How to Tutor Scapeshift: Best Spells for Valakut Combos

How to Tutor Scapeshift: Best Spells for Valakut Combos

In TCG ·

Scapeshift MTG card art from Core Set 2019

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Tutor Scapeshift: Best Spells for Valakut Combos

When Scapeshift slides across your deck, you feel that old-school magic surge through the forest-green veins of Magic. This green sorcery from Core Set 2019 isn’t just a flashy finisher; it’s a deliberate, surgical way to flip the script on an opponent who thought their board was safe. For Valakut-enabled combos, Scapeshift becomes the key that turns a handful of lands into a dynamic damage eruption. The flavor line about shifting landscapes lands with a wink, echoing how a single spell can redraw the battlefield in satisfying, explosive fashion. 🧙‍♂️ 🔥 💎

“Whether we like it or not, our arrival has altered the landscape.” — Malcolm, navigator of the Belligerent

Scapeshift costs 2G and asks you to sacrifice any number of lands to search your library for up to that many land cards, putting them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. It’s a spell that rewards preparation and board presence. The more lands you sacrifice, the more mountains you can summon onto the battlefield—each Mountain entering the battlefield potentially stoking Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle’s fiery trigger. In a well-tuned Valakut shell, that chain reaction can end games in a single, roaring volley. The card’s mythic rarity in M19 signals that this is a centerpiece piece, a high-velocity accelerator that demands thoughtful deck-building and precise timing. 🔥

To get the most from Scapeshift, you’ll want a plan to assemble the combo reliably. The ignition often comes from tutoring for Scapeshift itself, then using its land-searching power to flood the battlefield with Mountains and other fetchable lands. That’s where green tutor spells shine. In a world where green cards pull the strings, Worldly Tutor stands out as the most straightforward way to fetch Scapeshift directly from your library into your hand. Cast on the right turn, it can set up lethal sequences before your opponent even taps a blocker. 💎

Best Spells to Tutor Scapeshift

  • Worldly Tutor — A classic green instant that searches your library for a green card and puts it into your hand. Because Scapeshift is green, it’s a natural, dependable way to fetch the very card you need to assemble the Valakut combo. The timing matters: you can tutor for Scapeshift on a crucial turn, cast it, and begin the land recreation ceremony that spells certain doom for your opponent.
  • Sylvan Tutor — An older green tutor that's often found in formats where it’s legal. If your list can accommodate it, Sylvan Tutor can pull Scapeshift from the library to your hand, providing an elegant, tempo-friendly option when you’re steering the late game toward the mountains you crave. 🎨
  • Crop Rotation — Not a direct fetch-for-Scapeshift spell, but a quintessential ramp enabler. Sacrificing a land to search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield helps you assemble the Mountaintop pressure you need. In many Valakut lines, Crop Rotation is the quiet engine behind the dramatic Scapeshift sequence, delivering a reliable source of Mountains or other utility lands to accelerate the plan. 🔥
  • Nature’s Lore and Farseek — While not tutors, these classic green ramp spells accelerate your mana base and fix your land drops, getting you to Scapeshift mana faster and enabling a smoother, more dependable sequence when you want to leverage the full damage potential of Valakut. The synergy here is subtle but powerful: more forests and fetchable lands mean more fuel for the cascade of triggers when Scapeshift lands. 💎
  • Sylvan Library (situational mention) — While not a tutor for Scapeshift itself, it remains a strategic tool in green-heavy shells that want to maximize card quality and consistency. In the right build, you can weave it into a plan that keeps Scapeshift safely in hand until you have the mountains lined up for the big turn. 🎲

Of course, the core of the Valakut plan isn’t just about tutoring for Scapeshift; it’s about ensuring you can cash in on its effect with relentless land deployment. You’ll want a mana base rich in fetchable lands and Mountains, along with a suite of ramp effects that keep you from being slowed down by a single misstep. The result is a dramatic, puzzle-box deck where a single shuffles of the library can become a full-blown two-turn kill. 🔥 💎

In the end, Scapeshift remains a towering emblem of the “big-picture” aspect of MTG strategy: you can spend the early game assembling a plan, but the payoff comes when you flip the switch and unleash a torrent of damage that feels almost cinematic. The art by Daniel Ljunggren captures that sense of movement and scale—the moment when land becomes more than land, when horizons expand and the battlefield becomes a canvas for a strategic masterpiece. 🎨 This is the thrill that keeps nostalgia alive for players who remember the days when a single spell could rewrite the score in a heartbeat. 💎

As with any high-impact, format-spanning card, the market reflects Scapeshift’s iconic status. Values hover in the $52 range for the non-foil version, with foil versions typically commanding a premium. If you’re assembling a deck that can reliably assemble the Valakut combo, Scapeshift is one of those pieces that pays back in dramatic, game-ending performances—an investment in a moment of MTG history that never ceases to feel thrilling. 🧙‍♂️

For players chasing the synergy and the spectacle, there’s no shortage of inspiration beyond the game table. If you’re curious to see what creative corner of the internet is buzzing while you plan your next big ladder push, here are a handful of reads from our network that stretch from digital art collections to crypto-collectible discussions—each a reminder that MTG often sits at the crossroads of culture, design, and clever problem-solving. 🎲

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Scapeshift

Scapeshift

{2}{G}{G}
Sorcery

Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.

"Whether we like it or not, our arrival has altered the landscape." —Malcolm, navigator of the *Belligerent*

ID: 175e21a3-00f7-4c51-8a8e-fbfd7089efda

Oracle ID: c235015e-a7a9-4f8d-bf4a-cf68b3847f83

Multiverse IDs: 447337

TCGPlayer ID: 168720

Cardmarket ID: 359968

Colors: G

Color Identity: G

Keywords:

Rarity: Mythic

Released: 2018-07-13

Artist: Daniel Ljunggren

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 1252

Set: Core Set 2019 (m19)

Collector #: 201

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — legal
  • Timeless — legal
  • Gladiator — legal
  • Pioneer — legal
  • Modern — legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — banned
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — legal

Prices

  • USD: 52.81
  • USD_FOIL: 77.44
  • EUR: 34.67
  • EUR_FOIL: 52.89
  • TIX: 0.49
Last updated: 2025-11-15