I think Monastery Swiftspear over Bomat Courier is way better. The other main switch is with Burst Lightning over Lava Spike. Lava Spike has felt awful, and kicking Burst Lightning has come up quite a lot. After seeing the UR list, I'm not sure I agree with a lot of the choices ( I think Reveler is necessary to power through the later turns of the game), but Chart a Course looks so much better than Tormenting Voice it's not even funny. I want to see if a blue splash is worth it for Chart a Course over Tormenting Voice and SB counterspells.
I might not run Oath in my list for the reason's you mentioned and because I'm afraid of my opponents abusing it before I can, then destroying it. I am thinking of running a few more toolbox creatures along with Green Sun's Zenith and Chord of Calling.
With that being said for High Market could Prismatic Omen warrant an inclusion? That would make all of our other nonbasic type lands better as well.
It seems like the game plan you forecast is much less reliant on the one turn combo and more on grinding value from Zacama's activated abilities. Do you still aim for the combo or no?
I have not gone the Oath route either. I've kept a much more intensive creature package along with the best turn one mana dorks. The dorks speed the deck up a turn and it has definitely been noticeable. Arbor Elf pulls the most weight, and does an absolute ton of work with mana doublers/Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth.
This creature package let's me keep every creature tutor available which means even when you brick on a card draw spell, the tutor package can typically snag the last piece to keep going off. If not that turn, then you nuke the board with Zacama and set up for the following turn. The deck is typically fast enough to knock any MLD deck off balance so that casting an MLD spell will not put them ahead at all.
Shivan Gorge is the only infinite win condition since it's so resilient in a land. I am still trying to find a slot for Vance's Blasting Cannons, since card advantage plus win condition in one card sounds great on paper. I just haven't gotten to test it yet.
I like the addition of Path to Exile. One cmc is great, and getting an extra land from your own creature in a pinch is equally great.
So far 19 creatures is a low count for Survival of the Fittest, but I only need one creature to get Temur Sabertooth for the loop. Sabertooth can then bounce any creature on the battlefield to retrieve the card draw piece. I will start actively counting to see how many times Survival is a dead card because of a lack of creatures, but ultimately getting one activation has been more than enough to set up the win. I just don't like overloading on 3 cmc creature-based ramp spells for those times you don't have a turn one dork.
Heroic Intervention is an absolute blowout against MLD, and I strongly recommend finding a slot. Ultimately, MLD-based decks are going to ranch Zacama so I'm not sure there's any point in trying to change the deck too much. If you know that's what you're in for, prioritize tutoring for Land Tax as that can dig you out faster than other decks typically could.
So I've still been testing the deck along side your developments. I've gone a slightly different direction with many more mana dorks to speed the deck up a turn. This also enables me to keep the Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman package, as well as making Sunforger a slightly more reliable equipment to use.
I've added Heroic Intervention to the list of protection spells. It's pretty good even though it can't be tutored by Sunforger. I've replaced the Pyroblast type cards since I don't have as many blue decks to worry about. Those spells will obciously always be meta dependant. I'll have to try the clunkier card draw options like the Sandstone Oracle and Reforge the Soul, but so far I'm pretty happy with the 99 in it's current iteration. I will probably try to find a spot for Regal Force since I need a green creature card draw spell to tutor for, I just hate it's high cmc. Still looking for better options.
A hurdle that I've run into and lost multiple times is against a hatebears deck. Linvala, Keeper of Silence is an extremely hard card to fight through. I often can't beat that card coupled with Spirit of the Labyrinth or Gaddock Teeg. If either of those combos hit the board, my only out is Sunforger for Oblation. Any other ideas for beating this style of deck without diluting the game plan too much? The deck can power through counter spells and interaction pretty well, but the stax/hatebears style decks have been interesting and fun to play against.
What is your reasoning behind Tooth and Nail, Protean Hulk, and Scapeshift? I get Scapeshift as a ritual tool, but I'm not following the others usefulness. And nice find on the Regal Behemoth!
I've also been brewing with Zacama and I've found a few other great additions to the deck that help to speed it up a bit.
Arbor Elf, Utopia Sprawl, and Magus of the Candelabra are mana dorks that actually benefit more than the usual ones since they interact directly with lands. I still have Birds and two other elves as well.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds is another dork that allows you the mana surge you need to pump out the last bit of the combo as well as being a draw engine since Zacama is probably going to be the biggest guy on the field.
I also shaved a few of the bounce guys and less good ramp for additional tutors and card draw ie Greater Good, Rishkar's Expertise, Harmonize, Wheel of Fortune. I'm going to test Natural Order as an additional tutor, but I'm not sold yet.
Since I have more dorks in the list I shaved a few lands to add in Seeds of Innocence, Stony Silence, and Rest in Peace as some one sided hate pieces since we have a solid tutor package. I'm going to try Blood Moon and maybe Blood Sun at some point, but that'll be once I play a little more and find the clunkier parts of the deck to cut. My feeling is that Blood Moon hurts the nonbasic Forest count too much.
What is Epochrasite for?
How easy is it to pull off Sage of Hours?
Here are some additions that I think might be worth considering:
Skullclamp should really be an auto-include. Is there a reason you've excluded it?
Key to the City can help anything connect, helps set up Silas, and provides card draw.
Birthing Pod helps you churn through your creatures faster to find business.
Time Sieve is another infinite turns alternative that requires a little more set up than Sage of Hours, but it's an artifact so it's tutorable.
Verdurous Gearhulk and Noxious Gearhulk are midrange options to beef up the team.
Animation Module can provide a steady stream of tokens for extra sac fodder.
Crystalline Crawler is also a solid creature that can do some dumb stuff with it's mana potential.
Instant (19)
2x Burst Lightning
4x Desperate Ritual
3x Fiery Temper
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Manamorphose
2x Risk Factor
Land (18)
18x Mountain
Creature (16)
4x Arclight Phoenix
4x Bedlam Reveler
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Runaway Steam-Kin
Sorcery (7)
4x Faithless Looting
3x Tormenting Voice
Sideboard (15)
2x Abrade
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Blood Moon
2x Dragon's Claw
1x Gut Shot
2x Shrine of Burning Rage
2x Surgical Extraction
I think Monastery Swiftspear over Bomat Courier is way better. The other main switch is with Burst Lightning over Lava Spike. Lava Spike has felt awful, and kicking Burst Lightning has come up quite a lot. After seeing the UR list, I'm not sure I agree with a lot of the choices ( I think Reveler is necessary to power through the later turns of the game), but Chart a Course looks so much better than Tormenting Voice it's not even funny. I want to see if a blue splash is worth it for Chart a Course over Tormenting Voice and SB counterspells.
I have not gone the Oath route either. I've kept a much more intensive creature package along with the best turn one mana dorks. The dorks speed the deck up a turn and it has definitely been noticeable. Arbor Elf pulls the most weight, and does an absolute ton of work with mana doublers/Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth.
This creature package let's me keep every creature tutor available which means even when you brick on a card draw spell, the tutor package can typically snag the last piece to keep going off. If not that turn, then you nuke the board with Zacama and set up for the following turn. The deck is typically fast enough to knock any MLD deck off balance so that casting an MLD spell will not put them ahead at all.
I have Green Sun's Zenith, Eladamri's Call, Summoner's Pact, Survival of the Fittest, and Fauna Shaman. The last pieces of creature tutors that I have added that have been all-stars are Eldritch Evolution and Natural Order. They act as a sacrifice outlet for Zacama and can snag any creature in the deck when sacrificing the commander. At six lands and a mana doubler, these tutors can get Temur Sabertooth and get infinite mana while also serving the toolbox role when needed. While Survival of the Fittest is not at it's strongest, Sabertooth can bounce a random dork/Zacama while comboing to go snag the last piece you would need ie Selvala, Heart of the Wilds.
Shivan Gorge is the only infinite win condition since it's so resilient in a land. I am still trying to find a slot for Vance's Blasting Cannons, since card advantage plus win condition in one card sounds great on paper. I just haven't gotten to test it yet.
So far 19 creatures is a low count for Survival of the Fittest, but I only need one creature to get Temur Sabertooth for the loop. Sabertooth can then bounce any creature on the battlefield to retrieve the card draw piece. I will start actively counting to see how many times Survival is a dead card because of a lack of creatures, but ultimately getting one activation has been more than enough to set up the win. I just don't like overloading on 3 cmc creature-based ramp spells for those times you don't have a turn one dork.
Heroic Intervention is an absolute blowout against MLD, and I strongly recommend finding a slot. Ultimately, MLD-based decks are going to ranch Zacama so I'm not sure there's any point in trying to change the deck too much. If you know that's what you're in for, prioritize tutoring for Land Tax as that can dig you out faster than other decks typically could.
Here's the list: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/zacama-naya-flare-1/?cache=2018-01-28%2014:31:49.934924
I've added Heroic Intervention to the list of protection spells. It's pretty good even though it can't be tutored by Sunforger. I've replaced the Pyroblast type cards since I don't have as many blue decks to worry about. Those spells will obciously always be meta dependant. I'll have to try the clunkier card draw options like the Sandstone Oracle and Reforge the Soul, but so far I'm pretty happy with the 99 in it's current iteration. I will probably try to find a spot for Regal Force since I need a green creature card draw spell to tutor for, I just hate it's high cmc. Still looking for better options.
A hurdle that I've run into and lost multiple times is against a hatebears deck. Linvala, Keeper of Silence is an extremely hard card to fight through. I often can't beat that card coupled with Spirit of the Labyrinth or Gaddock Teeg. If either of those combos hit the board, my only out is Sunforger for Oblation. Any other ideas for beating this style of deck without diluting the game plan too much? The deck can power through counter spells and interaction pretty well, but the stax/hatebears style decks have been interesting and fun to play against.
Arbor Elf, Utopia Sprawl, and Magus of the Candelabra are mana dorks that actually benefit more than the usual ones since they interact directly with lands. I still have Birds and two other elves as well.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds is another dork that allows you the mana surge you need to pump out the last bit of the combo as well as being a draw engine since Zacama is probably going to be the biggest guy on the field.
I also shaved a few of the bounce guys and less good ramp for additional tutors and card draw ie Greater Good, Rishkar's Expertise, Harmonize, Wheel of Fortune. I'm going to test Natural Order as an additional tutor, but I'm not sold yet.
Since I have more dorks in the list I shaved a few lands to add in Seeds of Innocence, Stony Silence, and Rest in Peace as some one sided hate pieces since we have a solid tutor package. I'm going to try Blood Moon and maybe Blood Sun at some point, but that'll be once I play a little more and find the clunkier parts of the deck to cut. My feeling is that Blood Moon hurts the nonbasic Forest count too much.
What is Epochrasite for?
How easy is it to pull off Sage of Hours?
Here are some additions that I think might be worth considering:
Skullclamp should really be an auto-include. Is there a reason you've excluded it?
Key to the City can help anything connect, helps set up Silas, and provides card draw.
Birthing Pod helps you churn through your creatures faster to find business.
Time Sieve is another infinite turns alternative that requires a little more set up than Sage of Hours, but it's an artifact so it's tutorable.
Verdurous Gearhulk and Noxious Gearhulk are midrange options to beef up the team.
Animation Module can provide a steady stream of tokens for extra sac fodder.
Crystalline Crawler is also a solid creature that can do some dumb stuff with it's mana potential.