Vivien, Arkbow Ranger is the one of the best new Planeswalkers printed recently for Devotion, and I think it fits perfectly in Walker Devotion, especially since almost all my Walker Devotion decks run 4-of both Walking Ballista and Kitchen Finks.
I wasn’t sure what color to splash, and so I just threw in Karn. I haven’t made a G/brown Devotion deck yet, and I haven’t used Karn.
I honestly hadn't tried out the new Vivien. I do like that it can pump our little guys, can make the larger guys without trample actual threats...and most importantly deal with problem creatures or planeswalkers. My only concerns were that it felt a little clunky. I don't play as many Finks and Ballista's though (which she is great with) so it's likely my build just wasn't built to take complete advantage of her. It could, however, be a support card I hadn't given enough credit to. I'd love to hear more about how it plays. I will also try it out and see what I find.
It allows you to gain infinite life and draw out your deck Due to The Great Henge putting a counter on Kitchen Finks and blowing up its persist counter. It’s also all instant speed...so you can do it off a wave or just right when you hit your pieces.
I made a few lists for fun. Thought I would let you guys/gals know about it just in case you wanted to brew too :).
We are the best shell for the combo simply because we can make use of both cards outside of the combo (and can cast The Great Henge more consistently than other decks.). Having said that...It’s likely just worse than other Kitchen Finks.
Thought I’d throw it out there for the brewers among us. Will let you know when I’ve got more testing done with the main lists (and i will play some games with this for some fun write ups )
*P.S. I communicated with saffron olive about it and he said he hadn’t seen it anywhere either and wild brew with it as well. He’s a great brewer so it will be exciting to see what he comes up with! *
By the way, i added 2 tribes in my deck and am looking forward to play a few leagues. Phoenix being "banned" and stoneforge mystic coming back may help the deck to be viable again.
On a more tournament/serious note. How has Llanowar Tribe been fairing lately for you? I’ve seen so many lightning bolts in my local meta I have been scared to play it...but it may be one of those “play it anyways because it is a must kill card” type card where it simply doesn’t matter if there is a lot of removal for it.
It’s such a powerful card I’ve been thinking of putting it back in a few builds.
1. Once Upon a Time is amazing. Extremely powerful and really smooths out the deck. There were many times it felt broken. It also makes Eternal Witness better (as an early Witness for a land stinks 75% of the time; but now even on turn two you have something to get back.
2. Castle Garenbrig is great. It was better from behind than I expected. It wasn’t just casting Bellower a turn early. Just having that extra mana helped in multiple situations. I didn’t have any games yet where i didn’t have the Forest; but it will happen I’m sure
3. Woodland Bellower worked better for me than Primeval Titan. At least in this deck. Having said that; I can see it push PrimeTime decks to the forefront.
Given these findings; my new "Creature-based" Devotion deck currently is:
* I've wanted to add Wakeroot Elemental in there for infinite mana; but it would be a slightly different deck. Put it in a spoiler below (just to not take up a big portion of this page) *
Very straight forward. It is meant only to overwhelm the opponent with a board they can't keep up with and then overrun it with Garruk or Craterhoof. Castle Garenbrig pulls some weight here as it can be used on Walking Ballista's ability, Duskwatch Recruiter's ability, Genesis Hydra, and of course to cast a Woodland Bellower a turn early and/or a Craterhoof Behemoth early. Genesis Hydra is in there to deal with Control and get another hit off Once Upon a Time...but could be switched out for other cards if desired.
A portion of the board are creatures Woodland Bellower can hit...and I will post a more "certain" board this evening after testing more.
** P.S. SaffronOlive mentioned the Kitchen Finks + Great Henge Combo in his video today. Let’s make it work **
Oh wow, I didn’t even know Wakeroot Elemental existed! Or I probably did, but thought it wasn’t a great option. Yeah, seems kinda slow actually, since if you have 13 mana or whatever, you’re probably winning already.
Also, I have a sweet The Great Henge deck brewing, I’ll post it soon. I’m actually looking forward to this. Originally I didn’t think it would work, but now I think it might have some potential! Hint: this card works perfectly with Karn, the Great Creator
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Oh wow, I didn’t even know Wakeroot Elemental existed! Or I probably did, but thought it wasn’t a great option. Yeah, seems kinda slow actually, since if you have 13 mana or whatever, you’re probably winning already.
Also, I have a sweet The Great Henge deck brewing, I’ll post it soon. I’m actually looking forward to this. Originally I didn’t think it would work, but now I think it might have some potential! Hint: this card works perfectly with Karn, the Great Creator
I’m excited to see it!
Love the idea of tutoring for the Great Henge!
Yeah...both lists need tightening and are currently in the “jank” category unless and until I can get them fast enough and/or disruptive enough (really just a matter of testing). I always Start with interactions i want to rest and then slowly tightening each list until optimized. This doesn’t meant they will be viable in the end; but I quickly see what works and what doesn’t.
They are both Turn 4 decks right now (which may be ok in Modern now) but I’m sure there is room for improvement.
One thing I love about Karn, The Great Creator is that it is a great disruptive tool for us while also being a win-con. My best performing deck is still the walker deck with Karn. May not be the flashiest of decks; but it is super powerful. There is a reason most big mana deck Malay Karn TGC.
I do love Once Upon a Time though...it is tailor made for Devotion; as our creature-based decks perform so much better when:
(A) we have a turn one dork
(B) we have Nykthos by Turn 3
(C) we have a win-con to pour all the mana into.
I’ve been impressed with the card. The early interaction with Witness too makes me much more confident playing it (as you don’t feel bad running out a Witness on turn 2) with OUAT in the yard.
I am interested in the math on just how many creatures are needed to make it worth playing in a deck (I.e. to where you hit something 90% of the time and a creature 40%-50% of the time). That would go a long way to determining which decks i would play it in.
This is the tough part about Devotion...so many amazing cards; but they can’t all fit in the same deck :).
I do think the Creature-heavy Primal Command builds (traditional Devotion) and the Pact lists get somewhat of an immediate upgrade with OUAT...so that is a perfect place to start as well (as we know those decks perform).
Purchased 200 tickets on MTGO! Once I have 1-2 lists I’m really confident in; I’ll start to grind :). Having said this, I will also likely buy the cards for other decks (like Fulgence/NoName’s) to help foster discussion on those as well.
I think we have enough options to be viable on a few fronts now...and with A Return to Theros coming in January; now is a great time to be a Devotion player
Basically the point of this is to abuse persist + great henge as much as possible. Creatures persisting back triggers the henge, and cancels the -1/-1 counter, which is good, so I threw in Temur Sabertooth to further trigger henge and reuse ETB triggers.
You might want to try splashing black for Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Not only does it create a sac outlet to combo off with, but also the Scavenge ability is quite good too in this deck. Seems like a perfect fit. Also, Walking Ballista should def be in the deck.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
You might want to try splashing black for Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Not only does it create a sac outlet to combo off with, but also the Scavenge ability is quite good too in this deck. Seems like a perfect fit. Also, Walking Ballista should def be in the deck.
Agreed. It you are playing the The Great Henge and Kitchen Finks you should probably play a sacrifice outlet. Varolz, the Scar-Striped is likely best simply because (a) you can Eldamri's Call for it, (b) it is good on its own (as Rendrock said Scavenge is good in our deck and makes the Great Henge cost less, and (c) it is a green 3-drop Just allows you to have the infinite combo available.
Other than that, the deck looks strong. I'd like to get a Vorazious Hydra into my deck as well. It is great to have the fight ability stuck to such an efficient creatures...and when I've played it there were many times I just cast it as a 10//10 trampler
Basically the point of this is to abuse persist + great henge as much as possible. Creatures persisting back triggers the henge, and cancels the -1/-1 counter, which is good, so I threw in Temur Sabertooth to further trigger henge and reuse ETB triggers.
Funny, I never really thought of just abusing Kitchen Finks and The Great Henge outside of an Infinite Combo :). May be just as good. You could play it as a 1-of (or even in the board) just to have the option.
Thoughts on Evolutionary Leap if we want to stay in a mono-green build?
It’s could be ok, but you can’t go infinite with it. Plus it can’t be tutored or hit with Oath, so there are probably better options.
You can easily splash Varolz, with 1-2 Overgrown Tomb. I play 10 fetchlands in many of my devotion decks, and between that and Utopia Sprawls and BoPs, it’s not a problem at all. THe deck is still basically mono-Green.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Not only is Varolz ez to splash, relatively cheap to cast, has another relevant ability, but it’s also hard to get rid of, making the combo not so easy to disrupt. I don’t think there’s a better option available.
@Curdbros,
So the Henge list I came up with so far is basically just a Karn list with Henge in the sideboard. Nothing too revolutionary, though the Karn deck is very new itself. I will try to test it today, but I have a date so not sure I will have time.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
ALtar and Blasting Station work well in the Karn version, but for his version Varolz is better because he has more ways to find it than ALtar.
It’s possible that a non-Karn deck could be good, using big fatties like the ones you mentioned, I just haven’t tried building it... yet.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
karn's becoming quite the card, i didn't realize he tutored the whole combo except for finks.
Becoming? Personally, I never feel strongly about banning cards, but I feel like Karn is a bit too good for Modern and goes in so many decks, that it warrants a ban consideration. Like Looting was just an enabler, but Karn is a wincon and control card that can go in any color, that happens to hose artifact decks on its own. That means you also have 4 sideboard cards maindeck vs artifact decks, which is kind of ridiculous.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Basically this is just Karn Devotion but with Henge and Blasting Station thrown in the sideboard (can be substituted with Altar of Dementia, not sure which is better yet).
The question is whether it is worth it to the two cards. It seemed like a easy fit, because Finks was always a 4-of in my Walker decks anyways, though I worked on Walker decks a long time ago. I used it because it provided at leaset two blocks to protect my Walkers, while adding 2 devotion, gaining life, and synergizing with any Walkers that add +1 +1 counters, just like Ballista.
SO basically it's just two cardsI have to add to the deck to include an infinte combo, and just a a good card. Not to mention, The Great Henge and Blasting Station are not useless cards on their own.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
karn's becoming quite the card, i didn't realize he tutored the whole combo except for finks.
Becoming? Personally, I never feel strongly about banning cards, but I feel like Karn is a bit too good for Modern and goes in so many decks, that it warrants a ban consideration. Like Looting was just an enabler, but Karn is a wincon and control card that can go in any color, that happens to hose artifact decks on its own. That means you also have 4 sideboard cards maindeck vs artifact decks, which is kind of ridiculous.
Totally agree. I've been playing it for months (I was REALLY high on it and Nissa after I tested them out) and my best performing deck thus far is essentially a Karn deck. The reason it is good for us is:
1. We can play it on turn 2
2. We can get to 10 mana by turn 3 for the lock
3. It gives us a level of interaction we never could have in the main deck
4. Allows us to board lightly
5. We use Oath of Nissa already which it is great with.
6. With all of the artifact-heavy decks running around now...his Null Rod ability is really strong now.
I've even played cards others haven't in the board because we have more options mana-wise than mose. I know I've said in the past that it wasn't my most exciting deck (as everyone that had any kind of ramp uses the card)...but there is a reason for that. It is busted. The Karn deck is the only deck (outside of combo walkers) that I've kept for months on end due to continued performance in testing.
I've been trying to get Once Upon a Time in my Karn deck recently (as it is also crazy powerful). That has been my recent attempt. The "core" I've talked about in the past, however, is already like 28 cards...so I don't have much room to play with anymore
Had one PM for my current Karn deck. I did make a few changes...and it has been a while since I posted it. Here is what I have been trying:
I know the 1-of Oko seems weird, but it has been good against multiple decks...
I may try to get another Llanowar Tribe in there. The combination of Tribe, Castle Garenbrig, and Nykthos gets huge sums of mana very quickly.
9-CMC seems to be more of a “natural” number...so I may look into that more. Three Ulamog is probably too many...you can just get to 8-10 creature mana so quickly! I will try all kinds of payoffs.
So this list is probably better than the Finks + Henge list.
It is nearly identical to my most played and most successful Green Devotion list which I called Garruk Green that ran 2 copies of Garruk, Caller of Beasts . Now instead of Caller of Beasts and two other cards - Wolfbriar Elemental and I fI can’t remember what the other was - I have Karn. I will now have to see if this is better than the original. Caller of Beasts is insane, allowing for the deck to get any creature in the deck down for 6 mana (Craterhoof a turn earlier is a big game), and in addition, adding a ton of card advantage. Whereas Karn adds 15 extra cards to the maindeck, a large toolbox, plus and additional wincon.
Match 1 vs. New monoblue Paradoxical Outcome deck 0-2 Loss (this deck looks really good)
Match 2 vs.R/U Thing/Aria of FLame deck Win 2-1
Match 3 vs. Green Tron Win 2-0 Game 2 he got turn 3 natural Tron and I still managed to win but he may have misplayed idk for sure
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
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I honestly hadn't tried out the new Vivien. I do like that it can pump our little guys, can make the larger guys without trample actual threats...and most importantly deal with problem creatures or planeswalkers. My only concerns were that it felt a little clunky. I don't play as many Finks and Ballista's though (which she is great with) so it's likely my build just wasn't built to take complete advantage of her. It could, however, be a support card I hadn't given enough credit to. I'd love to hear more about how it plays. I will also try it out and see what I find.
1. Kitchen Finks
2. The Great Henge
3. Sac Outlet
It allows you to gain infinite life and draw out your deck Due to The Great Henge putting a counter on Kitchen Finks and blowing up its persist counter. It’s also all instant speed...so you can do it off a wave or just right when you hit your pieces.
I made a few lists for fun. Thought I would let you guys/gals know about it just in case you wanted to brew too :).
We are the best shell for the combo simply because we can make use of both cards outside of the combo (and can cast The Great Henge more consistently than other decks.). Having said that...It’s likely just worse than other Kitchen Finks.
Thought I’d throw it out there for the brewers among us. Will let you know when I’ve got more testing done with the main lists (and i will play some games with this for some fun write ups )
*P.S. I communicated with saffron olive about it and he said he hadn’t seen it anywhere either and wild brew with it as well. He’s a great brewer so it will be exciting to see what he comes up with! *
________
On a more tournament/serious note. How has Llanowar Tribe been fairing lately for you? I’ve seen so many lightning bolts in my local meta I have been scared to play it...but it may be one of those “play it anyways because it is a must kill card” type card where it simply doesn’t matter if there is a lot of removal for it.
It’s such a powerful card I’ve been thinking of putting it back in a few builds.
1. Once Upon a Time is amazing. Extremely powerful and really smooths out the deck. There were many times it felt broken. It also makes Eternal Witness better (as an early Witness for a land stinks 75% of the time; but now even on turn two you have something to get back.
2. Castle Garenbrig is great. It was better from behind than I expected. It wasn’t just casting Bellower a turn early. Just having that extra mana helped in multiple situations. I didn’t have any games yet where i didn’t have the Forest; but it will happen I’m sure
3. Woodland Bellower worked better for me than Primeval Titan. At least in this deck. Having said that; I can see it push PrimeTime decks to the forefront.
Given these findings; my new "Creature-based" Devotion deck currently is:
4x Arbor Elf
3x Noble Hierarch
3x Wall of Blossoms
1x Duskwatch Recruiter
1x Wistful Selkie
2x Eternal Witness
4x Woodland Bellower
1x Walking Ballista
3x Genesis Hydra
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
4x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Enchantment (4)
4x Utopia Sprawl
Instant/Sorcery (4)
4x Once Upon a Time
Land (22)
7x Green Fetch
8x Forest
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3x Castle Garenbrig
* I've wanted to add Wakeroot Elemental in there for infinite mana; but it would be a slightly different deck. Put it in a spoiler below (just to not take up a big portion of this page) *
4x Arbor Elf
3x Noble Hierarch
3x Wall of Blossoms
2x Duskwatch Recruiter
1x Wistful Selkie
2x Eternal Witness
3x Woodland Bellower
2x Walking Ballista
3x Wakeroot Elemental
4x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Enchantment (4)
4x Utopia Sprawl
Instant/Sorcery (4)
4x Once Upon a Time
Land (22)
7x Green Fetch
8x Forest
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3x Castle Garenbrig
Very straight forward. It is meant only to overwhelm the opponent with a board they can't keep up with and then overrun it with Garruk or Craterhoof. Castle Garenbrig pulls some weight here as it can be used on Walking Ballista's ability, Duskwatch Recruiter's ability, Genesis Hydra, and of course to cast a Woodland Bellower a turn early and/or a Craterhoof Behemoth early. Genesis Hydra is in there to deal with Control and get another hit off Once Upon a Time...but could be switched out for other cards if desired.
A portion of the board are creatures Woodland Bellower can hit...and I will post a more "certain" board this evening after testing more.
** P.S. SaffronOlive mentioned the Kitchen Finks + Great Henge Combo in his video today. Let’s make it work **
Also, I have a sweet The Great Henge deck brewing, I’ll post it soon. I’m actually looking forward to this. Originally I didn’t think it would work, but now I think it might have some potential! Hint: this card works perfectly with Karn, the Great Creator
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I’m excited to see it!
Love the idea of tutoring for the Great Henge!
Yeah...both lists need tightening and are currently in the “jank” category unless and until I can get them fast enough and/or disruptive enough (really just a matter of testing). I always Start with interactions i want to rest and then slowly tightening each list until optimized. This doesn’t meant they will be viable in the end; but I quickly see what works and what doesn’t.
They are both Turn 4 decks right now (which may be ok in Modern now) but I’m sure there is room for improvement.
One thing I love about Karn, The Great Creator is that it is a great disruptive tool for us while also being a win-con. My best performing deck is still the walker deck with Karn. May not be the flashiest of decks; but it is super powerful. There is a reason most big mana deck Malay Karn TGC.
I do love Once Upon a Time though...it is tailor made for Devotion; as our creature-based decks perform so much better when:
(A) we have a turn one dork
(B) we have Nykthos by Turn 3
(C) we have a win-con to pour all the mana into.
I’ve been impressed with the card. The early interaction with Witness too makes me much more confident playing it (as you don’t feel bad running out a Witness on turn 2) with OUAT in the yard.
I am interested in the math on just how many creatures are needed to make it worth playing in a deck (I.e. to where you hit something 90% of the time and a creature 40%-50% of the time). That would go a long way to determining which decks i would play it in.
This is the tough part about Devotion...so many amazing cards; but they can’t all fit in the same deck :).
I do think the Creature-heavy Primal Command builds (traditional Devotion) and the Pact lists get somewhat of an immediate upgrade with OUAT...so that is a perfect place to start as well (as we know those decks perform).
Purchased 200 tickets on MTGO! Once I have 1-2 lists I’m really confident in; I’ll start to grind :). Having said this, I will also likely buy the cards for other decks (like Fulgence/NoName’s) to help foster discussion on those as well.
I think we have enough options to be viable on a few fronts now...and with A Return to Theros coming in January; now is a great time to be a Devotion player
Can’t wait to see the list @Rendroc
Great Henge-Powered Nonsense
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Overgrowth
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Eladamri's Call
2 Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
3 The Great Henge
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Temur Sabertooth
3 Voracious Hydra
3 Woodfall Primus
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
6 Green Fetch
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
7 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Blast Zone
Sideboard is extra creatures to be fetched with Call or Vivien, Hornet Queen, Scavenging Ooze, etc.
Basically the point of this is to abuse persist + great henge as much as possible. Creatures persisting back triggers the henge, and cancels the -1/-1 counter, which is good, so I threw in Temur Sabertooth to further trigger henge and reuse ETB triggers.
You might want to try splashing black for Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Not only does it create a sac outlet to combo off with, but also the Scavenge ability is quite good too in this deck. Seems like a perfect fit. Also, Walking Ballista should def be in the deck.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Agreed. It you are playing the The Great Henge and Kitchen Finks you should probably play a sacrifice outlet. Varolz, the Scar-Striped is likely best simply because (a) you can Eldamri's Call for it, (b) it is good on its own (as Rendrock said Scavenge is good in our deck and makes the Great Henge cost less, and (c) it is a green 3-drop Just allows you to have the infinite combo available.
Other than that, the deck looks strong. I'd like to get a Vorazious Hydra into my deck as well. It is great to have the fight ability stuck to such an efficient creatures...and when I've played it there were many times I just cast it as a 10//10 trampler
Funny, I never really thought of just abusing Kitchen Finks and The Great Henge outside of an Infinite Combo :). May be just as good. You could play it as a 1-of (or even in the board) just to have the option.
Has Vivien, Arkbow Ranger been good? I’m interested in hearing nore about it.
Thoughts on Evolutionary Leap if we want to stay in a mono-green build?
It’s could be ok, but you can’t go infinite with it. Plus it can’t be tutored or hit with Oath, so there are probably better options.
You can easily splash Varolz, with 1-2 Overgrown Tomb. I play 10 fetchlands in many of my devotion decks, and between that and Utopia Sprawls and BoPs, it’s not a problem at all. THe deck is still basically mono-Green.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
@Curdbros,
So the Henge list I came up with so far is basically just a Karn list with Henge in the sideboard. Nothing too revolutionary, though the Karn deck is very new itself. I will try to test it today, but I have a date so not sure I will have time.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
mill opponent and win with infinite persist.
i would be splashing some what any way for assassin's trophy sideboard. so not completely counting varolz out.
for The Great Henge is there a reason any of the list im seeing don't have Steel Leaf Champion or Wayward Swordtooth?
that gets it down to 4cc the next turn.
come to thing of now that i'm thinking of Rotting Regisaur makes it
ALtar and Blasting Station work well in the Karn version, but for his version Varolz is better because he has more ways to find it than ALtar.
It’s possible that a non-Karn deck could be good, using big fatties like the ones you mentioned, I just haven’t tried building it... yet.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
all the same sounding like a sweet deck to brew for using the great henge
karn's becoming quite the card, i didn't realize he tutored the whole combo except for finks.
Becoming? Personally, I never feel strongly about banning cards, but I feel like Karn is a bit too good for Modern and goes in so many decks, that it warrants a ban consideration. Like Looting was just an enabler, but Karn is a wincon and control card that can go in any color, that happens to hose artifact decks on its own. That means you also have 4 sideboard cards maindeck vs artifact decks, which is kind of ridiculous.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
/
// 17 Creature
4 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Walking Ballista
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Hornet Queen
// 8 Enchantment
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Oath of Nissa
// 2 Instant
2 Summoner's Pact
// 22 Land
7 Forest
2 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Stomping Ground
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
4 Karn, the Great Creator
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Damping Sphere
1 Blasting Station
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 The Great Henge
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Force of Vigor
1 Acidic Slime
1 Sylvok Replica
3 Veil of Summer
Unsure of the sideboard still.
Basically this is just Karn Devotion but with Henge and Blasting Station thrown in the sideboard (can be substituted with Altar of Dementia, not sure which is better yet).
The question is whether it is worth it to the two cards. It seemed like a easy fit, because Finks was always a 4-of in my Walker decks anyways, though I worked on Walker decks a long time ago. I used it because it provided at leaset two blocks to protect my Walkers, while adding 2 devotion, gaining life, and synergizing with any Walkers that add +1 +1 counters, just like Ballista.
SO basically it's just two cardsI have to add to the deck to include an infinte combo, and just a a good card. Not to mention, The Great Henge and Blasting Station are not useless cards on their own.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Totally agree. I've been playing it for months (I was REALLY high on it and Nissa after I tested them out) and my best performing deck thus far is essentially a Karn deck. The reason it is good for us is:
1. We can play it on turn 2
2. We can get to 10 mana by turn 3 for the lock
3. It gives us a level of interaction we never could have in the main deck
4. Allows us to board lightly
5. We use Oath of Nissa already which it is great with.
6. With all of the artifact-heavy decks running around now...his Null Rod ability is really strong now.
I've even played cards others haven't in the board because we have more options mana-wise than mose. I know I've said in the past that it wasn't my most exciting deck (as everyone that had any kind of ramp uses the card)...but there is a reason for that. It is busted. The Karn deck is the only deck (outside of combo walkers) that I've kept for months on end due to continued performance in testing.
I've been trying to get Once Upon a Time in my Karn deck recently (as it is also crazy powerful). That has been my recent attempt. The "core" I've talked about in the past, however, is already like 28 cards...so I don't have much room to play with anymore
Had one PM for my current Karn deck. I did make a few changes...and it has been a while since I posted it. Here is what I have been trying:
4x Arbor Elf
3x Noble Hierarch
3x Wall of Blossoms
2x Llanowar Tribe
1x Walking Ballista
1x Voracious Hydra
3x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Walker (11)
4x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Nissa, Who Shakes the World
4x Karn, the Great Creator
3x Oath of Nissa
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Once Upon a Time
Land (21)
6x Green Fetch
8x Forest
1x Breeding Pool
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2x Castle Garenbrig
Board (15)
1x Mycosynth Lattice
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Liquimetal Coating
1x Pithing Needle
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Walking Ballista
1x Trinisphere
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Oko, Thief of Crowns
2x Force of Vigor
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Flex
I know the 1-of Oko seems weird, but it has been good against multiple decks...
I may try to get another Llanowar Tribe in there. The combination of Tribe, Castle Garenbrig, and Nykthos gets huge sums of mana very quickly.
9-CMC seems to be more of a “natural” number...so I may look into that more. Three Ulamog is probably too many...you can just get to 8-10 creature mana so quickly! I will try all kinds of payoffs.
It is nearly identical to my most played and most successful Green Devotion list which I called Garruk Green that ran 2 copies of Garruk, Caller of Beasts . Now instead of Caller of Beasts and two other cards - Wolfbriar Elemental and I fI can’t remember what the other was - I have Karn. I will now have to see if this is better than the original. Caller of Beasts is insane, allowing for the deck to get any creature in the deck down for 6 mana (Craterhoof a turn earlier is a big game), and in addition, adding a ton of card advantage. Whereas Karn adds 15 extra cards to the maindeck, a large toolbox, plus and additional wincon.
Creatures: 22
4 Arbor Elf
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Walking Ballista
3 Courser of Kruphix
2 Wall of Blossoms
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Burning-Tree Emissary
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Hornet Queen
1 Acidic Slime
Non-creatures: 17
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Oath of Nissa
2 Summoner's Pact
6 Forest
2 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Stomping Ground
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Damping Sphere
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Force of Vigor
1 Trinisphere
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Veil of Summer
Again, this sideboard is unrefined.
Potential Karn targets:
EDIT:
Testing Log
Match 1 vs. New monoblue Paradoxical Outcome deck 0-2 Loss (this deck looks really good)
Match 2 vs.R/U Thing/Aria of FLame deck Win 2-1
Match 3 vs. Green Tron Win 2-0 Game 2 he got turn 3 natural Tron and I still managed to win but he may have misplayed idk for sure
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC