Scourge

Scourge is a small expansion and the third set in the Onslaught block. It is the 29th Magic: The Gathering expansion and was released on May 26, 2003.

Set details

Scourge contains 143 black-bordered cards (44 rare, 44 uncommon, and 55 commons; 1 rare and 1 uncommon less than Legions). Its expansion symbol is a dragon skull to reflect its dragon theme. Like its preceding expansions, Onslaught and Legions, the set featured a theme that focused heavily on "tribal" cards, or cards that are concerned with creature types. Scourge was notable for having a focus on cards with high converted mana costs ("cost matters" or "size matters") and dragon/dragon-related cards. With Bladewing the Risen, the set even featured a dragon lord. Scourge was the last set to feature the old-style card faces or a storyline set in Dominaria until the release of the Time Spiral block.

Design and Development

While Scourge continued the Typal theme of Onslaught block, the set was also designed with a large “mana value matters” theme. Lead designer Brian Tinsman was looking to encourage players to play a deck that was either about low mana value cards or high mana value cards.

The mana value theme led to the creation of the set’s two new mechanics: storm and landcycling. Storm was meant to encourage players to play lots of lower mana value spells while landcycling was created to enable players to play with more high mana value spells. Interestingly, landcycling was created independently of cycling and was going to be a completely separate mechanic. However, when Tinsman showed it to fellow designer Mark Rosewater, Rosewater suggested making the ability a cycling variant so that it could work with other cycling synergy cards.

In keeping with the block’s typal theme, Tinsman also included a small number of typal cards for his favorite creature type: dragons. While not initially planned to be a major focus of the set, Magic’s marketing team thought it was a more appealing theme and decided to advertise the set as the “Dragon Set”. To match this marketing change, the development team re-themed several cards to reference dragons, such as the cycle of dragon auras.

Marketing

Scourge was marketed as the '"Dragon Set". The cards were sold in 15-card boosters (which featured art from Dragonstorm, Dragon Tyrant and Bladewing the Risen), in four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. At the Scourge prerelease (May 17–18, 2003), a foil Soul Collector was handed out. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name.

Flavor and storyline

With the vicious war between Phage and Akroma, and their followers, over with their deaths and fusion into Karona, an incredibly destructive and powerful avatar formed from all five colors of mana, Otaria is, once again, torn by various militant factions, all keen to claim Karona for themselves. In addition to this, the continent that was spared from a majority of the devastation occurring elsewhere on the plane of Dominaria during the events of Apocalypse, remains poisoned by the profuse perfusion of mana from the Mirari, with warping effects upon the populace; the weapons and armor of soldiers are merging with the soldiers themselves to produce virtually featureless, greatly muscle-bound living juggernauts; wizards becoming insubstantial and tenuous, as though they consisted of water or energy; elves, becoming taller, stronger, and wilder, begin to resemble the trees amongst which they live and that they protect; and, more grotesque variations of zombies, with more heads, limbs, and other appendages, are seen.

On top of this, from the explosion that spawned Karona, the Sliver Overlord, a new leader of the slivers, controlling others via the hive mind, was born.

Kamahl frees his sister, Jeska, from both Karona and Phage, her undead form, and Karn returns to Otaria, Dominaria, to take her to Argentum (or Mirrodin), a plane that he substantially shaped. Karn intimates that Jeska is a planeswalker and beseeches her to travel the multiverse as his companion. Initially, she is reluctant to leave Argentum, until Karn informs and shows her Memnarch, a golem that he forged from the Mirari and the guardian of the plane.

Storyline sources

Tokens

An Angel Token with Flying for Decree of Justice was offered as a Magic Player Reward. Token art was also produced for Magic Online: a green 4/4 Beast for use with Hunting Pack.

Themes and mechanics

Themes

Tribal and creature types were the main theme of Onslaught.

The set featured a prominent dragon subtheme, as reflected by the higher-than-usual number of dragons cards, auxiliary or support cards (e.g., Bladewing's Thrall, Dragonspeaker Shaman, Dragonstorm), and other dragon-related cards (e.g., Day of the Dragons, Dragonstalker, Form of the Dragon). In addition, Scourge featured a theme dealing with high converted mana costs ("cost matters") and, specifically, mana-cost-6-or-more, and various cards were printed to support this theme and reward players for utilizing costly cards, such as the cycle of Dragon auras, Accelerated Mutation, Ancient Ooze, Fierce Empath, Krosan Drover, and Kurgadon, and other cards, such as Pyrostatic Pillar, punished players for utilizing cheaper cards.

Mechanics

Scourge introduced the novel keyword abilities landcycling and storm. Landcycling, a variation upon cycling, is an activated ability that allows the owner of a card with landcycling to discard the card and pay a cost to search their library for a card with a specific land type. Landcycling is itself a specific case of typecycling, which was featured on cards in Future Sight, as Slivercycling on Homing Sliver and Wizardcycling on Vedalken Æthermage, and the Alara block, as landcycling and, more generally, basic landcycling.

Cost matters was a theme that encouraged players to use spells with high mana costs. In addition to providing numerous creatures and other spells with converted mana cost 6 or greater, several cards were printed that enhanced or facilitated them.

Storm, designed by Brian Tinsman, is a triggered ability on instant and sorcery cards that triggers when the spell is cast. It allows the controller of a spell with storm to put copies of the spell on the stack (with new targets). Several cards with storm in Scourge, namely Brain Freeze, Mind's Desire, and Tendrils of Agony, were so powerful, particularly with 0-CMC spells (e.g., Ornithopter), virtually free spells (e.g., Cloud of Faeries), and other cheap spells, that they essentially formed the crux of a deck archetype that dominated the competitive Magic. In retrospect, Head Magic Designer Mark Rosewater, amongst others, have regarded storm as one of the most, if not the most, "degenerate" or "broken" abilities or mechanics thus printed.

Creature types

No new creature types were introduced in Scourge.

Cycles

Scourge features six cycles.

Reprinted cards

Goblin War Strike, first printed in Portal Second Age

Color shifted

• Enrage, red colorshifted version of Howl from Beyond (Alpha)
• Rain of Blades, white colorshifted version of Scorching Winds (Portal)

Strictly better

• Coast Watcher, upgrade from Sea Eagle (Starter 1999)
• Spark Spray, upgrade from Scorching Spear (Portal)

Notable cards

• Brain Freeze - An alternative Finisher for storm-based decks. It has the disadvantage of not killing the opponent before their next draw step.
• Carrion Feeder - featured in some builds of Hulk Flash in Legacy as a means to sacrifice Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to set up a loop with Kiki-Jiki and Karmic Guide.
• Decree of Justice - Primarily used in Astral Slide decks, but also saw play in many other white decks.
• Dragon Breath - used in Cephalid Breakfast decks to give Sutured Ghoul haste.
• Eternal Dragon- a powerful win condition in white control decks, including Astral Slide, whose plainscycling and ability to recur itself from the graveyard kept it relevant all game.
• Goblin Warchief
• Dragonstorm - initially overshadowed by the other storm cards, it became a key part of a top-tier Standard deck when it was reprinted in Time Spiral.
• Forgotten Ancient - the first card created through the "You Make the Card" online promotion. Known affectionately as Mr. Babycakes.
• Mind's Desire - A card preemptively restricted in Vintage due to concerns over its power in that format.
• Siege-Gang Commander - A powerful top-end finisher for Goblin decks in Standard.
• Silver Knight - A counterpart to White Knight, this was a strong answer to aggressive red decks such as goblin tribal.
• Stifle - used a lot since new rulings made the combo with Phyrexian Dreadnought viable. Also used a lot on Onslaught 's fetch lands, acting as an unexpected Stone Rain for .
• Tendrils of Agony - The Finisher of choice for most storm-based decks.
• Xantid Swarm - Sees play in Vintage and Legacy. Its ability was a rejected idea from "You Make the Card".

Preconstructed decks

Scourge has one monocolored and three bicolored theme decks.

Trivia

• The art for Unspeakable Symbol (Scourge) and Wipe Clean (Scourge) depict two scenes in the same location, and are both illustrated by Arnie Swekel.
• Pemmin's Aura is an anagram of "I am Superman." It refers to the card Morphling from Urza's Saga which had the nickname of "Superman". The enchantment grants the enchanted creature the ability of Morphling.

Notes