Elves of the Swarm (Budget)
Standard
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Reality Shift —Oct. 1, 2015
Reality Shift takes care of many problematic creatures for good. Since Shift exiles the creature it targets means that creature can't be recurred from the graveyard. Shift is an instant and only 2 mana which means that it can be used early in the game and later in the game. The versatility of Shift is what makes it such a great card in current Standard.
Shift does have a large draw back; any creature you exile with it that player manifests the top card of his or her library. You're giving your opponent a 2/2 creature on the battlefield and if the manifested card is a creature, then they can flip the creature face up for its mana cost. One thing to note about the manifest if it is a creature; once it is turned up if the creature had an enter the battlefield ability this doesn't trigger which is nice. Shift is a permanent solution to a problem creature right away. With this comes the understanding that the manifest might very well be another problem later on in the game.
So far new Standard looks to be a lot about recurring powerful creatures from the graveyard.
Both Den Protector and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip are enemy number 1 and 2 in doing this. Shift can exile a turn 2 Jace which is very important. But, it is not just them that are a problem. Almost all decks that I'm facing are doing this, these decks include, but not limited to:
Abzan
Deathmist Raptor/Den Protector combo and now Siege Rhino with Mortuary Mire.
Jeskai
Getting both Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Flip, Soulfire Grand Master and Dragonmaster Outcast back with Ojutai's Command.
Esper Control
Getting both Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Flip and Fathom Feeder back with Ojutai's Command.
Rakdos Devoid Aggro
Using Kolaghan's Command and Mortuary Mire.
GW Ramp
Using Greenwarden of Murasa, Emeria Shepherd and See the Unwritten.
Shift kills both Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker if they attack which is excellent to get either of these powerful, hard to deal with Planeswalkers out of the game. Shift also deals with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger permanently.
Hangarback Walker is a problem for not only this deck, but many decks. Exiling Walker with Shift is an excellent way to remove the menace for good. Since Walker is being exiled by Shift your opponent doesn't get the 1/1 Thopter tokens after this happens because Walker didn't die it was exiled. Shift is very good vs a Walker because it takes away the value of Walker from your opponent.
One deck that is fast to kill is Gruul Landfall with Scythe Leopard and Makindi Sliderunner. You really need a turn 2 instant removal spell to deal with these creatures. The Landfall deck is all in on trying to pump up a creature(s) as fast as possible using many fetch lands in combination with Atarka's Command or Swell of Growth with Become Immense. Being able to permanently kill a creature after all this pumping has occurred is very nice and sets the Landfall deck back a lot.
My current main deck removal spell is Murderous Cut. Cut is turning out to be quite slow. I'm only running 4x fetch lands and the only other source not counting dead elves, is Kiora, Master of the Depths for filling the graveyard with delve fuel. Cut is currently just not cutting it as a removal spell.
I'm cutting 2x Murderous Cut for 2x Reality Shift in the main deck. This gives me 4x Reality Shift between main deck and sideboard.
UPDATE Oct. 21, 2015
Reality Shift is turning out to be a bad removal spell in the current Standard because of Megamorph decks, specially GW and Bant Megamorph which makes Shift's drawback just plain terrible. Because of the presence of this deck I have cut Shift from the main deck and sideboard. Complete Disregard has replaced Shift as my go to exile spell because it can exile all the important creatures that are being recurred from the graveyard without giving my opponent creatures in the process.