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By: TugaChampion, Guilherme Carmona Alexandrino
Apr 02 2015 12:00pm
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I'm still playing Scapeshift and I made just one change in the sideboard. Sudden Shock was just another removal. It's very good against Infect but against everything else it’s not that great. I wanted something else against burn because it's a cheap and easy to play deck. Being cheap is very relevant because many people don't want to invest as much in MTGO as they do in real life so I wanted 1 more slot against it. Feed the Clan is what many green decks are packing but it's hard for it to gain me 10 life with just 4 Baloths. Other than that, it's everything I wanted: it can be taken with Peer and Snapcaster lets me reuse it. I searched for cards and the only card that compares to Feed the Clan is Nourish. I figure, if I have Baloth in play and resolve either one, I'm winning the game anyway most of the time so the 4 life difference here isn't that relevant. The difference when I don't have Baloth is just 1 life but that might be all it takes. Feed the Clan does cost 1G instead of GG but after sideboarding I take out Cryptics in this match up anyway so I can get more green sources with Sakura and Search for Tomorrow. Rest for the Weary would be perfect in this deck if it was green but that's not an option and it's difficult to know for sure which one is better. I do think that having just one of these in the sideboard improves this match up significantly. Here's the list:

 

M1G1:

 

I suspended Search for Tomorrow and turn 1 and he had Serum Visions. I did the same on turn 2. He played another Serum Visions on his third turn after my first Search had resolved. He Remanded my second Search and I replayed it. I used Visions drawing another Search and putting Harvest Pyre on top and Explosives on bottom. He played a land and passed and played my third Search. At my end step he Peeked and Bolted me. He missed his land drop and I drew Peer. At my end step he played Pestermite. In response I tapped that land and another to play Peer choosing Mana Leak. He attacked and passed without playing a land again. I tapped all my mana and cast Scapeshift. He tried Remand and I responded with Leak. He Remanded my Leak and I let it resolve to play it again and win.

M1G2:

 

I went to 6 cards and we both started with Visions. I sent Explosives to the bottom and kept another Visions. I played Peer at his end step to get Dispel and on my turn I just played a land and passed. He were playing draw go for a bit until he decided to play Pestermite on my upkeep. I didn't have a land but I didn't want to tap lands to play Serum Visions because if I miss my land drop, I can't play Pyre and Dispel. I found a land so I played Serum Visions drawing Cryptic and putting Peer on the bottom and land on top. He simply kept attacking me and I played land and Sakura. He played Blood Moon and I could counter it if I tapped out for Cryptic but that would leave me dead to Twin so I let it resolve. I passed my turn again and he played a second Moon. At his end step I played Snapcaster on Peer to get Negate. I was at 7 already so I used Pyre to kill his Pestermite when he attacked. But the combination of my low life total and his 3 Exarchs was enough to finish me. I think I played this game too afraid of the combo. Against Twin, if you tapout, you are likely to just lose but sometimes the deck plays with that. They might not have it, but you don't know so you have to play as if they have it. But there also comes a point where you might have to play as if they didn't have it or as if they have it but nothing to protect it. It's not easy to figure out those points and it's something only experience can give you. I was not a favourite this game because I was stuck on lands and that made it much harder to play my game because I couldn't do anything but maybe it would have been right to try countering Blood Moon as this would be a good I would have a very hard time fighting it.

M1G3:

 

Like game 1, I started with Search and he with Visions. Search resolved and played Pestermite on the upkeep of my forth turn. I let it resolved and killed it with Izzet Charm. I missed my land but I drew one the following turn. He played Spellskite and I suspended Search. He played Snapcaster and tried to flashback Visions but I Remanded that. We both passed and I was attacked for 2. Search resolved and I drew Scapeshift. He used Desolate Lighthouse discarding Twin. He attacked and passed and I drew my third Cryptic. He attacked again and with so many Cryptics I wanted to cycle them to get more lands or cheap counters so I tried to return his Lighthouse to hand at his end step. In response he tapped it and 2 more lands to play Pestermite and I decided to Remand it. He allowed it and on my turn I tapped all my mana and played Scapeshift. He played Remand and I Leaked it. He didn't pay and played another Remand. I Remanded his Remand and that was it.

M2G1:

 

I kept a hand without green mana but with Visions to find it. He fetched for a Watery Grave and played his own Visions. My Visions drew me Breeding Pool and put Electrolyze and another Visions on top. Maybe I should have put Electrolyze on bottom as Watery Grave probably means few or no targets for it but I wasn't sure what I was facing so I kept it as I could always cycle it. He played Breeding Pool and passed and I played the Visions putting Island on bottom and Cryptic on top and suspended Search. He played land and Tarmogoyf. I played a land and suspended another Search. He attacked and played Ashiok and passed the turn without playing a land. Ashiok is very dangerous because it might exile enough Mountains or both Valakuts or even all Scapeshifts. I already had 1 Valakut and one Scapeshift but exiling Mountains was still a possibility. I killed Ashiok with Bolt and Electrolyze but that made his Goyf a 4/5. He attacked me down to 10 but had nothing else to play. On his upkeep I killed Goyf with Pyre and he played Inquisition which I Mana Leaked. He tapped out for another Goyf. I could have won right away but for some reason I thought I needed 8 lands so I just bounced his Goyf with Repeal and passed. He replayed his Goyf and I bounced in on his end step. I finally decided to play Scapeshift and won.

M2G2:

 

I suspended Search on turn 1 and played Sakura on turn 2, which he Leaked. Search resolved on the following turn and I hardcast another one which also resolved. After that I played Visions and he responded with Quicken. I drew land and saw Counterflux and Scapeshift. I put both on top, drawing Counterflux first. He played 2 Spreading Seas, taking out my only red source in play and one of the two green sources. I had more in hand so it didn't matter and I actually think Spreading Seas is pretty bad against Scapeshift. He played Liliana and I discarded an Island. On my turn I played Scapeshift and won.

M3G1:

 

I had to mulligan on the play and kept 4 lands, Bolt and Crypitc. He played Inquisition and took my Bolt. I drew Search and suspended it. He played Raven's Crime so that meant he was playing a discard deck instead of Junk so I discarded Cryptic to make future cards like Thoughtseize worse and because against this type of decks, I probably have to get to 7 or 8 mana as fast as possible and eventually topdeck a Scapeshift or Snapcaster if there is one in the graveyard already. He missed his second land and passed. I drew and played Lighthouse as that is great for the plan I talked about earlier. He played another Raven's Crime and passed. I resolved Search and played a land. He played Shrieking Affliction and I drew another land. I could not play a land so I would have 2 cards and not taking damage from Affliction but that's terrible if he has anything to make me discard, even a land could do that. And I need to get to 8 mana to have a shot at winning. He played a second Affliction which makes things worse but I still think I need to play lands. I drew Scapeshift and I had 7 lands in play now, so if he didn't make me discard I could draw a land to win. But he did make me discard by discarding a second Urborg. I drew a land and activated Lighthouse but it was not Explosives so I lost. Maybe I should have activated Lighthouse sooner to try to find Explosives but I didn't think of that at the time.

M3G2:

 

I started with Visions which allowed me to keep a Baloth on top. He used Inquisition to take Peer over Leak. He played Wrench Mind and even though that would make me discard Baloth, I still countered it because it made me discard two. He played another one and this time I had no choice so I put Baloth into play and discarded a land. After this he played Raven's Crime and this time I discarded Scapeshift as missing a land drop would be worse. He played Surgical Extraction on Scapeshift so now I had to win with Baloths. He discarded Dakmor Salvage to take my last card and played Ensnaring Bridge. I drew Repeal so I bounced the Bridge drawing Visions and attacked. He discarded Mutavault to make me discard and replayed the Bridge. I drew and played Sakura. He played a land and passed twice in a row while I also did once drawing Izzet Charm the following turn. He played The Rack so now I had a clock. I drew a land and passed without playing it. For several turns all he did was dredging Dakmor Salvage to make me discard to keep me taking 2 on my upkeep. Eventually I found two more Baloths and that made any Cryptic lethal. He realized that so he stopped dredging but that turned out even worse for him because it made me start taking only 1 instead of 2. Eventually I found Cryptic and I won.

M3G3:

 

He took my Search with Inquisition and I discarded Bolt and land to his two Raven's Crimes. I drew Sakura and played it. He discarded Salvage to replay Crime and played Mutavault. I sacrificed Sakura on his end step. I only had lands so I passed and he played Bridge. I drew Visions drawing Nature's Claim and putting Negate and Visions on top (after watching the replay it would probably be better to put Negate on the bottom). He used Raven's Crime and I discarded a land and I was hoping he would do it one more time so I could respond and kill his Bridge but he just attacked with Mutavault. Him having Mutavault was pretty bad for me because it was a clock and it made him want to keep 2 cards in hand so it could attack. Visions drew me Negate and I put Peer and land on top. He played Inquisition and I Negated it. He attacked with Mutavault and passed. I simply played my land and he played Liliana so I responded by killing his Bridge. I played Peer on my turn but it saw nothing it could take and it even sent 2 Baloths to the bottom. He put Liliana on 5 and attacked. I drew Snapcaster and Bolted the Liliana. He upped his Liliana again and I drew Repeal. I Repealed Snapcaster wanting to flashback Visions but I tapped wrong and I was left with just one blue source. I suspended Search and passed with 2 mana open. He played Wrench Mind so I responded with Snapcaster and he made me sacrifice it. I drew a land and I had 7 now with a Search still suspended so topdecking Scapeshift would be a win. I drew Visions which drew me Baloth and I sent Sakura to the bottom and kept Snapcaster on the top. He made us both discard so I put Baloth into play while he discarded Bridge and his last card was another Liliana which he played to make me sacrifice Baloth. I played Snapcaster on Peer and took Cryptic. He drew a land and used Raven's Crime so I had no good plays with Cryptic. Bouncing Liliana, even if he couldn't play it this turn, would still be giving her 1 loyalty so I just used Cryptic to bounce his Mutavault so that maybe he doesn't play it by mistake. He did play it and when I attacked Liliana he blocked with Mutavault. I kept drawing land until the point I actually had 6 Mountains in play so I was able to put Liliana back to 1 counter. Meanwhile he was drawing discard spells and just discarding them to Liliana. He did keep one card in hand and didn't activate Liliana for one turn but later he did and it was Victim of Night. I drew Baloth and he drew Surgical Extraction which he used to Exile my Cryptics. After seeing I had Baloth in hand he didn't activate Liliana. I drew Peer which found Scapeshift and I still had enough Mountains to kill him with 2 Valakuts.

M4G1:

 

He played Visions on turn 1 and Spreading Seas on turns 2 and 3. At his end step I played Peer getting Scapeshift. He tried to play Restoration Angel on my end step but I Remanded it. On his turn he played Vendilion Clique but I used Mana Leak and he only had a tapped land so he couldn't keep Tectonic Edge up. I drew Search for Tomorrow and that allowed me to play Scapeshift with 7 lands and put him to 1 life. He was probably just UW and not UWR because he had Seachrome Coast so he wouldn't have access to Lightning Helix. He was stuck on 5 lands and this also forced him to destroy my Valakut right away or just die to any Mountain. And being at 1 life also made fetch lands useless. So I went for it and put him to 1 with Bolt in hand. He played an untapped land and destroyed my Valakut so I couldn't Bolt him as he might have Cryptic. Eventually he tried to play a Kitchen Finks and in response I played Electrolyze. He used Crypitc to counter it but I Bolted him in response and won.

M4G2:

 

I kept a hand with no green mana but it had Serum Visions. Visions drew me and Island and saw a non green land and Scapeshift and I kept Scapeshift on top. I Remanded his Kitchen Finks and on my turn I played Izzet Charm to try to find green mana but I didn't. He played Visions and Finks. He played another Finks but I decided to use Counterflux as that would increase the clock too much. I played Visions still not finding green mana but I still kept Negate on top. I did this because if I find just one green source, I have to Sakura's to get more and this gives me two cheap counters to protect Scapeshift. When I was at 7 he played Aven Mindcensor on my end step and tried to kill me by attacking with Colonnade. I played Snapcaster Mage to try to kill his Aven and block Finks but he had Mana Leak which I had to Negate. Before I could block he also used Path and I lost. I think I'm a favourite to win this game if I find green mana early as I have a lot of ramp and I had some cheap counters.

M4G3:

 

I kept another hand with Visions but no green mana. Visions drew me Scapeshift but again saw no green mana and I sent both to the bottom. On my upkeep he played Snapcaster which I Remanded but still no green mana. On his turn he played Kitchen Finks and I played Visions and not only I didn't find green mana, I couldn't even make my land drop. When I found green mana it allowed me to suspend Search but it was destroyed by Tectonic Edge and I lost to two Kitchen Finks when he countered Cryptic that was trying to buy me one turn.

It was somewhat frustrating to lose the last round like this but I still think it's correct to keep those hands. I still 3-1ed so I can't be too unhappy about it and I hope you enjoyed this.