Devotion decks reigned supreme during the Theros rotation. It does not fall short of multiple variations. However the top tiered decks consists of Mono Blue, Mono Black and Mono Green Devotion archetypes. Today, let’s take a look at Mono Blue Devotion; one of the top tier decks during Standard! (That time of course!)
How does Devotion work?
Devotion decks benefit from running one type of coloured mana (in this case; Blue) in that you would not need to have to worry about the colour pie when deck building. Also, the likeliness of getting “colour-screwed” is non existent in mono coloured decks. Devotion decks utilizes this consistency to power out threats capable of sealing games if left unchecked. The main resource for such power comes from the mana symbols within the card’s (non-land permanents) CMC. Each “blue” mana symbol contributes to one’s deck devotion. The sweet spot to aim for is FIVE of such coloured symbols. Take a look at the cards below:
The aim is to get FIVE “blue” symbols by turn 4 to get Thassa, God of the Sea, online and swing for FIVE points of damage. Thassa, God of the Sea is an important card which defines Mono Blue devotion. It has a very crucial ability for Blue: Scry, as it sets up potential game enders, tempo swings for your turn. Being a god, she (Thassa) also gains the indestructible keyword! Devotion also powers up Master of the Waves as your board presence from this mythic (Theros) gets stronger as your devotion increases! The Bident of Thassa plays a role in activating your FIVE “blue” devotion symbols and plays an important role for refilling your gas by drawing cards each time a creature your control deals damage to an opponent! Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a great addition to any devotion decks as it acts as a pseudo ramp based on your devotion (AGAIN!). At FOUR “blue” symbols, you will be tapping 3 lands to produce 4 mana of the devoted colour! The more “blue” coloured symbols you have on your non-land permanents, the more mana this land produces!
Why mono Blue Devotion?
Mono Blue devotion has proven to be one of the most consistent decks (for dealing damage and gaining tempo). In the new Pioneer format, where a realm of uncertainty still lingers, tempo based decks are pretty good. It can out aggro most mono red decks, deal with large creatures and play counter magic against the hardiest control decks! Thassa, God of the Sea also has the ability to push damage by tapping two mana and giving your biggest creature unblockable to punch through defences. Let’s take a look at a deck list that I have come up with for #pioneer tonight!
Mono Blue Devotion:
| Creatures: 27 4 Cloudfin Raptor 3 Siren Stormtamer 4 Frostburn Weird 2 Merfolk Trickster 2 Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft 3 Tempest Djinn 4 Thassa, God of the Sea 4 Master of Waves 1 Cavalier of Gales Lands: 24 23 Island 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx | Spells: 9 3 Rapid Hybridization 2 Stubborn Denial 1 Bident of Thassa 2 Jace, Architect of Thought 1 Treasure Cruise Sideboard: 15 3 Tidebinder Mage 2 Agent of Treachery 3 Mizzium Skin 2 Negate 2 Unsubstantiate 2 Ashiok, Dream Render 1 Jace, Memory Adept |
I have made some changes (upgrades!) to the deck. Instead of running Judge’s Familiar, I have opted to run Siren Stormstamer instead. During the RTR-Theros rotation, Judge’s Familiar was the only viable 1-drop creature to include in the mono blue devotion deck. It has a super strong ability but it was very conditional. With the introduction of Ixalan, Siren Stormtamer, possibly the best 1-drop for blue began to rise in popularity for tempo games. Able to directly counter a spell which targets you or a creature you control, it can swing games to your favour! Not to mention, the ever deadly Settle the Wreckage which was a bane to Mono Blue in Standard! The next addition to the deck I made is Tempest Djinn. Running 3 copies of this power house worked much wonders for me during my deck testing. Several points contribute to this: 1. It has 3 Blue mana symbols (yay! more devotion points!), 2. It has flying and grows as you encounter the dreaded land-flood curse! 3. It has a huge butt (toughness FOUR baby!!) which escapes most directed burn spells!
Key Cards in Mono Blue Devotion:
The deck still maintains its FOUR copies of Cloudfin Raptor as it is one of the better 1-drops and suits well with the deck on the curve of CMC-to-Power creatures. Frostburn Weird is also another staple and auto-include solely due to its CMC of 2 Blue/red (which still counts toward your devotion!). Thassa, God of the Sea is the bread and butter of the deck as a 5/5 body on turn 3-4 is not a joke to deal with! Jace, Architect of Thought is also maintained from the original list as this 4 mana walker is so good ( counts as 2 blue devotion and his Fact or Fiction ability usually stumps your opponent forcing them to make mistakes of separating the wrong cards for you (in your favour!). Master of Waves, although you need not run 4-off, due to the fact that our “meta-game” has much Mono Red, dropping it on turn 4 and following up with another one on turn 5 usually spells game over for your Mono Red opponent! Stubborn Denial is great counter-magic when Ferocious is enabled. Usually paired with Thassa, God of the Sea, if it connects, it buys you an extra turn usually resulting in a win as you have tempo-ed your opponent from their kill-spell or mass removal event their own counter magic! Merfolk Trickster (another new addition from Dominaria) is another tempo swing, but this card, however I decided to just run 2-off. It is really good if you are on the play but pretty bad if you are on the draw.
The Sideboard:
For the sideboard options, you have plenty. There are certain cards, hand-picked for the various match ups you might face. One such card which I think is very well positioned for the meta is Unsubstantiate. It is a pseudo-counter spell where it can gain an advantage against those pesky Esper controls with their Supreme Verdicts and any of the Black/Green Variant archetypes with Abrupt Decay. It is also capable of giving the tempo push when you have the opening. If you are up against Spirits (another upcoming deck archetype for Pioneer), you can out tempo his Spell Queller netting you the spell which the Queller “ate”. Against mono Red and Mono Green or any Red/Green variant, TideBinder Mage works wonders. Pair that with your counter magic and Mizzium Skin to keep your Mage safe from target removal. Agent of Treachery (M20) is another new addition to this deck’s sideboard. Able to power it out fast using Nykthos and your devotions, you can steal key permanents from your opponent, which in turn might win you the game! The two walkers are for control match ups and graveyard hate.
Side-boarding VS Match Ups:
Against Control Match ups:
Being an aggro deck in general, Mono Blue devotion favours control match ups as normally the creatures on your team hit harder and have much needed evasion (Flying).
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Against Mono Red/Green Variants:
Generally favourable as your creatures can evade blockers and hit your opponent directly. Master of Waves (for Red only) and Tidebinder Mage are great additions for this match up as well as Agent of treachery (Mono Green/Stompy decks).
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Against mirror match ups:
It is quite difficult to sideboard against mirror decks. Depending on who goes first and who puts in the first damage, it a race to attrition!
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Mono Blue devotion is an awesome deck and its beginner friendly! That is it for now guys! I hope you enjoy reading our very first article for our online content! Rest assured that we have many more content to come! Don’t forget our Pioneer events are up every Wednesday and for the rest of the year, our FNM format will be Pioneer! Interested to build this deck and give it a go? Bring it over to Classroom Cafe: The Gaming Center and test run it! Until then, happy gaming and may your top decks sling true!
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