Blood Scrivener

Creature — Zombie Wizard

If you would draw a card while you have no cards in hand, instead draw two cards and lose 1 life.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

TheVectornaut on Mono-Black Budget

1 year ago

Based on the profile name, description, and seeming inaccuracy of the price stated, I'm guessing this is an AI-based account. Still, I do like budget black decks like this. On the off chance that a human reads this, I'll offer some advice from my experience. First, there's no real reason to be running Gravecrawler here with no other zombies. Something like Dread Wanderer, Bloodsoaked Champion, or Cult Conscript could serve a similar role for much cheaper. On the draw side, Necropotence could be Phyrexian Arena or Midnight Oil, but I really like Blood Scrivener and Asylum Visitor for refilling from empty. For removal, cards like Sinister Concoction and Bone Shards can take advantage of creatures that return from the grave while Bone Picker offers an evasive threat and answer for cheap. For finishers, I like Mogis's Marauder or Foul-Tongue Shriek for a lot of matchups and Gray Merchant of Asphodel for others.

Saccox on RB Hellbent Madness HELP

2 years ago

In a hellbent deck,Blood Scrivener?

amicdeep on Double amputee

3 years ago

the effect that i feel wors best with one with nothing is "if you have no cards in hand" cards Lupine Prototype and Asylum Visitor, Blood Scrivener. a couple of copys of Drownyard Temple may also be worth running. personaly id also be running 4 copys each of ox and kroxa

lagotripha on Budget mono-black!

3 years ago

Danny66

This is a very old list I built - the idea was to draw a lot of cards using Asylum Visitor + Blood Scrivener alongside discard, then win through card advantage and attacking with disposable creatures. It never performed well due to the lack of pressure.

Little black thing is its still very old descendant which held up for a while before modern moved on, while Mono black deckbuilder's toolbox is the big list of cards that I used for the more improvised mono black lists afterwards - the main competitive edge was reading the local metagame and responding to it without forecasting anything.

Yeti_Confetti on chaos zombies

3 years ago

I know it’s been four years since you touched this deck, but if you have trouble keeping cards in hand Blood Scrivener has been helpful to me, and it pairs well with Rotting Regisaur , if you have an empty hand at your turn you’ll draw two and not discard anything since the regisaur’s ability triggers before you draw.

Love a fun zombie deck, +1 from me!

Casketbase77 on The Many-Faced God - [Primer]

3 years ago

Artatras

By "dodge the cumulative upkeep" I just mean you don't have to put age counters on Lazav if you shapeshift him into a creature other than Mystic Remora before your upkeep rolls around. For example, you could shapeshift Laz into the Remora during your end step, reap the draws while your opponents all play their cards, then at the end of the turn directly before yours, shift Lazav into Ornithoper or something. Your upkeep passes with Lazav free of his Remora persona, so you don't have to put any age counters on him. Just do your regular Voltron sequencing during your turn via Banehound, Wall of Blood, etc, then during your end step shapeshift Lazav back into Remora to passively draw more cards.

Ebb n' flow gameplay, basically. Lazav morphs into reactive cards like Remora and Hullbreacher to recover resources on your opponent's turns, then morphs into your Voltron pieces on your turn.

Ad Nauseum certainly sounds like a nifty choice for late game hand replenishing. I myself am going to try out Jace's Archivist and Blood Scrivener . They're reusable and Lazav can copy them for less mana than an Ad Nauseum activation. Then again, Scrivener's draw is highly conditional and copying Archivist means tapping Lazav instead of attacking someone. Ad Nauseum might be better after all since it doesn't need your Commander on the battlefield.

Will have to keep testing. I know I suggested Scorched Ruins in my last comment, but I've since noticed the Vector Asp / Phyrexian Dreadnought oneshot needs a black mana to activate Asp's lingering Infect self buff. The Ruins only produces colorless, so although they still make the Wall of Blood / Banehound play doable, the card remains a debatable include. The monetary price to acquire it is another factor (as if that matters in a deck where Phyrexian Dreadnought and Intuition are mandatory includes).

My pockets aren't as deep as yours, so I'll try to trim my own build's budget with Scheming Symmetry and Wishclaw Talisman . Thanks again for this deck's ghoulishly clever combo primer, and wish me luck as I labor to lob Lazav at my opponents.

acht_deck_manager on Mmmmmm Brains

3 years ago

Out: Blood Scrivener , Gravedigger , God-Eternal Bontu , Altar of the Brood , Semblance Anvil , Firemind Vessel , Thran Dynamo , Dreadhorde Invasion , Force of Despair , Read the Bones , Sign in Blood

In: Cyclonic Rift , Mystic Confluence , Court of Cunning , Search for Azcanta  ^Flip, Sphinx of the Second Sun , Frantic Search , Lightning Greaves , Eligeth, Crossroads Augur , Cryptic Command , Liliana's Standard Bearer , Monastery Siege

Polaris on Blood Scrivener Draw Interaction

3 years ago

To be more precise, you choose the order because you're the one being affected, not because you control the effects.

On to the question: This is going to work differently depending on the order. If you apply Blood Scrivener first, you are now drawing two cards. Uba Mask will apply to both cards you attempt to draw. You will exile two cards face-up and lose 1 life.

If you apply Uba Mask first, it will replace the draw. Since you are no longer drawing a card, Blood Scrivener's replacement effect no longer applies and you will simply exile one card face-up. In this case, there is no way to loop the effects.

Another important point here is that a replacement effect can't apply multiple times to the same action. Preventing yourself from drawing one of the cards after Blood Scrivener's replacement effect will not cause its effect to replace the draw with a "draw two, lose one life" a second time (if replacement effects could apply multiple times, Blood Scrivener would loop infinitely on its own).