Scapeshift (Original Sketch)

One of artist Fred Field’s top 2 MTG paintings, Scapeshift is a four mana green sorcery card first printed in Morningtide (2008). It lets you sacrifice any number of lands and you search your library for that many land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped. Modern is Scapeshift’s true home, it’s the centerpiece of one of Modern’s most defining combo-control archetypes. Together with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Scapeshift can instantly deal 18+ damage to your opponent, which basically functions as a one card combo kill (e.g. With 7 lands casting Scapeshift fetching one Valakut and 6 mountains deals a minimum of 18 damage). This combo only needs lands and ramp spells if you manage to survive long enough. Scapeshift decks like to play control early, ramping their mana and interacting (e.g. Remand, Lightning Bolt, Cryptic Command) then transition into combo mode to end the game in one shot. One of the main strengths of the deck is that it is very resilient to creature removal. There are a few different Valakut/ Temur (RUG) Scapeshift variants. Besides the one already mentioned there is also a TitanShift/Gruul Valakut deck, which is basically a hybrid between Primeval Titan ramp and Scapeshift decks, that runs more creatures and less control elements. Another version combos with the card Bring to Light which uses this card to tutor and cast Scapeshift directly, adding a toolbox versatility (e.g. Supreme Verdict, Anger of the Gods). Scapeshift doesn’t see play in other eternal formats such as Legacy or Vintage due to faster, more effective combo strategies available. It’s also popular in cEDH, where it sees play in ramp-heavy green decks as a value or combo enabler, especially with Valakut, Field of the Dead or the Dark Depths/ Thespian’s Stage combo. Scapeshift is not on the Reserved List and has been reprinted multiple times (Special Guests, Core 2019,..).