Green Devotion Deck Guide
Bailey (BCS8995) reveals his own "sideboard guide" and provides a in-depth overview of Pioneer Green Devotion
Mono-Green Devotion is no longer the dark horse or new kid on the block in the Pioneer Metagame. Over the past several months the deck has evolved to become the most powerful, and one of the best performing decks in the format. We have seen some extremely strong additions to the archetype with the release of The Brothers War. The release coupled with Regional Championships and its major showcasing of the archetype, has brought a lot of new eyes to the deck which have helped refine it even more.
The Deck
Mono-Green Devotion
Pioneer
4 mythic
35 rare
7 uncommon
14 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (8)
Creatures (19)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$296.98
Sideboard
15 Cards
$65.75
I have chosen to focus on the winning list from the Canadian RC from the weekend of 11/25. Though there are some variations from list to list, this one exemplifies the deck at its roots in today’s metagame.
The Creatures
Since I released my last deck guide on Mono Green, pilots have begun to evolve the creature suit a bit. You will still find the stock creatures of 4 Llanowar Elves, 4 Elvish Mystic, 4 Old-Growth Troll and 4 Cavalier of Thorns. We have seen some old tech creep back into the deck in the form of Sylvan Caryatid as a resilient mana creature that also serves as a willing and able blocker. Another new piece of tech in terms of blockers, and by far the biggest innovation to this deck’s creature suit over the past few months has been Lovestruck Beast//Heart’s Desire. You would be surprised by how much adding a White 1 mana 1/1 to your deck would help against a card like Brave the Elements. The added bonus of a 3 mana 5/5 that also triggers Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner is just icing on the cake.
The Planeswalkers
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner: Obviously one of the primary engines of the deck at this point. Her powerful -1 allowing you to untap Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx when you have it in play, or just to serve as another early mana producer to untap a forest is irreplaceable. The passive also has a huge impact when we are adding more 4+ power creatures to the deck.
Karn, The Great Creator: Is it possible that Karn got even more powerful than he already was? It definitely is and he certainly has! The addition of cards like The Stone Brain, Cityscape Leveler and Haywire Mite – all of which I will touch on more a bit later – has boosted Karn’s power in this deck beyond what we had previously imagined possible. He is now an incredible stand alone threat and needs little support because of his deeply expanded toolbox.
Nissa, Who Shakes the World: Now this is a card that really takes me back to the infancy of Mono-Green. One of the best cards in the original version of the deck, it has since fallen out of favor because of cards like Nicol Bolas, Dragon God and Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset. Nissa is still incredibly powerful though. When you are adding all these powerful sideboard cards to your deck it is understandable to just want to have a main deck card that functions well solely on its own in the flex slot. She can quickly close out a game via a method that doesn’t particularly care about the hate that people are packing for the rest of the deck.
The Spells
Oath of Nissa: Adds a ton of card selection. A card that helps find any land, creature or planeswalker is incredibly valuable in a deck that contains 48 of those types of cards. On top of providing devotion, this card is a no-brainer.
Wolfwillow Haven: Another piece of hard-to-interact with acceleration like I mentioned earlier with Caryatid. In combination with Kiora or Nissa, Haven can really accelerate you to some crazy early turns.
Storm the Festival: Storm plays a unique role in the deck as it is effectively a Collected Company but for any of the permanents in the deck. It’s one of the driving factors in the decks success due to its ability to single handedly establish a board state even when behind, and absolutely bury an opponent when ahead.
The Lands
Boseiju, Who Endures: Boseiju has gained a lot of power and importance in this deck since people have started siding in Pithing Needle to name Karn. Have an out to that in your deck is invaluable. The card is otherwise a premium piece of interaction for many of the major players in the format.
Lair of the Hydra: A versatile creature land that can be used to block or just kill your opponent if they don’t have enough defenses set up. Helps to catch back up against the likes of Azorius or Rakdos when they take the early lead.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: The card that makes the whole deck run. A single land that taps for ten or more mana is generally unheard of in Magic, much less in Pioneer. As the only effect like it in the format it is one-hundred percent irreplaceable. Huge bursts of mana are this decks magnum opus and nykthos is sitting first chair.
The Sideboard
In the past I could have touched on cards like Voracious Hydra in the sideboard and what match ups you would look to bring those in, but with addition of the artifacts from The Brothers War Mono-Green has become a 15 card “Karn board”. This means that there are no sideboard swaps to consider aside from a rogue dampening sphere in lotus heavy metagames.
Shadowspear: This is a Karn board card that will pop up from time to time as it is great at stabilizing against aggressive decks. Slapping the spear on a Cavalier or a Lovestruk beast can be a huge tempo swing against aggressive strategies.
Haywire Mite: Mite is a huge addition to the deck post Brothers War. Having a cheap creature to Karn for that can block but also remove cards like Esika’s Chariot, Fires of Invention or Fable of the Mirrorbreaker from play is game-changing.
Cityscape Leveler: This card replaced Meteor Golem and it is easy to see why. Having a cast trigger that destroys ANY nonland permanent is totally insane. The fact that the body is also much better than Golem and that it also triggers on attack is truly nuts. It’s one of the only cards in the sideboard that actually just wins games on its own. Additionally, the “downside” of giving your opponent powerstone tokens is conveniently turned off if your Karn is still in play. Really just premium card design, thank you Wizards.
Transmogrifying Wand: I have grown to quite like this card. It is a nice thing to get with Karn against a variety of creature decks that does not cost a huge amount of mana and can be activated several times in efforts to keep you alive. 2/4 vanilla creatures are a lot less scary than Reflections of Kiki-jiki or Sheoldreds.
Tormod’s Crypt: Obvious token graveyard hate. I am often fetching this against Greasefang or Phoenix to help break up what they are doing. Look to get it in the mirror as well to exile opposing Storms, and against decks with Kroxa to help beat their grindy plan.
Pithing Needle: A great get against opposing planeswalkers. Look to name creature-lands in a pinch as well. Don’t be afraid to fetch this and name Thespian’s Stage early against Lotus Field as well. Basically every deck has a solid name for this spell.
Damping Sphere: This is mainly your fetch against Lotus field. It also has some functionality in the mirror, but only when behind and it can slow your opponent down and you’ve played around it (like when they’re on the nykthos plan and you’ve got 4 Wolfwillows out). You will see a second in this deck’s sideboard as what I imagine is a concession to those Pithing needles I mentioned earlier. If Lotus Field is planning to bring in a needle to name our Karns, bringing in that extra sphere seems reasonable in response to that.
Pestilent Cauldron//Restorative Burst: Mainly fetching this for the backside at this point, although it does still serve a role in the Kiora-Karn combo-kill. Don’t be afraid to play Karn and -2 to get this against midrange grindy decks and it is often just a five mana draw two that helps stabilize your life total as well.
The Mightstone and the Weakstone: This is an interesting inclusion from the new set. As an artifact that can both be a removal spell and some card advantage it is obvious why this card is seeing some play. While you can’t use the mana from it to cast most of your spells it is possible us it to cast other cards you get with Karn or even activate a Nythos with it since it specifies that the mana can only be spent to cast artifacts but it can also be spent to activate abilities of other cards. Overall this is just a premium utility spell.
The Chain Veil: This is your main combo card. This card was a huge innovation when it first popped up in sideboards and has become a mainstay ever since. It significantly lowers your mana threshold for the combo and making it so you can have some totally crazy turns, making effectively infinite mana and allowing for game ending loops of The Stone Brain and cauldron.
Skysovereign, Consul Flagship: This is an all star Karn target as it is great against both midrange and aggressive decks. It also kills opposing Karns that have already -2’ed, freeing up your artifacts with activated abilities in the mirror.
The Stone Brain: Another new addition to the sideboard that takes things to a whole new level. Did you know that this card can exile all the cards from your opponent’s deck after you have executed the Karn/Kiora combo? POOF! No need for black mana anymore! All jokes aside, this card is a huge upgrade and totally shifted the landscape of the Mono-Green mirror either as a tool to snipe opposing key pieces or as a win condition.
God-Pharaoh’s Statue: Another all-star, this card is basically the Mycosynth Lattice of Pioneer. Playing this on early turns from an explosive start can leave opponents unable to cast spells at all. Especially good against Phoenix and Control decks.
Heart of Kiran: I have seen this card move in and out of sideboards countless times, but I think I have grown to really like it. Heart is a nice thing to Karn for to protect yourself. Not only that but Heart also offers an easy way to put Planeswalkers in the graveyard to pick up with Restorative Burst, which is something I find myself wanting sometimes when I am comboing off. This is made possible by the ability to activate it’s crew cost multiple times per turn.
Tips and Tricks
- If possible, activate Nykthos with a Cavalier’s ‘enter the battlefield’ trigger on the stack. This helps hedge against hitting a Nykthos off of the trigger and having to legend-rule the one you already had in play before activating it.
- If you end up unearthing a Cityscape Leveler, it will go to exile at the end of turn. That just so happens to put it right where Karn can find it again.
- If an opponent steals your old growth troll and kills it while it’s under their control, it doesn’t return to play, so try not to bank to hard on that card against red based decks.
- Goldfish the combo frequently if you’re just picking the deck up, because not all iterations of it are deterministic and you don’t want to be that guy that doesn’t know how the combo works.
Wrapping up
What a wild ride it has been! You made it to the end of the deck guide! It is truly amazing to me how this deck with no sideboard and almost all 4 ofs continues to adapt and evolve. While this deck may be wearing thin on some, it is undeniably one of the most powerful decks in Pioneer and it is extremely important to know how to play both with and against it if you want to succeed at your next event!
Hey I have no problem with you locking the deck guides behind a paywall but I can’t even look at the decklist for any of the non-free decks. Please revert this change.
Hi! I think you may be clicking on the words “Deck Guide” on the tier list page for the deck, which is a direct link to the associated deck guide. If you click outside of that, you will be able to see the lists. Sorry about the confusion