Checking around Standard decklists from various websites, I have came upon Micheal Flores’ article on TCG Player discussing and solving a board position with a specific matchup. The deck that he piloted was Red White Devotion with Iroas, God of Victory. That sparked me an idea for a similar list as we also have that deck in our card pool. Here it goes:

Devotion to Iroas by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Lands
11 Mountain
2 Boros Guildgate
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
3 Frostburn Weird
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Iroas, God of Victory
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells
2 Banishing Light
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Hammer of Purphoros

Sideboard
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Banishing Light
3 Boros Charm
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Warleader’s Helix
1 Wear/Tear

The reason I am trying Iroas, God of Victory in the build is its ability to get your critters through blockers effectively and get more damage to be near in range with Fanatic of Mogis or Purphoros ping trigger. This deck also can get the God online as early as turn four.

The Journey into Nyx card addition aside from Iroas is Banishing Light, which I think is a better upgrade of Chained to the Rocks as it can deal with Planeswalkers and random enchantments in the format. I still considered the chains but with just two copies mainboard. These enchantment removals at times can also add a devotion point to Iroas.

I have considered Mana Confluence in the deck to lessen the tap lands but I don’t think it needed the mana ping fixer to curve out aggressively. It only has six White mana cost spells which the playset of foundry and temple can easily fix.

The sideboard did not changed a bit from its previous build as I still included generic board plans for aggro and control matchups. Assemble the Legion might be good vs control but Elspeth is also considered. What I usually do is to side out ineffective creatures like Frostburn Weird which requires mana for additional damage, cut chain and mortars and board in the big spells and Boros Charm. This though can vary in matchup with Black Devo as you should leave mortars to deal with Pack Rat, Nightveil Specter and Bloodbaron.

There is expected popularity of Abrupt Decays in Black Green Devo decks and that means you should use the Banishing Lights with caution i.e. cast it when they tap out with their threats. Boros Charm can also help and remember to leave enough mana to cast it at all times.

That is about it for this deck build. This weekend will be the Journey into Nyx Game Day and my team are preparing (more like a drinking session than playtesting) for the expected metagame which will more like be full of Black Devotion and Blue White based Control decks. Good luck to you guys playing in your respective Game Day events this weekend.

Until the next post.