MTG Salvation

Small sample size, but he has always drawn a card or been targeted for kill thus far (4 appearances, I believe).

Yep. He either draws cards, trades or gets targeted with removal. I'm fine with that for 1B.

Quote from wtwlf123

Yep. He either draws cards, trades or gets targeted with removal. I'm fine with that for 1B.

That he trades shouldn't count, because any creature with power >1 can do that and a 2/1 for 2 isn't what I'd consider cubeworthy, unless you're comparing him to Sign in Blood, he's maybe better*.

*on occasion

In my experience playing him (540 powered) and what everyone else seems to be saying, is that he rarely draws cards and if he does, its few and far between and not many at that.

I just think black has a lot of options at 1B or even BB that would be a better or more interesting choice than this.

You will likely have just as much virtual CA with cards like Brood of Cockroaches, Mesmeric Fiend, and Cabal Interrogator as with Scrivener, and tried and true cards like Blind Creeper and Vampire Interloper out-aggro this guy when he's just sitting around. Blood Artist, Yixilid Jailer, and Vampire Hexmage all have their own synergies depending on the cube and they all have relevant abilities that you would likely see come into play more often than an active Blood Scrivener.

Regardless, for me he is out when M14 drops.

Something about a conditional Phyrexian Arena on legs doesn't seem good enough. If a cube supports some form of storm archetype, sure. If it has super aggro, low CMC black, maybe.

Quote from eidolon232

Achievement unlocked.

LOL

for me he has shown up about 9 games, he has only drawn about 2 maybe 3 cards. but he also seems to always do 6 or more damage each time he is cast.

In one game in particular the player had Maw of the Obzedat and Gravecrawler and a couple other random extort creatures and did some pretty sick things with sacking the crawler casting it, extorting it, repeating that a couple times then attacking with the pumped up team. The added bonus of being a zombie really made this possible.

So I was looking at possible cut for him but currently he has been working better in the last few games. Particularly the one above. So I think I will give him a little more time in there. My current view is that he is a 2/1 that generally does 6 damage with a possible upside of drawing cards but also a possible upside of recursion combo's with gravecrawler, or He eats removal or trades. For 2 mana that seems fine for now. If I had more zombie's in my cube it may not be as important but I do not have that many so it is a factor.

You will likely have just as much virtual CA with cards like Brood of Cockroaches, Mesmeric Fiend, and Cabal Interrogator as with Scrivener, and tried and true cards like Blind Creeper and Vampire Interloper out-aggro this guy when he's just sitting around.

Ya, but he's both. Potential card advantage and a 2-power beater. None of those other cards bash for 2 and can create CA.

Quote from 6jerfz

This card has, without fail, been a vanilla 2/1 for 1B. Just awful. Will be cut with M14.

Mine has never been activated either, but i keep holding out hope for some reason.

He's been good here, drawn two cards in the only match I witnessed him in so far.

As I found out over the weekend, in an aggressive BR shell, this guy is nearly as awesome as Confidant.

Quote from Phantizle

As I found out over the weekend, in an aggressive BR shell, this guy is nearly as awesome as Confidant.

Likewise, I'm still really enjoying this creature.

I've only played with it once in someone else's Cube, and I drew 3 cards in one game with it.

-AA

Quote from wtwlf123

Likewise, I'm still really enjoying this creature.

Yeah, he really shines in a low cc aggro deck that can play spells at the end of the opponents turn (fun to mindgame with him on the board if you are playing with bolts).

It doesn't go in every black deck, or every black aggro deck necessarily, but nearly every time I've seen it played it either draws removal or draws cards. I couldn't ask for anything more, even though he's a very context-dependent lil guy. My favorite games with it are the aggro matchup: the black player is eating both hands anyway (duress/smallpox/Lili3/pox), and this zombie rewards already very demoralizing plays. It doesn't seem win-more because blackstaxaggro hates it when your opponent stablizes after you've burned through your removal-full hand.

I like this guy. He's been drawing my opponent attention a lot that a 2 drop shouldn't draw so I wouldn't draw the extra cards. And when he's not doing that, he's drawing me cards instead, so it's perfectly fine.

I like that he's also a zombie. I've added Cemetery Reaper recently and been really happy with how black is turning out, due to the random zombie support (gravecrawler, Graveborn Muse etc.)

What ever happened to Scrivener? My experience was that he rarely drew a single card. He was hyped big, and now I don’t see him in any lists...

Ya, he was solid enough until they printed like 3-4 more rare versions of that card that were better than him back-to-back-to-back, lol.

The zombie thing was cool and all, but Asylum Visitor has Madness, a 3rd power, and triggers twice as often. Any dream of needing Scrivener died with Visitor's printing, IMHO.