Harkening back to one of my favorite & most successful Standard brews ever, this is a Green Devotion build with a hard Simic twist. The strategy here is to take the typical weakness of a Green ramp deck - vulnerability to spot removal - and turn it on its head by having massive draw power at the top of the curve. Luckily, Simic has been given a lot of love from R&D in recent sets, so there are a lot of shiny new toys to play with in this shell, giving the Pioneer version some elements not found in the original deck.
DORKS
Llanowar Elves
/
Elvish Mystic
: The ideal early dorks since they can tap for mana every turn, unlike the Goose, so both are 4-ofs.
Gilded Goose
: Another one-drop dork for consistently fast starts, and this one helps ensure that blue mana is available. Prophet allows it to make food twice as fast, and Biomancer makes it a solid flying threat.
Kiora's Follower
: Its primary purpose is to untap Nykthos for insane ramp, though it can also give the big bombs pseudo-vigilance, and it's a solid 4/4 topdeck late with a Biomancer around.
THE GLUE
Master Biomancer
: With 13 dorks around to help with the ramping cause, we need a way to make them relevant draws late, especially with all of the card advantage. Biomancer not only does this, but also works nicely with both Ballista & Hydra.
Prophet of Kruphix
: Makes brews like this operate on a different level, essentially doubling the speed of the deck. With a little draw power, our board state can get completely out of hand very quickly. It's even more nasty here than in the original version due to the triggered abilities of the X-mana bombs, meaning it now enables instant-speed removal & the Krasis version of
Sphinx's Revelation
.
Kiora, Master of the Depths
: The plus offers even more ramp, including another way to untap Nykthos, and the minus offers some card advantage earlier on the curve before the big guns arrive.
THE BOMBS
Walking Ballista
: Already known for being a stud in Green Devotion decks, but it has even more synergies here. Biomancer makes it far more efficient, and it can even be a 0-drop Mutant if needed. Prophet allows it to recharge twice as quickly.
Voracious Hydra
: Ballista is usually best pinging away little creatures, while the Hydra does a more efficient job at dealing with fatties & is better in combat. Like Ballista, the Hydra becomes much more efficient when a Biomancer is around.
Hydroid Krasis
: Does literally everything you want out of a top-of-curve creature: an evasive trampling body, card advantage, and life gain to help stabilize.
Garruk, Caller of Beasts
: While Krasis wears a lot of hats including card advantage, Garruk is all-in on getting more creatures in hand.
Cyclonic Rift
: Offers a cheap way to slow down aggro in the early game, but its main purpose is obviously to blow out the opponent's board with the Overload & clear the way for a devastating alpha strike.
SIDEBOARD
Hangarback Walker
: Comes in for the Hydra against decks with low creature counts & heavy removal. Like Ballista, it has great synergy with Biomancer including potential as a 0-drop, while Prophets & Followers let it tick up much faster than usual.
Prowling Serpopard
: Nice turn-2 drop against decks that run counterspells to protect the more expensive threats.
Nylea's Disciple
: Potentially-massive life gain to help shut the door against aggro, coming in much lower on the curve than Krasis.
Heroic Intervention
: Against control decks that run sweepers, especially the counter-proof
Supreme Verdict
, this card lets you go crazy on the board like this deck wants to do.
Negate
: More anti-control tech. Even if Prophet isn't around, it's not hard to leave up 2 mana in this deck.
Curse of the Swine
: An efficient answer to multiple dangerous threats, and most of our creatures aren't going to care about facing down a couple boars. If you're feeling janky & have a Biomancer out, target your own dorks as well to upgrade them into Mutant Boars.
