Magic Deck Vortex: Casual Violence: Scion-tologist Deckbuilding Challenge Results

The decks have been submitted, and the scores have been tallied. I’m sure that some of you will disagree with my opinions and scores, which is fine. However, this contest and the decks submitted were fun to both view and review. Who will be crowned the victors? You'll just have to check it out... Hit the forums, and sound off.

A reminder of the important parts of the Scion-tologist Deckbuilding Challenge:

Scion-tologist Deckbuilding Challenge

Finish the following deck:

4 Dark Supplicant
3 Scion of Darkness
4 Zealous Inquisitor
3 Weathered Wayfarer
3 White Knight
3 Oversold Cemetery

This will be a 60-card Onslaught Block- or Extended-legal deck. Banned and Restricted cards from either format may not be used in that format. Multiple decks in the same format from the same person will be judged separately, but only one will qualify.

The Restrictions:
The deck needs to be able to get the Scion out fairly quickly, and get it back if it goes to the graveyard.

It’s a White-Black base, but any other colors are allowed.

You may exchange up to four copies of any cards on the list for other cards, or one copy of four cards (or any combination, up to four total cards). At least one copy of the Scion must be used.

The Scion is the primary win condition, but it needs a backup if the Scion gets Cranial Extracted or otherwise removed from the game.

Submissions will be accepted via PM or e-mail. I will try to send a notice of receipt when I check my inboxes. (I won't give out my e-mail here because of spam bots, but you can go through the forums to send it. E-mail is preferred, since the PM inbox fills up fast.) Please put the phrase, "Scion-tology Contest" in the subject line.

The decklists will be judged on a purely subjective scale. Points will be awarded for creativity (fresh ideas- 10 points), utility and playability (how well it stands up against different decks, plus getting the right mana and mana curve- 15 points), adherence to the rules (if you can follow instructions, it’s an automatic 10 points), flavor (this is entirely subjective—a “coolness factor”- 10 points), and the result of a 1d6-1 (random points for other factors not included above) for a total of 50 points.
The deck that I finally built around this core rated 30/50 (or 60%) on my scale. I know there are people who can do better than 60% with these cards.

There will be one winner in each category: Extended and Block.

SirLawnGnome’s first entry into an MDV contest was also the first entry received for the Scion-tologist Deckbuiling Challenge. It’s a little Block number, which is cool by itself.

There are advantages to going first in presentations—there’s nothing else to compare it to, and the judges are generally easier on the offerings. But, I’m waiting for all of the entries to come in before I finalize the scores. Looking at the deck, the choice of creatures is pretty straightforward. Most are low casting cost, but there aren’t many of any one Cleric (other than the base supplied). The Clerics that are there have a lot of usefulness. I would have liked to see a third True Believer, Doomed Necromancer, and Edgewalker, but what to pull? Maybe the Slates of Ancestry and a Zealous Inquisitor…

The Aphetto Dredging is a good choice in this Cleric-heavy deck, especially when it can be used to get a second (or third) Scion quickly. I could see a fourth turn with two Scions on the board with the right draw, which makes it sick. The Dragon Scales/Dragon Shadow idea is just nasty. If there was a way to ensure seeing those within the first couple of turns, it would be icing on the cake.

The biggest weakness of the deck is that it’s vulnerable. There aren’t a lot of ways to protect your creatures, but that’s solved with recursion. There are plenty of ways to get creatures back into your hand (or into play). The amount of life gain in the deck boosts its chances of staying in for the long haul against burn and beatdown. It has a good base, and it looks like it could stand up to a variety of decks.

It had the right subject line, and stayed in the parameters given. The only problem was that it wasn’t specified which type of deck this is (Standard or Block). Still, off to a solid start!

The Dragon enchantments were completely unexpected, and make a nice addition to the deck. The use of the other Clerics (and the numbers of each one used) puts this a little ahead of the curve.

The mana base looks pretty close to where it needs to be, and there are plenty of ways to get back key pieces of the deck. The deck’s potential to get multiple Scions out by the fourth or fifth turn gives it a boost. The only thing is the numbers of creatures and spells used—using 1 or 2 copies makes it less likely that you’ll see them during the game (though the Slates of Ancestry help with that).

Even though there are things I disagree with in the deck, there are several things I really like about it. It makes the Dragon enchantments very playable, it threatens multiple Scions in the early game, and it has the potential to be a powerhouse (with a little tuning). The addition of the Doubtless One (which could be hurt—or even sacrificed—by the Dark Supplicants) is an interesting choice, flavor-wise. Why would the Doubtless One be seen hanging around with such riff-raff? With the recursion options (Aphetto Dredging, Doomed Necromancer, Oversold Cemetery), it seems that the Doubtless One really has nothing to doubt. The second Avatar works with the flavor of the deck.
The deck has flaws, but they’re not going to stall it. Overall, it has the right flavor for the Avatar. It strikes a good balance between White’s light of purity and Black’s descent into darkness.

The deck is a pretty straightforward Cleric Tribal that can get a Scion out quickly, which is one of the strong points. Cover of Darkness provides evasion for the leftover Clerics if the Scion doesn’t stay in the game, but any kind of Plague effect will cripple the deck. There’s good synergy to the Clerics, and it has the ability to deal with early weenies and bothersome enchantments.

I like the fact that Cycling is used to a good degree. It adds utility to the deck, and gets the horrendously overcosted Scion out of your hand and into the graveyard where it belongs. The Disciples of Malice are also good for drawing through to what you need, or cast, sac, recur, cycle. Most of the cards have more than one use, which bolsters a deck.

The big weakness, as stated before, is Endemic Plague/Mistform Ultimus. (Then again, any deck that uses creatures has that problem.)

Overall, it looks pretty solid for a Block deck, and it should handle fairly well.

Oooh… This deck dropped 7 of the cards (4 were allowed to be dropped). Everything else is in line, though.

There are some nifty tricks in the deck, such as Starlit Sanctum and Cover of Darkness. The explanation of the deck is at least entertaining to read, which bumps up the points a touch. For the kind of deck that it is (and the options were limited), there’s enough difference and trickery to score well.

The fact that the deck utilizes Cycling fairly well (and has a few different ways to recur creatures) makes it playable. Having Smother as the main source of removal worries me, but with a 3rd and 5th turn Scion possible, the only creatures it needs to worry about are CMC 3 or less anyway. Most of the spells are fairly low on the mana curve, and the addition of Arkoma’s Vengeance gives the deck a fighting chance when faced with overrun. If it were me, though, I’d swap out the Misery Charms for two more Covers of Darkness and another Vengeance.

The deck has a good flavor. It uses the strengths of the enemy colors (evasion and redirection/reset) to its advantage. It has a solid Black feel to it, and brings the darker side of White for support (in Arkoma’s Vengeance and the Inquisitor). There’s just something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on.

At first glance, this deck looked like it was built around the Yore-Tiller/Rakdos combo. Then, I started thinking about what Rakdos does. He enables the Scion’s graveyard theft ability by forcing mass sacrifices from the opponent. Nasty stuff.

Looking at the synergy between the cards, and the various ways to smack people around with the Scion (and Rakdos), the deck is wacky. Captain Jack Sparrow kind of wacky. It was a tough deck to score, because it’s so eclectic and doesn’t make much sense on the surface. But once you dig into it, the thing is tough.

I’m a big fan of recursion and reanimation, and this deck uses those mechanics very well. It utilizes cheap cards to get expensive ones into play. The one card that’s missing is the Doomed Necromancer. Sac it to get a Nephilim into play (I never thought I’d use the phrase “get a Nephilim into play”), and recur the beatsticks with the Nephilim until your opponent cries like a little girl.

It’s pretty much a beatdown deck, and the lack of targeted removal is a weakness. Then again, removal isn’t necessary when you have at least a 5-point clock on the board by the 4th turn. It hits hard and fast.

Adherence to the Rules: 9/10 Even though there was some question about the cards chosen for this challenge (they were chosen to make it a bit more of a challenge), the deck and the entry stayed within the confines of the rules. It’s obvious that it’s Extended, but it wasn’t specified in the entry. (Yep, I will ding people for that, no matter how apparent it is.)

“As you can see, this is a bizarre deck.” That’s an understatement. What this is, other than really off-the-wall, is one of the most eclectic decks I’ve seen in a long time. The interactions between the Yore-Tiller Nephilim, Rakdos, and Cauldron Dance are just hilarious. (I’ve seen the Yore-Tiller/Rakdos combo before, but this deck really makes good use of it.) I really didn’t know which way to score this one, high or low. I’m going high, simply because of the “I’ll discard, and use my graveyard instead” approach. Plus, I like any deck that uses Rakdos.

This deck has a lot of utility, especially in the late game when Cauldron Dance can hit the board. The deck relies on the graveyard instead of the hand to get creatures into play, and, again, it uses Rakdos. There aren’t many ways to protect the creatures, but that’s not the point of the deck (even though there are a couple of tricks to keep the Legendary beasties around, and push them through your opponent’s defenses). It has some good synergies between the cards, which make it very playable. My biggest concern is the numbers for key cards like the Yore-Tiller. There’s not much chance that it will be seen during the game with only one in the deck, even though Buried Alive increases the chances greatly. The Yore-Tiller is also bait for removal spells, which makes it a weak spot with only one in the deck. I’d feel better about it with two, since they aren’t Legendary. One draws the removal, while the other attacks.

This is another tough one to score, only because it strays from what I would picture as the ideals of the Scion. Except that Rakdos is in there to fill an opponent’s graveyard with a bunch of creatures that the Scion would want to steal. Visara is a nice addition to the deck as a flying assassin. The more I look at it, the more I lean toward scoring the flavor of the deck high. There isn’t much that goes outside of the main focus of the deck, and the cards work together.

Other than being a 67-card deck, this one looks like it has potential. The sacrifice mechanic in the Cabal Archon roots this deck in Black, while providing a way to fill the graveyard for the Oversold Cemetery to work. Also, the Doomed Necromancer helps the recursion theme nicely. I was surprised to see Cycling cards like the Decrees in the list—both are useful tools for getting creatures on the board, or wiping it in the late game. Card draw also helps to speed things up with Skulltap along with the Cyclers. With the Reanimator in play, drawing two cards and getting at least two 2/2 Zombie tokens is a really good deal.

The sideboard is what is really intriguing. The Nova Cleric wipes enchantments, Akroma’s Vengeance resets the board, Patriarch’s Bidding puts all Clerics back into play (plus whatever creature type your opponent chooses) only to send them back to the graveyard (to get a shiny new Scion, gain life, hurt your opponent, draw cards, etc), and the Righteous Cause gives you 1 life for each creatures that your opponent tries to hit you with, and gives you life when you swing. It gives the deck the ability to change for the situation, and protect itself against quite a few things.

The drawback is the card count. To bring this puppy down to 60 cards, I’d take out the Knights, drop the basic land count to 19 (take out a Swamp and the fetch lands; the fetch lands are good—I can’t deny that—but 25 land could make the deck very inconsistent and full of mana pockets) and put in three Tainted Fields. That leaves two cards. One Inquisitor goes, since three should be enough. The last card to remove is tough. With four Edgewalkers and the Wayfarer, the mana base could be pulled down a hair more since the Clerics cost less and the Wayfarer will go for any land. One Plains is my best bet there.

It would be nice to find a place in the main deck for the Bidding, since it could turn the tide and pave the way to get two (or three) Scions out in one turn. At 60 cards, this deck could do well. The deck’s base is strong enough that it could be modified for Extended fairly easily.

Again, the type of deck (Block or Extended) was missing. Also, adding up the numbers gave a 67-card deck. A 60-card deck was asked for. Otherwise good.

The deck itself is Tribal Clerics. There isn’t much new and exciting in the main deck, other than the amount of card advantage that can be generated. That’s one of the things I like about the deck—it utilizes Black card draw while enabling recursion. Using Skulltap and the Decrees put this a little above the curve.

11/15 With the sideboard options, this deck looks very playable. Again, though, the number of cards makes me nervous about playing it as-is. 67 cards and 25 lands (even with the five fetch lands) throw it off-balance. It still scores high, thanks to the card advantage options, the sideboard, and the use of the Cabal Archon.

10/10 Sac, recur, draw cards. Get an early Scion, clear the board, and pump out a bunch of Soldiers or Angels to bring the pain of dark justice to your opponent. At 60 cards, this would be a tasty deck. The sideboard gives it the right hint of spice (and nasty surprises for the second and third games).

Total: 36/50 (Note: At 60 cards, this would have scored around 42-43 points.)

Following is the revised version of the original deck that I built around the base given. It was in its current form before the contest was posted (and it’s done reasonably well in local tournaments).

In the main deck, I switched out 3 Weathered Wayfarers and 1 Zealous Inquisitor for 4 Orders of the Stars. (Even though the Wayfarers are still in my sideboard, I don’t count them as part of the deck itself.)

Summary and Appraisal: The original deck kept the Wayfarers, and didn’t have the Concerted Efforts. Mortify hadn’t been added, and Benevolent Bodyguard was in that slot. It was creature-heavy at 33 creatures, with little protection. That was the deck that I based the contest on. After I finished “Touched by an Avatar,” I broke down and did some trading at the local card shop to flesh out the missing pieces of the deck. I’ve played the version listed above in local tourneys, and it’s proven to be solid. The first time, I placed in the top 3. (Going into the last two rounds, I had 2nd place clinched, and I could have taken 1st. But, I made a couple of bad plays, and I kept a couple of hands that I should have Parsed. I got cocky, and it cost me.)

The basic idea of the deck is to drop a Plains and an Order of the Stars (pro-opponent’s color) on the first turn. A second turn Swamp brings out a Dark Supplicant. On the third turn, any mana will do, with the third Cleric (preferably the Rotlung Reanimator). Tap the Supplicant, sac, sac, sac the Clerics, and bam! Scion of Darkness. If it went well, the Scion is backed by three 2/2 Black Zombie tokens. (With the right draw, a 2nd-turn Scion is possible.) After that, it’s a matter of getting a bunch of stuff with the abilities named on Concerted Effort. Equipping the Scion with the Sword is always a good thing, though the Benevolent Chaplain makes a good swordsman as well.

In one tournament, I was up against a guy running a Red/Green Stompy-style deck. He conceded the match once he saw the big combo (Concerted Effort, two Orders of the Stars (pro-Red and -Green), a Soul Collector, and a Sword of Light and Shadow equipped to the Scion). An 8/8 trampling, flying, pro-Black/-White/-Red/-Green, recurring, thieving, life-gaining beatstick punching him in the face for two rounds was enough for him to give up. He folded like a lawn chair.

The main problem with the deck (other than its player) is that it has no protection against weenies. One of the matches that I lost was to an Elf deck. (I am very ashamed.) I’d like to add a Wrath of God or some similar effect to replace the Knights, just to get around that little problem. Mortify helps as targeted removal, but mass removal would be better against faster decks. With time to set up, this deck can explode. Against Weenie, it tends to get stopped early.

I made the original list and the rules, so of course I’m going to adhere to them.

The only thing special about this deck is the Concerted Effort. Everything else feeds into it, so the choices weren’t that difficult.

Having the potential for a 2nd or 3rd turn Scion is nice, but it doesn’t have the focus it needs to pull that off consistently.

The deck is designed to make the Scion (and his minions) more powerful, but it doesn’t really feel all that Black/White to me. White’s control aspect is missing, although it does make use of the mutual protection/greater good ideals of White. Black’s willingness to sacrifice to promote its goals is there, but only incidentally in the Supplicants. Most of the cards are there to encourage the Concerted Effort, rather than the Scion.

It surprised me that the majority of decks entered were Block. With the options that Extended has to really amp up the abilities of the Scion and his Clerical minions, I figured that more people would play around with that option. I figured wrong. Still, the decks were scored independently of each other. It was possible to have a low score with no competition.

Block: SirLawnGnome gets bragging rights for the Block deck. Of the submitted Block decks, it was close. The scores came down to a margin of 10%. These were all good decks in my opinion, and they each deserve props. Well done to each of you!

Extended: Yes, there was only one entry for Extended (which surprised me, given the options). Cashew’s deck was close to receiving a very low score, but the card interactions pulled the score the other way. Even though there was no competition, the deck made me think about the interactions, and justified a higher score. Rakdos. That still makes me shake my head in wonder, and nod in appreciation.

Saito Hajime and shadowriku both posted decks that are solid and playable, and that were interesting to score. Well done! My thanks go out to both of you, as well as SirLawnGnome and Cashew for contributing to the first Casual Violence contest. It was great to see the different approaches to the core deck, and how much variation is possible with a third of the deck supplied.

Again, congratulations and bragging rights go out to the winners. Everyone should be happy with their decks, as they scored fairly well. Give yourselves a hand!