I actually created a Gods tribal deck some time ago with the Theros block. However the most obvious thing that came to light is that getting devotion enough for each God to actually become a creature (for attacking) was next to impossible if you are playing a normal game of Magic, drawing each God to then cast.
The other element you figure out is that the actual synergy behind each God doesn't match up particularly well with each other. They have amazing abilities to build around, but each doesn't lend to the other in meaningful ways.
I wanted to make a The World Tree based deck that has Gods that don't take up too many slots, as well as being effective cards potentially on their own. I also wanted it so that activating the The World Tree wins the game.
Sure you could have a deck with 35 Gods (how many there are), but drawing many of these literally do nothing for you.
- Activating The World Tree wins the game.
- Individually each God gives you some value.
- Limited number of Gods.
Firstly there is no infinite's that can be obtain within just the Gods. The only way to win (within the same turn) I could figure out was to make sure your Gods are creatures and attack with them and/or use Purphoros, God of the Forge to deal damage.
In this regard the deck needs to be configured so that the devotion is met for each God so that they are creatures for these.
What I show in the table below is the devotion each card can give, along with devotion needed to become a creature and then in another column the actual devotion you get from putting all those Gods into play.
I worked the Gods until I had enough devotion (for each one) with the firm goal of making sure that these Gods are decent draws at other stages of the game to make the deck robust and a better experience in general.
| Card | Dev | Dev Need | Dev Got | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thassa, Deep-Dwelling | 5 | 5 | 6/5 | |
| Alrund, God of the Cosmos | */* | |||
| Keranos, God of Storms | 7 | 10 | 6/5 | |
| Birgi, God of Storytelling | 3/3 | |||
| Purphoros, God of the Forge | 5 | 5 | 6/5 | |
| Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded | 5 | 5 | 7/6 | |
| Klothys, God of Destiny | 7 | 10 | 4/5 | |
| Esika, God of the Tree | 1/4 | |||
| Jorn, God of Winter | 3/3 | |||
| Karametra, God of Harvests | 7 | 7 | 6/7 | |
| Reidane, God of the Worthy | 2/3 | |||
| Athreos, Shroud-Veiled | 7 | 8 | 4/7 | |
| Erebos, God of the Dead | 5 | 5 | 5/7 | |
| Tergrid, God of Fright | 4/5 | |||
| The Scarab God | 5/5 | |||
| Total Power | 67 |
Activating The World Tree wins the game
I also have a column for the creatures stats just so I could keep a tally of total power I could attack with.
There are 15 Gods so Purphoros, God of the Forge will trigger for 28 damage off the bat to each opponent.
Then you have 67 power worth of Gods to attack with haste which is going to be more than enough for lethal even with lots of life gain.
It has to be noted that Purphoros, God of the Forge only triggers with creatures entering the battlefield, so if a God doesn't meet the creature devotion portion then it won't trigger Purphoros.
What if you draw a number of Gods and therefore can't put into play with The World Tree?
The devotion margins are either exact or close so this is a consideration for sure during game play.
However there are other colored permanents in the deck that can help potentially.
Casting out a few Gods here and there is exactly what most games look like and they are chosen for their merit to help with advantages.
Also it is not totally imperative that all the Gods are turned into creatures.
Let's look at an example. Let's say Klothys, God of Destiny was exiled at some stage.
Purphoros, God of the Forge, Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded, Karametra, God of Harvests wouldn't become creatures.
You miss out on 4 damage to opponents with Purphoros and you also are down 19 power.
But that still means that you have 44 power and 22 Purphoros, God of the Forge damage which is still going to be enough to kill most games.
The deck doesn't actually want to draw too many cards because you just don't want to draw your Gods.
Cards that can retrospectively help are Valakut Awakening, Brainstorm, Aminatou, the Fateshifter to put the Gods back into your library.
Even if you only put half the Gods into play then you are still are going to overwhelm opponents with advantages in a grindy game.
I have the stipulation of "Activating The World Tree wins the game" but it fair to say that even if some of your Gods are removed you are still going to "win the game" eventually most game after an activation.
The Scarab God is also a backup plan if a number of Gods are in your graveyard.
Now if you are activating The World Tree then you can expect to use up all your mana.
However the Gods package does have Esika, God of the Tree that allows you to tap your Gods for mana, meaning you can use The Scarab God on the same turn you put all your Gods into play.
The Gods in all their glory
Gods I have chosen all have some ways of gaining you advantages while having the devotion to help each other out.
Esika, God of the Tree has the special ability to make other legendary creatures into mana dorks. However the enchantment Gods are not normally going to be creatures until The World Tree activation.
So it's the other type of Gods which can help with mana during a normal game.
When The World Tree is activated you get all 15 Gods as mana creatures and they also have haste (Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded) so that gives you access to tons of mana.
The reason this could be important is that if opponents do have interaction then you have mana up to prevent it.
It also allows you to activate The Scarab God to bring back some Gods that might help.
You can also cast it as The Prismatic Bridge which will put a God into play most times it triggers which is a fine way to grind into your setup. It also might help with devotion needs.
Jorn, God of Winter is the reason why the land is Snow based. Because The World Tree can be activated at any time you can tap 5 lands and get them untapped to get you the you need. This means that you could easily win early with this card.
Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Athreos, Shroud-Veiled work nicely with Golos, Tireless Pilgrim to get land ramp.
Alrund, God of the Cosmos can be played as Hakka, Whispering Raven during the lead up, with the scry to help stop God top decks more. Hakka also can trigger Karametra, God of Harvests multiple times.
If you cast as Alrund then you can also use the end of turn ability to avoid drawing your Gods as top decks more.
Keranos, God of Storms is simply card advantage.
Birgi, God of Storytelling can help with mana or maybe you want to use the artifact side for card advantages.
Purphoros, God of the Forge is purely used as a finisher, so is a good example of a bad draw at other times.
Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded is similar in the it isn't really used for any other reason than a finisher to give your creatures haste.
Klothys, God of Destiny can help with mana and good against graveyard strategies.
Karametra, God of Harvests actually triggers with the Gods because they are still creatures on the stack. Land ramp is great to get to the require activation.
Reidane, God of the Worthy is cheap interaction. I also figured that as it could come into play with the The World Tree it means that you can potentially shut off opponents interacting with you.
Erebos, God of the Dead can be used for card advantages and also you don't want opponents gaining too much life.
Tergrid, God of Fright doesn't have any synergy as such with the deck but will cause problems still with the natural discard and sacrifice that often happens during games.
The Scarab God as I mentioned a few times can help against games where Gods have gone to your graveyard. A fail safe as such.
Gods that didn't make the deck
The next set of cards are ones that were in the mix at various stages but got edged out in the final configuration.
Cosima, God of the Voyage is a way to get additional draw long term. You can leave it exiled up till the last moment as well so that it can't be removed. However draw isn't the focus of the deck.
Thassa, God of the Sea has scry to put top deck Gods onto bottom of library and can make your Gods unblockable if needed on a lethal turn.
The Locust God gives both devotion which is fantastic but the deck doesn't have a lot of draw. That means that if you were to draw and play The Locust God it's not that exciting. It's fine, but it literally just a 6 mana play to buy some time rather than proactively winning you the game on its own.
God-Eternal Oketra will trigger when casting a God and does have which is nice to meet criteria for a number of devotion. However fairly unexciting as you are really not looking to cast that many Gods and so a few zombie tokens would be more of a defense strategy rather than game winning.
Nylea, Keen-Eyed has a relevant ability to make casting Gods cost less. You could use the ability to draw a God on top of your library, but as I've pointed out you don't want to draw Gods at all.
God-Eternal Rhonas is probably the best example of a God that is a finisher with the The World Tree, but a horrible draw at any other times of game as your plan is just not to cast a card like this until the end.
These are the other Gods that I had in mind when it came to abilities and devotion;
The Scorpion God, Valki, God of Lies, Kolvori, God of Kinship // The Ringhart Crest.
I also went through all the changelings because they are Gods as well. But there wasn't anything that really stood out as an include.
These ones I had as the best candidates, but none of them were quite required; Graveshifter, Morophon, the Boundless, Realmwalker.
Activating The World Tree
Right so how are you going to get to before your opponents win the game?
There are certainly a number of ways to achieve this earlier on in the game potentially.
Any card that doubles your mana is going to help. In theory you just need a mana doubler and 5 lands plus The World Tree in order to activate.
Possible mana doublers
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My first draft of the deck had literally all the mana doublers that was possible given a 5 color land base.
You could literally play Mana Flare on the 3rd turn, Golos on the 4th Turn and then activate the The World Tree on the 5th turn to win.
This is a perfectly fine game plan and I bet you would win in a lot of games, it is a very hard combo to stop.
But giving your opponents symmetrical mana doublers means that they might get to do all the busted things that their decks are set up to do and that might include establishing locks to shut you off your own combo.
Also mana doublers don't have massive synergy with the rest of the deck outside of The World Tree. Sure additional mana is always beneficial but the deck doesn't have a lot of draw (on purpose) so requiring action cards to make use of the mana is not at its best.
Here is the list of mana doublers that can be used with the 5-color requirments;
Heartbeat of Spring, Overabundance, Mana Flare, Winter's Night, Mirari's Wake, Dictate of Karametra, Zhur-Taa Ancient, Regal Behemoth, Mana Reflection, Nyxbloom Ancient, Zendikar Resurgent, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger.
Another thing is that once you are casting 7-8 mana cards then you are only 3 or even 2 mana away from getting the required activation.
In this manner I feel like a card that can ramp you 2 or 3 mana would be near to the same level.
You could literally play Mana Flare on the 3rd turn, Golos on the 4th Turn and then activate the The World Tree on the 5th turn to win.
This is a perfectly fine game plan and I bet you would win in a lot of games, it is a very hard combo to stop.
But giving your opponents symmetrical mana doublers means that they might get to do all the busted things that their decks are set up to do and that might include establishing locks to shut you off your own combo.
Also mana doublers don't have massive synergy with the rest of the deck outside of The World Tree. Sure additional mana is always beneficial but the deck doesn't have a lot of draw (on purpose) so requiring action cards to make use of the mana is not at its best.
Here is the list of mana doublers that can be used with the 5-color requirments;
Heartbeat of Spring, Overabundance, Mana Flare, Winter's Night, Mirari's Wake, Dictate of Karametra, Zhur-Taa Ancient, Regal Behemoth, Mana Reflection, Nyxbloom Ancient, Zendikar Resurgent, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger.
Another thing is that once you are casting 7-8 mana cards then you are only 3 or even 2 mana away from getting the required activation.
In this manner I feel like a card that can ramp you 2 or 3 mana would be near to the same level.
Also Dictate of Karametra as it has flash so you can put in play before your turn so that you can try to combo before anybody else gets the mana on their own turns.
The way this deck looks to combo earlier is via a number of different methods.
Omnath, Locus of Creation ability to produce off a fetchland means that you only need 6 lands in play to get the required 10 mana.
Omnath also can be used with Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Athreos, Shroud-Veiled for additional draw.
Dockside Extortionist or Smothering Tithe even giving you say 4 Treasures means that you'd only need 6 lands and The World Tree.
Squandered Resources can get you the required mana with only 5 lands and The World Tree. It is a very all in move, but if you just have everybody tapped low then there really isn't much they can do. Very cheesy, but having one combo card like this does mean that you have some quick games.
Wilderness Reclamation allows you to respond to the untap trigger with tapping your lands so acts as a mana doubler for the purposes of activating The World Tree. You don't get an immediate attack unfortunately this way because it is end of your turn, but you can still deal 28 Purphoros, God of the Forge damage and..you know..got all the Gods in play lol.
Jegantha, the Wellspring can pay for half of it so again only would require 5 lands and The World Tree.
I've shown you some ways to turbo charge the activation but it is also designed to be a patient deck that can control the game pretty well until you can get enough mana via just playing lands a maybe a few mana sources.
This is why the Gods want to be useful at most stages of the game because you can play a long game with being patient.
There is lots of cheap land ramp in the deck to help out with the both the early game and to get to the The World Tree activation.
There are 37 lands in the deck and this is to make sure that you hit lands drops most turns.
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
You'll note that I hardly mention the Commander of the deck so far and that is because it only has one role and that is to get The World Tree.
However it is land ramp enabler and you could lean on it further by including cards that trigger Golos, Tireless Pilgrim more to ramp up to the required mana.
Currently there is Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Athreos, Shroud-Veiled that can be used for additional triggers.
You could use a card like Ephemerate to get 2 more activation's out of Golos, I've chosen not to play cards like this because there is only Omnath, Locus of Creation as another target, so very limited in scope.
Possible lands
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I did try to think of a combination of lands that you could search up to activate The World Tree with as few a lands as possible.
So far nothing really has stood out. Most lands that provide additional mana have stipulations like Gaea's Cradle and Serra's Sanctum which means you can't rely on them.
This 8 land combination would work but seems like a lot of effort for just being 3 lands short of a normal 11 lands; The World Tree, Crystal Quarry, Cascading Cataracts, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers, plus 3 other lands.
You could try and get a number of the bounce lands into play like Azorius Chancery, Gruul Turf, Orzhov Basilica, Simic Growth Chamber, Rakdos Carnarium.
There is a downside to the bounce lands but as long as you keep playing a land and then triggering Golos land search ability this is certainly a way to do this. You would want to back this up with additional land into play cards in my opinion like Exploration and Burgeoning.
So far nothing really has stood out. Most lands that provide additional mana have stipulations like Gaea's Cradle and Serra's Sanctum which means you can't rely on them.
This 8 land combination would work but seems like a lot of effort for just being 3 lands short of a normal 11 lands; The World Tree, Crystal Quarry, Cascading Cataracts, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers, plus 3 other lands.
You could try and get a number of the bounce lands into play like Azorius Chancery, Gruul Turf, Orzhov Basilica, Simic Growth Chamber, Rakdos Carnarium.
There is a downside to the bounce lands but as long as you keep playing a land and then triggering Golos land search ability this is certainly a way to do this. You would want to back this up with additional land into play cards in my opinion like Exploration and Burgeoning.
Playing the long game
Because Gods are so hard to remove with either indestructible or other ways they return back to you, playing games that go long is perfectly fine if not an actual goal.
The deck has a role of basically interacting with your opponents just enough so that they don't win.
It also has the element where you have combo cards like Mirari's Wake, Dictate of Karametra, Omnath, Locus of Creation, Jegantha, the Wellspring, Squandered Resources, Wilderness Reclamation, etc that you can jam and see if opponents can deal with them. The good thing is that if they are dealt with then you just carry on with putting lands into play and stopping opponents from closing out the game until you get to your The World Tree activation.
Hour of Revelation and Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins are ways to clear the board and you will be in much better shape with you resilient Gods.
One of the ways opponents can stop you is by directly dealing with The World Tree.
This is why Life from the Loam is in the deck because it is the most hard to prevent way of getting lands back from your graveyard.
It might be that they destroy it with a Strip Mine type effect or even other cases of dealing with the trigger itself with countering it with a Disallow type card or maybe Opposition Agent to void the search.
Whatever the reason Life from the Loam means that the very next turn you can get it back.
Admittedly the dredge element isn't useful to the deck overall as you'd prefer your Gods to stay in your library.
There is Hall of Heliod's Generosity that can put some of your Gods back into your library, so this can help to mitigate mills.
Petrified Field can also be used to get the The World Tree back and so you could use Golos land search to get this if need be later on in the game.
You'll see that the deck has a lot of cheap interaction and this is just to make getting to the long game more of a possibility.
The shell of a deck could lean towards mana ramp or combo even more.
But this is the direction I took it once I had my Gods base as I thought taking a middle ground between combo, ramp and control means that the deck is very robust.
Aminatou, the Fateshifter is a way to put a God back on top of your library and you can use a fetchland to shuffle it away. The [-1] ability can be used to exile Golos for land ramp and/or just used on a land for additional mana during a turn. I liked the versatility that it offers to the deck.
One last thing I'll mention is that Simic Growth Chamber is specifically in the deck as a way to potentially bounce the modal lands in Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins, Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge, Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary back to your hand so that you can cast the spell portion of the cards maybe during the later stages of a game.
If you play Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge as land in the early game and then you draw a lot of your Gods then you'd probably want to cast it later on in the game to put the Gods back into your library.
When the Gods gathered to party at The World Tree
Approximate Total Cost:
Zacama
