1) Card advantage is only good in longer games...Modern has become very fast lately so it's best to just go fast with it. Llanowar Tribe helps in this regard.
2) Genesis Wave is kind of eh in my opinion. ALthough with Tribe, it may be easier to obtain large amounts of mana. I already think your top end with Craterhoof and Primetime is good enough as a finisher...so perhaps Wave is just fine as a value 2-of.
3) Not a lot of decks like Storm for Ruric Thar to trounce lately...I don't think he's super necessary at the moment.
Somberwald Sage is so much worse than Tribe, that should be apparent. As for fragility...literally all of Devotion's creatures are fragile to removal, so using that as a metric is not worthwhile.
The main boon I see for Tribe is that it demands an answer that turn. If the opponent doesn't have one at that moment, it is bad news. I am much more willing to play a creature that either a) dies to bolt or b) wins the game, than a middling midrange creature. Tribe allows normal Devotion to have a quicker ramp strategy similar to T&N, which I would argue is a more competitive deck. Having a linear gameplan is where you want to be in Modern, and since the color green has no interaction, that's the path we should follow as well. Sometimes you just have to keep it simple and go T1 dork, T2 Tribe, T3 Hornet Queen. No cutesie ***** just gimme dat ramp.
Playing a turbo Marit Lage Snow.dec is not going to work in my opinion. All of ramp, and what...to play a 20/20 with suspend 1, while also playing bad snow cards that don't interact with the opponent? Not my bag baby.
I see Marit Lage as more of an incidental card filtering engine like Azcanta, while having another win con. Something like Temur Control or Sultai Control, with Skred/Coatl/Madcap/Dead of Winter/etc. Include a tasteful amount of ramp with Steve or Growth Spiral, and eventually you could get to 10 permanents (or 9 not including Marit Lage).
Regardless of what configuration is played, it'll probably want to run all basics, alongside 4x fetches and 4x prismatic vista to fetch them. No dual lands/creature lands/utility lands/etc, not to mention Cryptic Command. Ofc this is only if you're aiming for a Marit Lage alternate win con, or Dead of Winter to be useful.
Until the new site is launched, I think Discord would be the place to go for questions/discussion in the next couple months.
As for the landbase...I think bumping up the land count to 22 could help cast GGG. Also, trimming Nykthos down to 3 may be needed in traditional Devotion. I don't think manlands are what the deck wants to do...those are mainly for decks trying to eek out edges in midrange matchups...this deck mostly smashes in one turn so it's not as useful. As for blast zone, I'm intrigued, but also skeptical with the number of non-green lands at that point.
Also in regards to the tribe - this may be heresy, but I could see a future where it replaces Garruk Wildspeaker and the list goes down a Coco avenue. Garruk can sometimes be clunky, and also sometimes only produces 2 mana...so a 3 drop that effectively ramps the same could be really beneficial.
Only card I"m liking so far is the new Deranged Hermit. The current available 5 CMC creatures mostly suck, and this bridges the gap against aggressive decks, while also playing into the Craterhoof overrun plan... as typical of Deranged Hermit.
I think against most decks, Domri's fight ability is more relevant. The Anthem is okay, but only provides mana when you have nykthos. Domri has a bit more stable mana generation. Also Anthem isn't too hot off the top, but Domri can help you come back from a bad boardstate.
Overall he's like a 6/10, not amazing but pretty decent.
I've been running a deck with Kiora, Garruk, and Domri, and I've been pleasantly surprised by the utility they provide. Domri pumping up all the dorks makes him an actual threat, and having the ability to fight creatures is very relevant. The buff he provides to beasts is also useful...I was able to make 2 beasts and draw 2 cards in a stalled boardstate with Kiora and Garruk, and it helped push me over the edge. I think they are a nice little midrange package to have in the deck.
On the other hand, I've been pretty unimpressed with Finale. A lot of times I wished it was Primal Command...but that may be due to the fact that I didn't have any of-color silver bullets to tutor for, but rather the traditional green tutor targets. I might try running it with Devoted Druid and see where that takes me.
I agree with Fulgence on Hydroid Krasis. It's a value card that is good against control, but in the vast majority of matchups it's just a "decent" or "bad" card. In Tooth and Nail lists, it is decent as a 1-2 of, since that deck is actively digging for a combo piece, while generating mana faster than traditional Devotion. In normal devotion though, it is merely a roleplayer. This deck doesn't need any more value, it needs cards that say: "answer this or you're dead", or "I effectively win the game/boardstate".
I think some players will get caught up in the thought of eeking out as much value/mana as possible, and grinding harder that the opponent. The deck is already decent versus midrange, so the only benefit that would give is versus control...which can be reset by a simple sweeper. Sometimes you just gotta get rid of the fluff, and just kill the opponent. I don't think Hydroid Krasis does that to any degree.
FYI - Hornet Queen does not trigger as you expect with Finale of Devastation. The finale resolves before the ETB trigger resolves, so only the Queen herself gets +10/+10.
Also I would temper your expectations for finale.. I think it's a good glue card, and it might be great in the Infinite Devoted druid devotions of last year...but it's not a game changer... we still need to generate 12 mana to get the benefit of both parts of the card. That is the main issue this deck has already and the card doesn't do anything to ease that.
Neoform is more suited for a turbo Allosaurus Rider deck than typical devotion...we don't currently play Eldritch Evolution so I don't see it having any use here either.
Just wanted to lay down some perspective before people buy into pre-release hype prices haha.
Honestly I don't think the deck needs more consistency so much as a green permanent that interacts with the opponent. Some sort of Fight ETB or O-ring type effect...a tax for small dudes..I dunno. The deck needs some degree of disruption to make it competitive, and waiting for Acidic Slime or Hornet Queen is just not enough.
1) Card advantage is only good in longer games...Modern has become very fast lately so it's best to just go fast with it. Llanowar Tribe helps in this regard.
2) Genesis Wave is kind of eh in my opinion. ALthough with Tribe, it may be easier to obtain large amounts of mana. I already think your top end with Craterhoof and Primetime is good enough as a finisher...so perhaps Wave is just fine as a value 2-of.
3) Not a lot of decks like Storm for Ruric Thar to trounce lately...I don't think he's super necessary at the moment.
Also, I wish Deep Forest Hermit could throw squirrels
The main boon I see for Tribe is that it demands an answer that turn. If the opponent doesn't have one at that moment, it is bad news. I am much more willing to play a creature that either a) dies to bolt or b) wins the game, than a middling midrange creature. Tribe allows normal Devotion to have a quicker ramp strategy similar to T&N, which I would argue is a more competitive deck. Having a linear gameplan is where you want to be in Modern, and since the color green has no interaction, that's the path we should follow as well. Sometimes you just have to keep it simple and go T1 dork, T2 Tribe, T3 Hornet Queen. No cutesie ***** just gimme dat ramp.
I see Marit Lage as more of an incidental card filtering engine like Azcanta, while having another win con. Something like Temur Control or Sultai Control, with Skred/Coatl/Madcap/Dead of Winter/etc. Include a tasteful amount of ramp with Steve or Growth Spiral, and eventually you could get to 10 permanents (or 9 not including Marit Lage).
Regardless of what configuration is played, it'll probably want to run all basics, alongside 4x fetches and 4x prismatic vista to fetch them. No dual lands/creature lands/utility lands/etc, not to mention Cryptic Command. Ofc this is only if you're aiming for a Marit Lage alternate win con, or Dead of Winter to be useful.
As for the landbase...I think bumping up the land count to 22 could help cast GGG. Also, trimming Nykthos down to 3 may be needed in traditional Devotion. I don't think manlands are what the deck wants to do...those are mainly for decks trying to eek out edges in midrange matchups...this deck mostly smashes in one turn so it's not as useful. As for blast zone, I'm intrigued, but also skeptical with the number of non-green lands at that point.
Also in regards to the tribe - this may be heresy, but I could see a future where it replaces Garruk Wildspeaker and the list goes down a Coco avenue. Garruk can sometimes be clunky, and also sometimes only produces 2 mana...so a 3 drop that effectively ramps the same could be really beneficial.
Hopefully we get some cool toys in the next week.
I think against most decks, Domri's fight ability is more relevant. The Anthem is okay, but only provides mana when you have nykthos. Domri has a bit more stable mana generation. Also Anthem isn't too hot off the top, but Domri can help you come back from a bad boardstate.
Overall he's like a 6/10, not amazing but pretty decent.
I've been running a deck with Kiora, Garruk, and Domri, and I've been pleasantly surprised by the utility they provide. Domri pumping up all the dorks makes him an actual threat, and having the ability to fight creatures is very relevant. The buff he provides to beasts is also useful...I was able to make 2 beasts and draw 2 cards in a stalled boardstate with Kiora and Garruk, and it helped push me over the edge. I think they are a nice little midrange package to have in the deck.
On the other hand, I've been pretty unimpressed with Finale. A lot of times I wished it was Primal Command...but that may be due to the fact that I didn't have any of-color silver bullets to tutor for, but rather the traditional green tutor targets. I might try running it with Devoted Druid and see where that takes me.
I think some players will get caught up in the thought of eeking out as much value/mana as possible, and grinding harder that the opponent. The deck is already decent versus midrange, so the only benefit that would give is versus control...which can be reset by a simple sweeper. Sometimes you just gotta get rid of the fluff, and just kill the opponent. I don't think Hydroid Krasis does that to any degree.
Also I would temper your expectations for finale.. I think it's a good glue card, and it might be great in the Infinite Devoted druid devotions of last year...but it's not a game changer... we still need to generate 12 mana to get the benefit of both parts of the card. That is the main issue this deck has already and the card doesn't do anything to ease that.
Neoform is more suited for a turbo Allosaurus Rider deck than typical devotion...we don't currently play Eldritch Evolution so I don't see it having any use here either.
Just wanted to lay down some perspective before people buy into pre-release hype prices haha.