This gives me more game against DS and also Vizier/Druid Company decks. It also adds a sizeable threat to my post-board midrange plan (nissa was not performing the same role against anybody but control). The extra sweeper is probably un-necessary (Bonfire was in addition to Pyroclasm and Kozilek's Return) and my control match-up seems fine without my pet card Nissa.
Good work Grilled Cheese! I'm always tempted to try Trinket Mage now that the format has slowed a little. It seemed too slow when I picked up the deck first but since that point we have added a) relics b) walking ballista to the mainboard so trinket mage has a lot more utility. I think I'll test it too at some point.
And congratulations Zrifts on the Trial event, that's awesome! I agree that if I were to sleeve up the deck for a major event I'd build with Groves too, but the LGS's have pretty wide open metas and the lack of groves isn't hurting me as I play shadow only maybe 1 time every 10 games (with more frequency on the winners tables).
Regarding Kozilek's return.. it has been especially good when found with stirrings BUT i have found that Pyroclasm coming down t2 is important to stop Vizier company on t2 before they win t3 (on the draw for us) and also against affinity so you nab their dudes before steel overseer/arcbound ravager pumps save some of their dudes. Against decks that go wide with small dudes that DON'T kill you t3 (hatebears, other tribals or wide decks) kozilek's return definately trumps pyroclasm. After t2 kozilek's return is also better against these decks (instant speed) but the problem against affinity and vizier company usually is getting to t3 on the draw with a stable board I find (or still in the game).
@daviusminimus that's some good thinking around construction, the fact that explore ramps does indeed take the pain out of boarding out azusa/scout, and the extra utility land in place of a botanical sanctum sounds great to shore up some match-ups. As I see it the deck actually consistently runs 4 utility flex lands - 2 usually taken by Khalini Garden and Radiant Fountain, 2 usually taken by GQ/Bog/Cavern mix (in my list Academy Ruins/Cavern of Souls). With 1 more utility land in place of a botanical, a list could run all 3 of GQ/Bog/Cavern MB or my list could run Ruins/Cavern/GQ mainboard.
Hey Talgardo thanks for the suggestions! I did board out 1 Amulet, 1 Scout, and 1 Azusa for the Jund match-up but maybe I could more aggressively sideboard in this manner. A problem is my lack of threats out of the sideboard (Nissa is better as a threat vs Control than vs Jund).
The 3 Azusa I am looking to bump up to 4 when I get my hands on another copy (I definately see the argument of 4x as a boon vs. Combo decks).
With the disclaimer that I've never tested Groves, I must admit I've never been 100% sold on the Grove of the Burnwillows plan because it makes it harder to combo (and therefore win) vs the field (outside of Shadow). If we give the field a free pass for shocking and fetching, or we raise an opponent over 20 life, then the fact that our deck can do 16 or 20 damage in one swing becomes much less relevant. T-West is more reliable with Botanical Sanctum, and running Serum Visions makes the combo elements of the deck much, much more consistent than Explore ever will.
Those above are the logical arguments for running Botanical Sanctums over Grove of the Burnwillows.
Another logical one is that I can't afford them and I'm a paper-only player currently, so until I ACTUALLY test them, please defer to those who have tested both builds
If my 2 or 3 stores I play at turn in to GDS and JDS hellholes I might fork out the money for a playset but until then I'm stuck with G/U and Serum Visions
Hello everybody! Reporting in after my first FNM in years (I usually work Friday nights) which I thoroughly enjoyed playing to a 3-1 (1 bye). Made some minor adjustments to Tuesdays list after considering what's been said on the forum here and the feel from Tuesday.
Losing tracker MD is painful for me but I wanted to squeeze in Relic MD given its strength against the current field. Primal command also gets trimmed to 1 copy. Nissa gets her spot back in the sideboard after last Tuesdays match-ups proved to be predominantly control.
Game 1. On the Play. Kept hand of Serum Visions, Relic of Progenitus, Azusa, Simic, Gemstone Mine, Sunhome, Tolaria West
Fast-ish game. He had sprigleaf, signal pest, opal, double cranial plating, next turn steel overseer. I didn't last long.
OUT
- Primal Command
- 2x Relic of Progenitus
- 1x Pact of Negation
- 1x Cavern of Souls
IN
- Creeping Corrosion
- Pyroclasm
- Kozilek's Return
- Hornet Queen
- Ghost Quarter
Game 2. On the Play, Kept Scout, Amulet, Creeping Corrosion, Engineered Explosives, Gemstone Mine, Simic, Forest.
I opened with scout, he opened with sprigleaf drum and passed turn. I played out amulet and Academy Ruins and ramped a bit more with scout. His 2nd turn he dumped his hand with steel overseer, opal, cranial, and signal pest (i think). Next turn I dropped Creeping Corrosion and wiped the board, then dropped EE for 0 sunburst and sat staring at his inkmoth nexus daring it to move! Good feels. Next turn I found T-West and the game was over soon after that with all his gas gone.
Game 3. On the Draw. Kept hand of Amulet, Scout, Stirrings, Titan, Simic, Academy Ruins, Botanical Sanctum
He opens with thoughtsieze, taking titan, then surgical extraction on titan. OUCH. I play out a fairly fast ramp with Scout/Amulet and find a T-West with ancient stirrings, which I then transmute for Walking Ballista. Next turn he has a small army and his blinkmoth nexus is a 4/4 thanks to an early steel overseer, I'm on 8 life after his attack step. During my next turn I draw into a Summoner's Pact, but I have enough mana to wipe his team with Ballista so I proceed to do so, with Academy ruins and Simic untapped. His blinkmoth is still an issue. His next attack step sees me go to 4 life. In his EoT I return ballista to my library and draw it, but with 7 mana on the field I Pacted for Hornet Queen and resolved it. I spend the next 3 turns beating face with Hornets and a large ballista hoping he didn't draw galvanic blast, and he didn't!
Match 2 Vs. Jund (0-2)
Game 1 on the Draw. Kept hand of, Simic, Forest, Gemstone Mine, Tolaria West, Stirrings, Scout, Azusa
He shredded me with discard and my scout got pushed early. He rode a a goyf and a bob to the win.
OUT
- 2x Sakura-Tribe Scout
- 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
- 1x Amulet of Vigor
- 1x Cavern of Souls
IN
- 1x Nissa, Steward of Elements
- 1x Tireless Tracker
- 1x Hornet Queen
- 1x Bojuka Bog
- 1x Courser of Kruphix
Game 2. On the play drew 6 lands and a Sakura Scout, mulliganed to 6 and kept a hand of Serum Visions, Ancient Stirrings, Amulet of Vigor, Summoners Pact, Botanical Sanctum, Tolaria West.
I played out my amulet turn 1 and on his turn he played Thoughtsieze and made me discard pact. I had kept what I see as a fairly discard-proof hand and I had Tolaria west to back up the pact so I felt good about this start. Turn 2 I cantripped and found not much, but unfortunately the mana didn't work out for me to transmute this turn so ended. Next turn he dropped liliana, and although I had Titan in hand and I found a khalini garden with my T-west to break through Lili, he terminated one of my plant tokens to ensure I couldn't keep a titan. I lost an uphil battle of CA as I topdecked into nothing and lost to another 2 goyfs.
Match 3 Vs. Gifts/Goryo's Reanimator (2-1)
Game 1. On the play kept a nut hand of Scout, Amulet, Amulet, Titan, Forest, Gruul Turf, Crumbling Vestige. He did play IOK to make me discard my second amulet but I still had the t3 TItan and rode it to victory.
OUT
- 1x Engineered Explosives
- 1x Walking Ballista
- 1x Radiant Fountain
IN
- 1x Bojuka Bog
- 2x Swan Song
Game 2. Kept a decent hand involving a scout and serum visions, stirrings, tolaria and lands. I transmuted for pact while ramping and also found an azusa which got countered. Then on T4 EoT he found Iona and Unburial Rights through Gifts Ungiven, then played Iona on his next turn locking me out of green. I couldn't find a walking ballista and play it for 14 mana in time to deal with the angel...
Game 3. Mulliganed to 6 to keep Relic, Amulet, Scout, Academy Ruins, Simic, Gemstone Mine.
I started with my scout and then on 2nd turn dropped my amulet, to which he responded with disenchant (a card I dont often see these days!). I proceeded to drop my relic afterwards. The game goes on for some turns and I know I am locking him out of gifts by keeping mana open for Relic so I continue to do so and in the meantime find a Pact of Negation and a Titan, and also return my amulet to the top of my library using academy ruins. With mana held for relic and a Pact of Negation in hand I know I am safe to go for the win and do so without trouble.
Match 4 Vs. Taking Turns (BYE)
The player had dropped after his 3rd round match.
I have a lot of work to do tightening my play and seeing alternate lines but the deck is feeling really enjoyable. Academy ruins impressed me tonight, as did Creeping Corrosion vs Affinity. Did not miss Primal Command in any match-ups, even against Gifts/Goryo's Reanimator the fact that it wasn't instant speed rendered it useless as a graveyard hate tool. Glad I cut the 2nd copy but will as usual persist with 1 copy to see more results before making a decision on how maindeckable it is.
Any criticism or advice is welcome, I still consider myself a bit of a novice in this format and with this deck.
Hey guys just reporting in after a weekly modern night on Tuesday. Went 4-0 and the deck felt good, although I was lucky to go a full 4-0 as I made a couple of misplays. As always I'm here to accept any advice that people may have!
Game 1 was on the draw and kept an opener of Amulet, Amulet, Gemstone Mine, Azusa, Azusa, Simic, Summoners Pact. A remand on my t2 azusa slowed me down immensely as I had sandbagged my simic to my hand. t3 azusa got countered again and i finally resolved the second from my hand but tron was already online and mindslaver and a wurmcoil finished me off. Probalby misplayed this as I should have expected a counter on t2 and kept the simic on the field, but the hand was too tempting to play linearly.
Game 2. On the play. Kept hand of Scout, Titan, Pact, Tolaria West, Engineered Explosives, Bounceland, Forest. I played slower off of a scout start with no amulet and transfmuted for cavern of souls while ramping. He opened playing a spellkite and starting to build tron. I found 2 amulets and a pact of negation in the meantime off draw steps and then won in a signle turn by dropping his spellkskite with an EE to clear the path for a titan.
Game 3. On the draw. Kept hand of Scout, Amulet, Tolaria West, Bounceland, Gemstone Mine, Cavern of Souls, Summoner's Pact. He doesn't find tron early and I dropped my titan on turn 3 and attacked 8 while fetching Tolaria West and returning it to my hand with a simic. Next turn he taps out to drop Platinum Angel but I transmute for pact to find my reclamation sage and win next turn.
Match 2 Vs. 4-Colour (?) Slivers (2-1)
Game 1. On the draw. Kept a hand of Scout, Scout, Titan, Bounceland, Bounceland, Forest, Sunhome. This was not a close game as he had 4x 4/4 flying regenerating deathtouch creatures on the field on turn 4 when I played my titan and then swung for lethal the next turn.
Game 2. On the play. Kept hand of Amulet, Amulet, Scout, Titan, Bounceland, Forest, Crumbling Vestige. His start was not as fast as the last game and my start was pretty ideal. It was a quick game.
Game 3. On the draw. Kept hand of Scout, Courser, Serum Visions, EE, Titan, Bounceland, Botanical Sanctum, Gemstone Mine. This was a loooong game in which I managed to remove some key slivers with EE before dropping a safe titan only to have it face down against another swarm of 3/3 or 4/4 flying deathtouch creatures. Luckily courser of kruphix had netted me enough life over the game so that he could not threaten lethal on one swing, and I had 2 titans with lethal on the board myself if he tapped too many blockers. It turns out this stalemate ended when I top-decked Bonfire of the Damned with X=14, which was lethal and also killed all his slivers to boot!
Match 3 Vs. Vizier/Devoted Druid with Evolution/Company (2-1)
Game 1. On the play. Kept hand of Tolaria West, Scout, Ancient Stirrings, Serum Visions, Amulet, Bounceland, Forest. He opened up slowly but on t3 tutored a devoted druid via eldritch evolution so I knew what was up for next turn. I transmuted for Walking ballista and shut him out of the game before finding a titan to close it out.
Game 2. On the draw. He found his combo on t3 despite me nailing a vizier with dismember.
Game 3. On the play. Crazy hand of Amulet, Amulet, Azusa, Walking Ballista, Botanical Sanctum, Simic, Tolaria West. My Turn 2 was - Play Second Amulet, Play Azusa, Make 9 mana, drop Walking Ballista fr x=8. Game shortly thereafter.
Match 4 Vs Esper Control (2-1)
Game 1 On the draw. Mulliganed to 6 and kept a sketchy hand of gemstone mine, scout, amulet, pact, serum visions, ancient stirrings. slow start combined with double spreading seas on my later dual lands kept me off balance before he dealt with my titans and finished the game by discarding my summoners pact and dropping Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Game 2 On the play. Mulliganed to 6 and kept a good hand of Cavern, Azusa, Amulet, Simic, Serum Visions, Botanical Sanctum. He didn't have a spreading seas to deal with my cavern of souls, and despite having a path for my first titan, the 2nd and 3rd resolved and went to attack steps to win the game.
Game 3 On the draw. This game also went long but my opponent was losing concentration and played very quickly. I had seen him play to turns almost all of his matches. I managed to resolve and gain value from Tireless Tracker after he blew both his paths in his opener on titans. In the end he discarded my hand down to 0 using esper charm and got rid of my board, but luckily I topdecked a tolaria west which I used to get a Walking Ballista and ping for the final 4 or 5 life.
Primal Command: Got boarded out regularly, but then again never saw the match-ups that it's in for (death's shadow, burn, dredge, living end etc). It was a useful topdeck against Esper Control as I used the bounce to library / shuffle graveyard into library modes to remove an Elspeth, which also turned off all his snapcasters. I also to get rid of an Oblivion Stone with a fate counter on it with those modes. If I saw it against Slivers I would have loved the draw but that wasn't to be. I'll be persisting with it until I hit some DS decks to test it against since I cannot run groves. In the meantime it seems serviceable against other decks. Having the additional main board out against problematic permanents is nice.
Creeping corrosion in the sideboard is there for affinity mainly but also lantern and ironworks combos, which see regular play here. I took Nissa, Steward of Elements out of my sideboard this week and I actually missed having her against both Mono-U Tron and Esper Control, she would have been one of my first sideboards in.
Bonfire of the damned only made one appearance and it was a spectacular, game-winning one. I'm just waiting for it to be terrible because I know that it is such a high variance card, especially in your opening hand.
I only used Academy Ruins ability once - against Esper Control when he made me discard Walking Ballista, I then returned it to my library the next turn. Little impact otherwise. Will keep testing with it.
Saheeli isn't bad on her own, check out this game where she essential in letting me win t3. https://youtu.be/7ugi_caaVLs
I'm on board with Saheeli being potentially explosive in the deck, but I still think she's hard to cast t2 or t3. How have you found being able to cast her reliably on those turns? Also, on your turn 3 you had double amulet (thanks to saheeli) and dropped a titan with your opponent tapped out, why didn't you go for slayers/boros for a double activation to pump your titan 10/6, and then swing for the win finding sunhome? You played it safe and found simic/tolaria instead, which is fine. Were you hedging against something in particular?
I think I'm gonna go away from Glissa after I can afford an engineered explosives again.
Academy ruins will bring back amulets from the graveyard and is tutorable/searchable, and will not take up a non-land slot. I do understand the appeal of brutality/discard amulet/play amulet via glissa trigger, but I feel this is such a corner case scenario it's not worth the 3 slots. You will have more experience than me in this regard though.
So for that special fun of card, I'd like to talk about Saheeli Rai
Saheeli Rai copying titan or amulet seems hella fun I must admit... and more than corner-case powerful. Getting your Saheeli to survive until titan might be tricky though, then again, untapping with saheeli and amulet on turn 3 could enable some bonkers plays!
Hey guys, long time lurker here. Second post on MTGSalvation ever. Popping my head in to say hi and to encourage everybody to keep up the great work on the deck! When entering modern about 6 months ago I did a lot of research (I used to play legacy U/B Reanimator in years past, but since then just casual formats) and tried out a few decks but fell in love with this one. I played it a bit pre-bloom ban because I owned most of the cards already but never competitively till now. I have to say that despite not having access to bloom, this is the most enjoyable deck I've played in many years of magic, it really is something unique. Thanks for the inspiration, without all of the contributors here I would never have chosen Amulet Titan for my first modern deck!
Anyway... enough of that. Here's my list that I'll be running at my next weekly. I have no budget for Grove of the Burnwillows.
I face a wide open meta at my LGS littered with decks ranging from U/B Mill and Mono-White Emeria Control, right through to Grixis Shadow, Affinity and EldraziTron. Oh and a sprinkling of Merfolk, Elves, Mono-Green Devotion, Jund, Junk and at least one of each tiered dedicated combo deck - Counters Company, Ad Nauseum, Scapeshift and Living End. U/W Control and U/W/R Nahiri sees some play too.
You'll notice a couple of unusual variations... none of them groundbreaking but ones that I have found effective after a couple of months of testing. One is Nissa, Steward of Elements. She is absolutely durdle trash in many games (I tried her mainboard for a while) but also won me at least 4 games by herself over about 4 weekly rounds of testing by either flipping a titan herself or beating face. Most of the time this has been against UW or U/W/R Control variants. I now bring her in almost exclusively for grindy and control matchups where she shines. The fact that abrupt decay play is pretty low right now is good for her too. I highly recommend her out of the SB for those facing a lot of Control in their meta. She is also serviceable in a more diverse range of grindy match-ups. I also must add that if you don't run Serum Visions you shouldn't run Nissa, as Serum Visions into Nissa activation for Free titan is half the power in grindy games.
I'm currently testing 2x mainboard Primal Command. I can't say how many times this card has won or saved me the game. Whether it's against burn to gain 7 life, or to shuffle away a lethal-threatening cranial plating, or even against Death's Shadow to kill a Shadow and remove their graveyard from their arsenal. The fact that it sits at 5 mana (the missing link in Amulet Titan Evolution) is gravy to fill in the decks hole in the curve. I would never bring this out of the sideboard as it is a) not tutorable or searchable and b) slower than other sideboard bullets. But 2x in the MB has really done me so many favours. Not to mention the 'Search for Prime Time' mode. Big fan.
The final variation that I've not seen too many people run is Academy Ruins in the MB. The amount of times I have come back into the game by getting back an amulet is substantial. The amount of times I've won by chaining EE's and Walking Ballistas is fewer, but not insignificant, and hideously devilish. I think is probably one I will not walk away from.
The card I'm most excited about from Hour of Devastation is, by far, Reason // Believe. This card seems like it might have even been designed for this deck to be honest (in my mind at least). It allows us to add an entirely dimension to our filtering and can lead to some pretty explosive out of nowhere plays, AND, not to say the least, pairs extremely well with my earlier pet card, Nissa, Steward of Elements. When in the yard, Believe also increases the power level of Serum Visions by some degree by allowing you to scry a titan to the top for a right-now activation of Believe for an out-of nowhere titan.
I'm going to test a 3x Serum Visions and 2x Reason // Believe split in the MB when the set is released (to increase the frequency of seeing it) but I can see a 4/1 ratio being more realistic given that Reason doesn't cantrip.
I'll pop in more regularly with my results if I can guys, but in the meantime, if you have any feedback on my list please feel free to pipe up! And in the meantime keep up the great work, and have fun!
@nekro_surge, I'm running a Mardu list currently and have been having moderate success (a 2-2 result mixed in between a couple of 3-1 results at FNM).
I don't have a solid list yet as I am playing around with it a lot but some thoughts on the card's you've mentioned in a Mardu shell;
Collective Brutality can be Gravecrawler and Bloodghast's best friend in this rendition of the deck (even more so than a flip-lili). Turn 2 brutality ditching a bloodghast and a Gravecrawler, or even better, 2 bloodghast, feels almost like cheating.
Flip-Lili; is a house but usually will come into her own in grindy games. Flipping her off a sacced doomed traveler and then immediately returning the doomed traveler is pretty nice though, and this process is repeatable every turn to net 3 sacs per turn. In faster match-ups you most likely will prefer to play a lingering souls / promise of bunrei to get more bodies on the field so that you can start chaining life drain, keep up with a race or close out the game before things get out of hand.
Bloodghast; Drawing him (especially in multiples) without an early discard outlet can slow your curve down enormously. Without the 'free' aspect bloodghast is simply another 2 drop competing with our artists and cutthroats. In most mardu versions mogg war marshall is far more reliable and provides better value in 90% of games since it provides at the minimum 2 and in many circumstances 3 immediate bodies for the same CMC. It also goes without saying that to maximise bloodghast you must pack fetch-lands.
I have never tested a zombie theme in a Mardu shell but from a distance the best way to get Gravecrawler to be a reliable bomb is with some playset or so of Mutavault. Unfortunately playing 3 colours limits the amount of colourless land we can play. (Mutavault can also be used as sac fodder for Falkenrath Aristocrat since it will count as human for a +1+1 counter) Also, BBB on turn 3 in the mardu shell can (not always) sometimes be tough for messenger.
You might also try Bloodsoaked Champion as an alternative or complimentary to Gravecrawler.
Be prepared for graveyard hate if you build a version that relies on discard and recursion.
A list I ran a 2 weeks ago for a 3-1 with wins against Skred Red, Bushwhacker Zoo, and UW Control and a loss against a Tron variety. This is a fairly stock mardu list with some tuning done to it (A similar one was posted a few pages back and originated from LordSnow) and runs pretty smoothly. Without rally/return it does tend to lean on a big falkenrath attack. I also do not have access to Bob/Dark Confidant.
Another version I ran to a 3-1 had the following adjustments to the above list, I tuned it to play a grindier, recursion-based game and would be a little more in line with what you are brewing (without the zombies). It gets clogged with 2-drops which is why collective brutality + discarding bloodghast/nether traitor/bloodsoaked champion/lingering souls becomes so important so you can keep or re-gain tempo on turns 3, 4, and 5 while rapidly gaining value out of nether traitors or free bloodghasts. The interaction between hasty bloodghasts, hasty nether traitors and bloodsoaked champions raid is pretty neat too. Really strong against spell based combo and most control shells. I took a deck with these changes to 3-1 with wins against Grixis Death's Shadow, Jeskai Control, a bye, and a loss against Mono-Green Devotion.
For any others and yourself included reading this, this is my first ever post on MTGSalvation after years of using this website and admiring the community. Any feedback on the list I used would be ace! Sideboards are also a work in progress as I am actually new to modern after 5 years break from magic and formerly playing mostly casual and legacy. I will work on getting the full list I'm taking to the next FNM on here soon. Not many Mardu variants running around these days (I understand the advantages of the other versions, but I only play aristocrats in orzhov or mardu for flavour reasons mostly). Sorry if the formatting doesn't turn out perfectly either.
-1 Bonfire of the damned
-1 Nissa, steward of elements
+1 Chameleon Colossus
+1 Dismember
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Pyroclasm
1x Kozilek's Return
3x Dismember
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Chameleon Colossus
1x Hornet Queen
2x Swan Song
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Creeping Corrosion
This gives me more game against DS and also Vizier/Druid Company decks. It also adds a sizeable threat to my post-board midrange plan (nissa was not performing the same role against anybody but control). The extra sweeper is probably un-necessary (Bonfire was in addition to Pyroclasm and Kozilek's Return) and my control match-up seems fine without my pet card Nissa.
And congratulations Zrifts on the Trial event, that's awesome! I agree that if I were to sleeve up the deck for a major event I'd build with Groves too, but the LGS's have pretty wide open metas and the lack of groves isn't hurting me as I play shadow only maybe 1 time every 10 games (with more frequency on the winners tables).
Regarding Kozilek's return.. it has been especially good when found with stirrings BUT i have found that Pyroclasm coming down t2 is important to stop Vizier company on t2 before they win t3 (on the draw for us) and also against affinity so you nab their dudes before steel overseer/arcbound ravager pumps save some of their dudes. Against decks that go wide with small dudes that DON'T kill you t3 (hatebears, other tribals or wide decks) kozilek's return definately trumps pyroclasm. After t2 kozilek's return is also better against these decks (instant speed) but the problem against affinity and vizier company usually is getting to t3 on the draw with a stable board I find (or still in the game).
@daviusminimus that's some good thinking around construction, the fact that explore ramps does indeed take the pain out of boarding out azusa/scout, and the extra utility land in place of a botanical sanctum sounds great to shore up some match-ups. As I see it the deck actually consistently runs 4 utility flex lands - 2 usually taken by Khalini Garden and Radiant Fountain, 2 usually taken by GQ/Bog/Cavern mix (in my list Academy Ruins/Cavern of Souls). With 1 more utility land in place of a botanical, a list could run all 3 of GQ/Bog/Cavern MB or my list could run Ruins/Cavern/GQ mainboard.
The 3 Azusa I am looking to bump up to 4 when I get my hands on another copy (I definately see the argument of 4x as a boon vs. Combo decks).
With the disclaimer that I've never tested Groves, I must admit I've never been 100% sold on the Grove of the Burnwillows plan because it makes it harder to combo (and therefore win) vs the field (outside of Shadow). If we give the field a free pass for shocking and fetching, or we raise an opponent over 20 life, then the fact that our deck can do 16 or 20 damage in one swing becomes much less relevant. T-West is more reliable with Botanical Sanctum, and running Serum Visions makes the combo elements of the deck much, much more consistent than Explore ever will.
Those above are the logical arguments for running Botanical Sanctums over Grove of the Burnwillows.
Another logical one is that I can't afford them and I'm a paper-only player currently, so until I ACTUALLY test them, please defer to those who have tested both builds
If my 2 or 3 stores I play at turn in to GDS and JDS hellholes I might fork out the money for a playset but until then I'm stuck with G/U and Serum Visions
Main adjustments are;
-1 Tireless Tracker MD (moved to SB)
-1 Primal Command MD (removed from deck)
+2 Relic of Progenitus MD (moved from sideboard)
+1 Nissa, Steward of Elements (added to sideboard)
Losing tracker MD is painful for me but I wanted to squeeze in Relic MD given its strength against the current field. Primal command also gets trimmed to 1 copy. Nissa gets her spot back in the sideboard after last Tuesdays match-ups proved to be predominantly control.
4x Amulet of Vigor
4x Sakura-Tribe Scout
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Serum Visions
3x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Primal Command
4x Primeval Titan
4x Summoner's Pact
1x Pact of Negation
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Walking Ballista
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Academy Ruins
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Khalini Garden
1x Radiant Fountain
3x Tolaria West
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1x Slayer's Stronghold
1x Vesuva
1x Boros Garrison
3x Gruul Turf
4x Simic Growth Chamber
2x Forest
2x Botanical Sanctum
4x Gemstone Mine
1x Crumbling Vestige
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Pyroclasm
1x Bonfire of the Damned
2x Dismember
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Hornet Queen
2x Swan Song
1x Kozilek's Return
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Nissa, Steward of Elements
1x Creeping Corrosion
Match 1 Vs. Affinity (2-1)
Game 1. On the Play. Kept hand of Serum Visions, Relic of Progenitus, Azusa, Simic, Gemstone Mine, Sunhome, Tolaria West
Fast-ish game. He had sprigleaf, signal pest, opal, double cranial plating, next turn steel overseer. I didn't last long.
OUT
- Primal Command
- 2x Relic of Progenitus
- 1x Pact of Negation
- 1x Cavern of Souls
IN
- Creeping Corrosion
- Pyroclasm
- Kozilek's Return
- Hornet Queen
- Ghost Quarter
Game 2. On the Play, Kept Scout, Amulet, Creeping Corrosion, Engineered Explosives, Gemstone Mine, Simic, Forest.
I opened with scout, he opened with sprigleaf drum and passed turn. I played out amulet and Academy Ruins and ramped a bit more with scout. His 2nd turn he dumped his hand with steel overseer, opal, cranial, and signal pest (i think). Next turn I dropped Creeping Corrosion and wiped the board, then dropped EE for 0 sunburst and sat staring at his inkmoth nexus daring it to move! Good feels. Next turn I found T-West and the game was over soon after that with all his gas gone.
Game 3. On the Draw. Kept hand of Amulet, Scout, Stirrings, Titan, Simic, Academy Ruins, Botanical Sanctum
He opens with thoughtsieze, taking titan, then surgical extraction on titan. OUCH. I play out a fairly fast ramp with Scout/Amulet and find a T-West with ancient stirrings, which I then transmute for Walking Ballista. Next turn he has a small army and his blinkmoth nexus is a 4/4 thanks to an early steel overseer, I'm on 8 life after his attack step. During my next turn I draw into a Summoner's Pact, but I have enough mana to wipe his team with Ballista so I proceed to do so, with Academy ruins and Simic untapped. His blinkmoth is still an issue. His next attack step sees me go to 4 life. In his EoT I return ballista to my library and draw it, but with 7 mana on the field I Pacted for Hornet Queen and resolved it. I spend the next 3 turns beating face with Hornets and a large ballista hoping he didn't draw galvanic blast, and he didn't!
Match 2 Vs. Jund (0-2)
Game 1 on the Draw. Kept hand of, Simic, Forest, Gemstone Mine, Tolaria West, Stirrings, Scout, Azusa
He shredded me with discard and my scout got pushed early. He rode a a goyf and a bob to the win.
OUT
- 2x Sakura-Tribe Scout
- 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
- 1x Amulet of Vigor
- 1x Cavern of Souls
IN
- 1x Nissa, Steward of Elements
- 1x Tireless Tracker
- 1x Hornet Queen
- 1x Bojuka Bog
- 1x Courser of Kruphix
Game 2. On the play drew 6 lands and a Sakura Scout, mulliganed to 6 and kept a hand of Serum Visions, Ancient Stirrings, Amulet of Vigor, Summoners Pact, Botanical Sanctum, Tolaria West.
I played out my amulet turn 1 and on his turn he played Thoughtsieze and made me discard pact. I had kept what I see as a fairly discard-proof hand and I had Tolaria west to back up the pact so I felt good about this start. Turn 2 I cantripped and found not much, but unfortunately the mana didn't work out for me to transmute this turn so ended. Next turn he dropped liliana, and although I had Titan in hand and I found a khalini garden with my T-west to break through Lili, he terminated one of my plant tokens to ensure I couldn't keep a titan. I lost an uphil battle of CA as I topdecked into nothing and lost to another 2 goyfs.
Match 3 Vs. Gifts/Goryo's Reanimator (2-1)
Game 1. On the play kept a nut hand of Scout, Amulet, Amulet, Titan, Forest, Gruul Turf, Crumbling Vestige. He did play IOK to make me discard my second amulet but I still had the t3 TItan and rode it to victory.
OUT
- 1x Engineered Explosives
- 1x Walking Ballista
- 1x Radiant Fountain
IN
- 1x Bojuka Bog
- 2x Swan Song
Game 2. Kept a decent hand involving a scout and serum visions, stirrings, tolaria and lands. I transmuted for pact while ramping and also found an azusa which got countered. Then on T4 EoT he found Iona and Unburial Rights through Gifts Ungiven, then played Iona on his next turn locking me out of green. I couldn't find a walking ballista and play it for 14 mana in time to deal with the angel...
Game 3. Mulliganed to 6 to keep Relic, Amulet, Scout, Academy Ruins, Simic, Gemstone Mine.
I started with my scout and then on 2nd turn dropped my amulet, to which he responded with disenchant (a card I dont often see these days!). I proceeded to drop my relic afterwards. The game goes on for some turns and I know I am locking him out of gifts by keeping mana open for Relic so I continue to do so and in the meantime find a Pact of Negation and a Titan, and also return my amulet to the top of my library using academy ruins. With mana held for relic and a Pact of Negation in hand I know I am safe to go for the win and do so without trouble.
Match 4 Vs. Taking Turns (BYE)
The player had dropped after his 3rd round match.
I have a lot of work to do tightening my play and seeing alternate lines but the deck is feeling really enjoyable. Academy ruins impressed me tonight, as did Creeping Corrosion vs Affinity. Did not miss Primal Command in any match-ups, even against Gifts/Goryo's Reanimator the fact that it wasn't instant speed rendered it useless as a graveyard hate tool. Glad I cut the 2nd copy but will as usual persist with 1 copy to see more results before making a decision on how maindeckable it is.
Any criticism or advice is welcome, I still consider myself a bit of a novice in this format and with this deck.
4x Amulet of Vigor
4x Sakura-Tribe Scout
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Serum Visions
3x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Tireless Tracker
2x Primal Command
4x Primeval Titan
4x Summoner's Pact
1x Pact of Negation
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Walking Ballista
1x Academy Ruins
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Khalini Garden
1x Radiant Fountain
3x Tolaria West
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1x Slayer's Stronghold
1x Vesuva
1x Boros Garrison
3x Gruul Turf
4x Simic Growth Chamber
2x Forest
2x Botanical Sanctum
4x Gemstone Mine
1x Crumbling Vestige
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Pyroclasm
1x Bonfire of the Damned
2x Dismember
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Hornet Queen
2x Swan Song
1x Kozilek's Return
1x Reclamation Sage
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Creeping Corrosion
Match 1 Vs. Mono-Blue Tron (2-1)
Game 1 was on the draw and kept an opener of Amulet, Amulet, Gemstone Mine, Azusa, Azusa, Simic, Summoners Pact. A remand on my t2 azusa slowed me down immensely as I had sandbagged my simic to my hand. t3 azusa got countered again and i finally resolved the second from my hand but tron was already online and mindslaver and a wurmcoil finished me off. Probalby misplayed this as I should have expected a counter on t2 and kept the simic on the field, but the hand was too tempting to play linearly.
Game 2. On the play. Kept hand of Scout, Titan, Pact, Tolaria West, Engineered Explosives, Bounceland, Forest. I played slower off of a scout start with no amulet and transfmuted for cavern of souls while ramping. He opened playing a spellkite and starting to build tron. I found 2 amulets and a pact of negation in the meantime off draw steps and then won in a signle turn by dropping his spellkskite with an EE to clear the path for a titan.
Game 3. On the draw. Kept hand of Scout, Amulet, Tolaria West, Bounceland, Gemstone Mine, Cavern of Souls, Summoner's Pact. He doesn't find tron early and I dropped my titan on turn 3 and attacked 8 while fetching Tolaria West and returning it to my hand with a simic. Next turn he taps out to drop Platinum Angel but I transmute for pact to find my reclamation sage and win next turn.
Match 2 Vs. 4-Colour (?) Slivers (2-1)
Game 1. On the draw. Kept a hand of Scout, Scout, Titan, Bounceland, Bounceland, Forest, Sunhome. This was not a close game as he had 4x 4/4 flying regenerating deathtouch creatures on the field on turn 4 when I played my titan and then swung for lethal the next turn.
Game 2. On the play. Kept hand of Amulet, Amulet, Scout, Titan, Bounceland, Forest, Crumbling Vestige. His start was not as fast as the last game and my start was pretty ideal. It was a quick game.
Game 3. On the draw. Kept hand of Scout, Courser, Serum Visions, EE, Titan, Bounceland, Botanical Sanctum, Gemstone Mine. This was a loooong game in which I managed to remove some key slivers with EE before dropping a safe titan only to have it face down against another swarm of 3/3 or 4/4 flying deathtouch creatures. Luckily courser of kruphix had netted me enough life over the game so that he could not threaten lethal on one swing, and I had 2 titans with lethal on the board myself if he tapped too many blockers. It turns out this stalemate ended when I top-decked Bonfire of the Damned with X=14, which was lethal and also killed all his slivers to boot!
Match 3 Vs. Vizier/Devoted Druid with Evolution/Company (2-1)
Game 1. On the play. Kept hand of Tolaria West, Scout, Ancient Stirrings, Serum Visions, Amulet, Bounceland, Forest. He opened up slowly but on t3 tutored a devoted druid via eldritch evolution so I knew what was up for next turn. I transmuted for Walking ballista and shut him out of the game before finding a titan to close it out.
Game 2. On the draw. He found his combo on t3 despite me nailing a vizier with dismember.
Game 3. On the play. Crazy hand of Amulet, Amulet, Azusa, Walking Ballista, Botanical Sanctum, Simic, Tolaria West. My Turn 2 was - Play Second Amulet, Play Azusa, Make 9 mana, drop Walking Ballista fr x=8. Game shortly thereafter.
Match 4 Vs Esper Control (2-1)
Game 1 On the draw. Mulliganed to 6 and kept a sketchy hand of gemstone mine, scout, amulet, pact, serum visions, ancient stirrings. slow start combined with double spreading seas on my later dual lands kept me off balance before he dealt with my titans and finished the game by discarding my summoners pact and dropping Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Game 2 On the play. Mulliganed to 6 and kept a good hand of Cavern, Azusa, Amulet, Simic, Serum Visions, Botanical Sanctum. He didn't have a spreading seas to deal with my cavern of souls, and despite having a path for my first titan, the 2nd and 3rd resolved and went to attack steps to win the game.
Game 3 On the draw. This game also went long but my opponent was losing concentration and played very quickly. I had seen him play to turns almost all of his matches. I managed to resolve and gain value from Tireless Tracker after he blew both his paths in his opener on titans. In the end he discarded my hand down to 0 using esper charm and got rid of my board, but luckily I topdecked a tolaria west which I used to get a Walking Ballista and ping for the final 4 or 5 life.
Primal Command: Got boarded out regularly, but then again never saw the match-ups that it's in for (death's shadow, burn, dredge, living end etc). It was a useful topdeck against Esper Control as I used the bounce to library / shuffle graveyard into library modes to remove an Elspeth, which also turned off all his snapcasters. I also to get rid of an Oblivion Stone with a fate counter on it with those modes. If I saw it against Slivers I would have loved the draw but that wasn't to be. I'll be persisting with it until I hit some DS decks to test it against since I cannot run groves. In the meantime it seems serviceable against other decks. Having the additional main board out against problematic permanents is nice.
Creeping corrosion in the sideboard is there for affinity mainly but also lantern and ironworks combos, which see regular play here. I took Nissa, Steward of Elements out of my sideboard this week and I actually missed having her against both Mono-U Tron and Esper Control, she would have been one of my first sideboards in.
Bonfire of the damned only made one appearance and it was a spectacular, game-winning one. I'm just waiting for it to be terrible because I know that it is such a high variance card, especially in your opening hand.
I only used Academy Ruins ability once - against Esper Control when he made me discard Walking Ballista, I then returned it to my library the next turn. Little impact otherwise. Will keep testing with it.
I'm on board with Saheeli being potentially explosive in the deck, but I still think she's hard to cast t2 or t3. How have you found being able to cast her reliably on those turns? Also, on your turn 3 you had double amulet (thanks to saheeli) and dropped a titan with your opponent tapped out, why didn't you go for slayers/boros for a double activation to pump your titan 10/6, and then swing for the win finding sunhome? You played it safe and found simic/tolaria instead, which is fine. Were you hedging against something in particular?
Academy ruins will bring back amulets from the graveyard and is tutorable/searchable, and will not take up a non-land slot. I do understand the appeal of brutality/discard amulet/play amulet via glissa trigger, but I feel this is such a corner case scenario it's not worth the 3 slots. You will have more experience than me in this regard though.
Saheeli Rai copying titan or amulet seems hella fun I must admit... and more than corner-case powerful. Getting your Saheeli to survive until titan might be tricky though, then again, untapping with saheeli and amulet on turn 3 could enable some bonkers plays!
Anyway... enough of that. Here's my list that I'll be running at my next weekly. I have no budget for Grove of the Burnwillows.
4x Amulet of Vigor
4x Sakura-Tribe Scout
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Serum Visions
3x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Tireless Tracker
2x Primal Command
4x Primeval Titan
4x Summoner's Pact
1x Pact of Negation
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Walking Ballista
1x Academy Ruins
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Khalini Garden
1x Radiant Fountain
3x Tolaria West
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1x Slayer's Stronghold
1x Vesuva
1x Boros Garrison
3x Gruul Turf
4x Simic Growth Chamber
2x Forest
2x Botanical Sanctum
4x Gemstone Mine
1x Crumbling Vestige
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Pyroclasm
1x Bonfire of the Damned
2x Dismember
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Hornet Queen
2x Swan Song
1x Seal of Primordium
1x Reclamation Sage
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Nissa, Steward of Elements
I face a wide open meta at my LGS littered with decks ranging from U/B Mill and Mono-White Emeria Control, right through to Grixis Shadow, Affinity and EldraziTron. Oh and a sprinkling of Merfolk, Elves, Mono-Green Devotion, Jund, Junk and at least one of each tiered dedicated combo deck - Counters Company, Ad Nauseum, Scapeshift and Living End. U/W Control and U/W/R Nahiri sees some play too.
You'll notice a couple of unusual variations... none of them groundbreaking but ones that I have found effective after a couple of months of testing. One is Nissa, Steward of Elements. She is absolutely durdle trash in many games (I tried her mainboard for a while) but also won me at least 4 games by herself over about 4 weekly rounds of testing by either flipping a titan herself or beating face. Most of the time this has been against UW or U/W/R Control variants. I now bring her in almost exclusively for grindy and control matchups where she shines. The fact that abrupt decay play is pretty low right now is good for her too. I highly recommend her out of the SB for those facing a lot of Control in their meta. She is also serviceable in a more diverse range of grindy match-ups. I also must add that if you don't run Serum Visions you shouldn't run Nissa, as Serum Visions into Nissa activation for Free titan is half the power in grindy games.
I'm currently testing 2x mainboard Primal Command. I can't say how many times this card has won or saved me the game. Whether it's against burn to gain 7 life, or to shuffle away a lethal-threatening cranial plating, or even against Death's Shadow to kill a Shadow and remove their graveyard from their arsenal. The fact that it sits at 5 mana (the missing link in Amulet Titan Evolution) is gravy to fill in the decks hole in the curve. I would never bring this out of the sideboard as it is a) not tutorable or searchable and b) slower than other sideboard bullets. But 2x in the MB has really done me so many favours. Not to mention the 'Search for Prime Time' mode. Big fan.
The final variation that I've not seen too many people run is Academy Ruins in the MB. The amount of times I have come back into the game by getting back an amulet is substantial. The amount of times I've won by chaining EE's and Walking Ballistas is fewer, but not insignificant, and hideously devilish. I think is probably one I will not walk away from.
The card I'm most excited about from Hour of Devastation is, by far, Reason // Believe. This card seems like it might have even been designed for this deck to be honest (in my mind at least). It allows us to add an entirely dimension to our filtering and can lead to some pretty explosive out of nowhere plays, AND, not to say the least, pairs extremely well with my earlier pet card, Nissa, Steward of Elements. When in the yard, Believe also increases the power level of Serum Visions by some degree by allowing you to scry a titan to the top for a right-now activation of Believe for an out-of nowhere titan.
I'm going to test a 3x Serum Visions and 2x Reason // Believe split in the MB when the set is released (to increase the frequency of seeing it) but I can see a 4/1 ratio being more realistic given that Reason doesn't cantrip.
I'll pop in more regularly with my results if I can guys, but in the meantime, if you have any feedback on my list please feel free to pipe up! And in the meantime keep up the great work, and have fun!
3x Fatal Push
2x Path to Exile
4x Doomed Traveler
4x Viscera Seer
3x Blood Artist
3x Zulaport Cutthroat
3x Bloodghast
3x Nether Traitor
2x Asylum Visitor
4x Collective Brutality
2x Bloodthrone Vampire
2x Cartel Aristocrat
3x Liliana, Heretical Healer
22x Lands
I don't have a solid list yet as I am playing around with it a lot but some thoughts on the card's you've mentioned in a Mardu shell;
Collective Brutality can be Gravecrawler and Bloodghast's best friend in this rendition of the deck (even more so than a flip-lili). Turn 2 brutality ditching a bloodghast and a Gravecrawler, or even better, 2 bloodghast, feels almost like cheating.
Flip-Lili; is a house but usually will come into her own in grindy games. Flipping her off a sacced doomed traveler and then immediately returning the doomed traveler is pretty nice though, and this process is repeatable every turn to net 3 sacs per turn. In faster match-ups you most likely will prefer to play a lingering souls / promise of bunrei to get more bodies on the field so that you can start chaining life drain, keep up with a race or close out the game before things get out of hand.
Bloodghast; Drawing him (especially in multiples) without an early discard outlet can slow your curve down enormously. Without the 'free' aspect bloodghast is simply another 2 drop competing with our artists and cutthroats. In most mardu versions mogg war marshall is far more reliable and provides better value in 90% of games since it provides at the minimum 2 and in many circumstances 3 immediate bodies for the same CMC. It also goes without saying that to maximise bloodghast you must pack fetch-lands.
I have never tested a zombie theme in a Mardu shell but from a distance the best way to get Gravecrawler to be a reliable bomb is with some playset or so of Mutavault. Unfortunately playing 3 colours limits the amount of colourless land we can play. (Mutavault can also be used as sac fodder for Falkenrath Aristocrat since it will count as human for a +1+1 counter) Also, BBB on turn 3 in the mardu shell can (not always) sometimes be tough for messenger.
You might also try Bloodsoaked Champion as an alternative or complimentary to Gravecrawler.
Be prepared for graveyard hate if you build a version that relies on discard and recursion.
A list I ran a 2 weeks ago for a 3-1 with wins against Skred Red, Bushwhacker Zoo, and UW Control and a loss against a Tron variety. This is a fairly stock mardu list with some tuning done to it (A similar one was posted a few pages back and originated from LordSnow) and runs pretty smoothly. Without rally/return it does tend to lean on a big falkenrath attack. I also do not have access to Bob/Dark Confidant.
3x Fatal Push
3x Path to Exile
4x Doomed Traveler
4x Viscera Seer
2x Bloodsoaked Champion
3x Blood Artist
3x Zulaport Cutthroat
2x Mogg War Marshal
1x Collective Brutality
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
1x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lingering Souls
1x Promise of Bunrei
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1x Westvale Abbey
1x Vault of the Archangel
21x other lands
Another version I ran to a 3-1 had the following adjustments to the above list, I tuned it to play a grindier, recursion-based game and would be a little more in line with what you are brewing (without the zombies). It gets clogged with 2-drops which is why collective brutality + discarding bloodghast/nether traitor/bloodsoaked champion/lingering souls becomes so important so you can keep or re-gain tempo on turns 3, 4, and 5 while rapidly gaining value out of nether traitors or free bloodghasts. The interaction between hasty bloodghasts, hasty nether traitors and bloodsoaked champions raid is pretty neat too. Really strong against spell based combo and most control shells. I took a deck with these changes to 3-1 with wins against Grixis Death's Shadow, Jeskai Control, a bye, and a loss against Mono-Green Devotion.
+1 liliana, Heretical Healer
+3 collective brutality
+3 bloodghast
+2 nether traitor
+2 cartel aristocrat
-1 promise of bunrei
-2 mogg war marshal
-1 sorin, lord of innistrad
-2 falkenrath aristocrat
-1 kolaghan's command
-1 fatal push
-1 path to exile
-2 lingering souls
For any others and yourself included reading this, this is my first ever post on MTGSalvation after years of using this website and admiring the community. Any feedback on the list I used would be ace! Sideboards are also a work in progress as I am actually new to modern after 5 years break from magic and formerly playing mostly casual and legacy. I will work on getting the full list I'm taking to the next FNM on here soon. Not many Mardu variants running around these days (I understand the advantages of the other versions, but I only play aristocrats in orzhov or mardu for flavour reasons mostly). Sorry if the formatting doesn't turn out perfectly either.