Currently in Standard, there is a surprising number of white cards that allow you to reanimate small creatures from your graveyard to play. Helping Hand is the cheapest, and pairs nicely with Abhorrent Oculus. Dewdrop Cure costs three mana, though it never quite lived up to the hype. Then, even further up the curve, Raise the Past provides huge upside if you have a lot of small creatures in your graveyard.
Well, Edge of Eternities is bringing yet another white reanimation spell to the format. While it’s hard to get super excited about this three-mana play considering how poorly Dewdrop Cure performed, this time, there’s an intriguing twist that may help put the card over the edge.
Scout for Survivors
Unlike any of the previous options, Scout for Survivors doesn’t allow you to gain an advantage by resurrecting more than three mana worth of creatures. If you want to return a three-drop to play, you don’t get to bring back anything else. So, your best bet to get the most value is to buy back three creatures that each cost one or less mana.
This alone likely wouldn’t put Scout for Survivors over the edge. After all, getting three one-drops into your graveyard isn’t as easy as it sounds. However, what separates Scout for Survivors from every other white reanimation spell is that it also puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you put into play.
This is potentially a game changer for assertive archetypes in Standard. You just need to be playing a high density of cheap creatures that put your opponent under the gun. Warden of the Inner Sky shells like Jeskai Convoke seem like solid starting points.
Scout for Survivors does a nice job helping these types of decks rebuild after a board wipe. Fire Magic in particular is a nuisance, and getting to regrow multiple creatures and put +1/+1 counters on them can make it much easier to continue to apply pressure and get out of range of the elite mini-Wrath.
It’s hard to predict how Standard will look after rotation, but perhaps Scout for Survivors will help make White Weenie a competitive strategy again. The amount of power this one card can add to the board is incredible, and we’re just getting started.
“Walker” Synergies
Where things get really interesting is when you factor in being able to return zero-mana creatures that naturally have zero toughness to the battlefield. Cards like Walking Ballista and Hangarback Walker are premium targets for Scout for Survivors, and because they cost zero mana themselves, you still have the luxury of bringing back other creatures, including a three-drop.
With this in mind, there are some pretty gnarly combinations of cards that synergize with Scout for Survivors. First and foremost, it’s impossible to ignore the combo of Walking Ballista and Heliod, Sun-Crowned.
With both cards in the graveyard, Scout for Survivors sets things up well for you. You will need to get one more +1/+1 counter on Walking Ballista before you can give it Lifelink and win the game, but this shouldn’t be too difficult to get going, especially if you have support elements such as Auriok Champion at the ready.
Beyond the Heliod combo, Scout for Survivors could elevate Modern Hardened Scales. Thanks to the likes of Arcbound Ravager, getting creatures into your graveyard is trivial in this deck. Returning Arcbound Ravager, Walking Ballista, and Hangarback Walker to play at once is a sure-fire way to pull ahead.
At minimum, Scout for Survivors should create a lot of opportunities for brewers when Edge of Eternities releases. We’re excited to see what the card can do.
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