2-1 FNM

Played an early round game with the deck, it performed well.

Match 1 was against a BWR aggro deck. Key play against my opponent was first game where after recieving a few early beats by a pair of Precinct Captain , my opponent plays Fabled Hero . Building my board i stop the ground assaults, next turn he suits up his hero with a Gift of Orzhova and flies in. 28-6 is the score, he's confident of the win. My turn i play Prophet of Kruphix , with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Voyaging Satyr on board. Pass turn i untap, respond to untap, generate mana to play, and monstrous Arbor Colossus killing his Hero, and shifting the game.

2-0

Match 2 was against a Jund deck. Flooded first game, and battled stuck at 4 mana for too long on the second.

0-2

Match 3 was agains a Simic Pauper Brew. Beat him handily, he was playing too much tempo with not enough threats. He did wind up stealing the second game from me by pinging me with a pair of unchecked Metropolis Sprite , so i sideboarded my whole anti blue devotion package and beat him soundly for game 3.

2-1

Fun matchups, not sure where deck sits in current meta since i didn't encounter a single net-deck. But that's fine, i did some ridicuous things and even when on the back foot felt as if you play the deck out, it can dig out of tough spots and win. That's all you can ask for a mid-range beater.

3-0 FNM

This deck is really fun.

Match 1: Went against a G/R deck homebrew. Deck wasn't as focused so wound up having to playing around him turning lands into creatures thru Hammer of Purphoros and the guildmage. Was able to overload Cyclonic Rift in two games, which won the game both times.

Match 2: Mono-White an incredibly long arduous win. Game one took up most of the time, as i continued to put pressure but my opponent played really well on the back foot. He recognized early that targeting my Voyaging Satyr would buy him time. i think there was an inevitability to the first game because of my eventual card advantage through Garruk, Caller of Beasts but hiding behind the solid defense of Boros Reckoner and Heliod, God of the Sun helped buy time. After sideboard he decided to play underneath me and went all-in on aggro, which worked, and we were fast to approach a draw. So i lowered my curve by taking out Arbor Colossus and Mistcutter Hydra for Witchstalker and Boon Satyr . Curved out into an early Polukranos, World Eater and kept him on the ropes, finishing the game into turn 1 of time by flashing in Boon Satyr for lethal damage on an attack.

Match 3 was against R/G. A new list that is really good, running all 4 planeswalker you can possibly play in those colors, and finishing you off with Palukranos or Stormbreath Dragon bloodrushed with Ghor-Clan Rampager . i've playtested against it and watched it playtested against other net-decks, and watch it destroy devotion decks.. But my opponent was not privy to my deck, and that afforded me the win first game. Two decision cost him the first game. Using Palukranos ability followed up by Domri Rade in attacking my larger devotion count cards in Burning-Tree Emissary and Palukranos, ignoring my pair of Voyaging Satyr. i was holding the Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in my hand, and with 4 devotion on board, i was soon ramping and filling back up my board.

By the final game he was privy to the strategy but i had a perfect hand of ramp, and really awesome draws into all the key cards. i think it was turn 5 or 6 i was sitting with a Prophet of Kruphix with an Arbor Colossus in play. Played a Garruk and he scooped before i used it's ability, and i already had a Prime Speaker Zegana in play at the ready to cast during his turn. i'm glad he just scooped as it would have likely taken me 5 minutes just to count and use the mana in the correct efficient order, He had defenders, but the writing was most certainly on the wall, i was moving Mach 20...

This deck is actually pretty versatile, simple, effective. And once it get's going it plays like an EDH deck.

I freaking love this deck. It's like a slightly different version of my main deck, and my friends hate playing against it. Perhaps a Shipbreaker Kraken or a couple Nimbus Swimmer would add some fun variety to the deck with some ridiculous power and abilities. Have fun with ramping with Polukranos, World Eater

Thanks for the feedback, yah the deck has been super fun to play for me too.

Shipbreaker Kraken seems interesting. It provides a similar effect to the Cyclonic Rift but it provides a house of a body. Those are the pro's, but the drawback is the double blue casting cost (which doesn't help devotion, and can be tough early to get double blue), and the cost and speed on which to set it off. Rift is just way too much more consistent and cheaper. Had it been cheaper and just tapped 2 guys it might find it's way into the deck as a sideboard against aggro decks.

Nimbus Swimmer is something to think about for sure. You may as well view his casting cost at UG6 though, since that's what's it's going to take for him to compete with an opponents Arbor Colossus , Desecration Demon . i do miss having a mana-sink with a main-board Mistcutter Hydra like in my older version, but being alive and hoping to draw a mana-sink isn't the end of the world usually. For 8 cumulative mana, i would favor trying Archetype of Endurance . i think the card would give control and removal heavy decks fits...

But i like both suggestions, thanks. Though i also think they might very well be variety in winning, and the basic elements that i already have do the job.

Hey sk00kes. Thanks for sharing the deck. I enjoyed playing against you at the Monday night standard the other night. It was worth losing horribly that night just to get to see this deck in action, and I decided to take my similar blue/green deck in a similar direction.

I dropped the two Jace, Architect of Thought 's and Dissolve 's out of the main deck, and picked up another Cyclonic Rift and Garruk, Caller of Beasts . So I now have two Garruks and two C-rifts in the main deck. I'm still running 3 Prophet of Kruphix (instead of 4) and 2 Prognostic Sphinx (instead of 3). I also put in 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and 2 Nylea, God of the Hunt after seeing how well they worked in your deck.

I would consider trying to fit Prognostic Sphinx into the deck, as it synergizes very well with Courser of Kruphix and can also increase Garruk's chance of pulling creatures for you. Dropping a Boon Satyr on one also makes it a 7/7 flyer which can deal with a Desecration Demon or an Arbor Colossus (assuming it's not able to go monstrous). Anyway, thanks for the advice the other night ... I will post my version sometime soon and be sure to give you credit for it. Thanks again.

Hey, I noticed you're splashing black now. Have you considered running Golgari Charm in the sideboard? Seems to me like it would work very nicely against control decks.

Also. What have you been side-boarding to deal with Pack Rat ?

Yah, the splash is an experiment, but helped enable me to go 6-1 overall the other night. i would say that the influx of scry-lands have actually helped enable me to sift through my draws, and it's been more helpful in the deck than i might have had suspected. Only occasionally am i upset with the shortcoming of it being a tap-land, and/or held back a turn for not having the correct color. But the trade-off is being able to keep heavy land hands, which make fighting through Thoughtseize and Lifebane Zombie much easier.

Your recommendation of Golgari Charm is in fact something i had not considered, and actually a really good suggestion. It would kill Pack Rat early, and it can kill Lifebane Zombie . Countering Supreme Verdict seems really good as well.

As far as my sideboarding against any of the Mono-black variants. i've only been sideboarding in Rapid Hybridization and the additional Garruk, Caller of Beasts . i usually take out 1 Prime Speaker Zegana and the pair of Elvish Mystic . The strategy is i want to very much continue what i'm doing and not worry about them so much. It will be a slow grindy match, but in the end if i gain card advantage, i win.

As far as Pack Rat i don't worry about it. If my opponent has an awesome first hand with the rat, the draws go good, they will win regardless of what i sideboard. But the deck is totally fine with playing around a Rat, in fact, if my opponent is not careful they can wind up putting themselves in a proverbial rat-hole, if i am able to stabilize then Cyclonic Rift overload it's pretty much victory. So Cyclonic Rift is no joke, you keep them all in after-sideboard. Bouncing a Rat or an Underworld Connections early game tempo's them out, and get's them behind.

I had actually been considering splashing black for Golgari Charm , but had never even considered playing Thoughtsieze or Vraska the Unseen . Seems like Thoughtsieze would be an excellent sideboard against control matchups.

What you're saying with Pack Rat makes a lot of sense. Cyclonic Rift is an excellent late game way to deal with rats, but most of the time they are not a problem unless my opponent plays one on turn 2. I have been considering playing Rapid Hybridization or possibly even Ratchet Bomb in the side to deal with that. I'll have to give Rapid Hybridization a try.

Thanks again. I love playing this deck. :)

Sure, love the fact that someone else is diggin it too.

Rapid Hybridization works very well for a turn 2 Rat, though if i had a Rift i would rather burn a Rift. As making a frog lizard out of an early Lifebane Zombie or a Desecration Demon really give you room to breathe until you start running on all cylinders. There are many good targets for Rapid Hybridization Obzedat, another PokeyNose, Stormbreath... so it's very effective as a sideboard card.

The Vraska is likely a good fit. It functions as a weak version of a Maelstrom Pulse , but it also serves as an alternative win-con with the Assassin Tokens. Cyclonic Rift would be very efficient at clearing the path for a token, if it ever came down to it...

Cheers and good luck rifting!

Hmm with cards like Garruk, Apex Predator and Turn to Frog coming out... Is it time to think about dusting off this deck?