TheScrubMaster, 7 years ago

Main:

-1 Bloodstained Mire

-1 Vapor Snag

+2 Chain Lightning

Side:

-1 Spell Pierce

-1 True-Name Nemesis

+1 Vapor Snag

• 1 Rough / Tumble

Failure breeds success

MegaMatt13, 7 years ago

Sometimes I trial cards and they just don't perform to expectation. That's ok. In the end I believe that makes the deck stronger. Both Assemble the Legion and Kaya, Ghost Assassin were fairly lacklustre. Plus I found myself missing the removed Royal Assassin and Erebos, God of the Dead. Karmic Justice, on the other hand, has been great. My opponents now know to try to pick apart my pillowfort. Karmic Justice helps dissuade them. Here is the list of recent reversals and new trials:

Assemble the Legion ---> Royal Assassin: I remembered almost immediately why Assemble the Legion didn't perform in early versions of the deck: it's just too slow and usually draws too much hate. I missed the politics that can be played with Royal Assassin. It can be a subtle rattlesnake and political negotiation card.

Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip ---> Erebos, God of the Dead: This deck can struggle against lifegain or "aristocrats" style decks. Erebos' ability to shut off enemy lifegain can be massively helpful. That and the fact he is indestructible make him better than Arguel's Bloodfast despite this higher CMC.

Kaya, Ghost Assassin ---> Twilight Prophet: one thing opponents can usually agree on is to kill the Planeswalker at the table. Kaya isn't a scary planeswalker but still drew attention. I may try her again at some point but she o my performed ok. I swapped her with the new Twilight Prophet and the replacement is already proving excellent. Twilight Prophet provides slow card advantage and slow life drain that doesn't seem to draw much hate.

Word of Seizing ---> Price of Progress: precociousapprentice highly recommends Price of Progress so I am willing to give it a try as a win con. Word of Seizing is great but a little pricy. I may try to find room for it again though.

More Mana Doublers

MegaMatt13, 7 years ago

Been digesting some of the feedback on here and made some changes over the past few weeks. Really appreciate all the suggestions!

Mask of Memory + Ajani, Caller of the Pride ---> Mana Reflection + Zendikar Resurgent: Mana Doublers really make this deck explode. Yes these two enchantments are expensive to cast but they do still come out before Zacama. When Zacama is cast with one of these out usually everything is getting blown up.

Flamekin Village ---> Slayers' Stronghold: Slayers Stronghold comes into play untapped and boosts Zacama's power to that critical 11 threshold.

Wrath of God ---> Illusionist's Bracers: The deck felt like it has enough boardwipes. Illusionist's Bracers will allow me to copy Zacama's powerful activated ability.

Urabrask the Hidden ---> Ogre Battledriver: the Battledriver is one mana cheaper and gives Zacama a power boost up to 11.

Naya Panorama ---> Path of Ancestry: Path of Ancestry is just a better mana fixer with occasional scry.

2/25/18

discollama, 7 years ago

Removed:
Reassembling Skeleton
Scourge of Nel Toth
Path of Ancestry Added:
Pox
Xathrid Demon
Arcane Lighthouse

JACE IS HERE

-PlagueDoctor-, 7 years ago

Well everyone, Jace is here. This might completely change the deck, or it might just be a nice addition. It's time to playtest.

Local Monthly open

NaClMaker0527, 7 years ago

67 people turn out. Did alright imo. 7 rounds Round 1: 0-2 On the Draw Mono blue turbo turns. I just didn't have enough counterspells to win the game. game one went quick and game 2 was about 35 minutes long. Round 2: 2-1 On the Play Played against 8 rack. game 1 I lost due to not being able to draw enough spells and getting double racked for the death. Game 2 went a lot better with Runed Halo on the rack and 2 negates and a snap negate. Same thing for game 3. Round 3: 2-0 On the draw Against Infect. mulled to 5 game one off the top entreat for a scoop. Game 2 was just a long drawn out game into a Noxious-terminus-Opt. game. Took 3 total infect through both games. Round 4: 0-2 On the Draw U/R Pyro Moon with Thing in the Ice. game one I just drew nothing and died to pyro tokens. Game 2 I punted and didn't grab a Basic Plains knowing i was against a moon deck and he just punished me for not grabbing one. Complete punt and my fault. Round 5: 2-1 On the draw 4C good stuff including BBE, Geist, Paths, etc. raced me game one. Game 2 was terminus off opt for the finisher with a entreat cleanup. Game 3 was 3 terminus in a row off brainstorms into a Entreat for 5 to win the game. Round 6: 2-1 On the draw G/W Company. This deck on game one was 3 exalted creatures turn 3 swinging for 5, was very unfortunate. Games 2 and 3 were just terminus outplays on his turn and setting them up off serum scy's. Just didn't have a chance after the first terminus much less the other 2 in each game. Felt like a really good matchup with no haste creatures in the deck. All in all it was a 4-2 start which wasn't terrible. I ended up scooping to last opponent on the G/W list because the people I drove with were ready to go and they all scrubbed out round 3. When I looked at the leaderboards the person I conceded to was in 9th in contention for top 8 playoff spot with 1 round to play. Fairly confident i should have just stayed and played it out, but it happens. as I see it I was 9th in a 67 man open before I left. Would say that was pretty reasonable result with very diverse matches.

Local Monthly open

NaClMaker0527, 7 years ago

67 people turn out. Did alright imo. 7 rounds Round 1: 0-2 On the Draw Mono blue turbo turns. I just didn't have enough counterspells to win the game. game one went quick and game 2 was about 35 minutes long. Round 2: 2-1 On the Play Played against 8 rack. game 1 I lost due to not being able to draw enough spells and getting double racked for the death. Game 2 went a lot better with Runed Halo on the rack and 2 negates and a snap negate. Same thing for game 3. Round 3: 2-0 On the draw Against Infect. mulled to 5 game one off the top entreat for a scoop. Game 2 was just a long drawn out game into a Noxious-terminus-Opt. game. Took 3 total infect through both games. Round 4: 0-2 On the Draw U/R Pyro Moon with Thing in the Ice. game one I just drew nothing and died to pyro tokens. Game 2 I punted and didn't grab a Basic Plains knowing i was against a moon deck and he just punished me for not grabbing one. Complete punt and my fault. Round 5: 2-1 On the draw 4C good stuff including BBE, Geist, Paths, etc. raced me game one. Game 2 was terminus off opt for the finisher with a entreat cleanup. Game 3 was 3 terminus in a row off brainstorms into a Entreat for 5 to win the game. Round 6: 2-1 On the draw G/W Company. This deck on game one was 3 exalted creatures turn 3 swinging for 5, was very unfortunate. Games 2 and 3 were just terminus outplays on his turn and setting them up off serum scy's. Just didn't have a chance after the first terminus much less the other 2 in each game. Felt like a really good matchup with no haste creatures in the deck. All in all it was a 4-2 start which wasn't terrible. I ended up scooping to last opponent on the G/W list because the people I drove with were ready to go and they all scrubbed out round 3. When I looked at the leaderboards the person I conceded to was in 9th in contention for top 8 playoff spot with 1 round to play. Fairly confident i should have just stayed and played it out, but it happens. as I see it I was 9th in a 67 man open before I left. Would say that was pretty reasonable result with very diverse matches.

Changes over the past few months

MegaMatt13, 7 years ago

Quick summary of changes over past few months:

Ramos, Dragon Engine ---> Stormbreath Dragon: This deck wasn't really designed to take advantage of Ramos' ramp ability. Stormbreath Dragon is a hasty Dragon with a bit of extra burn with its Monstrous ability.

Greater Good ---> Lifecrafter's Bestiary: My copy of Greater Good was needed in my Zacama Deck more. Lifecrafter's Bestiary is a cheap way to scry and get incremental card draw.

Whip of Erebos ---> Putrefy: I found that the Whip was too intensive on black mana to both cast and activate on the same turn. it just moved too slowly in the deck. The deck needed a little more flexible removal so Putrefy was put in.

City of Solitude ---> Eladamri's Call: . Found a better home for City of Solitude. I wanted another tutor in the deck. First threw in Sarkhan's Triumph and then switched to Eladamri's Call. Sarkhan's Triumph is definitely on theme but eladamri's call is one mana cheaper and can grab any creature.

Fist of Suns ---> Coalition Relic: I gave Fist of Suns a trial last update and it was ok. To be honest I found that I prefer something that both ramps and fixes. Coalition Relic was thrown in as a replacement which can act as a small bank as well as standard mana rock.

Asceticism ---> Skyshroud Claim: Asceticism was a little expensive in a mana hungry deck. I've moved it over to Zacama. Skyshroud Claim was added for a little extra ramp.

Sangdraxel, 7 years ago

Slight update

luaswolf, 7 years ago

Per suggestions changed removal to 4 lightning bolt, 3 beast within, 2 flame slash Added 4 wolfbitten captive and removed sweltering suns from mainboard. Removed moonmist and added full moon’s rise.

Going back to Gruul

djnewellmit, 7 years ago

Removing the white splash to simplify the mana; this will end up playing as a GR dinos with a small enrage flavor.

After a couple weeks of playing at my LGS, I've made some significant changes to my sideboard.

Gone are my 3x Aethersphere Harvester which were there to gain some life against aggro and provide a blocker for Glorybringer and Rekindling Phoenix. However, I never had a body to crew since my ramp dorks kept eating removal. Instead, I've added 2x Heaven / Earth, which gives me a slightly slower but effective answer to flyers. As a bonus, the second half gives me a ground sweeper and an additional enrage enabler.

I've also removed Chandra's Defeat in favor of additional copies of Abrade and Reckless Rage. I haven't seen many Chandra planeswalkers at my LGS, and both of the replacement spells deal with other red creatures as effectively.

Heroic Intervention was originally included as protection from board wipes and occasionally countering a targeted removal spell. However, the only removal spells that are really effective against dinos are Fumigate, Settle the Wreckage, and Hour of Devastation (and the rarely seen Bontu's Last Reckoning). As such, Blossoming Defense ends up being more useful at protecting my creatures, plus it can get extra damage in. I've kept one Heroic for now, but I might remove it and go with 3 Blossoming.

Thrashing Brontodon has been effective against all manner of enchanments and artifacts, plus the big body can effectively stop everything but Hazoret in mono-red. I've considered pulling this to the mainboard, but I'm happy with the mainboard construction for now. The single Forerunner of the Empire comes in against most decks looking to go wide; the ability to fetch up a dino has let me grab any one of Ghalta, Primal Hunger, Regisaur Alpha, or Carnage Tyrant as the situation calls for. The pinging ability of the Forerunner can easily give me one or two damage sweepers as needed.

Deathgorge Scavenger hasn't seen any action for me, but this dino is still in the sideboard for the occasions I come up against the few The Scarab God decks that are still floating in and out of my LGS.

D4rk_N1nj4, 7 years ago

Sage of Fables is suuuuuuper dumb with Marchesa, You get a recurrable sac target with Marchesa. Also I'm gonna have to squeeze in an Ashnod's Altar as the ramp is heavily needed. Abjure might be a cool include too. Soldevi Adnate and Westvale Abbey might be good too. Ruthless Knave also sounds interesting, but the initial cost to sac doesn't seem worth it.

speeding it up

xen, 7 years ago

mountain for an opt

fine tuning

xen, 7 years ago

took out the firebrands an as foretold and the burn from within, added a few opts, remands, and serum visions. also took out a few mountains and islands to add in more dual lands

Thehotdogman, 7 years ago

Swapped out DoD for Tajuru Preserver. DoD seems much too slow for my playgroup.

Edits

Kobra, 7 years ago

Added In: - Thirst for Knowledge -- Instant speed draw. Nuff' said. - Spirebluff Canal -- Deck needed another land and this one suits it quite well. - Mana Short -- Basically a time walk. After testing, it's ridiculous how good this card is. - Frantic Search -- Instant speed draw and let's us have mana open for counterspells or Jhoira's ability. - Blightsteel Colossus -- Suspend off of Jhoira and one shot your opponent. Yielded very high results in testing. - Keranos, God of Storms -- This card does a lot and is a great utility card.

Edits

Kobra, 7 years ago

Took Out: -- Strionic Resonator -- This card really didn't do much. This deck is often fighting for the 2 drop slot anyway for counterspells, and even in games it didn't help very much. Sometimes it will fire off with Eldrazi, but more times it was often dead. - Beacon of Tomorrows -- Got too clunky if Jhoira wasn't on board. The card itself was usually dead in my hand and better cards can be used to replace it. - Temporal Mastery -- See Beacon of Tomorrows. - Time Warp -- See Beacon of Tomorrows. - Mind Stone -- Mediocre mana rock. Like I said with Strionic Resonator, I would rather have mana open turn 2 for counterspells than playing this. - Swiftfoot Boots -- See Mind Stone.

techdude210, 7 years ago

Acquire

MegaMatt13, 7 years ago

Finally picked up a copy of Acquire and thrown it in the deck, replacing Dissolve. Commander is filled with awesome artifacts to steal.

Also put back in Snapcaster Mage, taking out Twincast. I just missed him in here too much.He performs better in here than the other deck I had subbed him into.

Some updates from testing

Decrepit_Angel, 7 years ago

Weirdly people don't care about me playing Storm Crow as my commander but I have actually had people care about me having Crow Storm in the deck. The card isn't actually good in this deck anyway so I cut it.

Mindslaver was fun but often bricked. Added in some more equipment as it is more fitting given the plan of the deck.

Thassa, God of the Sea wasn't really necessary. I think I used the ability to make a creature unblockable twice total and outside of that it just sat around as a scry ever turn. Same reason I cut Whirler Rogue

Mental Misstep and Flusterstorm are powerhouses in cEDH. Not so much in casual. As I primarily play this deck against people who don't have competitive decks, I cut these.

Trying out Gilded Drake and a few other creatures so I am not as weak to Sheoldred, Whispering One effects as those are common in my meta.

Also, new record for Almighty Lord Storm Crow: 34 power / 36 toughness, flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, lifelink, infect, annihilator 2, indestructible, double strike. The people playing Modern next to us stopped what they were doing to watch the game. The last person I hit with the Crow cast a Tragic Slip (with morbid) on the Storm Crow, blocked with a Rune-Scarred Demon, and still died.

Added more!

leechman72, 7 years ago

Added a hefty amount more bringing it very close to 100 cards, but I now realize I have too many creatures. Running around 30 creatures before having a full deck is quite silly.

Update 2: Zacama hit hard, but not hard enough

Onlytruereject, 7 years ago

This week I was able to try out the new changes to Zacama. The deck is working so much better, but there were a few moments where the cards I played were lackluster and will be removed because of it. It did win a few games this time around, so there's that, but my next step is to make the deck even more of a threat. I'm still striving to stay away from infinite combos with the exception of Bear Umbra and Aggravated Assault, but I also want to find ways to make it harder for my opponents to deal with Zacama.

In regards to my last update, I've found that Primal Surge was not a good addition. It's a great card, don't get me wrong, but it needs a proper build. When I played it, I whiffed hard. There's just not enough permanents versus non permanents ratio.I think I got 3 lands and then revealed an instant or sorcery. No fun. If you run a deck with say 3 instant/sorceries, this card is perfect as it'll play out your whole deck. Not so much for me.

That all being said, the following cards are being removed with proper explanations involved:

Take outs:

1. Primal Surge - Just more of a dead draw than anything else, rather have something that's more consistent.

2. Mosswort Bridge - This is another card that seemed great, but under performed for me. I guess early in the game, this card can be great. My issue is I got it late game and was hoping for something great and instead it sent 3 cards to the bottom of my library that could have changed the game in my favor. Just too risky and too restrictive. Having total power of 10 or more isn't a problem at all, but I'd rather just cast the creature or card. There are far better cards than this.

3. Krosan Restorer - This card was added in my previous update, but I was on the fence even then with it. It's great if you have the Threshold, but in commander a lot of my opponents make sure that graveyards don't allow for things to come back. Graveyards are constantly exiled. Possibly this is just a play group issue, but the card just isn't as good as I'd want. Untapping three lands is great and all, but there are better things I can add in its place

4. Garruk Wildspeaker - Similar to Krosan Restorer, Garruk gives the ability to untap mana and allowing for ramping. The problem is, the other abilities just aren't that great for the deck. Adding a 3/3 beast really isn't needed and that's one ability that will never be used and the last ability gives all your creatures a +3/+3 until end of turn which isn't horrible, but I'd rather have something that permanently gives a boost.

5. Drumhunter - A while back, someone made the catch that there wasn't a need for Mayael the Anima since I had a very low count of creatures that were powers 5 or greater. With that in mind, that same card count reflects on Drumhunter. I'm not going to draw nearly as many cards as I'd like and the ramp he gives is only colorless mana. There's better mana dorks than this guy.

6. Decimate - This card I debated about for a bit, and found that it's a great card and all but not needed for Zacama. Zacama already can destroy everything Decimate can with the except of a land. For a 4 drop sorcery that does practically the same thing as Zacama, that 4 mana could be better spent on something else.

7. Gahiji, Honored One - This card is a beast and helpful in the deck, but just simply helpful isn't enough. He does help your opponents to attack each other, but once again, that's not enough. I'm not a fan of him being only situational to creatures that attack. I'd rather be able to have a buff on the defense side as well.

8. Nissa's Revelation I took this card out even tough it was recently added, just not enough of a benefit for me.

9. I replaced one Plains and one Mountain for lands that can tap for two colors.

The following cards are going in with explanation of what they are replacing:

1. True Conviction - Double strike and Lifelink, need I say more? This will benefit any of my creatures on the attack or defense. It is replacing Gahiji.

2. Slayers' Stronghold - Too be honest, this card should have been in the deck from the very get-go, but I couldn't seem to find my copy. It is replacing Mosswort Bridge.

3. Plains and Mountain are being replaced by a Sacred Foundry and Inspiring Vantage. Honestly thought these cards were in the deck from the start. Minor error that's been fixed.

4. Divine Reckoning - Currently the only board wipe in the deck is Blasphemous Act. While that card is great and will remain in the deck, I need to find more ways to board wipe without hurting myself too much if my Avacyn isn't on the field. Divine Reckoning allows me to destroy everything except for Zacama and allows for all my opponents to choose one creature to remain on the field. Depending on that creature, I can deal damage with Zacama's red ability and take care of it. Divine Reckoning is replacing Decimate.

5. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - After the removal of Garruk Wildspeaker I wanted to replace him with a planeswalker of sorts, but had a hard time finding one that would truly benefit my deck. The fact that Ugin can deal some damage, or exile all things with converted mana 7 or less (if I choose to kill Ugin from the start) is just too good since Zacama will remain. I just feel Ugin is too good to pass up, and with the mana ramping and all, getting Ugin out should be pretty easy.

6. Vigor - This guy is probably my favorite new addition to the deck. Don't really know how I over looked him from the start, but every Zacama deck should invest in him. Allow Zacama to target himself with the red ability and you have an instant +3/+3 counter buff whenever needed. Attacking with Zacama? Give him some extra beef. The fact that Zacama can target any creature allows for you to buff any of your creatures. Only issue I see though is Vigor always comes with a target on his back. This is replacing Primal Surge. Primal Surge is too costly and too risky.

7. Sword of Light and Shadow - Really all swords are good to add to the deck. This card gives a few buffs to Zacama, namely pro black and white. The lifegain is nice, but not the best part about the card. The fact I can bring any creature back from the graveyard is the best part to me. This helps with recovering from board wipes or whatever. There's just a lot of usage in this. Probably not the best sword to add, but its one I currently have. Will love to add all the others later, but not sure what to take out and need to buy the cards first lol. Sword of light and shadow is replacing Krosan Restorer.

8. Skyshroud Claim - Just a land fetch that should of been in the deck from the start, but didn't have one. Replaced Nissa's Revelation with this as Skyshroud Claim does more help.

9. Eternal Witness - Last but not least, Eternal witness is pretty much a staple card for any edh deck running green. Shouldn't need too much of an explanation, but being able to return any card from my graveyard is far too good. This will replace the Drumhunter since Drumhunter is hardly doing anything for my deck.

What do you guys think of the changes? Good changes or bad? Is there something you disagree with? Please leave a comment and let me know what you like or don't and help make this deck even better than it currently is. Thanks for all the suggestions so far and help in tweaking this deck to be better. Cheers!

more better?

BarfQuackers, 7 years ago

A few updates in this one:

I added new planeswalkers, they added about 3-4 unique named PWs which I had to make room for some good some with underwhelming abilities for this deck but added none the less

I cut duplicates, there were a few same named PWs that I couldn't decide to cut but now I needed to make room I still have some that I can't decide which to cut, but I made enough space for now so that's a future me problem.

My curve was too high, easy fix cut higher cost walkers threw in some lower cost enchantments.

I couldn't defend my walkers, I had Progenitus in the helm but he took so long to come down and didn't do much so I needed a lower cmc commander Sliver Hivelord fit the role perfectly he's right on my curve he wards off small attackers and survives bigger one and LIVES! The other thing I added were some Ghostly Prison effects.

Notable cards I cut

Primal Surge - it felt like a Felidar Sovereign kind of card it was like get 10 mana and win it got boring wasn't a very satisfying win.

Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip - she was alright she tutored for a basic forest when i already had green mana anyway it was to hand, I already have another nissa and most importantly it was a creature and it felt wrong keeping her.

Norn's Annex - originally the only pillow fort card I ran, I actually think it drew more aggression in a 40 life format 2 life is nothing and I think people liked proving that. Plus two life is nothing.

one Island - this is notable to me because this deck has problem hitting the curve as is with 43 lands especially without partial paris but I think with the cuts it can survive with one less land

cuts: Chandra, Flamecaller, Jace, Memory Adept, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

adds: Angrath, the Flame-Chained, Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast, Huatli, Radiant Champion, Nahiri, the Harbinger, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh, Samut, the Tested, Dueling Grounds, Ghostly Prison, Oath of Ajani, Oath of Gideon