Scapegoat

Instant

As an additional cost to play Scapegoat, sacrifice a creature.

Return any number of target creatures you control to their owner's hand.

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
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Last_Laugh on Better Ingredients, Better Vampires, Papa Eddie's

1 month ago

I have a few suggestions for ya, but not a bad start.

Reconnaissance is worth its' weight in gold here. If you're unfamiliar with the card I suggest looking it up, it's pretty busted if you know what you're doing. Long story short is attack with EVERYONE safely, deal combat damage in most situations, and untap each creature at the most opportune time (including after combat damage is dealt... both 1st strike and normal) so everyone is untapped by the end of combat.

Purphoros, God of the Forge makes it so every vamp you cast domes each opponent for 4. It also lets you run Scapegoat as a finisher instead of just as 1 mana answer to wraths (trust me when I say bouncing all your stuff back to hand is 100% worth it in response to wraths so you actually have a grip full of cards to redeploy and get eminence triggers again).

On the subject of protection, this is probably the most important support type for aggro decks and there's zero of them in the deck. Don't get caught with your pants down or that is a miserable game where you end up with no hand topdecking cards until you lose. Teferi's Protection, Clever Concealment, Boros Charm, Flawless Maneuver, and I also lump Plumb the Forbidden in this section (same logic as Scapegoat). Seriously, run them ALL... unless your meta has like 0 removal you won't regret it.

Let me know if you're picking up what I'm putting down, I have more suggestions and/or help with cuts if you want it. Also, feel free to check out my list for inspiration. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Edgar's Dega Vampires

Crow_Umbra on Alesha, Who Blinks at Death EDH

2 months ago

Hi there, I saw your comment on the front page feed that you were looking for some help with your deck. Alesha was one of my first favorites, but I recycled her a couple of years ago to build Isshin.

In looking at your deck and some of the stuff in your Maybe Board, I have a few suggestions:

• Generally speaking, I think you can trim down your creature base a bit more to give you a bit more room for lands, another mana rock or two, and other spells that can help your overall strategy.

• Some of the creatures I think you can safely cut are: Ponyback Brigade (you have other token creators that aren't 3 color intensive, also kinda underwhelming), Vulturous Aven (there are other similar effects on cheaper spells, at cost of not being repeatable), and Mirkwood Bats (mostly because you currently have ~10 or fewer token creating effects in deck, so not a lot of support).

• As mentioned for the Vulturous Aven swap, but Deadly Dispute, Costly Plunder, & Plumb the Forbidden are all excellent options. Plumb the Forbidden is one I've enjoyed in my aggro decks as a response to board wipes.

• Fanatical Devotion is a budget option that pulls some weight in Alesha as a protection effect & repeatable "free" sac outlet.

• Scapegoat can also be a cheap board protection effect, & means for you to return ETB creatures to hand for reuse.

• Reconnaissance - I first started playing this card in Alesha before using it in some of my current aggro decks. Helps with pulling Alesha or other creatures out of combat after they've dealt damage, since creatures are considered attacking until combat ends. This EDHREc article goes in more detail.

• Snarling Gorehound - Is a newer card & can help Alesha get some repeated Surveil to sculpt her graveyard.

• I'd recommend replacing Coldsteel Heart with something like Talisman of Conviction or Fellwar Stone. I see you recently swapped out Fellwar Stone for Coldsteel Heart, but you're losing a bit of mana velocity with that ETB tapped on Coldsteel.

• In looking at your mana, I think you can probably swap Castle Embereth with another Mountain, mostly because 6 of your 33 lands have the Mountain type. On that note, I think you could safely replace some of your lands that enter tapped with more Basics until you can your hands on something like Luxury Suite or Spectator Seating. Exotic Orchard can also be helpful.

• You can also maybe swap out Junkyard Genius for something like Goblin War Drums, if you're looking for a more reliable Menace anthem.

• I know she's in your Maybe Board, but I think Loran of the Third Path can be a potential swap with Boneshredder. The political draw she has can be really helpful.

Hope these suggestions were helpful. I'd be down to chat about additional swaps if you're up for it. Best of luck, Alesha is a lot of fun

-

Last_Laugh on Similar cards to Sigil of …

2 months ago

Scapegoat will get the job done. Bonus points for refilling your hand if a boardwipe you can't otherwise avoid happens.

Together Forever is an excellent option if you have a counter theme (Felidar Retreat, Anduril, Narsil Reforged, Archangel of Thune, Cathars' Crusade, Nykthos Paragon, Luminous Broodmoth, etc.)

Crow_Umbra on Isshin Semi-budget

2 months ago

Solid list for a budget take on Isshin, I'm digging what you have going on. I have a few quick suggestions, but I think you have a solid core here if you ever choose to make some pricier upgrades:

• Warleader's Call could be worth a look as a potential swap with Impact Tremors. Just an additional +1/+1 static buff for 1 more White mana.

• Signal Pest could be a potential 1 drop anthem, if you feel like you need another Battle Cry enabler.

• Devilish Valet has the potential to 1-shot other players when combined with enough token production.

• Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon is one of the better token producers for Isshin to drop as of late. She pairs nicely with Breena, as another means of getting counters on her. One of the upsides for Anim Pakal is that she doesn't even need to attack, as she triggers off when you attack. She's like a more budget Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.

• Professional Face-Breaker - I think she's still under $10, mostly recommending since I saw you have Aurelia in your deck. Face-Breaker rewards you for going wide, & could be a potential swap with either Audacious Thief or Hoarding Ogre.

• If you feel like you need some more board protection, I'd recommend checking out Scapegoat and/or Fanatical Devotion as budget options that can squeeze a bit more value out of some of your tokens.

Glad to see you already have Soul Partition! It's become one of my favorite White cards of the past year. Best of luck with your deck, and hope you enjoy playing it irl

Crow_Umbra on Isshin in the Red Zone

2 months ago

That's totally understandable regarding the price tag on Reconnaissance. The Brave the Sands you have is a pretty solid alternative. Would you say your general budget per card is like $10 max?

I think Goblin Bombardment definitely could work for turning some of your token production into spot removal like you mentioned. From my experience, the group slug ETB really makes the aggro strategy a bit smoother, since you're softening up the entire table. Generally makes it a bit easier to deal that 120 damage needed to take out 3 other players lol. Group slug and combat damage compliment each other by taking some pressure off of each other.

If you're looking for cuts, a few I'd suggest:

• I don't really run more than two cards that are 6cmc or more in my Isshin deck. Most of my curve is in the 2-4 cmc range. Keeping things in that range makes for smoother aggro deployment, or quicker board rebuilds after board wipes. I've found that by the time I can play 6-8+ mana, I generally want to be able to play multiple spells as opposed to 1 big bomb.

• Etali can likely be a cut. I played it in an earlier iteration of my deck, & it felt very boom or bust. Plenty of fun the times it boomed, but it felt like it whiffed enough that it wasn't worth it. If I didn't have some kind of haste enabler on board, Etali often ate removal in the turn rotation after it hit the field.

• Drakuseth can probably be a cut. Very heavy single color investment with 3 red pips in a tri color deck, & it lacks any built in Haste to help.

• Argentum Armor can definitely be a cut. It's 12 total mana to cast and equip it to something. If you're looking for more removal, I'd recommend stuff like Generous Gift, Stroke of Midnight, Swords to Plowshares, Grasp of Fate, & Anguished Unmaking (if it's in your budget).

• Your other more expensive equipment like Nazgul Battle-Mace & Hexplate Wallbreaker could potentially be cuts at 8 & 9 total mana respectively to cast & equip.

I'd also recommend getting in some cheap board protection to help maintain aggro momentum. Scapegoat, Unbreakable Formation, & Fanatical Devotion are all fairly budget options. The more you can keep your board intact & attacking, the tougher you become for the table to deal with.

Crow_Umbra on Communism Was a Red Herring

3 months ago

Thank you for reaching out Tsukimi, I deeply appreciate it. I like your custom commander, she seems like a fun twist on this clue/token archetype. In your play-testing, I'd say def be cognizant of how prohibitive (or not) the 3 clue sac requirement is. I don't play with Clues much, so I forgot they don't have to tap like Treasures lol. I almost recommended that the Clues she creates ETB tapped, like Ognis, the Dragon's Lash.

Anyways lol, in looking at what you have so far, here are a few thoughts I have:

• Your 7ish sources of ramp that I'm seeing might be a bit low. Could be worth it to maybe get in 2-3 mana dorks for a little more acceleration on turns 1-3 (if that feels lacking).

• Generally speaking, I always feel a bit iffy on cards like Hour of Reckoning, which have a very heavy single color investment, for 3 color decks. On that note, I think Cavalier of Dawn & Hour of Reckoning could be potential swap outs.

• Bronzebeak Foragers could be a potential swap for Cavalier of Dawn, & gives you another Druid of Purification-esque effect that you could copy.

• Detective of the Month could be a potential swap, mostly because you only have 2 other Detectives in deck, not counting the Detective tokens she could make.

• Volatile Fault could be a cool addition to your mana base, especially since it makes a Treasure token.

• Scapegoat and Fanatical Devotion are both fairly budget protection effects that can make use of the creature tokens your deck will make.

• Fractured Identity seems kinda risky. I recognize that you could break parity with some of your token doubling/copying effects, but I feel like it could be troublesome to remove a big threat, and now there's suddenly 2 copies opposing you. I'd recommend checking out Soul Partition as a removal and protection option.

All in all, the rest looks pretty solid. I was surprised at how strong the reprints are in this precon. I'll take another look at your deck once I'm off work. These were just some quick thoughts I had on first look.

Last_Laugh on Budget Vampires

3 months ago

Not a bad start, especially on a budget. I notice a fair amount of cards in the $5-10 range but most of my suggestions will be cheaper than that with one notable exception. Reconnaissance.

Long story short on the card is: Attack with everyone safely, untap each creature at the most opportune time, deal damage in most situations, and have every one of those creatures untapped by the end of combat. Ignore the 20+ year old reminder text, creatures are considered "attacking" until the end of combat step ends. When you move to end of combat, priority passes around the table, which gives you a window to untap everyone with Recon.

Plumb the Forbidden in response to boardwipes makes it harder to overextend into that boardwipe. Instant speed and pseudo dodging counterspells makes this card. Leaving yourself with a full grip of cards is preferable to just eating a wipe and ending up in topdeck mode (Scapegoat is another great budget option with the same mentality).

Tocasia's Welcome is well worth a slot.

Twilight Prophet is the most budget friendly I've ever seen it.

Patron of the Vein may cost 4 more than Cordial Vampire but the effect is powerful enough here to warrant running both.

Crow_Umbra on Control of the Secret Knowledge

3 months ago

No worries, I figured we all place different emphasis on those non-token creatures. I mostly like Scapegoat since it can help dodge removal that typically gets around Indestructible.

Ojer Taq, and the design for the other Ixalan deities is really cool and flavorful. I like how they turn into their places of worship, compared to the Devotion stuff we saw in Theros. I was thinking of doing Ojer Axonil, & building it as like Goblins & group slug effects.

The two mono-White commanders I brewed in the past year were Preston, the Vanisher and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines. I pulled a Mom Norn about a year ago, and it's just been sitting in my White Binder lol.