Hey everyone! I’m here this week talking about my run at SCG Cincinnati. I didn’t do as well as I wanted at the event, getting knocked out in the last round to not make Day Two, but I learned a lot of things. There was some interesting changes I had made to Scapeshift for this tournament and I wanted to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Overall, it was a great event. I met a lot of amazing new people, saw some friendly old faces, and had a BLAST Scapeshifting people out of the tournament.
So, the first thing I wanted to mention was the fact that this event was the size of a Grand Prix. You heard me. A GRAND PRIX. With 1022 players, I was able to test out my new spice in Scapeshift.
That’s right, Sultai Charm. This is the card of Scapeshift’s dreams. It hedges against most matchups: a lot of aggro decks, Blood Moon decks, and it is even good against Grixis Control and Jund/Abzan by helping Scapeshift’s top deck power.
Sultai Scapeshift
| Creatures (4) 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder Spells (30) 4 Search for Tomorrow 2 Farseek 1 Explosive Vegetation 2 Sultai Charm 1 Anger of the Gods 3 Izzet Charm 4 Remand 2 Mana Leak 4 Cryptic Command 3 Scapeshift 4 Bring to Light | Lands (26) 4 Misty Rainforest 1 Polluted Delta 2 Breeding Pool 1 Watery Grave 3 Island 2 Forest 1 Swamp 1 Mountain 1 Cinder Glade 4 Stomping Ground 4 Steam Vents 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Sideboard (15) 3 Dispel 2 Swan Song 1 Obstinate Baloth 4 Fog 1 Shatterstorm 2 Anger of the Gods 1 Slaughter Games 1 Crumble to Dust |
The Matchups
Round 1 GR Tron – Win
Round 2 Abzan Company – Win
Round 3 GR Tron – Win
Round 4 Grixis Control – Lose
Round 5 WB Hatebears – Win
Round Lantern Control – Lose
Round 7 Abzan – Win
Round 8 GR Tron – Win
Round 9 Mono Black Eldrazi – Lose
Record: 6-3
Obviously, I didn’t do as well as I liked at this tournament. But, there were a few things that I wanted to talk about this week.
GR Tron was probably the most popular deck at SCG Cincinnati.
I played against a lot of Tron, I saw others play against Tron. Jeff Hoogland tweeted and said:
“Walking up and down the tables would not be surprised if GR tron was the most represented deck in day 2 at #scgcin”
It was in the Top 8 at the event, piloted by Ali Antrazi, and I only have one thing to say. Even with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger making its way into the deck, we still have a pretty good matchup. Having access to Mana Leak and Cryptic Command still makes it winnable. I went up against multiple Ulamogs at this event and was still able to come up on top—you just have to know how to play with Ulamog in the format and it becomes a lot easier. I was lucky to see GR Tron all day, as it is probably my best matchup.
The Eldrazi deck is real. Like, really real.
In the last round of the swiss, I played against the Mono Black Eldrazi deck and man, was it sweet. I played the best Magic I could during that round and he still got me. Since everything has cast triggers, the deck embarrasses Remand. They will always get value off of their spells, no matter what happens. On top of that, he was able to Wasteland Strangler away my suspended Search for Tomorrow every game on turn 2—talk about brutal. I personally believe that the BW version of this deck is the stronger version, but I am excited for the future to see where this deck is headed. I, myself, am currently working on building the BW version of the deck and let me tell you: I am excited.
Grixis Control is a blue Jund deck.
This is something I knew, yet never realized until this event. I have always played against Grixis Control like a blue control deck—keep up counterspells and be ready to defend Scapeshift. But that isn’t quite how Grixis Control plays. It is a Jund deck—it rips apart your hand and plays efficient creatures like Tasigur, the Gold Fang to win. I need to make sure I play around the Inquisition of Kozileks, Thoughtseizes, and Duresses.
Sultai Charm is a sweet card in Scapeshift.
As I talked about above, Sultai Charm is a sweet card for Scapeshift—it is everything I have ever wanted in a card. The reason Scapeshift loves this cards is because of the MODES. So, lets go over the modes and talk about why they are relevant to the deck.
- Destroy target monocolored creature.
This mode may not seem to relevant to you, but it hits a lot of things in Modern. From Deceiver Exarch and Pestermite to Tarmogoyf to Blighted Agent to Goblin Guide. If you look at Modern, a lot of the threats are monocolored.
- Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
Obviously, the most important part of this card is the fact that it destroys Blood Moon. On top of this though, it kills many Affinity pieces, Leyline of Sanctity, Amulet of Vigor, and Choke among many others.
- Draw two cards, then discard a card.
Most people would say that this is the most unimpressive mode, but I personally think this mode is why Scapeshift wants to play this card. It is another way to dig for Scapeshift, and it does it better than any card in the deck! The advantage here is that if it is your only card in hand, you can still go and dig for Scapeshift. This is something you can’t do if your only card is Izzet Charm. This mode won me more games at this tournament that the other two and I was very happy with the performance of the card.
Conclusion
I had a blast at this tournament and learned a lot while I was at it too. I am excited to start building the BW Eldrazi deck and I hope to be posting some thing about that soon!
TLDR:
- GR Tron is super popular now with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger,
- Treat Grixis Control like a blue Jund deck,
- The Bx Eldrazi deck is real and the BW version seems the most viable,
- Sultai Charm is exactly what this shell of Scapeshift has been looking for.
If you ever have any questions or comments, go ahead and throw a tweet my way, @kintreesprit!
Thanks for reading!
Lexie Mettler is a Level 2 judge from Fort Wayne, Indiana. By day she is a student, by night she streams MTGO and practices for tournaments all over the Midwest.