(This article is a guest article by Stan S. It's about a format I have yet to formally play called scryings. A hyperlink is below).
Some people want to win it all, or build great works of creativity. And then there are those who just want to watch the world burn. Me, I accepted long ago that it’s more realistic to just make my opponent’s lands burn, and that brings us to the topic of the day: mana denial in old school formats. Or, more precisely, mana denial in the new Scryings format.
If you’re not aware of what this format is, you can find its list of legal cards here. Basically, the boys and girls in Sweden added more than 100 new cards to the Swedish legal card pool, and created an extremely diverse and interesting addition to the existing Swedish format. As of today (May 13 2020), there doesn’t seem to be a definitive deck to beat, although various strategies around Sacred Mesa and River Boa seem to have emerged and/or are emerging. Land tax decks seem to have gotten a significant boost from the ‘printing’ of Jokulhaups, Undiscovered Paradise and Zuran Orb, and some brave souls are endeavoring to make reanimator a thing. One aspect of old school magic that seems to get relatively little attention in this format is good, old fashioned mana denial. This article defines manadenial as preventing the opponent from getting the proper amount and colour of mana out of his lands. The format has artifact and creature mana, which means cards like Goblin Vandal can take out mana sources too. But in this text we’ll focus on attacking the lands.
Before we evaluate the new ‘printings’ in this set, it’s important to note that Scryings is more than a clone of the Swedish format plus some new cards. The addition of these cards has made some existing cards a lot better in this new metagame. I already mentioned Land Tax, but there is another card which in my opinion gets a lot better in this new format. Magnus added a lot of incentives to tap out and/or untap all of your lands in this set. A Wildfire Emissary, pump knight or Sacred Mesa isn’t nearly as efficient when you can’t sink all of your mana into it. Reusing Hammer of Bogardan costs you a hefty eight mana every turn, and if you want to optimally use Dwarven Miner (which will get its own paragraph later on in this article), you want to whack a land every turn too, which costs you three mana every time. Thawing Glaciers comes into play tapped, and gives you tapped basic lands, and the hyper efficient beater Waterspout Djinn requires you to return an untapped Island to your hand. Tapped ones won’t do. In such a format, Winter Orb can be a deadly predator to the unprepared opponent. Keep this card in mind when you’re brewing.
Next up, let’s talk about the new additions to the format. If you want to attack a manabase, there’s the pinpoint accuracy approach, and there’s the sledge hammer strategy. Jokulhaups and Pox fall into the latter category. Both of these sorceries require you to build around it, and will reward you with a crippled opponent who struggles to cast his spells if you play your cards right. Losing at least a third, or all, of your lands and mana critters, and artifact mana too in the case of Jokulhaups, will make short work of mana intensive strategies. If you don’t intend to play these cards, be prepared to face them, because people will be trying to break these strategies.
A card which has been used together with Pox is Desolation. This thing is deadly in a game of attrition, but you need to build around it. Bear in mind that if the opponent disenchants it during his own turn, he won’t sacrifice a land.
Next up are the more pinpoint strategies. Staying in Black, Choking Sands is an interesting addition to the format for the dedicated land destruction enthusiast. Generally speaking you’ll want to play Sinkhole over this though, unless if you’re the maniac who wants both obviously. Dealing two damage to remove a nonbasic land is sweet, but three mana really is a lot more than two, and the ‘non swamp clause’ really hurts it.
Pillage is another three mana addition to the format. This card is extremely versatile, being able to destroy both lands and artifacts makes sure you’ll always hit something good with it. The double red makes this card somewhat clunky in many decks though, more often than not you’ll want one or two of these in your main deck, if you’re not running monored more than that will be too much. Still, a good card.
Creeping Mold is Pillage’s fatter younger brother. It will also hit enchantments, but four mana really is a lot. Not bad if you’re running a lot of elves, but you usually want to do more than destroy one noncreature permanent for that mana cost. Still, if you can make it work, good for you.
Orcish Squatters gets its mention just for completeness’ sake. At five mana, you want more than a boltable creature that needs to attack to do anything. It’s cute and hilarious if you can get it to work, but don’t base your manadenial strategy on this guy if you want to win consistently. Still, old school magic is a game of creativity as much if not more so than of skill, so don’t let my skepticism of this card dissuade you from brewing with it.
Political Trickery is an interesting card. It’s not suited to wreck an opposing manabase, and will only rarely allow you to colourscrew an opponent. But you’ll always be able to rob him of his best land, and this format has some really good lands. I’m sure most players will find a good use for a borrowed Maze of Ith or Library of Alexandria.
Dwarven Miner is in my opinion the best manadenial card in this set, and one of the best cards included in general. It’s a small red creature, which makes it very vulnerable. You’ll need to protect it. But if you get to untap with it, wonderful things start to happen. Whacking just one land with it before it gets bolted or plowed will already put you ahead, as soon as you manage to activate it twice, you’re pretty far ahead. Hitting a dual per turn, an annoying Maze of Ith or Mishra’s factory, that Library of Alexandria he was hoping to use to grind you out, or that Workshop which was bound to be used to do broken stuff, all of this becomes possible. Three mana per turn is a steep investment in the midgame, but the pay off can be oh so sweet.
Our final entrant isn’t really a manadenial card at all. Primal Order doesn’t destroy lands, it doesn’t even tap them down. It doesn’t invalidate them like a Blood Moon does either. But it will punish the heck out of an opponent who plays too many of them. This four mana sideboard card is a serious clock against an opponent light on basic lands. Not ideal in a metagame filled with budget decks, but if you want to punish opponents for running nothing but duals and factories, look no further. Those x damage per upkeep can really add up. Be careful though, this effect is symmetric.
So, there you have it. The mana denial strategies in this wonderful new format are plenty, and they’re good. Have fun trying them out, and if you feel I missed something, be sure to let me know.
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