[SCD] Sand Scout
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2024 10:06 pm
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.
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.