Though it feels like much longer ago, thanks to all the Duskmourn excitement, it’s only been a week since the major August 26th bans rocked Modern, Pioneer, and Vintage. After the initial shock and celebration, we’re now starting to see what competitive Magic could look like in a post-ban world. Ironically enough, in some ways, it may be very similar to before. The infamous Amalia Combo deck was banned from Pioneer, but now players are starting to try it out in Modern. Quite successfully, too, it seems.
Amalia Combo In Modern?!
Last weekend, the Nordic Masters 2024 event was held in Malmö, Sweden. Plenty was going on over the three days, but the highlight was undoubtedly the Modern RCQ. Many Modern classics were submitted for the event, including Boros Energy and Amulet Titan. But which deck took down the event? None other than Amalia Combo, making its Modern debut with a bang.
The winning list comes to us from Thomas Munk, and there’s a ton to unpack here. At its heart, this is the same Amalia Combo list that we all know and love (or hate, more likely) from Pioneer. You get Amalia and Wildgrowth Walker into play, you gain a life, and you end up with a 20/20 creature and a full board clear. That’s enough to finish off most games, barring any exile-based removal.
Outside of the core combo, this deck plays a lot of consistency boosters to make sure things go to plan. Chord of Calling is a four-of to fetch key pieces, while Delighted Halfling lets you get Amalia out through countermagic. It’s also just a solid mana dork in general.
Halfling is one of the cards Amalia Combo gains in the transition to Modern. It’s far from the only new card, however. Munk’s brew also runs some generic Modern good stuff like Orcish Bowmasters, Grist, the Hunger Tide, and of course the Fetch Lands. None of these tweaks revolutionize the deck, but they do smooth out its gameplan, which makes victory all the more likely.
Some Unexpected Twists
What does revolutionize the deck, however, is the addition of an all-new infinite combo. Not content with just relying on Amalia to end the game, Munk also included the Samwise Gamgee/Cauldron Familiar combo as well. This makes perfect sense. The deck’s existing tutor package excels at finding cheap creatures like these, and they help out with stalling too, if you just don’t draw it right away.
This combo is fairly self-explanatory. With Samwise out, playing Familiar will get you a Food. If you can sacrifice Familiar, you can then sacrifice the Food to get it back into play, draining your opponent in the progress. Munk’s deck runs Viscera Seer as a free sacrifice outlet, which lets this combo win on the spot. It’s ultimately a three-card combo, which isn’t the most consistent usually. Familiar can gain you the life needed to set off the Amalia combo as well, however, so the deck gains consistency there.
It also gains consistency through the inclusion of niche Modern Horizons 3 enchantment Birthing Ritual. With such a low overall curve, this card can grab you a combo piece pretty much every time it triggers. The deck also has no shortage of fodder to sacrifice to it, including Cauldron Familiar, Dryad Arbor, and Cenote Scout. Though it hasn’t received much in the way of dues yet, it may well be the most significant addition to Amalia in the transition to Modern.
It’s too early to say whether or not Amalia Combo will be a real player in Modern, but these early results are certainly encouraging. As much as some players would hate it, the irony of the deck being banned in Pioneer only to flourish in Modern would be absolutely delicious.
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