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Blood Scrivener has received a pretty mixed reaction from the Magic community. Some players are excited to start drawing some extra cards while others aren't sure the Scrivener will ever “get there.” I think it might have a place in Standard. Here's the deck I put together to find out.
"Rakdos Aggro"
- Creatures (30)
- 3 Blood Artist
- 3 Blood Scrivener
- 4 Crimson Muckwader
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Gravecrawler
- 4 Rakdos Cackler
- 4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
- 4 Spike Jester
- Spells (9)
- 3 Searing Spear
- 3 Victim of Night
- 3 Pillar of Flame
- Sideboard (15)
- 4 Devour Flesh
- 4 Vile Rebirth
- 3 Skullcrack
- 4 Electrickery
The Creatures
Spike Jester and Rakdos Shred-Freak make for a mean surprise for your opponent, letting you deal as much as 5 damage on turn two. That puts your opponent in the position of being dead before he can cast a Thragtusk to save the day.
Crimson Muckwader is the largest creature in the deck at an effective power and toughness of 3/2, but it's also slower than the other creatures. Although it won't be attacking until turn three at the earliest, at that point, you can threaten to regenerate it, which will make your opponent very hesitant to block with a creature of similar size. If you can afford to keep mana open for it, the Muckwader can survive a Supreme Verdict and take down both Thragtusk and its Beast token without suffering a scratch.
Blood Artist makes Supreme Verdict a very costly decision for your opponent, and creatures such as Spike Jester that can trade off with something as small as an Arbor Elf become much more threatening. Any trade your opponent makes will cost him 2 life, making it difficult to stay alive against your horde of cheap creatures.
Once you've emptied your hand of all the 1- and 2-mana creatures and removal spells, Blood Scrivener turns into Phyrexian Arena, allowing you to draw two cards per turn and keep the damage flowing. It's also quite good at helping you rebuild after a sweeper, often giving you two creatures at a time to help you quickly reestablish board presence.
The Removal
Victim of Night hasn't seen a lot of action lately, probably due to the 
casting cost. Although it can't kill a few of the major players in the format, such as Falkenrath Aristocrat and Huntmaster of the Fells, Ultimate Price is the other likely candidate for this slot, and it can't deal with those threats either. What Victim of Night can deal with are large creatures such as Loxodon Smiter and even Obzedat, Ghost Council. Things with 4 or more toughness are difficult to take down with burn spells, but Victim of Night will get the job done.
The Sideboard
Electrickery helps stop Lingering Souls from ruining your day since this deck has quite a few creatures with only 1 toughness. Fortunately, the Spirit tokens only have 1 toughness as well, so an overloaded Electrickery will easily get rid of them.
Skullcrack stops Thragtusk from being a life-saver for your opponent, usually letting you kill him on your next turn. It can fight Sphinx's Revelation as well, but with this deck's incredibly powerful early game and weak late game, the Revelation generally isn't much of an issue either way.
Vile Rebirth stops reanimator decks from making a Thragtusk or Angel of Serenity on turns three or four, and it gives you a free Zombie as well. Although it won't stop the deck entirely, it will buy you at least one extra turn, and with the extra power from the Zombie token, that will often be enough.
Playtesting
Bant Hexproof – Game 1
I drew another Diregraf Ghoul and attacked for 2. I played my Swamp, cast the Ghoul and a Rakdos Cackler, and ended my turn. My opponent played a Sunpetal Grove and passed.
I drew Rakdos Shred-Freak, played it, and dropped my opponent to 10. He played Temple Garden, cast Invisible Stalker, and ended his turn.
I drew another Rakdos Cackler and attacked with everything. Invisible Stalker traded with Rakdos Shred-Freak, and my opponent dropped to 4. I cast two Rakdos Cacklers, and he conceded.
Sideboarding:
+4 Devour Flesh
Game 2
My opponent played a tapped Temple Garden and passed the turn. I drew Rakdos Shred-Freak, played a Mountain, and cast Spike Jester. I attacked for 5, and my opponent took the damage, and I ended my turn.
My opponent played Glacial Fortress and cast Invisible Stalker. He enchanted it with Rancor and passed the turn. I drew Gravecrawler and attacked with both creatures. My opponent traded Avacyn's Pilgrim for the Jester and took 2. I played a Swamp, cast Gravecrawler, and passed the turn.
My opponent played a land and cast Unflinching Courage, targeting Invisible Stalker. I killed it with Devour Flesh, and he gained 1 life before passing the turn. I drew Crimson Muckwader, played a land, and cast both Rakdos Shred-Freaks. I dropped my opponent to 6 and ended my turn.
He drew his card and conceded.
Wrap-Up
I've built a lot of very aggressive decks for this column, but this might just be the fastest. Winning on turn five even with a bit of resistance is fairly impressive, although not quite as uncommon these days thanks to Burning-Tree Emissary. Although I didn't really get to try out Blood Scrivener, the addition of Spike Jester seems excellent, helping you attack with as many as four creatures on turn three, for nearly 10 damage in one swing. If you want a deck that can put a lot of power on the board very quickly, give this one a try.
As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @MTGCannon, or simply leave a comment below.
