I much prefer a 2-2 split between dispel and negate than 4 of one. Also, 4 Snaps just seems like too many even though you seem to like it. Most decks that run 3-4 Snap have 20+ business spells to target but Scapeshift generally has fewer.
I also think you should try out Hour of Devastation, or at least be running Anger of the Gods maindeck.
This is my decklist I've been trying. https://deckbox.org/sets/1751144 Not sure how well I like Prismatic Omen, but it's been fine. Hour of Devastation has been really good, and Supreme Will has been what I've wanted it to be. It's still an Impulse variant for the most part, but countering spells is still a very useful mode. Hour of Promise has been a solid one of, but more was cluttering the deck.
As a question for everyone, has anyone tried out Nissa, Steward of Elements in RUG/BtL? Seems like the dig would be useful and she is moderately hard to kill if you cast her for x=2+
Hello everyone! I'm new to the thread and posting in general, but I've been playing Bring to Light Scapeshift for a few months now and would like to give a tournament report, along with some thoughts I had about the deck.
First off, Tournament report. I played at a modern PPTQ on Saturday, making top 8 but unfortunately losing in the quarters.
My list is inspired off micah1's list from the SCG Open. I wanted to run 3 Scapeshifts, but I don't own a 3rd copy, so I ended up running an izzet charm instead. I updated the list for supreme will and some other tweeks, such as adding an 11th mountain (sacred foundry) and adding 4 mistys, as well as my own sideboard plan. I wanted back to nature against possible phyrexian unlife + Solemnity combo.
Game 1 7-7 on the draw. Win
My opponent does the usual things, stripping a BtL from my hand and assembling a board. Fortunately he only had one discard spell and I was able to block with some Steves (Sakura-Tribe Elders) and stall with a cryptic. I find another BtL and win.
Sideboard
- 3 Remand
- 1 Hunting Wilds
- 1 Farseek
- 1 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Snapcaster Mage
- 2 Supreme Will
+ 1 Chameleon Colossus
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
+ 3 Rest in Peace
+ 2 Negate
+ 2 Dispel
Game 2 7-5 on the draw. Win
My opening hand was a little loose, but since my opponent mulled I decided to keep. My hand was 4 lands with all my colors, 2 path, 1 verdict. Opponent had thoughtsieze to take a path, but only had one large creature the whole game which met another path. Tried to go aggro with just a snapcaster mage, but a baloth stopped him. Ended up finding supreme will into BtL, my opponent had double stubborn denial in hand but no 4 power creatures on board, so he cast force spike twice, which I paid for.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Affinity 2-1
Game 1 7-6 on the draw. Win
I get a nut hand and keep, 3 lands, 3 ramp spells, scapeshift. My opponent goes turn 1 , Turn 2 vault skirge + steel overseer, turn 3 steel overseer + signal pest, turn 4 etched champion. Luckily I was able to avoid all of this with a quick turn 4 win. Search->Steve->Hunting Wilds->hardcast Search->BtL->dome for 36. It felt very good
Sideboard
- 3 Remand
- 1 Supreme Will
- 1 Hunting Wilds
- 1 Cryptic Command
+ 1 Creeping Corrosion
+ 3 Obstinate Baloth
+ 1 Mapcap Experiment
+ 1 Platinum Emperion
Game 2 6-7 on the draw. Loss
My opponent has Turn 3 blood moon with 3 signal pest and master of etherium. I wasnt thinking about bloodmoon in their board and didnt sideboard for it. So I took my beats and went onto game 3.
Sideboard Change:
- 3 Obstinate Baloth
+ 1 Back to Nature
+ 2 Negate
Game 3 6-6 on the play. Win
I mull to a good hand of forest, misty, anger, 2 steve, search. I draw well and cast anger turn 4 to clear his board, I go down to 2 life after a few more turns, have scapeshift in hand and draw cryptic, stall with cryptic (since my opponent didnt play around it) and topdeck a search to get my 8th land to kill my opponent at 20.
2-0
Round 3 vs Grixis Shadow 0-2 (My friend who ended up winning the PPTQ)
Game 1 6-7 on the draw. Loss
I mulled and kept a questionable hand of 3 lands and 3 ramp spells. He had 2 thoughtseize, turn 2 shadow, and an instant speed kcommand to make me discard in the draw step. He revealed after the game that he had stubborn in hand too.
Sideboard:
Same as Round 1
Game 2 7-7 on the play. Loss
I keep a solid hand of 2 lands, search, Supreme Will, BtL, RIP. He had Inquisition into double Thoughtseize, taking RIP, Btl, and Supreme Will. I have turn 3 cryptic, but he had the stubborn for it since I couldn't pay the 1. I never recovered and he showed me another stubborn in hand. Was a rough loss.
2-1
Round 4 vs Boggles 2-0
Game 1 7-6 on the play. Win
I keep a good hand with search, 3 lands, path, remand, supreme will. My opponent has only 2 boggles with no enchantments. He tries to cast spirit dancer which I remand. Turns out his only enchantment in hand was unflinching courage and he was trying to get value out of spirit dancer. It was too slow though and I combo kill him.
Sideboard:
- 3 Path to Exile
- 2 Remand
+ 1 Back to Nature
+ 2 Negate
+ 1 Madcap Experiment
+ 1 Platinum Emperion
Game 2 6-6 on the draw. Win
I mull to 6 with 3 lands, search, steve, madcap, negate. My opponent reveals white leyline to start the game. I ramp into turn 4 madcap with negate backup while my opponent is stuck on one land. I'm locked at 9 life and my opponent doesn't have lifelink. We basically draw go for 6-7 turns and my opponent still doesn't find another land. I find supreme will->cryptic bounce leyline->Btl for the win. My opponent admitted that 3 path was the only out in his deck.
3-1
Round 5 Grixis Shadow 0-0-3 ID
The tournament was capped at 32 players for some reason, play space I guess, but I did the math and determined we could split into top 8.
3-1-1
Top 8: Quarterfinals vs. Living End 1-2
Game 1 7-7 on the draw. Win
I didn't know what my opponent was playing initially, so i keep a reasonable hand of Island, mountain, misty, remand, cryptic, anger, search. My opponent does some cycling and hardcasts a Fulminator turn 3, suspending a living end turn 4. He doesn't find a cascade spell all game and I remand his suspended Living end. I'm able to stall pretty long with verdict and cryptic while my opponent floods a little. I topdeck Scapeshift for the win.
Sideboard:
- 1 Supreme Will
- 1 Snapcaster Mage
- 1 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Path to Exile
- 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 3 Rest in Peace
+ 2 Negate
Game 2 6-7 on the draw. Loss
I have rest in peace but my opponent has turn 4 slaughter games naming scapeshift. I hope to draw valakuts/verdict naturally, but can't before I die to hardcast beats.
I was surprised by slaughter games but shouldn't have been. I should have sideboarded differently.
Sideboard change:
- 2 Negate
- 1 Farseek
- 1 Izzet Charm
- 1 Hunting Wilds
- 1 Path to Exile
+ 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 1 Madcap Experiment
+ 1 Platinum Emperion
+ 1 Chameleon Colossus
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
Game 3 6-7 on the play. Loss
I keep a hand of 3 land, search, cryptic, verdict while my opponent starts cycling. I have turn 3 Cryptic but my opponent plays and instantly fetches with his fourth land drop and my heart sinks. He reveals the slaughter games and takes scapeshift again. I get an eyebrow raise when he passes the platinum emperion looking through my deck. I draw RIP try to stall for a bit but flood out hard. Drawing 5 lands in a row. My opponent starts hardcasting threats so I am forced to verdict. My opponent natures claims my RIP. I find a supreme will which finds me either platinum emperion or chameleon colossus. I want to keep up cryptic so I take chameleon colossus over emperion. My opponent has double beast within, I crypticed one of them, but my colossus hits the grave. He plays a desert cerodon and cycles 2 monstrous carabids. I chump with the token and draw second verdict. I clear the board but next turn my opponent casts living end, bringing back 2 monstrous carabid and the desert cerodon. I Have enough mana to cast cryptic and pump colossus 3 times, making it 32/32, but cant get past the desert cerodon. I flood for 4 more draw steps and get beaten down by an archfiend. I felt like I had lots of outs to win me the game but failed to find them. I lose the game with 19 lands on the battlefield.
I finished in 8th Place.
Overall the deck preformed very well and I was very happy with the mana base and mix of spells (minus not having the third Scapeshift). Supreme Will seemed to fit very well into the deck, as it is mostly used to dig but gives you added security. One thing I wanted to improve was the sideboard. I'm thinking about adding Leyline of Sanctity to the board to combat discard spells and Slaughter Games, but not entirely sure what to cut. I feel that Chameleon Colossus is a great answer to death shadow in the meta and that Baloth was just a weaker Colossus. I'm thinking about cutting 3 Baloths and 1 Rest in Peace from the board for another Colossus and 3 Leyline of Sanctity. Another answer to a resolved blood moon would also be nice.
I created a sideboard guide for the event based off of my list. I will attach it to this Tournament Report.
Since you said you based the list off mine, I'm essentially going to say you're wrong for not copy/pasta on the maindeck
Supreme Will is a fine card, but I don't feel like 3 is a good number. I'm playing with just 1 over the Worldly Counsel and it's been fine, but I don't think I want more. The two other slots would go to another Scapeshift (whenever you can get it) and the fourth Remand. I know that Remand is poorly positioned right now, but it's still exactly what this deck wants to be doing and is passable against every deck.
As for the manabase, Misty Rainforests are correct over my fetches, and your manabase looks fine for the most part, but is suboptimal for a Hunting Wilds plan. You want to be able to get double white or double blue when needed off of it, which is why my manabase had 2 Breeding Pool and 1 Canopy Vista + 1 Temple Garden. Sacred Foundry is really not needed as R/W are the two colors you tend to need least, and the 11th Mountain is essentially never needed.
Thanks for responding! I am still new to Scapeshift decks, and I appreciate a lot of your advice.
3 Supreme Will may be too many, I will cut one for a 3rd Scapeshift when I get one. As for Remand, I think the card is great but it is not good against a lot of the top decks and doesn't compare to the card selection from Supreme Will. I think 3 is the right number for me.
When I added the Mistys, I wasn't sure which land to cut. So I cut a Breeding Pool. I used to play with the black splash, like the list from GP Copenhagen, so I based my land base off of that one. It ran 11 mountains, so I figured that that would be a good place to start. I have had a couple games where I needed the 11th mountain to kill someone, as drawing 5+ mountains and not having an 8th or 9th land is certainly plausible.
I didn't think about Hunting Wilds when it came to the land choices though. I can see it being nice to be able to get double while and double blue off of it, but i haven't had any trouble with getting colors so far. The 4 Misty Rainforest do help a lot.
Nature's Claim has good versatility, and I haven't played the deck enough to determine if the life gain from it is irrelevant. However, I can definitely see a scenario where I can't kill my opponent with 7 lands due to the life gain from Nature's Claim.
I agree that my sideboard plan vs Living End was sub-optimal. I haven't played the matchup as scapeshift before, so I didn't even consider their land destruction plan and being impactful. I like your sideboard plan much better.
The Sideboard Guide I created was assuming owning a third Scapeshift over the Izzet Charm, so there are some adjustments given the deck configuration.
Overall though the deck performed well. I will make some tweaks to the main deck and sideboard and hope to keep everyone updated.
I still disagree on Supreme Will, but once again that's an opinion when neither of us have done much testing.
Misty Rainforests obviously go over the 3 fetches, and the fourth can be whatever. I understand the want for a 4 Misty Rainforest manabase, I just wanted mine better optimized for the Hunting Wilds instead.
Needing that 11th Mountain for a 7 land kill can be game winning, but we all picked our own priorities. Instead I picked to help the natural manabase since my list already has it weakened for optimizing Hunting Wilds.
Nature's Claim is generally brought in against decks that you need 8 lands to kill anyways, like Affinity or Bogles.
Chameleon Colossus seems very good, but I will also say you didn't play any of the matchups where Obstinate Baloth is a star. They are there.
Overall, good work. I've not top 8'd anything with Scapeshift other than FNM.
I ended up going 3-1, losing to affinity in 3 games, but both losses were close. Game 2 my opponent drew 3 galvantic blast in 4 cards to kill me after I stabilized at 7 life with Negate backup. And in game 3 I misplayed by letting my opponent untap with steel overseer which gave him a much faster clock which cost me 2 draw steps. Nature's claim was good and the life gain wouldn't have mattered, even though I lost both sideboarded games.
The 11th mountain won me a game against eldrazitron where I had drawn 1 valakut and 3 mountains. I had to go off with 9 lands getting 1 valakut and 8 mountains. (He had 2 ghost quarter so I needed every mountain to make sure my triggers resolved.
I played Grixis Shadow twice, and Leyline of Sanctity was great! I prevented my opponent from doing extra damage to themselves and filling up the yard, so they couldn't even cast a creature until turn 4. One game I had Rest in Peace and Leyline of Sanctity, and my opponent's deck felt completely neutered. Chameleon Colossus performed well again I definitely deserves a spot in the deck.
The 11th mountain won me a game against eldrazitron where I had drawn 1 valakut and 3 mountains. I had to go off with 9 lands getting 1 valakut and 8 mountains. (He had 2 ghost quarter so I needed every mountain to make sure my triggers resolved.
Top8 Norwegain Vintage Nationals 2003
Winner Norwegain Vintage Nationals 2006
Finalist Vintage Open at Arcon 2013
Finalist Modern Open at Arcon 2013
Winner Sweden Vintage Nationals at Eternalkungen Sweden 2013
Top8 Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2014
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2014
Top8 Legacy Open at Arcon 2014
Top4 Legacy Open at Arcon 2015
Winner Modern Open at Arcon 2015
Finalist Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2016
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2016
The 11th mountain won me a game against eldrazitron where I had drawn 1 valakut and 3 mountains. I had to go off with 9 lands getting 1 valakut and 8 mountains. (He had 2 ghost quarter so I needed every mountain to make sure my triggers resolved.
If you math it right you don't even need that, just more lands.
I see that this 11th mountain business is a big deal. After redoing the math, you are correct that I only needed the 10 mountains to win. However, if I had drawn 4 mountains with only 10 mountains in my deck (a plausible scenario) then I would have only been able to deal 18 damage to my opponent, which wasn't lethal.
While most of the time 10 mountains is sufficient, there are definitely scenarios where we will be unable to deal lethal damage. It may just be my opinion, but I think that having the 11th mountain as a security blanket is better than playing a Canopy Vista for a possible Hunting Wilds double white plan.
Please keep in mind that in reference to micah1's list, I am running an additional fetch in 4 Misty Rainforest, meaning that I have another white source in my manabase (4 Misty Rainforest, Sacred Foundry, Temple Garden, Hallowed Fountain, Plains). This is the main reason why I believe that this choice is correct. However, this one land we are talking about could be considered a "flex" spot, so it is really up to personal preference. I've seen some lists that run a Flooded Grove in this slot too, although I'm not sure how much I like it in the BtL versions.
If you math it right you don't even need that, just more lands.
I see that this 11th mountain business is a big deal. After redoing the math, you are correct that I only needed the 10 mountains to win. However, if I had drawn 4 mountains with only 10 mountains in my deck (a plausible scenario) then I would have only been able to deal 18 damage to my opponent, which wasn't lethal.
If the 11th mountain is needed depends on how much life your opponent is on.
Let's have a look at your example:
You have 9 lands in play, 4 of them which are mountains. Your opponent has 2 Ghost Quarters as only interaction.
IF your basic mountain is allready in play you can't get double Valakut because the 2 Ghost Quarters can put you down to 5 mountains (2 Valakut + 7 mountains -> then 2 mountains get destroyed by GQ). So the maximum damage you can do in this case is 18 by sacrificing 7 lands, keeping 2 mountains in play, and getting 1 Valakut and 6 mountains. You'll get 6 Valakut triggers and 8 mountains in play, so you can't be interupted by the 2 GQs.
BUT IF you have your basic moutain left in library you can get double Valakaut. You can do 30 damage by playing Scapeshift, sacrifing 7 lands, keeping 2 mountains play, and getting 2 Valakut and 5 non-basic mountains. You'll get 10 Valakut triggers on the stack and 7 mountains in play. If they do try to interact with the GQs you'll get the basic mountain left in your deck (which is your last mountain) with one of them and any basic with the other. That will leave you with 2 Valakut, 6 mountains and 1 basic in play, and the clause for Valakut is still satisfied. Also note that the basic mountain put into play with GQ will trigger the 2 Valakuts, leaving you with 12 triggers totalt. That's 30 damage if they don't use GQ, and 36 damage if they do.
NOTE: If you allready have Valakut in play you keep it and sacrifice one less land with scapeshift (only searching for the second Valakut).
While most of the time 10 mountains is sufficient, there are definitely scenarios where we will be unable to deal lethal damage.
Most of the time drawing to many mountains forces you to go for double Valakut, ie meaning an 8-land kill instead of 7. Your opponent's life total has to be above mountains left in your deck times 3 for it to matter. As mentioned, you can allways go for double Valakut, so the most common scenario is when combo on 7 lands. You have to have drawn at least 5 mountains before affection you on 7 land combo turn.
Top8 Norwegain Vintage Nationals 2003
Winner Norwegain Vintage Nationals 2006
Finalist Vintage Open at Arcon 2013
Finalist Modern Open at Arcon 2013
Winner Sweden Vintage Nationals at Eternalkungen Sweden 2013
Top8 Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2014
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2014
Top8 Legacy Open at Arcon 2014
Top4 Legacy Open at Arcon 2015
Winner Modern Open at Arcon 2015
Finalist Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2016
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2016
NOTE: If you allready have Valakut in play you keep it and sacrifice one less land with scapeshift (only searching for the second Valakut).
I had 1 Valakut was on the battlefield already, so in response to casting a Scapeshift my opponent would Ghost Quarter it. I then search a basic and have 9 lands. Scapeshift resolves and I sacrifice 7 lands leaving 2 mountains getting Valakut and 6 mountains. This only deals 18 damage. If I had a 7th mountain in my deck (11 total) then I would have been able to win in this scenario, as my opponent was at 20.
I understand that with double Valakut the number of mountains required in your deck is much less, but if you draw a Valakut and your opponent has interaction (Fulminator Mage or Ghost Quarter) then it can be hard to win. Sometimes you don't have the time/cards for another land drop.
It really is a flex land. I just dislike having it in my deck. In fact, the version I built mine off of ran the Sacred Foundry in that slot. I replaced it with the Canopy Vista since I found it annoying to draw the two least used colors on a land when I generally didn't need another mountain.
That is a very spicy list! The 4 Grave Titans in the sideboard really get me. The inclusion of dark petition is interesting. However, I think the strength of the blue versions is being able to stall with Cryptic Command, and with this jund version I feel that stalling is hard to do. I think he is trying to play a fair game rather than trying to ignore your opponents gameplan. It is an interesting idea.
It plays a similar amount of disruption comparable to BtL lists. I dislike the IoKs, but other than that I like it (although I've not played it). Being able to Petition for Boseiju seems spicy.
I hope this isn't considered off topic. If so, I vote having Bring to Light Scapeshift in the RUG Scapeshift forum is off topic
I'm not a fan of Bolt in the Current meta, small creature decks are just pretty bad right now. I currently run a playset of path, and if I wanted additional cheap removal, I'd probably play 1 Lightning Helix.
I've been running a different manabase than most for a bit now and it's been great at casting Cryptics, wraths and Shift: I only run 1 basic forest and 1 Breeding Pool, and run 2 more fetches (Flooded Strands). The second forest can sometimes be useful when you want to Search for tomorrow and Scapeshift in the same turn, but you can adapt and fetch accordingly in the previous turns. Otherwise, it's only really useful against RG Ponza which isn't widely played and really hard to beat anyway.
Breeding Pool is the best ravland of the deck, but I've very rarely needed 2. I could see running a Flooded Grove instead of the 6th fetch though. Otherwise I also run 10 mountains (the 10th one being a Cinder Glade instead of your Canopy Vista).
Lately, Baloth has been much less useful because Lili-decks aren't played anymore. I play a Timely Reinforcement and a couple Helix/Blessed Alliance instead. I'm trying out Chameleon Colossus as a BtL target against Grixis DS and it's been decent. Also, I run a couple RiP's in the SB, it just hoses a lot of decks at the moment.
I recently stopped playing Crumble to Dust cause it's only good against RG Valakut (and not even great there) and Gx Tron which isn't seeing much play in my area.
Here's my list in case someone's interested (8-1 in LGS events over the last couple weeks):
Crumble is too slow and not impacting enough against Eldrazi Tron imo. With my current sideboard I'd get Timely Reinforcement, Blessed Alliance, Platinum Emperion and Madcap Experiment in, cutting 2 Farseek, 1 Worldly Counsel and a Cryptic.
The usually only play a couple Caverns, so I think Remand is still great, often a Time Walk against this deck. In case they do have a cavern, you can still remand just to draw a card. They can also tutor their cavern with map, but that means they're not getting any acceleration instead so it's fine for me. Chameleon and Pia are kinda random I feel like they'd be OK but probably less good than every card in my maindeck.
Against Death and Taxes, I would sideboard out 1 Scapeshift, 1 Worldly Counsel, and 4 Remand and get in Pia&Kiran, Madcap&Emperion,Helix, Blessed Alliance and Anger of the Gods. Basically you just have to kill Leonin Arbiter and Thalia and be wary of Ghost Quarter+Arbiter. To play around Ghost Quarter when Scapeshifting, you just need to leave your 1 basic mountain in the deck (and then get one more Mountain for every additional Ghost Quarter they have), and against Tec Edge, you need 1 more land too.
Against UWx Control (which often plays 4 GQ or Tec Edge),you just have to be careful with your colored sources against Spreading Seas and Tec Edge, and playing Scapeshift with 1-2 counterspells backup is usually enough, especially game 1. Also don't allow them to neutralize both your Valakuts in case you draw them both.
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I also think you should try out Hour of Devastation, or at least be running Anger of the Gods maindeck.
This is my decklist I've been trying. https://deckbox.org/sets/1751144 Not sure how well I like Prismatic Omen, but it's been fine. Hour of Devastation has been really good, and Supreme Will has been what I've wanted it to be. It's still an Impulse variant for the most part, but countering spells is still a very useful mode. Hour of Promise has been a solid one of, but more was cluttering the deck.
As a question for everyone, has anyone tried out Nissa, Steward of Elements in RUG/BtL? Seems like the dig would be useful and she is moderately hard to kill if you cast her for x=2+
First off, Tournament report. I played at a modern PPTQ on Saturday, making top 8 but unfortunately losing in the quarters.
My list is inspired off micah1's list from the SCG Open. I wanted to run 3 Scapeshifts, but I don't own a 3rd copy, so I ended up running an izzet charm instead. I updated the list for supreme will and some other tweeks, such as adding an 11th mountain (sacred foundry) and adding 4 mistys, as well as my own sideboard plan. I wanted back to nature against possible phyrexian unlife + Solemnity combo.
Decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bring-to-light-scapeshift-pptq/
Round 1 vs. Grixis shadow 2-0
Game 1 7-7 on the draw. Win
My opponent does the usual things, stripping a BtL from my hand and assembling a board. Fortunately he only had one discard spell and I was able to block with some Steves (Sakura-Tribe Elders) and stall with a cryptic. I find another BtL and win.
Sideboard
- 3 Remand
- 1 Hunting Wilds
- 1 Farseek
- 1 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Snapcaster Mage
- 2 Supreme Will
+ 1 Chameleon Colossus
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
+ 3 Rest in Peace
+ 2 Negate
+ 2 Dispel
Game 2 7-5 on the draw. Win
My opening hand was a little loose, but since my opponent mulled I decided to keep. My hand was 4 lands with all my colors, 2 path, 1 verdict. Opponent had thoughtsieze to take a path, but only had one large creature the whole game which met another path. Tried to go aggro with just a snapcaster mage, but a baloth stopped him. Ended up finding supreme will into BtL, my opponent had double stubborn denial in hand but no 4 power creatures on board, so he cast force spike twice, which I paid for.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Affinity 2-1
Game 1 7-6 on the draw. Win
I get a nut hand and keep, 3 lands, 3 ramp spells, scapeshift. My opponent goes turn 1 , Turn 2 vault skirge + steel overseer, turn 3 steel overseer + signal pest, turn 4 etched champion. Luckily I was able to avoid all of this with a quick turn 4 win. Search->Steve->Hunting Wilds->hardcast Search->BtL->dome for 36. It felt very good
Sideboard
- 3 Remand
- 1 Supreme Will
- 1 Hunting Wilds
- 1 Cryptic Command
+ 1 Creeping Corrosion
+ 3 Obstinate Baloth
+ 1 Mapcap Experiment
+ 1 Platinum Emperion
Game 2 6-7 on the draw. Loss
My opponent has Turn 3 blood moon with 3 signal pest and master of etherium. I wasnt thinking about bloodmoon in their board and didnt sideboard for it. So I took my beats and went onto game 3.
Sideboard Change:
- 3 Obstinate Baloth
+ 1 Back to Nature
+ 2 Negate
Game 3 6-6 on the play. Win
I mull to a good hand of forest, misty, anger, 2 steve, search. I draw well and cast anger turn 4 to clear his board, I go down to 2 life after a few more turns, have scapeshift in hand and draw cryptic, stall with cryptic (since my opponent didnt play around it) and topdeck a search to get my 8th land to kill my opponent at 20.
2-0
Round 3 vs Grixis Shadow 0-2 (My friend who ended up winning the PPTQ)
Game 1 6-7 on the draw. Loss
I mulled and kept a questionable hand of 3 lands and 3 ramp spells. He had 2 thoughtseize, turn 2 shadow, and an instant speed kcommand to make me discard in the draw step. He revealed after the game that he had stubborn in hand too.
Sideboard:
Same as Round 1
Game 2 7-7 on the play. Loss
I keep a solid hand of 2 lands, search, Supreme Will, BtL, RIP. He had Inquisition into double Thoughtseize, taking RIP, Btl, and Supreme Will. I have turn 3 cryptic, but he had the stubborn for it since I couldn't pay the 1. I never recovered and he showed me another stubborn in hand. Was a rough loss.
2-1
Round 4 vs Boggles 2-0
Game 1 7-6 on the play. Win
I keep a good hand with search, 3 lands, path, remand, supreme will. My opponent has only 2 boggles with no enchantments. He tries to cast spirit dancer which I remand. Turns out his only enchantment in hand was unflinching courage and he was trying to get value out of spirit dancer. It was too slow though and I combo kill him.
Sideboard:
- 3 Path to Exile
- 2 Remand
+ 1 Back to Nature
+ 2 Negate
+ 1 Madcap Experiment
+ 1 Platinum Emperion
Game 2 6-6 on the draw. Win
I mull to 6 with 3 lands, search, steve, madcap, negate. My opponent reveals white leyline to start the game. I ramp into turn 4 madcap with negate backup while my opponent is stuck on one land. I'm locked at 9 life and my opponent doesn't have lifelink. We basically draw go for 6-7 turns and my opponent still doesn't find another land. I find supreme will->cryptic bounce leyline->Btl for the win. My opponent admitted that 3 path was the only out in his deck.
3-1
Round 5 Grixis Shadow 0-0-3 ID
The tournament was capped at 32 players for some reason, play space I guess, but I did the math and determined we could split into top 8.
3-1-1
Top 8: Quarterfinals vs. Living End 1-2
Game 1 7-7 on the draw. Win
I didn't know what my opponent was playing initially, so i keep a reasonable hand of Island, mountain, misty, remand, cryptic, anger, search. My opponent does some cycling and hardcasts a Fulminator turn 3, suspending a living end turn 4. He doesn't find a cascade spell all game and I remand his suspended Living end. I'm able to stall pretty long with verdict and cryptic while my opponent floods a little. I topdeck Scapeshift for the win.
Sideboard:
- 1 Supreme Will
- 1 Snapcaster Mage
- 1 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Path to Exile
- 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 3 Rest in Peace
+ 2 Negate
Game 2 6-7 on the draw. Loss
I have rest in peace but my opponent has turn 4 slaughter games naming scapeshift. I hope to draw valakuts/verdict naturally, but can't before I die to hardcast beats.
I was surprised by slaughter games but shouldn't have been. I should have sideboarded differently.
Sideboard change:
- 2 Negate
- 1 Farseek
- 1 Izzet Charm
- 1 Hunting Wilds
- 1 Path to Exile
+ 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 1 Madcap Experiment
+ 1 Platinum Emperion
+ 1 Chameleon Colossus
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
Game 3 6-7 on the play. Loss
I keep a hand of 3 land, search, cryptic, verdict while my opponent starts cycling. I have turn 3 Cryptic but my opponent plays and instantly fetches with his fourth land drop and my heart sinks. He reveals the slaughter games and takes scapeshift again. I get an eyebrow raise when he passes the platinum emperion looking through my deck. I draw RIP try to stall for a bit but flood out hard. Drawing 5 lands in a row. My opponent starts hardcasting threats so I am forced to verdict. My opponent natures claims my RIP. I find a supreme will which finds me either platinum emperion or chameleon colossus. I want to keep up cryptic so I take chameleon colossus over emperion. My opponent has double beast within, I crypticed one of them, but my colossus hits the grave. He plays a desert cerodon and cycles 2 monstrous carabids. I chump with the token and draw second verdict. I clear the board but next turn my opponent casts living end, bringing back 2 monstrous carabid and the desert cerodon. I Have enough mana to cast cryptic and pump colossus 3 times, making it 32/32, but cant get past the desert cerodon. I flood for 4 more draw steps and get beaten down by an archfiend. I felt like I had lots of outs to win me the game but failed to find them. I lose the game with 19 lands on the battlefield.
I finished in 8th Place.
Overall the deck preformed very well and I was very happy with the mana base and mix of spells (minus not having the third Scapeshift). Supreme Will seemed to fit very well into the deck, as it is mostly used to dig but gives you added security. One thing I wanted to improve was the sideboard. I'm thinking about adding Leyline of Sanctity to the board to combat discard spells and Slaughter Games, but not entirely sure what to cut. I feel that Chameleon Colossus is a great answer to death shadow in the meta and that Baloth was just a weaker Colossus. I'm thinking about cutting 3 Baloths and 1 Rest in Peace from the board for another Colossus and 3 Leyline of Sanctity. Another answer to a resolved blood moon would also be nice.
I created a sideboard guide for the event based off of my list. I will attach it to this Tournament Report.
Supreme Will is a fine card, but I don't feel like 3 is a good number. I'm playing with just 1 over the Worldly Counsel and it's been fine, but I don't think I want more. The two other slots would go to another Scapeshift (whenever you can get it) and the fourth Remand. I know that Remand is poorly positioned right now, but it's still exactly what this deck wants to be doing and is passable against every deck.
As for the manabase, Misty Rainforests are correct over my fetches, and your manabase looks fine for the most part, but is suboptimal for a Hunting Wilds plan. You want to be able to get double white or double blue when needed off of it, which is why my manabase had 2 Breeding Pool and 1 Canopy Vista + 1 Temple Garden. Sacred Foundry is really not needed as R/W are the two colors you tend to need least, and the 11th Mountain is essentially never needed.
As for your sideboard, I much prefer Nature's Claim over Back to Nature since it's more versatile. The rest is fine. You still have 5 alt win cons with 3 Obstinate Baloth 1 Chameleon Colossus and the Platinum Emperion package, and I plan on trying out a very similar sideboard in the future. I'd just want to be careful about losing points in your burn matchup if you start dropping Obstinate Baloths. Yes, Leyline of Sanctity helps there but it does die to Destructive Revelry and is hard to cast, but Slaughter Games is rare enough I wouldn't be worried about it, and discard is a pain but the deck can draw out of it fairly well if it's not backed up by Liliana of the Veil. Extra Supreme Wills help a lot there.
I also dislike your sideboard plans for Living End. I would have been closer to your second sideboard plan even without seeing Slaughter Games. From the maindeck I would have gone -3 Supreme Will -1 Snapcaster Mage -1 Hunting Wilds -1 Farseek -1 Izzet Charm -1 Anger of the Gods +2 Negate +2 Rest in Peace +1 Chameleon Colossus +1 Madcap Experiment +1 Platinum Emperion +1 Obstinate Baloth and I'd leave in Supreme Will over Negate if I'm on the play. I'd only bring in two Rest in Peace as you can generally deal with the Living End plan very well without it and they are already playing lots and lots of ways to deal with Rest in Peace. It's there as a 1 time grave nuke. Expecting it to be more is wrong when they have everything from Nature's Claim to Beast Within to Abrupt Decay. As far as the reason for planning on taking out Farseek/Hunting Wilds it's that they run 8 land destruction spells between Beast Within and Fulminator Mage and sometimes even Avalanche Riders, so it can be difficult to even fire off a lethal Scapeshift, making me want spare wincons.
VARIABLE: Going for a Protect the Queen plan is probably an option with Chameleon Colossus and Platinum Emperion. I'd want to test it out first, but if you can keep Beast Within and Living End from resolving it should work out.
For your sideboard against Death's Shadow I think that Supreme Will is better than Izzet Charm.
For wanting Back to Nature against Solemnity + Phyrexian Unlife, Nature's Claim gets the job done just about as well as you need it to as with Back to Nature.
3 Supreme Will may be too many, I will cut one for a 3rd Scapeshift when I get one. As for Remand, I think the card is great but it is not good against a lot of the top decks and doesn't compare to the card selection from Supreme Will. I think 3 is the right number for me.
When I added the Mistys, I wasn't sure which land to cut. So I cut a Breeding Pool. I used to play with the black splash, like the list from GP Copenhagen, so I based my land base off of that one. It ran 11 mountains, so I figured that that would be a good place to start. I have had a couple games where I needed the 11th mountain to kill someone, as drawing 5+ mountains and not having an 8th or 9th land is certainly plausible.
I didn't think about Hunting Wilds when it came to the land choices though. I can see it being nice to be able to get double while and double blue off of it, but i haven't had any trouble with getting colors so far. The 4 Misty Rainforest do help a lot.
Nature's Claim has good versatility, and I haven't played the deck enough to determine if the life gain from it is irrelevant. However, I can definitely see a scenario where I can't kill my opponent with 7 lands due to the life gain from Nature's Claim.
I'm still unsure about Leyline of Sanctity, but I know that Chameleon Colossus is better than Obstinate Baloth right now. So will definitely be adding another to the board.
I agree that my sideboard plan vs Living End was sub-optimal. I haven't played the matchup as scapeshift before, so I didn't even consider their land destruction plan and being impactful. I like your sideboard plan much better.
The Sideboard Guide I created was assuming owning a third Scapeshift over the Izzet Charm, so there are some adjustments given the deck configuration.
Overall though the deck performed well. I will make some tweaks to the main deck and sideboard and hope to keep everyone updated.
Misty Rainforests obviously go over the 3 fetches, and the fourth can be whatever. I understand the want for a 4 Misty Rainforest manabase, I just wanted mine better optimized for the Hunting Wilds instead.
Needing that 11th Mountain for a 7 land kill can be game winning, but we all picked our own priorities. Instead I picked to help the natural manabase since my list already has it weakened for optimizing Hunting Wilds.
Nature's Claim is generally brought in against decks that you need 8 lands to kill anyways, like Affinity or Bogles.
Chameleon Colossus seems very good, but I will also say you didn't play any of the matchups where Obstinate Baloth is a star. They are there.
Overall, good work. I've not top 8'd anything with Scapeshift other than FNM.
(http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bring-to-light-scapeshift-current/)
I ended up going 3-1, losing to affinity in 3 games, but both losses were close. Game 2 my opponent drew 3 galvantic blast in 4 cards to kill me after I stabilized at 7 life with Negate backup. And in game 3 I misplayed by letting my opponent untap with steel overseer which gave him a much faster clock which cost me 2 draw steps. Nature's claim was good and the life gain wouldn't have mattered, even though I lost both sideboarded games.
The 11th mountain won me a game against eldrazitron where I had drawn 1 valakut and 3 mountains. I had to go off with 9 lands getting 1 valakut and 8 mountains. (He had 2 ghost quarter so I needed every mountain to make sure my triggers resolved.
I played Grixis Shadow twice, and Leyline of Sanctity was great! I prevented my opponent from doing extra damage to themselves and filling up the yard, so they couldn't even cast a creature until turn 4. One game I had Rest in Peace and Leyline of Sanctity, and my opponent's deck felt completely neutered. Chameleon Colossus performed well again I definitely deserves a spot in the deck.
I didn't get to cast any supreme wills all night but it was Thoughtseized from my hand twice.
I tried maindeck Madcap Experiment/Platinum Emperion and it only mattered in the first game against EldraziTron, but it 100% won me the game. My opponent had cavern into triple Reality Smasher.
Overall the deck felt strong especially in my local metagame which is filled high amounts of Tron and Grixis Shadow.
The Ghost Quarters doesn't matter as long as you have a basic Mountain left in your deck for each Ghost Quarter. A more detailed explaination can be found here:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/magic-rulings-archives/666117-scapeshift-and-ghost-quarter-question
Winner Norwegain Vintage Nationals 2006
Finalist Vintage Open at Arcon 2013
Finalist Modern Open at Arcon 2013
Winner Sweden Vintage Nationals at Eternalkungen Sweden 2013
Top8 Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2014
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2014
Top8 Legacy Open at Arcon 2014
Top4 Legacy Open at Arcon 2015
Winner Modern Open at Arcon 2015
Finalist Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2016
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2016
If you math it right you don't even need that, just more lands.
I see that this 11th mountain business is a big deal. After redoing the math, you are correct that I only needed the 10 mountains to win. However, if I had drawn 4 mountains with only 10 mountains in my deck (a plausible scenario) then I would have only been able to deal 18 damage to my opponent, which wasn't lethal.
While most of the time 10 mountains is sufficient, there are definitely scenarios where we will be unable to deal lethal damage. It may just be my opinion, but I think that having the 11th mountain as a security blanket is better than playing a Canopy Vista for a possible Hunting Wilds double white plan.
Please keep in mind that in reference to micah1's list, I am running an additional fetch in 4 Misty Rainforest, meaning that I have another white source in my manabase (4 Misty Rainforest, Sacred Foundry, Temple Garden, Hallowed Fountain, Plains). This is the main reason why I believe that this choice is correct. However, this one land we are talking about could be considered a "flex" spot, so it is really up to personal preference. I've seen some lists that run a Flooded Grove in this slot too, although I'm not sure how much I like it in the BtL versions.
If the 11th mountain is needed depends on how much life your opponent is on.
Let's have a look at your example:
You have 9 lands in play, 4 of them which are mountains. Your opponent has 2 Ghost Quarters as only interaction.
IF your basic mountain is allready in play you can't get double Valakut because the 2 Ghost Quarters can put you down to 5 mountains (2 Valakut + 7 mountains -> then 2 mountains get destroyed by GQ). So the maximum damage you can do in this case is 18 by sacrificing 7 lands, keeping 2 mountains in play, and getting 1 Valakut and 6 mountains. You'll get 6 Valakut triggers and 8 mountains in play, so you can't be interupted by the 2 GQs.
BUT IF you have your basic moutain left in library you can get double Valakaut. You can do 30 damage by playing Scapeshift, sacrifing 7 lands, keeping 2 mountains play, and getting 2 Valakut and 5 non-basic mountains. You'll get 10 Valakut triggers on the stack and 7 mountains in play. If they do try to interact with the GQs you'll get the basic mountain left in your deck (which is your last mountain) with one of them and any basic with the other. That will leave you with 2 Valakut, 6 mountains and 1 basic in play, and the clause for Valakut is still satisfied. Also note that the basic mountain put into play with GQ will trigger the 2 Valakuts, leaving you with 12 triggers totalt. That's 30 damage if they don't use GQ, and 36 damage if they do.
NOTE: If you allready have Valakut in play you keep it and sacrifice one less land with scapeshift (only searching for the second Valakut).
Most of the time drawing to many mountains forces you to go for double Valakut, ie meaning an 8-land kill instead of 7. Your opponent's life total has to be above mountains left in your deck times 3 for it to matter. As mentioned, you can allways go for double Valakut, so the most common scenario is when combo on 7 lands. You have to have drawn at least 5 mountains before affection you on 7 land combo turn.
Winner Norwegain Vintage Nationals 2006
Finalist Vintage Open at Arcon 2013
Finalist Modern Open at Arcon 2013
Winner Sweden Vintage Nationals at Eternalkungen Sweden 2013
Top8 Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2014
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2014
Top8 Legacy Open at Arcon 2014
Top4 Legacy Open at Arcon 2015
Winner Modern Open at Arcon 2015
Finalist Norwegian Legacy Nationals 2016
Winner Vintage Open at Arcon 2016
I had 1 Valakut was on the battlefield already, so in response to casting a Scapeshift my opponent would Ghost Quarter it. I then search a basic and have 9 lands. Scapeshift resolves and I sacrifice 7 lands leaving 2 mountains getting Valakut and 6 mountains. This only deals 18 damage. If I had a 7th mountain in my deck (11 total) then I would have been able to win in this scenario, as my opponent was at 20.
I understand that with double Valakut the number of mountains required in your deck is much less, but if you draw a Valakut and your opponent has interaction (Fulminator Mage or Ghost Quarter) then it can be hard to win. Sometimes you don't have the time/cards for another land drop.
On a side note, did you guys see this Jundshift List? https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-brg-39314#paper
I hope this isn't considered off topic. If so, I vote having Bring to Light Scapeshift in the RUG Scapeshift forum is off topic
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
Spells (29)
4 Bring to Light
4 Cryptic Command
4 Remand
4 Search for Tomorrow
3 Scapeshift
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile
1 Farseek
1 Izzet Charm
2 Worldly Counsel
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Supreme Verdict
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Canopy Vista
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 Island
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Dispel
2 Krosan Grip
1 Negate
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Madcap Experiment
4 Obstinate Baloth
1 Shatterstorm
1 Platinum Emperion
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I've been running a different manabase than most for a bit now and it's been great at casting Cryptics, wraths and Shift: I only run 1 basic forest and 1 Breeding Pool, and run 2 more fetches (Flooded Strands). The second forest can sometimes be useful when you want to Search for tomorrow and Scapeshift in the same turn, but you can adapt and fetch accordingly in the previous turns. Otherwise, it's only really useful against RG Ponza which isn't widely played and really hard to beat anyway.
Breeding Pool is the best ravland of the deck, but I've very rarely needed 2. I could see running a Flooded Grove instead of the 6th fetch though. Otherwise I also run 10 mountains (the 10th one being a Cinder Glade instead of your Canopy Vista).
Lately, Baloth has been much less useful because Lili-decks aren't played anymore. I play a Timely Reinforcement and a couple Helix/Blessed Alliance instead. I'm trying out Chameleon Colossus as a BtL target against Grixis DS and it's been decent. Also, I run a couple RiP's in the SB, it just hoses a lot of decks at the moment.
I recently stopped playing Crumble to Dust cause it's only good against RG Valakut (and not even great there) and Gx Tron which isn't seeing much play in my area.
Here's my list in case someone's interested (8-1 in LGS events over the last couple weeks):
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
1 Worldly Counsel
4 Path to Exile
1 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
1 Cinder Glade
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Flooded Strand
1 Temple Garden
1 Plains
4 Bring to Light
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Farseek
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Rest in Peace
2 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Lightning Helix
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Madcap Experiment
1 Timely Reinforcements
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Against Death and Taxes, I would sideboard out 1 Scapeshift, 1 Worldly Counsel, and 4 Remand and get in Pia&Kiran, Madcap&Emperion,Helix, Blessed Alliance and Anger of the Gods. Basically you just have to kill Leonin Arbiter and Thalia and be wary of Ghost Quarter+Arbiter. To play around Ghost Quarter when Scapeshifting, you just need to leave your 1 basic mountain in the deck (and then get one more Mountain for every additional Ghost Quarter they have), and against Tec Edge, you need 1 more land too.
Against UWx Control (which often plays 4 GQ or Tec Edge),you just have to be careful with your colored sources against Spreading Seas and Tec Edge, and playing Scapeshift with 1-2 counterspells backup is usually enough, especially game 1. Also don't allow them to neutralize both your Valakuts in case you draw them both.