Tag: master-of-waves

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - August 4, 2014

Mono-Blue Devotion by Collin Roundtree (1st at SCG Dallas Standard Ope...

Champion’s Deck

Master of Waves - mono-blue devotion

Mono-Blue Devotion by Collin Rountree

1st Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 8/2/2014
With what became an inevitable conclusion with a mirror match final Mono-Blue Devotion reared its ugly head again to take down the Open in Dallas this weekend. The deck was obviously well positioned against the field as four copies managed to eke into the top 8. The more telling story is that with nothing added from Magic 2015 it was clearly already at its pinnacle with this standard configuration having ravaged the meta since it appeared after the release of Theros.

 

Although this is a blue deck there is no real Control element and it is firmly entrenched in the Aggro camp. It uses a very efficient curve to clutter the board with threats building to a inevitable conclusion. We start up the curve with two one drop flyers in Cloudfin Raptor that is able to grow over the first few turns into a sizable machine and Judge’s Familiar who sits around unimposingly waiting for that moment your opponent forgets that he is there to ruin his casting of a non-creature spell. Next at two there is Frostburn Weird which pulls double duty as a great wall or efficient ground pounder and Tidebinder Mage which is integral to lockdown the large creatures from GR/Jund Monsters, both adding two Devotion to the count. The next creature we have is Nightveil Specter which can be very useful as a threat in the air and will very often be able to strip away useful cards that your opponent would like to draw after a Scry, while adding on its own a full three to your Devotion. All of this Devotion then comes into play first with the other three drop Thassa, God of the Sea to turn her on for attacking or blocking but having her Scry every turn goes miles in helping you close out the victory in a timely fashion. The last creature at four is also looking at the Devotion when Master of Waves enters the battlefield to see just how many friends it’s inviting to the party. As a mono-colored deck it is able to include a full set of Mutavault into the manabase to ensure even after sorcery speed sweepers there is still pressure against the enemies life total and as a bonus also receive the Masters pump. As additional devotion and as a pseudo-removal spell there is a pair of Domestication. As far as the other spells there is a trio of Rapid Hybridization to flip huge problems into manageable Frog Lizards and also a pair of Cyclonic Rift which can often just seal the game once you hit that seventh land you needed to end a stall by sweeping the other side of the board but can also just bounce back one pesky blocker preventing you from victory.

 

Mono-blue devotion has time and time again proven that it is a highly efficient weapon to ruin your opponents day. If you are looking for a deck to rock your WMCQ then this is definitely one that you should highly consider. And on the flip side, if you aren’t going to be playing this deck then be certain to get some reps against it as you’ll almost certainly be facing off against it in a non-zero amount of rounds.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
Email: ejseltzer@hotmail.com
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - June 11, 2014

Champion’s Deck – Mono-Blue Devotion by Ross Merriam (1st ...

Mono-Blue Devotion - Hall of Triumph
Mono-Blue Devotion
Ross Merriam
1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 6/7/2014
Something old, something Blue…or as they say “It’s back !!!”. Like a blast from the past a Mono-Blue Devotion deck was able to rise to the top and finally grab itself another crown. While it is basically the same lists that were around and dominating oh so many moons ago, Ross did squeeze in some interesting things to bring the deck forward to the now.
It all starts with your Flying one drops. The usual suspects arrive with Judge’s Familiar and Cloudfin Raptor to start terrorizing from the sky, but it looks like Ross wanted that extra little push and added a singleton Galerider Sliver to ensure a consistent turn one play. Continuing into two drops there are perennial two way player Frostburn Weird playing both defensive and offensive roles, and Tidebinder Mage which is great in a world rife with Green and Red monsters. Next we find that amazing yet inexpensive God with Thassa, God of the Sea to both push through Unblockable creature and provide constant card selection. There is also Devotion superstar Nightveil Specter that help as the only real card advantage in the deck while at the same time stealing options away from your opponent. All of these creatures help to increase your Devotion count for the decks bomb play when you drop a Master of Waves and clutter the board with an army of Elemental tokens. As another slight addition to the devotion count there’s also a miser Bident of Thassa which gives the deck that slim extra card draw when it’s on the offensive. The real innovation in the deck comes from the inclusion of anthem artifact Hall of Triumph which will help to ensure that the Masters tokens don’t just disappear whenever he takes a hike, a huge issue in the past. For a few bits of removal in the deck we find a pair of Rapid Hybridization to keep the skies free of blockers and Cyclonic Rift when you just need to flick the reset switch on the other side of the board.
While I won’t exactly say that this looks like we are heralding in a new era of Mono-Blue it is encouraging to see that there is always place for tried strategies to return for another round. This is also a fairly good deck to invest in going forward into the next Standard season as it is powerful and maintains a good amount of its list. And while Frostburn and Nightveil are two huge losses we should no doubt see decent replacement options with the upcoming new sets. I would definitely say this list is worth taking for a spin and working forward into the next year.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - February 10, 2014

Champion’s Deck – Mono-Blue Devotion by Eric Gray (1st at ...

Bident of Thassa
Mono-Blue Devotion
Eric Gray
1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 2/8/2014
Lands (25)

Creatures (28)

Planeswalkers (2)

Spells (5)

Sideboard

Well, well…the more things change the more they stay the same. This happens to be one of only two decks in the top 32 to not feature at least one new Born of the Gods card in its 75, the other being also Mono-Blue Devotion. The telling sign is that both of those decks were in the top 8 finishing first and seventh. But the major players were UW Control and GR Monster which combined for almost half of the top 32 pushing most of the devotion decks to the wayside.

There really isn’t much new to say about Mono-Blue Devotion as it seems to have found its optimal configuration for the moment. As with any devotion deck it is a mass of permanents designed to get mana symbols on the board. The curve of the deck is also very specifically crafted to flow with harmony. Starting with the one drops there is Cloudfin Raptor which unchecked has the potential of becoming a real threat and Judge’s Familiar adding another flyer which is the decks only real control element. Then we move up to the two’s with Frostburn Weird able to work offensively or defensively as you need him and Tidebinder Mage that finds itself well positioned in a world of Green and Red monsters. The three drops are key with the very powerful Nightveil Specter which builds advantage while potentially stealing threats away from your opponent and Thassa, God of the Sea who can at times be a very potent attacker but for her two abilities alone is worth an oceans bounty of pearls. We finally get to the top end of the deck with Master of Waves which can potentially be dropped on turn four escorting seven friends along with him often setting up for a win next turn. Playing well with the pump from Master is Mutavault to just increase the amount of threats presented on the board. Also at the four spot is Bident of Thassa which turns your entire army into Magpies which just ruins your opponent in very short order. Jace, Architect of Thought is around as well to help with digging for your necessary pieces or holding back an aggressive army and Domestication is able to snatch up an annoying threat, both of which are very important to the devotion count. The final cog is a one of Rapid Hybridization which will take down that fatty that just couldn’t be dealt with otherwise.
Moving forward I would imagine the sheer power of this deck is going to keep it around as a major force in Standard. We will see as the weeks play out if it continues to stay true to form or if it finally finds use for something new from Born of the Gods.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - January 12, 2014

Champion’s Deck – Mono-Blue Devotion by Tyler Wilkerson (1...

Domestication

Mono-Blue Devotion
Tyler Wilkerson
1st Place at Star City Games Orlando Standard Open on 01/11/2014

Lands (25)

Creatures (28)

Planeswalkers (2)

Spells (5)

Sideboard

And again we find that devotion is such a powerful strategy in the current Standard meta.  While we wait for some new power players to emerge with the release of Born of the Gods we still have three more weekends to go before they will be working to forge a new face of Standard.

This deck is aggro through and through but uses Thassa, her Bident and Jace to help the deck keep the pedal to the metal.  It all starts curving out smoothly through the one drops with Cloudfin Raptor and Judge’s Familiar.  Then we move through the two drops from Frostburn Weird and Tidebinder Mage into three drops Nightveil Specter and Thassa herself.  That all works to push out max devotion to drop Master of Waves.  There is just a tiny bid of support in one-ofs from Domestication, Cyclonic Rift and Rapid Hybridization.  All together the deck is able to pack a formidable punch that shows why it has been so dominant the last few months.

Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
ejseltzer@hotmail.com

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Gregoire Thibault - January 4, 2014

Deck of the Day – UB Control by Shouta Yasooka (4th place Grand ...

Prognostic Sphinx

UB Control – Dimir Control
Yasooka, Shouta
4th place GP Shizuoka 2013

Lands (26)

Creatures (4)

Other Spells (24)

Planeswalkers (6)

Sideboard

After what was becoming a stale Standard meta abundant with Mono-Blue, Mono-Black and UW Control reigning supreme the Japanese Grand Prix in Shizuoka showcased for us more somewhat fringe decks. I’ve already broken down two new top decks with the GP champion Orzhov Human by Ryo Nakanada and second place Esper Human/Midrange by Shota Takao. These new decks are tuned for the meta with favorable match ups against those top three decks in Standard, something you’d expect when the Japanese start brewing. I wanted to call this deck Dimir Devotion because of it’s Master of Waves, but this is definitely much more then your standard UB control deck using a plethora of removal, counters, draw and disruption coupled with it’s finishers: Master of Waves and Prognostic Sphinx. Blue and Black has a very nice mana base with Dimir GuildgateWatery Grave and Temple of Deceit so Shouta was able to add the full set of Mutavaults.

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver could be considered a finisher, but his role is more against aggro decks where he slows them down by using +2 ability to exile the top three cards, followed by his -X to bring one of opponents creatures that was exiled to the battlefield usually as an additional blocker. He could become a problem for UW Control if you just keep using his +2 ability mill all his answers and hopefully their Elixir of Immortality till you finally ultimate which is usually good game. What you  want to do against midrange and other control decks is bring in your Pack Rats from sideboard and flood the board with rats. Our next planewalker in the list is the  good ole MVP for all control decks with a set of Jace, Architect of Thought who’s just great at slowing down the beatdown from aggro as well. Continuing down the list we see more answers against aggro with a plethora of black removal  such as singletons Devour FleshDoom Blade and Ultimate Price as well as three Hero’s Downfall. Shota also added Domestication which has been gaining popularity in Mono-Blue builds with so much creatures with under 4 power like Master of Waves and Nightveil Specter making them a good catch-all. Another very interesting addition main deck are the three Ratchet Bombs to easily take care of tokens from Pack Rats, any Zombies from Xathrid Necromancer or Elementals from Master of Waves. Yasooka added more originality to his deck with a couple of Warped Physique. There probably mainly used as removal, but I wonder if he ever pumped a Prognostic Sphinx for the win.

It wouldn’t be much of a blue control deck without any counters. Yasooka opted for three Dissolve and Syncopate with a singleton Essence Scatter which sounds good to me. Finally with a couple of Opportunity as draw for late games as every blue control deck does just little less in this one.

The sideboard is tweaked to the metagame with two Gainsay and a Negate to bring in against UW control along with three Duress which seem very sound to me. Let’s not forget the Pack Rats in the sideboard against deck with little or no answers to a turn two Rats, they work especially well with the set of Mutavaults. The rest of the sideboard is pretty much self explanatory with Tidebinder Mage against Green or Red and Gainsay obvisously against Blue decks.

The Blood Baron of Vizkopa have been a common issue lately, but this deck had a lot of counters like Essence Scatter to stop it from resolving and a Devour Flesh main deck. I would prefer Far & Away for it’s versatility cause if the opponent has only two creatures and one of them is the Baron then you bounce the other so the Away resolves with opponent sac’ing the Baron. Another use Far  is to bounce opponents creature like a Blood Baron and Thoughtseize it. This deck looks like a fun list, if you like control and your tired of the do-nothing draw-go cycle of UW Control you should try this one out. If anyone sees any more issues with this deck leave comments, i’m sure a lot more people got to test it by now.

Happy New Year everyone

Gregoire Thibault

Follow me on Twitter @Gregsterism

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - December 1, 2013

Champion’s deck – Mono-Blue Devotion – Marcin Staciwa (Grand...

Nightveil Specter
Mono-Blue Devotion
Marcin Staciwa
Grand Prix Vienna – Top 8
Lands (25)

Creatures (28)

Planeswalkers (2)

Continuing on it’s path of dominance the Mono Blue Devotion deck has continued to show why it is one of the premier prevalant decks in the current standard metagame.  Built on a solid curve from one through to four the goal of the deck is to drop a Master of Waves bringing with it seven elemental friends.  The deck is built for aggression and that can been seen with the lack of permission despite being blue.  What this deck really capitalizes on from the blue mana is the power of card draw from the Bident and Jace.  Cyclonic Rift to clear away blockers allows you to build to a lethal alpha strike and power through for the kill.

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Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - October 11, 2013

Deck of the Day: Master of Waves UW Control (Theros Standard)

Master of Waves
Master of Waves Azorious Control
 Davey Cadaver
1st Place at Oregon Standard Event on 10/5/13

Instants (8)

Lands (25)

Enchantments (3)

Planeswalkers (7)

Creatures (13)

Sorceries (4)

Sideboard (17)

Here is a very interesting Blue + White control deck which looks to abuse devotion to blue in a very strong way.  Using the standard shell with Azorius Charm, Sphinx’s Revelation, Detention Sphere and Supreme Verdict it is already a very powerful control machine.  Elspeth and Jace work their usual magic to power up the deck and work towards the end game.  But the addition of Thassa and Master of Waves is what takes the deck in a new direction, and with Frostburn Weird, Jace and the other blue permanents it isn’t hard to get the devotion online.