Deck Idea: Soul-Scar Mage&Nest of Scarabs Burn
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on May 27, 2017, 12:22 p.m. by SaltyBird
The idea is a simple (Deal damage with Soul-Scar Mage in play, then the -1/-1 counters that shrink or kill the targeted creature(s) turn into 1/1 insects from Nest of Scarabs) R/B burn to kill creatures to make scarabs for days. Maybe running Dynavolt Tower. Could I get some input on what would people suggest to do for a deck like this?
SaltyBird
There are a bunch of different approaches to this, and I've no idea what might be best for your playstyle or meta. Maybe check out the decks on the Soul-Scar Mage page for some examples.
I personally like Stan_Bandhoof's Jund approach, Steaming Tar Pit, though it's more about Creature-beats than Burn ...
Good luck with the brew!
May 27, 2017 12:39 p.m.
You can make a successful deck that tries to gain advantage from killing Creatures.
I've done it a couple of times with Prowess decks.
It would be useful to have a way to boost your Creatures but unfortunately something like Always Watching won't work.
How about including Zulaport Cutthroat in the deck so that you get some value if you are board wiped?
There is a 3 drop that lets you put two -1/-1 counters on up to two target Creatures. That would be good in this build.
Make up a rough copy of your idea and I'll take a look at it.
May 28, 2017 10:37 a.m.
I'm very skeptical about you pulling that off consistently.
Just hitting four lands in a row, of exactly that right mana type, will prove difficult.
June 13, 2017 10:15 a.m.
You have to hit a land on your first four Turns.
That is even tricky for Control decks to achieve.
We're really talking about magical christmas-land interactions, here.
June 13, 2017 10:30 a.m.
If you're gonna do this with 26 Lands then you're gonna have the opposite problem. Hitting all your spells.
Hitting four lands in a row doesn't always happen, even with 26 lands in your deck, either. You're pretty much guaranteed to hit your first three and MOSTLY your first four.
June 13, 2017 11:55 a.m.
SaltyJay,
As usual, Frank Karsten does ALL the math (so you can skip over that), but the table at the bottom of this article may be useful.
With 24 Lands, you'll have 4 on T4 71.3% of the time. It rises to 77.9% with 26.
Multiply that by the % chance of getting Soul-Scar Mage on T1 (40%) Vessel of Volatility by T2 (44%), Nest of Scarabs by T3 (49%), and both Insult / Injury and Sweltering Suns on T4 (53% each), and you're looking at a 1.7% chance of the scenario occurring as you lay out.
Your mileage may vary of course, depending on how many copies of each you run, how aggressively you mulligan, etc. But I'm with Argy ... that's really a magical Christmas-land interaction.
June 13, 2017 12:33 p.m. Edited.
I mean if it happens it will be great!
You've also got the problem that those cards could be countered or destroyed. Especially Soul-Scar Mage with Magma Spray and Fatal Push running around.
June 13, 2017 12:36 p.m.
Well sure. You can have any magical christmas-land play with just about any deck.
Turn 1: Foreboding Ruins
Turn 2: Hanweir Battlements + Bloodrage Brawler, pitch Cut / Ribbons
Turn 3: Mountain + Neheb, the Worthy
Hit for 5 damage
Turn 4: Swamp + Bloodrage Brawler, pitch Ondu Champion, use Hanweir Battlements + to give Bloodrage Brawler Haste
1 card left in hand so all Minotaurs get +2/0
Hit for 18 damage
How often has that happened? Not once.
MollyMab says... #2
So you want a burn deck, IE spells going to the face, that doesn't want to throw spells at their face as fast as possible, so instead you can make a bunch of 1/1s, using a 3 card combo?
May 27, 2017 12:33 p.m.