Last weekend I played in SCG Cincinnati with Robert Stanley and Collins Mullen. I played the Modern seat, where I piloted ol’ faithful (Amulet Titan) to an 10-4 finish. The tournament was great, but we had a rocky Day 2, which caused us to miss cash at 23rd place.
Here is the list I played:
Amulet Titan by Will Pulliam
I got the initial decklist from Daryl Ayers. After we talked over some things and he sold me on sideboard Primal Command. It turns out that Primal Command is a great modal spell in Amulet Titan. It gains you important life against aggro decks, shuffles graveyards against Dredge, or puts a noncreature permanent (like Ensnaring Bridge) on top of your opponents deck! All while fetching up a creature like Primeval Titan or any of the utility creatures in our sideboard.
To expand on the relevancy of the card, here’s a list of decks that I boarded in Primal Command against: Izzet Phoenix, Dredge, Tron, Amulet, Grixis Death’s shadow, Burn, BG Midrange, and UW Control.
Looking back at the tournament I won every single game where my deck functioned and I lost every game where I didn’t. I have noticed some inconsistencies with the Amulet Titan deck, like a lack of green sources on Turn 1, or the lack of card selection.
While I was at the SCG Open, Piotr Glogowski (Kanister) decided to redesign the entire Amulet Titan deck to be less of a toolbox ramp deck and more of a streamlined combo deck. Here is the list he played to a 6-2 finish in the MTGO Modern playoff:
I saw this decklist and immediately loved it, but I thought it was extreme. I think that Botanical Sanctum is a great addition to this deck because it increases the number of green sources available on Turn 1 for cards like Sakura-Tribe Scout and Ancient Stirrings, while also increasing the amount of available blue sources for Tolaria West and the latest addition (which is a throwback to the old Amulet Titan decklists) Serum Visions.
After seeing this decklist, I went to work and started working with Fpawlusz (a streamer who only plays Amulet Titan and makes a lot of great content on the deck) on a more normalized Amulet Titan decklist with Serum Visions. We immediately noticed that Serum Visions added a lot of consistency to the deck and that Botanical Sanctum made more hands keepable due to having an untapped green source on the first turn.
We started with something very similar to what I played in SCG Cincinnati with these changes. We cut:
1 x Engineered Explosives
1 x Walking Ballista
1 x Hornet Queen
1 x Coalition Relic
to make room for the four
To fit three [mtg_card]Botanical Sanctum" data-card-name="Serum Visions[/mtg_card.] To fit three [mtg_card]Botanical Sanctum">Serum Visions[/mtg_card.] To fit three [mtg_card]Botanical Sanctum
1 x Forest
1 x Selesnya Sanctuary
1 x Ghost Quarter
The logic here is that you can cut a bounce land since you are adding four Serum Visions, one Forest since that is one of your interchangeable land slots, and Ghost Quarter because it is your worst utility land. It is incredible in the matchups where it is good but a blank everywhere else. It loses the tiebreaker to make the deck to Bojuka Bog, since that one slot makes you a heavy favorite vs Dredge.
On Wednesday, Kanister recommended Hive Mind as card we could sideboard. I had not thought of ever putting Hive Mind in my sideboard, but it is actually an incredible card against decks like UW Control, Tron, Whir Prison, Burn, and UR Phoenix. Hive Mind gives you another angle of attack other than beating your opponent to death with 6/6s. Hive Mind has been an excellent sideboard card in testing so far.
This list is the current frontrunner for SCG Cleveland next week.
Amulet Titan by WIll Pulliam
With this decklist in mind here’s my proposed sideboard guide.
Amulet Titan SB Guide:
Phoenix
-4 Sakura-Tribe Scout -1 Pact of Negation -1 Summoner’s Pact -1 Cavern of Souls
+4 Path to Exile +1 Reclamation Sage +1 Hornet Queen +1 Engineered Explosives
Dredge:
-1 Pact of Negation -1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Negate
Whir Prison
-4 Sakura-Tribe Scout -2 Coalition Relic -1 Kabiria Crossroads -1 Khalni Garden -1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Negate +1 Pact of Negation +1 Engineered Explosives +1Reclamation Sage +1 Tireless Tracker +1 Ramunap Excavator +2 Hive Mind
Tron
-1 Kabira Crossroads -1 Khalni Garden -2 Coalition Relic -1 Engineered Explosives -1 Bojuka Bog -1 Serum Visions
+2 Negate +1 Ramunap Excavator +1 Ghost Quarter +1 Pact of Negation +2 Hive Mind
UW Control
-1 Kabira Crossroads -1 Khalni Garden -2 Coalition Relic -1 Engineered Explosives -1 Bojuka Bog -2 Amulet Of Vigor
+2 Negate +1 Pact of Negation +1 Tireless Tracker +1 Reclamation Sage +1 Ramunap Excavator +2 Hive Mind
Burn
-1 Pact of Negation -2 Serum Visions -1 Engineered Explosives -1 Bojuka Bog
+2 Path to Exile +1 Reclamation Sage +2 Hive Mind
BG Midrange
-2 Coalition Relic -1 Pact of Negation -1 Summoner’s Pact -1 Cavern of Souls -1 Kabira Crossroads -4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
+4 Path to Exile +1 Bojuka Bog +1 Hornet Queen +1 Engineered Explosives +1 Ramunap Excavator +1 Tireless Tracker
Hardened Scales
-4 Serum Visions -1 Summoner’s Pact -1 Pact of Negation -2 Coalition Relic -1 Cavern of Souls
+1 Reclamation Sage +4 Path to Exile +1 Engineered Explosives +1 Hornet Queen
Grixis Death’s Shadow
-1 Pact of Negation -2 Coalition Relic -4 Sakura-Tribe Scout
+4 Path to Exile +1 Engineered Explosives +1 Hornet Queen +1 Tireless Tracker
Amulet Titan
-2 Coalition Relic -1 Kabira Crossroads -1 Khalni Garden -1 Engineered Explosives -2 Serum Visions
+4 Path to Exile +1 Ramunap Excavator +1 Reclamation Sage +1 Pact of Negation
This is currently the frontrunner for what I will be playing in SCG Cleveland. Working with Fpawlusz has been great and I really like the direction the deck is going. Make sure to check out Team Nova’s article next week for updates on the list before SCG Cleveland!