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M15 has so many great cards but she is the one who captured so many playersā hearts.
[cardimage cardname='Nissa, Worldwaker']
Planeswalkers are the hardest type of card to decipher the playability of. Cards like Ajani Steadfast or Jace, the Living Guildpact seem like reasonable cards to play in Standard but how good are they exactly? Itās difficult to tell with cards like this until you actually play with them.
Nissa, Worldwaker, on the other hand, is obviously powerful. The only thing you need to do is read her text box to know that she will be good. You may not know whether she will change the face of Standard or not, but itās easy to see that she is powerful.
When Nissa was spoiled my friends and I all immediately started brewing with her as Iām sure you all did. She seems like a great card to build your deck around and so we got to work tuning Mono-Green Devotion to support her.
The first version of the deck I tried to include crazy awesome things to ramp into like Soul of Zendikar and Soul of New Phyrexia, as well as, thatās right, Worldspine Wurm! It went something like this:
Turn 1: Forest
Turn 2: Forest, Sylvan Caryatid
Turn 3: Forest, Voyaging Satyr
Turn 4: Forest, Nissa, Worldwaker
Turn 5: Forest, Worldspine Wurm
Turn five Worldspine Wurm is certainly sick. When it happens, it may be an amazing play, but you basically have to have the perfect seven to make this sequence happen. If youāre up to it, take this challenge to your FNM and watch the look on your opponentās faces when your giant monster enters the battlefield. It will totally be worth the effort.
Aside from fun FNM times though, the ramp into giant monsters plan needed to be more focused and M15 gave us another tool to do just that.
[cardimage cardname='Genesis Hydra']
Many players dismissed this rare as just another casual hit for the Commander crowd, but I was onto this one from the get go. What makes this card perfect for this deck is that it is good at every spot on the curve. If you have that eleven mana, great, he will put any permanent in your deck into play, but even if you only have four or five mana, heās still very good.
This is greenās version of Sphinx's Revelation. Sure you want to rev for seven, but sometimes you have to play a small one first in order to get to a bigger one. Genesis Hydra proved to be one of the core cards in this deck, and the fact that the card you ācascadeā into canāt be countered makes this card broken against U/W Control decks.
One of the most exciting reprints in recent memory also turned out to be one of the best parts about this deck. Now that Modern is a popular format, everyone knows how good this card is but that was not always the case for this hidden gem.
[cardimage cardname='Chord of Calling']
The first time Chord of Calling was printed back in original Ravnica Block, it was a bulk rare and didnāt see the slightest hint of competitive play. Iām sure anyone who talked about a Chord of Calling deck would have been laughed out of the room or dismissed as not serious. My playset of Chords was pulled from a stack of bulk rares in a collection I was selling for my friend.
The main reason it did not see play the first time around is because convoke was not a well supported mechanic. There were no tools to tutor for, nor the mana to take advantage of this powerful green instant. Fortunately this time around, we have everything we need, including a list of sweet Chord targets.
[cardimage cardname='Phyrexian Revoker']
First on the list is another cool reprint and also my favorite tutor target. Phyrexian Revoker did see some sideboard play the first time around, but never anything major. While it may turn out the same way this time as well, I will always be packing this hate bear to tutor for.
This little artifact is great against some of the format's best cards. Your opponent plays a planeswalker, Chord for Revoker in response to disable any activations. He can slow down Pack Rat until your opponent can kill him, or stop Thassa, God of the Sea from making things unblockable, or a number of other powerful things.Ā No matter what your opponentās game plan is, Revoker usually helps you disrupt them.
[cardimage cardname='Reclamation Sage']
With TherosĀ block being an enchantment block, there are many powerful cards that your Sage will take care of for you. Unfortunately, it isnāt powerful enough to take out a god, but other than that it deals with any other problematic permanent.
Because nearly every deck has artifacts or enchantments, my Reclamation Sage has been rocking it out on the maindeck stage for a while now. This is the perfect card to have in your deck as a one of.
[cardimage cardname='Nylea, God of the Hunt']
Having this god as a one-of in your deck is perfect. Much of the time your green god doesnāt do enough and just sits around. She is not worth having in play unless she's turned on. Having her as a Chord target allows you to find her in the situations where she will be at her best though. An instant speed indestructible blocker can be a great way to use your tutor effect.
[cardimage cardname='Arbor Colossus']
With a few extremely powerful flyers in the metagame, Arbor Colossus becomes a great target. Many games you will need to be patient and find a window where you can tutor for him and use his monstrous without fear of him getting killed.
This can be done by Chording at the end of your opponentās turn and then using the ability on yours or even doing both on your turn because sometimes you have that much mana with this deck. He is also a huge monster that can attack for lots of damage, so no matter the situation, he is never a bad one to draw.
[cardimage cardname='Hornet Queen']
The queen bee herself has made her first Standard appearance and from the first time I saw her in play she has captivated me. With this seven-cost creature in your deck you have the ability to pull out of games that you have no business winning.
Revenge of the Hunted has nothing on this miracle. It doesnāt matter how far ahead your opponent is on the board, there are not many situations Hornet Queen canāt dig you out of. Iāve been extremely impressed with this new green creature.
Many of the other choices for the deck are green cards that have already been seeing tons of play, but Iāll let you see for yourself.
Mono-Green Devotion
There are a couple of other aspects of note to the deck.
[cardimage cardname='Burning-Tree Emissary']
The core of this deck is still based on devotion. Burning-Tree Emissary is in the deck to enable Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Certainly there will be times when you have nothing to play with Burning-Tree mana, but dealing with those draws is worth it because of how explosive he can make other draws.
[cardimage cardname='Darksteel Citadel']
Some of you may be pointing at Darksteel Citadel as an unnecessary inclusion but I would caution against removing them. Rarely do these colorless lands affect your game in a negative way, but when you draw them in conjunction with Nissa, Worldwaker, they become a powerful weapon that your opponent will have serious trouble stopping.
[cardimage cardname='Polukranos, World Eater']
While Polukranos is nothing new to Standard, he is the bread and butter of this deck. Often the best thing you can do with your eleven mana is monsterous your World Eater to kill a bunch of their guys. Polukranos is also a frequent target for your Chord of Calling because most games are easier to win with your best monster on your side.
[cardimage cardname='Sylvan Caryatid']
Lastly, I want to talk about Sylvan Caryatid. Iāve seen many players running Voyaging Satyr instead of the staple accelerator. While Satyr does provide you with higher upside, the risk of not having hexproof is too great to include him over Caryatid. Sure untapping your Nykthos is a broken interaction, but in the matchups where they can kill your Satyr you will be hard pressed to defeat them while you are squeezed on mana.
The sideboard is built for my local metagame so if yours is different, adjust accordingly. The deck is a blast to play though and it is incredibly good. Post your thoughts below. Iād love to hear about how this deck is doing for you or if youāve found other sweet Chord targets to include.
Until Next Time,
Unleash the Green Force!
Mike Lanigan
MtgJedi on Twitter
Jedicouncilman23@gmail.com
Hey Mike!
First of all I love this kind of Green (devotion) decks. I feel like M15 definitely favored green over other colors.
I have two comments:
– Chord of calling. I agree that it was almost unseen when in Standard with Ravnica. However there was at least one deck using it, Project X, played (if I’m correct) at the Worlds by Levy and other belgium guys. This deck was a combo/mid range deck based on the interaction between Saffi eriskdotter and Crypt champion. The deck was pretty good but didn’t get much attention and popularity because too tricky and complicated to play, Chord of Calling was a 4-of and a key card to kill and to surprise your opp.
– I’m also a fan of Genesis Hydra. If you have played the deck often enough, How good is it to you play the hydra with X=3 (since 40 cards in the deck won’t come into play with X=3), if my maths are not too bad you still are likely to reveal at least 1 card to put into play, but how valuable is an X=3?. Or are you waiting for X=4 or more before playing the Genesis Hydra?
Thanks
Project X was a fringe deck but yeah it did use chord to find the combo. It wasn’t prominent nor did it help the price pull out of bulk rare status. I’m glad you brought it up though. It’s fun to think about old decks like that.
As far as genesis hydra goes. When you don’t have polukranos or your hand is clogged with multiple hydras/Chords is usually when making the small hydras comes up. Basically on your small hydra you are just hoping to hit anything you can put into play. Often the math isn’t good and sometimes you whiff but especially if you have nykthos, your first hydra will lead to a better next couple of turns.
Hope that helps.
I actually have a decklist very similar to this. Just wondering what you would swap the emissaries for after rotation, barring something in Khans.
I haven’t thought about replacing any cards yet but it would probably have to be another two drop though. My first thought was to add voyaging Satyr in addition to caryatid. If not that, then something that provides two devotion. We’ll see what khans brings for us though.
I’m not a believer in Genesis Hydra. At 6 mana you’re hoping like hell you manage to hit a polukranos or a perhaps a courser – otherwise a 4/4 and a mana dork is a really poor rate for that mana cost. It only seems terrific when you can pump x=6 or greater at which point any heavy hitter is probably going to be equally effective at taking control of the game (without the randomness factor). It’s cool but not good enough as a constructed card imo.
In the immortal words of yoda, “You will be.” This deck makes so much mana that I regularly cast hydra with x as 7, which is exactly what you want to be doing. Test some games with it and you won’t be disappointed.
As not-so-great as the Hydra could be things have to be kept in perspectives.
This is a green creature that generates card advantage. Ok not in ideal conditions, but you put a permanent into play, this is a real hardcore card advantage.
Depending on how you see it the Hydra is a better/worst version of Cascade. But, to me, definitely a great addition to green/x midrange decks. When you see that PT JOU was a battle of green/x midrange decks, I think the Hydra has a fair shot in this.
Also, with Courser, knowing the top card of your deck may help to cast your Hydra in better conditions.
Finally, with multi-colored permanents coming in KoT, we should expect to have powerful card with “complicated” casting costs (say 3 different colored mana in the cost), Hydra is just perfect to put into play these cards. With more cards, more choices and with more colors, more power.
I really hope Hydra don’t show up to much at PT Portland so I can get as many Hydra on MTGO at a very cheap price.