Rats off to ya!

It’s been a while since I have talked about Standard, but mono-black devotion has me interested. Since Owen Turtenwald won Grand Prix Albuquerque with a streamlined version, I was sold that it was a deck I wanted to be playing. I’m going to take you through various ways to build around Pack Rat, and we’ll eventually morph from mono-black to U/B.

Before I delve into what the newest version looks like, let’s start from the beginning . . . 

For reference, here is the basic list by Brian Braun-Duin that won Grand Prix Louisville:

Mono-Black Devotion" - Standard | Brian Braun-Duin, Winner GP Louisville

• Creatures (15)
• 2 Pack Rat
• 4 Desecration Demon
• 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead

• Spells (20)
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 2 Doom Blade
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 4 Hero's Downfall
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Underworld Connections
• 2 Whip of Erebos

• Lands (25)
• 19 Swamp
• 2 Temple of Deceit
• 4 Mutavault

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Dark Betrayal
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 2 Doom Blade
• 3 Duress
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 3 Lifebane Zombie
• 2 Pack Rat
• 1 Pithing Needle [/Sideboard]

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At this stage in the format, we aren’t really sure how powerful Pack Rat can be. It was viewed as a niche card that was primarily designed to fight the mirror. Since mono-black took the Grand Prix in Louisville by surprise, we see main-decked Doom Blade and only a single Dark Betrayal in the sideboard.

And here’s the list as of today:

Mono-Black Devotion - Standard | puddingtime, Magic Online Daily Event

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Desecration Demon
• 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 4 Pack Rat

• Spells (18)
• 2 Pharika's Cure
• 4 Devour Flesh
• 4 Hero's Downfall
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Underworld Connections

• Lands (26)
• 19 Swamp
• 3 Temple of Deceit
• 4 Mutavault

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Dark Betrayal
• 3 Duress
• 2 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 3 Lifebane Zombie
• 2 Pharika's Cure
• 1 Shrivel

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Puddingtime went 4–0 in a recent (December 11, 2013) Daily Event (they’re back; yay!) with the above list, which was proposed by Owen. The reason I want to talk about this list in particular is that I arrived at a similar list through my own testing with the deck. In fact, the only difference I came up with was to cut the nineteenth Swamp for a main-decked Duress to protect my Pack Rat.

Over time, players have identified a primary weak link in the mono-black decks: the Gods and their weapons. I agree that Erebos, God of the Dead belongs in the sideboard, but it can be extremely slow against an aggressive red or white deck. I certainly don’t want to play 4-mana spells in the main deck that don’t impact the board—Underworld Connections is already slow against aggressive strategies. In fact, every time I read about this deck online, I hear how the author despises playing so many Underworld Connections, but people run them anyway. Whip of Erebos is awkward because it dies to enchantment hate that will come in for Underworld Connections. The lifelink ability is also nullified in the mirror by opposing copies of Erebos; did you think a God would let his opponent wield his whip? This issue is compounded because the Whip is the strongest in the mirror.

I was also guilty of hating on Underworld Connections and playing it anyway because it does provide some much-needed devotion for Gray Merchant of Asphodel (Gary). Underworld Connections is great in the mirror as well as against control. In fact, connections is so good in the mirror that a B/G deck emerged just to kill enchantments.

Robert Victory played this deck to a 3–1 finish in the same Daily Event (December 11, 2013):

B/G Black Devotion - Standard | Robert Victory, Magic Online Daily Event

• Creatures (13)
• 4 Desecration Demon
• 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 4 Pack Rat
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead

• Spells (21)
• 2 Golgari Charm
• 3 Abrupt Decay
• 4 Devour Flesh
• 4 Hero's Downfall
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Underworld Connections

• Lands (26)
• 12 Swamp
• 3 Forest
• 3 Golgari Guildgate
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Overgrown Tomb

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Dark Betrayal
• 2 Duress
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1 Golgari Charm
• 3 Lifebane Zombie
• 4 Mistcutter Hydra
• 2 Pharika's Cure

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The overarching goal of this article is to show how you can turn a boring, streamlined mono-black devotion deck and expand into any color you desire. Each color comes with its strengths and weaknesses, but they all seem quite powerful thanks to Pack Rat.

If the white weenie deck becomes more popular, this deck has some serious game with main-decked Golgari Charms. This seems to be a great place to be because it provides extra insurance against Underworld Connections in the mirror as well as an answer to Detention Sphere. Another key issue that must be addressed is the lack of answers to Master of Waves, as your removal spells are replaced by Abrupt Decay. With the exception of Hero's Downfall, I don’t think it would be probable this deck could reliably kill the Master. The regeneration ability is also cute because it makes it easier to go all-in with Pack Rat against Supreme Verdict or Mizzium Mortars. Let’s also not forget the ability to kill a godly weapon or Assemble the Legion.

The loss of Nightveil Specter makes the Gray Merchant much worse since this deck simply plays more spells that don’t count toward devotion. I don’t really count Pack Rat for devotion in most cases because when you have two or three Rats in play, it’s probably better to discard Gary to make another Rat. How many games do you think Gary will make a difference when you already have 9 to 16 power worth of Rats? The only game plans Gary helps out in this particular deck is when you are beating down with Desecration Demon or drawing a ton of cards with Underworld Connections.

Since we want to have fun and try new colors in black devotion, how about white? We gain access to Temple of Silence, so the mana won’t be as awkward as the green splash. It just so happens that this combination won a Grand Prix recently.

Marlon Gutierrez took down William Jensen in the finals of Grand Prix Dallas/Fort Worth with this bad boy:

Orzhov Devotion - Standard | Marlon Gutierrez, Winner GP Dallas/Fort Worth

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Sin Collector
• 4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
• 4 Desecration Demon
• 4 Pack Rat

• Spells (22)
• 2 Last Breath
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 4 Devour Flesh
• 4 Hero's Downfall
• 2 Duress
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Underworld Connections

• Lands (25)
• 1 Plains
• 12 Swamp
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Temple of Silence

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Dark Betrayal
• 1 Doom Blade
• 1 Duress
• 3 Lifebane Zombie
• 3 Pharika's Cure
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Shrivel
• 2 Sin Collector

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This deck has plenty of power in the Standard format, as Andreas Ganz also played the same main deck to a Top 16 finish at Grand Prix Vienna. Again, this deck has some great things going for it even if you don’t choose to splash white. I was impressed with main-decked Duress because it protects the Pack Rat before it enters play. Think of it as Thoughtseize number five. There will be times when it will clearly miss, such as when a Pack Rat is allowed to live. In that case, you can simply discard it to Pack Rat and be on your way. If you have an opening hand with both Thoughtseize and Duress, play the one that can discard on-curve creatures (Thoughtseize).

Another reason I like Duress in the main deck is that the new black devotion decks play fewer creatures. Many of the new lists have essentially cut Nightveil Specter for more removal. This is a fine strategy against a deck that is focused on creatures, but your Esper and W/U control matchups suffer. The W/B devotion deck is less concerned about this because it has two Duress and one Sin Collector. Also take note that the huge removal suite helps to make your Underworld Connections better against creature decks. If you start killing creatures earlier, there will be more life to exchange for cards. For this reason, I usually favor leaving in a couple of Connections against creature decks after sideboarding (since I bring in more kill spells).

The big innovation for W/B is the inclusion of Last Breath. Recall from the mono-black lists that Devour Flesh, Doom Blade, Ultimate Price, and Pharika's Cure are not reliable answers to opposing Nightveil Specters; Abrupt Decay is bad at killing Master of Waves. Last Breath provides a sleek answer to some of the most popular creatures in the format (including Mutavault).

I expect this deck to make waves at the competitive and semi-competitive level going forward because it takes a unique spin on an existing archetype. In general, competitive players still enjoy doing new things, which makes this deck a great choice. This means the traditional mono-black devotion deck will need to adapt. Devour Flesh is very strong in the mirror because it takes out Pack Rat before it starts to populate—or even a Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Another consideration for the mono-black-versus-W/B matchup is sideboarding Lifebane Zombie for Blood Baron because it’s a white creature.

The last Pack Rat deck I want to go over was brought to life by Todd Anderson. I took his list, made some changes, and arrived at this:

U/B Blue Devotion - Standard | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Master of Waves
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 4 Pack Rat

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
• 4 Jace, Architect of Thought

• Spells (15)
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 2 Far // Away
• 2 Hero's Downfall
• 4 Dimir Charm
• 1 Duress
• 4 Thoughtseize

• Lands (26)
• 6 Island
• 6 Swamp
• 2 Dimir Guildgate
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Temple of Deceit
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Duress
• 2 Domestication
• 3 Doom Blade
• 3 Gainsay
• 2 Dark Betrayal
• 3 Lifebane Zombie

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Speaking of nightmares, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver has received little attention outside of Esper control, but it is a very powerful card in devotion strategies. A 3-mana planeswalker that immediately jumps to 5 loyalty is very scary. If your opponent plays this against you, is it correct to start attacking it or let it take over the game? When this card is combined with Jace, Architect of Thought, it becomes very difficult to make the right choices in terms of attacking. This is key because the loss of Gray Merchant means you cannot gain life. Ashiok also has the ability to protect itself, which has always been the most crucial feature of a planeswalker. It begins by increasing loyalty by 2 and then puts blockers in the way with the second ability.

I prefer Jace to Underworld Connections in Pack Rat decks because you can always take the pile with two cards and gain a huge advantage. When I played Connections to get ahead on cards, one of my lands needed to tap, which meant I needed seven lands to make two Rats. Now I can create games with sequences like this:

Turn four: Jace, Architect of Thought +1

Turn five: Cast Pack Rat and make a token

Turn six: Make two more Pack Rats and use the −2 from Jace to continually draw enough extra cards to make multiple tokens per turn

Far // Away is a neat addition since it can interact with an opposing Blood Baron. Casting Far allows you to return Pack Rat to your hand if you cast it on turn four before having the ability to make a token on the same turn.

The single Duress in this deck is great because it protects Pack Rat as well as Master of Waves. I initially tested this deck against control, and there were too many kill spells. Duress helped give me another way to take control mage’s key threats such as Jace and Sphinx's Revelation.

The sideboard sees a nice little revamp with the addition of blue. Domestication can be an absolute blowout against mono-blue and mono-black devotion. It is the best way to deal with an opposing Nightveil Specter, which has proven to be among the best threats in the format. Gainsay and Dark Betrayal provide a hedge against mono-blue and mono-black. I like that Gainsay is also quite good against Esper control—you have plenty of dead cards in Game 1.

The last deck I want to discuss was created by my cousin Stephen Boggemes. We don’t typically agree on decks, but I have been liking this one:

U/B Blue Devotion - Standard | Stephen Boggemes

• Creatures (23)
• 4 Cloudfin Raptor
• 4 Master of Waves
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 4 Omenspeaker
• 4 Pack Rat
• 3 Thassa, God of the Sea

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 2 Jace, Architect of Thought
• 3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

• Spells (8)
• 1 Dimir Charm
• 3 Devour Flesh
• 4 Thoughtseize

• Lands (24)
• 3 Swamp
• 7 Island
• 2 Dimir Guildgate
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Temple of Deceit
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Duress
• 2 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Dimir Charm
• 2 Dark Betrayal
• 3 Tidebinder Mage
• 3 Gainsay
• 1 Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1 Bident of Thassa

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We are now moving even further from black-based devotion to blue-based devotion.

Turn one: Cloudfin Raptor

Turn two: Pack Rat trigger evolve

Turn three: Pack Rat token trigger evolve

Turn four: You get the idea.

Rather than jam a ton of removal spells, the inclusion of Omenspeaker allows you to protect your planeswalkers while building devotion for Thassa, God of the Sea and Master of Waves. The scry 2 mechanic built into Omenspeaker also allows the deck to play fewer lands and more big threats. There is room for Omenspeaker because playing the tradition 2-drops such as Frostburn Weird and Tidebinder Mage can be tricky with lands that enter the battlefield tapped or add only black mana.

Since there are so many blue sources, Doom Blade comes out of the sideboard and is replaced by Tidebinder Mage. This is another way to replace the black removal with more proactive threats that build devotion. It’s good in the sideboard because the red and green decks don’t want to see this card, and the awkward mana can slide this time.

Thassa, God of the Sea is your primary way to draw cards in the form of scrying. Since there are so many options to scry in this deck, you will consistently find your Pack Rat on turn five and have the lands to activate it.

To conclude, I want to briefly go over what we have learned here:

• Pack Rat is probably the best card in Standard. In fact, it’s so powerful that it can go into many decks regardless of how much synergy it has. You are probably not activating it enough until you see the deck as sixty Pack Rats.
• You can combine Pack Rat with evolve for some powerful openings. We discussed the potential with Cloudfin Raptor, but Experiment One could combo well after Born of the Gods is released and we gain the new scry lands.
• Splashing different colors in black devotion is a very realistic option because you gain access to a variety of removal spells. There will be some weeks when one is better than the other, but they all have Pack Rat, so you will be all right. Again, I would highly recommend you wait on splashing red and green until the scry lands are released.
• As we move from the mono-black shell, the amount of devotion is reduced, which makes Gray Merchant of Asphodel much worse. Blood Baron is among the few suitable replacements, which means other versions have additional 4-drops (Master of Waves).
• When we move from black to blue, Jace becomes a very good replacement for Underworld Connections. Ashiok is also a pseudo-draw-engine as well.

Whew! We went over a ton of stuff today. I hope you learned about some new ways to build two very cookie-cutter decks. There are plenty of options in Standard despite only having access to five sets.

Rat’s all, folks!