{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Zacama From First Principles"},{"insert":"\nZacama, Primal Calamity was my first ever commander deck that could actually compete. I built it as a Ramp deck primarily, using Zacama as a toolbox to control the board state and allowing me to drop Etali’s and Eldrazi’s. \nUnfortunately that deck was too weak to really compete at B4 and as such I decided to take Zacama once again, and build him a new deck from scratch. \nZacama From First Principles is that deck, a combo deck focusing on storm count and infinite mana. Ill break down the Combos in the deck and some of my Card choices as well as my thoughts regarding possible upgrades and changes. \n\n\nThe Combos\n\nTheres multiple combos involving Zacama the deck, including  Monk Gyatso infinite Airbending, Temur Sabretooth infinite Bounce, and Sanctum of Eternity infinite Bounce, each of these require different amounts of mana (Monk Gyatso requires 5 Mana from lands to work or 6 to become Mana Positive, Temur Sabretooth requires 11 Mana from lands or 12 to become Mana Positive and Sanctum of Eternity also requires 11 to function and 12 to go Mana Positive). \nEach of these gives infinite ETB and LTB triggers, Infinite Storm Count and potentially Infinite Mana of all colours. \n\nIn addition to this we also run the Squee Food Chain combo, a Classic combo that gives infinite ETB and LTB, Infinite Storm count and Infinite mana of all colours. Its an easily tutorable combo in Naya and can serve as a very solid and cheap combo to pull off in the kind of meta where getting to 11 mana for some of Zacama’s combos may take too long. \n\nFinally we also run the Aggravated Assault - Bear Umbra combo, Its a very simple infinite combat combo that requires just 5 Mana from lands to go infinite and 6 mana from lands to go Mana Positive. Combining this with any creature in the deck is a valid win con however this is where having a 9/9 trample commander excels as it can very quickly start picking off opponents even with a board state. \n\nWe do also run the Infamous Dark Depths - Thespian’s Stage - Tempt with Discovery Combo, now this isn’t an infinite combo but for 6 Mana getting a 20/20 with indestructible and flying is a terrifying early game threat, and newer players will fall for it 9/10 times. Simply wait till the board state is as such that someone is struggling for Land Drops, and therefore likely to accept the assistance that Tempt offers, then betray them with a Lovecraftian Leviathan that does not care about their feelings. \n\n\nThe Card Picks\n\nIm not gonna go through every single card in the deck for obvious reasons, but I’ll describe the aims I had for each category of card. \n\nDraw \nMost of the cards in the Draw category are cards i fit into most Naya Decks, i consider them to be either very solid draw engines or excellent burst draw (Return and Rishkars both drawing 9 is a great amount). \nThe Ten Rings is an obvious standout as the only UB card in the deck, but I truly believe people are underrating this card during spoiler season, 8 Mana is trivial in commander, and drawing up to 10 a turn can be a real game changer when it comes to finding combo pieces. It being an artifact means its easily removable if an opponent adopts a mill strategy but also means that an opponent may use a removal spell on it meaning you have one less Nature’s claim to worry about at the table. \nManamorphose is here most because I consider it to be one of the best cards ever printed, turning my 100 card deck into a 99 card deck by itself. \n\nProtection\nIts three cards, three of the best cards in colour for the format, stopping counter spells, redirecting removal and straight up protection from board wipes can all change the fate of a game in an instant. \n\nRamp\nIt’s a fairly obvious ramp package, lots of Land ramp to really capitalise off Zacama’s 2nd line of text. Seedborn Muse and Wilderness Reclamation allow you to fall back on using Zacama as a toolbox if the combos are struggling to get moving. \n\nCrucible of worlds, potentially an odd card, I don’t run any Landfall, or much recursion at all, but I believe that a 3 fetch land hand with a Crucible is one of the best opening hands you can get, especially for a deck that cares about getting more lands out the deck and onto the field. \n\nRemoval \nWe’re in Naya, so it’s a Naya removal package, lots of cheap spot removal, couple board wipes, couple counterspells. The usual. \n\nStorm Payoffs \nThese are Imo the 6 best options for getting a win from that Infinite Mana/Infinite Storm count that 4/5 combos in this deck provide. Infinite Squirrels, Infinite Damage, Infinite Goblins, Infinite Dragons, Infinite Land Destruction (One sided too!) or Infinite Beasts. Combine with Rhythm of the Wild for the win. \n\nTutor\nY’know the deal, its tutors, arguably some of the best in colour, I didn’t include Gamble just because of the low Recursion rates, and Red Entomb is just annoying when it goes wrong. \n\n\nThe Future\n\nSo I definitely need much more playtesting before any changes begin to be made, but my initial thoughts are definitely along the lines in the Maybeboard, Impact tremors provides yet another payoff to 4/5 of the combos in the deck and Grand Abolisher/Silence just lets you get on with it. \n"}]}