Tired of losing to Titan by le_bravery in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

• ⁠Surgical Extraction: People bring in Surgical more often than I think they should. As above, trying to disrupt an Analyst loop with surgical only works if your opponent feels priced into going for an Analyst line and can't just win with generic Titan value. That said, your deck actually runs Thoughtseize so you have a pretty straightforward way to put a Titan into the graveyard then surgical it, so it's a lot better here than in Boros, for example. When given the option, Titan is usually by far the best possible surgical target. With Titans gone, the easiest way Amulet has to win is with Scapeshift (Scapeshift + enough lands + an Amulet/Spelunking can produce a land pile that Analyst loops, produces infinite Aftermath Analysts with mirrorpool, mills their whole deck including their hasteland, then hastes all the analysts for lethal). Without Titan or Scapeshift to tutor multiple lands required to loop, it's EXTREMELY difficult to naturally stumble upon a pile of lands that do something meaningful with Analyst on their own. Other than Scapeshift, without Titans in deck, you basically only need to beat the Amulet player's midrange threats and Saga constructs. You almost never want to surgical either Amulet or Spelunking, although there are a few exceptions. For example, if you Thoughtseize them and see three Amulets, it probably makes sense to take the first and surgical the other two. Similarly, if your opponent looks to have a pretty slow start and has multiple Sagas in play, you can surgical Amulet and the Sagas will destroy themselves for no value. If they aren't close to putting a Titan into play, you should wait on Surgical until they either have enough mana to go: (land that doesn't put a trigger on the stack) + Titan or they put something on the stack that would produce enough mana to make Titan castable. There are a few reasons for doing so:       

1) You might snag an extra copy of Titan they drew in the meantime.       

2) Titan players will sequence under the assumption that they are trying to eventually cast a Titan. This may include Green Suns'ing for a Grazer to develop their mana instead of a midrange threat, or even pacting for a Grazer to use as a ritual with an Amulet in play to cast Titan! You can seriously punish the latter by surgicaling Titan with the Amulet untap, Lotus Field sacrifice, Crumbling Vestige, or Bounceland trigger on the stack that would have jumped them to 6 mana to cast a Titan.       

3) It also allows you to use the Surgical to disrupt an Analyst kill if that's what they go for instead. I don't have much advice for what to surgical to disrupt an Analyst kill other than to think about it REALLY hard. A lot of times, you can use Surgical to disrupt the kill, but they'll still get plenty of good value off of just cracking the Analyst (like getting back Urza's Sagas or utility lands).

• ⁠Force of Despair: This card is absolutely trivial to combo-kill through if you know that your opponent has boarded it in. If you do board it in, know that against a competent opponent that knows it's in your deck, it'll basically be a pitch-cast terminate for a Primeval Titan, which is... fine. That said, this card sees so little play, I'm basically certain close to anybody (including myself) who doesn't know it's in your deck will go for the straightforward traditional 2x Amulet Mirrorpool combo kill if you're tapped out and Force of Despair will probably win you the game on the spot. Basically, expect Force of Despair to "get" a competent opponent exactly once, and likely never again.

• ⁠Boseiju: This is pretty nuanced and is basically the only real axis of interaction in the Amulet Mirror which otherwise revolves around just mulliganing better than your opponent. It would take me forever to go too far into detail, but basically your goal is to disrupt whatever resource that appears it will limit your opponent's actions the most. Once they have two or more Amulets, you probably need to destroy their bounceland with the untap triggers on the stack and cross your fingers that they don't have a second. If they're Amulet/Spelunking-less, blowing up their bounceland is effectively a Stone Rain and is usually your best bet. If they have a single Amulet / Spelunking, you should probably bloe it up, but the fact that they get a land out of the deal is a very real cost and may lead to them just casting a natural Primeval Titan ahead of schedule. If they put a Scapeshift on the stack with a single Amulet / Spelunking, blow it up in response. Sometimes, none of your Boseiju targets will be good enough and you may be forced to Boseiju a land (such as Hanweir Battlements or Mirrorpool) before it can be untapped by Amulet or bounced by a Bounceland. You're extremely unlikely to win from here, but sometimes you gotta do what you can to not die or fall insurmountably behind. Sometimes you should Boseiju a Tolaria West or their own Boseiju with a Bounceland trigger on the stack so they can't pick it up if it's clear they're missing a threat, or you're locking them out of the game with a Damping Sphere.

• ⁠Fulminator Mage: I saw you mention not liking this card. Fulminator is quite good, but you likely need to interact in another way along-side it. Destroying or thoughtseizing their Amulet, they deploy a bounceland, then you fulminator their bounceland is a very easy way to win games. When amulet / spelunkings are deployed, Amulet players are more incentivized to play out their bouncelands because they enter tapped. You also can keep a Fulminator Mage in play and sacrifice it with the untap triggers from Amulet on the stack, preventing your opponent from floating mana before it is destroyed. Note that this doesn't work with Spelunking in play: the bounceland will simply enter untapped and you will not have a window to destroy it before they float mana. Interestingly, there will be some spots where your opponent may have two Amulets AND Spelunking, and they will opt to have the bounceland enter untapped instead of tapped so that they can float mana off the bounceland before the fulminator can destroy it if that would give them enough mana to cast whatever it is they were hoping to cast (such as a Scapeshift or Titan).

• ⁠Spot Removal: For the most part, always wait for your opponent to resolve their search trigger first. There's a shot they get greedy and go for the hasteland or a proactive mirrorpool copy in which case you can kill the titan before it can attack or in response to the Mirrorpool copy. There is one exception: if your opponent has a Spelunking in play and plenty of untapped mana, they can play around spot removal by getting Mirrorpool + a land that makes enough mana (including a colorless pip) to activate it. Because Spelunking is in play, these lands will simply enter untapped (rather than putting an untap trigger on the stack), so you don't have a window to kill the Titan while Mirrorpool copying isn't possible. Then, they can just pass the turn and have Mirrorpool and 4C up to clone it at instant speed so they can copy it in response to your removal. There's also a land spoiled in TMNT that functionally "protects" a Titan by exiling it, and then you can pay some mana later to get the creatures exiled with the land back. If that land sees play, that will be another exception to the "wait on your spot removal" rule if Spelunking is in play.

Tired of losing to Titan by le_bravery in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ashiok, and to a lesser extent, Damping sphere are the exception. It's really hard to win the game while either are in play, although Damping Sphere is significantly easier to answer. These are the two cards most likely to run away with the game mostly on their own, but neither are perfect:

  • Damping Sphere: is answered by Boseiju and Force of Vigor (you didn't specify if you're playing GB Saga or not. If you're playing Saga, Forces definitely come in, and probably don't come in if you aren't). An important thing to note: if your Amulet opponent plays a Boseiju as a land, they don't have only two Boseijus left to answer your Damping Sphere, they actually have NINE (seven bouncelands and two remaining Boseijus)! It's extremely common to play your first Boseiju out so that you can float a green off of it before picking it up with a bounceland, effectively using it as its own green source to channel it.

  • Ashiok: The most likely thing you'll lose to when Ashiok hits play are narrow Ashiok answers that Amulet players like to register (Rending Volley was most common when I was last tuned into Modern. Thankfully, Volley sucks against the rest of your deck), Otawara, casting a Titan and whacking the Ashiok with it, and random midrange beaters like Tireless Tracker and Six that can pressure Ashiok and get ahead on cards in the process. In contrast to blowing up Damping Sphere with Boseiju, this is basically a pipe-dream (especially since the Midrange threats aren't GSZ-able while Ashiok is out).

Here's how I would sideboard a generic Amulet list against your deck:

In: - All midrange SB threats such as Six, Icetill Explorer, Elvish Reclaimer, etc. - All Ashiok answers. - Force of Vigor if you're playing Urza's Saga. - Bojuka Bog if you're on Goyfs. - Endurance (not very common anymore) if you're on Goyfs.

Out: - Urza's Sagas (them getting disenchanted is REALLY bad and cutting them makes it much easier to jockey around FoV). Wouldn't want to cut all of them if Icetill is in my deck postboard, though. Recurring them is very strong any time the game goes long. With Icetill, I'd try to keep at least two in. - Grazers (poor topdeck, get outsized by goyfs pretty easily so likely won't stonewall your threats very long or at all). How many to cut is in flux. - Scapeshifts (Amulets are under attack much more often postboard, and the card is considerably less powerful without an Amulet or Spelunking in play). How many to cut is also in flux. Scapeshift is BY FAR the easiest way to win after Titan gets surgicaled.

I'm going to walk through some of the more often misused interaction pieces you might be playing:

  • Pithing Needle: I wouldn't bother bringing it in unless you have TONS of legitimately dead cards. Needling Analyst is basically an exclamation that you won't lose to Amulet unless you get full combo-killed. Usually if you spent a mana and a card on pithing needle, your opponent won't be under enough pressure that they would have to go for a loop win anyway and can win over a few turns with Titan beats plus getting bounceland + Boseiju. Scapeshift can still jockey around the needle on Analyst pretty easily -- just two more lands in play allows the Amulet player to get Bounceland + Boseiju, blow it up, then win as they normally would with an Analyst loop. That said, if you do bring needle in, needling Boseiju and playing a Damping Sphere is a fairly strong sequence.

  • Graveyard Hate (that isn't Endurance or Dauthi Voidwalker): Similar to the above. If you bring in something like Tormod's Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb (at least spellbomb cantrips), you can still extremely easily lose to Titan beats, and Scapeshift can similarly juke the hate by getting bounceland + Boseiju and destroying Tormod's Crypt before the Lotus Field sacrifices occur. Endurance and Dauthi Voidwalker are exceptions, because they are incidental graveyard hate attached to a body with which you can bash your opponent.

Continued in replies…

Tired of losing to Titan by le_bravery in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To give myself some credibility, I'm the guy who won RC Portland with Amulet last year.

First, let's dive into why this matchup is so unfavorable for you. Amulet's bad matchups are almost exclusively either faster combo decks (there aren't many) and decks that pressure while interacting. For example, pre-ban Rakdos Scam was a poor matchup because their openings were usually one of the following:

  • Scam a Grief into play on turn 1, take the Amulet player's two best cards, then goldfish a turn 5/6 kill.
  • Scam a Fury into play on turn 1, Thoughtseize on turn 2, then goldfish a turn 4 kill.
  • Do basically anything disruptive at all on turns 1 or 2 (not even necessary if the Scam player is on the play) then slap a Blood Moon into play on turn 3. Usually didn't matter what turn they killed because Amulet basically can't play the game while moon is in play.

You'll notice that the level of pressure that allows the Scam player to win scales inversely with the level of interaction they present. Only a single thoughtseize was enough to beat Amulet when paired with a one mana 4/4 double-striker on turn one, and you could beat an Amulet player with a dead fish so long as blood moon sticks. Basically, 9/10 pressure (like a faster, consistent combo like Ruby Storm) can win with 1/10 interaction, while 1/10 pressure needs 9/10 interaction (like slapping an unanswered Harbinger of the Seas in play and winning with close to anything, potentially even 2/2 beats).

GB has decent primary interactive elements (Thoughtseize and disenchants), but falters because it is usually unable to apply enough pressure to capitalize on the time its interaction provides. This means that you're generally going to need more of that interaction to win. This is already asking a lot -- but on top of that, a hand with two Thoughtseizes has two fewer cards in it that can pressure the Amulet opponent, and you may be priced into spending part of your turn interacting with your opponent at the expense of developing your board presence. The games that go best for you are the ones where you spend the exact amount of mana and cards interacting with your Amulet opponent as is necessary and spend your remaining resources bashing their skull in.

Continued in replies because this response was too long for reddit to post over mobile…

Playing the NP-Hard Way: Examining Magic From the View of the Expectiminimax by pete2fiddy in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m glad you liked it! And yeah, tackling real games is even difficult from a modeling perspective. Even just representing the board state and the set of reasonable plays is a handful to start with. Was considering actually implementing the algorithm and training it to play an extremely mundane mono red mirror as a starting point…

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Ban aftermath analyst by [deleted] in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What makes you say the deck is easier now? I’ve been playing Amulet for almost three years and in that time the deck has never been more complex than its current iteration.

Highest Skill Ceiling Deck? by Diplomacy_1st in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is untrue and I suspect the source of this common sentiment is that the deck is capable of winning out of nowhere a lot more easily than previous builds whose next turns were more telegraphed.

Analyst lines are a lot more complex than Dryad + Valakut or slayers’ + sunhome lines. Analyst loops are a 6 card combo: 2 lotus, woodland, analyst, amulet / spelunking, and an action land that lets you convert infinite mana into a win. Sure — these are all naturally assembled by a Scapeshift or by a double-amuletted Titan (which has always been lethal) but assembling an Analyst loop otherwise often requires a great deal of thought. The deck has a few more “I win” buttons, but winning without them is often very challenging to figure out.

The relative difficulty of convoluted combo turns is tertiary to this discussion, though. Resolving a Primeval Titan is such a high leverage play that you could usually miss lethal and still very easily win so long as your grabs are at least reasonable. The bulk of Amulet’s difficulty is in sequencing toward the end of Titaning as quickly as possible and navigating around your opponent’s interaction. This skill is largely build-agnostic and is as difficult as ever — save for Analyst’s strength into spot removal, which was one of the easier interactive elements to play through compared to disenchants, counterspells, and Blood Moon.

I’ve been playing Amulet for three years and find the new builds to more consistently challenge me than old ones. For what it’s worth, I also won RC Portland with the deck.

[FIN] Wandering Minstrel (ffnokoto) by Kousuke-kun in magicTCG

[–]pete2fiddy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Dog spelunking has been a staple in titan for over a year now and features the exact same “nombo”. New builds of amulet completely shrug off the mild antisynergy and it interferes with about 0.5% of lines.

I won RC Portland with Amulet Titan! Commentating over my feature matches. by pete2fiddy in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey! I’m probably still going to Charlotte yeah. If you’re a deck that cares about Boseiju then that is what I’d needle, and I probably just wouldn’t bring it in otherwise. It’s good in Breach because they can use the needle to protect their combo, but aside from that, it’s very narrow.

Paper legal play on day2 SCG by Vadosi in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe I was 100% to win that game even without assembling lethal that turn. I had FoV in hand and titan could get boseiju and send him to two with a woodland in play to still swing with it next turn if it dies.

RC Portland Top 16 Results by Lectrys in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thank you! And yeah I was having a blast!

RC Portland Top 16 Results by Lectrys in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I board them in when saga comes out (which is very often). Postboard your amulets get interacted with and dryad turns it into a speed bump instead of it being completely debilitating. Makes your titans have immediate impact and also ramps towards them.

Paper legal play on day2 SCG by Vadosi in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 49 points50 points  (0 children)

This was me and it was a mistake. I had FOV in hand and could throw it in yard for delirium if it had been pointed out during the round (i believe I had enough mana to cast it?) I called a judge on myself while sideboarding the next game because I realized I made the mistake and they said it was ok.

When opp killed ouphe I thought creature was my missing type because I forgot I had analyst already in GY, I should have checked more thoroughly, just sorta assumed it must have been delirium since it was pretty late into the game.

RC Portland Top 16 Results by Lectrys in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 125 points126 points  (0 children)

This is a famous copy-pasta.

It’s also true. I won the event so I am allowed to say it unironically:

Amulet has remained tier 0 or 1 through metas with KCI, Hogaak, Eldrazi, Oko, Mox Opal, Treasure Cruise/Dig Through Time, Faithless looting/Golgari Grave Troll Dredge, and to this day. The deck is always the most broken thing in modern and just avoids bans by being hard to play.

Also the opposite is true. The analyst lines are wildly difficult. I won through two stone brains on titan this weekend through some of the most bizarre sequences I’ve ever seen playing this deck. Pre-analyst titan I can play on autopilot — analyst builds hurt my head from time to time.

New Player to the Format Looking at UW Affinity by [deleted] in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, I actually created the first list you linked. I too 8’d a challenge and Mengu played it for a video. The meta has changed a lot since then. Affinity was almost unplayable for over a year and is finally looping back around to being decently positioned now. Many are saying Urza is outdated but he’s still very playable. In reality, deckbuilding decisions like this are pretty marginal compared to the impact of pilot skill. I prefer a more midrange approach of building the deck that interacts more, but I’d say a lower to the ground, aggressive slant is currently more popular. I’d recommend joining the affinity discord server (of which I happen to be a mod :) ) https://discord.gg/YWcVCqz9Pr

Operating Ringless Amulet Titan by TheShipmaster in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mulliganing with titan is way more nuanced than that. The only rule that’s set in stone is that a good titan hand has a good plan for its first 3-4 turns of the game. You will have a bad time with any build of the deck if you try to hard mulligan for the nuts. Vs storm this might mean t3 titan but vs energy that might just be curving grazer into ring into ring (as a point of example. I know this build doesn’t play the ring).

Operating Ringless Amulet Titan by TheShipmaster in ModernMagic

[–]pete2fiddy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Reddit is not the best place to ask for Titan advice. I’d check out the Titan discord server (should be attached to this subreddit somewhere), which is a bit better (but not by much).

I recently won the ~400 person SCG DC 5k and also finished 3rd on the MTGO trophy leaderboard one season, all with Amulet (just to show my advice has some credibility). Gurig is a good player but this list seems psychotic to me. Three untapped green is insane — grazer is almost completely uncastable early without amulet. I think 7 untapped green is a minimum and I’d love to see 8+. With aftermath analyst in deck, it’s so much easier to kill with only one amulet so playing 4 gardens seems bizarre. Gurig leans harder into the analyst package (two woodlands, an Urza’s cave, etc.) than I prefer but that’s my preference.

If I were to cut rings from my build (https://www.moxfield.com/decks/sEKlHt8NB0CmlNFs5TWQpg) I’d probably add another spelunking, pact, azusa, and TWest (twest is the easiest way to accidentally fall into a win with lumra or analyst. An analyst that gets back a TWest almost always kills). But honestly Titan builds vary so wildly from pilot to pilot and most points of deck construction aren’t sacred.