Pointed Discussion

Generally speaking, this is only useful as Johnny card. But when used as such, it's an incredibly cheap and efficient vindicator.

For example when combined with cards that have their drawback in giving your opponent tokens when they come into play, e.g. Haunted creatures or Forbidden Orchard.

Control-exchanging cards might work as well. This card could possibly even find great use with Confusion in the Ranks.

Under the M10 token ownership rules, you cannot use Despotic Scepter on tokens generated by Forbidden Orchard. From http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/42a "the owner of a token is, in fact, the player under whose control it entered the battlefield."

It works well with Rubinia Soulsinger

good with Ray of Command

Despotic Scepter does not work with Rubinia Soulsinger. Neither does it work with Ray of Command. Despotic Scepter doesn't work with Confusion in the Ranks either. Despotic Scepter works on permanents you own, not permanents you control. However, Donate+Illusions of Grandeur loves this little stick very much as a one-drop.

Nice back-up for when you can't get your Kamigawa dragon into the graveyard any other way and can't wait a turn to trigger it's effect. Also good as a response to stealing spells and other spells that need their target in play. Back-up for when you can't get your Donate/Bazaar Trader to hand off something you want to saddle your opponent with. And it triggers any other useful 'goes into a graveyard from play' effects.

Behold! The Suicide Stick!

See the fist? I can see it.

Actually I think this card would be great with Roil Elemental. Throw in a few Ruin Ghost's and have fun exiling your enemies creatures!

Get rid of Platinum Angel when you dont need it anymore

Back in "the day", I had this in my Turbo Stasis deck to destroy Stasis (or on occasion Glacial Chasm) in order to reset myself.

Despotic Scepter(s) + Fleshbag Marauders + Zombie Master + Grave Pact. Not bad against green or white weenie, since "bury" doesn't mean "sacrifice" and can be regenerated. I might consider getting one for my sideboard. 3.5/5.

Being as though this is capable of destroying only things that you OWN (rather than control, as some commenters seem to think), I'm thinking more along the lines of donate/bazaar trader and vicious shadows. Give your opponents your own stuff, then kill them to inflict damage to their controller or something.

Kill off Abyssal Persecutor once he's beat your opponent into submission. Works at instant speed, and difficult for opponents to counter if you've already played the Scepter early.

Not to best way to do it, but you can certainly smash a Abyssal Persecutor with it.

Guilded Drake.

Achem.

The obvious play is to build two decks, one tempting control deck with all kinds of goodies, and one that runs Despotic Scepter. When your friend comes over to play Magic, offer for him to play your awesome control deck. Let him start putting Baneslayer Angels and Jace on the field. When things get too kooky, pay {1}, drop this bad boy on the table, and start wrecking him. You see, it destroys permanents you own... and you own all those permanents since they're your cards.

You're welcome

this and avarice totem?

Use this card with a Dross Scorpion on the battlefield along with plenty of artifact lands, drop down a Mycosynth Golem early, then drop down Spine of Ish Sah for free, destroying one of your opponent's permanents. Destroy Spine of Ish Sah with Despotic Scepter, then repeat the process to completely wipe out your opponents permanents!

TAKE THAT SPINE OF ISH SAH!

I need a deck based around abusing this thing... I just do. It made my day when I saw it...
Tee hee....

@Brazz_Herald: Cute, but no. For the purpose of the game rules, a card's owner is the player who started the game with that card in the deck they are playing. If a different person literally owns the cards, the game doesn't care.

This is excellent tech against theft-based decks particularly in EDH, or you can build around random control changing effects like Confusion in the Ranks, Thieves' Auction or Scrambleverse. (Protip: Play this before Confusion or after the other two.)

@nic56
Spine is not a creature, so no affinity from the golem.

Apparently people aren't getting that control =/= own in Magic. They typically run hand and hand so newer players assume they are interchangeable but that is a crucial error when it comes to cards like this.

Control is pretty self explanatory. These are the cards you have influence over. Land that you can tap for mana, creatures you can declare as attacker/blockers, etc... You only CONTROL cards that are on the battlefield, not in any zone like your hand or library.

Own is another story. Owning a permanent means it either came from your deck (cards) or was put in to play under control (tokens). Only cards that you OWN can be in your hand, library, and graveyard.

Where they diverage is cards like Mind Control and Donate. A card can switch controllers but they can NEVER switch owners mid-game. So taking one of your opponent's permanents with this with Dominus of Fealty, for example, will not let you kill it with this Scepter. You are better off using Claws of Gix.

This card came in use before with spells and creatures that granted your opponents tokens. The old rules stated that the controller of an effect was the owner of the tokens generated. So if Hunted Dragon gave your opponent some knights, you could use this to kill them off. That rule has changed since then, now your opponent OWNS those tokens, taking some of the use out of this already fringe card. It's only purpose now is to kill off your own cards with negative effects. Typically things considered 'suicide black' like (as already mentioned) Abyssal Persecutor. But nowadays, there are much more profitable ways to do this.

weird

I like this card because it's more in flavor then an alter when I want to kill my creatures. And it's less mana cost to get out.

Cathodion + Enduring renewal - kill off Cathodion with the scepter
then have Dross scorpion genesis chamber and a soul warden out on the battlefield. For infinite life myr and untap. Put a pristine talisman on the board for more infinite life (one infinite life wasn't enough) and infinite mana. And a clock of omens so the infinite myr can all tap and give you more infinite life and mana, and then a myr galvanizer so you have 2/2 infinite myr that can attack infinitely (on account of the infinite mana) so long as each turn you kill one off with your scepter so the scorpion's ability triggers.

orr - going out on a limb here - a lot of low mana creatures, Devout monk, honorable scout, Ication Javelineers, Devout harpist, doomed traveler, Eager Cadet, Volunteer militia the fun ones you'd never want to play. Get a Soul Warden in the field just for the heck of it, and maybe a Reveillark and definitely an unruly Mob - toss in some card draw to make them come faster.

then kill them all off with the scepter . . . and play an Ancestor's chosen, and Ancestral tribute!

@SPhoenix
When do you not need Platinum Angel? I think you mean Abyssal Persecutor

Despotic Scepter makes Oblivion Ring and Journey to Nowhere permanently exile things. Here's how.

Set-Up: You need a Despotic Scepter on the battlefield, and one creature (or with Oblivion Ring, a non-land permanent) that you want to exile.
Step 1: Play the enchantment -- either Oblivion Ring or Journey to Nowhere -- then pass priority.
Step 2: Assuming the enchantment isn't countered while on the stack, after the opponent passes priority, it will enter the battlefield. Then, you need to place the "exile" triggered ability on the stack and choose a target for it. Retain priority, and activate Despotic Scepter's tap ability, targeting your own Oblivion Ring (or Journey to Nowhere). Pass priority to the opponent.
Step 3: Unless your opponent has a Stifle, Voidslime, or Trickbind, the likely consequence of him (or her) passing priority is the following: First Despotic Scepter's destroy ability will resolve, destroying the enchantment. This will cause the "leaves play, return" ability to trigger, but since the permanent has not been exiled yet, nothing will return to the battlefield. After this resolves, the the "exile" triggered ability will finally resolve, and the target will get exiled. Since the enchantment has already left play, there is no way to return the card back to play without special cards like Pull from Eternity.

Note: Tel-Jilad Stylus works like Despotic Scepter in this scenario.

conjured currency.

What?! Nobody's mentioned Hatching Plans? or Ichor Wellspring? or Mycosynth Wellspring?

It's also not bad with Mimic Vat if you need, and I've found that if I have to cast a card, it's a nice way to remove my Standstill.

Aside from all those amazing cards that you can pair this with, you can also use it to save your stuff.

The most notable examples I can think of where you can save some of your stuff with this is Sever the Bloodline and Detention Sphere.

Better that something goes to the Graveyard than being Exiled.

The phrase "draw a card" should appear in the rules text somewhere. Then it would be really excellent.

I'd rather play Claws of Gix. While this requires no cost, it does require a tap, and Glaws of Gix, requiring no tap, can hit multiple permanents.

A lot of the cards my friends play with are actually mine...

Not bad with Treacherous Pit-Dweller and Abyssal Persecutor. Allows them in Demon tribal and Demons happen to be known for beating the crap out of you with drawbacks, so having a way to nix ones that are a problem, such as Xathrid Demon is great!

Hey its cheap enough and it has some niche uses against things like Act of Treason, Mind Control, and Path to Exile. Not to mention you can combo with it with things like Morbid or even your own Act of Treason. Just off top of my head.

It's interesting that the Suicide Stick can kill things that have been stolen from you via mind control spells, or things you have Donated. It's a narrow use, but not necessarily worthless.

Also, nice art. Very bloody and a bit unsettling.