Mono Green Pure Devotion
Pioneer forum
Posted on April 25, 2020, 11:45 a.m. by StoryArcher
Good morning, all. I've been working on lots of different permutations of a traditional green ramp/stompy deck which I believe has the potential to make a real impact in the Pioneer format, and I've finally come up with one that I'm happy with. I've been play-testing it extensively with good results, but given our current quarantine haven't had the opportunity to get it in face-to-face in any tournament formats so I would appreciate any thoughts - especially with regards to other deck types that may give it trouble and the best ways to address that without completely unraveling the deck.
The short version is that it uses elves and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to ramp with The Great Henge and Beast Whisperer for card draw to flood the board with sizable, under-priced creatures. There are a total of 38 creatures in this deck with numerous effective mana-sinks and plenty of removal via Walking Ballista and Voracious Hydra.
Let me know what you think.
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StoryArcher says... #3
I appreciate the comments and the comps, but I've always had 20 lands in this deck...
April 28, 2020 11:06 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #4
Running a Green Devotion deck is all about ramping into monstrously huge creatures.
Here, I'm concerned about Lovestruck Beast. Seems... sad. It's really easy to turn this thing off. You want a little more resilience to the deck then that. I'd replace it.
Beast Whisperer seems possibly odd. It's either the best or worst card in the deck. With Ikoria's release, Lead the Stampede might be a better bet, but make sure to test both.
Aspect of Hydra is key to greendev decks. It's often better than Giant Growth or Might of Old Krosa, and it's at fully instant speed. It's sort of like your Lightning Bolt. You need the playset.
From your maybeboard, Vivien, Arkbow Ranger is possible, but only if you use Beast Whisperer over Lead the Stampede.
The deck also feels like it could be easily disrupted. If you don't draw just right, it might fall apart. But then again, playtesting might prove otherwise.
Sideboard Wise...
Setessan Petitioner. No explanation needed.
You're also going hard on the artifact hate. Karn does nothing here, you already have 6 artifact hate pieces.
Instead of Karn, run Pithing Needle. It hits Ballista, Steel Overseer, walkers, Lotus Field, and more. Also, cut the 3 Brontodons. Your deck wants Rec Sage more. Replace them with 1 more Petitioner and then throw in something else, like Tormod's Crypt or Shapers' Sanctuary against control.
That said, the curve's pretty good. You have plenty of 1-drops, plenty of 3-drops to ramp into, plenty of 2-drops with great lategame mana sinks so you can get stuck on 2 mana. Even your 9 and 12 drops aren't even 9 or 12 mana -- they're often 4-5 mana less. Which is perfectly fine. I'd still add 1 maybe 2 lands, but that's just me. It might not be a bad idea to change the math by dropping an extra land in and go to 61 cards maindeck, but you should definitely test first.
The main gripe about the strategy is that you have a decent chance to get stuck on only a few mana. But, if you hit 5+ mana you get winning. I think it's a risk worth taking, but be ready to change up your land total after quarantine's over.
April 29, 2020 3 p.m.
StoryArcher says... #5
I really appreciate you taking the time to comment, especially taking the time to look at what the deck is trying to do rather than just offering suggestions on what it should be doing instead.
I had no idea that Lead the Stampede was about to come back into play for Pioneer - that definitely puts a spin on things. It leaves me re-considering the CoCo/Stampede approach once more which would naturally nudge out Beast Whisperer if I were to go that way.
Obviously Aspect of Hydra is killer and it was in every early iteration of this deck by default... but I discovered something, and this may only be my personal experience. I always seemed to either be holding them from the start where they were relatively dead draws or I got them late enough in the game that I already had the advantage and didn't need them. I've been experimenting without them, instead trying to use those slots for card draw or more creatures that fit the curve. The same thing always seems to happen with Walking Ballista for what its worth.
Lovestruck Beast is a funny card, but I just assumed that it would make a dangerous blocker if they somehow cleared the board of my dorks. Seems like it would work especially well with CoCo. Maybe just another beefy high-devotion 3-cost creature instead, like Leatherback Baloth?
I appreciate the recommendations about the sideboard. Honestly, I was just throwing stuff in there. Setessan Petitioner is definitely one of the cards that I was looking for and Pithing Needle is/should have been a no-brainer.
April 30, 2020 2:07 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #6
StoryArcher Anytime!
I'd say that you either run Collected Company or Lead the Stampede, and Stampede looks like it works better here. Mostly because Stampede doesn't force you to change your deck, and it can grab monsters like Ghalta, Primal Hunger. And it costs less.
CoCo is best in multi-colored decks, especially with . Mostly because it gets access to a lot more 3-mana creatures and some great toolbox pieces.
On Aspect of Hydra and Walking Ballista, removal type cards always seem weird when playtesting. They often feel like empty cards, until you go up against someone else and actually need it. Now, it's entirely possible that they both suck here. It really depends on your preferred curve. However, I think you could still keep Ballista in either situation because it's removal, mana sink, decent sized creature, growable creature, perfect fit for your curve, and much much more. But it's really up to you.
Glad that the SB tips helped! Petitioner is so much better than Acolyte, the mana shave off helps a ton.
On Lovestruck Beast, it can be a decent blocker but there's probably some other decent beatstick for 3 in the format. Maybe Boon Satyr, Deathgorge Scavenger, Deathmist Raptor, Fairgrounds Trumpeter if you use it right, Jadelight Ranger, Kaheera, the Orphanguard(can also be your companion), Prowling Serpopard, Tireless Tracker, Wayward Swordtooth, or Witchstalker.
April 30, 2020 5:44 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #7
After posting, I checked the list again. I see you added Nessian Hornbeetle. Interesting, but it feels like you need more decent sized creatures as it'll be a vanilla 2/2 most of the time. If you really want a 2-drop, possibly consider Kraul Harpooner, the objectively best 2-mana 3-power creature in green. And Tarmogoyf doesn't count because it can be a 2-mana 4 or 5-power creature.
It still feels a little odd. I think you could definitely go either aggressive or slightly slower but higher power, and your deck seems like it's trying to do both atm.
What I like to do is imagine your best average curve. Such as
t1 -- Forest, elf dork
t2 -- 3-drop, such as SteelLeaf Champ or Tireless Tracker
t3 -- 4-mana spell. Voracious Hydra or Ballista here, probably.
At that point you have a pretty threatening board state, and it still works well if your dork gets Shocked.
After t3, you'd have to choose between larger monsters or more aggressively costed creatures. It really doesn't give you much room for 2-drops either, so you could increase land count by 1-2 to make the deck more consistent. 2-drops are just a waste of your time and mana, especially 'cos most of them are so inferior to playing Tracker or Champion t2.
Using https://stattrek.com/online-calculator/hypergeometric.aspx we get the following probabilities for the above planned curve:
0.653593571 to get at least one elf.
^^ for at least one 3-drop
^^ for at least one ballista/Hydra
given you run 8 of each. You then get a .275 chance to get all of them together(using normal calculator). A little more than one in 4 hands having that perfect curve is GREAT, but the deck should still work fine in the situation that you don't draw one of the pieces. Drawing 2 gives you a 0.42 chance, wich is still solid. Even having either a good 3-drop or Ballista/Hydra is fine.
That said, you want at least 3-4 lands by the time you can play them.
0.440512889 for 4 lands on the play, 0.536359259 on draw
0.722413977 for 3 lands on the play, 0.792184496 on draw. Remember those 4 numbers are at least 3 or 4. I'd say you want 2 more lands, but it really depends if you want to be casting more Ghaltas or if you'd rather wield more efficient 3 drops. Even if you want the 3 drop option I'd go 1 more, just to make the math better, but that's just me.
Hope I don't kill you with the math, and hope it helps. If you don't like my gameplan shown above, try your hand at calculating your own. You should get an 85% chance or better to make your generic plan work, but make sure it's a little loose -- it's fine if you don't always curve perfectly. You just want to curve well enough often enough to crush your opponent. Good luck!
April 30, 2020 6:08 p.m.
can you win on turn 4 to 5 consistently? i changed from devotion to stompy because inverter crushes devotion.
May 18, 2020 7:57 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #9
Any removal-heavy list would crush devotion. I think that's currently the downside to most Devotion lists in Pioneer -- not quite good enough payoffs, enough removal to make it hard to use.
'Course, it's easy peasy to splash black or red and jam Obosh in your sideboard. Turns anything into a stompy deck, period, that guy.
Argy says... #2
There are a couple of lists doing the rounds that you might want to check out.
One very similar to yours splashes which allows it to have some excellent removal.
Golgari Stompy by VenerableLammasu
This variant uses some colourless creatures. It isn't as popular now, but might be worth a comparison.
Mono Green Ramp by Granham
18 lands are way too few for this kind of deck.
I would run that in something that is super aggressive.
Yes, you have a lot of mana dorks.
What you don't want is not to be able to play enough of them.
You also don't want to have to mulligan a lot.
The least amount of lands out of the two decks I have posted is 21. I think the other one has something like 27.
I would probably go 21 in your deck too. 20 at the lowest.
April 26, 2020 10:02 a.m.