Here's my deck, I'm short three cards, and not sure what to put in. I still have to buy one more cascade bluffs, since one is a proxy right now, and I was thinking of upping the land count to (25) to add one more basic mountain. Any suggestions? Please don't suggest fetchlands, though, as I don't have any, will not pay $45+ for one, and the filters really help with the cryptic mana more than the fetches have for me.
Also, while I know that obstinate baloth is a good sideboard card for us, what else should we sideboard for this kind of scapeshift deck? I'm not sure what cards would work best for it. I've heard of people doing cliques in boards, but like the fetches, it just costs too much right now.
Does anyone know of any good pro tournament reports or primers for this deck? I've been looking and can't find any, but it seems hard to find modern primers and reports in general
Does anyone know of any good pro tournament reports or primers for this deck? I've been looking and can't find any, but it seems hard to find modern primers and reports in general
So in celebration of going 4-0 at FNM for modern for the first time ever, I thought I'd celebrate by writing a quick report of the proceedings and throwing out a decklist that I've been tinkering with a little bit.
I've tinkered with the TitanShift build for several weeks now, including a lot of playtesting with the "standard" version and a couple weeks with a version that ran 4x Serum Visions maindeck and used Explore instead of Farseek. I can honestly say that this current version using Peer Through Depths has performed the best so far.
Round 1: RUG Something EDIT: I guess this Eternal Command, I had never actually seen this deck so that's why I had no idea what it was
I’m not entirely sure what this deck was. It had a lot of the U/R cards you’d see in Wafo-Tapa Control like Lightning Bolt, Electrolize, Cryptic Command, and Remand but it had green mana plus Goyf, Eternal Witness, and Aether Vials.
Game 1: He doesn’t play any creatures but domes me with a lot of burn spells. I’m not sure he fully understood what I was playing because he spent a lot of counterspells on my ramp spells (I had a Search for Tomorrow Remanded twice and finished off by a Cryptic Command). In the meantime, I just played a bunch of land and finished him off with Scapeshift.
Game 2: He got mana screwed. I only saw three lands the entire game from him, one of which was a Tec Edge he blew up to kill a Valakut I played from my hand. He also played two Aether Vials and used one to put a Goyf into play. That thing beat me in the face for a while until I played a Prime Time and blew away Goyf off Valakut trigger. He scooped after that.
1-0
Round 2: Pod
Game 1: He really didn’t do very much. I didn’t see a pod or anything especially threatening. He cast Kitchen Finks and some other creature but I was able to resolve a Prismatic Omen and Scapeshifted him for the win.
Game 2: He sideboarded in a Spellskite which ended up protecting him enough to eventually kill me with Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgance. I ended up holding a Scapeshift but couldn’t get enough land in play to get around Spellskite.
Game 3: He got Spellskite in play again but for the most part didn’t do very much and I was able to first get a Prime Time into play which helped me kill Spellskite, then Scapeshift the next turn for the win.
2-0
Round 3: UWR Control. It had Restoration Angles too apparently but I never saw them (or any creature other than Snapcaster Mage so I’m assuming this deck was more like the Wafo-Tapa verstion than the Midrange version
Game 1: Not a lot going on here, he countered some ramp early. I was able to get to 7 lands and cast Scapeshift and back it up with an Izzet Charm to counter his Cyrptic Command for the game.
Game 2: The first few turns was just me being destroyed by burn spells to the face. Luckily, I was able to cast a Titan that wasn't countered. I ended up at 3 life but Prime Time throwing 12 damage at him each turn was too much for him to overcome.
3-0
Round 4: Pod
Game 1: He must have kept a lousy hand because I don’t remember him casting anything of major consequence. Scapeshift was the death of him.
Game 2: Stupid Aven Mindsensor really screwed me over and by the time I was able to find a Pyroclasm he had wailed on me enough that the Voice of Resurgence token finished me off the next turn.
Game 3: I was lucky enough to have a starting hand with two Pyroclasm. I also drew into a Destructive Revelry, which took care of his Pod. After those three cards cleared the board, he was easy pickings for a final fatal Scapeshift.
Overall, I think Peer Through Depths is an amazing card even for the TitanShift build. Since so much of the deck is instants and sorceries, you're almost guaranteed to find something useful. Twice I was able to use PTD in order to find the Scapeshift that won me the game that otherwise would've been 3 or 4 turns away. I was also able to use it to help get a Pyroclasm that helped wipe the board against Pod. The same could be said for Sowing Salt against Tron. Overall, the amount of utility this card provides is amazing, it's really similar to Ancient Stirrings for Tron.
So I really like the look of this list, and am considering it for my first foray into TitanShift. I have the CrypticShift version built now, and I agree that Peer Through Depths is an all star. So I want to make room for it somewhere in the main board.
It's been a while since you posted this deck, Hype. Are you still satisfied with it? Have you made any changes and how has it been in competitive play?
The two things I'm most curious about is 1) the land count: Almost all the Titanshift decks I see run 26 lands. Have you had any difficulty with running one less land? And 2) only 2 Pyroclasm main: Have you considered a 3-3 split of Peer Through Depths and Pyrolclasm?
Anything else you would say about running Peer in a TitanShift list? Thanks!
So I really like the look of this list, and am considering it for my first foray into TitanShift. I have the CrypticShift version built now, and I agree that Peer Through Depths is an all star. So I want to make room for it somewhere in the main board.
It's been a while since you posted this deck, Hype. Are you still satisfied with it? Have you made any changes and how has it been in competitive play?
The two things I'm most curious about is 1) the land count: Almost all the Titanshift decks I see run 26 lands. Have you had any difficulty with running one less land? And 2) only 2 Pyroclasm main: Have you considered a 3-3 split of Peer Through Depths and Pyrolclasm?
Anything else you would say about running Peer in a TitanShift list? Thanks!
On the surface...It seems that Peer Through Depths would be better suited in Cryptic Shift, as opposed to TitanShift, so Im curious why everyone is so high on it.
1)in titanshift, you have 8 ways to win... 4x primeval titan, 4x scapeshift.
Peer ignores 4 of those options.
2)in titanshift vs crypticshift, you have more sorcery speed items, vs instant speed items. This does not lend well to holding mana to bluff (or use) a counterspell and then Peer at their EOT, as it does in crypticshift.
additionally titanshift having less Counterspells in general it makes even less sense to bluff, when you just need to cast stuff.
3)With the sheer number of land fetch available to us... we can basically shuffle at will... I might consider something as simple as Index or Worldly Council or Mystic Speculation
Also only 2 pyroclasm, seems like not nearly enough.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
There are only 2 seasons each year... summer and hockey, and summer lasts too long.
I had never played this matchup before, but I knew that Open the Vaults and Faiths Reward were the biggest threats.
Game one, I suspended a Search for Tomorrow, and had Remand and Cryptic in Hand for his important spells. He cantripped a bunch, but Remand on his Faith's Reward left him with a graveyard full of artifacts. He didn't do any damage to himself, so I had to go for the 8 land kill. Went off on turn 7, still holding Cryptic Command.
Game two, we both keep 7, and he drops down a Leyline of Sanctity. I keep a hand with some land ramp, Grudge, and Peer Through Depths. I Grudged his Etherium Scupltor, and he just kind of petered out. He did put a second Leyline down, but I drew into my Scapeshift, and then Peered into Echoing Truth which was all she wrote.
Round 2 vs B/W Tokens (Win 2-0)
Game 1: He thoughtseized me and took away a Scpeshift, but never got any pressure out on me. Pyroclasm wiped his Lingering Souls, and Telling Time drew me into Scapeshift #2.
SB: -2 Telling Time, +2 Echoing Truth
Game 2: He was more aggressive this time, with Double Lingering Souls and an Honor of the Pure, but Pyroclasm, Snapcaster Pyroclasm was good game.
Round 3: vs Jund (Win 2-0)
Game 1: They didn't keep any discard, and triple remand kept Gofy off the table long enough for a lethal Scapeshift. They did get stuck on 3 lands, so it wasn't a great win.
Game 2: They started off with Thoughtseize, then IoK taking away my Search for Tomorrow and Tribe-Elder. However they only ever dropped a Scavenging Ooze which ate a bolt, so I had time to recover, and Telling Time set up Scapeshift and my 7th land.
Turn 2 he Thoughtseized my Scapeshift, and then Extirpated it. I had a Baloth in hand, which got him down to 6, but Bob with a Sword of Light and Shadow and a Batterskull made that angle of victory impossible.
All and all, it was a good night, especially since it had been so long since I've played. I think the SB needs some work, Spell Pierce was a bit underwhelming (Though I faced 0 blue decks), and Baloth alone isn't enough of an alt win condition. Going to try it out again next week.
All and all, it was a good night, especially since it had been so long since I've played. I think the SB needs some work, Spell Pierce was a bit underwhelming (Though I faced 0 blue decks), and Baloth alone isn't enough of an alt win condition. Going to try it out again next week.
I run a decklist a lot like yours (minus the pyroclasms for 2 Izzet Charms and a full grip of cryptics) and I've found that Wurmcoil Engine is a great alt-win con, but I've also been playing around with Inferno Titan in the spot as it (mostly) dodges things like phantasmal image and can really help if you get to 2-1 with its burn, and it's firebreathing can end the game in short order with the amount of ramp we run. My biggest problem with it is how it eats hard to terminate or Maelstrom Pulse, while Wurmcoil at least splits.
I also run Swan Song instead of Spell Pierce, and though I haven't done a lot of testing vs. UWR (either midrange or control) the testing vs. Twin has shown up in spades, as it hard counters Twin and being able to force a counter war to win with 1 mana hard counters obviously puts you in a much better situation than wading in with soft counters.
If you decide to give Inferno Titan a run in testing let me know how it stacks up for you, I'm curious to see how good he really is.
I hadn't thought about Inferno Titan, mostly because the decks that can rip out Scapeshift, are usually the decks that can answer a Titan right away, which is why I've avoided Primeval Titan. Still, I know I have some sitting in a binder, so I'll give it a go online this week and see if it's worth trying.
As for Swan Song, if it his Planeswalkers, I'd be all over it, but Spell Pierce can hit a turn 2 Liliana, or a Turn 3 Karn, which is crucial as I find a resolved walker is very bad for Cryptic Shift. Maybe Beast Within is worth a slot as a catch all card.
Hmmm I hadn't really considered beast within yet, and seeing as it's instant speed it might be worth a go. I personally have enjoyed swan song more for the reason that it really shores up the twin match to make it almost favorable, and that alone makes it worth consideration. As for Titan/wurmcoil slot I think that wurmcoil has the slight edge at the moment with the popularity of Jund in the meta, but I still am holding on to hope that I can find better ways to use and abuse inferno titan so that he's worth the 2 slots.
Swan song is also a moderately effective way of dealing with blood moon (the 1 mana hard counter is really clutch in certain circumstances) and paired with ee I think it gives enough sideboard answers to one of our biggest problems
It's been a while since you posted this deck, Hype. Are you still satisfied with it? Have you made any changes and how has it been in competitive play?
First of all, thank you for the kind words about my list. I haven't been playing scapeshift as much recently, I've been tinkering around with B/G Souls for a while for a totally different experience (almost every match is grindy rather than either go big or go home). As for changes, the maindeck is the same but I've added 2 Engineered Explosives to the sideboard and cut a Destructive Revelry and Combust.
The two things I'm most curious about is 1) the land count: Almost all the Titanshift decks I see run 26 lands. Have you had any difficulty with running one less land?
To be honest, I haven't noticed any difference having one less land. 26 land is a lot of land, and 25 is still a lot, especially with all of the ramp spells. I haven't had any problem missing drops more frequently or anything like that
And 2) only 2 Pyroclasm main: Have you considered a 3-3 split of Peer Through Depths and Pyrolclasm?
That's certainly viable if there's a lot of decks like Pod and Affinity in your meta. My biggest issue with Pyroclasm is that it always felt like a glorified sideboard card. There's a lot of Tron, Twin, and UWR (the draw go version, not the midrange version) in my local meta and I hated how Pyroclasm usually felt like a dead card. It's also kinda mediocre against Jund (killing DRS and Bob is nice but Goyf is what's really gonna kill you and you still have Izzet Charm if you want to take out Bob). Another part of my justification in having a 4/2 split is that you can use PTD to try to find a Pyroclasm if you really need one to reset the board, especially if you've already got a Scapeshift in hand.
1)in titanshift, you have 8 ways to win... 4x primeval titan, 4x scapeshift.
Peer ignores 4 of those options.
As for whether PTD has a place in Titanshift, I'd certainly argue that it does. Yeah, it ignores four of your win conditions, but Titan really is plan B compared to Scapeshift. I've found that a lot of times when I cast him, I don't have enough mountains in play to where I can search up a Valakut and start setting off triggers, and he dies to PtE/Terminate/Liliana's -2. There are a lot of times where you'll be close to death and the only way to pull out the win is with that Scapeshift. Ignoring one of your win conditions is ok when the one you're searching for is so much better.
2)in titanshift vs crypticshift, you have more sorcery speed items, vs instant speed items. This does not lend well to holding mana to bluff (or use) a counterspell and then Peer at their EOT, as it does in crypticshift.
additionally titanshift having less Counterspells in general it makes even less sense to bluff, when you just need to cast stuff.
Titanshift still has a good enough amount of instants that holding mana open at the end of the turn can keep your opponent guessing a little. There's still Remand and Izzet Charm, and the first time your opponent sees those cards, they'll have to at least keep it in the back of their mind. Getting a sorcery isn't the worst thing in the world either, the worst case scenario is you get ramp spell or a Izzet Charm and use it like a frantic search.
Any opinions on Theros scry lands in CrypticShift? I've been running a singleton Halimar Depths for a while as a turn 1 play, but I'm always unhappy with being unable to get things out of the way for PTD and Telling Time. I'm thinking about just trying a Temple of Mystery instead.
I had tried out Oracle of Mul Daya before (In Cryptic Shift) and found that the effect wasn't worth tapping out for, and it turned on my opponents removal. Courser of Kruphix just seems like a worse version, as it doesn't actually ramp. That said, in Titan-Shift it may have more game, as if it eats removal, it helps Primeval stick, but I'm still far from convinced.
Yeah, CrypticShift definitely wants to make a point of not switching on removal. Tribe-Elder and Snappy are the only creatures worth consideration pre-sideboard. This is especially important for games 2 and 3, because you have to consider whether or not to run a secondary win condition or bluff, and your opponent will need to decide what removal to keep in. I've won plenty of games on the back of a Wurmcoil that my opponent sided out all of his answers for.
First of all, thank you for the kind words about my list. I haven't been playing scapeshift as much recently, I've been tinkering around with B/G Souls for a while for a totally different experience (almost every match is grindy rather than either go big or go home). As for changes, the maindeck is the same but I've added 2 Engineered Explosives to the sideboard and cut a Destructive Revelry and Combust.
Thank you for your reply. I'll definitely have to try it out in my Titanshift list. I may use the 3-3 split of Peer and 'Clasm, though, as there's a lot of Affinity and aggro in my local meta.
Any opinions on Theros scry lands in CrypticShift? I've been running a singleton Halimar Depths for a while as a turn 1 play, but I'm always unhappy with being unable to get things out of the way for PTD and Telling Time. I'm thinking about just trying a Temple of Mystery instead.
There was a really weird, creature-less CrypticShift list that won a modern daily back in November with a singleton Temple of Mystery. I don't know if that helps you, but at least someone has thought of using it before.
That list is quite similar to what I've been running (much lighter on removal like Bolt and heavier on draw), except I run a pair of Tribe-Elders and 4 Snapcasters. In general I really like that approach.
What do you guys think of trying a couple Vendilion Clique in the main? I know it turns on removal and such, but checking their hand EOT before trying to go for a 'Shift seems pretty good. There is also the chance we can flash it in to eat an attacker ala Snapcaster Mage, and obviously the flash plays well in the Cryptic versions. That being said, he seems good in the Titan lists too, as it starts to build enough threat density to start pressuring their removal.
I like Telling Time a lot in the heavy U builds... the question is, is it competing with Peer Through Depths for space? is it conceivable to cut Peer completely? I feel like once we start SBing in creatures Peer helps us a lot less compared to Telling Time.
Thoughts?
Re: Cyclonic Rift - Seems alright, but the majority of the time what is going to be bothering us isn't their board presence, but what countermagic they could have in hand to stop a Scapeshift. Against the non-U decks, hand disruption is our main concern so again I don't really see Rift doing all that much to further our plan of resolving 'Shift. 7 mana is a lot and if you're really worried about the board rush you could play something like Blasphemous Act as a sweeper instead.
Personally I would rather play Echoing Truth over Rift. Rift has a nice end-game effect, but Echoing Truth deals with Twin well, and has the chance of hitting multiple permanents earlier on in the game.
Personally I would rather play Echoing Truth over Rift. Rift has a nice end-game effect, but Echoing Truth deals with Twin well, and has the chance of hitting multiple permanents earlier on in the game.
+1.
The only reason to play Rift over any other bounce spell is for the overload, and in this deck it seems at least do able with all the ramp, but its still not reason enough. Truth gets multiple Goyf draws (maybe the most threatening for us), is great vs Affinity since they play 4 of everything too, and will make you LOVE them investing 5 mana into Lingering Souls.
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
3 Island
3 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Grove
2 Cascade Bluffs
2 Valakut
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Snapcaster Mage
Spells (27)
4 Scapeshift
4 Search For Tomorrow
4 Izzet Charm
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
4 Peer Through The Depths
3 Farseek
Also, while I know that obstinate baloth is a good sideboard card for us, what else should we sideboard for this kind of scapeshift deck? I'm not sure what cards would work best for it. I've heard of people doing cliques in boards, but like the fetches, it just costs too much right now.
I would really appreciate help on this one.
This is the best one I've seen I think: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/maxsjoblom-modern-11142013-landscaping-in-antwerp/
Was thinking
Also thoughts on running 4 Mainboard Snapcasters?
So I really like the look of this list, and am considering it for my first foray into TitanShift. I have the CrypticShift version built now, and I agree that Peer Through Depths is an all star. So I want to make room for it somewhere in the main board.
It's been a while since you posted this deck, Hype. Are you still satisfied with it? Have you made any changes and how has it been in competitive play?
The two things I'm most curious about is 1) the land count: Almost all the Titanshift decks I see run 26 lands. Have you had any difficulty with running one less land? And 2) only 2 Pyroclasm main: Have you considered a 3-3 split of Peer Through Depths and Pyrolclasm?
Anything else you would say about running Peer in a TitanShift list? Thanks!
On the surface...It seems that Peer Through Depths would be better suited in Cryptic Shift, as opposed to TitanShift, so Im curious why everyone is so high on it.
1)in titanshift, you have 8 ways to win... 4x primeval titan, 4x scapeshift.
Peer ignores 4 of those options.
2)in titanshift vs crypticshift, you have more sorcery speed items, vs instant speed items. This does not lend well to holding mana to bluff (or use) a counterspell and then Peer at their EOT, as it does in crypticshift.
additionally titanshift having less Counterspells in general it makes even less sense to bluff, when you just need to cast stuff.
3)With the sheer number of land fetch available to us... we can basically shuffle at will... I might consider something as simple as Index or Worldly Council or Mystic Speculation
Also only 2 pyroclasm, seems like not nearly enough.
Anyway, I went in with this list, fairly blind to what decks were being played.
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Remand
2 Telling Time
3 Cryptic Command
2 Farseek
2 Pyroclasm
4 Search for Tomorrow
1 Firespout
4 Scapeshift
4 Stomping Ground
4 Steam Vents
2 Forest
3 Island
3 Mountain
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Spellskite
3 Obstinate Baloth
3 Spell Pierce
2 Echoing Truth
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Combust
Round 1 vs Tron Eggs (Win 2-0)
I had never played this matchup before, but I knew that Open the Vaults and Faiths Reward were the biggest threats.
Game one, I suspended a Search for Tomorrow, and had Remand and Cryptic in Hand for his important spells. He cantripped a bunch, but Remand on his Faith's Reward left him with a graveyard full of artifacts. He didn't do any damage to himself, so I had to go for the 8 land kill. Went off on turn 7, still holding Cryptic Command.
SB - 3 Lightning Bolt, -2 Pyroclasm, -1 Firespout
+3 Spell Pierce, +2 Echoing Truth, +1 Ancient Grudge
Game two, we both keep 7, and he drops down a Leyline of Sanctity. I keep a hand with some land ramp, Grudge, and Peer Through Depths. I Grudged his Etherium Scupltor, and he just kind of petered out. He did put a second Leyline down, but I drew into my Scapeshift, and then Peered into Echoing Truth which was all she wrote.
Round 2 vs B/W Tokens (Win 2-0)
Game 1: He thoughtseized me and took away a Scpeshift, but never got any pressure out on me. Pyroclasm wiped his Lingering Souls, and Telling Time drew me into Scapeshift #2.
SB: -2 Telling Time, +2 Echoing Truth
Game 2: He was more aggressive this time, with Double Lingering Souls and an Honor of the Pure, but Pyroclasm, Snapcaster Pyroclasm was good game.
Round 3: vs Jund (Win 2-0)
Game 1: They didn't keep any discard, and triple remand kept Gofy off the table long enough for a lethal Scapeshift. They did get stuck on 3 lands, so it wasn't a great win.
SB - 2 Pyroclasm, -1 Firespout, -1 Cryptic Command + 2 Shadow of Doubt + 2 Obstinate Baloth
Game 2: They started off with Thoughtseize, then IoK taking away my Search for Tomorrow and Tribe-Elder. However they only ever dropped a Scavenging Ooze which ate a bolt, so I had time to recover, and Telling Time set up Scapeshift and my 7th land.
Round 4: vs B/W Deck Ruiner (Mainboard Extirpates, Surgical Extractions) (Loss 1-2)
Game 1: He stalled on one mana, and I comboed out on turn 4. Not much to say.
SB - None, as I saw no cards.
Game 2: I played Sakura-Tribe Elder and sacced it. He Archive Trapped me, and hit both my Valakuts.
SB - 3 Cryptic Command, -2 Pyroclasm, - 1 Firespout, - 2 Telling Time +2 Shadow of Doubt, +3 Obstinate Baloth, + 3 Spell Pierce
Turn 2 he Thoughtseized my Scapeshift, and then Extirpated it. I had a Baloth in hand, which got him down to 6, but Bob with a Sword of Light and Shadow and a Batterskull made that angle of victory impossible.
All and all, it was a good night, especially since it had been so long since I've played. I think the SB needs some work, Spell Pierce was a bit underwhelming (Though I faced 0 blue decks), and Baloth alone isn't enough of an alt win condition. Going to try it out again next week.
GWBJunk TokensBWG
Modern
GURScapeshiftRUG
BGRDredgevineRGB
URSTORM!RU
UWTezzeret ControlWU
Legacy
BWStonebladeWB
BUGBUG ControlGUB
I run a decklist a lot like yours (minus the pyroclasms for 2 Izzet Charms and a full grip of cryptics) and I've found that Wurmcoil Engine is a great alt-win con, but I've also been playing around with Inferno Titan in the spot as it (mostly) dodges things like phantasmal image and can really help if you get to 2-1 with its burn, and it's firebreathing can end the game in short order with the amount of ramp we run. My biggest problem with it is how it eats hard to terminate or Maelstrom Pulse, while Wurmcoil at least splits.
I also run Swan Song instead of Spell Pierce, and though I haven't done a lot of testing vs. UWR (either midrange or control) the testing vs. Twin has shown up in spades, as it hard counters Twin and being able to force a counter war to win with 1 mana hard counters obviously puts you in a much better situation than wading in with soft counters.
If you decide to give Inferno Titan a run in testing let me know how it stacks up for you, I'm curious to see how good he really is.
As for Swan Song, if it his Planeswalkers, I'd be all over it, but Spell Pierce can hit a turn 2 Liliana, or a Turn 3 Karn, which is crucial as I find a resolved walker is very bad for Cryptic Shift. Maybe Beast Within is worth a slot as a catch all card.
GWBJunk TokensBWG
Modern
GURScapeshiftRUG
BGRDredgevineRGB
URSTORM!RU
UWTezzeret ControlWU
Legacy
BWStonebladeWB
BUGBUG ControlGUB
For reference my sideboard sits at
2 wurmcoil engine/inferno titan
3 pyroclasm
2 engineered explosives
2 ancient grudge
3 obstinate baloth
Swan song is also a moderately effective way of dealing with blood moon (the 1 mana hard counter is really clutch in certain circumstances) and paired with ee I think it gives enough sideboard answers to one of our biggest problems
First of all, thank you for the kind words about my list. I haven't been playing scapeshift as much recently, I've been tinkering around with B/G Souls for a while for a totally different experience (almost every match is grindy rather than either go big or go home). As for changes, the maindeck is the same but I've added 2 Engineered Explosives to the sideboard and cut a Destructive Revelry and Combust.
To be honest, I haven't noticed any difference having one less land. 26 land is a lot of land, and 25 is still a lot, especially with all of the ramp spells. I haven't had any problem missing drops more frequently or anything like that
That's certainly viable if there's a lot of decks like Pod and Affinity in your meta. My biggest issue with Pyroclasm is that it always felt like a glorified sideboard card. There's a lot of Tron, Twin, and UWR (the draw go version, not the midrange version) in my local meta and I hated how Pyroclasm usually felt like a dead card. It's also kinda mediocre against Jund (killing DRS and Bob is nice but Goyf is what's really gonna kill you and you still have Izzet Charm if you want to take out Bob). Another part of my justification in having a 4/2 split is that you can use PTD to try to find a Pyroclasm if you really need one to reset the board, especially if you've already got a Scapeshift in hand.
As for whether PTD has a place in Titanshift, I'd certainly argue that it does. Yeah, it ignores four of your win conditions, but Titan really is plan B compared to Scapeshift. I've found that a lot of times when I cast him, I don't have enough mountains in play to where I can search up a Valakut and start setting off triggers, and he dies to PtE/Terminate/Liliana's -2. There are a lot of times where you'll be close to death and the only way to pull out the win is with that Scapeshift. Ignoring one of your win conditions is ok when the one you're searching for is so much better.
Titanshift still has a good enough amount of instants that holding mana open at the end of the turn can keep your opponent guessing a little. There's still Remand and Izzet Charm, and the first time your opponent sees those cards, they'll have to at least keep it in the back of their mind. Getting a sorcery isn't the worst thing in the world either, the worst case scenario is you get ramp spell or a Izzet Charm and use it like a frantic search.
GWBJunk TokensBWG
Modern
GURScapeshiftRUG
BGRDredgevineRGB
URSTORM!RU
UWTezzeret ControlWU
Legacy
BWStonebladeWB
BUGBUG ControlGUB
Thank you for your reply. I'll definitely have to try it out in my Titanshift list. I may use the 3-3 split of Peer and 'Clasm, though, as there's a lot of Affinity and aggro in my local meta.
There was a really weird, creature-less CrypticShift list that won a modern daily back in November with a singleton Temple of Mystery. I don't know if that helps you, but at least someone has thought of using it before.
Here's the deck: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=5979&d=234685
I like Telling Time a lot in the heavy U builds... the question is, is it competing with Peer Through Depths for space? is it conceivable to cut Peer completely? I feel like once we start SBing in creatures Peer helps us a lot less compared to Telling Time.
Thoughts?
Re: Cyclonic Rift - Seems alright, but the majority of the time what is going to be bothering us isn't their board presence, but what countermagic they could have in hand to stop a Scapeshift. Against the non-U decks, hand disruption is our main concern so again I don't really see Rift doing all that much to further our plan of resolving 'Shift. 7 mana is a lot and if you're really worried about the board rush you could play something like Blasphemous Act as a sweeper instead.
Currently Playing:
Modern:
Tron
Titan-Shift
+1.
The only reason to play Rift over any other bounce spell is for the overload, and in this deck it seems at least do able with all the ramp, but its still not reason enough. Truth gets multiple Goyf draws (maybe the most threatening for us), is great vs Affinity since they play 4 of everything too, and will make you LOVE them investing 5 mana into Lingering Souls.
Are you going to share the article?