Shifting the Scape in GP Portland; 5-2-2

[Avatar of Bro]

Grand Prix: Portland was an amazing experience for me. I haven’t gotten to play in a Grand Prix for many, many years, so it proved to be a challenge.

I wasn’t sure what to play at all, because I had tested and tried many different decks on Magic Online, and the only deck I found to show the most consistency, other than X/X Tron, was Scapeshift. I liked the concept of keeping myself alive long enough to literally explode onto my opponent, dealing a ton of colorless damage in the process. I wasn’t in favor of playing any variation of a Tron build because I found that most of the time, they’re very boring victories; for example, your usual red/green Tron build operates as follows -

1. Play Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Tower, and Urza’s Power Plant as quick as possible.
2. Cast and resolve Karn Liberated or Wurmcoil Engine.
3. Start attacking and exiling stuff with Karn for the win.

Normally I wouldn’t have an issue playing something like this because I’m fully aware there are other Tron builds that don’t do just that; they employ manlands such as Celestial Colonnade to deal a lot of the damage, they’ll use Mindslaver to lock their opponents and recur whatever they need to with Academy Ruins. That’s all well and good, but Scapeshift was more of an inviting challenge for me, as most game-ending Scapeshifts involve a bit of a math problem.

Let’s go over the win condition before the decklist.

The goal of a Scapeshift deck is to ramp up to as many lands in play as you possibly can before you can determine it’s the right time to blow up. This is determined by Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and the amount of mountains you have in your deck. What happens when you cast Scapeshift is that you sacrifice as many lands as you want (Note that sacrificing is ONLY done if the spell resolves), search your library for that many lands and put them onto the battlefield tapped.

Valakut deals 3 damage to any target if a mountain enters the battlefield when there are already five or more under your control. Well, the sweet part about Scapeshift is that every land that enters tapped enters at the exact same time – the usual goal is to sacrifice eight lands (though seven is usually enough) to get two copies of Valakut and six “mountains,” either basics or shocklands such as Stomping Ground or Steam Vents. Each of those six mountains sees five other ones “already on the battlefield,” so it triggers each Valakut for each mountain you Scapeshift for that sees five others; that’s 18 colorless damage to the face if you have one Valakut, 36 if you have two. Most of the time that isn’t enough for your opponent to deal with, therefore you win.

The other part of the math here is that I had a total of nine mountains in my maindeck. If I had an opening hand that included three of them, I knew there were six of them left over in the deck for me to combo off with. I was told I could have squeezed a tenth mountain in there, but I viewed that as overkill and most likely not necessary.

The decklist I used for this tournament is as follows -

2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Flooded Grove
1 Breeding Pool
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
3 Island
2 Forest
1 Mountain

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Snapcaster Mage

4 Scapeshift
3 Pyroclasm
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Farseek
4 Remand
4 Peer Through Depths
3 Cryptic Command
2 Izzet Charm
1 Negate
2 Lightning Bolt

Sideboard

2 Torpor Orb
1 Counterflux
3 Naturalize
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Sowing Salt
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Relic of Progenitus

There were several discussions at my LGS the week before the GP as to what should be done differently to this deck when Second Sunrise was banned in Modern. There were a few cards I wanted to use depending on what I expected to see, such as Turn//Burn, Mindbreak Trap, Nature’s Claim, Echoing Truth, and Electrolyze. I ran my list by Gerry Thompson for insight and feedback, and as usual he bounced back with very valid points; Turn//Burn ends up being very slow and not what I want to do, bounce from Echoing Truth doesn’t really matter when I have Cryptic Command to do enough of the work, and when it comes to Kiki-Jiki tokens aren’t my problem if my opponent copies a ton of Restoration Angel or Deceiver Exarch. Mindbreak Trap was determined to be useless since neither one of us were expecting to see much horsing around with Beck//Call yet. I had enough card drawing power from Remand and Cryptic Command to not rely so heavily on the three-mana Electrolyze, so I opted out. Spell Snare would have been a great addition, but the deck is already tight; there wasn’t anything worth cutting to include them, as much as I hate using Remand at times.

Round One – Jund

My first opponent didn’t hesitate to begin hand disruption with Thoughtseize and Raven’s Crime; those cards definitely hurt me. It’s not enough of a good target for Remand and it’s certainly not worth a Cryptic Command use unless I’m ready to combo off. After quick beatings with Tarmogoyf and maindecked Obstinate Baloth discarded with Liliana of the Veil, we went to game two.

IN: 2 Relic of Progenitus, 3 Obstinate Baloth. OUT: 2 Izzet Charm, 1 Negate, 2 Farseek.

I was able to resolve a Relic on turn one and keep my opponent’s Deathrite Shaman practically nerfed for most of the game, but Thoughtseize took my only found copy of Scapeshift. I was left with only Snapcaster Mage and Obstinate Baloth to block and eventually took a double Lightning Bolt to the face to seal the first loss.

Round Two – Kiki-Pod

Game one was very easy for me due to my opponent simply never finding a Birthing Pod to begin his shenanigans. I was able to take advantage of him constantly shocking himself with shocklands to Scapeshift for 18 and kill him.

IN: 2 Torpor Orb, 3 Naturalize. Out: 2 Izzet Charm, 3 Pyroclasm.

One of my few play mistakes of the day, I felt, was during this matchup post-sideboard. My intentions were to blow up my opponent’s Birthing Pod as quick as possible should be have found one, but he didn’t. Instead, he happened to find an entire playset of Birds of Paradise, essentially letting him cast whatever he needed to. From that amount of mana came a Kiki-Jiki, and approximately two million Restoration Angels right to the head. Game three, I returned the three Naturalize and brought back the three Pyroclasm, and I couldn’t find an answer to Birthing Pod once it started going.

Round Three – Affinity

My opponent opened up with a turn one Blinkmoth Nexus and then passed the turn. I started with an untapped Steam Vents, knowing I probably wanted to kill his Nexus with the Lightning Bolt I was holding. I stayed conservative and passed. His turn two involved playing a Glimmervoid, then casting a Memnite. He animated his Blinkmoth Nexus, then attacked in the air for a point of damage. At the end of his turn I killed off the Memnite with the Lightning Bolt I was holding, and a judge was called because he disagreed with the fact that he lost his Glimmervoid after his Blinkmoth Nexus was no longer an artifact, and he had no others. He lost gas and I was able to Scapeshift for 36 after a judge had to come by and explain how it worked.

IN: None. OUT: None.

Practically the same scenario happened, only this time he opened up with a Mox Opal, Darksteel Citadel, Memnite, and a Vault Skirge. I played a basic island and passed. He was able to rip a Cranial Plating and cast it, attaching it to the Vault Skirge and attacking for 7. He then passed to me, as I laid down a basic mountain and cast Pyroclasm to clear the board. It was very easy to ramp up and Scapeshift for another 36 points of damage.

Round 4 – BUG Gifts

My opponent won the die roll and began with a turn one Raven’s Crime, and I knew exactly how the game would go from there. I wasn’t able to ramp up fast enough to deal with a reanimated Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. The only real out I had to her was to bounce her with Cryptic Command, though it ended up being Remanded twice. At that point he was able to cast a Wurmcoil Engine after I bounced Norn, but it was already too late for me.

IN: 2 Wurmcoil Engine, 1 Counterflux. OUT: 2 Lightning Bolt, 1 Negate.

Game two ended up easier since he never found any hand disruption and didn’t draw into many counterspells. I was able to ramp up very quick, cast Scapeshift and protect it with Counterflux. Game three was a different scenario altogether as both of us ended up with Wurmcoil Engines on the table, and both times I attempted to Scapeshift didn’t do much. It was countered the first time, and the second time both of us had high enough life totals that it ended up being a better gameplan just to try to beat him to death. Eventually time was called in the round, and that was my first draw of the day. He played well.

Round 5 – Jund Tron

Game one went by pretty fast, my opponent had all three Tron lands available to generate seven mana on turn three. Knowing I had to outrace him I casted Farseek on turn two, however I realized quickly that it wasn’t the right play. I should have stayed conservative and Remanded the impending Karn Liberated I saw on turn three. He exiled my lands one by one, and there was nothing left to do. Scooped, went to game two.

IN: 2 Sowing Salt, 1 Counterflux. OUT: 3 Pyroclasm.

This game went a lot better for me as I had both copies of Sowing Salt in my opening hand. I suspended Search for Tomorrow on turn one, then passed. He opened with Urza’s Tower, then Expedition Map. I was eventually able to Sowing Salt his Urza’s Tower, then the turn after that his Grove of the Burnwillows, ensuring I had enough time to ramp into an effective enough Scapeshift for the win. Game three was a bit more complicated; while I still Sowing Salted his Tron pieces, I had found what he most likely sided in on game two; Slaughter Games. Obviously naming Scapeshift, I was down to only being able to win through Lightning Bolt and attacking with Sakura-Tribe Elder and Snapcaster Mage. Valakut triggers didn’t happen, and we didn’t kill each other before time was called in the round. After I told my opponent I wouldn’t freeroll him a win after he had asked, he signed the match slip begrudgingly.

Round 6 – Bant Jank

I was repaired to this opponent after the judges realized that a dozen people dropped without notifying anyone. My opponent won the diceroll, played a Celestial Colonnade tapped and passed. I spent turn one suspending a Search for Tomorrow, then passed. My opponent cast a Tarmogoyf on his second turn, a very angry 0/1 at that. I ended up killing it, and then ramped up enough to be able to show him what Scapeshift did. He scooped, confused.

IN: 2 Relic of Progenitus. OUT: 2 Izzet Charm.

Not much happened on game two that was different than game one. Colonnade, pass. Suspend SFT, pass. Tarmogoyf, pass. Pyroclasm, pass. The only difference this time is that it actually took two Scapeshifts for me to win, as the first was countered. The second one came off of a Peer Through Depths that I cast on the end of his next turn, and he had no outs to it.

Round 7 – Mono Blue Tron

I’m pretty certain my opponent kept an awkward opening hand, because most of what he did was pass turns and counter my ramp spells. Not seeing any Tron lands until turn five, I was able to deal with the repeated bashings of Solemn Simulacrum long enough to open up a large Scapeshift to kill him. Not entirely threatened, I sided thusly;

IN: 3 Naturalize. OUT: 3 Pyroclasm.

I did see my opponent pull off a Mindslaver rather quickly here, but it didn’t last as I was holding onto two copies of Naturalize. I didn’t bring in Sowing Salt here because I could tell he didn’t rely on his Tron assembly too much to be able to ramp to sufficient amounts of mana. He got a Wurmcoil Engine out the turn after the blown up Mindslaver, and while I Naturalized it I still had two tokens to worry about. I Cryptic Commanded the Lifelink token and drew a card the turn after I destroyed their father because I did NOT want him gaining any more life than necessary; anything higher than roughly 36-40 and I’m probably not going to win. However this wasn’t the case and I walked away with another win after ramping up to Scapeshift a couple turns later.

Round 8 – Blue White Control

This was my favorite match of the day. My opponent played very well, and I wasn’t prepared for any of the copies of Spell Snare he held onto because I hadn’t seen any other ones the entire day. His plays included Wurmcoil Engines, Vendilion Cliques, Steelshaper’s Gift to find his Batterskull, and others. Game one he was able to bring me to 2 life from repeated smacks with Wurmcoil Engine, while propelling himself to 32 rather quickly. I was able to win off of a 36-point Scapeshift off the skin of my teeth after a Negated Negate to protect the combo.

IN: None. OUT: None.

This game got very intense very fast. I had an opening hand that included a basic forest and triple Search for Tomorrow, and after being able to cast and resolve all three of them, I knew I was going to end up ahead. He was able to get an Aven Mindcensor and Spellskite on the board, potentially screwing up my plan. On turn six, I attempted a Pyroclasm to kill the Aven Mindcensor, and he attempted to counter it with Cryptic Command. I responded with my own Cryptic Command, choosing to counter his Cryptic Command and bounce his Spellskite. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he let it go. I was down to one card in hand after all that; a Scapeshift. I passed the turn, and he cast a Batterskull on his. He passed the turn, I ripped a second Scapeshift. I had eight mana on the board, four of it available green. I cast the first Scapeshift, and it ended up countered. Hoping he wasn’t holding another counterspell, I cast the second Scapeshift, and he extended the hand.

Round 9 – Gruul Aggro

This match was tough. My opponent was able to get an Experiment One, a Burning-Tree Emissary and a Goblin Guide by turn two, luckily the first three Goblin Guide triggers gave me land. I was able to Pyroclasm to get most of the board wiped out, therefore keeping me alive just barely long enough to Scapeshift my way into a game win.

IN: 2 Wurmcoil Engine, 3 Obstinate Baloth. OUT: 2 Izzet Charm, 1 Negate, 2 Farseek

Taking out ramp hurt me a little bit but the tradeoff that would get me more life to stay alive was worth it. We went back and forth with damage and gained life (my scorepad actually has two lines worth of my life totals for that game) and he was able to bring me down to 5, dangerous territory. He had cast a landfalled Searing Blaze targeting me and my Baloth, then a Lightning Bolt to attempt to seal the deal. I Cryptic Commanded the Lightning Bolt, leaving me alive with him having no cards in hand. At his EOT phase, I casted Peer Through Depths. He said “C’mon, slam that Scapeshift down!”

I did.

Final – 5-2-2, 264th place out of 979

I was very satisfied with how I performed after not playing in a Grand Prix for a long time. I feel like if my drawn matches didn’t go to time, I would have won, so there’s extra assurance that I did the right things during the tournament. The day itself was a blast; I got to meet people, buy some sweet Japanese cards, and earn what I felt was a respectable finish with what I believe is a great deck. The day after that was spent with my family in Portland checking out the city.

Feel free to leave a comment or question on the bottom. Thanks so much for reading!

Until next time,
Dave Rehm, @avatarofbro on Twitter

[James Dean]

Why not board in the Wurmcoils against Jund? They're absolutely one of the best ways to win the game given that they're hard to answer, buy you all that time, and Jund typically has some amount of Slaughter Games for Scapeshift postboard. Typically against Slaughter Games (like that tron deck) decks you want to cut one Shift for a hard to deal with wincon, Meloku has done the most work for me. Naturalize and Torpor Orb as sb choices are both a little sketchy to me as well. Good job though!

[Avatar of Bro]

Why not board in the Wurmcoils against Jund? They're absolutely one of the best ways to win the game given that they're hard to answer, buy you all that time, and Jund typically has some amount of Slaughter Games for Scapeshift postboard. Typically against Slaughter Games (like that tron deck) decks you want to cut one Shift for a hard to deal with wincon, Meloku has done the most work for me. Naturalize and Torpor Orb as sb choices are both a little sketchy to me as well. Good job though!

I thought about adding Meloku because she really does do a lot of work, I just wasn't really sure where to make the adjustment for one as I probably wouldn't run more than one. Torpor Orb NEEDS a spot in the board for Pod shenanigans, especially against cards like Finks and anything Kiki tries to copy. Naturalize is better for me to use than Nature's Claim because I would rather not give my opponent life, and Krosan Grip's too expensive. Naturalize did a ton of work for me over the weekend. I should have considered really any Jund-colored deck to run S-Games, but as I didn't see it much until the round I saw it, it didn't come to mind.