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Main » Articles » Stoneblade and Devastation

Stoneblade and Devastation

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on January 31, 2020
 Reddit

Hey everyone!

In a few weeks I will be playing Pioneer at SCG Indianapolis. Despite needing to prepare for Pioneer I've been having fun with Modern. It seems that Modern has become my brand. I've been getting questions on Stoneblade and Devoted Devastation so I'm going to share my recent updates.

I'm going to first begin with Devoted Devastation as Lord of Luxury took down an IQ with a fresh take on the archetype. Well done!

Devoted Devastation | Modern | Lord of Luxury

Devoted Druid is back, baby!

He said the list worked well and wouldn't change anything moving forward.

The key deviation from the old Oko builds is adopting Vines of Vastwood. It moves from a good stuff deck to Infect on the creature spectrum. You're trying to get them dead as quickly as possible with Devoted Druid and you will fight removal spells.

Postmortem Lunge takes this all-in combo style further. A key reason for playing so much protection is because Oko decks are being replaced with more traditional removal.

I would like to experiment with this deck in the future. The first thing I would look to do is add a couple Simian Spirit Guide. It can cast the Magus of the Moon in the sideboard or power out a turn one Devoted Druid. Even if I have enough mana to cast a Druid I can burn a Spirit-Guide to save a Green mana for Vines of Vastwood.

It's certainly possible to cut a Vizier of Remedies, but I do acknowledge this version of the deck is more combo-oriented. There weren't many games where I felt behind untapping with Devoted Druid in the past.

I like the positioning of this deck more if Primeval Titan continues to dominate. The Magus of the Moon is a great tutor target, but I have never lost to Titan with Devoted Druid over a large sample size. Big mana got a big boost with Uro and this is how to fight back. Damping Sphere continues to lose stock against ramp.

This is also a great deck to play for a large event. When many games are decided early you have more time to recover in between rounds. Give this deck a spin as it has a good track record so far.

If I was playing a Modern tournament tomorrow I would stick with uw Stoneblade. After writing about it last week I won my local Modern event, McWinSauce 4-1ed a MODO Challenge, and a friend of mine won a local event, too.

Here's my updated list and sideboard guide:

Azorius Stoneblade | Modern | Kyle Boggemes

I made a couple changes since last week.

Spell Snare wasn't performing the way I wanted, so the second copy was swapped for another Mana Leak. I'll be monitoring this slot moving forward because we're still exploring the post-Oko world.

The fourth Cryptic Command becomes a second Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This is only because I cut the Gideon, Ally of Zendikar from the sideboard and I wanted another big walker in post board games. I noticed, when sideboarding, Gideon was being swapped with a fourth Cryptic often so I freed up a space.

I got some questions about Prismatic Vista over the seventh Blue fetch. Each land has upsides, but I wanted another, less painful, White source against aggressive decks. This came in handy against Burn where I survived at a low life after casting Stoneforge Mystic off of a Plains.

A Misty Rainforest replaced the Prismatic Vista because I added the second Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This allows me to have more situations where I brainstorm a bounced Mystic Sanctuary and then fetch it at instant-speed.

I made some changes to the sideboard as the metagame becomes more defined. Jund is currently less popular than I anticipated and Urza hasn't quite picked up yet. The format feels diverse for now.

Ashiok, Dream Render improves my ramp matchup while also getting a third and fourth way to exile graveyards versus Dredge. It's a way to fight back against uncounterable Primeval Titan.

Aether Gust was inspired by a Jon Hobbs Tweet. He is not only a dank memelord, but also has some good deck-building ideas. It serves as a Celestial Purge derivative that puts Primeval Titan on top of the deck from the stack. This gets around Veil of Summer as well as Cavern of Souls. For additional value it's possible to fire off a Field of Ruin to shuffle their chonky boy off the top of the deck.

Gust is not a strict upgrade as it fails to interact with Liliana of the Veil and creatures from Grixis Death's Shadow. I would prefer a split of Purge and Gust against Burn because there are games I lose where I draw too much removal and die to direct damage.

Since the maindeck is able to interact so generically I like this split of creature removal in the board: one Purge, one Gust, one Dismember, one Supreme Verdict, and one Isolate. Each shine in their own matchups and I likely don't want to board them all in at the same time.

Let's get to sideboard!

Tron

I don't want both Ashioks because it only stops early mana development. Ashiok won't even come down until the first Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying has been cast. The role Ashiok plays is to actually fight the second attempt to assemble Tron which only occurs in some games. I value Teferi higher in the matchup because I'm expecting to fight at least two Veil of Summer.

Valakut

Amulet Titan

Despite Amulet Titan being a Green deck I would expect to face numerous copies of Mystical Dispute over Veil of Summer. Remember, Field of the Dead enables them to grind in the late game so don't just sit behind interaction and expect things to be all right.

Humans

Aether Gust hits Noble Hierarch and Mantis Rider. It's a medium effect, but I'm tapping out too often to consider leaving in Mana Leaks.

There's a single 4-drop in the sideboard, Supreme Verdict. Humans has the potential to have a fast draw so I don't want to add another expensive spell which is why I cut a Cryptic Command.

Jund

Force of Negation is card disadvantage when using the alternate casting so I cut them. I can interact with Wrenn and Six easily post board which just leaves Liliana to consider.

I began by cutting Snapcaster Mage because of Rest in Peace, but it would often die to Abrupt Decay or Assassin's Trophy. The 2/1 body can also trade with Scavenging Ooze with RIP in play as well as Bloodbraid Elf. The floor is pretty low despite the lack of synergy with Rest in Peace.

Mono Red Prowess

Game 1 is mostly about who is on the play. Given your lack of Game 1 removal I would say Stoneblade is at a disadvantage regardless. After sideboard Prowess has no choice but to slow down their game plan by adding Abrade to fight Batterskull. Since Stoneblade has so much removal in the board it will swing the matchup.

Mana Leak is bad because Prowess has nothing but cheap spells and you are priced into firing off Path to Exile early. Teferi, Time Raveler isn't good at bouncing 1-drops and leaves behind a planeswalker susceptible to Lava Dart. Since Teferi is weak I also like Spell Queller less. I play around Abrade with Stoneforge, but that leaves Queller to take the heat. A 2/3 is not a good blocker against creatures with prowess.

Most Red matchups comes down to me wanting to cast an early Stoneforge Mystic with Force of Negation backup to protect Batterskull and this is no different. A great way to close out the game early. These games can drag out so be sure to play fast. Even when you're ahead Bedlam Reveler can even the playing field.

Dredge

Grixis Shadow

I can go ham on the Mana Leak effects because Shadow doesn't have a lot of mana producing lands in the deck. Dispute counters Snapcaster Mage and that's the only thing I'm interested in hitting with Spell Snare post board; a logical swap. I'm looking to fire it off against cantrips to keep pace with Shadow. Temur Battle Rage is less effective post board when I have so much removal.

Shadow doesn't interact with a resolved Rest in Peace so I cut some Snapcaster Mages.

Each spell doesn't generate enough advantage to warrant Force of Negation. It's not a bad card in Game 1 with less removal, but I expect to grind more after board.

I think Stoneblade is still in a good position to take down a Modern tournament. The cards I could see changing in the future is the second Mana Leak in the main and second Mystical Dispute in the board. A fifth removal spell in the main wouldn't hurt, but they are all much weaker than Path to Exile. This has been Dismember in the past.

If you prefer a Bant Stoneblade version I would look to McWinSauce. He has been tearing up Modern events on MODO. I'll be taking his take on the deck for a spin in the future.

Bant Stoneblade | Modern | McWinSauce

There are plenty of sweet decks to try in Modern. This format continues to be fantastic.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle

TAGS articles, sideboard, constructed, analysis, modern, decklist, kyle boggemes, sideboard guide, stoneblade, devoted devastation, 01312020

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