MTG Salvation

Quote from mrMudcat »

None of the 3 decks that top 32'd the SCG open this weekend had Zacama in them. Understandable for the hive mind one, but the other two was interesting. Is the card just not well positioned?

In my opinion, it just costs too much. (I haven't tested it yet though.)

I have a friend that swears by it though. He loves running Zacama in Amulet, although he's been mostly playing UW in paper right now.

Quote from daviusminimus »

@Doomfall19 - I'll try stream some more for you! As a tip, twitch.tv/fpawluzs streams a lot of amulet and is a better player than me!

Discord link here for you guys... it's extremely active (after the weekend, there were a good 400+ messages for me to catch up on)!
https://discord.gg/bpgJyDm

@MrMudcat - I think Zacama is really a response to Humans, and most creature-based MUs. It has never been stock, just 1-2 people got a result with it and people started testing with mixed results. There's 2 schools of thought with Zacama:
1. When it's in your opener, or drawn against a combo deck, it sucks. It's 9 mana, so it's only ever good when you have already played a titan.
2. When it's in your deck, you can pact it up after landing your first titan and it will win you the game, usually on the spot. It's a power-house when you need it.

And my opinion, for what it's worth, is somewhere in the middle. It does suck when you naturally draw it, but occasionally you'll keep a mana-hungry hand and draw Zacama instead of a titan, and it still goes to town. When the board stalls, or if meddling mage names titan, then having access to Zacama can be really powerful.

Followed! Thanks a lot, Davius.

I agree with you on Zacama. He's really good after a Titan but not so hot otherwise. I almost never tutor for Zacama, Titan is almost always enough. Zacama has been good but I like Amulet to have more consistency or better flex cards that don't cost so much mana, such as the aforementioned Relic and Baloth against Dredge and aggressive matchups.

Hello!
Recently bought into the deck and still enjoying it. Trying to learn as much as I can about it. Can anyone link me to a streamer or video of recent Amulet titan?

Also the invite above to the discord has expired. Where can I get a new one?

Is there a link to a basic sideboard guide or does anyone have one?

Also, what's you guys thoughts on Leyline of Sanctity

Link to the discord:


I'd give fpawlusz a try. He's a very competent player and streams a lot of amulet. Edgar Magalhaes (Edgarmtg@twitch) is also on twitch but sadly he doesn't stream regularly (he's without any doubt one of the best amulet players, though). Puntthenwhine is awesome when it comes to the Scoutless version. But there are many very good players and streamers in the discord. Definitely check it out.

@Pistallion
What matchup is Leyline of Sanctity for? I don't feel like it boosts our week matchups.

Quote from T3rbium »

Link to the discord:


@Pistallion
What matchup is Leyline of Sanctity for? I don't feel like it boosts our week matchups.

Burn or BGx for discard, but I guess those MUs are easy for us so its probably not worth it like you said. It can slow down storm, too, since they cant use Gifts.
In a heavy BGx meta, would you make any changes to the SB?

I haven't been on mtgsalvation for a long time but I'm looking for an active Titan forum. Played it back in the summer bloom days and picked up the deck again 2 months ago and have finally gotten back to the point I feel really comfortable with it. I played 6 modern side events during this last GP and could really feel my progress with seeing complex lines and grinding out the deck. Ended with a solid 66% win rate. Needless to say, I still have a lot to learn with the deck.

I'm currently running a 2nd walking ballista in my sideboard instead of the emrakul that I've been seeing in a lot of 75s. I've been a big fan of the 2nd ballista (tutorable, still a threat under a blood moon/magus, hoses creature matchups.) I get that emrakul can be game breaking against other combo decks and pretty good against control, but is there something else I'm missing?

I'm going to try squeezing in another pact of negation to go up a total of 2 in the mainboard. I kept finding myself wanting a second one to tutor for in a few of the combo/control matchups.

I see some previous talk on Zacama. IMO Zacama is obviously sweet when you can cast it, but it primarily rots in your hand. I often wished it was any cheaper bomb (remember the good old bloom days when we sometimes played Dragonlord Dromoka?) I ended up removing it after testing. It is a sick pact target against humans, affinity and other creature decks though.

Last note, oh my goodness gracious does this deck destroy card sleeves. So much shuffling. Such dirty sleeves lol

Pretty random thought, but what do all of you use for reminders / game state indicators?

I'm sure you've all seen storm players that have special tokens to indicate storm count / mana pools. There's another amulet player I know locally who has a bunch of token cards he's accumulated to indicate things like floating mana, pact triggers, land drops, etc. None of these things are _incredibly_ important, but it's good courtesy to make the game state as clear as possible for opponents, so I was curious what other people might use or have found to represent all of this stuff.

edit: "I just use dice and verbalize" is a good answer (and is what I do currently), just curious if anyone has other cool stuff to share.

@ovogeli30 the amulet discord is the most active forum I've found for the deck, although I've heard there's a facebook group that's pretty active too. Here's the link if you're interested: https://discord.gg/3EsKnD
As for the 2nd Ballista/Pact, I think they're fine inclusions in certain metas. If there's a lot of tron/combo, the 2nd blue pact is one of the best cards you can have.
@maverickzero I use dice on top of the deck for pact triggers and I track floating mana on my life pad. I just verbalize land drops since it's just 0-3 land drops remaining at any time. I've thought about putting some basic lands in the same sleeves I use for my tokens to use as mana trackers, but I'm pretty sure there's rules against having actual cards in your deckbox that aren't part of your deck for comp REL.

@FeloniousCrap : Thank you for the link!

@daviusminimus :You raise a good point about minimizing the shuffling. I have a bad habit of mash shuffling as I'm thinking (pact of titan, cast it, shuffle while I double check what I'm getting in my head.)

I'm going to try 1 pierce in the main to open up sideboard slot. May end up putting a third pierce in that open spot.

@maverickzero : I try not to use any physical marker for pact triggers. I just get super anxious and spend 5 seconds every upkeep to double check. I verbalize land drops and floating mana. I'll typically write down the floating mana on complex turns/lines.

Hi there,

I have recently started to play this deck. It's a blast, love it.

One Small question: I would like to try 2 hive mind and 2 pact of negation. What do you cut to make room for these (eg starting from the list that made 1st at the scg)?

If you want to play hive mind, I think the Lotus Bloom version is better suited for that combo. The 2nd place list from scg Charlotte or any mtgo 5-0 list from puntthenwhine are good starting points for that version.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry to ask if it is obvious but why is the bloom version better suited for hive mind ?

It seems to me that the only difference between the two versions is the replacement of the scouts by lotus and less cantrips in the bloom version. Am I wrong ?

@daviusminimus you know me too well. Of course, I could not help mixing the two versions together and then understand why it was not good

Thank you for your extensive answer. It really shed a light on the reasons beyond these 2 versions.

After trying the two, I think I prefer the scout one as well for competitive plays, even though the lotus hive mind one is funnier (or leads to funny situations :p).

One more question on the scout version from the SCG: would not one mana cantrips such as 4th adventurous impulse and 1 serum vision be better than the two explore in the deck ? It's true that the scouts are fragile but you still have amulet and asuza to accelerate ? Also, @daviusminimus: is your current version different from that one ?

Many thanks and have a nice weekend

Hello everyone I am in the process of buying into this deck and and wanted some advice from you seasoned players. is Gemstone mine really needed or can i play four Botanical sanctum instead? thank you!!!

Thanks. I like explore as well. So far I tried both version and tried à third one with more cantrips (including impulse):



Basic ideas was to up card advantage (tbh scouts are often à one for one trade, card vs removal) while still getting these lands into play (contrary to lotus Bloom being more all in and really susceptible to be hit by artifact hate post sideboard). Not sure I am right to try this but it is so far quite consistent. What do you experimented people think ?

Awesome run daviusminimus!!

Really nice seeing amulet beat fast decks like kci and hardened scales! Did you not miss extra copies of Explosives? Also, may I ask who were the pros you guys played against?

Nice. I like to ask this kind of stuff because I believe even our opponents know that 6 mana + amulet equals hasty titan or titan + tolaria to get a pact, but on the rough situations people think in different ways, and that's when tight play is really rewarded. So I really like gathering as much information from experienced players and what their thought process was. Thank you for answering.

I agree with some things and disagree with other things, but I understand what you are saying. I'm currently playing 3 abrades on my sideboard, along with 1 EE (plus 1 EE maindeck) and 1 Firespout, but I'm not sure about the numbers. Sometimes we are facing spirits/humans with one or two 3 drops with another one or two 2 drops and a 1 drop and explosives looks awful in hand. And I totally agree with the 1/1 split between Relic and Tormod's Crypt. I still like Ruric Thar and Hornet Queen though, and currently dislike Obstinate Baloth. Tireless Tracker and Ramunap Excavator are also cards I need more reps with.

All in all, congratz once again!

Hey there, ive been playing amulet for a few months now. I had some success in local fnm's and I finished top 4 for the first time at a pptq near my city. I want to prepare for a face2face open and maybe a GP this year so I wanted to know what people with more experience with the deck think about trinket mage vs impulse vs explore in the current meta, the through the breach version of amulet!(the one jeff hoogland played) and hornet queen in the main deck. Btw is the discord group open for everybody? Im happy that the community is as awesome as the deck! Thanks!

Is Nissa, vital force positioned well for this deck right now?