I feel like I failed at drafting if my aggro deck has to take Scrounger as a vanilla 3/2. Don't get me wrong, a vanilla 3/2 is fine in an aggressive deck, but Scrounger is so good because it can recur itself. If I draft it, I'm looking for ways to be able to recur it. The fact that that Izzet aggro deck felt the need to throw in a Watery Grave tells me that the card should go into the black section.
That is exactly how i first felt about the card, but putting it in the black section just takes away a slot from black and black 2's are pretty stacked. Similar to porcelain legionnaire which is often put in colourless because it can be slotted into any aggro deck no matter the colour combination, I think scrapheap fits the same role.
It wasn't long ago that red aggro decks were playing borderland marauder, gore-house chainwalker, and war-name aspirant. Now having a non conditional 3/2 for 2 colourless is welcome in the horde of CC 2 drops found in a lot of aggro decks. Lands like city of brass, mana confluence, gemstone mine, and other WUBRG lands are already commonly found in aggro decks to deal with the CC creatures and now they can also give you late game value with scrapheap without having to splash off colour.
I think many people will keep it in black, but I now think there is a strong argument for the colourless section as well and have changed my mind.
While I ultimately agree as I've had success running scrounger in boros and non-black aggro decks, Porcelain Legionnaire is a bit different. There's no real incentive to pull me towards white with PL other than the 2 life, which is not a real incentive for an aggressive deck. White or not, I'll probably play PL as a 2 mana + 2 life 3/1 first strike in just about every deck, which is great. It's a good rate for a 3/1 first striker, while paying 2W for that is kinda subpar
With Scrapheap, there's a very real incentive to play black since the floor is much lower than the ceiling if you can or can't make black mana. Again, I ultimately agree with you as the Gore-House Chainwalkers of the world have proven that a 3/2 for 2 is fine, but the ceiling of Scrounger actually does go up when Im in black vs the fairly static ceiling of PL being in-and-out of white decks.
Scrounger is more black than Legionnaire is white. I can play Legionnaire in a non-white deck for full value, only losing out on a relatively minor "kicker" option. I won't put Scrounger into a deck without access to at least some number of black mana; making it definitely a black card in my eyes.
Scrapheap Scrounger was discussed here in the Random Cube Card of the Day thread. Was the practice of posting this resigned to the scrapheap when Spike Rouge left? I figure it might scounge up some more discussion.
It might see play in an aggro deck that really really needs another 2-drop, but I also agree I wouldn't categorise this in colorless. Porcelain Legionnaire, on the other hand...
It will? I don't think I'd ever play this in a deck without access to black mana unless something went horribly wrong during the draft.
As opterown said, I could see this making a lot of aggro decks as a 3/2 for 2 colorless. Pretty easy to cast and comes in hot n fast with some other creatures.
With no way to bring it back, it's just a Terrain Elemental that can be shattered. That's not what I'm looking for in my cube decks unless I'm at the tail end of an absolute trainwreck of a draft ...or I had an insanely thin sealed pool. I have played it without access to black mana before, but it was out of desperation, not design.
I agree that it can be played without access to black in a pinch, but I disagree with the "it will be run in many non-black decks" part of the assessment. Hopefully, those situations would be really rare. Rare enough that I wouldn't consider it when deciding where to classify it.
This should never see play in a non-black deck, and I would not classify a card for the cases that my drafters draft a trainwreck of a deck that plays this without black mana.
Also... How is black tighter than colorless? That also hasn’t been my experience. However, I think this perception of your list is the real reason you are probably willing to do some mental gymnastics to consider this card good in non-black decks.
This should never see play in a non-black deck, and I would not classify a card for the cases that my drafters draft a trainwreck of a deck that plays this without black mana.
Also... How is black tighter than colorless? That also hasn’t been my experience. However, I think this perception of your list is the real reason you are probably willing to do some mental gymnastics to consider this card good in non-black decks.
I suppose everyone's list is subjective to some extent. For me, black is near impossible to make a cut at the moment. Colorless for me has some older fluff like the masticores and other fringe cards like Aether Vial and Isochron Scepter that would be easier to replace.
I also think this is being severely over-exaggerated to state that someone would need to have drafted a "trainwreck of a deck" to play this card outside of black. But that's why I am here, for some valuable analysis with a splash of hyperbole so I can make the best decision for my cube and playgroup!
For what it's worth, since we first added this card I have never seen it in a deck that has no access to black mana.
I think it's fair that black feels tighter than colorless in your list. However, I'd argue that the justification that this card could be played in non-black is an attempt at dealing with the black tightness issues moreso than an actuality of this card being playable in non-black. Just my two cents.
Scrapheap without access to black mana is a desperate playable. The colorless cost is still an upside as it makes him playable in a deck splashing for him and Lingering Souls.
While I ultimately agree as I've had success running scrounger in boros and non-black aggro decks, Porcelain Legionnaire is a bit different. There's no real incentive to pull me towards white with PL other than the 2 life, which is not a real incentive for an aggressive deck. White or not, I'll probably play PL as a 2 mana + 2 life 3/1 first strike in just about every deck, which is great. It's a good rate for a 3/1 first striker, while paying 2W for that is kinda subpar
With Scrapheap, there's a very real incentive to play black since the floor is much lower than the ceiling if you can or can't make black mana. Again, I ultimately agree with you as the Gore-House Chainwalkers of the world have proven that a 3/2 for 2 is fine, but the ceiling of Scrounger actually does go up when Im in black vs the fairly static ceiling of PL being in-and-out of white decks.
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As opterown said, I could see this making a lot of aggro decks as a 3/2 for 2 colorless. Pretty easy to cast and comes in hot n fast with some other creatures.
I agree that it can be played without access to black in a pinch, but I disagree with the "it will be run in many non-black decks" part of the assessment. Hopefully, those situations would be really rare. Rare enough that I wouldn't consider it when deciding where to classify it.
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Also... How is black tighter than colorless? That also hasn’t been my experience. However, I think this perception of your list is the real reason you are probably willing to do some mental gymnastics to consider this card good in non-black decks.
I suppose everyone's list is subjective to some extent. For me, black is near impossible to make a cut at the moment. Colorless for me has some older fluff like the masticores and other fringe cards like Aether Vial and Isochron Scepter that would be easier to replace.
I also think this is being severely over-exaggerated to state that someone would need to have drafted a "trainwreck of a deck" to play this card outside of black. But that's why I am here, for some valuable analysis with a splash of hyperbole so I can make the best decision for my cube and playgroup!
I think it's fair that black feels tighter than colorless in your list. However, I'd argue that the justification that this card could be played in non-black is an attempt at dealing with the black tightness issues moreso than an actuality of this card being playable in non-black. Just my two cents.
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