We've been getting a lot of questions about why we placed Scroll Thief in our best blue common picks for Magic: The Gathering 2011 Core Set Limited play, and we're standing quite solidly behind our decision.
The potential card advantage provided by Scroll Thief is mindblowing - underwhelming, Scroll Thief is not.
Like many of blue's previous card swapping engines (Looters, Cryptologist) and card drawing unblockables (Ophidian, Thieving Magpie), Scroll Thief has a decisive impact on the Limited game for a relatively soft mana cost. Some of the arguments against Scroll Thief are his "small size" but 1/3 is actually huge if you look at some of his friends, and these were all very playable, strong cards in Limited environments.
Yes, you are going to have to connect with Scroll Thief, but your opponent isn't going to just attack into you with moderately sized creatures when the punishment will be dealt back in the form of a point of damage and a card - if your opponent does, he or she has a lot to learn about Magic: The Gathering, as you'll draw into bigger creatures,extra resources, and of course, removal.
You're going to play plenty of M11 Limited games where Scroll Thief can apply immense pressure for its seemingly small stature.
For instance, attack with Scroll Thief and a creature with 3-5 power. Your opponent is going to be really tested with his blocking if he's only got a single defender, the choice between giving you a card and taking damage is going to be problematic, and is compounded by the wealth of combat tricks that are easy to acquire in M11 drafts.
But forget all that, let's look at something else you should probably be drafting a lot of in tandem with Scroll Thief (and in general), and that's removal. Your opponent will become terrified leaving anything less than 2 blocking creatures behind if you can represent removal spells to sneak your Scroll Thief through. Having all your removal spells do a bonus point of damage and replace themselves is amazing.
We're not advocating Scroll Thief as anything close to a first pick, but Scroll Thief is being undervalued in a Limited environment where even just a few jabs from our card collector can change the course of an entire game. It may be more subtle than running your opponent over with a mythic titan, but the end result can be the same.
M11 Best Draft Commons: Red, Black, Green, White, and Blue.
Want more M11? Check out our draft guide (commons), prerelease guide, Intro Packs, and single card commentary!
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Comments
Scroll thief with a Diminish in hand is a nice little combo using blue commons from M11...your opponent may be nervous if you can Diminish his whatever into dying from a Scroll Thief.
Yes! Thank you for this evaluation of Scroll Thief! This is seriously one of the most overlooked blue commons in M11. Even if you only connect with him twice, the card advantage is usually enough to push you into a winning position. This is especially true when you consider the overall high quality of blue cards in M11.
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