Scute Outcast

[Cognis]

I got the idea for the deck while I was looking for cards for another deck. Basically it tries to put as many lands in the game early on to make Scute mob grow and Dragonmaster outcast to start pumping tokens. It is an OK casual deck and I'm looking for some info and ideas to improve it. I thought about removing Zektar Shrine Expedition and reduce the number of Harrow, but I don't know what to put instead of them. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Scute Outcast

4 Scute Mob
4 Dragonmaster Outcast
4 Harrow
4 Land Grant
4 Plated Geopede
4 Rampaging Baloths
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Eternal Witness
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
5 Forest
3 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Zektar Shrine Expedition

[Yggdrasil]

Hi Cognis,
Since the end of the tournament I try to build a very similar game.

My comments on your decks :
- The idea and the spine cards are good.
In particular Sakura-Tribe Elder + Eternal Witness + Bloodbraid Elf give you a strong tempo advantage.

- If you want to use Rampaging Baloth, Geopede and the two Expedition cards, perhaps put more fetchlands.

- This type of deck is a bit slow, it takes time to gather all the pieces of the puzzle. You probably will have difficulties against a fast deck. You should consider replacing some of your finishers (Dragonmaster, Scute Mob, Rampaging Baloth, Zektar Shrine Expedition) by time-gaining cards (removal, walls). Plated Geopede is also a great offensive card but a poor defense.


My idea so far :
4 Scute Mob
4 Dragonmaster Outcast
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Eternal Witness
4 Wall of Blossoms
3 Shivan Wurm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Manamorphose
3 Incinerate
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Rootbound Crag
5 Forest
5 Mountain
2 Raging Ravine
1 Black Lotus

Perhaps with some Shatterstorm or Naturalize instead of Manamorphose (I have a bad memory of artifact based decks during the tournament ).
My goal is to create a zoo killer, so many cards are here to face against early threats. I haven't tested the deck so far.

- I prefer Kodama's Reach to Harrow. It work well with Oracle of Mul Daya (a card you should consider in your own deck).

- I also prefer Shivan Wurm to Rampaging Baloth (casting cost is cheaper and you can return Eternal Witness, Bloodbraid Elf or Wall of Blossoms in your hand in order to benefit twice its entrance effect).

- This kind of deck finish the game with a huge amount of mana available so Raging Ravine could be useful.

- I should also consider introducing some Harmonize. I will see after some testing.

Feel free to give me your opinion in return, I'm curious.

[Cognis]

My initial idea was a casual deck that given enough time good become unstoppable, well barring mass removal I see you're going for a more competitive build. In that case Oracle of Mul Daya is definitely in while Rampaging Baloths are out, maybe I'll leave one since it can turn the game. There should be more lands and fetch lands. Plated Geopede will also be restricted to two. I think Sarkhan Vol could fit in nicely with the dragon theme and maybe Garruk Wildspekar or something like Rancor to give a massive Scute Mob trample. I thought about Shivan Wurm but before I put Eternal Witness and Bloodbraid Elf (which is so good that any deck that can play it should) in the deck, I just forgot about him later on. Expedition cards are in to be tested but the Zektar one will go while I really like Khalni one. Elemental Appeal would work nicely in this deck but I'm not sure if it's coded. I'll play around with your ideas to see how it will work out. Who knows, maybe this will be the metagame for the next tournament

[Cognis]

I made some changes. Shivan Wurm and Eternal Witness work great. I had two Shivan Wurm and one Eternal Witness. The wurm would attack, take down some defenders, die and be resurrected by the witness which would go back to my hand the same turn when the wurm would enter. A nice trick. This deck is a work in progress and I've got this so far. I'm making this deck more aggro and without many removal, but who knows how it will end.

4 Scute Mob
4 Dragonmaster Outcast
4 Land Grant
1 Rampaging Baloths
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Eternal Witness
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Black Lotus
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
5 Mountain
6 Forest
3 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Elemental Appeal
2 Raging Ravine
3 Shivan Wurm
2 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Burning Wish
1 Living Wish
2 Starstorm

[Yggdrasil]

Seems better.

Burning Wish and Living Wish are great addition. Especially burning wish with which you can call shatterstorm, tranquillity or any other situationnal card (like a good old fireball to finish the game ). I probably will include them myself.

Elemental Appeal is coded. As a finisher, it fits well in the deck. With the great amount of mana available, it would be kicked very often (but costs 4 red mana, it's only an end-game card).

I am doubtful about Starstorm. I don't think it fits well with Bloodbraid Elf and its usefulness seems limited with this type of deck.

So you're not too fan of removals ?
Your tournament deck already contained none of them. I'm sad each time I see someone playing red without any destructive spells, it's like a meal without dessert . Are you sure you don't want to include just a tiny lightning bolt ? It's very efficient against early threat and is a cool target for Eternal Witness ability.

More seriously, two other cards come to my mind (just ideas in the air) :
- Farhaven Elf (as an alternative to Sakura-Tribe Elder. I believe Elders are better in the absolute, but Farhaven Elf has a good synergy with Shivan Wurm. Deserves to be tested.)
- Flametongue Kavu (works well with Shivan Wurm and Eternal Witness, and it's not a true removal, so you can include it without guilt ).

If I have time tonight I will made some tests.

[Cognis]

I actually prefer control decks to aggro style, but when you try adding to much to a deck you lose consistency. I will take your advice and test it with some changes since the last advice made the deck a whole lot better. Starstorm seemed like an ok card to remove a horde of creatures and being an instant with cycling makes it that much better - play starstorm for 8 mana and your only left with a massive Scute Mob, angry Shivan Wurm and a kicked Elemental Appeal. The wishes were a spur of a moment kind of thing but they fit the deck pretty well. I played against a blue control deck which countered all the creatures I had, I got Living Wish and thinking I was smart went for Terra Stomper, the AI proceeded to play Vesuvian Doppelganger and three Clone targeting the Terra Stomper. Oddly the card I've went the most with Burning Wish so far was Land Grant:)

[Yggdrasil]

Starstorm seemed like an ok card to remove a horde of creatures and being an instant with cycling makes it that much better - play starstorm for 8 mana and your only left with a massive Scute Mob, angry Shivan Wurm and a kicked Elemental Appeal.

It's a great move ! But Starstorm remains another endgame card (a fun one, I agree). Guess it's always hard to choose between fun and efficiency.
Have you tested your deck against Zoo or any other fast aggro ?

I got Living Wish and thinking I was smart went for Terra Stomper, the AI proceeded to play Vesuvian Doppelganger and three Clone targeting the Terra Stomper.

Terra Stomper was a smart choice !
Great Stable Stag was perhaps a better one in this situation but seriously, who can resist to the attractiveness of a big huge stompa ?

[Cognis]

If I had known the AI played Clone I would've gone for Great-Stable Stag, but I didn't so I lost

I played the deck against Zoo decks and it did fairly well, thanks to Eternal Witness and Shivan Wurm removal that sent creatures into the graveyard didn't bother me, off course Path to Exile, etc. was more of a problem but the deck could hold it's own. The problem is that it isn't AI friendly. The AI drops Scute Mob on the first turn blocks with it when it has 5 lands and when the Mob would start to grow, doesn't play Khalni Heart Expedition or block and sacrifice Sakura-Tribe Elder, etc. I tried making it more AI friendly but then it just doesn't have enough speed to stay in the beggining, get a ton of lands and storm over. It's a shame, it's a fun deck to play but not really tournament worthy. You can win some games with it but you need a little luck so I will be submitting a different deck for the tournament.

How is your deck going? Did you make some changes to it, like Shatterstorm in it. I'd really like to see what you've done with the idea. If you're going to play it at the tournament post the list when it starts so you don't give yourself away.

[Yggdrasil]

I've not progressed with my Scute Outcast since the last time. In fact, I spend all my Magic time building my tournament deck.
I tested a modified version of a deck I used once in the challenge mode. Easy wins 2/0 versus all the previous tournament's decks. I was so proud !
And just now, I wanted to see how the AI handles it, and I discovered with amazement that AI NEVER plays the key card.
So uncool ! Even a bad use would be sufficient !

[Cognis]

Yeah, tell me about it. The better the deck the worse the AI is playing it. I wanted to use this deck in the tournament but it just doesn't work. I already made a tournament deck that holds its own when I play it and it could stop a player when the AI plays it. It's nothing special but it should be fun. I don't want to think much about the metagame, don't see much purpose in it when there are no sideboards But I'm still waiting to start the tournament