THE POSSIBILITIES OF SCARS OF MIRRODIN
So, it has been a while since an article from PMP has gone up with the exception of Krevvy’s latest article on sealed. However, I’m going to be writing on the possibilities of Scars of Mirrodin. In this article, you can expect opinions on spoilers, possible deck ideas in Standard, ways to build decks in Standard and what I think will be good in Draft/Sealed Tournaments. I’ll also begin to write articles on a more weekly basis now that I don’t have the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program(IB) on my back anymore.
Okay, I’ve been really pondering over the return of Trinket Mage. You all know Trinket Mage. It is the 2/2 for 2U that fetches up an artifact with a Converted Mana Cost of 1 or less. I was thinking, “Man, this will be awesome if Wizards reprints Pithing Needle.” Wizards then decides NOT to reprint Pithing Needle (it isn’t in the oracle) and I became sad. However, I then remembered we still have Basilisk Collar in the format as well as Brittle Effigy. I then think, “Hmmm, Trinket Mage can be great with Basilisk Collar and Cunning Sparkmage.” I then think about how Stoneforge Mystic can do the same thing with the Collar. However, I noticed that, even though Stoneforge Mystic is easier to play than Trinket Mage, Trinket Mage is better at fetching the Collar because it isn’t just restricted to equipments, it is restricted to Artifacts that cost 1 or less which opens up the possibility to fetch up Brittle Effigy. So, I’m now beginning to construct a pretty decent deck.
Now, I think about Sword of Body and Mind. At first, I thought it would not be that great because mill 10 and get a 2/2 wolf does not seem that powerful. Then I pondered it a bit more. I found several possibilities with it. I can fetch it with Stoneforge Mystic and cheat into play with Stoneforge Mystic. Also, milling 10 can usually put my opponent on a 4-5 turn clock if they are playing blue, green or have no creatures out and don’t have an answer for the Sword. Not only that, but blue and green are most likely going to be the strongest colors because of MonoGreen Eldrazi Ramp and Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Mana Leak. White will be very powerful as well, but most likely not as powerful as Green or Blue in this upcoming Standard. Another thing about the Sword is how easy it is to equip it. If you have 5 mana open, then it is fairly easy to play Sword of Body of and Mind AND equip it during the same turn. Also, think about how easily breakable the Sword can be. +2/+2 is nothing to scoff at and it comes with protection AND 2 bonus abilities. Is it stronger than the other Swords? Probably not, but it is close in power and will probably be a deciding factors in many of the games in Standard. This will be added to the deck I’m now proposing as well.
So far, this is our list:
Lands ?
Creatures 10:
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Trinket Mage
4 Cunning Sparkmage
Spells 5:
2 Brittle Effigy
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Sword of Body and Mind
This looks pretty decent so far. I think we can add some other powerful Scars cards to go in this supposed decklist. The card I’m looking at is Molten-Tail Masticore. He is a freaking powerful son of a gun. He is a 4/4 for 4 Colorless and you discard a card during your upkeep or you sacrifice him. He also has 4 mana and remove a creature from the Graveyard from play to deal 4 damage to target creature or player. He also has 2 mana to Regenerate him. The possibilities on this guy are endless. Basilisk Collar on this guy is pretty amazing. It is basically an extra set of Cunning Sparkmages that can possibly go off multiple times a turn and has a body and back to go with it. Will he replace the Sparkmage? No, because 8 “deal ? damage to target creature or player” is really good.
Now, you are probably wondering, “How on Earth do we support his backdraw?” I have the answer. The answer is a small flying 1/1 for 1W from M11 named Squadron Hawk. He fetches from our deck an extra 3 Squadron Hawks when we play the first. So, we play the Hawk, get 3 more. Then, play Masticore and start discarding Hawks. We are already running White with Stoneforge Mystic so why not play Squadron Hawk? There really isn’t an excuse to not run Squadron Hawk in this deck I’m proposing.
Okay, so we have some support for the Masticore. Now, we need a way to actually abuse his backdraw and I was thinking Vengevine. Yes, Vengevine. Think about this: Discard Vengevine, play 2 Squadron Hawks, bring back Vengevine, swing with 8 power on turn 5. Yes, that doesn’t seem like much on turn 5, but when we have a 4/4 deal 4 and a 4/3 with resistance to removal, Masticore is quite resistant as well, then swinging 8 with that on turn 5 is a pretty big deal. We also have 3 Hawks up to block as well and a Hawk in hand to discard to Masticore.
If we are running Vengevine, then we might as well run Fauna Shaman. Fauna Shaman can actually do a lot in this proposed deck. Discard Vengevine, fetch Hawk, play Hawk, play second Hawk, bring back Vengevine and swing 4. Then, next turn, we tutor up a Masticore or Sparkmage or whatever we may need.
So far, on a list, we are looking at this:
Lands ?
Creatures 23:
3 Fauna Shaman
2 Vengevine
4 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Trinket Mage
4 Squadron Hawk
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Cunning Sparkmage
Spells 5:
2 Brittle Effigy
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Sword of Body and Mind
Now, you are all probably wondering how we play a 4 color deck. The answer is pretty simple. We are running Green so we can easily play Mana Dorks. So, we add 4 Lotus Cobras and 4 Birds of Paradise to the list as well. We’ll also throw in a single Thada Adel, Acquisitor because we are entering an Artifact block.
We’ll also need a good Mana Base. I’m looking at like 23 lands for the deck. The new Dual Lands from Scars look absolutely amazing. We will use them early game when we need them and they come into play untapped when we need them most which is the first 3 turns of the game. We’ll throw 2 Razorverge Thicket in, 2 Copperline Gorge and 2 Seachrome Coast. Those are the G/W, R/G and U/W Scars Duals respectively. We’ll also want fetchlands to help out Lotus Cobra so we’ll add 4 Misty Rainforest, 1 Arid Mesa, 2 Scalding Tarn and 1 Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse for the deck. We’ll also play Stirring Wildwood and Celestial Colonnade as Manlands really do win games when they are needed. So, I think we are coming up with a good manabase. We’ll end up using basics as well. Probably 2 of each basic (except Swamps) with the exception of 1 Mountain.
Our Sideboard will mostly be a speculation on the upcoming Meta. So, here is the completed list:
MOLTEN SQUADRON
// Lands
1 Celestial Colonnade
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Seachrome Coast
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Island
2 Plains
// Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Fauna Shaman
2 Vengevine
4 Trinket Mage
4 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
// Spells
2 Brittle Effigy
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Sword of Body and Mind
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
SB: 2 Brittle Effigy
SB: 2 Nature’s Claim
SB: 2 Condemn
SB: 1 Celestial Purge
SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 3 Journey to Nowhere
I think the list looks pretty good. The most testing that can be done right now is on Magic Workstation and most of the testing there has been really positive. There are 32 Creatures, 5 Spells/Artifacts and 23 lands in the deck. The SB is mostly to counter the decks that have been giving the list trouble.
Other cards I’d like to go over are cards like Mox Opal. I’m really glad that card is legendary otherwise it would have been insanely broken. I see it being a force in Standard even with the legend rule. Tapping for any color when its drawback is achieved is nothing to scoff at.
I think Infect will end up being a great mechanic as well. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it can’t damage players so you can’t really play Infect creatures with creatures without Infect unless they support each other. Here is a deck that I think will be pretty good with Infect:
// Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
7 Swamp
5 Island
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
// Creatures
4 Ichor Rats
4 Plague Stinger
4 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
4 Thrummingbird
3 Hand of the Praetors
// Spells
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Tumble Magnet
3 Contagion Engine
4 Contagion Clasp
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Jace Beleren
SB: 2 Disfigure
SB: 3 Grip of Darkness
SB: 4 Memoricide
SB: 4 Doom Blade
Now, I will discuss the list a bit. The synergies between Infect and Proliferate are very obvious in the deck. I felt like this deck just practically built itself and it did. The deck is pretty powerful and I’m sure that it will do well at FNM and maybe at high level events such as PTQs and Grand Prix and Pro Tours.
Now, my favorite cards for draft right now are Darkslick Drake and Arrest. I like the Drake because it cantrips when it dies and has evasion. So, it replaces itself and has one of the best mechanics for Limited that there is. I like Arrest because it is a better Pacifism. In this case, the creature might as well not be there, but it is because I’m sure there will be enchantment hate or at least some hate in Scars.
Other good cards include Contagion Clasp. I like this card because it is a kill card and a darn good one for limited events. It works well with any Infect cards you might have gathered and it is colorless removal which can be really good.
Those are currently my top 3 choices for limited that are not Rares/Mythics.
Whelp, that is it for this article. I hope you all enjoyed the article.
