I still don’t understand how people 2-0 a deck like Humans. That and Spirits are my nightmare.
Mine too. Winning the first game was a definite surprise. My opponent had 3 Meddling Mages in the top 15 cards, naming Reality Smasher, TKS, and All is Dust. I had a Smasher rotting in my hand, but scried into a Dismember to hit the Mage naming Smasher, cast it, and passed. Opponent didn't like their top deck and scooped, which felt very premature to me but whatever, I'll take it. Game two I feel more comfortable with 4 Dismember, 4 Bomb, 2 Gut Shot, and 2 Spatial Contortion. Matter Reshaper also feels quite good in the matchup.
It's not a great matchup, I don't think, but too often players act like a bad matchup is 80-20, when in reality they're more likely 60-40, and you have to play the games. The flipside is true, even in this thread, with people acting like this deck's good matchups are unloseable. I think there are definitely some lopsided matchups, but they're all worth playing out, because you opponent might slip up, or you might draw well, or some combination of them. That's why we play the games.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I still don’t understand how people 2-0 a deck like Humans. That and Spirits are my nightmare.
Mine too. Winning the first game was a definite surprise. My opponent had 3 Meddling Mages in the top 15 cards, naming Reality Smasher, TKS, and All is Dust. I had a Smasher rotting in my hand, but scried into a Dismember to hit the Mage naming Smasher, cast it, and passed. Opponent didn't like their top deck and scooped, which felt very premature to me but whatever, I'll take it. Game two I feel more comfortable with 4 Dismember, 4 Bomb, 2 Gut Shot, and 2 Spatial Contortion. Matter Reshaper also feels quite good in the matchup.
It's not a great matchup, I don't think, but too often players act like a bad matchup is 80-20, when in reality they're more likely 60-40, and you have to play the games. The flipside is true, even in this thread, with people acting like this deck's good matchups are unloseable. I think there are definitely some lopsided matchups, but they're all worth playing out, because you opponent might slip up, or you might draw well, or some combination of them. That's why we play the games.
This. Humans is not even that rough. I consider it medium and win slightly more than half my matches vs. them. Breach decks with small removal and random stuff like Bant Eldrazi are much tougher to 2-0 tbh. If you want to beat Humans, practice and learn the matchup.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
I've had good results with this deck overall, but match vs. humans seemed just dead (unless an opponent is totally unaware of what's going on) until I started to play 2 Torpor Orbs. Now my winrate is ~40%, but match still seems very and very tough (games they win are one-sided, games I win are very long and grindy, with several life points left on my side at the end). Still, 40% is quite a progress - pre-Torpor Orb it was around 10%, and Jordan's article did not help at all. Note that I mainly play in an average to above average fields (e.g., GPs, competitive leagues, or experienced players of my LGS).
Opinions are polarized, and I'm just not convinced that humans could be a good matchup. There's only one way to prove this or otherwise - by doing a series of matches vs. decent humans player. Everything else is just a theory.
I 100% agree with your assessment. The article didn’t help me either. I’ve had the same experience against the deck, and have tried Torpor Orb as well.
Anecdotal evidence that not everything is about matchups: I beat Bant Spirits and Scapeshift and lost to Infect and Tron today. That's why we play the games.
Reddit is right: WOW **** TRON
Deck is beatable for sure but infuriating.
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I've been playing this as my main modern deck for the past couple years and seeing the discussions about the Humans match up has finally made me want to post in here.
Based on Ashton's most recent list (which is what I use card-for-card because if we're being honest the card pool for this deck kinda blows and I think he's got it pretty spot on for what's available right now) I have never played a round against humans that I felt was unwinnable. I've obviously won and lost against the deck but the Humans player I faced last night is a competitive player who considers his plays very thoroughly and I think our match last night was fairly indicative of how it's supposed to go. So here comes the anecdote from what I can remember.
Round 1 on the play-
I assume he's playing Infect as that's his favourite deck and it's having a bit of a renaissance currently. Accordingly, I keep a creature light 7 based on a Dismember, Eldrazi Temple and Matter Reshaper. I think "Great-kill the first guy, chump the second and hopefully stabilize from that point on.". I quickly realize I was wrong but the hand still had some game against humans since Dismember and Eldrazi Temple are two of the best cards I could have. I dismembered an early Meddling Mage naming Thought-Knot Seer and then cast one exiling a Mantis Rider. We trade guys for a little until he Reflector Mages my TKS and Aether Vials in another MM naming Reality Smasher (which was in my hand) I promptly draw into another Smasher while he's been playing out a Thalia's Lieutenant and a Mantis Rider. I can't compete with that and lose pretty quickly. So it goes.
Round 2- Play again
I Serum Powder away an entirely unplayable hand that contained one of my Ratchet Bombs but also had an Eternal Scourge. Ended up drawing a creatureless seven that happened to contain an Eldrazi Temple, Zhalfirin Void, two Dismembers, and a Spatial Contortion. So I began the game with a virtual 8 card opening hand, a free scry, fast mana and plenty of removal.
Given that going into a SB game we have 12 removal spells (4x each Dismember and Bomb along with 2x each Gut Shot and Contortion) lets do some math via ( http://deckulator.appspot.com/ ) after the powder we have 11 "hits" out of 53 remaining cards so the odds of getting 3 removal spells in my second 7 was 12%. That's not high but also not entirely unlikely, the odds for 2 removal 5 other is 42% and one removal 6 other is 78%. What I'm getting at here is that provided our next 3 or 4 top decks aren't abysmal one or two removal spells along with an early threat is possibly enough to put Humans in a position where they need to keep up with us- not what they want to do. The odds of that happening are-again- not unlikely. This is the main support I think we have for the matchup being 50-50 at LEAST.
I scryed a TKS to the top off the turn one Void, used that mana to EOT Dismember a Noble Hierarch and spend my turn slamming a Temple and Scourge from exile. Opponent plays an Ancient Ziggurat followed by a Kitesail Freebooter- he sees my hand (which now contains two removal spells and a TKS) and is visibly concerned while he takes the Dismember. I TKS the following turn to see a hand with no land, and the only notable cards being Reflector Mage and Meddling Mage. I take the reflector and pass. He doesn't draw a land and plays Meddling Mage naming Smasher (statistically more likely, given that he's seen my hand up to this point and worse for him than TKS at this point) even though he knows it's probably going to eat it next turn anyway. I Contortion the Freebooter, and with my newly returned Dismember I blast the Mage to clear the way for my guys and swing in. The clock is on and he stalls by chumping with a couple more guys but at that point humans have already lost. He later says his only way out was Phantasmal Image and a good deal of luck. I don't disagree
Round 3- Draw (Same SB except -1 Wastes and +1 Gemstone Caverns.)
I'm 95% sure my hand was Caverns/Scourge combo, two pieces of removal (Dismember and Contortion), two lands and Smuggler's Copter cool with me. The game starts off much the same as the last except my opponent is playing less interactive creatures- going t1 Champion of the Parish. I didn't immediately blast the champion since it doesn't really matter much to our opening hand and spent my first turn playing Copter (a note here- if one of the pieces of removal had been Gut Shot, I likely would have taken out the champ). T2 I see a Lieutenant come down and think "alright, this one needs to be answered". I draw a temple (the deck provideth) which allows me to play Scourge from exile, crew the Copter and still dismember the Lieutenant before anything got out of hand. I loot into a second Dismember and pass. T3 our opponent confidently slams a Thalia, Heretic Cathar and comes at us with a Champ that has admittedly gotten fairly large at this point. That's okay as I spend my next turn Dismembering Thalia, playing a land and casting TKS into a hand that no longer had any gas (to the point where I actually forget what I exiled- I want to say an Aether Vial?). He never recovers. I talk to him afterwards and he said that he kept the hand since it had some heat but mainly also had big Thalia. Big Thalia can be terrible for us if it gets accelerated out
Lessons from this round are:
1) We definitely have enough removal for this matchup but you need to be selective with your removal and save it for their creatures that either accelerate their deck (Hierarchs, Lieutenants) or prevent ours from functioning in the first place (Mages, Kitesails) in this case, Champion did not matter (and in my experience, they often don't) and worst case they should just be Dismembered once the opponent has spent time getting them to the full 5 P/T. In the final game I mentioned above, his made it to 4/4 but bit it when I realized he wasn't drawing any fire and attacked into it with TKS. The opponent obviously takes the trade since he desperately needed to draw at that point and I wanted to save my final removal spell for a real problem. As your opponent is playing creatures, try to plan out how/when/if you'll deal with them individually rather than looking at the entire board at once and being overwhelmed. This is an attrition matchup overall and they are the beatdown, not us.
2) Stealing the play from an opponent via Gemstone Caverns (or in some cases, Eldrazi Temple or a t1 Gut Shot on a mana dork) is absurdly powerful. I think this matters in this matchup even more when your opponent is attempting to hit a critical mass of resources to overwhelm/outsize our guys.
3) Humans doesn't play removal aside from Reflector Mage and maybe a Dismember or two out of the board. If you can get your guys on the field, you have perfect combat information save for an Aether Vial being in play. Attack and block accordingly and confidently.
4) This round I mentioned is further support for a couple of the cards I see debated in this thread so often. Scrying on the play with a full 7 using Zhalfirin Void is a truly great feeling and powerful move that far outclasses anything Sea Gate Wreckage ever did for this deck and imo is far better in more matchups than sweating the control matchup and reaching for Cavern of Souls. Same goes for Smuggler's Copter, an absolute UNIT in this matchup and round for sure.
Anyway, the deck has been consistently good to me as of late and I always enjoy playing with it. This week alone I played it out three times and went 2-1 (W: UR Thing,BW Aristocrats L: Grixis Shadow),3-1(W: Grixis Shadow,Dredge and Elves L: UWG Spirits) and 4-0 (W: RWB Vampires, Humans, Storm, Burn) against a variety of opponents. I'll try to be more active in this thread now that I got around to making an account as well. Cheers!
Any thoughts on corrosive gale or two in sideboard against spirits?
Interesting thought, although it seems super narrow, mana-intensive, and Mausoleum Wanderer makes casting it awkward and even more expensive.
I'm terrified whenever I see Spirits, as I am with most swarm decks, but I've been on a heater against it lately. I'm running 3x Spatial Contortion and 2x Gut Shot in the board, though. I moved a Relic to the maindeck and trimmed a Copter when Dredge got huge online. It's tough to make that call, but for now, I'm happy with it. 3-2 and 4-1 in my last two leagues and have managed to beat some bad matchups to get there.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Hey Guys, in some weeks it is Time for the next tournament, i decide trying out a new idea. 4 Ghost Quarter, 4 Tectonic Edge, 4 Wastes, 1 Field of Ruin with 2 Crucible in my sideboard. This Crucible i will bring in vs. Scapeshift, UW and Tron. All for Science and fun
I do like science and fun, but I feel like you're giving up points on good matchups to try to shore up against one of our few near hopeless ones (Scapeshift). Interested on the results though.
Speaking of Scapeshift- was just talking to a friend at this week's modern weekly about how nice it is that locally Titanshift has really fallen off the map. Lo and behold there it was in my final round after going 3-0 the rest of the evening. I offered a draw since it was late and I personally have to wake up early to work, my opponent declined which was a little annoying but totally allowed so whatever. G1 I'm on the draw with a caverns on T0 into T1 Mimic, T2 Smasher off Eldrazi Temple/ Spirit Guide and then a final T3 Smasher to wrap it up. Hands like this are the only way for us to win the matchup without relying on a misplay on our opponent's part. In this case, my opponent kept playing out early Valakuts which opened them up to some GQ/Surgical blowouts post board but I never saw them. Instead I kept reasonable temple/TKS hands and gunned it as fast as I could be still lost games 2 and 3 after getting my opponent below 10 life (my life sheet says they were at 8 G2 before a Prismatic Omen and 3 G3 before two back to back Scapeshifts from a hand I'd already TKS'd a Summoner's Pact out of.
My opponent left the table with "Wow, and I've never even played the deck before!". Having played RG Titanshift myself for a little while I found that to be very apparent but it serves as great support to the notion we still have no way to reliably out game them aside from actual perfect opening hands. I'm fine with losing to a couple matchups regularly and Scapeshift/Titanshift just happens to be one of them.
I do like science and fun, but I feel like you're giving up points on good matchups to try to shore up against one of our few near hopeless ones (Scapeshift). Interested on the results though.
Speaking of Scapeshift- was just talking to a friend at this week's modern weekly about how nice it is that locally Titanshift has really fallen off the map. Lo and behold there it was in my final round after going 3-0 the rest of the evening. I offered a draw since it was late and I personally have to wake up early to work, my opponent declined which was a little annoying but totally allowed so whatever. G1 I'm on the draw with a caverns on T0 into T1 Mimic, T2 Smasher off Eldrazi Temple/ Spirit Guide and then a final T3 Smasher to wrap it up. Hands like this are the only way for us to win the matchup without relying on a misplay on our opponent's part. In this case, my opponent kept playing out early Valakuts which opened them up to some GQ/Surgical blowouts post board but I never saw them. Instead I kept reasonable temple/TKS hands and gunned it as fast as I could be still lost games 2 and 3 after getting my opponent below 10 life (my life sheet says they were at 8 G2 before a Prismatic Omen and 3 G3 before two back to back Scapeshifts from a hand I'd already TKS'd a Summoner's Pact out of.
My opponent left the table with "Wow, and I've never even played the deck before!". Having played RG Titanshift myself for a little while I found that to be very apparent but it serves as great support to the notion we still have no way to reliably out game them aside from actual perfect opening hands. I'm fine with losing to a couple matchups regularly and Scapeshift/Titanshift just happens to be one of them.
I actually don't find this matchup so hard anymore. The key is to aggressively mulligan into Temple/TKS/Mimic. Keeping Gut/Dismember for Sakura is important too. It's just the Breach/Guide versions that get us reliably and those have fallen way off the map.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
I do like science and fun, but I feel like you're giving up points on good matchups to try to shore up against one of our few near hopeless ones (Scapeshift). Interested on the results though.
Speaking of Scapeshift- was just talking to a friend at this week's modern weekly about how nice it is that locally Titanshift has really fallen off the map. Lo and behold there it was in my final round after going 3-0 the rest of the evening. I offered a draw since it was late and I personally have to wake up early to work, my opponent declined which was a little annoying but totally allowed so whatever. G1 I'm on the draw with a caverns on T0 into T1 Mimic, T2 Smasher off Eldrazi Temple/ Spirit Guide and then a final T3 Smasher to wrap it up. Hands like this are the only way for us to win the matchup without relying on a misplay on our opponent's part. In this case, my opponent kept playing out early Valakuts which opened them up to some GQ/Surgical blowouts post board but I never saw them. Instead I kept reasonable temple/TKS hands and gunned it as fast as I could be still lost games 2 and 3 after getting my opponent below 10 life (my life sheet says they were at 8 G2 before a Prismatic Omen and 3 G3 before two back to back Scapeshifts from a hand I'd already TKS'd a Summoner's Pact out of.
My opponent left the table with "Wow, and I've never even played the deck before!". Having played RG Titanshift myself for a little while I found that to be very apparent but it serves as great support to the notion we still have no way to reliably out game them aside from actual perfect opening hands. I'm fine with losing to a couple matchups regularly and Scapeshift/Titanshift just happens to be one of them.
dont forget my 4 tectonic edge i am allways playing Main, paired with crucible from side could be a nightmare to Scapeshift.
Now after 2 Amulet and 1 scapeshift in top 4 last scg Tour, i am sure i need try it. My feelings about meta was allways lucky and i will be prepared again with crucible...even if i am unsure about his strenght and if it is useful drawing this card. Future will show it, no risk no fun
Interesting take. The downside is that, I assume, without manlands this deck is just stone-cold to UW. This could be possibly solved by Cavern of souls, thought, which, however, will reduce our ability to cast red spells.
You are basically trading one bad match for another. In my experience, the problem against control is when they are able to gain a huge advantage from boardwipes, and they buy time to do so with 1 for 1 removal. Dropping copter and manlands removes some of our ways to pressure them without overextending. This is the trade off for adding obligator and abrade main and better cards vs humans and other go wide decks side. I suspect changing the mana base to go back in the other direction matchup wise and making your sideboard cards harder to cast is defeating the purpose of splashing red in the first place.
Probably MB-1/2 Gemstone caverns, -0/1 Mountain, +2/3 Cavern of Souls SB-Sudden shock, -Relic/Leyline, + Kozilek's Return/Gut shot/Anger of the Gods + Cavern of Souls
could be a way to go.
I've found Jeskai to be a solid matchup, and UW a little less so. But I wouldn't be saying that without creaturelands and a solid start.
I'd rather have a solid control matchup than warp the manabase to beat big mana.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I just went 4-1 in a competitive league. Came down to game 3 of match 5, against BW Eldrazi & Taxes. I beat Grixis Control, Dredge, and 2x Green Tron to get there. The Dredge matchup doesn't feel great, and maybe I've just been playing against bad pilots, but I've won my last few matches against them. This player in particular kept the greediest possible hands and got stuck on one land while they milled all their fetches with Shriekhorn. Felt like . . . justice.
My list is basically Jordan's stock list, except I've cut a Copter for a maindeck Relic, and I've got a second second Spyglass instead of the Surgical in the board due to Surgical being outrageously expensive online.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Mine too. Winning the first game was a definite surprise. My opponent had 3 Meddling Mages in the top 15 cards, naming Reality Smasher, TKS, and All is Dust. I had a Smasher rotting in my hand, but scried into a Dismember to hit the Mage naming Smasher, cast it, and passed. Opponent didn't like their top deck and scooped, which felt very premature to me but whatever, I'll take it. Game two I feel more comfortable with 4 Dismember, 4 Bomb, 2 Gut Shot, and 2 Spatial Contortion. Matter Reshaper also feels quite good in the matchup.
It's not a great matchup, I don't think, but too often players act like a bad matchup is 80-20, when in reality they're more likely 60-40, and you have to play the games. The flipside is true, even in this thread, with people acting like this deck's good matchups are unloseable. I think there are definitely some lopsided matchups, but they're all worth playing out, because you opponent might slip up, or you might draw well, or some combination of them. That's why we play the games.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Opinions are polarized, and I'm just not convinced that humans could be a good matchup. There's only one way to prove this or otherwise - by doing a series of matches vs. decent humans player. Everything else is just a theory.
Reddit is right: WOW **** TRON
Deck is beatable for sure but infuriating.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Based on Ashton's most recent list (which is what I use card-for-card because if we're being honest the card pool for this deck kinda blows and I think he's got it pretty spot on for what's available right now) I have never played a round against humans that I felt was unwinnable. I've obviously won and lost against the deck but the Humans player I faced last night is a competitive player who considers his plays very thoroughly and I think our match last night was fairly indicative of how it's supposed to go. So here comes the anecdote from what I can remember.
Round 1 on the play-
I assume he's playing Infect as that's his favourite deck and it's having a bit of a renaissance currently. Accordingly, I keep a creature light 7 based on a Dismember, Eldrazi Temple and Matter Reshaper. I think "Great-kill the first guy, chump the second and hopefully stabilize from that point on.". I quickly realize I was wrong but the hand still had some game against humans since Dismember and Eldrazi Temple are two of the best cards I could have. I dismembered an early Meddling Mage naming Thought-Knot Seer and then cast one exiling a Mantis Rider. We trade guys for a little until he Reflector Mages my TKS and Aether Vials in another MM naming Reality Smasher (which was in my hand) I promptly draw into another Smasher while he's been playing out a Thalia's Lieutenant and a Mantis Rider. I can't compete with that and lose pretty quickly. So it goes.
SB-
All Chalice of the Voids and Simian Spirit Guides came flying out and 2x Spatial Contortion, 2x Gut Shot and 4x Ratchet Bombcome in.
Round 2- Play again
I Serum Powder away an entirely unplayable hand that contained one of my Ratchet Bombs but also had an Eternal Scourge. Ended up drawing a creatureless seven that happened to contain an Eldrazi Temple, Zhalfirin Void, two Dismembers, and a Spatial Contortion. So I began the game with a virtual 8 card opening hand, a free scry, fast mana and plenty of removal.
Round 3- Draw (Same SB except -1 Wastes and +1 Gemstone Caverns.)
I'm 95% sure my hand was Caverns/Scourge combo, two pieces of removal (Dismember and Contortion), two lands and Smuggler's Copter cool with me. The game starts off much the same as the last except my opponent is playing less interactive creatures- going t1 Champion of the Parish. I didn't immediately blast the champion since it doesn't really matter much to our opening hand and spent my first turn playing Copter (a note here- if one of the pieces of removal had been Gut Shot, I likely would have taken out the champ). T2 I see a Lieutenant come down and think "alright, this one needs to be answered". I draw a temple (the deck provideth) which allows me to play Scourge from exile, crew the Copter and still dismember the Lieutenant before anything got out of hand. I loot into a second Dismember and pass. T3 our opponent confidently slams a Thalia, Heretic Cathar and comes at us with a Champ that has admittedly gotten fairly large at this point. That's okay as I spend my next turn Dismembering Thalia, playing a land and casting TKS into a hand that no longer had any gas (to the point where I actually forget what I exiled- I want to say an Aether Vial?). He never recovers. I talk to him afterwards and he said that he kept the hand since it had some heat but mainly also had big Thalia. Big Thalia can be terrible for us if it gets accelerated out
Lessons from this round are:
1) We definitely have enough removal for this matchup but you need to be selective with your removal and save it for their creatures that either accelerate their deck (Hierarchs, Lieutenants) or prevent ours from functioning in the first place (Mages, Kitesails) in this case, Champion did not matter (and in my experience, they often don't) and worst case they should just be Dismembered once the opponent has spent time getting them to the full 5 P/T. In the final game I mentioned above, his made it to 4/4 but bit it when I realized he wasn't drawing any fire and attacked into it with TKS. The opponent obviously takes the trade since he desperately needed to draw at that point and I wanted to save my final removal spell for a real problem. As your opponent is playing creatures, try to plan out how/when/if you'll deal with them individually rather than looking at the entire board at once and being overwhelmed. This is an attrition matchup overall and they are the beatdown, not us.
2) Stealing the play from an opponent via Gemstone Caverns (or in some cases, Eldrazi Temple or a t1 Gut Shot on a mana dork) is absurdly powerful. I think this matters in this matchup even more when your opponent is attempting to hit a critical mass of resources to overwhelm/outsize our guys.
3) Humans doesn't play removal aside from Reflector Mage and maybe a Dismember or two out of the board. If you can get your guys on the field, you have perfect combat information save for an Aether Vial being in play. Attack and block accordingly and confidently.
4) This round I mentioned is further support for a couple of the cards I see debated in this thread so often. Scrying on the play with a full 7 using Zhalfirin Void is a truly great feeling and powerful move that far outclasses anything Sea Gate Wreckage ever did for this deck and imo is far better in more matchups than sweating the control matchup and reaching for Cavern of Souls. Same goes for Smuggler's Copter, an absolute UNIT in this matchup and round for sure.
Anyway, the deck has been consistently good to me as of late and I always enjoy playing with it. This week alone I played it out three times and went 2-1 (W: UR Thing,BW Aristocrats L: Grixis Shadow),3-1(W: Grixis Shadow,Dredge and Elves L: UWG Spirits) and 4-0 (W: RWB Vampires, Humans, Storm, Burn) against a variety of opponents. I'll try to be more active in this thread now that I got around to making an account as well. Cheers!
Interesting thought, although it seems super narrow, mana-intensive, and Mausoleum Wanderer makes casting it awkward and even more expensive.
I'm terrified whenever I see Spirits, as I am with most swarm decks, but I've been on a heater against it lately. I'm running 3x Spatial Contortion and 2x Gut Shot in the board, though. I moved a Relic to the maindeck and trimmed a Copter when Dredge got huge online. It's tough to make that call, but for now, I'm happy with it. 3-2 and 4-1 in my last two leagues and have managed to beat some bad matchups to get there.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Speaking of Scapeshift- was just talking to a friend at this week's modern weekly about how nice it is that locally Titanshift has really fallen off the map. Lo and behold there it was in my final round after going 3-0 the rest of the evening. I offered a draw since it was late and I personally have to wake up early to work, my opponent declined which was a little annoying but totally allowed so whatever. G1 I'm on the draw with a caverns on T0 into T1 Mimic, T2 Smasher off Eldrazi Temple/ Spirit Guide and then a final T3 Smasher to wrap it up. Hands like this are the only way for us to win the matchup without relying on a misplay on our opponent's part. In this case, my opponent kept playing out early Valakuts which opened them up to some GQ/Surgical blowouts post board but I never saw them. Instead I kept reasonable temple/TKS hands and gunned it as fast as I could be still lost games 2 and 3 after getting my opponent below 10 life (my life sheet says they were at 8 G2 before a Prismatic Omen and 3 G3 before two back to back Scapeshifts from a hand I'd already TKS'd a Summoner's Pact out of.
My opponent left the table with "Wow, and I've never even played the deck before!". Having played RG Titanshift myself for a little while I found that to be very apparent but it serves as great support to the notion we still have no way to reliably out game them aside from actual perfect opening hands. I'm fine with losing to a couple matchups regularly and Scapeshift/Titanshift just happens to be one of them.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
3 Eldrazi Obligator
4 Eternal Scourge
3 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Abrade
3 Dismember
4 Serum Powder
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Gemstone Caverns
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Mountain
4 Ramunap Ruins
2 Scavenger Grounds
3 Sulfurous Springs
1 Wastes
1 Crumble to Dust
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 By Force
2 Kozilek’s Return
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sudden Shock
Will definitely test this version.
MB -1/2 Gemstone caverns, -0/1 Mountain, +2/3 Cavern of Souls
SB -Sudden shock, -Relic/Leyline, + Kozilek's Return/Gut shot/Anger of the Gods + Cavern of Souls
could be a way to go.
I'd rather have a solid control matchup than warp the manabase to beat big mana.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
My list is basically Jordan's stock list, except I've cut a Copter for a maindeck Relic, and I've got a second second Spyglass instead of the Surgical in the board due to Surgical being outrageously expensive online.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered