#2 deck on Tappedout the week of April 20th. Thanks everyone!
If you like technical play, managing aggressive manabases, and fielding powerful, unusual creatures that don't see a lot of action in standard, this white devotion deck is competitive, fun, and really rewarding. It uses
Mastery of the Unseen
, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, and Citadel Siege to power out legions of diverse creatures way ahead of the curve.
History
I had been hopelessly trying to make BW Warriors work and at the same time playing with
Mastery of the Unseen
in a list very similar to the GP Miami GW Devotion deck. I had a decent, black-focussed deck, but it didn't compare to the Tier 1 aggro lists. As an experiment I tried to switch to a nearly mono-white version, using 2/1s-for-1 like
Dragon Hunter
and Mardu Woe-Reaper, but it wasn't long before I started wondering if I couldn't drop the warriors theme and try to build a mono-white devotion deck that used manifest and creature-based effects instead. I threw in 4
Loyal Pegasus
and a Hall of Triumph but I found that while the deck worked, all of these 2/1s totally sucked as topdecks. I had already decided to run 8 WB mana sources in order to play Athreos, God of Passage as a way to return non-creature manifests to my hand, so I switched most of the 1 drops out for creatures that played better mid to late game. Boom. God of Manifest.
Orzhov Manifest Deck Tech
Versatile 1 Drops
Soldier of the Pantheon
: With all the Abzan decks floating around, if there was one 2/1 for 1 to keep it was this guy.
Mardu Hateblade
: A strictly bad card that is fantastic in this deck. Hateblade is an efficient devotion producer, gets buffed by Anafenza and Siege, and easily threatens with deathtouch thanks to the wealth of black mana sources.
Swing Cards
Archetype of Courage: There are strictly better 3 drops like Brimaz, King of Oreskos (who is included in the sideboard at the moment, and should generally be swapped in game 2), but nothing makes this deck sing against other creature-oriented decks like giving all your guys first strike. Great interaction with deathtouch and vigilance.
Spear of Heliod: Like the other swing cards in this deck, Spear produces two white devotion sources, improves our board state enormously, and also features a pseudo-removal element.
Dictate of Heliod: One of the rare non-creature spells included in this deck, Dictate significantly upgrades every single creature you put on the board. Flashing it in can be devastating.
The Manifest Engine
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
+
Citadel Siege
+
Mastery of the Unseen
: This is bananas, even in parts. For four mana you're potentially making a 5/5 creature at instant speed, plus being able to turn it over if you have the mana available, triggering lifegain and a variety of other possible interactions.
Gods
Heliod, God of the Sun: Giving all your creatures Vigilance makes Heliod a massive swing card, particularly if you have Archetype of Courage out. The fact that he comes online with only 5 devotion means he's almost always a creature.
Athreos, God of Passage: Athreos generally adds a tremendous amount of value to the board for you. Since he comes online using white devotion he usually comes into play as a creature. Potentially returning creatures to your hand when they die (especially things like non-creature Manifests) is fantastic, but so is your opponent taking 3 damage whenever a creature dies, which is usually what's going to happen, since giving you your creatures back usually just means you're going to cast them again, triggering Anafenza. This deck is exactly where Athreos wants to be.
Other Surprises
Hidden Dragonslayer
: The card that wrecks Abzan decks, Dragonslayer is one of this deck's all-stars, frequently coming into play Bolstered as a Morph or Manifest, then Megamorphing to become a 4/3 Lifelinker that destroys a 4-power creature. Magic.
Sunscorch Regent: One of this deck's big closers. Normally this card is more of a limited bomb than standard staple, but here its 3 toughness commonly puts it within range of Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, and a Citadel Siege quickly takes it out of burn range. Plus the fuels devotion for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
Ashen Rider: Don't mistake this card for flavour. This armoured, flying cat-riding lady is your girlfriend, breaking up stalled boards and generally wreaking havoc once you get her out.
Manabase
I've climbed to 23 lands from 21, but managing your land drops and your turn 3 casting is critical to making this deck work. Play and tap duplicate Nykthoses and bump the existing one post-tap for an extra mana, or use two of the produced devotion to double your mana for the turn for a massive burst of Manifests. Once you have 2 sources, a Nykthos, and four devotion you're usually laughing.
Black Edition
Just for fun I started tinkering around to see if I could make this deck concept work in other color combinations. If you like this one, check out God of Manifest (Black Edition). Some of the core concepts are the same but the deck plays very differently, while still being versatile and super fun.
Standard recklesspong
SCORE: 4 |
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Have fun!
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