Is Mono-Blue Devotion Dead?

My team members at wizardden.com have been giving me grief for this for a long time. I am not going to lie. I am terribly unoriginal. There it is, I said it. I have been playing mono-blue since Pro-Tour Theros. (October 2013). Granted independent of net-decking, I have found myself updating my version of mono-blue. Now when traveling around I notice others still playing the Theros pro-tour version. That deck is dead. It hasn't been a tier deck for several months. I watch good player after good player net-deck mono-blue before an event, lose terribly and swear that mono-blue is terrible and will never play it again....

However, I am hear to tell you. MONO-BLUE is alive. And maybe I am not as unoriginal as charged...

Lands:

22x Island

2x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Creatures:

4x Tidebinder Mage

4x Cloudfin Raptor

4x Frostburn Weird

4x Thassa, God of the Sea

4x Master of Waves

4x Hypnotic Siren

4x Nightveil Specter

Enchantments:

2x Dictate of Kruphix

2x Bident of Thassa

Spells:

4x Cyclonic Rift

Sideboard:

3x Rapid Hybridization

1x Triton Tactics

2x Jace, Architect of Thought

2x Aetherling

2x Gainsay

2x Dissolve

2x Ratchet Bomb

1x Domestication

Your first thought is, "Well yea, looks like mono-blue whats so special about this list?"

Well lets look at the new comers....

Hypnotic Siren:

Hypnotic Siren, ends up being much much better then Judge's Familiar . It still triggers Cloudfin Raptor in the early game and has a much stronger late game potential. Also, with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx its likely you will end up hitting that 7 cost much faster. Once upon a time in a magic game long ago (like a week), I grabbed someones Blood Baron of Vizkopa. That pro-white and pro-black looked pretty awkward for them. Just one example of a great grab.

Dictate of Kruphix:

Dictate of Kruphix you ask? Yes, I say its excellent for mono-blue. In-fact, I'll make the argument that its one of the best additions to the deck. Why? Instant speed creature-less devotion. No more moving into combat with Thassa, God of the Sea only to have you opponent blow up one of your creatures and have her devotion go off line and take her out of combat. Now in response you flash in the dictate, and wala...they still get to eat 5 damage. It works tricks on their combat too. They look at your board state with less then 5 devotion and swing into what looks to be open combat land...bam flash in Dictate and make that favorable swing look alot less favorable. Truth is, the card draw is almost inconsequential in just about ever match up, sure you get more juice but so do they, so its kind of a wash. Remember, its 2 blue devotion with flash...that's the importance, use it as a combat trick.

4x Cyclonic Rift 

Cyclonic Rift is nothing new to a mono-blue list. What is different is running 4x in the mainboard. By using  Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx instead of Mutavault you find that overload being easier to obtain. But the true sneaky-ness is by running 4x you don't feel bad about Rifting one card early in the game to sneak in a good a combat. Remember mono-blue is a tempo deck. Bounce spells are great for tempo decks. This one just happens to be a blow-out board wipe late game too.

Best part? Overloaded Cyclonic Rift makes Pack-Rat win condition look completely out-classed. Thanks for discarding those cards btw...

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx instead of Mutavault:

Again, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is no stranger to mono-blue lists. However players are constantly caught trying to figure out how to squeeze in Mutavault AND Nykthos. I'm here to tell you to stop trying. The most important land in a mono-blue list is Island. Too many lands not named "Island" and you hit early game color issues. With this build, Mutavaul ends up looking weak. It isn't good enough against most of field, and doesn't allow you to flood the board with more dudes then your opponent can handle. Also, forget being able to rift two turns early. After testing and testing and testing. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is the stronger of the two.

The other changes are in the sideboard. Ratchet Bomb ends up being strong against Mistcutter Hydra, white weenie decks and in general is a great card if you are unsure the meta at various events. Jace, Architect of Thought continues his run in the SB as decent card draw and more creature-less devotion. SB in against Mono-black and control shell decks.

Well that's it for now, maybe I am not as unoriginal as everyone thought. Please post your comments! And as always check out www.wizardden.com for your MTG needs!

~Nick~