+warleaders helix being a bitch. I think they play anger so you have to be smart about managing your creatures.

@Helios: mulliganing is hard, don't feel bad or get discouraged.

Hi Guys. I'm usually only post in Pyrored thread, because it was the deck I was playing most. Now I'm consider playing Devotion too. What do you think about the BotG "Thunderous Might"? Can this be a red bomb in Devotion deck? It make for itself a attacker Boros Reckoner in a 7/3, or a little creature in a bomb with some devotion. Can this be a card to be play in Devotion or the list is already tight?

@Self(awkward if you think about that statement): Yes, but also the combination of FFS with the haste cards in your deck. It really screws up all of your opponents math and with hammer leads to blowouts.

Well, after replacing AZ with FFS, the only other creature with haste is SBD. Granted, Hammer gives everyone haste.

Hi Guys. I'm usually only post in Pyrored thread, because it was the deck I was playing most. Now I'm consider playing Devotion too. What do you think about the BotG "Thunderous Might"? Can this be a red bomb in Devotion deck? It make for itself a attacker Boros Reckoner in a 7/3, or a little creature in a bomb with some devotion. Can this be a card to be play in Devotion or the list is already tight?

I'm not sure about Thunderous Might. On the one hand, it's a possible blowout. On the other, you get 2 for 1'd. There's so much removal in the format right now, I'm not really willing to take that risk.

LP (or anyone), do you think replacing Ash Zealot with Firefist Striker is a good idea? I'm on the fence about it. I can see how FFS will take people by surprise, but I want the extra devotion and toughness from AZ.

Thanks, LP.

Re: Thunderous Might - seems awful.

Well, the guy who gave me the FFS idea is the same guy who gave me the sideboard guides, blueprint, and decklist itself, so I'd say it's worth a shot.

My last night playing Devotion for a while and ended up 5-1, losing only to Esper aggro. I beat some of the toughest guys in the store, so I'd say it was a good "goodbye" for the deck.

ThoughtXRiot aka Erik Smith vouches for Rw devotion vs BB MD Bx Devotion with Drowns on the side, if you need anyone with cred on Rw Erik Smith is the guy.

I'm sure Bx Devotion player in 1-2 week of testing (or when a pro tells them) will notice that Drowns is just bad vs Ux and Rx Devotion, till then we can still abuse them.

Are there even any significant changes to the deck? I don't really see any of the cards changing in the maindeck, maybe some number of fated conflagrations in SB? Even FC is not very good against any specific MU...

Only card I'm really interested in adding from the new set is satyr nyx-smith in the board.

Are you still playing the Cackler MB?

Eriks SMith current list:

[deck]2 Boros Guildgate
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Sacred Foundry
11 Mountain

4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Firefist Striker
2 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge

3 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Hammer of Purphoros

Sideboard
3 Assemble the Legion
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Boros Charm
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Last Breath
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Wear // Tear
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Chandra, Pyromaster[/deck]

I believe he's planning on playing +1 Ash, -1 Chain to Board, -1 Glare

Correct, and he has some sideboarding suggestions on the Sally thread too.