Much Abrew: Devoted to Louie (Pioneer)
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Much Abrew About Nothing! This week, we're revisiting one of my favorite archetypes—Mono-Black Devotion—with a massive upgrade from Spider-Man in Morlun, Devourer of Spiders (or, for us Arena players, Luis, Pompous Pillager, or Louie). The main game plan of Mono-Black Devotion is to play a bunch of black permanents to up our devotion to black, make tons of mana with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and then burn our opponent out of the game with Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Luis, Pompous Pillager is the closest thing we've seen to a Gary in a long time, potentially burning our opponent out of the game all by itself while also gaining us a ton of life, assuming we can make enough mana. How good are Gary and Louie together? Let's go the video and find out!
Much Abrew: Devoted to Louie
The Deck
- Record-wise, we crushed it, going 7-2 with the deck for a 78% win percentage!
- We've played Mono-Black Devotion in the past, so I'm not going to go over all the random cards in the deck. The primary game plan is the same as always: add as many black mana symbols to the battlefield, which lets us make tons of mana with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and then win the game with drain or random creature beats. Instead, let's focus on the big new additions to the deck.
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel (or Gary) has long been the most important card in Mono-Black Devotion. The ability to drain equal to our devotion to black makes Gary a great way to buffer our life total early. Once we really start to pop off, a couple of copies should be able to get our opponent's life total to zero. Morlun, Devourer of Spiders, probably better known as Luis, Pompous Pillager (or Louie), is in some ways the second coming of Gary. While in some ways the cards work opposite each other (Gary needs a bunch of permanents on the battlefield to drain, while Louie technically doesn't, although to make enough mana to cast Luis, Pompous Pillager with X = lethal, we likely need a bunch of permanents to power up Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx), the end result is the same: drain away our opponent's life total directly!
- In some ways, Louie is actually better than Gary, mostly in its flexibility. Part of Louie's power in our deck is that while it is absurd as a finisher in the late game, thanks to its two black mana symbols, it's also fine to run it out early in the game to help power up Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Plus, if you really think about it, there are very few points on the curve where Luis, Pompous Pillager is truly bad. At two mana, it's Child of Night, which is its weakest mode. But at four mana, it's a 4/3 lifelinker that drains for two (almost a Siege Rhino). At six mana, it's a 6/5 lifelinker that drains for four, etc. Basically, even if Louie doesn't directly win us the game, it's typically gaining a bunch of life and adding a massive lifelinking body to the battlefield!
- Helping power up Louie and Gary are two cards that can double up their drain in Bloodletter of Aclazotz and Warlock Class. While we don't need these cards to drain our opponent out of the game, if we can stick one (or, in the case of Warlock Class, fully level it up), it does greatly increase the deck's speed.
- Another big upside of the deck is that it's almost hilariously good against aggro, and aggro is super popular in Pioneer. Even outside of gaining life with Louie and Gary, cards like Gifted Aetherborn and Phyrexian Obliterator (which we are playing to add black mana symbols to the battlefield) just happen to be really good at stonewalling aggro. If you are tired of getting run over by red decks in Pioneer, Mono-Black Devotion might be the answer!
- The other big new addition to the deck is Archenemy's Charm. While a bit expensive as removal, being able to double Raise Dead is incredibly in the deck since it allows us to play Gray Merchant of Asphodel and / or Luis, Pompous Pillager early in the game, even if they aren't lethal, and then get them back later in the game once they die, to finish the job.
- So, should you play Devoted to Louie in Pioneer? I think the answer is an easy yes! Our record was great, the deck felt powerful, and it's super fun to play! If you like draining away your opponent's life total and making tons of mana (or just like beating up on poor aggro players), this just might be the Pioneer deck for you!
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
