I figure getting a greaves into play allows us to stick a Druid permanently
@Torpf I think you are FAR underestimating Greaves. It gives Druid haste, it gives Stepmom haste and protection (relevant because she can't protect herself), and it gives Shalai protection (she also cannot protect herself). I expect Greaves to be nutty good. I've just never found a way to slot it in. I'm excited to hear the results of your experiment!
I'll try to test the stoneforge package as transformational sideboard to avoid anti-graveyard side i.e. kitchen finks and postmortem lunge maindeck, then switch those to stoneforge package in game 2.
Up to now I'm very impressed with stoneforge mystic in the deck. It's way too good to put in the sideboard as I thought previously, as it brings a lot of consistency and extra 'must kill' creatures. I was hesitating between a postmortem lunge build and a stoneforge build but after some testing it seems very clear to me now that stoneforge is superior.
Anyway I don't like the viridian longbow from the link I've given, I find it too situational, even if it's combo with druid (but I haven't tested it). I play now 1 batterskull (that I search for 99% of the time) and 1 lightning greaves.
Any feedback from persons having tested stoneforge since the unban?
Up to now I'm very impressed with stoneforge mystic in the deck. It's way too good to put in the sideboard as I thought previously, as it brings a lot of consistency and extra 'must kill' creatures. I was hesitating between a postmortem lunge build and a stoneforge build but after some testing it seems very clear to me now that stoneforge is superior.
Anyway I don't like the viridian longbow from the link I've given, I find it too situational, even if it's combo with druid (but I haven't tested it). I play now 1 batterskull (that I search for 99% of the time) and 1 lightning greaves.
Any feedback from persons having tested stoneforge since the unban?
Although I've only tested SFM in a cousin Devoted Vizier build with 8 tutors and no Collected Company (I close to netdecked the list), Viridian Longbow has been pretty good in it to make SFM an infinite mana sink. The Longbow can also ping stuff and give us a (pretty slow) way to win through Ensnaring Bridge.
Commune With Nature effects have been played in the past, in other Druid combo shells. They were cut when better cards were printed. Once Upon a Time is not so much better than Commune that we cut new, good cards like Elad Call or Finale.
Regarding Stoneforge:
Viridian Longbow is required. Having it in the deck means that, after you have infinite mana, Stoneforge becomes another win-the-game tutor just like Elad Call or Finale.
Sword of Light and Shadow has become the default equipment in most of these lists. Both protection colors are super relevant, lifegain gives us more time to combo, and the Raise Dead effect is great in a deck full of shoot-on-sight creatures. Some people are even on Qasali Pridemage or the Caterpillar, just to abuse it more (which is likely incorrect)
I've had alot of luck recently with this list in my meta (It's heavy on midrange and tron primarily along with some prowess/burn)
The deck trades some redundancy and speed for a higher curve that really punishes the more controlling decks that usually pose problems for us. Let me know your thoughts on this but so far it has been very nice to have that backup plan of eldritch evolution into wilt-leaf liege which can sometimes just close out a game in 2ish turns against the matchups where a combo finish is often out of reach.
(This is sort of similar to the idea of having the stoneblade alternate wincon but I have found that this one is a bit less disruptable and very damaging against Liliana of the veil
Thoughts and comments? thanks
I've played some modern games this WE at magic fest Ghent and I'd like to share my lessons learned.
The most important is probably that I realized (more) the power of stony silence in the meta. It's great against whirza which is a very problematic match-up. Against Tron it acts preventively against lattice, which I didn't realize previously (lattice and stony into play means no mana for anyone. So if you have a creature and Tron player doesn't, he looses). Not mentioning ravager decks. I'll up to 4 in sideboard.
Stoneforge package confirmed its power. I've tested viridian longbow and indeed I won't take it out anymore. Still not convinced by lightning greaves. Some players use also sword of light and shadow, I haven't tried yet but will very soon because it looks strong.
Infinite life via kitchen finks rarely happened and in the rare cases it did, it wasn't relevant. But I won 2 games thanks to infinite-big carrion feeder, so I'm still not sure whether to drop the finks package or not. I'd like to keep it with 2 finks.
1 eternal witness main was totally useless. So was 1 knight of autumn main (well, this one is never really useless, but it was a weak play).
After sideboard, having multiple knights of autumn is really not sufficient for the whirza matchup.
1 Gavony township main was useful multiple times. I'd like to make room for a 2nd one.
1 scavenging ooze main was very often great, and I've tutored it multiple times. I'll never drop it ;-)
Burrenton was good because blocker against burn and prevents anger of the gods against valakut.
My sideboard against UW control is 1 Vivien champion of the wild and 2 sin collector. It could certainly be better but I don't have a lot of inspiration about other options.
I wasn't always happy when having Shalai in hand, not sure if it belongs to maindeck or sideboard. I currently play 1 main.
I've played some modern games this WE at magic fest Ghent and I'd like to share my lessons learned.
The most important is probably that I realized (more) the power of stony silence in the meta. It's great against whirza which is a very problematic match-up. Against Tron it acts preventively against lattice, which I didn't realize previously (lattice and stony into play means no mana for anyone. So if you have a creature and Tron player doesn't, he looses). Not mentioning ravager decks. I'll up to 4 in sideboard.
Stoneforge package confirmed its power. I've tested viridian longbow and indeed I won't take it out anymore. Still not convinced by lightning greaves. Some players use also sword of light and shadow, I haven't tried yet but will very soon because it looks strong.
Infinite life via kitchen finks rarely happened and in the rare cases it did, it wasn't relevant. But I won 2 games thanks to infinite-big carrion feeder, so I'm still not sure whether to drop the finks package or not. I'd like to keep it with 2 finks.
1 eternal witness main was totally useless. So was 1 knight of autumn main (well, this one is never really useless, but it was a weak play).
After sideboard, having multiple knights of autumn is really not sufficient for the whirza matchup.
1 Gavony township main was useful multiple times. I'd like to make room for a 2nd one.
1 scavenging ooze main was very often great, and I've tutored it multiple times. I'll never drop it ;-)
Burrenton was good because blocker against burn and prevents anger of the gods against valakut.
My sideboard against UW control is 1 Vivien champion of the wild and 2 sin collector. It could certainly be better but I don't have a lot of inspiration about other options.
I wasn't always happy when having Shalai in hand, not sure if it belongs to maindeck or sideboard. I currently play 1 main.
Any feedback is welcome
Any chance you could include a list? Alot of this seems like great info. Would love some context. Also, how did you do at magic fest?
thanks
Seems there's a major disconnect between this Forum and MTG Goldfish. Everyone here seems to be on Devoted Stoneblade lately, whereas on MTGgoldfish with lists putting up real results, it seems people aren't even touching Stoneforge mystic. What's up with that?
If we go by MTGgoldfish numbers, the old school version of this deck with Coco and Chord is about tied with the newer all-in version with Evolution and Lunge, and the Stoneblade version doesn't really appear.
Seems there's a major disconnect between this Forum and MTG Goldfish. Everyone here seems to be on Devoted Stoneblade lately, whereas on MTGgoldfish with lists putting up real results, it seems people aren't even touching Stoneforge mystic. What's up with that?
If we go by MTGgoldfish numbers, the old school version of this deck with Coco and Chord is about tied with the newer all-in version with Evolution and Lunge.
The Devoted Stoneblade lists I've seen are basically a third version, with only Eladamri's Call and Finale of Devastation being mandatory. They performed pretty well last weekend in StarCityGames results, so I might argue that they're the ones with the best real results lately.
Sorry I should have clarified. The Stoneblade version of this deck seems non-existent on MTGGoldfish, whereas the old school version with Coco/Chord Finks combo ect is much more prevalent. So which version of this deck is truly best currently? Devoted Stoneblade or Abzan Company?
Stone blade was recently unbanned. It was super powerful in a past meta, and everyone thinks it may be the broken thing we were missing. I think it will come back down to earth and that WOTC actually is correct, that Stoneforge Mage isn't quite as powerful these days. Just like when they unbanned Jace. Jace is great, but certainly not a must include or a deck maker. I still think our core resides around the values but I'm not sure what the right 75 is. Maybe Throne has those couple cards.
So I've been working on trying hybrid Devoted decks, I tried Devoted prison with magus/trinisphere/brdige/chalice and did OK, but have had great results with this list here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3397007#paper
This is my Devoted Ponza list. The idea was taking out the land destruction for the combo, which worked with the perfect amount of cards. So far I've beat Tron, Uro pile, Dredgeless Dredge, Snow and Burn. I'm currently at a 80% win rate, but have not taken it into a league yet, only have done testing. I think the list can be tweaked some, imo bolt feels slightly less powerful than path right now, but I have not tried path yet. Opinion or suggestions?
Edit: Added paths to sb and smoothed mana base out, got a few more wins right afterwards.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22942&d=357095
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22933&d=356996&f=MO
I'll try to test the stoneforge package as transformational sideboard to avoid anti-graveyard side i.e. kitchen finks and postmortem lunge maindeck, then switch those to stoneforge package in game 2.
Anyway I don't like the viridian longbow from the link I've given, I find it too situational, even if it's combo with druid (but I haven't tested it). I play now 1 batterskull (that I search for 99% of the time) and 1 lightning greaves.
Any feedback from persons having tested stoneforge since the unban?
Although I've only tested SFM in a cousin Devoted Vizier build with 8 tutors and no Collected Company (I close to netdecked the list), Viridian Longbow has been pretty good in it to make SFM an infinite mana sink. The Longbow can also ping stuff and give us a (pretty slow) way to win through Ensnaring Bridge.
Regarding Stoneforge:
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
The deck trades some redundancy and speed for a higher curve that really punishes the more controlling decks that usually pose problems for us. Let me know your thoughts on this but so far it has been very nice to have that backup plan of eldritch evolution into wilt-leaf liege which can sometimes just close out a game in 2ish turns against the matchups where a combo finish is often out of reach.
(This is sort of similar to the idea of having the stoneblade alternate wincon but I have found that this one is a bit less disruptable and very damaging against Liliana of the veil
Thoughts and comments? thanks
1 Walking Ballista
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Viscera Seer
4 Devoted Druid
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Vizier of Remedies
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Ranger-Captain of Eos
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Giver of Runes
3 Assassin's Trophy
3 Eladamri's Call
3 Eldritch Evolution
2 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Giver of Runes
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Spellskite
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
1 Assassin's Trophy
3 Lingering Souls
The most important is probably that I realized (more) the power of stony silence in the meta. It's great against whirza which is a very problematic match-up. Against Tron it acts preventively against lattice, which I didn't realize previously (lattice and stony into play means no mana for anyone. So if you have a creature and Tron player doesn't, he looses). Not mentioning ravager decks. I'll up to 4 in sideboard.
Stoneforge package confirmed its power. I've tested viridian longbow and indeed I won't take it out anymore. Still not convinced by lightning greaves. Some players use also sword of light and shadow, I haven't tried yet but will very soon because it looks strong.
Infinite life via kitchen finks rarely happened and in the rare cases it did, it wasn't relevant. But I won 2 games thanks to infinite-big carrion feeder, so I'm still not sure whether to drop the finks package or not. I'd like to keep it with 2 finks.
1 eternal witness main was totally useless. So was 1 knight of autumn main (well, this one is never really useless, but it was a weak play).
After sideboard, having multiple knights of autumn is really not sufficient for the whirza matchup.
1 Gavony township main was useful multiple times. I'd like to make room for a 2nd one.
1 scavenging ooze main was very often great, and I've tutored it multiple times. I'll never drop it ;-)
Burrenton was good because blocker against burn and prevents anger of the gods against valakut.
My sideboard against UW control is 1 Vivien champion of the wild and 2 sin collector. It could certainly be better but I don't have a lot of inspiration about other options.
I wasn't always happy when having Shalai in hand, not sure if it belongs to maindeck or sideboard. I currently play 1 main.
Any feedback is welcome
Any chance you could include a list? Alot of this seems like great info. Would love some context. Also, how did you do at magic fest?
thanks
If we go by MTGgoldfish numbers, the old school version of this deck with Coco and Chord is about tied with the newer all-in version with Evolution and Lunge, and the Stoneblade version doesn't really appear.
RWG Burn
GW Abzan Company
The Devoted Stoneblade lists I've seen are basically a third version, with only Eladamri's Call and Finale of Devastation being mandatory. They performed pretty well last weekend in StarCityGames results, so I might argue that they're the ones with the best real results lately.
RWG Burn
GW Abzan Company
Modern
URB Grixis Delver
GWB Abzan Company
RWB Mardu Burn
WB Martyr Proc
Opinions?
Lately I've been more playing with stoneforge mystic builds, and brainstorming over once upon a time and magus of the moon.
So many builds, so many possibilities!
About OUAT it seems that playing it 4x allows to remove 2 lands to the deck.
About magus, see here the list that won GP Montreal that inspired me : https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=23335&d=360770
This is my Devoted Ponza list. The idea was taking out the land destruction for the combo, which worked with the perfect amount of cards. So far I've beat Tron, Uro pile, Dredgeless Dredge, Snow and Burn. I'm currently at a 80% win rate, but have not taken it into a league yet, only have done testing. I think the list can be tweaked some, imo bolt feels slightly less powerful than path right now, but I have not tried path yet. Opinion or suggestions?
Edit: Added paths to sb and smoothed mana base out, got a few more wins right afterwards.