“The Sun never sets on the Zacama Empire” – Richard Garfield
Foreward Note
This article is written by Keegan, anything in red will be from the Alex, like god dropping sick knowledge (and any links you may see).
Key
BD : Banned deck
* : started the game
Banned Decks and Game Decks
| Player | Banned | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 |
| Jeff | Krenko | Sheoldred | Sythis | Satya* |
| Keegan | Zur | Zacama* | Uril | Zacama |
| Rich | Chatterfang | Caesar | Trelessara | Caesar |
| Sean | Ur-Dragon | Obuun | Rats* | Hazel |
Game 1
Caesar vs Sheoldred vs Obuun vs Zacama
Keegan leads off the game but there are no significant turn 1 plays. As we round into turn 2, Zacama plays a land and begins to ramp. Another round of lands from everyone else. Turn 3 rolls around, Keegan has 7 mana on the board including a Strip Mine. Rich casts a Dark Confidant, and a Jet Medallion.
Sean casts a Sword of Forge and Frontier. Strip mine gets used to blast Sean’s freshly played Stomping Ground to cut off his red source. Jeffcasts out a Rankle, Master Pranks. Turn 4, Zacama enters the battlefield, gets the untap and is promptly removed.
Rich casts Dark Ritual into casting Etali. Etali is promptly removed by Jeff. Sean casts out Obuun perfectly on curve. Jeff swings Rankle at Sean taking advantage of his flying ability. Jeff elects to use all modes forcing a health drain, discard, draw and creature sacrifice.
Turn 5 Keegan recasts Zacama with no response, promptly zapping Dark Confidant and Jet Medallion. Rich misses a land but casts an Impassioned Orator. Obuun reenters the battlefield.
Incredible ammount of action in just this opening block of text. The strip is a really interesting concept in EDH. Not as powerful as traditional MTG due to having way more opponents, but the ability to hit any land is very powerful with the cradle like effects running around now. Really nice balancing effect here as well. I am not a huge fan of spot removal, but sniping commanders when you have it is nice. Helps reset the ramp if you are unable to do so yourself. Lot of great power coming out early too, both T3 drops from Rich had to paint a bit of a target on his back. I also need to note my love for Impassioned Orator; OG M20 Ajani’s Pridemate deck on Arena helped lay the foundation for my love for this game.
Turn 6 Life totals (Turn Order) K:38 R:35 S:34 J:38
Rich removes Zacama again! Sean prays for lands as he seems to hit a drought. Jeff casts out Vito, of the Dusk Rose causing a lot of aggro to be aimed in his direction. Keegan casts Zendikar Resurgent doubling the rate his lands produce mana. Rich jams a 3/3 Orator at an open Keegan. V.A.T.S. Is used to remove Vito and Obuun at the same time.
Absolute play of the night. Following that Obuun reentered the battlefield, *Que up ELO’s Cant bring me down* (aye aye cap’n, DJ Puddle on the turntable)
Keegan recasts Zacama who enters the the battlefield yet again, and with a fury. Immediately blasting Phyrexian Arena, Abundance, Impassioned Orator, Gauntlet of Power, Blood Artist and Mayhem Devil. Jeff blasts Zacama with a Feed the Swarm, in response Zacama clears the rest of the board. (Hidden camera footage of Zacama during this) Jeffs turn, he casts Sanguine Bond, yet again making everyone nervous.
ELO is a proud sponsor of tonight’s games as Keegan recasts Zacama again. Sean casts a Naya Charm into a Struggle to get rid of Zacama once and for all. LOL. In the same turn, riding the lightning, Zacama is recast, equipping Lightning Greaves to his feet for some protection. Keegan jams into Caesar for 9 commander damage. Rich plays a land with an empty hand. Sean casts out a Cavalier of Thorns, into a board wipe, returning a Hour of Revelation to the top of his library. Jeff casts out Lich’s Mastery with hope in his eyes.
This was only 3 turns of play, and it is bonkers. Zacama is one of the scariest decks to play against if you have fragile pieces. I had a league where it was in against both my Hapatra and Sygg deck. Just shut them off basically. Every turn is essentially a time walk with it down. I need to note how sick Struggle is. Had never seen that card but really like what it does, great add in there Sean. Also, Jeff man c’mon. You are killing me! The Mastery after the hour of rev was put on top of the deck! You committed seppuku with extra steps.
Turn 9 Life totals (Turn Order) K:34 R:18 S:32 Sh:27
Keegan recasts Zacama, equips the greaves and jams into Rich for 9, killing him with commander damage. Sean draws his Hour of Revelation, and blasts it off. Killing Shaffer immediately because of Lich’s Mastery (womp womp). Keegan casts an Aggravated Assault and swings at Sean until he is dead and beaten (I believe it was 4 times). Yet again Zacama roars in ecstasy bringing home another win for Keegan.
Results: Keegan: 1 Sean: 2 Jeff: 3 Rich: 4
This is a brutal deck to play against, and it showcased why with 2 black decks at the table. Zacama on paper seems incredibly stupid, but it is the wincon of the deck, so it functions way different. The stats on this deck do not lie, the group needs to load their deck with some answers or Zacama is going to wreck havoc all year.
Game 2
Trelessara vs Sythis vs Karumonix vs Uril
Sean starts this showdown off, but Jeff steals the show casting a Mana Crypt (Rip). Keegan casts out an Authority of the Consuls but scariest of all is Rich. Rich’s opening turn Started with a Mana Crypt (Banned), Chrome Mox (for a white card), an Authority of Consuls, shocks in a Temple Garden then casts a Birds of Paradise for good measure. A pretty casual start to our league night!
Sean doing making all Rats proud, summons is first of many Rat Colony cards. Jeff casts his own Mana Crypt (RIP) into an Archon of Sun’s Grace, Keegan ramps with Three Visits. Rich takes a Crypt bolt to the face, casts his commander Trelessara.
Making it all the way back to Sean for the third turn, he casts another Rat Colony and yet another Mana Crypt(RIP) etbs. Starting to fill the sewers up. Jeff takes a Crypt bolt to the gut, not knowing that the pain will stop in approximately 20 days. Keegan plays a land. Rich casts out the bitterly hated Suture Priest, then promptly jams his now 4/4 Trelessara into the looming threat that is Jeff’s Sythis deck.
Sean, seeing all this crypt carnage survives his roll, swings his Rat Colony at Rich landing some handy damage. Second main, Sean cracks off a Diabolic Intent sacrificing one of his Rat Colony to search for a card. Jeff calls upon Sythis and she enters the battlefield. He then casts an Abundance, Sylvan Library and then an Idolized onto his Archon of Sun’s Grace and jams at Keegan for 11 flying damage. Keegan’s turn starts and he cries, feeling left out of all this Mana Crypt chaos, casts Uril as well as a Sanctum Weaver. Rich survives his Crypt roll, casts a Griffin Aerie, then swings his commander at Sean for 8 more commander damage.
This is a lot packed into the first 4 turns. Explosive start from Rich, huge ramp but leaving him with 2 cards in hand. I am interested to see how it plays out for him honestly, it is a bold start but with the right hand its the nuts. I pray Sean got a Thrumming Stone with his intent. Also love seeing Jeff running Archon, fav set of all time and a banger of a card. It was awesome in draft, and makes me extremely happy to see it ran in EDH.
Turn 5 Life totals (Turn Order) S:40 J:29 K:34 R:42
Sean begins his turn by dodging yet another crypt bolt. Life totals holding strong, he casts another Rat Colony and a Valley Rotcaller. Jeff begins his turn and is not so lucky, taking 3 damage from his mana crypt(thank god it was banned). Jeff then takes absolute control of his top deck using Sylvan Library and Abundance trigger ordering to get land, nonland, nonland hitting a Boseju, Grasp of Fate and then a Colossification. I smell a pop off coming soon. Casting Grasp of fate, he nails Sanctum Weaver, Trelessara and one of Seans rats. Rich, channeling his inner Pioneer, counters with a Tamiyo’s Safekeeping protecting his commander. Shaffer then casts an All That Glitters onto his Archon, promptly swinging into Keegan and making him All that Bleeds taking 23 damage.
Keegan, leaving mana open, swings into Sean for 5 damage with Uril. Rich smells blood in the water, casts a Bear Umbra onto Trelessara. Keegan, having open mana threatens to Settle the Wreckage. Rich then jams into Sean for 16 damage, ending the threat of the Rats.
For anyone reading at home, if Keegan has 2 white and 4 total mana up, do not swing your board. He has Settle 50% of the time, all the time. But some really good fun here in this turn. I love the little combo that Jeff was able to put together. Grasp of Fate such a back breaking card, great value for what it does. Archon becoming the main focus is A+ too. I really like how he is shaping up his board.
Turn 6 Life totals (Turn Order) S:Dead J:53 K:12 R:65
Jeff, having a tremendous turn 5 decides, let’s do it again. Gets hit by the mana crypt, casts Sage’s Reverie onto his Archon. Traps Trelessara beneath a Kenith’s Transformation. The Archon is swung at Rich, who chumps with one of his convenient Griffins. Keegan draws and casts Runes of Deus onto Uril (how original) then swings a 9/9 double strike trample at Rich landing 18 commander damage. Rich gets blasted by his crypt THEN swings Trelessara at Keegan forcing him to Settle (take it from me, it was meant for Jeff). Trelly moves to the command zone and returns in the second main phase.
E V E R Y S I N G L E T I M E H E H A S I T
Turn 7 Life totals (Turn Order) S:Dead J:75 K:19 R:55
Shaffer casts Strong Back onto his Archon and then a Mantle of Ancients. To rub salt into the wound he also dumps out a Smothering Tithe. In shock to the world he swings his now 34/34 Archon at Rich, and swings Sythis, Starfield Mystic and 7 Pegasi at Keegan. Keegan holds on with 3 life, draws a land. Swings Uril at Jeff, leaving himself open, knowing that this was his last move of the game. Rich gains an insane amount of health putting his Trelessara at 12/12 and swings to finish Keegan off.
Need to note how cracked the damn Fallout cards are. Insane to see Ancestral Mask getting that heavy of a creep
Turn 6 Life totals (Turn Order) S:Dead J:88 K:Dead R:73
The next three turns are absolute grinders. Huge damage exchanges into huge health totals. Teeter Tottering who had the advantage. Rich had to T-pro out to survive a massive onslaught from Jeff Turn 8, clapped back next turn. But one can never trully overcome the sheer might that an engine running enchantress deck can bring as Jeff swings in for the kill with his board of 25+ creatures, many over 10/10 with a mishmash of keywords utterly annihilating Rich.
A hard fought battle but Jeff and Sythis emerge victorious.
Really great clash here. Two Selesnya decks throwing hands. Sythis just has so many lines to close it almost hurts in the deck. How aura’s always is though. Need to wipe em to the shadow realm. Trelly went super hard tho and showed up extremely well. Probably my most feared deck from Rich. That thing is really nasty, and I have a soft spot for uncommon commanders.
Results: Jeff: 1 Rich: 2 Keegan: 3 Sean: 4
Game 3
Caesar vs Satya vs Hazel vs Zacama
*Notes are bit sporatic for this game*
The third game of the night is always a bloodthirsty one.
Jeff starts the game with his Satya deck, an absolute monster if left alone. Overall everyone had a pretty normal start. Jeff is building energy counters, Sean is casting squirrels, Rich is casting humans, Keegan is ramping.
That is until turn 4 Jeff decided to drop an on curve Anointed Procession in his token deck, Keegan cast both Cultivate and Spoils of Victory, Rich cast Krenko, and Hazel entered the battlefield.
Turn 5 Jeff casts out Satya, makes a copy of his 2/1 netting him 2 attacking 2/1s headed towards Keegan. Keegan casts out Virtue of Strength (t5 for this is beyond outta pocket) and Champion’s Helm. Rich casts out Caesar and swings Krenko into Keegan netting 2 Goblins pinging Jeff for 3 damage off Caesar. Sean casts Honored Dreyleader.
Turn 6 Jeff does energy shenanigans and attacks Keegan again. Here is where the game takes a turn for the worse for everyone BUT Keegan. Zacama enters the battlefield, allowing the untap leaving access to 30+ mana. Zacama is then removed by Rich, Keegan casts a Mana Reflection, Crops a basic forest for a Sun Home, in the same turn recasts Zacama returns making his mana pool end up at just under 75 mana. Keegan then clears the entire board with Zacama.
I need to put a break here cause this needs to be talked about. The amount of action that occurred on just Keegan’s turn here is insane. A mana doubler by T5 is nuts, but a second one with 30+ mana in the pool next turn is even more outta pocket. But then recasting a 9 drop on T5 and netting over double the mana is insane. This is the problem with this deck. I spoke to him recently on it and explained between our original “meme” decks. Mine is Arcades, and for an analogy, Arcades is the engine, the support pieces are my plane body, and the walls are the bombs. With Zacama they are the bomb, plane, and engine, and the ramp pieces are the nitrous that some nut job decided was needed in the bomber. It is a one man show that appears far before it should. And it seems almost as if there is no answer. You simply cannot out race it, it goes far too fast.
All players play a land and pass, until it is Keegan’s turn once more. Continuously clearing boards and blasting into each player for doule strike damage. Zacama made quick work of his competitors. To quote myself from my note, “Zacama made landing, gained foothold, and began to extract SALT from the people around him.”
Results: Keegan: 1 Jeff: 2 Sean: 3 Rich: 4