Reworking Scapeshift at FNM

I decided to mix things up at our Modern FNM, last night and play Scapeshift. Typically, I play Living End or Ad Nauseam, but Scapeshift seemed like a good idea. The 4-0 record seemed to indicate that it was.

Now, I want to state before I go too far, the last round was against Nick who was playing Lantern Control. Nick was also 3-0 and it is very common for him to offer to draw and then play for fun. Which we did.

Still, I want to start with this match.

Nick was able to get the Lantern of Insight out early and seemed poised to really control the game, as the deck is want to do. He followed it up with a Codex shredder and soon had me milling cards away.

Fortunate for me my turn two play was Prismatic Omen. For me, it was a matter of how long before I draw a Scapeshift or, the newest addition to the deck, Bring to Light. I was feeling pretty confident when, on turn four, I drew Scapeshift. I just needed my two copies of Search for Tomorrow to come off Suspend and the game was mine. That was happening next turn.

I shipped the turn to Nick and cringed when he cast Thoughtseize. I knew it was coming as it was the top card of his library. He cast it and, of course, took away my win con.

All was not lost though as a copy of Remand (I missed it when he cast Thoughtseize) revealed a Scapeshift as my top card. I thought for sure I had it.

But, as the deck is designed to do, Nick had me shuffle the card away. Nick had me mill it away. And, low and behold, there was Scapeshift. Nick went ahead and scooped.

Game two ended quickly as Nick was distracted and not really into it. I think it went a total of four turns and I had my combo set to go off. I have no doubt it would have gone longer as Nick is a good player and would have controlled the game as much as he could.

So that was the last game of the night. Let’s take a look at the other three.

Match one was against Curtis. Curtis is a great guy who is working hard to be a better Magic player. I greatly enjoy playing against him. He was playing a BW Vampire deck of his own creation.  He took game one on the back of Vampire Nighthawk. Games two and three went to me.

Match two had me paired against Candace who was on Affinity. Candace is a player that’s worked hard to develop her play style and build her collection.

Her deck was solid, but I think it was a little slow. She was using Steal Overseer to pump everything. I know a player that has spent a lot of time with this deck and has stated that the Overseer slows the deck down. I tend to agree.

I won game one. Candace came right back and took game two. Game three went to me. I felt bad for Candace as she had to mull almost every game. At one point, she went down to four cards. Never a good thing.

Match three was against Lee. Lee is a newer player. I suspect with more playtime he is going to be quite good. I am pretty sure he was playing mono-black control but never saw his engine get going. This was because my deck decided to take off and combo out as fast as it could.

So all-in-all it was a good night. I was very pleased with the additions of Bring To Light and Path to Exile. Both served me very well with Bring to Light serving up a win.

Hope everyone else had a great FNM!

Bring to Scapeshift

Creatures

4 x Snapcaster Mage

3 x Sakura-Tribe Elder

Spells

4 X Scapeshift

4 X Prismatic Omen

4 X Search for Tomorrow

2 X Bring to Light

4 X Serum Vision

4 X Telling Time

2 X Path to Exile

2 X Farseek

4 x Remand

Lands

3 X Breeding Pool

3 X Stomping Ground

3 X Steam Vents

2 X Sacred Foundry

1 X Flooded Grove

1 X Wooded Foothills

5 X Mountain

1 X Island

1 X Forest

3 X Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Side Board

2 X Bring to Light

2 X Primeval Titan

1 X Farseek

2 X Spellskite

4 x Electrolyze

2 x Izzet Charm

2 x Spell Snare