by Johnny Cycles, May 24th, 2024
This month we get a bonus article! And while it was a tough choice between the new rare snake horse mount, Caustic Bronco, and Terror of the Peaks, I went with the latter. Probably no surprise there. It is a Dragon after all.
Decisions, decisions…
But it wasn’t just that one deck plays Dragons and the other doesn’t (or does it?) that swayed me. Amulet Dinos offers the fulfillment of two dreams…
I really want to use Ghalta, Primal Hunger to turn my 2-drop Belligerent Yearling into a 12/2 with trample. And I almost equally want to do 12 to my opponent’s face with Terror of the Peaks and Ghalta, Primal Hunger. Will we get to live these dreams? There’s only one way to find out!
Decklist – Amulet Dinos with Terror of the Peaks
by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern
Creatures (24)
| 4 Arboreal Grazer | |
| 4 Belligerent Yearling | |
| 4 Pugnacious Hammerskull | |
| 4 Wayward Swordtooth | |
| 4 Terror of the Peaks | |
| 4 Ghalta, Primal Hunger |
Spells (2)
| 2 Explore |
Artifacts (6)
| 4 Amulet of Vigor | |
| 1 Lavaspur Boots | |
| 1 Shadowspear |
Lands (28)
Sideboard (15)
| 3 Tormod’s Crypt | |
| 1 Lavaspur Boots | |
| 1 Pithing Needle | |
| 1 Shadowspear | |
| 3 Veil of Summer | |
| 3 Brotherhood’s End | |
| 3 Force of Vigor |
Deck Tech
Primary Game Plan
You can read all about the idea of this deck here, but the TL;DR is that we’re using an Amulet Titan shell to cast really big Dinosaurs and win the game. We’ve substituted dinos wherever we could, so our extra land drops come thanks to Wayward Swordtooth, rather than Dryad of the Ilysian Grove. Our big finisher is Ghalta, Primal Hunger in conjunction with Terror of the Peaks, rather than Primeval Titan and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. There’s no doubt that Amulet Titan is the better deck, but I like to think we’re the more fun one! We’re definitely the more janky one.
Before I get to the game play, I’ll just preface it by saying, man, this is a hard archetype! I don’t think there’s a single practice game in which I don’t make a costly mistake. Which is why it’s good to practice. I’ve only clocked about 20 matches with the Amulet archetype, which isn’t that many, and the deck is much more difficult to play than it seems when I’m losing to it. Shout out to all those Amulet Titan players who make it look easy!
Practice Match 1 vs. Rakdos Scam
Practice Match 2 vs. Goryo’s Vengeance
Practice Match 3 vs. Death Cloud
Practice Match 4 vs. Rakdos Vampires
Practice Match 5 vs. Amulet Titan
Practice Match Record: 0-5
Impressions from Practice Matches
Well, those were some tantalizing and frustrating losses, in no small part due to a variety of play mistakes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: mad respect for the Amulet Titan players out there who make it look so easy. The deck is definitely better than the above record. Besides some costly misplays, we also had some clunky draws along the way. But we also won enough games to see the power and synergy of the deck that continues to give me hope. I really do think Dinosaurs are a viable tribe in this shell and Terror of the Peaks gives us some additional reach that make for some fun lines.
Is the Dragon better than Regisaur Alpha? I’ll wait until league play to make my decision.
Which is better?
Changes to the Deck
I made a few changes to the deck along the way. I finally cut The One Ring in favor of Shadowspear and Lavaspur Boots. I almost always cut The One Ring in sideboarding to begin with. And, with only the two copies, there isn’t that great of a chance we draw it, as is borne out in our practice matches. Then, if we are lucky enough to draw it, there is also a good chance we don’t draw the second one before dying from burden counters.
The additions of two more tutorable artifacts that shore up some weaknesses of the deck feels like the better choice. There are several reasons I believe this to be the case. First, unlike Amulet Titan, we can’t search up Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and burn our opponent out without dealing combat damage. Yes, Terror of the Peaks and Ghalta, Primal Hunger offer us a similar winning line, but without being able to tutor for the pieces, we are left hoping to draw them in a timely fashion.
Similarly, we don’t have a way to tutor up our Slayers’ Stronghold to attack the turn we resolve Ghalta, Primal Hunger. Fetching (or drawing) Lavaspur Boots rather than a second or third Amulet of Vigor allows us to swing out the turn we resolve our finisher in our best impression of the Amulet Titan decks.
Second, we don’t play a lot of interaction, similar to Amulet Titan, but also don’t have the reliable turn 3 win or a land we can fetch up that then bolts any target with each additional Mountain. In games where we’re losing the race, Shadowspear can gain us back some life and swing the game in our favor quickly. The trample it gives is also not nothing, since, other than Ghalta, none of our threats have it.
How will these differences play out? Will we be able to live our many dreams with Ghalta, Primal Hunger, Belligerent Yearling, and Terror of the Peaks? Let’s find out!
Friendly League
Match 1 vs. Orzhov Scam/Stoneblade
Match 2 vs. Hardened Scales
Match 3 vs. Primeval Titan
Warning: the sound wasn’t working during recording, so… I’m posting the video nevertheless. We did manage to get a game against the GOAT Amulet of Vigor deck, but once again lost to Primeval Titan tutoring up Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle.
Match 4 vs. Druid Storm
Match 5 vs. Mono Red Prowess
Friendly League Record: 1-4
Wrap-up
Overall, it was a disappointing and frustrating league. We’ll always have match 1 and a couple of games here and there, but even those wins didn’t feel great. The deck felt clunky and slow. Some of this was definitely user error. Besides a handful of costly mistakes, I’m sure I missed some lines or didn’t have the vision to see possible lines with a 7 I decided to ship back. This is a challenging archetype, which is one reason it’s so much fun to play, but I need more practice before I play this deck optimally.
Or, that’s just wishful thinking. Perhaps the error is in deck building, rather than deck playing.
That being said, over the course of these 10 matches we do get to see our plan come together. What we lack is consistency. It can’t all be chalked up to bad luck or bad draws. Obviously, we aren’t playing Summoner’s Pact, which greatly improves the Amulet Titan decks, and I don’t think we want to. However, there surely is something else we can play to help smooth out our draws. Maybe the secret really is more Explore effects. Maybe it’s time to cut Belligerent Yearling?
I’ll keep working on it. But for now, I think it’s time to move on to some other janky decks on my list, as well as revisit some of the decks I haven’t played in a league yet.
As always, thanks for reading and watching!
