Midwest...Love it! I'm currently working on a way to try to get Joraga Warcaller and Master Biomancer in this deck and you may wanna try the same. Their interaction is crazy because:

Even if Joraga Warcaller isn't kicked, he will get a minimum of two +1/+1 counters from Master Biomancer . This will in turn pump all of your other elves. If you pump Joraga Warcaller ; he in turn pumps all other elves INCLUDING Master Biomancer (which makes the next guys coming in even bigger!).

Needless to say, they get crazy together (and can end a game quick). I'll post this on your deck site as well.

As much as you seem to be impressed by Fecundity , it really is a sideboard card. It can keep a control deck from putting you down in the early turns, but you're probably going to find it to be lacking against aggro and combo decks.

Nissa Revane also slows you down. You want to be more focused on killing your opponent quick than on gaining some life late in the game.

Abundant Growth and Utopia Sprawl are not elves, and cannot attack, there are more effective ways to get that blue mana in the form of fetches, filters, painlands, and checklands such as Hinterland Harbor

Ultimately, you really want to do is to make room for more mana producing 1-drops such as Llanowar Elves , Elvish Mystic and Heritage Druid (which can be used the same turn it comes in.)

Being able to consistently play your 3-drops the turn they come in is a big deal.

Speaking of 3-drops, Elvish Archdruid and Staff of Domination is a win condition if you have at least 5 elves on the table(which you should if you've just Genesis Wave -d. It might be worth adding.

Sam_I_am....thanks for the suggestions! Sounds like you know a good amount about the cards.

To begin, I actually did have a Staff of Domination in the deck originally. I probably should have kept all of the comments/discussion about it within the comments (I cleaned them up once and should not have). During my testing, I often got to the infinite combo (which was awesome!). The only issue I had is that the majority of the time I got there I had already won the game. It felt like kind of a "win more" card. and at the time I thought (maybe wrongly) that I would be better off with a card that facilitated the combo rather than another one that won after I had "gone off" I will put it in again for testing; and see it is worth the slot! There is every possibility it should be. Thanks!

Utopia Sprawl is great card within the deck. Between Arbor Elf and Garruk Wildspeaker ; it simply creates too much mana while also providing a 1-devotion. Often times, Garruk Wildspeaker can untap a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as well as a Forest enchanted with Utopia Sprawl which in turn can trigger the Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx a second time. It enables you to quickly ramp into huge amounts of mana.

I do have to agree that the Abundant Growth 's do not have the same amount of power in the deck as Utopia Sprawl s. While they do help draw a card, fix, mana, and add devotion at the same time; it was the weakest card I found during testing. That's why it's down to a two of. In terms of fixing the mana; with Cavern of Souls , Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx (and sometimes Boseiju, Who Shelters All ), I did worry that Hinterland Harbor would reduce my chance at turns 1 and 2 green mana. To be honest, at first I didn't believe the Misty Rainforest 's were necessary (and that the lost life may not be worth it, especially in a modern where Zoo decks were going to run rampant); but the thinning alone may make up for the life lost ( as in most cases I can simply grab a Forest . I'll give em a try!

I am inclined to believe that Utopia Sprawl is preferable to a mana dork in this deck; however you are entirely right that in many cases a dork is preferable. I will make sure to try out Elvish Mystic in their place during testing (as this is the only way to really know despite my beliefs based on past testing and playing past devotion decks).

Nissa Revane is a one of (and one in the sideboard) as her life-gain effect does come in handy in some situations (although not all). I agree that life-gain is not always useful (and in some matches the one is sided out). I will make sure to see if I win enough "game one" against decks where the life-gain is needed; and/or if I need to just put both in the sideboard. Great suggestion!

As far as Fecundity is concerned; I have to disagree. I have found it to be a linchpin in the success of the deck. I'll provide two examples (one combo vs. Tron and one aggro vs. Zoo). These examples are not only "in response" to your suggestion; but also due to several requests to provide "Gold Fish Examples" of games with Fecundity in the deck.

Example One - Tron

It's turn three. I have on board:

(2) Arbor Elves(2) Forests(1) Nykthos Shrine to Nyx(1) Elvish Mystic(1) Coiling Oracle(1) Fecundity

If you would like to see turns 1-3; please feel free to contact me and I will provide them

My Opponent (playing Tron), plays a Pyroclasm

Without Fecundity , my board is clear and I have 2 cards in hand.

With Fecundity I my board is cleared, but I have 6 cards in hand!

In the scenario, I was able to draw a Genesis Wave and a Garruk Wildspeaker which let me "Combo Off" on turn four. Without it, I would most likely have lost (although there is not a sure way of knowing this).

Example Two - Zoo

Turn One

• I play Forest and Arbor Elf - 5 Cards in hand. - 20 Life.

• Opponent Plays Temple Garden and Wild Nacatl . - 6 cards in hand - 18 life.

Turn Two

• I play Breeding Pool Utopia Sprawl and Coiling Oracle (putting a Forest into play) - 3 cards in hand - 18 life.

• Opponent plays Arid Mesa Fetching Stomping Ground and plays Burning-Tree Emissary and Flinthoof Boar - 4 cards in hand - 16 life.

• Opponent attacks with Wild Nacatl and Flinthoof Boar bringing me down to 12 life.

Turn Three

• I play Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx , Fecundity and Elvish Archdruid - 1 card in hand - 15 life.

• Opponent misses land drop. Plays Lightning Bolt destroying Elvish Archdruid (I draw a card) - 3 cards in hand. - 16 life.

• Opponent attacks with 3/3 Wild Nacatl , 3/3 Flinthoof Boar , and 2/2 Burning-Tree Emissary .

*We block Wild Nacatl with Arbor Elf and Flinthoof Boar with Coiling Oracle . Both die (drawing us two more cards). 2 damage is dealt bringing us to 10 life.

Turn Four

We now have 5 cards in hand (thanks to 3 Fecundity draws). We also have:

(2) Forests (one enchanted with Utopia Sprawl )(1) Breeding Pool(1) Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

The turn goes:

1. Play Utopia Sprawl on enchanted Forest (now has 2 Utopia Sprawl s on it.
2. Tap enchanted forest and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to play Garruk Wildspeaker
3. Untap Nykthos and Enchanted Forest with Garruk Wildspeaker
4. Tap Breeding Pool for Abundant Growth (draw a card)
5. Use remaining 2-mana to trigger Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to generate 6 mana.
6. Play Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in hand as land drop for turn.
7. Use 2 of 6 floating mana to generate 6 more mana. (8 total)
8. Cast Genesis Wave with X=5.

This wave hits a Nissa Revane , Masked Admirers (draw a card), Elvish Visionary (draw a card), a Forest and a Utopia Sprawl .

1. Cast Coiling Oracle in hand with new Forest/Utopia Sprawl (draw a card).
2. Trigger Nissa Revane 's +1 ability to gain 6 life.

We now have:

(3) Forests(3) Utopia Sprawls (2 on one land, 1 on another)(1) Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx(1) Masked Admirer's(1) Coiling Oracle(1) Elvish Visionary(1) Fecundity(1) Garruk Wildspeaker(1) Nissa Revane

3 Cards in hand - 16 life.

• At this point, we haven't won. The opponent ended up playing a Tribal Flames for 5, and a Rancor . The attack with everyone (7/7 Trample Nacatl, 3/3 Boar, 2/2 Emissary) and 5- damage via Tribal Flames to do 12 damage total. This puts us at 4-life.

All three of our blocking creatures died (drawing us three more cards). We start the next turn with 7 cards (thanks to Fecundity)...and plenty of life (via Nissa Revane ). We "Combo Off" to win this game as well.

Needless to say, Fecundity was entirely necessary to win these two matches. While we would have had another card in the place we played Fecundity and can't guarantee we would have lost those matches...we are fairly certain we would have lost without it.

Having said all of this, however, all of the suggestions Sam_I_am made were strong and based on past knowledge of the cards involved. Heritage Druid is one of the most powerful Tribal-Elf cards ever created (as it can be used immediately if you have two other elves on board). All of these are cards I will test with to ensure we have the best set of 60 available. Thanks for your help Sam_I_am!

Midwest....Mer-Elves is awesome! I have two ideas I will run past you (but I'm trying to "mini-test" them to see if they make any sense before I say anything.

I have tested this and i have a few questions.

1. Why 2x Abundant Growth and 4x Utopia Sprawl

I guess its better 4x Abundant Growth and 2x Utopia Sprawl

1. I dont see Fecundity in this deck.. Maybe some mana/draw card would fit better.

From my tests i can see how strong is Genesis Wave , at the point i see it dependant to a win condition.

Some games i began with no mana... so i think two more lands could be great... or instead of that, carry 4x Abundant Growth and 4x Utopia Sprawl

it is impossible to attack with Flinthoof Boar on T2 in your scenario

Let me illustrate the problem with your explanation

Turn 1.

• play Forest (6 cards in hand)
• exile 3 Simian Spirit Guide (3 cards in hand)
• cast Manamorphose making green and blue(still 3 cards in hand)
• I cast Unexpected Results revealing Primal Surge . I cast it. (2 cards in hand)
• Primal Surge reveals 4 Craterhoof Behemoth

I attack for 36 on turn 1.

Does this mean that you should play all of those cards? probably not because that's an unlikely scenario. needless to say, Manamorphose , Primal Surge , Simian Spirit Guide were necessary to win this scenario.

Do you want a scanario with less entropy, try this one

• turn 1. green land + 1-mana elf - 5 cards
• turn 2. draw + green land + 1-mana elf + Heritage Druid + Elvish Archdruid - 2 cards.
• turn 3. you can now spend 9 mana to Genesis Wave for at least 6; 7 if you drew another land. 10 if that land was nykthos.
  

It's also an unlikely scenario that your opponent doesn't bolt your Arbor Elf when you have a land that taps for 2 mana.

in this scenario, you genesis wave for more earlier, and if you have a healthy number of 1-drops, it happens a lot more often, and it relies on you drawing 3-specific cards rather than 6+, and it isn't less vulnerable to a turn 2 pyroclasm than your scenarios are.

and as far as Staff of Domination being a "win more" card, it's actually more of a "win now" card, because it allows you to win one turn earlier than you would have. Your only other "win now" card is Akroma's Memorial , which you only have 1 of.

There's a massive difference between having lethal on the board for next turn, and winning on this turn. one turn is long enough for your opponents to Terminus and Supreme Verdict your board away, or to Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix you to death, or to combo off with their storm deck or one of the Birthing Pod decks.

mateobadajoz2....thank you for testing the deck! Without knowing what decks you've tested against; I can only provide general answers to your questions; but I'll try to relate them to the Modern format as much as I can (i.e. To actual games).

1. There are 4 Utopia Sprawl 's as you want to draw one as early as possible (preferably on turn one). It is a huge ramp card with Arbor Elf and Garruk Wildspeaker . With a perfect draw; you can play Garruk Wildspeaker on turn two and have four additional mana. This can only be done; however, with Utopia Sprawl.

Abundant growth is a great card for fixing, devotion, and cycling through your deck (as it is a cantrip). It does not ramp, however. There were four in here prior to the addition of Fecundity ; however it was the easiest card to remove as it did not move the board state forward as much as the rest of the cards did. It's a spectacular card; I just prefer Utopia Sprawl to it.

1. Again, without knowing what decks you tested against, I can only discuss the addition of Fecundity from my testing point. The deck prior to Fecundity was strong; but match-ups sometimes fell behind when the opponent had ample spot/mass removal. This deck pours a lot go creatures on the board; however most start out quit small. Having Fecundity allows you to block and attack aggressively (and not to worry about removal) due to the fact that every creature that dies puts another one in your hand.

Fecundity has won me several games simply because I drew into a Genesis Wave ...generally a wave for 4-6 will end the game; and that is no problem if you draw out half of your deck in the first four turns of the game.

Just today I played a match against affinity that I was down in. They had lethal damage on board and I had only two creatures. I blocked with both (bringing me down to four life). I drew two cards off of Fecundity one of which was a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and the other a Genisis Wave. The card for turn was Utopia Sprawl and I "Waved" for 5 and won the match. Had Fecundity not been there; I may have had another creature, but I would have drawn the Nykthos and lost.

Fecundity is great against UWR Control, Jund, Rock, Tron, Affinity, Twin, and Zoo. Being able to draw enough cards (a) to use all the mana you can generate and (b) to dig for a Genesis Wave has proven (at least in our testing thus far) to be quite invaluable. The card advantage it creates can become overwhelming. We will continue to test and ensure it's not a "fluke" however at this point we are confidant enough to keep it in.

Genesis Wave is the main win condition of this deck. This deck functions as a combo deck 90% of the times have won without it. It is a definite necessity in the deck. We have won without it though. We won simply Overrun -ing a Garruk Wildspeaker with Four Elves on board. We've even won by hard casting Akroma's Memorial with 2 Masked Admirers and 2 Elvish Archdruid 's. While I would disagree that a Genesis Wave is the only way to win; it is the purpose of the deck. That why all the card draw is in there. You will find at least one Wave in your first four turns :). At that point; you should have enough mana to cast it. It functions like a "Combo" deck (where your purpose is finding the broken interaction over controlling the game and chipping away at the opponent). Just as Tron uses a majority of its cards to get itself to the board state needed to cast its big cards (I.e. Using all the draw artifacts, ancient stirrings, sylvan scrying, etc.) to get to Tron; so to do we (using Elvish Visionary, Coiling Oracle, Abundant Growth, Masked Admirers, and Fevundity to draw into a wave (and have the board state to cast if). It just happens that the "digging cards" can play another role in the deck.

I hope this helps a little. I'd love to hear more about your testing! Please feel free to send a message on our way. Thanks again for testing the deck and for letting us know what you think!

hey Staff of Domination can create infinite mana! haha

Sam_I_am

1. Providing a scenario about cards that do not have any synergy to show that "nut draws" are unlikely but sometimes happen doesn't really support your argument against the cards being used (just that the "nut draw" is not likely even though it's possible). The scenario you provide after this with Heritage Druid and "waving" on turn-3 is a "nut draw" as well. There is nothing wrong with this at all (as it shows the power of the cards together)...but this is the best way to show how powerful a deck can be.
   

"Nut draws" and other such scenarios are a way to showcase a deck. Modern is a fast format. People like to know that a deck can both (a) win by turn 4 and (b) be able to survive if it does not. They also know that a deck that can do that much damage that quickly can also win by doing less damage.

I've since tried to show multiple scenarios against disruptive decks, fast aggro decks, and control decks to try to show why each card is there and how they interact with one another against such decks. I will continue to test and provide examples where I can. I most certainly will try out your set of cards as well to see if they are a better option! I appreciate the suggestions!

I believe (based on playing and researching the archetype) that Utopia Sprawl , Arbor Elf and Garruk Wildspeaker are good choices for a mono-green devotion deck. Would you argue that Michael Jacob's version is poor? It runs the same cards (4 of each) for the same reasons. He has tested quite a bit on his stream and has not changed these cards...is he also missing something?

1. Your scenario requires that they also don't bolt/destroy your mana elves or Elvish Archdruid and/or they don't counter your Heritage Druid or Genesis Wave as well...This, however, is something that can be said about most decks. Bolts, Thoughtseizes, and/or counters can be disruptive against any decks. It is just important that you be able to deal with such disruptions.

If they bolt your turn-1 mana elf or your turn two Elvish Archdruid ...you can't generate any more than 3-4 mana and you have 1-2 cards in hand. I was thinking about the cards you outlined:

Turn One

1. Play Forest
2. Cast Elvish Mystic

Cards in Hand = 5Devotion = 1

Turn Two

1. Draw Card
2. Play Forest
3. Cast Elvish Archdruid (with mana from Elvish Mystic and both Forests)

Card in Hand = 4Devotion = 3

Turn Three

1. Draw Card
2. Play Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3. Tap Forest for Heritage Druid
4. Tap other Forest for second Elvish Mystic
5. Tap two Mystics and Heritage Druid for 3-mana.
6. Tap Elvish Archdruid for 4 mana. (7 total)
7. Use 2-mana to trigger Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for 5 mana. (10 Total)
8. Tap other Forest for Genesis Wave with X=7

Cards in Hand = 1 Devotion = 5

This is a great set of turns! This, however, is also a "nut draw" scenario. If either (a) your mana dork was bolted after turn one, (b) either your mana dork or your elvish archdruid was bolted/destroyed on turn two, or (c) they counter your Heritage Druid or Genesis Wave ; you are left with 1 card in hand. Having said this, anyone can say "what if your creature is destroyed?" and/or "what your spell is countered?" is rarely a useful comment :)

This is a great idea though! I will certainly try out replacing Utopia Sprawl with Heritage Druid and Arbor Elf with Elvish Mystic and test this idea. You never can know until you test :) While I fear it may reduce the "early ramping" power of the deck; maybe the benefit of Heritage Druid and an additional "elf" will pay off in other ways. I appreciate the suggestion!

And right now, I am testing with Staff of Domination in the deck (have been for the last two days). I will put it in the above list (just so people don't think I'm not considering the card). It really just a scenario of making sure that the card is necessary. I understand completely what you are saying Sam_I_am..it is a great card...I just want to make sure that it wins enough games that would not otherwise be won (as often an Ezuri trigger and/or Akroma's Memorial allow you to win on the same turn you begin your "wave shenanigans" so that it is worth the loss of devotion, ramping, and/or one elf. I am not saying that it isn't! Please don't get me wrong. I am just in the middle of testing it.

Thanks Sam_I_am! I've got some great ideas to test!

Dreno33.... I am well acquainted with Staff of Domination it is an awesome card! Thanks for suggesting it! It actually was in the original few versions of this deck. I am also currently re-testing it given the multiple suggestions for it. If it appears after a few dozen games that Staff wins a few games that otherwise would have been lost, and it is worth the changes made (as I would want to add a 4th Archdruid, etc.) it for sure will be in. There has to be an Archdruid that can tap for enough (not summoning sick) and the staff in play; so its not automatic; but it is amazing! I'll keep you posted!

Testing based on your suggestions! Thank to both of you for you testing and educated suggestions.

My point was that when you fabricate scenarios, like that zoo scenario, you can't really rely on that scenario playing out at any time in the future.

Your first 9 had 2 land, arbor elf, utopia sprawl. elvish archdruid, coiling oracle, Fecundity, and nykthos. your next 3 cards just happened to inlcude garruk and genesis wave.

That's a lot of what-ifs

I was merely trying to demonstrate crazier scenarios with fewer what-ifs to emphasize how many were in your scenario.

Sam_I_am...

MTG is a game of chance. There will always be "what-ifs". The only thing brewers can do is choose the amount of each card to place in a deck to help promote the odds that cards are drawn more often and earlier. That is the reason for the many 4-of's in the deck. This is the attempt to make sure they are in your fist few turns. Of course you know all of this.

The examples provided are always going to show how the cards work together when they work out. Just as your Heritage Druid example assumed that your turn-one Elvish Mystic and your turn-two Elvish Archdruid were not disrupted in any way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. You were trying to show my how well the cards can work together. This is what I have done when asked about the use of Fecundity and/or other cards. That, and there are only so many "Turn One" plays, "Turn Two" plays :) But this is all just us arguing over whether examples should be best case scenarios or prefaced with the fact that not all turns go as well as the examples provided. To be honest, it's probably both!

Having said this; you are right. There are always gonna be bad games. I just don't list those out :) The win percentage; however, has been good enough to keep me interested in continuing to test the deck as a viable Modern deck.

I do appreciate your taking the time to help make the deck better where it can be. I'm excited to test out Heritage Druid and Elvish Mystic and of course continue to test with Staff of Domination in hopes the deck can perform even better!

CurdBrosBrewingCo actually, the heritage druid example did not assume an Elvish Mystic . it assumed 1-mana elf (elf that costs 1 mana)

Sam_I_am....sounds good. It assumed that your turn-one, one-drop elf (be it Heritage Druid , Elvish Mystic , etc.) did not get bolted. I apologize for the missed distinction (as it does matter if you have both Mystics and Druids)...Currently testing both. Thanks.

Forgot to mention that we also added one additional Cavern of Souls and Forest and reduced the Breeding Pool count to One.

With Cavern of Souls set at "Elf" it can literally cast any creature in your deck (and can also cast the blue half of Coiling Oracle ). Between the Misty Rainforest 's, Breeding Pool , Abundant Growth 's, and Utopia Sprawl 's; the one blue mana needed for Coiling Oracle is not difficult to obtain and there is no need to take more damage (and open ourselves up to more "non-basic land destruction".)

Also, as many requested; the land count was increased from 20 to 21. Thanks for the help!

did it feel good being able to post on here again? lol

Hahaha! It did. I was beginning to worry it would never be up again :). It was nice to have several days to test without posting (as I tend to. "Over post" with every single idea and change ( whether they work in the long- run or not) :). I guess its best in the end to get feedback on each idea (as casual players like us can really only test so much); but I'm sure there's a happy medium between me and someone who doesn't post at all! It also makes for LONG pages (but I try to clean them up when I feel the deck hits a "stable-ish" point.

But, yes, the withdrawal symptoms have definitely subsided substantially :)

How do you go about playtesting? Do you and your brother play against each other a lot or do you play online (etc)?

This deck is looking very solid. Between it and your original devotion deck, which do you feel is stronger? I know that question is match up dependent but overall?

Hey Midwest

Yes. My brother and I do a lion's share of the play-testing. We do have a group of guys we also test with locally as well to help get outside eyes on decks. We haven't done a lot of online testing as we don't have a ton of cards on MTGO (as we didn't want to duplicate our collection and spend another $10,000 + getting virtual versions of the cards as well as actually paper versions). Having said this, I do believe that MTGO is most likely the best testing tool out there...we just haven't made the financial decision to jump in yet.

Our main form of testing is literally just sitting down and playing the deck against what we consider the decks that make up a majority of the meta over and over again. We've actually built all of the following decks (with some having a few different "iterations"):

1. UWR Control.
2. UW Control
3. Splinter Twin
4. Zoo (Tribal and Regular)
5. Affinity
6. Tron (both U and RG)
7. Jund
8. Merfolk
9. G/W Hexprooof (Aura)
10. Scapeshift
11. U/B Mill (added recently to testing due to suggestion)
12. Red Deck Wins
13. Kiki Pod
14. Melira Pod
15. Infect
16. Living End
17. Goyro's Vengence / Fist of Suns variant.

We have a few other "rogue-is" decks like Hatebearer and Dreadgvine that we test against randomly against (just to see if there are any "hosers" that wipe us out that we either (a) need to plan a little bit for, or (b) keep our fingers crossed we don't run up against :) In the end, you can only cram so much into 75 cards!

There is a group we test with, however many weeknights it is just myself and my brother playing against one deck against as many decks as possible for 4-6 hours. We weight the decks we play against based on MTG Top 8's site (which outlines the percentage of each deck over the meta in both the past two weeks and past two months), and play more games against the more popular decks (and dedicate more of the sideboard to those match-ups which are difficult) .

This is actually a big reason we prefer and rely on the TappedOut community comments and suggestions... Even though we watch A TON of videos (we are fortunate to own our own company and can have videos on while we work), read every article we can find, streams, etc and play-test quite often (which is a great way to learn how to get pretty good with all of the decks in the meta :) and we feel we are relatively well versed on the Modern format (as we focus almost solely on Modern); there will always be people out there who have tested against other players/decks, see something we don't, or have better proficiency in an opposing deck. I take knowledge, suggestions, information, and criticism from anywhere and everywhere that I can!

To answer your second question...I'm not quite sure....This deck seems to be a stronger deck against the current meta. The main reason I say this is because of the rise of both control and Zoo decks and the fall of Jund. This has a favorable match-up against Zoo as you can chump block and draw your way into a win pre-board; and post board you can use Nissa Revane to gain more life than the damage they can do. I feel like this deck is better against control. With four Cavern of Souls and Boseiju, Who Shelters All in the board; control has also become quite beatable. Both Control and Twin are becoming a large percentage of the meta; so I would say this deck is currently a little stronger.

That said, the Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW) is far more straight-forward; and Mistcutter Hydra just annihilates control if you get there. Even a Mistcutter Hydra at like 6/6 puts them on a super quick clock (especially if they don't play white for Path to Exile ). I ended up just putting in one more Carven Caryatid and one less Wistful Selkie into the deck due to the rise of Zoo decks to help with the Zoo match-up as well. Although if you can get a Nylea, God of the Hunt down quickly, she pretty much ends a match against Zoo....ugh...it's like picking a favorite child :)

To be honest, if I were picking up a devotion deck for the first time, I would play Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW) as it is a more straight-forward, aggro-based, and powerful "ramp" deck where you ramp into fatties. It is very powerful and takes advantage of devotion as much as can be (with numerous mana sinks, Nylea, God of the Hunt , Primalcrux , and Aspect of Hydra ). I would say it is the better use of the Devotion Mechanic.

I, however, personally prefer to play this deck (the Elf Devotion Deck) because I feel it is more versatile, more resilient, and the synergy among the cards allows you to win without ever getting a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx . You can generate more mana outside of Nykthos and build up resource advantage (both on board and in hand) so quickly that a majority of decks becomes beatable. It seems to have more lines to winning. This is a deck that once you've played enough, you can quickly win via many different lines against many different decks. If it is a given that you have complete understanding of each deck; I would say that this deck has a better chance of winning a tournament than Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW) by a thin margin; as it seems competitive against a large swath of decks and is very fast.

To be honest, I don't really know if one is inherently much better than the other. With a gun to my head, I would say in the current meta; this deck is a little stronger; but the Green Devotion deck leads to less mistakes and this can be a big deal. I know that doesn't help much :) To be entirely honest, I think it honestly depends on the play-style you prefer. A player that prefers more aggro-based and more ramp-based decks will prefer Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW). A player that prefers to play combo decks and/or slightly more complex decks will prefer this one. I'm a HUGE proponent of finding one's play-style and playing decks within that style (as you simply will play better and this will lead to more wins); so this is an important distinction.

Wow, that is quite the investment. But seeing as you guys have built all of the modern decks I think that your playtesting should be considered pretty stalwart as a whole. I don't get to playtest all that much as my best friend Nick is the only person who I have to really playtest with and he's in college. So, it leads to scheduling/time constraints. We however use Cockatrice as a way to test our deck against all of the top 8 meta decks. It allows to test online without (as you mentioned) the money investment. I'm not one to invest much into digital things anyway. I still buy CDs on hard copy lol.

All in all I like the original deck more because as you said it's a playstyle preference. But I was curious to see if you felt the two decks were pretty comparable in power level seeing as you know them better than anyone else, as they are your decks. Once I have my deck papered out (It's almost there) I have a few buds at my local comic shop who should be able to help me with playtesting and just general play knowledge. So, I'm looking forward to that.

Midwest...I LOVE Cockatrice. It is a great tool. I'm even so addicted that I have purchased Go To My PC app so that I can access Cockatrice on my iPad if I'm not at my computer :)

I agree that Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW) is the much more straight-forward deck. It is a green-ramp deck to the extreme and you are right that it takes advantage of devotion and can be more powerful. Given the amazing green ramp decks you've made; I can totally understand your preference of it over the Elf deck. To be honest, I would say both are equally powerful (and competitive). I am in a "combo" deck mode currently (and I don't get to often with being a green mage); so this goes a long way into my playing this deck. That., and I'm an elf nut :)

Like I said, I wouldn't consider one inherently more powerful than the other, and play-style preference will definitely be the most important distinction when choosing which of these two decks to play (i.e. playing the one you prefer will trump any extremely thin difference in power-level based on the meta one may have over the other)

Your deck, however, is just as strong and fits your play-style as well. You had a lot to do with the final build of the Devotion deck as well; so that makes sense!