So there are a number of issues. First off, budget limits? Wooded Foothills is almost strictly worse than Misty Rainforest or Windswept Heath in the deck. I generally find basic Forest to be fetched than Plains or Island so I'd play more Foothills over the Strands if I could.
2 Hallowed Fountain is too many. The deck is (generally) really light on white and only needs 1 for the most part.
2 Sheltered Thicket is nice, but entering tapped is a real cost for your green sources. You're far too low on turn 1 green sources for your Search for Tomorrow. If you can afford 3 more Stomping Grounds, do it.
Sacred Foundry is always a kinda meh card. You rarely need red and white mana unless you're running multiple wraths and angers. It can definitely be useful so I won't really hate on it.
You need a Temple Garden, or at least a Canopy Vista.
Can we get the full list? It really helps for us making observations.
Thanks for the insights Micah. It would be oubviously a ''budget deck'' for me, being my 4-5th ish deck in Modern. I'm thinking about the following list :
I'm liking the list so far. I guess Misty Rainforest would be awesome though, but Flooded Strand for Island was fine too. I feel I prefer fetching for Island in case of Blood Moon and putting up Forests with Search / Sakura. I'm really open to discussion, tips and tricks.
Comment 1: Two Worldly Counsel? Most people are on 2 Search for Azcanta when it comes to digging. At least, I'd consider Supreme Will over it.
Comment 2: With your sideboard you like you'd get run over by Humans and other small creature aggro decks (Affinity, Spirits, etc.)
Comment 3: Weird manabase still stands. Turn 1-2 green sources are really important
Tips:
If you have two Cryptics and a Scapeshift, it can be correct to bounce one of control's blue sources on end step to put them back a counterspell.
Remand your own spells sometimes. That's a more normal thing to do, but it took me multiple years of playing the deck to realize I could do that.
Recent decks on mtgtop8 are using Black over White as the 4th color of BtL Scapeshift decks.
Black does, indeed, provides us some nice spells, such as Abrupt Decay and Slaughter Games. Also, Jace, the Mind Sculptor is getting replaced on those lists as well. How about the inclusion of Nicol Bolas, the Ravager as the deck's alternate kill condition, replacing JTMS?
Seems a good creature to add, because Bolas provides a nice 4/4 body with a discard. And 7 mana is very easy to get by mid/late game, so transform him won't be much of na issue. As for his planeswalker's package, I say that draw 2 extra cards every turn is too sweet to pass and the "-3" and "-4" abilities have a good impact, depending on the matchup. And Bolas is "fetchable" with BtL, while JTMS is not.
Regards,
bitbroosher.
Hey, glad to see some new people in on here. It appears that all the old regulars died or something.
So Bolas is another fair deck win condition you can play out of the sideboard. While I don't think it's bad, I feel there are better options. Maindeck is almost definitely off the table as it turns on their removal. Generally, you only need alt win cons g2-3 anyway. It's not a bad option, I'm just not sure it's the best choice.
Jace is getting replaced because he's fragile and the deck can't generally protect him well. Regrettably, I've not tested with him much so I don't know much more than that.
Thx
Against some decks, we stiil need an alternate kill condition in game1, because either we get our spells countered, or some decks are packing Blood Moon maindeck. So not having that second way to (try to) win the game might ruin our chances to do a good result. I mean, if we are not favored in G1, things will probably be worse in G2 and G3.
Also, I was thinking about Search for Azcanta... Is that card really good to us? We do not fill the graveyard as quickly as other control decks and I don't see an advantage in dumping cards to graveyard just to activate it early, because our deck is so tight on spells. And I think playing SfA on turn2 is the worse play we can do. Any thoughts on this card?
Since we are not focused on combo ASAP as TitanShift are, our gameplan is slower and 80% of the time we do Bring to Light for some mass removal first and then search our kill condition while keeping counterspell ready. Am I wrong on this one?
I want to see this deck as a tier2, at least, but with the high amount of hate we are getting, might be difficult.
Against some decks, we stiil need an alternate kill condition in game1, because either we get our spells countered, or some decks are packing Blood Moon maindeck. So not having that second way to (try to) win the game might ruin our chances to do a good result. I mean, if we are not favored in G1, things will probably be worse in G2 and G3.
Also, I was thinking about Search for Azcanta... Is that card really good to us? We do not fill the graveyard as quickly as other control decks and I don't see an advantage in dumping cards to graveyard just to activate it early, because our deck is so tight on spells. And I think playing SfA on turn2 is the worse play we can do. Any thoughts on this card?
Since we are not focused on combo ASAP as TitanShift are, our gameplan is slower and 80% of the time we do Bring to Light for some mass removal first and then search our kill condition while keeping counterspell ready. Am I wrong on this one?
I want to see this deck as a tier2, at least, but with the high amount of hate we are getting, might be difficult.
If you're getting your spells countered, you're probably doing something wrong, be it rushing into the combo or waiting too long to combo, or not running enough combo pieces or ways to find it.
Say, ways to find it? How about that Search for Azcanta! Or Jace, the Wallet Sculptor (which may not even be good enough). I've admittedly done very little testing with either, only a couple of games with Search and none with Jace. Remember, Search for Azcanta is to help break the long-game against control where you need to load up on counterspells and Scapeshifts to force something through. Search for Azcanta is something I'll be adding to my deck when I make it to FNM next week. I'll be able to talk about it some more afterwards. Notably, that long game potential does let you drop a Scapeshift like most recent lists are doing (2 SfA 2 Scapeshift 4 BtL).
Honestly, I frequently die because I BtL'd for the board wipe and never drew another win condition. It just so happens that SfA is good at keeping you alive by digging through chaff and then finding you the combo. I'm also quite commonly dying because I flooded on Scapeshifts, or simply could never find one at all. That repetitive digging can be really good. Sadly, Field of Ruin out of UW is here to *ruin* our day, but I think it will be manageable.
Honestly there is very little effective hate other than lots of counterspells. Cryptic Command can bounce any troublesome permanent and it's quite convenient for that.
As another step towards redundancy that I'm personally experimenting with online is using Glittering Wish as additional copies. So far, it's *amazing*! I still haven't really experimented with Search for Azcanta as a redundancy engine but that tutorboard is a godsend. You don't want to fight through counterspells? They'll let your Wishes resolve expecting they can just counter the Scapeshift. Boy will they have a heart attack when they see you fetched Dragonlord Dromoka and their counterspells are going to do nothing the turn you combo off. Need to nuke a bunch of artifacts or enchantments? Fracturing Gust has you covered. How about generic boardwipes? Answers to planeswalkers? Those alternate winconditions you wanted? It does a lot and I've been extremely impressed in testing. Perhaps I'll end up trying Search for Azcanta in the list at some point as well, but it's so good as it stands I'm not sure it would actually help. Just remember that you only want to leave in only 1-2 cards that you want to fetch with Glittering Wish. Here's my current list that I desperately want to stuff a Naya Charm into the sideboard as an extra copy of BtL if I already used a wish to grab the BtL out of my sideboard. Has some other useful utility as well that could definitely come up. Any suggestions on how to fit it in would be greatly appreciated. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1227858#paper
All these double posts lol. Anyway, my most massive objection is Insidious Will. I suspect that the most common mode you will face will be Discard + return creature. Changing their creature return target isn't that great for the most part. And do you realize how *crazy* turn 3 Cryptic Command is? If you can, play 4 Cryptic Command. The most powerful play this deck does is turn 3 Cryptic Command (or occasionally a Wrath). Later game it's an extra counterspell and removes all the problem permanents that keep you from winning like Leyline of Sanctity, Runed Halo, Blood Moon, etc.
Next problem is you don't have enough dig spells to consistently find only 6 Scapeshift effects, especially if you want to use a BtL as a boardwipe. I'd drop a Farseek or the Kommand for another Search for Azcanta or a Scapeshift.
Also, running Kommand with the intention of reusing a 1 of that you're only going to be using in a minority of games seems weird. I really wouldn't object to Bolas much if you were just running it in the sideboard, but maindeck seems off. Honestly it's the sort of cool card I could totally see me jamming in my sideboard as a fair card much like I currently use 3x Obstinate Baloth (would be 4x, but I lost my fourth at some point). I'd play Maelstrom Pulse instead of Kommand, so I could be far more likely to avoid situations where I need an alternate win condition in the first place.
Sorry if you feel like I'm brutalizing your decklist. I'm trying to be helpful
Hey, Micah. Thx for sharing your thoughts And don't worry about brutalizing my list, lol, that's why I posted it... looking towards making it better.
In most of my games, I can find my combo pieces, even after using a BtL->Sweeper, thanks to Izzet Charm and to a lesser extend, Remand. For that reason, I don't see Search for Azcanta as essential (yet I run 1 copy, just to feel safe).
I really like the idea of using glittering wish. Couple years ago, I played a "Jeskai-Green" version os Jeskai Nahiri, that used 4 copies of Wish, and I loved it! There is 2 problems with Wish... it is a sorcery and you must run at least 3 to be reliable (4 is ideal).
As for Insidious Will, KComm on me are "Discard and 2 damage", most of the time. And I can change that to a 3 for 1 situation, killing their pyromancer and making them discard a card. Also, I won a game against RG Valakut just by copying their Scapeshift. I just like flexible cards, because BtL makes is almost a toolbox deck (I can be wrong here, lol).
I'm gonna test 2 Search for Azcanta in maindeck, moving Bolas do SB. Not sure about Glittering Wish...
Thanks for the input ! How many green sources and how many mountains would you recommand ?
Just realized I misssed yours! Personally, I started on 11 Mountains and dropped a Sacred Foundry for a Canopy Vista to get an extra green source and haven't regretted it at all. I'm going to say the minimum number of mountains is 10 and the minimum number of forests is 11, but 12 or 13 or more is better. Not having a green source is the most common reason I mulligan.
Hey, Micah. Thx for sharing your thoughts And don't worry about brutalizing my list, lol, that's why I posted it... looking towards making it better.
In most of my games, I can find my combo pieces, even after using a BtL->Sweeper, thanks to Izzet Charm and to a lesser extend, Remand. For that reason, I don't see Search for Azcanta as essential (yet I run 1 copy, just to feel safe).
I really like the idea of using glittering wish. Couple years ago, I played a "Jeskai-Green" version os Jeskai Nahiri, that used 4 copies of Wish, and I loved it! There is 2 problems with Wish... it is a sorcery and you must run at least 3 to be reliable (4 is ideal).
As for Insidious Will, KComm on me are "Discard and 2 damage", most of the time. And I can change that to a 3 for 1 situation, killing their pyromancer and making them discard a card. Also, I won a game against RG Valakut just by copying their Scapeshift. I just like flexible cards, because BtL makes is almost a toolbox deck (I can be wrong here, lol).
I'm gonna test 2 Search for Azcanta in maindeck, moving Bolas do SB. Not sure about Glittering Wish...
More double posting!
I will admit that a majority of games if you use BtL --> Sweeper you can still find another combo piece, but even a 10-20% rate of not getting there in the end is terrible considering we definitely don't have an 80-90% chance of making it to the point where we want to find a combo piece.
Yeah, 3 Izzet Charm is a nice bit of digging. I was moderately impressed when I played 3 of it in the No-Remand version.
Kommand being Discard and 2 is not the most common mode for me, but I'd still rather cryptic and draw a card so I get closer to combo pieces against this discard base deck since I probably don't have any sitting in hand post Thoughtseizes and whatnot.
Cloning Scapeshift is lit.
Glittering Wish is something I'm really liking. I feel like there is something I'm missing because I would have expected this to be better explored by this point in time. Instead, most Scapeshift lists with Wish that look not terrible are running the 90+ card version. So we'll see how well it holds up in the long term. Oh, and run 4. It's BtL that you can use to set up for the next turn with since it's cheaper, and also allows it to sneak under counterspells to grab stuff. -1 BtL (for the sideboard) -2 Search (you're becoming more redundant) -1 Flex (Supreme Will for me, since it was a digging spell) +4 Wish. Being a sorcery can definitely be annoying, but generally I find the deck can easily take a turn off to find a sideboard bullet against their respective decks as long as it has been interacting at other points of the game. Being more reliant on white mana makes Cryptic a little more awkward, but it's working out fine so far. Ended up stuffing Naya Charm in over Sigarda.
EDIT: I'd honestly like to make a new primer for Blue Shift because the one on here is so hopelessly outdated and could really use the facelift. I know this has happened a number of times for other Primers for decks that stopped being updated, but the "So you want to write a primer?" information page specifically says don't make duplicates and I don't really know how to get permission to replace an old primer.
If you post a specific "4 Color Bring Scapeshift do Light", it won't count as a dup, but you can always contact a moderator, they are looking on all forums (I guess)
Which list? BtL White? Wish Shift? RUG Shift? OmenShift? I have lots hahaha I'll be putting them into this primer I'm working on at least. It's already 10 pages long in a document and I'm *just* starting to add sample decklists to all the varieties of BlueShift, including Traditional RUG, Omenshift, BtL White, BtL Black, Wish Shift, 90-120 Card Wish Shift, Transmute Shift, and Gifts Shift, and still haven't done the matchup analysis and things to look out for. I should be done within the next two days.
Note: I'm not done. Not even all that close. I just figured I could throw a bone while having a separate copy of what I'm working on as a backup on here. Plus, I can get suggestions and opinions from you guys!
BlueShift
The Basis
Blue Scapeshift decks tend to fall under a Combo/Control category, much like Twin was before its banning. It can call under Big Mana along with Tron and TitanShift as well. The deck is planning on ramping into control elements such as Cryptic Command and Supreme Verdict and follow up with Scapeshift finding Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and enough Mountains to win the game.
The Absolute Core
BlueShift, at its core, is a RUGx Combo/Control deck. There are many varieties and splashes of BlueShift, but basically every list has these things in common
4 Search for Tomorrow
Frequently, this is the only “1” drop that you cast on the first turn. Some pure RUG lists also run cantrips. Having something proactive to do on turn 1 is very good and this card is always a 4 of and should basically never be boarded out.
Block, sac before damage. Steve is a Rampant Growth that gains you life is very good. Don’t just sac him immediately when you can wait for him to block a bigger creature, or to attack your opponent down to 18 for the 7 land kill. I’ve also won a game where I just managed to put the last point of damage in with him. He’s incredible and once again, very unlikely to get sideboarded out.
Some lists run 3. Some lists run 2. They’re wrong. Run 4. In my opinion, the best line in the entire deck is a ramp spell into Cryptic Command on turn 3. Turn 4 is slow, especially on the draw, but turn 3 is gold.
You win the game with this card. If you’re not running it, you’re not BlueShift. Depending on what sorts of tutors you run and how many, you could be on a variable number. Considering most splashes are for ways to add tutors for the card, it’s almost always a 4 of in RUG and a 2-3 of in other lists.
Early on, this functions like a Time Walk for your deck that needs to play lands. Against control, it’s an extra counterspell for the nigh inevitable counter war over a Scapeshift. Some lists have recently (recently as of June 2018) have begun to run none, instead opting for additional ramp and Izzet Charm as replacements. My personal opinion is that Charm is good, but I wouldn’t cut Remand for it.
The Manabase
Although this ends up being extremely variable, these are absolutes. You *must* have a minimum of 10 Mountains and 11 Forests. Not having a green source is one of the most common reasons to mulligan. Traditional RUG runs around 23 lands, whereas most other types run 25-26 lands. This is not because they need more lands to cast Scapeshift, but rather for mana fixing, kinda like in Draft and Sealed. Traditional RUG also tends to run cheap cantrips which allows for a reduction in the land count.
2+ Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
You need at least two to kill players at higher life totals. You only want the full set if you’re running Prismatic Omen as it makes every land you play trigger Valakut.
You need lots of green sources so you can use your ramp spells that fix you into other colors. Untapped ones are the best, as they let you suspend Search for Tomorrow on the first turn.
You need at least one to find with a Ghost Quarter if they try to knock you below 6 mountains with the Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle triggers on the stack. It’s also to search up if you can’t quite kill your opponent with Valakut but they tapped out of counterspells for a turn so you know you can Scapeshift to mostly kill them
One of the best 1 mana removal spells, but it loses a lot of utility in Scapeshift. It can knock your opponent down to 18 or less, but it’s really rare to do so. Sometimes people will play Roast or Izzet Charm instead, especially with a sideboard Chalice of the Void plan. In the versions with a 4th color, it’s popular to play Fatal Push or Path to Exile instead.
Since the deck is really just looking to stall and we have a ton of mana anyway, it’s been a popular option in the past. It can also deal with problem permanents like Blood Moon and Leyline of Sanctity. Since the advent of Death’s Shadow this has become a much less popular option.
Great replacement for Lightning Bolt if that’s something you’re looking for. Destroying artifacts is definitely relevant text and it’s not an option to overlook.
Cantripping is great in a deck that needs to find its combo. It’s functional removal spell in some matchups and can certainly be really powerful. It’s most common to be seen in regular RUG lists.
A two mana shock isn’t great, but the utility is really powerful. Shock still kills a lot of things and shouldn’t be underestimated. Once again, most commonly seen in RUG Shift, but it’s still played in the other versions. Some lists run 3-4 Charm.
Anger is the most common red boardwipe. The upside of exiling everything is relevant against more decks than people realize. If you’re only running 1 red wipe, this is my suggestion, especially if you’re running a tutor for it like Bring to Light.
Suns is the second most popular red boardwipe. It’s very similar to Anger but it cantrips in bad matchups. Yes, that can be very nice. No, I’ve not been too impressed with it. If you want multiple, split this with Anger to get around Meddling Mage from Humans
An interesting option that hasn’t been explored much. Being Instant speed allows for some blow-outs and it isn’t as risky to leave it in hand against a deck like Humans. Tagging manlands as well really slows down Affinity, and it kills Etched Champion.
This is the smallest red wipe and has been largely replaced since the printing of Anger of the Gods. If you really don’t want to need to find a second red source, this is an option along with Kozilek’s Return. It’s really unusual to need to clear the board on turn two unless you’re against Affinity, but if it’s what you want, here you go.
This is the best way to dig for a Scapeshift or anything else you need. Since it’s an enchantment it’s resilient, and it comes down early. Later in the game it flips into a land you can sacrifice for Scapeshift. Because of how much air the deck has in the lategame with so many lands, ramp spells, and conditional counterspells, being able to dig that hard repeatedly is very useful. In a ramp deck, the cost to activate is also minimal.
Probably the most popular 1 mana cantrip, although Sleight of Hand is close. It looks at 3 cards, but doesn’t give you access to all 3 immediately. The scry can be very awkward with how many shuffle effects we have in the deck.
A newer addition, it’s gained some popularity over the “bigger” cantrips like Anticipate, or in the 4c/Omen versions, Wordly Counsel. You can’t hold up Remand and Supreme Will on turn two like you can with other cantrips. Luckily, Supreme Will does hold up both on its own, and a counterspell can be very relevant at times.
Looking at the top 5 for two mana is the dream. However, since it doesn’t grab lands or Sakura-Tribe Elder, it doesn’t see the most play. I think it’s very underplayed.
Basically unplayed, but still an option. Since the deck has so much unneeded fluff, I consider this better than Telling Time as it lets you put two cards on bottom. I’d also rather play Peer Through Depths.
Basically unplayed, but still an option. Since the deck has so much unneeded fluff, I consider this worse than Anticipate which lets you put two cards on bottom. I’d also rather play Peer Through Depths.
Jace is a very powerful card, but it’s not great in BlueShift as the deck isn’t very good at protecting it. However, as a ramp deck, BlueShift is far faster at getting to a point where it could protect it. It’s definitely an option, but I suspect Search for Azcanta is better. Being able to cast it turn 3 is definitely good, but if the board isn’t clear it’s not long for this world
It’s kinda like Jace, the Mind Sculptor but red. It’s much better at protecting itself and clocks an opponent at a reasonable speed. However, since if you exile a Scapeshift you have to cast it immediately, it can be a bit risky as it can be hard to resolve if you weren’t ready for it. Also like Jace, it can be cast on turn 3.
Farseek is the most popular miscellaneous ramp spell, especially in the 4c decks as it can grab shocklands for better mana fixing. It’s also two mana and allows a curve into Cryptic Command on turn 3.
More popular in land heavy decks that need extra digging, like OmenShift. Generally, cast this as early as possible unless you need access to an untapped land in a future turn to cast multiple spells in the same turn.
The biggest issue is that it makes it pretty easy to run out of basic lands in a 4c version. It’s also competing with Hunting Wilds which allows you to dump both lands into play immediately.
Gives a target for Abrupt Decay in the maindeck while also running you out of basics quickly. It also is a worse topdeck as it takes a while for it to fire off if you don’t play it early. It’s very explosive, but high variance.
Technically, it’s an alternate win condition, but I’ve never had to do it. I almost got there once in my hundreds and hundreds of matches, but I topdecked the Scapeshift the turn I was going to attack for lethal. Otherwise, it’s mana fixing and card advantage. I like to have two forest-plains/swamp and two Breeding Pool to make sure I can grab double white/black or double blue to cast Cryptic Command and wraths in BtL varieties. It’s also a tutor target in some versions.
This is mostly played as a 4 of in traditional RUG lists, thus creating OmenShift. Some 4c varieties will occasionally use it as a mana fixer. It notably allows you to cast Scapeshift on only 6 lands as it makes Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle count itself as a mountain. It works as an alternate win condition if you draw Valakut.
Technically card advantage, but this sort of card advantage generally only matters against Liliana of the Veil when it’s making you discard your lands to protect a Scapeshift. It’s also nice to create two 3/3s at times.
Technically card advantage, but this sort of card advantage generally only matters against Liliana of the Veil when it’s making you discard your lands to protect a Scapeshift.
Loops with Cryptic Command, counts as a second copy of Scapeshift, and lets you play with extra counterspells. Real powerful and a frequent inclusion as a 1-2 of.
Generally considered a budget option for Snapcaster Mage, I actually prefer it instead. Have a repeatable loop with Cryptic Command is great, being able to return fetchlands and Sakura-Tribe Elder is great. I very rarely find myself wishing it was a Snapcaster.
It’s weak and basically unplayed. Most other miscellaneous counterspells are the same. The deck already has enough bad late game draws and doesn’t need any more.
This is also a shoe-in for the other buddy lands from Battle for Zendikar. Having painless fetchables is nice, even if they do come with the significant downside not being untapped green sources.
This makes it one heck of a lot easier to cast Cryptic Command. If you have some spare land slots, consider one or two. Mystic Gate and Sunken Ruins help cast Cryptic as well as their respective wraths in 4c BlueShift decks.
This is the best dual land ever printed. It’s an untapped green source and a white source if you’re playing white in your deck. Late game it cantrips when you need to find business. It’s worth considering.
How to: Sideboarding
Building a Sideboard
The Basic Sideboarding Guide
The Varieties of BlueShift (Decklists)
Due to the niche of the metagame this deck fills being the same, all blue Scapeshift decks tend to get lumped together, despite there being a massive variety between lists.
The Original RUG Scapeshift
How to Build
Most of the “Optional Cards” section applies directly to this deck, as this is the basis of all BlueShift decks. A few notables: 23 lands is about normal. Snapcaster Mage is better in this version than in others because there are more cheap business spells that it can flashback. Because it doesn’t run the redundancy of Bring to Light or anything, it needs more dig spells and cantrips.
This list is based more around Jace than most, and is from shortly after the unbanning of Jace. It runs 2 Explore to help facilitate turn 3 Jace and ramping into a position where he can be cast and protected the same turn. It runs additional lands instead of a cantrip base which also helps with the Explores which also helps dig through the deck. It also lacks Izzet Charm which would also be helping dig through the deck and discard excess lands in the late game.
This list far closer to normal. It’s still missing the cheap cantrips, but is running Izzet Charm, Search for Azcanta instead of Jace, and Hour of Devastation because it doesn’t run any planeswalkers.
Purklefluff’s RUG Scapeshift (My Choice for Stock List)
Here's what I'm currently working with. I'm basing my assumptions on my previous understanding of snapcaster and how he fits within the deck, so I'm only running two.
Oh and I checked back through my spreadsheets and Google docs and was surprised to find that the old RUG tournament list (based on many others from the time) actually ran 23 lands. The manabase was so tight I don't think you could have swapped a single land, everything was essential. What's interesting is I don't recall the deck ever having mana issues (far from it, the problem was digging for win conditions). I also just dug back through the thread here and there was a lot of variation from 23-26 lands, some without fetches, some with, some running weird stuff. 24 lands seemed to be the most common with a 3rd forest or 4th island, but I stuck with 2 forest and 3 island.
This continued all the way through the Dig Through Time era as well (which didn't last long) on 23-24 lands. Seems I'd forgotten this when I moved over to a 4x valakut build which played 25 as standard (but then with prismatic omen you're happy to just topdeck lands all day haha)
I'm going to trust my own previous wisdom here and tentatively try running back my old manabase.
Eternal witness; many times over the years I've been stuck trying to dig for a piece I need, and snappy-cryptic just doesn't cut it. Swapping the 3rd snappy for a witness means I can infinitely loop cryptics, fading combat steps every turn, allowing me to find what I need or just swing in with witness for the win. If you're not familiar with this loop it requires 7 mana. You cast cryptic in opponents turn naming bounce (target witness) and then whatever other mode is most useful (counter spell or tap creatures). Then in your turn you replay witness, getting back cryptic to perform the loop again. Against aggressive decks with little interaction this is a powerful way to lock out a game once you've drawn it out with some removal and counters. Witness also provides reasonable value against land destruction, buying back bolts and stuff like that. However I'm only including one because as a three drop it ideally requires 4+ mana to use effectively. Still, as an experiment I felt like it's worth testing.
Ancestral vision; it's a great card against slow jund, midrange and control matchups. They've always been tough to beat and I felt like right now we need a nice mirror-breaker style card which just draws you into gas. Could be wrong but for 2 cards in the board I felt like the opportunity cost was fairly low.
Land count; I started with 24 as per the general consensus back in the day. The list contained 2 breeding pool (good fetch target). Then I had a last minute urge to include roast and decided I could perhaps test going to only 1 breeding pool and see what happened. In the fullness of time I'll probably end up back at 24 (not 25) lands but for now, based on my previous experiences with ramp spells and cantrips, I felt like 23 was bearable. Could be wrong. The difference of 1 land in a deck full of ramp spells might not be huge. Then again it might be totally awful. I just remember testing and working with the community on my old tournament-grinding list and somehow we all felt my manabase of 23 was fine.
The maindeck may change around. I could drop the Sleight of Hand for Opt, or the Worldly Counsel and 1 Sleight of Hand for a 3/3 split. I'm going to mess about and see how I feel over a few weeks.
The maindeck is fairly tight, there's not (and never really has been) a lot of room to maneuver in the RUG lists. In the past I've run some number of Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster Mage, Dig Through Time (when it was legal), Peer Through Depths and all sorts of other bits instead of Prismatic Omen and Primeval Titan, but I feel their inclusion makes the deck so much better. You've got the same wincon as the straight RG version of the deck but a much better game against combo and the mirror. As a downside running interaction means we're a turn slower but it usually works out.
Bring to Light adds a significant level of consistency to finding a Scapeshift to win the game. Instead of having to play 4 copies, you instead get to play 2-3 copies instead and play 4 Bring to Light which has a lot more utility. However, this comes at a real cost. The mana for BtL Scapeshift is significantly worse as it has to splash at least a fourth color (if not a fifth as well) to find a Scapeshift. The mana for this deck is harder to use than most decks, and you need to know exactly what lands you need.
Dealing with any size creature is incredibly important. Eldrazi, Death’s Shadow, Tarmogoyf, and more fall to it. Giving your opponent a land does speed them up significantly, but frequently it doesn’t matter enough in my experience, except against Burn. Path removing a creature tends to slow down decks far more than the extra land speeds them up, and Lightning Bolt all too frequently wouldn’t slow them down at all.
An alternate to Path to Exile, it kills a lot of creatures. It also can target planeswalkers which is likely the biggest draw to Bolt over Path. Lightning Bolt can also take your opponent below 18 life to enable the 7 land kill against some decks. It’s another powerful option.
Sample Decklists
Under Construction
Black
How to Build
Under Construction
Sample Decklists
Under Construction
Wish Shift
How to Build
Under Construction
Sample Decklists
Under Construction
90-120 Card Wish Shift
How to Build
Under Construction
Sample Decklists
Under Construction
Gifts Shift
How to Build
Under Construction
Sample Decklists
Under Construction
Transmute Shift
How to Build
Under Construction
Sample Decklists
Under Construction
Tips and Tricks
Remand your own Scapeshift instead of their counterspell if they have too much mana
Cryptic Command, bounce Snapcaster Mage + counter target spell. Cast Snapcaster, flashback Cryptic, do it again. Works with any of its modes and it’s great. Substitute Eternal Witness for endless shenanigans.
Cryptic Command your opponent’s blue sources on their end step to try and cut them off of counterspell mana. Generally, this is best used when your opponent leaves up four mana while you have two Cryptic Command and a Scapeshift in hand
You don’t always need to sacrifice all your lands to Scapeshift. Sacrifice as few as you can while still killing your opponent. If you have two Valakuts in your deck, you only need 3-4 mountains to enter the battlefield to kill your opponent, assuming you have 8 lands already in play.
Almost never fetch your basic Mountain. If you need it to cast spells, ok. If it’s going to trigger Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle for lethal, ok. Avoid doing it. You need it in your library for when you combo off so that a Field of Ruin or Ghost Quarter won’t stop the combo.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle has an intervening if clause. The ability does not go on the stack at all if you don’t have 5 other mountains in play when another enters the battlefield. If you don’t have 5 other mountains in play when the ability tries to resolve, it counters the ability and it won’t deal damage. NOTE: Everyone forgets that if they drop you down to 5 mountains (so your triggers won’t resolve) you still get 3 damage, as the one they destroyed still sees that there are 5 other mountains in play.
This one got me multiple judge calls in a single match. Hunting Wilds when kicked does *not* turn non-basic forests into creatures, nor does it untap them, when a Blood Moon is on the battlefield, as they are no longer forests once they are in play.
Practicing shuffling. Dear lord, practice shuffling. You need to be able to shuffle quickly to play the deck. 5-7 riffles should suffice. Don’t take forever, and shuffle during your opponent’s turn when you can.
Any I missed? Feel free to let me know about more!
It's definitely very effective. I've used it in Taking Turns before, where it has more of a dual purpose. If you're sick of blue decks, jam it in. Being able to fog could also be relevant in some matchups, but I don't really know where I'd want it.
Do note that we frequently have 2-4 blue sources by the time we want to combo so it's not a surefire thing.
so I guess i'm being pulled back into this archetype
i'm cool with that.
bear in mind, while I played this deck weekly for a long time, and really racked up an intuitive and deep understanding of the deck (contextual to the time), things have definitely changed. Modern is a fluid and churning format (no matter what the doomsayers want you to believe i.e. this deck is good therefore I assume it will be good forever therefore BAN IT AAGHHH). Nothing stays on top for long and as such, today's format is a world away from when I last jammed my beloved RUG scapeshift deck at a proper tournament.
however - I still play Modern as my main format, and I still retain the majority of that intuitive 'feel' for the deck. With those two halves I reckon I could make some worthwhile assumptions about RUG's place in the current format, but I have to be explicit when I say this isn't backed up by actually playing the deck. I've been playing a mix of Vizier Collected Company, KCI, Tron, Humans, Jund, Kiki-Chord, GW Value Town and not very much snapcaster mage.
but! i'm happy to help. RUG is my baby, and the first Modern deck that I 'got good' with.
few initial observations:
maindeck anger of the gods is something this deck (and few other decks) are able to run without embarrassment. Right now, this is awesome and goes a long way towards making Humans, Vengevine and a variety of other decks winnable matchups.
lightning bolt is still good. again, makes the deck baseline playable by its sheer existence. Scapeshift (in this guise at least) isn't a simple 'race you' deck and needs those ways to disrupt and pick apart an opponent.
that said: roast - yeah i'd run 1 maindeck. diversity to get around meddling mage, plus it smashes gurmag anglers and other larger creatures in the face. Replace this card with flame slash if you feel like it works better. either is OK as a one-of.
sweltering sun - i'm less high on this card. maybe a split with anger is OK (certainly good at avoiding the 'meddling mage tax'), but the exile clause from anger is so important right now I think Anger is superior. another month, another metagame, that could change. Right now the cycling isn't worth those lost % points against graveyard-y decks.
primeval titan - (note: only really relevant to lists running prismatic omen) i've flip-flopped between 0 and 3 of these in my RUG decks, and i'm still not convinced of a correct number. My reasoning for including any at all is as follows: The main reason for losing with this deck is by stabilising comfortably against an opponent, then failing to draw one of your important 4 Scapeshifts. Over all the years of running this archetype, those are the matches that stick out in my mind. Perhaps that's unfair or i'm over-prioritising those experiences, but at the very least, it's a common thread. The answer (it seemed at the time) was to increase the number of pseudo-scapeshifts in the deck, and the bonus of running prime time is that it can block, is insane against decks like Mardu/Humans (oh and it doesn't lose to negate). Trample is a thing, guys, but don't touch this card unless you're running Omen.
in the past, I ran a full playset of peer through depths and a full playset of serum visions. Both of those cards are wrong. sleight of hand is the superior card for digging to what you need on a critical turn, and isn't disrupted by all the shuffle effects (as the scry from visions would be). Peer was actually good, and I could see again running one or two of these, but eventually I settled on one or two (no more) worldly counsel. Bear in mind that this was for a build wielding prismatic omen and it begins to make sense. even without Omen, W-Counsel is essentially a 'dig 3' card (island, forest, mountain). The major advantage of this card over peer is its scaleability and the ability to hit lands when you need them (which peer cannot). A sensible alternative tried for quite some time by the competitive RUG players a few years ago was telling time and similarly, it can hit lands. I was always underwhelmed by this card though. don't overload on cantrips that cost more than U though.
ramp spells - ehhh... for the longest time I ran 8. i'm actually coming round to going up to 9 or 10. (for the record, 4 steve, 4 search for tomorrow and 1-2 farseek, the farseeks being the cards I wasn't previously running). 9 of these effects seems like a reasonable compromise.
prismatic omen - EEEHHHHHHHHH jeez I don't even know anymore. I want to run this card. it's often the most powerful card in the deck. it lets you grind out matchups you've got no business winning, but it also eats up 3+ slots in the maindeck and might actually have a negative effect on your overall percentages against the field (despite feeling supremely powerful when it works). On the plus side, it sort of replaces Farseek as a pseudo ramp spell, so it's not too bad in its deck footprint. If you're desperate to run this card, your manabase needs to go up from 23 lands (which used to be the standard) to 25, to accomodate 2 extra valakuts (full four). Overall you're looking at 5x total slots eaten up in the maindeck to accomodate Prismatic Omen, 3x omen and 2x extra lands. It opens you up to running primeval titan and it actually being an on-the-spot win in many situations, which isn't actually that bad at all.
let's dive into what i'd probably play right now - full disclosure this is what i'd call a testing list and the entire point would be to try things and see if they work, cutting or adding cards as necessary to suit a meta. Let's say for the sake of argument that i'd like to try a list with Omen. This could actually be incorrect and what we want is a list without. I've got no horse in this race, I'm just hoping to help anyone interested in knowing what I think.
the sideboard is a mish-mash but it's not horrible. you could go a number of ways from vendilion clique to carnage tyrant and i would recommend some number of uncounterable control-beating cards. What's important is that you don't play straight into a pile of ghost quarters boseiju, who shelters all style, or into a terminus with your one fatty. still - keeping in removal against this deck is kinda odd.... who knows. stranger things have happened.
graveyard hate is slim. unsure of what to suggest beyond the standard relic of progenitus.
hope this is helpful. As before - this is a testing off-the-cuff list with a bunch of competing ideas and over time this would naturally get refined. I'm hoping you'll be able to see this and try refining it for yourself and not take this as some sort of gospel list to play verbatim. What's most important though is you understand why you're changing things before you actually do. No point in just jamming in a pet card unless there's a good reason.
The deck *can* control the game in some situations, generally the games where you don't draw a Scapeshift to just end the game. SfA and Jace let you dig for those once the game is more or less locked up, as well as being able to dig for counterspells in a longer game against control. It depends what battles you want to fight.
RE LeFantak: I like removal enough against a lot of decks. Path in particular is useful just about anywhere.
I've had games where when running 3 Scapeshift 4 BtL wasn't able to find me the combo in the long game as I died with 30 cards left in my library, including with Supreme Will looking at top 4 mixed in there somewhere. With a SfA that basically couldn't have happened. If that's not what you want to do, go for and tell us how it works out.
I've played against Amulet combo a half dozen times, probably. I don't believe I've ever lost tbh. I generally find that between Remands and Paths and Cryptics I'm able to slow the game down enough to win. Remanding the Titan that they Pact'd for can cut them off of the mana they would need to pay for Pact as well. If you play against a seasoned Amulet player I could see it being pretty hard. Some of the best hate for that deck is counterspells that hit Primeval Titan or the Pacts, although if they have a Cavern things get a lot harder.
For beating Humans, the best I've done is going for extra wraths like my list. 2 Verdict 1 Anger maindeck with 2 more Angers sideboard is a lot of clearing, and adding on Paths to deal with large Champions, then add 4/4 Baloth blockers... makes life hard for them. If you want to make it even better, try splitting up the Angers with Sweltering Suns and Firespout. With how my list is currently set up, I'd say Humans is mildly favorable.
Thanks for the insights Micah. It would be oubviously a ''budget deck'' for me, being my 4-5th ish deck in Modern. I'm thinking about the following list :
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Spells (28)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Farseek
4 Remand
2 Worldly Counsel
1 Kodama's Reach
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Cryptic Command
2 Scapeshift
1 Supreme Verdict
4 Bring to Light
2 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Grove
2 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
1 Sheltered Thicket
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Dispel
1 Lightning Helix
2 Negate
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Krosan Grip
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Madcap Experiment
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Shatterstorm
1 Platinum Emperion
I'm liking the list so far. I guess Misty Rainforest would be awesome though, but Flooded Strand for Island was fine too. I feel I prefer fetching for Island in case of Blood Moon and putting up Forests with Search / Sakura. I'm really open to discussion, tips and tricks.
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Comment 1: Two Worldly Counsel? Most people are on 2 Search for Azcanta when it comes to digging. At least, I'd consider Supreme Will over it.
Comment 2: With your sideboard you like you'd get run over by Humans and other small creature aggro decks (Affinity, Spirits, etc.)
Comment 3: Weird manabase still stands. Turn 1-2 green sources are really important
Tips:
If you have two Cryptics and a Scapeshift, it can be correct to bounce one of control's blue sources on end step to put them back a counterspell.
Remand your own spells sometimes. That's a more normal thing to do, but it took me multiple years of playing the deck to realize I could do that.
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Thx
Against some decks, we stiil need an alternate kill condition in game1, because either we get our spells countered, or some decks are packing Blood Moon maindeck. So not having that second way to (try to) win the game might ruin our chances to do a good result. I mean, if we are not favored in G1, things will probably be worse in G2 and G3.
Also, I was thinking about Search for Azcanta... Is that card really good to us? We do not fill the graveyard as quickly as other control decks and I don't see an advantage in dumping cards to graveyard just to activate it early, because our deck is so tight on spells. And I think playing SfA on turn2 is the worse play we can do. Any thoughts on this card?
Since we are not focused on combo ASAP as TitanShift are, our gameplan is slower and 80% of the time we do Bring to Light for some mass removal first and then search our kill condition while keeping counterspell ready. Am I wrong on this one?
I want to see this deck as a tier2, at least, but with the high amount of hate we are getting, might be difficult.
Regards,
bitbroosher.
Lands (26)
3 Island
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Cinder Glade
2 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Stomping Ground
4 Steam Vents
Creatures (6)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
4 Bring to Light
2 Scapeshift
Ramp spells (7)
4 search for tomorrow
2 Farseek
1 Hunting Wilds
Dedicated Counterspells (8)
4 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
2 Insidious Will
Flex Spells and Slots (7)
3 Izzet charm
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Damnnation
1 Sweltering Suns
2 Negate
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Slaughter Games
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Back to Nature
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Madcap Experiment
1 Platinum Emperion
Some Choices:
Insidious Will: Too many Kolaghan's Command at LGS.
Kolaghan's Command; Getting Bolas from graveyard, mainly.
Izzet charm: Good flex card. All 3 modes are OK for this deck.
All feedbacks are welcome
For reference upcoming, here's my normal BtL decklist atm https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/681057#paper
If you're getting your spells countered, you're probably doing something wrong, be it rushing into the combo or waiting too long to combo, or not running enough combo pieces or ways to find it.
Say, ways to find it? How about that Search for Azcanta! Or Jace, the Wallet Sculptor (which may not even be good enough). I've admittedly done very little testing with either, only a couple of games with Search and none with Jace. Remember, Search for Azcanta is to help break the long-game against control where you need to load up on counterspells and Scapeshifts to force something through. Search for Azcanta is something I'll be adding to my deck when I make it to FNM next week. I'll be able to talk about it some more afterwards. Notably, that long game potential does let you drop a Scapeshift like most recent lists are doing (2 SfA 2 Scapeshift 4 BtL).
Honestly, I frequently die because I BtL'd for the board wipe and never drew another win condition. It just so happens that SfA is good at keeping you alive by digging through chaff and then finding you the combo. I'm also quite commonly dying because I flooded on Scapeshifts, or simply could never find one at all. That repetitive digging can be really good. Sadly, Field of Ruin out of UW is here to *ruin* our day, but I think it will be manageable.
Honestly there is very little effective hate other than lots of counterspells. Cryptic Command can bounce any troublesome permanent and it's quite convenient for that.
As another step towards redundancy that I'm personally experimenting with online is using Glittering Wish as additional copies. So far, it's *amazing*! I still haven't really experimented with Search for Azcanta as a redundancy engine but that tutorboard is a godsend. You don't want to fight through counterspells? They'll let your Wishes resolve expecting they can just counter the Scapeshift. Boy will they have a heart attack when they see you fetched Dragonlord Dromoka and their counterspells are going to do nothing the turn you combo off. Need to nuke a bunch of artifacts or enchantments? Fracturing Gust has you covered. How about generic boardwipes? Answers to planeswalkers? Those alternate winconditions you wanted? It does a lot and I've been extremely impressed in testing. Perhaps I'll end up trying Search for Azcanta in the list at some point as well, but it's so good as it stands I'm not sure it would actually help. Just remember that you only want to leave in only 1-2 cards that you want to fetch with Glittering Wish. Here's my current list that I desperately want to stuff a Naya Charm into the sideboard as an extra copy of BtL if I already used a wish to grab the BtL out of my sideboard. Has some other useful utility as well that could definitely come up. Any suggestions on how to fit it in would be greatly appreciated. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1227858#paper
All these double posts lol. Anyway, my most massive objection is Insidious Will. I suspect that the most common mode you will face will be Discard + return creature. Changing their creature return target isn't that great for the most part. And do you realize how *crazy* turn 3 Cryptic Command is? If you can, play 4 Cryptic Command. The most powerful play this deck does is turn 3 Cryptic Command (or occasionally a Wrath). Later game it's an extra counterspell and removes all the problem permanents that keep you from winning like Leyline of Sanctity, Runed Halo, Blood Moon, etc.
Next problem is you don't have enough dig spells to consistently find only 6 Scapeshift effects, especially if you want to use a BtL as a boardwipe. I'd drop a Farseek or the Kommand for another Search for Azcanta or a Scapeshift.
Also, running Kommand with the intention of reusing a 1 of that you're only going to be using in a minority of games seems weird. I really wouldn't object to Bolas much if you were just running it in the sideboard, but maindeck seems off. Honestly it's the sort of cool card I could totally see me jamming in my sideboard as a fair card much like I currently use 3x Obstinate Baloth (would be 4x, but I lost my fourth at some point). I'd play Maelstrom Pulse instead of Kommand, so I could be far more likely to avoid situations where I need an alternate win condition in the first place.
Sorry if you feel like I'm brutalizing your decklist. I'm trying to be helpful
In most of my games, I can find my combo pieces, even after using a BtL->Sweeper, thanks to Izzet Charm and to a lesser extend, Remand. For that reason, I don't see Search for Azcanta as essential (yet I run 1 copy, just to feel safe).
I really like the idea of using glittering wish. Couple years ago, I played a "Jeskai-Green" version os Jeskai Nahiri, that used 4 copies of Wish, and I loved it! There is 2 problems with Wish... it is a sorcery and you must run at least 3 to be reliable (4 is ideal).
As for Insidious Will, KComm on me are "Discard and 2 damage", most of the time. And I can change that to a 3 for 1 situation, killing their pyromancer and making them discard a card. Also, I won a game against RG Valakut just by copying their Scapeshift. I just like flexible cards, because BtL makes is almost a toolbox deck (I can be wrong here, lol).
I'm gonna test 2 Search for Azcanta in maindeck, moving Bolas do SB. Not sure about Glittering Wish...
Just realized I misssed yours! Personally, I started on 11 Mountains and dropped a Sacred Foundry for a Canopy Vista to get an extra green source and haven't regretted it at all. I'm going to say the minimum number of mountains is 10 and the minimum number of forests is 11, but 12 or 13 or more is better. Not having a green source is the most common reason I mulligan.
More double posting!
I will admit that a majority of games if you use BtL --> Sweeper you can still find another combo piece, but even a 10-20% rate of not getting there in the end is terrible considering we definitely don't have an 80-90% chance of making it to the point where we want to find a combo piece.
Yeah, 3 Izzet Charm is a nice bit of digging. I was moderately impressed when I played 3 of it in the No-Remand version.
Kommand being Discard and 2 is not the most common mode for me, but I'd still rather cryptic and draw a card so I get closer to combo pieces against this discard base deck since I probably don't have any sitting in hand post Thoughtseizes and whatnot.
Cloning Scapeshift is lit.
Glittering Wish is something I'm really liking. I feel like there is something I'm missing because I would have expected this to be better explored by this point in time. Instead, most Scapeshift lists with Wish that look not terrible are running the 90+ card version. So we'll see how well it holds up in the long term. Oh, and run 4. It's BtL that you can use to set up for the next turn with since it's cheaper, and also allows it to sneak under counterspells to grab stuff. -1 BtL (for the sideboard) -2 Search (you're becoming more redundant) -1 Flex (Supreme Will for me, since it was a digging spell) +4 Wish. Being a sorcery can definitely be annoying, but generally I find the deck can easily take a turn off to find a sideboard bullet against their respective decks as long as it has been interacting at other points of the game. Being more reliant on white mana makes Cryptic a little more awkward, but it's working out fine so far. Ended up stuffing Naya Charm in over Sigarda.
EDIT: I'd honestly like to make a new primer for Blue Shift because the one on here is so hopelessly outdated and could really use the facelift. I know this has happened a number of times for other Primers for decks that stopped being updated, but the "So you want to write a primer?" information page specifically says don't make duplicates and I don't really know how to get permission to replace an old primer.
Also, care to share your list? I'm curious
I'll wait your primer to see your lists... It will be a nice reading and learning, for sure
BlueShift
The Basis
Blue Scapeshift decks tend to fall under a Combo/Control category, much like Twin was before its banning. It can call under Big Mana along with Tron and TitanShift as well. The deck is planning on ramping into control elements such as Cryptic Command and Supreme Verdict and follow up with Scapeshift finding Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and enough Mountains to win the game.
The Absolute Core
4 Search for Tomorrow
2+ Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Misty Rainforest is the best. Mountain is the least needed basic, and Forest is needed the most.
Removal
Probably the most popular 1 mana cantrip, although Sleight of Hand is close. It looks at 3 cards, but doesn’t give you access to all 3 immediately. The scry can be very awkward with how many shuffle effects we have in the deck.
Due to the niche of the metagame this deck fills being the same, all blue Scapeshift decks tend to get lumped together, despite there being a massive variety between lists.
The Original RUG Scapeshift
2 Breeding Pool
1 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
3 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Cryptic Command
2 Explore
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
1 Supreme Will
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
Creatures (6)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Dispel
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Negate
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Primeval Titan
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Breeding Pool
1 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
3 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Creatures (6)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Cryptic Command
1 Electrolyze
2 Hour of Devastation
3 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
4 Scapeshift
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Dispel
2 Nature’s Claim
2 Negate
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Primeval Titan
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Grove
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
1 Cinder Glade
1 Mountain
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Forest
3 Island
Creatures (7)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Eternal Witness
4 Search For Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Electrolyze
1 Roast
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Thragtusk
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Dispel
2 Ancestral Vision
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Primeval Titan
Spells (28)
4 Remand
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Worldly Counsel
4 Cryptic Command
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Hour of Promise
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
3 Prismatic Omen
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
1 Cinder Glade
1 Mountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Grove
2 Forest
3 Island
1 Surrak Dragonclaw
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Crumble to Dust
2 Fracturing Gust
2 Counterflux
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Whatever I Feel Like
A clear use for Bring to Light is to find maindeck and sideboard bullets. Maindeck it allows you to find boardwipes and Hunting Wilds for the most part. Sometimes Madcap Experiment + Platinum Emperion is maindeck as well. Out of the sideboard you gain access to Shatterstorm, Crumble to Dust, alternate win conditions and lifegain like Obstinate Baloth, and more.
White
4 Cryptic Command
4 Remand
3 One Mana Removal
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Scapeshift
4 Bring to light
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
There are a few things to noting. Scapeshift should be a 2 of with 2 Search for Azcanta if you’re running Search. Also, pick either 1 Kodama’s Reach or 1 Hunting Wilds to add to the core. The one mana removal spell can be either Lightning Bolt or Path to Exile.
4 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
4 Stomping Ground
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Forest
3 Island
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
Generally, you want 25-26 lands. The last slots go between the fourth Misty Rainforest, one Flooded Grove, a Cinder Glade, a second Mountain, another Temple Garden or Canopy Vista, or a Sacred Foundry.
- Remand your own Scapeshift instead of their counterspell if they have too much mana
- Cryptic Command, bounce Snapcaster Mage + counter target spell. Cast Snapcaster, flashback Cryptic, do it again. Works with any of its modes and it’s great. Substitute Eternal Witness for endless shenanigans.
- Cryptic Command your opponent’s blue sources on their end step to try and cut them off of counterspell mana. Generally, this is best used when your opponent leaves up four mana while you have two Cryptic Command and a Scapeshift in hand
You don’t always need to sacrifice all your lands to Scapeshift. Sacrifice as few as you can while still killing your opponent. If you have two Valakuts in your deck, you only need 3-4 mountains to enter the battlefield to kill your opponent, assuming you have 8 lands already in play.
- Almost never fetch your basic Mountain. If you need it to cast spells, ok. If it’s going to trigger Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle for lethal, ok. Avoid doing it. You need it in your library for when you combo off so that a Field of Ruin or Ghost Quarter won’t stop the combo.
- Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle has an intervening if clause. The ability does not go on the stack at all if you don’t have 5 other mountains in play when another enters the battlefield. If you don’t have 5 other mountains in play when the ability tries to resolve, it counters the ability and it won’t deal damage. NOTE: Everyone forgets that if they drop you down to 5 mountains (so your triggers won’t resolve) you still get 3 damage, as the one they destroyed still sees that there are 5 other mountains in play.
- This one got me multiple judge calls in a single match. Hunting Wilds when kicked does *not* turn non-basic forests into creatures, nor does it untap them, when a Blood Moon is on the battlefield, as they are no longer forests once they are in play.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is colorless. Kill all the Etched Champions you need!
- Practicing shuffling. Dear lord, practice shuffling. You need to be able to shuffle quickly to play the deck. 5-7 riffles should suffice. Don’t take forever, and shuffle during your opponent’s turn when you can.
Any I missed? Feel free to let me know about more!Do note that we frequently have 2-4 blue sources by the time we want to combo so it's not a surefire thing.
i'm cool with that.
bear in mind, while I played this deck weekly for a long time, and really racked up an intuitive and deep understanding of the deck (contextual to the time), things have definitely changed. Modern is a fluid and churning format (no matter what the doomsayers want you to believe i.e. this deck is good therefore I assume it will be good forever therefore BAN IT AAGHHH). Nothing stays on top for long and as such, today's format is a world away from when I last jammed my beloved RUG scapeshift deck at a proper tournament.
however - I still play Modern as my main format, and I still retain the majority of that intuitive 'feel' for the deck. With those two halves I reckon I could make some worthwhile assumptions about RUG's place in the current format, but I have to be explicit when I say this isn't backed up by actually playing the deck. I've been playing a mix of Vizier Collected Company, KCI, Tron, Humans, Jund, Kiki-Chord, GW Value Town and not very much snapcaster mage.
but! i'm happy to help. RUG is my baby, and the first Modern deck that I 'got good' with.
few initial observations:
maindeck anger of the gods is something this deck (and few other decks) are able to run without embarrassment. Right now, this is awesome and goes a long way towards making Humans, Vengevine and a variety of other decks winnable matchups.
lightning bolt is still good. again, makes the deck baseline playable by its sheer existence. Scapeshift (in this guise at least) isn't a simple 'race you' deck and needs those ways to disrupt and pick apart an opponent.
that said:
roast - yeah i'd run 1 maindeck. diversity to get around meddling mage, plus it smashes gurmag anglers and other larger creatures in the face. Replace this card with flame slash if you feel like it works better. either is OK as a one-of.
sweltering sun - i'm less high on this card. maybe a split with anger is OK (certainly good at avoiding the 'meddling mage tax'), but the exile clause from anger is so important right now I think Anger is superior. another month, another metagame, that could change. Right now the cycling isn't worth those lost % points against graveyard-y decks.
primeval titan - (note: only really relevant to lists running prismatic omen) i've flip-flopped between 0 and 3 of these in my RUG decks, and i'm still not convinced of a correct number. My reasoning for including any at all is as follows: The main reason for losing with this deck is by stabilising comfortably against an opponent, then failing to draw one of your important 4 Scapeshifts. Over all the years of running this archetype, those are the matches that stick out in my mind. Perhaps that's unfair or i'm over-prioritising those experiences, but at the very least, it's a common thread. The answer (it seemed at the time) was to increase the number of pseudo-scapeshifts in the deck, and the bonus of running prime time is that it can block, is insane against decks like Mardu/Humans (oh and it doesn't lose to negate). Trample is a thing, guys, but don't touch this card unless you're running Omen.
in the past, I ran a full playset of peer through depths and a full playset of serum visions. Both of those cards are wrong.
sleight of hand is the superior card for digging to what you need on a critical turn, and isn't disrupted by all the shuffle effects (as the scry from visions would be). Peer was actually good, and I could see again running one or two of these, but eventually I settled on one or two (no more) worldly counsel. Bear in mind that this was for a build wielding prismatic omen and it begins to make sense. even without Omen, W-Counsel is essentially a 'dig 3' card (island, forest, mountain). The major advantage of this card over peer is its scaleability and the ability to hit lands when you need them (which peer cannot). A sensible alternative tried for quite some time by the competitive RUG players a few years ago was telling time and similarly, it can hit lands. I was always underwhelmed by this card though. don't overload on cantrips that cost more than U though.
ramp spells - ehhh... for the longest time I ran 8. i'm actually coming round to going up to 9 or 10. (for the record, 4 steve, 4 search for tomorrow and 1-2 farseek, the farseeks being the cards I wasn't previously running). 9 of these effects seems like a reasonable compromise.
prismatic omen - EEEHHHHHHHHH jeez I don't even know anymore. I want to run this card. it's often the most powerful card in the deck. it lets you grind out matchups you've got no business winning, but it also eats up 3+ slots in the maindeck and might actually have a negative effect on your overall percentages against the field (despite feeling supremely powerful when it works). On the plus side, it sort of replaces Farseek as a pseudo ramp spell, so it's not too bad in its deck footprint. If you're desperate to run this card, your manabase needs to go up from 23 lands (which used to be the standard) to 25, to accomodate 2 extra valakuts (full four). Overall you're looking at 5x total slots eaten up in the maindeck to accomodate Prismatic Omen, 3x omen and 2x extra lands. It opens you up to running primeval titan and it actually being an on-the-spot win in many situations, which isn't actually that bad at all.
let's dive into what i'd probably play right now - full disclosure this is what i'd call a testing list and the entire point would be to try things and see if they work, cutting or adding cards as necessary to suit a meta. Let's say for the sake of argument that i'd like to try a list with Omen. This could actually be incorrect and what we want is a list without. I've got no horse in this race, I'm just hoping to help anyone interested in knowing what I think.
1x snapcaster mage
1x primeval titan
4x lightning bolt
4x sleight of hand
3x remand
1x worldly counsel
2x anger of the gods
4x search for tomorrow
4x cryptic command
4x scapeshift
3x prismatic omen
1x cinder glade
2x forest
3x island
4x misty rainforest
1x mountain
4x steam vents
4x stomping ground
4x valakut, the molten pinnacle
2x ancestral vision
2x dispel
1x counterflux
2x izzet staticaster
1x anger of the gods
2x chalice of the void
3x obstinate baloth
2x artifact hate of some kind? fracturing gust?
the sideboard is a mish-mash but it's not horrible. you could go a number of ways from vendilion clique to carnage tyrant and i would recommend some number of uncounterable control-beating cards. What's important is that you don't play straight into a pile of ghost quarters boseiju, who shelters all style, or into a terminus with your one fatty. still - keeping in removal against this deck is kinda odd.... who knows. stranger things have happened.
engineered explosives is a great choice and leyline of sanctity actually isn't horrible either. I've not personally tried leylines but no harm in trying.
graveyard hate is slim. unsure of what to suggest beyond the standard relic of progenitus.
hope this is helpful. As before - this is a testing off-the-cuff list with a bunch of competing ideas and over time this would naturally get refined. I'm hoping you'll be able to see this and try refining it for yourself and not take this as some sort of gospel list to play verbatim. What's most important though is you understand why you're changing things before you actually do. No point in just jamming in a pet card unless there's a good reason.
The deck *can* control the game in some situations, generally the games where you don't draw a Scapeshift to just end the game. SfA and Jace let you dig for those once the game is more or less locked up, as well as being able to dig for counterspells in a longer game against control. It depends what battles you want to fight.
Your list is similar to CJ Steele's and Sungjin's most recent lists, except you're still running Cryptic Command. They're going lower to the ground with Farseeks and more ramp, with the full 4 Scapeshift as well. Sample list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-bring-to-light-scapeshift-54086#paper
For spot removal, if it buys you a turn, it drew you a card and thus replaced itself. That's the goal.
For my list ( https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/681057#paper ) I'd -4 Remand -1 Farseek or Hunting Wilds, +2 Anger of the Gods +3 Obstinate Baloth.
RE LeFantak: I like removal enough against a lot of decks. Path in particular is useful just about anywhere.
I've had games where when running 3 Scapeshift 4 BtL wasn't able to find me the combo in the long game as I died with 30 cards left in my library, including with Supreme Will looking at top 4 mixed in there somewhere. With a SfA that basically couldn't have happened. If that's not what you want to do, go for and tell us how it works out.
For beating Humans, the best I've done is going for extra wraths like my list. 2 Verdict 1 Anger maindeck with 2 more Angers sideboard is a lot of clearing, and adding on Paths to deal with large Champions, then add 4/4 Baloth blockers... makes life hard for them. If you want to make it even better, try splitting up the Angers with Sweltering Suns and Firespout. With how my list is currently set up, I'd say Humans is mildly favorable.
Fish
U/W Control
U/B Control
U/B Control Mill, U/R Ascension Mill, BUG Mill
G Tron, Eldrazi Tron, Eldrazi Aggro
Junkie Doran
U/W Ephara Flash
Splendid Dredge