Avatar of the Resolute from DTK is a straight upgrade from Garruk's Companion or Kalonian Tusker.

But where is the Rancor??? I like Dungrove Elder on a budget.

Whats with the avatar? Seems a bit out of place.

I agree, the avatar is pretty weird. If you're going for aggro, devotion + a good two drop, Strangleroot Geist is an absolute beast. He also gives you a little bit of wipe insurance, and the haste he has is so awesome.

Avatar of the Resolute is still an insanely good card though. A 3/2 with reach and trample for 2CMC is awesome, and his ability is gravy. Seeing as you do have him though, some hydra stuff is probably a good idea.

Some cards you should consider: Predator Ooze this guy is pretty damn awesome, he's resilient and pretty hard to make him stop knocking on your door. Frontier Siege, I personally love this in green devotion, even though it only adds one to your devotion. It's card advantage late game, and pretty crazy ramp early game.

Here's a great primer for green devotion, it's also very recent: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/565457-green-nykthos-devotion

Cheers

Huh, I actually like this one.

Oh, and, I'm feeling a bit bloodthirsty, if onion juice counts as blood.

thoughts on Lightning Greaves over Canopy Cover? You can run it as a 2 of saving you 2 spots and the haste is nice. True you wont get the 1 green but the haste may be worth it.

For starters: thanks to all of you who have commented and upvoted the deck. It is much appreciated!!!
Sometimes late but I deliver!:

Here's the sacrifice I promised

• BLEATH, Asher18, llamaglama01: Hey there... no use of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx because it's expensive... and I don't trust/like X cost spells... I always have mixed feelings when considering Hydras for this deck.
• doctorsmegma: Nice name, also... Rancor is not very useful here, considering almost everything has trample already. I might consider it in the future if I put Predator Ooze in the deck.
• simoHayha: I bought a couple of greaves, I'll test them, but the Canopy Cover can be used on the enemy to prevent a creature from being targeted (not the main use, but it's a possibility). Also yeah, haste is interesting, thus I'll playtest it. Thanks!
• RoarMaster, SwampHippie, howaboutno & HonoraryFugu Hi there, yes. The Avatar of the Resolute is not fully used here, but trample+reach in a 3/2 for GG is strictly better than Garruk's Companion. Maybe I'll throw in Increasing Savagery and Predator Ooze to use the avatar at full capacity. Predator Ooze is useful but does not give THAAAT much pressure compared to a turn 2 Leatherback Baloth. Got to test it.
• Dr.Necro: Check the link above! You got it!
• Mtg_king & tain: I'll test the Mistcutter Hydra but I don't like hydras for this deck at the moment. Thanks for passing by! Oh, and yes... it's not EXACTLY budget, but it doesn't cost 500 bucks... unlike half of the other decks in this site! hahahah
• jules11788: Gaea's Revenge is nice, I like that card a lot, but doesn't adjust that well to this build. Thanks anyway man! :)
• gruulmaster: Thanks for the love man! I'm happy you liked the deck. Spread the love.
• celestite4: I'll test Genesis Wave and Genesis Hydra once I get a couple of them cards! Thanks for commenting here!

Be sure to check the other decks in the cycle. One deck for each color! Spread the love.
Also claim your Onion Sacrifice if you haven't already! SMITE ONION

Id consider Overgrowth instead of utopia sprawl. T1 Arbor Elf into T2 Overgrowth generally means 7-8 mana T3.

Yeah I agree with RoarMaster about the Overgrowth. That thing is amazing when paired with Arbor Elf

Over Utopia Sprawl i would disagree. Utopia sprawl leads to starts such as:

t1: forest + arbor elf

t2: forest + utopia sprawl, use elf for 4 mana on t2 for Mwonvuli Acid-Moss or Garruk (who can also untap for 3 mana).

t3: forest so total of 6 mana which is the top end (8 - min of 2 for the utopia sprawl and arbor elf for the Khalni Hydra).

Fairly often.

Overgrowth is a great card but Utopia Sprawl still does lead to more broken starts than even 7 mana on t3.

Also, I prefer Garruk, Primal Hunter to Garruk Wildspeaker strictly for his card draw ability. There is such a little amount of card draw in mono-green, that having the ability to routinely draw 6+ cards at a time is monumental. Also, he has 3 green mana symbols in his casting cost, which adds more to your devotion than Wildspeaker.

Well With your utopia spawl example you are using 3 cards. Elf + Sprawl + Moss/Garruk in order to make your 7-8 mana on T3, whereas Overgrowth only requires 2. So as far as consistency goes, the Overgrowth method reliably gets you the mana more often then Spawl. But whatever works for you man.

Ya but you dont really need 7 mana on t3. For this deck 6 mana on t3 and 7 mana on t3 are pretty much the same. The top end ends at 6 mana (not counting Khalni Hydra because it cost 0 - 8). My point with Utopia Sprawl was that you can have broken turn two's. You can cast a ld spell on t2, cast garruk to start getting value of a planeswalker on t2. Stuff like that

WHERE THE HELL ARE THE Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx !!1!2!!!

• Madneko: No need for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, I don't use X spells in this deck... or in any deck for that matter. Also it is not a Forest-type land, so that affects the main strategy. Oh... and it is still kind of expensive. :D

• RoarMaster & jules11788: Besides the mana production, Utopia Sprawl only can enchant Forests, so when people try to steal an enchantment (usually blue players), this thing cannot enchant Islands, thus their strategy fizzlesf (Failsafe use). I indeed see the potential of Overgrowth and the amount of mana produced, although I find it innecessarily costly. On the other hand I value speed, and part of the strenght of this deck is having a 10/10 Primalcrux on Turn 3 or similar, while the opponent only has a small Field Marshal or Hypnotic Specter or whatever (Ramp use). Also playing aggressively can mean a Turn 2 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss that will cripple the opponent's mana base, and giving you an extra Forest by T3 (Land destruction use).
  There are many points of view, all valid... but speed has worked very well here so far. If I eventually make a green commander deck, rest assured that I'll include the Overgrowth method!

• simoHayha: You got the big picture that applies here. Also nobody expects land destruction against a "Creature-based" deck hahahah

I would take the large increase in reliability over the very slim chances of a super start. Odds are unlikely that you have a Arbor Elf in starting hand, odds are much much less of having two utopia sprawls, and odds are decent, but still less than 50% that you will then have a 4 cost card to use the mana on, and the odds of having ALL of those in the same starting hand are miniscule. Whereas you have a much higher chance if simply having an Arbor Elf and an Overgrowth in hand.

But as you said, to each their own, this is a casual deck after all, its not like you are trying to optimize it.

Yes. Chances and probabilities are a bitches, but through extensive testing (since 2011, and all the changes that came in these years) this formula works. The starts are surprisingly consistent, and I agree that there are matches that I don't even see the Arbor Elf, the decks still wins. Ramping is not the base of the deck, but the enabler; you can still win without it.
Putting pressure on the board with Avatar of the Resolute (and the former Garruk's Companion) and Leatherback Baloth curves smoothly into a turn 5-6 Primalcrux or Khalni Hydra, followed by an alpha strike on the next turn. That's where the focus is: filling the board in an orderly manner with: creatures, creatures, creatures and so on...

:P

Magic ain't exactly a precise art/science, and that's the beauty of deckbuilding.

P.S.: You should be criticizing my decision to put just 1 Dryad Arbor in this... even I'm not sure if that'll be of use hahahah

haha, ya i do like a shrine or 3 in this build though ;). Works wonders with garruk but this is coming from someone who has been testing a mono green genesis wave build. Also the 5 mana garruk, uhhh Garruk, Primal Hunter or Greater Good would be nice draw engines if your in the market for that. If not thats fine, just a thought and options.

I'm studying the draw-issue here... at the moment I'm looking at Momentous Fall and Life's Legacy (they are more economic hehe). Green Sun's Zenith is an option, but that means getting rid of the "Modern" label.
I still have to play-test these things, you gave me a handful of things to think about... thanks :)

Great deck.

Everybody suggested Overgrowth, but there is also Wild Growth - it is pretty much the same as Utopia Sprawl and it is cheaper then Overgrowth.

Wild Growth isn't modern legal

my mistake, sorry for bothering

As much as I hate to netdeck, this is such an awesome, and dirt cheap(for the format) deck that I have to, lol. +1 from me. Glaring Spotlight(not sure how to insert link) gives evasion, and unlockable for 3 colorless. I use it all the time in my gruul Werewolves deck and most people dont see it coming.