[SCD] Sand Scout

[DirkGently]

Sand Scout

I know it's still early days for this card, but it blows my mind that this card is not getting more hype.

The obvious point of comparison is Loyal Warhound. Loyal warhound has a respectable 45K EDH includes, which puts it off the top 100 white cards but not by very much (#100 is Deafening Silence with 55K). Knight of the White Orchid, in a similar vein, scores pretty high on the list (#24) with 117K.

Especially with warhound, I think the comparison is close enough that we can basically go to a point by point comparison.

Warhound is a 3/1 vigilance, sand scout is a 2/2
Favors warhound, but it's pretty meaningless really.

Warhound fetches a basic plains, Sand Scout fetches a desert
This is the most interesting point because we have to look at our available deserts. One easy consideration is that the pain deserts - Shefet Dunes etc - are relatively free to run and turn sand scout into a fixer, which is already a big advantage over warhound which can only fetch more white mana. If you're willing to run etbt lands, it can even work as an omni-fetch, getting any dual land you want with the new pinging deserts, or just 1 color with Mirage Mesa. But then there are utility lands to consider - Scavenger Grounds is a really strong one imo, Arid Archway seems like a solid choice for mono-white or maybe 2c as a way to keep hitting land drops, and the new Cactus Preserve looks like it has potential if your commander happens to be high-cmc and you're in the market for a manland. Cycling deserts are another alternative, and if you want rainbow mana and/or have a desire to tap your creatures, Survivors' Encampment sees play as well. Sand scout isn't just ramp, he's a land tutor! On a body!

Warhound fetching basic plains only has basically only one advantage - you probably wanted to run at least a couple basics anyway, so it doesn't ask anything from you. And I'm definitely sensitive to cards that demand weakening your manabases to justify. But I think running just 1-2 deserts is a really small consideration, when some of those deserts are viable even without synergy. Especially since...

Warhound..., Sand scout makes tokens
I think sand scout would have a very solid roleplayer even without this ability, but what's crazy is that I think it would have been a solid roleplayer with ONLY this ability. It feels like two good cards for the price of one. Every time you crack a fetch, mill some cards that include a land, discard a land, sac your Shefet Dunes - as long as you don't do it more than once a turn (which, especially with fetches, is super easy since you can just wait until enemy turns), you get a token. Okay, it's not as easy to make a bunch of tokens as Young Pyromancer, but it's also free money since basically every non-monocolor deck should be running all their fetches. And some decks (i.e. loam decks) can be generating a pretty large number of tokens on top of that.

Types wise, I think human is probably comparable to dog.

Knight of the white orchid puts the land into play untapped and can get nonbasics, so it's definitely steeper competition on that front. But it also costs double white, which can be a bit to ask considering you really want to play this on 2 lands. And again, KotWO is one of the most popular white cards in the format.

Idk, this card seems crazy to me. Sure, it has some build-around required, but it's really minor build-around - Scavenger Grounds is almost always at least in consideration for my decks, and some of the other deserts are fine. I'm low-key contemplating speculating on it.

[Mookie]

Sand Scout, for reference.

I think it's alright. I'm not running Knight of the White Orchid or Loyal Warhound in any of my decks at the moment - they're good T3 on the draw, but I'm generally risk-averse. They're great if you're running Lotus Field or other ways to go down lands, but less exciting if you're consistently playing a land every turn.

If you are running them, then I think Sand Scout is a pretty easy upgrade. Fetching Arid Archway seems much better than fetching a tapped basic (and doesn't work against other catch-up ramp). Token production is a bit conditional, but you don't need more than one or two tokens to justify its inclusion, and I could see running it in some decks just for that ability. There is some tactical tension too - decks that dump lots of lands in the graveyard tend to be running Life from the Loam effects and hit all their land drops, which makes the first ability less likely to trigger.

Overall, I think the bulk of its power is in the ramp ability, so I don't see myself running it in decks that didn't already want catch-up ramp.

[darrenhabib]

The utility deserts on the whole are colorless. So the question is "can your deck afford to run colorless lands?".
For mono white decks Sand Scout greatest competition I'd say is going to be Emeria the Sky Ruin.

A deck with fetchlands and Skullclamp looks like a nice fit for Sand Scout.
It's going into my Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon deck for this reason and I'm going to play Ramunap Ruins, Shefet Dunes, Scavenger Grounds.

Another deck Sand Scout is custom made for is my Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward // Far Traveler where tutoring for Survivors' Encampment works perfect with needing to tap Abdel for Far Traveler.
I get to exile Sand Scout for additional ETBs. So it makes sense for me to run Arid Archway to help with getting under the threshold.
Again I already have Skullclamp so works nice with fetches.

There was a thread "White Speculation Play" the community discussed around Scorched Ruins, Lotus Vale and diving into the benefits of cards that have "more/less lands" conditions.
Loyal Warhound is only ever going to be able to search for a basic plains. The number of Deserts will only ever increase, just as we are going to see additional "more/less lands" cards printed.
So yes Sand Scout is only going to get better and better, while realistically Loyal Warhound is going to stay mostly the same. There will of course be "plains" matter cards like Emeria the Sky Ruin where you are going to want the hound instead.

[capitacommunist]

Fully agree that it's really good and hasn't received the equivalent attention yet.
In my mono white Adeline deck I've added Shefet Dunes, Scavenger Grounds and Arid Archway to be able to play it; I'm already playing Loyal Warhound and Knight of the White Orchid. To make room I've cut a basic plains, Emeria, and Karoo. The tokens are mostly a bonus if I play Lotus Vale or Lotus Field as I'm not running fetches. Being a human is also much better than a dog in the deck.

It's greatest limitation is in mono white itself I think, as you only have one (untapped) color producing land you can fetch and requires you to dilute plains, competing with Emeria. Constraints which the other two don't have.
In multicolor it seems much better than warhound since you're probably not playing sufficient plains for Emeria anyway, and can then play only some of the colored deserts or duals, if you don't have room for more utility lands.

[PrimevalCommander]

I personally do not think there are enough good deserts for this card to really shine yet. It adds a touch of flexibility to be able to play the new fixing deserts + scavenger grounds, but the true "cost" of this card is diluting your utility lands or mana producing lands with mediocre deserts to justify a small package because scavenger grounds is actually good. Just play Expedition Map and get ANY land you want instead. If you have synergy with the to

I see very often "Just remove a basic for it", but if I took out a basic for every time I heard that each of my decks would be running negative 10 basics. Basic lands still have many uses since so many of the common rampers still look for basic lands, still fetchable by type-specific cards, and always enter untapped.

I'll pick up one of these because we are 1 or 2 hot utility deserts away from this being a good toolbox card. As of now, I'm not too interested in removing other utility lands for deserts.