Intro
Welcome back to Unusual Tribes, a series which evaluates the
viability of several of the Magic the Gathering’s more niche creature types. This
article marks the one year anniversary of this series. Unusual
Tribes 1: Skeletons came out on Halloween 2019. Due to my increased focus
on producing video essays for the Macready
Musings Youtube channel these articles haven’t been coming out quite as
regularly as they used to. In fact the last of them, on Dogs,
came out in June. I figured that given that it’s the anniversary it was time to
dust this series off and write another entry.
This article will focus on Scarecrows. Partially because it’s
Halloween and Scarecrows literally have the word ‘scare’ in their name. Partially
because they often have pumpkins for heads. But primarily because Scarecrows are an interesting example of a
tribe which have an interesting combination of an absolutely amazing lord/commander
card in Reaper
King, whilst also having many, many members which are completely forgettable
like Wicker
Witch and Field
Creeper.
The game, at time of writing, features 35 Scarecrows. Almost
every single Scarecrow in Magic is a colourless artifact creature. There are
only two exceptions: the aforementioned Reaper
King who is 5 colours and Straw
Soldiers which is blue and not an artifact. Although Straw
Soldiers is unique as the only non-artifact Scarecrow
in the game, it is also very expensive, due
to being from Portal: Three Kingdoms which only saw a very limited
release.
Early Scarecrows
Appropriately enough,
the first
printed Scarecrow in the game was simply called
Scarecrow.
Initially simply an artifact with no creature type,
Scarecrow
finally became a legitimate Scarecrow in 2007 when the creature type was
errated onto it.
Scarecrow
is simultaneously a fantastically flavourful demonstration of the concept of
what a Scarecrow should be and a horrendously overcosted and weak card. For 5
mana,
Scarecrow
provides a 2/2 stat line and can be tapped down, along with a 6 mana payment,
to reduce all of the damage dealt to you by flying creatures in a given turn to
0. This makes
Scarecrow
live up to its name, as it can scare fliers away. Sadly it is more effective to
simply kill these flying creatures entirely with a spell like
Whirlwind,
or to spend your mana on less situational and niche effects. Perhaps to the Vorthoses
among you, however, the opportunity to have your opponent’s
Nicol
Bolas flee in fear before the sheer intimidating power of your straw
sentinel is simply too enticing to pass up.
The Scarecrows of Shadowmoor
Shadowmoor is the plane which has provided us with by far
the most Scarecrows. As Shadowmoor exists as a dark counterpart to the light
and jolly plane of Lorwyn, Scarecrows were brought in to provide the
transformed world with a generally creepy aesthetic. A cycle of Scarecrows was
printed in both of the sets of Shadowmoor block. The first cycle, containing
cards such as Blazethorn
Scarecrow and Watchwing
Scarecrow, buff themselves when you control a
creature or multiple creatures of a set of two allied colours. The next cycle, known
as the ‘skulkin’, were released in Eventide, and can provide beneficial effect
to your other creatures if they are a certain colour. Antler
Skulkin can grant a white creature Persist, Jawbone
Skulkin can grant a red creature Haste etc. Both of these sets of Scarecrows
combo rather nicely with another Scarecrow from Shadowmoor, Scrapbasket, which can (for
the cost of one mana) become all colours until the end of turn. This turns on
the abilities of all of the Scarecrows from the first cycle, and means that Scrapbasket
can be targeted by the effects of all of the Scarecrows from the second cycle.
Beyond playing around with different colours, many of the
Scarecrows of Shadowmoor also give out -1/-1 counters in some way. Several of
them, such as Lockjaw
Snapper, have Wither a mechanic unique to Shadowmoor where combat
damage to creatures is dealt in the form of -1/-1 counters. Wither has
never been seen again, however, Infect arguably acts as its spiritual
successor and will surely be terrorising commander tables for years to come. There
is also Scarecrone,
a card which provides a very slight slice of tribal synergy, as it allows you
to sacrifice Scarecrows in order to draw cards.
The Painter and the Reaper
Of all of the Scarecrows of Shadowmoor, however, none can
compare to the plane’s two most famous: Painter’s
Servant and Reaper
King. Painter’s
Servant is notorious
due to a combo which it enables. The Servant
makes every card in the game, even those not in play, a specified colour. This allows you to immediately empty an
opponent’s deck when combined with the effect of Grindstone,
a card from Tempest which mills the top two cards of any player’s deck
and then repeats the effect if those cards share a colour. This led to the card being banned in Commander
for 10 years from 2009 until 2019. On top of this specific infamous combo, Painter’s
Servant has many more
uses. It turns ‘colour hoser’ cards (cards with strong effects which can only
target cards of a specific colour) from being situational into being exceedingly
powerful. For example, whilst Painter’s
Servant is in play, Persecute allows you to discard the entirety of an opponent’s hand
and Blue
Elemental Blast and Red
Elemental Blast become unconditional removal spells
which can also be used to counter anything for only a single mana.
It is clear then that Painter’s
Servant has very broad usability and that it doesn’t
necessarily need to slot into a Scarecrow tribal deck. This stands in marked
contrast to Reaper
King, which almost single handily creates and upholds
Scarecrow tribal as an archetype. Reaper
King is the only real choice to be the
commander of a Scarecrow EDH deck. Reaper
King has a peculiar mana cost, containing a single hybrid mana
symbol for each of the five colours. This hybrid mana can be be paid for using either
the specified colour or two mana of any colour instead. Though rather unusual, Reaper
King’s variable
mana cost is a fantastic trait for a commander to have as it enables you to run
as many, or as few, colours as you want to in your Scarecrow EDH deck. As almost all Scarecrows are colourless, the
colours which Reaper King grants you access too can be used exclusively on
supporting spells, enchantments and other beneficial effects.
Of course a novel mana cost is far
from the only thing which Reaper
King has to offer. The king provides +1/+1
to every other Scarecrow you control and when another Scarecrow enters play it
allows you to destroy any permanent on the battlefield. Reaper
King is the
defining lynchpin which holds Scarecrow decks together. Without this lone card
the strength of Scarecrow decks takes a significant tumble, but with their King
at their head Scarecrows can frighten off far more than just birds.
Scarecrows Since
After Shadowmoor, Innistrad is the plane which is home to
the second greatest number of Scarecrows. One-Eyed
Scarecrow marks another attempt to convey the role Scarecrows play in well…
scaring crows. It gives your opponent’s fliers -1/-0 mildly shocking them by
reducing their attack, rather than freezing them to place in terror like the
original Scarecrow. One-Eyed
Scarecrow is also one of only two Scarecrows with Defender (the other being
Wild-Field
Scarecrow) a logical choice for an ability given that most Scarecrows
offensive capabilities are limited, given that they are immobile bundles of
straw and wood. Harvest
Hand is another notable Scarecrow from Innistrad. Harvest
Hand turns from a ploughshare into a sword (well a strawman into a scythe)
upon death, becoming a +1/+1 piece of equipment. Geist-Fueled
Scarecrow also bears mentioning. Though not a terribly powerful card, as a
4/4 for 4 mana which makes other creatures you cast cost 1 more, Geist-Fueled
Scarecrow is important as it is only Scarecrow to actually depict a crow
being scared in its artwork.
Another plane which features some Scarecrows is Eldraine. Signpost
Scarecrow is an unremarkable mana fixer, with Vigilance. Whilst Jousting
Dummy otherwise known as ‘Syr Nobody’, at least according to their flavour
text, bears a unique combination of creature types as a ‘Scarecrow Knight’. Jousting
Dummy primarily exists in order to provide a colourless knight to work in
Eldraine’s limited environment, where Knight tribal is a prominent theme.
We are returning to Innistrad over the course of two sets in
2021. Although much of the focus of this trip will be upon the Werewolves,
Vampires and other horrors who make the plane their home, perhaps we may see a
handful of new Scarecrows come our way. The best bet for anyone looking to
scavenge some new parts for a Scarecrow deck lies in a return to
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, something which has got to happen eventually… Right?
Arbitrary Grades
Flavour: B-
As stated earlier several of the game’s Scarecrows weaken
flying cards, conveying their real-world purpose nicely. Beyond that things
gets a bit blurrier however. The ability of some Scarecrows to generate or fix
mana could show their connection to the land in which they are literally planted.
Although just what Wither and other effects that spread -1/-1 counters represent
is anyone’s guess. Maybe it represents the straw binding the Scarecrows together,
or the crops they are guarding, wilting? Though this is just speculation.
It is a bit odd that so few Scarecrows have Defender,
but then the viability of the tribe would be absolutely tanked if they were all
rooted in place and unable to attack. Of all of the mysteries of the multiverse
which Magic the Gathering has shown us, mobile men made of straw are not too
big a stretch of the imagination.
Special mention should be given here to the card Scaretiller.
Whenever it is tapped you can put a land either from your graveyard or your
hand onto the battlefield tapped. Part Scarecrow, part farming implement, Scaretiller’s effect is perfectly conveyed by its flavour
text ‘fields of battle turn to fields of
grain’.
Viability: C
As mentioned above Scarecrows are an exceedingly strange
tribe to assess. At first glance Scarecrows seem entirely mediocre and forgettable.
There are only 35 of them, and many of these cards are decidedly unimpressive.
There are a few scattered themes about spreading
-1/-1 counters, providing
mana fixing and caring
about the colour of other cards. It seems that none of these ideas are
developed in any great depth, to come together to give the tribe a coherent
identity or game plan. But then you look at Reaper
King who alone welds each of these disparate parts into a
powerful whole, or at least in Commander where the King
can be played reliably. Although each individual Scarecrow may be weak, when even
the least impressive among them are turned into a Vindicate due to the effect of your commander they become a
powerful force. Furthermore given that all of them, who aren’t named Straw
Soldiers, are artifact creatures you can support them using cards
like Tempered
Steel and Foundry
Inspector.
Best and worst cards:
Perhaps this category has already been spoiled above, given
that Reaper
King and Painter’s
Servant have a
section exclusively dedicated to them, but they are definitely the front
runners when considering which Scarecrow is best. When comparing the two,
arguably, Painter’s
Servant is the better card due to its broader utility. The Servant enables all sorts of crazy, game-winning
combos whilst Reaper
King is only really useful in the context of a Scarecrow
tribal deck. Reaper
King is absolutely
fantastic at carrying out its one role, and there are many other tribes which could
dearly use a card like it, but ultimately this is its only real use and it will
never see play in a deck which doesn’t feature a large number of Scarecrows or Changelings.
Just as the best
Scarecrows were given away prematurely, it will likely come as no surprise when
I announce that Scarecrow is the weakest card of the tribe. Although very evocative
the original Scarecrow is incredibly weak, costing a huge amount of mana whilst
only providing an incredibly underwhelming stat block and an overcosted effect.
Conclusion
I know that normally I end these articles with the grades but since this is the blog’s one year anniversary, and I am feeling sentimental,
I think I’ll use this opportunity to offer some quick thanks.
First I want to thank MagisterSieran a.k.a Nakatamun
Archives a.k.a ‘The Minotaur Guy’. He makes the Magic the Gathering
subreddit a brighter place for everyone, and makes every set release a more
exciting event due to his minotaur reviews. He has provided frequent encouragement
to me in writing this column, and is just all around the friendliest bull-enthusiast
you are likely to meet.
I would also like to give thanks to Tasty
Cardboard another Magic the Gathering Youtuber. He makes some fantastic
videos and has been very supportive of me as we both develop our respective
followings.
Thanks for reading another Unusual Tribes column and here’s
hoping that next year we have more wacky and weird tribal cards and fewer Okos and Uros.
