Scourgedown EDH Report
Scourgedown EDH Report
A Game of Retro Commander
We Played a Game of SCOURGEDOWN
Author: Philippe Zens
We played a game of SCOURGEDOWN: A Commander format that only allows cards up until Scourge, with (preferably) no reprints! The hype is starting to draw in more and more people here at Three for One Trading, so it’s only natural we wanted to share a game with you.
It has only been roughly 1 ½ years since I posted my first and last recap of a EDH game (it’s still somewhere deep down in the pits of Facebook). Those of you that know me, know I’m more of a casual player and I take bigger breaks from time to time. Others might know me from faulty combo videos, editing a lot of blog posts here on this very website, and sometimes I appear in one of our reels together with Mutsch!
Can You Show Me The Way to SCOURGETOWN?
Anyhow, I’m glad to report I got hooked again and this time not only on EDH but also, you guessed it, on Scourgedown! Or was it called Boommander? PrEDH*? No, that was something else… Old Frame Elder Dragon Highlander?! Okay, so we basically built decks with everything up until inclusively the Scourge expansion. No reprints, unless you want to be the joke of the table! This format basically combines the love for Commander with the love for beautiful old Magic cards.
*PrEDH seems to be pretty similar to Scourgedown, with a few differences (cards allowed up to New Phyrexia?)
I was hesitant to build a deck and Ivo (one of the Magic gurus/genius/DJs here at 341) decided to build one for me! You know how they say, the first sample is free. He even included Pestilence in the deck, which is my all-time favourite card. I HAD to play this.
Thanks again, Ivo!
SCOURGEDOWN SHOWDOWN
(Pictures by the very talented Mario Pampel)
Last weekend we met for the FINAL FANTASY Commander Party at Three for One Trading, what a clash of generations! The store was packed with 55 Commander players, 4 of which were looking for trouble in Scourgedown.
These lovely bastards were:
Mario playing Rasputin Dreamweaver
Peter helming Merieke Ri Berit
Philipp riding Phelddagrif
Philippe steering Vhati il-Dal
At first, everyone did look at their decks, amazed by how awesome those old cards look and surprised by how freaking good Equilibrium is! We had to wait a bit on Philipp anyhow, because he actually had to multitask and work while playing, and did that wonderfully.
What a powerhouse of a man!
Whenever you successfully deal with a customer, you may play 1 card. If you do, return back to the cash register.
Old-Card Format = Slow-Card Format ?
The game started, and we all had pretty good first turns.
Mario with a Rhystic Study.
Peter with Mother of Runes, No Mercy and a questionable alternative to Sensei’s Divining Top (Soothsaying).
Philipp with a Compost and some Ramp.
Me with mostly Ramp (I believe it was Mulch, Untamed Wilds and Harrow).
After everyone’s board was set up, we started get to get mean! First of all, we didn’t let Mario draw cards with his Rhystic Study. Except Philipp, but you know, he can’t do everything: Play Magic, sell drinks/cards AND pay the one.
Peter stole a Plague Spitter with Merieke so he could activate his Mother of Runes (which had Summoning Sickness) in his next upkeep. Then Merieke and some other small creatures died to the Plague!
All The Staples Are Here
Philipp played a wall that stayed on board way longer than you’d expect, and then Phelddagrif hit the table. I played a Sylvan Library which I forgot about 75% of the game together with another threat: Infected Vermin! The rat didn’t make it that long, since I was afraid it would get solen by Merieke.
Mario added a Soul Warden to his side of the board, which got unfortunately removed by… I’m 90% sure it was a Swords to Plowshares or the Vermin, not so sure anymore.
I played a Pestilence on a stick, Thrashing Wumpus which I was pretty hesitant to activate because of the No Mercy from Peter. Peter on the other hand was a bit hesitant to recast Merieke because of the Wumpus!
Philipp enchanted this hippo with a Gaea’s Embrace, so now he could swing by 7 Commander damage, potentially giving it flying. He did exactly that, and I believe everyone got targeted at least once.
Peak Scourgedown Gameplay
Mario decided to cast Arcanis the Omnipotent which got everyone riled up: “Card draw in Scourgedown?!” A chain of events unfolded, and I’m sure I’m not able to recap this correctly, but I will try:
- Peter wants to steal Arcanis with Control Magic.
- Mario casts Abolish, wanting to destroy the Control Magic.
- Peter then tries to steal Arcanis with Merieke.
- Mario casts Afterlife, wanting to destroy Merieke, which would also kill Arcanis.
- Philipp jumps into the action and casts Debt or Loyalty.
We then went at each other’s throats, discussing if Arcanis got Summoning Sickness or not (because it didn’t “see” an upkeep yet, where it could lose Summoning Sickness) and if Philipp could get control of Arcanis with Debt of Loyalty (because the Mirage printing of the card doesn’t mention Regenerate).
At the end, we all played it by the book and no mistakes were made, promise!
Less talk, more play
Okay, what happened next?
Someone bounced stuff, which got me confused doing the recap here. Mario played a Nevinyrral’s Disk.
Spoiler: He never activated it.
I replayed my Wumpus and backed it up with a Avatar of Woe (Thanks for not stealing it, Peter! #ehrenmann). Philipp was still attacking everyone with his hippo while handling some stray Commander players/customers.
Okay, what happened next? Someone bounced stuff which got me confused doing the recap here. Mario played a Nevinyrral’s Disk. Spoiler: He never activated it. I replayed my Wumpus and backed it up with a Avatar of Woe (Thanks for not stealing it, Peter! #ehrenmann). Philipp was still attacking everyone with his hippo while handling some stray commander players/customers.
Big stuff hit the table with an Akroma, Angel of Wrath on Peter’s side. A Great Whale and Serra Avatar showed up on Mario’s side (or was the Avatar from Peter and got stolen by Mario?! I should have taken notes), while Philipp killed my Avatar of Woe and gain control of it with Debt of Loyalty (which he kept after our rule debate and I forgot about it).
Peter then dropped Planar Void, which Mario was our second “WTF this card exists” moment of the evening. First Equilibrium, now Planar Void!
Such good graveyard hate and nobody knew about the card?! Some of us were convinced that it got cEDH potential, others didn’t have a clue about cEDH and then there were some of both worlds.
Just Kill Us Already
I flashbacked Crush of Wurms for 12 mana, which felt great, and I even took the time to draw up some wurm token.
Shortly after that, Peter swung at Philipp, leaving him tapped out and open to get finished by the wurms.
On Philipp’s turn, he had to check on a customer, while Mario’s head was buzzing with numbers:
“Guys, I believe I can go infinite!”
He had Brain Freeze, High Tide and whatever else he needed. We then argued a bit about if he really could go infinite or not, and since neither Philipp nor I could do anything about it, we decided to just leave Mario to it and start another game of SCOURGEDOWN!
Scourgedown is fun, you should try it!
Hope you liked this little excursion into Scourgedown! If you want to read more Commander recaps, let me know, and I’ll be sure to ask my “Vhati” if it’s okay to come out and play again!
Next up: Unsleeved Commander!
(Nah, just joking… or maybe not?)
