Subject: Cursed Scroll Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 04:22:12 -0800 From: Taylors To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com All the talk about banning Cursed Scroll is utter crap. It is a solid card, even a great card, but not an abusive card. In any environment except for Tempest only, I feel that the banning of the Cursed Scroll would be an incredibly poor decision. For starters, there are millions of ways to destroy, or hose the Cursed Scroll in normal constructed play. Any form of land destruction, mana depletion, artifact kill, or bounce will seriously suppress the Scroll. Second, it has only been around for a couple months. While it is an incredibly popular card right now, people will soon start to take it under heavy consideration when constructing their decks. Much like Armageddon, I can see it falling by the wayside. This isn't probable, but it's possible, and I feel that banning cards in haste breaks the game more than anything. Third, you've got to build a deck for it. You can't just throw them in any deck. Unless you already plan to get down to a low amount of cards, the Scroll just isn't that hot. Finally, the luck people speak of is both a part of the game and a necessary weakening of the Scroll. I've won games due to Scrolls, and I've lost games due to Scrolls (3 mana activation is not too cheap). It's a card with a high degree of luck. But it's luck to top-deck that Wrath or Bolt, too. It's even luck to see who gets to go first. Maybe we should make people arm-wrestle to see who goes first, and totally eliminate dice rolls and coin flips. What do you say? About all Tempest, Scroll is definitely going to be there, but I think I can beat a Scroll deck. Off the top of my head: 3 Static Orb 4 Propaganda 4 Mogg Fanatics 4 Rootwater Diver 2 Fireslinger 3 Rootwater Hunter 2 Rathi Dragon 4 Kindle 1 Lightning Blast 4 Counterspell 2 Powersink 2 Intuition 2 Meditate 4 Caldera Lake 2 Ghost Town 1 Maze of Shadows 2 Wasteland 7 Mountain 7 Island All in all, I feel that the Scroll is kind of like Abeyance. It's a little bit of a sleeper, but then everybody says "Whoa, I gotta get 4 of those and put 'em in every deck I own." But eventually, other people will be ready for it. And who knows, the Scroll might get errated too.