The Scarecrow King

Modern MaxoBug

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jonas4224 says... #1

Wow I myself have long been thinking of a scarecrow deck but I never really thought it was possible to build one. I see now that I was wrong.

As I see it the mana cost of 53/60 cards are 3 or less so you only have 7 cards with a mana cost of more then three... That is amazing!

The small nitpicks I have are easy and/or unnecessary to fix but hopefully they might give you some help on the battlefield.

1 53/60 cards cost less then 4 mana. You are going to be able to play card, after card, after card and hardly worry about mana at all. however you will probably face the problem of having to relay on topdecking to keep your scarecrows alive long enough to play more scarecrows.

Easy fix: add 2 (or more) Read the Bones or Sanguine Bond or something like that for card draw.

2 Other then Grim Poppet you have no direct removal spells. If you go to late game and your opponent comes at you with a 10/10 flying dragon you have no real way to deal with it.

Easy fix: add a Doom Blade or Murder or maby even a Pacifism or two. Or perhaps exchange one of your scarecrows with Watchwing Scarecrow (I see it already in your maby board] when combined with Reaper King it will be a 3/5 creature with flying/vigilance.

This became a much longer comment then it was supposed to (sorry)Hope I gave you some food for though.And with that I wish you and your scarecows good fortune and many glorius victories!

March 5, 2014 7:27 a.m.

MaxoBug says... #2

Wow! Thanks a lot for the nice words! :) Don't worry about length, I have no problem to talk and talk about it!

Also, I must say I got a bit confused with your points, not that the suggestions are bad or anything like that, but because of this:

1 - I have 6 sorc. to draw cards. Not enough you think? (still have to full test this) Not to mention, the Scarecrone ability (which the scarecrow sacrificed comes in handy to her second ability, which leads us to number 2)

2 - No removal spells. But what about the vindicate effect of Reaper King each time a scarecrow comes in to play? Even if I cast it or revive it with Scarecrone for example.

So, If I REALLY went to late game, the idea is to have been vindicating everything the other player has, including lands. How can he summon a 10/10 flying dragon? And if it comes anyhow, why not vindicate it too? If it had hexproof, I'm already screwed even with a Murder . Although I really considered your idea of finally adding a fliying wall like Watchwing Scarecrow is.

Keep the feedback coming! (?) I really apreciate it :)

March 5, 2014 9:42 p.m.

jonas4224 says... #3

You are absolutly rigth!

1 - I think I was a little to caught up in the "draw a card discard two" ability of your Thirst for Knowledge and Compulsive Research and I didn't think about how well Academy Ruins and Scarecrone combo with that. Now that I see it I can only admire it.

2 - Wow... I totally missed that... Umm... Gosh I feel stupid. Oh well, that is an increadible mechanic for this deck. I Would prefair it to be a little cheaper though. Even with the Scarecrone or the Semblance Anvil it is a 4 mana drop. On the other hand (now that I think about it) cards like Murder and Hero's Downfall are 3 mana drops so the difference in not that big. I think I'd just like to see just a couple of more low mana removal spells like one or two Doom Blade or perhaps Terminate (but maby that is just me ).

Well after doing some thinking I can only agree to what you are saying. The more I look at it the more stable, reliable and (In all honesty) scary it becomes. I only really have one card to recomend that would improve this deck. I don't know what your standpoint on overpowerd and permanently banned cards is (personally I do my best not to play whit them even if I have them) but I still feel like I should mention Tinker .

P.S sorry for the slow feedback (I'v had some internet issues) and thank you for not flaming my ill prepared and badly thought through comments. Personally I'd just like to copy and paste this deck into my irl decklist and play the hell out of it

March 20, 2014 4:56 a.m.

ElPared says... #4

Momentary Blink to reuse your Reaper King Triggers at instant speed.

Guildgates are too slow IMO, I'd swap out the majority of them for Glimmervoid , if you can afford it, and 4 of each artifact land (Seat of the Synod and such). If not, stick to your guildgates, or use the taplands from Shards block. Ideally you want to keep taplands down to no more than 6, but 4 or less is ideal. I'd suggest focusing on Esper and splashing the rest of your colors, so I'd go with 4 Arcane Sanctum , 1 Jungle Shrine , and 1 Savage Lands . Even if you add Glimmervoid, I'd still suggest running at least 2 Arcane Sanctum just to help fix colors.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed will work better than Cauldron of Souls for your combo with Tatterkite . He'll do the same thing minus the activation cost of the cauldron with the added bonus that all your other scarecrows will be able to come back stronger and Vindicate at least one more time. Also note that Momentary Blink will reset the counters on these guys should you want them to undie again. The fact he's a 5/5 intimidate doesn't hurt either.

March 23, 2014 3:53 p.m.

MaxoBug says... #5

Wow! Thanks again! I can't neglect that that feedback just felt soo good! Yeah, Tinker would be an AMAZING addition to this deck, I was going to include a couple at least, but being banned and all, I even tried to forget it's existence, because, as you said, it would be SICK to have it here.

And I'll just add another thing, which is, that every time you play a scarecrow, you have a Vindicate . With the semblance Semblance Anvil most of the scarecrows cost just 1 mana, or are even free. It's not that hard to get more than one either, so free vindicates!

I'll consider the Terminate seems interesting. Maybe I add a couple of them.And again, thanks a lot for the positive feedback, and advice!

March 23, 2014 3:56 p.m.

MaxoBug says... #6

Regarding the Taplands and guildgates: Yeah, you are right, that's one of the issues that I have to correct too. I'll try to afford some Shocklands, but the taplands seem like good options. I'll double check every one of them, thanks!

Regarding the artifact lands, I even have them, but they are banned, and I'm trying to keep the deck in the Modern Format, so the Glimmervoid stands like the best option (I'll have to check my budget though) Moreover, guess I still have a Savage Lands somewhere.

For your last suggestion, I think it's a pretty nice combo, and even better than mine, still, I have not yet decided to include it. I have to test the current deck combo a little bit more. But I really aprecciate it! :D

March 23, 2014 4:17 p.m.

ElPared says... #7

That's weird, I checked like two weeks ago and they were legal. That must be a recent banning

March 23, 2014 4:26 p.m.

ljs54321 says... #8

A kicked Rite of Replication + Reaper King is a very common combo for Scarecrow tribal. Reaper King being legendary isn't an issue because it's done specifically for the Vindicate triggers. If you're concerned about keeping the copies alive when you do it, you can include Mirror Gallery as well.

March 23, 2014 4:27 p.m.

ljs54321 says... #9

ElPared, MaxoBug: Tinker isn't banned, it's just never been printed in a Modern legal set and therefore has never been legal for this deck. The only format it's legal in is Vintage and it's been restricted there for years because it's so easy to abuse.

March 23, 2014 4:32 p.m.

MaxoBug says... #10

Ah! That was it then. Yeah I was wrong about why, but not about not being able to put a Tinker in here if I want to keep it "modern".

Rite of Replication seems like a decent addition to the combo, still not strong enough (because of mana cost, mainly) to fit into this deck IMHO. I would have to take away some other card to put it, loosing maybe something of the current combo. Still, I'll take it as an excellent addition to a Commander Deck, when I make mine :)

March 23, 2014 5:15 p.m.

AKROMASATAN says... #11

OMG OMG, I JUST LOVE THIS DECK. I MEAN, I'VE BEEN LOOKING SOMETHING LIKE THIS FOR SO LONG. GENIUS! I LOVE YOU MAN!!

April 2, 2014 12:08 a.m.

ElPared says... #12

@ ljs54321: Umm, I didn't suggest Tinker , just artifact lands and Glimmervoid . I believe the artifact lands were banned because they're amazing with Affinity and metalcraft

I still love Momentary Blink effects in scarecrow decks. If you're stuck on mono-blue then Ghostly Flicker would be pretty awesome too.

April 2, 2014 2:24 a.m.

ljs54321 says... #13

ElPared: Your comment about the Artifact lands being banned came shortly after his comment about Tinker being banned so I thought that's what you were referring to, my mistake. As for the Artifact lands, those have been bannned at least since I started playing again during Gatecrash so it's not that recent of a banning and AFAIK, that's exactly the reason.

April 2, 2014 4:07 p.m.

MaxoBug says... #14

Ghostly Flicker seems amazing, I still believe it will fit better in another deck though, (adding it to my future Scarecrow Commander deck, will post it here too) or at least I can't see how to get it in this deck's combo. (suggestions are welcomed)

Yeah, the Artifact lands are, in fact amazing on this deck as well. It had them until I realized the banning. Still I can't let go of the Blinkmoth Urn or the Darksteel Juggernaut , cards that were much stronger having artifact lands.

April 3, 2014 7:19 p.m.

DarkHero says... #15

Dont forget you can use Changlings as Scarecrows. Like Changeling Titan or Mirror Entity . All still powering the Reaper King .

April 24, 2014 12:31 a.m.

MaxoBug says... #16

Yeah, you are right! I have to take a deeper look at those changelings, and which are the best, or what combos can I create to empower they utility!Thanks! :D

April 24, 2014 1:12 a.m.

Unburial Rites is a potential 4 for for 1

April 27, 2014 12:49 a.m.

MaxoBug says... #18

AnagonLordofSnakes How's that?

April 27, 2014 10:29 a.m.

If you have reaper king in play

April 27, 2014 12:59 p.m.

MaxoBug says... #20

Oh, I think I get it now. You are talking about the 2 vindicates + returning 2 creatures, right?

My bad! Thanks!

April 27, 2014 8:53 p.m.

cdixonm says... #21

if you find that you have a little extra cash to spare Cavern of Souls is an amazing land for tribe decks and solves the problem of worrying about counters.

April 29, 2014 12:27 p.m.

MaxoBug says... #22

Yeah, if not for the budget, not only the Cavern of Souls would be amazing, but also, just imagine a Mutavault as well! Each turn you pay one, boom, vindicate!

I wish I had those two XD

April 30, 2014 9:52 p.m.

ElPared says... #23

Mutavault wouldn't trigger Reaper King . It'd have to be a creature or have all creature types without needing to be animated, like Dryad Arbor but a scareccrow.

You could have a lot of fun with Mimic Vat in this deck, though.

April 30, 2014 10:04 p.m.

MaxoBug says... #24

It wouldn't? Damn, I was totally convinced otherwise. Noob me.

Mimic Vat seems very good, I really like it. Thing is, usually I don't figure out which cad should I replace, or the amount. That is still pretty difficult to me. :-/

April 30, 2014 10:16 p.m.

enpc says... #25

Awesome concept, I love seeing bespoke modern decks! out of curiosity, have you considered Ghostway ? Its easier to cast than Rite of Replication and your Reaper King will see all of the scarecrows enter. plus it makes you field wipe proof (assuming you have the mana of course :P). +1 from me!

May 8, 2014 2:21 a.m.

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