Sideboard is TBD, but will have typical RG scapeshift sideboard stuff.
Basically it is very easy to ramp into turn 3 Thought-knot Seer, and then follow up with Reality Smasher or Scapeshift/Prime-time a few turns later. The opponent must spend resources on the powerful and hard to deal with Eldrazi, and then will be worn down for the follow-up prime-time/scapeshift.
Examples:
2x Eldrazi Temple gives turn 2 Thought-knot.
Turn 3 Thought-knot is easily achievable with 1 ramp spell or Temple.
Turn 3 Reality Smasher is possible with double Temple, Temple/ramp, or double ramp draws.
Someone just 4-0'd an FNM near me with some version of this deck.
That was me
Played it last night at the LGS and went 4-0. Only lost one game in the final match.
Deck was almost as posted above, except I put in 1 Karplusan Forest for 1 Cinder Glade.
Round 1 vs Abzan Collected Company. 2-0 WIN
Game 1 Anger wrecked his board followed by Thought-knot and friends.
Game 2 more of the same and I think I resolved a Scapeshift this time.
Round 2 vs Budget burn. 2-0 WIN
This was mono-mountain burn with out the expensive cards and all the burn you can think of (including Lightning Strike and Incinerate).
In both games he got me down fairly low but double Thought-knot stalled his board and stunted his hand. Scapeshift ended both games while Thought-knots were mostly "defensive". He was stuck on one land for part of game 2.
Round 3 vs Affinity. 2-0 WIN
Game 1 Anger of the Gods came down but he managed to beef a Vault Skirge up to 4/4 with his Ravager. He attacked for a few turns, and went up 26 life, while I finally got up to 7 lands with a Scapeshift in hand and Thought-knot on board. Unfortunately the max I could do was 18 damage with Scapeshift, and I was down to 6 life already. So I Scapeshifted his creatures away and attacked with Thought-knot. He raced back with a 2/2 Blinkmoth for a couple turns, but I drew one more land to do a second scapeshift with my remaining 2 mountains and double-valakut to finish him off. Close one.
Game 2 was not close as I get to bring in all the affinity hate. Smasher swung in for a few hits this game followed by Prismatic Omen/Double Valakut etc.
Round 4 vs Mono-green stompy! 2-1 WIN
Can't remember exactly but game 1 I Anger'd his creatures and attacked/scapeshifted for the win.
Game 2 I misplayed by going on the offensive with Smasher instead of hanging back to block while building up to Scapeshift range.
Game 3 I had the super-ramp draw into turn 4 Primetime with Prismatic out, getting double-valakut, dealing 12 to his board and 18 on the attack next turn.
The deck played awesomely, Thought-knot was really strong, and improved the inevitability of Scapeshift.
For sideboarding I typically took out 1-2 Prime-time, 1-2 Smasher, or 1 Explore.
Going forward I'm not sure I need the Karplusan - it was a hedge to help cast the Eldrazi, but I don't think I saw the Karplusan all night. And there were a couple games where I used exactly all my mountains during Scapeshift, so having an extra mountain in the deck wouldn't hurt.
Interesting idea. Do you find you are running too many payoff cards like scapeshift and titan? Looking at this list I would consider shaving one of something for a bit more early game interaction, but the list looks really fun with some amusingly powerful potential opening hands. My biggest concerns would be drawing too many high cost spells and not enough ways to survive the early game against a fast opponent.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
Played it again last night at FNM and went 3-1.
Beat mono-white hate-bears 2-0, BUG faeries 2-0, Jeskai control 2-1, and lost to Grixis Thing in the Ice 1-2. The Grixis match was very close, and I may have made a play error there. Also TitI is a beating.
Overall the payoff cards seem great. I already cut down to 2 Primetimes, and its very easy to have 5-mana on turn 4 or even turn 3 with this deck, so Smasher doesn't gum up your hand too much.
the big draw to playing scapeshift (apart from the namesake card) is the consistent ability to play cryptic command on turn 3.
turn 3 thought-knot seer (off a ramp spell) also seems quite good, but better against a whole different section of the metagame.
TKS, for example, is good against burn, blocking profitably and eating away their best card in hand.
i'm wondering if, in the right metagame, this spicy brew could be a decent bet against the field.
parting thought - wondering if ancient stirrings has a place in this list, to find the lands and threats you need. also makes kozilek's return playable which is potentially a good thing.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
the big draw to playing scapeshift (apart from the namesake card) is the consistent ability to play cryptic command on turn 3.
turn 3 thought-knot seer (off a ramp spell) also seems quite good, but better against a whole different section of the metagame.
TKS, for example, is good against burn, blocking profitably and eating away their best card in hand.
TKS has overperformed for me. The only problem with it is when it dies, but often you can end the game before it will die.
TKS seems almost busted to me. Its good against aggro, control and combo. The disruption along with the information gained lets you know whether you can safely scapeshift in a couple turns, or whether you should go on the beatdown plan with TKS and friends.
i'm wondering if, in the right metagame, this spicy brew could be a decent bet against the field.
parting thought - wondering if ancient stirrings has a place in this list, to find the lands and threats you need. also makes kozilek's return playable which is potentially a good thing.
This would move the build closer to Eldrazi tron. Anger of the Gods has been great in my metagame - killing Wild Nacatls, Kird Apes, exiling Kitchen Finks and other Abzan coco creatures, etc. Kozilek's return wouldn't be as good in that meta. The best use of Kozilek's Return is when you can retrigger it with a World-breaker a few turns later. I have considered World-breaker/Ulamog for the sideboard.
Yesterday at Wednesday night Modern I went 4-0 with the deck again Actually officially it was 3-0-1 as I drew with my last round opponent, but I beat him in the "for-funsies" match.
Round 1 vs. Zoo. WON 2-0
I beat him quickly each game with Thought-knot followed up by Scapeshift. 2nd game I even got a turn 2 Thought-knot! He did have 2 Paths to Exile, so he ended up pathing Thought-knot and ramping me into the bigger stuff. I think I Anger'd his board both games.
Round 2 vs. 4C Abzan/zoo. WON 2-0
He was playing some-sort of Coco/geist zoo bant abzan brew. One game he got me down to 3 life. But both games I could stabilize with Eldrazi and then Scapeshift as needed.
Round 3 vs. RG Titan Scapeshift WON 2-1
This match was good. He was on the play. I lost the first game as he had a super-ramp draw, ramping into something like 8 lands by turn 4. All I could muster was a Reality Smasher on turn 4. He revealed 2 Scapeshifts the next turn.
Game 2 he didn't ramp quite as quickly and was able to beat him down with Smashers. Game 3 Thought-knot finally showed up, taking a key piece so he couldn't Valakut me. He ramped up to 7 lands but was out of gas and I was able to Scapeshift him.
Round 4 vs. Abzan Coco WON 2-1
We drew but played it out for bragging rites.
Game 1 he built up a board of 5 creatures which I Anger'd away while I applied pressure with a Thought-knot and Smasher. He held on for a while recurring a Kitchen Finks with Gavony Township, and played a few other 2/1 utility creatures, but wasn't able to do much else, while I built up 5 Mountains and 2x Valakut. I eventually drew enough Mountains to punch through the last amount of damage.
Game 2 He got out an early Burrenton Forge Tender and a Spellskite which stalled my Anger of the Gods and Lightning Bolts in hand. I hung on for a bit but he was Gavony Townshiping his creatures and eventually finished me off with a 4/5 bird.
Game 3 again I was able to Anger his combo pieces away before they came online. Ended the game with 3x Thought-knot on board applying too much pressure for him to handle.
I've played the deck a couple of times now. The first night I had an imperfect list and went 2-2, losing to a Grixis Thing in the Ice Control deck because I couldn't find a Scapeshift despite going through half my deck. Today I played it at a small LGS tourney and went 2-1.
Round 1: My oppo has Affinity and is pretty new to Modern. I win a slow game one with TKS. I probably should have mulliganed, but it worked out. I lost Game two when I couldn't hit my 6th land with Omen in play and Shift in land. I missed my land drops on two turns when I could have killed him. I have TKS and could have played a blocker, but gambled with Explore instead, and whiffed. Clearly a play error. Game three he got a good Affinity start and that was that.
Round 2: Mike has traditional Titan Shift. I win game one because I went first and had Omen. We matched spells perfectly all the way through. My Search, His Search, my STE, his STE. I just got there first. Game two came doen to a play error for him. He miscounted his mountains and was unable to kill me. I untapped and Shifted.
Round 3: Jacob has BW Tokens. He wins game 1 because 5 3/3 Spirit tokens are a problem. Again I am one land away from Shifting for the win (or at least a stall) with additional outs in the deck (Anger, Bolt). Game two I shift him out quickly and game three is all about T2 TKS, followed by two Smashers.
I am enjoying the way the deck feels with one exception. I had run into some weird variance in the deck where I hit too many land or have significant trouble hitting Lands 6 and 7. Nothing to be done about it, but it has come up a few times.
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Some people like to win MtG matches in the Red Zone. I prefer to win the way God intended: on the stack.
I've been looking more and more into this deck lately. Are you from Ottawa by chance? I've been hearing about it tearing up some local events here lately. The list I've been playing around with is close to this:
Basically Oath of Nissa is there to grab key lands/creatures and Prismatic Omen which is why it beats out Ancient Stirrings. The side usually contains a World Breaker and some copies of Primetime/Breaker can make it into the mainboard. I've also played around with numbers of Matter Reshaper maindeck to give some more pressure through combat and by ramping.
I do like the list in the OP, but would probably swap out the Explores for something. Seems like mine has a little more focus on hitting Prismatic Omen + Scapeshift. I could very well see that with the addition of Primeval Titan you can drop some number of Prismatic Omen though.
Yes I'm from Ottawa. Been doing well with it the few times I had it out.
Oath of Nissa is interesting as it lets you get Prismatic Omen, however it forces you to pass over any Scapeshifts you find off it. Let me know how it goes.
The Explores have been good for me, but they are usually one of the first things I sideboard out. Often I'm sideboard out 1 Primetime and 1 Smasher against fast decks, and 1-2 Explores as needed.
The reason for the Explores over something like Farseek, is that they ramp, they effectively "cycle", and have a chance to ramp you into colorless, assuming you find colorless. Farseek can't ramp into colorless. Also it allows absurd plays like double/triple Explore when you have Valakut online.
Khalni Garden could also be an option, but I think that works better with even more ramp like in the RG Titan Shift, which typically has 15-16 ramp.
Oath of Nissa is interesting as it lets you get Prismatic Omen, however it forces you to pass over any Scapeshifts you find off it. Let me know how it goes.
Oh god I just reread the Oath and realized that it doesn't grab enchantments. That makes my last few weeks of playing this card seem rather silly.
The Explores have been good for me, but they are usually one of the first things I sideboard out. Often I'm sideboard out 1 Primetime and 1 Smasher against fast decks, and 1-2 Explores as needed. The reason for the Explores over something like Farseek, is that they ramp, they effectively "cycle", and have a chance to ramp you into colorless, assuming you find colorless. Farseek can't ramp into colorless. Also it allows absurd plays like double/triple Explore when you have Valakut online.
That's a fair point. They just seem to me to be something that has a chance to fizzle as opposed to something a bit more instant, but I see where you're coming from. I'll try them out.
Well I was just trying to play Sakura Tribe Elder to have a pseudo-fog against fast decks and ramp into t3 Thought-Knot Seer and t4 Reality Smasher. How relevant is the Scapeshift portion of the deck?
Oath of Nissa is interesting as it lets you get Prismatic Omen, however it forces you to pass over any Scapeshifts you find off it. Let me know how it goes.
Oh god I just reread the Oath and realized that it doesn't grab enchantments. That makes my last few weeks of playing this card seem rather silly.
Oops your right - I just re-read it too...
Anyway I like the main deck right now. I could see going to 3 Prismatic Omens maybe. Not sure what to cut though. My friend suggested going to 3 Bolts.
Well I was just trying to play Sakura Tribe Elder to have a pseudo-fog against fast decks and ramp into t3 Thought-Knot Seer and t4 Reality Smasher. How relevant is the Scapeshift portion of the deck?
The Scapeshift is really the point, otherwise you are just playing R/G Eldrazi ramp.
The nice thing about the deck is it attacks on so many different angles.
You can attack quickly with hard-to-deal-with Eldrazi.
You can ramp quickly into Scapeshift and combo them.
Sometimes you use Titan as a pseudo-Scapeshift, sometimes Titan is just another big hard-to-deal-with creature.
And you can win a long game by grinding out with many triggers from Prismatic Omen and Valakut.
You can also win just by keeping the board controlled with Anger/bolts/Thought-knot and playing a bunch of Mountains and a couple Valakut followed by more Mountains.
I'm really interested in this deck, however won't have time to test it in the following days.
Please people keep the results going
Will do. I hope to play it a couple times this weekend. And I have been playtesting it with M@lContent (above) as well.
Its times like this I wish I had a MTGO account
All right! I'm from Ottawa too and I know all the local participants of this thread. They know me too
I have just built the deck. The tiny change I made vs the base list is -1 Valakut +1 Cinder Glade. Having played RG titan-shift extensively in the last weeks, I can tell that you don't need as many valakuts if you are not playing 4 titans and 4 khalni gardens. Outside of scapeshift, you'd rather not see valakut in this deck. Cinder is another green source, it's 11th mountain and maybe comes untapped.
One thing that worries me is infect matchup. It has to be abysmal. With titanshift you can bring 1 melira from the side to make it virtual 3 in the deck with the help of 2 mainboard summoner's pact. No such luxury here. How do we beat infect? Ideas?
As for infect, I haven't played against it yet.
2x Anger main should help along with the bolts.
Also Thought-knot on turn 3 can take their best pump/protection spell.
My sideboard plan against infect is something like this:
-take out some amount of PrimeTime/Smasher/Explore
+1 Anger of the Gods
+2 Spellskite
+1 Engineered Explosives
+ Possibly bring in Ancient Grudge for their Inkmoth/Spellskites.
Yes infect is tough to deal with if they have the nuts. But you have some tools to slow them down.
Infect can kill you turn 3, but you can interact with bolt/Anger/Thought-knot.
You can also kill infect on turn 4 with interaction, if you have the nuts draw - Thought-knot on turn 3 followed by Prismatic/Scapeshift turn 4.
Overall this seems a bit better than RG Titanshift, mainly due to Thought-knot - also I don't think you were running maindeck Anger?
Hah this is now the Ottawa thread. Perhaps if you guys will be at the GPT this weekend we can meet up and talk more about it. I should be finished building it in paper very soon, but I came across the problem that Scapeshifts are now 60$ a piece..
Here's a different approach...add Amulet of Vigor to the mix so you can Scapeshift into untapped Tron mana on turn 3 or 4 and play multiple Eldrazi (or one really big one) on the same turn you cast Scapeshift.
Even adding Amulet wouldn't do much when you're low on gas. There are quite a few dead draws like multiple Omens and flooding yourself with all the lands, search for tomorrow and Steve's. Having some way to dig for threats, like Ancient Stirrings would be ideal. Maybe even Harmonize could be played as a 1-2 of to just fully refill your hand. It just seems to have the same problem as the pure Eldrazi decks, in that there is no way to get back into the game after your few opening hand cards without some really lucky topdecks.
I also suggest throwing in 1 World Breaker as a super late game way to grind out games. It can reocur with all of the excess mana.
OK played twice on the weekend - FNM on Friday and GPT on Saturday.
FNM was ok, went 3-1, however I discovered Jund is a really bad matchup.
I can't put too much stock in these results as the first 2 matches were against kids who were basically playing standard piles.
Interesting note I did lose game 2 of my first match when my opponent pacified both my Reality Smashers. Apparently Pacifism is a real card!?
3rd match I played against Jund, lost 0-2. First game I was grinded out, second game he Kolaghan's Commands me just when I draw my scapeshift (only card in hand), forcing me to discard it. If I had drawn the scapeshift the next turn I would have won and forced a game 3. We played a game 3 for fun and he crushed me anyways.
Match 4 I played against burn and beat it in 2 quick games by Scapeshifting the turn before he would kill me.
On to the GPT, where I didn't do as well. Mistakes were made, mulligans were had, and the flood was real.
First, the deck:
Round 1 vs Grixis something WON 2-0
Game 1 started off great. I play Eldrazi Temple, Eldrazi Temple, Thought-knot, Mountain, Reality Smasher He is dead on turn 4, not having seen any green or Scapeshift/ramp cards, so thinks I'm playing some sort of Eldrazi beatdown deck.
Game 2 I ramp out a bit and force Scapeshift through for the win. I ended at 8 land and could double Scapeshift if he had countered, but had already thought-knot'd him and knew 5 of the 7 cards in his hand.
Round 2 vs Affinity LOST 0-2
Game 1 I may have misplayed by bolting his 2 early chumps, and then top-deck Anger of the Gods. If I waited on the bolts I would have got more value from the Anger. Ended up dying to Inkmoth with double-cranial plating on turn 5 I think.
Game 2 I didn't draw any bolts/Angers or any of my 6 sideboard cards I brought in. Perhaps should have mulliganned, but a lone thought-knot was not enough to stop a Steel Overseer. In general I should have enough removal for Affinity, with 2x Grudge, 2x Revelry, EE, and an extra Anger. Oh well - sometimes Affinity just gets you.
Round 3 vs Jund LOST 0-2
Based on the previous night, I knew Jund would not be great. But I adjusted the sideboard with 3x Baloth to help.
Game 1 we grind out and both get into top-deck mode. I have Valakut and Omen out, and am top-decking lands but am low on life (2points). I end up bolting 5 of his things in a row, killing off a lili, a couple bobs, a goyf, and something else. Then I start drawing more ramp spells! I'm out of basic lands in the deck. All I need to draw was a Scapeshift, Titan, or even another Valakut. He finally draws another bolt to finish me off. Torpf was sitting beside us for this match and saw it go down...
Game 2 I bring in 3x baloths and Relic of Progenitus. This game I build up to 8 lands and am waiting for a payoff card again. He manages to build up Lili, and then ultimate her, leaving me with 4 land. Then of course I immediately draw the Scapeshift. Ah well... never drew a Baloth, that would have been useful.
Round 4 vs Grixis WON 2-1
Game 1 he Hymn to Tourach's me (Rise/Fall) and then snapcasters it a couple turns later. Ouch. I play land and then topdeck Scapeshift him to death
Game 2 board in Baloths, and he beats me down.
Game 3 he stalls and I build up to scapeshift him with Omen out.
Round 5 vs Jund again LOST 0-2
I'm 11th at this point and my opponent is 12th. If we are lucky, we might be playing for top 8.
Again with Jund, and again with the missed topdecks.
Game 1 I build up to 5 land with 2x Omen out. He has ripped my hand apart with discard, but I'm holding Primetime. He has a goyf and a Kalitas out. I just need to draw an untapped land in the next 3 turns so I can Titan for 2x Valakut with Omen and kill all his creatures. Needless to say, I don't get there. Why deck, why? 3rd time again I get screwed against Jund.
Game 2 I think I make a bad mulligan. Opening hand is 4 non-colorless land, 2x Scapeshift, and a Smasher. Very slow hand and I can't even cast the smasher. I mulligan, which I now think was a mistake. My 2nd hand is not good, and eventually get junded out. On thinking back I should have kept, but it had no removal and ramp.
As it turns out, my opponent made 9th place.
So I learned a couple things:
1. Jund seems to be a bad match, but maybe I missed on some good topdecks. The one game against Jund I just needed 1 of the 8 payoff cards left in my deck to turn the game, but it didn't happen. Also never drawing Baloth didn't help. By the way TDB also played the deck at FNM and went 3-1, losing to the same Jund deck. Hmm.
2. This deck tends to flood in the mid game and you don't have much draw to get through it.
So I'm considering going down to 25 lands, and maybe adding 1 Worldbreaker as Torpf suggested. Its another avenue to grind the long-game.
Also congrats to Torpf, I believe you made finals at the GPT?
I don't think Jund is a bad matchup, I have played a couple (4-6) games against it with your version and won most of them. But also, as I'm a Jund player, I know that RG Scapeshift decks are really bad pairings.
Maybe you were just unlucky or sided out wrong cards, may I have a look at your SB plan against Jund?
I mean, Ad Nauseam is what I would call a really bad pairing, but we do have tools against Jund, lets see what we can come up with!
Most RG Scapeshift deck play a couple Sudden Shocks in the SB, I know they are unexciting, but they are probably good against Infect and Afinity, to slightly unfavourable pairings.
I can't remember exactly, but sideboard plan is roughly something like this.
-1 Primetime
-1 Explore
-1 Anger of the Gods
-1 land
+3 Obstinate baloth
+1 Relic
Another time I took out 2x Explore and 1x Anger and 1 land for Baloths and Relic.
I do think I was on the wrong side of variance in at least 4 of the 6 losses:
1. one game I had to discard my topdecked lethal scapeshift during my draw phase due to Kolaghans Command. Drawing it next turn would have been game.
2. one game I drew 6+ land in a row with a Valakut out (which was ok - it kept me in the game). Drawing anything from Smasher to Scapeshift to Primetime would have won the game for me. Bad draws I guess
3. my opponent lili ultimated me the turn before I drew the would-be lethal scapeshift
4. I was stuck on 5 land holding a Primetime with Prismatic Omen out. Drawing the 6th land would have wiped his board.
etc.
Not to mention that I never drew any of my 3 sideboarded Obstinate Baloths, despite Liliana wrecking me every game.
Ah well, that's how it goes sometimes.
I would have thought Scapeshift should be favored, as they can't stop the Scapeshift. And so far I haven't had trouble with Grixis or Abzan. Jund has the advantage of Terminate and 4x Lili, which Grixis/Abzan don't have.
Do you have detailed testing results you can share? Thanks...
So I'm considering going down to 25 lands, and maybe adding 1 Worldbreaker as Torpf suggested. Its another avenue to grind the long-game.
Also congrats to Torpf, I believe you made finals at the GPT?
Yep! Split the payout in the finals and we played for the byes and PWP. I had great matchups/luck all day so I can't really complain.
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As for the deck, I do think 1 World Breaker would be a good fit. Throw in a Sanctum of Ugin to be searched up by Primeval Titan in order to fetch up the World Breaker. On that note, I know the manabase is super hard to build, but something like Khalni Garden could help against Jund in order to negate Lilianas sacrifice ability. If you're already getting quite a bit of use out of Prisimatic Omen then the non-mountian doesn't matter as much.
My micro-report: I played an FNM with the deck too.
1) Value/midrange grixis. 2-1. Played 5 games in total, lost one to Liliana and a fast clock. Very good matchup. Baloths are MVPs.
2) Eldrazi tron. 2-1. They have the same eldrazi package, but their high-end is more devastating. Even matchup. Thought-knots and crumbles are MVPs, spot artifact removal is good too.
3) Abzan. 2-0. Played 4 games, lost no games. Very easy matchup. Baloths are MVPs.
4) Jund. 0-2 loss. Lost part to his good draws, my mediocre draws, me sideboarding incorrectly, and me misplaying due to him obstructing visibility of his graveyard (intentionally or not).
The deck is strong. Probably better than RG scapeshift (which I've been playing for 2 months now). This deck has higher density of threats with some being lower on the curve.
One of the most problematic cards to deal with is Liliana. Her +1 is good and -2 is good against our lonely creatures on the board. Baloths are MVP against her. I am running no less than 3 from now on. What are the other options to punish Liliana?
Now that Eye of Ugin is banned, it seems like a good idea.
3 Forest
4 Mountain
1 Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Cinder Glade
4 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Explore
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
2 Prismatic Omen
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Primeval Titan
http://deckstats.net/decks/4323/461391-eldrazi-scapeshift/en
Sideboard is TBD, but will have typical RG scapeshift sideboard stuff.
Basically it is very easy to ramp into turn 3 Thought-knot Seer, and then follow up with Reality Smasher or Scapeshift/Prime-time a few turns later. The opponent must spend resources on the powerful and hard to deal with Eldrazi, and then will be worn down for the follow-up prime-time/scapeshift.
Examples:
2x Eldrazi Temple gives turn 2 Thought-knot.
Turn 3 Thought-knot is easily achievable with 1 ramp spell or Temple.
Turn 3 Reality Smasher is possible with double Temple, Temple/ramp, or double ramp draws.
I will try it out at FNM sometime.
WBG Abzan Midrange
BRG Dredgevine
That was me
Played it last night at the LGS and went 4-0. Only lost one game in the final match.
Deck was almost as posted above, except I put in 1 Karplusan Forest for 1 Cinder Glade.
Sideboard:
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Crumble to Dust
1 Thragtusk
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Shatterstorm
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Back to Nature
Round 1 vs Abzan Collected Company. 2-0 WIN
Game 1 Anger wrecked his board followed by Thought-knot and friends.
Game 2 more of the same and I think I resolved a Scapeshift this time.
Round 2 vs Budget burn. 2-0 WIN
This was mono-mountain burn with out the expensive cards and all the burn you can think of (including Lightning Strike and Incinerate).
In both games he got me down fairly low but double Thought-knot stalled his board and stunted his hand. Scapeshift ended both games while Thought-knots were mostly "defensive". He was stuck on one land for part of game 2.
Round 3 vs Affinity. 2-0 WIN
Game 1 Anger of the Gods came down but he managed to beef a Vault Skirge up to 4/4 with his Ravager. He attacked for a few turns, and went up 26 life, while I finally got up to 7 lands with a Scapeshift in hand and Thought-knot on board. Unfortunately the max I could do was 18 damage with Scapeshift, and I was down to 6 life already. So I Scapeshifted his creatures away and attacked with Thought-knot. He raced back with a 2/2 Blinkmoth for a couple turns, but I drew one more land to do a second scapeshift with my remaining 2 mountains and double-valakut to finish him off. Close one.
Game 2 was not close as I get to bring in all the affinity hate. Smasher swung in for a few hits this game followed by Prismatic Omen/Double Valakut etc.
Round 4 vs Mono-green stompy! 2-1 WIN
Can't remember exactly but game 1 I Anger'd his creatures and attacked/scapeshifted for the win.
Game 2 I misplayed by going on the offensive with Smasher instead of hanging back to block while building up to Scapeshift range.
Game 3 I had the super-ramp draw into turn 4 Primetime with Prismatic out, getting double-valakut, dealing 12 to his board and 18 on the attack next turn.
The deck played awesomely, Thought-knot was really strong, and improved the inevitability of Scapeshift.
For sideboarding I typically took out 1-2 Prime-time, 1-2 Smasher, or 1 Explore.
Going forward I'm not sure I need the Karplusan - it was a hedge to help cast the Eldrazi, but I don't think I saw the Karplusan all night. And there were a couple games where I used exactly all my mountains during Scapeshift, so having an extra mountain in the deck wouldn't hurt.
Beat mono-white hate-bears 2-0, BUG faeries 2-0, Jeskai control 2-1, and lost to Grixis Thing in the Ice 1-2. The Grixis match was very close, and I may have made a play error there. Also TitI is a beating.
Overall the payoff cards seem great. I already cut down to 2 Primetimes, and its very easy to have 5-mana on turn 4 or even turn 3 with this deck, so Smasher doesn't gum up your hand too much.
the big draw to playing scapeshift (apart from the namesake card) is the consistent ability to play cryptic command on turn 3.
turn 3 thought-knot seer (off a ramp spell) also seems quite good, but better against a whole different section of the metagame.
TKS, for example, is good against burn, blocking profitably and eating away their best card in hand.
i'm wondering if, in the right metagame, this spicy brew could be a decent bet against the field.
parting thought - wondering if ancient stirrings has a place in this list, to find the lands and threats you need. also makes kozilek's return playable which is potentially a good thing.
TKS has overperformed for me. The only problem with it is when it dies, but often you can end the game before it will die.
TKS seems almost busted to me. Its good against aggro, control and combo. The disruption along with the information gained lets you know whether you can safely scapeshift in a couple turns, or whether you should go on the beatdown plan with TKS and friends.
This would move the build closer to Eldrazi tron. Anger of the Gods has been great in my metagame - killing Wild Nacatls, Kird Apes, exiling Kitchen Finks and other Abzan coco creatures, etc. Kozilek's return wouldn't be as good in that meta. The best use of Kozilek's Return is when you can retrigger it with a World-breaker a few turns later. I have considered World-breaker/Ulamog for the sideboard.
Round 1 vs. Zoo. WON 2-0
I beat him quickly each game with Thought-knot followed up by Scapeshift. 2nd game I even got a turn 2 Thought-knot! He did have 2 Paths to Exile, so he ended up pathing Thought-knot and ramping me into the bigger stuff. I think I Anger'd his board both games.
Round 2 vs. 4C Abzan/zoo. WON 2-0
He was playing some-sort of Coco/geist zoo bant abzan brew. One game he got me down to 3 life. But both games I could stabilize with Eldrazi and then Scapeshift as needed.
Round 3 vs. RG Titan Scapeshift WON 2-1
This match was good. He was on the play. I lost the first game as he had a super-ramp draw, ramping into something like 8 lands by turn 4. All I could muster was a Reality Smasher on turn 4. He revealed 2 Scapeshifts the next turn.
Game 2 he didn't ramp quite as quickly and was able to beat him down with Smashers. Game 3 Thought-knot finally showed up, taking a key piece so he couldn't Valakut me. He ramped up to 7 lands but was out of gas and I was able to Scapeshift him.
Round 4 vs. Abzan Coco WON 2-1
We drew but played it out for bragging rites.
Game 1 he built up a board of 5 creatures which I Anger'd away while I applied pressure with a Thought-knot and Smasher. He held on for a while recurring a Kitchen Finks with Gavony Township, and played a few other 2/1 utility creatures, but wasn't able to do much else, while I built up 5 Mountains and 2x Valakut. I eventually drew enough Mountains to punch through the last amount of damage.
Game 2 He got out an early Burrenton Forge Tender and a Spellskite which stalled my Anger of the Gods and Lightning Bolts in hand. I hung on for a bit but he was Gavony Townshiping his creatures and eventually finished me off with a 4/5 bird.
Game 3 again I was able to Anger his combo pieces away before they came online. Ended the game with 3x Thought-knot on board applying too much pressure for him to handle.
Round 1: My oppo has Affinity and is pretty new to Modern. I win a slow game one with TKS. I probably should have mulliganed, but it worked out. I lost Game two when I couldn't hit my 6th land with Omen in play and Shift in land. I missed my land drops on two turns when I could have killed him. I have TKS and could have played a blocker, but gambled with Explore instead, and whiffed. Clearly a play error. Game three he got a good Affinity start and that was that.
Round 2: Mike has traditional Titan Shift. I win game one because I went first and had Omen. We matched spells perfectly all the way through. My Search, His Search, my STE, his STE. I just got there first. Game two came doen to a play error for him. He miscounted his mountains and was unable to kill me. I untapped and Shifted.
Round 3: Jacob has BW Tokens. He wins game 1 because 5 3/3 Spirit tokens are a problem. Again I am one land away from Shifting for the win (or at least a stall) with additional outs in the deck (Anger, Bolt). Game two I shift him out quickly and game three is all about T2 TKS, followed by two Smashers.
I am enjoying the way the deck feels with one exception. I had run into some weird variance in the deck where I hit too many land or have significant trouble hitting Lands 6 and 7. Nothing to be done about it, but it has come up a few times.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Kozilek's Return
4 Oath of Nissa
1 Explore
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
3 Prismatic Omen
Lands
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Wastes
4 Mountain
1 Forest
Basically Oath of Nissa is there to grab key lands/creatures and Prismatic Omen which is why it beats out Ancient Stirrings. The side usually contains a World Breaker and some copies of Primetime/Breaker can make it into the mainboard. I've also played around with numbers of Matter Reshaper maindeck to give some more pressure through combat and by ramping.
I do like the list in the OP, but would probably swap out the Explores for something. Seems like mine has a little more focus on hitting Prismatic Omen + Scapeshift. I could very well see that with the addition of Primeval Titan you can drop some number of Prismatic Omen though.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Oath of Nissa is interesting as it lets you get Prismatic Omen, however it forces you to pass over any Scapeshifts you find off it. Let me know how it goes.
The Explores have been good for me, but they are usually one of the first things I sideboard out. Often I'm sideboard out 1 Primetime and 1 Smasher against fast decks, and 1-2 Explores as needed.
The reason for the Explores over something like Farseek, is that they ramp, they effectively "cycle", and have a chance to ramp you into colorless, assuming you find colorless. Farseek can't ramp into colorless. Also it allows absurd plays like double/triple Explore when you have Valakut online.
Khalni Garden could also be an option, but I think that works better with even more ramp like in the RG Titan Shift, which typically has 15-16 ramp.
Oh god I just reread the Oath and realized that it doesn't grab enchantments. That makes my last few weeks of playing this card seem rather silly.
That's a fair point. They just seem to me to be something that has a chance to fizzle as opposed to something a bit more instant, but I see where you're coming from. I'll try them out.
I haven't been playing with the Titans maindeck, but having 1 available vs Liliana would be a good call.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Oops your right - I just re-read it too...
Anyway I like the main deck right now. I could see going to 3 Prismatic Omens maybe. Not sure what to cut though. My friend suggested going to 3 Bolts.
The Scapeshift is really the point, otherwise you are just playing R/G Eldrazi ramp.
The nice thing about the deck is it attacks on so many different angles.
You can attack quickly with hard-to-deal-with Eldrazi.
You can ramp quickly into Scapeshift and combo them.
Sometimes you use Titan as a pseudo-Scapeshift, sometimes Titan is just another big hard-to-deal-with creature.
And you can win a long game by grinding out with many triggers from Prismatic Omen and Valakut.
You can also win just by keeping the board controlled with Anger/bolts/Thought-knot and playing a bunch of Mountains and a couple Valakut followed by more Mountains.
Will do. I hope to play it a couple times this weekend. And I have been playtesting it with M@lContent (above) as well.
Its times like this I wish I had a MTGO account
I have just built the deck. The tiny change I made vs the base list is -1 Valakut +1 Cinder Glade. Having played RG titan-shift extensively in the last weeks, I can tell that you don't need as many valakuts if you are not playing 4 titans and 4 khalni gardens. Outside of scapeshift, you'd rather not see valakut in this deck. Cinder is another green source, it's 11th mountain and maybe comes untapped.
One thing that worries me is infect matchup. It has to be abysmal. With titanshift you can bring 1 melira from the side to make it virtual 3 in the deck with the help of 2 mainboard summoner's pact. No such luxury here. How do we beat infect? Ideas?
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As for infect, I haven't played against it yet.
2x Anger main should help along with the bolts.
Also Thought-knot on turn 3 can take their best pump/protection spell.
My sideboard plan against infect is something like this:
-take out some amount of PrimeTime/Smasher/Explore
+1 Anger of the Gods
+2 Spellskite
+1 Engineered Explosives
+ Possibly bring in Ancient Grudge for their Inkmoth/Spellskites.
Yes infect is tough to deal with if they have the nuts. But you have some tools to slow them down.
Infect can kill you turn 3, but you can interact with bolt/Anger/Thought-knot.
You can also kill infect on turn 4 with interaction, if you have the nuts draw - Thought-knot on turn 3 followed by Prismatic/Scapeshift turn 4.
Overall this seems a bit better than RG Titanshift, mainly due to Thought-knot - also I don't think you were running maindeck Anger?
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
I also suggest throwing in 1 World Breaker as a super late game way to grind out games. It can reocur with all of the excess mana.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
FNM was ok, went 3-1, however I discovered Jund is a really bad matchup.
I can't put too much stock in these results as the first 2 matches were against kids who were basically playing standard piles.
Interesting note I did lose game 2 of my first match when my opponent pacified both my Reality Smashers. Apparently Pacifism is a real card!?
3rd match I played against Jund, lost 0-2. First game I was grinded out, second game he Kolaghan's Commands me just when I draw my scapeshift (only card in hand), forcing me to discard it. If I had drawn the scapeshift the next turn I would have won and forced a game 3. We played a game 3 for fun and he crushed me anyways.
Match 4 I played against burn and beat it in 2 quick games by Scapeshifting the turn before he would kill me.
On to the GPT, where I didn't do as well. Mistakes were made, mulligans were had, and the flood was real.
First, the deck:
3 Forest
4 Mountain
1 Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Cinder Glade
4 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
//Spells
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Explore
2 Prismatic Omen
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Primeval Titan
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
Round 1 vs Grixis something WON 2-0
Game 1 started off great. I play Eldrazi Temple, Eldrazi Temple, Thought-knot, Mountain, Reality Smasher He is dead on turn 4, not having seen any green or Scapeshift/ramp cards, so thinks I'm playing some sort of Eldrazi beatdown deck.
Game 2 I ramp out a bit and force Scapeshift through for the win. I ended at 8 land and could double Scapeshift if he had countered, but had already thought-knot'd him and knew 5 of the 7 cards in his hand.
Round 2 vs Affinity LOST 0-2
Game 1 I may have misplayed by bolting his 2 early chumps, and then top-deck Anger of the Gods. If I waited on the bolts I would have got more value from the Anger. Ended up dying to Inkmoth with double-cranial plating on turn 5 I think.
Game 2 I didn't draw any bolts/Angers or any of my 6 sideboard cards I brought in. Perhaps should have mulliganned, but a lone thought-knot was not enough to stop a Steel Overseer. In general I should have enough removal for Affinity, with 2x Grudge, 2x Revelry, EE, and an extra Anger. Oh well - sometimes Affinity just gets you.
Round 3 vs Jund LOST 0-2
Based on the previous night, I knew Jund would not be great. But I adjusted the sideboard with 3x Baloth to help.
Game 1 we grind out and both get into top-deck mode. I have Valakut and Omen out, and am top-decking lands but am low on life (2points). I end up bolting 5 of his things in a row, killing off a lili, a couple bobs, a goyf, and something else. Then I start drawing more ramp spells! I'm out of basic lands in the deck. All I need to draw was a Scapeshift, Titan, or even another Valakut. He finally draws another bolt to finish me off. Torpf was sitting beside us for this match and saw it go down...
Game 2 I bring in 3x baloths and Relic of Progenitus. This game I build up to 8 lands and am waiting for a payoff card again. He manages to build up Lili, and then ultimate her, leaving me with 4 land. Then of course I immediately draw the Scapeshift. Ah well... never drew a Baloth, that would have been useful.
Round 4 vs Grixis WON 2-1
Game 1 he Hymn to Tourach's me (Rise/Fall) and then snapcasters it a couple turns later. Ouch. I play land and then topdeck Scapeshift him to death
Game 2 board in Baloths, and he beats me down.
Game 3 he stalls and I build up to scapeshift him with Omen out.
Round 5 vs Jund again LOST 0-2
I'm 11th at this point and my opponent is 12th. If we are lucky, we might be playing for top 8.
Again with Jund, and again with the missed topdecks.
Game 1 I build up to 5 land with 2x Omen out. He has ripped my hand apart with discard, but I'm holding Primetime. He has a goyf and a Kalitas out. I just need to draw an untapped land in the next 3 turns so I can Titan for 2x Valakut with Omen and kill all his creatures. Needless to say, I don't get there. Why deck, why? 3rd time again I get screwed against Jund.
Game 2 I think I make a bad mulligan. Opening hand is 4 non-colorless land, 2x Scapeshift, and a Smasher. Very slow hand and I can't even cast the smasher. I mulligan, which I now think was a mistake. My 2nd hand is not good, and eventually get junded out. On thinking back I should have kept, but it had no removal and ramp.
As it turns out, my opponent made 9th place.
So I learned a couple things:
1. Jund seems to be a bad match, but maybe I missed on some good topdecks. The one game against Jund I just needed 1 of the 8 payoff cards left in my deck to turn the game, but it didn't happen. Also never drawing Baloth didn't help. By the way TDB also played the deck at FNM and went 3-1, losing to the same Jund deck. Hmm.
2. This deck tends to flood in the mid game and you don't have much draw to get through it.
So I'm considering going down to 25 lands, and maybe adding 1 Worldbreaker as Torpf suggested. Its another avenue to grind the long-game.
Also congrats to Torpf, I believe you made finals at the GPT?
Cheers...
I can't remember exactly, but sideboard plan is roughly something like this.
-1 Primetime
-1 Explore
-1 Anger of the Gods
-1 land
+3 Obstinate baloth
+1 Relic
Another time I took out 2x Explore and 1x Anger and 1 land for Baloths and Relic.
I do think I was on the wrong side of variance in at least 4 of the 6 losses:
1. one game I had to discard my topdecked lethal scapeshift during my draw phase due to Kolaghans Command. Drawing it next turn would have been game.
2. one game I drew 6+ land in a row with a Valakut out (which was ok - it kept me in the game). Drawing anything from Smasher to Scapeshift to Primetime would have won the game for me. Bad draws I guess
3. my opponent lili ultimated me the turn before I drew the would-be lethal scapeshift
4. I was stuck on 5 land holding a Primetime with Prismatic Omen out. Drawing the 6th land would have wiped his board.
etc.
Not to mention that I never drew any of my 3 sideboarded Obstinate Baloths, despite Liliana wrecking me every game.
Ah well, that's how it goes sometimes.
I would have thought Scapeshift should be favored, as they can't stop the Scapeshift. And so far I haven't had trouble with Grixis or Abzan. Jund has the advantage of Terminate and 4x Lili, which Grixis/Abzan don't have.
Do you have detailed testing results you can share? Thanks...
Yep! Split the payout in the finals and we played for the byes and PWP. I had great matchups/luck all day so I can't really complain.
---
As for the deck, I do think 1 World Breaker would be a good fit. Throw in a Sanctum of Ugin to be searched up by Primeval Titan in order to fetch up the World Breaker. On that note, I know the manabase is super hard to build, but something like Khalni Garden could help against Jund in order to negate Lilianas sacrifice ability. If you're already getting quite a bit of use out of Prisimatic Omen then the non-mountian doesn't matter as much.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
1) Value/midrange grixis. 2-1. Played 5 games in total, lost one to Liliana and a fast clock. Very good matchup. Baloths are MVPs.
2) Eldrazi tron. 2-1. They have the same eldrazi package, but their high-end is more devastating. Even matchup. Thought-knots and crumbles are MVPs, spot artifact removal is good too.
3) Abzan. 2-0. Played 4 games, lost no games. Very easy matchup. Baloths are MVPs.
4) Jund. 0-2 loss. Lost part to his good draws, my mediocre draws, me sideboarding incorrectly, and me misplaying due to him obstructing visibility of his graveyard (intentionally or not).
The deck is strong. Probably better than RG scapeshift (which I've been playing for 2 months now). This deck has higher density of threats with some being lower on the curve.
One of the most problematic cards to deal with is Liliana. Her +1 is good and -2 is good against our lonely creatures on the board. Baloths are MVP against her. I am running no less than 3 from now on. What are the other options to punish Liliana?
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