How Good is Rune-Scarred Demon in EDH?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on May 29, 2022, 12:29 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I am replacing Ring of Three Wishes in many of my EDH decks, since I have come to realize that, as great as that card is, it simply is too slow and expensive to be truly effective outside of decks that are dedicated to taking advantage of it, and one card that I am considering as a replacement is Rune-Scarred Demon.
The demon does cost 7 mana, but it can search for any card unconditionally and also provides a powerful 6/6 creature with flying, which is usually a very good thing, so I feel that it is an acceptable replacement for the ring.
What does everyone else say about this? How good is Rune-Scarred Demon in EDH?
TypicalTimmy says... #3
Hard-casting a 6/6 for 7mv that tutors ETB is not a good tradeoff, although it does technically qualify him as a cantrip which is absolutely hilarious.
Now. Combining with say, oh I don't know, Conjurer's Closet or Deadeye Navigator or Bramble Sovereign or anything that forces token creation? Now that's fun.
In short, he's an excellent combo piece but a terrible stand-alone choice. In the right deck, such as Kaalia of the Vast or in a deck that maybe runs Sneak Attack, he works wonderfully.
Therefore, again, a beautiful combo piece, but a terrible hard cast.
May 29, 2022 1:55 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #4
If you're looking for a 7mv card that tutors, Behold the Beyond exists. Significantly cheaper than Ring and more valuable than Rune if you don't have a flicker / token effect in play. Same mana, 3x the value.
May 29, 2022 1:58 p.m.
What kind of decks are you working on? If you have the resources available, it seems to me like you'd be better served by customizing the tutors to the decks.
Depending on budget and needs, Primal Command, Fierce Empath, or Eladamri's Call work in a creature deck, and the Harbingers and Forerunners and similar cards work for specific tribes. Call the Gatewatch and Enlightened Tutor work for their respective card types.
Unless there are extenuating circumstances, I'm not sure that looking for a one-card-fits-all is the most efficient option.
May 29, 2022 2:22 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
TypicalTimmy, my Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck needs the creature, as that deck has a minor emphasis on creatures, leaving me vulnerable when I play it, but I could use Behold the Beyond in any other deck that contains black, although I would first need to ensure that my hand is empty, since only certain decks of mine have a strong emphasis on using the graveyard as a resource. Also, I have only one deck that focuses on "flickering" creatures, and that deck does not contain the color black, so I cannot put the demon in that deck.
legendofa, any deck of mine that contains the color black will have an unconditional tutor, because I see no reason to not use such a card.
As for my other decks, I have two decks that have a strong emphasis on creatures, so I have Shared Summons in those two decks; I have a deck with a strong emphasis on instants and sorceries, so it contains Solve the Equation; this deck focuses on both creatures and instants/sorceries, so I am not certain whether to replace Ring of Three Wishes with either Shared Summons or Solve the Equation. The rest of my decks do not clearly emphasize a single card type over another, so that makes it more challenging to find a replacement for the ring in those decks.
May 29, 2022 3:21 p.m.
griffstick says... #7
Rune-Scarred Demon is a good card. There was a time when it was an auto include in any deck that contained black. But now a days it's a lil low on power. However compared to Ring of 3 wishes its light-years better
May 29, 2022 3:53 p.m.
griffstick says... #8
I once paired it with Splinter Twin and that felt very very strong.
May 29, 2022 3:54 p.m.
Rune Scarred Demon is an awesome target for graveyard combo decks with the likes of Animate Dead or Necromancy. Bonus points if you put it in the yard using Survival of the Fittest or something of the sort. I don't know if Rune Scarred Demon is necessarily cEDH level, but he's certainly a very solid creature.
May 30, 2022 2:02 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
Another user suggested that I consider using Burning-Rune Demon, so what does everyone think of that creature?
May 31, 2022 9:13 p.m.
DadHumanPraetor says... #11
Burning Rune Demon and Rune Scarred Demon are both too slow for my play style and meta. I like Sidisi, Undead Vizier but even that feels bad at 5 if you cant reanimate it a couple times. I have cut tutors from mid-power decks that aren't looking to combo, and I run good tutors in my high powered combo decks like Diabolic Intent and Demonic Tutor
June 1, 2022 7:30 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #12
DadHumanPraetor, I forgot about Sidisi, so I thank you for reminding me of her, since my Tariel and Teneb decks have ways to reanimate any creatures that I sacrifice. The only problem with Sidisi is that, to reuse her ability, I shall need to sacrifice her and reanimate her, which shall then necessitate that I sacrifice another creature to user her ability, and I am not certain that my decks shall be able to consistently generate tokens or reanimate creatures that I sacrifice to her.
June 1, 2022 9:32 p.m.
DadHumanPraetor says... #13
Well, no, you dont NEED to sacrifice other creatures. When sidisi enters the battlefield you can sacrifice it to it's own exploit trigger, you don't need another creature.
June 2, 2022 6:51 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #14
DadHumanPraetor, yes, I forgot about that, so, perhaps, Sidisi is a viable option, after all; if I sacrificed her to her own ability, I could not use her for combat, but she is (usually) more useful for her searching ability, anyway.
Abaques says... #2
I think it depends on the deck and the power level of your playgroup.
I have a Chainer, Nightmare Adept re-animator deck that can dump it in the yard and then get it into play pretty cheaply. It's pretty good in that deck, but its also not a cEDH deck by any means. It would be a lot less effective in a deck where I had to hard cast it every time.
May 29, 2022 1:04 p.m.