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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Green/Red Hybrid Scarecrows
July
28, 2008

Well, it's been raining sporadically where I am for the past week, and that means when I take my bike up to the corner gas station for a soda, I keep getting caught in it.  I'm getting real sick of being soaking wet without a pool or showerhead being involved.  I wish I could build a scarecrow to go out in the rain and buy soda for me, like the kithkin cobblesmiths of Shadowmoor who don't want to go out in the creeping darkness, but then if I moved away or got carried off by ouphes and noggles, the scarecrow would be left without me to continue it's final task.  If a farmer's scarecrow left to swing its scythe at nonexistant wheat fields is scary, how would you feel about a scarecrow left to wander the streets of a suburb attempting to purcase soda from anyone who got too close?

 

Well, the guy who built this next deck might not mind it too much.

Hey, BMoor. I've just gotten into Magic after 6 years of Yu-Gi-Oh playing, and it seems to be an interesting change of pace from what I've been used to. After extensive rule-searching and such, I've found something from Shadowmoor that I find quite intriguing to play: Scarecrows, especially Reaper King. The deck I'm presenting seems to work in theory, but I'm not sure. I have yet to extensively playtest, and am not sure if Magic Online is worth the use of my credit card yet to playtest it. It's for the Standard Environment (All of the cards are Lorwyn-Shadowmoor + 10th Edition, so come October, no changes should have to be made), and somewhat low-budget (as in, any more than $20 for a single card, I'm not considering too much). The basis is to get a slew of mana-producing cards (i.e. Elves and such) on the field, get Reaper King, and start swarming Scarecrows, destroying the opponent's field. I'm still quite green at this game (no pun intended), so if you could even read my e-mail, it would be most appreciated.

 

Green-Red Hybrid Scarecrows

Monsters: 23

-Reaper King

-Grim Poppet

-Pili-Pala x3

-Tatterkite x2

-Blazethorn Scarecrow

-Scuttlemutt x2

-Llanowar Elves x3

-Elvish Harbinger x2

-Leaf Glider x2

-Tattermunge Maniac x4

-Woodland Changeling x2

 

Misc. Spells: 10

-Manamorphose

-Flame Javelin x2

-Fossil Find x2

-Gleeful Sabotage x2

-Prismatic Omen

-Dramatic Entrance x2

 

Lands: 30

-Mountain x13

-Forest x13

-Vivid Grove x2

-Vivid Crag x2

 

I'm not sure what to sideboard, although Vexing Shusher seems logical what with the red/green aspect of my deck. Thanx a bunch for consideration :)

 

-MajinNecro69

 

 

Okay, let's see where to start.  The first problem that suggests itself is the large amount of mana you have in this deck.  Thirty lands is too much for any deck that isn't trying to abuse some Crucible of Worlds combo, and then you have Llanowar Elves, Leaf Gilder, and Elvish Harbinger on top of that?  Not to mention that Scuttlemutt taps for mana and Pili-Pala can fix your colors.  I'd say drop every non-Scarecrow creature in this deck, and bring your land count down to 24.  Yes, even Tattermunge Maniac can go.  He's a strong card in the early game, but what does he really do for your deck?  He satisfies the condition of your Blazethorn, and that's about it.  And he doesn't even do that well, since he has to attack every turn.  Once your opponent drops a creature big enough to block and kill it, it's going to die.  Since you only have one Blazethorn in the deck, it's not worth it.

 

I also want to remove Dramatic Entrance.  Without all those Elves, the only green creatures in the deck are Woodland Changeling and Reaper King.  It's so much cheaper to just play Woodland Changeling straight up, and you have only one Reaper King.  Dramatic Entrance doesn't belong in this deck.

 

So, there's 19 slots opened up, which means we have to fill at least 16 of them (you started with a 63-card deck).  What can we put in those slots? 

 

Well, if you're going to play Scarecrows, I'd like it to matter more that your creatures are Scarecrows.  That means more copies of Reaper King.  It also means that you want to look into a few Scarecrone.  Your inclusion of Fossil Find tells me that you can appreciate being able to bring cards back from the graveyard, and being able to draw a card off of the death of each of your Scarecrows will help immensely as far as digging you down to the good stuff and keeping your options open.

 

Next, you want a few Scarecrows that are just plain decent bodies on the board.  Tatterkite and Grim Poppet are great here-- maybe a few more copies of these if you can get them.  Lockjaw Snapper is also a good body who can shrink an oppoennt's creature as well as randomly off a few of your opponent's persist guys or whatnot.  And Wicker Warcrawler is good for a few good beatings.  I'd also reccomend upping the number of Scuttlemutt and of Blazethorn Scarecrow.  Remember, Scuttlemutt can make any creature red and green, allowing you to "activate" Blazethorn each turn.  You'll definitely want to give it haste the turn it comes down, but later on, you may want to let your opponent declare blockers before deciding whether or not you give it wither.  More Scuttlemutts also means more ways to get white, blue, or black mana to get Reaper King for cheap. 

 

Now, for your sideboard.  Against aggro, you definitely want some Firespout.  Against control, Sudden Shock or Quagnoth would work well, as would Flame Jab or even Spitting Image.  Sure, they can counter it the first time, but what about the next four times?  Heap Doll is a good sideboard card against graveyard tricks, or decks where you need a one-drop.  Also your Gleeful Sabotage should be sideboarded instead of maindecked.  After that, it really depends on what sort of cards you expect to play against.

 

Try that out, and with a little practice and a little luck, you'll find that your opponents are as afraid of your deck as the crows are.  Good luck, and don't let those ouphes get you!

 

~BMoor

 


 

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