hey peeps, so i decided to have a go at reviving the goyf-shift version of the deck (purely selfishly, but also with a view to developing it as a top tier modern deck) - and in order to test its viability as a deck in general i pitted it against some other modern decks and some legacy decks to get a feel for how it plays.
the main questions that kept coming up were how to play our second turn.
1) there's one type of card in all graveyards. it's turn 2. i have a remand and a goyf in my hand. do i hold up remand? or do i slam a 1/2 goyf which will swing for 4 or 5 next turn?
it's a toughy. and even in certain matchups it'll change depending on a few factors. today, against my better judgement i had a go at simply windmill slamming the goyf every single turn 2 just to see if things played differently from how i'd imagined they would. i was pleasantly surprised.
2) it's turn 2 and my opponent hasn't done anything. do i slam the farseek or hold up the remand? if they do nothing again i've effectively "wasted" mana. tricky. (for the record: against a clear board where my opponent has no cumulative advantage from board state or ongoing effects, i'd just play the farseek and appreciate being able to be more reactive later in the game)
anyway i'll post back with some actual match reports (not from tourney, just testing) and maybe it'll help someone.
1) Depends on your matchup and your opponent's first and second play.
2) Depends on your matchup and your opponent's first and second play.
Sorry, doesn't mean to troll, but, your both questions are tentative depends on each match up. Generally, against control I'll rush, and against any other else, I'll look at the current situation and guts.
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
it also depends on your hand. if you keep a more controlling hand, it makes sense to start on that and not slam the goyf without some sort of backup etc.
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Currently Playing:
Modern: RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy: UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander: UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
1) Depends on your matchup and your opponent's first and second play.
2) Depends on your matchup and your opponent's first and second play.
Sorry, doesn't mean to troll, but, your both questions are tentative depends on each match up. Generally, against control I'll rush, and against any other else, I'll look at the current situation and guts.
it's ok, my initial conclusions were exactly the same.
but then the more i thought about it, the more it occurred that it might be beneficial to sort of "force" a certain line of play or a certain type of interaction, even when traditionally you might take the other option.
against certain decks, for example, when remand is probably the sensible option in the eternal "goyf or remand" turn 2 question, i found that just forcing goyf often played out in my favour, allowing me to capitalise on that "free" 2 mana later in the game (turns 3 and 4) when i had more reactive things to do (such as clique, remand or cryptic). sometimes, they just have the removal. but my observations showed me that at best (for them) it's going to be 50/50 whether or not they have removal, usually worse odds. in those cases it can back our opponent into a corner (which is highly beneficial to us, as it forces their plays in disruptive ways).
basically, it might be worth our while to adopt a counter-intuitive strategy of not-really-playing-it-safe on our turn 2, and then adopting a more conservative line of play from turns 3 onwards, when our major controlling/tempo elements come online properly.
does my point seem more clear now? i'm not denying there will be specific corner cases where you pretty much have to keep remand open every time. but those are rare.
I'd only slam the 1/2 Squire Goyf if A) I'm sure my opponent doesn't run Lightning Bolt and B) I'm sure my opponent isn't going to stick something on their turn that will be problematic or that I couldn't immediately deal with. The one exception to that might be again twin, where you gotta get what you can in play before they get to three mana since then you have to constantly guard against the combo.
That's just a quick thought, obviously it depends on what your opponent is playing and what's in your hand and whether you think the game is gonna turn on you riding Goyf to victory of if you've got your combo and ramp and counter backup in hand and that's gonna be your game plan.
I'd only slam the 1/2 Squire Goyf if A) I'm sure my opponent doesn't run Lightning Bolt and B) I'm sure my opponent isn't going to stick something on their turn that will be problematic or that I couldn't immediately deal with. The one exception to that might be again twin, where you gotta get what you can in play before they get to three mana since then you have to constantly guard against the combo.
That's just a quick thought, obviously it depends on what your opponent is playing and what's in your hand and whether you think the game is gonna turn on you riding Goyf to victory of if you've got your combo and ramp and counter backup in hand and that's gonna be your game plan.
yeah, i mean that's all going through my head during those games.
as i said though, i counter-intuitively ignored my sensible side and just slammed the goyf every time today (just as an experiment, to see how the games played out with a different dynamic). the results were better than i would have hoped, so you can take that either way. the sample size was too small to be conclusive, so we can probably chalk it down to luck, but the intelligent part of me wants to add a caveat that both sides are somewhat relying on luck to draw their "outs". with most decks playing around 4-8 removal spells (some exceptions but hey) and most of them 2 or even 3 mana (the obvious exceptions being path and bolt), i think the odds are in your favour that if you slam a turn 2 goyf, it'll probably stick around for at least a turn or two, which gives you ample time to make him/her/it into a much more useful 3/4 or 4/5, and draw into some protective counterspells.
this could all be pointless word-munching, but for a moment earlier today it felt like there was something in it, that's all. force goyf, ???, profit.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
Matthias Hunt just put up some video of him playing a crazy looking version of TarmoShift. He really loves Prismatic Omen so he's still keeping that interaction. He's all the way down to TWO Scapeshifts though, so I dunno about that. Decklist is:
The goal is basically to use Prismatic Omen and Valakut as a bunch of lightning bolts to just clear the way for your creatures and then dome your opponent, hence the paucity of Mountains. There are only two Scapeshifts since the only way you can actually kill with Scapeshift is if you have an Omen in play.
Haven't watched them all yet so it'll be interesting to see how this deck does. Certainly unique, not how I'd build the deck but Matthias probably forgot more about Scapeshifting than I currently know.
edit: looooooool in game one against tron he accidently killed himself by fetching at one life. Maybe pro's aren't that much better than us after all haha.
I don't think i would run a deck with 4 valakuts without actually having at least 6 actual mountains in the deck. I know omen makes it work but still. Slaughter games is a card. It's an unusual list to say the least. I guess you could call it a sort of "omen aggro" strategy. Hmm..
I think on balance i prefer mine though. It's less reliant on synergy.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Took TarmoShift out for it's first run tonight and I have to say, it felt really solid. Finished 4-1, beat U/W Faeries, U/W Midrange, some sweet Dega brew with Liliana, Obliterator, Demigod of Revenge, Liliana, and maindeck Fulminators (booooo), and that Through the Breach/Goryo's Vengeance deck. My only loss was to some Bant goodstuff deck with Geist/Smiter/Thrun/Exalted guys. I don't have any great detailed notes on the matches, but I feel like the presence of Tarmogoyf was noticeable. One game I won though a Turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity by just sticking two Goyfs and then countering everything my opponent tried to do. Another game (against U/W) control I had two Goyfs out, he was 6 mana, he used a Threads on a goyf, I remanded, and he tapped out to cast it again. I untapped and won with Scapeshift. The very fact that someone is siding in Threads against a Scapeshift deck means that Goyf has already kinda won. Against the Faeries player on one of the turns I killed him with Scapeshift, I was able to bait out his last counterspell by throwing out Goyf first.
Small sample size obviously applies but I feel like Goyf fits in really well with the deck. Just gotta figure out what a good sideboard would be now. Swan Song is nice but I feel it's only good as a spell to force Scapeshift through. I never wanted to cast it earlier and give my opponent a 2/2 flyer. Pact of Negation might be better in that roll (cant be remanded, sweet target for Snapcaster) or even Dispel. I also didn't really like Batterskull, although it probably deserves some more testing. I kinda felt like I'd rather have a Wurmcoil Engine. Sticking one of those with counter backup is pretty much gg for any fair deck.
with the prismatic omen version, would it make sense to run a playset of tribal flames? with snapcaster maybe this could serve as an alternative burn win con?
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The prismatic omen version usually doesn't run Snapcaster, the only creatures are usually 4x Steve and 4x Prime Time. Seems like most of the time you'd just be casting Lightning Strike, but it could be a viable alternative for an Omen build that ran Lightning Bolt.
Took TarmoShift out for it's first run tonight and I have to say, it felt really solid. Finished 4-1, beat U/W Faeries, U/W Midrange, some sweet Dega brew with Liliana, Obliterator, Demigod of Revenge, Liliana, and maindeck Fulminators (booooo), and that Through the Breach/Goryo's Vengeance deck. My only loss was to some Bant goodstuff deck with Geist/Smiter/Thrun/Exalted guys. I don't have any great detailed notes on the matches, but I feel like the presence of Tarmogoyf was noticeable. One game I won though a Turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity by just sticking two Goyfs and then countering everything my opponent tried to do. Another game (against U/W) control I had two Goyfs out, he was 6 mana, he used a Threads on a goyf, I remanded, and he tapped out to cast it again. I untapped and won with Scapeshift. The very fact that someone is siding in Threads against a Scapeshift deck means that Goyf has already kinda won. Against the Faeries player on one of the turns I killed him with Scapeshift, I was able to bait out his last counterspell by throwing out Goyf first.
Small sample size obviously applies but I feel like Goyf fits in really well with the deck. Just gotta figure out what a good sideboard would be now. Swan Song is nice but I feel it's only good as a spell to force Scapeshift through. I never wanted to cast it earlier and give my opponent a 2/2 flyer. Pact of Negation might be better in that roll (cant be remanded, sweet target for Snapcaster) or even Dispel. I also didn't really like Batterskull, although it probably deserves some more testing. I kinda felt like I'd rather have a Wurmcoil Engine. Sticking one of those with counter backup is pretty much gg for any fair deck.
Can you post the decklist?. Maybe we can do simething like Patrick Dickmann: play at a tourney CrypticShift, play at a bigger tourney (ie at the PTQ) a fine tuned GoyfShift
Can you post the decklist?. Maybe we can do simething like Patrick Dickmann: play at a tourney CrypticShift, play at a bigger tourney (ie at the PTQ) a fine tuned GoyfShift
There's one / two on the last 1-2 page. Basically the same version just cutting some spell which you feel not giving much impact. For me : 2 peer through depths and 1 (forgot :P)
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Can you post the decklist?. Maybe we can do simething like Patrick Dickmann: play at a tourney CrypticShift, play at a bigger tourney (ie at the PTQ) a fine tuned GoyfShift
Sure thing! This was my initial list, after I'll discuss what I think needs to be changed (or at least could be changed)
I've thought about it for a couple of days as to what changes I'd make to tweak it, I think most of the maindeck is really solid, the flex spots that could be changed around in my mind are 1x Snapcaster Mage, 2x Peer Through Depths, and 2x Lightning Bolt. I personally am gonna keep the lightning bolts and look to add more, I think lightning bolt is great for this deck, it's great early game creature removal if you're getting harassed by a Clique or a Ooze or something like that, can deal with planeswalkers, and can get your opponent to that crucial 18 life threshold. If you wanted to play Electrolyze I could see that though, or maybe even some maindeck Firespouts since 3 damage usually isn't going to kill Tarmogoyf and you can cast it just off red mana to avoid killing your own Clique.
Snapcaster could probably go down to two. I think he's arguably the best creature in Modern right now but Scapeshift isn't necessarily the best shell for him. Most of our spells aren't that amazing to flash back (contrast this to UWR, where Snapcaster is legitimately ridiculous). There were a lot of times where I wanted to play him on my opponents turn to ambush a creature but all I had in my yard to target were Serum Visions and Search for Tomorrow. Perhaps this could be fixed by more Lightning Bolts though.
Peer Through Depths I'm probably going to cut, which pains me. It's such a powerful card when you REALLY need to hit a Scapeshift to win the game and will usually find you something reasonable, but the fact that TarmoShift runs more creatures than CrypticShift automatically makes Peer a worse card, and one that can get A LOT worse after sideboarding, when spells get taken out in favor of more artifacts and/or creatures.
I think I'm gonna end up cutting 2x Peer for 1x Serum Visions and 1x Lightning Bolt, and maybe 1x Snapcaster for the 4th Bolt or a Firespout.
For the sideboard, I'm going to cut 1x Swan Song for 1x Negate. Swansong is great in winning a counter war for forcing through a Scapeshift and is also nice as a kinda break in case of emergency card against Twin, but a lot of the time I saw it I felt like I couldn't cast it early in the game because the bird token would've been a pain to deal with. 1 Swan Song stays because it is great at filling its niche, but Negate is really versatile and makes for another good Snapcaster target. I'm probably gonna cut Batterskull for a Wurmcoil Engine because I want something that's a huge pain in the ass for fair decks that kill you with creatures to deal with, and 5 mana isn't really that different than 6 in this deck. I could be convinced that this should be something else all together though depending on the meta, like a 3rd Baloth.
Can you post the decklist?. Maybe we can do simething like Patrick Dickmann: play at a tourney CrypticShift, play at a bigger tourney (ie at the PTQ) a fine tuned GoyfShift
Sure thing! This was my initial list, after I'll discuss what I think needs to be changed (or at least could be changed)
I've thought about it for a couple of days as to what changes I'd make to tweak it, I think most of the maindeck is really solid, the flex spots that could be changed around in my mind are 1x Snapcaster Mage, 2x Peer Through Depths, and 2x Lightning Bolt. I personally am gonna keep the lightning bolts and look to add more, I think lightning bolt is great for this deck, it's great early game creature removal if you're getting harassed by a Clique or a Ooze or something like that, can deal with planeswalkers, and can get your opponent to that crucial 18 life threshold. If you wanted to play Electrolyze I could see that though, or maybe even some maindeck Firespouts since 3 damage usually isn't going to kill Tarmogoyf and you can cast it just off red mana to avoid killing your own Clique.
Snapcaster could probably go down to two. I think he's arguably the best creature in Modern right now but Scapeshift isn't necessarily the best shell for him. Most of our spells aren't that amazing to flash back (contrast this to UWR, where Snapcaster is legitimately ridiculous). There were a lot of times where I wanted to play him on my opponents turn to ambush a creature but all I had in my yard to target were Serum Visions and Search for Tomorrow. Perhaps this could be fixed by more Lightning Bolts though.
Peer Through Depths I'm probably going to cut, which pains me. It's such a powerful card when you REALLY need to hit a Scapeshift to win the game and will usually find you something reasonable, but the fact that TarmoShift runs more creatures than CrypticShift automatically makes Peer a worse card, and one that can get A LOT worse after sideboarding, when spells get taken out in favor of more artifacts and/or creatures.
I think I'm gonna end up cutting 2x Peer for 1x Serum Visions and 1x Lightning Bolt, and maybe 1x Snapcaster for the 4th Bolt or a Firespout.
For the sideboard, I'm going to cut 1x Swan Song for 1x Negate. Swansong is great in winning a counter war for forcing through a Scapeshift and is also nice as a kinda break in case of emergency card against Twin, but a lot of the time I saw it I felt like I couldn't cast it early in the game because the bird token would've been a pain to deal with. 1 Swan Song stays because it is great at filling its niche, but Negate is really versatile and makes for another good Snapcaster target. I'm probably gonna cut Batterskull for a Wurmcoil Engine because I want something that's a huge pain in the ass for fair decks that kill you with creatures to deal with, and 5 mana isn't really that different than 6 in this deck. I could be convinced that this should be something else all together though depending on the meta, like a 3rd Baloth.
Maybe Telling Time instead of PTD?. I do think its neccesary more Lightning Bolt; Serum Visions worked out for you???.
I'm interested in playing this deck and adding Goyf sounds like sweet music to my ears, however I plan to play the deck online and was wondering what has cause the recent decline in the overall meta? Could someone mention it's good and bad match-ups against the most popular decks?
Good matchups
Pod, especially Melira
Tron, especially RG
UWR
Ad Nauseam
Even matchups
Twin
Living End (I'm temped to put this in the favorable matchup but maindeck Fulminators and Beast Within is a pain in the ass)
Bad matchup game 1, but gets more manageable after sideboarding sweepers and Baloth
Affinity
Zoo
Burn
Merfolk
Fast Aggro in general
Bad matchups
Storm
Jund
The diminishing amount of Tron in the meta has been a blessing and a curse. Less tron means less fewer good matchups, but also less tron hate in the sideboards of other decks like Fulminators and Sowing Salt. There aren't really a ton of cards in sideboards that see a lot of play that really hose Scapeshift - Spellskite is irritating but it's more of a speedbump, Aven Mindcensor doesn't see as much play as it used to (I haven't seen it in Pod in quite a while) and is pretty easy to kill or bounce with Cryptic, Fulminators are less prevalent now that there's less Jund (although I guess big zoo sometimes runs them too). The big thing to watch out for is Blood Moon, which is why I like having Goyfs and Clique for an alternate way to win. Also, it's easy enough to bounce with cryptic and not as big of a deal in the early part of the game since we have a ton of ramp that gets basic lands, we should usually have close to perfect mana even though Blood Moon. Since we're able to board in specific hate cards while other decks only have more general answers, I feel like sideboarded games are usually more in Scapeshift's favor than game 1.
The diminishing amount of Tron in the meta has been a blessing and a curse. Less tron means less fewer good matchups, but also less tron hate in the sideboards of other decks like Fulminators and Sowing Salt. There aren't really a ton of cards in sideboards that see a lot of play that really hose Scapeshift - Spellskite is irritating but it's more of a speedbump, Aven Mindcensor doesn't see as much play as it used to (I haven't seen it in Pod in quite a while) and is pretty easy to kill or bounce with Cryptic, Fulminators are less prevalent now that there's less Jund (although I guess big zoo sometimes runs them too). The big thing to watch out for is Blood Moon, which is why I like having Goyfs and Clique for an alternate way to win. Also, it's easy enough to bounce with cryptic and not as big of a deal in the early part of the game since we have a ton of ramp that gets basic lands, we should usually have close to perfect mana even though Blood Moon. Since we're able to board in specific hate cards while other decks only have more general answers, I feel like sideboarded games are usually more in Scapeshift's favor than game 1.
Exactly this is why I turned my heart into this deck. haha.
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Man, I'm getting some pretty rough beats on modo lately. Can't seem to draw a Scapeshift for my life. Used to think 4 Peers and 2 Izzet Charms was sufficient dig but now I'm thinking of finding a couple cards to cut for another dig spell like Telling Time. Too many times I'll peel a Farseek off the top when I already have 12+ lands in play and it's just depressing.
How is ad nauseam a good matchup, i find it to be quite challenging. When you scape they just bast grace and kill you next turn, when they get boseju you are just dead. This matchup is really awkward in fact
That's where having a few more creatures than usual comes in handy since they just sit there and get beaten on until right before they're about to combo off. Even if their Angel's Grace saves them, they'll be at 1 and you can just kill them next turn, plus if they waste that on not dying to scapeshift, it means they need to find another before they can try to combo. Other than that just save counterspells for Ad Nauseam, since they only have a limited number of Pact of Negation and they usually have to be saved for protecting their Lightning Storm. Remanding Lotus Bloom is usually pretty fun too since it slows them down so much. After sideboard more counterspells + ancient grudge kills them pretty bad.
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1) Depends on your matchup and your opponent's first and second play.
2) Depends on your matchup and your opponent's first and second play.
Sorry, doesn't mean to troll, but, your both questions are tentative depends on each match up. Generally, against control I'll rush, and against any other else, I'll look at the current situation and guts.
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
Modern:
RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs
RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy:
UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander:
UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
it's ok, my initial conclusions were exactly the same.
but then the more i thought about it, the more it occurred that it might be beneficial to sort of "force" a certain line of play or a certain type of interaction, even when traditionally you might take the other option.
against certain decks, for example, when remand is probably the sensible option in the eternal "goyf or remand" turn 2 question, i found that just forcing goyf often played out in my favour, allowing me to capitalise on that "free" 2 mana later in the game (turns 3 and 4) when i had more reactive things to do (such as clique, remand or cryptic). sometimes, they just have the removal. but my observations showed me that at best (for them) it's going to be 50/50 whether or not they have removal, usually worse odds. in those cases it can back our opponent into a corner (which is highly beneficial to us, as it forces their plays in disruptive ways).
basically, it might be worth our while to adopt a counter-intuitive strategy of not-really-playing-it-safe on our turn 2, and then adopting a more conservative line of play from turns 3 onwards, when our major controlling/tempo elements come online properly.
does my point seem more clear now? i'm not denying there will be specific corner cases where you pretty much have to keep remand open every time. but those are rare.
That's just a quick thought, obviously it depends on what your opponent is playing and what's in your hand and whether you think the game is gonna turn on you riding Goyf to victory of if you've got your combo and ramp and counter backup in hand and that's gonna be your game plan.
yeah, i mean that's all going through my head during those games.
as i said though, i counter-intuitively ignored my sensible side and just slammed the goyf every time today (just as an experiment, to see how the games played out with a different dynamic). the results were better than i would have hoped, so you can take that either way. the sample size was too small to be conclusive, so we can probably chalk it down to luck, but the intelligent part of me wants to add a caveat that both sides are somewhat relying on luck to draw their "outs". with most decks playing around 4-8 removal spells (some exceptions but hey) and most of them 2 or even 3 mana (the obvious exceptions being path and bolt), i think the odds are in your favour that if you slam a turn 2 goyf, it'll probably stick around for at least a turn or two, which gives you ample time to make him/her/it into a much more useful 3/4 or 4/5, and draw into some protective counterspells.
this could all be pointless word-munching, but for a moment earlier today it felt like there was something in it, that's all. force goyf, ???, profit.
1x Breeding Pool
2x Flooded Grove
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Temple of Mystery
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Steam Vents
3x Halimar Depths
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Forest
4x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Courser of Kruphix
2x Vendilion Clique
Spells: 21
4x Serum Visions
4x Prismatic Omen
4x Explore
3x Remand
4x Cryptic Command
2x Scapeshift
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Firespout
1x Pyroclasm
1x Negate
2x Nature's Claim
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Back to Nature
1x Sower of Temptation
The goal is basically to use Prismatic Omen and Valakut as a bunch of lightning bolts to just clear the way for your creatures and then dome your opponent, hence the paucity of Mountains. There are only two Scapeshifts since the only way you can actually kill with Scapeshift is if you have an Omen in play.
There are three videos, the first one is here and the others can be found in the toolbar to the right: http://www.twitch.tv/themeadery/c/4167983
Haven't watched them all yet so it'll be interesting to see how this deck does. Certainly unique, not how I'd build the deck but Matthias probably forgot more about Scapeshifting than I currently know.
edit: looooooool in game one against tron he accidently killed himself by fetching at one life. Maybe pro's aren't that much better than us after all haha.
I don't think i would run a deck with 4 valakuts without actually having at least 6 actual mountains in the deck. I know omen makes it work but still. Slaughter games is a card. It's an unusual list to say the least. I guess you could call it a sort of "omen aggro" strategy. Hmm..
I think on balance i prefer mine though. It's less reliant on synergy.
Modern:
RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs
RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy:
UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander:
UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
I still dislike it though.
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
Small sample size obviously applies but I feel like Goyf fits in really well with the deck. Just gotta figure out what a good sideboard would be now. Swan Song is nice but I feel it's only good as a spell to force Scapeshift through. I never wanted to cast it earlier and give my opponent a 2/2 flyer. Pact of Negation might be better in that roll (cant be remanded, sweet target for Snapcaster) or even Dispel. I also didn't really like Batterskull, although it probably deserves some more testing. I kinda felt like I'd rather have a Wurmcoil Engine. Sticking one of those with counter backup is pretty much gg for any fair deck.
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Can you post the decklist?. Maybe we can do simething like Patrick Dickmann: play at a tourney CrypticShift, play at a bigger tourney (ie at the PTQ) a fine tuned GoyfShift
There's one / two on the last 1-2 page. Basically the same version just cutting some spell which you feel not giving much impact. For me : 2 peer through depths and 1 (forgot :P)
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
Sure thing! This was my initial list, after I'll discuss what I think needs to be changed (or at least could be changed)
3x Island
2x Forest
2x Mountain
4x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Ground
1x Breeding Pool
2x Flooded Grove
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Creatures: 13
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
Spells: 23
4x Cryptic Command
4x Search for Tomorrow
4x Scapeshift
4x Remand
3x Serum Visions
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Peer Through Depths
1x Batterskull
1x Counterflux
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Firespout
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Swan Song
2x Spellskite
I've thought about it for a couple of days as to what changes I'd make to tweak it, I think most of the maindeck is really solid, the flex spots that could be changed around in my mind are 1x Snapcaster Mage, 2x Peer Through Depths, and 2x Lightning Bolt. I personally am gonna keep the lightning bolts and look to add more, I think lightning bolt is great for this deck, it's great early game creature removal if you're getting harassed by a Clique or a Ooze or something like that, can deal with planeswalkers, and can get your opponent to that crucial 18 life threshold. If you wanted to play Electrolyze I could see that though, or maybe even some maindeck Firespouts since 3 damage usually isn't going to kill Tarmogoyf and you can cast it just off red mana to avoid killing your own Clique.
Snapcaster could probably go down to two. I think he's arguably the best creature in Modern right now but Scapeshift isn't necessarily the best shell for him. Most of our spells aren't that amazing to flash back (contrast this to UWR, where Snapcaster is legitimately ridiculous). There were a lot of times where I wanted to play him on my opponents turn to ambush a creature but all I had in my yard to target were Serum Visions and Search for Tomorrow. Perhaps this could be fixed by more Lightning Bolts though.
Peer Through Depths I'm probably going to cut, which pains me. It's such a powerful card when you REALLY need to hit a Scapeshift to win the game and will usually find you something reasonable, but the fact that TarmoShift runs more creatures than CrypticShift automatically makes Peer a worse card, and one that can get A LOT worse after sideboarding, when spells get taken out in favor of more artifacts and/or creatures.
I think I'm gonna end up cutting 2x Peer for 1x Serum Visions and 1x Lightning Bolt, and maybe 1x Snapcaster for the 4th Bolt or a Firespout.
For the sideboard, I'm going to cut 1x Swan Song for 1x Negate. Swansong is great in winning a counter war for forcing through a Scapeshift and is also nice as a kinda break in case of emergency card against Twin, but a lot of the time I saw it I felt like I couldn't cast it early in the game because the bird token would've been a pain to deal with. 1 Swan Song stays because it is great at filling its niche, but Negate is really versatile and makes for another good Snapcaster target. I'm probably gonna cut Batterskull for a Wurmcoil Engine because I want something that's a huge pain in the ass for fair decks that kill you with creatures to deal with, and 5 mana isn't really that different than 6 in this deck. I could be convinced that this should be something else all together though depending on the meta, like a 3rd Baloth.
Maybe Telling Time instead of PTD?. I do think its neccesary more Lightning Bolt; Serum Visions worked out for you???.
Good matchups
Pod, especially Melira
Tron, especially RG
UWR
Ad Nauseam
Even matchups
Twin
Living End (I'm temped to put this in the favorable matchup but maindeck Fulminators and Beast Within is a pain in the ass)
Bad matchup game 1, but gets more manageable after sideboarding sweepers and Baloth
Affinity
Zoo
Burn
Merfolk
Fast Aggro in general
Bad matchups
Storm
Jund
The diminishing amount of Tron in the meta has been a blessing and a curse. Less tron means less fewer good matchups, but also less tron hate in the sideboards of other decks like Fulminators and Sowing Salt. There aren't really a ton of cards in sideboards that see a lot of play that really hose Scapeshift - Spellskite is irritating but it's more of a speedbump, Aven Mindcensor doesn't see as much play as it used to (I haven't seen it in Pod in quite a while) and is pretty easy to kill or bounce with Cryptic, Fulminators are less prevalent now that there's less Jund (although I guess big zoo sometimes runs them too). The big thing to watch out for is Blood Moon, which is why I like having Goyfs and Clique for an alternate way to win. Also, it's easy enough to bounce with cryptic and not as big of a deal in the early part of the game since we have a ton of ramp that gets basic lands, we should usually have close to perfect mana even though Blood Moon. Since we're able to board in specific hate cards while other decks only have more general answers, I feel like sideboarded games are usually more in Scapeshift's favor than game 1.
Exactly this is why I turned my heart into this deck. haha.
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
That's where having a few more creatures than usual comes in handy since they just sit there and get beaten on until right before they're about to combo off. Even if their Angel's Grace saves them, they'll be at 1 and you can just kill them next turn, plus if they waste that on not dying to scapeshift, it means they need to find another before they can try to combo. Other than that just save counterspells for Ad Nauseam, since they only have a limited number of Pact of Negation and they usually have to be saved for protecting their Lightning Storm. Remanding Lotus Bloom is usually pretty fun too since it slows them down so much. After sideboard more counterspells + ancient grudge kills them pretty bad.