Hey all, this is my first time checking out this primer and I have to say that I definitely appreciate all the work everyone has put into this. There are a lot of great ideas and advice to glean from here.
All that being said, I have a "Gift-Shift" list that I would like to share that I have been testing for some months now in preparation for PTQ season. I plan on doing my first serious pilot of the deck this weekend at SCG Open Baltimore. Overall, I have been very pleased with how well the deck performs. My biggest complaint with the deck is primarily losing to flood-out situations where I never draw Scapeshift, Gifts Ungiven, or Primeval Titan. However, I'm sure that is a complaint every Scapeshift player experiences. Without further ado, here is the list for you all to enjoy.
Land:26
1 x Breeding Pool
1 x Cavern of Souls
1 x Island
2 x Forest
2 x Steam Vents
2 x Misty Rainforest
3 x Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
4 x Scalding Tarn
4 x Stomping Ground
6 x Mountain
Creatures:8
1 x Snapcaster Mage
1 x Eternal Witness
2 x Primeval Titan
4 x Sakura-Tribe Elder
Spells:26
1 x Noxious Revival
1 x Repeal
1 x Volcanic Fallout
2 x Izzet Charm
2 x Farseek
2 x Anger of the Gods
2 x Gifts Ungiven
3 x Prismatic Omen
4 x Remand
4 x Search For Tomorrow
4 x Scapeshift
Sideboard:15
1 x Ancient Grudge
1 x Memory's Journey
1 x Spellskite
1 x Urban Evolution
1 x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 x Chalice of the Void
2 x Relic of Progenitus
2 x Vendillion Clique
2 x Krosan Grip
2 x Stormbreath Dragon
In testing I have come to love Prismatic Omen, it mana fixes, it helps you combo sooner, it allows you to double bolt with a fetch land, it clears pesky critters. I think many people seriously undervalue how much this card does for this deck. Secondly, after adding the gifts package into the deck, it has become far more consistent. It also allows you to tutor for your sideboard hate, or other win cons when your Scapeshift gets hated out; i.e. Blood Moon and Slaughter Games/Surgical Extraction effects. The 2 main issues I currently have for this list are 1, missing lands drops or flooding out before finding a way to win seems to occur with an annoying bit of consistency. It could just be that I need to shuffle my deck better. 2, Anger/Fallout is main board for the meta I have here but am wondering if it could be relegated to the sideboard for a larger tournament. If that is the case, I have 3 open slots main deck that will need some love, so I am open to suggestions on those.
As for the sideboard, I think most of the choices are self explanatory. Memory's Journey + Urban Evolution is a house against discard decks, and having a draw 3 spell really mitigates their plan. Teferi is for the blue decks where I don't feel like having a counter war over Scapeshift so I flash him in EOT, and either they tap out and counter him then lose, or let him resolve and lose. Also, having Cavern naming wizard has always been good in this build. Stormbreath Dragon is there as a nearly unkillable threat that races well. He also does work blocking Celestial Colonnade.
Anyway, that is my deck. I look forward to seeing what you guys have to say, and will take that to Baltimore this weekend!
interesting that someone else took the same idea as me.
i've actually been running a singleton stormbreath dragon in the sideboard, as a hedge against UWR, hatebears, junk and any other deck running 4x path to exile after board. i like it a lot.
ended up cutting it a couple of days ago, but i could certainly see it finding a place again. it got cut for inferno titan which is a house. but is easily pathed, so *shrug*
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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
whether its thrun, the last troll or stormbreath dragon you should really run 1 or 2 of them in the mainboard. having that alternative win condition in the main has often either won me a game 1 or when it was played it took my opponents focus away from scapeshift during a turn and allowed me a window of opportunity to scapeshift.
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Since they aren't posted in Primer, and I don't feel like reading every page to find out...
What's this decks positive matchups? What is it poor against?
Edit: Or link to articles regarding the deck. Literature, not video please.
whether its thrun, the last troll or stormbreath dragon you should really run 1 or 2 of them in the mainboard. having that alternative win condition in the main has often either won me a game 1 or when it was played it took my opponents focus away from scapeshift during a turn and allowed me a window of opportunity to scapeshift.
unless you've gone the tarmoshift route (like i have played) i think this sentiment could be incorrect. you'll just have one dude that switches on their removal, or dies to liliana. inferno, stormbreath and thrun all have their ideal matchups, and it's better to bring them in against that.
also how bad would you feel if you had 7 or 8 lands, were waiting to topdeck either scapeshift or a peer through depths or something, and you topdecked thrun? yeesh.
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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
Yesterday at TNM, I lost a match to Mono White Soul Sisters. This was the same guy who I played a month ago and won by doing something like 150 damage over 3 games.
Round 1 vs. Amulet Combo. In the 1st game, he just drew too slowly and I went off on turn 5. All I did was Izzet Charm and Cryptic Command 2 Hive Mind along the way and take some Azusa, Lost but Seeking beats. In the 2nd game, he punted. I once again countered a Hive Mind, but only had Remand for the other. On a turn where he attempted to kill me (before I had presumably lethal with 6 lands in play already), he did Primeval Titan and tried to get me that way. I did a Repeal on his Amulet of Vigor in response to the Titan. He said that his mistake was not replaying Hive Mind that turn because I'm guessing that he had Slaughter Pact the whole time (I can easily pay for Summoner's Pact or Pact of Negation. He said that he could have played the Hive Mind on the same turn that he played the Titan, but I calculated him 1 mana short. The next turn, I did Scapeshift and Cryptic Command for his Pact of Negation. (I couldn't CC the Titan because he used Cavern of Souls the previous turn.) 2-0.
Round 2 vs. ?. The guy didn't show up. He was the only person to leave the 18 person tournament and I'm not sure what he was playing. I would have rather played, but oh well. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Soul Sisters. I stall all I can and try to find Scapeshift. There were 31 cards left in my deck with 4 cards scryed to the bottom when I lost. I had draws 5 out of 10 Mountains and both Valakuts, so the way I calculated is that I would be 2 damage short of killing him anyway. He was at 27 I think. I side in both Obstinate Baloth, Batterskull, Vendilion Clique because evasion with Batterskull is awesome, both Anger of the Gods, and Engineered Explosives. I took out 4 Remand, 1 Izzet Charm, and 1 Cryptic Command (which I didn't want to do because I wanted to keep in bounce for Leyline to go with my Repeals and other 2 CC). In the 2nd game, I win by attacking with 2 Sakura Tribe Elder when he was at 50 life (they had been attacking the whole way too). After sacrificing the STEs after combat,I then Scapeshift for 10 lands (the last 6 Mountain in my deck and 2 Valakuts). I wonder if he knew that he just had to block one of my STEs and then I had no chance to win. The final game on the draw displayed Serra's Ascendant, Martyr of Sands, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Honestly, he could have killed me turn 4 if he played his 2nd Serra's Ascendant, but he made the safer play with Thalia. I was at 11 life after the 6/6 flier hit me turn 3. I did a Repeal on his Serra's Ascendant on turn 5, but needed an untapped land for Cryptic Command the next turn. I only had Breeding Pool and Valakut as lands in hand. I doubt the CC would have won me the game, as it's very unlikely that I draw the perfect draw to win from there anyway. I basically lost because of the die roll; at least it seemed like that to me. 1-2.
Our LGS voted at least 2 separate times to lower the number of rounds that people play. It always was turned down. Now, the LGS itself made the choice to pay out 3-0, 2-0-1, and 2-1s in a certain manner. This really sucks to me because I play less rounds. If I knew another place that did Modern regularly, I would probably go there. I've always liked this LGS for the 3 years that I've gone here, but this really ticks me off.
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)
UWR decks
BGx decks w/o tec edge
pod decks
RG tron burn
living end
50/50 varies on build
affinity
twin
bgx w/ tec edge
UR delver
merfolk
storm
negative
bogles
souls sisters
ad nauseum/angels grace
merfolk
How are you getting a good matchup vs burn? Myself and everyone I know playing scapeshift usually get totally wrecked by the deck... We run pretty standard lists.
This is the match up where izzet charm is actually good
I always try to play around seering blaze, even in the sideboard games when they see me sac elder without giving priority. Burn players still leave it in.
they are like a turn 5-6 combo deck and so is scapeshift, but scapeshift plays disruption and card filtering
Scapeshift also takes very little damage from the mana base which greatly helps
Maybe I've drawn well vs it. I even cut baloth from my board and can still beat burn
This is the match up where izzet charm is actually good
I always try to play around seering blaze, even in the sideboard games when they see me sac elder without giving priority. Burn players still leave it in.
they are like a turn 5-6 combo deck and so is scapeshift, but scapeshift plays disruption and card filtering
Scapeshift also takes very little damage from the mana base which greatly helps
Maybe I've drawn well vs it. I even cut baloth from my board and can still beat burn
Can you further elaborate on why is Izzet charm good against burn? Burn also take very little damage from their mana base in general as well so unless you are running bolts or manage to deal 2 damage with electrolyse or with elder/snapcaster beating for 2 or else it usually means it is very hard to deal a lethal blow when scapeshift with 7 lands?
Also just a side question on scapeshift as I'm still rather new to the deck.. If you have a valakut in hand or in play, will it be better to put the valakut into play first then combo off with scapeshift or would you actually cast down valakut even if you are not comboing off on that turn?
izzet charm will trade for a card 90% of the time and most of that time it'll save you 3-4 life, so its very consistent in this match up. in other match ups its hard to trade for something good
the looting mode is the worst mode on the card, it's card disadvantage, that mode is only good when you have 2 blanks in hand and have enough lands to dig to a kill card
I think the better burn decks are the ones that play fetchlands, grim lavamancer is pretty strong in this format and so is searing blaze. so they can be at 18 life. the fetchlandless versions have weaker nut draws to make up for them being at 20 life. although most versions play eidolon of the great revel, so they have a fair chance of being at 18 life anyways
In my play testing with RDW vs. Scapeshift preboard, I was surprised that Scapeshift came out on top slightly more than 50% of the time. I still believe it's a close matchup, but Burn usually wins if Scapeshift stumbles on lands. Other than that, the games are very interactive (the Shift list I run is the GP Minn. winner's list). The RDW list I do is someone who I know personally who won an IQ in San Diego. I told another friend of this and he thinks that the list is poor. He didn't seem to like the 4 Grim Lavamancer (wanted 2-3), didn't like Mogg Fanatic at all, and didn't think that 2 Forked Bolt were good. I am still waiting to see his list. He will message me soon.
RDW will almost always be at 18 life or less in the testing. I believe it was something like 80% of the time and I was trying to play around it with RDW. My guess is a Burn heavy list would do better preboard vs. Scapeshift. The list I ran has 16 creatures (Goblin Guide, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Mogg Fanatic, and Grim Lavamancer). Post board may be worse. It depends on how many Skullcrack and Flames of the Blood Hand they run.
Now I know that RDW and Burn both have differences so the testing may not pertain, but they at least have some similarities.
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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)
multiple goblin guides (or any other unopposed creatures they have) can give burn the advance they need to get over the hump of the life total before being forced into a top decking position to try and finish you off. burn spelling us to death often isn't enough if we aren't burning ourselves to death with our own lands. obstinate baloth and non -remand counter magic from the sideboard is usually enough to delay them long enough to combo out. i haven't seen very man burn decks that can interact with our game plan.
blood moon and Anathemancer are usually the most threatening cards they have mainboard or sideboard against us. nothing we aren't equiped already to deal with.
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Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
Hey guys, I'm a new Scapeshift player and the deck is awesome! Was wondering general SB strategies against the current meta? I know I don't have a decklist posted but wasn't sure how from my phone. Just using a stock list.
Rickster_, are you saying the loot mode on Izzet Charm is the weakest mode in the burn match, or in general? An instant-speed loot effect is fantastic in this deck, and it's especially absurd in Gifts versions. Being able to discard Scapeshift to protect it from V-Clique or Sin Collector is sweet, and drawing two cards on your opponent's turn feels pretty solid in a deck that needs to hit seven land drops then find and resolve Scapeshift. I've definitely used it to loot more more often than to shock, and in the later stages of the game I tend to use it to find a more reliable piece of permission.
i_b_TRUE, go back a few pages. I wrote a bunch of sideboarding and strategy advice for the Gifts version, and lots of other people have provided information for the various other builds in previous pages. Also you could google "scapeshift primer".
Rickster_, are you saying the loot mode on Izzet Charm is the weakest mode in the burn match, or in general? An instant-speed loot effect is fantastic in this deck, and it's especially absurd in Gifts versions. Being able to discard Scapeshift to protect it from V-Clique or Sin Collector is sweet, and drawing two cards on your opponent's turn feels pretty solid in a deck that needs to hit seven land drops then find and resolve Scapeshift. I've definitely used it to loot more more often than to shock, and in the later stages of the game I tend to use it to find a more reliable piece of permission.
i_b_TRUE, go back a few pages. I wrote a bunch of sideboarding and strategy advice for the Gifts version, and lots of other people have provided information for the various other builds in previous pages. Also you could google "scapeshift primer".
You're not drawing 2 cards. You're discarding 1 card when you loot.
The only reason i'd discard Shift in response to a Sin Collector or a Clique is if i have Snapcaster and can go off soon. You're just handing your opponent value on a silver platter. Otherwise they're forced to take Scapeshift and you get to keep your other powerful cards like Cryptic.
Sorry, I should've been more clear about what I meant by "protecting" cards, as it makes no sense without Snapcaster - I thought we were all running Snapcasters, which makes it preferable to have Scapeshift in the graveyard instead of in exile or at the bottom of your library. Anyway, If someone Cliques you on turn 3 then, yeah, your Izzet Charm's best mode is likely to shock the Clique. But being Cliqued aggressively like that isn't nearly as problematic as being Cliqued during or right before a combo turn because the redundancy in the deck's ability to kill a 3/1 is way higher than the redundancy of its win conditions. The payoff is certainly situational, but a card with three modes should be played in a way to maximize its situational advantages. Izzet Charm is good because it gives you three vastly different ways to to make sure you can reliably make land drops and resolve Scapeshift, and the option of discarding three to draw two on your opponent's turn is most certainly part of its appeal.
You guys are probably right about Sin Collector, as Pod players tend to hit you with it early enough that it falls in the same boat as a really aggressive Clique, and then they're probably going to chain it into similar effects or ***** that's even worse. But if I have the option of letting them exile Cryptic Command so I can recur a Scapeshift or an Anger of the Gods with Snapcaster, then I'm going to do that most of the time. Cards like Cryptic are fantastic for buying a turn in a deck that really wants to buy enough turns until it goes off, but its effectiveness as a reactive control measure against Pod is limited because of their ability to kill you out of nowhere. I'm also running a Gifts package, so maybe that affects how the matchup is played.
Using card advantage as the only metric for the quality of an effect is incorrect. Obviously there is a strong correlation in Magic between drawing a bunch of cards and winning, but this isn't an attrition deck that wins by grinding value over a long game. It's also different from a traditional control strategy in which winning usually requires stalling the game by stopping them from killing you and stabilizing, finding and resolving your win condition, and then continuing to use your control pieces to put the game away without dying. Scapeshift gets to skip the third step, so the qualitative and quantitative value of cards drawn only needs to be considered up to the point of smashing Scapeshift's I-win-button. You don't get half-credit for losing with a full grip, and you don't get bonus points for winning with lots of cards left.
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All that being said, I have a "Gift-Shift" list that I would like to share that I have been testing for some months now in preparation for PTQ season. I plan on doing my first serious pilot of the deck this weekend at SCG Open Baltimore. Overall, I have been very pleased with how well the deck performs. My biggest complaint with the deck is primarily losing to flood-out situations where I never draw Scapeshift, Gifts Ungiven, or Primeval Titan. However, I'm sure that is a complaint every Scapeshift player experiences. Without further ado, here is the list for you all to enjoy.
Land:26
1 x Breeding Pool
1 x Cavern of Souls
1 x Island
2 x Forest
2 x Steam Vents
2 x Misty Rainforest
3 x Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
4 x Scalding Tarn
4 x Stomping Ground
6 x Mountain
Creatures:8
1 x Snapcaster Mage
1 x Eternal Witness
2 x Primeval Titan
4 x Sakura-Tribe Elder
Spells:26
1 x Noxious Revival
1 x Repeal
1 x Volcanic Fallout
2 x Izzet Charm
2 x Farseek
2 x Anger of the Gods
2 x Gifts Ungiven
3 x Prismatic Omen
4 x Remand
4 x Search For Tomorrow
4 x Scapeshift
Sideboard:15
1 x Ancient Grudge
1 x Memory's Journey
1 x Spellskite
1 x Urban Evolution
1 x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 x Chalice of the Void
2 x Relic of Progenitus
2 x Vendillion Clique
2 x Krosan Grip
2 x Stormbreath Dragon
In testing I have come to love Prismatic Omen, it mana fixes, it helps you combo sooner, it allows you to double bolt with a fetch land, it clears pesky critters. I think many people seriously undervalue how much this card does for this deck. Secondly, after adding the gifts package into the deck, it has become far more consistent. It also allows you to tutor for your sideboard hate, or other win cons when your Scapeshift gets hated out; i.e. Blood Moon and Slaughter Games/Surgical Extraction effects. The 2 main issues I currently have for this list are 1, missing lands drops or flooding out before finding a way to win seems to occur with an annoying bit of consistency. It could just be that I need to shuffle my deck better. 2, Anger/Fallout is main board for the meta I have here but am wondering if it could be relegated to the sideboard for a larger tournament. If that is the case, I have 3 open slots main deck that will need some love, so I am open to suggestions on those.
As for the sideboard, I think most of the choices are self explanatory. Memory's Journey + Urban Evolution is a house against discard decks, and having a draw 3 spell really mitigates their plan. Teferi is for the blue decks where I don't feel like having a counter war over Scapeshift so I flash him in EOT, and either they tap out and counter him then lose, or let him resolve and lose. Also, having Cavern naming wizard has always been good in this build. Stormbreath Dragon is there as a nearly unkillable threat that races well. He also does work blocking Celestial Colonnade.
Anyway, that is my deck. I look forward to seeing what you guys have to say, and will take that to Baltimore this weekend!
i've actually been running a singleton stormbreath dragon in the sideboard, as a hedge against UWR, hatebears, junk and any other deck running 4x path to exile after board. i like it a lot.
ended up cutting it a couple of days ago, but i could certainly see it finding a place again. it got cut for inferno titan which is a house. but is easily pathed, so *shrug*
My sidebord is geared for Delver, Jund, Twin and Pod.
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Batterskull
1x Engineered Explosive
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Spellskite
2x Swan Song
2x Vendilion Clique
As you can see the meta is very Midrange-Control heavy. Every deck I play is either U/x or B/x. They all run Cryptic or Thoughtseize.
EDH
BWG Doran Suicide Tempo BWG
BUW Sharuum Midrange Control BUW
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Decks: "Name one! I probably got it built In one of these boxes."
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[I]Some call it dig through time, when really your digging through CRAP!
Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
What's this decks positive matchups? What is it poor against?
Edit: Or link to articles regarding the deck. Literature, not video please.
UWR decks
BGx decks w/o tec edge
pod decks
RG tron
burn
living end
50/50 varies on build
affinity
twin
bgx w/ tec edge
UR delver
merfolk
storm
negative
bogles
souls sisters
ad nauseum/angels grace
merfolk
unless you've gone the tarmoshift route (like i have played) i think this sentiment could be incorrect. you'll just have one dude that switches on their removal, or dies to liliana. inferno, stormbreath and thrun all have their ideal matchups, and it's better to bring them in against that.
also how bad would you feel if you had 7 or 8 lands, were waiting to topdeck either scapeshift or a peer through depths or something, and you topdecked thrun? yeesh.
Round 1 vs. Amulet Combo. In the 1st game, he just drew too slowly and I went off on turn 5. All I did was Izzet Charm and Cryptic Command 2 Hive Mind along the way and take some Azusa, Lost but Seeking beats. In the 2nd game, he punted. I once again countered a Hive Mind, but only had Remand for the other. On a turn where he attempted to kill me (before I had presumably lethal with 6 lands in play already), he did Primeval Titan and tried to get me that way. I did a Repeal on his Amulet of Vigor in response to the Titan. He said that his mistake was not replaying Hive Mind that turn because I'm guessing that he had Slaughter Pact the whole time (I can easily pay for Summoner's Pact or Pact of Negation. He said that he could have played the Hive Mind on the same turn that he played the Titan, but I calculated him 1 mana short. The next turn, I did Scapeshift and Cryptic Command for his Pact of Negation. (I couldn't CC the Titan because he used Cavern of Souls the previous turn.) 2-0.
Round 2 vs. ?. The guy didn't show up. He was the only person to leave the 18 person tournament and I'm not sure what he was playing. I would have rather played, but oh well. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Soul Sisters. I stall all I can and try to find Scapeshift. There were 31 cards left in my deck with 4 cards scryed to the bottom when I lost. I had draws 5 out of 10 Mountains and both Valakuts, so the way I calculated is that I would be 2 damage short of killing him anyway. He was at 27 I think. I side in both Obstinate Baloth, Batterskull, Vendilion Clique because evasion with Batterskull is awesome, both Anger of the Gods, and Engineered Explosives. I took out 4 Remand, 1 Izzet Charm, and 1 Cryptic Command (which I didn't want to do because I wanted to keep in bounce for Leyline to go with my Repeals and other 2 CC). In the 2nd game, I win by attacking with 2 Sakura Tribe Elder when he was at 50 life (they had been attacking the whole way too). After sacrificing the STEs after combat,I then Scapeshift for 10 lands (the last 6 Mountain in my deck and 2 Valakuts). I wonder if he knew that he just had to block one of my STEs and then I had no chance to win. The final game on the draw displayed Serra's Ascendant, Martyr of Sands, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Honestly, he could have killed me turn 4 if he played his 2nd Serra's Ascendant, but he made the safer play with Thalia. I was at 11 life after the 6/6 flier hit me turn 3. I did a Repeal on his Serra's Ascendant on turn 5, but needed an untapped land for Cryptic Command the next turn. I only had Breeding Pool and Valakut as lands in hand. I doubt the CC would have won me the game, as it's very unlikely that I draw the perfect draw to win from there anyway. I basically lost because of the die roll; at least it seemed like that to me. 1-2.
Our LGS voted at least 2 separate times to lower the number of rounds that people play. It always was turned down. Now, the LGS itself made the choice to pay out 3-0, 2-0-1, and 2-1s in a certain manner. This really sucks to me because I play less rounds. If I knew another place that did Modern regularly, I would probably go there. I've always liked this LGS for the 3 years that I've gone here, but this really ticks me off.
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)How are you getting a good matchup vs burn? Myself and everyone I know playing scapeshift usually get totally wrecked by the deck... We run pretty standard lists.
This is the match up where izzet charm is actually good
I always try to play around seering blaze, even in the sideboard games when they see me sac elder without giving priority. Burn players still leave it in.
they are like a turn 5-6 combo deck and so is scapeshift, but scapeshift plays disruption and card filtering
Scapeshift also takes very little damage from the mana base which greatly helps
Maybe I've drawn well vs it. I even cut baloth from my board and can still beat burn
Can you further elaborate on why is Izzet charm good against burn? Burn also take very little damage from their mana base in general as well so unless you are running bolts or manage to deal 2 damage with electrolyse or with elder/snapcaster beating for 2 or else it usually means it is very hard to deal a lethal blow when scapeshift with 7 lands?
Also just a side question on scapeshift as I'm still rather new to the deck.. If you have a valakut in hand or in play, will it be better to put the valakut into play first then combo off with scapeshift or would you actually cast down valakut even if you are not comboing off on that turn?
the looting mode is the worst mode on the card, it's card disadvantage, that mode is only good when you have 2 blanks in hand and have enough lands to dig to a kill card
I think the better burn decks are the ones that play fetchlands, grim lavamancer is pretty strong in this format and so is searing blaze. so they can be at 18 life. the fetchlandless versions have weaker nut draws to make up for them being at 20 life. although most versions play eidolon of the great revel, so they have a fair chance of being at 18 life anyways
RDW will almost always be at 18 life or less in the testing. I believe it was something like 80% of the time and I was trying to play around it with RDW. My guess is a Burn heavy list would do better preboard vs. Scapeshift. The list I ran has 16 creatures (Goblin Guide, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Mogg Fanatic, and Grim Lavamancer). Post board may be worse. It depends on how many Skullcrack and Flames of the Blood Hand they run.
Now I know that RDW and Burn both have differences so the testing may not pertain, but they at least have some similarities.
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i_b_TRUE, go back a few pages. I wrote a bunch of sideboarding and strategy advice for the Gifts version, and lots of other people have provided information for the various other builds in previous pages. Also you could google "scapeshift primer".
You're not drawing 2 cards. You're discarding 1 card when you loot.
The only reason i'd discard Shift in response to a Sin Collector or a Clique is if i have Snapcaster and can go off soon. You're just handing your opponent value on a silver platter. Otherwise they're forced to take Scapeshift and you get to keep your other powerful cards like Cryptic.
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You guys are probably right about Sin Collector, as Pod players tend to hit you with it early enough that it falls in the same boat as a really aggressive Clique, and then they're probably going to chain it into similar effects or ***** that's even worse. But if I have the option of letting them exile Cryptic Command so I can recur a Scapeshift or an Anger of the Gods with Snapcaster, then I'm going to do that most of the time. Cards like Cryptic are fantastic for buying a turn in a deck that really wants to buy enough turns until it goes off, but its effectiveness as a reactive control measure against Pod is limited because of their ability to kill you out of nowhere. I'm also running a Gifts package, so maybe that affects how the matchup is played.
Using card advantage as the only metric for the quality of an effect is incorrect. Obviously there is a strong correlation in Magic between drawing a bunch of cards and winning, but this isn't an attrition deck that wins by grinding value over a long game. It's also different from a traditional control strategy in which winning usually requires stalling the game by stopping them from killing you and stabilizing, finding and resolving your win condition, and then continuing to use your control pieces to put the game away without dying. Scapeshift gets to skip the third step, so the qualitative and quantitative value of cards drawn only needs to be considered up to the point of smashing Scapeshift's I-win-button. You don't get half-credit for losing with a full grip, and you don't get bonus points for winning with lots of cards left.