Mono-Blue Devotion (2013) vs. Omnath Uro Ramp (2020) | Best Standard Deck Ever Top 64

Hello everyone, and welcome to the next match in the Best Standard Deck Ever Tournament! This week, we have our second Theros-era devotion deck. A few weeks ago, we played Mono-Black Devotion. Well, today, its archenemy Mono-Blue Devotion gets its chance to shine. Across the ring from the 2013 deck, we have a deck that was so busted that it was banned from Standard after less than a month, in the fall of 2020: Omnath Uro Ramp! Which of these iconic decks moves on, and which is going home? Let's get to the video and find out! Oh yeah, you can find all the decklists and the bracket for the Best Standard Deck Ever Tournament here.

Mono-Blue Devotion (2013) vs. Omnath Uro Ramp (2020)

Back in Theros Standard in 2013 and 2014, devotion decks were all the rage. A few weeks ago, we had Mono-Black Devotion, which was taken out by 2009's Jund. But today, devotion gets a second chance with Mono-Blue Devotion. The story of devotion in Theros Standard is interesting. Mono-Blue Devotion was the best deck in the format as soon as the mechanic was released, bringing Jérémy Dezani to victory at Pro Tour Theros and putting two more players into the Top 4. As the format developed, Mono-Black Devotion would become top dog, but this wouldn't keep Mono-Blue Devotion from winning multiple Grands Prix over the next year. 

Infamously, Omnath Uro Ramp was discovered during early-access day for Zendikar Rising on Magic Arena before the set and Omnath, Locus of Creation were even released. Everyone immediately realized the deck was broken, including Wizards. On September 28th, 2020, just three days after Zendikar Rising was officially released, Wizards banned Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath to power down the deck. But the archetype was so broken even without Uro that on October 12th, less than three weeks after Zendikar Rising dropped, Wizards also banned Omnath, Locus of Creation and Escape to the Wilds to power down the deck. I'm not sure there's a better testament to a deck's brokenness than it being banned from Standard in less than a month!

You can see the deck's prevalence in the decklist itself, which is heavily warped for the mirror, with Confounding Conundrum being a playset in the main deck and the deck playing a massive 32 lands to fit in a playset of Spikefield Hazard to snipe opponents' copies of Lotus Cobra. The combination of being released during the peak of the pandemic and the deck existing for such a short period of time means that Omnath Uro Ramp has essentially zero major tournament finishes. But don't let that fool you—the deck utterly dominated Standard during its short life. 

Updated Bracket

You can find the updated bracket here!

Next Week: Channel Fireball (1995) vs. Doran (2007)

Next week, the original Magic combo of Channel + Fireball from 1993 takes on Doran, the Siege Tower midrange from 2007!