Scroll Rack – MTG Throwback Thursday

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

There was a point at which I thought I knew what was on the Reserved List, but that passed when Argothian Enchantress appeared in a Commander preconstructed deck. Scroll Rack is another card that’s often mistakenly thought to be reserved; it is not, and you have a chance to get a version of it with the new shiny steel border in Commander Legends. If anything, it’s much better now than it was when Tempest was first released. The interaction with Land Tax was noted immediately back then, but you can also save cards from Duress-style effects (it’s instant-speed!), or put an Eldrazi back into your deck to be cheated out (or Panglacial Wurm, or what have you). It’s a curious card in that you have to have a lot of cards in your hand already to get its most powerful impacts, but that’s all part of the intricacies of Scroll Rack decks.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 4/5

Scroll Rack is one of those beloved Commander staples because of its flexibility: while it doesn’t necessarily get you inherent card advantage, being able to dig deeper to find just the right answer (while preserving what you like in your hand) is a deceptively powerful effect, and it even allows you to protect cards from discard or other effects if you like what you see. It’s also able to set up miracle spells rather nicely, and returning cards to the deck for effects can be quite strong. It does a lot, and while it rarely will win you a game on its own, the mix of effects on offer can help a fair amount with cementing a solid board state.

Scroll Rack is in Commander Legends as a mythic rare, its first proper booster reprinting (outside of a spot in Kaladesh Inventions) since its debut in Tempest; while it hardly is the kind of card that would win you a Limited event, its value outside of it and utility to decks overall makes it more than worth taking.

Constructed: 2.5 (it can be used in miracle/Counterbalance control builds to some effect, though its utility is a bit limited in that regard, and those decks have been largely rendered moot without Sensei’s Divining Top)
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander: 4