is because we are in a turn3 format, and this is a turn 4 deck. This doesn't go well especially when we are on the draw. They are trading consistency and the mid / long game, for a potential turn 3 kill. IF the format goes back to more GBx, blue decks, and midrange heavy, then RG scapeshift will become a better choice again
Popularity is a large part of it (although Scott Lipp has been on RG Breach for a while). From looking around the room on Friday and Saturday at Indy, if somebody was playing Valakuts, it was in RG Breach. Only a few people were actually playing Scapeshift.
Over a large event, if enough people are playing Breach someone is bound to win the matchup lottery and do well.
I agree with the statements about why it is more popular. Right now since the format is faster, people want the ability to turn 3. Thus, they can steal more games against unfavorable matchups. I still value consistency more personally even if it is a turn slower, but I understand why people are playing Breach.
stomping Company combo, blue tron, grixis, lost to affinity. (affinity always seems to out race me, but each lose is to the same guy who is a pro at the deck, so i'm not too salty about losing the one affinity player in the meta.
went 3-1 against last night but this time changed the list up to try through the breach.
beat nahiri combo, grim flayer jund, bant eldrazi, lost to melira company deck. round 4 against melira company my deck was malfunctioning hard turns 5 and didn't give me breach combo, board wipe or anything. my opponent just companied unopposed. sideboarded in 2 blasphemous act and 3 leyline of sanctity didn't pull a single one in any of my mulligans.
oath of nissa was a nice touch. helped me get titan and wurm. might keep them in the list, but as I go back to full set of scapeshift they can be a liability in that they put a scapeshift that is in the top 3 on the bottom.
when it comes to breach over titanshift, i think titanshift is better. gunna stick to my emrakul, the promised end though, that can easily be the worldspine wurm of titanshift and it accomplishes more and is easily accomodated into the basic layout of titanshift.
Full magic week end, FNM tonight, small tournament tomorrow and big tournament with top 8 sunday for finish
I'll still play Emracool/Nguyen list and sideboard guide.
Did well today! I went 4-1-1 in a 44 person tourny today. Same list and same boarding as in guide unless stated otherwise in the report.
Round 1: Kiki Evolution
Game 1, he Evolutioned for an aven mindcensor, but anger of the gods takes care of his boardstate shortly after and I scapeshift for the win. Game 2, he had the same one of in his hand and he got me to stop me from ramping quickly. However, I answer it with a sudden shock (take THAT selfless spirit!) and then scapeshift for the win.
2-0 Games 1-0 Match
Round 2: Dredge
Honestly, the games were pretty easy. He could not interact with us and I killed him in 2 games.Very good matchup for us.
4-0 Games 2-0 Match
Round 3: Affinity
Game 1, he has a master of etherium, a memnite, a ravager, and 2 inkmoths swinging. He has the ability to kill me with infect in 2 turns if he sacrifices his board to infect kill me since I cant block his dude effectively in the air or deal with it game 1. Instead, he goes for regular damage, which enables me to use Sakura to block the master, drop a titan and wipe his board with the titan at 3 life. Game 2, I had my one of scapeshift in the opening hand(as in the sideboard guide we side 3 of them out) , and that plus sudden shock and ramp got there in time to pressure him for the win.
6-0 Games 3-0 Matches
Round 4: Boggles
This is such a swingy matchup and I am never comfortable against it. Game 1 he pressures me and gets to 24 life with lethal next turn, but I had a turn 4 Scapeshift hand on the play, so I got it (with 8 lands). Game 2, he had an insane hand with drawing an umbra for the nuts hand and he stomps me. Game 3 is super close... My hand was two natures claims, Scapeshift, Valakut, two fetches, and a stomping ground. I keep it because of the claims, and it wins me the match when I blank a Daybreak Coronet by Claiming the first enchantment. This buys me enough time to scapeshift him for plenty more life total then he was. I had a Titan for blocking, but he pathed it in response to the etb trigger (like a smart man. This is something not many people do actually).
To note, I have a new sideboard plan for boggles. I bring in Thrun and 2 Nature's Claims still, but I only take out the 2 Angers and 1 Bolt on the draw, while all 3 bolts come out On the play, I think Angers lead to blowouts as they stop Gaddock Teeg and a Boggles hand that is early. On the draw, it would be slow.
8-1 Games 4-0 Match
Round 5: UW Control
I had played against this guy with his deck quite a few times for the past few days, and I won all of the games. However, here the deck decided I was too confident in this match since I had done very well against the deck in the past (frankly had not lost to it even crushing it as early as last sunday at the PPTQ).I draw a hand with a Scapeshift, Explore, Farseek, Farseek, Search for Tomorrow, Mountain , Mountain. I keep because if I draw a green source (which I should have time against this deck), I feel I can win... Only one problem... I don't draw a green source the entire game (10 turns or so), and I die to his slow clock he presented. Game 2, he had a timely blessed aliance on my thrun with a couple of counterspells for my action I drew. Problem is, this time I drew a lot of mana and no action cards besides thrun a baloth and a scapeshift (All in opening hand or first draw), so that was annoying.
8-3 Games 4-1 Match
Round 6: BR Eldrazi
At this point, I am second in standings... I draw with the guy I am playing because I had honestly never seen the deck before, so I was not sure of the matchup. It was a combination of Bant Eldrazi and Jund and was super cool. However, we played the matchup for fun after (I boarded same way as I do against Bant Eldrazi and it worked very well), and I won in 2 quick games ( game 2 despite double TKS and Smasher). Now I know the matchup is as good as the other two decks!!
Overall, the deck is still going strong! I feel confident in the deck choice, my piloting ability, the decks consistency, and the good/even matchups almost across the board. Excited for next week!
Hello all I am a RG breach player normally but may get the cards to be able to switch between these two decks. just out of curiosity why do you yall think this is more consistent then the breach variant? ramp is about the same I play 4 titans 4 pacts to search up creatures. Just a quick comparison you guys play 4 titans 4 scapeshifts as main win cons which seems similar you play about 4 more ramp spells compared to my deck which mains a couple more utility creatures like pia and kiran and baloths. You play 27 lands vs 25, so the couple more lands and a 4 more ramp spells would make it more consistent?
2-1 vs Gargadon/Bridge Dredge
2-0 vs BR Vampires
2-0 vs Abazan Coco
2-0 vs Bant Eldrazi
Today : 3-2 + top 8
2-1 vs Junk
2-0 vs Naya Burn
2-1 vs Eldrazi Taxes
1-2 vs Naya Burn
1-2 vs RG Breach (he don't wan't to draw but it's a cool player)
Top 8 vs Tron lose 0-2 (winner of the tournament), he is a young player (14 years old) and everyone is impressed who lucky he had throughout the tournament... he chained the natural tron and the topdecks !
against me, G1 he has natural tron t3 into World Breaker, t4 spellskite, t5 ugin.
G2, natural tron t3 wurmcoil, t4 Warping Wail my scape*****, t5 Ulamog, GG.
The list is running perfectly for me, I've just add 2 Grafdigger's cage in place of the 2 reverberate in side.
I am also curious about Tracker. It must be for more than just Jund, which seems to be a good matchup anyway.
Played in a Monday Night Modern with 24 players for 5 Rounds.
Round 1 vs. Naya Burn. I win 2-1.
Round 2 vs. Merfolk. I win 2-0.
Round 3 vs. RG Breach. I win 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Infect. Game 1 on the draw, I lose turn 3 to Blighted Agent after turn 1 Noble Hierarch into turn 2 Agent. I win the next game, taming 2 Glistener Elves with a Sudden Shock and block from Sakura Tribe-Elder. He does the same thing as game 1 on the draw for me again. Turn 3 win with Blighted Agent. I do turn 2 Explore into Mountain + Lightning Bolt for the Agent, but his mana lets him Dispel and kill me with Become Immense/Mutagenic Growth this time (game 1 was Groundswell/Might of Old Krosa). 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Mono Black Devotion? I lose 1-2.
Private Mod Note
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
i put a 2nd Splendid in my deck and lately i've been having a couple of these turn 4 situations where I just scapeshift away 4 lands and get 1/2 valakuts and 2/3 mountains. next turn I splendid back up my 4 lands and combo for win.
best one was a control player let me scapeshift 5 lands away, I fetched up Boseiju, Who Shelters All, next gave him a splendid finish.
I just bought the last cards I needed for this deck, and have been having a blast playing it the last few days. I built it for an upcoming modern WMCQ as well as a Face to Face games open event because I feared that dredge hate in sideboards would disrupt my two main decks as collateral damage (Kiki-Chord and Knightfall both are pretty soft to grafdiggers cage and other yard hate sometimes and also just feel a little too slow/not powerful enough in the current meta).
I have a bunch of questions that I would love to hear more experienced players thoughts on, if the context is relevant for any of my thoughts here I started with Oliver Tiu's exact 75 when I played it at first, and made some tweaks from there.
Given the relatively linear main game plan, that part wasn't too difficult to pick up, but I have mostly questions regarding the sideboard.
One question regarding mainboard: When is a forest considered the correct fetch over a mountain? I assume if you can only get a basic (most ramp spells) and need the second green it is the pick, and also when you want to save mountains because you have a scapeshift. Is there many other spots that picking a forest is a good idea?
For some matchups that I want to bring in more than a few cards, I have trouble finding what to cut. Its mainly in the aggro matchups where I want a lot more interaction. Do I just have too many cards to bring in vs. things like Affinity/Infect/Burn here or do I dip into cutting more ramp/win conditions to make sure I have a better shot at controlling the opponents? It seems like hyperaggro is the weakness of the deck, so is it good to be packing ~8+ cards that I want to bring in against them?
I was brainstorming sideboard cards last night and noticed that I didn't really include much for the Eldrazi and Tron matchups. How are those usually? Is it worthwhile to pack a couple crumble to dust for these matchups and the mirror? Anything that I already have in my board that I might have overlooked for these matchups? I'm mainly wondering, because I would likely want to cut bolt and anger against those decks but don't seem to have a lot to bring in.
I cut the 4th Explore because I found that when I drew multiples I was often running out of extra lands to play by the second one. Might have been to hasty of a cut though? I notice not all lists are playing 4. I figured that if I was cutting an explore, I would also cut a land and have 2 more "free" slots. This lead into me wondering if 2 forests is enough (down from 3)? I was playing around with running 26 lands instead of 27 and cutting a forest, and in those games it didn't seem to have a big impact, is there an important reason to have 3 that I am overlooking?
Now if this logic of cutting two cards isn't too terrible for the deck, I can have 2 flex slots for more interaction using cards that I think would be good against the overall meta. I had imagined that maybe a mainboard Baloth and Engineered Explosives would be nice. E.E. alongside my bolts and angers to have a bit more removal. The Baloth I thought it might help as a pact target when under aggro pressure, though not sure if paying 4 over two turns would negate the effectiveness of it. Seems sweet to pact into it in response to a lili + in game 1 as well, though I understand that is already a good matchup.
For clarification: My first change was just the addition of the Baloth after cutting the Explore which I played at one small event (2-1), and now my untested idea is also cutting a forest for a mainboard E.E.
Based on that I was able to free up a couple sideboard slots. I also posted some of my other sideboard card thoughts below, do any of them look good enough to play over something I have already?
Here is my current list that I am planning to test tonight:
When to fetch a basic forest
This is more situational for when you want to get an early basic but I suppose a rule of thumb would be when you either a) want to preserve your life total, b) are in post-SB games for Blood Moon, c) post-SB games for F-Mage and Crumble (protect your lands from LD). If you are gearing up to Scapeshift and not Primeval Titan, then I think you safely grab a basic Forest anyway.
Sideboarding
You're right, the deck isn't overly complicated and the sideboarding should be straightfoward. You'll know when you want to remain a straight combo deck and when you'll need to be a little more midrange-y. You can cut ramp spells. All in all, there are 16 ramp spells in the MD and you can go down to 8-10 post-sb. KHE is usually the first to go for me when I know I want to trade some explosiveness for interaction. There is a split on this board on whether you can board out some number of Scapeshifts or Primeval Titans against heavy aggro decks; but to answer your question, yes you can cut into win-cons since the deck is flexible in how it wins.
Eldrazi and Tron Matchup
Tron hasn't been a large part of the meta, so there hasn't been a need to SB for it specifically. If you play against it often, then yeah dedicate some SB space to it. You would bring in your claims, Ancient Grudge, and Crumble I would imagine. As far as Eldrazi, I've tried to garner discussion on this thread about how to approach the MU. I think you just bring in Claims, maybe Sudden Shock (on the play). Reason is that our deck just can't interact with their creatures, outside of Roast/Dismember or something. They get World Breaker, Worship, and Stubborn Denial out of the board. I think how you play the MU is to Bolt whatever T1 play they have to keep them off their speed and combo afap.
2 Forest Over 3
3 Forests have been a sweet spot for the deck. Having 3 in the deck lets you loosely play around Ghost Quarter (good opponents will keep you off GG), and play a slightly better game under Blood Moon. I've played with 3 for the better part of the year and it just feels right. I've played with 2 before and it felt kinda sketchy. I offer no scientific evidence other than that.
Mainboard Baloth and EE
The mainboard baloth isn't unheard of, sometimes you just need it. The MB EE might be useful, but I can't think of a lot of situations right now where you'd want it in Game 1 over making the combo faster/consistent. Also in a deck without Relic, Goyf becomes a really real thing with enchanments and artifacts.
Explore and Farseek
The split on these is preferential and every list will be different. Explore is better on the draw, so you can side those out post-sb on the play if you want to.
Jund Matchup
Jund is a good matchup, but none of our matchups are autowins. You just have more tools here to play around what they are trying to do.
Thanks! A lot of great advice here, sounds like I might be better off sticking to 27 lands with 3 forests as well.
Hopefully I can help provide some insight into the eldrazi matchup soon, as I know a lot of pepole that play it. I'll make sure to pay close attention to those games.
Another time I personally fetch for forests is if I dont have a titan or scapeshift or valakut and I already have five mountains in play . Maximizing the triggers has won me many games I should not have!
In terms of the eldrazi matchup, I playtest against it a lot (I have played against Bant Eldrazi quite a bit, but also Eldrazi Tron and RB Eldrazi), and I can say it is a favorable matchup. I win a majority of the matches against the decks because we just out value them unless they have multiple Thought-Knots (even then we still can pull out the win).
Another time I personally fetch for forests is if I dont have a titan or scapeshift or valakut and I already have five mountains in play . Maximizing the triggers has won me many games I should not have!
This is a really good point too. Squeezing value out of your land drops and building value to the mountains left in your deck is something you can actively do every game.
Over a large event, if enough people are playing Breach someone is bound to win the matchup lottery and do well.
Fetch-Shock-Blog
Moderator of /r/Scapeshift
Good job you guys with the tournament results!
went 3-1 against with my previous list.
stomping Company combo, blue tron, grixis, lost to affinity. (affinity always seems to out race me, but each lose is to the same guy who is a pro at the deck, so i'm not too salty about losing the one affinity player in the meta.
went 3-1 against last night but this time changed the list up to try through the breach.
4 worldspine wurm
1 emrakul, the promised end
4 sakura-tribe elder
1 scapeshift
4 search for tomorrow
2 farseek
4 through the breach
1 summoner's pact
3 anger of the gods
3 lightning bolt
4 valakut, the molten pinnacle
4 wooded foothills
2 arid mesa
4 stomping ground
2 cinder glade
3 forest
6 mountain
beat nahiri combo, grim flayer jund, bant eldrazi, lost to melira company deck. round 4 against melira company my deck was malfunctioning hard turns 5 and didn't give me breach combo, board wipe or anything. my opponent just companied unopposed. sideboarded in 2 blasphemous act and 3 leyline of sanctity didn't pull a single one in any of my mulligans.
through the breach for elderspine wurm won me 2 our of 9 games, was fun, but as i already suspected was inconsistent.
through the breach for primeval titan was more common. if not just winning off of titan. 4 our of 9 games.
oath of nissa was a nice touch. helped me get titan and wurm. might keep them in the list, but as I go back to full set of scapeshift they can be a liability in that they put a scapeshift that is in the top 3 on the bottom.
when it comes to breach over titanshift, i think titanshift is better. gunna stick to my emrakul, the promised end though, that can easily be the worldspine wurm of titanshift and it accomplishes more and is easily accomodated into the basic layout of titanshift.
rolf, "match up lottery" never heard of it being called that before, but i like the sound of it.
I'll still play Emracool/Nguyen list and sideboard guide.
RG Titan Scapeshift GR
UBWAd Nauseam WBU
CEldrazi TronC
Round 1: Kiki Evolution
Game 1, he Evolutioned for an aven mindcensor, but anger of the gods takes care of his boardstate shortly after and I scapeshift for the win. Game 2, he had the same one of in his hand and he got me to stop me from ramping quickly. However, I answer it with a sudden shock (take THAT selfless spirit!) and then scapeshift for the win.
2-0 Games 1-0 Match
Round 2: Dredge
Honestly, the games were pretty easy. He could not interact with us and I killed him in 2 games.Very good matchup for us.
4-0 Games 2-0 Match
Round 3: Affinity
Game 1, he has a master of etherium, a memnite, a ravager, and 2 inkmoths swinging. He has the ability to kill me with infect in 2 turns if he sacrifices his board to infect kill me since I cant block his dude effectively in the air or deal with it game 1. Instead, he goes for regular damage, which enables me to use Sakura to block the master, drop a titan and wipe his board with the titan at 3 life. Game 2, I had my one of scapeshift in the opening hand(as in the sideboard guide we side 3 of them out) , and that plus sudden shock and ramp got there in time to pressure him for the win.
6-0 Games 3-0 Matches
Round 4: Boggles
This is such a swingy matchup and I am never comfortable against it. Game 1 he pressures me and gets to 24 life with lethal next turn, but I had a turn 4 Scapeshift hand on the play, so I got it (with 8 lands). Game 2, he had an insane hand with drawing an umbra for the nuts hand and he stomps me. Game 3 is super close... My hand was two natures claims, Scapeshift, Valakut, two fetches, and a stomping ground. I keep it because of the claims, and it wins me the match when I blank a Daybreak Coronet by Claiming the first enchantment. This buys me enough time to scapeshift him for plenty more life total then he was. I had a Titan for blocking, but he pathed it in response to the etb trigger (like a smart man. This is something not many people do actually).
To note, I have a new sideboard plan for boggles. I bring in Thrun and 2 Nature's Claims still, but I only take out the 2 Angers and 1 Bolt on the draw, while all 3 bolts come out On the play, I think Angers lead to blowouts as they stop Gaddock Teeg and a Boggles hand that is early. On the draw, it would be slow.
8-1 Games 4-0 Match
Round 5: UW Control
I had played against this guy with his deck quite a few times for the past few days, and I won all of the games. However, here the deck decided I was too confident in this match since I had done very well against the deck in the past (frankly had not lost to it even crushing it as early as last sunday at the PPTQ).I draw a hand with a Scapeshift, Explore, Farseek, Farseek, Search for Tomorrow, Mountain , Mountain. I keep because if I draw a green source (which I should have time against this deck), I feel I can win... Only one problem... I don't draw a green source the entire game (10 turns or so), and I die to his slow clock he presented. Game 2, he had a timely blessed aliance on my thrun with a couple of counterspells for my action I drew. Problem is, this time I drew a lot of mana and no action cards besides thrun a baloth and a scapeshift (All in opening hand or first draw), so that was annoying.
8-3 Games 4-1 Match
Round 6: BR Eldrazi
At this point, I am second in standings... I draw with the guy I am playing because I had honestly never seen the deck before, so I was not sure of the matchup. It was a combination of Bant Eldrazi and Jund and was super cool. However, we played the matchup for fun after (I boarded same way as I do against Bant Eldrazi and it worked very well), and I won in 2 quick games ( game 2 despite double TKS and Smasher). Now I know the matchup is as good as the other two decks!!
Overall, the deck is still going strong! I feel confident in the deck choice, my piloting ability, the decks consistency, and the good/even matchups almost across the board. Excited for next week!
it worked well for me too
saturady : 4-0 finish first
2-1 vs Gargadon/Bridge Dredge
2-0 vs BR Vampires
2-0 vs Abazan Coco
2-0 vs Bant Eldrazi
Today : 3-2 + top 8
2-1 vs Junk
2-0 vs Naya Burn
2-1 vs Eldrazi Taxes
1-2 vs Naya Burn
1-2 vs RG Breach (he don't wan't to draw but it's a cool player)
Top 8 vs Tron lose 0-2 (winner of the tournament), he is a young player (14 years old) and everyone is impressed who lucky he had throughout the tournament... he chained the natural tron and the topdecks !
against me, G1 he has natural tron t3 into World Breaker, t4 spellskite, t5 ugin.
G2, natural tron t3 wurmcoil, t4 Warping Wail my scape*****, t5 Ulamog, GG.
The list is running perfectly for me, I've just add 2 Grafdigger's cage in place of the 2 reverberate in side.
RG Titan Scapeshift GR
UBWAd Nauseam WBU
CEldrazi TronC
here
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Explore
2 Farseek
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Summoner's Pact
4 Cinder Glade
3 Forest
7 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Chalice of the Void
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Nature's Claim
2 Sudden Shock
Oliver go 4-0
Video here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mcngasiX_o + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33nNCB1eM0s
Can someone explain against who he side the Tireless Tracker ?
RG Titan Scapeshift GR
UBWAd Nauseam WBU
CEldrazi TronC
Played in a Monday Night Modern with 24 players for 5 Rounds.
Round 1 vs. Naya Burn. I win 2-1.
Round 2 vs. Merfolk. I win 2-0.
Round 3 vs. RG Breach. I win 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Infect. Game 1 on the draw, I lose turn 3 to Blighted Agent after turn 1 Noble Hierarch into turn 2 Agent. I win the next game, taming 2 Glistener Elves with a Sudden Shock and block from Sakura Tribe-Elder. He does the same thing as game 1 on the draw for me again. Turn 3 win with Blighted Agent. I do turn 2 Explore into Mountain + Lightning Bolt for the Agent, but his mana lets him Dispel and kill me with Become Immense/Mutagenic Growth this time (game 1 was Groundswell/Might of Old Krosa). 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Mono Black Devotion? I lose 1-2.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)i put a 2nd Splendid in my deck and lately i've been having a couple of these turn 4 situations where I just scapeshift away 4 lands and get 1/2 valakuts and 2/3 mountains. next turn I splendid back up my 4 lands and combo for win.
best one was a control player let me scapeshift 5 lands away, I fetched up Boseiju, Who Shelters All, next gave him a splendid finish.
Fetch-Shock-Blog
Moderator of /r/Scapeshift
I have a bunch of questions that I would love to hear more experienced players thoughts on, if the context is relevant for any of my thoughts here I started with Oliver Tiu's exact 75 when I played it at first, and made some tweaks from there.
Given the relatively linear main game plan, that part wasn't too difficult to pick up, but I have mostly questions regarding the sideboard.
One question regarding mainboard: When is a forest considered the correct fetch over a mountain? I assume if you can only get a basic (most ramp spells) and need the second green it is the pick, and also when you want to save mountains because you have a scapeshift. Is there many other spots that picking a forest is a good idea?
For some matchups that I want to bring in more than a few cards, I have trouble finding what to cut. Its mainly in the aggro matchups where I want a lot more interaction. Do I just have too many cards to bring in vs. things like Affinity/Infect/Burn here or do I dip into cutting more ramp/win conditions to make sure I have a better shot at controlling the opponents? It seems like hyperaggro is the weakness of the deck, so is it good to be packing ~8+ cards that I want to bring in against them?
I was brainstorming sideboard cards last night and noticed that I didn't really include much for the Eldrazi and Tron matchups. How are those usually? Is it worthwhile to pack a couple crumble to dust for these matchups and the mirror? Anything that I already have in my board that I might have overlooked for these matchups? I'm mainly wondering, because I would likely want to cut bolt and anger against those decks but don't seem to have a lot to bring in.
I cut the 4th Explore because I found that when I drew multiples I was often running out of extra lands to play by the second one. Might have been to hasty of a cut though? I notice not all lists are playing 4. I figured that if I was cutting an explore, I would also cut a land and have 2 more "free" slots. This lead into me wondering if 2 forests is enough (down from 3)? I was playing around with running 26 lands instead of 27 and cutting a forest, and in those games it didn't seem to have a big impact, is there an important reason to have 3 that I am overlooking?
Now if this logic of cutting two cards isn't too terrible for the deck, I can have 2 flex slots for more interaction using cards that I think would be good against the overall meta. I had imagined that maybe a mainboard Baloth and Engineered Explosives would be nice. E.E. alongside my bolts and angers to have a bit more removal. The Baloth I thought it might help as a pact target when under aggro pressure, though not sure if paying 4 over two turns would negate the effectiveness of it. Seems sweet to pact into it in response to a lili + in game 1 as well, though I understand that is already a good matchup.
For clarification: My first change was just the addition of the Baloth after cutting the Explore which I played at one small event (2-1), and now my untested idea is also cutting a forest for a mainboard E.E.
Based on that I was able to free up a couple sideboard slots. I also posted some of my other sideboard card thoughts below, do any of them look good enough to play over something I have already?
Here is my current list that I am planning to test tonight:
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan
1 Obstinate Baloth
Spells
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Summoner's Pact
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Explore
3 Khalni Heart Expedition
2 Farseek
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Scapeshift
4 Valakut, the molten pinnacle
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
7 mountain
3 Cinder Glade
3 Stomping Ground
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Nature's Claim
2 Sudden Shock
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Crumble to Dust
Other Sideboard or Flex Slot Thoughts
Modern : RGTitanshiftGR / UGWKnightfallWGU
When to fetch a basic forest
This is more situational for when you want to get an early basic but I suppose a rule of thumb would be when you either a) want to preserve your life total, b) are in post-SB games for Blood Moon, c) post-SB games for F-Mage and Crumble (protect your lands from LD). If you are gearing up to Scapeshift and not Primeval Titan, then I think you safely grab a basic Forest anyway.
Sideboarding
You're right, the deck isn't overly complicated and the sideboarding should be straightfoward. You'll know when you want to remain a straight combo deck and when you'll need to be a little more midrange-y. You can cut ramp spells. All in all, there are 16 ramp spells in the MD and you can go down to 8-10 post-sb. KHE is usually the first to go for me when I know I want to trade some explosiveness for interaction. There is a split on this board on whether you can board out some number of Scapeshifts or Primeval Titans against heavy aggro decks; but to answer your question, yes you can cut into win-cons since the deck is flexible in how it wins.
Eldrazi and Tron Matchup
Tron hasn't been a large part of the meta, so there hasn't been a need to SB for it specifically. If you play against it often, then yeah dedicate some SB space to it. You would bring in your claims, Ancient Grudge, and Crumble I would imagine. As far as Eldrazi, I've tried to garner discussion on this thread about how to approach the MU. I think you just bring in Claims, maybe Sudden Shock (on the play). Reason is that our deck just can't interact with their creatures, outside of Roast/Dismember or something. They get World Breaker, Worship, and Stubborn Denial out of the board. I think how you play the MU is to Bolt whatever T1 play they have to keep them off their speed and combo afap.
2 Forest Over 3
3 Forests have been a sweet spot for the deck. Having 3 in the deck lets you loosely play around Ghost Quarter (good opponents will keep you off GG), and play a slightly better game under Blood Moon. I've played with 3 for the better part of the year and it just feels right. I've played with 2 before and it felt kinda sketchy. I offer no scientific evidence other than that.
Mainboard Baloth and EE
The mainboard baloth isn't unheard of, sometimes you just need it. The MB EE might be useful, but I can't think of a lot of situations right now where you'd want it in Game 1 over making the combo faster/consistent. Also in a deck without Relic, Goyf becomes a really real thing with enchanments and artifacts.
Explore and Farseek
The split on these is preferential and every list will be different. Explore is better on the draw, so you can side those out post-sb on the play if you want to.
Jund Matchup
Jund is a good matchup, but none of our matchups are autowins. You just have more tools here to play around what they are trying to do.
I think that hits a lot of your questions.
Fetch-Shock-Blog
Moderator of /r/Scapeshift
Hopefully I can help provide some insight into the eldrazi matchup soon, as I know a lot of pepole that play it. I'll make sure to pay close attention to those games.
Modern : RGTitanshiftGR / UGWKnightfallWGU
In terms of the eldrazi matchup, I playtest against it a lot (I have played against Bant Eldrazi quite a bit, but also Eldrazi Tron and RB Eldrazi), and I can say it is a favorable matchup. I win a majority of the matches against the decks because we just out value them unless they have multiple Thought-Knots (even then we still can pull out the win).
4 scapeshift
2 splendid reclamation
2 obstinate baloth
4 sakura-tribe elder
4 search for tommorow
2 farseek
2 recross the path
2 summoner's pact
4 lightning bolt
1 ugin, the spirit dragon
1 khalni garden
1 bojuka bog
4 valakut, the molten pinnacle
1 temple garden
1 sacred foundry
18 fetch, shock, new dual, mountains, forest.
sideboard
2 tormod's crypt
1 splendid reclamation
1 emrakul, the promised end
1 gaea's revenge
1 obstinate baloth
3 crumble to dust
3 leyline of sanctity
2 ancient grudge
1 shatterstorm
This is a really good point too. Squeezing value out of your land drops and building value to the mountains left in your deck is something you can actively do every game.
Fetch-Shock-Blog
Moderator of /r/Scapeshift