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Pojo's Marvel VS Card of the Day

Scarecrow,
Professor Jonathan Crane
 

DC Origins


Date Reviewed: 8.17.04


Constructed Average Rating: 3.05
Limited Average Rating: 2.7


Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

 

IQ
Scarecrow, Professor Jonathan Crane

CONSTRUCTED

Before I say anything about this guy let me re-state that I’m a very, extremely weird player. With that out of the way I feel this character is a better five drop than the Killer Croc IN CERTAIN decks. I’m not just saying this because I’m a fan of the Scarecrow but also because it makes gamer sense.

[[Gamer Sense- The more text a card is the better it is… most of the time.]]

Let me explain why I think this guy is better than the attacking power house of the Killer Croc. Most of the Arkham Inmates are pretty small as far as their cost goes which means playing cards like No Fear is not completely out of the question. And since No Fear and Nasty Surprise just happen to work really well together it only makes sense that if you’re gona use one you should might as well use the other, is not mandatory but it can be more annoying that you can imagine.
The Killer Croc can neutralize the biggest drop your opponent has in play rather easily because of his great attack boosting ability but he only works while attacking. The Scarecrow doesn’t care if you have even or odd turns because his ability works as long as your opponent gets an attack phase.
The Scarecrow does live and die by the sword and that could be his biggest catch but you can control when he’s going to get stunned while attacking. Which means that if you’re going in an all out assault his ability to be turned to your hand if he gets stunned while attacking might not be all that bad at all. Granted a draw back is a draw back but having the ability to control when his drawback is going to kick in has to count for something.

Last minute add in: Scarecrow Vs Army decks = A very big game breaking ball of scaryness.

3/5

LIMITED

I have never been able to get this guy in limited but I can imagine that his boost is extremely good in this format. He’s already a five drop with out loyalty and that’s already good enough to play him in any limited deck. But when you combine his boost with his ability to allow you to return him to your hand just about whenever you desire is really good. But like I said, this is just a concept that I haven’t been able to test but it seems pretty good in theory. What I do know for a fact is that if I drew this character on turn seven I would be a very happy player.

3/5
 

Nakaiya21
Scarecrow – Professor Jonathan Crane

This week we are going to move onto Arkham Inmates. My feelings on AI in general is that this group has some pretty powerful abilities, yet they lack the strength to use them consistently. Therefore, I would consider this group a very good affiliation to use in a casual format. Why? It is just plain fun to play with these guys. Ok with that being my two cents worth for this week, I guess I better get onto the review.?

Today we are going to look at a potentially powerful card in the AI roster. On the surface Scarecrow may not be much to look at, but once you start playing with him, you can start to see where the potential of his abilities lie. To start with, you need to realize that this character is only a 8/8 for a recruit cost of 5. This was actually pretty good back in the time of Marvel, but now that everyone is making the transition to DC his stats put him into the shallow end of the 5-drop pool.

The key to this guy is to play him late in the game. This guy was definitely not meant to drop on turn 5. This is because of his boost ability. Imagine, if you will, dropping this guy late in the game (say around turn 9). Your opponent should still have a 4-drop on the field (and if you are lucky possibly a 3-drop as well). By paying this guy’s boost cost you get to send all of your opponent’s characters that cost 4 or less back to their hand. In addition your Scarecrow will get two +1/+1 counters for each character returned by his effect (it is too bad you can’t get the counters using his normal abilities). All you have to do is send one character back to your opponent’s hand to make this guy a +10/+10! Not too shabby! This guy would be incredible against a weenie rush deck (i.e. sentinels, skrull, GCPD, etc….)!

The downside is that you do not see many weenie rush decks in competitive play, which means to make this guy worthwhile in a deck you have to survive until you can get his boost ability or load down your deck with defensive cards. Just putting him out there on turn 5 is not going to do a lot in the way of field control. I wouldn’t necessarily consider this guy an attacking card either. He is more of an annoying stall tactic until you can pull everything together. Hey, I am all for having fun at your opponent’s expense, but you better make sure that if you play this card in your AI deck that you provide some cover for it so that you can actually have fun with it.

Ratings:
AI constructed – 2.5/5.0 …..If the tournament environment were full on weenies I would give this card a 4.5/5.0

Limited – 1.0/5.0 …..You will have to draft VERY carefully to get this card to work for you in this environment
 
Johnny Blaze ARK (8-17)

Scarecrow, Professor Jonathan Crane - Below average ATK + DEF values for a 5 drop at 8/8. But this is where his Boost ability kicks in and can become a factor. To know what X is, you must know what Boost is. To use Boost, whenever that character w/ Boost is recruited, you may spend extra Resource Points to activate the Boost effect.
In this case, X is however many points you wish. So if you were to spend 2 to recruit Scarecrow on Turn 8 then all 2 and 1 drops would be returned to your opponents hand. Very good ability to use against an army team such as Sentinels or Gotham Police Squads. If you can return just 3 characters to their hand then Scarecrow becomes a scary 14/14.

His other powers are interesting (Its like Toad’s ability)but it is the Boost power that is a real find on this card.

Constructed: 2/5 – Unless there is an overabundance of Army decks in your area Scarecrow is situational.

Limited: 3/5 – Because of his Boost option and no Loyalty, Scarecrow can be a very good card to draft.
 
Jason
Bunch
This week we're checking ourselves into the Asylum, and taking a look at some of our favorite Arkham Inmates. Today's card will go a long way towards making the words "Boost: X" your two favorite words to see on a VS card.

First of all, 8/8 for a 5 drop is small. However, like many of the cards in the DC set, the small body is their way of balancing some of the more abusable effects, and this is no exception. Anything Scarecrow stuns goes back to your opponent's hand, which in some cases is just as good as sending them to the KO'd pile. If its a smaller character, odds are they won't bother recruiting it again on their next turn, they're saving their recruit points for their bigger drop.
However, with so many discard effects running around, that just gave them a free card to use to activate a plot twist. The flip side is that Scarecrow goes back to your hand when stunned, but in Scarecrow's case, that can actually help you out. Since he has Boost:
X, you can play him as any drop you want, and the higher drop you play him as, the better his effect is going to get. At 6, you can decimate Wild Vomit and GCPD builds. Play him as your 7 drop, and a lot of Teen Titans are going down. Save him for 8, and you can wipe out a TNB deck, assuming you last 8 turns against it. The 2 +1/+1 counters are almost an afterthought compared to the huge board advantage you gain from using his effect. He shouldn't be your main option at turn 5, but packing a couple Scarecrows can put some hurt on the right matchup.

In Limited, his small body becomes a problem, and not a lot of 1 and 2 drops are going to find their way into you opponent's deck. Still, with the unpredictability of the curve in limited, having an infinitely modular character in your arsenal means you won't miss that crucial drop.

Ratings:
Constructed - 4.25/5
Limited - 4/5
 
Paul Hagan
Scarecrow, Professor Jonathan Crane
 
The good news about this card is that it has a cool ability without boost: bounce an attacker if they get stunned!  The better news is that with boost, you can make Scarecrow *huge*, especially if you land him against Sentinels or a GCPD deck.  The bad news is that Scarecrow has to go back to your hand if he is stunned by a defender.  The worse news is that Scarecrow is hanging out with Arkham Inmates. 
 
Honestly, I really, really like Scarecrow, but Arkham Inmates are a pretty sub-par team when it comes down to it.  They have a lot of weak characters, and when you are deckbuilding, you are forced into "what cards don't make the cut" as opposed to "what cards make the cut".  You just don't have a lot to work with.
 
However, as this is a review for Scarecrow, I will say that he is one of the few bright spots in Inmates, and as far as I'm concerned, the Inmates need to play this card if they want to have a chance of winning.
 
In limited, scoop the Scarecrow fairly early, but he is by no means a first pick.

Constructed Rating: 3.5
Limited Rating: 2.5
 
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