War of the Spark has been one of the most impactful sets in recent memory. I want to take a look at some of the cards that could work their way into my favorite Modern deck: Amulet Titan.
Arboreal Grazer is pretty straight-forward, as it’s like a one shot Sakura-Tribe Scout. The best use is akin to Elvish Spirit Guide when you have a bounceland and Amulet of Vigor. Azusa nets more mana with an Amulet and a bounceland, but sometimes you want to play around removal or already have an Azusa in play.
Grazer opens up some additional Summoner’s Pact lines. Other then the corner case applications, Scout without Amulet is very good at getting to five mana on turn three and just needs that little extra on a set up turn to get to a turn three titan. Sequencing in grazer will do it a lot.
Two mana is a tough cost, and Bond of Flourishing only sees three cards. Obviously this isn’t Ancient Stirrings, but then again, what is? I have played effects similar to this in the past in Oath of Nissa and Adventurous Impulse, but they always seem a little lackluster. I think the effect is just a little too small in comparison to the cost for present-day Modern.
At first glance Blast Zone seems like a slam dunk—an Engineered Explosives that is uncounterable and can be fetched by a Titan for value or recurred with Ramunap Excavator or Crucible of Worlds. Unfortunately in practice this card doesn’t live up to the hype for a deck that can easily access Explosives.
Even to try to activate this land for one costs the land drop and three mana, where Explosives discounts a mana and the land drop is invaluable. Once you try getting it over one counter, you are talking about multiple Amulets or multiple turns. You don’t have that kind of time in modern. I still think you might want a copy in the 75 if there are three or more Explosives already.
Tamiyo, Collector of Tales is sweet and probably destined for the same fate as the other planeswalkers that don’t make the cut. But this card is a complete GBx hoser. As long as the board is clear or stable, they cannot make you discard or sacrifice creatures, two meaningful points of reaction for that deck. Regrowing any card is great, and in most spots you can pretty easily name a card you will want to draw.
The downside is that putting any utility cards into the graveyard can be a huge issue in some matchups. But the mana cost fits the deck perfectly alongside Kiora, the Crashing Wave. Tamiyo is probably just under the power level for any kind of main deck inclusion, but in some metagames could be a great sideboard value card.
Just a super nice value card fits into a curve. The deck tends to not play card like Huntmaster of the Fells or Thragtusk-type value creatures anymore. It is nice that Tolsimir can fit that role and also be a removal spell for cards like Meddling Mage. More likely this card is relegated to all the other green creatures on the outside looking in.
Green Sun’s Zenith is back and only slightly worse. The extra two mana is probably too much for a small creature toolbox deck, but easy for Amulet Titan. Some Titans are already +3 mana with Tolaria West or even +5 with Primal Command. There are a few floating flex slots in the deck currently, and its nice to have access to more virtual Titans.
The kicker text is also a real possibility, especially when you have made a few plants and have had your titans exiled. This card might be overshadowed at the moment, but I think it is an excellent tool to increase consistency.
Every time we see colorless permanents with power affects that cost equal or less than six mana, its exciting. Uin, the Ineffable makes a great sideboard card if the space can be found. It’s easy to cast, can be found off Ancient Stirrings, and exiles Blood Moon. Not a show stopper, but a great card to have in the Amulet box.
Karn, the Great Creator is the big money card for this deck. Everything else on this list is a role-player or marginally playable, but Karn is format-warping. This card checks all the boxes. Its passive ability shuts off all sorts of prison nonsense people were doing in Modern while also hosing the other powerful Mox Opal aggro decks like Affinity. Plus Karn wishes from your sideboard for some of the most powerful cards in Modern.
The big combo is with Mycosynth Lattice, permanently locking your opponent generating mana to cast spells. It’s pretty easy for Amulet Titan to play this on a set-up turn and follow up with the Lattice—on top of maybe doing it out of nowhere with multiple Amulets in one turn. This question will be, how much room does the deck have to add this package?
I’m not sure where all these card lead but I look forward to the continued evolution of the best deck in Modern with no bad matchups. Modern Horizons now has a high bar to live up to and look forward to doing this again when that set is fully spoiled.