Conquistadorah the Explorer Invades Atlanta

Last weekend in Atlanta, I played Amalia Combo at the RC, finishing 10-4, barely missing top 48 at 54th. Here's the list I played:

It's basically a stock list that I grabbed from Mauro Sasso on Twitter (@MauroSasso2). I'm going to discuss this list, the match-ups, what I changed for the RC and what I'd change going forward.

The deck feels favored against most of the top tier meta decks, the exceptions being UW Control and Enigmatic Fires, which are very difficult. Against RB Midrange and UR Phoenix, it feels only slightly favored. Against RB Sac, RW Convoke, RG Aggro, Humans, Mono R Aggro and Mono G Ramp, I believe the deck is quite heavily favored.

In the days preceding the RC, Stephen Dykman and some of our friends were talking about playing Rampaging Ferocidon in the main deck of RB Midrange and RB Aggro to combat Amalia. As a result, we agreed that I should play a main deck Skyclave Apparition. I owe Stephen a favor because I did not lose to that dinosaur one time in 14 rounds. Going forward, I'd play two copies of Get Lost in the sideboard cutting the Voice of Resurgence and either the Drannith Magistrate, Skyclave Apparition or Haywire Mite, depending on the perceived meta. I believe this deck can be tuned for any meta thanks to the ability to play a critical mass of silver bullets to grab with Chord of Calling.

That being said, Enigmatic Fires and UW Control are not worth dedicating too many sideboard slots to because those match-ups are abysmal to begin with. This build is capable of winning the Enigmatic Fires match-up, but is not favored in any way. The double haymaker of Rampaging Ferocidon and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines is nearly impossible to play through and their removal spells and board wipes line up very well tempo-wise with the Amalia deck’s gameplan. The two copies of Get Lost should help, especially if you leave in Haywire Mite and Skyclave Apparition.

UW Control isn't worth much consideration. Every deck has its foil and UW is Amalia’s. That said, I have won the match plenty of times online, and you can too… if you play very well and your opponent does not. Without a skill differential, however, there isn't much hope.

At the RC, I lost twice to Phoenix and once each to Spelunking Combo and Keruga Enigmatic Fires. Both of the Phoenix players were very skilled, but one of the matches was not close at all. My opponent played Quakebringer (which was completely off my radar) and it swung the match completely out of my control. Cards like this and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines are the main reason I want to play two copies of Get Lost. I played against Phoenix two other times: During the first match of the RC, once in an easy 2-0 victory in round one and again the final round of the RC against a very skilled Izzet gamer, which I nearly threw with both a misplay and a counting error in game three. The margins are very close in this match-up.

The Spelunking Combo match-up was awful, but that deck is very uncommon at the moment. Graveyard hate and enchantment removal work well to keep them off combo, but they have a great deal of interaction to disrupt the Amalia combo in turn. If that deck becomes more popular, it's worth considering additional sideboard options for it.

The Keruga Fires match-up was rough, but games one and three were actually quite close: my opponent was at three life when they stabilized in game one and six life when they turned the corner in game three. It's worth noting that they were on the play; I think I would've won game one had I gone first. Dina, Soul-Steeper did a lot of work both of those games. In game two I just assembled the combo on turn three.

It's worth noting that this was quite different than my experience in testing with the Yorion build of Enigmatic Fires that my teammates Duy Vu and Kyle Gonzales used to make day 2 of the RC. Those matches felt nearly unwinnable in game one thanks to the abundance of cheap removal at their disposal. Post-board, the best strategy is to combo off and explore your Aetherflux Reservoir to the top of the deck since there's not much chance you'll ever connect with your massive Amalia against them.

The reason I'm cutting the Voice of Resurgence is that one copy is not enough. It's at its best in multiples against Phoenix and Spirits decks and I don't want to allocate the additional sideboard slots to those matchups at this time. The two Shapers’ Sanctuaries, for example, are indispensable against phoenix while having more utility in other match-ups like RB Midrange, RB Sacrifice and WR Heroic.

It was a great event. Four Swish gamers made day two, I met and befriended some great grinders, and I played very well in some stressful and close games. Below you will find my updated list. Good luck, have fun.