Screaming Nemesis may just be the most flavorful card in Duskmourn: House of Horror. In a set built around blood-curdling horror, here’s a card that’s scary both visually and mechanically. Not only is it a terrifying, Ring-esque ghost, but it also has the ability to completely shut off an opponent’s lifegain for the duration of the game. That’s a lot of spooky for only three mana. Players have been excited about this card since it was revealed, but now it’s really proving its worth. Over the past week, we’ve seen Screaming Nemesis make serious moves in Modern, Pioneer, and Standard.
Screaming Nemesis In Modern
This multi-format success is great news for Screaming Nemesis, but the most impressive part by far is the heavy use it’s seeing in Modern. It’s much tougher for a card to break out there than in Standard or Pioneer, after all. Nemesis is seeing play in a number of different Modern decks, but mostly Boros and Mardu Energy.
These names should be familiar to anyone even remotely interested in Modern. Energy decks are the boogeyman of the format right now and have been since Modern Horizons 3. In fact, recent analysis shows that Energy sees more play now than any other banned deck in Modern’s past. These are very powerful decks, in other words.
What does Screaming Nemesis add to Energy decks? Quite a lot, actually. At a base level, it’s an aggressive body that can curve out nicely with the other threats in the deck. With its solid stats and Haste, it makes a great target for a Guide of Souls buff. It also trades really well in cramped boardstates, since it can very likely remove a second creature if blocked.
The most important aspect of the card though is, of course, the lifegain denial. Energy decks gain a lot of life between Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, and Phlage triggers. With Energy decks being so popular, you’ll end up in mirror matches a lot. Being able to turn off your opponent’s lifegain can be a major deal in such matchups, which likely accounts for the bulk of its Modern success. It’s not particularly surprising; Screaming Nemesis is effectively a Modern sideboard card with good enough stats to make the main deck.
Pioneer Prowess
Screaming Nemesis isn’t just great in Modern though. This is a Spirit for all seasons. The card is also seeing play in Pioneer; a bit less cutthroat, but still a very serious format to get into.
As with Modern, Nemesis is seeing play mostly in one archetype in Pioneer. This time it’s Mono-Red, both Prowess and Aggro. This immediately makes a ton of sense. Nemesis is a creature that can apply a lot of pressure very fast and one that your opponent rarely wants to block. This makes it an ideal choice for hardcore aggressive decks like these.
The lifegain denial aspect of the card isn’t quite as relevant here. With Amalia Combo out of the format, there are few Pioneer decks that feature lifegain at all, let alone rely on it. That said, it does still have some edge uses. Selesnya Company features a bit of lifegain, for example, and denying Azorius Control players their two life from The Wandering Emperor’s -2 is more relevant than it sounds.
Outside of Mono-Red, Screaming Nemesis is also showing up in a number of other Pioneer decks. Both Gruul Prowess and Rakdos Midrange are dabbling in the card, in varying quantities. These are both fairly aggressive strategies, so Nemesis is a natural fit. Both also have ways to trigger the lifegain denial effect even if your opponent won’t play ball and block. Bonecrusher Giant and Play With Fire are both excellent in this regard.
Another point in Nemesis’ favor for Pioneer is the fact that it’s Jegantha-friendly. All of the above lists have variants that include Jegantha as a Companion, and the fact that Nemesis has just one red pip makes it a valid addition to such lists.
Screams In Standard
If a card is good enough to see play in both Modern and Pioneer, it follows that it would be good enough to see play in Standard too. Screaming Nemesis is doing just that, slotting into a number of different decks in Magic’s flagship format.
As with Pioneer, the card has made a splash in Mono-Red lists here. Three mana is quite a lot for such decks, but Nemesis is more than worth it. Once it hits the board your opponent is immediately in a lose-lose scenario, and it can apply a lot of pressure very quickly. Hard removal aside, it’s difficult to stop this card when it gets going.
Outside of the obvious, Screaming Nemesis is also seeing a good amount of play in Gruul Delirium. Here, it actually enables a sneaky combo win line. Gruul Delirium often runs The Rollercrusher Ride, which both deals damage to creatures and doubles your damage dealt if you have Delirium online.
If you deal damage to Nemesis with this out, said damage will get multiplied by four: twice when it hits Nemesis, then twice again when it hits its second target. You can use this combo to turn an Overlord of the Boilerbilges into 16 damage for four mana, and it works well with other burn too. Very spicy indeed.
It’s a combo enabler, it’s a lifegain denier, it’s an Aggro powerhouse. Screaming Nemesis is many things, which explains its widespread success so far. While Legacy and Vintage haven’t tried it out just yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did soon. Nemesis is one of the best cards in Duskmourn, by every conceivable metric, and it’s great to see it get the play and recognition it deserves.