White Devotion in Standard?
Deck Help forum
Posted on March 3, 2014, 11:53 p.m. by trousseau11
Hey all,
I have put together a shell of several variants of White Devotion decks, but I don't know if it is really worth buying into.
The following is my most recent rendition;
White America! (W/ur Devotion)
My Thoughts:
From my perspective, there are a number of worthy cards available such as Boros Reckoner , Elspeth, Sun's Champion , Stormbreath Dragon , and some others.
There is good card advantage with Sphinx's Revelation and Ephara, God of the Polis .
Pretty decent removal with Chained to the Rocks , Detention Sphere , and Mizzium Mortars .
Any time you can Cyclonic Rift on turn 4 or 5, you are in a pretty good spot.
Furthermore, there is some good stuff available for the sideboard such as Negate , Glare of Heresy , and Assemble the Legion .
The Question:
As an archetype, is there any merit to the strategy in the face of MUD, MBD, and the other powerhouse decks in the format?
Thanks,
Trousseau11
What about Boros Reckoner , Ajani, Caller of the Pride , Soldier of the Pantheon , Precinct Captain , Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Angel of Serenity ? There's also a couple of nice large angels, Eidolon of Countless Battles , a god, and some other stuff. The only cards that mention devotion that you need are nykthos and gods.
March 4, 2014 5:20 a.m.
trousseau11 says... #4
While it is true that the only cards that NEED devotion are nykthos and the gods, devotion is really more of a mana accelerant.
It allows a lot of plays to happen before they should be able to, such as turn four Angel of Serenity or Elspeth, Sun's Champion .
It also makes worlds of difference with Sphinx's Revelation . Gives you huge draws while still leaving mana open for plays.
Let me clarify, while I appreciate deck help, I really only posted my deck to give a frame of reference. I am more interested in advice on the type of deck in general. As I mentioned above, does this have potential as an archetype in standard right now?
In my playtesting it is not overwhelming, but it is positive in its W/L and seems to be a pretty good strategy.
I just don't know if it is good enough - if it is a worthy investment, even.
March 4, 2014 10:57 a.m.
SharuumNyan says... #5
Could white devotion be a thing in Standard right now? Probably not. But it's hard to comment on a white devotion deck archetype when your deck includes Omenspeaker and Stormbreath Dragon . How do they belong in white devotion?
March 4, 2014 11:24 a.m.
If you're stuck on the devotion aspect, I'll repeat what I said earlier: there isn't enough in white that uses devotion to do anything useful. Also, looking at your board, the only early cards you have that build white devotion are Precinct Captain and Boros Reckoner . The captain will probably be difficult to cast T2 in a 3 color deck. If you really want to go the devotion route, you need more 1 drops and 2 drops that feed white devotion, but there just aren't any good ones. And at the end of the day all you're doing is ramping into bigger creatures. You're relying on drawing Nykthos, but again its a 3 color deck, so Nykthos will hurt the land base. As I said earlier, I think you'd be better off going for a control shell, controlling your opponents for the first 4-5 turns, then dropping your bombs. American was practically made for control with what it has available to it right now.
kmcree says... #2
So, American is definitely a thing, but it tends to lean more towards control. It really shouldn't be built as a devotion build because there is nothing good in white devotion. However, with American you have access to tons of good stuff, as you mentioned. The 1 thing you missed is Brimaz, King of Oreskos . But that kind of build absolutely has potential.
March 4, 2014 2:40 a.m.