Not gonna lie, Cragganwick warms my timmy soul. But I'd play Titanshift still just because.
Maindeck relics put in work, I used to be against that because I like to be hyper linear but they really help to slowdown grave decks..... which a sizeable portion of the meta are these days (directly or indirectly relying on the grave).
The KCI / Hollow One meta was pretty tough, but the deck is just under the radar now. With a few concessions to aggro decks, I feel that it can take down a big event anytime.
Apart from UW control / Burn which can be a toss up, Titanshift is rather favored against the top of the meta now - Dredge, Humans, Tron, Spirits, BGX....
KCI is tough. I had to have Sphere and Relic both on the field game 2 to have a chance. Then the last game he got antsy when I came out with multiple ramp spells at the start, and tried to go off on turn 3 but fizzled. I untapped and slammed a damping sphere and that was it
Not really needed for Tron but really helpful. These recent monogreen iterations hit turn 3/4 tron with frightening consistency. In the 3 games we played, he had turn 3 tron twice and turn 4 tron once. Luckily he couldn't produce any karn, just a Wurmcoil that STE can fog. The last Game he had planned to slam t4 Ulamog before I cast the Damping Sphere and that's all it took.
Quite a versatile card I must say.
Humans seem okay barring those Thalia, Kitesail Meddling Made starts.
Haven't been playing much but getting back in the groove in time for PPTQ season.
Beat KCI, G Tron and Humans tonight for 3-0 at FNM.
I have to say Damping Sphere is an absolute allstar and won me both postboarded games against KCI and one against Tron.
Humans seem like a decent match up with 4 or 5 sweepers postboard and some bolts. I sided some Baloths in as well to quell the bleeding on the ground. Bought me enough time to Omen-control his board til I drew a Titan some 5 turns later
I'm on Khalni Heart right now and mainly trying to goldfish 7 lands on Turn 4. 5 sweepers, 4 bolts in my 75 with some baloths and pulse of murasa to buy time.
I just have a Rec Sage maindeck and and additional one in the SB for the not infrequent g1 blood moons.
Otherwise, screw interacting, just let me scapeshift asap
Seems like Thragtusk put in some work for you. How do you like it? I personally am not in favour of Thraggy as it usually comes down turn 4 unless you get the S4T + t2 ramp opening hand, and T4 can be a bit too slow.
Still on the Bloodbraid list? I don't like BBE in this deck at all.
I've been bruising up my LGS the last couple of weeks with this. Faced and put away Jeskai and Affinity this week. Things seem to be looking up. Just put a MB rec sage just in case.
I've been off Titanshift for the last couple of months, but will come back to it for FNM this week. Will be running Nguyen's list with a slightly modified sideboard. Wondering about a specific circumstance and how you would play it:
Let's say it's turn 3. You have 4 lands in play after having played your land this turn. In your hand you have 1 land, 1 farseek, 1 BBE, 1 Titan. Is it better to:
1) Cast BBE and hope it cascades into a ramp spell to enable the turn 4 Titan; or
2) Cast Farseek and ensure the turn 4 Titan.
Option 1 is the more greedy play for sure because you may cascade into Bolt and won't have access to 6 mana on Turn 4. Has a much higher ceiling than Option 2 though.
Of course, the correct play depends on other factors like whether the opponent has a board presence, whether you need to pressure their life total etc. But it is interesting to think about.
It will destroy a fair deck meta. In my over a year of playing this deck, I can count on one hand the number of times I've lost to BGx. I've also only lost to UWx twice in this time.
What may give you problems in your meta would be Burn, sometimes Tron with the nut draw, and Humans if they get out of 3 toughness too quickly.
Maindeck relics put in work, I used to be against that because I like to be hyper linear but they really help to slowdown grave decks..... which a sizeable portion of the meta are these days (directly or indirectly relying on the grave).
Damping Sphere on Runaway Red proved very, very efficacious.
The KCI / Hollow One meta was pretty tough, but the deck is just under the radar now. With a few concessions to aggro decks, I feel that it can take down a big event anytime.
Apart from UW control / Burn which can be a toss up, Titanshift is rather favored against the top of the meta now - Dredge, Humans, Tron, Spirits, BGX....
Hmmmm.
Not really needed for Tron but really helpful. These recent monogreen iterations hit turn 3/4 tron with frightening consistency. In the 3 games we played, he had turn 3 tron twice and turn 4 tron once. Luckily he couldn't produce any karn, just a Wurmcoil that STE can fog. The last Game he had planned to slam t4 Ulamog before I cast the Damping Sphere and that's all it took.
Quite a versatile card I must say.
Humans seem okay barring those Thalia, Kitesail Meddling Made starts.
Haven't been playing much but getting back in the groove in time for PPTQ season.
I have to say Damping Sphere is an absolute allstar and won me both postboarded games against KCI and one against Tron.
Humans seem like a decent match up with 4 or 5 sweepers postboard and some bolts. I sided some Baloths in as well to quell the bleeding on the ground. Bought me enough time to Omen-control his board til I drew a Titan some 5 turns later
I just have a Rec Sage maindeck and and additional one in the SB for the not infrequent g1 blood moons.
Otherwise, screw interacting, just let me scapeshift asap
Seems like Thragtusk put in some work for you. How do you like it? I personally am not in favour of Thraggy as it usually comes down turn 4 unless you get the S4T + t2 ramp opening hand, and T4 can be a bit too slow.
Still on the Bloodbraid list? I don't like BBE in this deck at all.
Let's say it's turn 3. You have 4 lands in play after having played your land this turn. In your hand you have 1 land, 1 farseek, 1 BBE, 1 Titan. Is it better to:
1) Cast BBE and hope it cascades into a ramp spell to enable the turn 4 Titan; or
2) Cast Farseek and ensure the turn 4 Titan.
Option 1 is the more greedy play for sure because you may cascade into Bolt and won't have access to 6 mana on Turn 4. Has a much higher ceiling than Option 2 though.
Of course, the correct play depends on other factors like whether the opponent has a board presence, whether you need to pressure their life total etc. But it is interesting to think about.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Scapeshift/comments/86zhwc/thien_ngyuens_list_at_scg_cincinati/
I've played both lists and prefer the traditional builds with Hour of Promise.
BBE builds do have an additional angle of attack and can hold the ground better. 2 for 1's are good as well.
Don't discount either build, proxy both and see which suits your play style.
What may give you problems in your meta would be Burn, sometimes Tron with the nut draw, and Humans if they get out of 3 toughness too quickly.
The rest you stomp.
You don't think bolts are needed at all currently? I'm still running 3 at the moment for humans and affinity.
All-in goldfish for the win game 1 is always an elegant solution though.