It’s been an overwhelming week in Modern.
We finally got our Oko banning. The Thief of Crowns had his finale at GP Austin and SCG Knoxville, where the top 8s contained a combined 46 copies of Eldraine’s biggest mistake. That ban was past due, but it wasn’t the only one. I was not emotionally prepared for the others.
If you know me, you know I love . . . loved my Mox Opals. I love artifacts, and I love fast mana. The Opal ban has been rough on me in the way the Faithless Looting banning was rough on passionate Phoenix players. Some of my identity lived in those Opals, and some of my identity lives in a longbox now.
RIP Mox Opal 2011 – 2020
They also banned Mycosynth Lattice? I really wasn’t expecting this, and it felt like salt in a wound for me personally. I had multiple Karn lock brews waiting for the Oko banning. Now I have 75 card dreams that never came true.
This all happened just days before Theros Beyond Death released online and hit stores for Prerelease weekend. I love new cards and I’ve been really excited for this! The emotional rollercoaster of this week has been enough to give me vertigo. I’ve been anguised, elated, disoriented, and confused—and now I want to play green?
Very Big Mana
Before Monday’s B&R, I’d been working with lists that aimed to win by casting Karn, the Great Creator and his trusty Mycosynth Lattice as quickly as possible. The most promising brew was a Green Devotion list, so I was really excited to see a build of the same archetype reach the finals of SCG Knoxville.
Green Devotion by Christopher Gooch, 2nd Place SCG Knoxville
If you’re not familiar with Green Devotion, the plan is to play a lot of permanents with green pips in their mana cost, tap Nyxthos, Shrine of Nyx for silly amount of mana, and slam whatever expensive haymaker you want. Except not Karn and Lattice anymore.
The engine is still powerful, and it’s got tools in Modern that it doesn’t have in Pioneer. Oath of Nissa and Once Upon of Time are both legal (for now); and while Llanowar Tribe may look like a joke about elves in a trenchcoat, it’s very good in this archetype. With Noble Hierarch on turn one and Llanowar Tribe on turn two, you’ve got seven mana on turn three without Leyline of Abundance. With Leyline, there are a multitude of draws that let you cast a seven-drop that early.
Keep your pants on, I told you there would be no Karns. Because I can’t keep my hands off new toys, I’ve been trying Theros Beyond Death’s mythic rare Mana Flare: Nyxbloom Ancient.
Is Ancient excessive? Sometimes—but losing feels nearly impossible when it resolves, and it’s won me some grindy games. You don’t always have a Leyline, and your opponent can remove your mana dorks or Field of Ruin your Nykthos. Making every basic land into an active Urza’s Tower is a decent backup plan.
And when you do have it all— oh man, you have it all. Tripling the output of Nykthos and Castle Garenbrig feels delightfully absurd. Necessary? Maybe not. But it’s helped me get through my grief this week, so I’m keeping one Ancient in my list for now.
Green Devotion—Urchin Colley Test Deck
A lot of the cards in Green Devotion only build your mana. Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, Burning-Tree Emissary, Llanowar Tribe, and Leyline of Abundance are dedicated to that purpose. You have great selection with Oath of Nissa and Once Upon a Time, but a lot of decks will outvalue you if the game goes on too long. Building Green Devotion requires paying attention to that issue, and I’ve been looking to find card advantage in my selection of payoffs.
Getting Paid
Gooch played Genesis Hydra in his SCG list to grab an extra permanent for free. That addresses the card advantage issue well, but without Karn, the Great Creator as a worthwhile payoff, I’ve left Genesis Hydra out.
Instead, I’m focusing on an assortment of X-creatures that generate value up-front. The cast trigger on Hydroid Krasis is effectively an extra spell, and Voracious Hydra has overperformed as a big beater with a removal spell stapled to it. Walking Ballista has been surprisingly disappointing; I’m keeping one in the sideboard for Vivian, but I’ve cut all copied from the main deck.
The other feature I like about this payoff package is that it scales. Krasis and Hydra are fantastic when they’re huge, but they’re hardly dead cards when your engine is offline. Eating one opposing threat and setting up to block another makes a small Voracious Hydra great against fast aggro. I’ve included a couple of Questing Beasts for similar reasons. You want to play a reasonable early-midgame, rather than being brittle with a massive top end. Also, if you haven’t attacked with a Questing Beast on turn two, you haven’t really lived.
In general, when brewing decks that aim for big payoffs, you want to avoid cards that are dead when the game isn’t going your way. If you play Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in your main deck, for example, you can end up holding an uncastable card when your mana engine isn’t firing on all cylinders.
That’s where Vivian, Arkbow Ranger steps in. She’s been used in Pioneer Green Devotion, and she’s still great here. Pumping up your team and interacting outside of combat both generate value advantage, and the Living Wish board she enables lets you play those massive closers without risk of drawing bricks. Plus, three green pips!
The wish board is full of those massive haymakers and creatures that function as spells for narrow situations. Craterhoof Behemoth has an Overrun effect, Walking Ballista has reach, Ulamog removes problem permanents, and Emrakul gives you an extra combat step when you can’t safely pass the turn. There’s lots of room to tune here. Pile on the spaghetti monsters and go nuts.
The giant in the room we haven’t been talking about is Primeval Titan. Honestly, in Green Devotion, you can do better. There aren’t great green lands to tutor for, and it’s easy to make much larger tramplers in this deck. Don’t be mistaken—Primeval Titan is one of the best cards in Modern right now, but this is not the home for him.
Sideboard
Apart from your wishboard, there are a few options to change the play patterns of this deck for game two. I wanted capacity to board into a lower curve against aggressive decks or decks that are likely to kill your mana creatures, so Kitchen Finks and sometimes Scavenging Ooze are useful. Carnage Tyrant is a strong choice against hard removal and countermagic. I’ve included a little hate in the form of Collector Ouphe, Grafdigger’s Cage, and Scavenging Ooze.
And of course, we’re playing Veil of Summer. This deck is characteristically green, so it’s sensitive to removal and falling behind on cards. Shoring up those weaknesses with a one-mana two-for-one is honestly absurd, but that’s Veil of Summer for you.
There are a lot of sideboard options worth considering depending on what matchups you want to target. Shapers’ Sanctuary, Thragtusk, Dismember, and Reclamation Sage are all worth considering.
I’m not arguing that Green Devotion is the next top dog in competitive Modern; but it’s a lot of fun, and strong enough to play interesting games of Magic. Without the Urza Midrange deck’s endless string of Cryptic Commands, investing in gigantic threats is more viable. The biggest challenge is handling decks with Thoughtseize and Fatal Push that can dismantle your linear game plan.
The Queen of Green?
There’s something about Modern that, for a lot of us, connects to our personal identities. The strategies take dedication to master, and the cards aren’t cheap, so people get attached to Modern archetypes like they might to sports teams or even pets.
Green Devotion is anything but my style of deck. Yet, during this week of mourning, I’ve really enjoyed playing it. If you haven’t recently, play something that’s far outside what you’re used to. Borrow a deck, rent one online, just give it a shot. It’s novel and can give you insights into gameplay you might otherwise be missing.
And if you’re also someone who saw themselves reflected in Opal, I’m so sorry. Try casting a 40/40 Hydroid Krasis. It’s surprisingly comforting.