Zacama, Amulet of Betrayal

Posted on November 23, 2018

Welcome back everyone! Hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have some delicious leftovers while you are reading this article. Maybe some pumpkin pie? If not, do not worry. I have some treats for everyone today. Streaming every week has allowed me to explore many more archetypes and decks as I'm just playing more Magic. So, today I have three new decks. We have a ramp deck, a Primal Amulet Combo deck, and a Dimir Mnemonic Betrayal deck. Let's start with one of my favorite archetypes in Magic, a ramp deck.

This deck was a donation on stream by David Wood. We changed a couple of cards but the base of the deck is still heavily his. It's a sweet one!

Bane of Existence | Guilds Standard | David Wood

Creatures (4)
4 Pelakka Wurm

Enchantments (5)
2 Dawn of Hope
3 Gift of Paradise

This is basically a four-color ramp deck that is Naya based. The Blue is here mostly for fuel, so we don't run out of cards after we ramp. Traditional ramp decks run out of gas very easily after they've ramped, especially if they get their one or two threats dealt with. Chemister's Insight is great at keeping the cards flowing, especially since we can pitch lands or ramp spells later in the game to draw more cards. The cards that end the game in this deck are Pelakka Wurm, Dawn of Hope, Banefire, and Expansion // Explosion. Everything else either ramps us, kills creatures, or is some sort of card advantage. This is weird ramp deck in that that it does ramp into big threats, but it also has a lot of control build in with creature kill and Thaumatic Compass. Spires of Orazca is a great way to force your opponent to devote more creatures to the battlefield so you can get even more value out of your board wipes.

Against the aggressive decks we are ramping into Pelakka Wurm. One Wurm will stabilize you and if you get to cast a second one or if you are able to play Deafening Clarion with a Pelakka Wurm on the battlefield then it is lights out for the opponent. Against Izzet Drake decks you do not have many ways to exile their drakes outside of Settle the Wreckage, but you do have the full playset of Spires of Orazca which are excellent ways to deal with their drakes and phoenix. Pelakka Wurm is still good in this matchup as it is a finisher and gains us a ton of life to get out of possible burn range. Against the control decks, Game 1 it is usually just a back and forth game where you will have to setup lethal Banefire or a well-timed Explosion. Your other option is to sneak in a Dawn of Hope and ride that to victory. Expansion can also be a clutch counterspell when the opponent tries to Sinister Sabotage or Ionize your spell, you can counter back with Expansion by copying their counterspell. Key spells in the control matchup are Banefire, Expansion // Explosion, Chemister's Insight, Treasure Map, Dawn of Hope, and Arch of Orazca.

Deck is sweet, and it is currently my favorite ramp deck to play.

Next up we have a Esper Combo deck that revolves around Primal Amulet!

Esper Amu-LIT | Guilds Standard | Ali Aintrazi

Enchantments (1)
1 Search for Azcanta

Artifacts (3)
3 Primal Amulet

Survive and cast spells is the name of the game! You'll eventually want to cast Primal Amulet and flip it. After doing that you can start chaining Nexus of Fate for double turns and set up a kill with Mastermind's Acquisition. It is important to note that Game 1 you do not really have a way to win outside of decking your opponent. This is accomplished by casting Sanguine Sacrament repeatedly. This is not a reliable way to win against some decks because of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Both Vraskas. However, against aggressive decks it is a very acceptable way to close the game out. Mastermind's Acquisition is the traditional way of winning in this deck by grabbing an uncounterable threat and killing your opponent with extra turns thanks to Nexus of Fate you are just grabbing a Banefire and copying it. You may be wondering how we even cast Banefire without any Red sources main deck. That is where Primal Wellspring comes into play. You will want to grab Banefire when you have transformed your Primal Amulet and you will be able to cast Banefire since Primal Wellspring adds mana of any color.

This deck is self-explanatory, you will just need reps with it do get a feel of what spells to cast when and when to deploy your Primal Amulet and not have it get destroyed. Games two and three you have Chromium, the Mutable and Nezahal, Primal Tide as alternate win conditions against control decks and decks that have ways to destroy your Primal Amulet. One trick that I liked doing was casting a Nexus of Fate at my opponent's end step so that we would get two turns in a row. That way on my first turn I could deploy Primal Amulet and by the end of my second turn I would have it transformed. This way you never have to pass the turn to the opponent and give them some way to deal with Primal Amulet with like Cleansing Nova or Ixalan's Binding.

The last deck is still one in the works, but it has been fun playing Mnemonic Betrayal. This was a deck that the viewers of my stream voted for us to brew around.

Dimir Mnemonic Betrayal | Guilds Standard | Ali Aintrazi

Creatures (4)
4 Thief of Sanity

Artifacts (4)
4 Powerstone Shard

The goal of this deck, like all my decks apparently, is to buy time. You will either mill your opponent out with Patient Rebuilding or bury them late game with Mnemonic Betrayal. Thief of Sanity, Thought Erasure, and Patient Rebuilding are all great ways to fuel Mnemonic Betrayal. Powerstone Shard allows you to cast a ton of cards out of your opponent's Graveyard when you are ready. I have had games where I have all 4 Powerstone Shards out, which all add up to a grand total of sixteen mana! Color requirement does not matter at all since you can use any color of mana to cast spells from your opponent's graveyard. These types of huge turns are some of the most fun to play and watch.

Just keep in mind with this deck that you are not all in on Mnemonic Betrayal, you are just built to abuse it. You will win a fair number of matches just by sticking a Patient Rebuilding, especially against the slower decks. Control decks will have a hard time beating Patient Rebuilding, their only out will be Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. After Sideboard against control decks you will essentially have more ways to mill them with Psychic Corrosion and ways to deal with Teferi in Sorcerous Spyglass and The Eldest Reborn. This deck is actual a control nightmare since they not only have to deal with the ways you can mill them, but they must kill Thief of Sanity on site or risk dying to their own countermagic and Teferis. While you don't have a ton of permission Game 1, you do have Thought Erasure that will help your spells resolve. Key turns to cast Thought Erasure are when you are trying to resolve a spell or turn four to try and snag a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.

The deck I've had the most success with is the ramp deck followed by the Esper Amulet deck. Mnemonic Betrayal is super fun though and a deck I would take to a local event. Hopefully you like one of these brews. If you decide to play them in an event, make sure to let me know how you did on social media. I love hearing about people playing and crushing with brews!

As always, thanks for reading.

Ali Aintrazi

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, decklists, ali aintrazi, brewing, guilds standard, 11232018