I started with Kiblers deck and tweaked it. Woodland wanderer was meh for me, Pia and Kiren Nalaar have been INSANE. Card is so good right now. This is not an aggro deck the way Kibler/I have it built, it is a grindy deck with a SLIGHTLY aggressive spin. Sarkhan has been pretty good and Kiora has impressed me. Sometimes she comes down turn three and untaps rattleclaw allowing you to Negate/dispel. Other times she rots in your hand till Raptors Stabilize the board and then draws you a few cards/feeds delve. Been really enjoying the deck, just 5-0ed a league last night with it and I am 3-1 in the current league.
I was able to play 8 games last night going 6-2. My losses where to abzan and Atarka red nut draws (Mull to 5 kill me turn 4 with the combo). The Abzan matchup seems super close, for the 1st time I got hallowed moonlighted from abazan which was lame. Gather the pack was hella mediocre. I am going to try this list tonight.
It might be too cute but against decks like Abzan where they bring to Obliteration and Moonlight postboard I want to try and bring in Bring to light and Rhinos taking out Rallys, cuthroats and Husks. Was just a thought. I would board like:
Been playing Rally for close to 6 months now, since the last rotation where this happened http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=90496 . When I went 8-0 with Rally at the invi the deck felt like it was BUSTED (likely because it was). Right now the deck is a shell of its former self. The kill is cleaner (Cuthroat) but thats about the only advantage from rotation. Mana is worse, value plan is worse and the deck is not nearly as explosive without wayfinder. Given that the deck lost its explosiveness with wayfinder I think that we should be moving more towards a grindier value plan like say, Megamorph:
I spoke with Matthew Tickel (one of the founders of the deck way back when) at the SCG in NJ and he had some interesting tweaks. He moved away from Visionary and Sifter in the main and played Den protectors and Lilianas (Very hard to play Lili in Visionary lists, you do not want green early). Even better he was playing 3 raptors in the board for the grindier matchups. I tested some of these changes and found that Raptors where all stars and Rally was been getting progressively worse as a card. When people are packing hallowed moonlight and infinite obliteration its very hard to be pure combo. I think the deck is better when it does not try to win outright with Rally, I like using it more like a Sphinx's Revelation. Draw 6, gain 12, return a few creatures of theirs back into their hands, etc. This way obliteration does not Rock our world as much, we still have faithful to bounce visionarys out of exile all the while drawing cards. We can then just finish the game with Raptor/haurspex beatdown.
In that kind of plan where we want to get as much velocity as we can and use rally as a draw spell, Elvish visionary secretly becomes the best card in the deck. It makes sure that we never run out of cards in our hands and that out faithful always do something. Unfortunately when we want to cast Elvish visionary and Deathmist raptor something has to give, and that something was Liliana. It pains me so to cut the card BUT its really crappy to draw multiples and after about 30 games with a more normalized list I was very rarely able to cast it on time. Cutting lili REALLY lowers the need for black mana which allows me to play so many green sources for raptor.
All in all this list has been feeling alot cleaner. Better mana, a more cohesive plan and better against the hate. The numbers are still in constant flux, Nissa might just be bad as the 5th visionary, Gather the pack could be too cute and we may need anafenza in the board. These are all things that need to be figured out through testing (which I will be doing alot of this week). Thanks for reading my word vomit and hopefully I got my point across somewhat
If you play a card, and 70% of the time it trades with a card, but 30% of the time it's dead, let's go ahead and call that card 70% of a card.
With that assumption out of the way, how in the world is a situational counterspell ever worth it? It's worth it when the card you're trading for is worth more than a card.
How many decks are running non-creature permanents that are worth more than a card? I'm sure a bunch of people will post a list of the 2-4 (out of 60) cards that most decks play which fit the criteria, but that's not the point. Pierce seems significantly worse than Spell Snare. The exception is against non-creature based combo decks.
I agree with this assessment to a point. In a deck with a small to medium amount of card advantage that theory is true. You need every card to be worth at least a whole card.
What about a deck with a MASSSIVE amount of card advantage and can rip through its deck? Thats where the power of tempo comes in. Often times we will die with cards in our hand, we have a hard time trading our cards for their cards even though we are favored if we can do that. If the Pierce is dead, whatever, we have 4 more cards in hand. If we actually get to trade the Pierce for LITERALLY anything of note it is Fantastic for us. You can't think of it as we NEED to trade for a 2 for 1, how about just trading for something that matters like Amulets, platings, LILIANA'S, Discard, CoCo, Chord, through the breach, hell even a visions can be great for us.
The interesting aspect of that piece is his views on Spell Pierce. I've wondered about the possibility of playing a Spell Pierce somewhere in my 75. Either main, cutting possibly the 4th Snare, or in SB cutting Negate.
What are your views on Spell Pierce in our deck?
Hilariously enough after reading this article I cut the 4th snare for a pierce. It felt really nice, countered a vial, a collected company and a Karn. I keep losing to a grab bag of decks but the games always feel so close and the deck still feels powerful. I run 3 Meddling mages in the SB and they have been VERY good.
I never played with glittering wish, can someone enlighten me about how you sideboard with it? Do you just take them out and put in the cards you need?
No, its kind of complicated. You have to weigh how much better it is to draw the card, how fast you need it, how many copies, etc. Also you have to balance if the card is okay to draw but you do not really want to tutor for it/vica versa. For example, against Amulet Bloom I side in Geist. I never really want to tutor for it, Slaughter games is better. But I have 5 cards I bring out (3 Helix, 1 anger, 1 timely) and 4 cards I want (2 Negate, 1 Wear//tear, 1 crumble). I can see myself wanting to wish for the other cards like counterflux and dragonlord, but wishing for geist will most likely never happen. Yet if I draw it on turn 3 it might be nice to clock them with.
This is what makes wishes so cool, the Sideboarding with them is absurdly intricate. Its even crazier because we have a tutor in the main AND the side. Against all more aggro decks I side in my powerful hate because I can always wish for BTL, then BTL for the hate card. Its Weird because you would think I would want the hate card faster but cards like fracturing gust are SO insane I just want as many copies as possible against Affinity/Boggles. By bringing in a hate card you increase the count of that card by 4. 1 for the actual copy, 3 for the BTL's.
oh no, I wasnt trying to argue anything. Im just asking whats been the most effective? Because Im thinking of 4 sweepers in the 75 or an abrupt decay or two.
My Current config is 2 Electrolyzes, 2 anger (1 mail 1 side), 1 Golgari charm (side). I also run 1 Pia Main 1 side which is sorta a board wipe. Also Shatterstorm.
To lighten up the mood on the black splash Im going to tell a quick story
Playing scapeshift against zoo the zoo player (my friend who is testing to pick up the deck) says Bring to light into Firespout/Anger of the Gods is absurd which almost began a banlist discussion. Be careful scapeshift players, your new card is going to be talked about *sarcasm*
Realistically though Im not in the atmosphere to go with 2 electrolyze 2 izzet charm > 4 Lightning Bolt so I wanted to ask for advice because I myself and others in the testing team really felt that bolt would have helped more against the gauntlet (Merfolk Zoo elves Burn Affinity) even though the sideboard slots help level things a bit. Though Electrolyze and Izzet Charm help with jund more often. Any thoughts?
So I ran shift with bolt for a long time. Bolt makes your aggro MU's better, thats not what I was trying to argue. My issue is that if you run 3-4 bolts in you deck they do Stone nothing in a bunch of MUs. While Anger/electrolyze/Charm are not as good in many scenerios against aggro, they are much better against the Field. With the addition of BTL I feel like we can lean on Anger/electrolyze and charm even more since we have more copies. With the format being as open as it is, I opt to be better overall against the field and a bit worse versus aggro.
That being said trying to test on Magic online would lead me to believe the format is Burn. 8/11 matches have been against burn and I think I won 1 match and like 4 games. The 4th color deff hurts there.
Tbh I'm really not feeling the BtL version so far. Playing 3-4 maindeck 5 mana sorceries along with cards like Hunting Wilds, Farseek, Anger of the Gods or Damnation really takes us away from being a deck that gets to hold up mana on every turn past turn 2 (and sometimes on turn 2) and play reactively into some weird mish-mash where we're constantly pulled between holding up Cryptic Command or Electrolyze or Izzet Charm and tapping out for early Bring to Lights or something. Having multiple Scapeshift/BtLs in the opener feels absolutely awful, just like the Gifts version. Drawing your basic swamp or Watery Grave at any point feels awful. People playing things like Pia and Kiran Nalaar maindeck (?_?) are trying to play Grixis control and Grixis control does this much better. Grixis can present threats, we cannot. We want to stall and combo.
I did feel a slight benefit post-board being able to get things like Shatterstorm, Obstinate Baloth, etc. more reliably but it didn't really help that much. T3 Baloth is very commonly not enough against Burn anyway, that matchup is improved much more by cards like Dispel and Negate than it is by a 5 mana sorcery that you cast T4. Slaughter Games was alright but if we were really desperate for that effect we could play a Watery Grave in a regular RUG shell. The grindy matchups like Twin and Jund really aren't improved very much (Glen Elendra Archmage is a Dispel that you get with BtL which is not nearly as good as people make it out to be because they can continue the counter war in response to your persist trigger).
I think if I wanted to play Scapeshift in the current meta I would just play Scapeshift. This deck is good because it casts Cryptic Command better than any other deck in the metagame and because it blanks creature removal. It's bad because it has a poor matchup against fast aggro decks like Burn and Affinity. I don't see BtL changing that equation very much at all and I think that Scapeshift putting up results is more indicative of that equation shifting in our favor (CC is good, creature removal is incredibly common) than BtL solving big issues with the deck.
If you noticed I posted what I played against and it was aggressive:
Jund (2-0)
Tron (2-1)
Naya Burn (2-0)
Boggles (2-0)
Grixis control (2-1)
Affinity (2-1)
GR Blitz (2-0)
ID
ID
Top 8
Affinity (1-2) [Should have won but started down a game to a DRV]
You said that BTL does not change the Burn/Affinity/Aggro matchup. I would disagree. Against Zoo/Nacatal Burn always having anger is INSANELY relevant. We run 5 anger of the gods MAINDECK against them. Being able to block with an elder into BTL for Anger gives us a better chance than having a bolt for 1 creature and hoping to race. Against Burn that “5 mana sorcery that you cast T4” is another Baloth. Against both Zoo and Affinity Pia and Kiran Nalaar is great at buying time. Pia often trades for 1-2 cards and 4-7 life from the affinity deck. Not only that it blocks etched champion. I CANNOT stress how insane that is, that card normally kills us but with with pia we can beat it Maindeck. I won both my game 1 versus zoo and my game 1 versus Burn by casting Pia on turn 3 and BTL for anger turn 4.
Against Grixis Control (Danny Jessup) I pressured him so much with Pia and lumbering falls that he had to cast a Pia of his own to live and then I shifted him with mana advantage. If I did not have a way to force him into action IDK if I even would have had a chance that game.
Against Jund I fogged a Goyf for 2 turns using Pia’s and then Killed a Liliana with Pia and Lumbering falls. Game 2 I killed him with Baloth, command and Falls after he cast 4 hand disruption spells.
I disagree that we are trying to play a worse grixis control. Game 1 we are the same combo control deck that we always were except we can play a more powerful/consistent tappout control style too. Game 2 when they bring in molten rains and blood moons, we can kill them with Pia and K Commands. Game 3 what do they do? Bring in electrolyze and bolt? What If we have no targets and are back to a strict combo deck?
“Having multiple Scapeshift/BtLs in the opener feels absolutely awful” – I wanted to address this because he is right, it doesn’t feel great. But you know what I would rather have than 2 Scapeshifts in my hand? 1 BTL 1 Shift or 2 BTL. Or better yet, you know what I would rather have in my hand than 2 Splinter Twins/Hive minds/Griselbrands/etc? 2 BTLs.
@Surfkatt
I got into MTG about a year ago, and finally decided that Scapeshift is the first real deck I'll build. I think I'm going to build your list, it seems solid and a nice starting point at least.
Thanks for the list and all the info you're giving us. Keep us updated!
Appreciate the kindness
It is a good starting point, I am not saying my list is perfect but once you get the base of shift (4 Cryptics, 3-4 shift, 4 Remand, 4 of each red shock, 4 misty, etc.) you can customize it to your liking.
I tried to test last night but 4 8 mans I joined all had burn, so did 3 2 mans. I got 1 really good game versus affinity and 1 really good game versus boggles. Hopefully the Queues will be nicer to me tomorrow.
The thing with Pia is that foremost its a staller, not a racer. It wins the game via you drawing more cards to find the answers, not by dealing lethal with her. Further shes a pretty resilient creature that spreads 4 damage over 3 bodies making it a nightmare for the decks slower then shift to deal with.
I'd like to see what a 1-of Huntmaster can do.
What he said. As Much as I love the master, he is not as good. One of the most relevant thing about Pia is that her tokens are nuts. They fly and they do not have a color, making them an out to etched champion.
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Cinder Glade
3x Forest
2x Frontier Bivouac
1x Island
2x Lumbering Falls
1x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
1x Smoldering Marsh
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Swamp
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Yavimaya Coast
4x Deathmist Raptor
4x Den Protector
2x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4x Rattleclaw Mystic
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instant (11)
2x Dispel
3x Fiery Impulse
3x Kolaghan's Command
3x Murderous Cut
Planeswalker (4)
2x Kiora, Master of the Depths
2x Sarkhan Unbroken
2x Disdainful Stroke
1x Dispel
1x Duress
1x Exert Influence
1x Fiery Impulse
1x Negate
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
2x Radiant Flames
2x Roast
1x Self-Inflicted Wound
1x Treasure Cruise
1x Ultimate Price
I started with Kiblers deck and tweaked it. Woodland wanderer was meh for me, Pia and Kiren Nalaar have been INSANE. Card is so good right now. This is not an aggro deck the way Kibler/I have it built, it is a grindy deck with a SLIGHTLY aggressive spin. Sarkhan has been pretty good and Kiora has impressed me. Sometimes she comes down turn three and untaps rattleclaw allowing you to Negate/dispel. Other times she rots in your hand till Raptors Stabilize the board and then draws you a few cards/feeds delve. Been really enjoying the deck, just 5-0ed a league last night with it and I am 3-1 in the current league.
2x Canopy Vista
3x Evolving Wilds
4x Flooded Strand
2x Forest
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Prairie Stream
1x Smoldering Marsh
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Swamp
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Deathmist Raptor
2x Den Protector
4x Elvish Visionary
1x Fleshbag Marauder
3x Grim Haruspex
4x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3x Nantuko Husk
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3x Sidisi's Faithful
3x Zulaport Cutthroat
Sorcery (1)
1x Bring to Light
1x Abzan Charm
4x Collected Company
3x Rally the Ancestors
1x Arashin Cleric
2x Bring to Light
3x Duress
1x Felidar Cub
3x Hidden Dragonslayer
1x Minister of Pain
1x Sidisi's Faithful
2x Siege Rhino
1x Fleshbag Marauder
It might be too cute but against decks like Abzan where they bring to Obliteration and Moonlight postboard I want to try and bring in Bring to light and Rhinos taking out Rallys, cuthroats and Husks. Was just a thought. I would board like:
-3 Rallys
-3 Husks
-3 Cuthroats
+2 Bring to Light
+3 Hidden Dragonslayer
+1 Sidisi's Faithful
+2 Siege Rhino
+1 Fleshbag Marauder
2x Canopy Vista
3x Evolving Wilds
4x Flooded Strand
2x Forest
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Prairie Stream
1x Smoldering Marsh
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Swamp
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Deathmist Raptor
2x Den Protector
4x Elvish Visionary
3x Grim Haruspex
4x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3x Nantuko Husk
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3x Sidisi's Faithful
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
Instant (7)
4x Collected Company
3x Rally the Ancestors
Sorcery (2)
2x Gather the Pack
4x Arashin Cleric
4x Duress
1x Felidar Cub
2x Merciless Executioner
3x Murderous Cut
1x Sidisi's Faithful
I spoke with Matthew Tickel (one of the founders of the deck way back when) at the SCG in NJ and he had some interesting tweaks. He moved away from Visionary and Sifter in the main and played Den protectors and Lilianas (Very hard to play Lili in Visionary lists, you do not want green early). Even better he was playing 3 raptors in the board for the grindier matchups. I tested some of these changes and found that Raptors where all stars and Rally was been getting progressively worse as a card. When people are packing hallowed moonlight and infinite obliteration its very hard to be pure combo. I think the deck is better when it does not try to win outright with Rally, I like using it more like a Sphinx's Revelation. Draw 6, gain 12, return a few creatures of theirs back into their hands, etc. This way obliteration does not Rock our world as much, we still have faithful to bounce visionarys out of exile all the while drawing cards. We can then just finish the game with Raptor/haurspex beatdown.
In that kind of plan where we want to get as much velocity as we can and use rally as a draw spell, Elvish visionary secretly becomes the best card in the deck. It makes sure that we never run out of cards in our hands and that out faithful always do something. Unfortunately when we want to cast Elvish visionary and Deathmist raptor something has to give, and that something was Liliana. It pains me so to cut the card BUT its really crappy to draw multiples and after about 30 games with a more normalized list I was very rarely able to cast it on time. Cutting lili REALLY lowers the need for black mana which allows me to play so many green sources for raptor.
All in all this list has been feeling alot cleaner. Better mana, a more cohesive plan and better against the hate. The numbers are still in constant flux, Nissa might just be bad as the 5th visionary, Gather the pack could be too cute and we may need anafenza in the board. These are all things that need to be figured out through testing (which I will be doing alot of this week). Thanks for reading my word vomit and hopefully I got my point across somewhat
I agree with this assessment to a point. In a deck with a small to medium amount of card advantage that theory is true. You need every card to be worth at least a whole card.
What about a deck with a MASSSIVE amount of card advantage and can rip through its deck? Thats where the power of tempo comes in. Often times we will die with cards in our hand, we have a hard time trading our cards for their cards even though we are favored if we can do that. If the Pierce is dead, whatever, we have 4 more cards in hand. If we actually get to trade the Pierce for LITERALLY anything of note it is Fantastic for us. You can't think of it as we NEED to trade for a 2 for 1, how about just trading for something that matters like Amulets, platings, LILIANA'S, Discard, CoCo, Chord, through the breach, hell even a visions can be great for us.
Hilariously enough after reading this article I cut the 4th snare for a pierce. It felt really nice, countered a vial, a collected company and a Karn. I keep losing to a grab bag of decks but the games always feel so close and the deck still feels powerful. I run 3 Meddling mages in the SB and they have been VERY good.
Glen Elandra is better in more places. Plus with Stony and helix Affinity is easier. If the meta was slower/more midrangy Pia would be back in.
EDIT: Plus without the command plan its worse
If I was I would sleeve up this 75 (maybe some last minute SB changes)
1x Cinder Glade
1x Flooded Strand
1x Forest
1x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
1x Lumbering Falls
3x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
1x Plains
4x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Ground
2x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2x Izzet Charm
3x Lightning Helix
4x Remand
4x Worldly Counsel
1x Anger of the Gods
3x Bring to Light
3x Scapeshift
4x Search for Tomorrow
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Crumble to Dust
2x Negate
2x Obstinate Baloth
1x Shatterstorm
2x Stony Silence
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Wear / Tear
No, its kind of complicated. You have to weigh how much better it is to draw the card, how fast you need it, how many copies, etc. Also you have to balance if the card is okay to draw but you do not really want to tutor for it/vica versa. For example, against Amulet Bloom I side in Geist. I never really want to tutor for it, Slaughter games is better. But I have 5 cards I bring out (3 Helix, 1 anger, 1 timely) and 4 cards I want (2 Negate, 1 Wear//tear, 1 crumble). I can see myself wanting to wish for the other cards like counterflux and dragonlord, but wishing for geist will most likely never happen. Yet if I draw it on turn 3 it might be nice to clock them with.
This is what makes wishes so cool, the Sideboarding with them is absurdly intricate. Its even crazier because we have a tutor in the main AND the side. Against all more aggro decks I side in my powerful hate because I can always wish for BTL, then BTL for the hate card. Its Weird because you would think I would want the hate card faster but cards like fracturing gust are SO insane I just want as many copies as possible against Affinity/Boggles. By bringing in a hate card you increase the count of that card by 4. 1 for the actual copy, 3 for the BTL's.
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Bring to Light
3 Cryptic Command
3 Glittering Wish
2 Izzet Charm
1 Kodama's Reach
3 Lightning Helix
4 Remand
2 Scapeshift
1 Timely Reinforcements
4 Worldly Counsel
3 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Watery Grave
1 Bring to Light
1 Celestial Purge
1 Counterflux
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Negate
1 Slaughter Games
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Wear // Tear
2-0 Grixis
1-0 Affinity
1-0 RUG Twin
1-0 UR Twin
1-0 UR Storm
1-0 Lantern
1-0 Some Janky deck
0-1 Jund
0-1 Hatebears (Mull to 4)
0-1 Turbo turns
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Anger of the Gods
4 Bring to Light
4 Cryptic Command
1 Electrolyze
2 Izzet Charm
1 Murderous Cut
4 Remand
3 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Serum Visions
1 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
3 Island
1 Lumbering Falls
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Watery Grave
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Negate
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Rending Volley
1 Shatterstorm
1 Slaughter Games
1 Vendilion Clique
Here is the 75 I am running in an IQ tomorrow.
My Current config is 2 Electrolyzes, 2 anger (1 mail 1 side), 1 Golgari charm (side). I also run 1 Pia Main 1 side which is sorta a board wipe. Also Shatterstorm.
So I ran shift with bolt for a long time. Bolt makes your aggro MU's better, thats not what I was trying to argue. My issue is that if you run 3-4 bolts in you deck they do Stone nothing in a bunch of MUs. While Anger/electrolyze/Charm are not as good in many scenerios against aggro, they are much better against the Field. With the addition of BTL I feel like we can lean on Anger/electrolyze and charm even more since we have more copies. With the format being as open as it is, I opt to be better overall against the field and a bit worse versus aggro.
That being said trying to test on Magic online would lead me to believe the format is Burn. 8/11 matches have been against burn and I think I won 1 match and like 4 games. The 4th color deff hurts there.
If you noticed I posted what I played against and it was aggressive:
Jund (2-0)
Tron (2-1)
Naya Burn (2-0)
Boggles (2-0)
Grixis control (2-1)
Affinity (2-1)
GR Blitz (2-0)
ID
ID
Top 8
Affinity (1-2) [Should have won but started down a game to a DRV]
You said that BTL does not change the Burn/Affinity/Aggro matchup. I would disagree. Against Zoo/Nacatal Burn always having anger is INSANELY relevant. We run 5 anger of the gods MAINDECK against them. Being able to block with an elder into BTL for Anger gives us a better chance than having a bolt for 1 creature and hoping to race. Against Burn that “5 mana sorcery that you cast T4” is another Baloth. Against both Zoo and Affinity Pia and Kiran Nalaar is great at buying time. Pia often trades for 1-2 cards and 4-7 life from the affinity deck. Not only that it blocks etched champion. I CANNOT stress how insane that is, that card normally kills us but with with pia we can beat it Maindeck. I won both my game 1 versus zoo and my game 1 versus Burn by casting Pia on turn 3 and BTL for anger turn 4.
Against Grixis Control (Danny Jessup) I pressured him so much with Pia and lumbering falls that he had to cast a Pia of his own to live and then I shifted him with mana advantage. If I did not have a way to force him into action IDK if I even would have had a chance that game.
Against Jund I fogged a Goyf for 2 turns using Pia’s and then Killed a Liliana with Pia and Lumbering falls. Game 2 I killed him with Baloth, command and Falls after he cast 4 hand disruption spells.
I disagree that we are trying to play a worse grixis control. Game 1 we are the same combo control deck that we always were except we can play a more powerful/consistent tappout control style too. Game 2 when they bring in molten rains and blood moons, we can kill them with Pia and K Commands. Game 3 what do they do? Bring in electrolyze and bolt? What If we have no targets and are back to a strict combo deck?
“Having multiple Scapeshift/BtLs in the opener feels absolutely awful” – I wanted to address this because he is right, it doesn’t feel great. But you know what I would rather have than 2 Scapeshifts in my hand? 1 BTL 1 Shift or 2 BTL. Or better yet, you know what I would rather have in my hand than 2 Splinter Twins/Hive minds/Griselbrands/etc? 2 BTLs.
Just my 2 cents.
Appreciate the kindness
It is a good starting point, I am not saying my list is perfect but once you get the base of shift (4 Cryptics, 3-4 shift, 4 Remand, 4 of each red shock, 4 misty, etc.) you can customize it to your liking.
I tried to test last night but 4 8 mans I joined all had burn, so did 3 2 mans. I got 1 really good game versus affinity and 1 really good game versus boggles. Hopefully the Queues will be nicer to me tomorrow.
What he said. As Much as I love the master, he is not as good. One of the most relevant thing about Pia is that her tokens are nuts. They fly and they do not have a color, making them an out to etched champion.