SCG Atlanta Modern Classic Report: RG Scapeshift

By Richard Meshell

For the past two weeks, I had waffled on a deck to play at the first large post-ban Modern event. My go-to is Scapeshift, but what blend? I’ve been playing RG Titan, but wanted to try something fresh. RUG was too risky given the anticipated amount of aggro decks. Maybe a Bring to Light variant? Sure, let us try that.

I sleeved up Bring to Light Black and spent Moday nighting testing with a few friends. I was unexcited with the deck, but it was functional and did it’s thing. On Wednesday, I read about the results of a recent large Canadian tournament, the FacetoFace Games tournament series. Felix Tse took down the Toronto Open with RG Scapeshift, and was a finalist in the same series earlier in the year. The fire had been lit, and I was back on RG. However, I wasn’t a fan of the winning decklist (Felix admitted in his Deck Tech that some card choices weren’t optimal) and reverted back to my GPT decklist with a few changes. Here is the 75 I registered for Sunday morning:

//Lands
3 Cinder Glade
3 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Misty Rainforest
8 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Wooded Foothills

//Spells
1 Beast Within
3 Explore
2 Farseek
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow

//Creatures
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder

//Sideboard
SB: 3 Nature’s Claim
SB: 2 Prismatic Omen
SB: 2 Sudden Shock
SB: 2 Anger of the Gods
SB: 3 Crumble to Dust
SB: 3 Obstinate Baloth

I sat down and it’s announced we’ll have 8 rounds.

Rounds!

Round 1: Naya Zoo

I win the dice roll and shock to suspend a Search For Tomorrow. He fetches and shocks to cast a turn 1 Kird Ape. I have some Tribe Elders to fog, so I go with that. He follows up with another Kird Ape and a Lava Spike. I ramp into a Primeval Titan and pick off a Kird Ape. He’s drawn lands for two turns, so we go to game 2. He goes on the play and I (in retrospect) mistakenly ship a hand back with two Baloths and Search for Tomorrow, but no turn 1 green sources. It may have been right to keep it given my chances of getting a better mulligan, but Kird Ape/Nactl/Rift Bolt gets the job done. For game 3, I suspend a SFT and he leads out with a Goblin Guide. His follow up is a Swiftspear and Kird Ape and I respond with Anger of the Gods then an unanswered Baloth into Scapeshift. He said after the match his hand was “you have Anger or not”. Despite the round one loss, this guy finished just out of Top 16.

1-0-0

Round 2: Grixis Control

I mulligan to 6 on the draw and keep a pretty unexciting hand. Turn 1 is a Blackcleave Cliffs into an Inquisition to start taking my hand apart. He gets a semi-early Tasigur, where the only play I’m able to make it to Beast Within it to take down some clock. I had a series of pretty poor draws that there was just no recovering from. In game two I kept a decent hand with a Relic, some ramp spells and a Scapeshift. A turn 1 Thoughtseize took care of the Scapeshift. I really drew blanks the rest of the game and was forced to expose my Valakut (which was immediately Crumble’d). The clock of Tasigur and Creeping Tar Pit sealed the deal.

1-1-0

Round 3: Naya Zoo

I won the dice roll and kept 7 with a lot of ramp with Tribe Elders but no payoff (did however have a Courser for some card selection with the Elders). He led off bolting himself for a Wild Nactl. I played a Tribe Elder to fog some damage. He followed up with another Nactl and a Goblin Guide. I was able to get Valakut online early with the Courser on the field so that a Path would Bolt his creatures (which is exactly what happened). He drew into one or two more lands than he liked but conceded with he saw the Titan on top of my library. Game 2 I kept a Turn 4 killl (on the draw) with Khalni Heart Garden, hoping to catch him off a turn. He led off with Experiment One into a Goblin Guide. I played my Heart Expedition on turn 2 and had it meet a Destructive Revelry (which I realized he probably sided in for Courser as he hadn’t seen the enchantment in game 1). A Baloth off the top could have given me a turn, but my hand wasn’t fast enough otherwise. A Ghor-Clan Rampager made sure of that. In game 3, I kept a T4 hand again with Tribe Elders as blockers (on the play). He goes wide and is able to force through his attackers by using spot removal on my Elders. He’s able to hold up a Boros Charm to negate my Anger, and takes the game from there.

1-2-0

Round 4: Jund

I recognized the name of my opponent immediately as the kid my best friend/roommate beat in the finals of a PPTQ a year ago. He’s always been pretty salty about it and is just unpleasant to be around, so I wasn’t looking forward to the next 30 or so minutes. He also jumps decks a lot, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

In game 1, we both mulligan to 6 (I’m on the draw) and he T1 Thoughtseizes away some of my gas (I really just kept a working hand) but leaves a Relic. The relic really kept me in the game as he was unable to have a large Goyf or cast Pulse of Murasa. However, there was an onboard Lili who had gotten up to 6. On my side were two Heart Expeditions, 4 lands in play, and a Scapeshift in hand. I elected to cast the Scapeshift to get 2 Valakut triggers to take care of Lili. I lost 2 turns later to Confidant/Raving Ravine. Game 2, I have plenty of ramp but an early discard spell takes out my win-con. He reveals a Pulse of Murasa off Bob, but my Relic is keeping his graveyard pretty clean (he attempts to cast it without a target, just wanting to gain life but I point out that’s not how spells work). I’m getting beat down with a medium sized Goyf and topdeck a Scapeshift for the win. In Game 3, I mulligan to 6 on the draw. An Inquisition/Goyf/Fulminator Mage curve put me enough behind.

It’s possible I’m not playing this matchup correctly, as it’s been iffy at FNM as well. A note I definitely made was to test more against xBr variants (Grixis, Jund) as these archetypes will eventually find a footing in the meta.

1-3-0

At this point I’m not playing for a lot, but my ride is on a hot streak. I’m not interested in dropping out to do side events as that’s just more money spent. At this point, I’m at risk of blowing my goal for the day.

Round 5: Living End

I keep 7, lose the dice roll, and breath easy when he cycles a creature on turn 1. With 4 maindeck Relics and the ability to get my Tribe Elders in the yard, I have a pretty decent matchup. He finds 2 Fulminator Mages and threatens to bring them back before I dig into a Relic and take basically all the wind from his sails. A few turns later, I Scapeshift him and we’re onto game 2. I really just bring in Nature’s Claims to fight an early Blood Moon. He starts game 2 with a Leyline of Sanctity in play, which is bad news because my hand is a Scapeshift kill (but does have a Relic). I sit back on the Relic for what seemed like forever with me making nothing but land drops and turning on a Valakut. I had two Tribe Elders in the graveyard, and cast a Primetime to grab a Valakut and Kessig Wolf Run for board control and a win-con. The first Titan was Living Ended away, but I followed up with a second Primeval Titan. My Valakuts were able to keep his board clear and swing in for lethal with a large Wolf Run (I essentially had every working land in my deck out at this point).

2-3-0; Good start let’s turn it around.

Round 6: WB Hatebears

I keep 7 on the play and lead off with a tapped shockland. He leads off with an untapped Godless Shrine into an Aether Vial and I sink into my chair. Half my deck is search effects. He follows it up with a Turn 2 Leonin Arbiter, into a Turn 3 Leonin Arbiter. I was prepared to pay the (2) tax to just search my library a handful in one turn, but I made a rules error and did not realize I needed to pay (2) for each Arbiter on the field. This locked me out as I needed to crack a fetchland for land number 4 and get some spells going. I passed the turn hoping the game might just drag out, but he cast a Thoughtseize and I scooped (not sure if he had seen much of my deck yet). I boarded in Angers, Sudden Shocks, and Baloths to give myself a shot. I keep my hand of 7 with a good amount of ramp that I can get to before an arbiter hits the field and an Anger for when it does. He drops a Spellskite on turn 2 and a Kitchen Finks on Turn 3. I’m able to get Valakut online and Anger to take care of both the Finks and Spellskite. This opened a window for a lethal Scapeshift and that’s what happened (He was tapped out, so no need to play around Mindcensor or anything). I kept most of the same plan for game 3, looking to keep a hand with an Anger or Sudden Shock. This paid off as I was able to Sudden Shock a turn 2 Arbiter, he had no real action otherwise to slow me down over the next 2 turns so I ran away with the game.

I felt lucky to have stole this match as it doesn’t feel like it would be good against their good draws. However, he didn’t have a good draw and the combo is very punishing if you stumble.

3-3-0

Round 7: UWR Control

We both took it to six and I’m on the draw. He leads off with a Scalding Tarn but no T1 play. I don’t have a lot of action myself, but can keep making my land drops and an early Relic keeps the graveyard clean of any Snapcaster or Jace shenanigans. The game goes on forever, but I draw into all my Relics and can filter a bit with the help of Courser of Kruphix. He eventually finds a clock in Restoration Angel, but I’m able to force a Scapeshift through countermagic. Game 2 is a similar story where I have a large mana advantage and make Remand/Mana Leak “dead” cards. He Negates an early ramp spell, but my Relic of Progenitus is able to keep it out of the graveyard and he doesn’t draw into another one.

4-3-0

My friend (and ride) is in 11th at this point fighting for a Top 8 spot. I’m unsure of my position, but I’m still looking to finish the day on a high note, so we’re both stoked.

Round 8: Naya Burn

I lose the dice roll but keep a 7 card, turn 4 kill. He leads off with an untapped Sacred Foundry into Goblin Guide. I play a Khalni Heart Expedition and pass. He misses his land drop and suspends a Rift Bolt (missing his land drop was the deciding factor). Two turns later, he dies to a Scapeshift. Game two was similar on my end as I kept a turn 4 hand that used Khalni Heart Garden. On turn 2, I tapped out for it and had it taken out by a Destructive Revelry, followed by a Molten Rain on one of my lands. The tempo was too much to come back from, so we went to game 3. Oddly enough, game 3 went almost exactly like game 1 except I was on the play. I kept another turn 4 kill that wasn’t suspect to Revelry, and he kept another 1 lander. He found the second land a bit too late (I think he kept the hand because of a Molten Rain), and died to a Titan.  

5-3-0

Because of my bad performance earlier in the day, I was not counting on getting in the Top 32 based on poor breakers. However, I gave myself a big pat on the back for pulling back into a winning record. (Looks like the coach and GM can stick around for one more year).

Ultimately I ended up with a 52nd place finish, the worst among the X-3’s (which went up to 23nd place). My final record was better than my last bout at an SCG event (4-4), so I’ll consider it a win. 

Thoughts on deck changes:

The biggest change I was unsure of was a maindecked Beast Within. With this tournament being a small sample size, I wasn’t impressed and rather it had been a more useful card. I had also been testing a Kessig Wolf Run as an alternate win con since the creature count is a little higher. It has performed well, and will likely stay as a utility land.

I look forward to continue testing the deck as it seems like a decent choice in Modern. RG has a great proactive and consistent plan. My plan is to refine the list a little and make it out to SCG Regionals!