Abzan Amalia Combo 

Current Winrate: 67,9% after 53 Games
Diamond and Mythic League MTGA

With the new set “The Lost Caverns of Ixalan” we got a new interesting card named Amalia Benavides Aguirre. Amelia offers a new 2 card combo in Explore or Pioneer.  

The Combo: 

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To complete the combo we need something that can activate the combo like Cenote Scout, Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom or Prosperous Innkeeper. 

Turn 3 Kill:

A turn 3 kill is also possible if you have Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom turn 1, turn 2  Amalia Benavides Aguirre and turn 3 Wildgrowth Walker. The turn 3 kill is rare, just saying ^^

Deck

After 20 Games with this version I think the "Maindeck" is finished. Certainly the sideboard needs to adapt to the meta. At the end of the description you can find the 20 matchups i had with this deck. 

What makes this version good in my opinion?  

The resilience to removal and the protection of the combo. In my opinion Selfless Savior and Selfless Spirit are one of the best inclutions that the deck have. Also the maindeck Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar helps the deck dramatically to push through instant removal and counters. It also can draw us in some games many cards. 

In combination with Chord of Calling the deck has now the option to protect the combo or combo pieces in instant speed. 

The next all star in this deck is Voice of the Blessed. I think through out the 20 matchups it safed me more than enough wins. It combos also perfectly with Amalia Benavides Aguirre because we don't have to wait another turn to combo kill only with Amalia, Voice survives the "Destroy all creatures" part of Amalia. 

Return to the Ranks is also a key piece in this deck and can win us the game out of a losing spot. Although, I don't think we need more then two copies of it in the maindeck.

What are my thoughts about the sideboard?

I think the sideboard needs always in every deck a little bit tinkering. However, the main thought of the sideboard building was to have cards against the bad matchups like control or removal heavy decks. Also I wanted to use the potential of Cord of Calling to search for sideboard cards. 

What where the last changes in this version of the deck? 

Maindeck where never changes, only the sideboard was changend. 

Sideboard Changes: 

-2 Go Blank
-1 Haywire Mite
-1 Archon of Emeria
-1 Reidane, God of the Worthy
15. December
-1 Heroic Intervention

+1 Shapers' Sanctuary 
+1 Skyclave Apparition
+1 Jirina, Dauntless General
+1 Lion Sash only because this version is more white than green heavy. If your version has more green, use Scavenging Ooze
+1 Return to the Ranks
15. December
+1 Knight of Dusk's Shadow for the mirror matchups and mono w lifegain decks.

Overall, Go Blank was fine, but we have so much to use against Control decks in our sideboard that I didn't have spaces for it most of the time. The same is true for Archon of Emeria and Reidane, God of the Worthy. I wanted to focus more on discard spells/creatures like Deep-Cavern Bat, however, Deep-Cavern Bat could also be changed with Thoughtseize. 

Sideboard Guide:

Raktos Midrange: 

-2 Chord of Calling
-1 Dawnbringer Cleric
-1 Cenote Scout

+3 Shapers' Sanctuary
+1 Return to the Ranks

Because Rakdos has always a punch of removal, we are boarding Chord of Calling out. Without creatures it is not as good. If you see mass removal like Ritual of Soot or Brotherhood's End you can also make this changes: 

-1 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
+1 Heroic Intervention

It is also possible to bring 1-2 Deep-Cavern Bat.

Rakdos Sacrifice:

-2 Chord of Calling
-1 Dawnbringer Cleric
-1 Cenote Scout
-2 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar

+3 Shapers' Sanctuary
+1 Haywire Mite
+2 Skyclave Apparition

Return to the Ranks isn't nessessary but you can bring it in if you see more removal than usual.

Overall Rakdos Sacrifice is a better matchup than Midrange. Sacrifice is mostly relying on creatures and don't plays as much removal as Rakdos Midrange.

UW Control:

-3 Chord of Calling
-1 Cenote Scout
-1 Wildgrowth Walker
-1 Voice of the Blessed
-1 Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom


+3 Deep-Cavern Bat
+1 Return to the Ranks don't bring it in if your opponent plays a Discontinuity Control version and you have seen Farewell. If you see also more than one ore two Temporary Lockdown you can also bring in Haywire Mite.
+1 Reidane, God of the Worthy
+1 Archon of Emeria
+1 Heroic Intervention

In my opinion this is the worst matchup for this deck. Control can counter your combo, remove it and has a punch of exile effects. It is possible to win against it but it is realy hard. 

Abzan Greasefang:

-1 Dawnbringer Cleric
-1 Cenote Scout
-2 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
-1 Selfless Spirit
-1 Return to the Ranks

+1 Haywire Mite
+1 Jirina, Dauntless General
+1 Lion Sash
+3 Deep-Cavern Bat

Honestly if Greasefang has the nut draw you can't do realy much against it. We can only hope to be faster or get a big Voice of the Blessed and be faster. Normly it's a good matchup because the also focus on there combo in game 1 and mostly we can survive on big hit and go off the next turn. The lifegain of our deck is also realy good in this matchup and can buy us many turns. 

Izzet Creativity:

-1 Dawnbringer Cleric
-1 Cenote Scout
-1 Selfless Spirit
-1 Chord of Calling

+3 Deep-Cavern Bat
+1 Reidane, God of the Worthy

If the focus on removal after game 1, you can also bring in Shapers' Sanctuary or Return to the Ranks. 
Overall it's the same thing as with Greasefang, if they go of on turn 4 or 5 and we are to slow, we lose. Overall it is a worse matchup than greasefang, because our only interaction with there combo is Deep-Cavern Bat and it dies to removal but also can buy us the one turn to finish the game. A little tip; if you can assemble the combo even if you don't win in the same turn, assemble it. The lifegain is nessassary against there combo and if you can assemble the combo again the next turn you kill there combo pieces.

Izzet/Dark Phoenix

-1 Dawnbringer Cleric
-1 Cenote Scout
-1 Chord of Calling
-1 Wildgrowth Walker
-1 Voice of the Blessed
-1 Selfless Spirit


+1 Jirina, Dauntless General
+1 Lion Sash
+1 Archon of Emeria
+3 Skyclave Apparition

Overall it's a good matchup for us. Izzet Phoenix is the better matchup of this two, because the don't have any hand desruption. But be aware of game 2 changend plan of Izzet Phoenix and there Thing in the Ice // Awoken Horror. The will go big and don't care as much as game 1 about the graveyard. Crackling Dragon can kill you quick, if you don't be aware. Dark Phoenix has more hand desruption with Thoughtseize but they don't have a big sideboard plan in game 2 like Izzet Phoenix. So Dark Phoenix is also a good matchup. 

If Dark Phoenix or Izzet Phoenix play Anger of the Gods you can also sideboard out Return to the Ranks for Deep-Cavern Bat and/or Shapers' Sanctuary. 

Mono B Waste Not

-1 Cenote Scout
-1 Chord of Calling
-1 Wildgrowth Walker
-1 Voice of the Blessed
-1 Amalia Benavides Aguirre
-2 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
-1 Dina, Soul Steeper


+3 Shapers' Sanctuary
+2 Skyclave Apparition
+1 Haywire Mite
+2 Deep-Cavern Bat
+1 Return to the Ranks

Overall this matchup is not in favor for us. Mono B Waste Not hast Go Blank as graveyard hate, thats hard if we have Return to the Ranks but no graveyard. They have Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and a punch of removal. The only way we can fight through is a good placed Collected Company, Chord of Calling. We need to activate our combo or kill the opponent fast enough.

Boros Convoke | Selesnya Angels | Selesnya Company | Abzan Elfes | White Weenie | 5C or Mono W Humans

-1 Dawnbringer Cleric
-1 Cenote Scout

+2 Skyclave Apparition

If any of these decks play why ever much removal or have any combo inside you can also bring in Deep-Cavern Bat or Return to the Ranks.

Overall, these matchups are good for us! Few interaction with our combo and our combo kills mostly there whole board. Why mostly? Be aware of Jirina, Dauntless General in Human decks. She got me ones ^^

Simic Merfolk

-1 Cenote Scout
-1 Wildgrowth Walker

+2 Skyclave Apparition

Why is Merfolk not with the other decks above? Because of Vodalian Hexcatcher! Be aware of the "Counter target noncreature" part of it. Don't waste your Collected Company or Chord of Calling. You can use her also as instant speed removal. For example if they make a big attack and you have enough creatures or lands, you can abuse Vodalian Hexcatcher to sacrifice merfolks for you and safe some life.

Overall, if you get the combo out you win a 100%. As with all aggro decks, you can be to slow.

Red Deck Wins

-1 Cenote Scout
-2 Return to the Ranks

+3 Skyclave Apparition

Mirror

-1 Cenote Scout
-1 Dawnbringer Cleric
-1 Selfless Spirit

+2 Skyclave Apparition
+1 Knight of Dusk's Shadow

Possible but not tested: +1-2 Deep-Cavern Bat

It's all about who is faster in the mirror matchup. If u have a Chord of Calling try to assemble the combo or prevent the combo of your opponent with Knight of Dusk's Shadow.

Overall its a good matchup for us. Our lifegain will win us the match. It is also possible to change nothing and leave the mainboard in.

Mono Green Shrine/Stompy

-1 Cenote Scout
-1 Return to the Ranks
-2 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar

+3 Skyclave Apparition
+1 Haywire Mite

In my opinion Mono Green Shrine can not realy stop our deck. Sure if we draw bad, or be flooded/screwed we can lose the game. Overall it is not really possible. The only version of Mono Green who can kill us is Mono Green Stompy. For Mono Green Stompy we have the same Sideboard Plan.

If have forgoten any major Deck, feel free to submit it in the comment section. 

Tips and Tricks:

1. 
Do not save your Wildgrowth Walker with Selfless Savior or Selfless Spirit or any other spell, if it gets targeted in between the combo. It will only result in a draw because of an endless loop!

2. 
Voice of the Blessed will survive the combo, don't forget this. If you have Voice of the Blessed on the battlefield without summoning sickness, you can enable the combo and kill your opponent with it.

3. 
If you have a Chord of Calling in hand and for example 2 creatures and only 3 lands, don't attack with all creatures! You can use Chord of Calling as a combat trick to save a creature with Selfless Savior or all your creatures with Selfless Spirit. 

4. 
You don't need to assemble the combo everytime you got it, or see it with Collected Company! Don't forget the combo also kills your other creatures and if you don't kill your opponent at the turn you activate your combo, Amalia can die the next turn or your opponent plays a creature. 

5.
If you have for example Wildgrowth Walker + Chord of Calling in hand and Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom on the battlefield. Wait until your opponents end step and search for Amalia Benavides Aguirre. If they don't answer it you can assemble the combo and kill your opponent now.

6.
If you have Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom, Voice of the Blessed and Amalia Benavides Aguirre in your opening hand + lands to cast it, just play the aggro line. Turn 1 Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom, Turn 2 Voice of the Blessed and than you can think about what you will do next. Voice of the Blessed will be a target to kill for your opponent and will also hit your opponent for a punch. Don't always play Amalia Benavides Aguirre as quick as possible, sometimes it is better to wait a turn. 

7.
If you have Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar on the battlefield, don't forget that Voice of the Blessed (if it has a +1/+1 counter on it) can trigger Kutzils second ability! Also don't forget that your opponent can't counter or remove (only with Otawara, Soaring City or while attacking with Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire) your creatures or Search spells.

8.
I you have Dina, Soul Steeper on the battlefield and assemble the combo, try to kill your opponent with Dina, Soul Steeper static ability. The advantage is also if your opponent trys to remove your Amalia Benavides Aguirre you can sacrifice it to Dina, Soul Steeper. Should you assemble your combo while Dina, Soul Steeper is on the battlefield and your opponentn wants to remove Wildgrowth Walker you can protect it with Selfless Saviour or something else. Because now it isn't a endless loop because Dina, Soul Steeper will kill your opponent. 

9.
Try to use Dina, Soul Steeper as much as possible against grindy matchups. Each damage counts in the grind. And sometimes a Collected Company with a Dina, Soul Steeper on the battlefield is enough to kill your opponent. 

10.
Don't forget that you can search for Extraction Specialist with Chord of Calling to for example enable the combo in your opponents turn and kill there creatures. Or just to bring back a Selfless Saviour. Extraction Specialist is a silver bullet in this deck and has many uses, so don't waste it.

11.
Chord of Calling can also be used to enable the combo in your opponents turn. This is helpful if they have a big board an would combo of or kill you with on of there creatures or against Izzet Creativity. You can also use this option with Collected Company if it is possible.

Matchups:

This 20 games where all played in the "Diamond League" in MTGA. The Game Info is just a info for you to know how the games went. 

Played	W-L	On Play/Draw	Deckname	Game Info
17. December	2-1	Draw	Izzet Phoenix	Game 1 my opponent had an Thing in the Ice // Awoken Horror turn 2 and I drew the wrong side of the deck. Game 2 I had the combo turn 4 and game 3 the had again a Thing on turn 2, but we managed to get a Collected Company through and find an answer to it. After we removed the transformed Thing in the Ice // Awoken Horror we just finished with Return to the Ranks into Combo into Return to the Ranks again. I'm considering a little mainboard change in the near future, to have answers in the mainboard.
17. December	2-0	Play	Raktos Sacrifice	Game 1 I had the combo on turn 4 and he focused on his plan. Game 2 I beat 4x Mayhem Devil and on turn 10 or so Return to the Ranks finished the game.
17. December	2-0	Play	Raktos Midrange	Game 1 he had a good amount of removal but Collected Company enabled the combo. Game 2 he was stuck on 2 lands and scooped turn 5.
17. December	0-2	Draw	Bant Control Mass Removal Control	I think the only purpose of my opponent's deck was to remove everything at any time. I don't think that this kind of decks, however, he beat me 2 games in a row.
17. December	2-0	Play	Mirror	Game 1 I had the combo on turn 3 and he would had it on turn 4. Game 2 I have the combo on turn 4 with Voice of the Blessed out.
17. December	1-2	Draw	Raktos Goblins	Game 1 he just overruned me. Game 2 I had the combo on turn 4. Game 3 I had a mulligan to 5 and never drew anything useful. Sad game ^^
17. December	1-2	Draw	BG Elfs	Game 1 he beat me brutally down. Game 2 I had the combo and game 3 I flooded out.
17. December	2-0	Play	Dark Phoenix	Game 1 Return to the Ranks shined and enabled the combo. Game 2 was interesting, they had 4x Fatal Push and than tried to go wide, but Return to the Ranks shined again and keept us alive to combo off.
17. December	2-0	Draw	Boros Convoke	Game 1 I had the combo on turn 3. Game 2 he just scooped.
17. December	2-0	Play	Izzet Phoenix	Game 1 I had 2x Collected Company and Chord of Calling, that was enough. Game 2 he salty scooped.
17. December	2-0	Play	BG Midrange	Game 1 was removal heavy but I had 2x Collected Company and that was enough. Game 2 was also a fast game.
17. December	2-1	Draw	Izzet Phoenix	Game 1 I had bad draws and he had 3 Phoenixes. Game 2 and 3 he tried to counter always Collected Company and played very slow. I don't know why but that gave me more than enough time to kill him in both games.
16. December	1-2	Draw	Abzan Elfs	Game 1 they just destroyed me. Game 2 I had the combo and game 3 the had Chord of Calling + Collected Company and I had a slow mulligan to 5.
16. December	1-2	Draw	Mirror	Game 1 he was just faster. Game 2 Knight of Dusk's Shadow won the game and game 3 was a close one, but he found the combo 2 times and I couldn't find it.
16. December	2-0	Play	5C Enigmatic Combo	Game 1 was a fast game with a turn 3 combo kill. Game 2 I made a big board and Selfless Spirit + Reidane, God of the Worthy prevented him from wiping the board.
Summary:	36 Wins 17 Loss	Winrate:	67,9%

Google Docs Link to all played games: Link

Changelog:

15.December
+ added Izzet Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sideboard Guide
+ added Mono B Waste Not Sideboard Guide
+ added Mirror Sideboard Guide (not finished ,needs more testing)
+ added Mono Green Shrine/Stompy Sideboard Guide
+ changed Sideboard a little bit for the mirror Knight of Dusk's Shadow
+ cleaned up the description a little bit
16. December
+ changed Izzet/Dark Phoenix Sideboard Plan
17. Decebmer
- Deleted played games from december 11,15, and 16 because of the limitation of the description characters. The problem is that each row of the table counts over 200 characters. In future you can only see the last 10-15 played games in this description.
+ created Google Docs link for all the played games (you will find all played games in there and nothing else!)

If you have any questions or feedback to the deck tech, just use the comment section. 
Best regards
UnReaLz_TV