-1/-1 Scorpion God Deck

Standard Venifirous

SCORE: 48 | 32 COMMENTS | 5665 VIEWS | IN 14 FOLDERS


Oct. 17, 2017

(-4) Soul-Scar Mage

(-3) Abrade

(-4) Blazing Volley

(-3) Concealed Courtyard

(-3) Ifnir Dreadlands

(-4) Mountain


(+4) Archfiend of Ifnir

(+1) Grind / Dust

(+3) Key to the City

(+2) Canyon Slough

(+4) Scattered Groves

(+2) Sheltered Thicket

(+5) Swamp

Here are the latest changes. This is probably the biggest change to the deck so far, so I've redone the description of the deck above.

backinajiffy says... #1

Looks like a well thought-out deck.

I have a few questions for you though, since I've constructed something similar.

  • Has Soul-Scar Mage actually been working for you? It looks like it only has synergy with 5 other cards and it looks like a very questionable payoff, especially if they only have one or two creatures.

  • Have you found that your mana base consistently procudes what it should? With four colors I found it nearly impossible to go Ifnir Deadlands due to getting mana screwed on the wrong colors.

  • Has Key to the City been working for you? With so much focus on token generation I feel like its a big gamble to put this in here with such low chances that you'll both get scorp god and keep him out. Feels out of place in general.

  • Do you think you're missing some card draw do get you out of a really shitty hand or top decking situation? Outside of scorp god its nonexistant here and with a late / midrange deck that's pretty rough.

  • Has Consuming Fervor been worth it? I feel like this is a low-impact card to have here unless you're going hardcore aggro, which doesn't seem to be the case with this deck.

Lastly, here's what I put together with more focus on token generation than anything else. Four Color Token Engine

October 16, 2017 1:21 p.m.

Venifirous says... #2

Thanks so much for the feedback! I'll address each point at a time.

  • I do admit that often times this comes into play without really getting off its effect even once. Not long ago I ran four copies of Blazing Volley, but found that I'd draw into it too often without a Soul-Scar Mage, only now I'm drawing into Soul-Scar Mage without finding either Blazing Volley or Abrade, so it's definitely a card that I'll consider either cutting down or out entirely.

  • I actually haven't found too much of a problem with the mana base. The biggest problem I suppose is getting a Concealed Courtyard for Grind to Dust. Either way I'll definitely look into making the mana base as efficient as possible.

  • My main reasoning behind Key to the City was to let Ammit Eternal or Hapatra to get a free hit in, thus removing any -1/-1 counters from Ammit Eternal and guaranteeing a snake token with Hapatra. It actually has worked out pretty decently, and it is nice to get that free hit in with Ammit Eternal, especially one with Consuming Fervor attached, as the -1/-1 effect from it will still give you tokens but will overall not be a huge deal for Ammit Eternal to get over. I do admit though that the card would probably work better in a deck that cycles more. I ran a deck before this that was more centered around cycling and using such cards as Archfiend of Ifnir, so it's possible that I'd remove it for something that's more token-based. Also, the fact that I may be removing Consuming Fervor is another reason why I may take this card out (more on that in the last point).

  • Yes, this deck does lack card draw. Pretty much Scorpion God and I guess Key to the City are our only forms of card draw here. To be honest I was actually at a loss as to what to include in this deck for card draw, but I saw that you are running Costly Plunder in your deck which seems like a great edition with how many tokens we run, so I may just try that out!

  • Like Blazing Volley, I found that I was drawing Consuming Fervor too often. The MAIN (thinking of it now, I suppose the only) reason I'm running it is for Ammit Eternal, as it can just shake off the -1/-1 counters if it gets a direct hit in. However, the situation would often arise where I'd get one, maybe even two Consuming Fervors near the beginning of the game (when I ran 4), with no Ammit Eternals and maybe only Channeler Initiate or Hapatra. Thinking of it now, I may just cut the card entirely, it along with Blazing Volley have been the two cards really that sort of screw with the flow of the deck, and thus also make cards such as Soul-Scar Mage lackluster as well if I'm taking them out anyway.

I checked out your deck though and it looks awesome! Haven't really thought of checking out what other cards white has to offer for a token deck, so may just check those out. Of course not that I'm going to copy your deck, but your input has definitely given me some more ideas on where I can take this deck. Thanks again for the feedback!

October 16, 2017 3:08 p.m.

backinajiffy says... #3

Venifirous I appreciate the thought out response :)

I didn't really understand Key to the City but imaginging swinging in with ammit with a fervor on it sounds so bitchin. Who knows if its 100% the best, but its got times it will shine.

I started out with consuming fervor in my deck as well. Just couldn't generate enough tokens from it fast enough from having it, and I rarely find myself swinging in at ALL until I've generated a good amount of tokens (roughly turn 6) so I couldn't justify keeping it.

I'm actually thinking about a way to slip in Anointer Priest, another Anointed Procession, and one or two other harcore token supporters so we'll see how it turns out! The balanace will be delicate though.

October 16, 2017 3:52 p.m.

Venifirous says... #4

No problem!

Anointer Priest definitely sounds awesome in that deck. I can usually summon a good amount of tokens each game with my deck, so I can only imagine how it will be in a deck that goes harder on the tokens. The Timmy in me can't help but try and fit Oketra the True in this deck, even if I know it's probably not the best idea haha. Been trying to fit that card in a deck somehow, but will probably try building another deck incorporating it.

Can't wait to see the changes! I too will be tweaking this deck in the coming weeks, possibly cutting most of the red cards or maybe even revamping the deck (I've always been a fan of cycling / graveyard type decks so maybe a build with Archfiend of Ifnir at the helm?). Decisions, decisions...

October 16, 2017 4:22 p.m.