I still use a lot of older cards in casual, and this is the one that elicits more groans when it hits the table than any other. It can reliably shoot down four or five creatures per game, makes combat maths a serious headache for your opponent, and can then be turned on them late on... It's also a fantastic tool for bluffing. More than once have I named something like Starstorm or Wrath of God, and not actually had one in my deck, let alone hand, but it's forced the opponent into making a bad play based on misinformation.
kitsunewarlock
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(5 votes)
This card is simply amazing. 2 Colorless Damage a turn...a solid one drop for decks like Blue Control that otherwise would have to miss that crucial turn...and late game the "guessing game" usually turns into "revealing the card you drew that turn". This card has remained a powerful control tool for decks that otherwise can't afford (due to deck space and/or color and/or type) a reliable form of removal.
GrayFox
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(5 votes)
When played correctly, so deadly. Colourless direct damage is brutal
MrCobweb
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
i remember seeing this card when the set was released. wasn't very impressed until I had to play against it. changed my mind very quickly
BOSH235
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
The colorless damage is awesome in mono red decks, since they can run into problems with white decks running lots of pro red
Megrimage
★☆☆☆☆ (1.4/5.0)(5 votes)
and it is even nicer with the urza lands so you can play still cast things too.
True_Mumin
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(9 votes)
Everything Rod of Ruin always wanted to, but couldn't be.
True_Smog
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(5 votes)
Scroll should be reprinted instead of Goddanm rod of ruin.
TokenPlayer
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I play this in my White Weenie deck. Although the deck is no longer truly competitive, Cursed Scroll clears the battlefield early in the game. If you get 2 down + the land to activate, creatures won't be a problem, neither will your opponent for much longer. As early as turn 3, the only card I have in my hand is a plains.
Hovercraft
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is really good for any deck that needs an answer to protection from ___ . It's great in burn decks that want to run Shrapnel Blast and Ankh Of Mishra and need artifacts to sacrifice this is an easy include for 1 mana and a nice repeatable damage source. It's good for destroying weaker beats when you really would rather just save a Smother for Tarmogoyf instead. If you sideboard this in with cards like Withered Wretch that shrink 'goyfs Cursed Scroll is nice for finishing the job. I find that particularly with black that likes to run a lot of disruption and few creatures it is extremely good.
Cyberium
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
@Omenchild
You do realize that at the time of Tempest expansion all red aggro would run Cursed Scroll? Red, not blue, runs this. Colorless, reusable 2 damage that pretty much always hits because red aggro like Sligh tends to have tiny hand size, was god-sent. Even black control with mutual discard (like Death Cloud) would use this and The Rack for double damage source.
opinionfailure
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(10 votes)
@Omenchild: Clearly you joined "Magic" after Cursed Scroll rotated out of standard. Red Deck wouldn't touch this card? You don't know what you are talking about. When this card was in standard, EVERY red deck used it. It was almost required to be competitve at the time. Have you not looked at the top decks for 1999? All four top finishers had 4 of these in there deck, and 2 of them were mono-red and red-artifact( still mono-red) decks. Even Linde put 4 in his green speed deck.
Roy1138
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wait, let me get this straight. You don't have to name a card actually in your hand? Seems awesomely unsportmans like.
Omenchild
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.6/5.0)(14 votes)
Haha you guys are joking yourselves that this is still even competitive, it was only good in its time because blue needed a way to kill, thats it. Red wouldn't waste time with this shiz.
@otherguys yeah i wasnt around when this was in standard, just when it was in extended. to be fair, i dont play standard at all, the only time ive seen this was with forbid and countering. And you must admit, it is no longer competitive.
qaq456
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
at first i thought this was bad till i noticed YOUR hand this must be a classic
RowdyRadish
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@Omenchild Cursed Scroll is still considered a viable choice in Zoo, although metagame dependent.
No it is not a four off, or an auto include, but it still holds up pretty well for a finisher in any deck that goes through its hand quickly.
Chamale
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Amazing when you can leave 1 card in your hand and make it a repeatable 2 damage per turn. I choose Lightning Bolt. Oh, look, 2 damage! Next turn: Draw a Mountain, play it... I choose Lightning Bolt again.
Repeat until opponent has 3 life, then Bolt him.
Hoonster
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Omenchild Punishing Fire and Grove of the burnwillows was one of the most powerful combo in recent extended. (basically colorless mana to recover Punishing Fire and two more to cast so very similar to Cursed Scroll) Cursed Scroll is almost strictly better since it requires only Cursed Scroll, it is colorless damage, and does not give opponent life. Continuous burn is not a laughing matter. It would be still used in today's standard if it was reprinted. Hell, it would be still used in extended format too.
bijart_dauth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This was in one of the world championship decks back in the day. Do not call this bad. And its perfectly competitive. Repeatable burn is nothing to laugh at, and it isnt hard to always have only one card in your hand.
Kirbster
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
A massively powerful card that essentially rewards "bad" playing. In a lightning-fast red deck, it will soon be two colourless damage each turn, aimed wherever you want. Before you're down to one card, it can also be used to bluff by naming nasty cards that aren't actually in your hand. There's a reason it was a four-of in most every competeitive Tempest-block deck.
Jin15
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Oh man do I love Cursed Scroll! I still run it as a 2-of in my Legacy mono red Sligh deck and it's won me more than a few matches when the game runs longer than you'd normally like. While many people may argue that Sulfuric Vortex is strictly better for a modern Sligh/Burn style deck, the fact that you can drop the Scroll on turn 1 rather than turn 3 (thus avoiding nasty things like Hymn to Tourach, Duress, Daze if you're on the play, etc.) and the fact that it's colorless and can target whatever you want give it some major upsides. In modern Legacy having a couple Cursed Scroll in your deck means not having to worry about Mother of Runes or what your'e going to do after a deck with a bunch of discard rips up your hand.
So while I don't know if Cursed Scroll is as much of an automatic 4-of now as it was back in the Tempest block, it's still totally awesome and worth running as at least a 2-of in any fast aggressive Legacy deck. My only complaint with it is that I can't legally play the Japanese misprint version that had the activation cost printed at (2) rather than (3) lol
Morphling222
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.7/5.0)(3 votes)
This was a really good card "back in the day."
BushidoGraphics
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
For those of you that aren't quite on board that this card is competitive, it's quite the "shocker" in Pox. I love this card, and I love me some Pox. It's definitely a 4-of, especially as a 1-drop. Dat activated ability, man.
I do have a question, though. You name the card, your opponent chooses a card at random, and then if the card you named is the card your opponent chooses: 2 damage. My question: Do you have to show your opponent the chosen card? Let's say you Scroll with 2 cards in hand - one Swamp and one Mishra's Factory for example - and you name Swamp. You lay those 2 cards in-hand face-down, and your opponent rolls a d6 (1-3 card 1, 4-6 card 2). They roll a 5 and it's card 2. You look at it, it's Mishra's Factory. It's not a Swamp, so no 2 damage. Scroll doesn't require you to reveal the chosen card. Do you have to show your opponent as proof? Can you show someone else in the room and have them confirm with a "yes" or "no" if it's the named card or not? Can you show a judge instead and have them confirm?
001010011100101110
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@Omenchild
Cursed Scroll is a one-card combo. It's the same mana cost as Punishing Fire return and cast in Modern. If a card is better than two cards in an eternal format, I don't know how you can say it's bad while making any sense. Sure you haven't played Standard, but you haven't played Legacy either? Have you seen people run Kiras just to *** off Cursed Scroll? This card was ran where people also ran 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptors.
mykatdied
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@bushido The oracle wording is changed to reveal the chosen card, so you do have to reveal it. Even originally the card said, your opponent chooses. In That sense they would probably chose and look at it to see which would've involved revealing. So either way, I would say it gets revealed.
@mykatdied From what i gather from the wording, "Target opponent chooses a card..." verses "Reveal a card at random..." means that in a multiplayer match if player 1 chooses a card from player 2 than he does not reveal the card to player 3. Th new wording now forces that card to be revealed to player 3, rather than only being showed to the player who was choosing, in this case player 1.
Anzu-chan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is 15 years-old and it's still an awesome card. It's very versatile : you can run it as a control card to kill weenies or you can run it to burn your opponents life points, or both.
I wouldn't say it's broken, but it's a very strong card.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I name Mountain!! Okay now choose at random from the one card I have in my hand!! Wow I got lucky, it is a Mountain!!! Now to tap this other Cursed Scroll over here. I name Mountain again!!! Obnoxious mechanic is obnoxious.
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oracle text changes functionality: Previously if the targeted opponent gave themselves shroud or hexproof, the ability would fail regardless of the target for the damage. Additionally, the whole point was that the opponent "reads" the card from your hand and if it's the cursed one the damage happens. The oracle wording ruins the coolness =(
WolfWhoWalks
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Meh. Yeah, it's great in standard, but this card sucks terribly in EDH.
zenitramleirdag
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
the printing of liliana of the veil certainly boosted this card's power level..
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Repeatable removal, win condition, very good card.
But, let's discuss the flavor! The opponent choosing the random card out of your hand is mimicing him finding a scroll. Choosing the wrong one (the one you named) means he found the cursed scroll and is punished.
What's more entertaining however is that repeating this process is like your planeswalker seeding the entire battlefield with scrolls and the opponent/his creatures don't learn, but instead just keep picking them up to have their face burned off.
Greedy.
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Very very strong. Cheap, repeatable shocks can't be overlooked.
tcollins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Direct damage in any color? Sure, {R} and {B} might not find this that great, but {G} and {W} find it awesome! Works great when you have only one card in hand, and works well with things like Squadron Hawk.
car2n
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Combos with _________
bulbwidth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The name makes more sense with the original wording.
Comments (37)
You do realize that at the time of Tempest expansion all red aggro would run Cursed Scroll? Red, not blue, runs this. Colorless, reusable 2 damage that pretty much always hits because red aggro like Sligh tends to have tiny hand size, was god-sent. Even black control with mutual discard (like Death Cloud) would use this and The Rack for double damage source.
@otherguys yeah i wasnt around when this was in standard, just when it was in extended. to be fair, i dont play standard at all, the only time ive seen this was with forbid and countering. And you must admit, it is no longer competitive.
No it is not a four off, or an auto include, but it still holds up pretty well for a finisher in any deck that goes through its hand quickly.
I choose Lightning Bolt. Oh, look, 2 damage!
Next turn: Draw a Mountain, play it... I choose Lightning Bolt again.
Repeat until opponent has 3 life, then Bolt him.
Punishing Fire and Grove of the burnwillows was one of the most powerful combo in recent extended. (basically colorless mana to recover Punishing Fire and two more to cast so very similar to Cursed Scroll) Cursed Scroll is almost strictly better since it requires only Cursed Scroll, it is colorless damage, and does not give opponent life. Continuous burn is not a laughing matter.
It would be still used in today's standard if it was reprinted. Hell, it would be still used in extended format too.
In modern Legacy having a couple Cursed Scroll in your deck means not having to worry about Mother of Runes or what your'e going to do after a deck with a bunch of discard rips up your hand.
So while I don't know if Cursed Scroll is as much of an automatic 4-of now as it was back in the Tempest block, it's still totally awesome and worth running as at least a 2-of in any fast aggressive Legacy deck.
My only complaint with it is that I can't legally play the Japanese misprint version that had the activation cost printed at (2) rather than (3) lol
I do have a question, though. You name the card, your opponent chooses a card at random, and then if the card you named is the card your opponent chooses: 2 damage. My question: Do you have to show your opponent the chosen card? Let's say you Scroll with 2 cards in hand - one Swamp and one Mishra's Factory for example - and you name Swamp. You lay those 2 cards in-hand face-down, and your opponent rolls a d6 (1-3 card 1, 4-6 card 2). They roll a 5 and it's card 2. You look at it, it's Mishra's Factory. It's not a Swamp, so no 2 damage. Scroll doesn't require you to reveal the chosen card. Do you have to show your opponent as proof? Can you show someone else in the room and have them confirm with a "yes" or "no" if it's the named card or not? Can you show a judge instead and have them confirm?
Cursed Scroll is a one-card combo. It's the same mana cost as Punishing Fire return and cast in Modern. If a card is better than two cards in an eternal format, I don't know how you can say it's bad while making any sense. Sure you haven't played Standard, but you haven't played Legacy either? Have you seen people run Kiras just to *** off Cursed Scroll? This card was ran where people also ran 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptors.
The oracle wording is changed to reveal the chosen card, so you do have to reveal it. Even originally the card said, your opponent chooses. In That sense they would probably chose and look at it to see which would've involved revealing. So either way, I would say it gets revealed.
From what i gather from the wording, "Target opponent chooses a card..." verses "Reveal a card at random..." means that in a multiplayer match if player 1 chooses a card from player 2 than he does not reveal the card to player 3. Th new wording now forces that card to be revealed to player 3, rather than only being showed to the player who was choosing, in this case player 1.
I wouldn't say it's broken, but it's a very strong card.
Obnoxious mechanic is obnoxious.
But, let's discuss the flavor! The opponent choosing the random card out of your hand is mimicing him finding a scroll. Choosing the wrong one (the one you named) means he found the cursed scroll and is punished.
What's more entertaining however is that repeating this process is like your planeswalker seeding the entire battlefield with scrolls and the opponent/his creatures don't learn, but instead just keep picking them up to have their face burned off.
Greedy.