great deck i think you should cut purphoros, mogis, nykthos, hammer, bonfire, and expedition only because this deck kills so fast those cards don't matter. you should make this a 1-3 mana costing card deck only. you could also add in some burn spells like lightning bolt or chain lightning. i like your deck a lot. you should make one like this for standard. +1 from me

Tyrannosary, I understand why all hose should be cut except for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx . In the playtesting I've done so far, it has made everything much smoother and made getting everything out so much easier to do like getting Figure of Destiny to an 8/8 or maxing out Kargan. I'll switch everything else out for some burn spells because I wanted to build this with some burn.

Try dropping 2x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for other lands. Maybe add in some Ball Lightning , it has great shenanigans with Nykthos.

OpenFire Why should I drop Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx . The deck is basically built around it and making it as effective as possible.

Because it happens too often with 4x of any legendary land that you draw into multiples.

Keep the Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx . That card works so well with Burning-Tree Emissary . Also drawing into multiples isn't a problem. I like the deck, but I would actually consider dropping Ball Lightning Since it sacs at the end of turn and Lightning Bolt kills it. Browbeat could be nice here, since it deals 5 damage, or just draws cards. +1, Especially for the Inclusion of Koth of the Hammer :)

Like how the deck looks, would you consider Banefire rather than Red Sun's Zenith ?

+1 from me.

nasty +1 maybe try Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Fanatic of Mogis ?

I like the fact that this deck has so many places to invest your extra mana. Not many devotion decks have great mana-sinks to take advantage of the devotion and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx .

Maybe Vexing Devil ? Very cool deck +1

I play red devotion in standard and I've found that 3 Nykthos is the correct number. You want it turn 3 at the earliest, maybe turn 4. Drawing in multiples is fine in a slow format like standard, but it would absolutely cripple you in modern.

I think that the major drawback of this type of strategy in modern is that your opponents WILL have the removal to keep your devotion low. With this in mind, you want to be dropping multiple creatures every turn to get your devotion up. Maybe run AEther Vial , since your cmcs are fairly low. Also consider enchantments to build devotion since they are harder to remove. The reason that green devotion is so strong in modern is that your mana dorks and Garruk help you accelerate into your combo. Here you don't have anything to help you get there.

drenardy Thank you so much for your input. It had crossed my mind several times how to deal with removal and I hadn't thought of AEther Vial . Do you have any idea what I should take out because I definitely want it as a 4 of. I was thinking Browbeat and 2 Rift Bolt or 1 Koth of the Hammer and a Nykthos.

feel like AEther Vial doesnt belong here, especially when your largest creature is a 3 drop, and your running 20 lands. it seems like the deck plays mostly agro so i would throw in Madcap Skills

AEther Vial definitely works. It isn't used to cheat out giant creatures, it's used to cheat out small ones super fast and get a board presence early game. Merfolk decks have mainly 1 or 2 drops.

Madcap skills is also not very good for this deck, as the creatures get bigger from their own abilities. an 8/8 flyer is pretty damn good. Also, it has very low devotion.

Maybe take out some number of reckoners for Eidolon of the Great Revel . More consistent to get out with vial, and probably more relevant.

Koth is counter intuitive, because while he does ramp in red, you really don't need many lands, so at most he'll give you 2 mana.Same goes for valakut. if it's turn seven, you've probably lost.

If you're dead set on using a walker, Chandra, Pyromaster would work I guess, though you might just want to concentrate on getting your devotion up instead.

Otherwise, if you cut stuff and need more cards, Lava Spike + Shard Volley + Searing Blood + Crater's Claws . the 1 mana for 3 damage spells are great.