Scarecrows aren’t the most powerful tribe in Magic. In fact, most Scarecrows, as printed, are pretty unimpressive, but Scarecrow tribal doesn’t care about that. In fact, Scarecrow tribal decks happily play two-mana 2/1s and three-mana 2/3s with no real abilities, just because of how powerful the mighty Reaper King can be.
Read this card a second time. That’s right – whenever another Scarecrow enters the battlefield, you get to destroy a permanent. A permanent! You can blow up lands with this thing! The Reaper King and his army of terrifying Scarecrows are coming for you, and there’s nothing you can do about it, as Justincase shows us:
1 Changeling Outcast 1 Jawbone Skulkin 1 Mothdust Changeling 1 Universal Automaton 1 Amoeboid Changeling 1 Fang Skulkin 1 Masked Vandal 1 Pili-Pala 1 Skeletal Changeling 1 Unsettled Mariner 1 Adaptive Automaton 1 Eternal Witness 1 Mirror Entity 1 One-Eyed Scarecrow 1 Realmwalker 1 Scarecrone 1 Scuttlemutt 1 Soulherder 1 Wild-Field Scarecrow 1 Wingrattle Scarecrow 1 Graveshifter 1 Irregular Cohort 1 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain 1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge 1 Scaretiller 1 Shell Skulkin 1 Spark Double 1 Antler Skulkin Noncreature spells 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Sylvan Scrying 1 Torment of Hailfire 1 Cultivate 1 Circuitous Route 1 Scapeshift 1 Hour of Promise 1 Imposing Grandeur 1 All Is Dust 1 Eerie Ultimatum 1 Reshape the Earth 1 Swords to Plowshares 1 Arcane Denial 1 Double Major 1 Negate 1 Eerie Interlude 1 Unwind 1 Golgari Signet 1 Simic Signet 1 Talisman of Curiosity 1 Talisman of Resilience 1 Chromatic Lantern 1 Mimic Vat 1 Maskwood Nexus 1 Panharmonicon 1 Mirrorworks 1 Arcane Adaptation 1 Molten Echoes 1 Conspiracy 1 Kindred Discovery 1 Liliana's Contract 1 Reflections of Littjara Lands 1 Baldur's Gate 1 Basilisk Gate 1 Black Dragon Gate 1 Blood Crypt 1 Breeding Pool 1 Cascading Cataracts 1 Citadel Gate 1 Cliffgate 1 Command Tower 1 Fabled Passage 1 Field of the Dead 1 Forest 1 Gateway Plaza 1 Godless Shrine 1 Gond Gate 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Heap Gate 1 Island 1 Ketria Triome 1 Manor Gate 1 Maze's End 1 Mountain 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Plains 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Sea Gate 1 Snow-Covered Forest 1 Snow-Covered Island 1 Snow-Covered Mountain 1 Snow-Covered Plains 1 Snow-Covered Swamp 1 Steam Vents 1 Stomping Ground 1 Swamp 1 Temple Garden 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1 Watery Gravery Grave
The creatures are, well, look, they’re not great. But remember, even something as unimpressive as Fang Skulkin is pretty good when it comes with a free Vindicate attached – and some Scarecrows, in fairness, have useful abilities. Sort of. Wild-Field Scarecrow helps you find those lands you need to cast your commander, Shell Skulkin protects Reaper King from removal and Pili-Pala is… well, it’s fun to say, at least.
The actual Scarecrows are supported by a robust cast of changelings, with things like Realmwalker and Graveshifter providing a bit of extra value as well as triggering Reaper King. It’s the non-Scarecrow, non-changeling support creatures that really interest me, however – Padeem, Consul of Innovation gives them hexproof, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain makes them draw you cards and Soulherder blinks them for more Reaper King triggers!
There’s also Arcane Adaptation and Maskwood Nexus to turn all these non-Scarecrows into Scarecrows, which is particularly spicy with Field of the Dead. Play a land, make a 2/2, get a Vindicate? Don’t mind if I do. And as we’re playing five colors, there are plenty of green fixing and ramp spells to find the mana you need, along with five-color all-star Chromatic Lantern. There’s also Maze’s End in there with a bunch of gates, because at this point, why not?
I love the Liliana’s Contract, as with all the changelings and Maskwood Nexus, you might just cheese a win that way – but my favorite card in this entire deck is definitely Imposing Grandeur. This card is absolutely bonkers in a Reaper King deck – in case you didn’t know, Reaper King’s mana value is 10. So while the rest of the table is drawing four or five or six cards, you’re drawing 10. Incredible.
This list takes underwhelming creatures and gives them the opportunity to shine, with piddly little cards like Jawbone Skulkin now able to take down the roughest and toughest threats your opponents may have. And that, as far as I’m concerned, is exactly what tribal decks are all about!
