Don't you like Gitaxian Probe? I think it's pretty awesome in this deck. "Free" pump, cantrips, and gives us information. Knowing what your opponent's hand opens up lines of play.
Running so few lands is kind of expected. Here's an article on cantrips and lands. Basically, by running cantrips the effect is similar to having more turns to draw lands, but if the game goes longer, you have also less chances of drawing a land.
Other than that, I'm not sure about dropping the Gitaxian Probes. Sure, they cost life, but they can save you from dropping your hand just to find Prismatic Strands, Fog, Edicts, they flash a fairy, etc. The info you get is as powerful as the drawing. I'd try those over Brainstorm, specially since you carry only 4 shuffle effects (ponder).
I don't even play brainstorm. My goal is usually dig and draw.
So tell me about Storm bound Geist. It sides in for Kiln Fiend?
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Depends on what I play but usually delver or ponder. It is a fantastic card versus MBC or any removal heavy deck as he dies then comes back even stronger. Nothing replaces Kiln Fiend!
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
This deck honestly wants multiple Treasure Cruise - the lists that have been doing well in dailies lately have actually skipped the "unblockable" cards in favor of more burn and other removal - 4 slash 4 bolt 4 chain or sometimes firebolt.
I'm playing paper version of the deck so my meta differs from what you see online. I'm usually going for the turn 3 kill and Treasure Cruise is usually the worst card of the deck. I'm playing one because I have a lot of draw/scry effects so that I can Brainstorm/Ponder it away early on and try to get it late game if my opponent managed to survive.
Treasure Cruise just gives a B plan when Plan A doesn't work. But it's completely useless before turn 5-6, and at that point, the game should be over. If it's not, you are usually not winning, and getting a +2 card advantage won't usually be enough to change that situation (but that definitely helps, I agree).
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
This deck honestly wants multiple Treasure Cruise - the lists that have been doing well in dailies lately have actually skipped the "unblockable" cards in favor of more burn and other removal - 4 slash 4 bolt 4 chain or sometimes firebolt.
Dropping the Assault Strobes and Artful Dodges seemed like a big loss when I first cut them but I honestly have not missed those cards. Yes you usually can't win the game in one attack anymore but neither can anyone else, this deck just has ridiculous inevitability with the 12 burn spells and Mulldrifters and Treasure Cruises.
It honestly wouldn't surprise me if TC wound up banned in Pauper because it just makes decks that are already good ridiculous and is probably putting a huge squeeze on Mono-B.
This deck honestly wants multiple Treasure Cruise - the lists that have been doing well in dailies lately have actually skipped the "unblockable" cards in favor of more burn and other removal - 4 slash 4 bolt 4 chain or sometimes firebolt.
Dropping the Assault Strobes and Artful Dodges seemed like a big loss when I first cut them but I honestly have not missed those cards. Yes you usually can't win the game in one attack anymore but neither can anyone else, this deck just has ridiculous inevitability with the 12 burn spells and Mulldrifters and Treasure Cruises.
It honestly wouldn't surprise me if TC wound up banned in Pauper because it just makes decks that are already good ridiculous and is probably putting a huge squeeze on Mono-B.
I'd be happy if they ban it. I personally decided not to play it because I'm playing with real paper decks and I don't feel this card is really fair for the format since my friends like to build their homebrews. Mogg War Marshal is pretty solid against MBC anyway; there will always be targetted removal but we can play around that (Apostle's Blessing and Dispel).
I don't think Assault Strobe is needed to win. It's explosive and nice when you win on turn 3 with it but you don't need 4, it's too much of an all-in plan. And with 4 Ponders and 4 Preordains, it's not that hard to actually find the 2-offs in the deck.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Probably because it can give a creature +5/-1, make an opponent discard, kill a weenie or make your creature unblockable! Not a bad card for this deck!
Who needs islandwalk, unblockable or to kill any blocker if you get a trample double striker? We don't. Both Assault Strobe and Piracy Charm could go out, I think we need more free spells because Temur is 2 mana instead of 1 for Assault Strobe, so maybe Manamorphose or Mutagenic Growth. Also, I noticed that a lot of players are taking a slower path with the deck, playing their Kiln Fiend on turn 5 with Crimson Wisps, Chaos Charm or Reckless Charge to win on that same turn with Dispel backup against Geth's Verdict.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Probably because it can give a creature +5/-1, make an opponent discard, kill a weenie or make your creature unblockable! Not a bad card for this deck!
I casted this once on a flipped Delver with Assault Strobe and that was 10 damage for the win. Piracy Charm is such a versatile card for this deck. But I'm not sure it's needed anymore with Temur Battle Rage, we will have to playtest a little bit more.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Here's my new list updated with Fated Reforge. No more Piracy Charm or Dispel maindeck, Temur Battle Rage is now here. The deck has a really great win% ratio against anything but mono-black control:
Against MBC, it's really simple. If they only play sorcery speed removal (usually Diabolic Edict and Chainer's Edict), just wait until you can win on one turn with Reckless Charge. Post sideboard, Mogg War Marshal does help a lot (pay the echo), but if they are also pretty heavy on discard spells, it's really hard to win. If you play against instant speed removal, you have Apostle's Blessing against targetted removal and... nothing... against Geth's Verdict. Use Gitaxian Probe to learn more about their hands, they can only play 4 Geth's Verdicts and it's usually not maindeck. Mogg War Marshal is really good again (even just as a chump blocker) but nearly every card they play is a problem.
Against any other deck, we can usually race easily and we always have Pyroblast and Hydroblast in the sideboard. Flaring Pain is here too if needed. No Treasure Cruise for me, feel free to swap Gushes for it, I just prefer to not play this card (I play pauper with paper cards with my friends and the deck is strong enough already).
We're pretty all in with only 12 creatures anyway, and we can't win without creatures with this deck, so decks built against creatures will always be a problem. MBC has its harder matchups too (MUC mostly), Burn is bad against Hexproof, etc... if a specific deck could beat every deck, everyone would play it.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Well on turn 4, you can cast Fiend, Charge and Strobe and that's 20 damage. That's only 3 cards... on turn 4. The +3/+0 is actually quite good, flashback always helps in the most grindy matchups too.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I play 4 Probe, 4 Ponder, 4 Preordain and 2 Gush. The odds of having 4 played lands with Kiln Fiend and Charge in my hand are actually way higher than you would think.
Replacing Strobes for 3 Temur Battle Rage will obviously change that a little bit since it's 2 mana, but it gives more flexibility when you have 2 creatures without the need of making one unblockable or killing any blocker. Artful Dodge is still a really cheap card to cast twice when you can't give trample anyway.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
2-3x Reckless Charge is a solid call in slower, land-ier versions of the deck - which I think is necessary if you want to bump Assault Strobe to Temur Battle Rage. You use it when you anticipate your attacker being blown out once or twice, as a way to quickly regain tempo.
One thing I really like about Temur Battle Rage is that it's an instant - you can use it to bait misplays, i.e. "I don't need to block because I've got lethal on board" -> "Whoops I should have blocked he got double strike and killed me". This besides the Trample thing, which is handy for creating a kill regardless of blockers.
EDIT: Like, if they have lethal on board with an untapped blocker, you're going to TBR whether or not they block, but it forces them to gamble whether or not you have it as long as you have 1R untapped.
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Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
You can't calculate everything. Ponder goes 3 cards deep with the possibility of shuffling before drawing. Preordain can get you the 3rd card as well. Gitaxian Probe self replaces itself for free, so that's basically a 56 card deck with 8 cards drawn on the draw, only 46 remaining. That's nearly a quarter of the deck. Turn 4 we're at 43 cards left for an average of 5.5 lands drawn (18/56 simply put on 43) and that's not accounting the 8 Preordain/ponder, and you tell me I can't consistently hit my first 4 land drops?
Play the deck. If I miss my land drops, it's because of a really greedy keep (1 land + cantrip). It does happen, I'm not gonna lie, but I usually get to 3 lands really easily and sometimes get flooded after that too. Considering there are 12 cards that do at least self-replace themselves for U or less, it's nearly like playing 18 lands in a 48 cards deck.
Edit: also, you completely forgot about Gush, which is even harder to calculate because it's a free spell but you need 2 Island.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
Is anyone aware of what kind of reasoning there is behind to play Shadow Rift over Artful Dodge? In relation to TC, sure, but it was often used even before. Drawing a land or especially a creature is something that one does not want to happen when trying to combo.
Drawing Gush, Probe, Blessing or Bolt (or any other cantrip that can find these) may be game winning too. This deck plays 18 lands at most, statistically speaking, Shadow Rift is far from being bad. Also, if you have one blue available only with 2 attackers and your opponent has just 1 blocker, you give shadow to the blocker so that it can't block. Finally, if your hand is bad, you can cycle Rift on your opponent's creature. Also, there are a couple of shadow creatures played in the format (the white rebel and the BB 2/2 creature played in some black devotion decks); Shadow Rift helps you block those creatures (not that it's really relevant, but still worth mentioning IMO).
And did I mention it's instant speed? I've been playing Shadow Rift for a long time and let me tell you that when you have URR mana with 2 creatures against 1 blocker, you are happy to play Rift on the blocker and 2 random spells (Probe and Reckless Charge for example) to swing for 23 with creatures that can't be blocked by a shadow creature.
Cycling Shadow Rift at my opponent's end of turn on his Delver is better than you think in a 18 lands deck.
And I'm not saying Artful Dodge isn't as good, since I'm playing it right now, but both spells have their advantage IMO.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
... Well, THAT'S not what I mean. But they're a straight upgrade over Izzet Guildgate, which was the norm before KTK.
Meanwhile, nobody at all is playing straight basics.
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Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
These variant formats are always so wonky. Are they playing without the Modern banlist? Because losing Ponder and Preordain guts this deck horribly.
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Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
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Don't you like Gitaxian Probe? I think it's pretty awesome in this deck. "Free" pump, cantrips, and gives us information. Knowing what your opponent's hand opens up lines of play.
Other than that, I'm not sure about dropping the Gitaxian Probes. Sure, they cost life, but they can save you from dropping your hand just to find Prismatic Strands, Fog, Edicts, they flash a fairy, etc. The info you get is as powerful as the drawing. I'd try those over Brainstorm, specially since you carry only 4 shuffle effects (ponder).
So tell me about Storm bound Geist. It sides in for Kiln Fiend?
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Kiln Fiend
4 Nivix Cyclops
Sorceries: 16
3 Artful Dodge
2 Assault Strobe
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Apostle's Blessing
3 Dispel
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Piracy Charm
2 Gush
Lands: 18
8 Island
8 Mountain
2 Swiftwater Cliffs
2 Electrickery
3 Hydroblast
3 Pyroblast
2 Flaring Pain
2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Mogg War Marshal
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Treasure Cruise just gives a B plan when Plan A doesn't work. But it's completely useless before turn 5-6, and at that point, the game should be over. If it's not, you are usually not winning, and getting a +2 card advantage won't usually be enough to change that situation (but that definitely helps, I agree).
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Dropping the Assault Strobes and Artful Dodges seemed like a big loss when I first cut them but I honestly have not missed those cards. Yes you usually can't win the game in one attack anymore but neither can anyone else, this deck just has ridiculous inevitability with the 12 burn spells and Mulldrifters and Treasure Cruises.
It honestly wouldn't surprise me if TC wound up banned in Pauper because it just makes decks that are already good ridiculous and is probably putting a huge squeeze on Mono-B.
I'd be happy if they ban it. I personally decided not to play it because I'm playing with real paper decks and I don't feel this card is really fair for the format since my friends like to build their homebrews. Mogg War Marshal is pretty solid against MBC anyway; there will always be targetted removal but we can play around that (Apostle's Blessing and Dispel).
I don't think Assault Strobe is needed to win. It's explosive and nice when you win on turn 3 with it but you don't need 4, it's too much of an all-in plan. And with 4 Ponders and 4 Preordains, it's not that hard to actually find the 2-offs in the deck.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Who needs islandwalk, unblockable or to kill any blocker if you get a trample double striker? We don't. Both Assault Strobe and Piracy Charm could go out, I think we need more free spells because Temur is 2 mana instead of 1 for Assault Strobe, so maybe Manamorphose or Mutagenic Growth. Also, I noticed that a lot of players are taking a slower path with the deck, playing their Kiln Fiend on turn 5 with Crimson Wisps, Chaos Charm or Reckless Charge to win on that same turn with Dispel backup against Geth's Verdict.
I think the deck needs to adapt.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I casted this once on a flipped Delver with Assault Strobe and that was 10 damage for the win. Piracy Charm is such a versatile card for this deck. But I'm not sure it's needed anymore with Temur Battle Rage, we will have to playtest a little bit more.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Kiln Fiend
4 Nivix Cyclops
Sorceries: 18
3 Artful Dodge
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Reckless Charge
3 Apostle's Blessing
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Temur Battle Rage
2 Gush
Lands: 18
8 Island
8 Mountain
2 Swiftwater Cliffs
2 Electrickery
3 Hydroblast
3 Pyroblast
2 Flaring Pain
2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Mogg War Marshal
Against MBC, it's really simple. If they only play sorcery speed removal (usually Diabolic Edict and Chainer's Edict), just wait until you can win on one turn with Reckless Charge. Post sideboard, Mogg War Marshal does help a lot (pay the echo), but if they are also pretty heavy on discard spells, it's really hard to win. If you play against instant speed removal, you have Apostle's Blessing against targetted removal and... nothing... against Geth's Verdict. Use Gitaxian Probe to learn more about their hands, they can only play 4 Geth's Verdicts and it's usually not maindeck. Mogg War Marshal is really good again (even just as a chump blocker) but nearly every card they play is a problem.
Against any other deck, we can usually race easily and we always have Pyroblast and Hydroblast in the sideboard. Flaring Pain is here too if needed. No Treasure Cruise for me, feel free to swap Gushes for it, I just prefer to not play this card (I play pauper with paper cards with my friends and the deck is strong enough already).
We're pretty all in with only 12 creatures anyway, and we can't win without creatures with this deck, so decks built against creatures will always be a problem. MBC has its harder matchups too (MUC mostly), Burn is bad against Hexproof, etc... if a specific deck could beat every deck, everyone would play it.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Replacing Strobes for 3 Temur Battle Rage will obviously change that a little bit since it's 2 mana, but it gives more flexibility when you have 2 creatures without the need of making one unblockable or killing any blocker. Artful Dodge is still a really cheap card to cast twice when you can't give trample anyway.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
One thing I really like about Temur Battle Rage is that it's an instant - you can use it to bait misplays, i.e. "I don't need to block because I've got lethal on board" -> "Whoops I should have blocked he got double strike and killed me". This besides the Trample thing, which is handy for creating a kill regardless of blockers.
EDIT: Like, if they have lethal on board with an untapped blocker, you're going to TBR whether or not they block, but it forces them to gamble whether or not you have it as long as you have 1R untapped.
You can't calculate everything. Ponder goes 3 cards deep with the possibility of shuffling before drawing. Preordain can get you the 3rd card as well. Gitaxian Probe self replaces itself for free, so that's basically a 56 card deck with 8 cards drawn on the draw, only 46 remaining. That's nearly a quarter of the deck. Turn 4 we're at 43 cards left for an average of 5.5 lands drawn (18/56 simply put on 43) and that's not accounting the 8 Preordain/ponder, and you tell me I can't consistently hit my first 4 land drops?
Play the deck. If I miss my land drops, it's because of a really greedy keep (1 land + cantrip). It does happen, I'm not gonna lie, but I usually get to 3 lands really easily and sometimes get flooded after that too. Considering there are 12 cards that do at least self-replace themselves for U or less, it's nearly like playing 18 lands in a 48 cards deck.
Edit: also, you completely forgot about Gush, which is even harder to calculate because it's a free spell but you need 2 Island.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Very eager to try this new card out here. That & Shu Yun (2x) too.
Has anyone actually tried out Treasure Cruise or is it just too parasitic against all the Flashback stuff to bother?
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
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Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest is not a legal card in the Pauper format, which is what this subforum is for.
Based on the current metagame data, I'd say Treasure Cruise is pretty comfortable here: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/pauper-delver-fiend-12284#online
Drawing Gush, Probe, Blessing or Bolt (or any other cantrip that can find these) may be game winning too. This deck plays 18 lands at most, statistically speaking, Shadow Rift is far from being bad. Also, if you have one blue available only with 2 attackers and your opponent has just 1 blocker, you give shadow to the blocker so that it can't block. Finally, if your hand is bad, you can cycle Rift on your opponent's creature. Also, there are a couple of shadow creatures played in the format (the white rebel and the BB 2/2 creature played in some black devotion decks); Shadow Rift helps you block those creatures (not that it's really relevant, but still worth mentioning IMO).
And did I mention it's instant speed? I've been playing Shadow Rift for a long time and let me tell you that when you have URR mana with 2 creatures against 1 blocker, you are happy to play Rift on the blocker and 2 random spells (Probe and Reckless Charge for example) to swing for 23 with creatures that can't be blocked by a shadow creature.
Cycling Shadow Rift at my opponent's end of turn on his Delver is better than you think in a 18 lands deck.
And I'm not saying Artful Dodge isn't as good, since I'm playing it right now, but both spells have their advantage IMO.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Some people are playing Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse because they're playing Gush.
Everyone else is playing Swiftwater Cliffs, which was the norm pre-Treasure Cruise.
... Well, THAT'S not what I mean. But they're a straight upgrade over Izzet Guildgate, which was the norm before KTK.
Meanwhile, nobody at all is playing straight basics.