I played 1 snappy for fairly long but with Death's shadow Rise I started playing two. Snapcaster is almost always a Scapeshift in the late game, whereas Council is less consistent, but playing 2 Council and 1 snap is probably fine too. I'm pretty sure I want 1 Snapcaster in the maindeck though, it's a random kill condition, a great grindy card and can also just get them from 20 to 18 sometimes.
I usually only cut 1 snap when bringing the RiP's in against Death's Shadow. To be punished, you have to draw a Rip, then the lonely Mage, and have them not discard any of the two pieces. Also, if you draw them both in your opener, you can sometimes afford to wait on the Rip till you get some value out of Thiago.
Maybe I should just cut both Snap in this MU, but it's such a good card that I feel like I shouldn't. Maybe I'm totally wrong though, time will tell.
Anybody play Bring to Scapeshift now? Is important the experience with the deck, is better with black or white?, RG Scapeshift or Scapeshift blue?,I always win with Scapeshift blue vs RG Scapeshift or vs Throught the breach.
Why this deck don't play more than RG Scapeshift?
I do.
There is a learning curve with the deck. It mostly has to do with lands, but also sideboarding can be tricky. I remember when I started playing, I could not win a match against Jund.
I don't think there is a big difference between black or white. White gives you Timely Reinforcements, which was great a while ago when there was a lot of Burn, Naya Zoo and 8-whack. Black gives you the bullet of Slaughter Games, which can be important if Ad Nauseam and the mirror are popular, etc.
It is true that RG Titanshift is one of if not the best matchup for BTL, but that doesn't mean BTL is "better" than RG. I personally never sleeved up RG because this style does not appeal to me, but on paper we can see that the deck has more redundancy than BTL in its win conditions. This makes it not as weak to a Thoughtseize for instance. The fact that virtually no one plays BTL at competitive event while RG is one of the top 3 most popular decks is a testament to the general opinion that RG is the superior deck, and they are probably right unfortunately.
Sideboard is a little sketchy, but Kitchen Finks put in a lot of work. My MU's were Slivers, Jund, Grixis Delver, Burn, and Eldrazi Taxes. Not the strongest lineup, but I'll take it.
Very interesting. It's the first time I see a list with Sleigh of hand but it is an interesting alternative to Serum Visions and the shuffling problem. Are you confident this is the best build of RUG for the MTGO metagame? If not, what would you consider changing?
Very interesting. It's the first time I see a list with Sleigh of hand but it is an interesting alternative to Serum Visions and the shuffling problem. Are you confident this is the best build of RUG for the MTGO metagame? If not, what would you consider changing?
sleight of hand is definitely the best 1-mana option for RUG at this stage.
seems to be working brilliantly so far. most losses i've got have come from sequencing errors rather than the deck not being up to scratch. In particular, those two big uncounterable creatures really blindside control decks (and surrak munches down on gurmag anglers, thought-knot seers and tasigurs just fine).
the second anger was originally an engineered explosives, but recently i've found myself wanting to have the eary boardwipe more and more, and explosives won't clear a whole board. Death & Taxes os something I keep seeing more often of late, and anger is just amazing in this matchup.
counterflux is amazing. 100% permanent sideboard addition
primal command is an experiment, but yesterday I stuck a problematic planeswalker on my opponent's library, fetched a titan and when they shrugged and played it again (there was literally nothing else they could do) I had my window of opportunity to win. against burn, primal command gains you 7 and fetches a baloth, which is game over from a single spell. sometimes if you need to scapeshift twice, command can shuffle your lands back into your library.
overall i feel like i've reached a very precise tweaked list through many slight variations and it's what i'll continue to play going forward. lots of play to it. cryptic command continues to be the best spell to cast on turn 3 haha it's amazing.
Very interesting. It's the first time I see a list with Sleigh of hand but it is an interesting alternative to Serum Visions and the shuffling problem. Are you confident this is the best build of RUG for the MTGO metagame? If not, what would you consider changing?
I can't say if it's the best build because I'm constantly tweaking and changing things. I've had plenty of 4-1's with different versions. I like where is is now, but I'm still tweaking. 6 win-cons feels too little, but I'm not sure where to make cuts. I hated drawing multiple titans in the early turns and the deck doesn't ramp enough like the RG version to justify it. The decks main weakness is fast and aggressive decks. As far as Sleight of Hand vs Serum Visions, Sleight is vastly superior IMO. It digs a a card deeper the turn I play it, and the amount of shuffling the deck does doesn't really work with Visions.
Very interesting. It's the first time I see a list with Sleigh of hand but it is an interesting alternative to Serum Visions and the shuffling problem. Are you confident this is the best build of RUG for the MTGO metagame? If not, what would you consider changing?
sleight of hand is definitely the best 1-mana option for RUG at this stage.
seems to be working brilliantly so far. most losses i've got have come from sequencing errors rather than the deck not being up to scratch. In particular, those two big uncounterable creatures really blindside control decks (and surrak munches down on gurmag anglers, thought-knot seers and tasigurs just fine).
the second anger was originally an engineered explosives, but recently i've found myself wanting to have the eary boardwipe more and more, and explosives won't clear a whole board. Death & Taxes os something I keep seeing more often of late, and anger is just amazing in this matchup.
counterflux is amazing. 100% permanent sideboard addition
primal command is an experiment, but yesterday I stuck a problematic planeswalker on my opponent's library, fetched a titan and when they shrugged and played it again (there was literally nothing else they could do) I had my window of opportunity to win. against burn, primal command gains you 7 and fetches a baloth, which is game over from a single spell. sometimes if you need to scapeshift twice, command can shuffle your lands back into your library.
overall i feel like i've reached a very precise tweaked list through many slight variations and it's what i'll continue to play going forward. lots of play to it. cryptic command continues to be the best spell to cast on turn 3 haha it's amazing.
You have some very intriguing sideboard options. I have been having a lot more success going more creature heavy after sideboarding. I'm going to test out some of your choices.
Totally new to this archetype but I had an idea the other day. Eldrazi Tron the deck basically depends on fast midgame mana with some of the most degenerate artifacts in Modern, namely Chalice of the Void. Is there a version of RUG Scapeshift that could run 1 mana spells that aren't truly 1 mana (Search for tomorrow, Ancestral Vision, Dismember) and then a bunch of 2+ mana ramp/interaction + chalice of course.
The other card ETron leans on occasionally is Ballista, quickly generating 4 mana by T3 makes Ballista on 2 a reasonable way to survive matchups like Affinity.
Seems totally reasonable Fire197. This resembles a lot a list that top 16ed a recent GP.
There are however 3 things that bug me with this list:
(1) Do you really need Damnation AND Anger main? I don't believe so and looking at lists on mtgtop8, we see that the consensus is that Damnation should be maindeck with Anger in the side. This is because the metagame is not populated by lots of fast aggro decks at the moment.
(2) The mana in this deck is very tight. As sweet as it is to loot vs control decks, I don't think we can afford to have Loothouse as our 26th land. Plus, we already have a good matchup VS UW (the premier control deck).
(3) What is this sideboard spellskite for? Grixis Death's Shadow is a top 3 deck that we suck against. I would probably look to put a bullet for that matchup in that spot. Something like Chameleon Colossus perhaps.
I'm wondering, why aren;t people playing Primeval Titan in the board or main?
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Grixis Shadow matchup is pretty even, but I'm using the white version which is definitely better against Grixis DS. Path means that turn 2 delve fattie isn't much of a problem, and Chameleon Colossus and Rip in the sideboard are great. RiP even stops Surgical Extraction.
I'm wondering, why aren;t people playing Primeval Titan in the board or main?
Apparently people are! Cf post #4452 and #4454.
In BTL however, we generally don't want to fetch for Mountains early because we want to be able to kill on 7 lands and this requires having 6/10 mountains left in our deck.
Prime Time on the other hand requires you to have at least 4 mountains when he comes down, so that you get a return on investment when he finally attacks.
In that sense, he's kind of a nombo with the main plan, which is to scapeshift on 7 lands.
Grixis Shadow matchup is pretty even, but I'm using the white version which is definitely better against Grixis DS. Path means that turn 2 delve fattie isn't much of a problem, and Chameleon Colossus and Rip in the sideboard are great. RiP even stops Surgical Extraction.
Yeah, looking at your list, you are indeed armed to the teeth for that matchup!
Worldly counsel is routinely a "dig 5" spell and sometimes a "dig 3" spell. I'm not clear on whether the list definitely needs a pair of draw spells like this, but it's really helped to close out games or find a cryptic when I needed it. They could potentially be farseeks.
Prismatic omen: probably the best card (and weirdest card) in the deck.
Hour of Promise: has been brilliant! With an omen on the field it's 12 damage straight away, followed by whatever shenanigans you can find for the following turn. Without omen it's a great way of pressing your mana advantage and I've found that getting double valakut on the field early is a decent hedge against extraction effects. It's a great card. Wish it cost four but I'm not going to complain because it won me some games at the GP
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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
Have you considered Supreme Will? It is a relatively new card. People are still testing it. Some like it, some don't. Some think it should replaces Worldly, some think it should replace Izzet Charm. You should probably tinker with the card at some point too to form an opinion.
Lastly to consider is, replacing Desolate Lighthouse with a 4th Misty Rainforest.
Positiv would be the possibility to fix up needed Lands and to have a permanent leave for Fatal push. On the other hand i really like the looting out of Desolate Lighthouse and i am not sure if i am willing to remove that for another fetchy.
Any other thoughts?
best regards and thank you
quick question for you. I run an almost identical main deck to your list, but our sideboards differ. What matchups are you bringing in hunt master for? I'm fairly new to the deck and hadn't thought of this card as an option but it seems interesting. My guess is just any grindy deck like jund ect but didn't know if I was missing the secret tech value somewhere hah.
Hello everyone, it has been a while but I wanted to share my recent success at a local tournament with RUG Scapeshift. I got 1st Place which won me a playset of Tarmogoyfs.
First off, my list. I was looking for a good RUG list and purklefluff's intrigued me.
As you can see, I'm running 61 Cards main. This is mainly because I wanted room for a second Sudden Shock in my sideboard so I moved a Obstinate Baloth to the main. Honestly I feel like the deck wants 24.5 lands so this change seems ok.
Now for the tournament. I expected a large showing of people, but labor day weekend and another event in a neighboring city made the attendance low.
We had 16 players, which made it 4 rounds with a cut to top 4.
I didn't take notes on this tournament to everything is from memory.
Round 1: vs. Jeskai Ascendancy
Game 1:
I haven't seen this deck for a long time, but I still remembered how it works. I didn't know what my opponent was playing until he Glittering Wished for Jeskai Ascendancy. I didn't have counter magic for the Jeskai Ascendancy, but I had an Anger of the Gods for his mana dorks. I hoped it would be enough but he untapped and discarded a Fatestitcher and was able to combo off and kill me.
Sideboard:
- 1 Obstinate Baloth
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Hour of Promise
- 4 Sleight of Hand
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 1 Anger of the Gods
+ 1 Fracturing Gust
+ 1 Grafdigger's Cage
+ 2 Sudden Shock
Game 2:
My opponent was stuck on 2 lands for several turns and gave me to time to Scapeshift.
Game 1:
I lose the die roll and my opponent has turn 1 1 drop, turn 2 double one drop, turn 3 lord. I don't have a way to answer his board and lose the next turn.
Sideboard:
- 1 Hour of Promise
- 2 Prismatic Omen
- 2 Remand
- 2 Sleight of Hand
+ 1 Anger of the Gods
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
+ 2 Sudden Shock
Game 1:
I'm on the play and have a good hand while my opponent has turn 1 Thought Scour. They cast a delve creature which I Remand (back-breaking). They can't deploy a threat and get removal flooded while I end up playing a Prismatic Omen and a valakut and burn my opponent out the old fashioned way.
Sideboard:
- 4 Remand
- 2 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Prismatic Omen
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
+ 3 Chalice of the Void
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 1 Surrak Dragonclaw
I am relieved to get fourth seed and make it into top 4.
Top 4: Semi-Finals vs. Esper tokens/Polymorph
I had seen this deck while scouting so I knew what was up.
Game 1:
I'm on the draw due to seeding and my opponent has turn 1 Thoughseize. I reveal my hand of 3 land, 3 Remand, Sleight of Hand. They take Sleight of Hand but can't land a token maker due to my Remands. I draw straight gas and cast a lethal Scapeshift with plenty of time to spare.
Sideboard:
- 1 Obstinate Baloth
- 2 Prismatic Omen
- 2 Sleight of Hand
+ 1 Grafdigger's Cage
+ 1 Anger of the Gods
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 1 Fracturing Gust
Game 2:
I have a strong hand and outrace my opponent. They don't have discard and I'm able to play an Engineered Explosives for 0 as an insurance policy and find what I need to win.
4-1
Top 4 Finals: vs. UW Control
My opponent offers the split but I want the 4 Tarmogoyfs so I say we should play it out.
Game 1:
We go back and forth for a long time but I'm able to land a prismatic omen against no clock. I cast Scapeshift the next turn with double Remand backup into my opponent's 5 untapped mana. He only has a cryptic which I remand and take the game.
I didn't side out anger because I knew my opponent played Spell Queller.
Game 2:
My opponent mulligans and misses their second land drop for 3 turns and I'm able to Scapeshift for the win with counter backup.
Overall 5-1
I was very excited to win the tournament and the deck preformed very well for me. The hardest matchups for the deck is definitely fast aggressive strategies which I fortunately only played two of. I think I still want another card in my board against these types of decks, but I'm not sure what it should be and what I should cut for it. What have you guys tested?
Grats in the win bud. Nice list as well.
With regards to aggro, I ended up going down an engineered explosives and up a second anger in the board to give me the full four, because it's so backbreaking. I ran into issues with explosives where an opponent would have three aggressive creatures all with different cmc, and this happened often enough to lose a bunch of games. Anger has been great.
New carnage Tyrant is a straight swap for gaea's revenge as well :). Great card.
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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
I usually only cut 1 snap when bringing the RiP's in against Death's Shadow. To be punished, you have to draw a Rip, then the lonely Mage, and have them not discard any of the two pieces. Also, if you draw them both in your opener, you can sometimes afford to wait on the Rip till you get some value out of Thiago.
Maybe I should just cut both Snap in this MU, but it's such a good card that I feel like I shouldn't. Maybe I'm totally wrong though, time will tell.
I do.
There is a learning curve with the deck. It mostly has to do with lands, but also sideboarding can be tricky. I remember when I started playing, I could not win a match against Jund.
I don't think there is a big difference between black or white. White gives you Timely Reinforcements, which was great a while ago when there was a lot of Burn, Naya Zoo and 8-whack. Black gives you the bullet of Slaughter Games, which can be important if Ad Nauseam and the mirror are popular, etc.
It is true that RG Titanshift is one of if not the best matchup for BTL, but that doesn't mean BTL is "better" than RG. I personally never sleeved up RG because this style does not appeal to me, but on paper we can see that the deck has more redundancy than BTL in its win conditions. This makes it not as weak to a Thoughtseize for instance. The fact that virtually no one plays BTL at competitive event while RG is one of the top 3 most popular decks is a testament to the general opinion that RG is the superior deck, and they are probably right unfortunately.
4 Stomping Ground
4 Steam Vents
2 Mountain
3 Island
2 Forest
1 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Creatures (8)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Primeval Titan
4 Remand
2 Izzet Charm
2 Supreme Will
4 Cryptic Command
Sorcery (12)
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
Enchantment (4)
4 Prismatic Omen
2 Nature's Claim
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Sudden Shock
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Struggle // Survive
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Fracturing Gust
Sideboard is a little sketchy, but Kitchen Finks put in a lot of work. My MU's were Slivers, Jund, Grixis Delver, Burn, and Eldrazi Taxes. Not the strongest lineup, but I'll take it.
sleight of hand is definitely the best 1-mana option for RUG at this stage.
here's my list:
4x sakura-tribe elder
1x hour of promise
3x primeval titan
4x scapeshift
3x prismatic omen
2x anger of the gods
4x remand
4x cryptic command
4x sleight of hand
2x worldly counsel
4x valakut, the molten pinnacle
4x steam vents
4x stomping ground
1x breeding pool
1x cinder glade
1x flooded grove
1x mountain
2x forest
3x island
3x chalice of the void
1x surrak dragonclaw
1x gaea's revenge
3x obstinate baloth
1x crumble to dust
1x primal command
2x anger of the gods
1x fracturing gust
2x counterflux
seems to be working brilliantly so far. most losses i've got have come from sequencing errors rather than the deck not being up to scratch. In particular, those two big uncounterable creatures really blindside control decks (and surrak munches down on gurmag anglers, thought-knot seers and tasigurs just fine).
the second anger was originally an engineered explosives, but recently i've found myself wanting to have the eary boardwipe more and more, and explosives won't clear a whole board. Death & Taxes os something I keep seeing more often of late, and anger is just amazing in this matchup.
counterflux is amazing. 100% permanent sideboard addition
primal command is an experiment, but yesterday I stuck a problematic planeswalker on my opponent's library, fetched a titan and when they shrugged and played it again (there was literally nothing else they could do) I had my window of opportunity to win. against burn, primal command gains you 7 and fetches a baloth, which is game over from a single spell. sometimes if you need to scapeshift twice, command can shuffle your lands back into your library.
overall i feel like i've reached a very precise tweaked list through many slight variations and it's what i'll continue to play going forward. lots of play to it. cryptic command continues to be the best spell to cast on turn 3 haha it's amazing.
I can't say if it's the best build because I'm constantly tweaking and changing things. I've had plenty of 4-1's with different versions. I like where is is now, but I'm still tweaking. 6 win-cons feels too little, but I'm not sure where to make cuts. I hated drawing multiple titans in the early turns and the deck doesn't ramp enough like the RG version to justify it. The decks main weakness is fast and aggressive decks. As far as Sleight of Hand vs Serum Visions, Sleight is vastly superior IMO. It digs a a card deeper the turn I play it, and the amount of shuffling the deck does doesn't really work with Visions.
The other card ETron leans on occasionally is Ballista, quickly generating 4 mana by T3 makes Ballista on 2 a reasonable way to survive matchups like Affinity.
There are however 3 things that bug me with this list:
(1) Do you really need Damnation AND Anger main? I don't believe so and looking at lists on mtgtop8, we see that the consensus is that Damnation should be maindeck with Anger in the side. This is because the metagame is not populated by lots of fast aggro decks at the moment.
(2) The mana in this deck is very tight. As sweet as it is to loot vs control decks, I don't think we can afford to have Loothouse as our 26th land. Plus, we already have a good matchup VS UW (the premier control deck).
(3) What is this sideboard spellskite for? Grixis Death's Shadow is a top 3 deck that we suck against. I would probably look to put a bullet for that matchup in that spot. Something like Chameleon Colossus perhaps.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Apparently people are! Cf post #4452 and #4454.
In BTL however, we generally don't want to fetch for Mountains early because we want to be able to kill on 7 lands and this requires having 6/10 mountains left in our deck.
Prime Time on the other hand requires you to have at least 4 mountains when he comes down, so that you get a return on investment when he finally attacks.
In that sense, he's kind of a nombo with the main plan, which is to scapeshift on 7 lands.
Yeah, looking at your list, you are indeed armed to the teeth for that matchup!
RGTron
UGInfect
URStorm
WUBRAd Nauseam
BRGrishoalbrand
URGScapeshift
WBGAbzan Company
WUBRGAmulet Titan
BRGLiving End
WGBogles
To address those cards in order:
Worldly counsel is routinely a "dig 5" spell and sometimes a "dig 3" spell. I'm not clear on whether the list definitely needs a pair of draw spells like this, but it's really helped to close out games or find a cryptic when I needed it. They could potentially be farseeks.
Prismatic omen: probably the best card (and weirdest card) in the deck.
Hour of Promise: has been brilliant! With an omen on the field it's 12 damage straight away, followed by whatever shenanigans you can find for the following turn. Without omen it's a great way of pressing your mana advantage and I've found that getting double valakut on the field early is a decent hedge against extraction effects. It's a great card. Wish it cost four but I'm not going to complain because it won me some games at the GP
quick question for you. I run an almost identical main deck to your list, but our sideboards differ. What matchups are you bringing in hunt master for? I'm fairly new to the deck and hadn't thought of this card as an option but it seems interesting. My guess is just any grindy deck like jund ect but didn't know if I was missing the secret tech value somewhere hah.
First off, my list. I was looking for a good RUG list and purklefluff's intrigued me.
After some slight alterations, I settled on this:
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Hour of Promise
3x Primeval Titan
4x Scapeshift
3x Prismatic Omen
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Remand
4x Cryptic Command
4x Sleight of Hand
2x Supreme Will
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Ground
1x Breeding Pool
1x Sheltered Thicket
1x Flooded grove
1x Mountain
2x Forest
3x Island
3x Chalice of the Void
1x Surrak Dragonclaw
2x Obstinate Baloth
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Fracturing Gust
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Sudden Shock
2x Engineered Explosives
As you can see, I'm running 61 Cards main. This is mainly because I wanted room for a second Sudden Shock in my sideboard so I moved a Obstinate Baloth to the main. Honestly I feel like the deck wants 24.5 lands so this change seems ok.
Now for the tournament. I expected a large showing of people, but labor day weekend and another event in a neighboring city made the attendance low.
We had 16 players, which made it 4 rounds with a cut to top 4.
I didn't take notes on this tournament to everything is from memory.
Round 1: vs. Jeskai Ascendancy
Game 1:
I haven't seen this deck for a long time, but I still remembered how it works. I didn't know what my opponent was playing until he Glittering Wished for Jeskai Ascendancy. I didn't have counter magic for the Jeskai Ascendancy, but I had an Anger of the Gods for his mana dorks. I hoped it would be enough but he untapped and discarded a Fatestitcher and was able to combo off and kill me.
Sideboard:
- 1 Obstinate Baloth
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Hour of Promise
- 4 Sleight of Hand
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 1 Anger of the Gods
+ 1 Fracturing Gust
+ 1 Grafdigger's Cage
+ 2 Sudden Shock
Game 2:
My opponent was stuck on 2 lands for several turns and gave me to time to Scapeshift.
Game 3:
We had a good game of magic, I start with turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage after my opponents turn 1 Birds of Paradise. He turn 2 Glittering Wishes for Jeskai Acendancy. I Sudden Shock his Bird. He doesnt have a third land and plays a Sylvan Caryatid. I don't have counter magic so I play Sakura-Tribe Elder and pass. He casts Jeskai Ascendancy and still doesn't have a third land. I cast Anger of the Gods to kill his dork again. Next turn, my opponent plays 2 Birds of Paradise and passes. I untap and draw Fracturing Gust, I pass the turn. My opponent finds a land and hardcasts a Leyline of Sanctity. They then cast a Sleight of Hand. I respond with Fracturing Gust and then untap and Scapeshift for the win.
1-0
Round 2: vs. Burn
Game 1:
My opponent is on the play with double Goblin Guide. I have turn 2 Sakura-Tribe Elder but my opponent has Searing Blaze and I can't recover.
Sideboard:
- 4 Remand
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 4 Sleight of Hand
- 1 Hour of Promise
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
+ 3 Chalice of the Void
+ 1 Anger of the Gods
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 2 Sudden Shock
Game 2:
I have a good hand with turn 2 Chalice of the Void and my opponent is stuck on 1 land for 4 turns. They have the Destructive Revelry but its too late and I Scapeshift for the win.
Game 3:
My hand is decent with Sakura-Tribe Elder and Obstinate Baloth. My opponent has turn 1 Monestary Swiftspear. I play Steve and pass because he sided out Searing Blaze right? Nope, he plays land Searing Blaze and gets me for 5. I miss my fourth land and hardcast a Search for Tomorrow. My Opponent Plays third land and lava spike, putting me to 8. I have to slam Obstinate Baloth, but he has Skull Crack and I can't recover.
1-1
Round 3: vs B/R Vampires
Game 1:
I lose the die roll and my opponent has turn 1 1 drop, turn 2 double one drop, turn 3 lord. I don't have a way to answer his board and lose the next turn.
Sideboard:
- 1 Hour of Promise
- 2 Prismatic Omen
- 2 Remand
- 2 Sleight of Hand
+ 1 Anger of the Gods
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
+ 2 Sudden Shock
Game 2:
I have turn 1 Search for Tomorrow into turn 2 Sakura-Tribe Elder into turn 3 Obstinate Baloth. My opponent is stuck on 1 land and can't establish a board.
Game 3:
I mulligan and my hand is 3 land, Search for Tommorrow, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Primeval Titan. My opponent casts Thoughtseize and takes Primeval Titan. I suspend Search for tomorrow. My opponent casts double one drop and passes. I draw Obstinate Baloth, play Steve and pass. My opponent casts another Thoughtseize and I reveal my hand of 3 land and Obstinate Baloth. My opponent isn't familiar with Obstinate Baloth and has to call a judge to fathom the situation. I topdeck Anger of the Gods my next turn, which prompts a concession from my opponent.
2-1
Round 4: vs Grixis Death's Shadow
Game 1:
I'm on the play and have a good hand while my opponent has turn 1 Thought Scour. They cast a delve creature which I Remand (back-breaking). They can't deploy a threat and get removal flooded while I end up playing a Prismatic Omen and a valakut and burn my opponent out the old fashioned way.
Sideboard:
- 4 Remand
- 2 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Prismatic Omen
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
+ 3 Chalice of the Void
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 1 Surrak Dragonclaw
Game 2:
My opponent misses his second land drop and passes. I play a Misty Rainforest and fetch, debating if I should play Chalice of the Void on 1 into possible Stubborn Denial or play Sakura-Tribe Elder. My question is answered when my opponent responds to the fetch with Thought Scour, saying he didn't want it to get Remanded. I play Chalice of the Void and am able to Cryptic Command his Kolaghan's Commmand a 2 turns later. The next turn I flash in Surrak Dragonclaw in the endstep on an empty board. It meets a Terminate. I untap and slam Primeval Titan which goes unanswered and wins me the game.
3-1
I am relieved to get fourth seed and make it into top 4.
Top 4: Semi-Finals vs. Esper tokens/Polymorph
I had seen this deck while scouting so I knew what was up.
Game 1:
I'm on the draw due to seeding and my opponent has turn 1 Thoughseize. I reveal my hand of 3 land, 3 Remand, Sleight of Hand. They take Sleight of Hand but can't land a token maker due to my Remands. I draw straight gas and cast a lethal Scapeshift with plenty of time to spare.
Sideboard:
- 1 Obstinate Baloth
- 2 Prismatic Omen
- 2 Sleight of Hand
+ 1 Grafdigger's Cage
+ 1 Anger of the Gods
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 1 Fracturing Gust
Game 2:
I have a strong hand and outrace my opponent. They don't have discard and I'm able to play an Engineered Explosives for 0 as an insurance policy and find what I need to win.
4-1
Top 4 Finals: vs. UW Control
My opponent offers the split but I want the 4 Tarmogoyfs so I say we should play it out.
Game 1:
We go back and forth for a long time but I'm able to land a prismatic omen against no clock. I cast Scapeshift the next turn with double Remand backup into my opponent's 5 untapped mana. He only has a cryptic which I remand and take the game.
Sideboard:
- 2 Search for Tomorrow
- 2 Supreme Will
- 1 Hour of Promise
- 1 Remand
+ 2 Engineered Explosives
+ 1 Surrak Dragonclaw
+ 1 Grafdigger's Cage
+ 2 Obstinate Baloth
I didn't side out anger because I knew my opponent played Spell Queller.
Game 2:
My opponent mulligans and misses their second land drop for 3 turns and I'm able to Scapeshift for the win with counter backup.
Overall 5-1
I was very excited to win the tournament and the deck preformed very well for me. The hardest matchups for the deck is definitely fast aggressive strategies which I fortunately only played two of. I think I still want another card in my board against these types of decks, but I'm not sure what it should be and what I should cut for it. What have you guys tested?
With regards to aggro, I ended up going down an engineered explosives and up a second anger in the board to give me the full four, because it's so backbreaking. I ran into issues with explosives where an opponent would have three aggressive creatures all with different cmc, and this happened often enough to lose a bunch of games. Anger has been great.
New carnage Tyrant is a straight swap for gaea's revenge as well :). Great card.
Lets you dig for counterspells or hold them up while having a cantrip ready if they do nothing.
So many time... Soooo many times I've had to choose between my cantrip and holding up remand, only for my opponent to do nothing that turn. No longer!
Love this set. Two brilliant new toys for this one deck, but some potential boosts all over modern. Get hype