Your Godbook on Amulet Titan

Hello, my name is Marcel, and I'm an Amulet Titan enthusiast from Munich. I'm here to tell you why you should play this deck—and how.

Why Amulet Titan?

I first encountered this strategy during my Erasmus year in Italy. Back then I played Green-White Valuetown and faced a guy on Amulet Titan, a deck of whose existence I wasn't aware up to that point. I won—thanks to , , —but was impressed nonetheless. I bought the deck, got hooked, and have played it ever since.

Besides plenty of top finishes in my local scene, store championship wins and such, my biggest successes so far with Amulet Titan were coming in 47th out of 497 participants at LMS Paris in September 2022 and a third place at the "German Modern Championship" in Frankfurt in January 2023 with 220 participants. The reason I wrote this primer is to help you gain a better understanding of the archetype and to give you the the tools to have a chance to win every possible matchup. Most importantly, I want to share not just what to sideboard, but also why we sideboard the way we do and how to interact in certain matchups.

The Archetype Amulet Titan

There are dozens of aspects that I love about Magic: The Gathering and that make the game so addicting. One general rule every player has to consider while crafting their deck is: The more explosive you want to be, the less consistent your deck is going to be, because either the combo gets way harder to assemble or one interaction from the opponent lets the whole house of cards fall apart. With very few exceptions— Summer, Eldrazi Winter, Bant Snowko, which were all clearly busted and god-tier decks—this holds true for every archetype.

Another aspect I really like is that, after all those years of new sets, bans, and unbans, Magic: The Gathering still largely follows the rock-paper-scissors principle. This means that our deck A is very good against deck B but very bad against deck C, while B is very good against C.

And now comes the interesting part and the reason I'm such a big advocate of the Amulet Titan archetype: What if I told you that all of the above does not really apply to Amulet Titan? Amulet Titan is not only super consistently killing on turn three to four, with the capability of doing it as early as turn two, it also sidesteps the usual rock-paper-scissors issue. When we kill this fast this consistently, how can we ever complain about a bad matchup?

Strengths and Weaknesses

So how does Amulet Titan even kill on turn two? With an untapped land, one green-producing bounce land such as , two , , and a —or in place of either or both of the latter two. Cast one Amulet on turn one. Start the second turn with the second Amulet, play your bounce land, and stack your triggers so that you first untap it twice. Tap it for a total of four mana this way and then return it to hand.

Next, cast . Two additional land drops add eight mana in the manner described above. Cast to fetch and , which both enter the battlefield tapped, and thus untap twice. Give the Titan haste and +2/+0 twice. This time, return the Stronghold or the land you played on turn one to your hand. Attack and trigger Titan to grab and , which copies Boros Garrison. Give Primeval Titan double strike and hit for exactly 20. Bam!

In spite of the many steps listed, Amulet Titan is a rather straightforward deck to play. But to master it we have to get in a lot of repetitions. What differentiates a great Amulet Titan player from a good (or even bad) player is how they sequence their turn and what counterplay they take into account. Do they start off with a and see if it resolves or do they start with their land drop(s)? Which sequence is right or wrong totally depends on the game state, the opponent's deck, and the context of our hand.

A great Amulet player knows to wait for their opening and doesn't run out of gas because they know which lands to fetch with their . I have seen countless players go for plus when they have an Amulet in play and face a tapped-out control opponent. Of course this is a line we can choose, but it may not be correct unless we're certain our opponent doesn't have interaction or we still have gas in our hand. We simply cannot afford to lose our Titan to , when our hand only contains bricks (lands).

Recent sets included a lot of effective cards against us. The archetype can be attacked from a lot of angles. One is pressure. If played correctly, Amulet Titan has a lot of grind potential. But what we never want to see is an unchecked run away with the game. A on turn two with a turn three , backed by countermagic, is also tough to beat. Attacking our lands is the second angle they can take. and effects are very good against us for obvious reasons. The third way to keep us in check is to prevent us from tutoring up our missing pieces with effects. Overcoming one of these weaknesses is manageable, two is rough, all three almost impossible.

The power level of Amulet Titan is without a doubt very high, therefore I can't complain. But it is undisputable that we have to play around so many things nowadays. When I started running the deck, I was certain that my would resolve and give me my search trigger when cast off . ( existed back then, but I never saw that card played against me,) The only thing I had to make sure was to play around a effect, , , and later .

Now, even when we have Cavern of Souls, we have to factor in that our opponent could have , , or . Moreover, we now have to expect interaction even when our opponent is tapped out in , and a clean answer for just one white mana exists in , which does not grant us a basic land as once did.

Fun fact: When I started playing Amulet Titan, forgetting to pay for in our upkeep meant we would lose the match on the spot, as written on the card. Nowadays we cannot forget to pay, and the only thing we can lose is our dignity. Be aware though that missing the trigger could still look like cheating to judges, which would result in a disqualification. To be safe I recommend putting dice on top of your library so you cannot draw a card without removing the dice, which is a nice reminder you still have some pending tasks in our upkeep before you move to the draw step.

Crafting the Main Deck

The following is my attempt to find the ideal list for the current metagame, where we have a fair amount of decks that use their graveyard. However, before every tournament we attend, we have to ask ourselves: Which decks will have the biggest meta share? If we expect a lot of Izzet Murktide players, go with four Cavern of Souls. Is there a lot of five-color nonsense running around with ? Add a third . Are we afraid of Blood Moon? Go up to five Forests. Do we expect a lot of graveyard shenanigans? Run the singleton , otherwise exchange it for a second or . If we expect a lot of aggressive decks like Infect, Burn, and Prowess, switch out the Endurance for an .

In general though, as an Amulet player, don't worry too much about the current meta. That's for control players to figure out. We try to push our plan through, which means we want our deck to be as explosive as possible.

Why 34 Lands?

The reason I play 34 lands is, first and foremost, that I like having all available utility lands in my main deck. Secondly, it gives me the flexibility to board some of them out in matchups where they don't shine as much, exchange them for more efficient answers, and still have the necessary density of lands.

Why Mycosynth Gardens?

is the latest addition to the deck from Phyrexia: All Will Be One. This card gives Amulet Titan players a lot of deck-building options. We could now shape our list so it plays out like a complete combo deck that basically does nothing the whole game but waits for its opening and the kill on the spot by producing an absurd amount of mana with several Amulets. However, for this version, we'd have to run a full playset of and cut our completely to maximize our land drops. Also, would come in to protect our combo turn. I tried this version but didn't like it too much. The problem is that our good matchups get even better because we can kill faster, while the deck becomes somewhat of a glass cannon and struggles heavily versus control and decks with lots of interaction.

Instead I like to integrate Mycosynths Gardens so that it synergizes with our deck, but we are not dependent on it. We also have to remember that by copying our own Amulet, we go down a land. No less important is the timing here: Be aware that the copy ability will fizzle if our opponent destroys our Amulet in response. Still, the potential to have more Amulets cannot be valued highly enough. Mycosynth Gardens replaces , which was a nice way to get Primeval Titan down a turn earlier.

Why (Only) Two Explore?

I would love to run more, as lets us cast Primeval Titan off two Amulets and a bounce land. But more Explores would mean going down on lands or cutting our silver bullet , both of which I'm not comfortable with.

Why Cultivator Colossus?

I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of as it often just feels like a win-more card, is uncastable under a effect, and sometimes has to be played without getting any value at all when we are hellbent. However, since the game plan is to be as fast and explosive as possible, having access to a Colossus in game one is imperative as it can lead to insanely busted turns with one or more Amulets and lets us run away with the game fairly easily if the top of our library is kind to us. With the newest addition of Mycosynth Gardens, we can even make a case for playing a second Colossus to increase the density of hits.

I experimented a little bit with and quite liked it. However, having a death trigger and not an enter-the-battlefield trigger comes with too much of a cost against all the Solitudes and Leyline Bindings of this world.

Why Endurance Main?

We always have to consider that running a singleton green creature actually means having five copies due to . is my wildcard and comes in clutch in so many matchups, first and foremost against the most popular deck, Izzet Murktide. Cast it in their upkeep to either force the counterspell, or we'll shuffle their graveyard back into their deck, delaying their and taking delirium off their and . It's even better against .

The card is the perfect counterplay in various other scenarios. On top, few expect Endurance out of an Amulet Titan main deck. Even when its effect isn't particularly useful—in the end, it's a 3/4 boltproof body with flash. For example, it can be an emergency blocker against an or equipped with .

Why Crumbling Vestige?

When taking a look at our 34 lands, it becomes apparent that each has its purpose in specific matchups. But what about ? I'm glad you asked. On the one hand, it can take the place of in various kill lines when we have access to and . On the other hand, it's the only way to hasten our Primeval Titan when we have neither Amulet nor Dryad. With in play and a land drop to spare, have Titan fetch Vestige and a bounce land, produce red mana with the trigger, return Vestige, play it again, produce white mana, et voilà, we can now give haste.

Why No Turntimber Symbiosis?

is a card I'm currently experimenting with, but it hasn't made the cut so far. Running a pain-free mana base is a definite plus against aggro strategies. Secondly and more importantly, it doesn't shine in matchups where Amulet Titan struggles. Against Control? Almost certainly uncastable. Against a deck? Almost certainly uncastable. Against Five-Color Creativity? Almost certainly too late. Moreover, a can get rid of it, and there's always the opportunity for you to whiff with it. If you're playing the all-in combo variant with four , I'd recommend running two to four copies. In the more moderate list and the current meta, however, I don't see it.

Crafting the Sideboard

Why Beast Within?

This is a very common question, and for the longest time (before the printing of ) it looked like I was the only Amulet Titan player with still in his 75. Beast Within is the wildcard slot. While it is very niche, it has won me countless games. Because, when it is good, it is really good.

This card comes in handy against control, , and variants. Versus White-Blue Control, it handles their best planeswalker immediately at instant speed, either or . Even when they don't slam a scary planeswalker, Beast Within is so versatile. We sometimes even destroy one of our excess lands in our opponent's end step and go into beatdown mode to push through the last points of damage. Ashiok, Dream Render is easily one of the best weapons against us since the card stops the fetch trigger from Primeval Titan. We therefore need to get rid of it as fast as possible. Against Scapeshift decks, the way is worded, it checks how many Mountains are left after Valakut's triggers go on the stack, so if we are able to remove a Mountain then and there are no six Mountains left upon resolution, the ability fizzles. This already won me a handful of very important games.

The recent release of is another big reason to bring your Beast Within to any tournament. This card shuts down our deck almost completely as it doesn't only negate all abilities that trigger upon permanents entering the battlefield, its 4/7 body also lines up well against a 6/6 trampling Primeval Titan.

Why Dragonlord Atarka?

Like Beast Within, this is a rather unconventional sideboard choice. But as with Beast Within, I'm equally convinced that it is the perfect sideboard card for Amulet Titan. gives our deck something we normally barely have access to (outside of Valakut triggers): direct damage. It is fetchable with Summoner's Pact and easily castable under a Blood Moon or . We can board it in versus control to kill off their planeswalker, or as a pseudo mass removal against a creature strategy.

But the reason I initially came up with it was the matchup against Yawgmoth, which isn't great. Their combo is often faster, and after boarding they commonly have , which leaves us with a very threatlight deck. Dragonlord Atarka allows us to establish board control by killing their dorks, their , or even their and potential Insect tokens. It also is an 8/8 flying beater with trample. So cannot chump it, and they'd lose a lot of life trying to shrink it with Yawgmoth.

Why Outland Liberator (and No Reclamation Sage)?

Summoner's Pact can fetch either, but one requires the problematic artifact or enchantment already in play while the other can be played preemptively. Since our deck already is a prominent victim of , , or , is simply the better card. Not only is it cheaper to cast, it also has a bigger body and a very relevant back side. Obviously, it can be the target of while can't, but this is such a niche case, it has never come up in games I played.

Why Kozilek, Butcher of Truth?

This card's purpose is to fight one deck, and that is Blue-Black Mill, recently resurrected thanks to . Endurance alone is not enough anymore to fight this deck properly. We need a card that shuffles our graveyard back into our library once it's hit. Obviously, in Magic history, there have been more cards with this kind of effect, but unlike, for example, , is also reasonably hard to cast for ten mana. This is why we can bring it in for very grindy games against control and Four-Color Omnath as well.

Why No Veil of Summer?

Without a doubt, is a powerful and very efficient card for the lousy cost of just one green mana. However, it does not fit our game plan of being proactive and leads to weird play patterns. I often had the option to progress my game with a turn one or , but kept one green mana open in case of or , which ultimately rarely happened.

Veil of Summer also got significantly worse since people learned and got the tools to play around it. Spells like , , or don't care about the text box of Veil of Summer, which leaves us with the option to cycle it or keep it up for an upcoming turn.

Why No Hydroid Krasis?

is a fine midrange card to gain an edge in grindy games. I played it for some time myself. But I was never really impressed with it as it only gets good if we are able to cast it for six mana or more. , its current replacement in my sideboard, is just more versatile, can come down as early as turn two, and is a solid way to race our opponent, even under a Blood Moon effect. Some lists stuff basic Islands into their sideboard just to cast Hydroid Krasis reliably under a Moon. Using a sideboard slot for a card whose sole purpose is to help cast two other sideboard cards seems like a big waste to me.

Why No Haywire Mite?

is probably the most important Modern card out of The Brothers' War, but I am not convinced that it fits in the Amulet Titan shell. The problem with Haywire Mite is how we want to fetch it with but don't really want to have it in our main deck as its ability is too niche. Then again, if we tried to fit it into our sideboard, it would compete for a slot with . The effect is often most useful when our lands get taxed after sideboarding, but it is then that Urza's Saga is least likely to hit its third chapter. We are better off searching something similar with Summoner's Pact.

Keep or Mulligan?

Our ideal opening hand checks all of the following boxes. Note that our wildcard, , can replace any green creature listed here besides Arboreal Grazer.

• three to four lands, including one untapped and one bounce land
• a one-drop in or
• an accelerator in , , or
• a payoff in or

We should and can take aggressive mulligans to find a hand that enables us to have an explosive start and power out a Titan on turn three. The deck mulligans rather well. We easily negate the card disadvantage from a mulligan to six or even five as one Titan trigger already gives us two additional cards. It does get tricky at a mulligan to four though. We simply don't have enough space anymore to fit enough lands, a one-drop, an accelerator, and a payoff in our starting hand. From this point on, we simply have to pray that the top of our library is kind to us.

Obviously, one hand can be great in one matchup but horrible in another. For each specific matchup, you can find dedicated information in the sideboard guide below. First, I'm trying to give you a good idea of keepable hands against an unknown opponent in game one.

Case-by-Case Corner

Only one-drop and lands in starting seven:

In general, we always want to see an Amulet of Vigor in our starting hand. However, with six blanks, this is an easy mulligan.

Only Primeval Titan and lands in starting seven:

Same rule goes for Primeval Titan. We basically always want to see one in our opening hand, but only Primeval Titans won't make the cut.

Only accelerator and lands in starting seven:

100% mulligan.

No green source in starting seven:

While there are exceptions (for example double Amulet and Urza's Saga, which can find a green-producing land via ), this is a mulligan in 99% of the cases.

One-drop, accelerator, and payoff, but only tapped lands in starting seven:

100% keep.

One-drop, no accelerator, but Primeval Titan in starting seven:

Not great, but good enough on the play. On the draw: mulligan. However, if we have two and a Summoner's Pact or Primeval Titan, this is an instant keep.

No one-drop, but accelerator, and payoff in starting seven:

Also not ideal. Giving our opponent three full turns while we only play lands is too slow. Casting our first spell on turn three, when our opponent only had two turns, is reasonable and a keep. Therefore: keep on the play, mulligan on the draw.

One-drop and accelerator in starting seven:

This is a 50/50 decision. We got all the ramp we need but are missing the payoff. If we have any utility land like or in hand, it's a keep. Otherwise, draw seven fresh cards.

Only two lands, no accelerator, but one-drop and payoff in starting seven:

This is probably the most difficult decision. Since our deck contains more lands than spells and we can bet on drawing one in one of our next two draw steps, this is tempting. However, I often got stuck, unable to draw another land in time. Those are big "feels bad" moments.

Here it mainly depends on the lands and the one-drops. I'm using the following rules of thumb to navigate corner cases:

• One untapped and one bounce land with any one-drop ⇒ keep
• Two utility lands, one untapped, with Amulet ⇒ keep
• Two utility lands with Grazer ⇒ mulligan
• Two utility lands, both tapped, with any one-drop ⇒ mulligan

Only two lands, but one-drop, accelerator, and payoff in starting seven:

Unless the two lands are both bounce lands, it's a snap keep.

Memorize Important Play Patterns

With this deck, it is important to have numerous lines of play memorized. Especially against control opponents, we cannot overthink every step. Patterns repeat themselves but differ from each other quite heavily in terms of how they play out as we have to fetch different lands depending on the board state once hits the battlefield. There are various patterns that might not be obvious at first glance but appear regularly.

Most importantly, as soon as we know what our opponent is on, recall which cards their deck normally runs to stop us. What will we have to play around in the postboard games or even in game one? Our decisions should heavily depend on this information.

Sequencing: What Do We Play First?

Once we memorized all the patterns, Amulet Titan is rather straightforward to play. However, sequencing is where good players distinguish themselves. For starters, we mustn't give our opponent priority unless we have to. This means, if we have or in hand, we make our first land drop, then cast one of the two accelerators. This way our opponent never receives priority to cast a removal spell before an extra land hits the battlefield, whereas they do whenever we drop a bounce land. If we play basic Forests, , and such, they don't.

Amulet of Vigor or Arboreal Grazer First?

This question isn't easy to answer and highly depends on the further makeup of our hand. But if we have an and an untapped green source, cast to bring in the Saga. Does the opponent play a deck? Also deploy Grazer first, otherwise should be our turn one play.

When Do We Hold Back Arboreal Grazer?

We do so if we have one or multiple Amulets in play, a bounce land in hand, and aren't under pressure to stabilize the board. Always remember that one Amulet nets one extra mana when we cast Grazer and bring in a bounce land. You can find more detailed information on these mana calculations below.

When Do We Hold Back Amulet of Vigor?

If we have it in our starting seven, never. There are edge cases when we draw it later on where it might be beneficial against a control deck, but these scenarios don't come up often. In general, if we have the chance, we cast our Amulet.

When Do We Hold Back Bounce Lands?

If we have no Amulet and no that will grant us one very soon, we just play them. There is no point in holding back and hoping for one to come from the top of our library.

How Much Mana Does a Bounce Land Generate?

is an absurd mana generator, especially as the abilities of multiples stack. That is, the more Amulets we control, the more mana we can make, and thanks to , we can now control more Amulets more often.

Below I list with how much additional mana we can end up when we pay for Grazer, Explore, Dryad, or Azusa and play a bounce land to use up just the additional land drops thus granted. If you are missing mana, cast these cards first (find them with ) to power out a Titan or Cultivator Colossus.

Remember that sequencing your land drops and casting your creatures correctly will make the difference between winning and losing!

What Lands Do We Fetch with Primeval Titan?

This is highly dependent on the board state. Nonetheless, it is very important never to expose us to our opponent to a degree where we don't have any gas left if they deal with our in some way. Here's a list of things I fetch regularly.

• If there is no interaction expected from your opponent, go for this line. Don't do this unless you have enough gas in hand or are absolutely sure they'll give you the attack trigger of your Primeval Titan as well:

• One or two with neither nor another in hand ⇒ get plus .

• If we expect interaction from our opponent, such as , , , et cetera, these are the most prevalent lines:

• With one Amulet ⇒ get and or two .

• With two Amulets out and and at least one other land in hand ⇒ get two Growth Chambers. (Return both to hand after floating eight mana and cast Colossus.)

• With two Amulets out and another Primeval Titan in hand ⇒ get Growth Chamber and Tolaria West. (Float six mana to cast second Titan, get Slayers' Stronghold plus Boros Garrison, and give haste to both.)

• With three Amulets ⇒ get Growth Chamber and Tolaria West. (Now we have enough mana to transmute Tolaria West for Summoner's Pact and cast another Titan. We repeat this until we have three Titans in play, fetch for Stronghold plus Garrison, and give haste to all three.)

• Four Amulets ⇒ same as for three since we only run two Tolarias. (Boost one Titan twice.)

What Do We Fetch with Urza's Saga?

This is easy to answer. If we have enough lands in hand or in play, we always grab .

is only needed when we lack a certain land to make sure our Primeval Titan can be cast in the first place (when we miss a bounce land or green source, for example) or will resolve ( versus counterspells) or when we need the land's effect ( versus , , and such).

What Else Do We Do on the Final Chapter?

This one is simple too. Can we do something that progresses our board state if we float one mana before hits the third chapter? This could mean casting Dryad, Titan, or Colossus. If that's the case, we float the mana. Otherwise, if we have nothing better to do or expect a we are currently not able to fight through, we create a Construct token.

What's important: If we don't have the in hand but a of which we are unsure whether or not it will resolve, we cast the Pact before the third chapter ability resolves. could change the math and prevent us from casting Titan on the same turn. After resolution (or not) we can still decide whether we want the mana or the Construct token.

Also: Our opponent doesn't receive priority after we fetch with Saga. I had to learn this the hard way. I had four mana available, had just searched for Amulet, and had Summoner's Pact plus bounce land in hand. Instead of floating two mana with my land, which would have brought me to six mana, I cast the Pact first and my opponent responded with on my Amulet to prevent me from casting Primeval Titan that turn.

Matchup and Sideboard Guide

Izzet Murktide

The most prominent archetype in the Modern metagame, we better come prepared for this one. I consider this mainly a skill-based matchup; the better pilot will most likely win. However, if you play Legacy, you know those games against Delver where you can't resolve a single spell before you die from a turn two flipped . If we are on the draw and our opponent starts with on turn one, this can easily happen here as well. Even though it is more likely for us to resolve a spell against the Modern version, the chance it will be answered in some way is extremely high.

While it is a slight uphill battle, I like our odds in this matchup, and there are two reasons for it: Urza's Saga and . I currently play three Caverns but recommend running the full playset at bigger tournaments when you expect a lot of Murktide or control. This is the matchup we really want to win.

Being successful in game one is really important because winning two sideboarded games is tough. We also have to hope they don't make a metagame call with one or two main, which has risen in popularity.

How To Win:

Be patient. Don't try to force it through their open mana unless you really have to, wait for your Cavern of Souls to show up and generate value by creating Construct tokens with Urza's Saga. Murktide is not prepared for that preboard. Our best play by far is a turn one . We either stonewall their Ragavan, or they have to expend one of their precious removal spells on a creature that already fulfilled its purpose.

Try to keep their graveyard in check with and . If we cast Primeval Titan off Summoner's Pact, we should make sure we have two Forests in play not to die in our upkeep to a potential or . Also consider that they have access to and after sideboarding, which can screw up our calculations. If we have no basic Forest in play, but in hand, we musn't tap out but keep up mana to channel it in case Blood Moon comes down.

Pro Tip:

Dress Down negates the ability of to grant an additional land drop, but it doesn't prevent from triggering. The Dryad overrules Dress Down (because of layers) so all our lands still have all basic land types.

Dismember is a must if they run Magus of the Moon. Otherwise you can make a case to keep some Urza's Saga in, especially on the play.

Overall matchup: slightly unfavorable

Hammer Time

While I personally love this matchup, it's a scary one. With their explosiveness and capability to kill as early as turn two too, those Hammer Time decks are sometimes too fast for Amulet players to catch up to. One very important edge for us preboard is our all-star, . This sweet little Beast not only lets us ramp right away without having to survive a turn, it also throws itself under the bus even if a flier, equipped with , swings for 10 or 20 damage.

How To Win:

On the draw, keep hands with turn one Arboreal Grazer or interactive hands with or to avoid losing early. Our answers are way more efficient against their threats than the other way around. Target selection is also very important in this matchup. We don't go for their artifact creatures unless we have to. We want to destroy their , Equipment, and .

We try to play around as well as we can. We let our opponent make the first move unless they are tapped out and we can be sure our spell resolves.

Overall matchup: favorable

Black-Red Scam

Send a prayer we dodge this matchup before every tournament because this is a tough one. They can us twice on turn one, put a 4/4 into play, or summon a turn one followed by a turn two , all of which we are not really prepared for in game one.

How To Win:

Keep up and to avoid an early Blood Moon effect that takes us out of the game. Try to resolve a Primeval Titan as fast as possible. Our chances will rise rapidly once we are able to fetch two lands with it. The longer the games go, the better our chances become. If we can negate their turn one play via Arboreal Grazer or shuffle their Grief or Fury back into their deck with an Endurance, their deck is almost out of gas.

Some Scam decks have access to to get rid of our Titan, which is why we need additional help. helps us stabilize the board and can finish the game. Both are easily castable under a Blood Moon effect. While Tireless Tracker helps us see a lot of cards and outgrow their threats, Dragonlord Atarka often deals with their whole board as most of our opponent's creatures have toughness 2 or less. An 8/8 flier with evasion on top is their almost guaranteed death sentence.

Pro Tip:

If we have a basic Forest in hand or play, and suspect our opponent to slam a Blood Moon effect on their next turn, we can sandbag our and cast it after the Blood Moon has resolved. Both static abilities apply in the same layer and the timestamps decide which effect overides the other. In this case, our later effect wins

.

Overall matchup: clearly unfavorable

Five-Color/Jund Creativity

Another tricky one, both versions. The five-color version has early interaction with to tap a bounce land during our upkeep. Some iterations include , some . The Jund version, on the other hand, runs to one-shot us in a single turn. If we get our Primeval Titan out and they are able to limit us to one creature and avoid our one-shot, they just respond with an so then forces us to sacrifice our Titan. I really thought about hedging against this with because it's also not the worst against Murktide.

However, in a meta, we need a really good reason to include creatures with only 1 toughness. This is also the reason I'm not playing , even though I love the instant-speed land drop. If we are really afraid of this matchup, we can put into our sideboard and run as a fifth Summoner's Pact to be able to take a nongreen creature from our library. Unfortunately, Orvar is basically useless in every other matchup and Five-Color Creativity players can find their way around it, for example by protecting their Archon with .

How To Win:

I'd love to give better advice, but like in many matchups, we simply have to be faster. Against the five-color version this is totally doable, especially on the play. We can also manage it on the draw. However, they can tap down our one land in our second turn's upkeep, which often buys them enough time to resolve their . The Jund version also attacks us from the graveyard with , which makes it even harder for us to win as this can happen as early as turn three.

is our best sideboard card in this matchup since it hits their Dwarf, Goblin, and Treasure tokens. There's a very important subgame when having Engineered Explosives in hand. Do we put our opponent on or ? One forces us to play Engineered Explosives as soon as possible, the other incentivizes us to hold it for as long as possible. From my previous experiences in this matchup, I'd keep Explosives in my hand to protect Primeval Titan with it until I'm able to play and sacrifice it in the same turn cycle to ensure to get at least a one-for-one.

also has good targets in and . Eventually, we have to try to overload the board with creatures in order to prevent the sacrifice of our precious .

Pro Tip:

If we destroy Leyline Binding with its trigger on the stack, our creature won't get exiled.

The second Tracker only comes in against the five-color version. We keep Bojuka Bog against Jund's reanimation angle.

Overall matchup: unfavorable

Burn

This is probably the best matchup for us. We run 34 lands. The odds for to donate us an extra card every turn are quite high. The only thing we really have to worry about is our opponent casting on our hasted, double-striking Primeval Titan. Play around it. Generally speaking, we should have enough cushion to do so.

How To Win:

Honestly, just don't brick and keep a reasonably fast hand. Don't run into a . That's really it.

Pro Tip:

With double in play and stranded in hand, we can fetch to copy one of their Boros lands to make a pseudo-Garrison and give haste to our Titan anyway.

Overall matchup: extremely favorable

Underworld Breach

On paper this matchup looks easy because they neither run nor . However, this deck is surprisingly annoying and can combo very fast and consistently. Also, doesn't stop them from comboing if they play their deck correctly. Moreover, their beatdown plan with Construct tokens is legit. Nonetheless, they are missing the tools to deal with a resolved Titan. The fair version is even easier to beat since they cannot combo kill us and are even more dependent on their graveyard. Still, as the game progresses, they can easily recast four to five from their graveyard and finish us off.

How To Win:

Keep their graveyard in check with Endurance and . If possible, keep up for a potential . Arboreal Grazer is our MVP against Ragavan, just like in our matchup versus Izzet Murktide.

Overall matchup: clearly favorable

Five-Color Zoo

A good matchup for us, they have a decent clock but not quite the tools to stop us.

How To Win:

Don't derp around. Keep a fast hand. Force of Vigor and Engineered Explosives help us deal with their most threatening outputs. Always be aware that they can easily deal the last five points of damage with . The interaction of choice is and , so don't overcommit with and don't fetch too many utility lands as you have to pay the upkeep tax of . With Amulet of Vigor in play this is a little easier as we can simply fetch and with our attack trigger, untap, and bounce Boseiju in order to destroy a potential coming down on the next turn.

Overall matchup: clearly favorable

Monored/Izzet Prowess

Even though many cards overlap with the Burn deck, Prowess is way more explosive and can kill us as early as turn three with all their free spells like , , and sometimes . Moreover, this deck can grind decently with , , and the surveil ability of their .

How To Win:

If we have Engineered Explosives in our starting hand, chances we win are fairly high because their weak spot is relying on typically twelve one-drop creatures. This almost guarantees us a two-, three-, or even four-for-one trade. Try to keep their graveyard in check with Endurance to avoid too much damage from their flying threats and a Lava Dart flashback. Unfortunately, even though Prowess often packs Magus of the Moon, we cannot afford boarding in because our life total is under too much pressure. Besides the painful life loss, a mistimed Dismember can easily result in a complete blowout for us if we run into one or multiple copies of Mutagenic Growth. We simply have to hedge against it by fetching basic Forests when we can afford it.

Overall matchup: slightly unfavorable

Amulet Titan (Mirror)

Mirror matches of decks based on creature combos are always stupid. However, there are more twists to it than initially expected.

How To Win:

Being on the draw is obviously a huge disadvantage in this matchup. It is almost always won by the person who is able to successfully resolve a Primeval Titan and attack with it first. However, being the more experienced and better pilot is even more important.

Attack their mana base aggressively with Boseiju, Who Endures. Don't fall into the trap of ramping your opponent by killing their or with your Boseiju. This is solely an emergency backup plan. Let Force of Vigor and Dismember do the dirty work of removing their artifacts and enchantments. We will often find openings where a well-placed Boseiju on their bounce land or with the untap trigger on the stack will result in a complete blowout and the opponent being unable to pay their at the beginning of their next upkeep.

We board in every removal we can find. Prevent Primeval Titan from being cast. If you are unable to do that, prevent it from attacking at every cost. Hopefully, this guide gives you the knowledge of this archetype and its lines necessary to come out on top more often than not.

Five-Color/Temur Rhinos

There are two prevalent archetypes. We would much rather play against Five-Color Rhinos with than the Temur version with two or three in their main deck.

How To Win:

I know I'm repeating myself, but just be faster. Unfortunately, our creatures and don't line up well against 4/4 trampling Rhinos. Therefore, it is imperative to resolve a Primeval Titan before falling behind. Our opponent can buy a lot of time with , , Leyline Binding, , and to cross the finish line before we are able to finally resolve do that. Engineered Explosives is our MVP against this deck and helps us deal with their Rhinos. Avoid their Blood Moon if you play against the Temur version. Are they fetching for basic lands on their first and second turn? Then don't tap out and keep Boseiju up if you can.

Force only comes in against Temur. Against the five-color version we keep Colossus and Radiant Fountain.

Overall matchup: unfavorable (Temur) to slightly favorable (Five-Color).

White-Blue Control

White-Blue Control can almost be considered an Enchantress deck in 2023. Their main deck alone contains ten to eleven enchantments across Leyline Binding, , and two to three , and can generate an absurd amount of value if they find their . It is very important to win game one, because completing three full games against White-Blue Control is quite unlikely.

How To Win:

Never, I repeat, never overcommit. They are tapped out and we have double , but nothing else in our hand as a followup in case our dies? Just go for and to chain (ideally uncounterable) Titans turn after turn. If we can afford it, we might then even cast the when they tap out to ensure it resolves. If we can't afford it and we know almost certainly that the next Summoner's Pact won't resolve, fetch double with Titan to overwhelm the board. However, we need to play around as well as we can. Relying on topdecks against White-Blue Control is suicidal. We have time, and being patient is important, but we don't have unlimited time either. As the game progresses, they just bury us with more value.

In game one, our plan is rather simple: Find a somehow and cast everything through it. Bounce it with a land if you want to cast another creature with it. In this case, the opponent has plenty of dead counterspells they can't use, which should take us over the finish line.

Game two isn't as simple because , , and sometimes even will come in on their side. So we also have to make sure we have enough mana to pay for our Summoner's Pact. Don't rely on the Primeval Titan trigger too much. Other than that, we simply cast threat after threat, draw cards with , which they will have to answer eventually. Even though the opponent interacts to a certain degree with their graveyard, I would recommend ignoring this and focus on overwhelming them with Tireless Tracker. is often the nail in the coffin, unless they have a Summary Dismissal to counter it. For , we never want to pay the alternative casting cost. I know there's an exception to every rule, but actually try to avoid it. Every card matters in this matchup and we don't want to waste our resources.

One last important note: There are certain board states where they assemble a soft lock with , , and Dress Down or Shark Typhoon. We shouldn't play it out unless our hand is really stacked and we are confident we can overcome it somehow. Rather save time for the sideboard games, you will need it. We can interrupt the lock with , but I'm still not a fan of it in this matchup. However, keeping one Endurance in after sideboarding is also reasonable.

Pro Tip:

Copying their with our can take us over the finish line without casting a single spell. They have a hard time interacting with it since it has ward and should only be a creature during our turn.

Overall matchup: slightly favorable

Yawgmoth

While not necessarily terrible, I hate this matchup. Their combo is just superconsistent, and some lists even have the nightmare duo of and main. If these two cards are on board and they are at a reasonably high life total, simply scoop and save time for the next game(s). Without going into detail: For the lousy cost of 1 life, they draw a card and put a −1/−1 counter on a creature of their choice at instant speed. In game one we are slightly favored, games two and three are tough. Therefore, winning the first is crucial.

How To Win:

Keep an interactive hand with Endurance or Dismember and at least one Forest. Keeping an explosive hand isn't always the best choice. Don't get me wrong, resolving is great. They don't have instant-speed interaction for it unless Yawgmoth is around. However, on the draw, this can be an impossible task if they have mana dorks into . Endurance is our way to interact with their combo. Try to always hardcast it as it is also a reasonable blocker and buys a lot of time.

Sequencing is very important in this matchup. They can ambush us with and badly screw our mana base. If we float mana before casting , be aware that they, at any time, can go for a and fetch Magus, even with the untap trigger of and on the stack. In this case, our Amulet will simply untap a pair of Mountains.

Pro Tip:

can copy their basic Forest if you are afraid of an upcoming Magus of the Moon and don't have a basic Forest in your starting hand.

Overall matchup: even.

Living End

This is another skill-heavy matchup. Our opponent's main deck contains cards that are rarely seen in game one, such as and . We need to consider that when developing our game plan.

How To Win:

If we want to be successful, we have to understand this matchup well. So getting a lot of repetitions in is especially important here. We attack their graveyard with everything we have. Bojuka Bog and Endurance are our best cards. If you have access to , also bring it to battle. Other than that, be patient. If we tap out, they will often punish us with a Subtlety into . Always have the Endurance backup.

Even though good Living End players board in against us, I'm not the biggest advocate of Force of Vigor in this matchup. If they don't have it, its targets are very limited and barely relevant in and . Therefore, and Boseiju, Who Endures are the best options available to us.

Pro Tip:

One of our best tricks on the draw is to clean up and discard a Primeval Titan. If we manage to do this twice, we are very unlikely to lose because two 6/6 tramplers with two triggers are a beating for every opponent. There are only two big problems. How do we know what we face on turn one, and when do we gamble, even if our hand sucks otherwise? This is what I mean by knowing the ins and outs of this matchup, recognizing Living End's play patterns and the cards they play. Look for the signs. Do they drop on turn one? That's a big hint because very few meta decks run this land. If they cycle a in their main phase before playing their land, that's also a strong indicator for Living End.

This trick, by the way, is tried and tested. It worked at LMS Paris where I went to discard twice, on turn one and on turn two. I won that match as my opponent didn't board in graveyard interaction on their end.

Overall matchup: even.

Jund/Jund Saga

Pretty easy. They neither have the tools to race us nor to deal with our Primeval Titan. The only thing we don't want to see is a turn two into a looped .

How To Win:

If we resolve one Primeval Titan, we almost certainly win as they cannot keep up with our value. Keep their graveyard in check with Endurance and Bojuka Bog. Then, we almost beat half their deck: , Wrenn and Six, and . Besides that, if we play our lands and spells every turn, we should be golden. Even if they manage to get us hellbent, we only need one good topdeck to run away with the game. helps us generate even more value, and it outgrows Tarmogoyf in almost no time.

If you are afraid of this matchup (which you really shouldn't be) or there are only Jund boomer players in your local meta, bring and or .

Overall matchup: highly favorable

Eldrazi/Green Tron

We have a fairly favorable matchup against both iterations. Eldrazi Tron's clock is better while Green Tron can spiral out of control faster if we let them. However, most of the time, we are faster and have board interaction to keep them off turn three Tron with Boseiju, Who Endures. Eldrazi Tron has four in their main deck, which can hit us on zero if we kept a hand that relies on . On one, it is quite bad against us since our one-drop should already have resolved. We can still fetch the via or destroy the Chalice with Boseiju.

How To Win:

Keep them off Tron at any cost. We are favored, but don't derp around too much. Eldrazi Tron has a reasonable clock when they have one or even multiple . Green Tron just overwhelms us with value at some point. A resolved or even an are tough to beat if our opponent knows what they are doing. If we resolve our Primeval Titan first and manage to keep up a Boseiju, Who Endures to set them back for a full turn by destroying one of their Tron lands, we have the game almost wrapped up.

Pro Tip:

If we happen to run in our main deck, we can remove their Chalice of the Void on zero by casting it for one generic mana. In this case, it will get zero counters but get past Chalice because it has mana value 1 on the stack.

If your main deck doesn't include Engineered Explosives, please don't bother boarding it in. It is not good at all in this matchup!

Force only comes in against Green Tron. Dismember and the second Tracker only come in against Eldrazi Tron.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

Goblins

Most of the time, whoever is on the play wins this one. We are both turn three creature combo decks. We mostly cannot interact with each other in game one. The sideboard games get more interactive, but only to a certain degree.

How To Win:

Just be faster and play around effects as well as possible. Don't bother their ; if they have it, they have it. We cannot afford donating them an additional land. Cast for two, it's the right amount in 90% of games. Their is a must-answer threat.

Pro Tip:

When they target a creature of ours with , we can interact with their creatures with the ability on the stack to shrink the damage our targeted creature would take.

Overall matchup: unfavorable

Stoneblade

This matchup basically plays out like our game against White-Blue Control, with the difference that both sides are inclined to close the game quickly. They ideally want to play their on turn two and then keep the board under control with counterspells and removal. These lists tend to play , which is one of the most effective card against us.

How To Win:

Try to turn off with a well-timed to buy enough time to fight through their countermagic and .

Pro Tip:

can also target one of our excess lands or for the last missing damage.

Overall matchup: favorable

Hardened Scales

This deck can spiral out of control very fast with , , and an . I generally like this matchup, though, because we have lots of tools to fight them. They can easily one-shot us with or , so try to stop their engine. Some lists run and sometimes play like a pseudo-Infect deck following a protect-the-queen, all-in strategy.

How To Win:

Keep their board under control at all costs. Try to stop the modular chain by clearing their full board. We should be favored in game two and three because a lot of hate comes in on our side while they have no real way to interact with a resolved .

Pro Tip:

Our opponent has to target another creature to move +1/+1 counters via modular. Wait for the target to be announced and destroy that creature with a timely Dismember or Force then to get rid of the counters forever.

Overall matchup: clearly favorable

Red-Green Titan Shift

Easy. They are way too slow to keep up with our combo kill. Their Primeval Titan does not come into play before turn four, and even then they often need two additional turns to close out the game.

How To Win:

The only card we have to worry about is because, unlike ours, their deck includes fetch lands. They threaten 12 to 24 damage off two land drops if one or even two are in play.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

Temur Scapeshift

This matchup is very annoying because they hide their combo behind a control shell.

How To Win:

The more explosive our start, the better our chances to win because they can basically only handle our threats temporarily by bouncing or tapping them down. They have to tap and to bounce our lands. So be careful and don't become greedy. They also have in their sideboard. If we don't play around it, we may not be able to pay for our Summoner's Pact and lose the game on the spot. Destroy their Dryad of the Ilysian Grove immediately and keep up Boseiju for their Valakut. Their value engine consists of , , and cards flashbacked with . Therefore, we want to keep their graveyard in check as well.

Pro Tip:

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle triggers check upon resolution, which means: if we destroy one of their Mountains with the triggers on the stack leaving less than six, the whole ability fizzles. I did this countless times with back in the day, nowadays with . Because they don't expect the Beast, they often go for six Mountains and multiple Valakuts, which gives us the chance to punish them. Good Scapeshift players won't and will often float blue mana to keep up a Cryptic Command or anyway.

Overall matchup: even.

Asmo Food

A strategy that is rather unpopular offline, it is actually fairly strong. The variously colored versions play out quite differently. Black-green overwhelms with value and slowly drains us out with , while the deck can take infinite turns with in play.

How To Win:

Most importantly, stop them from getting infinite turns by killing their . They run Urza's Saga, so we'll find plenty of targets for our Force of Vigor. The second most important thing to ensure is that they don't have an in play or no Food tokens to let our Primeval Titan take 6 self-inflicted damage. Engineered Explosives should help us out here. In general, it's best to cast it for zero. The good thing is, they have no interaction with our creatures besides Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, so killing it basically guarantees safe passage. Be aware that they run , which lets them combo off basically out of nowhere. Therefore, if we don't know what lands to grab with Titan, we should consider Bojuka Bog.

Overall matchup: slightly unfavorable

This deck lost a lot of consistency and strength with the banning of . It isn't part of my worst nightmares anymore since the deck is slower now in closing out games. But if we take too much time, they can loop with their . Things will go downhill from there pretty quickly, so don't play it loose.

How To Win:

Don't overcommit on creatures. While they have a lot of free spells in and , each costs them a lot of resources. Play patiently and fetch for and or double Urza's Saga, and overwhelm them with value. Dismember will help us stop their chains if they play it.

Be aware that some lists run in their sideboard to go over the top and take our next turn. If we have a to pay in our upkeep and they control our turn, they can choose not to pay, and we lose the game on the spot.

Overall matchup: clearly favorable

Even though I see us slightly favored, be prepared for the 13/13 rumbling in. Luckily, we have to buy us valuable time and the additional turn to string something together.

How To Win:

A well-timed can result in a complete blowout for them. However, their main deck is painful for our tokens. We need to be careful with target selection for our Valakut triggers in this one. If we target them and can't finish them off, their Death's Shadow might grow too large. If we target their Shadow and they cycle a , we potentially don't deal enough damage afterward.

Pro Tip:

Be careful when attacking into one or multiple Death's Shadows. This can backfire if we mess up the trample damage. When we attack with a 6/6 Titan and our opponent blocks with a 1/1 Shadow, the latter can survive. You might wonder how this is possible. If we assign, say, 1 lethal combat damage to and 5 damage to our opponent, the Shadow's static ability will update its toughness before state-based actions kill it. So Shadow takes 1 damage but now has 6 toughness. You can, however, assign more than lethal damage to circumvent this issue, and they can't change the math by losing life between the time damage is assigned and dealt.

Their prime counter is . If you suspect they have it in hand, you can easily play around it by by targeting yourself with Bojuka Bog or Endurance. Just don't expect to resolve Summoner's Pact this way.

Overall matchup: slightly favorable

Sure, they can get us with absurd draws and double to lock us out of the game, but that requires a lot of luck on their side. They have a reasonable clock but almost no tool to stop us from resolving Primeval Titan, which they can only bounce temporarily with . Be aware of the iteration. They can fetch out .

How To Win:

Have a reasonable clock yourself and fetch for Engineered Explosives if you notice they overwhelm the board.

Pro Tip:

Every noncreature spell costs us one more while is on the board. Let's say we want to deploy with two counters. The way sunburst is worded gives us the option to pay one colored mana for X and pay the Thalia tax with a differently colored mana, efectively circumventing the tax.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

This is a fun deck, but it is not prepared for a proper fight against us. They heavily rely on to find their win conditions. But this will happen only after turn four.

How To Win:

Always target their , not the , with Boseiju. The only scary thing is into . Try to not expose a Primeval Titan to them in that case, or you might get a good taste of your own medicine.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

Both versions try to overwhelm the board, even though each plays out differently. The colorless version tries to dump their whole hand as early as turn two while the monoblue tries to generate more value with . Both decks don't do anything of major concern.

How To Win:

As long as we play around , we should be golden. Even if they have a huge Construct, , et cetera, we can always fetch Boseiju and a bounce land with the attack trigger of Primeval Titan to destroy it. helps us buy enough time by chumping an equipped with or a Construct. Just make sure to keep interaction for their , which can one-shot us easily.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

At first glance, this matchup looks favorable for us, but it is actually fairly even. They have a reasonable clock and interaction for our noncreature spells in , for our creatures in , and for our lands in and . Once our Primeval Titan has resolved, we are almost guaranteed to win, but getting there can be tricky, especially on the draw.

How To Win:

Try to force two-for-one trades. We have no interaction for their answers, so just make it as costly as possible for them. Cast the turn one Amulet of Vigor into their Force of Negation, slam the Primeval Titan into their Subtlety. As long as we trade one for two, everything is fine. We board out our for games two and three. They attack our lands, and turning Urza's Saga in particular into an Island Saga outright kills it.

Pro Tip:

Bouncing the land with Spreading Seas or the counter from Tide Shaper attached to it lets the enchantment or counter fall off and can render islandwalk moot. However, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove gives every land of ours all basic land types, so there are board states where we don't want to play it out when facing and/or .

Overall matchup: even.

One of our worst, if not the worst, matchup. Not only is Infect capable of winning as early as turn two, they also have an unblockable (if they play the blue version) and a flying . As if this weren't enough, they have countermagic and protection for their filthy little infect creatures, too, which usually outstrips our limited capabilities to interact.

How To Win:

We board in all the removal we can find and take aggressive mulligans to get either a very explosive start of our own or a very interaction-heavy hand. Most of the time, they keep hands with only one or two creatures. If we are able to remove them, they might be stranded with only pump spells, and we can steal a win in this nightmare matchup.

Pro Tip:

Never fight during their combat step unless absolutely necessary. Let them make the first move or fight in their end step so they use their pump and protection spells without distributing additional poison. Them tapping out gives us the green light to cast an Engineered Explosives that can't be countered on our turn.

Overall matchup: highly unfavorable

Luckily for us, this is pretty much a meme deck. They run so many nonfunctional cards that they brick very often. Moreover, they play almost as many lands as we do, and their only in-game action is essentially casting , which always reveals a card with mana value 3–15.

How To Win:

Honestly, this is horrendous. Just hope for them to brick and for us to be faster. We have no counterspell in our 75, which would be our only way to interact with spells cast off their hand. The only thing we can and should do is keep their graveyard in check with Bojuka Bog and Endurance so they cannot flashback their Blast and retrace their . Destroying with is also not the best idea as this ramps them up.

Overall matchup: extremely unfavorable

This is worse than Infect, our worst matchup aside from Calibrated Blast. The printing of caused a resurgence and rise in popularity. We now have to expect to encounter this matchup at least once at every bigger tournament, which is why we dedicate a full sideboard slot to this matchup in .

How To Win:

Honestly, just hope they don't hit a with one of their mill spells and cast on it in game one. (Luckily most lists have moved Extraction to the sideboard to make room for Jace.) Otherwise, it will get really tough to steal game one. Also, chances are we won't give our Titan haste because a relevant land is no longer in the library. This can lead to very awkward Primeval Titan turns. After sideboarding, Kozilek is our most precious asset besides Endurance and we really hope not to draw it.

Make sure that our Endurance resolves by casting it via or via evoke cost when our opponent is tapped out. Not only does it shuffle our whole graveyard into our deck, it also protects us against Surgical Extraction and . Be aware that Mill can also run , so we might need to hold back a Boseiju for that crucial turn when we go for lethal.

This is the rare occasion where I recommend going with the 72-card special postboard, which most likely lets us survive one more turn. There's no rule in Magic [since 2013] that forbids boarding up to more than 60 cards, so we should use it to our advantage.

Pro Tip:

Primeval Titan's search effect is optional. If we suspect them to have an and we cannot give our Titan haste since one or both relevant lands are already milled and other lands cannot help us improve the board state either, it might be beneficial to decline to look for the two lands.

Overall matchup: highly unfavorable

If we know what we are up against, this is a rather comfortable matchup. We just play around by keeping a hand with a basic Forest or keeping up Boseiju at all times. Since they do basically everything at sorcery speed and don't have much interaction besides Moon and , we are certainly favored. A quick start of them can be troubling, however.

How To Win:

We try to keep a hand with a basic Forest and try to avoid exposing our precious bounce lands to a effect. Since most lists run , our lands are under even more pressure via . We don't care about their uptick. We just overwhelm the board with bigger and better creatures. Tireless Tracker should be great insurance to survive the midgame. But remember we cannot crack our Clue tokens or with a Karn in play.

Overall matchup: clearly favorable

This is a straight-up race. Storm cannot really interact with what we are doing, and we can only attack their graveyard with Endurance and Bojuka Bog, which admittedly makes storming off way harder for them.

How To Win:

We board in every piece of graveyard hate and targeted removal we can find. Be aware that some lists include Blood Moon in their sideboard. It is possible they try to overwhelm us with a big since they expect heavy graveyard interaction from us. Therefore, we should bring in our Engineered Explosives to fetch it with if needed. I'm not a big fan of boarding solely against Blood Moon and would rather work with Boseiju. However, if they show us or , Force is reasonable.

If you run , bring it to battle. , their primary engine to combo, has to target us and will fizzle against Veil. Try to play around or simply board out .

Overall matchup: even.

Maybe a blast from the past, but I still run into it from time to time, especially at Friday Night Magic. Unless they have the nuts, they do nothing to cause us a headache.

How To Win:

We power out Primeval Titan and grab our Bojuka Bog as fast as possible. Our main deck Endurance comes in very handy and should let us enjoy a rather comfortable game one. In game two, we get access to two more Endurances. Just be aware that their start can be ultraexplosive. So we should rather take aggressive mulligans until we find a super fast hand on our own, or a piece of interaction to keep their graveyard in check.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

Monowhite Hatebears is barely even a deck anymore in Modern. Alhough basically each set brings more hatebears, having the right in hand at the right time is getting more and more difficult since the format's metagame has become so diverse. If they happen to have the correct selection in hand, with and , things can get rough. Overall this matchup still favors us.

How To Win:

If we survive the early game and are able to resolve a Primeval Titan, we are almost guaranteed to win.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

I haven't seen this deck in a while. But for the sake of completeness, you get a sideboard guide for this matchup as well.

How To Win:

Honestly, playing our regular game should suffice. Much of their discard becomes dead quickly when we're left with mainly lands in hand, improving our topdecks even further. This also eansures and similar become active rather late. is annoying, but our superstar Arboreal Grazer throws itself under the bus gladly if this means our lord and savior Primeval Titan sees another turn.

Pro Tip:

If we urgently need just any cards in hand, we can simply get two bounce lands off Primeval Titan and return both.

Overall matchup: highly favorable

Another blast from the past. This is essentially as much of a freebie as playing against Burn. We cannot interact with their creatures, but the good thing is, we normally don't have to.

Overall matchup: extremely favorable

Easy matchup. They are quite slow and try to resolve a to lock us out of the game. Fortunately, this plan is not viable against us at all, at least not once we move to the sideboard.

How To Win:

Keep their draw engine in check and, most importantly, play around Blood Moon. Other than that, we have plenty of time to kill them in basically any way desired.

Overall matchup: extremely favorable

This deck would likely be considered tier one if a card called didn't exist. They can go off early, and Valakut triggers are the only way for us to interact with their creatures in game one.

How To Win:

We bring in all the removal we can find. They will likely keep a greedy hand against us, with mana dorks and a low land count, in part because that's what their deck does. So if we are able to kill their creatures early on, they may not recover. Nonetheless, a good player will only commit to the board if they can overcome potential pieces of interaction.

Overall matchup: highly unfavorable

As is the case so often, the pairing against another combo deck comes down to a simple race. If they play it correctly and never give us a chance to destroy their before they activate it, we cannot really interact with them.

How To Win:

Aggressively target their lands with Boseiju, Who Endures. It is a guaranteed and sets them back a full turn since they only use the from Zendikar Rising. Other than that, hope be faster and take aggressive mulligans.

Overall matchup: clearly unfavorable

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