Generally, power level in Magic: The Gathering has gone up over time. Even before the advent of Wizards’ controversial FIRE design philosophy, power creep was an issue that players regularly talked about. The older the card, therefore, the less chance it has of being viable in current Magic. There are exceptions here, of course. Obvious outliers like the Power Nine aside, some designs were just ahead of their time in terms of power. Take Scavenging Ooze, for instance, a card which has just returned to MTG Standard via Foundations. Despite being originally printed back in 2011, the card has immediately found multiple homes in the new format. Some classics really do stand the test of time, it seems.
An Ooze For All Seasons
- Mana Value: 1G
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Text: G: Exile target card from a graveyard. If it was a creature card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and you gain 1 life.
Scavenging Ooze is, ultimately, a very simple design. It’s a 2/2 for two at a baseline, which isn’t super-exciting nowadays, but was solid a decade ago when it debuted. However, the stats aren’t really what you’re here for. Scavenging Ooze is all about the activated ability. That’s what made it a fan-favorite back in the day, and that’s what’s brought it back into MTG Standard now.
For a single green mana, at instant speed, Scavenging Ooze lets you exile any card from any graveyard. Without reading any further, this is already quite good. It’s incredibly flexible, letting you target exactly what you need to in your opponent’s ‘yard. If they have a juicy Reanimator target, you can wait until they target it to exile it with Ooze, creating a big tempo swing.
On top of that, Ooze also grows bigger and gains you life as it exiles creatures. The anti-Reanimator example above is the ideal situation for Ooze, so creatures are what you’ll be aiming to exile most of the time. This will result in a fairly impressive body and a padded life total, both of which are great to have in any given game.
Scavenging Ooze was originally printed in a Commander set, but saw its Standard debut in Magic 2014. It was well-used in the format, but even more impressively, it also saw a lot of play in Modern. This was mostly in grindy Midrange decks like Jund, where Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant were king. The stars for those cards have faded since, but Scavenging Ooze, apparently, has still got it. In Standard, at least.
Scavenging Ooze In MTG Standard
In Magic’s flagship format, Scavenging Ooze is experiencing a kind of renaissance. In fact, it’s the second most played creature from Foundations behind Llanowar Elves, according to MTG Goldfish data. Given how many flashy new creatures the set brought to the table, this is pretty impressive stuff.
Where exactly is Scavenging Ooze seeing play in MTG Foundations Standard? Actually, it is in quite a few different places. Far and away the most common of these is in Golgari Midrange. This is a tier-one deck in the current format, second only to Dimir Midrange in terms of performance. It plays a lot of solid value creatures alongside good removal, and aims to grind things out over time.
Given how similar that game plan is to that of Modern Jund, it’s no surprise that Scavenging Ooze is showing up in such brews. Typically, it appears as a one- or two-of in the main deck, which feels about right in all honesty. Those are similar numbers to fellow graveyard hater Tranquil Frillback, which has been a go-to in Golgari Midrange for a while now.
Midrange aside, Ooze is also popping up sporadically in a number of other strategies. Interestingly, its most common home after that is in Temur Floodcaller Combo decks. When you think “Combo” you don’t typically think “grindy graveyard hate piece,” but clearly the shoe fits in this scenario.
The extra life Ooze offers is likely the explanation here. It allows the deck to last longer against Aggro, thus improving the odds of pulling the combo off. This logic is borne out by the fact that Scavenging Ooze is showing up in other Standard Combo decks as well. Golgari Land Combo, Four-Color Cauldron Combo, the list goes on.
Stiff Competition
It’s great to see Scavenging Ooze doing so well in MTG Standard, so far removed from its original printing. It’s also, quite frankly, surprising. Standard is absolutely stuffed with great graveyard hate right now, all of which competes for the slots Ooze is taking up.
Ghost Vacuum alone is a pretty incredible recent example. It’s cheap, it’s colorless, and it doubles as a win condition in long games. This card is so pushed that it’s actually seeing maindeck play despite looking for all the world like a sideboard piece. It’s not alone, either. I mentioned Tranquil Frillback above, and it’s worth bringing it up again here. Not only can this card wipe graveyards, but it can also gain life and blow up artifacts and enchantments. Factor in Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void, and Ooze is facing fierce competition indeed.
Yet, despite all of this, it’s still seeing a lot of play. Why is this? I think it comes down to a combination of factors. While some of the options above exist purely to exile cards from graveyards, Ooze also serves other functions. It’s a scaling threat, and it gains you life to boot. Tranquil Frillback can feel similar at five mana, but it lacks Ooze’s speed and flexibility. Even if the graveyard isn’t important in a given matchup, Scavenging Ooze can still put in work, where other graveyard hate cannot.
Said speed and flexibility are two of the other factors. Ghost Vacuum can hit cards at instant speed too, but only once per turn. Scavenging Ooze can stretch as far as your green mana goes. Basically, despite its advanced age, Scavenging Ooze is still one of the best graveyard hate pieces of all time. While it isn’t grabbing headlines like other Foundations cards, it’s seeing more play than most of them. Long may its slimy reign continue.
