Let’s start off with some decklists, shall we?

"Mono-Black Devotion by Cody Howard"

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

• Spells (19)
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 4 Bile Blight
• 4 Hero's Downfall
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Underworld Connections
• 1 Whip of Erebos

• Lands (26)
• 18 Swamp
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Temple of Silence

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Drown in Sorrow
• 2 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 3 Lifebane Zombie
• 1 Pack Rat
• 2 Doom Blade
• 4 Duress

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"Mono-Blue Devotion by Eric Gray"

• Creatures (28)
• 4 Cloudfin Raptor
• 4 Frostburn Weird
• 4 Judge's Familiar
• 4 Master of Waves
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 4 Tidebinder Mage
• 4 Thassa, God of the Sea

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Jace, Architect of Thought

• Spells (5)
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 2 Domestication
• 2 Bident of Thassa

• Lands (25)
• 20 Island
• 4 Mutavault
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Domestication
• 1 Aetherling
• 2 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Dispel
• 1 Dissolve
• 3 Gainsay
• 2 Negate
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept

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"Mono-Red Devotion by Kent Ketter"

• Creatures (26)
• 4 Ash zealot
• 4 Boros Reckoner
• 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
• 4 Fanatic of Mogis
• 4 Frostburn Weird
• 4 Stormbreath Dragon
• 2 Purphoros, God of the Forge

• Spells (9)
• 3 Mizzium Mortars
• 3 Chained to the Rocks
• 3 Hammer of Purphoros

• Lands (25)
• 11 Mountain
• 2 Temple of Abandon
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Temple of Triumph
• 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Chained to the Rocks
• 2 Assemble the Legion
• 3 Warleader's Helix
• 2 Wear // Tear
• 4 Boros Charm
• 3 Anger of the Gods

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"Mono-Green Devotion by Travis Boese"

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Sylvan Primordial
• 2 Arbor Colossus
• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
• 4 Elvish Mystic
• 4 Sylvan Caryatid
• 4 Voyaging Satyr
• 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
• 2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 4 Polukranos, World Eater

• Planeswalkers (9)
• 2 Xenagos, the Reveler
• 3 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
• 4 Domri Rade

• Lands (23)
• 2 Mountain
• 9 Forest
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Temple of Abandon
• 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Destructive Revelry
• 4 Mistcutter Hydra
• 4 Mizzium Mortars
• 3 Nylea's Disciple
• 2 Time to Feed

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What do these decks have in common? Well, obviously, they’re all devotion decks, but they’ve all had their time in the spotlight in competitive play at some points of their lifetimes, with Mono-Black and Mono-Blue being seemingly stuck at the top for quite some time now.

Oh, it seems we’re missing one . . . Ah yes, Mono-White Devotion seems to be left out of the fun.

Mono-White Devotion has been the only devotion deck to not surface in competitive play. There have been a couple of odd times it’s been tried though. StarCityGames player Brian-Braun Duin tried a Mono-/Mostly-White brew in one of the Opens before, but it didn’t exactly go well for him. It’s a shame, really, because white is one of my go-to choices in Magic, as I’ve always been a fan of the underdog. Having been an underdog for a good chunk of my life, I know what it’s like not having a chance in the spotlight. Heliod, God of the Sun should be able to have a chance in that spotlight, and with the new Born of the Gods set coming out, I have high hopes for Heliod to finally be able to shine!

"Devoted to the Sun by Michael Yee"

• Creatures (25)
• 2 Angel of Serenity
• 3 Ajani's Chosen
• 3 Banisher Priest
• 3 Eidolon of Countless Battles
• 4 Precinct Captain
• 4 Soldier of the Pantheon
• 2 Heliod, God of the Sun
• 4 Brimaz, King of Oreskos

• Spells (11)
• 3 Boros Charm
• 2 Gift of Orzhova
• 3 Ethereal Armor
• 3 Spear of Heliod

• Lands (24)
• 13 Plains
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Temple of Triumph
• 3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Celestial Flare
• 2 Fortify
• 2 Glare of Heresy
• 3 Last Breath
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
• 1 Wear // Tear
• 1 Revoke Existence

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I’ve always loved White Weenie, and I decided to go with a similar feel: fast, aggressive, and possessing the ability to swarm a board with threats. However, I want the ability to reach into midgame a bit further than White Weenie, especially since board wipes are so prevalent right now. While Born of the Gods isn’t the most powerful set, it has given white a couple of cards that I believe can help push it toward the top.

This Hero of Bladehold look-a-like is very strong and is a key component in our deck. It can swing for 4 while also progressing our board at the same time. In fact, token production is one of the goals of this deck. Tokens have never been favored in this Standard chockfull of board-wide removal. However, I feel Brimaz, King of Oreskos and his army of Cats can speed up white enough to make it much more of a threat, especially to decks that have no answer right away or to decks that don’t run Wrath effects. Being a 3/4 naturally, he can withstand most burn, Last Breath, and Pharika's Cure, but attacking and blocking, he moves up to a virtual 4/5 while progressing our board with his tokens.

That being said, Brimaz’s (and the rest of our) tokens would not be used to their fullest potentials if it weren’t for Spear of Heliod. Spear of Heliod and our creatures really complement each other. Back in the day, Ajani, Caller of the Pride sometimes took up Spear’s spot in certain White Weenie decks, but I chose Spear of Heliod over Ajani due to the number of tokens we’re going to be producing.

1/1, 2/1, and 2/2 tokens? Yawn.

2/2, 3/2, and 3/3 tokens? Yes please!

The other Born of the Gods treat this deck runs is Eidolon of Countless Battles. I feel this card is going to be overlooked. Yes, I know what you’re going to say:

“Michael, you’re going to get two-for-one’d all day playing those darned enchantments!”

While that may be true, I feel the risk is worth it for something like Eidolon of Countless Battles. Eidolon has a ton of synergy within our deck. We have enough creatures and Auras to make it worthwhile to bestow. At a lower bestow cost of , this also allows us to spread our board out to make spot removal much harder for our opponent. Being on the play it gives the minor insurance against a turn-four Supreme Verdict. Having it just fall off at least nets us the ability to keep swinging with something the turn after. Additionally, since Eidolon of Countless Battles works with both creatures and Auras, every time we make a token, either the Eidolon or the creature it’s bestowed to is going to grow.

Starting to see a trend here? This deck likes tokens.

The inclusion of enchantments is definitely the questionable side of this deck. However, many of our cards give us reasons to play them. It was tough finding a good balance, though, since enchantment removal is still quite prevalent, and I wasn’t looking to dilute my deck too much with cards that didn’t do anything or that would leave me too open to being two-for-one’d all game. Having a surplus of enchantments in your hand and no reason to cast them isn’t exactly ideal.

Ajani's Chosen might be the one elephant in the room, but hear me out. Ajani's Chosen is a bit on the slower side and not exactly good value, being a 3/3 (Spear makes him a 4/4, which is better) for 4, but it is a card that gives us extreme board presence when left unattended. It gives us the option to play something like a Spear of Heliod and still grow our board—or because Heliod, God of the Sun produces enchantment tokens, we are making two tokens (2/1 and a 2/2) for . Oh, sorry, Spear of Heliod says “hello.” Make that a 3/2 and 3/3 for .

Last, Gift of Orzhova may be another puzzler, but this card can help us sustain later on in the game, it synergizes well with our other cards, and it gives us some much-needed evasion. I only wanted two copies because, as I mentioned before, I didn’t want to dilute my deck with Auras too much. That being said, it is still is a card that can help us get out of a jam. For , it’s not too expensive, and it also gives us 2 devotion, which can be helpful.

Overall, this deck looks to be quite fast, and I think it has a chance against the decks today. That being said, I won’t know for sure till I can playtest with it, but on paper, it seems pretty solid so far. Let’s quickly go over some possible matchups.

Mono-Black

While the matchup isn’t favorable, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. In Game 1, we have a fairly good chance of winning. We’ll have more threats than the opponent has removal, and we can quickly build our board state. Having the opponent use mana on his or her turn to take out our guys is fine since it takes an early Pack Rat off the menu. We should be able to race, and with our token production, we should be able to keep Desecration Demon tapped.

After sideboard, it’s going to be a lot tougher. More removal for Mono-Black comes in, as does Lifebane Zombie. However, we have no way to deal with hand disruption, so there’s no point in worrying too much about that. Our only hope is to outrace, but we do bring in some utility. We’ll generally bring in most of our sideboard, bringing in all copies of Celestial Flare, Fortify, Last Breath, Pithing Needle, and Revoke Existence.

Pithing Needle helps against Pack Rat, Underworld Connections, and Mutavault. Celestial Flare is mostly a way for us to deal with Lifebane Zombie since Mono-Black generally is attacking with one or two creatures—and more so after bringing in additional removal and making less room for creatures. It also can hit a single Desecration Demon if we can’t tap it down. Last Breath hits Gray Merchant of Asphodel, which is a bigger body we might not be able to break through. It also can hit Nightveil Specter, Mutavault, and a small Pack Rat.

Fortify is something I decided to use to combat Mono-Black’s new toy Drown in Sorrow—since Boros Charm can’t protect against minus effects. The ability to play it at instant speed for the +0/+2 counteracts the -2/-2 from Drown in Sorrow, and the +2/+0 ability can be useful if we find ourselves swinging out. Bile Blight is something to worry about since it can kill most of our tokens, but it’ll be a matter of how efficiently we can produce tokens and how we pace our threats on the board. Revoke Existence can hit Erebos, God of the Dead or Underworld Connections, which is always a key card in Mono-Black.

Mono-Blue

After sideboard, we bring in all copies of Last Breath, Spirit of the Labyrinth, and Revoke Existence. Last Breath hits all of the opponent’s key creatures, Spirit of the Labyrinth prevents Bident of Thassa from drawing cards, and Revoke Existence can get rid of that pesky Thassa, God of the Sea.

Sphinx's Revelation Control Decks

After sideboard, we bring in all copies of Spirit of the Labyrinth to prevent Divination and Revelation draws. Sadly, it doesn’t stop Jace, Architect of Thought, but we can hope to just kill him off the turn after. Wear // Tear comes in to deal with Elixir of Immortality since some lists usually only run one, and we can hit Detention Sphere if we need to. Pithing Needle comes in for Jace since we have no answer to that other than killing it, but if we need to, we can use it on Elspeth, Sun's Champion—if we happen to not draw into our Glare of Heresy, which we’re also boarding in.

Many of our games are going to come down to our ability to use our mana efficiently. The order in which we play our spells is also quite important for this deck. In conclusion, I am very excited about this brew and am looking forward to testing it out in the coming weeks.

Praise the sun!

- Michael Y.