Pit Scorpion

Creature — Scorpion

Whenever Pit Scorpion deals damage to a player, that player gets a poison counter. (A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Oldschool 93/94	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (8)

TheoryCrafter on Has Toxic fixed poison counters?

1 year ago

I don't really see poison fully fixed until:

-The ten poison counter state based rule is phased out with a spell and ability system that punishes players with poison counters (All Will Be One, Mycosynth Fiend, and the Corrupted ability are a start) and cards including, but not limited to, Crypt Cobra and Pit Scorpion are treated like alternate win cards.

And/or

-The one I prefer, WOTC breaks down and prints more cards like Leeches, Melira, the Living Cure, Melira, Sylvok Outcast and Solemnity where poison counters can be removed or restricted.

TheoryCrafter on Why is Infect Not Returning?

1 year ago

Crypt Cobra, Marsh Viper, Pit Scorpion, Sabertooth Cobra, Swamp Mosquito Suq'Ata Assassin are also creatures with poison even if they're not stated as such. Kinda like how cards like Evolution Sage were landfall cards without landfall written on it before the oracle change. Fynn, the Fangbearer gives creatures with deathtouch what amounts to Poison 2 and Serpent Generator creates snake tokens with what amounts to Poison 1.

Squee_Spirit_Guide on Scorpio: Halana, Fynn, and a dose of venom

1 year ago

+1 for giving some love to the under-represented creatures in Magic. I've always thought scorpions should give poison counters, like the original Pit Scorpion. I guess they got deathtouch instead, which is on flavour, but still. Deathtouch and poison wouldn't exactly make them overpowered.

Metroid_Hybrid on Perfecting Vintage Yawgmoth combo

2 years ago

As the title suggests, I am trying to make the strongest Yawgmoth Undying combo deck that I can manage. However, after the release of the "Time Spiral Remastered" (TSR) set I decided to convert said deck into a "PreModern" one. Now one look at the combo itself would indicate that this goal would be technically impossible, as only one card was originally printed before Eighth Edition (Vengeful Dead), and at this point only two have been "Timeshifted" (Yawgmoth, Thran Physician & Zulaport Cutthroat). But with a few exceptions aside, anything that isn't a part of the main Undying-loop combo must be either PreModern/pre-(8ED) or "Timeshifted". This has obviously limited the resources available to me, but I've been off & on working on this by myself for some time now, and I think I have honed this to be as strong as possible given the aforementioned restrictions. I've even gone so far as buying my first & only copies of Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and Yawgmoth's Will, as well as including all four of the original Mono-Black "Tutors" (Demonic, Vampiric, Grim, & Diabolic), and no, I am not about to drop four figures on a copy of Imperial Seal..

The only other viable option that I consciously haven't included, which someone suggested since I'm running Leyline of the Void (and now Dauthi Voidwalker) is Helm of Obedience. But I'm hesitant to include the Helm, as it would be worthless distraction without the Leyline or Voidwalker..

This is where you, the T/O community, comes into play.

A) Should I buy a copy of Helm of Obedience, and if so, what should it replace?

B) Are there any other PreModern/"Timeshifted" cards that you think would improve this deck's chances at a high-powered/competitive table, and if so, what should it replace?

and/or...

C) This deck originally had Infect as a secondary WinCon, but what would you think about the original five PreModern proto-Infect cards available? (Swamp Mosquito, Pit Scorpion, Suq'Ata Assassin, Crypt Cobra, & Serpent Generator) Would you include any of them, and if so, what should it/they replace? (Personally I think it would be hilarious)

Obviously I would rather replace any "post-Modern"/post-(M15) cards before any Modern/post-(8ED) cards, and to maximize the number of PreModern cards as much as possible..

PreModern > Timeshifted > Modern/post-(8ED) > post-Modern/post-(M15)

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Yawgmoth - mk_I (Vintage Phyrexia)

Commander / EDH Metroid_Hybrid

SCORE: 25 | 11 COMMENTS | 3507 VIEWS | IN 9 FOLDERS

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triproberts12 on

4 years ago

You, sir. I admire your earnestness.

For getting more counters, I HIGHLY suggest Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. Golgari is an excellent color combination for getting a ton of cards in your hand and a ton of mana, so you could easily go from a couple of counters to 10 in a turn. Same logic for Planewide Celebration. 7 mana for 4 counters each isn't a bad deal. Lean into green ramp. You can definitely afford to fire off 1-for-1 2-mana green ramp spells, so long as you're drawing with Tymna.

You can amplify the effects of your infect and proliferate cards with Winding Constrictor and Corpsejack Menace. Hand of the Praetors and Phyrexian Swarmlord are infect lords, so they should probably see play. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons means that all of your infect creatures explode into deathtouching snakes when they trade in combat.

Swamp Mosquito doesn't say infect, but it has non-keyworded Infect. Suq'Ata Assassin has non-keyworded Fear, but also gives poison counters with evasion. If you want to load up on the cheapest, most efficient bodies with infect, then it might be worth running Pit Scorpion, too.

The reason why I would go for a bigger spread of bodies is that it will ultimately be more efficient to load up on instant-speed mass pump spells, rather than having to draw and cast poorly-suited cards for Commander like Giant Growth. In priority order, I'd go Return of the Wildspeaker, Overrun, Pride of Conquerors, Make a Stand, Dark Triumph, Borrowed Grace, Zealous Persecution, Fortify, Sigil Blessing.

Kogarashi on How does infect interact with …

4 years ago

Virulent Sliver, Triumph of the Hordes

There's also the difference in that Infect changes how a creature deals damage, while Poisonous is a triggered ability (where the trigger is the creature dealing damage).

If you read the reminder text on both cards, you'll note that the damaged player is receiving poison counters from both abilities, regardless of the name of the ability. "Infect counters" aren't actually a thing, it's just a shorthand some players use to refer to either type of counter placed due to Infect damage.

"Poisonous" as an ability is just a reflection of an older creature ability to give a player poison counters if a specific condition was met (dealing damage to that player, not being blocked, etc.), as seen on cards like Serpent Generator, Pit Scorpion, and Swamp Mosquito. Future Sight gave WotC a chance to give it a proper keyword on a future-shifted card.

Snickles@EDH_only on Pattern Recognition #113 - New …

4 years ago

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - making a new keyword mechanic for what is functionally the same thing is, all at once, silly, confusing, and, in many cases, much less about the flavor of the mechanic as it is trying to claim a section or ability without crediting its precursers.

Prior to New Phyrexia, we had 2 mechanics going in that would have... well, I hesitate to say "solved", so lets go with "staunched the bleeding of" many of the mechanical issues of this set;

Wither (ala lorwyn) and poisonous (ala timespiral)

what we got was a nightmare - infect.

don't get me wrong - poison counters have a solid place in magic - from Marsh Viper to Swamp Mosquito , all the way up to Virulent Sliver , there is a long list of toxic win conditions that rarely saw play, but had their own niche to mess around with (and ultimately inspiring deathtouch, when paired with basilisks, but I digress).

The problem was that the cards:

1) were disproportionatly high in the poison output vs mana cost (see Glistener Elf vs Pit Scorpion )

2) existed alongside a mechanic that augmented the toxic strategy with zero interaction

and worst of all, 3) allowed pump spells and effects to directly impact the toxic stratigem.

From a compeditive standpoint, all of this added together into what is, without a doubt in my mind, the least interesting deck I have ever seen. Tree Fiddy - named after the south park meme, when the initial cards that made the deck in modern totalled to be approx $3.48 - is an aggro - pump infect deck. the goal was to hit your opponent turn 2 for leathal poison. yes, you read that correctly. Turn 2. Turn 1 is Forest + Glistener elf, turn 2 is Forest, swing, and some combination of giant growth effects, usually Might of Old Krosa , Groundswell and Mutagenic Growth . Scale Up is a recent addition, and likely will make modern even more unfun to play.

I have played magic, abet off and on, since 1995. New phyrexia was one of the sets that broke my will to play the game, something that has happened only 2 other times - once from being unemployed for 6 months, requiring me to sell my cards to make rent, and once after Urza's block when I was too poor to play anything other than the discarded commons after a draft.

Now, I say this as a proud Johnny / Vorthos: if the game lasts for less than 4 turns, it isn't worth the time spent to unpack my deck. I played through Zoo 1.0 in Ravnica / Kamagawa block, and that wasn't enough to break my resolve. But New Phyrexia's Infect mechanic? that was a final straw.

HomelandsRares on Flesh-Eater Imp

5 years ago

If you need another source of poison counters, Pit Scorpion certainly exists!