Perhaps mono-black becomes a thing not as a control deck but as an aggro deck similar to "Fanatic deck wins"? You've got some better cards and some worse cards throughout the curve (e.g. Thrill-kill Assassin > Chainwalker, Rakdos Shred-Freak < Ash Zealot) that ultimately ends in a very similar, pseudo-aggressive shell that uses devotion-powered burn to the face as a curvetopper/finisher. The advantage to black is Gray Merchant's drain is a heck of a lot stronger than Fanatic's mere burn and actual card advantage engines (Underworld Connections and Dark Prophecy) that double as difficult-to-remove devotion boosters.
On that note, I know RDW typically runs light on land but is anyone else uneasy packing 20-21 when you're trying to curve into a four-drop? With Reckoner and Phoenix at too, I dunno I just think I'd prefer 22-23 land. They could even be Mutavaults so you're not completely losing action dropping two spells. But hey, I'm not the Red expert and I didn't win any major tournaments...
Most of the Heroic doods play with +1/+1 counters, so it's not the worst card in the world really. Aside targetting two different creatures, there are a number of minor tricks you can do with moving counters arounds.
I've been trying to get myself back into Standard more thanks to rotation, so I don't have many thoughts regarding the Bow in Modern. What I can say is it seems pretty strong for Standard where the shooty and recursion modes are both pretty worthless. In Modern where all four modes can be useful? Sure, I can see it.
Hell, I run ten tutors or so in my normal deck. Obviously, Demonic Tutor would at least replace all of those (maybeVampiric Tutor can stay) so that's kind of a bare minimum of awesomeness. And the only reason I don't run more is because at that point I've exhausted all the reasonable tutors: Diabolic Tutor is already of questionable worth at the top of my tutor curve, then you hit the flat-out too bad or expensive ones like Diabolic Revelation or Rune-Scarred Demon. I have to imagine I'd run at least 20 or so but I'm not going to bother putting more thought into it.
Max is probably somewhere in the high 30's, low 40's. You'll need a bare minimum of 35 land to avoid frequently mulling yourself down to <6. You need not just a combo to win with, you need protection for it and/or redundancy as a Plan B. Plus, with that many tutors you might want some fast mana so you don't simply get tempoed out while you're using 1B every turn tutoring stuff. ;[
Between some failed attempts at other Devotion-based decks and seeing one of these guys in action, I put together my own Mono-:symg: list. So far I really like it, so here I am eh?
You guys don't like Kalonian Hydra, really? I've found it to be my best creature by far. It's the only reasonably-costed fatty that doesn't need Nylea to provide it Trample. Arbor Colossus doesn't have Trample and needs another land drop + all your mana that turn to swing for just 1 more next turn (and doesn't continue to grow after). Giant Adephage and friends simply don't hit the battlefield fast enough. Hydra's just super-undercosted for the amount of damage it can deal, not unlike an aggro-slanted Desecration Demon. The synergy with +1/+1 counters on other creatures, and Bow of Nylea, is pure gravy.
Scooze is still great. Look man, I'm playing 30 dudes. Bare minimum in this topic so far is what, 26? Combat will be bloody and there's no shortage of targets for enemy removal. And when they die, Scooze is getting bigger. It's Tarmogoyf-level pure, efficient fat with incidental lifegain to boot. It's maindeckable even if GY-based strategies are dead in RTR-THS Standard, which I'm not convinced will be the case. If nothing else, Whip of Erebos + Ghost Dad is going to be a thing.
For the sake of other lines of discussion, I need to post my decklist:
You'll notice no mana dorks. Ultimately, I decided with multiple good two-drops, and no reason to rush to three since we're not playing Domri in mono, that I may as well just curve out properly. I figure this way I just overload control with threats (everything is a threat) and out-muscle other creature decks. Experiment One, unlike Elvish Mystic (or worse, the two-drop dorks), can easily grow to be a threat in combat. Go ahead, Doom Blade my Hydra. I got five more Hydras and about 20 other things that can kill in 3-5 combat steps. Plus Garruk!
Between Experiment One, Scooze plus Hydras, I figured I'd try out Renegade Krasis too and go all-in on the +1/+1 counters theme. Krasis is already decent on-curve and generates 2 Devotion. Not only does it easily grow beyond that (unlike, say, Boon Satyr or Witchstalker) but it plays nicely both ways with the Hydras: Hydras grow it because they're bigger, Krasis grows them because they utilize +1/+1 counters. So far, I'm fairly pleased with it.
Most everything else is largely agreed upon here I think, Nylea / Bow / Garruk are all good. I stuck to 3 each of Nylea and Polukranos respecting their Legendary status. Honestly I think Nylea is pretty important for the Trample, especially for you K-Hydra haters. Besides, she's a 6/6 Indestructible for when she's online.
Anything else? Umm, Rubblebelt Raiders has been underwhelming and Plummet should probably be Arbor Colossus but I thought I'd post my original list before I make any changes. I included the former because it can get big on its own and provides 3 Devotion but it doesn't grow that quickly swinging alone and it lacks Trample. I'm thinking I can turn it into Boon Satyr or Reverent Hunter to give me a second dude at the three-drop spot (probably the former: 2 Devotion, better alone, triggers Evolve). I'm not high on Tusker either but I can't say it's been bad, I mean it's a 3/3 for sitting alongside Scooze on the curve and for 2 Devotion. *shrug*
Arbor Colossus isn't a card. Deadbridge Goliath was a 5/5 for 4 that scavenged, Loxodon Smiter was mainly seen in sideboards and Call of the Conclave wasn't seen. Just because it's p/t is above the curve that doesn't make it good.
And for Devotion, that implies that Nylea would be played, and that that deck couldn't do better, which it could easily (BTE)
...
I'm convinced then. Arbor Colossus will always be monstrous at the perfect time, isn't easy to remove, is very consistant and impacts the board state early and significantly.
I hardly think that Nylea and Arbor Colossus will dominate standard however, even independantly of each other. And playing one solely because of how it benefits the other isn't going to improve the deck overall.
Arbor Colossus mostly gets consideration because it has Reach. Green clogs up the ground but doesn't handle evasion well. The fact it can Monstrous into a 9/9 and directly snipes a flyer (as opposed to merely stopping it from swinging in) is a plus. I personally don't think it's necessary, Green can just put bigger dudes on the field and force the opposition to block (better than Colossus), but that's the idea anyway. It's not a bad card. ... And Smiter has seen plenty of maindeck play. :/ Not so much the others but rotation is taking most of the best removal with it. Simply playing above-the-curve dudes to trump Anger of the Gods and opposing creatures in direct combat could work.
In my experience so far, Nylea + her Bow is a pretty fierce combo. Aside from Kalonian Hydra, most of green's fatties don't have Trample and adding Deathtouch to the mix is extra silly. Both are decent cards on their own, Nylea being a 6/6 indestructible for with a mana dump ability and the Bow having a versatile array of effects (growing and lifegain the more relevant).
Everyone jumped on italofoca because he mistakenly mentioned Warleader's Helix as an answer to Baron but other than that, his post is pretty much spot-on. Baron's a decent size in a vacuum but bad for his cost, he's only relevant when his protections are.
Green has too many bigger things that eat him alive in combat. I dunno about any weird Blue aggro decks but he's too slow a clock for control to really worry about. (If they can't just kill him with Turn // Burn, Far // Away, Supreme Verdict, trump him in combat with Aetherling who itself is even more resistant to removal.) His butt is otherwise a bit tough for Red to deal with, unfortunately their best removal spell in this Standard burns for 4.
Obzedat is fairly similar and overall superior. Baron is also straight-up not as stupid as Desecration Demon, Boros Reckoner, or in my experience so far Kalonian Hydra. Stormbreath Deagon is going to be a thing too. Baron's just the guy you use when you need pro-White/Black.
Blah blah duals, but nobody usually cares about duals that enter tapped. Did the ZEN Refuges get used at all? Nope, fetchlands are better. How about guildgates before the impending rotation? Very rarely, since Shocks + Buddies are plenty of dual-color saturation with very little chance to disrupt tempo. IronPlushy wasn't wrong, though calling people "terrible" for needing them is a bit absurd.
At any rate, I think some mono-decks are looking pretty strong at the moment. White Weenie is poised to be pretty quick, with so many strong low drops (two 2-power one-drops, plus Boros Elite, a ton of bears with upside) and Brave the Elements to force an alpha strike against the bigger midrange decks + protect from Anger of the Gods. Both Red and Black have strong devotion-based fireballs. Nykthos rewards devotion as well. Green can get either incredible speed from their mana dorks + Nykthos or incredible threat density with so many good fatties. ... Sorry Blue.
As mentioned, Gruul should still be good and Selesnya may come into power as well (though I think :symg:-Devotion will be better). Personally I've just been waiting for some Golgari concoction to come into being, simply because Dreg Mangler and Varolz are really good... not to mention Desecration Demon in-color, which is a really dumb card right now since all of Innistrad's awesome removal is rotating out and leaving us with... Doom Blade which can't hit it. Obzedat Whip is just a silly combo, dunno if that'll get its own shell or will basically be "mono-black splash Obzedat" since Whip is great with Gray Merchant too.
Dunno about blue, besides Merfolk with its 800 :symu::symu: lords but honestly they have nothing to actually do with all that mana. Other than Clique, the only decent blue permanents with double+ symbols is Venser and a bunch of 5+ CMC cards. I don't think that's a recipe for success with Nykthos.
Echoing some of the previous mentioned thoughts in this thread, Vampire aggro came to mind. Bloodghast is bonkers with Nykthos, Kalastria Highborn is simply a really damn good tribal, and Vampire Nocturnus is triple-black. Highborn demands keeping mana open and protects from Wrath effects, not to mention Black has such an easy time keeping its hand full through permanents for the devotion count boost (Arena, Bob + Tutelage, Etchings if you wanna go the whole nine) to just keep vomiting stuff onto the field... Yeah, only one-drop with 2 power is Lacerator but Pulse Tracker is functionally similar to one and Viscera Seer is a good one-drop despite lacking it. *shrug*
And, well, just from what I've seen thus far in Standard I don't doubt Elves is pretty damn blazing with it.
Green has a number of ways to fetch nonbasics. Crop Rotation in particular puts the land into play untapped which can make a huge difference if you're looking for Wasteland or Gaea's Cradle. It's not part of any of T&N's instant-win combos and it's not necessarily the best grab for Natural Order and friends either, just a good default. And grabbing LD with Primetime is mostly for 1v1 anyway (where it's not even banned), not multiplayer EDH.
He's not cool with Contamination but apparently is with Blood Moon, an even worse offender since Red is less used in EDH? I'm going to assume it was implied...
I think Sylvan Caryatidis our two-mana ramp spell. Its only flaw relative to the typical land-based card is an opponent on the play can kill it with the red sweeper, since otherwise it has Hexproof and enough toughness to dodge all other possible forms of early removal (in Standard). This is not just another mana dork that gets Shocked EOT or whatever. There are other minor differences as the game drags on, of course, but as far as early ramp is concerned Caryatid is almost always functionally equivalent to a Rampant Growth variant.
Typical control decks don't usually run ramp anyway but extra lands. And Mana Bloom is... well, it's better than Trait Doctoring.
Hatebears/D&T is THE deck to play Vial. If you don't, just trade or sell them.
Far less essential in Merfolk.
No, it's better in Merfolk because (1) they have more dudes at the same CMC lined up (Hatebears usually has some curve-toppers at 3-4 while Merfolk.dec is basically two-drop lords plus Cursecatcher) and (2) they have counterspells to use held back mana for. Merfolk also has better draw/dig because of their cantrip dudes and running blue, they can better afford Vial being a non-threat on its own because they keep their hand stocked better.
Vial's effect of making your dudes uncounterable and giving them flash is not really worth the card disadvantage. There are creatures like Thrun if you need that specific effect which still represent a stand-alone threat. This deck lacks draw power and eventually Vial just ends up being a do-nothing card that could have been the next threat to stick after exhausting your opponent's answers. The tricksies with Arbiter and stuff are nice but ultimately, I prefer another threat. Vial doesn't do anything when your hand is empty.
On that note, I know RDW typically runs light on land but is anyone else uneasy packing 20-21 when you're trying to curve into a four-drop? With Reckoner and Phoenix at too, I dunno I just think I'd prefer 22-23 land. They could even be Mutavaults so you're not completely losing action dropping two spells. But hey, I'm not the Red expert and I didn't win any major tournaments...
Max is probably somewhere in the high 30's, low 40's. You'll need a bare minimum of 35 land to avoid frequently mulling yourself down to <6. You need not just a combo to win with, you need protection for it and/or redundancy as a Plan B. Plus, with that many tutors you might want some fast mana so you don't simply get tempoed out while you're using 1B every turn tutoring stuff. ;[
You guys don't like Kalonian Hydra, really? I've found it to be my best creature by far. It's the only reasonably-costed fatty that doesn't need Nylea to provide it Trample. Arbor Colossus doesn't have Trample and needs another land drop + all your mana that turn to swing for just 1 more next turn (and doesn't continue to grow after). Giant Adephage and friends simply don't hit the battlefield fast enough. Hydra's just super-undercosted for the amount of damage it can deal, not unlike an aggro-slanted Desecration Demon. The synergy with +1/+1 counters on other creatures, and Bow of Nylea, is pure gravy.
Scooze is still great. Look man, I'm playing 30 dudes. Bare minimum in this topic so far is what, 26? Combat will be bloody and there's no shortage of targets for enemy removal. And when they die, Scooze is getting bigger. It's Tarmogoyf-level pure, efficient fat with incidental lifegain to boot. It's maindeckable even if GY-based strategies are dead in RTR-THS Standard, which I'm not convinced will be the case. If nothing else, Whip of Erebos + Ghost Dad is going to be a thing.
For the sake of other lines of discussion, I need to post my decklist:
20 Forest
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Creatures
4 Experiment One
4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Renegade Krasis
4 Rubblebelt Raiders
3 Polukranos, World Eater
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
4 Kalonian Hydra
3 Bow of Nylea
3 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
2 Fade into Antiquity
2 Nylea's Disciple
4 Witchstalker
4 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Plummet
You'll notice no mana dorks. Ultimately, I decided with multiple good two-drops, and no reason to rush to three since we're not playing Domri in mono, that I may as well just curve out properly. I figure this way I just overload control with threats (everything is a threat) and out-muscle other creature decks. Experiment One, unlike Elvish Mystic (or worse, the two-drop dorks), can easily grow to be a threat in combat. Go ahead, Doom Blade my Hydra. I got five more Hydras and about 20 other things that can kill in 3-5 combat steps. Plus Garruk!
Between Experiment One, Scooze plus Hydras, I figured I'd try out Renegade Krasis too and go all-in on the +1/+1 counters theme. Krasis is already decent on-curve and generates 2 Devotion. Not only does it easily grow beyond that (unlike, say, Boon Satyr or Witchstalker) but it plays nicely both ways with the Hydras: Hydras grow it because they're bigger, Krasis grows them because they utilize +1/+1 counters. So far, I'm fairly pleased with it.
Most everything else is largely agreed upon here I think, Nylea / Bow / Garruk are all good. I stuck to 3 each of Nylea and Polukranos respecting their Legendary status. Honestly I think Nylea is pretty important for the Trample, especially for you K-Hydra haters. Besides, she's a 6/6 Indestructible for when she's online.
Anything else? Umm, Rubblebelt Raiders has been underwhelming and Plummet should probably be Arbor Colossus but I thought I'd post my original list before I make any changes. I included the former because it can get big on its own and provides 3 Devotion but it doesn't grow that quickly swinging alone and it lacks Trample. I'm thinking I can turn it into Boon Satyr or Reverent Hunter to give me a second dude at the three-drop spot (probably the former: 2 Devotion, better alone, triggers Evolve). I'm not high on Tusker either but I can't say it's been bad, I mean it's a 3/3 for sitting alongside Scooze on the curve and for 2 Devotion. *shrug*
Arbor Colossus mostly gets consideration because it has Reach. Green clogs up the ground but doesn't handle evasion well. The fact it can Monstrous into a 9/9 and directly snipes a flyer (as opposed to merely stopping it from swinging in) is a plus. I personally don't think it's necessary, Green can just put bigger dudes on the field and force the opposition to block (better than Colossus), but that's the idea anyway. It's not a bad card. ... And Smiter has seen plenty of maindeck play. :/ Not so much the others but rotation is taking most of the best removal with it. Simply playing above-the-curve dudes to trump Anger of the Gods and opposing creatures in direct combat could work.
In my experience so far, Nylea + her Bow is a pretty fierce combo. Aside from Kalonian Hydra, most of green's fatties don't have Trample and adding Deathtouch to the mix is extra silly. Both are decent cards on their own, Nylea being a 6/6 indestructible for with a mana dump ability and the Bow having a versatile array of effects (growing and lifegain the more relevant).
Green has too many bigger things that eat him alive in combat. I dunno about any weird Blue aggro decks but he's too slow a clock for control to really worry about. (If they can't just kill him with Turn // Burn, Far // Away, Supreme Verdict, trump him in combat with Aetherling who itself is even more resistant to removal.) His butt is otherwise a bit tough for Red to deal with, unfortunately their best removal spell in this Standard burns for 4.
Obzedat is fairly similar and overall superior. Baron is also straight-up not as stupid as Desecration Demon, Boros Reckoner, or in my experience so far Kalonian Hydra. Stormbreath Deagon is going to be a thing too. Baron's just the guy you use when you need pro-White/Black.
At any rate, I think some mono-decks are looking pretty strong at the moment. White Weenie is poised to be pretty quick, with so many strong low drops (two 2-power one-drops, plus Boros Elite, a ton of bears with upside) and Brave the Elements to force an alpha strike against the bigger midrange decks + protect from Anger of the Gods. Both Red and Black have strong devotion-based fireballs. Nykthos rewards devotion as well. Green can get either incredible speed from their mana dorks + Nykthos or incredible threat density with so many good fatties. ... Sorry Blue.
As mentioned, Gruul should still be good and Selesnya may come into power as well (though I think :symg:-Devotion will be better). Personally I've just been waiting for some Golgari concoction to come into being, simply because Dreg Mangler and Varolz are really good... not to mention Desecration Demon in-color, which is a really dumb card right now since all of Innistrad's awesome removal is rotating out and leaving us with... Doom Blade which can't hit it. Obzedat Whip is just a silly combo, dunno if that'll get its own shell or will basically be "mono-black splash Obzedat" since Whip is great with Gray Merchant too.
Echoing some of the previous mentioned thoughts in this thread, Vampire aggro came to mind. Bloodghast is bonkers with Nykthos, Kalastria Highborn is simply a really damn good tribal, and Vampire Nocturnus is triple-black. Highborn demands keeping mana open and protects from Wrath effects, not to mention Black has such an easy time keeping its hand full through permanents for the devotion count boost (Arena, Bob + Tutelage, Etchings if you wanna go the whole nine) to just keep vomiting stuff onto the field... Yeah, only one-drop with 2 power is Lacerator but Pulse Tracker is functionally similar to one and Viscera Seer is a good one-drop despite lacking it. *shrug*
And, well, just from what I've seen thus far in Standard I don't doubt Elves is pretty damn blazing with it.
Typical control decks don't usually run ramp anyway but extra lands. And Mana Bloom is... well, it's better than Trait Doctoring.
No, it's better in Merfolk because (1) they have more dudes at the same CMC lined up (Hatebears usually has some curve-toppers at 3-4 while Merfolk.dec is basically two-drop lords plus Cursecatcher) and (2) they have counterspells to use held back mana for. Merfolk also has better draw/dig because of their cantrip dudes and running blue, they can better afford Vial being a non-threat on its own because they keep their hand stocked better.
Vial's effect of making your dudes uncounterable and giving them flash is not really worth the card disadvantage. There are creatures like Thrun if you need that specific effect which still represent a stand-alone threat. This deck lacks draw power and eventually Vial just ends up being a do-nothing card that could have been the next threat to stick after exhausting your opponent's answers. The tricksies with Arbiter and stuff are nice but ultimately, I prefer another threat. Vial doesn't do anything when your hand is empty.